> Monkey Business
>  by FrostTheWolf
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Tail 1- Straight out the Gate
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Straight out the gate




Baltimare

        The ship called the Steelwing had just returned to port as the passengers began to disembark as the crew members and passengers were leaving the ship. Outside the ship, two ponies and a griffon were trying to adjust themselves after a few hours of traveling at sea. Unknown to them and to the guards that stood on duty at the docks that day, one of the few FRAGILE items that was being moved from the cargo hold was something nopony would expect.

        “Name and Occupation, please.” The Guard checking the cargo asked the head griffon that was in charge of the ship. His fur was an Albino White with golden armor, a brown mane and same colored eyes. The Griffon that he was dealing with had a Silver beak guard that he wore as an accessory, Brown and black feathers and green eyes. 

        “Embargo Steelwing. Antique’s dealer.” The griffon replied. The voice though, caused one of the boxes to shake a little, catching the guards attention. 

        “Mr. Steelwing, you do know that transferring livestock and animals is illegal unless you have a permit, correct.”

        “Yes, sir. And I promise you, there’s nothing here that will go against your regulations.”

        The Griffon’s sentence was cut off again by the same box with holes in it to violently jerk. This caught the Rainbow maned Pegasus’ attention and had her go over there. After her adventures, she learned about how most of the griffons were personally selfish and greedy. This one looked like no exception. 

        “Gilda, Pinkie, can you wait for just a minute? Something about this guy seems fishy.” She told them as she trotted over to the box where a few of the Griffons were trying to handle it. However, A loud BANG!! went off, causing one of the panels of the box to be sent flying forth, smacking two of the Griffons in the face and causing them to fall into the harbor. Out of the box, came a bipedal figure that was lightly tanned. Had a golden yellow tail that resembled a monkey and same colored Mane. Unlike other monkeys that Rainbow Dash had seen, this one actually had two major differences. The first was that it wore clothes.

        The second was that it could talk.

        “I don’t mean to be rude, but I call your story a piece of trash after locking me up in that Crate after you said that I was of use to you.”

        “What the-!?” 

        “Explain yourself!” The guard on duty demanded as the Figure straightened himself up. 

        “Well, Sir. Mr. Steelwing is actually known as Silverbeak. He’s a black market dealer who specializes in stolen Antiques, jewels and most importantly, smuggling living beings. The moment after I met him, he gagged me and forced me to be in a cramped cargo hold, barely giving me anything to eat and robbed me of one of my possessions.”

        “Okay, that’s enough-.” The Griffon said, using his sharp claws to disarm the guard of the sword he had on his right hoof side and threw it at the figure. Rainbow watched as he somersaulted backwards and got on top of the boxes of cargo, opening one box and getting out a pair of Red… sticks? 

        “Well, I’m glad to have you back-.” He said before the other griffons soon tried to attack him. The monkey himself had all four of the sticks he had link up to form a staff as he began to beat up his attackers like he was a star in an action movie. He even surprised Rainbow Dash with the agility that he possessed. Soon though, he pulled what appeared to be a trigger on his weapon of choice as he de-linked the weapons again and blew off the bolts that held a huge wooden crate together. For a moment, it didn’t do anything. But soon, the wooden panel fell down and revealed the contents of what was inside.

        Over twelve griffons were inside. Low class families that wanted to escape from Griffonstone and start a new life. But couldn’t purchase a ticket to go across to Equestria. The stunned Steelwing snarled a little, trying to fight back and go after the filthy primate that foiled his plans. But, he was soon held down by the same guard that he was talking to earlier.

        “Embargo Steelwing. You are under arrest for the illegal immigration of goods and civilians from the city of Griffonstone. You had the right to remain silent and anything you say will be used against you in a court of law.”

        Pinkie Pie and Gilda were relieved of the outcome that came of the string of events. But when they turned around, they realized that the monkey that was only there a few moments ago… was now gone. 

        Where could the savior that was here only a minute ago have ran off too?



Later that evening…

        The Faunus that was on the back end of a cargo train going to who knows where wasn’t always like what he was now. For one thing, his name was Sean. He was attending the RTX or Rooster Teeth Expo in Dallas, Texas going as Sun Wukong from RWBY. However, everything from there soon went completely downhill when some merchant dressed up as Junior from the same show sold him a look a like of Wukong’s pendant as well as his two gunchaku; Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang. Now, he was Sun Wukong. He spoke like him and could even run like him without breaking a sweat. However, his speed wasn’t able to help him get away from Silverbeak when he was captured in Griffonstone. 

        However, after three days stuck inside the crate and using his tricks of the trade to survive, Sun felt good to be free as a bird. Of course, he would’ve stayed and helped out, but with the possibility of some of the guards thinking that he would be a stowaway on board that boat, the Faunus thought it would be best to hightail it out of there. Literally. Especially with all the commotion that was caused back at the docks.

        He liked riding the top of the train that he was on. It felt really comfy to him as he looked up at the night sky, trying to see if there were any constellations that he could spot. But, in laying his head down, he could hear some people speaking below him. 

        “Sir, how long until we reach our stop?”

        “We will be reaching Ponyville within 15 minutes.”

        He recognized one of the voices, but didn’t want to assume anything yet. It sounded just like the Pegasus with the Rainbow mane back in Balti… whatever they called it. But to be sure, he continued to listen.

        “Fifteen minutes? Oh COME on!! We’ve been waiting far too long in order to get there.”

        “Rainbow, we’ve only been traveling for half an hour. Not all things can be as fast as you can.”

        “I wish they can be, Gilda. That way, I get more time to kick back and just be awesome!”

        “Right… So, um… If I may ask… How have your Friends been?”

        During this time, Sun sort of dozed off. He rather not listen to the talking between the two of them and focused his attention on what to do when he got to this Canterlot that one of the train attendants mentioned earlier. Maybe it would be the chance for him to get some much needed-.

        Grrr… 

        Rest. Something caused the hairs on the back of Sun’s neck to stand up. He looked around, hoping to see something that could tell him what he was hearing. The Faunus was hoping for it to NOT be what he thought it was as the train went into a heavy forest area. Sun decided to relocate to where he had more light and moved to a riverbank along the edge of the forest. For a moment, he thought that he was safe. Until he turned around and saw what was making the noise he heard earlier.

        Grimm. Grimm everywhere. Four Beowolve’s and two minor ursa’s. His movements must’ve caught their attention. “Oh come on!! Seriously!? This is the last thing I need!!” Sun bellowed as he combined his two gunchaku to form his staff. The First two beowolves that lunged at him had Sun flip backwards and use his weapon to counter their incoming claws. After dodging to the right, he split the staff in half to form the two gunchaku again and aimed one directly at the first Beowulf. 

        “Say goodnight.”

        BANG!!!



        In a small cottage outside the Everfree forest, one pegasus that was attending to her flock of animals heard a loud shot rang out as she was feeding them dinner.

        “Oh dear… What could that be? Angel, please keep an eye on everypony. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”



        The gunshot caused the Beowulf to turn to cinders as the second one swung its claws. Sun was able to dodge most of it, but the tips of the claws soon struck him across the chest. He stepped backwards, partially in pain, but still able to move as the beowolves coordinated their attacks. The Faunus felt like he was having to run all over the place because these Grimm were attacking him so quickly that he wasn’t being given any opportunities to counter. 

        Backflipping in the air again, Sun used the descent to get two shots off. The first one hit one of the three incoming beowolves while the second one hit a tree, making a mental note to himself that he seriously needed to work on his aiming. Two of the beasts were down and four were left. But at one moment, he saw the four grim that were in front of him running away. 

        “Aww, did I scare you? Serves you right-.”

        By the time he turned around though, he realized why they ran. A Major Ursa was right behind him and looking at Sun, he was MAD. 

        “Oh son of a taint-!!”

        The huge bear like grim swung it’s massive paws at the Faunus as it tried to take a few shots at it. However, it’s boney skin and structure caused the bullets to deflect, not making a dent. After missing a few more attacks though, the Ursa’s jaw bit into Sun’s left arm, causing him to feel extreme pain. The Faunus however, was able to free himself by shooting at the Ursa’s exposed belly so he could break free of his jaws. The pain was still felt almost everywhere in that arm whenever he tried to move. 

        Sun was now down an arm and had open cuts across his chest. But he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Arming one of the guns on his weapon, he waited on the ground until the Ursa got close enough. Then, when the bear was in position, Sun smiled and pointed his good arm right below the front of the monster’s head, pulling the trigger. “Gotcha.”

        The shot that followed rang out as it had the Grim fade away into the blackness of the night. However, despite his victory, Sun was incredibly tired. He didn’t have any energy left in him to stand. All he could do now was just fall asleep… Just as a Yellow Pegasus came into the clearing and saw him.

        “O-oh my!! You poor thing!!! What could possibly have done this to you?! You’re coming with me right now!!” The young mare named Fluttershy said, doing the best that she could to carry Sun on her back with his weapons going across her neck. As the mare took him inside, she brought him upstairs as the pegasus attended to his open wounds and his arm. Despite the bite that was on it, the injuries looked to be minor as the Element of Kindness tried to take care of the helpless creature the best that she could. Hoping that whoever it was, that it didn’t die on her throughout the long process of tending to him.



Next morning

        The sounds of a rooster and the urge to shoot it woke up Sun the next day. He was quite surprised at a few things the moment that he woke up, For one thing, his arm and chest were covered in bandages and he was feeling a lot better than before. Another thing was that he was on top of a long sofa and his two Gunchaku were on the nearby nightstand. Not to mention that he could hear something. Like… breathing.

        He looked around, seeing that the door to the room was left open and that something was moving in the hallway. It wasn’t until long that Sun decided to sit down on the floor and see who was coming. He originally thought that it was a pony, but was surprised when he saw a white rabbit instead.

        “Hunh? Hey little guy.” The Faunus said to the bunny, poking and tickling him with his tail. Despite the rabbit’s cute reaction to being tickled, he soon bounced off and away from him towards a closet door, where he was seen tapping his foot and folding his bunny arms. At first, Sun didn’t know why he would exactly be doing that, but soon found out why when the closet door slowly opened and what was hiding behind it peaked out.

        It was a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail and a mark of some kind on her flank. One with three butterflies. It looked really shy, but to Sun, it was also kind of cute. 

        “Hello.” He greeted the pegasus, who reacted at first by being a little bit scared, but soon came back down to earth.

        “H-hello.” She whispered a little, faintly. “A-are you okay?”

        “A lot better now. Did you patch up my wounds?” Sun then asked. The Pegasus replied with a nod, making him feel very grateful. “Thank you for helping me, Miss…… what’s your name?”

        “F-fluttershy.”

        “Fluttershy? Is that right?” The Faunus asked. She nodded, giggling a little upon seeing Sun’s tail and him using it to tickle her. “Nice to meet you Fluttershy. I’m Sun Wukong, but you can just call me Sun for short.”

        “O-okay… Um… w-what are you, Sun?”

        “Me? Well, I’m a Faunus.”

        “A Fawn? But you don’t look like a deer.” Fluttershy replied, causing Sun to chuckle a little to himself, confusing the Pegasus.

        “No no no… not that kind of Fawn. Faunus. It’s a race of individuals that have animal characteristics. For example, I have my monkey tail.”

        “Oh I see!” She exclaimed. “That makes sense.” For a moment, the two of them heard some noises downstairs. Fluttershy sighed, looking back at Sun. “Can you wait here for a moment? I almost forgot to feed my animals this morning.”

        “Sure.” He replied, seeing a nearby banana. One that strangely… wasn’t in the room before. He sighed a little, ignoring it and returning to Fluttershy. “Hey, Fluttershy…”

        “Y-yes Sun?”

        “Is anyone else living with you besides the animals you mentioned? Because I remember that wasn’t there when I first woke up.” The banana soon faded away as what looked like a being that was composed of numerous body parts faded into view, doing the chameleon effect as a way to hide himself.

        “Aww man, I thought that would work.”

        “Discord, what have I told you about playing pranks on other ponies who are recovering? Do we have to go over the same thing we did a few weeks ago?”

        The being, now called by his name, looked all apologetic as he turned towards the Pegasus. “Sorry, Fluttershy. I just wanted to have a little fun with our new houseguest.”

        Sun, despite what had occurred over the last few moments, was already liking this ‘Discord’ fellow. He was quite comical, especially with forming a halo above his head when he apologized to Fluttershy. “I believe we can have some fun once I’ve recovered it a little more. Of course, if it’s okay with Ms. Fluttershy.”

        “I’m fine with it. Just nothing TOO reckless that would cause your injuries to open.” The Pegasus told the Faunus as she left the room. During that time, Discord got the chance to learn a bit about Sun and in return, Sun got to learn a bit about where he was, the kinds of individuals that called this land home and what had transpired recently. Later, the two of them were with Fluttershy for a morning brunch as they talked for a little while, telling the Pegasus what they were talking about earlier. But now, a new question formed in Fluttershy’s curious mind.

        “Sun… Sorry if this is a little uncomfortable to talk to you about with you waking up recently and everything but…… what caused you to get those injuries? Did something attack you?” 

        The question had Sun stop blowing on the cup of coffee that was brewed for him as he set down the cup using his tail. He sighed. “Have you ever heard of the Grimm?”

        Both of them shook their heads, causing Sun to sigh as he began to recall what they were to the best of his abilities. “Grimm are monsters that are drawn to the feelings of negativity like sadness, envy, hatred and loneliness. They are said to be creatures without souls and some cultures believed that they are the spirits of once tortured animals. Last night, I was attacked by a small group of them at first, but then a Ursa Grimm attacked me and almost bit my arm. I was lucky that I had both my weapons on me or else I would’ve died out there.” Sun, as he finished, held onto both Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang to show what he meant. 

        “O-oh my-! We should tell Twilight about this-!”

        “Wait… Who?”

        “A friend of ours.” Fluttershy replied. “She’s an Alicorn who’s very talented with magic. I’ll introduce you to her once you’re all healed so you can tell her the same thing you told us.” 

        “Maybe… Right now though, I feel like I should stay low for a while.” Sun said, causing Discord to look at him in confusion. “I might have caused a disturbance back in the city where I got off that freaking boat.”

        “So, you’re a Sea Monkey?” Discord chuckled a little.

        “No, it’s not that…" the faunus let out a small sigh, before trying his best to explain, "Some jerk decided to lock me up on a cage and put me on a cargo ship, treating me like an animal. When the ship went into port, I busted out and exposed him of his crimes. I couldn’t stay though because I personally thought that everypony in that entire city would be afraid of me after the stunt I pulled.”

        “Oh…”

        “Yeah. Might not have been the best decision I’ve made, but at least it saved my tail when I needed it the most.” Sun replied, leaning back a bit on his chair until he fell over backwards on accident. Discord and Fluttershy both chuckled a little at the monkey’s clumsiness as he got back onto his feet. “Sorry about that, Fluttershy.”

        “It’s okay Sun.” She replied in a light whisper like voice. Sun sighed a little, excusing himself so that way he could lean down and go rest upstairs. As he went up there, the Faunus took off his bandages to find that his injuries were almost completely healed. For now though, he should just lay down and sleep.

        However, in the distance, someone watched him as he sat down and fell asleep on the couch in the room. This individual's face was covered with a mask and was hard to see it as they disappeared into the blackness of the Everfree Forest. But there was one clear trait about them that was noticeable.

        An insignia of a Red Rose. The rose of beauty that belonged to a beast.







End Tale 1

> Tail 2- Visitors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Visitors




Unknown Location

        Sun had originally planned to lay down in Fluttershy’s college upstairs and sleep so his injuries from the Grimm attack last night could fully heal. However, when the Faunus woke up again, he found himself in someplace WAY different. Where he was almost looked like a starry night sky mixed with a grid like floor that reminded him of a scene of in TRON: Legacy when Kevin Flynn first created CLU. As he took in the sights of where he was though, something else came to mind. The fact that Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang were not with him. But he had them on his person a few moments ago before he went to lay down. All this did was confuse him more until a new voice caught his attention and caused him to turn around. What was behind him though almost had him fall backwards onto the ground as he looked up at what stood over him.

        “Greetings young Displaced.”

        The figure that talked to him was huge and large in scale, but also looked transparent. Almost like one of the constellations in the night sky. It looked human, but in a way, it looked like some sort of Deity. However, Sun’s only reason for thinking this was because it was almost ten feet tall in comparison to his size. Still though, the Faunus seemed tense because of finding out where he was all of a sudden.

        “W-who are you?” He asked.

        “I go by many names. But, I am called the Observer.” The being spoke deeply to him. “I watch over the many worlds and versions of the Multiverse, observing the events that play out as time passes.”

        “O...kay. Uh… where the heck am I?” The Faunus asked in confusion. “and what is a Displaced?”

        “Do not be alarmed. We are in your subconscious while your physical body continues to heal from your encounter with the monsters of your world. As for your other question, a Displaced is an individual that has arrived in the world of Equestria under the same circumstances that you have arrived. Of course, each one of them have their intentions. Some can be good while others prefer to do what they please. My job is just to watch over these worlds Idly.”

        The Observer continued his long out explanation, despite the fact that Sun was zoning in and out of it because of his tiredness. And the fact that after hearing a few hours of this, he was becoming quite bored. However, when the Observer began to show him a few examples of some of the Displaced, one of them in particular caught his attention. It was a boy dressed in a blue overcoat, had yellow hair tied in a long braid and held a specially modified pistol as he channeled lightning around himself. Upon seeing him, he recognized immediately who it was after seeing him for a few seconds.

        “Holy crap.”

        “Is something the matter?” The Observer asked. Sun shook his head, pointing out the person that he was looking at. “No, nothings wrong… It’s just that… I know this guy. What’s his name? I remembered it started with an L.”

        “His name is Lance Walker, but also known as the Azure Striker.”

        “Oh damn, That’s Lance!?” Sun said, surprised. “He looks quite… Shocking.”

        “You seem to know this individual. Is that true?” The Observer asked as Sun moved closer to the projection. He tried to touch it, but all it did was flicker a little before being restored. 

        “Hell yeah I know him!” The Faunus replied joyfully. “Lance is my cousin that lives in Los Angeles! I was wanting to go see him sometime, but I never got the chance to meet him.” Sun was really excited about this, but what came next from the Observer confused him at first.

        “Then we should get to the process of making your token right away.”

        “Wait, my what-?”

        “Each Displaced has a summoning token in which they could call upon one another. Your cousin even has one and has lead to him having multiple…… Interesting experiences with some other Displaced. By making one, you can have other Displaced call upon you for assistance or use it as a key to unlock the doorway to your world. Not only can they use tokens, but you can do it as well.”

        “Okay… how do I do that?” Sun asked, causing the Observer to sigh. The Deity asked for Sun to choose an item that was unique and would fit himself. The Faunus thought it through and remembered something he picked up while stealing food onboard the ship to Equestria. A golden Medallion with the insignia of a monkey on it. It seemed fitting to use as a “Token” for himself given the design. 

        “Would this work?” Sun asked, showing the Observer.

        “Anything can become a token. That looks quite fitting for you though. Now, what do you want to say?”

        Sun thought about it to himself for a little bit, but instead of trying to ponder on some heroic speech, the Faunus decided to keep it short and simple. “What's up? I'm Sun Wukong, The Stray Faunus. Just simply shoot the coin to call upon me for anything you might need help with.”

        “Well, it seems like all the preparations are in order.” The Observer calmly spoke as he opened a small tear in the void. Sun tossed the coin in and watched as it began to multiply. Of course, he had one to keep for himself, but before he left, something else emerged from that same void. A hairpin with open wings. “My… That my friend, is actually the Token of your cousin. Keep it as a gesture of my good will. I believe that it’s time to return you back to your world. Just be careful. Many things can happen.”



Fluttershy’s Cottage

        When Sun woke up from his nap. The first thing that he found was Angel hopping on his chest. It seemed like the Bunny had been trying to get his attention for a while and it was only around now that he realized it. As he got up, he also found that almost all of Fluttershy’s animals, including Henry the Bear, had went upstairs as well and took refuge inside the room that he was in. 

        “What are you guys doing here?” He asked, looking around. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

        Sun watched as Angel shrugged his arms and Henry tried to write on a pad of paper using a marker. What came out was very jumbled, but it seemed to spell out the words “Visiting Friends” depending on how well he could read Bear Writing. Soon though, the Faunus had another question for all the animals that were upstairs. “Okay, why are all of you guys up here? Is something wrong?”

        The Stray watched as all of the animals in the room looked down at the floor. Henry the bear soon wrote another few words on the paper. It spelled out “Check Downstairs” and gave Sun a few possible clues on what could possibly be going on. One of the primary thoughts was that Discord was messing around again. Fluttershy had told him that the Draconequus had been in reform for a while, but can still be mischievous at times. Calmly, Sun picked up both Ruyi and Jingu Bang and put them away under his shirt and began to walk downstairs. Because what he found was just plain weird.

        The Avatar of Chaos was pulling the springs from the nearby couch and cleaning them. In a Maid’s dress no less. Not to mention the fact that he was acting like Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire during the cleaning scene of the movie. He was even singing Queen’s “We will rock you” to himself. He wasn’t even paying attention to the fact that Sun Wukong had just entered the room.

        “Uh… Discord?” No response. Just him saying “We will… We will…… ROCK YOU!!”

        “Discord?” The second try didn’t help much either. Seeing as it being a last resort, Sun unplugged the cord on the stereo the Draconequus was using in order to get his attention.

        “Aww, come on! I was so close to doing the Air Guitar Solo!!”

        “Discord, what are you doing? Angel and the other animals are all hiding upstairs and… Wait, why are you tearing the springs out of the couch?”

        “Well, Fluttershy wanted me to do some Spring cleaning while she was meeting her friends so I thought it would be best to do it to some music.” All Sun could do in that moment in time was facepalm to himself because of what exactly he was dealing with. 

        “Discord… Have you ever done this before?”

        “No actually. Being an Avatar of chaos and such, I’m use to having things being all over the place. But since Fluttershy asked me to help, I thought I would pitch in.” 

        Now Sun was beginning to laugh a little to himself by the Draconequi’s response. When he asked why he was laughing, The Faunus told him something that soon made him realize his mistakes. “Spring Cleaning is a figure of speech. She didn’t ask you to be literally cleaning Springs. Fluttershy just wanted you to clean up the cottage a little. Like make sure everything’s not dusty and what not.”

        Discord’s face was one of pure shock and surprise as he looked at everything around him. “Well now, I look totally embarrassing in this.” With a quick snap, the springs from the couch were put back where they belonged and his Maid’s outfit was removed. “Great, now I’m back to square one… Any suggestions?”

        Sun sighed for a minute, smiling. “Tell you what. Let me pitch in with this and help you out. Two heads are better than one anyways.” The Draconequus agreed with the idea and the two of them soon got to work. At one point though, Sun came across what appeared to be a closet in the back of the room. Despite Discord’s warning of not wanting him to open it, he did so anyway and got swarmed by a landslide of clothes, pet food and other items that were stored in there. All that could be seen afterwards was Sun’s tail, which Discord then used to pull him out.

        “You okay there, fumblerooski?”

        “Yeah, just don’t pull my tail. That really-.” BONK!! “-hurts.” What hit Sun in the head just now was a small wooden box and a medal that looked like a bottle of ink, a quill and a piece of parchment. Once Sun was set down, he looked at the Medal and placed it in his pocket. Something for him to look at later. But his attention turned towards Discord as soon as he opened the box and pulled out what was inside.

        “What the heck is all of this? A chalk set?” Discord asked, holding the said “chalk” in his paw for Sun to look at. However, it wasn’t chalk. It wasn’t that at all. 

        “Discord, this isn’t chalk. This is Dust.”

        “Oh, you mean the stuff we needed to clean-.”

        “No, not THAT kind of dust. This is different.” The Faunus explained. “This Dust is a source of energy that’s given a crystalline form. It’s properties allow it to be used in multiple forms. It could be used with Dust based weapons, serve as ammunition for weapons like mine, woven into clothing and other things too. Think of it like Crystalline Magic if you will.”

        “Oh, well that’s interesting. For a moment, I thought these were rock candies.”

        Sun ignored the Draconequi’s comment and now wondered something. Why would a crate of Dust be in Fluttershy’s house? Was somepony else here and left them behind? Did Fluttershy just stumble upon this accidentally? The possibilities were unknown. Then, Sun noticed something on the other end of the room. A picture frame with a Stallion and a much younger version of herself.

        “Hey Discord, did you and Fluttershy ever talk about family? I see that her mother is missing from this picture.”

        “Actually, that’s the thing. She doesn’t know who her mother is aside from stories her father told her. Flutters told me that her father raised her most of her life, but when he died due to an accident, she had been living on her own with the animals she care for. This cottage actually belonged to her father and was passed down to her in his will.”

        “Wow… I feel sorry for her.” Sun said, putting the frame back on the wall. “Hey, lets focus on putting this stuff back. We got a house to clean up.”

        “Roger that!” Discord saluted as the two of them got back to work. It took them a couple of hours to clean up the mess that spilled out onto the floor, but soon, they were able to fix everything up to make it look good as new. Like nothing really ever happened. However, to their surprise, Fluttershy didn’t come back by herself though. Instead, she came back with a friend.

        “Hey Everypony, I’m ba-. Oh hey Sun, good to see you’re up.”

        “Thanks Flutters-.” The Faunus’ comment was cut short once he laid eyes on who was right next to him. It was what Discord told him was an “Alicorn” with a Lavender Fur coat, wings, Purple mane and tail with a pink stripe and purple eyes. It’s cutie mark looked like some kind of bursted star or Sparkle. Right off the bat, it’s jaw dropped upon seeing Sun.

        “Um… Hi?”

        That was all it took for the pony to start looking around him like he was put on Display. “So… you must be this Faunus that Fluttershy was referring to… Son Goku right?”

        “No, It’s Sun Wukong.” He corrected her mistake, despite it causing him to mentally laugh inside his head.

        “My apologies, some of my late night studying is finally catching up with me.” The Alicorn apologized as she sat down at the nearby tunnel with Fluttershy and Discord. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. Princess of Friendship and student of Princess Celestia.”

        “Nice to meet you, Princess Sparkle.”

        “There’s no need for formalities, Mr. Wukong. A friend of Fluttershy’s is a friend of mine. Just call me Twilight.”

        “Then you can call me Sun.” The Faunus replied back on that note, happily. “What brings you out to Fluttershy’s cottage if you don’t mind me asking?”

        “Well, when I talking with the girls, Fluttershy told me about you off to the side, so she thought that it would be best for you to meet me before anypony else. That and the fact that an encounter that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie had back at Baltimare is still fresh on their minds.”

        “Oh? What did they say?” Sun asked, a little confused.

        “Something about a hairless monkey running around and freeing some stowaways in the port, which lead to the arrest of a black market antiques dealer. They’re still searching high and low along with their Griffon friend Gilda so they could thank him.”

        “Well…… They might not need to search for long… You just found who they’re looking for.” Sun told Twilight, making her jaw drop. Fluttershy and Discord already knew about the story due to a conversation they had earlier, but this was the first time she had heard of it. To prove his point even more, he nudged her wing a little using his tail.

        “Oh…… That’s…… interesting. Say, what exactly are you, Sun?”

        Sun took his time in explaining everything about his adventure up to right now with Twilight, leaving out the parts involving the Observer and the Closet incident just to be on the safe side. Everything from being a Faunus to explaining about the Grimm. Talking about the monsters though sort of scared Twilight like if you were telling a little kid a Ghost Story. Then, she became worried about what if the Grimm came to attack Ponyville.

        “Twilight, Grimm are only attracted to the negative emotions expressed through everyone here. So unless if somepony was having an argument or something that isn’t… peaceful happens, there could be a chance that they might show up. But they can be defeated just like any other monster. You just need a strong aura and will in order to complete the task.”

        Sun’s words helped a bit, but did little to now have Twilight’s mind continue to stress on the possibilities. After a while though, for him, Sun became a little bit stiff and decided to step outside. He was tempted to practice his aim with his attacks, but feared the noise would drive the Grimm crazy and have them come after him. So, he unloaded the clips from both Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang and began to practice some basic self defense moves. Sun Wukong’s combat style was based on the Japanese Martial art of Bojutsu, which was martial arts involving a Bo Staff like the staff form of his weapons. Not only that, but he is highly adept to Martial arts. So… practice for both of these skills was a necessity.

        The other thing that he wanted to figure out was how to use his Semblance. In season 2, Sun was shown having a Semblance or power that’s unique to a specific person. He called it “Decoy” since it allowed him to create two Spectral clones of himself that can detonate upon contact with an object or being. In a way, it reminded him of Gotenks Super Ghost Kamikaze attack in Dragon Ball Z, but he was dealing with his own stuff right now and rather not have any distractions.

        But distraction come in many forms and in Sun’s case, it was when he began to think about the medal that he found earlier. He held it in his hand for a moment, pondering about what exactly it could be. It seemed like a token to him, but the Observer told him that tokens come in many forms. Damn it, how the hell was he suppose to figure this out?! It’s not like this thing came with a label or something.

        The Faunus began to try different techniques in order to see if he could get it to work. He tried holding it above his head, holding it between his hands, and many other methods. Including a few methods that involved his tail. Still, each one of them didn’t work. At this point, Sun was beginning to become a little bit Frustrated. He was even beginning to wonder how the hell did Lance do something like this during the same moment that he used his thumb to flick the medal upward like a coin.

        The moment it came down though was when the object began to glow a crisp light yellow color as a flash of light went off in the backyard. The next moment, Sun was gone. The backyard was completely empty.

        And the whole thing was witnessed by a White Bunny who was looking at him through the upstairs window. Angel looked terrified and soon went outside, seeing that Sun was really gone. But in the distance, the rabbit saw something else. Another figure almost similar to Sun, but didn’t have any animal traits. But it was only for a second before it too strangely disappeared. Angel was now considering that he needed a nap just like Sun earlier in the day. This whole day had been weird enough already given today's conundrums.




End Tail 2

> Tail 3- Faunus and Fire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Faunus and Fire




Unknown World

        When Sun woke up, his head was spinning and found himself in a new location. Someplace that was very dark and dimly lit. However, this wasn’t exactly as troublesome for the Faunus as one might think. A special trait that stands out for all Faunus was the fact that they all were able to see in the dark. In fact, in one episode of RWBY, it was said that an attempt by a human general to attack them pre-emptively at night failed because of the Faunus and their capabilities with Night Vision. For a moment, it made Sun think of himself like Vin Diesel when he played Riddick, but without the part where sunshine could leave him blinded. 

        Still though, after his encounter with the Grimm back in his world, Sun preferred to be on the side of caution in this instance despite his reckless personality. Right now, he kept his weapons holstered. But took them out at the sounds of a loud groan. As he passed a tree, his eyes widened. at what exactly he was looking at as he swallowed any fear that might’ve gone up in his throat.

        “A… Dragon?”



        “What just happened?” Deathwing asked. He remembered he was coming  home from the grand galloping gala and found a strange token of a model with a Ink and quill. “What the-!? I didn’t activate the token did I?” The mighty Dragon God held it in his claws.

        He closed his eyes and gave a stomp sending his seismic sense out. He saw the outline of a humanoid being just next to him. Deathwing let magic covered him and in the burst became his human form turning around the dragon saw the displaced.

        “Hello, there.” Deathwing said.

        “Y-you can see me?” Came the shocked reply. Soon though, one thing stood out to Deathwing. That this person… had a monkey tail. “Just who or what are you?”

        “I am Neltharion the Earth-Wander, or if you like i also go by Deathwing and to answer your question? I can see with the earth, I kinda am the planet given form.” Deathwing answered.

        “Can I just go with Nel for short?”

        “If you wish. Though, if you don’t mind me asking, is this your Token?” The dragon in human form held up the same medallion as the one Wukong had. “I found this at the after Grand Galloping Gala when I got home.”

        “Actually, I found that one too. But it’s not mine. My token is a Gold Coin with a Monkey insignia on it.” he replied. “Oh, I almost forgot. Name’s Sun. Sun Wukong.”

        The embodiment of the world thought for a moment. With his eyes closed he stomped the ground again to get a look at the whole continent. As it went out he saw everything on the ground. The Faunus folded his arms and waited for a minute on Neltharion, who seemed to be really focused and in concentration. When he finished, Deathwing opened his eyes. “Well we seem to be in Everfree forest, things are different them in my world but I now know which way to ponyville.”

        Sun sighed as he turned around. For a moment, as he heard Nel talk to him, he saw something move in the shadows. With a simple gesture, he tried to tell Deathwing to stop talking as he pulled out both of his weapons and had them take form into his Bo Staff. “Something tells me we’re not alone. I can see movement behind the trees and bushes.”

        Deathwing pulled out his mua as his body started to flow magma. “Come out we know you're there.” Deathwing said. He shifted his feet on the ground as he readied for them to move. Wukong himself looked around as he tried to see what exactly they were up against. But soon, he was caught off guard when something with green glowing eyes leaped from the bushes at Neltharion. With quick reactions, he put himself between his companion and the assailant and pulled the trigger. The shot that went off had the attacker drop downward as it disintegrated. But from what Sun saw, it looked like a wolf made of lumber.

        “What the hell was that-!?” Sun asked, turning to Neltharion.

        “A Timberwolf.” Deathwing said. “The  everfree is crawling with them.” Deathwing saw an attack from the sides. With his arm raised the ground shot up causing them to smash into harden granite. With a magical thrust, the granite slammed into them. But more of them appeared shortly after the ones that Neltharion defeated turned to ash.

        “Something tells me our entrance caught their attention.” Sun guessed as his bo staff changed into his Gunchaku as he clicked his weapons. “You ready for this? It might get loud.”

        Deathwing gave a smile which heat coming off his body as flames danced in his hands. “Trust me I am.”

        “Glad you are.” Was the Monkey Faunus’ only reply before another round went off at the next Timberwolf that went towards him. To onepony though, this was literally ‘The shot heard round the world’.



Meanwhile…

        “So this is Ponyville?” Faust asked. She walked with Twilight and the others called the Elements of Harmony. She walked along the town ponies though the town. She was told about the town from Discord. As she walked, she heard a sound going off somewhere. She ignored it for the time being because right now, it wasn’t the highest of her priorities.



        Sun felt like he was getting a much needed workout with all the moving around that the Faunus was doing. He and Neltharion were having to move around constantly due to the onslaught of Timberwolves that were attacking the two of them, but this allowed for Sun to test his agility and newfound reflexes. Not to mention practicing his aim with his weapons. He noticed though that over time, his companion was starting to become irritated with the drawn out fight. The Timberwolves, despite many of their kin already being defeated, still kept coming at them. Like they wanted to avenge their fallen brethren. This fight had already been going on for quite a while and to the Earth-Wander, he saw that continuing it would be a waste of time.

        Conjuring fire in his hands, Neltharion let out a piercing roar, sending out the burning flames in a massive shockwave that consumed everything around him. Sun felt like he was too close for comfort as the fire almost burned his tail as it consumed all the natural life around him. When the smoke cleared, what was once a forest was now looking like the site of a meteor strike. It was burnt and broken.

        But Sun did not like this. He did not like it at all. “Dude, what the hell was that for?!”

        “This battle was drawn out too long, so I sought to end it.” Neltharion told him, the magma on his body residing. 

        “Didn’t you even stop to think about the possibility of anyone being in the forest before… Oh, I don’t know… WIPING THE FREAKING FOREST OFF OF THE MAP!?!” The Faunus shot back. He was angry at Neltharion’s actions and for how careless he made that decision.

        “Nopony was nearby, I felt it earlier remember?”

        “Yet, you weren’t able to feel the Timberwolves before they attacked! If you weren’t able to feel them, then who knows what else you might’ve overlooked!!!” Came the hasty reply. “How could you be so careless!? To think that the best option was to do something that could kill everything within a huge radius without even thinking about who or what might’ve been hurt because of your actions! Maybe that’s the reason why you’re called Deathwing. Because you’re responsible for things like this.”

        Sun did not want to hear another word that the dragon had wanted to say and instead used Riyu and Jingu bang’s Bo Staff form to vault himself into the air as he went towards the rocky cliffs in the distance, far away from where Neltharion could see him. He could still feel him however due to his Seismic Sense, so there wasn’t a need for him to chase the Monkey down right now. Maybe once he had calmed down a little, he would talk some sense into him. But right now, Neltharion had to focus on one other thing. Where the hell was he!?

        'This isn't right.' He knew that the forest burning should give a response from something. The ponies the rulers even this world's tree of harmony. 'Its almost as if we aren't in the same world.'

        Deathwing looked around the ashes though. He shouldn't have reacted the way he did.



        About twenty minutes after leaving Neltharion, Sun found himself deep within the Rocky mountainside that surrounded the now burned Everfree forest. The Faunus personally had mixed feelings as of right now. He was glad to be away from the Dragon and get some fresh air that didn’t smell like ash or cinder, but also felt angry too. He wasn’t able to quite describe it, but Sun personally thought that what he said was a little too much and let his feelings get in the way of his judgement. 

        The Stray saw this moment as an opportunity to rest as he sat down in a simple Mantra meditation posture in the cliffside he was on. Back home, Sun had down Yoga as a stress reliever and a way to stretch out the muscles in his body when they were tense. To him, right now seemed like a good time as any in order for him to recompose himself. He listened to the wind as it rolled past him, carrying with it leaves and dust. But also one other thing too. The sounds of what sounded like… Children.

        Three of them to be precise.

        “Come on, Sweetie Belle. This is insane!! You’re talking about stealing gems from diamond dogs here. FLIPPING DIAMOND DOGS!!!”

        “Aww come on, Scoot. You’re not trying to chicken out are you? Besides, my sister’s really going to appreciate it if we get these gems back to her.”

        “Yeah but-. Hold on… Girls, are you seeing what ah’m seeing?”

        “What are you seeing?” The one referred to as “Scoot” asked.

        “They look like Diamond Dogs but… different.”

        That’s when a piercing roar could be heard by Sun. One that he recognized. It was one that came from the likes of Grimm Beowulf’s. Immediately, he dashed off, relying only on his hearing to find the girls that were talking just now. Hoping that he could reach them in time.



        Last night Faust thought she saw burning in the everfree forest. However that wasn't actually happening when she got there. Faust wondered if the Tree of Harmony had something to do with it. However she couldn't just walk to the forest for no reason.

        Well she could, but the ponies of the town were so stunned to hear about the princess mother that Faust couldn't walk outside without being asked questions. She would attract too much attention, but this had been going constantly. Was she seeing things that weren’t exactly real or something else. That was one thing that she vowed to herself that she must find out, for the sake of-.

        “HEEELLLPPPP!!!!!!!”



        Sun could hear the screams as he got closer to where the sounds were coming from. He was swinging through the trees, trying to use his eyes to spot anything out of the ordinary in order for him to be able to find the owners of the screaming voices. Soon, he found them. Three young fillies with their backs against a rocky wall of the ravine, each with Diamonds in their saddlebags and a broken wooden cart that was shattered to pieces. The splinters of wood had been scattered everywhere, possibly by a claw strike from one of the Grimm.

        Speaking of Grimm, unlike before, there was a MASSIVE amount of them this time. Almost twenty to be exact. They must’ve been attracted the the mischievous doings of these youngsters and whatever their plan was involving the theft of the crystals that were in their bags. Sun didn’t have time to waste as he jumped down from the cliff he was on, placing himself between them and the grimm. Immediately, Ruyi and Jingu bang were in Sun’s hands as he fired three shots that his the first two grimm. He wanted to put the monsters attention on him instead of the fillies. 

        There was no time for introductions between savior and saved as more Grimm kept flying in. Sun turned around as he fired another shot. “What are you doing!? RUN!!! I’ll deal with them!”

        The fillies obeyed immediately; the orange one even getting off a quick “Thank you” before they were out of sight. Now, the Faunus had to focus his current attention on the grimm as more of them swarmed him. With a quick backstep, he combined his weapons together to form his Bo Staff as he used to block some claw attacks. Ducking his head, Sun stepped backwards again and felt like he was being pushed into a corner. He didn’t have Neltharion alongside him this time, but he knew that this time, he didn’t need that bastard to deal with them. 

        At one point though, when Sun accidently clapped his hands together to get himself off the ground, his hair and tail began to glow. The Faunus was unclear about what was going on, but soon, two Spectral clones took form and dashed towards the Grimm horde, exploding on the first one it touched and taking out a few more after that. This may have seemed unexpected for him, but he was beginning to piece together what exactly it was. He remembered that in RWBY, his character did the same thing when his friend, Neptune, was in trouble. Which could only mean one thing. What he just did was discover how to use his Semblance. 

        But despite this accomplishment, his troubles were only beginning. As he defeated each one, his anger from before began to take form into something much more threatening that the other ones that he had fought against. One that loomed over him and resembled the likes of Cthulu. Sun could only say one thing as he looked up at the towering monstrosity that was the Grimm behemoth that stood before him as it’s skull face gleamed in the sunlight and it’s menacing eyes looked down upon him and let out a ear shattering wail.


        


        “Oh…… sh*t.”



        Deathwing felt a strange force stepping on the ground that he was walking on. With his eyes closed he went with his seismic sense to see what it was. At seeing the outline he knew this wasn't going to end well. With a flash he took back on his dragon form and head for his target.

        ‘How did it come into being?’ He wondered as the Black Shadow drew closer to the Goliath of a monster that he felt. Once he saw it though, that was another story. However, he wasn’t exactly the only one who felt it…

        Faust flew through the everfree forest. Nothing seemed off about it in the slightest however she thought she could see a distortion in the forest as if something was there. ‘That’s impossible… unless.’ With her horn glowing, she could sense a pocket dimension. Only a few beings had that kinda power.

        ‘Ok, now that I know.’ She casted a spell to look into the dimension. The first thing she saw was this dark monster like thing. Then some kinda metal dragon. But lastly… A human? No, that did not make any sense at all. Then, things began to really not make any sense when she saw it’s tail and the weapons that it was holding. They looked like Nunchaku, but also resembled… Guns? Could that have been the source of the shot she had heard earlier?

        Within the pocket dimension, she saw the monkey like human dodging the incoming tendrils from the monster and try to strike him. However, with the opponent being five times his size, his shots did not do anything to affect the beast. Normally, in a situation like this, she would possibly intervene and help the one in trouble. But it seemed like the Dragon was the one who would be filling that position instead.

        Deathwing flew right into the large creature knocking them both down. With a mighty roar he gave the beast; the dragon bit into its side before tossing him. As the thing got back up Deathwing summoned up the fire within his heart, and let loose a breath of magma heated at around 2,000 degrees. Equivalent to the temperature of an active volcano.

        The magma covered the thing in its molten rock as it died with a loud moan and faded away into shadows like how you would kill a Colossus in Shadow of the Colossus. Sun stared at Neltharion in his full dragon glory as he turned around to face him before he spoke.

        “Where did that come from?” Deathwing asked. He almost had this shadowy thought of something in the back of his head. They said something into his ears. However the thought ended as the tokens with them flew off.

        “It was my fault. They’re monsters from my world called Grimm that are attracted to negative emotions. Earlier, a bunch of beasts were after some Fillies and I fought them, but my anger towards you from earlier must’ve caused that monster to take form because of how mad I was.” Sun paused for a minute, before putting his weapons away. “I’m sorry for what I said before.”

        The dragon gave a laugh. “Don’t worry about it, I really shouldn’t have set the forest on fire.” Deathwing shrunk his form to Sun’s size, taking on the form of an Alicorn. “This wasn’t my first time facing emotional beings, I wouldn’t go to the frozen north you could encounter Wendigo’s, spirits of hate.”

        “What happened there?”

        “Well, at first, I found a Wendigo city after escaping it and had to stop the changelings from waking up their King unintentionally. On the way I met two other Displaced; Nicko and his niece Faith.” Deathwing answered. “Long story short I gave them my token… that reminds me.”

        Deathwing pulled out a black orb. “I believe this is my token, it even allows limited control over the earth and weather.”

        “Well, That could always be useful.” Sun smiled, taking out his token and flicking the golden coin towards Nel. When he had a closer look, Neltharion could see the insignia of a monkey on it. “That’s my token. Just hit it and I can help you. Doesn’t have any extra perks like yours, but at least it’s good to keep it on hand-.” Sun’s comment was interrupted when he felt a warm sensation in his hands. Opening it up, he noticed that the medal of the Paper, quill and ink bottle was glowing brightly in his hands. Soon, a small trail of light was shown on the ground.

        “I guess we follow it?” Sun asked, looking for Neltharion's opinion on what just happened.

        “I guess.” They followed the token’s trail till they came across a strange distortion of a barrier. When the medallion touched the barrier the ruins of a forest became a healthy Everfree forest. However the token took off.

        “Hey, come back!!” Sun said, racing after the token that was fleeing from them. Soon, the Faunus stopped as a tall white Alicorn landed in front of him. It took Nel a few moments to catch up, but soon, he caught up.

        The Alicorn saw the object floating at her. “You!” she yelled at the token. With her horn glowing, the medal suddenly glowed as it was cast out into the void. They heard her voice from the medal saying something.

        I am Fausticorn. If you need help I’ll be there. Be warned, I will not harm my children no matter what reality I come too. I hope we could be friends though. Signed. Lauren Faust.

        Sun stood in front of the Alicorn, puzzled. “Um…… Hello?”

        Faust turned to the two beings. “Hello.” Faust said. This situation was awkward for all three of them. “I guess I should introduce myself, I’m Lauren Faust, Queen of Equestria.”

        “Sun Wukong. Faunus.” he said, bowing before the queen.

        “Neltharion. Earth-Wander.” The dragon in alicorn form said. “Mind if I ask you something? Are you the princess’ mother?”

        Faust gave a nod. “Yes as well as mother of the spirit of chaos.” Faust answered. “May I ask why? Also, what are you both?”

        “I can answer the second question, Nel.” Sun told him as the Monkey Faunus leaned himself against a nearby tree. “Go ahead.”

        Deathwing held up the token of Faust. “I believe this is yours. It allows Multiversal travel from its target dimension.” Faust flinched at the token.

        “Wait so if that’s my token, then why did it bring me to Equestria as this.” She motioned herself with a simple head nod.

        “Well, it does look like your Cutie Mark.” Sun pointed out. 

        “Oh thanks for that.” Faust said with sarcasm. “Question how did both of you get sent here then?” Faust asked.

        “Well, that’s the thing. Like you, we have tokens as well.” The Faunus explained, showing his medallion. “One way or another, we ended up in our own version of Equestria. But these tokens allow for Displaced like us to either summon other Displaced to the world they are in or bring yourself to them. I was trying to figure out how your token worked when I got sent here like I was being pulled by a magnet.”

        “I found yours within my home.” Deathwing said. “I was just coming home after the gala and was a bit surprise to find it with my tokens from other displaced.” Deathwing recalled how he got into this mess before meeting Sun.

        “Hold on a second… You said other Displaced. So does that mean that there’s more than one?”

        “Yeah. Multiverse theory allows for the possibility of multiple Equestria’s to exist. So it means that there are multiple places for other Displaced to call home. Each one with their own ways to approach situations. Some might want to follow by the rules while others would want to do what they please.” Sun explained. “For me, I woke up in Griffonstone only to get locked up inside a wooden crate and having to use my bag of tricks to escape out of there like I was Houdini.”

        “I just came walking out of a store with a pony toy, then I ended up a forest as this and found two foals before Star Swirl found me with the tribe rulers and in one day I became a mother and a Queen.” Faust finished her story.

        “Well, one thing’s for certain. Life is strange.” Sun retorted. “But I see what you mean.”

        “I should be getting back to my Equestria, I don’t know how long it can last without its core.” Deathwing said as he tossed another orb to Faust. “If you need my help, just use my orb to call for me.”

        “Same here,” Sun said, handing a copy of his medallion to Lauren. “I’ll be happy to assist you anything, Ms. Faust.” With that, the Faunus watched as Deathwing returned to his own Equestria and copied the same method that he did in order to go home. Using his own token as a way for him to return back to Fluttershy’s cottage. As both portals closed, the Queen of Equestria was now alone in the field they were in, but possessed two powerful artifacts she could use to call upon allies when the time was right. 

        But right now, all the Alicorn needed was rest. Today was a long and weird day. Maybe some sleep could help rest her weary head.



Fluttershy’s Cottage

        By the time Sun had returned, Fluttershy and Discord were wondering on where Sun had wandered off too. The Faunus didn’t want to explain about the whole Displaced scenario as of right now because he thought that he would give the two of them a major headache if he took the time to explain every nook and cranny of it. So he told them that he just went for a walk in the Everfree Forest for a while and then came back after he lost track of time. They both giggled when they heard of the Faunus’ clumsiness and then told them about Fluttershy and her friends having to handle the “Bumblebear” that had strolled into town while he was on his walk. 

        Speaking of friends, Fluttershy realized that right now, it was as good of time as any right now in order to introduce her to her friends. The Princess was coming over as well, so it gave them the chance to meet royalty as well. Sun though, thought it would be best to greet all of them as a surprise. That way, he could have a little fun while meeting the other ponies.

        A few hours passed as Fluttershy and Discord soon arrived to see the rest of their friends as well as Gilda, who greeted the shy pegasus with an apology for her behavior the last time they saw one another. Rainbow Dash herself was wondering where this “special guest” was as both Princess Celestia and Luna entered the throne room.

        “Greetings everypony… Twilight, I don’t happen to see this Faunus that you mentioned earlier in your letter-.”

        Before she could continue anymore, a banana peel fell from the ceiling, landing on Celestia’s horn. It had everypony in the room look up, only to see Sun Wukong hanging by the Chandelier that was in the room and eating a banana.

        “Uhh…… oops.”

        “What the-!? What the hay is that?”

        “That… would be Sun.” Twilight said.

        “Aww come on, Twilight. You ruined the surprise-.”

        “SURPRISE!?! WHERE!!?” came the voice of the Pink Pony that Sun remembered seeing at the docks from Baltimare. His entrance also caused Rainbow to try and charge at him, only to be held back by Gilda as she used one of her talons to grab her tail. Sun soon dropped down from above, removing the banana peel from Celestia’s horn and apologizing for that happening.

        “So… You must be Sun Wukong.”

        “Yep. That’s me.” The Faunus introduced himself. “Hello everypony… Twilight… Fluttershy… Skittles.”

        “Hey-!!”

        Rainbow did not have any time to talk back at him as the topic soon switched to the contents of a letter that Twilight had sent to the Princesses about what Sun had told Fluttershy. About himself and also the Grimm. They had concerns for the safety of the population because of the threat that they posed to him the other day. 

        But Sun personally was thinking of something else. Something that made the Grimm seem to be the least of their worries.



The Hive

        In the outermost portion of the badlands laid the home of the Changelings. Known as The Hive, it was the place that the brethren of creatures called their home. Their queen, Chrysalis, wanted payback for being fooled of her plans at the Canterlot wedding and now; one of the other Hive Queens was meeting her. Queen Mordred. Known for being brutally fierce and for having the talent to use one’s hate to her advantage.

        They were discussing plans on how they could get the other hives to join them in their cause. The other three leaders wanted peace amongst them and their Equine neighbors. But Mordred and Chrysalis saw peace only to be possible if they were thrown out of the picture. As their conversation paused though, an unknown figure walked into the room, surprising everypony. It had black garments that covered its body, red hair, and a metal facemask that covered its face. In addition, its head had two small horns along its sides.

        “I apologize for my intrusion, but I want to simply talk to you two. I believe that we have some common interests.” at that moment, ten guards from all sides appeared around the figure as he sighed.

        “Not until you get past my ten-.”

        SHNNG!!!

        “-dead guards.” Chrysalis corrected herself, surprised at how one simple cut was able to cause that much devastation. “Alright, speak your piece, but be quick about it.”

        “I believe that the two of us have a common enemy.” He said, showing a playing card with an image of Princess Celestia on it. This caused Chrysalis to grit her teeth as he sliced the card in half to recapture her attention. “Allow me to assist you in any way that I possibly can so you can finally deal with the ponies that had defeated you once before.”

        Both Chrysalis and Mordred were intrigued. His skills were quite unordinary, but if he were to help them, then they would definitely gain an advantage in having the other hives follow under them. “You possessed combat skills that are impressive and useful to our cause. Tell us, what is your name?”

        The Faunus smiled as he spoke once more to the two queens as he turned to leave.




        “My name is Adam. Adam Taurus. And let me make it clear about one thing. I’m helping you because of my own reasons and if you try to manipulate me like your predecessors, you will end up with your heads dismembered from your bodies. Just like they did.” With the chill of fear sent down the queen’s spines, Adam proceeded to leave the throne room. He walked out into the massive caves of the Hive, looking amongst the changeling society aas he gritted his teeth.

        He had a lot of work to do if he were to make them proper soldiers.




End Tail 3

> Tail 4- Party Animal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Party Animal




Fluttershy’s Cottage (Next day)

        The conversation at the Castle of Friendship took a LOT longer than what Sun originally expected. Mostly because the Faunus needed a simple crash course on all the species here and the dangers in different places such as the Everfree forest, the Badlands and the Arkham Asylum of Equestria, Tartarus. It got to the point where Sun had to crash at Fluttershy’s place because the explanation from Twilight (AKA, Bookworm) went all the way into the late hours of the evening and through dinner. Through all of yesterday, he had been making mental nicknames for some of the ponies he already met. Rainbow Dash was Skittles, Rarity was Drama Queen (After overreacting to when he said that he sleeps in the clothes he was wearing), Celestia was Sunshine, and Pinkie Pie was what he called the “Party Pony”. He was originally going to call her party animal inside his head, but then he thought that it would sound like discrimination if he called these ponies animals. 

        Note to self: Do NOT sing Maroon 5 around Fluttershy or the others.

        Anyways, it was currently about half an hour or so after the Sun first rose and the Faunus was with Fluttershy downstairs, having breakfast. He was having a Banana and lending a helping hand- er hoof to the yellow pegasus and helping give Angel and the others their food. 

        “There you go, all of you now have your breakfast-.” A rumbling sound moaned a little in the room as Fluttershy turned to Sun, who was then looking at her in embarrassment.

        “Um…”

        “Oh my! I forgot to make you breakfast!! I’m so sorry, Sun!”

        “It’s okay. Really.”

        “No it isn’t. You didn’t each much of last night’s dinner and all you had this morning is some fruit. There has to be something that can feed you.” Fluttershy said, looking through the cupboards. She then paused for a moment, looking back at the Faunus. “Umm…… What exactly do you eat?”

        “Well… Please don’t get scared when I tell you this okay?” Sun said. Fluttershy nodded as the Faunus sighed. “I’m an Omnivore. I eat both meat and vegetables. But trust me… I don’t eat ponies.”

        “Oh, so you’re like Henry.” She said, causing Sun to raise an eyebrow as she went into the fridge for a second. He wondered why would she compare him to the bear. “Bears like him are carnivores, so every once in a while, I go to the market and purchase some fish so that way he can have the nutrients he needs to grow big and strong.” She finished her sentence by flying softly over to the bears head and hugging him softly. That’s when her eyes widened a little. 

        “Oh no… I forgot that I used the last of the fish today for Henry’s meal! I’m sorry Sun, but until I get back from the Market, you’re going to have to wait a little on breakfast.”

        “That’s okay. Would you like me to come with you?” He offered, causing Fluttershy to blush a little. 

        “N-no no, it’s okay. Just keep an eye on e-everyone while I’m gone okay?” Fluttershy didn’t even get the chance to hear Sun say yes as she slammed the door behind her. The Faunus himself looked over at Angel and the other animals, who were looking at him a little… Mischievously.

        “Hey? What’s with all the funny looks?” Sun asked, confused by the rabbit’s expression of him tapping his foot with folded arms and a raised eyebrow. It sighed, looking back at Henry who was writing on a pad of paper with a marker like he did before the other day. Around now was when Discord was floating from downstairs in a morning robe with a D sewn in gold on his Pink Robe.

        He yawned a little as he glanced around the room, seeing Sun, but no Fluttershy.

        “Hey, where’s Flutters this morning?”

        “At the market. Ran out of fish for Henry and went to go get some. However, she was acting a bit… weird on the way out.”

        “What kind of weird?” The spirit of chaos asked. 

        “The kind of weird where she rushes out the door when I offer to help her at the market.” Sun said. This got Discord curious. So, he snapped a talon, having his robe turn into a business suit and he was holding a clipboard. “What was she like…?”

        “Discord, I don’t think this is the right time for Twenty questions.” Sun said. “All I remember was her stuttering and hurrying out the door.”

        “Hmm…” The Draconequus scratched his chin. “Maybe I’ll look into it when I have time in my schedule.”

        “Wait… You have a schedule?”

        “Of course! All masters of chaos have a schedule. And on today’s agenda, I’m meeting with the Princesses for an early morning brunch. Which reminds me, Toodles!!!” Before the Faunus was able to say anything, Discord disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. Sun sighed, facepalming himself. 

        Looking at Angel, the Faunus then asked something. “Does this happen often?” The nod of the bunny’s head answered his question as he looked at the rest of the animals. He began to wonder what else was possible as he looked around him. Then, he felt something in his pocket as he pulled it out of his pocket. It was a note.

        Come to the castle today after 1 o’clock. There will be a surprise for you. Hehe…
                -Anonymous Pony

        Sun smiled. “Well, I’m game. I just need to stop by Rarity’s first.” He told himself as he got out a Small notebook, writing a few things down on his personal To Do list. He also noticed a small bag with a few gold coins inside and a little tag attached to it. He recognized Discord’s writing. It seemed like the Draconequus left behind a little gift for the Faunus. Around two-hundred bits. It wasn’t much for the Faunus, but it was shown as a gift of appreciation. Why? Well, Discord was appreciating the fact that without Sun, life would be somewhat boring for him and he wouldn’t have another friend to talk too.

        Before he left, Fluttershy had returned with the fish she bought from the market. Just as he was about to head out the door no less. “Oh uh, Hey!”

        “Oh my! You seem to be in a hurry! Where are you going?”

        “Rarity’s place. I was thinking about what she said the other night and realized that I might need some extra clothes. Plus, Discord left behind a little something before he left earlier today to go see the Princesses.” Sun said, showing her the small sack of bits. “I’ll be back soon.” 

        With that, the Faunus left. Leaving Fluttershy to wonder… did Pinkie Pie ever give him an invitation for the surprise party she was going to throw for him later today?



Carousel Boutique

        Sweetie Belle was bored. Her sister was taking her sweet time in the shower and all she had to keep her company from her boredom was her pet cat Opalescence (or Opal for short). Her friends were probably still doing her chores and right now, she had already finished hers and was waiting on her sister so she could tell her. The last few times that the filly tried to tell her when Rarity was in the shower, Sweetie Belle told that the act was completely rude and unladylike. 

        That was when the Bell at the door shook a little, causing the ears of the filly to perk up. Was it a customer? Oh no… what if they were looking for Rarity?! Think Sweetie Belle, think!! Then, the idea came to her. She would try to act as her sister’s assistant and distract the customer for the time that they were here. With a plan in her mind, the filly trotted over to the front of the room happily with a spring in her hoofstep.

        “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique. How can I-?”

        She stopped moments after opening her eyes and seeing the individual that had entered. The bipedal figure that looked a lot like a Hairless ape. It even had the tail of one!! She felt like she was going to panic and felt the need to do so when she heard it talk.

        “Excuse me… Is Ms. Rarity here?”

        Sweetie Belle squeaked a little for a little, mostly in fear. But also out of being nervous. Was this individual a monster?...... Wait… if he was, then she could catch him!! Hay, maybe get a monster catching cutie mark for it! For a moment, she zipped over to the back room, causing Sun to look over the desk and see if he accidently scared the little filly. However, what he got instead was a fishing net knocking him over the desk and onto the floor. The motion caused the paperweights and tape dispenser on the desk to fall over and a papers to fall down as well. 

        “I gotcha!!”

        “What in the name of Celestia is-?!” The cry from Rarity echoed as she rushed out of the bathroom, her mane still wet as she saw the chaos that was happening.

        “Rarity! Look!! I caught a monster that was looking for you!!”

        “Monster?” Rarity sighed, facehoofing herself as she used a towel that was being held in her telekinetic magic to dry her mane. “Sweetie, Sun isn’t a monster. He’s a friend of Fluttershy’s that I met last night. He’s a gentlecolt despite the fact that he has a lack of attire.”

        “Actually, I was here in order to talk to you about that.” Sun said as Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. “But it’s a little hard to move when you have yourself tangled in a fishing net.”

        “Sweetie Belle. Please get the net off of Sun. Afterwards, you can go outside and play with your friends.”

        “Thanks sis!!” The little unicorn replied, listening to Rarity as she ran out the door seconds later.  Sun smiled a little as he tried to straighten himself up. “Cute filly. She’s your little sister?”

        “Why yes. She can be quite a hoof-ful at times, but I still love her nonetheless.” Rarity soon paused for a minute, gasping a bit as she looked back at the Faunus. “Oh, my apologies!! I forgot to ask if you would like anything! Can I get you a drink? Tea? Coffee?”

        “Actually, I was going to ask if you help with my…… clothing issue.”

        That stopped Rarity immediately in her tracks. “Y-you want me to… make you some clothes?”

        “Just a few things to get me by. Like a couple of collared shirts and maybe a tie to go with one for formal occasions. I can pay you if that helps-.” Sun offered, taking out the Bit sack from his pocket. That was, until Rarity cut him off.

        “There wouldn’t be a need to pay Darling. You’re a friend of Fluttershy and any friend of hers is a friend of mine. However, I will need some… measurements from you.”

        Sun wasn’t able to ask anything else the moment her levitation spell was on the measuring tape. Rarity wanted to make sure that she got everything right from the neck size to the sleeves and even the waist and the legs. The Unicorn even went to the extend of measuring the ankles so the pants were long enough and comfortable for the Faunus. After what felt like almost an hour, Sun was relieved that Rarity had all the numbers she needed. Around then was also when Rainbow Dash entered the room from the window.

        “Hey Rares? What’s up?” The Pegasus asked, now noticing the Faunus flat out on the floor. “Why is Sun here?”

        “D-don’t…… ask……” Sun panted, almost completely exhausted as Rarity was humming to herself and using her magic with the sewing machine and fabric. Around now was when she noticed Rainbow, floating above Sun while poking him in the head with a hoof.

        “Oh my… Rainbow, how many times have I asked you to please use the front door instead of barging in through the Window?”

        “All the time?” She replied as Sun slowly got up to a seated position on the floor.

        “And why do you keep on doing it?”

        “Because it’s easier to go through a window then zip through a door and knock it off it’s hinges?”

        “She’s got a point.” Sun added on, supporting Rainbow’s logic. “Besides, I don’t think you want another mess after what happened earlier.”

        “What happened earlier?” Rainbow then asked. 

        “Sweetie Belle thought I was a monster and used a fishing net to try and catch me, causing me to be pulled over the front desk and onto my face.” This caused the pegasus to burst into laughter in the room as Rarity almost messed up with the stitching.

        “Maybe I should come back tomorrow. Does that work with you?”

        “Sure thing-.” Before the Unicorn could finish, Rainbow Dash flew out the window in a burst of Speed with Sun following suit. “- and for goddesses sake, USE THE DOOR!!!”

        “SORRY!!!” was the only thing she heard from Sun before she sighed again. She met many ponies over the years. But to her, Sun… was something else.



Castle of Friendship

        For the most part, Sun was having a good time relaxing and running along the rooftops of Ponyville. But soon, the time was slowly ticking closer to 1 o’clock and Sun knew that he couldn’t make anypony wait on him. Despite the reckless personality of his, the Faunus still had his priorities. 

        He began to wonder what exactly was going on. For one thing, there was barely anypony in the streets and inside the stores as he came closer to the castle. Another thing was that the windows looked to be closed along with the curtains. Either the palace was boarded up for some reason or somepony just enlisted in Witness Protection. He decided to take this approach like how Rainbow Dash would. Seeing that there was a window left ajar on the top right balcony, he would allow himself to not let any opportunities go to waste. 

        As soon as he got into the window, he was in pitch black darkness. But to the Faunus, this wasn’t a problem. He can see a little more clearly in the dark than other beings. In fact. He can make out the railing and staircase that was too his right and a single spot in the center where there was nothing there that he could possibly break. Leaping over the rails, he slowly fell down and landed in the middle of the room. Then, after looking around a little more, Sun said something.

        “Okay, Pinkie. I can clearly see you and a lot of ponies all over the room, so mind telling me what’s-.”

        That’s when the light instantly shined into the room and the sound of party cannons going off caused him to skid backward, flinching a little as the light affected his vision.

        “Silly Sunny! How did you know about everypony being here for your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ surprise party!? Did somepony spoil the Surprise!!?!”

        “No, I’ve never seen this guy before!!”

        “Is he safe?”

        “We can trust him! He’s a friend of the Princess!”

        A few more murmurs echoed throughout the room before Sun was able to catch everyone’s attention. “Guys, I’m okay. It’s just that I can see in the dark a lot better that normal ponies. So despite everything being pitch black, I can still see the outlines of everything and everypony in the room. Oh, and before I forget, thank you for this party Pinkie. I really appreciate it!!”

        “Yippee!!!” Pinkie pie Squealed in delight, belly flopping herself into the crowd as the blue haired DJ by the speakers started the music. For quite some time, everypony was enjoying the celebration thrown for Sun. Even Fluttershy and the rest of her friends were here too. Sun even saw Pinkie try to dance something that reminded him of the Cuban shuffle. 

        However, outside was a different story. Two mares had just returned from the city of Coltcago and were returning home to the sounds of loud music and a lot of cheering.

        “Hey, was there a party that Pinkie Pie was throwing that we didn’t know about?”

        “I don’t know Lyra. Maybe we should ask somepony.”

        Soon, the two mares found the pony to ask. She was the roommate of the DJ who was playing inside the castle and informed them that the party being hosted was for a “Faunus” called Sun Wukong. However, upon describing the being, only one thought came into the minds of one of the mares. A mint green unicorn named Lyra Heartstrings.

        “I found myself a human.”



        For Sun, everything was going fine. He was surprised by a random party by Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and him were now on even ground and the Pegasus wasn’t trying to beat the pulp out of him and he was even able to meet face to face with the DJ, whose name was Vinyl Scratch. Twilight herself was having a lot of fun and so was everypony else.

        However, all the fun soon came to a screeching halt when onepony bucked the door to the castle down, sending Spike flying into Applejack and knocking over the chocolate fountain that was set up. Everypony, including Sun in the back of the room turned to see what the commotion was all about. Soon though, Rainbow Dash was grabbing his head and pulling him underneath a table.

        “Dude, you need to go. Like NOW!!”

        “What the hell has gotten into you? You were having a lot of fun five minutes ago-.”

        “Things have changed-.”

        Soon, the two of them heard a loud scream that came from what sounded like a mare. “WHERE IS IT!?! WHERE IS THE HUMAN!!!?”

        “ …… Okay, what?”

        “It’s Lyra. She’s one of the townsfolk that’s like super OBSESSED with humans. Normally, they’re seen as a common ponytail. But She believes in their existence and given her, she might see you as one.” Rainbow told her as she looked back up to see her back turned. She also happened to see an open window that was being held open by a potted plant. “Okay, you see that window?”

        “Yeah, what about it?”

        “Sneak out through there and afterwards, HIDE!!” She whispered. “Lyra won’t stop until she finds you.”

        Taking her advice, Sun crawled underneath the refreshment tables and then used his reflexes to reach the windowsill. However, as he was going to exit, the pot that was previously there fell to the ground, causing it to shatter and the noise to attract Lyra’s attention.

        “Oh F*** me.”

        “I FOUND ONE!!!”

        “Sun, RUN!!!”

        The Faunus didn’t have to be told twice as he bursted forth the moment his feet touched the ground. He was extremely fast for running on two legs, but soon realized that trying to outrun a determined Unicorn on a mission was freaking impossible. He didn’t want to use his weapons since he rather not try to harm anypony, but needed something that can be used to distract Lyra. 

        He found that distraction once he slipped into an alleyway and ran into a familiar face.

        “Y-you-!”

        “Shhh……” Sun told the young filly named Sweetie Belle that he encountered earlier at the Carousel Boutique. “Sweetie Belle right? I need your help. Do you see that unicorn named Lyra that’s running all over town?”

        “You mean Loco Lyra? What about her?”

        “I need somepony in order to distract her. She thinks I’m a human.”

        “Aren’t you one though?”

        “No, I’m a Faunus.” Sun told her. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to explain.” The Faunus reached into his pocket, taking out the sack of bits he had and handing it to the young filly. “If you can gather your friends and distract her for me, then you can split this between your friends. It’s around two hundred bits.”

        The Unicorn filly didn’t need to be told twice. After all, she was one for any opportunity for extra pocket money. “Deal!”



        Lyra continued to race through the streets of Ponyville, looking for the bipedal being she believed to be a human. She had told BonBon numerous times before that humans were real and now, that yellow maned boy named “Sun” was the only way that she can prove that she was not crazy. For a second, she thought that she saw something go around sugarcube corner and gave chase. But, when she arrived, the Unicorn was greeted instead by a few fillies that she recognized from Ms. Cheerlie’s class.

        “Excuse me Ma’am. But could you please stay where you are and have fun with us? We are a distraction and we are completely distracting you!”

        The Unicorn for a moment became utterly confused, but soon decide to go around the three of them. Only for them to appear a few moments later. 

        Soon though, Lyra gave in. “Oh my faust, I am being completely distracted!!”

        From the roof of the town hall, Sun was chuckling to himself. He honestly can’t believe that actually worked. It seemed like Fillies would do anything for a few extra bits. He was in the clear for right now. But on the way to Fluttershy’s cottage, something else was waiting for them.

        “Oh come on, not you guys again.” Sun groaned. Waiting for him at the cottage was two Puma like Grimm with Bone claws and Skulls for helms. He personally wanted to call them Sabertooth’s because of their giant fangs, but did not have the time to do that once they lunged for his head.

        Thinking quickly, the Faunus pulled out Ruyi Bang and fired once the first Grimm was close enough to where Sun could blow it’s head off. For the second one, he had his weapons take form into the Bo Staff of his and used it to deflect the incoming claw attacks. Next, he leaped up into the air, landing on the grimms back like he was riding a pogo stick and fired again. The Grimm must’ve been attracted to him because of Lyra’s determination and Pride in order to catch him. Either that or something else. For right now though, he needed to get inside the cottage and stay low until Lyra had calmed down… A LOT.



The Hive (Barracks)

        CLANG!! CLING!!! CRASH!! 

        Sounds of weapons echoed through the caves of the hive and the sounds of bodies crashing into one another caused the walls of the hive’s Barracks to shake as the drones inside were being tested one by one. Tested by the queen's newest warrior. He had been fighting all of them for hours, trying to make them hardened warriors instead of the fragile beings that they were. As he swung his sword a few more times and kicked another drone in the chest, he sheathed his blade and offered a hand to the henchmen that was on the floor. 

        “Why did you hesitate?” The Swordsman asked the drone.

        “I was lead to believe that this was only a training exercise, sir.” The Changeling replied, standing upright on its hooves as it looked at the seasoned warrior. In an instant, it drew its sword and stuck its blade by the drones neck.

        “Let this be a lesson for you. Any moment you hesitate is another moment that your foe could use to kill you. Do not hesitate to finish the job that you started.” The Red maned warrior returned to his standing upright position as he heard the sound of hooves. Chrysalis had just walked in along with Queen Mordred. 

        “Adam, I assume that our drones are capable in combat as much as you are?” She asked. 

        “Pfft, it’ll do for now.” Adam replied. “These maggots have a long way to go before I can consider them as soldiers. But with tonight’s “event” going on, maybe they’ll prove me wrong.”

        “Wait a second, what do you mean by that?” One of the drones dared to speak out of turn, leading to Adam to reach for the grip of his weapon.

        “Adam, this one is just confused. They possibly all are.” the queen smiled. “Listen up, all of you!! Tonight, we’re taking the first step into reforming the changeling hive. Mordred’s Kin and ours will be preparing a surprise for our fellow queens. It is time that we take control of our own Destiny and not let the other queens decide what we can and can’t do. And if they resist…… Well, if they resist, there’s one thing that you can do.”

        Kill them all.

        Within minutes, cries of battle could be heard throughout the caves of the Hive… The sounds of a declaration of war.

        The Siege had begun.




End Tail 4

> Tail 5- Siege
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Siege




The Hive (Cobalt Colony)

        Inside the hive, there were two central colonies that coexisted amongst one another. The first was the Crimson Colony, a state that focused on the might of the Changelings to prove that they can not be so easily crushed. An alliance between Queen Chrysalis and Queen Mordred. The other was known as the Cobalt Colony. It was more focused on proving peaceful relations with all kinds of species and not just one another. This allegiance was between three other queens of the hive. Queen Amaranth, Queen Violet, and lastly, Queen Solana. 

        Each one of the queens and their brood were represented by a different color. Chrysalis was represented with a darkened Teal green. Amaranth was a Sapphire blue. Violet, the color purple. Solana; a warm sun like orange. Mordred… the color of Blood red. 

        Unknown to the thousands of changelings that lived inside the walls of the cobalt colony, the streets of the city were soon going to painted with the same color. Blood red.



        “Reson, please settle down. It’s too late to be playing around right now.”

        “But Mooooooom!!” came the cries of Prince Reson, son of Amaranth. “You promised that you would play with me!”

        “Yes I did darling and we did play earlier today, but it is past your bedtime. For both you and your sister.” The Queen told her child as her daughter, Honeydew, soon trotted up beside her brother. Along with her, came the presence of a Male changeling. One with a Black mane, dark leather coat and light cerulean eyes. “Ah, Kreed. You’ve arrived just in time.”

        Kreed was the name of the personal caretaker and bodyguard for Amaranth’s pair of Twins as well as the queen. He was skilled in weaponry and also multiple kinds of magic, the two most important tools that one would need for a job such as his. “My queen, Solana and Violet are waiting in the Grand Hall.”

        “Excellent. I’ll be on my way. Please take the children to their quarters and make sure that the others are there too. Afterwards, you are dismissed for the evening.”

        “Thank you, my queen.” The guard bowed, turning his attention towards the two twins. “Come along now. You will be able to see your mother in the morning.”

        “Good night mommy!” Honeydew squealed, hugging her mother as the three of them left the hall. They made their way through the corridors of the palace to the winding streets of the Chrysm Undercity, passing through commoners and Changeling nobles alike. However, just as the three of them were approaching the living quarters for the royal children, platoons of guards and drones passed them, equipped with spears and other weapons.

        “Kreed?” 

        The single word from Honeydew caught his attention as he looked down at the youngling. “Yes, Honeydew?”

        “What is that?” She then asked, pointing a hoof at something she saw in the distance. It looked like small source of light. Almost like fireflies. However, Kreed felt that something was off with these “fireflies”. Especially since they were rising in the air… and coming towards them. 

        “Oh no…”

        “What’s wrong Kreed? They’re just Fireflies right-?”

        BOOOM!!!

        The “fireflies” soon collided with the walls of the Colony, causing the whole city to shake. Kreed himself had to pull the two children he was with by his side and teleport away from the falling debris that almost crushed them. Kreed himself was beginning to worry. What struck the walls of the colony were not ordinary projectiles, but instead were Magic Enhanced Boulders that would set fire to anything it touched. Flames began to spread quickly through the streets as the screams of civilians could now be heard alongside the clash of weapons and the battle cries of soldiers. 

        “Reson, take Honeydew and get out of here!! Use the tunnel to the surface!”

        “What about you!?” Reson asked. “We can’t leave without you or Mom!!”

        “I’m going back to see if she’s okay and come back. Just GO!” Without objecting to the words of his bodyguard, the young changeling took his sister with him and went through the door that lead downstairs to the escape tunnel. Now, Kreed’s primary focus was to get to the queens and fast. Trotting out the door, he unsheathed his sword and began to combat the intruders. To his shock, the invaders were Changelings had the features that would show that they were under the Allegiance of both Chrysalis and Mordred. This was just insane! Why would they attack now? He didn’t have time to think of the reason’s why as he dodged an incoming magic blast and countered it with a Sword thrust to the attacker's chest. This was followed by two other warriors, which he dealt with by using a spell that pulled the two of them together as he cut them across the throat. 

        In the Midst of the fighting, Kreed heard a series of screams. Ones that sounded Identical to the voice of Amaranth and Violet. Quickening his pace, he hacked and slashed through those that tried to cut him down and harm him. But by the time he reached the grand hall, the sight he saw was horrifying. 

        A bipedal monster, one with red hair and a mask covering it’s face, just used his blade to stab the queen that he served loyally through the heart. She dropped to the floor, alongside the dismembered bodies of the two other queens.

        “NOOOOO!!!!”

        The monster turned, spitting at the ground. “Well, look what we have here. More lambs to the slaughter.” It lunged at Kreed with amazing speed, but the changeling teleported himself out of the way and reappeared by the side of his queen. Amaranth was losing blood and was going to move on to the next life. But before doing so… she said four words to the guardian protector.

        “P-please……… protect m-my…… children……”

        As he weeped internally and closed the eyes of his queen, Kreed now began to let Anger set in. Blindly, he charged towards the murderer of the queens, blade drawn at the ready. However, despite his best efforts and almost being able to strike him, the killer was too fast for him and in one single strike, he shattered the guardians blade into pieces.

        “So this was the great protector of the queens that they were boasting about? I have to say, I am very disappointed. You’re not even worth my valued time.” He drew back, launching himself forward at the wounded guardian. However, Kreed was not going to let this monster kill him. He had a promise to keep and it was one that he was planning to fulfill. Closing his eyes, he teleported himself away seconds before the monster’s blade could hurt him.

        “Pfft… Clever little bastard.” The Faunus in the room told himself. 

        “I see that you have completed your task, Adam.” The voice of Queen Chrysalis filled the blood soaked grand hall as she and Mordred stepped inside alongside a few of their personal guard.

        “Yes. However, one of them escaped. The Queen’s Guardian that you told me about. He was in very bad shape though so I expect him to die of either exhaustion or blood loss.”

        “What about the children?” Mordred asked. “Amaranth had offspring as well as the other two queens. If they’re still alive, then who knows what kind of trouble they’ll cause if they remain that way.”

        “I did not see any children in the room when I entered.” Adam told the queens. “My guess is that they’re hiding somewhere in the city.” Chrysalis sighed. Turning towards the guards behind her, she cleared her throat and prepared to give orders to her drones and the soldiers outside. One of the benefits from being disguised as Princess Cadence during the wedding was that she was able to pick up on using the “Royal Canterlot Voice”. A perfect way for her to give orders to her troops.

        “LISTEN UP, YOU FOOLS!!! I ORDER YOU TO SEARCH THIS ENTIRE CITY FOR THE KIN OF THE FALLEN QUEENS THAT HAVE BEEN SLAIN. ANY CIVILIANS THAT RESIST WILL BE SEEN AS TRAITORS AND WILL BE KILLED IMMEDIATELY!! THOSE WHO ASSIST YOU IN YOUR SEARCH WILL JOIN OUR RANKS OF YOUR FELLOW BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!! THIS IS A DECREE FROM YOUR QUEEN! YOU ARE DISMISSED!!!”

        Many cries from the warriors outside were heard as the chaos that came afterwards took fold. However, unknown to the queens, was that the brethren of the fallen were already miles away.



Next Morning… 

        Run. That was all that could be done and all that they could do. If you were too slow, you would get killed. If you stopped, the same thing would happen. For both Reson and Honeydew, they were now on the surface, in the dark, and on their own. When they found their bodyguard Kreed, he was passed out and severely hurt. Not to mention bearing the news of what happened to their mother. But this was not a time to look back and instead, look forward. Using what limited knowledge that they knew about the Everfree Forest, the first thing that the two of them tried to do was find a shelter for them to hide. Now, the sun was rising and the light was shining upon the land. 

        “Honeydew, please stay with Kreed.” Reson told his sister, who was sitting by Kreed’s side. “I’ll be back soon.”

        “Wait! Don’t go!! I don’t want to lose you too!!”

        “Somepony needs to find some Fauna Leaves for him. Kreed told me before that the nutrients can help close open wounds. Not only that, but I’m the only one out of the both of us who has seen them before.” The Changeling told her. “I’ll try to find some berries for you as well. I shouldn’t be gone long.”

        “O...okay-. Just please…… be careful.” 

        “I will sis…” Reson assured his sibling, leaving the canopy of the tree they were under and into the forest. Despite his age, Reson had been taught a lot of things by Kreed from nature and survival skills to swordsmanship. He was going to teach him and Honeydew how to master magic, but that was put on hold because of the current situation. Reson right now, did not change into a disguise. Mostly because he thought that he didn’t need it. The coast was clear and the three of them were MILES away from Ponyville. Nopony would come all the way out here because of the monsters that lurked in these woods. From Timberwolves to Hydra’s, everything that the ponies feared many changelings like Reson would use to their advantage. Mostly because the monsters would ignore them.

        He soon began to stop trotting, his eyes now seeing what exactly he was looking for. Fauna leaves. There was a whole pile of them out in the open. Like they had recently fallen from the nearby tree onto the ground. He didn’t even think that the scenario would possibly be a setup. Reson was about to find out first-hoof how dangerous the Everfree forest could be.

        Holding a branch that had both blueberries and the leaves he needed, The changeling first began to trot back to the enclosure that his sister was hiding at. However, a loud scratching sensation against the nearby trees caused him to stop and slowly turn around. His gaze met the ones of a Black and Red beast that resembled a Dire Wolf. It’s head was hardened like Bone and it’s eyes were savagely red. The one main thing that caught Reson off guard was that unlike most creatures in the Everfree, it started to chase him.

        Dropping the branch out of panic, he began to gallop as fast as he can as the beast chased him. He needed to warn the others and get them out to safety, but those plans had to immediately change when he heard her sister’s screams. “HONEYDEW!!”

        He soon caught up. But now, the situation was a LOT worse. Two other creature that looked exactly the same had cornered his sister and Kreed was still unconscious. “Are you okay!?”

        “Yeah, but what are these things!!?”

        “I don’t know. But whatever they are, they’re trying to kill us. Stay by me!”

        Honeydew did so, panicking as she hung onto her brother for dear life. Reson was trying to think of a plan to fight these things. But soon, something else caught their attention.

        BANG!!

        Reson didn’t know where the loud sound came from, but whatever it was caused the first monster to disintegrate into thin air. Two more loud bangs rang out, each with the same result. Soon though, both the twins found the source of the noise as a new figure stepped out. A bipedal one.

        “Are you two okay?” It asked. Soon, it noticed the hurt changeling on the ground and then looked back at the twins. “Come with me. I know a pony that can help treat him.”

        “W-who are you?” Honeydew asked as the figure got on one knee. It’s monkey like tail curling around Kreed and holding him tightly.

        “My name is Sun Wukong. Now… Tell me…… what were the three of you doing in the Everfree Forest?” He asked. “Where are your parents?” Both twins looked at each other with expressions of pain and sorrow. 

        “They’re…… gone.”

        “Oh… I’m sorry for your loss.” The Faunus apologized. “I’m sorry if I forgot to ask you two this earlier, but what are your names?”

        “I’m Reson and this is my Twin Sister, Honeydew. The one you're holding with your tail is Kreed, our protector.” 

        “Protector?” Sun asked, wondering a little by what the youngling meant. “You mean like a bodyguard? I honestly didn’t expect Changelings to have bodyguards.” That statement caught both Honeydew and Reson off guard. This figure knew about the Changelings? How was that possible?

        “Y-you know about our kind?”

        “A little. Only heard about what they’re capable of and the actions of Queen Chrysalis a few years ago during a wedding. Well, that’s what Twilight told me.”

        Again, more shock. Reson recognized the name. Twilight was Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia and Alicorn Princess of Ponyville. Despite this sounding bad, the changeling then thought that this… could help them. He, his sister, and his guard had been severed from any possible way to help fight back against Chrysalis and it was unknown if their friends were still alive. In order to avenge his mother, the young prince needed new allies.

        “Hmm… Would it be possible if we could meet this individual that you speak of?”

        “Possibly,” Sun told him. “However, we should focus on helping your injured friend.” Sun said, now reaching Fluttershy’s cottage. The Pegasus herself was outside checking the mail in her mailbox when she saw Sun with the three changelings. At first, she was beyond scared, but Sun told her that they needed her help and when he informed them of the situation, the Element of Kindness welcomed them inside. They needed to act fast if they were to help save the life of the protector named Kreed.

        Discord himself was also quite shocked by the events that transpired. But he soon was brought up to speed and even volunteered to be the Messenger and inform what was going on to the Princess of Friendship. Fluttershy and the Faunus proceeded to taking the injured Changeling to the upstairs guestroom, where they laid him down on the sofa and Fluttershy proceeded to getting the first aid kit and rubbing alcohol in order to clean his open wounds. As they applied it to his cuts and scrapes, the pain caused him to wake up from his unconscious state, groaning in agony as he opened his eyes. His gaze being set on both Sun and Fluttershy as they tended to him.

        “W-what-?”

        “Easy there, my friend.” Sun told him. “You’re in no shape to be moving around right now.”

        “W-who are you?” He then asked.

        “My name is Sun and this is my friend Fluttershy. We brought you into her cottage so you can recover. Reson and Honeydew are here as well.”

        That caught the guardian by surprise, leading to his next question. “A-are they…… safe?” Sun’s only response was a nod and a warning that what they were going to do next was going to hurt like hell. The Faunus then applied a rubbing alcohol soaked cloth to a few of the bodyguard’s scars, causing him to flinch and groan in pain. But after a few moments, he was able to overcome the painful stinging sensation as Fluttershy applied bandages on his wounds. He then thanked the two of them for their kindness, followed by his reaction to seeing Reson and Honeydew entering the room. Relieved to see that Kreed was okay.

        The one thing that surprised all three of them though was when Princess Twilight Sparkle came into the room moments later. Sun had to tell them that he specifically asked for her to come so that way, they could tell both of them about why they were alone and in the Everfree Forest. Kreed himself sighed, groaning a little as he adjusted himself upright on the sofa he was on.

        “Well… I am honored to see a princess in the flesh during these times.”

        “Your manners are kind, but it does not answer the question I asked you. What were you three doing out in the Everfree Forest?”

        The Changeling sighed to himself, before asking a new question. “To understand that, you must know a little more about us. Have you ever heard of the Hive?”

        Both Sun and Twilight shook their heads, answering Kreed’s question. “The hive is like Canterlot to ponykind. A thriving undercity where our kind has lived in peace. However, these past five years have been taking a toll on our society. It all started when our king, Zektor, died unknowingly. After his passing, the leadership of the hive was split between the five queens that had King Zektor as her husband. You may know one of them I believe.”

        “Chrysalis…”

        “Right, the Queen of Jealousy as they call her. The other four were Mordred, Queen of Anger; Violet, Queen of Fear; Amaranth, Queen of Sorrow; and Solana; Queen of Joy. Each one was said to reflect Zektor’s emotions as a whole. In the first year, things proved to work out alright. But there were shortages of what we needed to feast on.”

        “Love…” Twilight said.

        “You may think that, but that is only one of the things. Since Chrysalis is Jealousy, changelings under her could only feast on that and most of the jealousy they look for is in the form of love. Mordred’s brood feasted on the hate of others, Violet’s kind feasted on the feelings of scared children, Amaranth’s feasted on the sadness of the mourning and Solana’s kind feasted on happiness.”

        “Wait… if there are five queens, how can one tell which one you have served under?” Sun asked out of curiosity.

        “You can tell through the color of one’s eyes or the color of their mane for those that have one. My eyes are blue and I served under Queen Amaranth. The two younglings that you met on the way up here are her children. Prince Reson and Princess Honeydew.”

        Neither Sun nor Twilight could hold in their shock. But instead of interrupting, they let Kreed continue with his story. “Anyways, like all political arguments, the five queens started to take sides. But this only occurred after what you would call the Royal Canterlot Wedding, when she invaded. It was to show the other queens that she, nor her species were to be considered as weak or fragile. Mordred and her formed an alliance and the Hive then split into two colonies. There’s being called the Crimson Colony and ours being called the Cobalt Colony. Tensions ran high as time dragged on. Like a cauldron of boiling water that was bubbling at the top. Last night… It spilled. The Crimson Colony, along with a powerful monster, laid a siege on our colony. I saw Chrysalis’s monster kill the queen I serve along with her fellow rulers. When I tried to fight him, he shattered my sword in one strike. I was left fatally injured, but had to keep a promise and make sure Reson and Honeydew were safe. I just hope the others are okay.”

        “Others?” The Alicorn asked.

        “Other Children. Solana’s son and Violet’s daughter. I did not see them in the city when the siege began so either they’re alive or already dead.”

        Sun himself was trying to think through everything that the guardian had said. But one thing was confusing him. “Forgive me, but what is this monster that you speak of? Do you remember their description.”

        He nodded his head. “Yes. His Mane was blood red and wore black clothes from top to bottom. It stood on two legs like you with his sword at the ready and a facemask covering his eyes. His clothes also had a symbol across the front and back of the clothes along with the two horns that was on his head.” 

        The Faunus’ eyes widened. “Oh no……”

        “Sun, what’s wrong?”

        “That monster is not just any ordinary monster. It’s a Faunus like myself. A Faunus that is exactly what Kreed called him. A monster.”

        “You seem to know of this figure.”

        “I’ve heard many things about him. Of course, it is unknown if all of those things are true, but what I do know of is his name. Adam Taurus. He’s said to be a renowned swordsman who can cut anything with a single slice. It has been said that his semblance is also very powerful.”

        “Sun, I’m sorry for interrupting, but what is a Semblance?”

        “Semblance are like special techniques and/or abilities that are unique to a specific person. They’re like talents, like your teleportation.” He told them. “Mine is called Decoy because it allows me to make two holographic clones of myself that can explode on contact. I have heard stories of what Adam is capable of. Being able to take the power from an opponent's attack and use it as his own. If that is the case, then Celestia needs to know about this immediately along with the events that have transpired at the hive. If there are more survivors, than we might be seeing them pop up soon and I don’t want them getting hurt. As for right now, Kreed, Reson and Honeydew should stay here. They’ve been through a lot and need some time to recover from the physical… and emotional pain that they are facing.”

        “But what if they come here?” Twilight then asked as Sun looked out the window at the forest in the distance.

        “If they come here and try to land a hoof on them, then they’re going to have to deal with me.”




End Tail 5

> Tail 6- The Raven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- The Raven




Fluttershy’s Cottage (Outside)

        Sun needed to take the chance to catch his breath. Within the past thirty minutes, many things have happened. For one thing, He had saved three changelings that had just lost everything in a coup against the queen that they served and now, they say that someone else that resembled Adam Taurus was responsible for the devastation that was brought upon their home. The Faunus had many thoughts that were popping up inside his head. But one of them was a really important question.

        How can someone like him stand up against a monster? 

        Around the moment he was thinking this, a familiar pulling motion was tugging at the back of his loose shirt. A Displaced was calling on him. Well, he can’t keep them waiting.

        “Fluttershy, I’m going to go on a walk. I’ll be back in a little while!!”

        And with that, he was off. Into the unknown world of whoever was calling him.



Open Fields (Realm of the Nether King)

        I awoke to something impacting me on the head and clattering to the tiled floor. Opening my eyes, I looked down to find a gold medallion with a monkey insignia on it. I stared at it for a moment before picking it up and inspecting it. In appearance, it seemed to be a simple gold medallion, but I could feel a certain magical signature radiating off of it. Then, a voice spoke from seemingly nowhere. “What's up? I'm Sun Wukong, The Stray Faunus. Just simply shoot the coin to call upon me for anything you might need help with.”

        Sun Wukong, eh? So it's a RWBY lover. Well, I could use something to do. And this boy might just be able to entertain me. With that in mind, I flicked the medallion and waited as the token did its work. I turned myself invisible and watched as a golden portal opened up just in front of my throne and spat out a tall, well-toned boy with blonde hair, a monkey tail, blue jeans, a pendant, and a white short sleeve jacket. He landed on his feet and brushed himself off. Watching as he looked around, I noted that he seemed impressed with the gothic architecture I had chosen. 

        Lava fountains lay on either side of the room behind stone pillars, lighting up the room with their glow.  Stained glass windows with my face on them lined the upper portions of the room, a large one behind my throne had eyes that glowed red in the dim light of the room.

        He stopped and stared at where I was sitting upon my throne, almost as if he could see me.

        "Hello?" he called.

        Remaining silent, I watched as he looked around once more before shrugging and turning to walk out of the room. I silently stood up and floated over to him, following him out the dark, simple, double iron doors.



Sun

        For Sun Wukong, entering the world of this next Displaced was a bit… intriguing. The kind of room he found himself in reminded himself of seeing Bowser’s castle in Mario Kart with the Throne Room and lava pillars. For a moment, he looked at the throne, thinking that he saw someone move. He could make out a shape, but can’t tell who or what it was. 

        Like in RWBY, Sun possessed good visual perception. He could see things others would simply ignore. But it did not always mean that what he saw was actually real. So, to test the theory, he simply spoke a single word, hoping they would pick up on it.

        “Hello?”

        A few moments of silence though caused him to shrug off his previous suspicions and to walk out the double iron barricades that represented themselves as the front doors. What he found when he opened the door though was another sight. One that wasn’t as pretty as before. 

        It was a dull, dark hallway filled with pictures and portraits of a man with glowing white eyes. A simple purple carpet traveled down the hall. Human Skeletons were currently dusting the portraits off and polishing the tiled floors. Stone pillars lined the left side of the hall, with sconces on them. Despite there being a multitude of torches, it was still relatively dark. On the right side were windows that allowed a glimpse into the dark, lava filled chasm outside the castle. At the end of the hall was another set of simple, thick iron doors.

        ‘Seems like they are all just minding their own business,’ Sun thought to himself. ‘I wonder what things look outside.’ With that, the Faunus continued to walk to the next set of doors and used both of his hands to push them open. However, they didn’t exactly open at first. So, instead, he had to push on them with a little more strength. When the doors finally gave way, what he found outside the castle was… disturbing.

        Outside the castle was what could only be described as a massacre. The Everfree Forest that the cavern lead out to was ablaze, the trees like torches blazed with light. On some of those trees were ponies, impaled upon the branches and burning with the trees. The scent of blood and burning flesh was heavily present in the air, and it made the Faunus scrunch up his nose in disgust. Skeletons, Zombie Pigmen, and Wither Skeletons were throwing torches onto trees and impaling ponies upon branches and pikes.  There were even piles of bodies on the paths, burning away in the eternal night. The screams and wails of the innocent filled the air, and even more could be heard further down the bloodied dirt path. Thanks to the carbon dioxide produced by the flames, the moon was blue, mirroring the tears that would be shed.

        “Good god, what a nightmare.” Sun said to himself. That was when he noticed a few of the skeletons chasing after a small filly that was running for it’s life. The Faunus knew that he needed to do something and grabbed both of his weapons from under his shirt, letting them take form into his Bo Staff as he leaped forth and put himself in between the child and the monsters. 

        “Run!” He told the frightened youngster. It didn’t need to think twice as it dashed off into the darkness and Sun prepped his gunchaku. Four Skeletons were seen with Swords and shields as they came at him. The Faunus used his agility to blast the head off of the first one and then throw it at the others, taking out the second one as they turned to dust. Two more shots killed the other two monsters, but the noise attracted more attention than the Faunus had wanted. 

        The sounds of his guns had the Zombie Pigmen redirect their attention towards him as they soon lunged for him. Sun’s first move and primary strategy was shoot to kill and that plan so far has had these creeps turn into what looked like expired bacon. But something else lingered nearby and was waiting for the moment for himself to intervene.



Herobrine

        I watched intently as the boy dispatched more and more of my men. Finally, he stopped, having finished off all in the area. I smirked, now seemed like a good time to reveal myself. I turned off my invisibility and tapped him on the shoulder. He reacted violently with a swift kick that would have hit my face, had I not caught his foot.

        "What a rude way to treat your host. You're almost worse than the last boy."

        I smirked as he quickly lowered his foot and jumped back to get some distance. His eyes were wide and bulging.

        He spoke up, "Holy sh*t, you're Herobrine!"

        "It seems you know my name, but I have yet to know yours." I responded.

        "To you, it's Sun Wukong. I'm guessing all this is your handiwork?" he said, gesturing to the lovely massacre around us.

        "Not exactly. My armies did this, not me. I simply allowed it. Although I will admit, this is quite nice."

        “Bloodshed is nice to you!?” The Faunus shouted back at me. “You are just sick!!”

        "Why thank you, I take pride in it." I replied. 

        The only thing I honestly did not expect though was what the Faunus did next. With quick reflexes, he flip-cocked one of his shotguns like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2 and tried to blast my face with two of his gunshots. Reacting quickly, even quicker than his bullets, I dodged in slow motion like it was a scene from The Matrix and caught both bullets. The Faunus looked shocked, but I ignored him in favor of the interesting bullets in my hands. They were tipped with some kind of crystals, which I assumed was Dust, even though I couldn’t really tell if it was or not. Then,  I returned them to their owner with a flick and they embedded themselves in his arm. Next, I got behind him thanks to my ever so handy teleportation abilities and swung at him with the Diamond Sword I now had in my hands. However, this little monkey was full of surprises as the figure in front of me detonated, sending me back a few feet. 

        Looks like I was fighting a decoy for the past few seconds. Still, decoy or not, he was giving me a good workout. Now… Where did that little primate run off to? Meh, I’ll let him wander around a little while longer and if he tries to do anything, I’ll send him back to where he came from.



Sun

        ‘That was too close…’ Sun told himself as he looked at his opponent from a few feet away. Out of all the Displaced in the world that he thought that he was going to meet, Herobrine was nowhere on that list. He knew about the figure because of a few friends who told him about it and also from seeing the Minecraft Animation called “Gods Don’t Bleed”.  Now, he felt like he was up against that said god. But, as soon as he realized that, it made him think about what he was thinking about earlier. Wondering if he could stand up against a monster…

        If he could survive against Herobrine, then he can do the same against Adam. After all, Herobrine, despite what he was capable of, was not a god. Just a monster that needed to be slain.

        For this to work though, he needed to take care of a few things. One was to patch up his arms. Despite his decoy taking most of the hit from the shots that Herobrine sent back at him, Sun still got some backlash from the attack since shotgun rounds go outward in wide bursts unlike standard ammunition. So he still received most of the backlash from the attack.

        Now though, he should focus his attention on other things and be aware of his surroundings before trying anything reckless. Maybe save a few more civilians so he can learn a bit about the adversary he was up against. Of course though, there was the thought that Herobrine was actually the one who summoned him and he could just as easily sent him back if he felt like it.

        For now though, he should just focus on trying to do whatever he can to help the ponies still being hunted by this madman. The first thing to do was look for a two and judging from how the smoke was in the air, it seemed like the nearest fire was coming from a village nearby that had a sign saying “Our Town” across the top. It might have been a weird name for a town, but it wasn’t on the top of Sun’s priorities since he saw more skeletons and Zombie Pigmen trying to catch a fleeing pegasus. Her fur was a dark blue and her mane was a lightish white almost. Still, no matter her appearance, Sun had to help her. It was the least she could do. After all, her wings looked to be tiring out on her and her pursuers were gaining on her. 

        Charging in, the Faunus put himself in between the pony and the mobs as he used his Staff like a golf club and sent the pigs flying into the air. Another couple of kicks and a shotgun blast caused the rest of the minions to turn into piles of Dust and Ash as he turned around to look at the pegasus he saved. However, she still looked afraid. Turning back around, Sun could tell why.

        Herobrine was back again. Well, now was not the best time as any to forget that he was able to teleport. “Now really? I give you one chance to walk away from the situation, get a chance to roam around a little and now look what happens? You start causing sh*t and think that you can save any ponies from the fate of being slaughtered. How childish…”

        “Give me one good reason why you think this is nice to you. Do you have a grudge against ponies or something!?”

        “Oh… Where do I even begin?” He sarcastically said. “I gave those two a warning. A warning that they solemnly ignored. Now, they and their kind have to pay the price for it.”

        “What do you think you are, a god?”

        All he did was laugh before warping in front of me and closes his eyes.  “I’m more than that. I am the king of the Nether and void itself…”

        He continued to boast on and on about how strong he was. But right now, Sun had enough of his blabbering nonsense. Because there was one thing he did know.

        KA-CHINK!!

        Gods don’t Bleed.

        BANG!!!!

        Herobrine screamed in pain as the force of the shotgun blast to the shoulder pushed him back a few feet. He was angry. Matter of fact, pissed off. He had it with this Displaced. If he were to continue any further, he would mess up everything that he had worked for. 

        “Well now, Stray. It seems like I don’t need you here anymore.” He said, holding Sun’s token as the Faunus was slowly beginning to be covered in light. “Our contract is complete. I'll remember this boy! Your world is next!"

        “Over my dead body it will be-!!”

        The light grew increasingly bright, covering the Faunus entirely. Within seconds, the Faunus was gone and the light had dissipated. A warm liquid ran down Herobrine's shoulder and arm as he stood there. When he touched it, his finger came back coated in blood. That night, Herobrine promised himself that that boys world would burn if it was the last thing he would do.

        But to the pegasus named Night Glider, who saw the supposed immortal King of the Nether bleed, she saw hope as she flew away. The king can be slain. She just needed to find the right ponies to help her do it.



Fluttershy’s cottage (Night)

        When Sun returned to Fluttershy’s cottage, it was the dead of night and everything around him was barely visible to the naked eye if it wasn’t for Luna’s moon shining over the home. Ignoring this though, Sun noticed movement coming from inside the cottage. Movement that wasn’t a pony, grimm, draconequus, or changeling. It almost looked… human.

        He saw the woman like figure set down what looked like a sword with a rotating barrel behind her as she slowly and quietly opened up the closet. Sun couldn’t believe it. Whoever it was, she was going after the set of Dust crystals that were in the closet. Thinking that she was here to steal them, the Faunus quickly entered the room; using his tail to grab her weapon and pointed one of his own at her.

        “Don’t move.”

        The swordswoman tried to reach for her blade, but was quite surprise to see it now be where she had originally set it down and now in the clutches of Sun’s tail. “A Faunus? Is that how you were able to know where I was?”

        “Night vision is just an added bonus.”

        “Right,” The woman said sarcastically. “Who are you and what are you doing in Silver Wind’s cottage?”

        “Wait… Silver Wind?”

        “Yes, He’s my husband.” The woman said again, using a spare match she had on hand in order to light the wood in the fireplace.

        The newfound light allowed Sun in order to be able to see who this woman looked like for the first time. She had light skin, Black hair and red eyes with a darkened set of clothes. She was Raven Branwen. A character that was introduced late into season 2 of RWBY. Still though, Sun believed that she needed to be known a few things. “Well, from what I remember ma’am, Fluttershy is the one who owns this cottage. Not the husband that you speak of-.” Looking back at the woman though, the mentioning of Fluttershy’s name caused her eyes to widen. Like she had been caught off guard by something.

        However, the real thing that surprised the two of them was when they heard a set of hooves come down the steps from upstairs as Fluttershy heard them talk. When she saw Raven though, the pegasus could only say one thing.

        “M-Mom?”




End Tail 6

> Tail 7- Royal Pains
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Royal Pains




Fluttershy’s Cottage

        “M-mom!?”

        The single word was one thing that caught Sun off guard the moment that Fluttershy came down and saw this new figure that earlier, was presumed to be an intruder inside her cottage. To the pony, she couldn’t forget the face of her own mother. She had not seen her since she was three, where her father told her that she had something important to do in order to keep them safe. Seeing her now though was like opening the floodgates on her emotions.

        “O-oh my… you’ve grown so much, my little butterfly.” The two of them soon embraced one another, hugging each other as tears of joy soon poured out from both of them. Sun himself though, was confused. The Faunus had no idea what was honestly going on. 

        “Um……”

        “Oh, I’m sorry. Mom, this is my friend Sun. Sun, this is my mother, Raven.” Fluttershy corrected herself, trying to help fix the situation.

        “I see… Fluttershy dear, can I ask you a question?” The Pegasus nodded her head for a moment with a smile… only for it to fade a few moments later. “Where is your father?” Fluttershy’s eyes began to tear up again, trying to wipe them away from her face with her wings. 

        “He’s…… Follow me, mother.” She sniffled a little, with both Raven and Sun following her. They did not know where exactly she was going or what exactly she wanted to show them, but with the sun almost up, the light soon lit up the sky and made where she was going visible. The Faunus himself was confused. Why would Fluttershy bring them here?

        “Fluttershy? What’s wrong? Where’s Silver Wind?” Raven asked again. That was when Sun noticed her tapping her hooves. However, it did not sound like a hoof hitting the ground. It instead sounded like when Rarity was trotting inside the Carousel Boutique’s marble floors… Wait a second… Marble?

        “Fluttershy? What are you standing on?” The Faunus asked. She stepped out of the way only to shown the overgrown roots of the tree and the grass below it. However, when Sun moved his hand over it, he uncovered something that shocked Raven to the core.

        The grave marker of her husband. “Here lies Silver Wind. Calm, collective, and a caring father. You were taken away from us too soon. You will be missed…” Sun read aloud as he stepped away to let Raven see it for herself. Her eyes were letting loose tears of sorrow as she weeped for the fallen. Fluttershy herself did her best to try and comfort her mother while this was going on. She remembered that at one point in her young life, the pegasus wanted to be a tree. This was only after Mayor Mare told her that her daddy was with nature and the earth below their hooves. Fluttershy back then thought that if she was a part of nature, then she could hear her dad’s voice one last time.

        Raven wanted to know how something like this could’ve happened, but ignore the urge to do so. She was grateful to be with her daughter again. That’s all that mattered to her right now.

        Sun decided to leave them in peace for the time being. They needed the moment to themselves. However, when he opened the door, he found Discord staring at the scene with a shocked expression. “W-who is that?”

        “That… is Fluttershy’s mother. Raven.” He told her. “We should give them a moment. Fluttershy just told her about her dad.”

        “Oh? Then should I give them a bouquet of flowers?”

        Sun smacked himself in the face at the thought of that. “No, you need to wait a little while. You can’t just barge in on a private moment like that. Plus, we got other things to focus on right now.”

        “What other things?”

        “Remember? We were going to have Reson and Honeydew meet Celestia. I would have Kreed come along, but he’s still in recovery.” Sun explained. “We had Twilight ask the Princess yesterday, so I was going to go over to the castle and see how she was before we meet her in person.”

        “I can pop on over there right now and see how Bookworm is doing if that helps?” Discord offered, which the Faunus nodded his head in response. The Draconequus snapped his talon and disappeared in a pink puff of smoke as Fluttershy and Raven came back inside the house through the side door. The Faunus greeted them and took the time to explain the events that just happened with the Draconequus and also encountering Reson and Honeydew the day before. The only thing he left out was his personal encounter with Herobrine.

        “So a changeling prince and princess are going to be seeing Celestia today?”

        “Hopefully. Their bodyguard would be going with them if he was fully recovered. He’s pretty banged up after yesterday,” Sun told her. “So it’ll be me, them, and whoever else should come along.”

        “My daughter should go with you,” Raven explained, catching Fluttershy’s attention. “Just to make sure that Discord doesn’t cause any chaos during the meeting. I can watch over Kreed while you are gone. When you get back though Fluttershy, we’re going to need to talk a bit. I have so many questions to ask, yet, so little time.”

        “That sounds alright. Are you okay with this Fluttershy?” 

        The Pegasus nodded, soon heading upstairs so she could help the two children get ready. While this was going on, Discord returned a few seconds later. “Okay, Sun. I got some good news and bad news.”

        “What’s the good news?”

        “The good news is that the Princess approved of the meeting and is expecting us within the next hour. The bad news though is that Princess Sparkle won’t be able to make it. Cadence told me that after being swamped with work over the past few days, she needed to catch up on her sleep.”

        “Well, we can find a way to improvise right?” 

        The Draconequus nodded his head, saying that once the two younglings were ready, he could send them there immediately with a quick snap of his eagle talon. A few minutes later, Fluttershy came on down with both Reson and Honeydew. Both siblings had their manes perfectly brushed and Honeydew’s was even tied to where she had a ponytail in the back. With a quick goodbye to her mother, Fluttershy, Sun and the others disappeared in a pink cloud of smoke. She giggled a little, liking how much her daughter had become more responsible since she had last seen her.



Canterlot

        Celestia herself was having quite an interesting morning. After receiving a letter from her student yesterday, the Alicorn had to clear her schedule of any appointments given the sounds of this incident she referred to as a likely emergency that could threaten the security of ponykind and her kingdom. Today, she had Discord stop by briefly to make sure that they were still on for the meeting before disappearing again. Something told her that she was going to need a strong cup of coffee by the time today was over.

        “Clear the hall.” She told her personal guard, detecting a small bit of Chaos magic in the air while she rose from her throne. A few moments later, the “guests” arrived. Fluttershy, Discord, Sun (who had crashed into a nearby wall because of the sudden teleport) and two young changelings who she assumed were the kin of the late Queen Amaranth.

        “O-oww… My face!” Sun groaned as he tried to get up off of the floor. Honeydew herself giggled in response to the monkey getting back up. “Oh, hello there Celestia.”

        “It’s good to see you again Sun. Hello Everypony.” The Sun Alicorn greeted everypony in the room, lowering herself down to the size of the two younglings. “These two must be the ones that were mentioned in Twilight’s letter. I’m sorry for your loss. Losing your mother must be very hard for you or anypony at your age to be dealing with.” She then looked at Sun, eyes filled with the emotion of reason and care. “Sun, can you please accompany Reson and Honeydew on the way to Princess Luna? I want to talk to Discord and Fluttershy about the contents that were discussed in Twilight’s letter.”

        Sun nodded his head, guiding the two younglings to the chamber of the Night Alicorn through the halls of Canterlot Castle. When they found Luna, she was looking over a strange Talisman like stone by the time they arrived. Studying it to see what strange magical properties that it might contain.

        “Greetings, Luna.”

        “As to you, Sun Wukong.” The princess greeted, soon being introduced to the two younglings. Luna herself allowed Reson to look at the Emblem that she was looking over a few moments ago while Honeydew allowed her to look at the pin that Fluttershy had used to hold her mane together. However, something lurked nearby, watching as it was about to make it’s “crash landing” in the middle of Luna’s Study.

        “COWABUNGA!!!!” 

        Appearing on a surfboard, was another Discord? Yes standing of the surfboard was a exact copy of Discord himself. However something was off. For one thing, he felt powerful. Discord felt dwarfed by him because Chaos was literally falling from his skin. “10 out of 10.” A voice said as an astral project of Discord was seen holding a source card. “Hey Loki, by the way you been summoned.”

        Loki looked around before removing his sunglasses with his tail. “Well hello.”

        Sun sighed. “Discord, what are you doing here? You’re suppose to be in the other room talking with Celestia and Fluttershy.”

        Loki blinked a bit at him. “Can you sense my magic-? Never mind, I’ll let this speak for me.” He pulled off his fang and then it started to speak.

        I am Loki, Master of Chaos Defender of the balance! 

        Loki closed his hand. “Yeah I’m a displaced.”

        “A Displaced Discord? That’s…… new.”

        “Pardon me, but would you care to explain about this Displaced that you speak of?” Loki grinned a little, seeing the silver pin inside the mane of the young female changeling and the stone that the boy held onto. He had a perfect opportunity for a demonstration.

        “Simple, where I came from so does… who are you?” Loki asked he decided to hand wave it with his talons. “It doesn’t matter, well there is universes and several like us exist able to call on another at a moments notice, I’m based on Discord, but the difference between us.” He held out his paw with the elements of disharmony in his hands. “This powers me as well as my former Discord.”

        “I see. I’m Sun Wukong by the way.”

        Loki nodded his head, using a snap of the talon for the stone that was in Reson’s hooves and the Pin in Honeydew’s mane to appear in his talons. It wasn’t until Sun saw them that he realized that this Loki had Lance’s token. The token of his cousin.

        “Now, princess,” Loki said as he walked towards a open window a couple of stories above the gardens. “Let me give you a demonstration on summoning a Displaced… BOMBS AWAY!!”

        Quickly, Loki tossed both of the tokens onto the ground below, which upon contact began to pulse with magic. Sun tried to stop him, but wasn’t fast enough to do so.

        After a while Loki tapped his feet. “Seems I might have miss fired…” A vortex finally opened up tossing out the two victims. “Well I stand corrected, something must be off about them or me.” 

        Soon, two different things occurred. The first thing was a series of runes that began to form into a single being as a male human with a sword on his back and red overcoat stood up from his position on the ground. The second was a bolt of lightning striking the ground as a blond teen with a blue overcoat and twin pistols arrived as well. 

        The Lightning boy was the first person to speak. “-The hell? Hey man, are you okay?”

        “Y-yeah.” The Red haired swordsman replied. “Are you a Displaced?”

        “Yep. I’m guessing you got summoned too?”

        “Yeah and I’m betting whoever did it is up there,” The Redhead pointed at the tower, directly at Loki’s position. “I feel a high density in magic from the tower.” 

        “Well of course you can.” A voice rang out and appearing in a flash was “Discord”. “Hello, name’s Loki, Master of Chaos and Defender of Balance.” Loki said with a bow. “Before you ask... No, this isn’t my Equestria. I was summoned as well.” 

        “Summoned? By who-?”

        “LANCE!!!” 

        The name caused the Azure striker to turn around. He recognized the voice. “Wait a second… Sean?”

        “Holy crap man!! It’s good to see you. Oh and call me Sun. I kind of have a reputation here.”

        “Heh… You always do wherever you go.” He chuckled, fist bumping his cousin again. “Oh right, Introductions. I’m Lance Walker. Also known as Gunvolt and The Azure Striker by the ponies in my world.”

        “Sun Wukong. Faunus.”

        “Nicko Nocte. Rune Slayer, pleasure to meet all of you-.” But before Nicko could finish, some pink smoke arose from behind him and what took form caused Loki’s heart to race.

        “Hello boys… Names Eris. Nicko’s friend, partner, Daughter of Discord and Celestia where I’m from, Draconequus and Spirit of Chaos.”

        Loki gave a smile. “Really spirit? Hey Discord come out and meet your daughter thing whatever.” The Astral projection of Discord appeared next to Loki. 

        “Yes.”

        “Names Loki, the second and current god of chaos and this is my Discord the first god of Chaos, until the the elements of Disharmony went all fuse them together.”        The Astral projection of Discord though, was annoyed by Eris’ hand passing though his body.

        “Stop that.” 

        “Aww…” Eris pouted. “I wish I could touch him…”

        “Eris,” Nicko whispered “Please behave yourself. This is technically what you wanted to call a “date” by your standards.”

        “Ooh. Hehe… Sorry.”

        Sun himself just sighed. “Okay, so let me get this straight. There’s four Displaced, including me, three versions of Draconequus and a one hundred percent likely of a chance that we would have Celestia come out here any-.”

        SLAM!!!

        “-minute.”

        “Sun, what in the name of-!?” All four of the Displaced turned to see a shocked Fluttershy, Princess Celestia and this world’s version of Discord staring at them. “WHAT IN THE NAME OF ME IS GOING ON!!?!!?”

        “Oh… right…… Maybe we should all come inside first. That way we don’t attract any attention.”

        Nicko nodded his head. “I agree with Sun. If Loki didn’t catch their attention just yet, then Eris would definitely would.”





        “Ok, I’ll be the one to start as I’m probably the one with the most experience, I am Loki, and this astral being is my Discord, I am the second god of chaos in equestria and a Displaced, what is a Displaced you may ask?” With a snap of a talon around the a bunch of small floating orbs appeared, “Pretend these are all universes, me sun, and the others come from one universe and been scattered around the multiverse… and beyond and now can summon one another via tokens, however I don’t want to brag I’ve learned how to open short universe wormholes..” Loki finished. “Now then they were answer anymore questions for you.” 

        “Yes. Am I to assume that you are a Displaced as well, Sun?” The Princess then asked.

        “Yeah, but I had only been summoned twice. I had never really summoned any before and I didn’t know that the fang I saw earlier was Loki’s token until he told me.”

        “Token?”

        “Displaced can summon other Displaced by using their tokens. As a demonstration for Princess Luna, I used this stone and this pin to summon both Nicko and Lance.”

        “Hello to you as well, Princess.”

        “Wow… I never thought that a handsome one like you would have such dashing manners.” Celestia chuckled. “Care to introduce yourself?”

        “Certainly. My name is Nicko Nocte and I’m a Rune Slayer. A Swordsman who fights with Runic Magic.” The Displaced demonstrated by conjuring a ring of red runes around his body. “I can use them for Multiple purposes to help me stay on my game and survive.”

        “Well you are a videogame character, what's your score? 10,000?” Loki said with a laugh.

        “I don’t play by scores.” Nicko replied. “How about Lance explain about himself this time, Loki?”

        “Sure go ahead.” Loki said as he decided to  to do something with a map that he kept on him. The Azure Striker, who was using his energy blade to clean out his nails while he was waiting looked back at Loki and smiled, putting the weapon away behind him under his coat. In the brief second that everypony sat it opened, it showed that this Displaced was armed to the teeth.

        “Why thank you,” Lance replied to the Draconequus. “My name is Lance Walker, but my Codename that I go by is Gunvolt. As in that name, my powers revolve around my guns and my electricity that I can conjure because I’m an adept.” The boy even had some electricity crackle a little around him for a short amount of time before dismissing the lightning.

        “Excuse me, but what is an Adept?” Discord asked, holding Reson and Honeydew in his lion paw and eagle talon.

        “Adept’s are humans with Psychic powers. Mine is my electricity, but it doesn’t mean that’s the only thing I can do. Another Displaced taught me how to use energy blasts and sense the energy or “Ki” of others-.”

        The Adept was interrupted by the warm humming of an artifact that hung around his neck. To him, this was the artifact of Max Caulfield. A Displaced that he had only met a few days ago. He could hear her voice, desperately calling him.

        L-Lance, something huge just ca-came up and I n-need you here!

        “I-i need to go! Something just came up! Sorry that I have to cut things short.” He replied, using the token to cut a rift through space as he disappeared in a flash of lightning. Loki sighed a little, disappointed.

        “Well, that was a complete downer. I wonder why he ran off.”

        “I can take a guess,” Eris said. “I did read his mind after all.”

        “So did I, should I go help?” Loki asked.

        “Nah, we should leave him be. After all, I think Celestia still has a few questions.” Eris asked, noticing the Princess tapping her hooves patiently. Once everyone in the room was focusing again, she let out a long sigh as she looked at the Discord she knew and the new Draconequus she now knew as Loki and Eris.

        “So, Tirek and Starlight?” Loki asked. The question sounded strange to her.

        “I’m guessing… Tirek was defeated? Man I got free doing season 2 this guy lucky most threats are already defeated…” Loki turned to Eris. “Everyone want to see me go super Chaos?” Loki asked.

        “Where we’re from, it’s been seven years since Tirek’s defeat, our Equestria is Anthropomorphic, Celestia has a brother named Artemis, Twilight has a sister named Gleaming Shield and a few friends of ours have been known to cause more trouble than before Discord was reformed.” Eris explained. “Need I say more?”

        “Mine isn’t Anthro. However, do to me, the Canterlot wedding didn't become a war zone, Changelings are now living among ponies with Chrysalis in the Equestrian Council, I took out  Sombra, and I kinda beat Discord into reforming… yes I used Violence instead of kindness.” Loki said, silently apologizing to a startled Fluttershy and the Two changelings that were by her now instead of Discord’s paws. “Oh and Starlight been burned at the stake because I could see the future, Nightmare Moon been reborn as my daughter Nyx, oh and Tirek’s Dead.”

        “O...kay. Speaking of which, the changelings you speak of though are the only difference between your Equestria and ours, Loki.” Discord told him. “There use to five queens that were the wives of one king, but when he died, the five of them took sides and formed alliances. Now, the Alliance that had Chrysalis and Mordred; Changeling queen of Anger, laid a Coup on the remaining colonies and killed the other queens. The two changelings that are with us are survivors and offspring of Queen Amaranth.” When the topic switched to the events of what happened, Fluttershy left the room with the children. That way, the events involving the incident don’t frighten them.

        “Discord is right. But there is another thing that I just thought about,” Luna recalled. “Twilight’s letter recalled a red haired swordsman in black clothing with horns on his head and a mask over his face being the one responsible for these atrocious acts of war. Is it possible that it is a Displaced?”

        “I bet my money it is.” Nicko said, looking at Sun. He already had an idea of what they were referring to and then asked Eris to create a projection of the person he was thinking of. Soon, Eris conjured a holographic projection of the assailant that was described.

        “Is it like this, Sun?”

        “Yes, that is definitely it. His name is Adam Taurus and he is a very skilled and powerful swordsman. He is NOT one to be underestimated.” Sun said. 

        Loki raised his talon. “Question, can he turn a city into a giant fighting robot? Can he toss someone and let him explode? Can you make his imagination real?” Loki asked.

        Eris snapped her talon again, showing a few segments of this figure fighting from what Nicko remembered from the ‘black’ trailer for RWBY as she allowed for Sun to continue. “Any source of energy you blast at him can be absorbed by his sword and be sent right back to decapitate anything in it’s path. Reson’s bodyguard, Kreed, had a first hand account of what happened and told us that he made short work of the queens. Decapitating the first two and having the last one die slowly.” Sun said. “Plus, he’s a Faunus like me. A faunus with the strength of a bull. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could cleave a mountain in half with a single strike like shown here against this Spyder bot.”

        “Well, that’s definitely going to be interesting.” Eris said, looking at Nicko. “Are you sure that you want our help or do you think you got this? Because I think my parents are calling us for dinner.”

        “It’s alright. I can handle it. But before you go, can I have your token? It seemed like Lance forgot to get yours earlier.”

        “Actually, I stuck it in his pocket while he wasn’t looking.” Eris said as she handed the Rune Slayer’s mark to the Faunus before the two of them disappeared. Now, the only two Displaced in the room were Sun and Loki.

        “So what should we do? You need any help with him… wait…” Loki remembered something. “Here This may help.” He pulled something out of his personal pocket dimension. “This gem was used by a tyrant from my reality to negate the powers of his opponents for a few minutes. Perhaps this would help you?”

        “It can. But we would have to test it. Thanks Loki.”

        “Your welcome also, here my token.” Loki gives him his fang. “If reality is being wrapped around you, it will negate it’s effects, mostly.”

        “Okay, have a safe trip.” Sun said as he flipped his medallion token to the Chaos Spirit, waving goodbye as Loki disappeared into the void. Turning around now, Sun placed the gem and the fang in his pockets as he looked back at the Princesses and Discord. “So, where were we before-.”

        “Auntie!!” Came the loud cry of a new individual as a white unicorn stallion with a blond mane trotted in proudly into the room. Unaware of the Faunus’ presence. “Some of the Delegates from the nearby towns have-. What the-!?”

        “Uhh… Hi?” 

        “WHAT IS THIS BEAST DOING IN THE GRAND HALLS!?!” The pony bellowed, trying to blast Sun with his magic. However, the gem that Loki gave Sun began to glow and prevented the Unicorn from fully casting his spell.

        “W-wha-!?”

        “Prince Blueblood!!” Celestia roared back. “That is NOT how you treat a royal guest!!! Apologize at once!”

        “Guest!? This thing is a guest?!!”

        “I’m not a thing! I’m Sun Wukong, Nice to meet you.” Sun said, trying to chill a little as he watched the Unicorn flip out in a stressful manner. After the pony stormed out of the hallway, Luna told the Faunus that the Unicorn was Celestia’s nephew and her opinion, a stuck up snobbish brat that preferred to be one of royalty and noble status than one of the ponies that would be of the lower classes. It made Sun think of the rich and arrogant jerks that would become the target of Robin Hood. Or in Equestria’s case, as he was told, Robin Hoof.

        Soon after that, Fluttershy came out with both Reson and Honeydew. At the perfect timing too. Celestia went on to say that for the time being as long as the two changelings don’t cause a panic, they could stay with Fluttershy and Sun. The same thing went for Kreed, despite the fact that he wasn’t here. As for the chance that their two other siblings were somehow still alive, the Princess told them that she would inform all of her guard of the current situation and if they come across anyling that resembled the description of both Yellowjacket and Lilly, she would notify them immediately.

        “Now, I believe it’ll be best for this meeting to be adjourned. The Prince of Yakghanistan would be arriving within the next week, so it’ll be best for you two and Sun to stay low. Your presence might cause a disturbance if the Yaks see you.”

        “No problem, your highness. Discord, you ready?”

        “As always,” The Draconequus replied and with a quick snap, the five of them disappeared and left the Princesses in the room. All Celestia hoped for now was that with the discovery of the Displaced and everything else, that things in her kingdom won’t go spiraling out of control.




End Tail 7

> Tail 8- Turn down for... What?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Turn down for… What?




Fluttershy’s cottage

        Boredom. That’s what hit Sun Wukong the moment he realized that Fluttershy wasn’t here this morning and he was stuck with Discord, Kreed, Reson and Honeydew. The Element of Kindness had to be with her friends since a few delegates from the Country of Yakyakistan were visiting Twilight at her castle early that morning. Leaving him to try and figure out the ins and outs of Fluttershy’s kitchen and find out how exactly he was suppose to feed her Animals. It took him almost half an hour for him to get it right before he was able to eat an apple and a couple of pieces of toast.

        As he made his way into the living room though and sat down on the couch, something fell down on his lap that interrupted his planned meditation. It was… an Ipod? With headphones? Did somepony notice his boredom and decide to provide a way to entertain himself for a while? Whatever the case, he turned the device on and placed the headphones in his ears. The device itself was one of the older models that could hold up to 160gb of songs, movies and anything else that he could want on there. The first thing he heard though was a simple message before he could listen to any of the music that was on the MP3 player.

        "Hey wassup dude or dudette! This is Vinyl Scratch and if ya need some cool tunes or just wanna hang out and party, then you found your gal! I ain’t too great at fighting so unless you just want a wicked bass cannon or something I wouldn't call me up for that. Later dudes!"

        Vinyl Scratch? The same pony as the DJ at Pinkie’s party? Talk about surprising. As he looked at the artist playlist though, it was not like what he honestly expected. The Faunus expected to see Equestrian plays on artists from back on earth. But instead, it was the opposite. He found artists such as Droptek, Krewella, Kill the Noise, Aero Chord, Varien, Zomboy, Two steps from hell & Razihel to name a few. Of course, these were only a few of Sun’s favorite artists from back home along with a few others. He likes to listen to music to help him focus and get in the zone before he undertook a big task such as mowing the lawn or helping do chores around his parents house. 

        Now that he had something to keep him entertained, he placed the headphones in and pressed the play button on the first song he was listening to. Wiz Khalifa’s ‘Can’t Be stopped’, the title song for the Mortal Kombat X reveal trailer. The beat of the music and the fast paced rhymes helped him when he was practicing with his gunchaku outside of the cottage, being careful to not fire any shots from his weapons and wake some of the sleeping animals in the forest. Soon though, he felt a tugging sensation. Almost like when Loki was coming to him the other day. This time, it was calling for him.

        “Ah, what the heck? I got some time to kill.” The Faunus went back inside for a moment to tell Discord that he would be back in a little while before he let the sensation course throughout his body and pull him away. Sun began to wonder who exactly was calling him on such short notice… and for what purpose exactly?

        That was until he heard the saying… ‘Please Sun Wukong. You’re my only hope.’ 



Train to Ponyville (Home of the Wub Queen)

        Straight out of the gate, Sun could tell a few things were off in the current situation he was in as he dropped on top of a pony wearing a metal mask. For one thing, these ponies that looked like a bunch of Daft Punk copycats were trying to get the Mane Six entangled in nets and the supposed person that summoned him was getting dragged away. From his left, a pony tried to strike him with their hooves, only to have sun blast them backwards with Ruyi Bang before he catapulted himself towards the girl on the ground.

        “DYNAMIC ENTRY!!!”

        Surprisingly, the tactic actually worked as the song on the Ipod changed to Gunmetal Black by Varien. A Dubstep track that had sounds that were influenced by Asian Culture. Reloading his weapons, Sun looked at the girl that was behind him on the ground and the freaks that were in front of him. Calmly, he stepped forward.

        “Alright… Who’s next?”

        Sun heard a brief ‘thanks’ coming from the girl on the ground as she began to unravel the net that was stuck around her. Now, the attention of her attackers was focusing on the Faunus as the Mane Six were beginning to hold their own and the blue haired girl was focusing on removing the net off of her. Most of the Unicorns tried casting spells to stun him, but the gem that Loki had given Sun was causing the spells to be ineffective as he used non-lethal ammunition to knock out a few more attackers. He saw the girl run back to the demolished train car that was nearby, presumably to retrieve something that she left on board. That was alright with Sun. He was honestly enjoying seeing how strong these guys were.

        After a few moments, it seemed like those ponies were beginning to change tactics as he had to dodge incoming Pegasi that were trying to dive bomb the Faunus. However, it was too easy for Sun to dodge out of the way of those attacks and fight back. However, the only thing he didn’t expect was one of the ponies to sneak up from behind him. Or the moment where the girl clocked him in the back of the head with a mysterious black board.

        Seconds later, a loud voice can be heard from somewhere in the distance. “Retreat! We’ll get our objective some other time!”

        Sun sighed in relief, seeing that the fight was over as he watched the Daft Punk ponies retreat. Only to have a loud sound almost like a Bass Drop rock the area as he and the others tried to get on top of the Train cars. The girl that summoned him almost had fell down onto the ground if Sun wasn’t quick enough to catch her using his tail. After getting back on her feet, she crossed her arms, concerning Sun.

        “You okay there, miss?”

        “Yeah, I’m fine. Just disappointed we couldn’t interrogate one of them. Curious about the random attack ya know?” She told the Faunus, uncrossing her arms. A brief moment of silence allowed both parties to compose their thoughts before the Girl asked another question. “Your name’s Sun Wukong right?”

        Sun Wukong nodded his head as he took a seat on the wooden surface. “Why yes it is. Something tells me that you used my Token if you were the girl acting like Princess Leia and saying ‘You’re my only hope’.” She looked a little embarrassed when she was looking back at me before giving out a deep sigh. Then, she replied back, with a blush brightening her face. Either because of the fact that she could see Sun’s abs or something else.

        “Er… yeah. For some reason Star Wars popped into my head.” The girl said, clearing her throat before continuing. “So that coin was some sort of Token?”

        “More than a certain kind. It’s my summoning token.”

        “Summoning token?” The mentioning of the subject had the girl look at Sun in confusion, causing Sun to sigh as he pulled out the Medallion that was his token. Her eyes widened upon seeing it. Sun then went into explanation. “This medallion was used by you to summon me to your world. Heck, that’s why I’m a Displaced.”

        While Sun let her process those thoughts, he decided to stop listening to the music in his Ipod as a sign of Respect. That was… Until he heard her say something he didn’t expect. “Dude, so you were the one that got my iPod? What are the chances of that?”

        “Wait… This is yours-? ……… You must be Vinyl then.” Sun said. Vinyl nodded her head and gave Sun a thumbs up, saying that she was the human Vinyl Scratch while the real one was in Canterlot and explained how exactly she ended up in her current situation. Sun, to get on an even level, decided to share his story as well. This got Vinyl to say a few more things about the Resident Evil merchant she purchased her headphones from before letting out a frustrated sigh.

        “Gotta admit I’m a bit annoyed right now.”

        Sun chuckled a little internally as he looked at the DJ. “Because of the circumstances, the Daft Ponies, or the fact that your cheeks are brighter than Celestia’s sun?”

        “Let’s say it’s some sort of mixture of those.” She snorted, rolling her eyes a bit at Sun’s question, cheeks tinged with a touch of red. Before the faunus could reply though, he saw Vinyl’s version of Twilight trot on over to where they were sitting and then pose a question for the DJ. “Vinyl, who is this?” Sun watched as she smiled a little like she honestly forgot about someone before pointing in his direction. 

        “Hey Twilight. This guy is Sun Wukong, I flipped a coin and brought him here.” To her credit, Twilight only looked a little baffled as she looked at the Faunus like she was trying to study every angle of him. 

        “That… sounds theoretically impossible.” She said off the bat. Before Twilight could say anything else, Sun interjected. “Nothing is really ‘impossible’, it’s just that it hasn’t been tried yet. Besides, My coin is like a summoning stone in Final Fantasy, but it works both ways. You summoning me was one way Vinyl. The other way was you ending up in my world, but of course, each world is different.”

        “So multiverse theory then?” The DJ asked, scratching her chin as she took a few seconds to think to herself before speaking again. “So how different is your Equestria from this one?”

        “Well, judging from Twilight alone…… Quite a lot.”

        Vinyl raised an eyebrow, before realizing what exactly the Faunus meant. “Oh! I get it,” Vinyl replied before coming a bit closer to Sun’s ear and whispering, “Twilight is a Princess right?” Sun nodded, answering the DJ’s question. She sighed a little, whispering to herself again.

        “Why am I stuck in season two and you aren’t?” Sun was confused about what she meant by season two, but he just decided to play along and roll with it as Vinyl spoke again. This time to Twilight. “So how far away from Ponyville are we anyway? With the train as it is I don’t think we will be riding in comfort.”

        Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Weeeell, if my timetable and estimates for travel time are correct, and they usually are, then it is only a thirty minute train ride away!” Twilight stamped her hoof adorably, head held high.

        “So how long is that by walking?” Vinyl asked. 

        Around now was when Twilight went into calculator mode as Sun would call it as she began to process information. “The train travels at around eight-five miles an hour. So by that logic it is a forty two and a half mile walking distance away! It should only take the rest of the day to follow these tracks all the way to Ponyville, we’ll be there by nightfall!”

        Sun heard Vinyl personally groan to herself which Twilight wasn’t bothered at all about the length in time that it would take to arrive safely home. The Faunus could see that Vinyl looked really warm in the jacket she was wearing and soon noticed her talking to Rarity about a request for extra clothes. This reminded him that he needed to stop by his Rarity once he got back so he could pick up the clothes she had for him back at the Carousel Boutique. It wasn’t long though until Vinyl caught his attention again when the DJ posed a new question for him once everypony had got the chance to regroup and salvage their belongings off of the destroyed train car.

        “If it isn’t too much trouble, could you escort us beautiful ladies back to town? Just to make sure those sucky DJs don’t come back around?”

        “Sure thing,” The Faunus began to say, until another thought came across his mind. “But shouldn’t we see if there are any more survivors on the train first before we get moving?”

        Vinyl shrugged as she looked at the wrecked locomotive. "Well, earlier on the trip I walked across the entire train length. Didn't see anyone on board. Though I didn't check the engine room. Someone could be there I suppose." 

        “What about where the luggage would be?” Sun suggested, thinking of the first thing that came to mind. “The door could’ve locked on somepony while they were still inside.”

        Vinyl’s response… was just her scratching her head. "Didn't think of that."

        Around now was when Twilight decided to interject between our conversation. "Well, how about the girls and I check out the engine room while you and Mr. Wukong check the luggage car?"

        “That sounds like a good idea. Are you okay with that, Vinyl?” The Faunus asked, making sure that both the DJ and her were on the same page.

        "Yeah, sounds great. This'll be over quicker."

        “That depends on what we find,” Sun said. When he got a few brief stares, he sighed. “What? I was being optimistic.”

        "Come on, I know where it is." Vinyl said, ushering Sun to follow her as both groups parted ways. Soon though, they came to the car that was suppose to be the luggage car. “It’s locked.”

        ‘That can be easily fixed.’ Sun thought to himself as he shot off the lock with one of his guns. “Not anymore.”

        Vinyl jumped a little when Ruyi Bang went off, turning towards Sun with an angered look on her face. "Dude, give a girl a warning before you fire your thing off."

        ‘Define thing,’ Sun dismissed the damned thought that lurked in his mind as he looked back at Vinyl and sighed. “The Ammunition’s blunt. But has enough force to break the lock. Sorry about that.” She waved it off, saying that we should focus more on the task at hand as she swung the door open. The two of them were greeted by a mountain of luggage that stacked towards the roof… and the one hoof that was trying to find it’s way out of there. Sun quickly rushed to the aid of the trapped individual. Once the luggage cleared up, it thanked the both of them as she looked at the Human DJ.

        “W-wait? Vinyl? What are you doing here?”

        The pony was an Earth pony mare that had a dark brown mane and a dark grey fur coat with the cutie mark of a musical symbol on it. She wore a bowtie around her neck and also looked very… noble. For some reason, the Faunus noticed the expression on Vinyl’s face as she looked at the surprised mare.

        “Dude, aren’t you suppose to be visiting family?”

        “Why yes, yes I am. But enough of that, Vinyl why do you look so… oh how should I put this? Strange?” The pony asked the DJ. Her only reply at first was a sigh before having to go into a LONG explanation. “Uh about that, I’m not... well… your Vinyl. That Vinyl is up in Canterlot at your shared house, we hung out for a bit and she told me about you.”

        The mare blinked for a moment before responding again. “Oh, I see. So there-” She stopped herself short and adopted a face that was part surprise, part horror, and part… uh.. excitement? “There-There are TWO of you in Equestria?!” The Cellist put a hoof to her head as she fell backwards and fainted on her cello case. “Oh sweet Celesti-”

        Sun and Vinyl just stood there and stared at the passed out pony. That was until the Human DJ turned to the Faunus and posed a question for him. “Was it something I said?”

        “Something tells me that the pony version of you has a habit of driving her nuts.” Sun replied, shrugging his shoulders. Vinyl herself placed a hand on her hip, lost in thought for a little bit before responding back. “Could be. Well, let’s make her quick nap comfortable at least. We can ask her if she has anything besides her cello to take with her.”

        “I can carry her if that’s alright with you.” Sun offered as the two of them began to move the pony off of the case and onto the ground. After picking up the earth pony and setting her down, the Faunus was waiting to hear from the DJ on what should there next priority be. However, this was met by only silence…… until Vinyl spoke up.

        “Could you tell me all you know about the Displaced while we wait? Something tells me that it’s important.” 

        Looking at the DJ, Sun sighed as he straightened himself up. “Oh boy… Where to even begin?” He pondered the thought for a few seconds before coming up with a follow up question. “You are familiar with the Multiverse, right?”

        Vinyl nodded at him and folded her arms, “Yeah, at least the basic idea.”

        “Alright… Well, think about what happened to you… Happening to other people and with each circumstance being different and each one of them ending up in one of numerous Equestria’s… That is basically what happened to us… Did I confuse you?” He then asked, making sure that Vinyl was not lost in translation because of him explaining.

        She shook her head. “No, it seems pretty simple... at least so far. Is there anyone I should avoid?”

        “I’m not sure myself. I’ve only met a few of them. But I would personally stay AWAY from Herobrine. He’s crazy.”

        Vinyl looked back at Sun now with a raised eyebrow. “Herobrine? Like the fake dude from Minecraft?”

        “Yes, but in his world, he’s the freaking king of the nether AND enjoys massacring ponykind after the sisters imprisoned him in stone. He can even create the monsters you see in Minecraft and calls them his “Troops”. He’s pretty pissed off at me when I encountered him because our encounter ended with a shotgun blast to his shoulder.”

        “He sounds like a d***.” The DJ cringed, now hearing the new details of him from the Faunus. 

        “He is. Trust me.” Sun sighed, folding his arms before speaking again. “Otherwise than that, I’ve personally only met a few Displaced. There’s a Displaced Discord named Loki, Deathwing, Queen Faust, A Rune Slayer named Nicko, and also my cousin Lance who is Gunvolt; the Azure Striker just to name a few.”

        “Gunvolt? Huh, been meaning to play that game before I came here.” She told him, making Sun think that he should introduce her to Lance next time they meet. “So… do you think you could teach me how to fight? I know that’s a question out of the blue but still.”

        “I can…” The Faunus began to speak as he sat down for a minute. “But two things first. One, you’ll have to define fight, and two, maybe we should do this someplace else where nopony would get hurt.”

        Vinyl sighed, leaning back against a nearby wall. “Well, by fight I mean like defending myself. I was practically useless when the Daft Ponies came charging in. And I don’t mean like now, maybe in some field on the outskirts of Ponyville or something if you agree.”

        “I’m all for it. I was just wanting to know some key details before we start on anything.” He said, watching her shrug it off as the two of them were attracted to the sounds of a tired mare waking up from collapsing.

        “Wh-what happened? I remember… Vinyl?!”

        “Again… Other Vinyl…” Sun pointed out. He personally then realized that keeping track of both human and pony would be utterly ridiculous and give him a severe headache. So, he then said something “Something tells me there should be a way to tell you two apart. Got any nicknames that might work?”

        “Haven’t had any. Discord just called me Ms. Scratch during our imprisonment. Maybe I should wear a sign?”

        Now that thought sounded ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as the ideas that popped up in Sun’s head for nicknames. “How about Vine? Or Vinny… nah, too messed up… Oh! How about Record?”

        Vinyl though, wasn’t so enthusiastic. “Eh… I’ll just go with Vine.”

        “For the Lack of a better name?... I would personally call you Rhythm.” He chuckled. But to Vinyl, this was… actually pretty good.

        “You sure seem set on a nickname huh? Alright, you can call me Rhythm if you want.”

        “Well, it would be better than calling you Vinyl and having BOTH of you respond at the same time. Plus, you’re a DJ and there’s Rhythm in music. So I thought Rhythm. Rhythm Scratch.”

        “Alright, you made your point. It’s good I’ll admit that.” She replied back, looking at Octavia now. “So just call me Rhythm then since I’m not your Vinyl. Also do you have anything else other than this cello case or are you good to go?”

        “I should be alright… But what happened exactly?”

        Vinyl shrugged and so did Sun. “Well… I don’t really know. Twilight and the others were traveling with me to Ponyville and suddenly a ton of ponies wearing face covering helmets attacked the train with some really bad bass. When that knocked the train off they attacked us and tried to drag me away. I called Sun here and he drove them off and then we found you.”

        “Well, sound at very high velocity can blast things over like shockwaves… Tell me Vinyl, was there anything that you might’ve done that could attract their attention?” Sun asked the DJ, just to make sure. 

        “You don’t need to tell me about sound. But no, I haven’t done anything significant in over a thousand years. The last thing of import I did was my incident with Cloudsdale.”

        “Hmm…” Sun said to himself, looking like a detective in thought… “Music like ponies… Wanting to capture you…… Could you have unintentionally started a cult? Because that’s the only idea I have at this rate… Unless there’s something about you that you even don’t know about yourself.”

        Vinyl scratched her head before looking back at the Faunus. “I dunno, if they were cultists why would they attack me instead of just prostrating before me? That train wrecking could’ve killed me.”

        “Maybe they wanted not you, but something that belonged to you.”

        That… got the DJ thinking a bit. She soon brought out a device that looked like a turntable as she showed it to him. “Maybe this?”

        Sun and Vinyl walked alongside Octavia out of the train car as they continued to talk. “Hmm… Something tells me there's a lot more to this than meets the eye… Also, I think you have a special talent that only you would recognize… Tell me, are you the only one who could use this?”

        “Well I’m sure anyone who has magic could potentially use it… but I’m the only one who could make one time and time again… and be able to use it at it’s fullest capacity”

        “Maybe you have a Semblance in which allows only you to interact with it?” Sun suggested, soon having to explain to Vinyl what a Semblance was and explain to her how his worked. Then, he suggested that maybe it was possible that Vinyl could somehow control Sound and Music. She looked thoughtfully at Sun as she followed up his statement with a reply.

        “Maybe? But the control depends entirely on what I’ve made and what materials used. I’m more like Ironman or Batman. A gadget user, but we won’t know until we look more into it guess.”

        “Yes, but remember, Some gadgets can help someone control their gifts. Like Cyclop’s goggles.”

        Vinyl nodded in response. “Yeah, now that I think about it my wub-nades would count as well. Same as the bass cannon… though pony me has made one of those already I’m sure of.”

        “Trust me, she has,” Octavia remarked. “Along with a Dubstep blaster and Luna knows what else she has in her room.”

        Vinyl herself gave a dreamy sigh. “Ah, I didn’t get a chance to explore her room. There must be sooo many wonderful things in there.” What she said next though caused both Sun and Octavia’s eyes to twitch a bit. “I wonder what we could make if we put our heads together?”

        Before Octavia could say anything though we heard Pinkie cry out, “Hey you two! I see you found somepony! Woohoo! More for the Glad-We-Survived-The-Train-Wreck party!” Vinyl and Sun looked towards Pinkie and saw her jumping up and down, waving a hoof energetically at us in greeting as the three of them finally got closer to the front of the train. Vinyl waved back at them as the three of them soon joined up with the others. 

        Twilight was soon the first to speak. "So, I see that your search found somepony."

        “Yeah, Octavia was buried underneath her luggage.” Sun said.

        Twilight raised a quizzical eyebrow but didn’t ask. Instead she said, “Well we have everything we need, I even took the liberty of grabbing some water bottles and snacks from the food car for the trip!” To emphasize, she levitated a saddlebag in front of them before putting it on. Before you know it though, one of the Mane Six began to grow impatient.

        “Come on Twilight, let’s stop standing around talking and go!” Rainbow complained, though she couldn’t say anything about standing… she was flying lazy circles around the group.

        “While ah might not agree with Rainbow’s tone, we really should be headin’ out now Sugarcube. Ah don’t want to leave Big Mac to do all mah chores if ah’m too tired to work tomorrow.” Applejack told them.

        Twilight nodded, “You’re right. Come on girls… and Sun, the sooner we start, the quicker we get back home!”

        “Finally!” Rainbow shouted, throwing her hooves up in the air. Many conversations began amongst the ponies as they began to trot their way back to Ponyville. On the way there though, Vinyl posed a question for the Faunus. “Got any kind of interesting stories for the trip? I feel like today will be a long day.”

        “That depends on if you want to hear about the Grimm or not.” Sun told her, remembering his encounters with the Behemoth when he was with Deathwing in that pocket dimension.

        "Ooh, sounds interesting.” Vinyl replied, taking off what appeared to be arm warmers and putting them back in her pack. Sun didn’t even want to question why she would be wearing them in the summer, but just rolled with it.  “Are they some sort of monster? Do they look like Grim from ‘The Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy’?”

        Sun facepalmed… or more likely, face-tailed himself. “Definitely not. Grimm are creatures that are formed from the negative emotions of others. Like Sorrow, Anger, Wrath, Pride and so on. They mostly take on the forms of animals.” At the sound of this, Vinyl seemed only a tad bit disappointed. But the Faunus began to see something lurk in the clouds above them. Something that he assumed, formed from the hatred of the Daft Punk pony knock offs they saw earlier. 

        “Oh, they sound dangerous. So are there any differences between them?”

        “Quite. Some are Beowolves… Two headed snakes…” He was about to say the Nevermore, until he looked back into the sky, stopped walking and grabbed Ruyi and Jingu Bang. A nevermore was coming straight at them and it was just as big as it looked in RWBY. “Oh COME ON!?! Seriously!? NOW!?!”





        Vinyl was confused at what he meant, but her eyes soon widened at the sight of the monster bird that was above them. “Uh, that a friend of yours Sun?”

        “That is NOT a friend of mine. Everypony, take cover!” Sun yelled, leaping towards the trees as the Nevermore began to rain down it’s feathers like a storm of needles. The Faunus saw Vinyl and the others duck behind some rocks while he tried to get on top of the trees to somehow get himself closer to the gigantic Grimm. 

        “So, how do we kill it?” Vinyl asked. In Sun’s mind, he was yelling ‘You’re seriously asking me this NOW!?!’ 

        “I would say try to take it down or blow it’s head off. Take your pick!” He yelled back, trying to see if he could get any closer to the monster. He thought he heard Vinyl say something, but couldn’t hear it because of the gushing wind as the Nevermore swooped past him. All he did hear was that Vinyl needed some time. As he got up on top of the trees, he looked down and noticed that something was off.

        “Where’s Octavia?”

        Vinyl blinked, looking back at Sun. "She’s not with Twilight?" She asked.

        “I thought she was with you!” Sun yelled back. Looking back upward, he catapulted himself using his bo staff like a pole vault and trying to get in the air. However, out of the few shots he tried to get off, only one of them actually hit the giant bird. He watched as Vinyl found the scared pony behind a bush as she rushed behind a rock. Relieved to see that she was okay, Sun went with a new plan of attack. He launched himself upward, only to this time grab onto the sturdy tail feathers of the Nevermore. 

        “Hey Vinyl, whatever you’re going to try and do, do it NOW!!!”

        The DJ must’ve heard him because a few minutes later, Vinyl ran out into the open field to catch the birds attention, offending it by referring to it as ugly and saying that it’s mother was an Omelette. As the bird dived towards her, she threw something that made sun think that it was a grenade. Getting an idea, he swung forward, caught the explosive, threw it into the birds open beak and fired Ruyi Bang, causing it to explode.

        “Hasta la vista, baby!”

        As Sun landed back on the ground, the Grimm faded away into a corpse of shadows, but Vinyl herself wasn’t happy at the faunus. In fact, she had her hands on her hips and was glaring at him intently. “Why did you blow up the wub-nade?! It’s not suppose to just blow up like that, that’s a waste of a blue chip!”

        “I thought it was an explosive. Why? Does it work differently?” Sun asked. He honestly had no clue how the DJ’s stuff worked and didn’t really think that she was going to listen to reason. Vinyl sighed. Clearly, she needed to explain how her tech worked.

        “When it goes off it releases wubs and sound using magic to create enough force to disorient a living creature and cause it to have no feeling in their limbs. That's the normal one, the one I threw would've released wubs and sound hard enough to do serious internal damage and then explode. Even more damage would be done when Big Bird swallowed the wub-nade, and the explosion would've been bigger."

        “True… But I didn’t know that at first. Sorry for jumping to conclusions.”

        “Can't fault you… I guess it doesn't honestly matter as long as the chip was vaporized in the end..." Sun wasn’t clear about what kind of chip she was referring to, but just rolled with it. "I gotta say though, grasping the bird’s tail and riding it was pretty ballsy. At least you didn't land on your pretty face when you jumped back down right?” Vinyl looked at his tail. “Also, I’ve been meaning to ask, but why do you have a tail?"

        “Faunus like me are known to have traits of animals. For me, I have the reflexes and speed of a monkey.”

        Vinyl seemed interested, eyeing Sun’s tail again. “Is that so…? That’s pretty cool. Must be neat having a tail, I’ve kinda been wanting to pet it.”

        “Well, it does kind of serve as like an extra hand. Kind of takes a bit to get use to at first, but like anything; you adjust over time.” Sun sighed, looking up to see a certain unicorn walking towards them. “Incoming Twilight, 6 o’clock.”

        “Wha-?”

        “Figure of speech. What I mean is… She’s right behind you. And she looks like she has quite a few questions for you.” Just as soon as Sun said that, Twilight trotted towards the two Displaced. Her eyes were showing clear interest as to what happened and worry at what might come next.

        “Vinyl! What was that thing?! Are there more?!”

        “That was the first time I ever saw something like that. Sun’ll be able to answer your questions much better, I’m still new to all this.” The DJ replied, bouncing the question back towards the Faunus and pointing at him. Twilight herself redirected her attention to him as he sighed. 

        “That was a Grimm and for now, I don’t believe anymore would show up. They’re creatures formed from negative emotions of the soul like Anger, Wrath, Greed, Pride and so on. Something tells me that the anger from the ponies we encountered earlier formed that Nevermore.”

        Twilight sighed in relief when she heard that no more of the Grimm will show up. "Oh, good." She said, "I thought we would have to deal with a lot of those." Now she was beginning to ask for Murphy’s law to happen to her. 

        Vinyl soon interjected shortly afterwards. "Nevermore huh? I think I'll stick with 'Big Bird'. We should probably start walking again, this fight stalled us enough as it is."

        All of them agreed on that as they began to trot back to town. Depending on how things would turn out, the trip could be for a long amount of time. But out of this, Sun and Vinyl had obtained a newfound sense of respect from Octavia. 

        Things soon turned to look out better for them in the long run when they saw a sign on the side of the road. Cutting corners and not directly following the tracks shaved a lot of time off the travel.

        The sign said Ponyville, 2 miles ahead. 

        “Finally!!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “We’re so close, I can taste it!!”

        “Hang on Rainbow, not everypony here can be as fast as you can.” Sun told her, causing her to look back at the faunus.

        “Oh COME ON!!” Rainbow complained. “After what you did against that Bird freak, I’m sure you could keep up with me.”

        “Maybe… but what about everypony else? You can’t think about just yourself.”

        "We'll get there soon enough Rainbow, it's just two more miles." Vinyl’s words, along with a nod from Sun, Rainbow groaned a little as she came back down to earth to be with her friends. Though, she did glance over at Sun. Possibly for the comments that he made earlier. During the walk, Sun and Vinyl had the chance to talk amongst themselves, also telling her about the situation with the changeling queens. It wasn’t long though until something caught the Faunus’ attention.

        “Hey, is it just me or am I seeing a red barn up ahead?”

        Vinyl looked up, smiling a little at the sight since she had to change clothes because of the humidity. “Sweet! It’s Sweet Apple Acres!”

        “Finally! Home Sweet Home!!” Applejack hollered as she trotted forth.

        “Dear Sweet Celestia, my hooves are killing me!!” Came a complaining Rarity.

        “Aw sweet! I can finally get to napping! And practicing for the Wonderbolts!” Shouted Rainbow.

        “Well, it’s sweet to get a break now if I do say so myself.”

        “Oh! I can’t wait to get back to Sugarcube Corner and eat all those yummy sweets again!” Shouted Pinkie.

        Around now, Vinyl had the urge to shout out loud for somepony to please save her from insanity. Especially when Granny Smith began to talk to Applejack from her rocking chair. “Well, my oh my. AJ, Who’s tha sweet fella’ over there under the tree?”

        While the two of them were talking, Sun and Vinyl were resting on the ground underneath one of the apple trees. During this though, Sun had his back turned and was unaware of what was going to catch him by surprise. That was… until Vinyl asked him a question. “Sun, How good are you with fillies?”

        “I beg your pardon-?”

        “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, MONKEY CATCHERS YAY!!!” Came the sound of three familiar filles as they used the opportunity to pounce on the Faunus.

        “NOT AGAIN!!”

        Vinyl was now laughing uncontrollably while looking at the four of them They ended up in a dogpile with the three crusaders sitting proudly on top of a prone monkey boy. Only for him to straighten himself back up with Scootaloo hanging onto his tail and Sweetie Belle hanging onto his shoulders. They had no idea that Sun was that strong to get up after three fillies try to get the jump on him like they were hunting monsters. Now, Applebloom was standing in front of the Faunus. Shocked.

        “Well, I guess we won’t be getting our cutie mark in that.” Deadpanned Scootaloo from Sun’s tail.

        “Yeah…” Said Sweetie Belle from her perch.

        “Play nice Monkey Boy.” Vinyl teased Sun, trying to make sure that he didn’t do anything to hurt the three of them. Sun’s response was to use his tail to place Scootaloo on his other shoulder and sit down, deciding it would be best to have fun and start to tickle all three of them.

        “Still very ticklish…” Sun smiled, rubbing both of Scoot’s ears and careful not to mess with Sweetie’s horn. “But it’ll take more than that to try and catch me.”

        “Is that a challenge?”

        “No, it isn’t.” Sun sighed. “Besides, I’m trying to rest a little after fighting an oversized crow.”

        Around now, Applejack had called Applebloom and her friends over, leaving the DJ and Sun to rest against the tree that they were at. But then, something else happened. A letter appeared out of nothingness and landed in Sun’s lap. Sun looked at the letter and judging from how his expression was, he could recognize something about the envelope.

        “What is it?” Vinyl asked. Sun honestly, didn’t have words to describe it. But tried his best as he looked at the invitation.

        “Remember my cousin? The one that got Displaced as Gunvolt?”

        “Yeah, why?”

        “This is a letter from him. His seal is on the front.” Sun could tell it was from him because the Seal was the same symbol as the Hairpin that he used for a token. He slowly unraveled the parchment and began to read it. “Oh, cool. Didn’t even know you could send letters to other Displaced. So… what kind of letter is it?” Vinyl asked.

        “Let’s see…” Sun replied, beginning to read the letter. 

Dear Sun Wukong,

        You are coronally invited to attend the Royal wedding of Maxine Caulfield and Lance Walker. The wedding is scheduled to occur four months from now, but Mr. Walker would like to ask you to be the Best man for this special occasion. You can find more information about the events of the Wedding on the attached Itinerary below.

Sincerely

        Twilight Sparkle, Student of the Grandmother and event organizer

P.S. Each recipient is allowed to bring only one guest, but must notify us about them in advance.

        “Holy… Sh*t…”

        “What? What?!”

        To answer her question, Sun read the statement again. “Dear Sir or madam…… You are coronally invited to the wedding of Maxine Caulfield and Lance walker… Oh dear god, my cousin’s getting married.”

        He then showed the attached photograph of the pair and the fillies that were with them. Vinyl’s response… was because of seeing a filly Rainbow Dash. “Awww. She’s cute…… So, this must be a shock, I’m guessing?”

        “Well, Lance did say he had to leave early to take care of something… wait…” He looked closer, now noticing something else. “On the Itinerary, there's a baby shower two days before the wedding… Oh you have got to be kidding me…”

        “Well, congrats to them I guess. Never saw a point to baby showers myself though…”

        “Right… Last I checked, Lance was 16… God, that thought makes me feel disturbed.”

        “Well, teen pregnancy is on the rise…” Vinyl replied. That did not help sooth anything in Sun’s mind at all.

        “True… but you don’t know how old Max here is… and if she was like the usual case for Displaced… then she would be over 1000 years old wouldn’t she?” Sun asked.

        “Well… it depends, was she trapped in stone… or actually living those past 1000 years?”

        “Trapped I believe. I don’t know all the details… But I do notice a couple of things from this photo. The background was by a pair of statues of both the Princesses, but if you look closely enough, you can see that they’re memorial statues.” One thing with Sun was that he could see things and details that other people might normally miss. When showing this to Vinyl, she herself was quite surprised. 

        “Well if she was trapped then it shouldn’t matter… to me at least. Because let’s be honest I am also technically over a 1000 years old and if I date people in my technical age range I’d be with either the Princesses or Discord. And while Mr. Lancie is a fun guy, he isn’t really my type, neither are the Princesses. To be honest I don’t know what to make of those statues. But if you think that your cousin knows what he is doing and is a good judge of character… then you should at least give them benefit of the doubt until you actually meet this Max girl.”

        “I am… but there's another thing… Looks like Max is Royalty.”

        “Oh? Wow, it seems your cousin shot high and scored a bullseye.”

Sun facepalmed himself before Pinkie zipped in and surprised us. Looking at me, she said “Leave the jokes to the professionals,” before going back over to her friends.

        Vinyl looked back at Sun, shrugging her shoulders. “Tough crowd.”

        Sun sighed a little to himself. “Right… And on another note, Lance is asking me to be his Best man.”

        "That's neat. You gonna do it?"

        “Yeah, but I’ve never been asked to do something like this before. I’m kind of nervous.” The Faunus replied, some drops of sweat rolling down his back.

        "No worries, I was a best man at one of my friend's weddings. It's not hard."

        “Right… Hey, do you have anything going on in four months… This might sound awkward… But the letter says that I can bring a guest.” Sun told her as he showed the bottom half of the letter and the sign that said that.

        "Not really no. But if you want me to come I can."

        “It’s your choice of whether you want to go or not. I’m not trying to force you or anything.” Sun explained, the Faunus straightening himself up. “Now, maybe we should get to one other thing before I head back home.”

        Vinyl looked surprised when she looked back at Sun. Sighing a little about remembering her request for Sun to teach her Self Defense, she replied. "Oh yeah, so how are we going to do this?"

        “Well… THINK FAST!”

        Without warning, The Faunus used his tail to cause the DJ to trip as he leaped over her and began to run. “Better keep up if you want to get some payback!”

        Of course, Sun had a reason for doing this, but he wasn’t going to share it to Vinyl just yet. He watched as Vinyl narrowed her eyes and ran forth at him, trying to throw a punch at his face, only for Sun to push it to the side and cause her to stumble past him. He sighed calmly.

        “You’re letting your emotions affect your attacks. You need to be calm and collected before you engage in a fight.”

        “So Why the hell did you knock me over!?” Vinyl shouted back in frustration. 

        “To evaluate your reactions and see what you would do.” Sun spoke again, his tone making him remember Master Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, “That way, I can see what we need to work on.”

        And from what Sun saw, Vinyl had a LOT to learn. Her posture was off, feet weren’t planted and her feelings were affecting her attempts to strike him. For Sun, he had learned martial arts back home; including Tai Chi, Karate, and Jiu jitsu. It was originally meant for him to learn self defense, but then he found it as his way to let out any frustrations that he had and the time he spent in meditation and training helped diminish any stress that he might have accumulated over the course of the day.

        “So, what do I need to work on?” Vinyl replied, annoyed.

        “Two things…” The Faunus began to speak, raising up two of his fingers. “First, you need to fix your stance and make sure your feet are firmly on the ground along with firmly using your arms when you attack. Second, and don’t get mad when I say this, your attitude.”

        Vinyl’s eyebrows immediately raised upward at this point. "What's wrong with my attitude?"

        “You’re are angry. Stressed out… Pissed off perhaps. All of those factors can cause you to make mistakes in a fight. And a mistake is the last thing you would want.” Sun explained. The one time he made a Mistake in his feelings affecting him was in the Pocket dimension, where a behemoth formed from his anger because of it.

        "I guess..."

        “There’s no guess about it,” Sun corrected, “You want to help the girls right? So you need to do what you can and, to put it in your terms, not let the beat drop too early.”

        "Yeah, you're right." The DJ sighed, "So how do I improve myself?"

        “You can’t improve overnight, but you do seem flexible to pull off punches and kicks…” Sun said, evaluating her actions earlier. “Maybe you should practice while listening to music. Nothing with Vocals, just instrumentals and let the flow and beat of the song allow you to come up with different combinations of punches and kicks. Oh and nothing slow. Sometimes, Aero Chord-Ctrl, Alt, Destruction helps me focus.” 

        She hummed a little. That was a good sign. "Can you show me the correct stances for punches and kicks and things like that?"

        “It depends on your skill level and focus. Just make sure to keep your hands open so if your opponent tries to strike first.” There wasn’t really a right or wrong way to do a fight stance. It just depended on your combat style. Sun demonstrated a few, just in case, so Vinyl had some options. She really seemed to like the one he did on Crimson Viper from Street Fighter.

        Vinyl’s next question to Sun was brief, but important. "You can counter?"

        “Counters depend on timing and your opponent. Remember when you tried to punch me a few moments ago?” He asked. “That was me countering you. Anytime you try to defend yourself, you need to throw your opponents off their game and a good way of doing that is pushing their arms away from your body. That way, their face can hit the ground.”

        “I see… That’d be better than my face.”

        “That should be just about it. You can summon me if you have anymore questions okay?” Vinyl nodded her head and with that, Sun used his coin to tear open a rift back to his own world. He leaped forth, ready to come back to his home.



Fluttershy’s Cottage

        Sun came back to the cottage to find Angel and Henry outside along with a young dog that he had not seen before. When the dog saw him, he was greeted by a bunch of happy kisses and  left something for him in his lap. It didn’t seem like Fluttershy was home. Maybe she was with her friends to comfort the Yaks that were going to the castle.

        “A present? For me? How kind of you.” Sun replied, petting its ears and seeing the collar around it’s neck. Spelling out Winowa Apple. Apple? That last name sounded quite familiar to Sun since it was the name of one of Fluttershy’s friends. Now though, he focused a little more on what was dropped in his lap. It looked like a bone and a ball, but they somehow resembled a Holy Bone and Cherry bomb from Okami. But right now, he didn’t have much time to think about that as his attention was focused back on Winowa. He now had an idea.

        “Hey there, Wanna play fetch?”




End Tail 8

> Tail 9- Monkeying Around with Gods
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Monkeying Around with Gods




Outside Fluttershy’s Cottage

        “Wanna play Fetch?”

        The single question got Winowa all riled up. She was really eager to play and Sun was glad to make her feel happy. Using the ball she gave her, he tossed it out into the fields in the distance as Raven soon approached him from inside the cottage.

        “Hey, Whatcha doing?”

        “Was Fluttershy keeping an eye on Applejack’s dog?”

        “Yeah.”

        “Well, she wanted me to play and dropped a ball and a bone in my lap, So I had her go chase the ball and when she brings it back, I’ll reward her with the bone.” Sun smiled, letting Raven know that he was doing okay before she went back in the cottage. He remembered having a dog like Winowa back home. But it died about a few months ago after some kids hit it in the middle of the street. He named it Coco since it was a Chocolate Labrador retriever.

        Speaking of retrieving, Winowa was just about coming back, but she did not hold a ball this time. After all, the ball did not look like a white wolf puppy with red markings. Wait… does he look like-?

        “LET GO OF ME!!!” The white wolf pup seemed to be “yelling”. Like he was freaking out for dear life. By the time Winowa dropped him in Sun’s lap, the Faunus was quite puzzled. Now though was when the dog decided to chew on the bone that was next to Sun as the white wolf was looking straight at him.

        “Today is going to be one of those days… huh..” The wolf pup telepathically muttered, releasing a sigh. 

        “The hell?” Sun reacted. “Are you talking to me?”

        “Wait, you’re not a anthro?!”

        “Uh, no. I’m a Faunus.” He told the pup, tickling him a bit in the belly with his monkey tail. However, the Pup was not impressed. Not at all.

        “... So I’m going with the Displaced path… Why are we so popular this week?!”

        “Honestly, I thought I was throwing a toy of Winowa’s-.” Sun spoke before looking back at the dog, who had dropped the bone and casually decided to go in the cottage. However, after a few seconds, the bone began to glow. Probably due to the Terrier chewing out the darn thing in the first place. However, Sun was surprised to now see another wolf. This time, a full grown adult. 

        “... OK. I kinda want a explanation on why I disappeared from Sweetie’s visit and am now here… But I don’t think I want to know.” The wolf spoke telepathically as well. 

        “Oh hey look, It’s Mama Wolf.” Sun chuckled.

        “Oh HAR DEE HAR HAR!” The pup growled as soon as Sun finished. The Faunus now noticed something off.

        “Hey, is the filly behind you with you as well?” Sun asked, pointing to behind the wolf.

        “M-mrs.. Amaterasu… I’m scared…” The filly whimpered. 

        “It’s ok Sweetie. They’re friends… I think.” Amaterasu said to the filly. Sun nodded his head, still tickling Chibi with his tail. That… was something that caught the Wolf’s attention immediately. Just what was this guy?

        “Ok yeah, I think I do want that explanation now.” Amaterasu stated, sitting down with the filly in front of her. 

        “They’re displaced. And can you please stop that! It gives me bad vibes from yesterday…” The pup shouted, shivering a little. 

        “Just be glad it’s not a Grimm.” Sun told him. “Anyways, my name is Sun Wukong. I’m a Faunus, which is basically a human with Animal Characteristics and in my case, I have the characteristics of a Monkey. Earlier, after getting back from visiting another Displaced, Applejack’s dog dropped what looked like a bone and a red ball in my lap and since she looked like she wanted to play fetch, I had her chase after the ball. But instead, he brought this little guy and then summoned you after she chewed on the bone. Which reminds me… Where did that ball-?”

        BOOM!!!

        “-go.”

        “I… think we found it…” The small wolf said, looking at the colorful explosion. Sun facepalmed himself, now realizing that the ball was a bomb and Amaterasu gave Chibi the most angry of glares from her. “What?! This isn’t my fault!!!”

        “Technically…-”

        “We didn’t even technically MAKE THESE TOKENS!”

        At that moment, Sun looked back at the cottage and noticed something. It wasn’t Reson or Honeydew, but the same filly that tried to catch him in a fishing net earlier at-... Uh oh.

        “Mr. Sun!!!”

        “Aw crap…”

        “Mrs Ammy… why does-”

        “UUHHHH… C-Changeling? I really don’t want to explain the multiverse theory to you now!”

        “Nope… that’s actually her.” Sun said. “The same filly that tried to catch me in a fishing net after she thought that I was a monster in her sister’s home when I went to go ask for some more clothes.”

        “Rarity’s done with-............ CHANGELING!!”

        With that, The twins, Sweetie Belle and Sweetie Belle from Ammy’s universe, ran in both directions screaming. But this time, Sun’s Sweetie Belle enveloped the other Sweetie Belle in her magic. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CHANGELING CATCHER!!! YAY!!!”

        “Sweetie, put her down…” Sun asked calmly. “That’s not a changeling.”

        “Then why does it look like me?”

        “That’s because it is you… From another universe.”

        “ ……… Do I get my cutie mark in that universe?” She then asked, causing Chibi to facepaw himself.

        “I don’t know.” Sun shrugged his shoulders, answering her question.

        “Darn it! Had to try!!”

        “Ammy, please help me separate the two of them before her friends show up and think the same thing…… Are they with you?”

        “ ……Maybe?” Sweetie Belle replied, giving the Faunus a facial expression that made him think of cat like eyes.

        “Uhhh… My sweetie belle? Uhhh…” Ammy looked around before settling on a small daisy growing in the lawn. She plucked it with her mouth and gave her Sweetie it. After she was set down on the ground of course.

        “Wear this.”

        “That should help with being able to tell the two of you apart.” Sun sighed, leaning back against the tree.

        With a small giggle, Both of the fillies nodded. Everything had calmed down just a tad… Until two other fillies showed up.

        “Hey Sweetie, Did you see the Prince from Yakghanistan in town- WHAT THE HAY!?!”

        The reaction came from the shocked pair of Applebloom and Scootaloo as they stared at the two Sweetie Belles… Only one thought came on their minds. “CHANGELING!!!”

        “Ah crap.” Sun smacked his face as Chibi facepawed himself again. The two other filles leaped towards their own Sweetie Belle and Amaterasu’s Sweetie. Saying the same phrase that Sweetie said a few moments ago. For the longest amount of time, the four of them argued amongst one another and despite Ammy’s best intentions, she couldn’t find a way to calm them down. 

        “So what now?” Chibi spoke up, watching with amusement.

        BANG!!!

        The loud shot caused all of them to stop as they looked at Sun, who was holding Ruyi Bang in one of his hands while an Apple dropped into his other hand. “No need to be disrespectful, but is everypony done with the arguing and shouting?”

        “Holy- Is that a gun?!” Chibi shouted in surprise. 

        “I really think we probably should worry more about other things than guns…” Ammy grumbled. 

        “They’re Gunchaku. Basically… Nunchaku shotguns.” Sun explained, showing them in their Nunchaku form before combining them into his Bo Staff. The Cutie Mark Crusaders just watched in awe as the Faunus showed his weapons to the four of them (if you count the other Sweetie Belle being the fourth one) before Chibi spoke up.

        “So… You’re a Donatello/Michelangelo kind of guy?” He said, causing Amaterasu to facepaw herself.

        “You can say that, however, there are some differences.” Sun replied back. For one thing, I have a semblance.”

        “Erm ok.” Ammy muttered, losing interest.

        “Let me demonstrate…” The Faunus soon clapped his hands, creating two silhouette Doppelgangers of himself that were a transparent gold. “My semblance is decoy, which allows me to use my energy to create clones which can detonate on contact.” As a demonstration, he tossed a rock at the two clones he made and both of them exploded in a puff of smoke.

        “Impressive.” Chibi commented. 

        “Plus my weapons are also built in shotguns, but I think you know that already.” Sun replied.

        “Like I said before, Impressive.” 

        “Thanks… Maybe we should get moving though back to town before Rarity comes looking for Sweetie Belle and sees two of her sister.” Sun replied. However, a few seconds later, something slipped from the Faunus’ pockets that caught Chibi’s attention.

        “Hm?” Curious, the pup wandered over. Looking over, the one thing that caught his attention was a photograph that contained a familiar face.

        Max Caulfield.

        “Did… ” Chibi mentally spoke before shaking his head.

        “Hey! Hurry up!” Ammy shouted. In response, Chibi quickly picked up the picture, putting a mental reminder in his head to return it to Sun. Soon, the faunus, ponies, and both wolves made their way over to the Carousel Boutique. Once there, Sun gave a couple of knocks and the response he got was a cheerful “Come in!” in a melodic tone.

        “Well, Ladies first.” Sun told them as he opened the door and had to use his foot to hold Chibi back so he waited his turn. “Now we go in.”

        With small irritated look, The smaller wolf went in. ‘Note to self, Complain to Ammy when we get back.’ He thought as he passed through the entry.

        “I heard that, pup.” Sun said. “Sorry about the wait, Rarity. I had a few… surprise guests.”

        “It’s alright darling.” The Seamstress replied, but stopped after looking at Ammy and Chibi. “Oh my… Why those two creatures look stunningly beautiful!”

        “Why thank you.” Ammy replied, smiling… or a wolf’s variant of a smile.

        “W-what? Sun, did that creature just… Speak?”

        “Rarity, I would like you to meet Amaterasu and Chibiterasu. They’re friends of mine from another Equestria. Oh and in addition, they brought along a friend of theirs.”

        “Sweetie? It’s just another Rarity, Nothing to be-” Ammy said, pushing her Sweetie Belle up. 

        “But it’s not the Rarity I remember!” 

        “Sweetie Belle? Darling, is that you?” The older Unicorn asked. 

        “Nah, This universe’s Sweetie is over there.” Chibi said, looking over at said filly, who was right now gathering the clothes that Sun had requested Rarity to make for him. It took a while for Rarity to recognize the difference, but after some time though, she could tell who was who. 

        “My word… You, my dear, look absolutely stunning!” Rarity paused, her eyes flickering a little upon seeing the flower in her hair and looking back at the two wolves in the room. “IDEA!!!”

        Within minutes, the seamstress began to work, creating a simple; yet elegant scarf for the young filly that was based on the White and red fur along the bodies of Amaterasu and Chibiterasu and also the daisy that she was wearing. It was quite a standout if she did say so herself.

        Using her magic to wrap it around her, Rarity then posed a question. “How do you like it, Darling?”

        “Wow! I-i… Love it!” Sweetie shouted, losing all fear inside her. 

        “It looks great on you, Sweetie!” Sun replied. “Picture perfect if I do say so myself.”

        In a single second, Chibi felt a moment of Deja vu. “Oh dear- Where did that come from?!”

        “Something wrong, Chibi?” Sun asked, noticing the wolf flinch at the corner of his eye.

        “I just felt like this happened before or somethin’” He said before mentally slapping himself. “Dunno how I forgot, But this fell out of your pocket a few minutes ago.” With that, Chibi set down the picture in front of Sun. 

        “Oh wow, I didn’t think the photo from my cousin’s invitation would fall out so easily. Thanks Chibi.” He replied, bending over in order to pick up the picture before sitting on a nearby bench.

        “Invite?” Amaterasu asked, a little confused by the statement as the Cutie Mark Crusaders from this world went back outside to play while Ammy’s Sweetie Belle stuck with Chibi inside the Boutique.

        “My cousin Lance has a wedding coming up and he asked me to be the best man. I was going to write back and tell him yes, but I just need to figure out HOW to do that.” The Faunus sighed a little. “Lucky devil he is to be starting his own family.”

        “Looks like we’ll be payin’ her a little visit.” Amaterasu remarked in Chibiterasu’s direction. 

        “Who?” He asked, not understanding what Ammy was talking about.

        “Max! You remember her! Sadly, I do.” 

        “Oh! Right, her…” 

        “Not only that, but there seems to be a lot planned. Including the baby shower that’s listed here.”

        “Wait, you mean-”

        “Yes, that happened.” Sun sighed. “The signs are a little obvious with the date of the baby shower and the fact that she had the kids in front of her, where it would seem a bit… noticeable.”

        “Oh my. Well… I guess that Lance and her are lucky at least.” Chibi spoke up. 

        “Something tells me you know Max though… Do you?” Sun’s observation surprised the two wolves, but it was kind of obvious. Especially with Chibi’s reaction to the mentioning of her name.

        “I guess it’s obvious. We found her token in the middle of a lazy day. I got a new sword from it though.” Ammy briefly explained. 

        “Well, that explains things. Hey, maybe you two should go see her. Maybe you’ll get invited to the wedding as well? Take Sweetie with you as well. Her cuteness might go well with the Filly Rainbow Dash she and Lance are raising.”

        “Oh you mean the one who jumps on me every time?” Chibi asked, looking a little scared. 

        “Yeah her. From what I can tell, she already has three siblings with a fourth on the way so the more love and attention she gets, the stronger she’ll grow up to be.” Sun smiled, using his hands to pet behind Chibi’s ears almost like how Faith met him when the two wolves met Nicko and Faith Nocte. 

        “Oh god! Not the petti- Ok, Why am I complaining? I’m probably going to be pet by every single displaced I meet!” Chibiterasu started to complain. Sun just ignored his pleas as he continued, using his tail to tickle Amaterasu around the ears as well. Making sure that it wasn’t in a creepy like manner like what Chibiterasu said earlier.

        Looking outside, Sun now turned towards his guests. “If you would excuse me, I need to help the girls deal with a…… problem.”

        “Give it back, Diamond!!”

        “Or else what? You’re going to cry to your sister, Sweetie?”

        From the commotion outside, it seemed like Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were cornering Sweetie Belle. They happened to have taken her saddle bag, which had some of Sun’s clothes in it, along with some personal items. 

        “Oh dear… Sound like trouble.” Ammy said, looking in the direction of the voice. What she didn’t notice at the time was Sun on the rooftop perch above the fillies. Putting his finger to his mouth like he was trying to tell them to be quiet. 

        “What’re-” Chibi was silenced by a shush from his companion as they quieted down. To their surprise, without getting caught, they saw Sun as he lowered himself down like a spider and lightly pulled off Diamond’s tiara along with taking the bag that was set aside on the ground. After a few seconds though, the filly felt the lack of weight on her head and watched as Sun landed next to Sweetie.

        “Looking for something?”

        “H-how dare you-!? Do you know who I am-!?”

        “Yes and all you need to know is that I got friends that’ll scare you six ways from sunday. Plus, you might not want to mess with my companions so to speak.”

        “Oh wait, Uhhh…” Chibi muttered. 

        “That’s DIAMOND TIARA!” Amaterasu shouted as the two wolves and their Sweetie Belle peeked outside. 

        Needless to say, Diamond’s face was priceless the moment she saw the second Sweetie.





        “W-what!?! T-t-t-two Sweetie Belles!?!!”

        Sun began to giggle a little in response to Diamond’s reaction. There was no way for her to tell which one was the real one. She even assumed that Sweetie learned a cloning spell to make a duplicate version of herself to drive her nuts. The Faunus was enjoying seeing this. “Maybe this will make you think twice before trying to pick on somepony else again… Run along now…” He ushered, followed by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon bolting out of there as fast as they can. 

        “See? Problem solved.” He told his Sweetie Belle happily. “Now, is there anything else we could take care of before we help get you guys back to your home?”

        Both Ammy and Chibi looked at each other, trying to think of the possibilities. Then, they shook their heads. “Nah, I think we’re good.”

        “Okay, I guess our contract is complete.”



Later

        It was only a few hours after Amaterasu and Chibiterasu went home with their own Sweetie Belle while Sun had to help get the Cutie Mark Crusader back home. Thankfully, he wasn’t given any grief about the situation back in Ponyville… Yet. But hey, as of right now, he just needed to focus on getting some rest. 

        But getting that rest was easier said than done. When he came back, Fluttershy had her hooves full with taking care of her animals, Reson and his sister, and Kreed.With Discord being busy with Raven and it almost being close to curfew, Sun could only do one thing as he sat down on the bed.

        Sleep.




End Tail 9

> Tail 10- Meet the Fiancé
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Meet the Fiancee




Fluttershy’s cottage

        The fresh morning air began to help Sun wake up in the morning bright and early as he strolled over to the kitchen to grab himself an apple. With Ammy and Chibi meeting him the other day, he needed to take a breather and thought that the best way to do that was a nice long nap. Now, it was five o’clock in the morning and he was up bright and early… Along with one other small figure. Turning around, he noticed that Angel Bunny was rubbing his head against his pant leg as he got down on the floor.

        “Oh… Morning. Sorry if I woke you up.” Sun apologized, but then noticed that the rabbit was holding something. It looked a lot like… a picture. Not the one with his cousin Lance, the kids and his fiance… but just the girl. Max, was it? Well, Sun couldn’t remember the name, but then realized that this picture was not exactly like the other one as he began to hear something in his head. "Time, the real final frontier. This is the token of Max Caulfield, the Master of Time. Its mission: to seek out those who would protect others and tear down tyranny; to boldly go before me so that I may be called when the time is right."

        “Well, that’s new.” Sun said to himself, thanking Angel. “Maybe I should call on her? Get the chance to see what she’s like.” With that, Sun got up, made sure to equip his weapons and the gem Loki gave him before he engaged the summoning. However, something different began to happen. Instead of the token letting him summon Max, it instead summoned a small void that swallowed the Faunus and caused him to disappear. Angel would be scared, but he wasn’t this time.

        It was just a typical tuesday in Ponyville after all.





Equestria (Home of the Prophet)

        Max was sitting down at the dining room table with an undisguised changeling-unicorn +hybrid sitting next to her. “One moment, Glimmer, someone’s trying to-”

        She was interrupted by a golden tailed figure with an unbuttoned shirt, jeans, and golden like hair slamming into her. “I pulled too hard....” Max groaned from her place on the floor.

        “Oww… Next time, Sun. Look before you leap.” He told himself as he shook his head and looked at Max, which almost gave him a nosebleed. “Oh…… Am I interrupting anything?”

        “Not really, Glimmer there just asked if I was really a guy originally,” she said, nudging Sun off of her. “This isn’t how I would’ve liked to meet you.”

        “Likewise. Still though, I think we haven’t properly introduced ourselves. I’m Sun. Sun Wukong.” He replied, offering a handshake.

        Max stood and gave a slight bow. “I am Grandmother Maxine Caulfield, current ruler of this Equestria and resident Free Love specialist.”

        “Nice to meet you. Oh and before I say anything else, congratulations on you and Lance getting married.”

        She giggled and said, “It’s still four months away.”

        “I know… After all, that’s what it said on the invitation.” The Faunus replied, showing Max the parchment that he received from Lance and also the photograph. “He also said he wanted me to be his best man.”

        “I can see why.” Max’s eyes traveled up and down Sun a few times. “You are more of a hunk than the anime showed~.”

        “Umm… Thanks?” He said, noticing her eyes. “And sorry for crashing into you.” Before he could speak any further though, he noticed a rainbow maned filly crawling on him. 

        “Who dis, Mama?”

        “This,” Max said slowly walking towards Sun sensually. “Is your dear uncle, Sun Wukong.” She lightly ran her hand over his chest.

        Rainbow held her hooves up to the faunus and said, “Sunny!”

        “Hello there, youngster!” Sun reached out, playing with the pegasus a little. Soon, Rainbow decided to have some fun by chasing the Faunus’ tail. But it wasn’t just her though. Light Sweet and Golden Sparks decided to join in as well. “Looks like they like my tail.”

        “I’ll just leave you... five to your family bonding,” Glimmer said.

         Max froze for a second, then turned to her other guest and said, “I’m so sorry about that. Here, I’ll let you ask any question you want.”

        Glimmer thought for a moment then asked, “How good were the princesses in bed?”

        The question caused Sun to raise his head and look at Max, heart beating a little faster than normal. Were they seriously asking this? In front of kids no less!? One thing he didn’t notice was his tail stiffen as Rainbow crawled over it like a vine in a jungle.

        Max gave Sun a devious grin and leaned a bit closer to the mare. “How about we discuss that after the foals go to bed? Preferably after you help me get... Uncle Sunny to help us scratch an itch?”

        Sun raised an eyebrow, not knowing what exactly Max was talking about, but assumed that her back was sore. After all, she was raising four foals and that could make things complicated. “Sure I guess. You must be sore after being with the kids all day right?”

        “They’re nothing but sweet angels when I’m around,” she dismissed taking a few steps towards him. “But I know you’ll be sore come the dusk, if you know what I mean....”

        “Dusk? Do you mean dawn by chance or is there something I don’t understand here?” The Faunus asked, a little confused as Rainbow climbed onto his shoulder.

        “Ponies are nocturnal in this universe. Everything is basically reversed when it comes to day and night,” Max said, almost like she had said the same thing several times. Sun himself was quite surprised to hear that, but hearing the whole nocturnal part made him think of some vampire like scenario like in Anita Blake, where the supernatural like Vampires and Werewolves are legal citizens and raising zombies is actually an occupation. His attention was soon directed elsewhere when someone else entered the room.

        “Madam Maxine, can I-. Oh… Who do we have here?” 

        Sun himself was surprised. “A…… reindeer? Well, that’s a first.”

        Max chuckled, levitating a newspaper in front of Sun. “You should see the headlines.”

        Sun looked. His eyes soon widened. “This guy ran you over? Really? Should I take offense or no… Because I have my gunchaku on my back if that’s a yes.”

        “You mean these?” A thestral asked from Max’s left side, holding the weapons.

        “Right… You do realize that’s only one pair right.” Sun replied, but to his surprise, he pulled out a banana instead. “Seriously?”

        Another thestral appeared at Max’s right side holding the other pair.

        “You’re killin me, smalls.” Sun deadpanned. “Question though, do those… machines run on magic?”

        Both of the thestrals replied, “These bodies are completely organic and work exactly like any regular pony’s.”

        Max sighed and said, “Sol’s the one who replaced one of your... weapons with a banana.”

        The thestral to her left giggled, “I noticed during the scan that you were part monkey.”

        “Well, technically, I am a Faunus. Meaning I’m a human with animal characteristics. For me, I have the speed and reflexes of a monkey along with the tail. Which Rainbow really seems to like.” He pointed out as Rainbow was shown hugging it like it was a teddy bear. Sun himself chuckled a little as he used the tail to tickle and tease the filly, making her sniffle a few times every time the tail bopped her on the nose. Soon, Lucky himself trotted over and was personally surprised to see the monkey like human in the room.

        “Grandmo-.... Mom… Who is this?”

        “Lance’s cousin, Sun. You can call him uncle, though,” Max said, disappointment on her face for a fraction of a second. “So where’s Light and Golden?”

        “Sleeping. I... asked one of the guards to watch them to make sure we know when they wake up.”

        “Thank you for doing that, Lucky. You don’t need someone to watch you if you’re watching out for your sisters.”

        “Quite a responsible colt if you ask me.” Sun smiled, Rainbow now climbing onto his shoulders. 

        “Sunny!!” Dashie proclaimed, bopping Sun on the nose with an outstretched hoof.

        “Dashie, don’t lean so far from where you’re holding on unless you plan to fly,” Max admonished. “It’s not safe.”

        Rainbow stopped and slowly leaned back against Sun. “Sorry mommy....”

        “It’s okay, Dashie. You’re probably just tired.” Sun told her, rubbing behind her ears. “Lucky? Could you make sure that Rainbow gets some sleep?”

        Lucky nodded and trotted over to let Rainbow sit on his back. “I’ll put her with her sisters.”

        “Thanks, Lucky.” Sun asked, hoof bumping one of his hooves in a fist pump like motion. He soon turned back to Max, Rutherford and Glimmer. 

        Max watched the foals leave the room, turning back to Sun saying, “So about my offer....”

        Sun raised an eyebrow, looking at Prince Rutherford before looking back at Max. “What offer? The one you said about that itch?”

        Max stepped up to him again, circling him once and giving his arm a light squeeze.“Oh yes. You, me, and Glimmer. My bedroom. All day long~.”

        Sweat began to roll down his neck. “Seriously? All that for a massage?” Clearly, he wasn’t understanding Max’s statements… Or in her book, foreplay.



The next night

        Sun awoke to being drenched in ice water and two laughing ladies. “You slept through midnight,” Max explained when her laughter subsided. “It’s almost time for dinner, so I thought you’d like to wash  up.”

        “And just when I thought I needed the rest.” The Faunus groaned. He looked down to realize that he was in a new set of clothes, but without a shirt. “Where are the clothes I had on me?”

        “I told Rarity that you were going to be the best man and she decided to start making you a suit just after breakfast. She said you did stir a bit, but you didn’t wake up at all.”

        “And she decided to put the pants on me while I was asleep? Talk about an invasion of privacy.” Sun then hopped onto his tail like he was tigger from Winnie the Pooh before going back onto his feet. “Do I at least get to choose what I want to wear for me, shirt wise?”

        “Once I learned about this, I told her she was to work on the dresses only. Lance’s Rarity will work on the suits, so you’ll have to ask her if you can just wear your normal outfit.”

        “Okay, where is she-?”

        “-Right through here,” Rarity said, leading another mare that looked exactly like her into the room. “Oh, you’re awake. I am dreadfully sorry about invading your privacy earlier.” 

        “It’s alright. You’re forgiven.” He replied. “Oh… Hello there.”

        “Yeah, I can’t tell them apart either,” Glimmer said.

        “Then let me fix that, darling.” The second Rarity replied, putting on a specialty headband with a clear sapphire gem that was just near her right ear. “There we go. I’m Rarity or as I am known as back home, Radiance.”

        “I can see why.” Sun chuckled. “So you know Lance?”

        “Indeed. He is quite lucky to be with Madame Maxine and I am quite lucky to be helping out with the planning of this event. Now, what ideas did you have in mind for the top half of your clothes?”

        “I was thinking something casual. I am NOT a fan of heavy tuxedo’s.”

        “Why don’t we ladies let him get ready and wait in the dining room?” Max suggested.

        “That’s a great idea.” Max’s Rarity replied. But before they left, Sun had one last question for Max.

        “Hey… uh… where are my weapons? If I may ask?”

        “In the banana tree out in the gardens,” Max sighed. “I might be Sol and Mun’s commander, but I rarely give them orders.”

        “Well, they have a poor sense of humor if they think that’s funny. Surprisingly, they didn’t take my tokens.”

        “They know not to mess with those now. Had to help fight off the worst thing they could ever have messed with.” Max pulled out what looked like a long barreled desert eagle with an inscription on the side that read: Hellsing 454 casull auto.

        “That’s-”

        “One of Alucard’s guns, yes.” Max put it away and continued, “That one though, has become unstable and tries to kill as many as he can before finally killing the one who summoned him. It’s a good thing you have to be holding the token in order to summon someone. A word of caution; if you ever find that token, don’t say ‘b*tches love cannons’ with it in your hand.”

        “Noted.” Sun replied. “Speaking of Tokens, have mine.” He then flipped a coin over to Max that had a monkey insignia on it as she caught it with a spare hand.

        She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Already had it. Thought it would be weird if I summoned you since I- dammit!”

        “I tried summoning you, remember?”

        Max stared at him for a moment then glanced around. “Uh, yeah. Let’s go with the thought train of summons. So how many times have you met different Displaced?”

        “Hmm… Lets see… There was Neltharion, or as he preferred to call himself Deathwing-.”

        “Is he giant like in the game?”

        “Yes, but he has a human form and I believe an Alicorn form as well. Speaking of Alicorns, that brings me to the second Displaced I met. Queen Lauren…… I think the last name was Faust?” 

        “Waitwaitwait. There’s a universe where Lauren Faust -- Lauren F*cking Faust -- is Queen of Equestria?!”

        “Well, she is known as the mother of Celestia and Luna, not to mention the adopted mother of Discord. I don’t know all the details.” Sun shrugged. “All I do remember though is Deathwing and I having to fight a LOT of Grimm in a pocket dimension. Including a Behemoth.”

        Max leaned in and whispered, “Lauren is also the one who remade My Little Pony and made to where anyone could like it.”

        “That might explain a lot… Moving on, the next Displaced I met was personally one of the ones I hated the most. He basically demolished all of his Equestria, threw the princesses and the elements into what he called “The Nether” and had all other ponies be lambs to the slaughter.”

        “Let me guess, he was Steve from Minecraft?”

        Sun shook his head. “Worse…… Herobrine. He even could summon monsters and have them do his bidding.”

        “Eh, Steve is worse in my book. I watched a lot of lets plays where people killed every villager they came across.”

        “Yeah, but Herobrine is seen as a God.” Sun told her. “Never mess with him… Moving along, I met Lance and Nicko, but that was when Lance had to run because of something that came up. Nicko was also pretty interesting as well. He knew Rune Magic and his companion was the daughter of Discord, Eris. That was also where I met the Displaced Draconequus, Loki.”

        “That might be when I gave him the news. I’d just found out I was two months pregnant and kinda freaking out about it.”

        “I would’ve done the same thing if I was in your position.” Sun told her, leaning back in a chair. “Lastly, for Displaced, there was Vinyl, Ammy and Chibi, and now… you. So that’s the people I met.”

        “Someone got Displaced as an actual pony?”

        Sun shook her head as he took out the Ipod that was her token. “Nah, she’s a human version of that pony. I keep on forgetting to call her Rhythm in order to not get confused. Speaking of her, I was actually going to bring her as a guest for the wedding if that’s okay?”

        “Having a pony version and a human version of her?” Max smiled. “Have to have a DJ battle. It just has to happen. I’ll ask her if she’d like the gig if I meet her.”

        “Right… Oh and if I remember correctly… I think Eris left me an extra one of Nicko’s tokens for in case I lost it. Since I don’t really see the purpose in having two, you can keep the other one.” Sun then tossed the Rune Slayer’s mark, which Max caught again. “Oh crap, I forgot. Weren’t you and the girls going to the dining room?”

        “Oh yeah. Ask Mun if he can give your tokens a magnetic field so they attract each other. It’s kinda like how the microbots in Big Hero 6 moved around, but it’s controlled by a simple AI.” Max said, waving the mares along. “It’ll make sure you don’t lose them.”

        “Okay, where are Sol and Mun?”

        “Find one of the hulls- sorry, an Abrams and ask for Mun, he’ll find you eventually.”

        “Something tells me that they’ll come to me the moment I get Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang out of the tree they put them in.” The Faunus retorted, now looking at Rarity. “Sorry for making you wait, Rarity. Now, how should we begin?”

        “I was thinking that we could see what your normal look is like,” Rarity said, sorting through a mound of cloth that went unnoticed by the faunus so far.

        “Normally, I wear an unbuttoned collared shirt and jeans. Don’t want anything too tight to where my tail would feel uncomfortable.” At the moment Rarity heard that, she turned to see Sun putting on an unbuttoned collared shirt, leaving the medallion across his upper chest as she gazed at him from her position.

        The fabric in her magic dropped, but her horn stayed lit as she stared at him. “Um- uh- ha- duh- I-I think that’s a, um... very good look for you.”

        Sun just raised an eyebrow, confused. “Thanks……… Are you okay? Your cheeks are turning red.”

        “I-I-I.... Yes, I’m fine. Just- You’re getting an open shirt with your suit.”

        The Faunus sighed to himself, thinking that it would be for the best if he buttoned his shirt. Not all the way of course, but most of it. “Suits might cramp my tail. Maybe something loose fitting with a good tie?”

        Rarity looked thoughtful for a moment until her face lit with inspiration. “Idea~!”

        “Oh? What did you have in mind?” He asked. Curious to see what creation Rarity had in store for him.

        She pulled out a drawing notebook and a quill. “Yes, loose, but not too baggy, we don’t want you looking like you don’t know how to wear pants. Hmmm.... No, not black. Maybe blue? Oh yes! A belt, a place to put your... charming weapons that Maxine has told us about. Now, should I go with the collar up, or folded? What do yo- oh. Oh my.” Rarity turned back to Sun just in time to catch him buttoning up his shirt halfway and her notebook in her hooves.

        “Is something wrong, Ms. Rarity?”

        “Shirt....” She shook herself and cleared her throat. “Buttoned shirt it is. Stiff collar, possibly black, that would mean a white tie....”

        “I am so going to keep a copy of this,” Rarity muttered.

        “May I see what you had in mind?” The Faunus then asked, sitting on the floor so he could be at the same level as the Unicorn and not look like he was looming over her.

        The white mare bit her lip and nodded, turning the book so Sun could see.

        “Wow… that looks… to put it in the context that Rainbow Dash would use, awesome!!”

        “The real thing is much better,” She muttered, pulling out some fabric from the pile.

        “Would you mind if I lend you a hand or would you be okay on your own? I do need to be able to find Sol and Mun, but I can wait if it’s okay with you.”

        “All I need to do really is get your measurements down, but it would be better to see the fit while you are here.”

        “Can’t you do the measurements based on the shirt that I was wearing the other da- I mean night? Maybe if you saw me with that, you’ll have a good visualization of where to go from there.”

        “Use someone else’s measurements? Please darling, that is what second rate dressmakers do.” She pulled a tape measure out of a bag.

        “Well, if you insist.”

        The measuring was close to awkward for Sun, what with the mare nuzzling him every so often and using her hooves instead of her magic to manipulate the tape. By the time she was done, it was almost four in the morning. Sun saw this as… odd at first. But after a while, it felt comfortable to feel hooves along his body. Just in the right spots of course. By the time that he was use to it though, Rarity was soon finished with the measurements she required. But, for a couple of moments, Sun realized that Rarity was not actually measuring him… and it felt like she was hugging him instead. “Rarity? You okay? You look… Distracted.”

        “Mmhmm…… I’m distracted by a big, strong, gentlecolt.” 

        The thought had Sun realize something, before he said anything back to Rarity. “Hey, Rarity? Can I ask you something? It might sound strange…… but back where I’m from… I think one pony I know has feelings for me, but is a bit scared to share them. When you blushed earlier, it sort of reminded me of her.”

        “Oh? Well, take her out for dinner, or a romantic evening.”

        “Well, that’s kind of the thing… I’m a little nervous about saying it to her. After all, she was the one who let me stay in her cottage.” The mentioning of the last detail served as a MAJOR clue for the fashionista. Now she knew who exactly the Faunus was talking about.

        “Ah, Fluttershy! Why didn’t you say so? Well, it isn’t easy to get her comfortable around somep-one, but you might be able to get away with tiring her out somehow and tucking her in. Maybe even sneak in a kiss on the forehead.” Sun considered the suggestion, thinking it through thoroughly as he then asked her another question. 

        “That’s a good thought, but what do you think I should do to show how much I appreciate her?” It was a tough question, but Sun had to ask it. The last few weeks had made him think that Fluttershy was really helping him out so much that he needed to repay her for the kindness she showed her. That and he rather not ask for Discord’s advice.

        “Maybe tell her to take a day off once in a while and let you take care of the animals? Or if you’re -- I hate to think this, but -- if you’re lucky, you might run into a hurt animal and be able to take care of it yourself.”

        Sun then thought of the last one, soon replying to what she said. “To show how much I learned for her? That actually sounds like a good idea. Thanks Rarity.”

        “Well, I-I-I-I-”

        Before Sun left the room, he went over to the Unicorn and kissed her on the forehead. As he left though, the Faunus had no idea what kind of reaction that caused as Rarity soon passed out a few seconds later, shortly after Sun closed the door. As the Faunus walked through the hallway, looking for Sol and Mun, only one thought was in his mind.

        “Nailed it!”

        On the way through the halls, though, Mun found him instead. “Heard you were going to be looking for me?” The thestral tossed Sun’s weapons to him. The Faunus caught them, placing them back behind his shirt.

        “Yeah. Thanks for giving these back.”

        “Even though my sister and I are twins and can share our thoughts, putting your weapons in the tree was a bit far. Anyways, Max said something about turning your tokens into magnets so you don’t lose them?”

        “Something along that line. She said for it to be like Microbots from Big Hero 6?”

        “She must mean nanobots. My replicators can probably scan your tokens and copy their schematics so I can.... Well, it might bore you to hear the details.”

        “Yeah, you’re probably right.” Sun said, taking out the tokens he did have and giving them to Sol and Mun. “You might need these?”

        “Yes, I will.” Mun took the tokens and led the faunus to what looked like a miniature Abrams with a midnight-themed custom paint job situated to the right of the throne. “Here we are, my hull.”

        “Wow… That looks awesome.”

        “Yeah, even though we’re tiny to be effective in the castle and city, don’t underestimate our power.” A hatch opened in front of the turret and Mun dropped the tokens in one at a time. “We’ve been trying to get Max to let us build a version for ponies to drive with its own AI, but she keeps saying something about copyrights.”

        “Yeah, those can be a real pain in the ass to deal with at times.” Sun sighed. “Trust me, a lot of them leads to legal action if they’re violated.”

        “Yeah, but after we changed the designs, she said to make them smaller. That we were getting into ‘the super tank range’ and that ‘would be a whole other copyright we’d violate’. Personally, I think making them smaller would put the crew at risk unless Elementium is used in the hull.” Sun’s Ipod was returned first with what looked like a plain bracelet. “Ah, put that on and try throwing it against the wall.”

        He was hesitant at first, but then, Sun did what Mun had told him and threw it at the wall… Behind him. “You never said which wall.”

        “Doesn’t matter which one. If it hits something hard enough, or goes past a certain range-” The Ipod burst into dust right before it hit the wall, flowing back through the air and reforming at Sun’s feet. “It returns to you unharmed. You can change where it goes if it needs to catch up to you, and you can use the nanobots as a weapon if you stretch the bracelet around your head. The limits of doing that are your imagination, but after four minutes it’ll need to switch to a different form if you use more than one token.”

        “Does it work for just tokens and weapons or can you use them to create other things too?”

        “You won’t be able to make anything organic, but yes. You can use them to create anything you can imagine.” Max’s picture popped up then and Sun took it without thinking. “It is limited in size to the combined mass of how many tokens you use, so you can’t use them to create a city-wide shield.”

        “By organic, you mean living beings like Nature and Animals?”

        “Yes. You can’t use them to make clothes or rope that are made of plant fibers or animal hair. Anything synthetic like rubber or computer parts you can form. I’ve also made it so you can’t turn them into any kind of fuel.”

        “That may come in handy for other things… Is there a way where you can replicate it? Like make two bracelets?”

        “Having two won’t increase the time you... can....” Mun thought for a bit then continued, “Actually, I could probably increase the control over the nanobots by adding something similar to TSDS to the bracelets.”

        “I wasn’t asking for an increase in time. I was wondering if it could be used by more than one person. Say… if someone I cared for is attacked while I’m gone and they needed something to protect themselves.”

        “Well then they’d need priority over you in the programming. Or I could just make a surplus of nanos, have you and this other person carry your own.”

        “Just don’t give him a gourd, Mun,” Max said as she walked into the room. “Don’t want to make him look like Gaara.”

        “Could it be the size of a hoof?” Sun then asked. He was first thinking about who to get it for. Then, he remembered his conversation about Fluttershy. She was important to him for all she had done for him. The least he could do was help provide a sense of security.

        “I can make it any size you want; make it look, feel, and act like an animal. Even make it so they break down matter to make it even more believable.” By now, Sun had all his tokens back in his various pockets.

        “So who’s the extra bots for? A girlfriend?” Max asked, ruffling Sun’s hair with a noogie.

        “You can say it like that… I told Rarity that back in my world, I believe Fluttershy has feelings for me. So I wanted to show her how much I appreciated her. I thought one of those ways could be a gift.”

        “I’d suggest a necklace or a set of bracelets, then. Non-leathal auto-protect lines in the programming and maybe something to make them destroy any nonorganic thing that tries to fall on her, or is thrown at her.”

        “Now that you mention it, the necklace sounds like a good idea.”

        “I can make a hat to go along with it to hide the band that allows her to control the nanos, as well,” Mun said, a silver necklace with a deep blue sapphire popping out of the hatch.

        “Could the band resemble a Hairband?” Sun asked. “I don’t think it should look too obvious.”

        “I think Mun means something like a gardening hat that she can wear around her house,” Max said.

        “Right, but what if she’s in public?”

        “The band won’t work unless it’s touching her scalp, though I might be able to get away with a sort of feelers to slowly reach for her scalp.”

        “That might work best.” Sun replied, soon being given the second set of bands by Mun. “Thanks for the help. You as well, Max.”

        “If you’re going to be serious about Fluttershy, I’m going to consider her family like you. Oh, don’t tell Lance this, but I’m going to have Sol and Mun place sentry guns in hidden alcoves around the Power Ponies’ base,” Max said.

        “These lips are sealed… Do the Power Ponies know by any chance?”

        “I’m... kinda putting them in secretly. All in the halls, on top of the building, outside the entrances....” She sighed. “I’d rather they not get snuck up on.”

        “You sound like you’re trying to prepare for World War III.”

        “You would as well if you were in my position. Gryphons hate Zebras, wyrms hate dragons.... The only reason they haven’t wiped each other out is because of Luna using the sun and moon as bargaining chips for the last thousand years.”

        “So, what are you planning now? Holding a peace conference? Making Allies? Because, in this day and age, some people are just too stubborn to work with their enemy. Take a look at what’s going on back on earth. There’s government, the peace deals, terrorism. All of it is just a ticking bomb. I’m honestly glad I’m not there anymore.”

        “None of those. I’m building up the army and advancing the technology. Metal airships instead of wood, magic powered laser cannons, and fighters.”

        “Is Lance aware of all of this?” Sun asked. “He should know if the two of you are going to get married soon.”

        “He has... old friends to worry about in his universe. I’d rather not put more on his plate right now.”

        “Well, you should inform him. Secrets in a marriage are like cracks in a window. It’ll break eventually.”

        “I’m not keeping this a secret. If he walked into my office looking for me or followed me to the air docks, he’d learn what I plan. I’d rather let him take care of his universe before worrying about the politics in mine.”

        “Okay, but from me knowing him, he wants to make sure that the people he cares for are okay. Now that he’s a father, times change like the tide as it rises and falls.” Sun soon turned around. “Wanna come with me? I might need to get my clothes from Rarity.”

        Max shook her head. “It’s almost time for me to lower the moon. I need to get the foals to bed as well.”

        “I understand. Maybe I can help with the foals?”

        She gave him a smile. “Thank you for asking, but with Lucky helping me for now I can get them to sleep within ten minutes.” She motioned for Mun to follow her as she moved towards the door. “By the way... your fly’s undone.”

        “Oh come on!! Seriously!?” The Faunus shouted out, hurrying to fix that problem as quickly as possible. Only to realize it wasn’t a problem.

        “Made ya look!”

        “Dammit Max!!” Sun retorted. “I can’t tell when you’re joking around or not!”

        “That’s the beauty of being a ruler,” Max sang as the door closed.



        “Sol again?” Max said, chuckling behind her hand at Sun’s predicament.

        “No, Rainbow. There’s a little multihued hair pushed right up against my nose,” Sun replied, trying to pull the bucket of peeled bananas from his head.

        “Well, I don’t think I’d want to quash her mischievous nature. Even if it gets a bit vexatious.” She tapped the bucket’s rim, forcing it up enough for Sun to remove it the rest of the way. “Anyways, I was looking for you to see if you’d like to watch the hijinks that ensue.”

        “Hijinks? What kind of hijinks?”

        “I just sent Twilight the journal with the unfinished spell that will turn her into an alicorn. I figured that if she was turned into an alicorn it’d strengthen my position. Besides, I can’t run Equestria by myself.”

        “So it’s like you have a Vice President?” Sun asked, the only thing he could think of at the minute.

        “Kinda. I’m gonna see if I can fade into the background as well so I have more time for other things. Like tracking down that undead motherf*cking cat.” Max hugged herself and shivered. “Scourge was killed two months ago when he tried to attack me by Gilgamesh. I-I thought that would be the end of it.”

        “Wait… Scourge is a cat? Something tells me that getting rid of him might be harder than you think given what you just told me.” The Faunus replied, causing Max to look a little confused by what he was saying.

        “I know that. Apparently Scourge and his entire Clan are being backed by a demon that came with them through the portal.”

        “It’s not just that. You said that you killed him once before right? Isn’t there a saying that cats have Nine lives?”

        “Well, yeah. Firestar and the other leaders of the four Clans start with nine lives when they first become leaders. BloodClan, though, came from the city and don’t have StarClan watching over them.”

        “It sounds like the same rule still applies. After all, we are in a land of magic. Anything can happen at this rate right? I mean, I honestly didn’t know what to expect of the whole Nanobot thingamajig earlier until you guys actually did it. Sometimes, you need to expect the unexpected.”

        Max shuddered again. “I should’ve given him a proper burial then. No, I should’ve cremated him. Stupid. I try to follow those rules, but then I make a stupid mistake like this!”

        “Well, at least you know so that way, you’re prepared next time around.”

        “Yeah. I want to send an airship to look for him, but there aren’t any made of metal that are finished, and I haven’t even started on giving researchers my idea for magic powered laser cannons yet.”

        “Laser cannons? Should you focus on some kind of radar or sonar like tracking system so you can find who you are looking for first?” Sun asked. “Otherwise, it’ll be trying to find a needle in a haystack. Which makes me wonder one other thing… Do you have any allies with these “Clans” that you speak of?”

        “Yeah, Firestar and his Clan -- ThunderClan --, then there’s RiverClan, WindClan and ShadowClan. They came through first and their leaders approached me. I gave them the Everfree so they would feel more at home instead of forcing them to adapt to civilization.”

        “My suggestion is that you call for a meeting with them, share your thoughts on the matter, and then ask for their opinions of how they think the situation could be dealt with. They might know more about Scourge than you think. Other than that, I don’t know what else to suggest.”

        “I know as much as they do about him because of the books. More so, now that he’s come back alive.” She sighed. “I get what you’re saying though, that’s why I was going to put a unicorn that knows tracking spells on the ground where they attacked.”

        “I’ll leave that to you then. I don’t want Fluttershy to worry about me if I’m gone too long. I kind of left while she was still sleeping.” Sun smiled sheepishly before scratching the back of his head.

        Max gave him a glare. “You didn’t tell anyone what you were doing?”

        “Hey, When I found your token, the original idea was for me to summon you, not the other way around.” He pointed out. “Plus, the only one who did see me leave was Angel Bunny.”

        Her expression softened and she said, “The only reason I pulled was because you didn’t say anything when you tried summoning me. It’s common courtesy to say why you’re summoning someone at least.”

        “Sorry, Grandmother. I’ll do better next time.”

         She smiled and gave him a hug. “I’m not your grandmother, I’m your sister. I’ll see you later, brother.”

        Sun smiled a little, “Charming. Glad to have you be part of the family then.” With that, he used his token to open up a doorway to his world and jumped on inside before it closed behind him. Leaving Max by herself with Sol and Mun.



Elsewhere (On Sun’s World)

        The middle of Manehattan was not the best place to end up on an ordinary afternoon today, but given the circumstances for one mare, things weren’t exactly “ordinary” for her the moment she woke up. She had to use one of her vacation days today, but it wasn’t really a vacation back in her apartment. Especially when she had three strange creatures end up in her apartment under unknown circumstances. Each one of them didn’t have major injuries, but after one of them woke up and she began to talk to him. It took some time to understand it, but soon, they figured out quite a few things. 

        “So… let me see if I understand this… You and your two friends were trying to find another friend of yours… but somehow ended up here?”

        “That’s right, Coco.” The male human replied. He turned around to notice that his colleagues were starting to wake up on their own and crossed his arms. “Excuse me for a minute, my two teammates need a little bit more motivation in order to wake up.”

        He walked on over, using the blunt end of his weapon to poke the first of his friends that were passed out on the floor on the head. “Samuel? You alright?”

        The dark skinned boy with green hair mumbled a little as his eyes opened up. “N-nathan? Where are we?”

        “That… I was trying to find out. Only thing I can tell for sure is that we're not in Texas anymore,” The boy said, tilting his head at the cream colored mare outside the room. “Not by a long shot.”

        “Damn… It’s just been one crazy thing after another. We weren’t able to find Sean throughout all of RTX and on the third day, some crazy salesman happened to have the things we want. I knew that seemed too good to be true.” He looked at his other friend, who was still lying down on the nearby couch. “Did Santana wake up yet?”

        “Not yet-.”

        “Ugh… did anyone get the license plate on that tr-,” The third one, referred to as Santana, who had hair that was a dark red that faded to black and had strange clothes on. “Guys… Where the F*** are we?”

        “From what I know, it sounds like a bad pun on Manhattan. Not only that, but it seems like we got some… changes that we need to adapt to.” The first human, named Nathan, spoke. “First, the civilians are ponies. Second, the weapon I bought has now become an actual weapon and the same goes for Samuel’s gauntlets and tattoos. As for you, remember those gloves you bought. The ones that you theorized that were woven with Dust?” 

        The third boy looked at him, only one eyebrow raised since his other eye was covered by his hair. Then, he turned to his gloves that he had. “Are you saying that-?”

        “I’m not saying anything. I’m just presuming that something like that happened given the circumstances for me and Samuel…… Hey, remember when Sean was suppose to meet us for RTX, but we didn’t see him on the show floor the whole time? Call me crazy, but what if he was somehow stuck in the same situation as us?” The three humans soon noticed the presence of the mare that was not far from them, each of them given mixed reactions. 

        “Oh, and this is Coco Pommel… We kind of crashed into her apartment.”

        “Kind of?”

        “We did… Now, just follow me on this one.” He said, sighing as the tan colored boy with the red jacket and white dress shirt underneath. “Thanks for all of your help, Ms. Coco.”

        “Y-you’re welcome…… Mister…?”

        “I’m Neptune. My friends are Sage and Scarlet.” The Blue haired human with goggles replied. “There used to be four of us, but I don’t know about the whereabouts of a friend of mine. Back home, we know him as Sean. But I think he now goes by Sun Wukong.”

        The cream mare scratched her chin. “You know, I think I heard of that name once before…” While she was looking around the small Complex, Sage was trying get himself adjusted to his new surroundings and came across something. Something that his teammates needed to know.

        “Uhh guys…” Sage caught their attention, holding up the front page of a newspaper. The picture of a familiar monkey faunus running through a town called Ponyville in the dead center of the paper. “I think I found Sun.”



Fluttershy’s Cottage (Same time)

        The moment that Sun Wukong returned to his world, he hadn’t set a foot on the ground by the time Fluttershy tackled him to the ground.

        “Y-you’re okay!!!”

        “Uh, of course I am? Why did something happen? How long was I gone? What time is it?” Sun asked in a rapid fire like tone.

        “Angel said you left around eight-thirty, so you’ve only been gone for like fifteen hours. Still, though, you had me worried!!”

        “I-im sorry, Fluttershy. I should’ve thought about it a little more.” Fluttershy was now hugging him, crying into his chest as Sun tried to straighten himself up. “It’s okay… I’m here now.”

        “W-why were you gone though?”

        “Well, you probably didn’t hear about this since you were in the other room with Reson and Honeydew when we went to Canterlot, but I’m a Displaced. There are more people like me in other versions of Equestria who either need my help or need me for advice. I was called upon my cousin’s Fiance, who’s getting married and she needed my help with a few things before the wedding in a few months.” He explained. “Tell you what, If I need to go anywhere, I’ll let you know first beforehand. Heck, maybe you can come with me sometimes.”

        “O-okay… I guess.” Fluttershy said, blushing a little.

        “Just as a word of warning though, a Displaced could call upon me at any time, so we’ll need to be ready for if anything unexpected happens.” That’s when the Faunus began to stroke the pegasus’s mane and rub her ears. “You know, I almost forgot to tell you thank you.”

        “Thank you?” Fluttershy said before she giggled. “Thank you for what?”

        “For everything you’ve done for me.” Sun told her as he began to walk up the stairs. “Well, I need to get some sleep. See you in the morning-?”

        “W-wait!” Her timid voice squeaked. “C-can I come with you?”

        Sun was quite surprised by the way that she was acting. But after a few seconds, his reply was a nod of the head. “Sure.”




End Tail 10

> Tail 11- Crimson Rose
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Crimson Rose




Fluttershy’s Cottage (Evening)

        When Sun woke up, it was sometime past 8 o’clock in the evening and he woke up to the sight of Discord standing in the room and Fluttershy sleeping next to him on the couch. It was alright for the most part, until Sun realized that he was being watched the whole time by the Chaos spirit. Waiting patiently for him to wake up.

        “So… how was your nap?”

        “Discord!” Sun stammered upon seeing him at first glance. “You startled me!”

        “Happens to everypony, Sun. On a more serious note though, I need your help with something though and it can’t wait.”

        Now the Faunus looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Oh? What’s that?”

        “Well, thats the thing. For you, you have a different type of energy residue that I can distinguish from most ponies, but four different energy sources that are similar to yours just popped up in Canterlot not too long ago. I was going to check on it, so maybe you can come along and see if they are these ‘Displaced’ like Loki mentioned when he was here.”

        “Something tells me that they probably are,” Sun replied back. “Just give me a second to get ready. I need to leave a note for Fluttershy so that way she knows where we are when she wakes up.”

        “That’s…… a good idea.” The Chaos spirit soon snapped his talon, handing the Faunus a paper and a quill & ink bottle so he could write the message. After some trial and error with the quill dip pen, Sun was able to make a legible note for the pegasus and left it on the nearby nightstand so she can see it when she wakes up.

        “Okay, we’re all good to go?”

        “Yep, next stop, Hall of Elements.” With that, everything faded out as Discord snapped his Talon again, teleporting the two of them to Canterlot Castle.



Canterlot

        When Sun arrived, he was outside the main door to the Hall of Elements. He remembered the room from last time when Loki had summoned Lance and another Displaced named Nicko. But this time though, he began to hear something else going on instead. His Faunus traits allowed him to have an extended sense of hearing and as he entered through the door and slipped into the shadows of a nearby corner, he could see and hear exactly what was going on.

        There were four girls. Each one of them looking like a member of Team RWBY. Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. Celestia herself had just entered the room alongside her sister and now had offered to introduce themselves in exchange for the girls to do the same. However, the girl that was Ruby soon called for a group huddle and the first thing he heard from her caused him to look at her with a confused expression.

        “I think they might be in league with the FBI.”

        ‘Can someone please explain how that makes sense?’ Sun asked himself. Moments before Weiss stepped in.

        “Ruby, you’re an idiot. They don’t have the FBI here. Anyway do you think we can trust them?”

        ‘Well, now that makes sense’

        “They seem to know a bit about us and what’s going on. What I’m curious to know is how they know all of this. Something tells me that someone else told them about Humans and Faunus. I hope they can’t tell that I have cat ears though.” The one that was Blake said before asking Yang for her opinion. Sun was beginning to recognize who these four were and in his mind, some things began to click.

        ‘That could be useful information...’ He thought to himself.

        “For the time being let’s follow them and see how this goes. If anything weird happens, we’ll make a break for it.”

        Around the time Yang said that was when Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, decided to fly in through a window without making a scratch. “Evening Princesses? What do we have here?”

        “HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THAT THING?!” Yelled Ruby pointing at Discord. “IT LOOK LIKE SOMEONE JUST THREW A BUNCH OF ANIMAL INTO A BLENDER AND MADE THAT!-” Before she could say anything else, Discord snapped his talon and a piece of duct tape covered her mouth.

        “For your information, I am Discord. Spirit of Chaos and also… I am NOT A THING!!! I am a draconequus.” He sighed. Looking at the rest of them, he smirked. “Well, just when I thought that having one of you in Ponyville was tricky enough.”

        “What do you mean by that?” Asked Weiss, who was a bit annoyed by that statement. Considering his options, Sun thought it would be best see how this played out and only interrupt when he thought it was necessary.

        “Well, I know that not all of you are like Ms. Rose, but I’m sure you’re aware of it… Unless Celestia and Luna didn’t tell you about Sun yet.”

        “Wait... you... the actual character or someone cosplaying as him?” Asked Yang.

        “Why do you ask? Did you four get yourself in the same situation that he did? Because so far, I’m getting the feeling that you might have the same story as he did.”

        Ruby removed the tape that was covering her mouth. “OW! Much better.” She then turn her attention towards Discord. “W-We don’t know what you’re talking about.”

        Around now was Sun’s queue for him to step in. “Like I haven’t heard that before. You may act like them, but I can tell that you’re in the same boat as me. I can tell that they’re Displaced.” However, the response he got from Yang and Ruby were not what he expected.

        “......... F***.”

        “It’s a saiyan!!”

        Sun’s ears began to twitch upon hearing that. “I’m not a freaking saiyan!! How many times do I need to explain what the hell a Faunus is?”

        “Well you have golden hair, and a tail so you must be one.”

        Sun personally sighed, looking at the other girls in the room and ignoring Ruby’s sense of logic. “Is she always like this?”

        “She wasn’t always like this from the start. Originally she was a bit of a bitch until she landed on her head.” Said Weiss. “Now she’s kinda stuck like this.” Now the pieces had finally came together on where Sun had seen these girls before.

        “Either that or she swapped personalities with someone in particular…… Ice queen.” Sun smirked. “Now that I think of it, I think I saw you four before.”

        “Okay one, call me ice queen again and you’ll be having blue balls for the next two weeks. Second how do you know us?” Said Weiss.

        “I saw you guys at RTX. You were entering for the group cosplay competition around the time when I passed by to get my badge. My friend snapped a photo of you guys while your back was turned and then said that Yang was hot, but that’s his problem, not mine.” To prove a point, Sun showed the image that was forwarded to him for the girls to see.

        “Huh? Well that explains how you knew us from RTX.” Said Blake.

        “Indeed it does, Kitty cat.”

        Blake’s bow began to twitch as the girl looked a little bit nervous now. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, monkey boy.”

        “Your bow. It’s been twitching on it’s own for the past few minutes.” The Monkey Faunus replied. “A good place to hide a pair of ears if you ask me.”

        “............” Just as Blake was about to say something, everyone from inside the room they were in heard a loud banging sound.

        “RUBY!!!”

        “That wasn’t me!” She said as she pointed at a random royal guard passing by. “It was him!”

        Without her noticing, Sun used the staff form of Ruyi and Jingu bang to pluck Crescent Rose out from behind her, the barrel still smoking hot. “You were saying?”

        That made Ruby quite… embarrassed by the stunning revelation. “Um…...A ghost took control of me and made me do it.”

        “Idiot.” Weiss said with a deadpanned expression on her face.

        “Well at least she’s not acting like a jerk anymore.” Said Yang.

        “Right… Well, I’m going to go back on a nice walk…” Sun said as he began to walk out the door. As he went into the next room though, he began to speak about some of the possible things he could to to himself, despite the fact that the hallways could echo anything that was said throughout the room. “… Kill some grimm… maybe get summoned by another Displaced? Who knows? Maybe Max needs me to help take care of her fillies. Rainbows a real cute one.”

        As he stepped out through the walls to the city, trouble just happened to show up in the form of grimm. Both types of ursa’s were coming out of the woodlands and saw him as fresh meat. He prepped both of his guns for combat, but just as he got himself ready, the shiny edge of a scythe blade came swooping in and decapitated a ursa minor grimm in two.

        “Out of my way foxhead!” Ruby yelled as she landed perfectly next to Sun.

        “Well now, nice to see that you can fight. Guess your gonna give me a hand with these guys then?” The faunus asked as he blew off the face of an incoming grimm on his right hand side.

        “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.” Ruby said as Crescent Rose began to change into the firearm mode, and shot a hole through a Grimm’s chest. “Then again I was getting bored waiting so I might as well help.” Sun smirked to himself as he changed his weapons to take the form of a bo-staff and block the incoming claws of the next two grimm he faced.

        “Glad to see you in action then… I’ll take the twenty on the right? You take the twenty on the left?” He asked, taking a moment to reload his weapons before reforming his staff again.

        “Okay, but try not to get into my line of fire.” Ruby warned as Crescent Rose tranformed into a scythe again, a devilish grin appeared on her face. “I have a nasty habit of hitting others in my way sometimes.”

        “Won’t be a problem.” Sun replied back, clapping his hands together and using his semblance to make two doppelgangers of himself before they exploded into another pair of grimm and making an opening for him to leap into. “Just focus on your opponents and I’ll focus on mine!”

        “No promises.”

        Sun smiled. He liked his odds. As they continued to fight, the faunus used the tactic of having some grimm become meat shields so they get ripped at by the shots that Ruby didn’t exactly aim when they went off. Another thing that was to his advantage was his speed and flexibility. Making dodging bullets… not a problem.

        “Now this is fun!!” He proclaimed… a little too soon. Ruby was preparing something that Sun had no idea of until she actually did it. And the results… were not what he expected. 

        “Prepare to have your heads cut off.” Ruby said as she pulled out a metal like string from under her cape, and wrapped it around the end of her weapon. “Because you’re about to see Ruby’s Crescent Boomerang attack that I just made up.” She said as she begun to swing her scythe around like ball hooked to a chain.

        “Oh boy.” Sun first immediate action was to hit the deck and jump to safety. Either this was going to go really well… or end up really bad. However, the one thing he could tell immediately was that she was not paying attention to anything in front of her… at all.

        Ruby began to increase the speed of her swinging as she tossed her scythe at the Grimms heads. During this this time she started singing a song from her mp3 player she was listening to. “God or demon? What am I? It’s time for me to chose my path. Power of. My Crescent Scythe. No evildoer will get past.”

        “HEY!! WATCH WHERE YOU’RE THROWING THAT THING!!!! YOU COULD’VE CLEAVED THE ENTIRE MOUNTAINSIDE!!”

        Ruby couldn’t hear Sun’s warnings as she continue to cut, toss, and singing her way through the grimm that previously was there, but not anymore. “Hand to hand going fist to fist. Killing Grimms or Twist your wrist. Crescent Scythe keep my pimp hand strong. So trust me or you won’t last very long.” Around now, she wasn’t slicing at grimm anymore, but the environment around her as she was caught up in the lyrics of the song. Now though, Sun had one idea in order to knock some sense into her. Hurrying as fast as he could, he narrowly dodged the spinning blade of the twirling scythe and went towards Ruby. He had only one chance and he rather not blow it.

        “Dragon kick your ass into the milky way!-”

        “SHORYUKEN!!”

        Ruby did not know what hit her as Sun gave her an uppercut to the chin and knocked her backwards so hard that he felt like he broke his hand. No matter though. There wasn’t a spinning twister of death trying to kill anypony intentionally. As the smoke cleared, Sun noticed how close Ruby was from hitting the train that was trying to get out of the station. “Note to self: NEVER sing while fighting.”

        “OW! That hurt! What was that for!?” Ruby asked in a demanding tone as she rubbed her chin.

        “While you were singing to yourself, you cut down all the trees in the area after you killed off the grimm and ALMOST KILLED ME! Hell, if you continued, that scythe might’ve hit that train of passengers over there.” The monkey stated, pointing it out to her while she was looking.

        “Oh……..I’m not apologizing for doing that.”

        “The singing or almost killing me? Because one of them I will take offense to.”

        “Both, and to be fair I did warn you didn’t I?” She had a point. But it didn’t mean that it was going to stop Sun from explaining to her how she lost control.

        “Yeah, but when you started destroying things OTHER than Grimm, I had to step in. You still have a long ways to go, even do you do have some pretty good moves.”

        “Well why did you think I went all out on them. The only time I do something like that is when no one is around or when facing something like we just fought.”

        “Yet, you ignored what I tried to tell you earlier and you were singing Hand to hand going fist to fist. Killing Grimms or Twist your wrist?” Sun said, raising an eyebrow.

        “Well I guess you should’ve tried harder enough huh?” Ruby said as she looked around herself. “Geez look at all the damage we caused. I have to say it looks kinda cool.”

        “More like damage YOU caused. All of this happened because of your stunt earlier.” He then asked her another question. The lack of experience, the attitude, the lack of control… it had to add up to something. “How long have you been in Equestria for?”

        “About two to three days, why?”

        Bingo.

        “I’ve been here a LOT longer. Two MONTHS longer.” Sun said, going through the wreckage and finding something that caught his attention. A hurt wolf pup. Carefully, he picked the pup up and applied some bandages to it that he had in his back pocket, not noticing the golden retriever that was sitting down by Ruby’s legs.

        “The longer you’re here, the more you will see that there are consequences to your actions. I’m sorry Ruby, but I gotta go. This pup from the shelter you destroyed need immediate medical care.” With that, Sun left, taking the hurt wolf pup with him back to where ever he was going. Leaving Ruby in all the collateral damage.



        Sun felt bad for having to say that to Ruby, but he needed to speak the truth to her. If he didn’t, then who exactly would? She needed to learn that there were consequences for her actions and that some things weren’t easily fixable. The Faunus himself hopped onto the back end of the friendship express on the flat cars that would normally be used for holding down big shipments. But the Faunus was using it for two purposes.

        One, he needed to attend to the baby wolf that he was trying to take care of that he found in the aftermath of Ruby’s destruction.

        Two, he didn’t have a ticket for the train.

        ‘Well, this isn’t the first time I’ve used my five finger discount’ He told himself, focusing on trying to suppress and stop the bleeding. Thankfully, it worked. 

        “Let’s see… No broken bones… Teeth look healthy… Not malnourished… yep, the only thing that’s a problem is the cut paw. You are a very lucky pup,” Sun smiled, petting the head of the small wolf as it barked joyfully. “Hmm… what should I call you? … Lucky? Nah, I’ll confuse you with Lucky back in Max’s world…”

        Around then was when he was looking at the wolf pup, who was laying on the train bed very lazily. Lazy… Hmm… “How about Grif?”

        The ears of the pup perched up as he looked at Sun. “You like that name, boy?”

        “Grif” barked in approval as he hopped into Sun’s lap. “Grif, it is then. Hope you don’t act too lazy around Fluttershy okay?” The wolf pup happily nodded his head as he nuzzled himself into the faunus’ lap while he looked for the right point in order for them to get off. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes ticked on by until Sun found the right point to decide and get off. Picking up Grif, he jumped off before the train pulled into the station and made his way back to the cottage. All without any bruises.

        When he made it back though, the first thing he told Grif was to make sure and please stay quiet. It worked… for only five seconds. Until he saw Angel bunny…

        “Woof!!”

        “Grif! Don’t do that, you’ll wake up the entire house.”

        “Too late.” The voice of a mare that Sun knew told him as Fluttershy flipped on the lights. “I saw your note, but what was all the-. O-oh my!! Who’s this poor fellow?”

        “That’s Grif. I found him at an animal protection facility that got destroyed by grimm. Had to patch up his paw, but other than that, he has a clean bill of health.” He rather not mention that Ruby was the one who ended up destroying everything on accident. 

        “Aww… He looks so cute for a dog…”

        “Actually, he’s a wolf pup. Hey, Fluttershy, is Raven here? I need to talk to her.”

        “Someone called my name?” The black haired human asked as she walked down the stairs. “Oh… so this is what the fuss is all about?”

        “Actually, I need to talk to you on a different matter,” Sun insisted. “In private.” Raven then sighed as the two of them stepped out of the cottage for a minute and were by themselves.

        “What is it that you need to tell me, monkey boy-.”

        “There’s more of them… ” Sun stated. Raven was initially shocked, but soon, was confused by what the Faunus said. Noticing this, he began to speak again. “There are more humans besides us now.”

        “What? How-? Who?”

        “I don’t know, but I do know that there are four of them in Canterlot. All of them girls and they got sent here as Team RWBY.”

        “Can you describe them?” Raven asked, a little more intent on asking then before.

        “Well, the girl named Ruby apparently use to be bossy, but is now clumsy and can’t concentrate when she starts singing to herself. Weiss is kind of a jerk since she points out the obvious and not in a good way. Blake reminds me of Twilight. Smart and knowledgeable, but sometimes an outcast. Lastly, Yang is a lot like Rainbow Dash. A party girl with a big sense of Pride. Ruby and Yang, like in the show, are also sisters.” He explained. “I also get a strange feeling that there are others out there besides them. Others that aren’t like… you know… Adam.”

        “What makes you think that?” The huntress asked.

        “On the day I got Displaced, I was with my friend Nathan. He was dressed up as Neptune and the two of us were waiting on two other friends of ours; Samuel and Santana. They were dressed up as the other two members of Sun’s team, Scarlet and Sage.” Sun took a brief pause to catch his breath before he continued. “I’m just worried that they got into this whole mess somehow if they were trying to find me.”

        “Well, we can’t tell right now until we know for sure. One thing we should focus on though is the Changelings. There are supposedly two other children who might’ve survived the siege on the colonies.”

        “Yeah, but we still got to keep Reson and Honeydew safe.”

        “We are. Which is why I’m going to help Kreed. His old weapon broke when he tried to take on Adam, so I’m going to build a new one for him and teach him how to fight. You should help Fluttershy and her friends to make sure everything is under control and nothing strange is afoot.”

        “Yes, ma’am.” Sun replied, using his tail to salute Raven.

        “Oh and one other thing…” Raven said. “About Ruby and Yang…”

        “Yes?” Sun asked, looking at her in confusion.

        “Back home… I had two daughters… Both in which acted like the way you described them. If that’s true…” Raven paused for a minute, trying to sum up the words she was going to say. But she couldn’t let her emotions affect her either. “Then the Ruby and Yang you saw were them.”

        “Wait… Ruby and Yang are your kids?”

        “Yes. But theres more to it… Remember Adam?”

        “Yeah, why?”

        “He’s their father.”

        That got Sun’s attention real quickly. The murderer of a hive of Changelings is the father of two of the girls he met earlier today… Yeah, that’s going to take a while to sink in. A VERY long while. Especially with Ruby knocking down buildings still fresh in his mind and that wasn’t helping Sun try to come back to his senses.

        “Something tells me that won’t be the only surprising news that we might be getting.” Sun warned. “This seems just like the first of many events to come.”




End Tail 11

> Tail 12- Monkeying around in Manehattan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Monkeying around in Manehattan




Ponyville

        It was the morning after Sun had encountered Team RWBY and now, he still was having flashbacks. Not just to meeting the girls, but of what Raven had told him about Ruby and Yang. The thoughts of that conversation continued to linger around, even into the next morning when he was walking to Twilight’s Castle. The reason why they wanted him to come was something else. The Princess of Friendship was wanting to make sure that he had been comfortable over the duration of his stay in Ponyville and from the looks of things, the Faunus had been enjoying himself. Twilight was even surprised to see that he was wearing a set of clothes that Rarity made for him as he walked in, seeing both of them. He had a heavy black jacket and cargo shorts to go with a pair of black sneakers and some fingerless gloves of the same color.

        For her, having to complete that task in itself was a TALL order. Especially since most of her customers were mares and stallions. But Rarity did have a mannequin she made of Spikes claws when she tailored a suit for him and used that as a base for the gloves. The rest of the clothes were based off of the Faunus’ own measurements that she had taken when visiting him earlier in the week. Now… She was showing him off to everypony inside the castle. Originally, she had a choker that would go around Sun’s neck, but he decided to take a rain check so that way he didn’t suffocate on it.

        “Okay Sun, you seem to be doing very well recently-.”

        WOOF!!

        Twilight and Rarity looked down towards the floor and what the White Unicorn saw caused her to look at her Alicorn friend in confusion. “Um, Twilight? Who’s dog is that?” She asked, just as it was rubbing its side against her leg before plopping on the floor, lazily.

        “I think Griff likes you, Rarity.” Sun chuckled, kneeling to the floor to give the pup a belly rub. “For being a pup, he’s quite friendly around other ponies.”

        “Wait a second… This… is your dog?”

        “More likely a wolf pup I’ve taken into my care. Last night, an animal care facility was attacked by Grimm the other night and I found Grif here in the wreckage.” The monkey faunus explained as he tickled Griff with his tail. “Fluttershy is helping me take care of him back at the cottage, but I think he followed me to the castle because he was lonely.” The pup then moaned a little as he scratched his head. “Good boy. Now, go back to Fluttershy okay?”

        The pup yipped at the command, soon speeding off and out of the castle and through Spike’s legs as he was carrying a series of bags. “Okay, Twilight. I got what we need for the trip to Canterlot.”

        That, caused Sun and Rarity to look at Twilight, partially confused. “You’re going to Canterlot?”

        “Of course. I’ve just realized that I have some friends that I haven’t been in touch with since I left Celestia’s school for gifted Unicorns and came to Ponyville, so I’m going to go and see how my friends at the academy are doing.”

        “Well, I wish you the best of luck, darling,” Rarity complimented as she and the dragon began to trot/walk out to the train station. “Which reminds me… Sun, can you please come with me on my trip to Manehattan?”

        The Faunus raised an eyebrow, looking at the Unicorn. “What’s Manehattan? Is it like a city?”

        “Oh darling, I don’t even know where to BEGIN…” The Fashionista told him. It would take her hours to try and explain every great nook and cranny about the city, so she just gave him a simple explanation. “But we can worry about that later. My friend Coco Pommel wants some help with something after she was impressed with some of the clothes I made for you. I was going to show her what I made, but then I thought that it would be better to have you tag along so she can see how it looks when somepony is wearing them.”

        “I’m curious to meet this friend of yours. She sounds really nice.” The Faunus commented. “Plus, I got a lot of time on my hands. I don’t really have anything going on today.”

        “Fantastic!!” The Unicorn exclaimed. Shortly after the two of them stopped by Sugarcube corner to pick up Rarity’s bags and get Sun’s ticket at the train station, the two of them were off on their trip to Manehattan. Along the way, Rarity was talking to Sun about all of the sights and sounds of the metropolis that made it stand out. But during the conversation, she happened to notice that Sun wasn’t quite as focused as he normally would be. Being the lady that she was, Rarity thought it would be best to try and ease Sun’s mind.

        “Are you alright, darling?”

        Sun, upon realizing that the Fashionista was trying to talk to him, turned towards him. “Yeah, I’ve just been having a lot on my mind recently.”

        The Element of Generosity knew firsthand what she was talking about. A couple of days ago, Sun had introduced her to Amaterasu and Chibiterasu and later explained to her about them being “Displaced”. This included the other Sweetie Belle that she weaved a scarf for as well. “Do you want to talk about it?” She asked him, offering a chance for him to speak. The Faunus took a few moments to weigh his options. He then sighed, deciding that talking about it might be the right thing to do. It would be good if more than one pony knew about what exactly was going on than just keep them in the dark.

        “Yeah… Last night, I had an… interesting encounter to say the least.” Sun said to the mare. “Discord woke me up and told me that he felt some strange presences in Canterlot. When I got there, I found four girls. Each one of them were Displaced here like I was two months ago, but for them, they were brought here together collectively. Seeing them though makes me think about something though and it’s not about them.”

        “Really? What is it?”

        “Before I was Displaced, I was suppose to be meeting with a few friends of mine. I’m just hoping that they somehow didn’t get themselves caught up in this mess and if they did, I hope they’re okay.” The Faunus explained. “Other than that, there’s one other thing that’s going on inside my head and I’m not quite sure if you would be fond of the topic.”

        “Would you happen to be talking about the Changelings? Fluttershy and Twilight explained everything to us the other day.” The statement caught Sun by surprise. He honestly didn’t think that the two of them would disclose this kind of information to the rest of their friends. Especially with Rainbow Dash being headstrong, Applejack being stubborn and Pinkie being… well Pinkie. But what was Rarity’s opinion on the matter? The Faunus was curious to find out.

        “What do you think about it then?” He asked.

        “Even though I’m not one to speak about them or their way of diplomacy, I do feel bad for both of the children that their bodyguard is taking care of. I offered them some simple clothes like sweaters and scarfs to help them when it gets cooler during the day. We’re starting to get into the spring, but it still feels like winter.” She replied back, shaking a little to prove her point of the weather being a bit cooler than normal. The unicorn also used her levitation to wrap her scarf around her neck for good measure.

        “I take it that you met Kreed, Reson and Honeydew?”

        “Yes. They introduced themselves to us when we gathered at Fluttershy’s cottage to talk about what was going on. We even met Raven as well. Who I believe is a “Displaced” as well, right?” Sun nodded his head, answering her question. “I see. She is pretty nice, but she can be quite… serious at times.”

        “That’s normal for her,” The Faunus sighed. “She’s been through quite a lot and didn’t have a lot of time to spend with her family. Now, she’s trying her best to make it up to Fluttershy and help me for if the Changelings try to go after Kreed and the younglings. But there’s more to it than that. After telling her about the girls I encountered last night, she thinks that two of the girls that I encountered last night are her daughters from before she came to Equestria. However, she can’t tell for certain unless if she actually sees them.” The Monkey Faunus took a couple of moments to process everything that he was talking about. All before he focused the conversation on something different, but similar in nature. “People would do anything if family is somehow involved.”

        That last comment left the white unicorn a little puzzled. Still trying to be nice, she asked Sun another question. “Before you came here Sun, what was your family like?”

        “Nothing much to say really,” The Faunus shrugged. “It’s not really a topic that I’m comfortable with talking about. But for one thing, my cousin Lance is also a Displaced and he’s going to get married soon.”

        The Element of Generosity, who was trying to drink a glass of water at the time, almost choked on her drink when she heard that. “Your cousin is a Displaced? Why didn’t you say that sooner?”

        “The topic of Family didn’t come up until just a few moments ago.” Sun deadpanned, offering some napkins. Rarity kindly thanked him, using her levitation spell to clean up the unladylike mess that had occurred. 

        “You make a good point. Still though, isn’t it a little odd to hear about your cousin, who you haven’t seen in such a long time, get married?”

        “Actually, I met him only a few weeks ago and yesterday, I had the… priviledge to meet the fiance’ Max,” The Faunus explained, pulling out the picture that came with the wedding invitation and letting the mare see for herself. “The one with the blond hair is Lance, the girl on the right is Max and the foals there are their children. And yes, Rainbow Dash is a filly in Max’s universe.”

        “Oh my stars, those fillies look so cute!” Rarity gasped, her eyes lighting up upon seeing them. “Your cousin is so lucky to be with her and take care of those adorable children…”

        ‘In more ways than one.’ Sun thought to himself, snickering a little.

        “Hold on… Why were you over there anyways?”

        “Well, Lance did ask me to be the best man at his wedding… or I think the phrase in your terms is “Best Stallion”. His Rarity even helped me with preparing an outfit for the occasion along with giving me some advice.”

        “Well congratulations,” The Fashionista told him. “Though, I find it odd to have a mare give you advice for a wedding-.”

        “No, it’s not that kind of advice,” Sun interjected. “I was asking for advice in regards to… showing somepony how much I care for them. I asked her this because I told her that I thought that Fluttershy has feelings for me because I’ve seen her blush at times and act very nervous around me. So I asked about if she had any recommendations for how to proceed. And she told me to help her with taking care of the animals and trying to take things slow with her.”

        “Oh I see. Yeah, I see myself saying the same thing if I was in the same position,” Rarity responded, trying to think about if she was put in the same scenario and what she would exactly say given those circumstances. “Then again, relationships aren’t really a topic I find myself indulging in really. The past few times I’ve tried, it just seems to fall apart at the seams.”

        “Same thing,” Sun replied. “The subject in it’s own way is incredibly complicated.”

        “Indeed it is.” The mare answered. “I know a few friends in Canterlot that were able to successfully pull it off, but it takes a lot of work. Too much for me since I have to balance running the boutique, being with my friends and being there for Sweetie Belle. Not to mention that my parents are living overseas in order to help try to provide for Sweetie and I.”

        “I’m sorry to hear that.”

        “It’s alright, really.” Rarity told him, assuring to Sun that it wasn’t that much of a big deal. But the Faunus could tell otherwise. He could see it through her emotions. It looked like she was trying to hide something. But, out of courtesy, he decided to not bother her about it. 

        Soon though, the train that they were on had an announcement on the intercom as they listened to the Mare that was speaking. ‘Greetings passengers. We will be arriving in Manehattan in twenty minutes, shortly after our arrival in Hollow Shades. Thank you and have a good day here on the Friendship Express.’

        “Well, that was subtle.” Sun said.

        “Very,” Rarity replied. “I believe it’ll be a little easier if they were more… enthusiastic when speaking.”

        “Well, radio frequencies can distort your voice to make it sound like one thing, but come out as another. Let’s not worry about it though.”

        Rarity nodded at that statement. They were close to arriving at their destination. She needed to be ready for when she saw Coco again. Same went for Sun. Despite his looks, he wanted to make sure that he didn’t embarrass Rarity while they were here today. It wouldn’t just look bad on her, but on him as well.

        Soon, the train came to a halt and the announcer spoke again, saying about their arrival at Hollow Shades before the train continued to Manehattan. From what the Faunus was told by Rarity, Hollow Shades was known as a town in the woods and considered a Haven by Bat-Ponies. He had never thought that Bat-ponies were actually real, until he heard about them being enlisted as Luna’s personal guard. He was really surprised though when he heard about Fluttershy herself turning into a bat-pony one time and the thought of what she would look like partially creeped him out. But that wasn’t exactly the only thing he didn’t expect. 

        The other thing that he didn’t expect was that when he went to open his window, Sun saw a shadow of a cat like faunus against a set of rocks. For a moment, he thought he was seeing things. Then, he thought that Blake and her team might get herself in the trouble. Probably because of Ruby. 

        “Something bothering you Sun?” Rarity asked.

        “Nah, I just having a case of Deja’ Vu.” Sun said as the train began to slow down. Due to it being abrupt, a loud screeching noise came from the top of the train instead of the brakes. Looking up, he saw the roof was torn open. Looking up, he saw the blade edge of Crescent Rose sticking through the ceiling.

        “Yep, definitely Deja’ Vu.”

        “Oh my!!” Rarity gasped, seeing the tear in the ceiling. “What could cause an atrocity such as that?”

        “One word… Ruby.”

        “What?” The unicorn asked, puzzled.

        “You’ll see.” The Monkey Faunus told her as they got off the train and pointed towards the top of the train. “Remember those four girls I mentioned? Well… That’s them. That’s Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and lastly… Yang.” When looking at them, the only thing that the two of them could see is Ruby singing, not aware of the damage she caused with Crescent Rose.

        “Captured, No sanity, Helpless, Body aching, Ultimate, Control your Dreadful Fate. Powerless, Invisible, Lifeless, Real enemy, No breath, Ruin your mind, Falling down deep down.”

        Sun, who was still with Rarity, pulled out an apple that was in his pocket and placed a sticky note on it, writing something with a sharpie pen from his pocket. “Once this hits her, run.” He told Rarity, who was lost in translation. Soon, the Faunus let it rip, throwing the apple like a fastball as it knocked Ruby square in the face. Seconds later, the Faunus and Unicorn began running. With only one sound being heard from the noise of the crowd and the screeching of Sun’s shoes against the pavement.

        “WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP!!!”

        “Who hit me with an apple?!” Ruby demanded, unaware of the note that was left behind by Sun.

        Welcome to Manehattan. See you around! Oh and when we run into one another, I need to talk to Ruby and Yang. There’s something they need to know.

        -Your friendly neighborhood monkey, Sun

        “Figures he would do something like this.” She said as she called her dog companion to her side. “Now this sayian. I will punch you in the face for hitting me with an apple.”

        “Ruby… You’re forgetting something.” Yang told her, pointing at the roof of the train.



        As Sun and Rarity turned another street corner, the Faunus was trying to look behind him every few moments. He had a feeling that Ruby might be onto him, but his companion soon told him that the two of them were getting close to Coco’s apartment. As they entered the main lobby, a lot of ponies were giving him odd looks. Looks that he saw as unsettling. 

        After a few moments, both of them stepped into the elevator as the doors opened. Rarity herself used her hoof to press the button for the floor that her friend was on. Given the presentation of the entire city, the complex was quite modern despite Sun’s doubts and only had ten floors. Coco herself was on the eighth floor of the complex as previously stated in a letter that Rarity was reading so she could remember the room number to her friends apartment.

        “I can’t believe the way that they have these hallways all structured. It’s so confusing!!” Rarity stressed. Sun himself could tell why. The room number was in normal numbers on the letter, but in the hallway; the numbers were represented by whatever this world called roman numerals. 

        “Hang on, let me help.” Sun said, looking at the page. Turns out, Coco was in Room 14. Which in numerals was XIV. It didn’t take long for him to find it. Rooms 1-20 were on the left end of the hall while rooms 21-40 were to the right. Moving to the left, the Faunus soon found the room. “Here we are. The rooms seem to be portrayed by numeric symbols.”

        “Oh I get it. Romane Numerals. Thanks Sunny.” Rarity smiled. Sun just raised an eyebrow at his new nickname that the mare had for him. He was quite surprised by it honestly. The fashionista soon trotted up to the door and knocked on it using her hoof. From the inside, the door’s deadbolt could be heard shifting as it opened. Coco was standing there, honestly surprised not just to see her friend, but also Sun as well.

        “Oh I’m so glad you came!” She exclaimed. “I didn’t give you any trouble with trying to find my room now, did I?”

        “It was a piece of cake,” Sun replied, smiling. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Sun. I’m a friend of Rarity’s.”

        “Nice to meet you Sun,” The earth pony replied as he shook her hoof and she shook his hand. “You have a very stunning outfit.”

        “Why thank you. Rarity tailored it for me.” Sun replied. Before they continued, the three of them soon heard the noise of a shower running in the background as it came to a stop. Rarity, who was concerned for her friend, just looked a Coco with a raised eyebrow.

        “Umm… Coco? Is anypony else staying with you?”

        “W-well…”

        “Hey Coco. Do you happen to know where the Shampoo is-?”

        Out from the background, another human figure with dark skin, yellow eyes and green hair came out with a towel around his neck and only wearing a pair of pants from the waist down. Sun stared in shock. He knew this person. 

        “S-samuel!?”

        “Holy sh*t!!” was the human’s only reply. “Dude, you’ve… changed.”

        “So have you.” The Faunus smirked.

        “You know this person Sage?” Coco asked, looking at him as he dried his hair. He nodded his head, tossing the towel into the dirty clothes hamper by the washing machine in the back room.

        “Heck yeah I do. He’s a good friend of mine! Man, I told the guys that you would show up somehow!”

        “Guys?” Sun asked. “Wait… You don’t mean-?”

        “Yup. Nathan and Santana, or as they are known as now; Neptune and Scarlet were here with me. But after they saw you in the paper and heard about you living in Ponyville or whatever the town’s name is, they decided to go travel to the town on foot in hopes of finding you.” Sage replied back, holding a newspaper with Sun being chased by Lyra on the front page. “I decided to stay behind so I could help Coco. Not only that, but I had a hunch that you would be showing up at our doorstep.” 

        Sage, or as Sun knew back home as Samuel, is what the Faunus considered as brains and brawn. His design was based off of Aesop and from knowing him over the past few years, Sun had known that Sage was the smartest out of all four of them. Plus, on occasion, he had some kind of weird “sixth sense” thing to where he could accurately predict something before it happened. Hence, his hunch involving Sun.

        To put it in layman's terms, he’s a very smart cookie. It only took him five minutes to be able to catch Sun up to speed on what happened while he was with Coco. Soon though, he noticed that he had been speaking too much and then looked back at Sun. “So, how have things been in your neck of the woods?”

        “Very… complicated.” Sun sighed as he saw Rarity and Coco move into another room to leave the two of them alone. “Turns out, you and I aren’t the only people who ended up here. A group of girls ended up here as Team RWBY, one woman came here as Raven and lives in the same cottage I’m staying at because her daughter is there and someone as Adam Taurus is here and responsible for a huge genocidal massacre of the changeling population. Not to mention that I’m a Displaced.”

        “A what?” Sage asked. “I’m sorry, but I got confused once you mentioned yourself being… Misplaced?”

        “Displaced. It’s short for Dimensionally Misplaced,” Sun explained. “You familiar with the theory on multiple universes?”

        “Yeah, I heard about it multiple times. Remember watching Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and Beerus talked about there being 12 other universes?” Sage asked. Sun did remember, he just didn’t want to think about it because he hated it when he was mistaken for a Saiyan by Ruby.

        “Yeah I do. Take that though and times it by infinity,” The Faunus replied back. “As a Displaced, I have a token that allows other Displaced in other Equestrias in order to summon me. However, not all of them are exactly good people. Trust me, I learned first hand through meeting Herobrine. Or as he called himself, the king of the nether.”

        “Ouch. Something tells me that didn’t go well?”

        “I shot his face at point blank range. What does that tell you?” That comment was met with just one thing. Silence. “My thoughts exactly.”

        “So what other Displaced did you meet?” Sage asked out of curiosity.

        “You know my cousin Lance? The one that lived in Los Angeles?”

        “Yeah, what about him?”

        “He got Displaced as Gunvolt. Not only that, but he’s getting married.” Sun replied. “The bride's name is Max Caulfield-.”

        Sage almost choked when he heard the name. “Wait a second. Isn’t that the girl from Life is Strange?”

        “Well, whatever it is, they’re getting married and I got to meet the bride myself. She’s quite nice once you get past her kinks and everything.” Sun sighed, showing Sage the photograph that came with the wedding invitation that he was given. “Not only that, but Lance and her are raising four kids. Two were born, and another two were adopted. There’s a fifth on the way.”

        “Fifth on the-? Holy Sh*t, Lance did it with her? That sly dog!”

        “Actually, Max told me that she was hitting on him, but didn’t get any of her signals. Same thing happened with me.” Now was when Sage was really confused. “They have an open relationship.”

        “You have yourself a lucky cousin there, Sun. Wait you’re called “Uncle Sun”.” His friend snickered. Sun chuckled alongside him, thinking the nickname as a joke on “Uncle Sam”. Only to hear him ask something else that caught his attention. “Wait a second. How do you know about their relationship?”

        “She told me when I met her in person.”

        “Not that you idiot,” Sage facepalmed. “How do you know about their sexual relationship?”

        Now the Faunus was beginning to sweat a few bullets as he looked back at his friend. “Remember when I said that Max had a few kinks? And that they had an open relationship?”

        “Your point?”

        “Do I really need to be blunt about this?” Sun told him. “Their open relationship also includes who they sleep with. She had me stay over with her.” That threw Sage off guard as he looked back at the Monkey Faunus. He honestly could not believe what he was hearing.

        “So you slept with her… Isn’t that crossing some sort of moral boundary?”

        “Nope. I even asked and she said the same thing.”

        “God damn, you’re a lucky man.” Sage snickered. “I can’t happen to say this, but I’m actually quite jealous. None of us have a girlfriend and now you're telling me this?”

        “It was only one time. But besides that, I think you might like her.” Sun sighed. “Anyways, Rarity and I will be heading back to Ponyville later this afternoon. You coming along for the ride?”

        “Do you really need to ask?”

        “ …… Good point.” Sun replied. “What about Coco? Should you tell her though-.”

        “She already knows. I told her that I would come with you once I find you.” Sage told him.

        “Okay, well that settles that… Oh and remember those girls that were team RWBY?”

        “Yeah, what about them?”

        “I threw an apple at Ruby’s face.”

        All Sage could do was facepalm at the thought of how angry that girl would be if she saw the two of them right now.



Later,

        As Rarity said goodbye to her friend, Sage and Sun were walking alongside her as they slowly began to walk through the streets of Manehattan. Rarity had informed them that the train back to Ponyville was expected to arrive in about twenty minutes, so it gave both the human and faunus an opportunity to explore a little bit. They didn’t get the chance to stay around long or purchase anything as the Friendship Express soon arrived on the platform. Ahead of schedule and with something that caught Sun’s attention.

        Multiple Unicorns were loading heavy crates onto the back end of the train while they also had a few guards set up position near the third to last cabin where the guards were assigned. Whatever this shipment was, it was important and it seemed to involve the stop at Canterlot that was going to be made shortly before heading to Ponyville.

        “Are you two ready to go?” Rarity asked as she walked up the steps to get on board the train. Both Sun and Sage nodded as they joined her back in the first class seating that they were in. As Sun looked back outside though, he saw the last thing that he expected. “I’ll be right back.” Excusing himself, he soon walked through the cars that lead to the back of the train. Where he saw the last thing he expected.

        “Saiyan!!”

        “Oh buck me sideways…” The Faunus groaned. “More craziness.”

        Just arriving on the back of the flatbed train car was none other than the same four girls that were hitch hiking earlier that afternoon. And Ruby was not to happy about an Apple being thrown at her face.

        “You’re gonna pay for throwing that apple at me, and running off like a coward!”

        “For your information, I didn’t run off. I had other matters to attend to elsewhere in the city. I just thought that since you ignore everything outside because of your music that it would be the only way to catch your attention.” The Faunus tried to reason with them. But reason was not a world in Ruby or Yang’s vocabulary.

        “Don’t care we’re gonna get payback for what you did to Ruby, I mean what kind of a gentleman does that to a woman?” Asked Yang.

        “You’re talking about the girl who lost control and almost hurt hundred of lives if I didn’t step in and stopped you two. Plus, you might not want to try anything. I know some things you don’t.” He sighed, jumping onto the flatbed car that they were on. Weiss herself folded her arms, unimpressed by Sun’s choice of words.

        “For a so called hero, he’s not very good when it come to saying words of apology.”

        “.........Indeed.” Said Blake as she followed Sun along with the rest of her teammates.

        “Look, I’m sorry for my actions. I just needed to get your attention on something I needed to tell Ruby and Yang.” Sun spoke seriously.

        “What can be so important-?”

        “Your mother, Raven, is alive.” He told them, softly, but with enough tone to let them know that he was serious. Ruby, on the hand, wasn’t so receptive to this news though.

        “............... No.”

        “I’m not lying. She is here. I have been helping her the past few days.”

        “........... I have nothing to say to…..her.” Ruby said as she put on her headphones. “Nothing at all.”

        Sun was going to say something, but he knew that Ruby could not hear him whenever she placed on her headphones. Turning towards her sister, he then asked her something. “What’s wrong? Was it something I said?”

        “Long story short before we became displaced, she never been there for her…...at all.”

        “Did you know that it was because she was Displaced?” Sun asked, curiously.

        “This was before she was displaced. You know how when you mother want you to do this, but you end up doing things you like more than what she wants?”

        Sun nodded, “That’s strange… She wasn’t like that when I met her. In fact, she was… the opposite. Don’t get me started on your father though. Raven told me that what happened to him may shock you.”

        “If he’s dead then it comes to no surprise.”

        “No. He’s here. As Adam Taurus. And he’s responsible for multiple massacres on different species across Equestria.” Sun told her, “Back at the cottage where I’m at with Raven, we’re trying to help three survivors of a bloody coup that killed thousands of changelings in the badlands.”

        “......... Don’t take this the wrong way Yang, but your family is…… what’s the word for it.” Said Weiss trying to think of a word. 

        “Hey, if you don’t have anything positive to say, zip it.” Sun snapped at Weiss. “I don’t see you doing anything to try and help the two of them. And you’re suppose to be her teammate.”

        “Look just because we’re friends doesn’t mean I’ll saying nice sometimes, unlike you we know how her family is before we came to this technicolor world, so up yours-.”

        The second the train came out of the forest that was Hollow Shades, Sun looked up to notice a glint of some sort get in his eyes. It was then that he noticed that it came from a steel blade as one figure landed on the cargo hold behind the four girls along with a small force of changeling brood behind him. And their first target was one of the girls.

        “Yang, move-!”

        Before Yang was able to fully turned around, the red haired faunus that was Adam slashed vertically upwards across the chest, delivering a big gash across her body and knocking her back into the train. As the others suddenly reacted to what just happened, Adam turned his head to the side while looking at the changelings with him.

        “Go for the objective. I’ll handle them myself.” 

        The changelings nodded, using their magic to teleport themselves to the roof of the train car. Sun himself was still trying to figure out what the actual hell was going on while trying to evaluate the extent of Yang’s injuries. But to Ruby, seeing her sister getting thrashed like that… was her breaking point.

        “........... YOU’RE DEAD!!!” Ruby yelled as she pulled out Crescent Rose, and launched herself at Adam ready to kill him. All the swordsman did was step to his left as he watched the angry scythe wielder miss him by a long shot.

        “You have purpose, but lack focus.”

        “Up yours jerkface!” She said as she tried to hit him again, only for her to miss by a few hairs. Adam though saw an opening and tried to strike at Ruby’s shoulders, but unknowingly, a boulder soon blindsided him from the right hand side. As he looked up, he noticed that one other individual had entered this fight.

        “You seem to get yourself caught up in all sorts of problems, Sun.” Sage sighed, the markings on his arm glowing.

        “Um…… Who are you?” Asked Blake.

        “Name’s Sage. One of Sun’s teammates and also the one that’s trying to save your friends life.” He said, using his nature based dust abilities to try and heal Yang. “However, you should be focused on what’s going on. Changelings are trying to steal weapons of war from the Guard and then set the train to explode. If those bombs go off, hundreds of ponies could be killed. Including us.”

        “Great, can things get any worse?”

        “Let me help your friend. Blake and Weiss should stop those changelings in the armory car. It’s the third car down from here,” Sage instructed, pointing at the door for them to go through. “Sun, something tells me that your friend Ruby is going to get hurt if she keeps on fighting like that.”

        “Already on it,” Sun replied, leaping onto the same platform that Ruby was on, using his tail to yank her backwards. Giving the chance for the Faunus to try and shoot Adam in the face. The gunshots didn’t do much damage, but they did cause his visor to slowly crack under pressure. Ruby though, was unimpressed by the Faunus trying to save her life.

        “I didn’t need your help, Saiyan.”

        “Do you even know who you’re fighting?” Sun questioned, having both of his Gunchaku’ form into his Bo Staff.

        “Does it really matter?”

        “It does,” Adam crackled up, looking straight at Ruby as he charged in. Blade drawn “Doesn’t it, Olivia?”

        “How did you know my real name?”

        “How else do you think I know?” He asked, taking off his visor briefly so she could see his face. “Your mother has really made you and your sister soft, you know that?”

        “She’s not my mother, you should know that if you really do know who I am.”

        “I’ve always known you are… She is your real mother… Like I am your father.”

        “HA! Yeah right. If you’re really my father, then what’s my favorite food and drink?” Ruby’s question was interrupted when Adam dashed at her and used his outstretched hand to grab her face and head.

        “Fried Rice, Fruit Punch.” He said, shortly followed up by an actual punch to her face, throwing her backwards.

        “N-No, y-you can’t be him.” Ruby said as she tries to back away in fear. “He would never attack his own daughters like that.” 

        “That was then. This is now… The old me is dead and gone.” He snarled, energy gathering through him as he tried to charge one last time at him. “It died once I stepped foot in this world and realized what I was capable of. Being able to express how I truly feel not by words, but by actions. It’s a shame really… Your mother cared for you, yet I took the credit every time. Now, I’ll take her daughters from her before she even gets to see you again!!” 

        Sun, realizing how Ruby was paralyzed with fear, put himself in between the raging faunus and the scared girl. Using his staff, he spun it around to act as a protective barrier to block his attacks before using his weapon to push him back to the far end of the flat car. Sun, picking up Ruby, then used his weapon to shoot the locking mechanism that connected the flat car with the end of the train as it began to pick up speed. Using his other arm, Sun opened fire on Adam, trying to create some distance between them as the express disappeared into a tunnel and the flatbed car rolled to a stop.

        Sun then looked at Ruby, who was frozen in shock and fear upon what she had seen. Even waving a hand in front of her didn’t snap her out of that trance as she later passed out. The Faunus sighed, picking her up carefully as he brought her inside. 

        Raven’s daughters were safe. That’s all that currently mattered. The reunion part he would have to worry about once the train had reached Ponyville.




End Tail 12

> Tail 13- Finding a Penny
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Finding a Penny




Ponyville

        Derpy, Sparkler, and Dinky trotted into Ponyville and off of a train. Sparkler carried a suitcase larger than herself. Though she seemed to be struggling, the other two didn’t notice. If they did, they probably didn’t care, even though that was unlikely.

        “Okay everypony!” Announced the mother of the group. Dinky started hopping in excitement while Sparkler tripped and the suitcase crushed her. She used her limited magic to shove it off of her and sat up, before it fell back on her. Unfortunately, Derpy and Dinky hadn’t noticed, letting the elder daughter’s silent cries from under the luggage unheard or seen. “I know we had fun with the Doctor, but he’s had to go away for a while. So! We’ll be spending the of Summer at home!”

        Finally, Sparkler freed herself and blasted the infernal container away from herself. “We don’t even know what month it is…”

        Derpy narrowed her eyes at the Unicorn, “Sparkler! What has that suitcase done to you!? You know who’s in there! Apologize!”

        Sparkler’s face contorted into one of disbelief and fear, “B-bu-but!”

        “Now!” Derpy said, in a tone only a mother could have.

        Sighing, Sparkler apologized to the suitcase. She mentally growled when she heard snickers.

        “It’s okay~” Whispered a female voice from inside, “I wasn't damaged~”

        Though Sparkler was truly sorry, she felt saddened to know she was being laughed at.

        The Hooves family started heading home, when all of a sudden, they began to hear something rumbling. When Derpy and Sparkler turned around, they saw a blond monkey faunus carrying a girl in a red dress followed by two other girls and a guy with a white overcoat that was carrying a blond woman. They were coming so fast that they blew past the Hooves family, causing the suitcase that Sparkler was holding to loosen.

        “-SCUSE ME!! COMING THROUGH!!!” The Monkey boy was shouting out, while the girl on his back was passed out and hurt very bad. The small group looked to be running towards the cottage on the outside of town, making Derpy and Sparkler seem… confused.

        “How for in the past/future did the Doctor take us?” Asked Sparkler. Dinky shrugged.

        “Why don’t we ask somepony?”

        “Great idea, Dinky!” Said Derpy, “We’ll ask what’s happening!” She trotted up to a random pony, who apparently Derpy remembered as Bon Bon. “Um, miss? Who was that?”

        “Would you happen to be talking about Sun?” She asked. “He’s the monkey boy… Some of the ponies around here call him a Faunus though.”

        “Who is he?” Asked Sparkler, “We’ve been gone for a family emergency.”

        “He’s been in town for the past few weeks, helping out every once in awhile. Not much is known about him, but Pinkie Pie said at a party she hosted that Sun exposed a griffon that was illegally smuggling immigrants from Griffonstone. Lyra herself has tried chasing him all over town…” The Earth pony then sighed. “What kind of emergency have you been on, Ms. Hooves? You’ve been gone for two weeks.”

        “My grandfather passed away,” Derpy said. It wasn’t a lie, she’d actually met her great grandfather… And Grandmother, but that was beside the point, he died. “We had to have his memorial.”

        “I’m sorry to hear that… If you need anything at all, please let me know. I want to help out my friends as much as possible.” With that, she trotted off, catching up with her roommate Lyra as Derpy returned to her family.

        “If we’ve been gone a week… How have I not been fired or heard about this ‘Sun’!?” Derpy asked her kids.

        “You asked for a leave of absence… Too bad you’re the only Mailmare in town, everypony’s packages are probably still not d-” Before Sparkler could finish, Derpy was gone. She smiled, “Well, that was easy. Come on, let’s get Penny home-” She froze in place. The suitcase was open… And the contents weren't inside…

        “We are so dead…” The two said in unison.



Fluttershy’s Cottage

        It had only been a short while since Sun abruptly returned, but in that timeframe, a LOT of things happened. First, he and Sage got Ruby and Yang upstairs so they could get proper medical care. Sage volunteered to stay with Kreed and Raven upstairs to wait for the two sisters to wake up while Weiss and Blake were talking with Fluttershy and Rarity downstairs. 

        As for Sun, he was outside. The Faunus was sitting in a tree, trying to think about what had happened over the last few hours. It was like the old saying “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back”. The one step forward was meeting Sage. The two steps back was when Adam hurt Yang and Ruby. However, as he was trying to clear his mind, something… unexpected happened.

        “Hiya!” A bubbly voice greeted him suddenly, surprising Sun. The voice caused him to stumble forward out of the tree and fall down, colliding with something that did not feel like dirt or ground at all. As he looked up from off the ground, he could see who exactly was talking to him… and what he crashed into. A smiling girl with red hair, freckles, and green eyes. “Hello!”

        “GYA!!” The Faunus shot himself backward, colliding the back of his head with the trunk of the tree. “Oww… What the-?”

        The girl shot up and took Sun’s hand, “Nice to meet you, I am Penny!” She started to examine him, looking every limb from his arms to his tail, “Wow, I’ve never met a real live Faunas!”

        “H-hey! That tickles!” Sun chuckled, looking back at her. “Well, Penny. I’m S-.”

        Penny jumped in front of Sun, “Oh! Oh! You said my name! No one has ever gotten my name that quickly!”

        “Yeah, because you said it first,” The Faunus deadpanned. “Anyways-.”

        “But everyone says Pelly, Lenny, Cenny, Nickle, Dime, Bit, Shelly, Venny, and Seleny! Even when I said it!” Penny said, “And I’m like: ‘Why does Nickle sound like Penny?’ and all I got was a shrug! I mean, what up with that? Penny isn’t that hard to say...”

        “To each their own I guess,” Sun sighed. “Names Sun Wukong. Nice to meet you.”

        Penny suddenly hugged Sun, “It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Sunny!”

        “Please, just Sun is fine.” He insisted. Now he was starting to think this is what happened when Pinkie Pie hugs Rainbow Dash.

        “If that is what you want!” Penny said, her smile getting wider and wider.

        “Not too tight!!” He spoke softly, trying to gasp for air. However, it seemed like Penny’s… introduction… had caught someone’s attention.

        “YOU!” Weiss yelled, pointing at Sun. “We been trying to find you all day.”

        “I was sitting in that tree.” Sun deadpanned, motioning his head upward. “Umm… Penny? Can you please let go? I’m beginning to lose feeling in my arms”

        “Sure!” Penny let go of the Faunas and skipped over to Weiss, “Greetings! My name is Penny!”

        “Oh god, they’re two of them now. As if one was bad enough.”

        “I’m pretty sure Ruby isn’t as dumb as Penny is.” Blake said appearing behind Weiss

        Sun facepalmed himself. “Right… Weiss and Blake, meet Penny. Penny, meet Blake and…… Ice Queen.” He chuckled at the last part as he tried to adjust himself and brush the dirt off of his clothes.

        “What have I told you about calling me that?” Weiss said as her left eye twitched. However, to Penny, she wasn’t aware to the fact that the name Sun had just said was just an expression.

        Penny bowed to Weiss on one knee, “Forgive me, I had no idea you were royalty. Please forgive me your highness.”

        “....I hate you so much right now monkey boy.” Weiss said as her face turned red with anger.

        “That’s kind of ironic because you’re cute when you’re angry.” Sun chuckled. “Still, on a more serious note, how's Ruby and Yang? Are they still recovering?”

        “If you mean the idiot and her sister, then they’re doing fine.” Weiss said rubbing her left cheek. “Though you might want to keep your distance from Ruby when she’s asleep.”

        “Let me guess, she talks in her sleep?” Sun asked her.

        “There are more!?” Penny asked, eyes wide.

        “Yes, there are,” The faunus replied. “There’s Sage upstairs with Raven, Ruby and Yang still in recovery, Weiss and Blake right here, myself and then Neptune and Scarlet… I think right now, they’re just fine.”



        “RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!!!!”

        “What that actual F*** is that thing!?”

        “Who cares?! Just run!!”

        “GET BACK HERE!! NO ONE STEALS FROM AHUIZOTL AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!!!”



        “ … Yeah, I think they’re doing just fine on their own.”

        “You do realize it’s the Everfree Forest we’re talking about right?” Weiss said. Sun sighed, shrugging his shoulders.

        “Neptune has a polearm and plasma blaster while Scarlet has a pistol that's a grappling hook. Your argument is invalid.” Sun sighed.

        “Yes, but are they good at fighting a hydra that can regenerate it’s heads?”

        “I highly doubt they get themselves in that deep of trouble. Besides, Hydra’s reside in Boggy Foggy Bog…” Everyone just stared at the faunus in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “What? Fluttershy told me.”

        “... Do your so called friends even know where they are in the forest?” Blake asked. “Because something tells me that you didn’t warn them about that.”

        “How was I able to warn them? They stormed out of Manehattan looking for me just as I was arriving with you guys at the train station.” He asked, shrugging his shoulders with his hands in the air.

        “Be that as it may, you might want to warn them next time you see them. Other wise they might get into trouble.”

        “Right… Warn someone that you haven’t seen in two months about the dangers that they’ve already been through… Doesn’t anyone else see the problem in that?”

        “Look, just do it okay? Or do want me to get Ruby to attack you like last time?” Weiss said.

        “I’m lost…” Penny said, “And I’m getting the feeling Miss Weiss isn’t an actual queen…”

        Sun just facepalmed himself, looking back at the white haired girl. “Penny… do you know what figures of speech are?”

        “Fingers in speech? I’ve never heard that before!”

        “No no no, not fingers… figures. Like expressions used in conversations.” He tried to explain.

        Penny tilted her head, “My brain was wiped of unnecessary concepts as such. I don’t think it’s possible for me to learn something like this so soon after my reprograming.”

        “... How does she function?”

        “Beats me.” Sun replied. “Maybe we should introduce her to everyone else once Yang wakes-” From the upstairs window, a loud BANG went off as it blew out some of the wooden boards in the upper floor of the cottage. “-up.”

        “Well that was quick.” said Blake.

        “Let’s hurry before she tries to blow the house down.” Sun insisted, opening the back door and having the three of them come inside.

        “Blow the house down? That isn’t nice… Or possible...” Penny stated. Sun chuckled a little at the last part. They were heading to the stairwell, until they heard Yang shout out again.

        “Dammit Ruby! Did I tell you to not to do that?” 

        “But it looks so cool, you expect me not to try it out after she gave that power as a gift.”

        Sun now looked at Weiss and Blake in confusion. Not really sure about what they were talking about.

        “We met a Displaced on the train that you saw that got wrecked. Long story short she helped us beat up a bunch of thugs on the train. and gave Ruby some kind of dark powers I guess.” Weiss said as she looked at Blake.

        “Just be careful when you go in there. It’s bad enough Ruby can be… hyper at times, we don’t need her to wreck the house.”

        “Um… Am I the only one who remembers that Raven is in there-? Wait… Where’s Penny?” The Faunus asked, after noticing that she wasn’t behind Weiss or Blake.

        “I’m pretty sure she left.” Blake said.

        “Right… Ladies first?” Sun offered, allowing for the girls to be the first ones to kick the doors down as they barged in. Only for a ball of dark energy to hit Weiss in the face, causing her to fall downstairs.

        “SERIOUSLY, WHY AM I THE ONE TO GET HIT BY STUFF?!”

        “Beats me.” Sun sighed. Both Blake and him then stormed inside the room, but he was thrown off guard by what he was seeing. “What the-!?”

        “HA! Suck it Yang, you’re not the only one that can hit from far range!” Ruby said as her hands were covered in darkness. “With the stuff that Tabitha gave me I can so wreck ponies or grims faces in.”

        “I’m starting to think it was a bad idea to let her teach you how to harness the darkness within you.” Yang said as she cracked her neck. Sun sighed as he stepped in, looking back at Ruby.

        “Can we please not try to tear down the cottage? Besides, aren’t you two still healing from your wounds?”

        “I’m fine, Ruby on the other hand.” Ruby starts to laugh like a crazy person, that is until she felt herself feel light headed and pass out on the bed. “She keeps forgetting that she injured.”

        “I thought that would come back to bite her… How are you holding up?”

        Yang pulled out a green crystal before it shattered into pieces. “Little advice, never go anywhere without a healing gem. They help heal you when you’re knocked out.”

        “No, I meant from when you got attacked,” Sun told her. “If it weren’t for Sage, you would probably be hurt and have to go to the hospital.”

        “I’m fine. Though I do want to sucker punch the guy that did that to Ruby and I.” Sun sighed, asking if Blake, Sage and Kreed can leave the room for a minute. Leaving just Yang, Sun and also… Raven.

        “There’s something I need to talk to you about… Raven?”

        “Let me stop you before you say anything.” Yang said as she placed Ruby’s headphones over her ears. “Okay continue.”

        Raven soon emerged from the dimly lit corner of the room, getting closer to Yang. “Malissa? Oh god… I’ve missed you.”

        “H-Hi, mother.” The two of them embraced each other in a warm hug for a short while before letting go, remembering that Sun was in the room with them. 

        “Yang… Raven… this may be hard to believe, but the one who attacked Ruby and you on the train… was Adam.” Sun paused for a second, letting the shock course through Raven for a minute before turning to Yang. “And the thing is… Adam is your father, Yang.”

        “... And now I wanna kill him even more.” Yang said as her eyes turned bright red.

        “I know, but I’m a little more concerned for Ruby. When she found out who he was… she wasn’t herself. She wasn’t trying to attack out anything, but just froze in shock. If I didn’t pop in at the last minute, her injuries she obtained would be far worse than the minor wounds that she has right now.”

        “*Sigh* As to be expected, Ruby did have a connection with father more than mother… no offense mom.”

        “None taken, honey.” Raven told her daughter. Looking back at Sun, he continued to speak to them about him.

        “Adam is far worse than any of us. If you have met Kreed, he and the two changelings that are with him are the survivors of a full out massacre that Adam carried out in a siege of the changeling hives. He doesn’t care about others, whether he hurts them or not. He just keeps on fighting… for survival.”

        “Fan freaking tastic.”

        “And that’s just only the tip of the iceberg… Guess who we ran into a few moments ago… Do you remember Penny from RWBY?” Sun asked the two of them.

        “Oh dear god, there are two of them.”

        “Weiss said the same thing, ironically.” The faunus sighed. “Will you be able to find a place to stay? Because I’m not sure if Fluttershy and Discord would be too thrilled with the amount of house guests that have been here recently.”

        “It shouldn’t be that hard to find a place here, though I think Ruby would want a house of her own.”

        Looking back at the snoring girl on the couch, Sun chuckled. “Heh… Hope she knows how to pay rent… Anyways, you should check with Twilight at her castle. Tell her that you are a friend of mine and I think she might be able to hook you guys up with something.”

        “I mean a house away from mother, I don’t know if you know this, but Ruby doesn’t get along with mother that well. Especially what happen on her birthday.”

        “One of the many things I regret…” Raven sighed. Sun though, smiled a little. He got an idea… a wonderful… awful idea.

        “How good is Ruby with living in shacks?”

        “What do you mean?”

        “Fluttershy told me about somepony that lives in the forest that might work well with her.”



        “Ugh, my head. Where the hell am I?” Ruby asked herself as she woke up to seeing the ground beneath her feet, walls made of sticks and straws, Masks everywhere and a bubbling cauldron in the center of the room. As her vision cleared up, she noticed a zebra walk towards her, greeting her in the form of a rhyme. “Why, you are awake. As thought by Ms. Blake.”

        “A zebra that speaks in rhyme… I get the feeling that Sun dropped me off here right?”

        “The monkey boy did leave you here for your wounds to mend, but he also had a letter to you from your friends.” The Zebra told her, using her hoof to hand Ruby an envelope with her name on it. The girl soon opened it up and what she saw was… surprising.

Dear Ruby,

        You might be wondering a few things as to why you are here instead of the inside of Fluttershy’s cottage or at the ponyville hospital (yes, they actually have one of those.). Well, your friends and I have made a collective… decision to let you not just be healed by Zecora (the zebra that’s in the same room you’re in), but to also live with her. This is because Yang told me of the few… incidents that have almost lead to the total annihilation of something or someone that just so happened to piss you off. So, not only is this suppose to be a good living place for you, but also will help you with your… behavior.

        You might see that Crescent Rose is with you and your stuff. But some important necessities like food, water and clothes are… not quite in your bag. Your sister has them, but she will only give them to you once you agree to focus on repairing the relationship with your mother. This also includes your… pajamas and some of your laundry that Discord had spotted in the Everfree river. You might want to hurry and grab everything before it drifts out to sea.

Sincerely,

Sun.

P.S. Did I forget to mention that your ammo clips for Crescent Rose are also limited? Yeah… That was Weiss’ idea.

        Ruby’s left eye twitched as a crimson aura appeared around herself. “Oh Sun, you evil little monkey. The sooner I figure out how to get out this forest, I’m gonna punch you in the face so hard that...well I don’t what will happen, but I can say this much.” Ruby pulled herself up from the bed, striking a somewhat triumphant pose. “I WILL KICK YOU BUTT FOR THIS!” she yelled before collapsing on the floor in pain. “Ow! My everything!” All Zecora did was facehoof herself as she looked back at Ruby.

        “Your friend was just trying to think the best. Now lie down, you need some rest.” The Zebra told her, until the two of them received an… unexpected guest.

        The door swung open to reveal Penny with a dazed expression. When she saw Zecora, she screamed. “Stranger danger! Stranger danger!”

        “Stranger danger, where?!” Ruby asked as she hid under a cover. “I’m too pretty to get taken away!” 

        Penny turned to Ruby, “Another one! How many humanoids are there!?”

        “I’m not a humanoid, I’m Ruby.”

        Tilting her head, Penny asked, “But aren’t you Human? Humanoid was the best word to describe you, Queen of Ice and Black Bow lady. I have no other description for you as a whole.”

        “Well you can just call us by our names. For example, you can call me Ruby.”

        “Then it is nice to meet you Ruby!” Penny said popping up right next to the redhead. “I’m Penny!”

        “Nice to meet you Penny! Question, while you were on your way here. Did you happen to see some clothing lying around in the forest?”

        Penny placed her hand on her head in an awkward position, “I don’t think I did. Should I have? Is it a vision test, to see if I see?”

        “More like a treasure hunting test really, wanna join me on a quest to help me find my stuff?”

        “Of course! I do so wish to partake in a treasure hunt with Ruby!” Penny tapped her head, “Note to self, repair understanding of word structure so I don’t sound like an alien...”

        “Yay!” Ruby yelled as she kicked Zecora’s door down. “Onwards to adventure!” She said only to fall down on the floor. “Oh right, I’m still injured.... this might take a while.”

        “I’m not bothered! It just means more time with my latest acquaintance! Oh! You want me to carry you Ruby?”

        “Yes please, because I can’t move at the moment. And I’m starting to feel sleepy.”

        “Okay!” Penny said as she quickly picked up Ruby in a bridal style, “Does this work?”

        “Yep, this will work. Now onwards to the bed, best friend!”

        “Did you say friend? I’ve never had a friend before!” Penny did as told and set Ruby down on the bed.

        “Well now you have one, congrats.” 

        “Should I go outside until you awake?”

        “No way, do you know how dangerous the forest is?” Ruby said as she motion her to get under the cover with her. “As my friend I can have you standing out there, so until I’m back to full health you are staying by my side.”

        “Sure thing!” Penny smiled as she sat down and slid under the covers.

        “I have a feeling that I’m going to regret having her in my home.” Zecora though as she went back to mix her potions. “Then again, it’s better than being out here all alone.”



Elsewhere…

        Back in Ponyville, the rest of Team RWBY and their friends were working on getting themselves… comfortable. Weiss had agreed to stayed at Rarity’s boutique, Sage had decided to live with Twilight Sparkle in order to help her answer some much needed questions, and Yang was living with Raven back at Sweet Apple Acres. The only thing the Monkey Faunus realized at that time though was that Blake though, had no place to stay. She was just sitting on a hill, overlooking the town as the Faunus approached her.

        “Hey, you okay Blake?”

        “I don’t know why, but something tells that you’re about to get punched in the face twice.”

        “What makes you think that?” Sun asked, “If you are thinking about Ruby, let me remind you that Discord was the one who did the Laundry prank. I only wrote the letter.”

        “Yeah, but she finds you annoying the most.”

        “Only because she doesn’t know how I really am. I may look cheerful, but I’ve been through a lot of sh*t back home if you ask me. Father was a complete jerk and died when I was six. My mom… well… it was hard to talk to her because she was being very protective. I still miss her… but I don’t let the past affect me now.” He told Blake as he sighed. “I may seem annoying, but I am cheerful so I don’t let the events of my past affect how I am now.”

        “Not to sound like an ass or anything, but compare to your past, it’s kinda melodramatic compare to the Displaced we met on the train.”

        “Wait til you meet my cousin Lance. His mother died due to blood loss shortly after he was born and he watched his father commit suicide in front of him. Now, he’s a Displaced in Maretropolis-.”

        “Unless your cousin of your’s know what it like to kill your parents because they wanted to kill you for some stupid cult they were, then don’t expect much sympathy for you or your cousin. All I’m saying is that Ruby is going to punch you in the face for that. Whether you didn’t do anything or not.”

        Sun smiled a little and chuckled. “Okay, noted… Hey, I was going to ask you this earlier, but… do you have a place to stay?”

        “No, why?”

        “I was going to ask if you wanted to stay with Fluttershy and I. She’s open for letting you stay there if you want and really likes you… as a friend of course.” He stated, almost dropping the photo he had of Lance and his family while his hands were in his pockets.

        “I take it that picture is that of your cousin?”

        “He’s only one piece,” Sun told her as he pointed at Max. “That’s Max and she’s his Fiance’. They’re getting married soon and they are already raising four kids. One that just happens to be a baby Rainbow Dash.” He handed Blake the photograph for her to see as he then redirected the conversation a little. “So, would you like to stay with us? I’m fine if you don’t want too, but Fluttershy doesn’t want you sleeping out in the cold.”

        “You make a valid point. Okay I’ll go, but I have to bring Weiss along as well.”

        “Why’s that?” Sun asked out of curiosity. “Last I heard, she’s staying at Rarity’s.”

        “Wait, she is?”

        “Last I heard, she and Rarity were really getting along with one another and soon, she decided to stay at the Carousel Boutique. My friend Sage is staying at Twilight’s since he offered to help her with some things and Yang is with Raven at Sweet Apple Acres. Something involving punching the living daylights out of trees.” He told her. “Plus, Fluttershy’s place isn’t that far from here and if we stay out here longer, Penny might find us… again.”

        “Fair enough, let’s go before she brings Ruby here as well.”




End Tail 13

> Tail 14- The Trouble with Temples
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- The Trouble with Temples




Earlier that day…

        For two friends, they did not want to deal with any what if’s or maybe’s. They had heard news that one of their friends was in a town called Ponyville and unlike their teammate Sage, who had the calm and patience in order to wait and take a chance that their friend would come to them, Neptune and Scarlet decided that they needed to go to this town and find their friend. Now, the red haired teen was using his blade and cutting through any tree branches that was getting in his face to make it easier for the two of them.

        “Are you sure that we’re going the right way?” Neptune asked his comrade. Earlier, the two of them had a map. But after an earlier incident on their travels involving an Ursa Major Grimm attacking a small town of Hollow Shades, they’re map was torn to shreds and they had to ask for directions from the townspeople and their mayor, a batpony by the name of Shadow Wing, before they were able to begin traveling again.

        “Yes I am. The directions from Shadow Wing told us to just keep going this direction and to go across the train tracks when we approach them. We’ve already passed the tracks, so all we have to deal with now is the forest here.” Scarlet replied, hacking a few more branches off with his cutlass. “Any signs of Grimm?”

        “No, not since we left Hollow Shades.” The blue haired teen replied. “No signs of life now… either. Should we stop to take a break? We got a lot of ground to cover and that arm of yours might be getting tired from hacking at trees all day.”

        “Yeah, but still, I would prefer to rest when the sun is down and when we find shelter.” Scarlet retorted. Looking around, he soon noticed a rising pillar of smoke in the distance. “Hey, do you think anybody might be camping out here?”

        “Not with the Grimm running rampant. Why do you ask?” His partner said, until he saw the same thing his partner was looking at. “That is either a really good sign… Or a REALLY bad one.”

        “Oh come on now.” Scarlet sighed. “Don’t tell me you’re going to wimp out on me. Besides, that might be a campfire with food.”

        “Yeah, food that doesn’t belong to us. Scarlet, you’re talking like you want to steal someone else’s stuff.” Neptune pointed out to him as the two kept on getting closer.

        “Okay, look, how about we come up with a plan.” He suggested. “We’ll go see what it is first and then evaluate our options.” Neptune nodded his head in agreement on that one. It didn’t involve any crazy maneuvers and they could see what was going on before actually doing anything wild and crazy. As they got closer though, the cracking of wood and flames became louder and the two of them soon heard sounds of what appeared to be tribal chants. Almost like some natives speaking their own native language. That was when Neptune got closer and realized what was happening.

        “Uhh Scarlet? That is not a campfire.” 

        The two teens were now looking at what looked to be some sort of ancient temple. Where the ponies there were wearing tribal headdress’ and the blaze from the bonfire was the cause of the smoke. Either some sort of ritual was being performed or they were offering a sacrifice to whatever they called their gods. The one who was leading them was what appeared to be an overgrown wolverine with a hand at the end of it’s tail.

        “Okay, is it just me or is this giving me some sort of Indiana Jones vibe?” Scarlet asked as he looked at the massive crowd. “All we need now is a Damsel in Distress-.” The second he said that, a light brownish pegasus mare was seen inside a bamboo cage. She had a black mane and tail, a cutie mark of a compass and from the looks of it, was suppose to be some sort of explorer.

        “You were saying?” Neptune replied. “In all seriousness, we should help her but-.” He soon realized that his words were on deaf ears when he saw his friend walking towards the massive mob. 

        “Oh god, what the hell is he thinking!?” The teen screamed mentally inside his mind, taking a moment to stop him just as he was about to reach the temple walls. “Okay, what kind of suicidal plan do you have now?”

        “Well, it would be easier to save that pony if we had a distraction right?” The teen pointed out, grabbing a jar out of his bag. “And I have just the right distraction for them.”

        “Wait a second… is that-?”

        “Red sap? Yeah. I got it from the innkeeper at Hollow Shades as a way to say thanks for helping the town. Also, look above the crowd.” Scarlet told Neptune as he looked up. Above the huge mob of tribal ponies was a big nest of wasps. But not just ordinary wasps. Rapier Wasps. Though they were only mentioned briefly in RWBY and not actually seen in the show, Rapier Wasps are attracted by the smell of red sap. Which meant that the entire swarm would swarm around them the moment that the sap got on them.

        “Okay, what’s your plan?”

        “I throw this, you shoot it. In the chaos, we get the pegasus and get the hell out of here.” He explained. 

        “You say that like it’s easy.” Neptune sighed, preparing his weapon and holding onto the grip tightly. “Get up on the wall so I have an easier shot with this.” His partner and friend nodded, using the grappling hook capabilities of his pistol to pull himself up and onto the wall above where the cage of the pegasus was. When the mare did look at him and Neptune, all they did was signal to her to be quiet. Giving Scarlet the right opportunity to lob the jar of sap into the air and with one shot, Neptune blasted it and red sap was now all over not just the tribal ponies, but also the huge wolverine

        “What in the-!?”

        Before they could react though, the buzzing swarm of Rapier Wasps soon made it’s descent upon them as Scarlet got to work on the cage. As the tribal warriors were screaming like fillies, Scarlet broke the cage apart. “There we go. All taken care of.”

        “T-thanks!” The stunned mare replied, noticing Neptune as he arrived. “Not to be rude, but who or what exactly are you two?”

        “We can answer that once we get out of here. Those Rapier Wasps aren’t the only things the red sap attracted.” Neptune told her, looking back. He could hear the sounds of Grimm as they came closer. “Scarlet, we got Grimm on our tail.”

        “Damn… Not what I wanted right around now, but it provides a distraction for us to hightail it out of here.” The teen replied, letting the Pegasus take a amulet with an Amber ore in the center of the piece as they ran. But this didn’t go unnoticed by the wolverine as he looked back at them and growled.

        “RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!!!!” Scarlet shouted to Neptune as he turned around to see what was staring at them.

        “What that actual F*** is that thing!?”

        “Who cares?! Just run!!”

        “GET BACK HERE!! NO ONE STEALS FROM AHUIZOTL AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!!!” It screamed, only to soon get tackled over by two Ursa Grimm. But something that the beast could handle on his own. By then, the three mischief makers that he was trying to pursue were long gone by then. “CURSE YOU DARING DO!!!!”



        Running for ten minutes straight would cause both human and pony alike to get extremely tired. That was such a case for Daring Do, Scarlet and Neptune. The group was finally able to get into an open clearing by a lake where they were able to catch their breath and try to regain the energy that they previously had expended. For the Pegasus, her having to get caught up in a temple and run in Ahuizolt was what she saw as normal. However, being saved by… whatever or who these two are suppose to be? That wasn’t exactly normal in her book. 

        “Excuse me.” She stated, catching the blue haired teen’s attention while the redhead was busy trying to make sure there wasn’t any sand or anything in his boot like shoes. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I really have a lot of questions for the both of you. Who the hay are you two even?”

        The one who was paying attention sighed deeply. “We could ask you the same thing, miss…”

        Upon realizing what he meant, so soon began to work on trying to remedy her mistake. “Oh… right. I’m Daring. Daring Do. Archeologist and Explorer. What about you two?”

        “I’m Neptune.” The young teen replied, looking over his shoulder at his distracted friend. “And my friend who is trying to make sure that a snake hasn’t gotten in his boot is Scarlet.”

        “Oh screw you, Neptune!” The teen snarled back.

        “O… kay. I have a lot of questions and I don’t even know where to start.” The Pegasus replied. 

        “Maybe I can ask you something instead,” Neptune interjected. “What were you doing in that temple in the first place? Is it having to involve that Amulet you took from that overgrown furball?”

        “Yeah.” She replied, getting the item out. “The Amber Amulet. Back in the ancient texts, the civilizations that lived in the past used this to make many temples like the one we were in. It allowed the one who wore it to bend the earth to their will because of the gem’s power.” When Neptune had a closer look at it though, he soon noticed something as he looked closer at it. The energy in the crystal and it’s form was like something he had seen before.

        “I think I have an idea on why such a thing is possible.” Neptune replied as Scarlet walked over and sat down. “That gem in there is a Dust crystal.”

        “A what?” The Pegasus asked.

        “Think Crystalline Magic.” Scarlet replied, trying to simplify things. “Trust us, there’s a lot of things that would take some time to explain. If Sun were here, he would probably simplify things.”

        “Wait… you mean that Monkey boy that was in the New Yoke Times?” Daring asked, pulling out a newspaper clipping that had the Faunus on the front cover.

        “Yeah, he’s a friend of ours.” Neptune replied. “We’re trying to get to the town of Ponyville in order to find him, but we got lost along the way. Originally, Scarlet thought that the smoke from the bonfire meant that he could ask somepony for directions, but we soon found out otherwise.”

        “Ponyville? I know where that is.” The explorer replied, catching their attention immediately. “Hey, how about since you two saved my life and helped me recover this artifact, I can help you two get to Ponyville. Along the way, you can talk to me about this dust you’re talking about and also what exactly were the bears we saw earlier.”

        “Those are some terms I can agree with.” Neptune replied, shaking her outstretched hoof with his hand. “I’m guessing that Sage might soon be regretting his decision to stay behind back at Manehattan by now.”



Ponyville

        Sage was right now looking back at Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, element of magic and also the pony that was letting him stay in her castle. He had a raised eyebrow and was looking at her in confusion. “Okay, run that by me again. What exactly were you thinking about doing?”

        “Well, I was visiting Celestia’s schools for gifted unicorns earlier today and after I resolved some problems with some former classmates of mine, I thought that maybe I could open up some sort of academy here in the future. Not for just magic though, but for all ponies.” She cleared her throat a little before looking back at Sage. “With the sight of Grimm, we need ponies who could be able to hold their own against them. I was thinking that Raven, Sun, you and a few others could also help.”

        Sage thought about it for a moment before answering back. “I like the idea, but have you thought about anything besides that?”

        “Well, as a princess, many ponies look to Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadance and myself as a beacon of hope in times of need. So, I wanted this academy to be the same thing for anypony who has the talent. Sometimes, a pony’s talents and abilities are overlooked based on appearance or how their living situation is. I just want to find a way to reach out to help them.” The princess soon calmed herself, trying to catch her breath. But soon, that was when Sage said something that caught her attention.

        “Beacon… That’s what the name should be. Beacon Academy.” Sage answered, shifting back to where he wasn’t leaning against a wall anymore. 

        “I like that. It really fits well.” She gleefully spoke, almost like she was cheering a little. Sage just personally chuckled. Until he noticed something. One of the guards out front was carrying something in on his back while holding a letter or scroll of sorts. 

        “P-princess…” He breathed. “I have something you should see and a package for Mr… Sage is it?” The human was surprised to see that there was a package for him no less. Only to realize that it was something Raven had ordered from the blacksmith for him earlier in the day. It was a two handed Claymore with the first twelve numbers in roman numerals on either side. He called the blade Timekeeper since the hilt of the blade reminded him of an old Roman sundial back in the day.

        “Thank you, Captain… Sentry right?”

        “Yes, but call me Flash. Everypony else does.” The pegasus replied. “Also, Princess, you should see this report that came in recently.” He advised her, handling the scroll over using his right wing along with a couple of others. “Apparently, there has been a few sightings of more humans and faunus in other parts of Equestria.”

        That… immediately caught Sage and Twilight’s attention. “More? Where?”

        “Two teams of four were spotted on the west and east coast of Equestria. One in the city of Applewood while the other being in Manehattan. We have photographic evidence of the groups so you can evaluate them.” The photographs were handed over to Sage, who upon inspecting them, could tell that something was really wrong. The first group he wasn’t worried about. But the second group though… One person he saw in there immediately caught his attention.

        “Get Sun, he would want to see this… Now.” The pegasus nodded his head, flying off to get the Faunus. A few moments later, Sun was running into the castle with Fluttershy and the wolf pup named Griff right next to them.

        “Sage? What’s wrong?”

        “You might want to have a look at this,” He told him, handing the photographs. “One of the guards we were talking too was informing us of the sightings of more teams. But this one in Manehattan caught my attention.” When Sun looked at it though, his eyes widened. Walking over to a wall, he started to begin banging his head against it before looking back at the small group.

        “This is bad… Very bad.”

        “Sun? What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked, looking at him with a bit of concern. He gave a deep sigh, before pointing to one girl that was in the image taken in Manehattan. She had designer leather pants and clothes with a pair of Black shades, a black designer hat and a handbag the size of a Tool Chest.

        “That… is Coco. My mother is friends with hers, but I know her for a different reason.”

        Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Different reason?”

        “She’s my Ex-girlfriend.”




End Tail 14

> Tail 15- Not ready to die
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Not ready to die




Ponyville

        “Woah, hold on a minute. Coco, the same girl that has her handbag turn into a freaking GATLING GUN, is your Ex!?”

        Sun sighed, the faunus looking back at his friend Sage. “To be fair, we only went on one date, but I was the one who had to end the relationship. When I was with her, my mom got in a car accident and was forced into Intensive Care. I had to leave in the middle of it because of it being an emergency.”

        “Oh my…” He heard Fluttershy respond. “I-i didn’t know that you had a family from where you were from, Sun.”

        “To be fair, it was only my mother and I…” The Faunus stopped, taking a breath for a moment before speaking again. “Oh god, I hope she’s alright.”

        “Why’s that?” Twilight asked.

        “My mother is a very caring person, but if it comes to losing someone they care for, she mentally breaks. I’m talking depressive breakdowns here. I was the one who had to take care of her,” He continued, looking back at Sage. “But she was the one who wanted me to go to RTX. She said that I deserved to have some fun. Not be forced to have to stay with her and prevent me from enjoying myself.” The thoughts about his mother just clouded the inside of his head as he looked back at everypony and noticed that the sun was setting in the distance. “I’m going back to the cottage, Fluttershy. I just need some time to myself.”

        “O-okay…” She quietly understood, watching alongside Sage and Twilight as he left the castle. “D-do you think Sun’s going to be okay?”

        “I’m not sure…” Sage replied. “His family life and personal life are subject that he normally rather not speak about… However, this… makes me a little worried about him.” Before he could speak again, he heard a small crashing sound outside the castle and noticed Rainbow Dash zip in with a Brownish lookalike of herself.

        “Don’t worry, Daring! I’ll protect you-.”

        “Rainbow, there’s nothing to protect me from-.”

        “Okay, seriously?” Sage asked. “What the hell is going on?” His question was answered once he looked at both his friends, Neptune and Scarlet. Covered head to toe in scratches, tree leaves and also what appeared to be bits of honey. “Neptune? Scarlet?”

        “Sage? Seriously, how the hell did you get here so fast?” Scarlet asked, raising an eyebrow.

        “I ran into Sun an hour after you two when on your little… adventure…” Sage replied, noticing the Pegasus in the explorer’s outfit. “Okay, who’s the Lara Croft pony?”

        “My name is Daring Do. I ran into both of your… accomplices while exploring a temple not far from here. Fortunately, they were able to help me escape with the amulet I was searching for and they taught me a little bit more about some… other things as well.” With that, Sage looked at Scarlet, who had just passed out on the floor while Neptune himself just sighed.

        “We ran into Grimm.”

        “Why am I not surprised?”



Later that night…

        Inside the cottage that was on the outskirts of Ponyville, Sun laid on the couch, restless. Fluttershy and her friends were helping Princess Luna with something going on tonight and no matter how many times he tried to get some sleep, he was forced to rewatch memories of the past inside his dreams. Now, as he laid awake, what he saw first remained fresh in his mind.

        “Sean? You okay bud?” He heard his mother ask him in the brief dream before he heard himself speak.  “Yeah… Are you okay?”

        Redirecting his focus, he got up to walk to the bathroom, running the water in the sink in order to splash some of it on his face. Something to wake himself up. However, upon drying himself and looking in the mirror, he saw something that made him not believe what he was seeing. A woman with blond hair. One that looked to be in some sort of leather jacket and pants. With two gunshot wounds in the stomach… and one on the forehead. 

        That caused him to turn around abruptly, thinking that someone was there. But nothing was. The only thing he could say now was the only thing that was on his mind.

        “M-mom?”

        The Faunus was trying to keep himself calm. Not be frightened by what he just saw. But who the hell would not be frightened by seeing one of their own parents with a hole on their skull. The thought in itself was just sickening. But then another thought came into his mind. One that sent a chill down his spine.

        What if what he just saw was her? He thought it through, but then shook his head. Hitting himself over the head a few times in order to get himself to snap out of those thoughts. There were two main reasons for this. One was that he didn’t want his mind to be clouded by scenarios of “What if” this happened. The second is that Fear was something that he did not want to display right now. For more primary reason.

        “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

        Fear attracted Grimm. Hearing the sounds of screaming, the Faunus used his tail to grab his weapons and run outside, trying to follow the sounds of the female voice that he heard seconds ago. Soon though, those screams began to be overrun by the sounds of Beowolves as they swarmed in one MAJOR pack towards it’s target. When Sun got closer, he was sickened by what exactly he was seeing. All these monsters were swarming around one single mare, with lighting pink fur, but a dark purple mane with a cyan strip down the middle that reminded Sun of Twilight. The only difference being that this one had her mane tied up in a ponytail. She was pinned against a rock, trying to use her magic to ward them off. But whenever one disappeared, another took its place. 

        So it was unexpected that when the mare closed her eyes, almost like she was accepting her fate, to hear the loud BANG! that ruptured from Sun’s weapons as he took out several of them, causing the rest of them to flee on their own. When he turned around again, the mare was just beginning to open her eyes as he brought himself down to one knee.

        “Hey… Are you okay?”

        “W-who are you?” She asked. “A-are you one of those… monsters?”

        “You mean the Grimm? No. I stopped them before they could harm you.” The Faunus told her while she was looking at the Grimm that were running away into the woods. “It’s not safe out here. Do you have any friends or know anypony where you could stay?” The mare herself just looked back, her eyes changing expressions to a bit of sadness.

        “No… I don’t.”

        Sun sighed. “Then consider me one then.” He told the mare, looking back at the Unicorn as the Faunus looked around to see if anything else was going on. When he turned around, he saw her eyes widen. “What’s your name?”

        “S-star… Starlight.” She swallowed whatever was in her throat, trying her best to be brave for the moment. 

        “Starlight, I need you to run into Ponyville and take refuge in the castle until morning. Look for someone like me, but with green hair, darker skin, and a two handed claymore. That’s my teammate, Sage. He can help you find a place for you to be safe until morning.”

        “T-thank you!!” She told him, almost leaping over to Sun to hug him briefly before galloping towards the town and disappearing from Sun’s vision. He would’ve gone with her, but something else caught his attention. He could hear voices with the cold winds that blew, but the Faunus could not see anything or anyone with his night vision. Were these just ghosts? Spirits even?

        “What are we doing today? I’m a bit out of it.” 

        “No no no… not again.” Sun told himself. Trying to get the voices of his mother out of his head. But it wasn’t working. They were invading his mind and the mists that now were creeping in took form of some of the memories that the Faunus tried to keep locked away.

        The first one he was seeing was him and his mother, Silvia, in their old car back home. Silvia was a bit frustrated after their order was messed up at the drive thru window at Wendy's, but tried to keep her cool because her son was there. At one point though, the peaceful conversation went an entirely different direction.

        “Do you remember Lance?”

        “Of course! Brownie boy’s my favorite nephew… Well, he’s my only nephew. What about Lance?” His mother asked him, trying to drive and talk at the same time

        “Well… Normally, he would text me about almost every day… But… I haven’t heard anything from him recently.”

        “He’s probably just with a girl and he hasn’t thought to text you-” She said, before having to swerve to the left as a sports car pulled up in front of her out of her blind spot. “Asshole!”

        “Uh mom… I don’t think you’re taking this seriously.”

        “I am, I just hate driving.” She replied, sighing a little “He’s probably distracted. Maybe his phone broke.”

        “If his phone broke, then why would I find this when I look up his name.” Sun remembered exactly what happened next. It was then when she first told him about Lance going missing. Seeing a lost child photo with his Cousin’s face on it was just sickening on all levels. But the only question though… was why?

        Why was he being forced to see these memories? Was it to tell him something? To teach him something? To try to see what would make him break? He did not know. But the next thing he saw… sickened him.

        When he first found out about his mom getting hospitalized.

        “Oh come on, I thought you would like it, Charlene. That film was better than the first one.”

        “It was, but Ultron wasn’t that original in his plan. He brought a city up, then dropped it. Wasn’t that Hydra’s plan it Winter Soldier, or something? Dropping something?”

        “In Winter Soldier, Hydra was trying to turn the country's defenses against them. Ultimately, SHIELD took the fall for it on that one. I honestly still need to catch up on Agents of SHIELD in-. What the heck? I’m getting a phone call from… the hospital?”

        “Take it, I’ll take care of the trash.”

        “Okay, thanks. Hello… Speaking? … Yes, that is me… Oh no… No no no no no… I-i’ll be there as soon as I can!” He said, hanging up the phone. Grabbing his head as Charlene was coming back. “God, this can’t be happening…”

        “What?” Charlene asked.

        “C-charlene. I need to go.  I-it’s my mother. She got caught in a head on collision and is in ICU right now. They said that she could be dying right now! I-i’m sorry-!!” He stuttered, too frightened to think about what might’ve happened to her. That was seconds before running towards his car, hurrying as fast as he could in a mental state of panic.

        Charlene was taken aback and was speechless. Her hand extended, as if she was going to call out, but stopped and lowered her arm, letting him go.

        Back in the present, Sun was feeling himself break down. He still couldn’t believe that he actually did that. That he… abandoned her like that. It was unforgivable. But that wasn’t going to let him lose his grip on his sanity. No, it would do more than that just to break him. But now though, he was beginning to see something new. It was the same woman that he saw before, but now that he was able to see her face, the Faunus’ eyes widened.

        It was her.

        This time, she was seen with two others. One that was a dragon-ish sort of character. The other being the main character from the Horror game, Outlast. All three of them were meeting somewhere specific at some place. But the reason? He did not know. Everything that played on had no sound, but it didn’t take noise to see what she was talking about with a man in a white coat. 

        All it took was to see a picture of himself. “No…” The man grinned and out of his jacket, he pulled out a handgun, .40 caliber, and took aim. Shooting her in the stomach. “NO!” 

        He felt helpless as he watched what happened next. The other two who were with her were the first ones to die. One was shot in the throat. The other tried to fight back, only for a fist from the white jacket to go straight through his chest, right where his heart was. The Faunus though, could now see Silvia crawl on her chest, trying to flee. But her attempts were futile as the man in white kicked her with his foot, causing her to turn around with her back to the wall… and a gun to her forehead.

        All the man had to do next was speak softly… and pull the trigger.

        The second the trigger went off, Sun was startled back into reality. He found himself in the Everfree, a strange mist flowing around him and voices screaming inside his head. But soon… he saw something move. In front of him, now stood a shadow like form of himself. It’s darkened eyes staring deeply into his.

        “You… only have yourself to blame.” It said. “All of these things are because of choices you made. Choices you made without even thinking of the consequences that would turn out from them. Just accept it, Sun. This is all because of you.”

        The Faunus was shocked. Words can not comprehend what he was seeing. “W-who are you?”

        “It’s obvious isn’t it?” It spoke, trying to inch closer to him. “I am you… I manifest from the ill decisions that you make. The poor choices you decide… and the consequences of those choices. I am your doubts, insecurities, and everything that you try to hide.” The darkened form of himself was looking at him, eagerly waiting for him to say something. Like him being in denial. Resisting against this. Anything of that nature. 

        But the answer that it got was not the one that it expected.

        “Well… Nice to meet you.”

        “I beg your pardon?” It asked.

        “I just said Nice to meet you. What’s the matter in that?”

        “Y-you should’ve been in denial!! Crying out something like “You’re not me!” or something else that should’ve been rather dramatic before I turn into a horrific monster and try to kill you! Why are you so DIFFERENT!!?” It roared, until Sun heard it’s voice crack under pressure. Now sounding a lot less like him.

        “It’s because I am already aware of my poor mistakes…” Sun replied, trying his best to keep it together. “I’m aware of the poor choices and mistakes I’ve made and use that as a way for me to not make the same mistake twice. I don’t try to hide them in some kind of persona of someone I’m not. I just use them as a way for me to see where I messed up and moved on.” The second though that he tried to touch the shadow version of himself though, the body began to shrink and a small ball of light began to form from within the darkness. Inside it… was a small filly. Looking at Sun with a scared set of eyes. By Celestia, she looked like a tiny Luna!!

        “U-um… I-i can explain……” She whimpered, almost reminding Sun of Fluttershy.

        “Luna? Is that you?”

        “You know Luna?” It asked, surprised. Sun nodded his head, explaining to her how he knew the princess of the night and also using the chance to introduce yourself. Now though, was when Sun began to start asking questions about her.

        “Okay, now that I explained about myself… Who are you?” He asked.

        “I-i’m…… Astra.” She replied. “Umm… Sun? Do you by chance know of Nightmare Moon?”

        “Once or twice. Why?”

        “Well… there’s something you may need to know. Nightmare Moon is split into two forms. One that represents her rage and anger. The other one that represent the pain that Luna felt as Nightmare Moon. I’m the other half… and I’m scared to go back to that monster Tantabus.”

        “Your other half…”

        “Right… But I don’t have any other choice. I don’t know of anypony that can see me, besides you…” She moaned, sadly crying a little to herself as Sun stood above her. But then, a thought came into his mind. It may be a stretch, but it could possibly help her.

        “What about me?” 

        The filly looked back at Sun, startled, yet confused. “What?”

        “What if you stayed with me? That way, you don’t need to go back to this… Tantabus… I swear, I’m getting that word mixed up with Tartarus inside my head.” He sighed, looking back at Astra. “Think of it, I can see you and you can be able to talk to me. Is there a way for you to stick with me?” The pony thought of it for a few minutes, looking back at the Faunus while scratching her chin with one of her wings. Then, she had an answer.

        “There might be a way… But it might hurt at first.” She replied. Soon, the filly just jumped through Sun, who felt like he was struck by lightning as he fell to his hands and gripped the earth beneath him, bearing the pain. 

        “W-what the hell just happened?” He thought to himself. Unexpectedly though, someone actually replied to that question.

        “Okay, it worked. Sun, can you hear me?”

        “Astra? What’s going on?” He asked, both confused and in a bit of pain at the same time.

        “I’m part of you now,” She replied, showing herself briefly in a ghost like form. “Our souls were able to link properly and you have a strong Aura and will. Meaning that I could be able to be part of your spirit.”

        “O-okay…” He groaned. “Just… please warn me again before doing that. That hurt.” The Faunus sighed, picking up his staff as he got off the ground and turned his head a little. The sun was beginning to rise and everything around him was beginning to clear up. However, something didn’t feel right with Sun. “Hey Astra?”

        “Yes?”

        “Was what you showed me… real?”

        “To an extent… Some parts were made from your memories. Others were made from the memories of people related to you… My powers are based on dreams and memories-.”

        “Wait… does that mean… my mother is… dead?” Sun asked mentally, stopping for a second.

        “Actually, that’s something that I personally can’t get my head around.” She explained. “You, along with every other being and the people related to you have an Aura and it only diminishes when they die. However, despite it looking like your mother was killed, her Aura never faded.”

        That surprised Sun. A lot. That couldn’t be a convenience now… Could it? His train of thought was short lived though when Astra spoke once more. This time, out of caution. “Sun, behind you!!” 

        A hand took hold of his throat from behind and lifted him up. Whoever it was, he was strong. He threw Sun at a tree which gave Sun the perfect chance to turn and see his assailant. It was a man with a shadow aura around him and blood covering him.

        “Who the hell are you?” He asked, tempted to pull out his weapons.

        “Miles Upshur.” He said, voice echoing. “Where am I?”

        “Uhh… The Everfree forest?” Sun answered. “Matter of fact, why did you attack me!?”

        “You took me somewhere out of New Yoke! What did you do!?”

        “Me!? I didn’t summon any Displaced!” The Faunus shot back. “I was just having to deal with a pack of Grimm a few minutes ago and then you start throwing me into trees!” Sun did not want to mention Astra right around now. Mostly because he was unsure of how someone would react to hearing about Nightmare Moon. “For the love of god, can you just calm down!!”

        Miles kept still. “If I find you were the one, I’ll tear you apart… From the inside…”

        Something about that reminded Sun of what he had seen earlier. A man dressed as someone from Outlast getting his heart torn apart from the inside. Holy crap, this was that same guy. “I can assure you that I didn’t summon you… Were you with anyone when this happened?”

        Miles was about to reply, before there was a gunshot and a laser flash. This, followed by the roar of an Ursa, confirmed in Sun’s mind that a grimm was nearby. “Sh*t. Grimm! Miles, stay right there!” Before the man could respond, Sun took off through the trees, trying to follow the sound of where the shot was located from. Soon though, he reached a clearing and found what was going on.

        Two ponies, both with pink coats but one lighter and the other darker, the lighter was a Unicorn with white mane with a purple streak exactly like Twilight, while the darker one was a Pegasus with a blue mane that looked more like Rainbow Dash. They fought a dozen Grimm, but the one that stood out was the woman holding an AK-47 Machine Gun. She had a black vest with light blue jeans with a handheld gun holstered to her hip. She had blond hair and green eyes.

        They were continuing to fight, however, Sun soon noticed that the woman’s weapon was beginning to click. Her clip was empty and another pack of Beowolves just arrived too. This was where the Faunus stepped in, landing by the Ursa major that was in the back on it’s own before pulling the trigger and blasting off it’s head. All the other Grimm soon redirected their attention towards him, just as Sun pressed his hands together like he was praying and two spectral decoys emerged, charging at the Grimm and exploding on contact. His weapon now switched to its staff form to deal with the last of the remaining Grimm as he looked towards the others.

        “Are you okay?” He asked them.

        “Oh sweet!” The Pegasus shouted. “That was cool!”

        “Umm… Thanks?” Sun replied. “I was wondering if the Grimm hurt you at all. I could hear the gunshot and energy blast from nearby.”

        “Ignore her, that’s her way of saying she’s fine.” The Unicorn said, trotting over to Sun. “I’m Twilight by the way.”

        “Twilight? But Twilight is back at the Castle.” Sun replied, tilting his head a little. “What’s your last name?”

        “Mist. Sorry, I forgot it’s a more common name in the Multiverse. I’m actually her alternate granddaughter. Our females usually have the same first name.”

        “To each their own I guess. I got a cousin who’s in a world of superheroes and I don’t mind that.” Sun chuckled, only to notice Mist’s stunned expression upon him saying that. “What? Was it something I said? Please don’t tell me I broke her”

        “Would… He happen to be named… Lance?” Asked the woman, almost trembling.

        “Actually… You’re right. I don’t mean to be rude, but how exactly do you three know him?” The Faunus replied, asking his own question.

        She looked about ready to pounce, but Mist held her back and whispered into her ear.

        “We’re from Lance’s world…” The Pegasus remarked.

        “Well, any friend of Lance is a friend of mine. Oh and I almost forgot to introduce myself. I’m Sun Wukong. But you can just call me Sun for now.” He soon noticed the woman behind the two ponies and looked at her carefully. “Are you okay, Miss?”

        “A-Aya Brea…” She said shakily. “Just Aya though…”

        Sun just looked at her for a few minutes, memories of what happened coursing through him. Soon though, he heard Astra say something to him. “Sun… That’s her.”

        Upon realizing that, he looked back at Aya with a different expression now. One of shock… and surprise. “Wait…… Mom? Is that you?”

        “I… I think…” She said, legs wobbling. Sun reached out, setting his hands on her shoulders before pulling her in for a hug. 

        “Oh my god… I thought I wasn’t going to see you again.”

        Aya squeezed Sun tightly. “I- I found you!” Sun held himself back a little, looking back at Aya before looking at her.

        “I-i’m sorry… I’m sorry that I didn’t come home…” Sun told her. “I’m sorry for all the pain that I put you through.”

        Aya chuckled a bit. “To tell you the truth, I can’t remember any of that… But you’re home now…”

        “Sorry to break up the reunion, but this seems too good to be true.” Said Mist.

        Sun looked back at them, tilting his head. “The only thing that I find confusing is how you guys ended up in my world. But there is one thing you should know ahead of time… I’m technically not the only Displaced that lives here.”

        “Noted. I think it’s best we get out of this area so we can converse better.” Mist said. “Where’s Miles?”

        “In a nearby clearing. Also, for that place you mentioned… I think I know a good place to go.” Sun replied, putting away his weapons and helping his mother to her feet. “Follow me please.”

        “Firefly, get Miles.” Mist said, and the Pegasus sighed before flying towards the area Sun came from. “Where?”

        “Where else?” He chuckled, looking at Mist. “Twilight’s castle.”

        “Twilight has a castle?” Mist tilted her head.

        “Well, she is a Princess like Celestia and Luna. One of the perks that come with being an Alicorn I guess.” Sun replied, making his way over there as he started walking. “Oh and if you see an orange haired girl on the way over, don’t mind her. That’s Penny. Now… To Twilight’s Castle.”



        “This place looks like a safety hazard…” Mist mumbled, looking at Twilight’s castle.

        “Eh, needs to be… One hundred and ninety percent cooler…” Firefly stated.

        Sun chuckled at that, looking at the two ponies. “Trust me, it looks a LOT bigger on the inside.” He allowed them to walk in first, soon with him following behind as he walked on up to where he saw a familiar face. “Hey Spike, I’m back.”

        “Hey man, glad you’re back. Sage was looking for you. He found two of your other friends earlier after they went trekking through the Everfree.” The Young dragon said as he hopped down from the table where the Cutie Map was. “He also happened to come across the Mare you saved earlier… Trust me on this part, Twilight and the others are actually surprised that you saved her.”

        “Right… Where is Twilight? I needed to see her and Rainbow for a minute.”

        “They just came back a while ago.” He replied, looking behind Sun to notice the two other ponies and Displaced. “Did you find Twilight’s secret admirer or something?”

        “I’m Mist, and no. I just have that effect on ponies…” Said Mist, who looked annoyed.

        “Is he blind to us?” Miles asked.

        “No, I was just asking and Mist stood out the most…” Spike told her, his cheeks becoming a light red for a minute. “Oh hey, there they are.” Sun soon turned around, looking at both Twilight and Rainbow as they flew into the room. After a while though, Rainbow smacked Sun over the back of the head.

        “Where the Hay were you!? We thought you got kidnapped!!”

        “Hello to you too, Rainbow…” Sun groaned, rubbing the back of his head.

        “She was almost right…” Firefly joked, thinking of all the times Aya randomly hugged Sun and refused to let him go.

        “Sun, who are these people?” Twilight asked. “I know that they might be friends of yours, but after the Incident with Adam Taurus earlier in the week and the state he put both Ruby and Yang in, I’m trying to be cautious about what goes in and out of Ponyville.”

        “Trust me, if I was an enemy you’d know…” Miles said, arms crossed.

        “Adam’s worse.” Sun replied. “He’s a jackass who even went as far as attack his own daughters in order to try and get what he wants.”

        “Do you know me? I thought not. I never said I was a jerk.” Miles countered. “And I can kill you all with a thought…” When everypony besides Mist and Firefly looked at him defensively, he added. “Not that I’m going to. I’m a good guy.”

        “Besides, you’ve got us here. Names NRG.” Firefly said.

        “Firefly. And I’m Midnight Mist.” Twilight Mist lied as she summoned a pair of headphones over her ears.

        “I’m Twilight Sparkle and this is Rainbow Dash… You know… Maybe we should call some of the others and have them introduce themselves Sun.”

        “Not yet. I need to tell you something first.” The Faunus explained, looking back at Aya and noticing that Fluttershy had entered the room as well. “Morning Fluttershy-!” Before Sun could react, Fluttershy almost rammed into him head on, hugging him tightly just like Aya was earlier.

        “Oh my stars, I’m so glad you’re okay!! We didn’t find you this morning and-.”

        “Easy there, Flutters. I’m okay… In fact, I have someone for you to meet.” He told her, pointing towards Aya.

        “Hi…” She said, waving.

        “Um… Hi?” Fluttershy Squeaked, causing Sun to sigh a little.

        “Come on, Mom. You can do better than that-.”

        “Woah woah woah. SHE’S YOUR MOTHER!?!” Rainbow reacted, the loud outburst followed by a collection of gasps and then the Pegasus laughing insanely hard. Fluttershy herself was quite surprised, but she seemed to be a bit more comfortable now that she knew who Aya was. “And just when I thought your Ex Marefriend being here was surprising enough for you!”

        “Worst thing is I have no memories of my life other than my family… L-Lance is about the best I can do with their names…” Aya said. “And don’t call me ‘Sun’s mom’ all the time. My name is Aya Brea.”

        “I’m Fluttershy.” The yellow pegasus replied. However, from one of the nearby doors that Spike was by, Sage soon walked out and noticed the small crowd that was forming. 

        “Well Sun, it’s good to see that you’re back in one piece… and I see that you have some friend with you.” He replied, keeping his huge broadsword that was almost as tall as him on his back. “I’m Sage. Nice to meet all of you…”

        “Aya Brea.” Aya replied.

        “Nice to meet you.” He smirked, looking back. “Sun, Twilight and I had a talk with the mare that you rescued from the Grimm and apparently… Twilight had encountered her before.” Taking a bit of time, Sage explained about what they found out about the mare. Starlight turned out to be Starlight Glimmer. But apparently, her previous views and actions against Twilight and her friends are things that she wanted to put behind and start a new life. But that was something they had to talk about more on the side.

        “Well, for the most part,” Sage said, looking back at Aya and the others. “You guys can make yourselves at home right now. Spike, can you give Mist and Firefly a tour of the place?”

        “Uhh… sure!!” He replied quickly, his cheeks lighting up a little. “Can that include Ponyville too? I think that they would like to meet the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Sage’s answer was a simple nod of the head as Spike walked over to the two mares, guiding them into town.

        “By the way, he’s Miles and he’s a bit mad right now.” Aya said, pointing her thumb at Upshur. “I think it’s because I stole his gummy worms.” She smirked as she walked away. “I’ll go take a nap.”

        “Alright. If you need anything, just let me know.” Sun told her before he heard the door to a nearby room close behind her. Now looking back at Sage, the faunus sighed. “Okay, so what was this about Starlight.”

        “Well… Twilight has been thinking that maybe we should do something to help Starlight since we previously were talking up about establishing an Academy here. Think Beacon, but in Ponyville.” He told me for a brief moment. “Consider it like this. Twilight is like Ozpin and Starlight is like Glynda Goodwitch.”

        “You think she might be a good teacher?”

        “Once they figure out how ponykind can protect themselves against the grimm, Twilight and Starlight can be the first of many teachers here. Raven was also in on the idea and so was Kreed.” 

        That, in turn, surprised Sun. “Wait, how do you know about him?”

        “I met him while Raven was forging a sword for him. That’s how I got my weapon.” He explained briefly. “Still though, with all the amounts of possible huntsmen and huntresses showing up, this could make a difference. It’s still in the planning stages, but think of it. SSSN, RWBY, CFVY, ABRN. Hell, at this rate, a team JNPR is bound to show up at some point.”

        “Don’t jinx it. The last thing we need is someone as Nora being friends with Pinkie Pie.” The Monkey Faunus replied.

        “I’m bored…” Firefly grumbled.

        “I could give you a yoyo.” Mist deadpanned.

        “That was quick. I didn’t expect you two to come back so soon.”

        “Spike showed us his room and showed us his comic book collection… All of it… We left because it was weird… Since we were in one…” Mist said shivering.

        “How could someone make me a bucking stallion!!!” Firefly screamed, face turning red.

        “Dang it… I asked for him to give a tour of Ponyville. Not show you his collection.” Sun facepalmed himself. “Well, I think maybe we should do something…”

        “I’m interested in how those weapons work. I’ve seen a similar design, but never to an extent as these.” Mist said. “Silver never finished the prototype of it.”

        “Egghead…” Firefly rolled her eyes.

        Around now was when Neptune came out from the room Sage was in previously. “Well, it’s not just Sun’s staff that’s unique… Hello to you too, Sun.”

        “Good to see you too Neptune.” Sun replied. “Like what he said, almost all our weapons work in different ways… and almost every weapon… is also a gun.”

        “Why didn’t AJ get me one of those!?” Firefly said, huffing and crossing her arms.

        “I’m… Shocked to know that. That may be a good surprise factor, but it seems like they’d break easily.” Mist thought aloud.

        “Not with the way that ours are constructed.” Neptune explained, letting his weapon’s compact form transform into a halberd. “Either they switch between different modes or are integrated into the weapons. A good example is Sun’s nunchucks since they are also shotguns.”

        “Normal weapons also have their own tricks with the use of Dust.” Sage pointed out. “Raven’s blade for example can have multiple properties depending on the dust crystal she uses. Even going as far as to cut open a portal to another place in Equestria for fast travel.”

        “Huh, reminds me of that stuff you made Twi- I mean Mist.” Firefly said. “You know, those magie stone or whatever?”

        “Yeah, sort of. Sound simpler though.” Mist said. “I’d rather not mess with other universes properties. Why don’t you show us what they can do?”

        “Sure thing. But we might want to do this outside.” Sun advised them. “Rather not cause a mess in here.”

        “Of course.” Mist said with a bored looking Firefly.

        “Oh and trust me when I say that there are multiple types of weapons. Some of our friends in Ponyville have a Scythe that’s part sniper rifle, a dust enhanced rapier, two blades with a handgun and also a pair of wicked shotgun gauntlets.” Sage told them, having Firefly’s ears perk up at the last part.

        “Where do I get one of those?”

        “You don’t need one of those Fly. You’re energy blasts are much more effective than that and less cousty.” Mist said as she thought a bit.

        “Oh come on! You have to ruin my fun before I even get an answer!” Firefly glared at the Unicorn who rolled her eyes.

        “Please, it’s a waste of money for bullets, and you don’t have a permit. Plus, you’re a terrible shot.” Mist grumbled. “I’d rather give Surprise caffeine than you a gun.”

        “One, the weapon is only fired when a punch is thrown…” Sage spoke. “Two… we don’t need to necessarily have it be bullets. What if Firefly’s energy served as ammunition?”

        Mist glared at the ground. “I don’t see the point… Can we get to the demonstration?” Sage sighed, holding out a tablet that had a recording of Yang in a sparring session as her gauntlets tore a wooden dummy to pieces. Firefly’s jaw dropped upon watching it, staring at it in awe. Especially when the formed from the pair of wristbands on Yang’s wrists. To her, that was the perfect disguise.

        “How about I give them to Surprise!? She needs a better defence anyway! I’ll just… Use them from time to time!” Firefly tried.

        “Whatever… Go, waste our already small resources on something that you want.”

        “It doesn’t necessarily have to be just Firefly,” Neptune commented. “If you talk to Raven, I think she can craft something for your friends as well.” Just when he finished saying that, they found the woman they were just talking about in the training grounds with Kreed. Testing his new weapon to see if it needed any improvements.

        “And speak of the devil, there she is.” Upon noticing the five of them, Raven sheathed her weapon and turned towards the small group.

        “Well, I honestly didn’t expect any company before I returned back to the castle or the forge.” She said, noticing Firefly and Mist. “And you seem to have brought some friends too.”

        “More like acquaintances.” Mist said dully. She showed no emotion, only slight curiosity.

        “Well, any acquaintance of Sun or Sage is a friend of mine.” She replied, looking at Firefly. “How can I help you-?”

        “Weapon!” The pink Pegasus blurted before fumbling. “S-sorry… Please?” Mist face hoofed, clearly embarrassed by Firefly’s actions.

        “A weapon you say?” Raven asked, looking back at Sun with a raised eyebrow.

        “Sage was thinking that Firefly could work with a pair of gauntlets similar to Yang’s, but have it work with her energy based powers.” Sun explained.

        “Heh… I call that a challenge. Firefly, is it?”

        “Yeah, Firefly Dash.” The Pegasus said. Another face hoof from Mist.

        “Come with me. We can begin working on those gauntlets for you right now.” She replied, accepting the challenge and letting the Pegasus follow her. Leaving Mist just… stunned.

        “Why…? That was it? She just...”

        “Raven likes taking up any challenge. Whether it’s a fight or a chance to create something new.” Kreed finally spoke, catching Mist’s attention. “Good to see you again, Sun. You too Sage.”

        “I’m Midnight Mist. You must be… Kreed.” Mist said, lying about her name again.

        “I am. Former guard of Queen Amaranth and protector of the last of her kin.” He said, bowing partially. “Pleasure to meet you, Mist.”

        “Never heard of her… But it’s nice to meet you too.” Mist said, raising an eyebrow slightly.

        “The way changeling society works is a little hard to bear.” Kreed sighed. “We used to have a king, but when he died, the rule of the hive was split between the 5 queens that were his wives. Chrysalis, Queen of Jealousy, Mordred, Queen of Anger, Violet, Queen of Fear, Amaranth, Queen of Sorrow and Solana, Queen of Joy. Each one represented the king's emotions as a whole. But it’s only to now that two of them remain.” With the last sentence, he gritted his teeth a little, something that caught Mist’s attention as Sun and the others sat down on a nearby bench.

        “I’m not sure what to say… What… What happened?” Mist questioned.

        “Since the Canterlot invasion, tensions were high and the hive was split into Two colonies. Chrysalis and Mordred formed the Crimson Colony while my queen, Violet and Solana formed the Cobalt colony. However, a month ago, Chrysalis and Mordred lead a coup on the other colony, leaving hundreds to be slaughtered by the beast they unleashed on our home. I was lucky to make it out alive with Amaranth’s successors, Reson and Honeydew. However, Violet’s daughter and Solana’s son are still missing.”

        “Wish I could help, but I can’t.” Mist said apologetically.

        “It is alright, young one. Your company is all I need.” He said. “Because of Sun and Fluttershy, I no longer need to hide and fear that ponykind would try to hunt us down. I almost died because of that monster called “Adam”. I rather not become one of the hunted again.”

        Mist smiled awkwardly. “Uh… Okay… Hey Sun? Mind if I check this places library?”

        “Sure. It should be in the castle because from what I was told, the old one blew up.”

        “Kay, I’ll find it. If you need anything I’ll be there. I also think Miles is walking around town.” Mist said before teleporting away.

        Sun himself just got up from the bench he was on, walking over in the same direction that he saw Firefly head towards. He was interested in seeing what Raven would be able to craft for the young pegasus. But he also wondered something else. Things have been real quiet since Adam had attacked them only two days ago. Perhaps… too quiet.

        What exactly was he up too?



The Hive

        Everything seemed to be calm and quiet through the streets of the hive. But inside the main castle that the queen's called home, there was a bit of tension in the air. The Changeling Queen of Jealousy, Chrysalis, had just found out that Adam used a battalion of her own troops to carry out an attack on a supply train that she did not order herself. Now, she was furious and this was something that the queen needed to address immediately as she burst through the doors of the castle. Only to find that the room was completely empty.

        “Mordred!!” came the voice of the angered Queen Chrysalis. “We need to talk right now!!” Silence. Not a word was said except for the echo that remained in the halls. She looked around, trying to see if there was any signs of life that could be detected. Soon, she trotted into a spare room and noticed what appeared to be her fellow queen lying down on the bed, almost like if she was asleep.

        “Mordred, this isn’t the time for you to be sleeping on the job-.” She tried to tell her, putting her hoof on the fellow head of the queen, only to see it roll off of the bed, decapitated from the rest of her body. “What the hell!!? Who would do such a thing?!!” She raced out back into the hall of the throne room, where she found a few changeling drones, with their backs facing towards her.

        “You there!! Find and assemble a swarm at once!! We got an emergency!!!” However, instead of them complying, they didn’t move. Instead, they just simply ignored her. “What is this? Do you dare refuse an order from your queen!?”

        That was when of them turned around, slowly putting on a visor like the one Adam would wear and growled. “We don’t take orders from you anymore… Queen.”

        Chrysalis was stunned. Her own drones. Her own soldiers. Her own kind. They were refusing to listen to her?! What sort of mockery was this!? “What in the name of the hive are you talking about?”

        “Don’t you get it, little queen…” A new voice rattled the area in the room as Chrysalis slowly turned around. She now saw a new human like figure. Only female with red eyes, green hair, dark skin and an outfit that was a mixture of brown and white. Only that she was holding two weapons in her hands.

        Two Sickles that were drenched in red blood. “It’s like the old saying… Off with your head.”

        “W-who are you!? What have you done with my drones!?!”

        “We haven’t done anything, Chrysy.” The woman teased. “Your troops have said that you were weak. You gave them false promises of being able to acheive their goals while the one you relied on for your siege showed them that they had what it takes to be able to accomplish such acts.”

        The queen still gritted her teeth, but turned at the sounds of a new pair of footsteps walking into the room. This time it was Adam, followed by also twenty other changeling drones. Each with a similar visor to his.

        “What did I tell you before, Chrysalis?” The Faunus snarled. “I told you that I was working with you for my own reasons. And if you tried to manipulate me, you would end up with losing your head. Mordred learned her lesson a little too late.” The Changeling queen just stared at the Faunus. Horrified by what was happening. This had to be some sort of dream. She needed to wake up. She needed to run. But when she tried, Chrysalis felt a rising pain in her back legs as she fell to the floor. Looking back, she saw the woman’s weapons have smoke appearing out the end as they were now in the form of a revolver.

        “Oh… what a poor choice…”

        “Emerald…”

        “What? It’s not like she’s going anywhere.” Emerald snarled. “Now, are we going to continue talking or squash the bug already?”

        “In a minute…” Adam replied, walking over to the downed Queen as he tooked out his blade and used it to nail Chrysalis into the ground. The blade stabbing her left forehoof. The queen screamed, only to be forced to look back at Adam. 

        “They will no longer listen to you anymore, Queen. But… they now listen to me. You will be forced to suffer the same way that you forced those not obeying you to suffer. For we are the White Fang… and you… well, you’re not going to live long at this rate.”

        Queen Chrysalis tried to struggle against all the pain she was facing right now. Against everything. But there was one thing that she remembered that she had that Adam didn’t. Magic. With a low green glow from her horn, she used her magic to teleport herself away, seconds before Emeralds weapons changed again and the blades of her weapons shot outward with the chains at the end. Now, Adam was angry. But calm as well. He knew that with the extent of her injuries so far, Chrysalis would not be able to survive on her own. 

        “Should I send a squad to hunt her down, sir?” One of the drones asked as all of them stood at attention.

        “No. At this rate, if her injuries don’t kill her first, the Grimm will. Our focus should be on preparing for what’s next. Gather everyling that you can find that can fight. We’ll need to prepare them for what’s to come.”

        “What about the village that’s close to the badlands?” Emerald asked. “If Chrysalis was smart, she would try to disguise herself and go there.”

        “Not a problem… I already sent someone to “take care” of it.” The Swordsman replied. “For now, everyone should get some rest. We got a lot of planning ahead.”



Elsewhere… 

        What was once a town of happiness and hope had now become a pile of ash and fire as the blaze that consumed the small town grew and the smoke from the flames rose into the sky. In the distance, only four survivors from the horrible tragedy remained. Two stallions and two mares. Each of them remembered what life was like before. When their village was freed. Now, everything that they worked hard for was gone.

        It was thought that the blaze that consumed their homes and killed their friends and neighbors was nothing more than a kitchen fire that grew with each passing second. But in reality, it was the complete opposite. Double Diamond, one of the stallions, saw some creature on two legs fire arrows that were set on fire the moment it made contact with the roofs of the homes of many lost friends. Party Favor remembered that he saw what appeared to be broken pieces of stone act like dynamite as it exploded when some friends tried to run. Sugar Belle saw the same thing that Double did. Only that the figure wore a red dress and had a black, ash like mane.

        What Night Glider remembered was hearing the assailant speak. The words she heard forever stuck in her head.

        “How very… disappointing… Let’s make things a little more… enjoyable.”

        Of course, what came next was something that all four of them wouldn’t enjoy. Yet the thought of what happened was just… sickening. It had been hours since they fled and now, the four of them were in a self made shelter with whatever belongings they were able to take with them. Some bits, a couple of snacks, and a couple of canteens. However, they were just about out of water by the time they set up camp.

        “There’s a lake not too far from here.” Night Glider said, looking back at the others. “I should go and get the canteens filled.”

        “I’m coming with you.” Party Favor told her. “With the condition that Double Diamond is in right now, nopony should be going on their own.”

        “Fine, just don’t get lost. I want to get this back to them as soon as I can-.”

        Hiss…

        “What the buck was that?” Night Glider asked, turning around with her back facing towards Party Favor. Again. they heard the same sound. Only this time, louder.

        HIIISSSSS…

        “Umm, Party Favor? That illumination spell could be kinda useful right now…” Night Glider told her friend. The Unicorn complied, but what he saw next had his jaw drop.

        It was a black and white snake. Almost too big to be a normal snake, along with it’s red eyes… and twin heads.

        “Ssssssss…… SNAKE!!”

        “Oh come on, Party Favor it can’t be that ba-. OH DEAR CELESTIA, WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT!?!” The Pegasus screamed. Just as the serpent’s head lunged towards the two of them though, they heard… something else.

        “Nora…… SMASH!!!”

        When the two of them opened their eyes, both ponies saw a bipedal figure smash one of the snake heads to the ground with what appeared to be a warhammer, smashing it’s white skull into pieces.

        “NORA! I told you not to be running off on your own!!” Another voice called out, more figures showing up as Night Glider now saw them.

        “Who the buck are those guys!?” Her question didn’t go on deaf ears as the figure that was named Nora, actually turned around to her and replied to her question.

        “Oh there just my teammates. The blond one is Jaune, redhead is Pyrrha, asian pretty boy is Ren and I’m Nora, the queen of the castle and huntress on the quest for PANCAKES!!!”

        “... I’m getting a case of Deja’vu now. She seriously reminds me of Pinkie Pie.” Party Favor replied, watching Nora swing her weapon and smack the head of the monster in the tree.

        “Pie!? Where?!!”

        “Nora, look out!” Ren yelled, pushing her away from the incoming head of the King Taitiju as Pyrrha tried distracting it. Night Glider watched as Pyrrha’s spear turned into a rifle as it began to fire shots at the Grimm’s eyes. Causing it to scream in pain. 

        “Nice shot Pyrrha.”

        “Thank me once we get ourselves out of this!” She said to Jaune. “Ren, on your right!” The man turned around and places his hands forward as they glowed a light pink. He focused his aura as the head of the king Taitiju came closer. Using his Aura, he was able to cause one of the fangs to break as he stabbed the top of it with one of them. 

        “Nora, slam it down!”

        “It’s HAMMER TIME!!” Nora called out, using Magnhild to slam one of the fangs down on the first head. When the second one lunged towards her, Night Glider watched her smirk as her weapon transformed and began to fire an explosive payload right into it’s mouth. Having it explode into a blast of darkness and scales.

        “Holy…”

        “Victory for Team JNPR!! High fives, everyone-.” Nora shouted out again, only to see Pyrrha look towards Night Glider and Party Favor. When the young “queen of the castle” saw the two living ponies right in front of her… she literally cried out in joy as she jumped at Night Glider and pulled her down in a tight hug.

        “YOU’RE SO CUTE!! Ren, can we keep it!?”

        “G-get your hooves off of me!! Party Favor, do something!” However, the only thing that Party Favor was doing was chuckling to himself, almost falling to the ground in laughter over what he was seeing. Laughing alongside the blond human that was named Jaune.

        “Nora, calm yourself down. We just saved her life after all. Let go of her.” Ren replied.

        “But Ren. She’s so soft… and cuddly… Ooh, I wonder if they have a Pinkie Pie here-.”

        “Nora…”

        “Aw alright… Party pooper.” Nora groaned, releasing Night Glider from her iron grip as the pegasus gasped for air. It was only then that both sides were able to start talking once the two ponies got back to their friends and when the group of humans found out the circumstances of what was going on. The only thing that they could think of right now was one thing.

        What exactly did they get themselves into?




End Tail 15

> Tail 16- Bring the Madness!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Bring the Madness




Ponyville

        It had only been a few hours since Sun found his mother in the middle of the Everfree forest and with it, he had a lot of things run through his mind. Of course, a lot of those things were on various subjects and different topics at hand. One thought though he personally kept to himself since he wanted to see what everypony else would say about it first. Not to mention if they had something to contribute to it like if they wanted to go with him or something like that. Because he was beginning to think that the first step in being able to help out these other teams that keep showing up is to lend a helping hand and allow for them to stay in Ponyville while Beacon Academy’s construction plans were being approved by Mayor Mare.

        That first step being finding these other teams. Letting them know that they aren’t the only people stuck in the same situation they were in. But for Sun right now, this plan meant he had to reach out to CFVY. The same team that Coco, the girl he knew back home for a short amount of time beforehand, was on. He personally sighed to himself. Sometimes, you have to play the hand that you have been given. In this case, that hand was going back to Manehattan again so he could find them.

        Before telling Twilight and a few other ponies about his intentions though, he wanted to make sure that Raven had helped out Firefly, one of the ponies that his mother, Aya, arrived here with. Last time he checked, the swordswoman was helping craft a special pair of gauntlets for Firefly. One that would allow her to control her energy more effectively and allow her multiple possibilities in order to use her powers. But as the Faunus was entering her workshop, a blast of energy missed his face by a few inches, causing him to fall face flat on the floor.

        “Hey! Friendly Fire is not tolerated here!!” He shouted out, seeing if the person he thought was shooting him was nearby. He had a hunch it was Firefly. I mean, who else had energy based powers that did not have a semblance?

        “Friendly fire!? Pfft! I’m all about friendly fire!” Firefly shouted back.

        “So you were really trying to kill me!?”

        The pink Pegasus flew to Sun’s side, smirking. “My powers aren’t strong enough to hit through your… Aura thing unless I’m in close range. So how would I kill you?”

        “Well, I didn’t know that, my apologies.” The Faunus grumbled, getting back up on his feet. “I see that your new pair of gauntlets is working out for you just fine.”

        “Indeed,” said Raven out of the corner of her workshop. “It took a bit to calibrate the weapons given Firefly’s powers, but I believe it’s one of my most finest works yet. She really is appreciative of me doing this for her.” Sun agreed with that statement. So much so that it might’ve explained the reason why Firefly was trying to blast at his head. She was really excited, like Ruby in the first season of RWBY when she was seeing all the weapons that the students were carrying with them across campus. Who couldn’t blame her?

        “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was perfectly calm...” Firefly tried, but ended up squealing at the weapons.

        “And that speaks for itself.” Sun giggled, looking back at Firefly. “Speaking of which, Firefly… have you seen Aya? I was going to ask her about something.”

        “She’s in one of the spare rooms in Sparkle’s castle. Remember?” Firefly then cringed. “Most likely coping… This weeks been kinda crazy…”

        “Well, I went to look and she wasn’t-. Wait, coping?” That caused the Faunus by surprise. What exactly happened that was now causing Aya, his mother of all people, to be coping?

        “Yeah… It’s not my place to tell you… Ask Miles or Mist, they might know more on where Brea is.”

        “Right… well, I was wanting to talk to her because I was thinking about going to Manehattan.” Sun told them.

        “Let me guess, one of those other teams?” Raven asked.

        “Yeah. I was thinking of going over there and trying to help so that way, they know that they aren’t the only humans and Fauni that are here.”

        “Fanu-what?” Firefly questioned.

        “Fauni. It’s the plural term for Faunus. Ironically just came up with it now.” The Monkey Faunus chuckled to himself. “Still, Raven is dead on. There are four of them there and judging from the fact that one of them has a handbag that can turn into a minigun, they can cause a lot of trouble if somepony pissed one of them off.” For a moment, he thought he saw Firefly squealing at the thought of Coco’s weapon of choice before facepalming. “I guess I’ll be checking the castle then.”

        “When you're in town, find Yang and some of the others on her team. You might need some backup when going to Manehattan.”

        “I’ll consider it. Thanks for the advice Raven.” He replied, walking out of the forge and heading towards Twilight’s castle. On the way, he noticed a few other things going on around the place. It looked like Weiss was helping Rarity, Neptune was being introduced to Pinkie Pie and Scarlett was getting tackled by the Cutie Mark Crusaders while Sage was at the marketplace. He chuckled to himself as he walked inside, looking to see if he could find Twilight or Spike lying around the place. Instead though, besides the few guards he found making their rounds around the place, the castle was very much quiet.

        For the most part… Sun heard gunfire in one of the rooms. It was a few shots every now and then. Curiosity got the better of the monkey and soon, he found the room where the shots were coming from, slowly opening the door. “Hey, is everything alri-?” It was then that he had mere seconds to react as another bullet whizzed by his head. Causing him to crash through the door and seeing who the shooter was.

        It was his mom…

        “Sh*t…” Aya was panting as she seemed to have been scared. “Sun, what the hell are you doing here? Don’t you know it’s bad luck to open a door when someone’s practicing their aim?”

        “Why are you firing your gun inside your room? Firefly told me you were coping with something.”

        “I cope by shooting stuff.” Aya retorted rather rudely. “It’s something I’ve picked up in the past few days.” She holstered the firearm and massaged her temples.

        “Mom…” He said, trying to compose himself. “What exactly are you coping from?”

        “I don’t want to talk about it…” Aya turned around and walked back into the room. Sun noticed that there were bullet holes all over the room. “You don’t need to hear it…”

        “If you say so… but still, at times you make me worried that you might hurt someone if you’re not careful.” He told her. “The last thing I want is for you to hurt yourself.”

        “Hurt myself?” Aya rolled her eyes as she sat down on the bed. “I’m not helpless anymore. I’m not the weak, pitiful woman you knew growing up. I can do so much more…” She had almost said it bitterly.

        “Oh really? That just makes me curious.” He replied, noticing Twilight Mist as she was trotting in. “Hey Mist. I just checked with Firefly. Raven’s done with her gauntlets.”

        “I‘m so glad you did that…” Mist said sarcastically, her team mate soon coming in after her. “Now she can break even more equipment.”

        “Yeah, your whole team does that.” Aya commented.

        Mist growled. “Wasn’t us… It was another team from the future…”

        “Keep telling yourself that.” Aya laid back, smirking sadistically. Sun chuckled as well, trying to keep himself composed as Fluttershy soon flew in with her wings. 

        “Oh hey there, Fluttershy. How are you doing?” He asked, noticing the wolf pup he found named Griff following her.

        “Doing well. I was taking Griff out on a walk.” She said as it rubbed against Aya’s leg and looked at her with puppy like eyes. The blond woman just glared and pulled her legs into a cross legged position.

        “I don’t like dogs…” Aya grumbled.

        “Griff isn’t a dog. He’s a wolf pup…” Sun replied, turning to notice him as he soon laid on the ground in a sleepy position “and a bit of a lazy one.” Sun soon walked over, picking up the sleepy pup and setting him over on Fluttershy’s back. “Oh, that reminds me. Where’s Twilight? I needed to tell her something.”

        “You called?” The Alicorn asked, stepping outside of a room that was nearby.

        “Why yes… Twilight, I was thinking about going to Manehattan.”

        “Again? But you were only there like five days ago.” She stated.

        “Yes, but then I was being nice. This time I have a reason.” He explained. “The guards said that one of the other teams of people was found there recently. I want to try and help them before they cause any trouble up there.”

        “I’m okay with that. However, given what’s been happening, I don’t want you going there alone. Somepony should go with you.” Twilight told him, looking around a little. Fluttershy herself then raised a hoof, saying that she would want to go with Sun after she take Griff home first. Twilight agreed with it, turning her head to Mist. “Mist? Would you and Firefly be interested in going with Sun? Or are you going to stay here with Miles and Aya?”

        “Who said I was staying?” Miles asked from the hallway. “I’ve been looking for something to do in this boring place.”

        “Yeah, we can go.” Mist said, and Firefly pumped her hoof in the air.

        “Alright,” Sun smiled, turning around for a minute and looking back at Aya. “What about you Mom?”

        “Sure. Mist, toss me another clip.” Brea said raising her hand. Mist shot a light purple beam that turned into a clip midway towards Aya, which she caught as she stood up.

        “Alright. That makes six of us,” Sun said to himself after counting it up. “I’ll be right back. Going to get the tickets from the train station.” He had a feeling of comfort for them being able to come along with him. But right now, he was hoping that his mom was going to be okay. She wasn't her usual cheery self like the last time he saw her.

        She had changed. And he could tell. Hopefully, things would clear up once they reach Manehattan.



Manehattan

        In the city of Manehattan, many ponies were going to and from numerous places within the city. It was another one of the city's busy days. But soon, things were going to get out of hand.

        “What the hell Fox!?” Coco screamed in anger.

        “What is he even doing!?” Velvet yelped, backing off from the drunk man named Fox Alistair. Yatsuhashi just looked unamused.

        Coco slapped the copper boy away from her. “You’re such a pervert when you’re drunk!”

        “And a lightweight…” Velvet murmured, barely audible. However, when she turned around, she noticed a pair of guards walking in their direction. 

        “Is everything okay back here? We got a call about a disturbance in the area.”

        Velvet started to panic, and hid behind Yatsuhashi. Coco laughed, and started walking backwards towards the guards. “I got this guys.” Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to calm the rabbit faunus down. Coco turned around, and smiled innocently. “Sup boys?”

        “What in Tartarus? Another one? Silver, how many is that now that we’ve seen?”

        “Besides the monkey tail, the girl with the scythe and her friends? I’d say we’re at six.” The second guard mumbled, “I seriously need a raise on my salary for this.”

        “Racist!” Yelled Coco as she gave the first guard an uppercut with her bag, sending him into the air before crashing down into a trashcan. The second guard, in which was a Unicorn, had his horn lit and was staring down at Coco.

        “My partner was not being racist! And you are under arrest for assaulting an officer in the line of duty. Now… drop the bag and get on your knees.”

        Coco put on a pair of shades and smirked. “Diplomatic immunity. My rights are being taken you horse. Now… Taste the rainbow motherfunker!” Her bag transformed into a golden mini-gun and she opened fire below his hooves, making him dance. When she stopped, she smirked. “See ya on the way down.”

        He tilted his head, but knew what she meant as the floor beneath him gave way, making him fall into an abandoned tunnel.

        Coco walked back to the counter of the bar and stole a stallions drink and swallowed it in one gulp, then threw the glass away. “There’s a new troublemakers in town!” Her companions though, were looking at her before looking at the guards that were crashed on the street.

        “Did… Did they say something about others?” Velvet asked, shaking.

        Yatsuhashi sighed, looking at her and the passed out Fox, whose face had hit the pavement a few moments earlier. “I think so… Velvet? Can you wait here with Fox until he wakes up?”

        “Uhm… Sure.” Velvet nodded as she went to go drag Fox away.

        “Just stay here for the time being. I need to keep an eye on Coco. Someone has too for right now.” With that, he ran off after Coco, who was casually walking down the street like a she was walking down the aisle at a fashion show. Meanwhile though, a cream colored earth pony that had a mint mane had noticed Velvet and the passed out Fox. Carefully, she tried to trot over, trying her best not to startle them.

        “U-uhm… Is everypony okay?” She asked, calmly.

        Velvet eeped and hid behind the nearest box.

        “It’s okay, I-I won't hurt you! My name is Coco Pommel.” The mare said. “What happened to your friend?” 

        “He… Got in a drinking competition with one of my other friends…” Velvet responded.

        “Oh my… If you want, I can take you and your friend to my apartment. You shouldn’t be staying out here on the streets.” The Mare told her, trying to help pick up Fox.

        “Uh… O-okay.” Velvet helped the mare pick Alastair up. “Wh-where is it…?”

        “Not far, just help me please miss…… what’s your name?” The mare asked her, confused.

        “Velvet Scarlatina… I think…” The faunus stated. With that, both the earth pony and the rabbit faunus lifted Fox up and carried him to her apartment. Meanwhile though, a couple dozen guards pointed their spears at both Coco and Yatsuhashi. But Coco herself was not backing down. In fact, she had some… sweet words for the ponies that were on duty.

        “Oh~ Looks like these guys want some action~!” Coco Adel laughed, aiming her weapon at them.

        “Dammit Coco!!”

        “Whaaaaaat~!?” The brunette asked loudly as she started shooting near the guards. “My momma told me that when a boy points his rod at you, defend yourself!”

        Yatsuhashi just groaned, facepalming himself. He now began to wonder… how the hell were they going to get out of this.



Train Station (Sometime later)

        Just minutes after the train pulled into the station, Sun and the people he was with were greeted by an onslaught of ponies that were running past them, trying to get on board any train that would take them anywhere outside of Manehattan. Leaving the Faunus stunned.

        “Okay, something’s not right.” The Faunus said, looking at Aya and Mist. “Should we split up? We can cover more ground like that.”

        “I already love this plan…” Miles said, smirking for once.

        “Uh, how much do you want us to split?” Mist asked.

        “I was going to suggest three groups of two. Fluttershy and I, you and Firefly and lastly, Aya with Miles. I was going to check with a friend of mine that I met here last time. One of you can check Centrail park, which isn’t far from here, while the last group can check downtown.” The Faunus proposed. “Unless you have another idea, Mist.”

        “Yeah, but it’s only a slight change. Miles and Firefly go to Centrail, while me and Aya go to Downtown. One Displaced per group.”

        Sun nodded his head, smiling a little. “Alright. That makes sense. Should we meet back here in fifteen minutes or so?”

        “Twenty. Just in case. It might take ten or so minutes to actually navigate this place. Around that.”

        “And if something happens?” Aya asked, pulling out an AK-47 that no one had seen before.

        “We should be able to warn each other. Mist and Firefly can use their powers like an emergency flare while I can use a fire dust round to do the same thing.” Sun explained, reloading his gunchaku with the new type of ammunition. “Okay. Three locations, twenty minutes, and we all have a way to contact each other if something goes wrong. Shall we get started?”

        Miles walked away, a dark aura surrounding him. “Whatever.” Firefly screamed as the aura pulled her along with him. Mist looked to Fluttershy, eyes wide.

        “I hope she’ll be okay…” Mist squeaked. With that, both Sun and Fluttershy began to walk in one direction while Aya and Mist went towards Downtown. With it, Fluttershy was honestly a little confused as she looked at Sun.

        “Sun, where are we going?” the pegasus asked.

        “We’re going to Coco Pommel’s apartment. Last time I was here with Rarity, she found Neptune and the others so if she knew about anything recently, she’ll be able to tell us.” The Faunus explained, working his way to the apartment building. “Now… which floor was it… hmm… From what I remember, she lived in room 14 of floor 4.” As they went through the lobby, he pressed the button for the elevator doors as they opened for the two of them, allowing for the faunus to press the floor they needed with his tail.



        Elsewhere, in another room, someone had felt the presence of the faunus and his companion from his current location in the room of a friend that lent a helping hoof to assist him. It had only been a short while ago that he had passed out. But now, Fox was beginning to get back to his senses. Just in time to notice the earth pony that was talking to his friend Velvet.

        “Uh… Velvet? I think your friend is awake.” She told her, catching the rabbit Faunus’ attention as she turned around.

        “Fox? You okay?” Velvet asked, examining the white eyed boy.

        Fox sat up, rubbing his head. He raised an eyebrow at the faunus. “Velvet…? Where’s Coco?” He looked around the room nervously.

        “She’s not here. I don’t know where she or Yatsuhashi are. We’ll have to-” She was cut off by Fox forcing his hand on her mouth and pushing her behind the nearest piece of furniture.

        “Someone’s outside!” He whisper/shouted.



        “Okay, Fluttershy. Let me knock on the door first so that way we can talk to Coco.” Sun told the Pegasus as they walked down the hallway to the door that lead to the earth pony’s apartment. He soon knocked on the door softly, trying his best not to disturb anypony else that would be on the same floor as he was. But after a few moments, everything was still… quiet.

        “Hmm… That’s odd. I thought she would answer the door right now-.” 

        Sun had only mere seconds to react as a clenched fist soon burst through the door and slammed into his shoulder. If it weren’t for the Faunus’ quick reactions, his attacker would have completely caught him off guard. But the attack also sent him sliding down the hallway, separated from his friend. As he looked up, he saw his attacker unsheath two huge wrist blade gauntlets and had a pair of white eyes.

        “Oh come on, seriously!? I was just wanting to talk to somepony and now I’m getting attacked by Riddick?!! Fan-freaking-tastic!”

        “You’re really whiny… Has anyone told you that?” Fox said, getting in a fighting stance.

        “Look man, the last thing I expected to happen was getting sucker punched in the face.” Sun shot back, having Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang take on their Bo staff form and preparing himself for his opponent’s next move.

        “Velvet! Get out of here!” Fox yelled, and Sun saw inside the building, a rabbit faunus climbing out the window.

        “Wait a second,” Another voice said, poking her head out to see what was going on. “Sun?! What are you doing here?”

        “I was actually coming to see you. I was the one knocking on the door until this guy here punched me.”

        “Fox, Velvet, stop. Sun here is a friend of mine!” The mare insisted, looking back at the rabbit faunus as she turned to notice the blond boy’s monkey tail. “He’s a good person.”

        Fox just ignored her and started attacking Sun with quick strikes. Sun himself just dodged the incoming attacks, using his arm guards to defend himself while trying to use productive counter attacks. At one point though, when it looked like Fox knocked him down on the floor, he used his tail to spring himself back up on his feet and leap over him, landing nearby Fluttershy and Coco Pommel as he collapsed his staff.

        “Look, I’m not trying to harm you. I only want to help you guys. Can you just hear me out for one second? Please?”

        Fox kept quiet, seemingly debating on whether he should or shouldn’t. The deciding factor was guard ponies yelling from outside. “Velvet! Get to the roof!”

        “O-okay!” Velvet replied as she started climbing. Fox ran after her and slid out the window. Sun growled, looking back at Fluttershy and Coco Pommel. The pegasus nodded her head, telling Coco that they needed to get the guards to stop chasing them while Sun went after Fox and Velvet. With it, The faunus raced outside, using his weapon to propel himself upward as he landed on the rooftop. Right where the other two were.

        “Leave us alone!” Fox yelled as he got into his fighting stance again. Velvet did her best at it, but seemed to be lacking a weapon of her own.

        “Look, I don’t want to fight you guys. In fact, the only reason why I am here is because I want to help you two. You and your friends aren’t the only ones stuck in your current situation.” He told them. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you and your team got sent here after buying some stuff from a man that looked like Junior at RTX, am I right?”

        “Y-yeah, how did you know?” Velvet asked.

        “The same thing happened to me and my friends. I got displaced as Sun while they ended up here as Neptune, Sage and Scarlett. Another group got sent here as Team RWBY and I ran into another person here who arrived here as Penny. Trust me, you aren’t the only ones stuck in the same situation you are in.” The Monkey Faunus explained. Trying to ease the tension that was drifting in the air.

        “Then why’d you bring the guard!?” Fox yelled, not moving.

        “I didn’t bring the guard! They’ve been actively patrolling the streets for a while now. My best guess is that a pair of them followed me from the train station.”

        Fox was about to say something, but an explosion downtown caught him and Sun off guard.

        Velvet and Fox looked to each other and said. “Coco.” In unison.

        “Oh no… Charlene, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?” he said. However, what was meant to be something he would say to himself was overheard by Velvet.

        “Charlene? You mean Coco?”

        “Yes… Would you think I’m crazy if I told you that I knew her before ending up here?” Sun asked them. 

        “How exactly…?” Fox raised an eyebrow.

        “Did she ever tell you of someone she knew named Sean Jiris?” Sun’s question got both Velvet and Fox to look at each other before looking back at him, partially confused. “Well, let me make this simple. I used to be in a relationship with her, but when my mom got in the hospital and my life was being flipped on it’s head, I had to break up with her.”

        “Oh… You…” Fox said. “You might not want to tell her that.”

        “Can we just keep that between us then?” Sun asked him. “I think it’ll be easier if we just kept the fact of who I really am a secret. Plus, I prefer being called Sun now anyways.”

        “I don’t really care.” Fox grumbled. “Come on Velvet, let’s see the damage…” It was then though that Sun noticed something shining in the air. A ball of violet magic. Mist’s emergency flare.

        “Oh boy… we might want to get over there. If what I’m thinking is right, then she’s really going to cause a LOT of trouble.”



        In downtown Manehattan, the brunette that was known as Coco Adel was sitting in a clothing store, which was torn apart.

        “Are you kidding me!? It’s all dresses and made for ponies! I am not wearing just this.” She gestured to her current attire. Her abrupt interruptions have not gone unnoticed though as a earth pony mare soon walked up to her, furious.

        “How dare you destroy my boutique!? Do you have any idea how many hours and bits I had to put into starting this business?! I hope you have the money to cover the damages, ma’am.”

        “Uh oh…” A nearby Yatsuhashi muttered to himself mentally, noticing Coco turn towards the mare in anger.

        “Did you just call me ma’am!? How old do I look!?” Coco threw her handbag into the cash register. From outside though, Yatsuhashi just facepalmed as he watched what was happening. However, when he turned his head, his eyes widened at the sight of another human walking with a unicorn next to her. 

        “Oh thank god, we’re not on our own.” He said, audible to the point that the other human could hear it, but not Coco since she was currently… distracted.

        “I’ll have you know I can tear your house down with a single punch!” Coco screamed as she picked up her bag.

        Aya finally got close enough to see the two, and did not look amused. So when she cleared her throat, and Coco turned to see an angry woman with a gun, she instantly turned her bag into a mini-gun and fired.

        Unfortunately for both parties, Mist only had enough time to summon a random object to guard herself and her teammate… Which was a highly explosive barrel.

        BOOOOOOMMM!!!

        “Coco!!!” Yatsuhashi yelled. The warrior though soon began to see through the smoke and with it, watched his teammate walk over and stare down her opponent. Before taking her finger and pressing it against the other woman’s chest.

        “Hehe… mine are bigger.”

        Aya’s face went red in anger and embarrassment… But mostly anger. Aya pulled her pistol out and shot Coco point blank in the face, sending the giggling brunette flying. Yatsuhashi just facepalmed himself, breathing a sigh of relief as he looked back at Aya.

        “Personally… I would thank you for smacking some sense into her. She’s been like that since we got here.” He told them, surprising the unicorn and the human.

        Mist groaned. Her horn was black from the explosion and some of her flesh was missing.

        “Can I ask who you two are?” The swordsman asked them, putting his weapon on his back as he sat down with his legs crossed. “It would be polite to know your names before I introduce myself.”

        “Aya Brea, and that’s Twilight Grim-Mist.” Aya said, face still red.

        “Yatsuhashi Daichi. I apologize for my partner’s actions. Coco has been acting this way since she beat one of my other partners in a drinking contest earlier. Now we got separated from the rest of our team-.”

        “Mom!” A voice from afar cried out as Sun soon landed next to Aya, Fox and Velvet not far behind him. “Are you alright? We heard an explosion from the other side of the city.”

        “This b*tch shot us!” Aya said, pointing her handgun at Coco, who was rolling on the concrete, laughing.

        “Well great…” Sun said to himself, before turning around to look at the swordsman nearby. “Oh, it seems like we haven’t met before. Sun Wukong, pleasure to meet you.”

        “Yatsuhashi Daichi.” He replied, turning around to notice that Coco was off to the races again, heading into the huge open park that was nearby. Sun then looked at Aya and Mist, a little surprised.

        “Hey, correct me if I’m wrong here, but isn’t Miles and Firefly in that direction?”

        “Uh… Yeah…” Aya said, seeming to zone out a bit. “Um… I’ll help Mist out, she might need medical attention.”

        “I’ll stay with Fox and Velvet.” Yatsuhashi said, leaving the monkey faunus to sigh to himself.

        “Seems like I’ll go after Coco then.” He replied. But as he was about to cross the street, he heard a familiar voice shouting at him from far away. Causing him to facepalm himself.

        “SAIYAN!!!” yelled Ruby as she and Penny drove past Sun in a homemade go kart almost hitting him, but only crashed into a tree. “Ow….”

        “Just great…” Sun sighed mentally, moving up a nearby slope in the park, only to notice Coco preparing to take aim at them. “Uhh… Ruby? Penny? You might want to get ready…” He told them, getting out his gunchaku as he collapsed the two weapons into a bo-staff.

        “Ready for what?”

        “For combat.” Sun briefly stated, nodding his head in the direction in which Coco was preparing to fire at them.

        “I am combat rea-” Penny was cut off as Coco started shooting. Penny stepped in front of Ruby, taking all the damage while Sun was saved by a shadowy ghost.

        “Astra, if that was you, then thanks!”

        “That… wasn’t me.” She said, causing Sun to look around. Only to realize who it was once he turned around.

        “Miles!”

        “Okay can someone tell me what’s going on? Because right now I’m a little confused about why there’s someone shooting at my friend Penny.” Ruby asked as she looked over at Penny to see if she’s okay. “You okay Penny?”

        “Uh… I feel funny…” Penny replied, wobbling in place.

        “Well, let me make this simple. There’s another team here, Team CFVY, who I’m trying to help and have them come back to Ponyville with us. But as it turns out, Coco here started going on a rampage after she beat her friend in a drinking contest. Trust me, Fox told me on the way here.” He said. “Ruby, can you get Penny to cover? I don’t want her getting hurt and Aya over there has a first aid kit.”

        “Not like I have much of a choice seeing how I kinda lost crescent rose to a group of fillies.”

        “... Okay how did that happen?”



        “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS WEAPON MASTERS YAY!!!”



        “...... You want the short version or the long version of it?”

        “You can tell me later. I’ll draw fire from Coco and distract her so you two can make a break for it.” Sun told her, leaping in and preparing himself.

        “Or I could restrain her.” Miles said, standing next to Coco Adel who had a dark aura around her. She looked scared, and in pain.

        “Miles, let her go. The last thing I want is for her to be freaking out right now.” Sun explained, walking over. He then began to hear something familiar as he looked back at Ruby. “Uh… Ruby? Were you and Penny the only ones that came here?”

        “Well we did accidentally run into a pink pony, but she ended hitching a ride...with...us...oh crap I hope she didn’t get hurt when we crashed.”

        “I’m okay there, Silly Nilly!” A familiar voice echoed. Turning around, Sun noticed Pinkie hanging upside down in a tree once his face met hers.

        “AHH! Pinkie, where did you come from!?”

        “I was here the whole time silly!” The Party pony cheerfully answered her. “Oooh. Who’s Mr. Shadows and Chocolate?”

        “I’m really starting to wish the others we’re here right about now.” Ruby said holding Penny close to herself.

        “Oh that reminds me, here you go Ruby.” Pinkie said, pulling Crescent Rose from out of her mane and plopping it on Ruby’s lap.

        “Crescent Rose! How did you get it back?”

        “I have my ways~.” The party pony cheerfully replied. Causing several people to look at the earth pony in confusion. Including Sun and Ruby.

        “Pinkie?”

        “Sun?”

        “Ruby?”

        “NORA!!!” In an instant, a cheerful young woman that was known as Nora Valkyrie sprang from behind Ruby and Pinkie. It startled Ruby, but the moment Nora laid eyes on Pinkie, her voice began to squeal in delight as she hugged the earth pony with an iron grip. 

        Coco’s fear turned to boredom with a hit of pain. Sun though, refocused his attention to Coco as he looked back at Miles. “Miles, please stop restraining her. Any longer and you might hurt her.”

        “I know people's limits. She hasn’t reached hers.” Upshur said simply. “She’ll die of boredom before she gets permanently hurt.”

        “That’s not my concern though-.”

        “COCO!” Yatsuhashi yelled, charging into a shoulder tackle as he tried to knock Miles over and break his partner free.

        “That was my concern.” Sun deadpanned, facepalming himself. It was then that Yatsuhashi’s actions did more than just help his friend though.

        He managed to anger the last guy that you would want to piss off.

        The Walrider pulled out of Coco and went back into Miles. When they were reunited, Upshur jumped twenty feet in the air and landed on the other end. “I was restraining her so she wouldn’t shoot anyone else!”

        Coco fell to the ground. “So… Crazy…”

        “You okay, Coco?” Yatsuhashi asked her, looking at Sun and the others as Fox and Velvet walked to catch up with them, followed behind by Aya and Mist. Mist was helping take a look at Penny while Aya was walking over to where Sun was. But, Coco’s response to her partner was something else.

        “It’s little boob lady!”

        Aya screamed in rage as she spun around and shot at Coco again, but missed.

        “Mom, what the hell!?” Sun shot back. 

        Coco burst out laughing, holding Yatsuhashi. Sun himself, now noticing that everyone was here, put himself between Coco, Yatsuhashi and Aya as he looked towards Coco. “Okay, look. I’m going to be brief on this. I already talked to Fox and Velvet about this and they told me about you got here. In fact, I ended up here the same way along with a few others. If you can give us the chance, we can take you to a place where you are not being chased by the Royal guards and we can better explain what is going on. Because I think we have all had enough shooting at each other for one day.” It was then that he heard something that caught his attention as he turned to see something he didn’t expect.

        The rest of Nora’s team.

        “Can we take you up on that offer?!”

        Coco raised a hand. “Can I get a change of clothes? I’m already sweating through these.”

        “Yes, and even better, I can introduce you to somepony that can make you some clothes.” The monkey faunus told her, offering a hand so he could pull her back on his feet.

        “....Um I think we’re forgetting something very important.” Ruby said.

        “Wasn’t Misty trying to help Penny or-.” Pinkie stopped talking once she saw the ponies that were with the rest of Team JNPR. One in particular caused her to bolt over there faster than lightning. “PARTY FAVOR!!”

        “Pinkie!?” The surprised stallion stuttered, seconds before being tackled by the overexcited party mare. He was seen with three other ponies, just as Sun was getting Coco off of the ground.

        “Something tells me that there will be a LOT of explaining to do.”

        “You think?” Yatsuhashi replied. “There’s one thing I’m confused about though. You said that there were others here besides us. Can you clarify on that?”

        “Well besides you guys, I was displaced here as Sun while three of my friends were Displaced as Sage, Scarlet and Neptune. Ruby was displaced with her sister and two friends as Team RWBY. Penny showed up here as… well Penny. We just found out that there's a team JNPR here too and back in Ponyville, where I live, there’s Raven Branwen. Trust me, I’ll inform you guys on the full story once we get out of here because right now, I think maybe we should get going before the guards come here and arrest all of us.”

        “...... Good point.”

        “They can try to touch me.” Coco said as she stood up. She looked to Ruby and said. “Sorry about shooting you, I get a little bit jumpy when I’m confused…”

        “All’s forgiven.”

        “Alright, I think that’s that then,” Sun said to everyone. “Let’s get back to the station and make sure to catch the next train. We got one hell of a story to tell Twilight and the others once we’re back.”

        “I’m still shot!” Penny shouted. With that, Sun went over and looked at the extent of Penny’s wounds. Only to be surprised to see something that surprised him. The bullets that were fired were actually blocked by her body. It was like her skin was a bulletproof vest. Reaching down, he picked at one of the bullets, pulling it back like it was a thorn.

        “Holy crap.” Sun stammered. “Your body took the hits, but held the bullets back. Here.” He said, handing one of the bullets that fell into his hands. “Let’s get you fixed up before we get back to Ponyville.”



Ponyville

        Coco poked Aya’s chest again, smirking. The blond woman crossed her arms and tried to ignore it while listening to the current conversation.

        “So let me see if I get this right…” Twilight repeated. “You, Coco, Fox and your friend Velvet found yourselves in Manehattan.”

        “Yes…”

        “And the first thing you guys do is go to a restaurant to get some food, where Fox and Coco decided to have a drinking contest?”

        “I resent that statement!” Coco shouted. “I clearly… Uh… What were we talking about?”

        “Coco’s been acting strange-” Velvet started, but was cut off as Adel bit her ear.

        “Stranger…” Fox stated.

        “Right…” Sun facepalmed. “Right now, we're recalling everything that happened. Please continue Twilight.”

        “Afterwards, Fox passed out. You found yourselves in a back alley, only to have Coco pick a fight with the ENTIRE Manehatten division of the royal guard while Coco Pommel found Velvet and Fox. All while Yatsuhashi was forced to follow alongside Coco.”

        “I figured she was bound to pass out at one point. I just didn’t think she would be able to hold her liquor for that long.”

        “All and all, you along found a second team there and four other ponies that we know from Our Town.”

        “Your town? I thought this was your town.” Fox said, arms crossed. “Oh, and you forgot the part about Coco shooting Penny… I think Mast is taking care of that.”

        “It’s Mist.” Aya corrected.

        “When we first started the town, we named it Our Town. More likely somepony else's crazy idea.” Night Glider snorted.

        “Right… All and all… The amount of damage Coco caused exceeds… a million bits.” The Princess finished, rolling up a scroll that was sent to her from Princess Celestia. “It will take almost a few weeks to fix all the damage she caused. But now I’m a little more focused on one other thing.” She turned towards team JNPR, where Nora was snuggling with Pinkie Pie and also hugging Firefly. “Double Diamond, what happened to your home?”

        “I’ll tell you what happened.” Night Glider interjected. “Some Black haired woman with a bow and arrow set the entire village ON FIRE!! We would’ve been snake food if it wasn’t for Jaune and the others.” That caught Sun’s attention rather quickly, but Night Glider’s outburst attracted more attention than she realized.

        “SNAKES!!!” Velvet screamed, jumping on top of Yatsuhashi for dear life.

        “Velvet, there aren’t any snakes here. They were speaking in past tense.” He deadpanned, looking at Twilight. “So, what are we going to do now?”

        “Now, we need to find someplace for you to settle in before I talk with Team JNPR.” Twilight replied. “Anypony have any bright ideas?”

        “Coco can stay with Rarity and Weiss at the boutique, Velvet could stay with Blake, Fluttershy and I, Fox with Yang and Yatsuhashi with Sage?” Sun suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

        “Yang? As in the girl who would tear out someone’s entrails for messing with her hair? And a girl period!” Coco said while laughing. She elbowed Fox. “She’s so out of your league…”

        “It’s just a suggestion. You don’t have to act on it if you think it won’t work.”

        “Look, if she’s okay with it, then I’m cool. If she doesn’t like the idea, then I’ll gladly take another room. I’m not Coco.” Fox said with a shrug.

        “Hey, I’m not that bad once my heads… Clear…” Coco zoned out.

        “Okay, what about Velvet and Yatsuhashi? Are you guys alright with it?” Yatsuhashi just simply nodded. Velvet’s response though… was different. Just as Fluttershy was trotting over to her.

        “There there… Everything’s going to be okay.”

        Velvet’s ears folded back. “I-I’m fine with it…”

        “Alright… Fluttershy, can you take Velvet to the cottage?” Sun asked. The Pegasus nodded, soon guiding her to her cottage as Yatsuhashi followed Sage. Leaving Coco and Fox in the room with them. Until Yang and Weiss soon came walking in.

        “....Um….what did we miss?” Yang asked.

        “I ran into your sister with Penny today in Manehattan. Also, we found team JNPR and team CFVY.” He pointed towards them while Nora was still hugging Firefly with a strong iron grip. The pink Pegasus didn’t seem to mind though.

        “I’m surprised Ruby hasn’t shot you yet.” Weiss said. “Then again this is Ruby we’re talking about.”

        “She forgot Crescent Rose because it somehow ended up in the hooves of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Sun deadpanned. “Also, I wanted to ask you something. Do you two mind taking in an extra guest at where you’re living at? We were thinking that Coco could be with Weiss and Fox could be with Yang.”

        “Seriously? Why are we the ones that you have to come to when you need someone to look after?” Weiss said as she rubbed her head in annoyance. “We’re pretty much have our hands full trying to keep Ruby from killing her mother.”

        “Well, this is only temporary. When we begin construction for Beacon Academy in a few weeks, all of you guys will be able to have rooms to call your own.” The Faunus told them. “Besides, we already have a lot to deal with because there’s new reports of Grimm on the outskirts of the badlands. Sage are playing our part too with taking in Yatsuhashi and Velvet.”

        “I want Nora to stay with me, pretty please!!” Pinkie cheerfully stated, bouncing around Nora.

        “....Fine, but under two conditions.”

        “Go on…” Sun said, folding his arms as Aya soon came closer to him.

        “One, you’re going to help us with the relationship thing between Ruby and her mom.” Weiss said as she poked at Sun’s chest. “So far I am tired of trying to keep her from shooting her, me, or someone else in her rage fit.”

        “Normally, Penny helps with that and they live out by Zecora’s but I’m all for helping however I can. What’s condition two?”

        “Condition number two. Whenever I come over here, it means that it’ll be your turn to keep an eye on Ruby, more importantly babysitting her from time to time.”

        “I believe that’s something I can accommodate for when I’m not being summoned by Displaced.” He said, looking at Aya. It was then though that Yang noticed her being next to him and then asked him something.

        “Who’s the milf next to you?”

        Sun flinched at this. “Dammit Yang!! That’s my mother you’re talking about!!”

        “Oh…… is she single?”

        “What…?” Aya’s eyes widened while Sun facepalmed himself, sighing a little as he looked back at Mist, Firefly and Miles.

        “Mist, do you think it’s about time we send you guys back? I can call on Lance so he could help you guys out if you want.” He offered, grabbing Lance’s token out of his pocket. “The rest of your team needs you back there right?”

        “Eh, yeah.” Firefly replied before Mist could. “But we got our own way home.” A wormhole appeared, and all but Aya walked through.

        Aya walked over to Sun, smiling slightly. “You know… I’m really proud of you. I don’t think I’ve ever told you that… And…” She kissed his forehead. “I love you.”

        “Aw~.” both Yang and Weiss said in a teasing tone.

        “Hehe… Love you too. Just stay safe okay? I rather not have anything bad happen to you.” He said, taking a brief moment to glare at Yang and Weiss.

        “If it means you’ll come around more often, I’ll gladly break my arms and legs…” A bit of sadness broke through her eyes, but she covered it up quickly. “Well, I’ve gotta go save a city from a parasitic creature that threatens my whole world. I’ll see you next holiday.”

        “You too.” he said as he watched them go through the Wormhole that soon closed on them after they crossed through. Fox and Coco were walking up to Weiss and Yang as the blond huntress then said something.

        “Dude! Your mom’s hot! I mean compare to my mom, your mom pretty much beats mine.”

        “Let’s save the comparison for another day.” Sun said, turning around to team JNPR. “Now, where were we?”

        “We were starting to talk about how Double Diamond’s home burned down to the ground-.” Twilight first started to speak, only to turn around and notice another mare open a nearby door. “Oh… Hello Starlight?”

        “W-what’s going on?” She asked, yawning a little as she tried to adjust her hair. However, Night Glider and a few others did not take the sight of her kindly.

        “Oh! Oh! Guess what someone did to the foursome squad’s home!?” Coco suddenly shouted. “We’re building it uuuuuuppppp~! To burn it back doooooooooooowwwnnnnnnnn~!”

        “Shut up Coco…” Fox growled.

        “More importantly, WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE!?” Night Glider snarled.

        “I’m here for the free waffles.” Coco replied snarkily.

        “Starlight was almost killed by Grimm until I found her outside of town.” Sun responded. “She’s trying to start over. A clean slate. Just like you four.”

        “We’re completely different! Our home is now burned into the ground.”

        “WHAT!?!” Starlight shouted in shock, causing Jaune and a few others in the room to facepalm. It was there though that the unicorn’s eyes began to willow up as she broke into tears. She couldn’t take the fact that the town she used to call home was now wiped off the map. And just when she thought that she was brave enough to ask them for forgiveness. Double Diamond and the other ponies were shocked, alongside Twilight as the princess looked at Sun.

        “You guys should go. We may need a bit of time so Starlight could cope a little.” All Sun did was just nod, walking outside with Yang, Weiss, Coco, Fox and all of team JNPR.

        “So… Nice to meet you guys… I guess.” Jaune said lightly, trying to break the small bit of silence.

        “You too.” Fox said, raising his hand for a high five. Jaune returned the high five as they roamed around Ponyville for a little while before night was going to fall.

        “So… Who knows where we are?” Coco asked. “I half expect to wake up, but this place feels too real.”

        “Ignore her, we’ll figure that out later. What’s the story with you guys? I’d like to get to know you each a bit more.” Fox commented, placing his hands in his pockets. “Like, who you guys are, how you got together, why you dressed up as RWBY characters, that kinda stuff.”

        “We pretty much ended up dressing like this thanks to my sister.” Yang said.

        “I went to RTX with my friends and one thing lead to another.” Sun replied to Fox’s question.

        “We were part of a contest for a video game expo, then one thing lead to another and then poof here we are. In this pastel world of colorful talking ponies.” Weiss said.

        “Video game expo? Is RWBY based off a game or something? That’d explain so much…” Coco said, zoning out again. Only having Sun sigh deeply. “What!? It would!”

        Fox pushed. “So, how’d you guys meet?”

        “We met in kindergarden when I was trying to get Ruby away from a bully.” 

        Sun then looked at Jaune and the others for a moment. “What about you guys? How did you guys get here?”

        “Same way you guys did.” Phyrra replied to the Faunus’ question.

        “I got killed!” Coco shouted. “Murder is the best way to appear in heaven!” Fox just stared, wide eyed.

        “...... How many drinks did she have during your contest?” Ren asked Fox as he crossed his arms.

        “I dunno, I lost count at twenty…” Fox grumbled. That caused Sun to roll his eyes as he looked at everyone else.

        “Well, it’s getting late. Should we pick this up in the morning?” He asked everyone.

        “Meh, I’m… Uh… Good with anythin-” Coco fell over suddenly.

        “Oh now she passes out!” Fox yelled in rage.

        “Do you guys need help carrying her? If not, I was going to check on Velvet and Blake.” The Faunus asked them as he saw Phyrra help Fox pick up Coco off of the ground.

        “We’ll be fine… Uh, where am I gonna sleep? I know Coco’s gonna be with this ‘Rarity’, but I haven’t talked to Yang.” Fox replied.

        “She’s right here, you know?” Sun deadpanned, pointing to his left.

        “As long as Sun helps us with the whole Ruby and mother relationship thing, then sure you can sleep with us.”

        “I… guess I’m fine with that.” Fox nodded.

        “Alright. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” He said, walking back to Fluttershy’s cottage as Fox and Coco went home with Weiss and Yang. As he got home, he noticed that Velvet and Blake were fast asleep. But on his way upstairs, he soon found Fluttershy in the room he was in.

        “O-oh! Sun… I-i didn’t think y-you would be h-home so soon.”

        “It’s alright…” The Faunus asked, noticing the mare was shaking a little. “Is something wrong?”

        “N-nothing… Just… a little cold.” The mare stuttered, eeping a little as Sun gave her his jacket. She nuzzled against him, soon wanting to say something. “Um… Sun? C-can I ask you something?”

        “Sure. What is it?” He asked. What came next though… surprised him.

        “Well… I-i’ve been thinking and… um…” She squeaked a little before asking the question that she intended to say what was on her mind. "C-can I...... b-be your marefriend​?"

        It indeed catch him by surprise. After what he had gone through with Charlene back home, the last thing he wanted was to put the mare he cared for in the same situation. Soon though, he had an answer for Fluttershy as he turned to her.

        “Yes you can, Fluttershy.” He said, hugging her for a moment. “Yes you can.”




End Tail 16

> Tail 17- Snow Monkey
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Snow Monkey




Carousel Boutique

        Ever since the night that he said yes to having Fluttershy be his marefriend, Sun had been growing closer and closer to the mare. He remembered to give her the gift that Max gave him when he visited her realm and also made sure to help Velvet be comfortable around Blake. The next day though was when things became a little more complicated than he thought. Mostly because of the fact that he needed to talk with Coco after her… drunken shenanigans the other day. Rarity was out in Canterlot during the time, so she allowed Sun to be in the Boutique to talk with Coco once she was waking up.

        The brunette looked completely beat as she was just beginning to wake up, her eyes flickering to life as she yawned deeply. “Agh, I feel like I went through a blender…”

        “Good morning to you as well, Sleepyhead.” Sun teased a little, hoping that she would come around to her sense after a while.

        She opened her eyes suddenly, shooting up into a sitting position. “Sean!?” When she saw Sun’s face, she went back into a laying position.

        “You know… You were very spot on with your guess… Charlene.” He said, using her real name for added effect.

        Coco looked at her hands, before feeling her face. “Uh… Sean… Why do I sound wrong? And why do you look like Sun?”

        “Easy there… You’ve been through a lot…” He told her, asking a follow up question. “What do you last remember?”

        “I was with my group, there were a bunch of us… We all bought something to start, and then… A drinking contest? When do I ever drink!?” Panic took over her features as she looked into a mirror. Tears welled up in her eyes as she realized that it wasn’t her face she was looking at… It was Coco Adel’s… Pain hit her heart, and she started to hyperventilate.

        “Hey hey… It’s alright… Just take it easy…” He said to calm her down. “There's a lot to explain, but to start, what happened to you was the same thing that happened to me. My friends and I were all at a convention, I was Sun, Nathan was Neptune, Samuel was Sage and Santana went as Scarlet. Each of us at a different time bought something from a merchant that looked like Junior and next thing I know, I ended up here.” Coco could now see that Sun’s tail was holding Ruyi and Jingu Bang as she looked back at him in shock. 

        “This… This can’t be real…” Coco started gasping for air, but her lungs ignored it.

        “Trust me. I first thought that when I was here. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Your group is also here too. And that drinking contest you said… that happened between you and Fox according to Velvet.” He explained, also nudging Coco’s handbag to her with his tail after he put away his own weapons. 

        “W-wait, where are we!? Please tell me you told the hospital or my sister what happened to me, my mom’s got medical problems and can’t do anything without me!” That, caught Sun off guard. He did not know much of Coco’s family, but he felt sorry for her.

        “I’m sorry Coco… But we are a long way from home.” He explained, opening the blinds to a nearby window behind her. Letting her look outside to see the citizens of Ponyville trotting through the streets. “I’m really sorry…”

        “No, no… No… No!” Coco put her hands over her face. “No! No! No! I swore I’d stay by her side!”

        “I’m sorry Coco… The same thing happened with my mother too. I never asked for this either.” He told her, trying to comfort her a little, but being careful because he didn’t know if she would snap at him or not. 

        She did. Coco shoved him across the room before she stood up and swiped her bag. “Keep away from me… Your mom didn’t have suicidal thought…”

        “You don’t know her like I do. She came here recently and it was the first time I saw her in a year. I had nightmares where she died right in front of me. Making me feel worthless and that I didn’t do enough to help protect her. I might not know your family, but I did not do any of this to you.”

        “But that’s the thing here you don’t see! Your mom got better! My dad was her doctor and told me how she was! She was fine! And now she’s here, and everythings swell and dandy for you when my mother, the only person I’ve ever been loved by, is sitting in bed about to die because she needs me to live!”

        Sun’s expression was darkened. “Nothing was dandy for me. I don’t have a father and my mom is not better anymore. She’s worse. I am sorry for you, Coco, but if you forgive me or not is your decision. I don’t know how to help you, but I want to try my best. If there was a way to bring you back home, I will tell you. But right now… I don’t have an answer for you on that. I never wanted this… for either of us…” Thinking that Coco would want him out of her sight, Sun began to walk towards the door. But it was when he gripped the handle that he heard something from her.

        “I was never mad at you for ending our relationship that soon… I understood that family came first.” Coco said monotonously.

        Sun turned to her, surprised a little. “I… never knew that… Look, I know that we can’t be back together anymore… But if it means anything… Can we still be friends?” He asked her, thinking that her response was going to be a straight up “No”.

        “I only call those who I care for be called that. I may not be mad that you called it off, but I was a little pissed that you never tried to start a friendship. When you cut me off I was humiliated at school.” Coco stated.

        “I’m sorry for what happened… If it means anything… we can try starting that friendship now. Besides, if it weren’t for me and your friends, you would be waking up someplace not as comfy as the bed you are on.” With that though, there was a slight knock on the door, in which Sun opened to find something that surprised him.

        “Oh. Hey Yatsuhashi, you came just in time.” He told him as the warrior entered the room, seeing Coco on the bed that she was on.

        “Yatsu, what happened?” Coco asked as she examined herself.

        “You mean when we first arrived or your drunken rampage?” Yatsuhashi asked, causing Sun to facepalm himself and sigh deeply. “Trust me on the second one, you pulled me into it.”

        “Yeah, I don’t care if I pulled you into something or the other way around. What happened?”

        “Well, you caused over a million bits in property damage, shot at Sun and the rest of us, and called Sun’s mother, who was there at the time, little boob lady.” He replied. “We’re thankful that Sun was able to talk to his friend Twilight and she was able to pardon you because of the fact that you had over twenty drinks.”

        “I remember seventy.” Coco said, shrugging. “It’s starting to come back to me… We got stuck in some part of the city and some horny horse was giving out free drinks… Wait, Dwilikes Sparples? Why does that sound familiar?”

        “Would you mean Twilight Sparkle by any chance?” Sun asked. “Because she’s a friend of mine here.”

        “Yeah, that… Meh, I didn’t need her. I don’t need anyone but my team. I’m going to find a way home for the four of us.” Coco said.

        “If you talk with her, she could help. She is a master of magic and if you give her some time, she can probably find a way home for you guys.” He suggested. “I’m going to give you some time to rest a bit. I can get you Velvet and Fox if you want. They’re waiting outside.”

        “I need some time to process this… Alone... Tell her I’d like to have a way home, but that doesn’t mean I won’t go searching for a way back myself.” he nodded, stepping outside and letting Fox and Velvet know about Coco waking up before he made his way back to Fluttershy’s cottage. For today, he felt like he made some significant progress. But still, as the old saying goes, time heals all wounds. The relationship between him and Coco though… that may take some more time than expected.



Two weeks later, 

        It was in the middle of december and Sun was scrambling to try and solve a personal dilemma of his. One that didn’t involve Coco or anypony else this time around since he had already relayed her message to Twilight. No, this one was different because when it came to relationships, Sun had never actually seen himself at this stage in a relationship… ever.

        He was trying to find a perfect hearth’s warming gift for Fluttershy. Over the time he had been with her, she had gotten the chance to know him better. However, he had not learned a lot about her besides being an animal lover and also being kind with her friends and family. He had asked Discord, Blake and Velvet for advice, but that didn’t help him solve his dilemma one bit. It instead added onto it, causing him to stress out over the problem.

        It was during this miniature crisis that he felt like he was getting pulled back like when you bungee jump off of a ledge. He was getting summoned. For what, he wasn’t sure. But he had a feeling that this could probably help him take his mind off of things for a little while. After all, he needed some time to think this through in order to make sure he didn’t screw anything up.



Somewhere…

        The first thing the Faunus remembered was toppling over someone as his face hit the deck and his face to kiss the wooden floor of what looked to be a small cabin. “Oww, what hit me?” He asked himself before looking up. His eyes laid on a whole crap load of Displaced, causing him to say the only thing that came to mind at first. “Matter of fact, who summoned me? Please don’t tell me I was called up for Displaced Jury Duty.”

        “No this is the Displaced Christmas Party, Jury Duty is for those that vote.” Sun soon turned around at the familiar voice, recognizing that it was Loki as they greeted each other.

        “Oh hey Loki,” The Faunus noticed. “Haven’t seen you in a while. How’ve you been?”

        “Other than becoming a Void Dweller? Not bad. You?”

        “Same here. Just doing… things.” Turning around, he soon noticed everyone else and sighed. “Sorry about that. I’m Sun Wukong. Nice to meet you guys.” The rest of the guests greeted him in their own fashion, some being a little more sinister than others from appearance, but he just rolled with it. Even going as far as summoning Lance so that way he could have the chance to talk with him. It had been almost a month since he saw him last. Things seemed to get out of hand when what appeared to be an undead lich showing up and passing around a vodka bottle. 

        “Oi laddly nice ta metcha, I be the captain of this fine ship!” He said before wondering off. Sun just rolled his eyes to himself personally, taking a moment to wonder around and see if anypony needed help with anything specifically. It was during then though that he forgot to zip up his jacket. He didn’t know it at the time, but not taking five minutes to do so would lead to some… awkward situations.

        “Why hello there mister~.” The voice caught Sun’s attention as he turned around to stare directly at what appeared to be a young changeling girl, who was wearing a yellow dress and a short dark green mane. She had her hands behind her back and a pretty big smile on her face as she looked at the Faunus, who was beginning to feel uncomfortable with her. Just who was she?

        “Uh… Hello?” Sun replied, a little bit confused. As the little changeling girl was smiling at him. “Who are you?” He asked.

        “I’m Pupa. I turned 16 last week and I was thinking you and I could have a nice hot chocolate~” Pupa purred at him as she take his hand and pulls him inside. Sun was mentally shouting “HELP!! I’M BEING KIDNAPPED!!!” in his mind when he tried to struggle out of her iron grip. Possibly the love that he had for Fluttershy was still ripe to the point that Pupa wanted to taste it for herself. However, when he did turn around, he saw the same lich as before. 

        Only this time, he wasn’t happy. The Lich looked like he was about to burst into flames. “Stay away from my baby girl!” He roared, summoning a cutlass and charging at Sun, who had no other choice but to make a break for it. 

        “Stop dad! I love him!” called Pupa as she ran after them.

        “Okay, HOW THE HELL DID I GET MYSELF INVOLVED IN THIS!? I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT’S-!? AH, NOT THE FACE!!” The Faunus shouted as he barreled out a window into the cold snow outside. Taking a moment to use his semblance, he created a small decoy for them to chase after as he slowly tried to re-enter the same house that he had to leap out of moments earlier. Now though, it looked like there appeared to be a short blond guy with a red jacket on getting tackled by a bunch of other changelings that were part dragon.

        “POLA POLA!”

        “Talk about swarming that guy.” He thought to himself, trying to casually walk into the place, exhausted a bit after a lich and his daughter tried to chase him down. “Hey, what’s with the midget Santa?”

        The “midget” perked up at the words the Faunus used to describe his current situation as of right now. “Oi! Who you calling midget?”

        “Oh boy…” He heard Lance say to the side as his cousin watched the events unfold.

        “Uh… Who else?” Sun asked, shrugging his shoulders.

        Before Midget Santa could react to Sun’s comment, he was pinned in a bone crushing hug from the yellow changeling queen. “Soo cute! Can I have him, grandpa?” She said, the mischievous smirk not leaving her face.

        “I apologize for my granddaughters shenanigans… ahead of time.” A man in a blue cloak groaned nearby. “No you can NOT have him Lea.” He then told the yellow changeling.

        “Hey he’s mine!” Yelled Pupa who was being held back by her dad Asphyxious outside. Sun have five seconds to possibly say something before they were to break in here and go off on a wild goose chase again.

        “No, I’m not!!” Sun retorted. “Geez… Why is everyone acting like this? It’s suppose to be christmas!!”

        “You called me a midget!” Shortstack yelled, but was muffled by all the children and one changeling queen. “I’ll have you know I’m 5'11", hmph.”

        “I was just asking an honest question.” Sun sighed, before facepalming himself. “Besides. that’s just the same height as Lance.”

        “Hey, don’t pull me in on this. You messed up!” The Adept told him.

        “And I was taller before I got displaced, but that doesn’t count I guess.” The red cloaked shorty said again was muffled by the changelings. This was getting way too out of hand and the two that were chasing him would come in any minute. So now, he was beginning to take his leave.

        “If you need me, I’ll be on the roof.” He mumbled, shortly before leaping up there before Asphyxious roared to the heavens in search of the Faunus. For a little while, he just laid there, hiding and thinking about things. Like what the hell was the real reason for coming here? How was he suppose to find a gift for his marefriend at this rate? 

        It was only some time later that he heard a small bit of commotion going on in another part of the landscape as a snowball fight was breaking out. Smirking a bit, he took his two gunchaku, formed his bo staff and landed over there in what resembled a pole vault leap during the Olympic games. By the time he landed over there, all eyes were on him as he asked them a quick question.

        “Hey… You guys have room for one more?”



        “Well that was fifteen minutes of my time wasted.” The Faunus groaned. Originally, he thought that the snowball fight that was going on was one all out free for all. No one ever mentioned to him that it was a team based battle until midway through the contest. At one point though, he surprised a Displaced by throwing a Poro from League of Legends that he found roaming around. But now, as he was heading back to the cabin, he could feel an odd chill down his spine as he slowly turned around. What he saw was not like anything he had expected at all. 

        It was a Dragon. More specifically, a dragon with no eyes. And with it, came a very familiar voice. “You and I have words boy.” It growled as the shell around it mouth opened to show off sharp teeth. As smoke bellows out of it mouth.

        “Oh COME ON!!!” Sun yelled, bolting through the trees to try and get a head start on the next pursuing chase. Running from a Lich was one thing. Running from a freaking dragon!? That was something that made Sun feel like he was going in over his head.

        “I SAID HANDS OFF MY DAUGHTER!” Asphyxious Roared as he ran out of the cabin after Sun in his dragon form trying to eat the faunus Displaced.

        “It not my fault!” Sun yelled as he ran for his life. “She was hitting on ME!”

        “When I get my claws on you I’m going to-!” For a moment, the dragon stopped, turning around at all the other Displaced and smiling for a minute before going back to chasing the Monkey Faunus. “Merry Christmas.”

        “Okay, seriously!? You have issues with me, but you're fine with everybody else!? How is that fair!?” He hollered, barrel rolling to the right to avoid the group that was preparing the christmas tree. 

        “I maybe the Dragon Of Instinct but if you think I’ll let you lay one hand on Pupa you have another thing coming boyo!” He roared, just as he used his claws to trip Sun, causing him to fall face first into the snow. He was now towering over the Faunus, with Sun being stuck in a few feet of snow as it is. Asphyxious then started covering the faunus in more snow. Leaving him stuck for a while as he decided to leave him out there to freeze. Unfortunately for the dragon, he did not know that Sun kept a few pieces of Fire Dust in his coat pockets to keep himself warm during the cold weather. However, the downside was that with these shards, it took almost twenty minutes to get out of the snow. And when he was finally out, it was around the time where they were passing out gifts.

        In which the subject made him think about Fluttershy again, causing him to groan a little as Loki volunteered himself to be the Displaced Santa Claus of the night. The Poro that he threw earlier ironically came back around for the faunus, so he decided to keep it instead of hitting the lich in the face with it. Because that was just asking for trouble.

        However, trouble always seemed to keep finding him in the most… unexpected of ways. One being with a little digimon like lion. The other being almost like the fifth star wars film. However, it was Pupa that was striking back instead of the Galactic Empire. “I have my present~” Said Pupa, who was hugging Sun from behind with Asphyxious standing behind them in his Lich form, breathing down his throat.

        “One wrong move.” He snarled, looking down at them. This in turn, caught Chrysalis’ attention, who when Sun was looking at her, was smirking evilly. However, what was unknown was that Sun was being pushed to his breaking point. Like a kettle that was about to spill over.

        “Pupa if you’re going to bed with this Monkey, use a condom.” She said causing Pupa in turn to blush.

        And causing Sun’s anger to spill over.

        “Okay, THAT’S IT!!” Sun snapped, throwing the condom in the fireplace as it burned to cinders. “I’M NOT SLEEPING WITH ANYONE BECAUSE BEFORE I WAS SUMMONED HERE, I WAS GOING TO GET A GIFT FOR MY MAREFRIEND!” Breaking himself free, he took the Poro that was with him, zipped up his jacket and walked outside. “Now, if you would excuse me, I will be seeing myself out. Good night and merry christmas. I’m sorry if I angered anyone or hurt anyone, but I just about had it with the way I’m being treated tonight.” With that, Sun took his own token, tore open a rift for him to walk through, and returned home, closing the tear behind him so Pupa wouldn’t follow him.



        During the time away from the celebration, Sun had too many thoughts go into his head. For one thing, he felt that he failed at one simple job. Of giving Fluttershy one thing that she would truly love for hearth’s warming. He was up in his room, tired, upset, angry and trying to calm himself down. Negative emotions such as these would lead to more Grimm spawning in the everfree and a Grimm attack on Ponyville was the last thing that he would have wanted on a holiday like this.

        Unexpectedly though, he soon heard a soft knock on his door. “It’s open.” He said briefly, unknowing to the fact that it was Fluttershy on the other side of the door, who had a green scarf on.

        “Sun? Are you okay?” She asked. The mare was concerned for him given his emotions when he got home. Even though he had already told her about the party he attended and the small Poro he got for them, she could tell that something else was wrong.

        “No… I don’t feel okay… I… I’m not really sure how I feel.” He told her.

        “What’s wrong?” She asked, looking at him as she put a hoof to his cheek, noticing a tear coming down his face.

        “I… I screwed up,” He mumbled. “I’ve been looking everywhere and trying to find a gift for you for Hearths Warming, but I wasn’t successful at all. I tried asking Discord, your friend. Hell, I even tried asking Blake and Velvet and I still wasn’t able to follow through. I’m really disappointed in myself…” However, the reaction that he got from the mare was… unexpected. She was first a little surprised, then she was giggling to herself.

        “What’s so funny?”

        “Sun… For all I care about, there was only one thing that I wanted for Hearth’s Warming and it was not something you could purchase for bits.” She said, moving closer to him. “You see, all I wanted… was for you to be with me. For us to be together. And for us to be happy.”

        That… caught him by surprise. He wasn’t really expecting to hear this from her, but soon he understood what she meant. The only thing though… was the Draconequus over their heads.

        “Now… Kiss.” He said holding a little flag saying Shy x Sun.

        “DISCORD!!!”

        “What? This is suppose to be an emotional scene. You two need to follow through so you don’t leave the audience in suspense.”

        “... What?”

        “Nevermind.” He said, soon disappearing afterwards and leaving the two of them alone. Fluttershy just blushed afterwards, chuckling a little as she looked back as Sun.

        “Um… So where were we?” She asked. Sun’s answer was reaching across to her, holding her close as he laid a kiss on her lips. Fluttershy shuttered for just a minute, but soon gave in with it and returned the kiss as both of them soon parted.

        “I think we were at that stage.” He chuckled as Fluttershy moved closer. He could feel that her fur was a bit cold as he held her. But then, Fluttershy asked something that was out of the blue.

        “Sun… Um… C-can we… c-cuddle for a bit? My wings are cold.” That in turn caused the Faunus’ cheeks to blush a bit. But soon, he nodded his head.

        “Sure thing, Fluttershy. Sure thing.” He told her, falling asleep with her side by side as the snow kept drifting down outside.



Early next morning…

        “Ahh… That was the best sleep I’ve had in weeeeks…” Sun cheerfully proclaimed inside his head as his eyes began to adjust around the room. He felt quite warm in his bed with the soft sheets and blanket. But it was when he turned around that he realize one major thing. Fluttershy stayed with him. Through the night. She didn’t leave at all for anything at all, but instead stayed with him all the way til morning. That, to him, felt very special. She was true to her words and what she said the day before. About how them being together was the best Hearth’s warming gift that she ever had. In a way, she was right. But what she said in a way made him feel whole again as well as made this relationship feel… Special.

        Though, one thing was still fresh on his mind and that was the encounter with that Lich at the party. He had a feeling that his outburst before storming off was taking it too far in his opinion. Now the only thought that he had was that he had to make things right. Apologize for his behavior. It would be what Fluttershy would do.

        Taking the token of a friend that he met last night named Ken Ahkrin, the Faunus planned to use it to create a rift back to the party shortly after he got dressed and was ready to go. However, as he was putting on his jacket, he heard his marefriend slightly moan a little as her eyes fluttered open.

        “Good morning, Shy.” Sun greeted, going to the mare’s bedside. “How was do you feel?”

        “Great! Best sleep I had in a long while.” She told him, kissing Sun on the nose. “It’s a little early to be dressed. Where are you going?” The pegasus was a little surprised to be seeing Sun up this early and had personally thought that he would want to sleep a little longer with her for a while. It was only five in the morning and the sun wouldn’t be up for another hour or so, giving them some time for extra rest.

        “Last night, I went to a holiday celebration for Displaced, but ended up storming out of there when someone pushed me overboard.” The faunus said, sighing a little. “I was going to go back and see if he was still there so I can apologize to him. You know the old saying… Putting the past behind you.”

        “That… is a good idea. I agree with what you’re saying.”

        “It won’t take long. I promise.” He said, returning the kiss she gave him earlier. “Afterwards, we can get back to having a very merry christmas.”

        Fluttershy herself, upon hearing that, tilted her head. “What’s Christmas?”

        “Oh right…” The Faunus chuckled, a little bit embarrassed. “You see, Christmas in my world is basically Hearth’s Warming. Just with a different name.”

        “Oh I see now.” She said, smiling a little. “Come back soon!” Sun nodded, assuring her that he will as he walked downstairs. However, as he leaped through the portal, he felt something else come with him as well and as the rift closed, he got a brief look at the one thing that was trying to pounce on him as the faunus was entering the void.

        Penny.



        Sun’s arrival attracted some attention from the few Displaced that were there. But what got their attention more was seeing Penny pop out from the void right behind him as they both landed inside the cabin. From first glance, the Faunus could see a LOT of familiar faces from the other night, including Ken. The Scalebound that he met the night before.

        “Salutations! I am combat ready!” Penny proclaimed, making Sun think that she was actually asking for a fight.

        “Penny, nothing overdramatic please.” Sun sighed. “We’re not here for a fight.”

        “Hello again Sun and Hello Penny.” The greeting came from a Displaced that resembled Wendy from Fairy Tail as Sun turned in her direction. Before he could say anything though, Penny was quick to jump the gun on her response.

        “Hi!” Penny said waving. “And who’s that weird looking Rainbow Dash with the funny looking ears?” When she asked that question, it triggered a series of responses from numerous Displaced. But the one thing in particular that happened was that the Lich he was looking for had arrived. And actually noticed the Faunus in the room when Sun asked where Ken was.

        “Oh… Umm hi Sun, sorry about what happened at the party.” Asphyxious said to him in an apologetic manner. “You’ll understand when you have kids.”

        Sun sighed a bit to himself, looking at the Lich as he asked a question. “Let me guess… Parental instincts?”

        “Yes and I have the instincts of a dragon.” Said Asphyxious as he rubbed his head. “Not the easiest thing to deal with.” Both of them continued to talk for a little while, trying to get the chance to know each other a little. The stench of vodka had all but disappeared from Asphyxious as he was now sober, allowing him to think clearly for himself instead of making bad decisions with an intoxicated mind. Hearing these things put the Faunus at ease and soon, he turned to Penny, finally completing what he sent himself out to do.

        “Well, I better get going before Time finds out about everything that’s been happening. Penny, take your time and have fun. I’ll be back at Fluttershy’s okay?”

        “Affirmative!” Penny said, saluting. “Wait, I’m going and you aren’t?”

        “I just thought you would want to get the chance to make some friends while you’re here. Remember, you can summon me if you need me.” He told her, disappearing in the same void he arrived in.



Fluttershy’s Cottage

        Upon arriving back from where Asphyxious and the others were, the faunus spent his christmas morning with Fluttershy and the animals that were at the cottage. Not trying to do anything too over dramatic for the most part since Pinkie and Applejack were with their family, Rainbow was with Twilight and most of Team RWBY and CFVY since Coco and Weiss were with Rarity. Neptune, Sage and Scarlet for the most part were minding their own business and at one point, actually started a snowball fight with Team JNPR. 

        For Fluttershy and Sun though, they stayed at the cottage. Drinking some Hot Chocolate and later decided to head outside and mess around in the snow. Where the Faunus was trying to make a snowman version of Angel and Fluttershy while the pegasus was trying to talk to the blue jays and robins that were flying overhead on there way back to their nests.

        However, this happiness though… was short lived. At one point while they were outside, someone caused Fluttershy to become frightened, rushing behind Sun faster than Courage the Cowardly Dog.

        “Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” Sun asked.

        “I-i heard something moaning behind that tree over there.” She said, pointing at the tree with her wing since she basically glued herself to Sun’s right leg. Curiosity got his attention now because soon, he began hearing those same moans. Looking back at that tree, he slowly pulled out his weapons, having them form his bo-staff. He wasn’t sure about what it was, but one thing he could tell is that it wasn’t a grimm. In fact, it sounded a lot more like a pony than anything else. 

        Now though, he was beginning to hear movement. A scraping sound. Almost like if someone was dragging themselves through the snow. Sun and Fluttershy looked at one another in confusion for a moment, wondering what could be causing that noise.

        Until they saw the figure come out from behind the tree. It was a changeling in form that was as tall as one of the princesses. However, it’s entire body was covered in bloody claw marks and open wounds, leaking turquoise blood out onto the white pact of snow. “P-please… H-help m-meee……” It moaned, before passing out because of fatigued. The Faunus raced over to the creature, inspecting its wounds as it tried to find out what caused such a thing.

        It was in that moment though that Sun caught a glimpse of Kreed, who was on the patio staring towards them as she got closer. “What is SHE doing here!?”

        “You know this one?” The Faunus asked, noticing the trail of blood that looked to span all the way down the road.

        “Know this one? Know THIS ONE!? She’s Chrysalis-!!” Kreed barked. Racing down from the porch now, the changeling’s eyes widened as he saw the extent of the queen’s injuries. “Bloody hell, what could’ve done such a thing!?”

        “My only guess is Grimm, however, that’s not the biggest priority. If we don’t tend to her now, she’s gonna die!” The Faunus warned him, trying to pick her up off the ground. Kreed was looking farther down the pathway and making sure nothing was following them as Fluttershy raced inside to find the first aid kit she left inside. Setting her down on a blanket, the pegasus first began to tend to her injuries while Sun walked back outside with Kreed.

        “Kreed? Are you okay?”

        The changeling, at first, was quiet. Then, he began to speak again. “I don’t get it… It doesn’t make any sense…”

        “What doesn’t make any sense?” Sun asked him, putting his weapon away.

        “Why would she be out here? It’s miles away from the hive,” Kreed first said. “Furthermore, she didn’t have her crown with her. During the Canterlot invasion and any time I saw her in the hive, she always had it on.” Sun didn’t say anything, but instead noticed something twinkle a little in the distance and walked over there. On the ground was the same crown that Kreed had said before, but shattered into multiple tiny pieces.

        “I think I found out why.” The Faunus explained, showing the remains of the tiara to Kreed. He put them in his pocket so he could give them back to her when she was awake. But it was around then though that he thought of something. Something based on the look on the former guardian’s face. “Kreed… is there something about this you aren’t telling me?”

        The changeling himself didn’t say anything. Instead, he just paused, gathering his thoughts for a moment before speaking again. “I’ve told you about the queens… but there was one thing I left out at the time, given the situation back when you first found us. I guess now is the time I need to tell you. The queen I served was Amaranth, but one of the other queens was her sister.”

        Sun, at first, didn’t understand. But then, realization hit him harder than a freight train once Kreed finished his sentence.

        “Chrysalis was her sister. She’s the aunt of Reson and Honeydew.”

        Sun’s expression changed quite a bit. Especially with hearing about this revelation. “Okay, that is… surprising. However, right now, we need to tell Twilight about what happened and get this mess clean up. I don’t think any of us want Grimm to be tracking the scent of blood and have them be lead into town. Especially on a holiday like this.”

        “What about Chrysalis though? What do you plan to do with her?” The Changeling then asked

        “We’ll need a doctor to examine her. We can tend to her wounds, but a professional could tell if she has any broken bones or anything. We’ll get to the other part once she wakes up.” The Faunus told her, shoveling fresh snow onto the dampened blood covered path to bury the scent of changeling blood. He hoped that they could attend to her the best she could for right now. But then there was also the case that Twilight needed to be informed of what happened. Remembering something, He turned back to the cottage. “Where’s Discord?”

        A pink puff of smoke almost went off by his forehead as the Draconequus soon appeared in a winter coat and scarf, chewing a candy cane. “Did somepony say my name?”

        “Discord, I need your help. We got ourselves an emergency. Can you get Twilight?” He asked him. The spirit of chaos was going to ask about what the emergency was, but after seeing the condition of the changeling that Fluttershy was attending too, he just gave a brief salute and responded with what Sun thought was his best Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation.

        “I’ll be back!”

        While Discord was gone, Sun and Kreed worked on cleaning up the mess that was outside before heading in. For a moment, the Faunus thought that Discord was taking a page out of Rainbow’s bag of tricks when he returned with Twilight and also some other pony that appeared to be a nurse from the local hospital.

        In ten seconds flat. “I’M BACK!”

        “Okay, what was that for Discord?” Twilight asked him, narrowing his eyes.

        “Sun said he needed you here because there's a bit of an emergency here. Given the circumstances, I also got Nurse Redheart from the Ponyville Hospital.”

        “Define emergency.” The Alicorn deadpanned.

        “You might want to see this for yourself. Both of you.” Sun told them, leading them to where Fluttershy was as she finally stopped the bleeding. Both mares were in for quite a surprise when they first saw the unconscious changeling in the state that she was in.

        “Dear sweet Celestia, what happened to her!?” Twilight cursed, looking back at Sun.

        “My only guess at this rate is Grimm. She was covered in claw marks from head to tail and she was weak when passing out in Fluttershy’s backyard. Kreed and I cleaned up the mess outside and made sure no Grimm was following her, but I thought that we needed a doctor to examine her so we can know what we were dealing with.” The Faunus explained, taking out the shards of the broken tiara that he found on the ground.

        It was after the Faunus finished that Nurse Redheart stepped up to the plate. After Discord used his chaos magic to provide the doctor with the right tools, everyone helped moved the wounded creature upstairs, resting her on the bed. Sun, Fluttershy, and Twilight stayed upstairs while Kreed and Discord were in the bottom floor of the cottage. They did not want anypony to disturb Redheart while she was working with a patient, but it was when she was working with Chrysalis that she found some things that were… off.

        “Well, she is stable, however… the extent of her injuries were way more than what you found.” Nurse Redheart told them.

        “What do you mean?” Sun asked.

        “What I mean is that upon examination, it looked like she was attacked by somepony else before the Grimm that you speak of got to her.” Nurse Redheart explained, having the three of them come closer to see for themselves. “She had been stabbed through her left forehoof and there were puncture wounds in her back legs. After a bit of operating, I found these.” Taking a metal tray in her teeth, Redheart soon set the tray in Sun’s hands and what he saw shocked him.

        “These are bullets.”

        “You mean from a gun?” Twilight asked him.

        “Yeah, but not from mine. My gun fires ammunition in bursts. This looks like it came from a different kind of weapon.” He explained, putting the bullets back in the tray. 

        “The only way we're going to find out is through Chrysalis. But it might be a while before she wakes up.” Nurse Redheart told them, looking back at the asleep changeling. “I recommend that she gets as much rest as possible.” With it, the earth pony made her way downstairs and Twilight was following suite. However, she was surprised when she saw Sun sit down on the other side of the room on the couch. Fluttershy next to him.

        “Aren’t you guys coming downstairs?” She asked. Sun’s response was just a shake of the head.

        “We’re going to wait until she wakes up. If what Nurse Redheart said was right, it means that something is happening within the hive. Plus… someone needs to let her know what happened right?”

        “... I guess so.” The Alicorn muttered as she trotted downstairs, leaving the Faunus and Pegasus that were sitting on the couch and had begun to wait patiently.



Manehattan Harbor

        “Sometimes, I wish I never dressed as Torchwick…” An orange haired man said, a cigar in his mouth unlit. Standing on the Manehattan pier and watching the waves of the ocean roll with the night. “You know, I used to go to the shore with my dad when I was little… I don’t remember why, but it always seemed to calm me…” He turned to a group of ponies, griffons and minotaurs unloading a shipment of something. “If only you assholes weren’t here, I might have actually been calm…”

        “Boss, please don’t take out your anger on the paid labor,” Another voice not far from him that was sitting on the roof of a boat shack was saying as he tossed the man a lighter. “It’s been hard to try and get any good help since Embargo and his crew were ratted out in Baltimare.”

        “I don’t give a damn about that, it’s the fact that half of my crew are morons. And then there’s more kids with bigass weapons! How am I, a simple man, compete with overpowered children!?” Roman yelled.

        “Isn’t there the phrase fight fire with fire? You have your cane. Maybe if we find a way to make some weapons to counter those kids, maybe it’ll be more of a even fight.” The voice now stepped out into the limelight, showing themselves to be a pegasus with a dark black mane and tail to match with the dark grey fur of his and a scarf around it’s neck. “But you don’t need to take my suggestion for it. I did help you get this far and overthrow the last ringleader for you, but now I’m merely just an observer… Besides, don’t you have that one grey haired kid on your side? What’s his name, Mercury?”

        “Yeah, but he tends to… Over exert himself. Thanks for the idea, but I don’t think anyone here can use a weapon like them, and who’s even going to build them!? The only thing I can think of is hiding in cities far away from them… I was thinking somewhere like Los Pegasus, or better yet, Fillydelphia.” Roman said, frowning.

        “That won’t get you far though. Trust me, I’ve worked with others that have those same thoughts and now they are either dead or in prison. Hell, with myself as a fixer, I’ve been asked to kill some of those said people because of fears that they might expose their contacts…” The Pegasus stopped though, thinking something through as he pulled up something on a device of his. “I think what you need is a client. And I think I found one for you.”

        “That’d be great. Who are they, he, or she?” Roman asked, smirking.

        “All I know is that they’re stationed out in the badlands, way far out from civilization and that they managed to overthrow Chrysalis and the leaders of the hive. How they did it is similar to what you said before as a “trojan horse” maneuver. Plus… the leader seems to be in the same boat as you.” The Pegasus explained to him, making Roman interested. However, there was one thing that he needed the most and that was the client’s name. That way, he knew who to talk too.

        “I need a name…” Roman said, looking back as he was lighting his cigar and was beginning to take a smoke. Until he heard the pony named Stratos reply to him.

        “Adam. Adam Taurus.”

        Roman hacked and coughed. “Wh-what!?” He shook his head, “Nevermind… I need to call him.”

        “Actually… he sent someone over to you to first establish contact. A girl.” Stratos replied. “I’ll be leaving you two alone for now.” Without getting the chance to speak, the pony disappeared into the night and when Roman turned around, he found himself staring at a young green haired girl that had a pair of revolvers holstered behind her.

        “You must be Roman Torchwick. I’m Emerald. Adam Taurus sent me here to establish contact and see how we can help out each other.”




End Tail 17

> Tail 18- Time Bomb Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Time Bomb Part 1




Fluttershy’s Cottage (Upstairs)

        It had been some time since the medical evaluation of Chrysalis had been performed and right now, Sun was left to look out over her. He wanted to stay behind and see when she would wake up and Fluttershy agreed with her on that. But sometime later, she had to feed the animals dinner and help Kreed with explaining what happened earlier to Reson and Honeydew. The Faunus though, continued to wait patiently for any signs of if the Changeling was going to wake up. But from experience, he knew that recovery would take time.

        Sometimes, it would last hours. But, it could be longer. Days to almost a week depending on how severe the condition was. He knew that firsthand because of how long he had to wait for his mother to wake up after she got in the car crash that lead to him breaking up with Aya. It was five days until on one visit he actually saw her slowly opening her eyes. Ironically, at the time that happened, he was praying for some sort of miracle to happen. To his surprise, Aya waking up then was the miracle he was praying for.

        He was unsure if it was going to happen again this time around because of the circumstances. One, his mother was a family member while Chrysalis wasn’t even related to him. Two, he loved his mother and when it came to Chrysalis, almost everyone said negative things about her because of her past deeds. But, you can’t judge a book by it’s cover no matter what it looks like on the Surface. This can be hard to do because of Changelings being able to shapeshift into anypony they wished. The proper comparison to them would almost be chameleons because of how they could change the color of their body, but this involved changing more than just their skin color. It included their entire body.

        Sighing to himself, Sun now just waited. There was nothing he could do to change things as they were right now. If it was anything like when his mother was in the hospital, Chrysalis needed a couple of days at best in order to be well rested. Taking a breath, he walked downstairs, passing Fluttershy as he was going to the door.

        “Hey Sun, where are you going?” The Pegasus asked as she gave a baby carrot to Angel. The rabbit was pouting, crossing his arms as he looked at Fluttershy and began tapping his foot on the floor.

        “I need to just take a breather. Clear my head a little.” The Faunus told her as he turned around.

        “Okay, but make sure to take your jacket with you. It’s going to get cold later this afternoon, so bring it so you can stay warm.” The pegasus told him before turning around and looking at Angel. “Oh Angel… can you wait a teensy little bit? I almost forgot to feed Henry.” Sun chuckled a little as he walked back upstairs to grab his black jacket. As he stepped outside, he began to look around a little and take in the sights. However, it was during this walk that something caught Sun attention nearby a rocky cliffside. From appearance, it looked a little murky because he had to wipe of the snow that was on it. But soon, it was becoming less of a rock and more of a fossil by appearance. A fossil making out what appeared to be a lion cub or something.

        But Sun did not have the time to ponder those thoughts. Because shortly after putting the fossil in his coat pocket, he began to hear more growls to find himself facing a pack of beowolves. And judging from the fact that these guys had green blood dripping from their jaws, they were the ones that savagely attacked Chrysalis. Without thinking, Sun turned to the ledge and just ran off of it. He was expecting to land on the soft white snow. But instead, with a blinding flash of light, he found himself somewhere… much different.



Elsewhere…

        When the Faunus opened his eyes again, he found himself against a hard metal floor and a bunch of metal crates piling on top of him after plummeting from almost two stories in the air. Which got him a little irritated. If there was a phrase to represent his situation, it would be out of the fire and into the frying pan. The Fire was the grimm. The frying pan… that was the amount of crates that were trying to squish him.

        “Okay, seriously!? That hurt!!” He snapped, trying to push the crates off of him that were weighing down on him. However, before he could move, he heard something click, causing him to move his head in the direction of the noise.

        “Hey! Who are you!?” He heard a voice shout at him. Sun took a moment to close his eyes as he felt three auras besides his own in the proximity of where he was.

        “You tell me, I can’t see a damn thing with these crates all over me! I think they’re crushing my ribs.” He said to them, trying to move his arms.

        It was only a little while after that when he heard the same voice from before speak again. “Twilight, you mind helping Jen move the boxes while I make sure this pony doesn't try anything?”

        From his position, all the faunus could do was chuckle a little. “Pony? Heh, that’s a good one,” He soon felt the pile of crates on top of him get lighter as he could now freely move his arms. “Okay, that helps. You might want to back up first, rather not hit you three.”

        “Hang on… you can see us?” One of the voices asked, causing the Faunus to sigh.

        “More of a sense thing, but that’s not the point,” Sun’s first action was to use his back legs to push off the crates holding him near the back, before using his hands to send the rest of the crates flying. It was then that she saw the three ponies that he had sensed and now that he could finally stand again, he posed a new question for them as he brushed the dust off of his jacket. “What’s up?”

        “Who… Wha… How…” One of them stammered seconds before passing out. It was then that Sun noticed that she was holding his token and he deeply groaned to himself.

        “Aw crap… Was she the one who summoned me?” Sun asked, just getting blank stares from the other two mares in the room as they looked at him, confused. One of them looking just like Twilight. Just as a unicorn.

        “Summoned?”

        “That’s my token,” The faunus said, pointing at the golden medallion that was on the floor. “Nevermind that, I forgot to introduce myself. Name’s Sun Wukong and… where exactly are we?”

        “You're aboard my ship.” The mare with the laser pistol commented. That in turn just caused Sun to become even more confused.

        “Ship?” He replied, looking around at where he was before sighing to himself deeply. “Maybe I should let you guys be a little more specific on that. Because right now, this feels like I’m on a ship in Star Wars.”

        The mare with the pistol sighed, lowering her pistol and groaning to herself. “I’ll go get Jack.” She muttered as she walked out the door, leaving Sun to sit down and then use his tail to tickle the unconscious mare on the floor. It was then though that a new figure walked in and noticed the Faunus.

        “Alright, who’s the Saiyan?”

        “That’s Faunus. God, I already have one person calling me that, I don’t need a second one.” Sun sighed, facepalming himself as he looked towards the one he assumed was Jack. The teen laughed a little, looking back at him and chuckling for a second.

        “Oh sorry… Just saw the tail, anyway my name's Jack what's yours?”

        “Sun Wukong.” He introduced himself. “Trust me, I already had my Twilight mistake me as Son Goku when I first ran into her.” Thin in turn caused him to laugh a bit as the two of them continued to conversate a little, finding a bit more about one another before. When it got to when he first met Fluttershy, he then had something to ask them after saying a few words. “My tail was on the couch and she did hear the us part of it. Had to take a little bit of explaining to help her… Speaking of which, is your friend going to be alright? She passed out upon seeing me and it was her I think that found my token.”

        Jack then smirked, assuring Sun that she would be up in a minute. He then walked over to the corner of the room and grabbed a bucket of water to throw it over his friends head “Jen wake up, or do you want me to get Komainu to lick you again?”

        “Gah! what was that for!” Jen yelped before glaring at Jack.

        “Don’t want you being anti-social with our guest do we?” He said, tilting his head in Sun’s direction.

        “Whatever…” Jen grumbled before sulking off to tinker with some stuff. However, there was one thing with the current conversation that the faunus himself was confused about. Carefully, he asked Jack the first thing that came to his might at that moment.

        “Who’s Komainu?”

        Jack personally smiled and pointed to the ground, showing Sun a little dog like creature that way by his feet. 





        “This is Komainu.”

        “... Okay, that’s new. I honestly never expected that to happen.” The Faunus replied as Komainu looked back up at Jack like an eager puppy.

        Jack then smiles and says “You wouldn’t have seen one before, he’s a Spectrobe.” The name felt familiar to the Faunus, but then again, he couldn’t exactly put his finger on it either. So instead of guessing, he just let Jack continue after a small response.

        “Never heard of that one before. Then again, I’ve met a lot of other Displaced so to each their own right? Besides, where I’m from, I have to worry about Grimm.”

        “Grimm? What are they?” asked Jack, who was confused by what Sun was saying.

        “Guess this was going to come up sooner or later.” The Faunus thought to himself before clearing his throat. “Grimm are vicious creatures that are mostly black and red, formed by raw negative emotions such as suffering, hate, anger, and primarily, Fear. They take on many forms and attack anypony on sight… Are you familiar with RWBY by any chance?” He asked Jack, wanting to see what his answer would be.

        “RWBY… um not really heard of it.”

        “Well, that’s really helpful.” Sun groaned sarcastically. “Well, it’s a web series by RoosterTeeth, the guys behind Red Vs. Blue. I’m based off of one in the characters in the series named Sun Wukong… Hey Jack, can I ask you something?”

        “Fire away.”

        “Have you met any other Displaced before?” Sun asked him, hoping that the topic would somehow ring a bell. Unfortunately… things didn’t turn out the way he hoped when he asked that question.

        “Sadly not, we only got sent here earlier today… you're the first other ‘displaced’ that we have met… infact we don’t actually know a lot about other displaced.”

        “Well, to put it in basic terms, Displaced is short for Dimensionally misplaced. Meaning that someone that either dresses up as a certain person or character can wake up to find themselves in their own version of Equestria. Mine has the Grimm and some other things where a few Displaced from the same webseries ended up there. Besides them though, I’ve been summoned by a variety of different people. You with me so far?”

        “Yeah I think so… in fact i’m wondering have you come across anyone who was displaced as Kirito and Asuna?” Asks Jack hopefully.

        The Faunus scratched his chin, thinking to himself a little before replying. “Now that you said that, I actually saw those two once. One Displaced was holding a huge holiday celebration in his realm and they were two of the hundreds of guests that were there. Didn’t get the chance to talk to them though, which was a bummer.”

        “So whoever sent us here didn’t lie about that… still they may not know about Craig yet.” Jack said to himself, sadly. All this though just made Sun curious as to who these people were.

        “Are those guys like family to you or something?” The Faunus asked, folding his arms as he waited for a reply. Komainu was even looking at Jack with a worried expression as he pouted a little.

        He then looks down and says “Craig and Kirito are my cousins, Asuna is my aunty but i haven't seen them in years they all disappeared, I know know they were displaced.”

        “Wow… Never thought your family would get pulled into it. Ironically though, that’s the same thing for me.” He explained, getting out a few pictures in his pockets. “My cousin Lance got Displaced as Gunvolt from Azure Striker Gunvolt and ended up in a world where Twilight and her friends are basically Superheroes. Same thing happened to my mother, who is in the same world. But… she hasn’t been the same as when I last saw her.”

        “What happened to her?”

        “That… I don’t know. She’s with another Displaced named Miles Upshur and she was relieved to see me after being separated from each other. But she’s just… different now.” He said, looking down a little. “Given the fact that my father died when I was a child, I had to look after her most of my life. So seeing that change just makes me… worried, you know?”

        Jack then smiled as he said “I understand you completely, but sometimes you need to embrace that change otherwise you will just get yourself stuck where you are.”

        “I don't understand any of what you two just said…” Twilight groaned before walking off to resume working on her research. Sun noticed the Unicorn as she was walking away, noticing that she was different than when he last saw his Twilight.

        “I understand that. Maybe we should focus more on the here and now,” The Faunus suggested. “Do either of you have any questions for me?”

        Jack then looks at the Faunus and said “Well we heard about token from some sort of voice before we met you... but we have no idea how to make one.” Sun complied with that, catching his nunchaku with his tail before they could fall onto the floor. But this though caught the attention of both Jack and Jen as they looked back at the faunus.

        “Hey, what's that you're holding?”

        “This?” The Faunus asked, picking the red nunchucks up with his hands as he flipped them around. “These are my weapons. Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang.” Shortly after that, he had both weapons collapse into a bo staff that he held with his right hand.

        “What does it do?” Jen asked as a glint appeared in her eye.

        “Well, they’re a gunchaku/staff weapon-”

        “What’s a gunchaku?” She asked, trying to reach for Sun’s staff. Sun, noticing this, collapsed the staff down and had them be nunchaku again. Only now did Jen see that she was staring down the length of a barrel.

        “Gunchaku. They’re Nunchaku that also serve as shotguns. Because where I’m from, almost every weapon… is also a gun.”

        “Cool! can I dissect one!” Jen asked with a smile that said ‘I’m a mad scientist’. This, in turn, caused Sun to facepalm himself as he looked back at the girl in order to try and explain something to her.

        “I’m not sure if you can dissect metal. Plus, most of the people that have them are either clingy to their stuff or just don’t want their stuff getting taken apart. One girl has a Scythe that’s a combat action sniper rifle and she’s the other one that calls me Saiyan… mostly because she’s… well Ruby.”

        “Now I really want to know where you came from!” Jen squealed as she started to gain ideas for a few new inventions inside her head as Sun just stared at her, surprised.

        “...... Wow… That’s a first?”

        “Now all that's missing is an automaton and I think I would be in heaven!” Jen giggled.

        Sun turned to Jack for a moment at everything that Jen was saying and just said the first thing that came to his head. “I’m going out on a limb here and say that she’s new to the whole Displaced thing?”

        “We both are, although I remember my cousin saying he wrote sorites about this before he disappeared” Jack admitted, only to have his colleague contribute to the conversation.

        “Displaced? What were you two talking about while I was doing maintenance on my sword?” Jen asked as she held up her gauntlet before putting it on.

        “We talked about what his world is like… oh and our families, turns out he knows about my cousins and their mother.” Jack to her, only to have Sun add on something for clarification.

        “I saw them, but didn’t speak to them.”

        “So that wierd guy in the blue cloak wasn’t crazy?” Jen said while raising an eyebrow.

        “Well, you guys and myself aren’t the only ones in this situation. The possibility is hundreds to possibly thousands of people. Just as vast as the Multiverse itself. Just meeting me is only the tip of the iceberg for you two.” The faunus told them. “One thing to keep in mind though… Many people when Displaced would not be the type to follow the rules and instead say Screw the Rules, I do what I want. So just be careful.”

        “And they are where?” Jen asked.

        Jack then sighed for a moment, before thinking of the proper reply to say to his friend. “In separate realities Jen, we use tokens to travel between them, that's what you found to bring Sun here.” causing her to faint again.

        “We could have just said Multiverse theory… Geez, this just makes me think of when I was explaining it to Lauren Faust.”

        Komainu then waddled over to jen and started to lick her face causing her to bolt back awake. “Dang it Komainu!” She shouted as she ran from the spectrobe in an attempt to avoid being tickled. Almost like if a puppy was chasing after her.

        Jack then started laughing and said to his friend “I did tell you that would happen Jen.”

        “Heh… He just reminds me of Grif.” Sun chuckled. “Grif is a wolf pup that I’m helping my friend Fluttershy raise. Though… for being very young… he’s also very lazy.”

        “Everyone hold tight! were now approaching Equis and will be arriving at HQ soon.” Sweetie Drops called over the ship intercom. Leaving Sun confused as he looked at Jack and Jen. He only had time to ask one question during this moment. 

        “Is this is the part where I should hold onto something?”

        “Were exiting warp not entering, did you not hear the approaching Equis part of what she said?” Jen said, rolling her eyes.

        “Hey, no one told me that this was a freaking spaceship! I thought it was an airship- OW!” Sun’s sentence was cut off just as the ship made a violent stop, throwing him into another stack of crates. “Dammit, NOT AGAIN!! That’s twice now!!”

        “Problem monkey boy?” Jen laughed as she just stood there.

        “Oh HAHA!” He said, getting himself out and pushing a crate to where it flew into Jen’s face.

        “Jen stop laughing at other people's misfortune… that's my job for you” jokes Jack. As Sun hopped out, the cargo bay doors were beginning to open as the three of them noticed both Sweetie Drops and Twilight outside. But the first thing they noticed was the mess of crates scattered all over the place.

        “Okay, what the BUCK-!?”

        “You hit my face!” Jen yelled at Sun as the crate he threw at her fell off her face.

        “Hey, that’s not my fault! You forgot to dodge!!” The Faunus called out.

        “Oh? And how was I supposed to do that?” Jen asked as she pulled out a massive wrench and gave Sun a slightly strained smile as her eye twitched.

        The shenanigans between both Jen and Jack continued on for a little while until the mare that went by the name of Sweetie Drops re-entered the room, talking to Twilight and saying how they should go see the commander. Sun followed suite, leaving Jack and Jen to their personal shenanigans before stepping out of the ship. As soon as his foot touched solid ground though… all eyes were directly on them.

        The Faunus personally just stayed quiet, thinking that saying anything would attract attention that he rather not have along with thinking that Jack and Jen might be able to clear up any fear or confusion that they might have of him. It was then though that Jack walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder and says “Calm down Sun, what are you worried about?”

        “Hey, I was unsure what they would think of me because I’m different from you. Fear can cause many ponies to resort to extreme measures if you get what I’m saying.” He personally knew this a lot. Because primarily, fear attracted the Grimm.

        “I get what you're saying but they all have more to fear as it is… to them you are only a small problem in comparison to the Krawl… trust me I know.” The redhead human sighed. Sun understood what he meant and right now, he just tried his best to keep his cool and not stress out over anything, letting Sweetie Drops guide them to meet this… commander that they had mentioned before.

        Jack then looked at Sun while they were walking and decided to speak up a bit to ease Sun’s worries. “Look if the commander is willing to trust us with little to no proof i’m sure he won't do anything… but if Sweetie Drops say anything about him take it with a pinch of salt.”

        Sun nodded his head as the doors for the command center parted ways, allowing for Sweetie Drops and Twilight to enter first, followed by the Spectrobes Masters and the Faunus that were following them. “Hey Jack. Is there anything I should know about your commander before we go meet him?” He asked as they made their way to his office.

        “Oh yeah unlike most of the ponies you see here, he’s a griffon.”

        The word “Griffon” caused a few red flags to raise in Sun’s head. Rainbow had a griffon friend named Gilda who was cool, but most of the griffons he knew were heartless bastards that did anything for profit. Case in point, Embargo Steelwing, who locked the Faunus in a cage for almost a week while they were out at sea. “Yeah… when I first arrived in my world, a griffon locked me up in a cage. Hopefully things will be better this time around.”

        “I will promise you that he won’t harm you… if he tries he won’t get far.” The teen explained, pointing at a device on his arm. After Sun asked about it, Jack told him about the Prizmod that was what his Spectrobes called home. But one thing that caught his attention was that he said that these creature were from Fossils. Fossils… That got the Faunus to think a bit, remembering what he uncovered while he was on a walk.

        “Hey, now that you mentioned that, I found this shortly before your friend found me.” Sun told him, getting one out of his coat pocket and handing it to him. “Can you make heads or tails of what this is by any chance?” It took almost three seconds for Jack to understand what exactly this fossil was.

        “Yeah, it’s a fossil for one of the spectrobes… Leo if I remember correctly.”

        “Wow… I honestly did not expect that to be a Spectrobe.” Sun said, before noticing Sweetie Drops by the door. “Oh, I think Sweetie Drops needs us now.”

        “Probably The commander needs to debrief me, I was the only agent on the ground for the last mission… I’m really not looking forward to this” Jack sighed to himself. Sensing that this might not be exactly how he wanted it to be, Sun then said a suggestion.

        “Should I wait out here while you get debriefed?” He asked, putting the fossil back in his coat pocket. “I rather not pull the pin on that grenade if I just walk in there without a reason.”

        Jack then sighed to himself and then said “Look, I really can’t blame you… but if you think about what I’ve been through today this is like a piece of fresh air… no Krawl attacking us and a bit of time to relax.”

        “Yeah… I’ll take your word for it.” Sun sighed, not telling Jack that before being summoned, he was chased off of a cliff by a pack of grimm that savagely brutalized his Queen Chrysalis. Sweetie Drops held the door open for both of them as they soon walked inside.

        “I take it the mission was a success?” Commander Grant asked as the griffon looked outside the window that he had in his office overlooking the base.

        Jack then sighed deeply as he began to speak. “Well, mostly… if only I’d got there earlier, I may have been able to save the others and not just Twilight… I feel like I failed them.” It was then that the griffon sighed deeply to himself, looking back at the teen as he turned his chair around. The grey feathers on the top of his head being illuminated from the light in the room.

        “It's alright, you did what you could and they knew the risks…” He spoke, trying to assure Jack that he did the right thing. “Tell me what you were able to recover…” It was in this instance that Sun felt himself being targeted by his gaze. Like knives trying to pierce his heart. For a minute, the Faunus considered stepping out. But that option was taken off the table with the commander’s next few words. “and who’s that boy with the monkey tail outside?”

        “Well Commander, we didn’t really find much it was more Twilight who found the Crystal that held the white Krawl,” Jack began to explain his findings like he was ordered before turning towards Sun. “Aas for the man behind us, it may be better if he explains it to you.”

        Stepping inside, Sun was kind of nervous as he looked at the Commander. “Um… Hello? You must be the Commander I was told about.”

        “Yes, I’m Commander Grant. What's your name?” The Commander asked.

        “Sun Wukong, sir.” He replied, trying to show him respect.

        “Well, it's nice to meet you Mr. Wukong.” Commander Grant said with a smile. “Now back to business, we need to go through the data with Professor Sparkle and see what she found. But we also need to find more spectrobes also.”

        “The fossil I gave Jack could be a start,” The Faunus told him, showing the fossil that he gave Jack. “Also, Sun is fine, sir.”

        “And Twilight seemed to have found a fair few as well.” adds Jack. Catching the Faunus by surprise based on these newfound details. The commander though just smirked as he stood up from his desk and looked at both him and the redhead.

        “Then what are you waiting for? Go find a few more and start training the ones Professor Sparkle found.” The commander said before dismissing everyone, letting them depart towards the research and development wing.

        Jack then turned to Jen and Sun before speaking again.“Well let's get started, we're in this for the long run.”

        “Race you to the ship!” Jen shouted before running off.

        Jack then sighed and said “I’ll be last place again won’t I?” Shortly afterwards, the two of them bolted after Jen in a friendly competition of stamina and endurance.



        “Alright, so Jen… How many fossils do we have in total? Besides the one that I showed Jack?” Sun asked her as he set the leo fossil down on a nearby table after they entered the place she called her “laboratory”, which in turn made the Faunus think of when he watched Dexter’s Laboratory as a kid.

        “Well, not counting the ones that Twilight kept for her research, we have four fossils.” Jen replied as she pulled out a pair of fossils and set them on the table with the leo fossil. Jack then pulled out the sword shaped fosil and placed it on the table as well.

        “Okay, which ones are those? I’m getting a feeling that they’re more than just one type, right? I already saw Komainu earlier and Jack told me this one was Leo.” The Faunus said, noticing the sword shaped one that Jack placed on the table as he pointed at the one he found before arriving here.

        Jack then smiles and says “The fossil I found is for Shakin… but this third one, I don’t know, it looks familiar but I can’t remember what it is.”





        “Any ideas?” The Faunus asked him

        “It's a Torga.” Jen said.

        “Okay and what is a Torga? I’m really new to this.” He then asked, causing Jen to sigh deeply.

        “Torga is a child spectrobe, that from what I remember was a Corona type, and as you can see from the fossil it looks like a toy RC car.” Jack then looks to Jen and says “Have I missed anything?”

        “It’s also a fire type if you go by elements, but that should be it.” Jen said with a shrug.

        “Elements? That must have been a origins thing.” replies Jack.

        “I would ask… but I think it would be easier if I just let you guys do the explaining.” He said, rolling up the sleeves on his jacket and showing the red armguards that he was wearing.

        Jack then looks around to check that nobody else was around then says “Spectrobe was a game that had three separate games related to it, the one I was referring to was the third one released and sadly the last one I know of.”

        “And I’m the only one between the two of us to have played it.” Jen said with a slight smirk.

        “Well, the more we know about this the better. One question though… Is it normal for fossils to be shaped like weapons.” The Faunus asked, pointing to the one that Jack set down that resembled a sword.

        “To be fair there’s such a large amount that I can’t remember all of them. So it is possible that there could be”

        With that in mind, Sun had something for his next sentence. Until Jen interjected. “As far as I can remember that's the only one that looks like a weapon.” She soon picked up the Torga fossil and walked over to one of the computers. The Faunus was also a little bit curious about some other things that Jack and Jen were telling him earlier, but since they mentioned the possibility of Krawl and Spectrobes being in different dimensions, there was a possibility that it might show up one day in his. If that were to happen, then he needed to be ready somehow besides calling for the two of them. Having him sit on the sidelines when he could be doing something just always got under his skin

        Jack and Jen then looked towards Sun as he then asked him the first question that came to mind. “What was it we had to do for our token?”

        “Well, do you two have an item that represents yourselves? Like a badge or something?” He asked.

        Jack then looks to his wrist and says “Well for me, there’s the Prizmod… is it possible to have a shared token?”

        “It is possible, but it would mean that sometimes both of you would be summoned together unless otherwise specified. I’m not an expert in how it works.” The Faunus shrugged.

        Jack then turns to Jen and said “What do you think… this does affect us both after all.”

        “Might as well, I can't replicate the prizmod though.” Jen said with a shrug.

        “That may cause a problem… Sun is there anything else about it that would mean we wouldn’t lose the original?”

        “You two are able to keep the original. When the token is sent out into the void, the void makes copies of the token you choose, allowing you to keep the real one.”

        “How does it do that?” Jen asked as she put down the fossil and pulled out a notepad and pencil.

        “Honestly, I don’t know how. Remember, we’re dealing with the Multiverse,” Sun added on as he continued to speak. “Not everything has the answer you’re looking for or could be easily explained.”

        “Sadly Jen you will have to learn to accept that” mutters Jack as he removes his Prizmod from his arm. He then turns back to Sun then continues to say “So, what would we need to do next?”

        “Well, what kind of message would you like to say about you guys?” He asked. “Most tokens usually let you hear a message from the person you summoned, so what would you two like to say to them.” He gave them some time to think of a collective response from Jen and Jack. But it was a little sooner than expected that they had the answer they were looking for.

        Jack then smiled before he began to speak again. “Hi, we are Jack and Jen, The Spectrobe Masters. If you are in a position that is too big for you to handle alone, or simply want to talk, just hold this token in the air and call on us and we will come to your aid.”

        Sun smirked a little. “Okay, I can help from here.” Having Jack pass what they were going to use as a token, Sun used his coin to open up a tear in the void. Tossing the token in, it floated inside the rift as it multiplied. Before closing it, he grabbed the token again, handing it back to him. “There. All finished. Now, maybe we should get back to those Fossils?”

        “Did you grab an extra one for yourself?” The teen asked, before seeing Sun hold onto one that was in his coat pocket.

        “Does that answer your question?”

        Jack then smiled and said “Yes… you know, would you like to awaken Torga as your own Spectrobe?”

        “Hmm… What about the one I found that I showed you. Leo?” The Faunus suggested, holding the fossil that he showed Jack before meeting his commanding officer.

        “Honestly I don't see it as a proper fit for you.” Jen said, “You seem more of a speed type than a defence type, that's why Jack recommended Torga.”

        “Right, but when it comes to that, I’m more speed and strength combined. How else do you think I whack grimm with my staff?”

        “No idea… probably out maneuver them using speed? To be fair we have never seen you fight” Jack admitted.

        “Perhaps it’s best that I give you two a demonstration then before making any big decisions.” He offered. “Mostly, I’m a martial artist who is skilled with Hand to Hand combat and using my staff and gunchaku in battle. Besides that and my semblance, my only problem is when an opponent catches me off guard or attacks me from my blindspot.”

        “Well by the sound of it you would be definitely more suited to a speed based Spectrobe” Admits Jack.

        “You guys are the experts, not me.” The Faunus sighed, looking back. “Let’s get started.”

        Jack smiled, nodding his head a bit. “I’d never call me an expert besides we just started on this trainwreck of a life.” He then walks towards one of the machines and says “First place your Prizmod on your arm.”

        Sun did what he was hold, placing it on his right gauntlet as it changed to the color of his medallion. Gold with bits of red along the exterior.

        Jack then smiles then says “That looks good on you… Okay the next step to simply wake up the spectrobe with your voice.”

        “Okay um… Hello?” He said, unsure if there was something specific he needed to say. “Torga?”

        “There is bit extra to that, the main thing is that it needs to fit a certain tone that resonates with the spectrobe, For example when I woke Komainu I had to say wake up three times at different volumes before he woke up” says Jack.

        Sun thought that through, then thought of something. Switching his weapons mode, he took out the ammunition that was in there, replacing the live rounds with something different before looking at Jack. “Does it have to be me or loud noises in general. If it’s the second one, than cover your ears.”

        He then looked up then said “I’d say any noise would do, but you would need to sustain the noise for a few seconds.” replies Jack before he and Jen both covered their ears.

        Sun nodded, firing three loud shots that just left a dent in the ceiling, but echoed loudly throughout the room as the sound bounced everywhere. Luckily, nothing was broken. But it seemed to do just the trick. Soon, a light emerged from the fossil on the screen, before jumping out and almost knocking the Faunus onto the ground.





        “Well, I think he likes you.” Jack smirked as Sun tried to focus on getting on his feet again.

        “G-good to know…” The Faunus chuckled, looking at the Spectrobe for a moment before looking back at Jack. “What happens next?”

        “Well at this stage he is just a child spectrobe… they can help search for fossils, minerals and some other things however they can’t fight like this.” The redhead replied. Sun assumed that when it came to this, Spectrobes needed to be care for before they grow to become full on adults. How though was another story as le looked back at Jack again. Who continued where he left off. “To evolve a child to an adult requires it it eat a certain amount of minerals for Torga it was five of them” Jack then walked over to the table and passed Sun fives different coloured gems, “Once you feed him these in the incubator he will shimmer and then once and then seconds later he will change shape into the next evolution in that Spectrobes chain.”

        “I’m going to assume that I can’t feed him all five at once or something like that?”

        “Actually... once he’s in the incubator, you just slide in the minerals and he’ll eat them.” Jack replied, insisting for the Faunus to let the Spectrobe eat the minerals the monkey was given. Sun, taking his advice, did so and slide them in one at a time, not trying to rush Torga or anything like that. Soon though, he slipped the fifth one in and watch the Spectrobe eat the final gem that Jack gave him. Once that was done, the teen gave Sun one last step.

        “Once you finish this, he will change from Torga to his adult form, I don’t think you can go back after, but this is the first time we’ve actually evolved a Spectobe so this is all guesswork at the moment” Jack admitted.

        “And I just call him out if I need his help right?” Sun asked, trying to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything.

        “Once you're sorted i’ll show you how to call him” He replied. They then looked back to Torga to see him shimmering as Jack said “See the button on the screen?”

        “Yes?”

        “Once you press that the process will begin.” Replies Jack. Sun then nodded, pressing the button that Jack told him too  and seconds later Torga was surrounded by what looked to be a cocoon as he says “use this, trace a line down the centre of the cocoon and the process will be complete.” Replies Jack as he passes Sun what looked like a pen. The Faunus nodded, tracing the line like Jack told him too, and seconds later a new creature appeared.





        “Okay, that I honestly did not expect at all.”

        “This is Torgazar, there is one more state after this however, this can’t be attained by using minerals alone, you will need to train him a lot along with lots of mineral and a ton of actual fights.” Seconds later, Torgazar faded away as Jack said, “He is now back in your Prizmod, ready to fight if he is needed.”

        “Thanks. That helps a lot.” The Faunus complimented him. “Maybe we should get to those other fossils and see what else can be uncovered.” Jack agreed with that as the two of them now focused back on Jen. She herself was new to this and to start… was also kind of shy. Ironically, it reminded the Faunus of his marefriend. 

        As she finally chose her Spectrobe, Jen noticed Sun’s eyes wander a bit  as he was complimenting her. In return, she then asked him something. “What are you thinking about?”

        “Oh you just remind me of somepony I know back in my world,” He replied. “My marefriend, Fluttershy.”

        “Fluttershy? Does her name fit her or something?” Jack asked him this time.

        “Nah, it’s just that you two have similar personalities in some aspects. Nervous and only comfortable around certain people.” Sun explained.

        “Does she also have the same hairstyle?” Jen asked out of pure curiosity.

        “Same mane color, that’s for sure.” He said, showing a photograph that he had taken with her and her friends.

        “I have a weird feeling like I'm looking at myself through one of those funhouse mirrors…” Jen muttered as she looked at the photo, “Well, at least my theory was correct.”

        “Wow, looks like you two make a good couple.” The young red haired teen said, complimenting the Faunus.

        “Thanks. I think this would work better than the last relationship I had. I had to end it because of a family emergency and now in my world, my ex is there and she has a handbag that can turn into a minigun.” The faunus sighed, causing Jen to stare at him in awe over the description of Coco’s weapon.

        “Never piss her off, It would be the end of you.” The Spectrobe master said, trying to give his best advice.

        “Trust me, I know. She told me that she drank over seventy shots before going on a bit of a drunken rampage. Coco even insulted my mother… in front of her face.” The Faunus sighed, facepalming himself as he recalled what happened in Manehattan.

        Was she really that hammered?”

        “You tell me when she picks a fight with a battalion of royal guards and causes almost a million bits in property damage. Along with the fact that she referred to my mother as little boob lady.” Sun sighed, groaning to himself over the last part.

        “Yeah she went over the point of no return,” Jack coughed, looking back at both of them. “But never mention any damage to me and Jen we ain't exactly clean, so to say.”

        “Don't remind me.” Jen said as she started to shake a bit. However, the faunus noticed the shaking and to him, it meant two things. Either she was cold… or she was scared. However, it wasn’t really freezing inside the lab they were in, so he went with choice number two.

        “Is something wrong, Jen? You look nervous-.” Sun said before he was cut off by an ominous roar that shook the ship. The roar caused Sun to grab his weapon as he looked at Jack and Jen. “Okay, that’s not good is it?”

        “Not good…” Jen muttered as she started to shake even more. Looking at Jack, Sun went to the door to try and see what it was. Only to get surprised by something out of the ordinary. Creatures that were black and cyan that took on numerous forms and shapes. And they… were… everywhere.

        “Jack, we got company.”

        “Jen what’s wro… Oh you have got to be kidding me!” He then turns to Sun then said to him. ““Well, you get to test out Torgazar.”

        “Let me guess… It’s those Krawl freaks you were talking about?” He asked while seeing Jen quickly activating her blade from her Prizmod and Jack nodded his head.

        “Yes, yes they are Sun, and right now we need to get rid of them… but in such quantities, i’ve not seen in such a large group before.” Jack replied.

        “They must be moving in as a swarm. Try to beat us with overwhelming force.” The faunus stated, looking at his Prizmod. “I’m ready when you are.” All he saw shortly afterwards was a smirk from Jack and a few simple words before they stepped forward.

        “Prepare to see what these idiots are like.”




End Tail 18

> Tail 18- Time Bomb Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Time Bomb Part 2




PPP Headquarters (Jack and Jen’s Domain)

        The moment that the doors opened, Sun swiftly leaped out of the room and onto the walkway where Jack and Jen was. And from what they could tell, the situation looked… Really bad considering the amount of Krawl that were waiting outside. They were EVERYWHERE and judging from the amount of collateral damage that they were causing, this was going to be one hell of a clean up.

        “Well, this is just great.” Jack muttered.

        “Well, at least it’s just like in the game?” Jen replied with a dry chuckle, trying to lighten the mood a little. Unfortunately, when that was said, all the Krawl that were outside were now looking in her direction. Slowly inching towards her...

        “You just had to say that, did you?” Sun grumbled, looking back at the mob of monsters as they looked back at all three of them. Shifting his gauntlets, he looked back at Jack and Jen as he grit his teeth. “Alright, looks like there's only one thing to do now.” He said, preparing his Prizmod and eager to call out his Spectrobe to wipe the floor with these guys, “Kill ‘em with fire.”

        Jack then smiled, raising his Prizmod before his two Spectrobes came out from inside it. Sun’s Prizmod picked up the information on them, seeing that they were known as Windora and Pinorska. Now getting an idea, he began to mimic the same movements as Jack as he prepared his own Prizmod to call upon Torgazar. The Spectrobe roared to life as it crashed landed next to the Faunus. For being a little over seven feet and weighing over 900 pounds, it was bound to make quite an entrance. Especially since it looked exactly like a motorcycle. However, the only Spectrobe that Jen had was one in a child form. And therefore, could not fight on it’s own. So, Sun and Jack were to hold them off while she raced back into the ship to get her Spectrobe ready to fight.

        “Well… you ready?” Jack asked, preparing his blade for combat as he looked back at Sun.

        “I was going to ask you the same thing.” The Faunus smirked, cracking his knuckles as he noticed Torgazar rev up it’s engine. “Let’s trample these guys.” With that, both Jack and Sun commanded their Spectrobes to attack the swarm of Krawl that was taking form as Jack had Windora knock them up in the air to prepare them for Torgazar and Sun’s offensive blitz on the way down. While another group tried to blindside Jack, the young teen just rolled out of the way and had his other Spectrobe knock them down into the pavement with its spiky tail. For a moment, the two of them though that they were gaining the upper hand. But while Sun was scanning the surrounding area, he noticed something jumping from the rafters of the rooftops that didn’t look friendly based on appearance. “Jack… On the roof.” He looked up to see what Sun was trying to point out to him, but what he saw… didn’t make him feel any better about the current situation.

        “Oh f*ck my life, I can’t deal with these things right now.” He cursed as a new group of Krawl leaped down from the rooftops. They resembled spiders in appearance with the color on the outside resembling the same kind of color style that you would see in TRON: Legacy. These Krawl were known as Rach, and from what Jack was telling the Faunus… they could really use some backup right around now.





        “Yeah, no kidding…” Sun grumbled, looking back at Jack before remembering about his partner and looking around to see if she was nearby. “Wait… How long does it take Jen to get ready?”

        “Depends when you mean.” The teen replied, his way of asking for clarification. 

        “Like right now…” The faunus said, looking back at Jack.

        “It would depend on the Spectrobe she picks.” As if right on cue, the two of them soon turned around, caught off guard by a cannon shot and the sound of Jen shouting “Fire in the hole!” as a massive figure crashed into the group of Krawl that were called Rach. When the dust settled, a creature with the features of a Rhinoceros beetle and a Samurai stood amongst the destruction.





        This, in turn, caught Sun by surprise as he struggled to get back on his feet. “Jesus christ! Who called in the calvary!?”

        “That would be Jen’s new Spectrobe, Vilamasta…” Jack answered his question, recognizing the appearance of the Spectrobe. “You think this is dangerous you should see it’s final form.”

        “When you say that, you make me think of Frieza.” Sun snickered, hopping back on his feet as he looked back at the remaining enemies. “Let’s just stick with what we got for right now and clean up this mess before these guys get anywhere else.” Jack agreed with that one as both of them gave their final commands to finish off the foes that they were facing.

        “Don’t forget me!” Jen said as she turned to her own Spectrobe. “Give Jack some cover Tank!”

        Sun just looked at Jen with a raised eyebrow, a little surprised by what she said. “You named your Spectrobe Tank?”

        “You would understand if you saw his final form. anyway, take cover!” Jen called over to Sun from on top of the spaceship. Listening to Jen, Sun used his weapon to launch himself upward to where Jen was while Torgazar began to channel rings of fire to prevent the remaining Krawl from running away. Allowing for Jack to perform a combination technique to finish off the remaining enemies that were crawling everywhere only a few moments ago.

        “Well… That was something… Just curious though… How much do you think the extent of the damage is in collateral?” The Faunus asked, looking at all the devastation that was left behind by the attack.

        “It depends on what spectrobes you use and their level.” Jen explained. “If you end up using spectrobes in your world you might want to see about having me and Jack teach a class on them.” She added with a slight giggle at Sun’s stunned expression.

        The word class though… got Sun thinking on something that had been on his mind for a bit as he looked back at Jen. “Actually… you just gave me an idea.”

        “Oh? And what pray tell would that be?” Jen asked as they saw Jack recall his spectrobes and went into the ship to heal them.

        “In the series RWBY, there’s a special academy named Beacon Academy. Think Hogwarts for Huntsmen and Huntresses like the people in my world,” He said, recalling Torgazar as he continued to speak. “Right now, we’re in the process of building our own Beacon and with what you just said, I was thinking of making it more than just a school for the ponies in my world, but also a school for Displaced. If you want… I can have the both of you be teachers and you can establish a Spectrobes Lab in the Academy. I really like you guys and if what you say is true about the Krawl and Spectrobes, then some ponies can learn to use them for good purposes.”

        “Sure, although I hope you don't mind if I accidentally tinker with a few things… Hehe… I’m worse than Ruby when it comes to machines I haven’t seen before…” Jen said nervously. Sun was personally confused on how she would know about Ruby, but then again, it would probably be Jack that had not heard of it before, but not Jen.

        “Well, you will definitely like meeting Raven then.” He continued, explaining about the swordswoman he knew back in his world. “She’s a blacksmith and weapon maker. Made a few weapons for friends of mine. I bet that if you ask her nicely and not pester her, than she might teach you a thing or two about them.”

        “Sounds fun! But no promises about the pestering her thing…” Jen said as she recalled Tank and let out her other Spectrobe that she named Swift.

        “I’ll keep that in mind,” Sun replied back to her. “We should check and see if everypony is okay after that. I’m sure that Sweetie Drops could take care of herself, but we should check with Twilight and Commander Grant.”

        The last part though, caused Jen’s eyes to widen. “Crap! I almost forgot about the commander! We need to hurry!” Jen shouted before radioing Jack to catch up with them once he was done and running off towards the commander's office. Sun then heard Jack began to speak over the radio along with some background noise and a little amount of static.

        “Sun you catch up with her i’ll meet up with you soon, just need to heal everyone up.”

        “Don’t have to tell me twice… or at all actually. WAIT UP!!”



        It took Sun a few minutes to race after Jen, who was running towards the Command Center, where Commander Grant’s office was. She never thought that for someone of her size that she was really agile personally. In fact, he would have to agree partially with what she said about comparing herself with Ruby. Well, the Ruby from the series, NOT the Ruby that he knew. 

        Ruby’s semblance was her speed. Hence the reason why she was lightning fast with her weapon in combat. Of course, she was just as fast without it, but she had no knowledge of any martial arts like Sun had. By now though, he had caught up with her and in addition, Jack was following them as well. But Jack and Jen displayed a lot of caution as they approached the door to the complex and Sun himself was wondering what was up.

        “OK, So are we going to charge in or think of a battle plan?” Jen asked as she stood in front of the doors to Commander Grants office. With that, the Faunus thought that she was somehow having a case of tunnel vision. There was no Krawl around, nor was there anyone hurt or caught in the crossfire of what already happened.

        “Jen, we already cleared out all the Krawl that tried to attack us outside.” He tried to reason with her, while still scanning around the area to see if he was wrong. “Are you sure there would be any inside because I thought that this place would have some high tech security.”

        Around then though was when Jack stepped in. And what he had to tell him was something he did not expect personally. “No, we didn’t… This is almost a copy of a mission in the game, there a boss behind these doors.”

        “Well, going by that logic and the fact that these guys have been right so far, I got a reason to trust them.” Sun thought to himself. “... Well, I’ll take your word for it.”

        “Just don’t do anything reckless.”

        “Astra?” He asked mentally. “When did you get here?”

        “I’ve always been here,” The incarnation replied. “I just thought it would be appropriate to not distract you. Not only that, but your friends are about to go in. You might want to get yourself ready.”

        “Ready? Ready for wha-?” Sun’s mental question was placed on hold once once he had a look at the opponent that stood in the center of the room. Behind it was Commander Grant, who was beaten a bit, but not broken. Which was a sign of relief given the Krawl and the two companions that he was looking at. 

        “That.”

        “Okay… I might be the first to say this… but this guy is seriously ugly.” Sun commented as he took a moment to prepare his weapon for combat.

        “That's Gyforma, the first boss Spectrobe in the game,” Jack informed him as he released his blade and was preparing his Prizmod. “He attacks by charging your Spectrobes when he’s next to Gyreel and Gyroll. We just need to dodge him when thats happens.”

        “Its uglier than in the game though….” Jen said before throwing up in a nearby trash can.

        “Anyone else up for the tactic, hit it until it dies?” Jack joked around a little, causing Sun to look back at the boss and think that was honestly a plan. Not to mention that he can’t go charging in shouting “I AM MELEEING IT’S LEGS!!” and expect the end result to work out for them. That was before he heard the redhead speak again. “No seriously, don’t try that. Jen, we need to use Combination attacks on it. You and Sun work together and I’ll do the same.”

        Immediately, the Faunus turned to Jen, in which her next statement was what he honestly thought was their plan. Being bait and pulling the boss away from the commander. However, when Sun rushed forth, he realized that he didn’t call out his own Spectrobe and was soon sent flying into the wall after his failed attempt to hit Gyforma. “Well, there goes me trying to be bait.”

        We saw Jack sigh to himself, before muttering a few words. His Prizmod shined again as he brought out the Windora Spectrobe that he had used before. However, instead of brining out Pinorska like last time, a new Spectrobe was released. The Faunus’ own Prizmod picked up the signal and soon, had identified the burning lion on the battlefield.





        Leopuba, the adult form of Leo. “Son of a b*tch. No wonder why he went back to the ship after the first fight.”

        “Oh really? How do you figure?” Astra asked.

        “He must’ve known which combination attacks affect this opponent the most because like he said earlier, everything that was going on was based off a mission he played in the game Spectrobes is based on,” The Faunus hypothesized. “No wonder he didn’t think that I should have Leo. He was looking ahead and presuming that something like this would happen! Always one step ahead.”

        Jen though, was a little horrified by Jack’s decision this time around. “You aren't going to… are you CRAZY!? This is a confined space!”

        “Run for cover!” Sun hollered, thinking to shield himself from whatever was suppose to come next by taking cover behind a desk. Jen herself used her Spectrobe Tank as a barrier to shield herself from incoming attacks. However, it was during this that the Faunus was caught off guard by the griffon that was the commander. He, in his current condition, had crawled all the way over from where he was to where Sun was behind the desk.

        “Bout time backup arrived.”

        Sun saw this, just as Jack was trying to have his Spectrobes charge forth and attack. Seeing this, he soon realized that it was a two against three fight and that the teen really needed some help. Looking down at his own Prizmod, he sighed. “Ah hell, I don’t have that much of a lifespan anyway,” With that, he leaped over the desk and into the chaos that was the battlefield with his Prizmod at the ready. “Torgazar! Give Jack some backup!!”

        The Spectrobe took form from the device and then looked towards him. As he readied Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang with new rounds of ammunition, he looked back towards his partner and placed his hand on it. “Buy Jack some time!” The Spectrobe nodded, charging in and ramming into the Krawl in front of them to provide Jack as much time as possible. Using its flames and forward charges to damage the opponent and distract it as the redhead began to charge up one final move. After a while, Sun had Torgazar retrieve the Commander and had Jen follow him as they bolted for the exit. For a while, nothing happened. But then an ear piercing explosion ran out, shattering the windows and making the whole building shake. Sun had to dismiss Torgazar to let him rest and heal while looking back at Jen, who was trying to poke her head into the room.

        “Is it safe yet?” She asked. Sun heard a brief, but muttered reply from Jack. What he took as a signal to go into the room as he saw all the destruction that was in front of them.

        “And it looks like collateral has reached… an all time high.”

        “Yeah… sorry about that…” Jack muttered as he looked down at his feet.

        “Not to worry. Something tells me that the repairs might be easier to fix than appear,” Sun said to him as he tried to lighten the mood, putting a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Hell, unicorns are almost capable of a lot of things these days. I’m sure a bit of magic will get this place to look good as new again.”

        Still, the teen sighed as he looked back at him. “We’ve got to hope that’s the case.”

        “Yeah. Trust me, there are a lot of unknowns when dealing with certain things,” The Faunus told him, remembering the situation with the Grimm back in his world along with the variables involving Adam. Not to mention Chrysalis recovering in Fluttershy’s room at the cottage. “But if you look on the bright side, you can always persevere and overcome any obstacle. Heck, Jen and Twilight can probably find a way to have a defense system for the city if they put their heads together… not literally of course.”

        Jack nodded, looking up to see Sun. “Yeah, I suppose…” He admitted. “Even then, it’s a longshot. The Krawl are relentless, they literally devour entire solar systems… how could we design weaponry to combat that. No our only weapon is the Spectrobes themselves.”

        With the last part of the sentence, the stray interjected. “Hey, lets not see them as weapons… I would see Torgazar as more of a… companion so to speak.”

        “I didn’t mean it that way… I meant it more like they are the only creatures that can harm them… my sword does nothing but annoy them, so what are civilians going to be able to do.” Jack said, almost like he was disappointed in all the events that he had already been through so far on his journey.

        “That’s where you step up… You find a way to provide shelter for them… Hell, I know for a fact that you two can help Sweetie Drops and some other agents here by teaching them about Spectrobes and showing them how to fight with one. You must adapt to the enemy that you are facing and the best way to do that is what you are doing now.” Sun finished, looking at Leopuba and smiling a little before petting it on the head. It was then though that he said something to catch him by surprise. “I see what you did Jack… This was my fossil that I showed you right?”

        Jack, almost downright immediately, tried to apologize. “Yeah… look I’m sorry about grabbing it, I didn’t have much choice I couldn’t combat that Krawl with-.”

        “I’m not mad, Jack. Sure I was surprised when I first noticed it, but I am actually glad that you did.” He said to him as he turned back around to look at him. To Jack’s surprise, Sun was actually glad instead of angry. “You did what was right. In fact, I think Leo here is better with you than me. Leo is a lion and your pride is like a lion… You don’t back down from anything you face.”

        “Where did you get that idea?” Astra asked mentally.

        “Watch the Lion King and you’ll understand what I mean.” Sun sighed mentally as Jack began to speak up again.

        “I suppose you're right and besides… if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have found Vilakroma in my Prizmod.” He then looks back toward the damage he caused then says “but even then, is it worth the damage I caused to stop just one enemy?”

        “It doesn’t matter the damage on the outside,” The Faunus told him, his tail coming around and poking Jack with his tail. “Just don’t let them damage what’s important. What makes you who you are. Your pride can guide you, but it means that you can’t turn and run whenever you feel like it. You need to stand up and stand strong against whatever you face.”

        “You know Sun… you are an amazing motivational speaker, I may not be able to defend everyone but I can’t just give up and let them win.” He then looks up to the sky through the hole in the wall. Shortly after that, he soon had something to say to the Faunus on what he was telling Jen earlier. “Once Beacon is made, I would be honoured to teach people there, but I’d probably leave the theory to Jen, books always did my head in.”

        “No worries… I was going to leave the science part to Jen… I was thinking that Combat Instructor would suit you better.” He said, looking at his Spectrobes and Jack. “You clearly know how to fight as a team. Some of the students there, once they pass their entrance exams, are paired up into groups of four. With a team of them being formed based on their initials. For example, RWBY is made up of Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladona, and Yang Xiao Long. Four… other people I know.”

        “I was always a solo fighter back home, in team sports I’d always be the person to tried to take people on by myself… until one of my cousins help me understand the benefits of working as a team.” Jack admitted, still looking towards him as he was scratching the back of his head. That though would still be in Sun’s favor.

        “Both Solo and Team instructor then. Works for me…” The Stray Faunus said, smiling a little. “It may not be my place to say this… but if Kirito, Asuna or Craig were here… I think they would be proud of you for what you were able to achieve.” He then looked back in his pocket to find his token and sighed a little. “Even though I would like to stick around and chat, I need to get back to my world. I can’t ignore my own responsibilities.”

        Jack waved a little, replying back to him as the Faunus made his doorway home through his token. “Well then good luck back home, I know you will be able to help everyone, heck you help us both more than anyone else has in years.”

        “Good to hear. Oh and also, you can use my token to stop by where I am anytime. If you just want to chat or start setting up once the school is ready. I’ll let you know when that day comes.” He assured them, taking his token as he created a rift using a little bit of his energy before stepping through.



Fluttershy’s Cottage

        As Sun slowly returned to the cottage, the Faunus’ senses began to readjust as he looked around. Not much had changed since he had left a few moments ago. In fact, when looking at the clock, he saw that it had been only an hour since he left to go on a walk. If you consider a walk getting summoned while running for your life from Grimm. But still though, there was one thing that was… surprising once he had sat back down on the floor.

        Chrysalis was waking up. “Ugh… oww…” She moaned as her eyes flickered to life. The first thing she saw vaguely was the bandages covering her body. The changeling was shocked to see that somepony was actually carrying for her. But when she turned her head and saw Sun for the first time, fear rushed over here. “S-stay away.”

        “Easy there,” The Faunus cautioned, trying to ease her worries. “You are safe. If it weren’t for Fluttershy and I, the Grimm would have torn you apart. We brought you in here to have your wounds treated and have your injuries here.” To add onto it, Sun set on the nearby nightstand what remained of the queens crown. Shattered into pieces. The changeling was speechless… and when she could finally come with the words to speak, she asked one question.

        “Who are you?”

        “My name is Sun Wukong.” He said to her. “I am a faunus.”

        “A f-faunus? Please don’t tell me that you are like him.” Chrysalis said, worried.

        “If you are referring to Adam, then I am nothing like that sick jerk.” Sun assured her. “However, I have some questions for you… if you don’t mind.”

        “If they are about my situation,” The changeling said to him, shifting upward on the bed she was on. “Then let me tell you what happened… It happened a few nights ago. I was in the hive, looking for one of the other queens named Mordred. However, when I found her, her head was dismembered from her body. I ran to try and find help, only to be greeted to all of the drones that I once had under my wing… stolen from me by that beast Adam and the girl with him.”

        Hearing the last statement caught the Faunus by surprise. “Wait… girl?” The last time that anyone had seen Adam in broad daylight, he was by himself. He didn’t have accomplices. “Can you describe her?”

        “All I remember is a name… Emerald I believe it was.” Alarms were now ringing inside Sun’s head based on this information. This was bad. Not only was Adam raising an army, but he had accomplices to assist him on reaching his goals. 

        What he was really concerned for was when the changeling tried to move, only to fall a little in place. “H-hey! Take it easy. Your wounds are still healing!”

        “W-wounds aren’t the cause of this.” She coughed. “I need to feed.”

        “Feed? Like on food?” He asked.

        “No, on emotion-.” She clarified. It was then that Sun heard hoofsteps behind him and for a moment to turn around, only to see Kreed at the top of the stairwell.

        “Chrysalis…? You are awake?”

        “She’s okay for now…” Sun replied. “Just hungry…” The Faunus just stood there as he watched Kreed trot over. Chrysalis herself, seemed scared. This was the guard of her sister. One of the other queens that she ordered to kill in her lust for conquest. Why was he here? For vengeance? For revenge?

        Turns out, it was neither of those things as he placed a green crystal on her hoof as it evaporated. The energies inside was what Chrysalis was looking for as she breathed it in, her skin became lighter and she felt more… alive.

        “I may not have forgiven you fully, but we can start the process now… You, myself and your niece and nephew are all we have in order to rebuild… They need you Chrysalis.” He said. This was cue for Sun to walk downstairs, where he found Blake with Velvet in the living room by the fireplace and Discord and Fluttershy in the dining room, drinking hot chocolate and coffee to keep themselves warm during the chilly evening.

        “Sun!” Fluttershy cried, getting up and hugging the Faunus. “Where have you been?”

        “On a walk, got summoned and then came back here.” He replied.

        “What about love bug upstairs?” Discord mentioned.

        “Awake and alive. Kreed is upstairs now trying to comfort her.” Sun replied to them. “She’s been through a lot. Even was terrified of me at first because she thought I was Adam.” He set down the coffee cup that Fluttershy had handed him to get the chance to talk about something else. “Enough about that though, I had finally thought over something important that was on my mind in regards to Beacon.”

        That specifically caught both of their attention. “What about it?”

        “I’m making it a school for other ponies as well as Displaced-.” With that though, it caused Discord to spit out his coffee as he looked back at Sun with a raised eyebrow.

        “Wait… You mean people like Loki?”

        “Think of it…” The Faunus began to tell them. “Many people are getting displaced regularly. I was thinking that if that is happening, then they shouldn’t be going through it alone. Rather, have a few other people like them so they can learn the ropes. I was going to talk about it in the morning with Twilight… But something tells me that she might be investigating about the Displaced without me knowing it.”



Twilight’s Chambers

        In her personal quarters, the princess of friendship had decided to call it a night. She had been trying to solve the mystery of how these tokens operate with different Displaced. So, while Sun was gone, she decided to borrow the first token she saw and tried to use several different methods to learn about it, including some identification spells. That amount of magical residue that lingered in the atmosphere was enough to make anypony that entered the room to cause the Alicorn to wake up in alarm. She had been tossing and turning for a while, unaware of the green gem that she had been experimenting on a little to be glowing.

        “Ugh… Spike… It’s almost midnight… why are you-?” However, when she woke up, she did not see her assistant in the room. Instead, she saw a figure with a skull for a head as it was rubbing it’s skull.

        “Good evening or not as it seems.” Said the tall being with a skull for a head. That, in turn caused the Alicorn to flinch as she blasted the individual with a full blast of magic in it’s face. Only to find when the smoke from the blast was cleared up, there were only little singe marks on it’s head.

          “Huh, I guess I’ve gotten used to being randomly attacked by now?” It said as it dust it face clean.

        “WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM!?” Twilight screamed, trying to get on all four of her hooves. Horn glowing at the ready for if the stranger tried pulling anything on her.

        “Well Spike called me who is now hiding under the table there. Also I thought I’d find the monkey boy and his marefriend here.” It spoke, causing Twilight herself to be even more furious. She remembered that Spike was sleeping in his own room downstairs, not under the table that was this stranger claimed. Using a levitation spell, she lifted over the gem on the table over to where she was. However, it was then that the skull actually noticed it, turning to see what looked like a personal experiment in the study part of her own room.

        “Interesting work you’re doing here, what are you working on if I may ask?” He asked picking up one of Twilight notes.

        “If you must know, I was curious on the way your Displaced’s tokens work. I had heard Sun mention it before, but never actually saw him use it. Therefore, I tried an experiment to hopefully see if one would work. Only to have you show up in my room.” Her horn glowed brighter now as she stared him down and gritted her teeth. “Now, you get only one chance. Pick your next words carefully…”

        “Okay one, you really need to calm down. Would it help if I changed?” He said then began to feel himself covered from head to toe in blue fire. Then turned into something like Sun only had a dragon tail and an eyepatch over his left eye.

        “This better? My names Asphyxious, I heard from Sun he was opening a school?”

        That though, was pulling the final straw as her magic soon glowed throughout the entire top half of the castle. “GET OUT OF MY ROOM!!!” With it, she fired off a blast of magic with the force of a missile as it launched the stranger towards the cottage at the edge of the everfree.



        “Yeah, I’m definitely placing my bits on that bet.” Discord told him, changing his appearance to resemble a dealer in the city of Los Pegas. However, before Sun could respond, he heard something crash outside as he quickly rushed outside. Fluttershy followed behind him as they found a dragon like figure face down in the snow. 

        “Ouch, should have seen that coming.” Said Asphyxious as he pulled himself out of the ground. “Oh, hi Sun.”

        The faunus facepalmed himself. “Asphyxious, how did you get here? I didn’t even use your token to summon you-.”

           “Twilight.” The half dragon said bluntly as he dusts the snow off of himself.

        “Um… Sun?” Fluttershy asked, hiding behind him. “Is this friend of yours another faunus? We already have Blake and Velvet inside if-.”

        “Fluttershy, this is only a form of his.” Sun told her as he noticed Discord step out as well. “Asphyxious here… is actually a lich. Well, Dragon, mixed with changeling and harmony magic… I’ll just go with Dracolich for simplicity’s sake.”

        “I’m fine with being called a dragon thank you.” Said Asphyxious as he looks at his red coat. That to Sun looked new based on appearance.

        “Ironically, you arrived on the evening of Hearth’s warming. But I’m not sure if the good fillies and colts want to see a skeletal Santa Claus.” Sun chuckled, imagining Asphyxious with a white beard and a santa cap.

        “I wouldn’t really do that in my Lich form. I’m not that mean, besides my kids are used to seeing me in all my forms.” Said Asphyxious with a surge. “Anyway can we talk inside? It’s getting chilly out here.”

        “Sure, as long as you don’t mess with Blake and Velvet in the living room,” Sun said. “Or Chrysalis upstairs. She’s recovering from getting attacked by Grimm.”

        “It’ll be fine you have nothing to worry about-” Asphyxious stop what he's about to say once inside. “CAT GIRL!” He yelled then ran up to Blake, hugging her.

        “What did I just say?” Sun said, facepalming himself. Until he looked at the situation and just chuckled. “Uh… Asphy? I think she just her semblance on you.” It was then that the Lich looked down, to see himself hugging a shadowy clone of the real faunus. For Sun, he saw her walking up the stairs, telling him to keep quiet of where she was so Asphyxious wouldn't be chasing her all over the cottage.

          “This is so cool, if I’m right she used her own shadow to make a copy of herself.” Said Asphyxious as he held up the shadow clone hand.

        “That’s a semblance for you.” Sun replied, looking back at Asphyxious. “Some of the Displaced here have Semblances to use from time to time. Depending on who it is.” Sun then found Asphyxious hugging his leg.

        “Teach me the ways of the force, master!” He begged looking up at Sun with a big eye.

        “Easy there man, I wasn’t done explaining.” The Faunus told him, offering a spot at the table. “Plus, you startled Velvet because of you going after Blake.”

        “Oh sorry, my bad. Heh.” He said as he sat down and rubs the back of his head. Only a little curious to find her not responding to him.

        “Well, this may be fun and all, but I have chaotic business to attend to in the morning so… Good night everypony.” Discord told everyone as he snapped his fingers, giving himself pajamas that resemble Ebeneezer Scrooge and a plushie of Fluttershy before disappearing again. With that, the lich and pegasus sat down at the table while the Faunus walked over to where Velvet was. 

        “You okay?” He asked. “I know Asphyxious’... has tendencies. But he’s a good person. He didn’t mean to scare you. Want to sit over with us for a bit before you get some sleep?”

        “I don’t do well with others…” Velvet murmured.

        “Umm I hope I’m not interrupting or anything. I just want to say sorry if I scared you and stuff.” Said Asphyxious from the doorway to the other room. “Need me I’ll be in here, bye.”

        “Yeah… surprisingly, that’s normal for him.” Sun said, looking back at Velvet. “You’re welcome to come sit by us if you want later. It’s your choice.” With that, the Faunus soon walked over back to where Asphyxious and Fluttershy were. Seeing that the dracolich was eager, the Faunus cleared his throat a bit.

        “Okay, Asphyxious. I’m going to guess that you’re here for another reason than just saying hello or getting blasted by Twilight.”

        “I heard about your school you’re going to be running and I want to help.” Asphyxious as he leans back in his seat.

        “Well, news sure travels fast.” Sun muttered to himself before answering again. “I have only two other instructors that asked to be part of at the moment. So what exact position do you think would suit you?”

        “I’m thinking spell craft and rune magic.” Asphyxious replied rubbing his chin. “Maybe do a little combat on the side.”

        “That sounds promising. Spells will be important… I just hope you would… work well with the other one that applied for that position.”

        Velvet stood up and walked out the door shortly after Sun finished his sentence. “So who else will I be working with and is she alright?” Asphyxious asked.

        “You familiar with Kirito and Asuna from the christmas celebration? Well, turns out Kirito has a cousin that I just met earlier today. His name’s Jack and he’s got the pride of a lion for someone of his position.” As he was finishing that sentence, he noticed someone peeking in from nearby.

        “Hey Ax! you in there? I need to ask you some-” Said a man who entered the room through the broom closet, “Ok… where am I and what's going on?”

        “Know this guy, Asphyxious?” Sun asked. “This is the third Displaced besides you I’ve met today.”

        “That Baldur, my room mate I guess you can call him.” Said Asphyxious giving the displaced scottish warlock a stare. 

        “Um, hi?” Baldur said as he waved his hand nervously. All Sun did though was get up and offer a hand for him to shake.

        “Sun Wukong. Pleasure to meet a friend of Asphyxious.”

        “Um, thanks. I never thought I would encounter characters from RWBY in my lifetime to be honest.” Baldur chuckled as he shook Sun’s hand.

         “I KNEW IT!” Asphyxious yelled pointing at Baldur. “So you were displaced just like me!”

        “Did I ever say I wasn't?” Baldur deadpanned.

         “No you said you were from Cane. I think?” The Lich said.

        The Faunus sighed, looking back at the two of them as they bickered for a little bit. However, it was getting to the point where he needed to bring the conversation back down to earth. “Anyways, Baldur, I was talking to Asphyxious and since we’re setting up a Beacon Academy here, I was thinking of having some Displaced be teachers for the school. Asphy himself applied himself to be teaching combat and spellcraft… Hang on a sec.”

        The Faunus soon got up from the table and walked over to the screen door, puzzled a bit. He thought that he found a familiar figure outside, but didn’t see her at first. Until she came bursting through and tearing off the screen door’s hinges..

            “Weapons free!” Yelled Asphyxious drawing his cutlass.

        “Asphy, calm down… That’s normal for her… Asphyxious, Baldur… meet Penny.” Asphyxious and Baldur just blink at the girl in the doorway.

        “Is she anything like the one from the show?” Baldur asked.

        “What are you talking about?” Penny asked, then gasped. “Oh! I forgot to properly greet you! Greetings!” 

        “Umm, hello.” Said Asphyxious as he slowly put his weapon away. “I’m Asphyxious, but you can call me Asphy Hell.”

        “What’s hell?” Penny tilted her head.

        “Just sort for my full name really.” He said looking at Baldur and elbows him. Nodding his head at Penny. 

        “Hello, I’m Baldur.” Baldur said to introduce himself.

        “Penny, I was talking with Asphy and Baldur with some upcoming plans for the new year. You can stay in if you want. You must be freezing from outside.” He offered for her, walking over to put another log in the fireplace before turning back to Asphy.

        “Oh, I’m not cold in the slightest!” Penny said, “But I will take the offer gladly.” Sun nodded his head for a bit, before sitting back down. Looking at Asphyxious, he sighed.

        “Before you even ask… Don’t try hugging her like you tried with Blake.” Sun told the dracolich. “Now, to make this simple, Baldur… You are familiar with RWBY I assume?”

        “My niece was obsessed with it for a time because of all the different devices you call weapons before she started going out with her boyfriend and forgetting about it.” Baldur explained.

        “Well, a lot of the people that were Displaced here are based on characters from RWBY. Not to mention that we are building a Beacon Academy.” He said as he turned to see Penny looking at them and waving a little.

        “I’m Penny Polendina!” Penny said happily.

          “It nice to meet you Penny.” Asphyxious said holding out his hand to her. As they shook hands, Sun turned back to Baldur and continued to speak.

        “You should’ve seen Asphyxious earlier when I was trying to explain Semblances. He thought it was the force.” The Faunus chuckled, drinking coffee from a cup that was held by his tail.

        “Wait, did he grab your leg and act like you were yoda?” Baldur asked.

            “I was excited! It’s not my fault.” Said Asphyxious crossing his arms, sadly his reply caused Baldur to burst into laughter.

        “Anyways… to explain this simply to Asphyxious. One’s Semblance is almost like a cutie mark for ponies. The technique they acquire from it serves as a special talent. Mine myself is making Spectral Decoys of myself. You should remember because I had you chase after a few during the… christmas party.” He sighed.

        “Sorry about that.” Asphyxious said rubbing his head. “I was still getting used to being part dragon. I had a need to eat gems once… Don’t ask...”

“I won’t… Anyways, a lot of us here have Semblances we used from time to time. RWBY has their own, I have mine, JNPR has hers, including Nora. But each one is different from another.” The faunus explained. “The only case where I had heard of two people having similar semblances were Weiss’ family in the show, where their Glyphs are passed down through generations.”        

            “Interesting, think it could be an offshoot of Rune magic?” Asphyxious asked taking an interest in this.

        “There’s a huge difference between runes and glyphs.” Baldur said.

        “The only runes I’m familiar with is the runes from my friend Nicko. His entire magic is based on it.” The Faunus admitted. “Then… there’s Dust. Or what is basically Crystalline Magic if that’s an easier way to express it, right Baldur?”

        “Maybe?” Said Asphyxious looking to Baldur. 

        “It can be considered crystal magic. Although some might not agree…” Baldur said as he looked at the rocks making up the fireplace warily. What he did not expect though was for the monkey Faunus to pull out a few dust shards from his weapon’s chambers as he set them down on the table.

        “I thought it would be better if you saw an example of what I was talking about… Maybe Baldur can best explain this.”

        “From what I know, anything crystals was used more for ingredients for magic items.” Said Asphyxious picking up one and looking it over. “But I know very little about that kind of magic.”

        “Well, to make it a little simpler, there are different types. However, there are four basic types. Like in Avatar, it’s Earth, Air, Fire and Water. But different types can be combined to form others.” Sun said, putting the crystals away. “Baldur? You alright?”

        “Sorry, the stones making up your fireplace were having an argument about what kind of magic the usage of dust is considered.” Baldur chuckled.

        The Faunus just raised an eyebrow, but then sighed. “It’s alright. Carry on.”

        “They seem to have decided on alchemy it seems.” Baldur said as he looked away from the fireplace.

             “I know a little alchemy, nothing to big just how to make vivid light.” said Asphyxious 

        “Yes, but two kinds of Dust from other elements. The only combinations I know is that water and air form ice and water and fire from steam,” Sun explained. “But that’s just about it. Before we conclude or anything like that… Baldur… I offered for Asphyxious to be a teacher at Beacon once it’s built. Would you also like to be one as well?”

        “Sure, and who are the other teachers you have lined up so far?” Baldur asked.

        “Right now, it is only two others, but it’ll grow with time. I honestly just thought of this today.” He admitted.

        “Think we should give the classes a test run? See how well it all works?” Asphyxious asked, looking at everyone that was present.

        Sun sighed a little, noticing Penny just humming to herself as he turned back around. “That sounds fine with me. Construction won’t be finished for another few weeks, but once we’re ready, I’ll call you guys over again. Sound cool?”

            “Sound fine with me, what about you Baldur?” Asked Asphyxious. 

        “I don't mind, although it would be nice to get the teachers lined up so far together so we can plan out training areas and clasrooms.” Baldur pointed out.

        “I’ll be sure to have a meet and greet with all the staff members before we open the academy for business.” Sun promised them, looking back at Fluttershy and then looking towards Penny. “Hey, Penny. Asphyxious and Baldur will be leaving soon. Want to say goodbye?”

        Penny was wandering around the cottage. “Goodbye!”

        “She’s… Interesting, Anyway let me know when everything's ready. I’d like to know who I’ll be working with and what class I’ll be working in.” Said Asphyxious as he get up.

        “I’ll be sure to let you know.” Sun replied as he shook hands with Baldur and Asphyxious one last time before they had to leave. As they were going, the faunus sighed and closed the door to the cottage, smiling a little as he looked at Fluttershy and went upstairs. In his mind though, he was thinking something else.

        Mental note 1: Lock up all future tokens in a vault so Twilight doesn’t mess with them. God knows what she would cause if left to her own devices.

        “Wait, why did I come here again?” Penny asked herself, “And where’s the guy with the eyepatch! I was going to ask if he was a pirate!!”

        Mental note 2: Be careful with Penny. Her nature makes her VERY unpredictable.

        “Shouldn’t Velvet be here too?” Penny added. Only to noticed the rabbit faunus by the ajar screen door, just looking at her while Sun was coming back down the stairs. Just in time for her to actually hear Velvet speak.

        “I’m h-here… Did Coco send you P-Penny?” Velvet shyly asked.

        “Oh, right.” Penny bonked her head, before giving the faunus a note. Before she could read it though, all three of them could hear shouting from outside

        “Asphyxious! Get back here!” Baldur yelled from outside.

         “I wasn’t doing anything!” Asphyxious yelled back.

        “Why… are you… STILL HERE!?” Sun hollered, “If we can hear you, then Twilight can to-!”

        “Stop chasing the purple pony with a horn and wings and ask Sun to get your token!” Baldur shouted as he ran behind Asphyxious.

             “Look I’ve tried asking her nicely, That didn’t work so I’m going to set her mane on fire unless she sends us back… Who am I kidding I can’t hurt her.” Said Asphyxious as he sighs. 

        “Asphy, I swear to god… What did you do?” Sun asked, walking outside to see Twilight outside, aiming at Asphyxious

        “This stranger appeared in my bedroom!!” Twilight accused, snarling a little as Sun narrowed his eyes at the lich.

        “Asphy……”

         “She was playing around with my Token!” Asphyxious yelled pointing at her. 

        “Are you a pirate!?” Penny asked Asphyxious.

        “Maybe…” He said, not too sure of himself.

        “Twilight… where is the gem?” Sun sighed, facepalming himself as she levitated the gem into his free hand. “Didn’t think I would have to resort to this measure. Asphyxious… Baldur… I like you guys but if you stick around too long, you’ll be waking up the entire village. Therefore… Our contract is complete.” Sun was never one to say those words because it felt like he was forcing them to leave. But, with the current circumstances, it would lead to almost all of Equestria waking up because of a Lich and his friend. So this was his final measure in order to make sure that everyone could remain calm and no more chaos could be caused.

        “...Nothing happened?” 

        That was when he heard a voice like Mr. Popo speaking in his head. “Oh… hold on a second.” With it, a vortex of emerald green flames and what looked like souls formed from behind them. 

           “Guys… Who doing that?” Asked Asphyxious in a worried tone.

        “I have no clue whats going on anymore…” Baldur said as he just stared at the strange vortex.

        “Twilight, what did you do to my token!?!” Asphyxious demanded in panic.

        Velvet hid behind Penny, while Sun just stayed there, a little surprised. “Sorry guys, but Twilight didn’t do anything… The guy who pulls back troublemakers is doing that. And I think he has to say something.”

         “How am I a trouble maker? Twilight was the one screaming her head off.” Asphyxious said in his defence. 

        “You mentioned your hoarding… and invaded her privacy.” The same voice echoed, tapping him on the shoulder as he turned around. Asphyxious looked at what was pitch black and then, a pair of eyes appeared out of nowhere along with a crooked smile. Holding Asphyxious by the shoulder as he said one thing.

        “... Bye.”

        “I was summoned, I have no control where I end up. And I’m not interested in her.” Asphyxious protested as he stood there.

       “Your contract is complete now.” It said. “Now you maggots better follow along… or I will have to teach you the pecking order.”        

        “I wasn't summoned though?” Baldur said in confusion.

        “Well… I’ll just take the bone headed one.” He said, “Come along now maggot.”

            “Yes sir.” Said Asphyxious as he follows. “I know better then to pick fights with those who have more power than I do.”

        “And with that… goodbye… Popo!!” It said, pulling in Asphyxious as he disappeared. For a minute, Sun thought that he heard the Lich kicking and screaming for a little while, only for things to settle down. However, when he looked at Asphyxious gem, it returned to the simple green that it was then the darkened shade before.

        Mental note 3: Don’t leave Asphyxious token around too much magic. Otherwise… Popo will happen.

        “So… What now?” Baldur asked as he looked at where Asphyxious used to be.

        “Honestly… after today… I need some sleep.” Sun said, turning back towards the cottage. “It’s getting late. You can stay in the living room by the fire if you want.” With it, the faunus just walked inside, going towards where Fluttershy was and almost passing out right next to her.




End Tail 18

> Tail 19- Crash landing and who called the cops!?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Crash landing and who called the cops!?




Ponyville

        It had been a few days since Hearths Warming and now, life around Ponyville for Sun had been a little more… manageable so to speak. There weren’t any new sightings of other RWBY teams within that timeframe and the people were here were beginning to get used to the locals and the surrounding environments. Construction for Beacon was close to Twenty percent complete and with its goal to be finished sometime early in the spring. On top of that, there wasn’t any new displaced randomly dropping in on Sun and the others since Twilight’s experiment with Asphyxious’ gem caused him to crash land in her bedroom… with dramatic results.

        Right now though, Sun was having a stroll through the park outside of Ponyville. It was only an hour or so after the sun had gone down and now though, he was trying to clear his head a little. Enjoy the surrounding environment. Feel carefree and comfortable while he was walking. However, he was about to get a whole lot of weight on his shoulders.

        Literally… 

        A quick pop sounded as a rather large cardboard box materialized above him and a pair a figures fell free from its depths, both crashing onto the unfortunate faunus. One was human shaped and covered in blood while the other was more canine shaped. The second figure quickly righted itself, dragging its companion away in an instant before standing defensively over her.

        “Identify yourself! Are you with Celestia?!” a synthetic voice erupted from a robotic canine brandishing a revving, red hot chainsaw on the end of its tail. Despite the relatively monotone delivery, the threat was obvious.

        “W-wha-?” The Faunus stumbled forward and shook his head, only startled awake by the sound of the blade. “Woah! Hey!! Can you just calm down for a second?!” He tried to reason with him. “I’m not trying to harm you. In fact, you and your friend fell on me-.” Sun stopped speaking the moment that he saw the state of the other figure behind the canine. “Holy crap, is she alright!?”

        The canine kept its stance, taking quick glances at their surroundings. After a few beats he warily relaxed, though not completely. “She is not.” he answered simply. “If you are able to offer any aid… though I warn I will not hesitate to retaliate against any threat you may decide to pose.”

        “How bad are her injuries?” The Faunus asked. “I can only help if I know how her serious her condition is.” Sun was right when it came to this. He didn’t want to try to help her by picking her up off the ground and unintentionally make this Displaced’s condition even worse. He was one for helping others, not hurting them unintentionally.

        Wolf hesitated before finally stepping back and lifting the human onto his back.

        “I do not know the full extent of her injuries, though I doubt you alone would be able to assist much.” Wolf began, a note of urgency breaking though the even tone “She needs a hospital, the most apparent injuries alone leave us little time for hesitation.”

        The Faunus nodded, looking back at them. “Follow me,” He said as he began to run. “I know the way to the closest hospital.” With it, he used his staff to pole vault himself onto the rooftops, running as fast as he can as he watched the mechanical hound follow suit behind him. It took him five to ten minutes to reach the hospital, but once they were there, the Faunus bolted through the door and was greeted by Nurse Redheart.

        “Redheart, we got an emergency!!”

        The large metal hound bounded in after the tailed displaced, the ponies in the lobby startled by the large metal creature barreling in before them. A couple even dove to take cover. Thankfully the nurse caught sight of the creature clearly in critical condition on it’s back before the shock could set in, immediately calling doctors and surgical staff alike to respond.

        “Sweet Celestia, what a mess…” one doctor muttered as they loaded the unconscious woman onto the gurney before refocusing, his professionalism kicking in “What’re we dealing with?”

        “Where to begin…” Redheart started as they ran through the halls “Well in addition to countless cuts, contusions, fractures and burns; some of the more notable injuries seem to be a serious concussion, a shattered knee, a severed forearm I believe it’s called, but the most pressing injuries are definitely be the large puncture through the chest and the even larger wound through the abdomen… there also seems to be an unprecedented amount of foreign metal and material in the wounds.”

        “The material is not foreign,” Wolf interjected as they reached they reached emergency surgery “She is a cyborg, it is part of her.”

        “A cyborg?!” one surgeon asked, looking down at the pale woman dying on the table “As in part robot?! How the buck do you treat somepony like that?!”

        “I will attempt to offer you guidance,” Wolf informed at he took a place in the group around the critical human “Complete recovery in not a necessity, we just need to stabilize her vitals and triage the worst injuries to keep her from dying. Her systems are designed to prevent her wounds from degrading.”

        “I’ll just wait outside the room,” The Faunus told the mecha beast. “If you need my help, just let me know… Uh… I don’t believe I know your name mister…” Looking at the side of the beast, he then just thought of a few random names before actually hearing the cyborg respond to what he was saying.

        “Blade Wolf” the canine answered simply, focusing on the task at hand. All while Sun waited outside the room. It wasn’t for another few hours that he heard anypony else open the door until he saw one of the doctors trot out of the room. Most of them looking back at Blade Wolf and unaware of the Faunus by the door.

        Wolf followed as they wheeled the cyborg to one the recovery rooms, Sun following suit after them.

        “Well it was certainly touch and go there but she’s finally stable. If what you told us was correct, then she should already be recovering” the doctor informed the pair waiting by the cyborgs bed as she slept “Though I’d still give her a while, it’s a miracle she survived something like that at all.”

        “Thank you doctor.” Wolf returned as the pony bid them good health before walking away, muttering about the opportunity of working on such a unique specimen. The metal canine turned his attention back to the faunus next to him.

        “My apologies for my initial suspicions,” Wolf delivered “We had just left a very… difficult situation. Thank you for your assistance.”

        “No problem. I’m always one for helping others.” He replied, his monkey tail now a little more visible. “Speaking of which, I forgot to introduce myself. Name’s Sun. Sun Wukong.”

        “As I said, my name is Blade Wolf; though you may call me simply ‘Wolf’ if you prefer.” He responded while looking around, his gaze focused mostly on the pony moving past outside in the halls “Am I to assume you are one known as a ‘Displaced’? Your world’s ponies are very different than ours…”

        “You are correct about that,” He said, noticing one pony by the door as he turned around. Only to see Fluttershy trot inside, almost tackling him by how worried she was. Seeing Wolf though, caused her to be a little timid as she was hiding behind Sun’s leg. “It’s alright Shy. Wolf here is a friend.”

        “Greetings Miss Fluttershy. Mister Wukong is correct, I intend you no harm” he stated plainly before simply falling silent.

        “Sun is fine, Wolf.” He smiled, before seeing Fluttershy move a little closer. 

        “I-it’s alright. I’ve met some like you before. It’s just… surprising to see you. I never have seen an armored animal before.”

        “Actually Shy…” Sun mentioned. “Wolf is a cyborg. Like his companion… but right now she’s trying to heal.” Turning back to Wolf, he cleared his throat. “I’m going to guess that it may be a while before she wakes up?”

        “I would surmise as much,” Wolf answered “And to be precise, I am actually not a cyborg; I have only synthetic components, no organics.”

        “So like a machine, but with a soul?” The Faunus asked, turning to Fluttershy as the three of them sat down on the floor.

        “That is not an inaccurate description, though whether my sapience is indicative of the presence of a soul or not puts me into a somewhat ‘cloudy area’ as it were. Then again, I suppose the presence of a soul in any being has been philosophized about for millennia.” Wolf rambled, as much as a synthesised voice could ramble at least “If I may ask of you Mister Wu- Mister Sun; Are you a human? From earth?”

        “Well yeah I was, but as of now…” He said, having his tail come into Wolf’s field of vision for him to see. “I’m a bit different. I’m a Faunus now. Humans with animal traits.”

        “Interesting… Maze is the only human I have ever met, and until this event I was not even sure if the existence of the ‘Displaced’ and her claim to be one was legitimate or part of her isolation induced psychosis.”

        “Well, she might be glad to hear that I’m not the only one who was Displaced here. A few of the humans and Faunus that are here, like myself, were Displaced in teams of four.” He explained carefully. “I was displaced with a trio of friends I was with. A few others though, like the blacksmith Raven for example, were displaced on their own. Once your companion has recovered, I can explain it to her as well if you want.”

        “I believe this would be her first encounter with other displaced, so I suspect she would be interested… though her behavior can be hard to predict at times,” Wolf began before noticing a blip on his HUD “My apologies, I had not realized the time; you must be tired.” 

        “Actually, it’s alright.” Sun replied. “I kind of took a nap while your companion was in surgery.” With that, he turned to Fluttershy. “I’m going to stay with Wolf. I’ll be back at the cottage later.”

        “Okay Sun. I’ll tell Blake and Velvet that you’ll be back later.” She replied before unfolding her wings and flying off in the direction of the cottage. The Faunus himself nodded his head as he watched her fly off to the cottage. As he turned back to Wolf, he then was going to suggest something. Until he heard Wolf speak.

        “If it is not an issue I will remain here. You do not have to worry, I require very little in the way of comfort or intake” Wolf suggested “I am also aware that I am not the greatest conversationalist.”

        “I don’t mind. I trust you that you are loyal to your companion. I just never had the chance to talk to someone like you other than Penny.” Sun sighed, getting up a little as he looked back at Wolf. “But I’ll take your advice on the sleep part. I’ll be outside for when your… friend wakes up.”



Next Morning

        The sun had already reached the peak of the sky when a mild groan sounded near Wolf, his charge finally stirring. Her eyes slowly opening only to slam shut against the light.

        “It is a significant relief so see you once more conscious Maze.”

        “Uhg… Heya Wolf…” the heavily bandaged patient mumbled, trying to open her eyes again with no more success “What happened?”

        “The details of your battle with the princess and our subsequent escape are uncertain; but we seem to have arrived in another, much different Equestria. There within we have most fortunately received the aid of one Sun Wukong and his acquaintances.”

        “Wukong? As in the Journey to the West Monkey King Sun Wukong?” Maze finally managed to squint enough to see the blur of her friend, a quizative brow arched. 

        Funny thing was that it wasn’t until she turned around by the windowsill did she see the Faunus that her companion was referring to.



        “Good morning, sleeping beauty.”

        “...Hiya” Maze returned slightly amused “Well, you don’t look like much like the immortal monkey king of myth; so either you're a saiyan, or that one guy from RWBY.”

        “The second one is the correct answer.” He sighed, “I already have Ruby chasing me around sometimes saying that I’m a saiyan and Twilight thought my name was Sun Goku when I first met her.” Taking a moment to hop inside “I also told Wolf that I’m a Displaced… some time after you two crashed on me.”

        “Sorry, I know we’re not exactly the lightest pair. Though I suppose I’m down a few pounds here...” Maze quipped as she examined the bandaged stump just past her left elbow. A small sigh escaped her before she regained her focus “Honestly I’m just glad it worked; The letter I got said you usually had to be summoned first to go anywhere else. Then again, said letter wasn’t very comprehensible to start with, so who knows?” 

        The woman swung her legs over, letting her feet the hang off the side of the bed. She took stock for a moment, studying the extent of her injuries and how much further she had to go. She still had all the wounds, they were just patched up and bypassed at the moment. Shaking her head she stopped being rude and returned her attention to the non-metallic one of her saviors.

        “Name’s Maisie if Wolf didn’t say, though most people just call me Maze. Thanks for the assist, there’s a very good chance I’d be dead right now without it” she offered, a small, mischievous smirk donning her lips as moment later “So did I pop your cherry or is this only my first time?”

        “Depends on what you mean…” He said, the actions of Maze strangely reminding her to that of his cousin Lance’s fiance, Max. “I’ve met a few other Displaced before and the way they are sometimes summoned is… unpredictable. A few of the ones I met are going to be teachers once we finish constructing Beacon-.”

        “Beacon? As in hunter school? You’ve been busy, everything in my Equestria just kind of changed on it’s own after I showed up. Granted it took twelve hundred years to get where it is now but still...” Maze trailed off, going to reach for a glass of water when she realized she was a few phalanges short on that side. She rolled her shoulders as a sudden flurry of glowing particles condensed around her, forming a rig with four anchor points one on her upper back. She adjusted the one to hang more off the side of her left shoulder as more particles created a grey synthetic arm connected on it that grabbed the glass for her.

        “Maze, you really should stay in bed” Wolf began before Maze even started trying to get up, knowing her behavior all too well. 

        “Relax Wolf, it’s a good thing to get up and moving after surgery.” Maze chuckled and waved a consoling hand as a pair of mechanical tentacles appeared on the lower anchor points. One wrapped around her leg to support her busted knee while the other helped to hold the rest of her up.

        “I also come with tweezers, a knife set and can make julienne fries!” Maze winked at Sun watching the display of her nano magic. She pulled herself up as her old tactical suit appeared under her hospital gown, the IV stand creaking in protest as she leaned upon it and let out a tired sigh “I don’t suppose any of this school’s teachers can unlock an aura like in the show, can they? My nano machines may be efficient but a healing force field would be pretty nice right about now.”

        “I see. And with what I was saying about Beacon, it’s going to be more than a huntsman school. I’m making it an academy for Displaced so those who get Displaced and are not familiar with anything at all could meet others who are in the same situation they are. Some Displaced are even going to be teachers.” He explained, stretching out both of his arms. “Also, for Aura’s, I think we could give that a try once you feel ready. Rather not push it too far when you are still recovering.”

        “You’d be surprised what I can pull off during recovery. Besides, wouldn’t it help speed up said recovery?” She retorted.

        “You make a valid point… Hang on a second.” He said, facing her for a moment. From what he could recall, someone who had an aura like himself could be able to unlock someone else’s Aura. He just needed to focus and concentrate… hoping that Wolf would not take his actions as a threat to his companion. He placed his hand on her shoulder and closed his eyes, focusing on his strength as it flowed from his hands into Maze. It took a short while, but when he reopened his eyes again, he had the suspicion that it worked out properly because some of the scratches and cuts on Maze were healing themselves. Like in the show, Aura is able to heal minor wounds depending on how serious they are. And this was exactly the case for Maze.

        “Interesting sensation…” Maze muttered, rolling her shoulders “And you didn’t even need to do Pyrrha’s little chant.”

        “Yeah. More likely because I was focusing on making sure it paid off. Oh and be careful on mentioning that… There’s actually a Team JNPR here… along with RWBY, CFVY and the rest of my guys for SSSN.” The Monkey Faunus commented. “Not to mention Penny, but she spends most of her time with Ruby near the Everfree.”

        “They don’t know about the show then? Do your ponies know about theirs?”

        “Oh trust me, they know about the show, but I suggest it to avoid confusion.” He replied. “Besides, you should’ve seen my Marefriend Fluttershy when she first saw Wolf earlier. She was shaking behind me in fear until Wolf told her that he wasn’t going to harm her.”

        “Yeah he can be a little imposing. Though if yours can get as pissed off as ours can, she wouldn’t have anything to worry about!” Maze laughed “Interesting that you’ve told your ponies about the show; all the one’s I told in my either didn’t believe me or had existential crises. I found it best to just keep it to myself after a while.”

        “When I meant show, I meant the Displaced. I wasn’t referring to the ponies… Though, I did hear Pinkie mention a few times as something being a plot device.” He sighed, turning around a little. “Please excuse me, I got a curious Twilight coming in who looks like she wants to know about last night's panic. Especially with when they brought you into the ER.”

        With that, he took a couple of minutes to talk to the pony outside the open door to Maze’s room. However, the conversation that insisted was something that Maze did not expect. 

        “So let me get this straight… You were going on a late night walk near the Everfree…” The Alicorn began to speak, only for the faunus to add onto it.

        “Yes.”

        “Had a Displaced crash on top of you…” The pony added.

        “Hurt’s like hell.” Sun groaned, scratching the back of her head.

        “And you helped a big-”

        “-big synthetic robo-canine! Yes, like I haven’t already said that already!” The Faunus sighed. “Now if you would excuse me… I have things to do.”

        “What things? You don’t-.” The princess was cut off the second she laid eyes on Maze and Wolf in the nearby room. “Oh…”

        Maze stood wide eyed, staring back at Twilight as Wolf took a few steps back as a small twitch tugged at the corner of the cyborgs lips. An instant later she disappeared in a familiar violet flash, reappearing next to the purple princess and hefting her with her still good arm-

        “YOUR PONIES ARE ACTUALLY PONIES!” Maze screamed, hugging the struggling princess ‘AND THEY’RE ADORABLE!’

        “Yeah… Twilight, I think I should’ve said that this is her first time seeing another Displaced.” The Faunus added on while Twilight just stared at him.

        “That… could’ve helped.” She sighed, trying to move her wings a little. “If only your friend could’ve actually hurried up and was with me right now, he would try to pry us loose.”

        “Oh?” Sun asked, “Which one-?”

        “Twilight, next time please warn me before you try to-.” A familiar voice said, Sun turning around to see a familiar blue haired teen looking at Maze snuggling Twilight like she was a teddy bear. “Okay, that you don’t see everyday.”

        “Hey Neptune.” The Faunus added on. “Glad you came.”

        “My apologies Miss Sparkle, I am afraid after her confinement Maze has forgotten certain social etiquettes” Wolf joined them in the hall before shocking Maze with the end of his tail. The cyborg jumped, dropping the princess “One being the concept of personal boundaries.”

        Maze just pouted and stuck her tongue out at the Fenrir before turning to Twilight.

        “Sorry, you’re just very cute and I got excited.” Maze offered.

        “It’s alright. The same thing happened with Nora once she met Pinkie Pie.” Twilight commented.

“So you go by your character name too then? Is than normal for displaced?” Maze turned her attention to the blue hair individual.

        “Well, it’s either that or Nathan and I thought I would just roll with it.” Neptune replied. “Sun has met other Displaced where they take on the character names while others just kept their own. Personally though, this was a first for seeing another Displaced.” The one thing that Maze could notice was that he was looking around and his cheeks were a little red. “And you… look quite… shocking. No pun intended.”

        “Well when a princess beats the ever living crap out you, it tends to leave a mark.” Maze quipped, well aware of her vaguely mummy like appearance of blood stained bandages. A beat passed and another mischievous smile graced her  “Or were you trying to flirt with me?”

        “That depends really.” He said. “But in all seriousness, I was going to go back to check on Sage and Scarlet. Catch you later Twilight!” He said, rushing off. Sun himself though, chuckled a little as he looked back at Maze.

        “Typical… Anytime someone figures out what he’s trying to do, he rushes off.” Sun laughed. “You really got him that time.”

        “I try,” Maze grinned with a shrug and started hobbling down the hall. A loud pop echoed as she stumbled a bit. She dismissed the tendril around her leg in a flurry of particles and tested the joint, finding it already realigned properly “Perks of a cyborg.”

        “Good point.” Sun replied, noticing Twilight ruffle her feathers a little as she used her teleportation spell to leave before anyone tried crashing into her again. “Now I’m just a little bit curious on some things… You are feeling better healing wise right?”

        “I’m functional if that’s what you’re asking. I have pain inhibitors that take the edge off and learned I’ve been designed to keep fighting with the worst of injuries,” Maze explained while they walked “So yeah, as well as someone with two large holes in their body and a severed arm can be… relatively speaking at least.”

        “Okay, I was just curious,” He said, looking to notice something. “How do you fight though? It wouldn’t be right for me to assume that you would fight only using hand to hand combat. Because you look to be someone who could be skilled with a blade.”

        “I’m actually pretty good at hand to hand; though yes, I prefer to have a weapon…” Maze started, a trio of muted flashes strobing as she spoke. The other anchors now had synthetic arms like the first, one holding a large glowing blade and the other with a staff made of said arms. Finally a complex sheath appeared, out of which she drew a very battered looking HF katana “I use to have another blade too, but good old Tia took care of that… and now my first here doesn’t look like it’ll last another fight.”

        Maze dismissed the weapons before she started scaring passersby, her gaze a bit distant in remembrance… or regret.

        “Well, guess our first stop may be with Raven so she can fix up your sword for you. Gotta have it be ready for another fight if you want to be prepared.” He suggested, a gust of wind blowing up the backside of his shirt as Maze saw the weapons on his back.

        “Can’t reforge a sword and expect it to maintain its strength unfortunately, pretty much just gotta get a new one at that point… I got the other two weapons though, I’ll survive.” Maze delivered solemnly “Thanks for the offer though, really. Maybe she’ll have something I can convert… Nice gun-chucks by the way.”

        “An unorthodox design to say the least” Wolf added.

        “Unorthodox is the name of the game when it comes to hunter weapons Wolf” Maze smiled.

        “You mean huntsmen.” Sun clarified. “And yes Wolf, some may be unorthodox, but they’re suppose to be combination weapons.” Taking a moment, Sun brought out both of his Gunchaku to demonstrate. “In one form, Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang are a pair of shotgun nunchaku…” He then linked all four parts to where it stretched out to form a bo staff. “In it’s second form, it’s a bo staff. The common phrase being that with most weapons… it’s also a gun.”

        “It seems somewhat counter intuitive to-” Wolf stated before Maze cut him off.

        “It’s the Rule of Cool Wolf; The cooler it is, the more powerful it is. The show practically runs off the concept, it’s how a scythe could actually be a practical weapon here” she pointed out “I’m pretty sure it’s why my goofy arm staff works at all too.”

        “Trust me. There’s a lot of combinations when you have a look at it.” Sun explained as both of them turned around a corner in front of a shop with a hammer and anvil sign above their heads, “Maybe it’ll be best to show you than tell you.” Going through the front of the door, the three of them could here a series of clashes. The sound of steel against steel as they found Raven near the back of the forge. She was using her own sword to test the durability of another weapon that she was making. Only to notice Sun, Maze and Wolf as they entered the Forge.

        “Hello Sun… I’m going to take a guess that the other two are friends?” She asked, sheathing her blade as the dust crystals in the scabbard of the sword whirled around a bit. What took Raven by surprise was the mechanical canine next to Maze. “Wow… that’s one big dog.”

        Maze sashayed up and lifted the raven-haired beauty’s hand, trying to seem smooth.

        “Well hello there beautiful, I do so love a woman that…” Maze paused, glancing at an anvil “knows how to give a good pounding.”

        Raven blinked a couple of times, surprised by the forward movements. “Yeah… my ex-husband is a crazed killer and I’m trying to patch up my relationship with one of my daughters. I got a lot on my plate…” Turning to Sun, she then cleared her throat. “So, what brings you here?”

        “Maze needs one of her blades reforged. It’s in very bad shape.” The Faunus replied, looking back at the cyborg. “Care to show her, Maze?”

        “Like I said Sun, there’s not much point. Reforging isn’t really an option, plus I doubt our lovely smith here has much experience with HF blades. No insult to you skill of course” Maze added quickly, before glancing about the room “There’s some really gorgeous pieces in here though… and I’m not just talking about it’s occupants.”

        Maze finished with a small smirk at the smith before wondering off to browse.

        “My apologies for her behavior” Wolf offered the pair.

        “No worries, Wolf.” Sun replied. “I met another Displaced that has a similar personality. And she’s my cousin’s Fiance.” Then, he looked back at Wolf, curious about something. “Wolf… How do HF blades work? Just out of curiosity…”

        “A High-frequency blade is reinforced by a powerful alternating current and resonated at extremely high frequencies. This oscillation weakens the molecular bonds of anything it strikes, thereby increasing its cutting ability. Technically any edged weapon can be converted into a High frequency weapon; in fact the higher quality the base weapon is, the more pronounced the conversion effect has.” Wolf delivered very technically “The addition of magical reinforcement also adds a great deal to the process.”

        “Basically it’s kind of a like an enchantment that uses technology instead of magic to cut better and not break. Then, since Equestira has it unlike back on earth, we can add magic to make it even better.” Maze called back to simplify “Ooooooh, now this is interesting.”

        Maze stopped at a long curved blade on the wall, it’s metal a distinct crimson “Familiar... but unique all the same too.”

        “Just finished that a couple of days ago,” Raven commented. “Wanted to try some new things, so I used a fire dust shard to allow the weapon to channel high frequencies of heat. Based off of how my weapon has different properties depending on the dust shards I used.”

        “May I?” Maze gestured to the blade, she knew better than to just grab a smith’s art without permission.

        “By all means, go ahead.”

        Maze lifted the blade off it’s stand, feeling the balance and admiring the craftsmanship.

        “Well I don’t know anything about dust as we don’t have it where I’m from, but I do know that she is just gorgeous!” Maze complimented. She wanted this blade, it was that simple. It looked like it could be pretty easily converted too. Only problem was, she didn’t have any money “... I don’t suppose you’d be interested in a trade?”

        “Actually, take it. It’s not for sale, but I’ll let you have it since you are a friend of Sun’s… Also, a quick trick. If you see the trigger near the hilt, pushing that in and holding it firmly activates the dust.” Raven explained to her. “You seem to need a good blade and I appreciate anyone who takes their time to inspect one’s craftsmanship. And for that, I respect you.”

        “Oh no-no-no-no” Maze rambled “You don’t just give away a sword like this.”

        The anchor points on her back flared again as a trio of the tendrils appeared, only now with a chainsaw on the end of each. Snapping each of the power tools off,  she set them on the counter “Wolf, do you got a spare-”

        “Yes” the canine answered simply, handing over a small cube with his tail.

        “These, while not terribly graceful weapons, have the same HF conversion Wolf explained earlier, But, this is the real prize!” Maze clicked the little cube, a small holographic display popping out above it “It’s a basic description of that process. Even if don’t want them as weapons or tools, you can still strip them down for parts to use for converting others.”

        “Well, I am quite surprised… If you insist on the trade, then I guess this is a good trade then.” Raven replied, taking the cube and then taking the weapons to the back. “Thanks Maze. Enjoy the rest of your stay here.”

        “No thank you” She returned, smiling at her new blade “Does the dust need recharging  or restocking or anything like that? Like I said, we don’t have it where I’m from.”

        “Nah. How it works is that you may use it as much as you want. However, use it too much and it’ll overheat, causing a backlash on your hand if you aren’t careful.” She advised her as they were walking out of the shop. “Come back again sometime!”

        “Oh count on it,” Maze shot back with a sly grin and a wink. She summoned her old sheath for the blade and resumed following her guide “So now what? Should I get out of your hair and head home?”

        “Actually, you can stay for a while if you want.” Sun offered, “I was going to check on Fluttershy back at her cottage if you wanted to come along.”

        “It would be nice to sit somewhere quiet for a few days and recover. I know I shouldn’t stay away long but…” Maze sighed “I guess I wouldn’t be as much use if I went back as I am now anyway.”

        “You don’t need to stay for too long. Just as long as you’re comfortable with it.” Sun replied as they soon arrived at the cottage. “Fluttershy, I’m back!”

        “Welcome back Sun. Hello Wolf-.” She said, stopping upon looking at Maze, her cheeks looking a little red as she noticed Maze. “W-who are you?”

        “Maisie, friends call me Maze; it was my blood your boy here was covered with last night.” Fluttershy’s blush increased a little as Sun chuckled.

        “It’s alright now, Shy… Where’s Blake and Velvet?”

        “Oh they went to catch up with Yang and Yatsuhashi at the market. Chrysalis is resting upstairs and Discord is having morning Tea with Celestia and Luna.” The pegasus replied, “Please, come inside. Is there anything I can get for you, Ms. Maze?”

        “Some water would be great if you would, thanks” she said before leaning in to whisper to Sun “Has everything gone according to the show here? Other than your presence of course. In mine, things aren’t always guaranteed to work out or even in the right order…”

        “Well, that depends.” He said, sitting down on a nearby chair. “We’ve had a few things come up and because Adam Taurus has basically placed a siege on Chrysalis’ swarm, he left him for dead. Not to mention that there was Double Diamond and his group that had to evacuate their homes when some bastard burned them to the ground and also saved Starlight from a Grimm attack.”

        “Ah alright, I thought I heard her say Chrysalis” Maze said “Nice to know it’s not just my Equestria that’s gone off track...”



Few days later…

        In the time that passed, Maze was able to rest and recover a good deal more than she could have hoped. Not only that, but she was also able to test her sword in multiple training exercises with the monkey faunus that helped her. She also helped Raven go over some of the finer points of High Frequency conversion, walking her through the process with her new blade. It let her get a lot more flirting in too. Presently, Sun was with his Twilight as he looked back at Maze and Wolf. They had spent enough time in his world and were needed elsewhere.

        “Well, like all great things, this must come to an end,” Sun sighed, tossing Maze a copy of the golden medallion that was his coin. “Here’s my token. You’re welcome to come visit anytime. Hell, if you want, I can have you enroll as a student at Beacon once we’re open.”

        “Oh right, tokens! Let’s see here…” Maze fumbled for through her pockets and pulled out a folded down cardboard box about the size of a playing card “Here ya go, it changes size and the outer appearance will shift if you tap the side. Don’t underestimate it, seriously; It’s saved my ass more than once.” Maze smiled “Now as for going back to school? I’m not sure how regular I can make these visits if at all, but I’ll keep the offer in mind. If you ever need a guest lecturer or something though, just give me a call!”

        “I’ll make sure to do so.” He said, as he pocketed the box though, he turned his head to look behind Twilight and notice the guest standing there. “Hey Twilight?”

        “Yes Sun?”

        “Did Celestia ever tell you about her possibly dropping by?” He asked. “Because she’s right behind you.” This caused her wings to spring open as she turned around quickly. Caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her teacher.

        “Hey Celly! I’m hoping you not here to beat the crap out of me again.” Maze called to the solar monarch.

        Celestia just raised an eyebrow. “Ex… cuse you?”

        “Don’t mind Maze, Celestia,” Sun replied. “She’s a Displaced that’s been here for a short while.”

        “Sorry princess, couldn’t resist,” Maze giggled “Your counterpart isn’t exactly herself right now and nearly killed me.”

        “Different worlds Tia… Different worlds.” Sun sighed. “Well, better not keep you around for too long. Seems like we're all good here Maze. Stay safe!” With the last comment, he waved her goodbye as the two of them began to return home. However, as Wolf climbed into the box that was now much deeper than it should be and Maze held it above her, she had one last thing to say to them.

        “Thanks for the helping hand ‘all! I’m off to kick your ass now, Tia! Wish me luck!” Maze cheered and dropped the box, disappearing into it’s depths with a laugh.

        All Celestia could do was stare dumbfounded as she tried to say something. “Well… I think everything here is alright. Take care you two.” With it, she used her teleportation spell and left both the Alicorn and the Faunus to go their own separate ways… For the time being. For Sun though, one thing was stuck on his mind

        Do not underestimate the box.



Later that afternoon…

        As the day began to wind down, the faunus himself decided to lay down under the tree outside of Fluttershy’s cottage as he was beginning to think through the events of the day. Over the past few days, he had been thinking about possible Displaced that could serve as teacher. Asphyxious, Jack and Jen were the only ones that actually confirmed to be teachers and Maze was a possible guest speaker. It was a long way to go before he could make any significant progress, but he had time since Beacon was planned to open in the spring. All he could do right now was rest his head and relax… For a short while though. He had a bad feeling that something was going to happen to him.

        All of a sudden, a small portal opened up in front of him, dropping a small silver badge into his lap. Picking it up, he heard a wise sounding voice speak. ‘I am Anubis Cruger, the Shadow Ranger. If you require my aid, or merely my counsel, call on me. But be warned, you, as well as your foes, shall face my judgement.’

        “Well… That’s surprising…” He said, the first part of his name making him think of the egyptian god of the dead. “I wonder if I can see him right now? He sounds like a wise one, so maybe I could have someone like that for the Academy.” He shifted the badge into one of his pockets, unaware that what he was thinking was causing the token to glow. And what happened next the Faunus was unable to see coming.

        Behind him, a large portal appeared. Out of it barreled a group of vehicles. First an ATV barely missed him, then a motorcycle clipped him, knocking him down. A pair of more futuristic looking managed to avoid running him over, a large jeep on the other hand…

        “Ah sh-!” The faunus managed to avoid the tires from crushing his limbs, but in the confusion he forgot that he now had a tail. “OWW!! SON OF A B*TCH, THAT HURTS!!”

        “Pearl, Night,” called the figure on the ATV, “What part of ‘keep an eye out for civilians’ did you not seem to get?”

        “Sorry chief,” called the driver of the jeep as she jumped out, “but I couldn’t see him lying there.”

        “You’re lucky he appears to be alright,” said the first figure, “we’ll discuss what to do with you two when we get back.” The figure walked towards Sun, “You doing ok bud?”

        “Yeah, but it could’ve been worse,” Sun replied, taking out the weapons that he had on his back as he put them on his shoulders. “If you ran over my back, you would’ve crushed more than my spine.”

        “Sorry,” the figure asked, “First time driving into a new verse.” He stuck out his hand, “Anubis Cruger, SPD Shadow Ranger Displaced, no hard feelings?”

        “Guess so,” he sighed. “Sun Wukong. Faunus.” He soon shook his hand as he had both pairs of weapons collapse down into his staff and held it in one hand while shaking with the other.

        “So,” said the guy on the motorcycle, “Why the weapon?”

        “Watch it Night,” said the passenger in the jeep, “you remember what happened last time.”

        Night just huffed, “Well excuse me if I’d like to know if we run a risk of being attacked.”

        “I’m not going to attack you guys… Besides, how else are you suppose to protect yourself from Grimm?” He asked, having his weapons be Gunchaku again. “Besides, like with almost all weapons here, it’s also a gun.”

        Cruger frowned, “That sounds familiar, where have I… oh yeah! Death Battle, Tifa from Fantasy vs Yang from RWBY, I assume your base is from the latter?”

        “Yeah, a lot of the Displaced here are from RWBY. You have Ruby with a Scythe/Combat action sniper Rifle, Her sister with shotgun gauntlets, and some others just to name a few. One girl even has a handbag that turns into a freaking minigun.” He explained. “Mine is a bo-staff and nunchaku that are also shotguns…” Turning to look at the group, he chuckled a little. “What brings you to this neck of the woods?”

        Cruger shrugged, “You called us, these jokers just happened to be nearby when I got your call and they wanted to come along. By the way, that’s Evil Breaker, Hammer Fist, and Rainbow Dash, the ones who ran you over are Night Stalker and Pearl Spark.” As he said their names, Cruger pointed at each of the ponies with him in turn. It was during this thought that Sun turned his head to notice onepony he knew coming out of the cottage.

        “Sun, what’s with all the-.” Fluttershy spoke, only to see the mass amount of ponies and strange vehicles while she was trotting over. “-noise…”

        “Wow,” said Dash, “four legged Flutters, kinda weird.”

        “It’s alright, Shy. They’re friends…” The Faunus said, turning to Cruger’s Rainbow Dash, “And she’s my Marefriend.”

        “Huh,” was all Dash could say.

        “Putting cross-species relationships aside for the moment,” Cruger interjected, “Mind if we continue this somewhere else? I don’t know about you but I prefer talking shop with other Displaced over lunch.”

        “Sure,” Sun Wukong told him. “We can go to Beacon, but it’s still under construction… One thing first.” He then raised one of his weapons, firing it once as a beowolf Grimm dropped from the trees above them. Fading as it hit the ground with a hard THUD! “Stay too long out here and the Grimm would want to get you for a meal.”

        Cruger sighed, “Of course, as soon as I meet a new Displaced these days, we go straight into the fighting. Might as well make the most of it.” Cruger mounted his ATV, “Mount up! Sun, Flutters, in the jeep, time for some vehicular combat practice.”

        “Tempting… Weren’t we planning to talk at Beacon…?” He asked, springing himself over the top of the trees and using his weapon to pole vault himself upward.

        “We’re not talking right now,” Cruger said as he gunned the engine, “right now we’re headed to Beacon, and smacking down any beasties that lie between here and there.”

        “Yeah… Grimm attacks don’t happen often. They’re only attracted by negative emotions such as sadness, pain and rage. One of the other Displaced, Fox, was out scouting earlier and there were no signs so far in the Everfree.” He said, “The one above me was probably from when Pearl ran over my tail.”

        “I said it was an accident!”

        “Well, no sense in getting hyped up to do nothing,” Cruger said before turning to Rainbow, “Thinking what I’m thinking?”

        “Race?” she asked expectantly.

        “Race,” Cruger replied before turning back to Sun, “So, you in?”

        That was when Cruger heard Fluttershy speak up. “Actually… he just got a head start with the… Spectrobe I think it was called, that two other displaced let him have.” When the rest of them turned around, they saw the Faunus speeding down the hill with his Torgazar as he was going around Ponyville. “You might want to catch up with him.”

        “That’s it, let’s show him why cheaters never prosper,” Cruger said before they all raced along after him, causing Fluttershy to start screaming. 

        Sun himself though, had a reason for starting ahead as he was approaching Beacon. “Hey Twilight! We got some guests coming.”

        “Guests? Who-?” She stopped speaking, her eyes widening at the sight of Cruger and his crew.

        “Those guys. We’re going to need a big parking lot to fit all of those.” He said, looking back at the Princess. Who now just stared in shock… “And you might not want to stand in the road.”

        Quickly, she ducked for cover as Cruger and the others rolled into town as Sun dismissed Torgazar, looking back at the Shadow Ranger as he and the others soon slid to a screeching halt. “Sorry about that. Needed to make sure that Princess Sparkle here prepared for your arrival so you don’t cause a panic.”

        Cruger’s frown softened slightly, “Fine, I suppose that make sense. By the way,” Cruger tapped the prizmod on his own wrist, “I believe we share a common acquaintance.”

        “Looks like you met Jack and Jen,” The Faunus chuckled, showing his own prizmod on his gauntlet as he smiled a little at Cruger. “Those two will be teachers at Beacon here once this place is open in the spring. Since it’s going to be an academy for the ponies here and also Displaced.”

        Cruger whistled, “Sounds like a worthy enterprise, if you don’t mind I have a little proposal for you.”

        “I’m listening.” The Faunus replied as they began to walk to where Twilight’s Castle was. Where most of the construction was taking place.

        “Well, I’m a founder of a multi displaced group called Truth. The primary goal of this group is to learn as much as we can about Displacement, but we also provide various forms of support to one another, whether in expertise, supplies, equipment, you get the idea. Anyway, my proposal has three main parts, first I’d like to extend an invitation to you, and any other Displaced you may know, to join Truth.”

        “Sounds interesting. I have family that have been Displaced that might be up for that,” The Faunus replied. “What about the other two?”

        Cruger chuckled, “Patience, I was getting to them. Well, second, I wouldn’t mind teaching here as well, when I’m not busy fighting crime back home of course. To be honest, my SPD is so efficient that I have a lot of spare time on my hands.”

        “Welcome aboard,” Sun chuckled. “Remind me to introduce you to Asphyxious next time you're here. He’s a lich who is also a teacher here and a Displaced.”

        “I might take you up on that,” Cruger said. “Now that the stuff that I was fairly certain you’d agree to out of the way, I think it’s time to move to the one that isn’t. To be honest, when I heard that you were building a school that had Displaced as teachers, I thought that it might make an excellent semi-official headquarters for Truth. I’m not saying that you have to be a part of Truth to be a student or teacher here, but it would be nice for us to have a place where we could swap notes or just hang out with other members.”

        Sun scratched his chin for a minute, but was soon grinning. “That actually sounds like a good idea. I like the way you think.”

        Cruger grinned, “Thanks, now, if you don’t mind, I need to take a peek at the blueprints. My first contribution to you will be to outfit Beacon with some of the latest SPD tech, including a Mark 5 Mana Reactor, an Armor III Shield Generator, a Biblos Computer Core, and a few other minor things.”

        “Sure thing. Might want to take to Sage on that-,” Sun replied, turning around to notice his partner and friend. “Speak of the devil, there he is.”

        “Sun?” He said, noticing Cruger. “Who’re these guys?”

        “Commander Cruger, SPD,” Cruger said, “You’re Sage right? I’ve got a few improvements to Beacon that I want to run by you. Dash, this is gonna get technical and boring, take the Rangers and test out the exercise yards.”

        Dash chuckled, “No problem chief, come on gang, time for some fun.”

        “I can go with them if you want to talk with Sage, Cruger.” Sun offered.

        “Sounds good,” Cruger replied, “this is going to get really boring for anyone without an engineering degree.” The Faunus chuckled, watching him follow Sage as he went to catch up with Dash and the others.

        “Cruger’s kind of awesome, don’t you think?” Rainbow commented, “He’s a total egghead when it comes to machines, but he can kick some major butt.”

        “I can tell. You guys see him as a good leader,” Sun replied. “Trust me though when I say that a lot of the Displaced here have a bunch of tricks up their sleeves… Which makes me wonder… have you encountered anything that’s like Androids or Synthetics?”

        “We drive a giant robot, and have a pet robotic dog that turns into a cannon,” Dash replied, “Does that count?”

        “Yup. That does.” Sun replied as he followed them. “So, what’s the first step in the training exercise?”

        Dash laughed, “You thought he was gonna make us do actual training? Cruger can be a bit strict when he’s teaching, but he’s not that strict. Telling us to test out the exercise yard was him telling us to have some fun without losing the whole ‘I’m the boss, respect my authority’ thing he’s got going on.”

        “Well that’s something I wasn’t aware of.” Sun scratched the back of his head as he looked back at them. “So, what is it that you plan to do for fun then?”

        “Well, I was thinking we could shoot some hoops,” said Evil Breaker.

        “Sounds good to me,” Dash replied as the others nodded in agreement, “and with Sun here, we can have some 3v3.”

        “I’m up for it.” The Faunus replied, looking back at them. “It’s been too long since I’ve done that.”

        “Just a quick warning,” Breaker said, “We’re the best of the best back home, and we tend to get a little intense during sports.”

        “Heh. I’ll still be up for it. It’ll be a nice change of pace.” He replied.

        “Good,” Breaker replied, “So, where can a group of mighty warriors find a basketball court around here?”

        “Mighty warriors huh, so I guess you’ll be sitting this one out eh Breaker?” joked Hammer Fist.

        “Laugh it up,” Breaker replied, “we’ll see who’s laughing when you lose.” Breaker then turned to Sun, “Seriously though, where’s the court?”

        “Honestly, the only court I remember is the one by the playground where Cheerilee’s school is,” Sun shrugged. “Unless you want to think of a way to improvise?”

        “Leave that to me,” said Rainbow Dash. Before anyone could say anything, she flew off and returned with two small clouds, which she shaped into hoops. “Yo Pearl, got a ball?”

        “Not a problem,” Pearl said before opening a small portal and pulling out a basketball, “Sure am glad Cruger doesn’t mind sharing a few of his tricks.”

        “No kidding,” Dash replied, “sure wish I could carry a bunch of stuff with me wherever I go, I’d never run out of pens to sign stuff with.” It was then though that she heard something else zip around in the air and the next comment that Sun said had Rainbow look up… to stare at her pony counterpart.

        “Well then… Dash meets Dash.”

        “What the hay-?”

        “This is a bit surreal,” Cruger’s Dash said, “Ah man, just remembered.”

        “Remembered what?” Sun’s Rainbow Dash asked her. “Better yet, why do you sound like me?”

        “Cause I’m you from a different universe,” Cruger’s Dash said, “And now we gotta figure out nicknames for us so that we don’t get confused when someone says our name.”

        “Actually, I was just about to head home,” The Pegasus replied. “See you tomorrow Sun.” With that, the pegasus took off into the sky, almost sounding like she cracked the sound barrier as she zoomed through the air.

        Dash grinned, “Glad to see I’m fast in any universe, so ready to go?”

        “Whenever you are.” Sun replied, cracking his knuckles.

        The next hour passed pleasantly for all involved. There were several bruises from players colliding with each other, but they were shrugged off within seconds. By the end of it, they were sweaty, and had no idea who won since none of them had bothered to keep score, but smiling after a game well played.

        “Well… I highly doubt at this rate anyone would want to call it a tie.” He said, gasping for air a little.

        “We should have brought Twilight,” Rainbow said, drinking a bottle of water, “she would’ve kept score.”

        “I agree on that one.” He sighed, looking back at the others for a brief moment.

        “You know,” panted Pearl Spark, “we could have… asked… this Twilight.”

        Rainbow facepalmed, “Aw man.”

        “She’s probably busy with something going on right now. Not only is she a princess but once we hit the ground running, she’ll be Beacon’s Headmaster.” Sun sighed. “Even though I haven’t… actually told her yet.”

        Rainbow chuckled, “Man, that is gonna be one epic freak out.”

        “Let’s save that for another day. You think Cruger might be finished with Sage?” He asked, looking back towards where they once were.

        Before his eyes a portal opened and Sage and Cruger stepped out, discussing something on a piece of paper. “The tricky thing about Mana Reactors is that they’re dependant on ambient magic, you gotta factor the position of nearby ley lines if you want to put one in a building,” said Cruger  “I’m telling you we’ve got to put it in the southeast tower.”

        “Where it may be open to sabotage? Doubt it. Basement is better in my opinion.” Sage replied as everyone now noticed the huge broadsword on his back.

        “And limit it to 78% efficiency?” countered Cruger, “If we put it in the tower, the shield can prevent destruction by bombardment, and if a saboteur can get in the tower, they can get in the basement. Putting it in the tower would also prevent them from being able to tunnel in.”

        “If that’s the case, then how do you propose securing it?”

        Sun rolled his eyes, seeing this. “Here we go…”

        Cruger pointed to something on the paper, “The support beams here run straight down to the foundation, we can secure the reactor to that. If you mean security, we put it in this room, no windows, thick walls, and that tower was going to be a low traffic area anyway. Mana reactors are light weight anyway, it won’t fall through the floor.” The Faunus was surprised to see that Sage was having to keep up with him on an intellectual level without getting utterly confused.

        “Is this normal?” He asked Dash.

        “When he’s working on a project,” Dash answered, “told ya he was an egghead.”

        “I heard that,” Cruger said without taking his eyes off the paper. Soon though, it seemed like Sage was nodding his head at one of his proposed suggestions. 

        “I think you got yourself a deal-.”

        “Hey Sage. I noticed the ATV outside. What’s with the-.” Everyone turned to see Neptune walk in on the group as they were talking. “Sage, please don’t tell me you called the cops… I have Ruby causing trouble all over town with that robot girl Penny and now I come back to find you guys. Please don’t tell me these guys have a warrant to search this place.”

        “Search it?” Cruger said, “I’m helping redesign it. Anubis Cruger, Displaced. What’s this about a robot girl causing trouble?”

        “Don’t worry, that’s normal for Penny.” Sun sighed. “She really can catch you off guard at times. She’s a displaced as well, but is a Synthetic with an actual living soul.”

        “Might like to meet her next time,” Cruger said before turning to Sage, “So, anything else we need to iron out?”

        “From the looks of it, we covered everything… Unless there was anything your companions needed to remind you about.” Sage replied, looking over in Sun’s direction.

        “Don’t look at me,” Rainbow said, “I just catch crooks.” The other Rangers nodded in agreement.

        “Well, guess it’s time to go,” Cruger said as they headed back to their vehicles, “Now let’s head ba…”

        Rainbow Dash started laughing, with the others quickly joining in. Fluttershy was still on the jeep, and holding one of the roll bars in a death grip.

        “Okay, what did you do to Shy?” Sun asked. “It looks like you killed a puppy in front of her.”

        Cruger managed to stop chuckling, “Sorry, guess we went a little too fast for her, she’s probably never been in a car before.” Cruger snapped his fingers in front of her face, breaking her out of her trance. In doing so, She fell into the Faunus’ arms and instead, held onto him as she shivered a little. Looking at her, Sun chuckled as she curled up in his arms like a young filly.

        “Dude, you scored.” Neptune stated, causing Sage to facepalm himself as he groaned while Sun just rolled his eyes and looked back at them.

        Cruger chuckled as he mounted his ATV, “Why do I get the feeling that he gets smacked on a regular basis?”

        “Not always… Just once in awhile. Ruby here is really the one with the low IQ. She thought that I was a saiyan upon first glance.” Sun told Cruger as the rest of the squad returned to their own vehicles. “I’m going to guess that this is goodbye?”

        “Of course not,” Cruger said, “This is a see ya later. I’m coming back to teach at the very least, plus I’ve got to make sure Sage put the designs I gave him together right.”

        Sage just nodded his head, giving a fake salute with one of his hands.

        Cruger returned it before turning back to Sun, “Well, if you don’t mind?”

        “Oh yeah,” He said, taking a deep sigh. “Cruger, our contract is complete. Have a safe trip home.”

        Cruger nodded as a portal opened up in front of the convoy, “Take care of yourself monkey boy, and don’t forget to give my offer to everyone else.” He then turned to his team, “Alright gang, let’s roll out.”

        The faunus watched as they went back through the portal, making sure that he couldn’t get run over. He chuckled a little, watching as they disappeared with the portal that closed as each one of them went on their separate ways.




End Tail 19

> Tail 20- Meet the Countess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Meet the Countess




Ponyville

        With the passing of the seasons, the winter snow had melted away. Of course, it was only the beginning of February, but hey… it was at least the start of something good. After meeting Cruger, Beacon’s construction continued to go along smoothly and Sun himself had been working on trying to create an application form to send into the void. After having a talk with Twilight, the Alicorn had suggested for him to keep track of the progress with Beacon by writing in a journal. He was first against the idea because it just made it sound like he was being asked to keep a diary, but after some thought, he actually had come around and made his decision.

        He knocked on the door to Twilight’s room, expecting a response. “Hey Twilight-.” However, to his surprise, the door was left ajar and out on the nearby table was a open book. With no words in it or anything. Funny thing was, when he looked at any previous pages, there was nothing in there either. Maybe this was the Journal that Twilight had out for him for if he came around to his senses? If that was the case, then maybe he should start writing.

Plans for Beacon Academy:

        As of right now, Beacon Academy is going to serve as a school for any civilians or Displaced that want to be able to find out their special skills or talents. As of right now, construction plans are going smoothly and I have already gotten a few other Displaced to be teachers in numerous areas of interest. But there are still a few things on my mind. One of them is students, and an application is still in the process of being created. The second thing is that I need to make sure to tell Twilight about her new role as headmaster. Unfortunately, I just remembered now that both her and Twilight have been called to go to some place by some… cutie map or whatever it’s called. Nevertheless, that needs to be taken care of at the best time possible.

        It was just around then that he felt his token vibrate in his pocket and that someone was summoning him. “Well, guess I can continue later.” Turning around, he grabbed his token out of his pocket and closed the journal that he was using with his tail. Brushing the dust off what appeared to look like a sun shaped crest on the front of it. Originally, he just thought of seeing the symbol as weird and possibly something belonging to Celestia until she gave it as a hand-me-down to Twilight.

        Unaware of the fact that the colors of the sun in this instance were yellow and red, not yellow and light orange like with the Princesses cutie mark.



        Upon arrival, the monkey faunus found himself spat out of the tear in the void that opened with his summoning and landing on what appeared to be a tiled rooftop. Almost instantly, something stood out to him. That… was the population. Most of ponykind here were anthropomorphic, but then there was also the fact that there was a LOT of other figures that looked human, but also had traits of either creatures or animals. Did he end up in a place filled with Faunus? Only one way to find out.

        Using his tail to hold himself, he slowly descended to the nearest open window that he could find. Where he was hearing a very… familiar voice coming from inside. But the first thing that he saw though was the face of what appeared to be a young woman in a burgundy dress.

        “Umm… Good morning I guess-?” He said, only to hear a familiar deep sigh as he turned his head a little to the right as he noticed the second figure in the room. “Lance? What are you doing here?”

        “Are you trying to get the others to see you?” The woman then asked him, causing the Faunus to redirect his attention while maintaining balance.

        “Wait… others?” He asked, releasing his tail and landing on the windowsill as he stepped inside. “Also, not to be rude, but who are you?”

        The first thing he noticed was that the girl had fangs. So either she was a carnivore… or a vampire. But, not to make hasty assumptions, he listened to her response. “I’m Shalltear Bloodfallen. The Blood countess…”

        “Yep. She is a vampire.”

        “She’s still speaking…” Astra reminded him mentally as Sun redirected his attention to her. Just as she was pointing towards Lance.

        “... And that is my dad Lance.”

        “Woah…” Sun’s reaction was a raised eyebrow and him looking back at the Displaced that was his cousin. “Woah, Dad? I know you and Max are getting married, but I honestly didn’t expect that…” By then, it was when he noticed another familiar face. This time, passed out on the floor and drooling on the floor. “Aye yae yae, what happened to Asphy?”

        “It’s a long story and I prefer not to relive it again.” Shalltear said, shaking a small box the size of a cube of sugar as she tossed it up and down in her hands. “And this b*tch in the box is the cause of it.”

        “Sun, she’s referring to Nightmare Moon.” Astra told him mentally as he looked at the box Shalltear was messing with. “I can feel her corruptive presence inside… Oh dear stars.”

        “What’s wrong Astra?” Sun asked.

        “I just had a glimpse of what this “Shalltear” has been through in the last few days. This Nightmare Moon… is even worse than the one in our world.” She said to Sun, speaking in a serious tone. “She had Shalltear injected with a Lust Poison along with almost nearly raping her if it weren’t for Asphyxious and a few other Displaced.”

        “Dear god… That’s just horrible.” Sun replied mentally. It was also then that he noticed something. For being a Displaced that had gone through a lot, she was hiding it very well… A lot like when his mother… Aya, ended up in his Equestria. Was it somehow possible that… something traumatizing and horrible happened to her? Before she could ask anything else though, he heard Lance speak up as he looked back in his direction.

        “Sun, I got to go,” The Adept told him, grabbing hold of his own token. “Can you spend some time with Shalltear?”

        “Sure I guess,” He replied, only to say something shortly afterwards so that was he did not forget about it. “Oh and before you leave, I might need to tell you something… I’m starting a Displaced Academy.”

        The Adept in response just raised an eyebrow and grinned a little. “Seriously?”

        “Yeah. I thought that Displaced who get pulled in don’t necessarily have to go in alone and endure many hardships.” He explained, all the while pointing to Asphyxious as he laid on the ground in his drunken sleep like state. “Plus… Asphy here is going to be one of the teachers.”

        “Seriously?” Shalltear chimed in, eyeing the lich on the ground before looking back at the faunus. “You do know that this guy is hornier than most of the monsters in town right?”

        “So the townsfolk aren’t Faunus… Figures.” Sun sighed deeply. “I know. When her daughter tried hitting on me, he was chasing me for a few hours during a christmas party.” He replied. “Plus, last I heard, he’s been trying to cut back recently.”

        “Sure he is…” Shalltear replied, rolling her eyes and sounding sure about what the faunus was telling her.

        “Yeah, but he’s not a teacher for that. He’s a teacher for Spellcraft, Rune Magic and is also a combat instructor.” He replied to her, noticing the lich mumble to himself in his sleep. “Speaking of which… should we get him back to his home? His wife and hoard might be worried if he’s gone for too long.”

        “I’ll do that afterwards…” The countess spoke, her eyes glowing red for a minute as she licked her lips. “I find him… comfortable to be around.” Lance left the room shortly after that, trusting Shalltear to Sun as he looked back at her. Trying to be nice, he spoke again and said the first thing that came to mind.

        “What do you need assistance with, Madam Shalltear?” All this did was cause Shalltear to flinch a little and get in his face, pointing a finger at his face. Because of the expression on her face and her right hand was gripped in the form of a fist, all that did was make Sun think that he accidently offended her.

        “One, don’t call me madam I feel old when someone calls me that.” The Countess rasped, pulling her finger away as she then folded her arms for a short bit before speaking again. This time answering Sun’s question. “And two, I need you to get me a veil of jelly extract from one of the slime girls in town.”

        “Should I be worried about this?” Sun wondered. Only for him to shake it off and get out a notepad and pen that he kept on him to write down the item he was asked to get. “Okay, what’s her name?”

        “Any one of them would do really. Just tell them I asked for them.”

        “Sounds simple enough. I’ll be right back.” Sun replied, walking out from where he last entered while trying to stay calm. While he was walking along the rooftops of the nearby buildings and homes, a thought entered his mind. A thought that he wanted to ask Astra about. “Hey Astra? What do you think Shalltear might need this extract for?”

        “Honestly, I think it has to do with this Lust Poison that she was speaking of earlier. It’s nothing I’m familiar with, but if it has poison in the title, then that is an indicator that it’s something bad.” She replied to him.

        “Yeah, that’s kind of a no brainer.” He spoke mentally, noticing a sign for what looks like a trading post of some kind. Hopping down, he looked at the sign for the door and noticed some sticky residue on the floor. Carefully, he opened the door and walked inside. Careful enough to not step on the slime as he walked to the counter and rang the bell.

        “Welcome to the item store, my kauken friend.” He heard from the stock room as something was walking towards him.

        “You’re one of the slime girls right?” He guessed, grabbing his notepad as he looked it over. “Shalltear wanted me to pick up something for her. A veil of jelly extract-.”

        “No, I’m Ren Xiongmao, or Panda Girl for most folks.” He heard, lifting his head up to see the store owner. “Momiji Chung Lao. At your service.”

        “Sweet Celestia! That’s too much exposure!! Cover yourself, lady!!” Astra shouted inside of Sun’s head. But Sun just ignored the outburst as he focused on what was going on as he introduced himself. “Sun Wukong, Monkey Faunus…” Looking over the counter and around him for a minute, he then thought his next sentence out. “Uh… Ms. Lao? Shalltear needs the Extract so where can I find the girls? I rather not make her wait.”

        “We got what you need here, cutie.” She replied, winking back at Sun as she used her bamboo stick to bring the item he needed off of a nearby shelf. “That’ll be 100 bits please.” Going into his back pocket, he brought out the required amount of change he needed to pay the clerk as he set the change down on the counter with his tail. She took the payment and complimented him on his purchase. Telling him to come back anytime if he needed anything else.

        “Well, let’s get this back to Shalltear.” He said mentally to Astra, trying to see if she was still personally sane after her closer encounter with Momiji.

        “Yeah and quickly. You walking here on your own is attracting the attention of most of the locals in town. They’re seeing you as a walking chick magnet.” Astra advised him. All Sun did was roll his eyes, walking to Shalltear’s apartment before climbing up the side of it and leaping in from the windowsill… gently to not disturb Asphyxious.

        “Ah, good you made it back.” He heard Shalltear as she walked over to where Sun was, taking the extract that he was handing to her. “I was worried that the slime girls would’ve gotten their hands on you by now.”

        “Well, geez. Thanks for being concerned.” He sarcastically thought. “Actually, I ran into a panda girl named Momiji in the shop. Paid the bits I needed before coming here.”

        “Perfect,” she chimed happily. “With this, I’m halfway there to making a lust poison for Nightmare Moon.”

        “Lust Poison?” Sun asked. This was one thing that both Astra and Sun were very unfamiliar with. Therefore, asking the vampire about it might provide some much needed answers for him.

        “Nightmare Moon wanted to make me into her sex toy, so she injected me with the same poison that I’m making.”

        “Okay, that’s just… that’s just… ugh I can’t even think about it! TMI!!” Astra blurted out inside Sun’s head, causing him to sigh. He though, had a different response to that.

        “Is it suppose to make it worse or is it suppose to be a vaccine?” He knew that back home, Flu shots were used during flu season to prevent people from contracting the flu. Then again, like with certain medicines, the side effects could sometimes make it worse. 

        Shalltear looked back at him and then simply replied to the Faunus. “Yes, right now, I’m using her as a test subject to see if there’s a way to get the poison out of me.”

        “Well that sounds risky. Beforehand though...” He said, noticing that Asphy was still on the floor. He thought that something with him wasn’t right… so he did the most common thing people did when something wasn’t right.

        Poke it with a stick. Or in Sun’s case, his staff. Lightly poking it against the Lich’s staff and getting no response, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Yep, still asleep.”

        That assumption soon dissolved once he noticed the Lich curl up in a ball and start talking to himself. “Hmm… No Len… We can’t do this here… Shalltear will be mad at me….” All he did was glance down at him before looking at Shalltear in confusion. Seconds after he asked her something, his ramblings continued. “Hmmm… Shalltear what are you doing?… No if you bite Len this will get worse… Gwen?... How did you get here?... No stop I don’t want to blight you...”

        “And that… just answered every question I had.” He said, partially disturbed before trying to put a blanket on his shoulders. When he was able to successfully do that, he tried to walk away silently…

        Only for the lich to start hugging his leg like a teddy bear. “Hmm… Oh yes…”

        “Oh COME ON!!!” He cried out inside his head. “Seriously!?” The Faunus tried to pry himself from Asphyxious’ iron grip,  “Well, this is just great…”

        “Hmm… Beef…”

        That, caused Sun to panic a little inside his head. “Oh no! No no no no no!! ABORT! ABORT!! Abandon ship!!” When he tried to struggle a little, his tail brushed across the Lich’s face as he was waking up because of the familiar scent.

        “Sun…?”

        The Faunus breathed out a sigh of relief, using his tail to wipe his face. “I was beginning to wonder when you might wake up. You’re kind of… grabbing onto my leg.”

        Asphyxious let go of his friends leg as he yawned and scratched the back of his head. “I had a dream I was going to eat a roasted beef leg.”

        “That… probably wasn’t the only thing you were dreaming. Good to see that you had come to your senses at least.” The Faunus replied. “Lance was here earlier to check on Shalltear.”

        “Oh? Is she okay?”

        “Better yeah. But what surprised me was when Lance told me that she was one of his daughters.” Even though the comment was simple, it set off something inside the Lich’s head.

        Staring at him, Asphyxious spoke. “Wait, what?”

        “Shalltear is a daughter of Lance and his Fiance Max. Adopted into the family, but something tells me that now I am Uncle Sun.” He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a little. Only to notice the lich have a far off look in his only eye since the other side of his face was covered with an eyepatch. “Something wrong man? You look like you were caught red handed in something.”

        “Nope! Nothing at all… Really, it’s good.”

        “He’s lying.” Astra said. Confirming Sun’s suspicions.

        “… You’re a horrible liar, you know that right?” The Faunus told him, catching the Liches immediate attention, before he drooped his head down in defeat.

        “I… I know… I… asked Shalltear if she could… join… my… hoard…” He spoke, playing with his tail as Sun just raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. He personally thought that this was the reason why Shalltear earlier was doubting on him trying to cut his…. antics.

        “And?”

        “I’m… Not sure… If she said no because of the plan she had for Nightmare Moon. Or if it has to do with her misunderstand my meaning. I just don’t know…”

        “Well… You need to give her some time.” He told him honestly as he unfolded his arms. “She may think that something like that was a little too soon, so you should have her think a little before making a final decision.”

        “I guess you're right… I don’t want to push her into anything right now. With everything that happened.” Asphyxious told him as he turned his head and watched Shalltear work. “Do you know all the details?”

        “Bits and pieces. Why?”

        “I… Felt I could of done more to keep her safe…” Asphyxious groaned as he looks at the floor. “I also… ate Nightmare’s arm… I never questioned this before. How can I eat another living being so… Carefree?”

        “Anger and rage could lead to many things,” Sun said, thinking everything over before he said what came next. “If I were in your position, I would’ve blown her head off for what she tried to do.” The two of them talked for a while before they both finished talking, Asphy himself moving downstairs so he could get himself something to drink as Sun went to try and lend a helping hand to Shalltear.

        “Sorry that took a little while,” He apologized. “Ready to get started?”

        She nodded her head as Shalltear poured the jelly from the veil into the beaker. “Okay, now I need another sample from another monster girl.”

        “Please don’t tell me that this is another one of those fetch quests again… I’m not an errand boy here!” He sighed, grabbing his notepad and tearing off a clean new sheet. “Should I make a list? Something tells me that I need to go shopping if I need to get everything you need for your test, lady Shalltear.” He added the lady part to try and be respectful. But… like before… it blew up in his face.

        “Don’t call me lady, that also makes me feel old as well. Anyway this is the last thing I need for what I’m making.”

        “Well, that’s a relief.” He thought as he put the pen and pad away. “My apologies, what’s the item and who do I need to get it from?”

        “A blood sample from Suzy, the chesire cat.”

        “Alright, where can I find her?”

        “She should be around town,” Shalltear said to him. “Though be warned, she can break the fourth wall.” Before Sun had the chance to say anything, he felt the air in the room change and the hairs on his neck stand up.

        “She’s right behind me, isn’t she?” He asked, only to hear a simple pur as he turned around. “Called it.”

        “Sup monkey butt?”

        Chuckling a little at her humor, sun then replied. “If you’re Suzy, then we were just talking about you. Oh and my name is Sun. Sun Wukong. Shalltear said that she needed a sample of your blood for a test she’s doing.”

        “Smooth…”

        “Oh knock it off? What could go wrong?”

        “She’s a cheshire cat. What do you think?” Astra deadpanned in Sun’s head.

        “I could give you that… But I won’t.”

        “Called it.”

        “Astra… not now.” He sighed. “You do realize she’s right there right?”

        “Yeah, but that does not mean that I’ll fill out your request,” She purred as the cat disappeared. “You want me, you’re going to have to work for it.” With it, Sun had to play along with her mind games. Overall, he had only two shots of getting this right. The first time was when Asphyxious (in his drunken state) shouted loud enough for the house to topple down. But that try only had the syringe be filled with soda.

        The second try though, was much different. Mostly because it started after Suzy saw Sun’s exposed chest. “Oh my, I’m surprise the girls in town haven’t gotten their hands on you.”

        “I’m surprised that you haven’t tried to do that yet.”

        “Sorry, you’re sexy… but you’re not my type.” Suzy said as she turned around and noticed a few monsters looking through the window. “But I think they have you as their target.”

        Sun turned around and soon noticed what she was talking about. “Well sh*t…” He cursed. But not because of the monsters staring at him. It was because of the circumstances. Suzy’s back was exposed, turned away from him as he used his tail to try again. This time being more successful and the cheshire cat only noticed this after Sun had finished with the withdrawal.

        “...... Oh you are so going to pay for that.”

        “Yeah… maybe next time.” With that, the Faunus leaped for safety to where Shalltear was in the guest room as he locked the door behind him. “Okay… here you go Shalltear, some blood in exchange for an angry feline.” Shalltear smirked, saying a few wise comments as she mixed the blood in with the extract. Things were going according to plan as she placed it in the fridge downstairs. Even though Sun had suggested for her not to do so because of the drunken lich that was in a drinking contest downstairs.

        That same thought was coming back to him once he found Asphyxious on the floor, with a familiar mixture dripping from his mouth.

        “SHALLTEAR!!!” He shouted with a bit of worry. “Asphy drank it!”

        “Keep it down… my head hurts…” The lich moaned a little, trying to put a pillow over his head. Only leading to Sun pulling it away from him as he whacked him with it like a filly was in a pillow fight.

        “You idiot!!”

        “What? What’s going on? The last thing I remember is having the drinking game with Amy.” 

        “Then tell me why did you drink what was in the beaker in the fridge?! That was suppose to be Shalltear’s vaccine for the lust poison!” He snapped at him, only causing the lich to try and say some wise remarks to him as the faunus groaned. “Well great… Shalltear’s going to freak out once she hears about this.” As he said that though, he happened to notice the vampire by the door as she looked at the two of them. More specifically, at Asphyxious.

        “……… You do realize you’re an idiot right?” She deadpanned.

        “I was drunk… Everyone is an idiot when they're drunk.” The Lich groaned.

        “That… is the worst alibi I’ve heard if that’s even suppose to be one.” Astra replied, sighing a little in Sun’s mind. “No wonder she’s into him.”

        “How do you figure?”

        “Ever wonder why Shalltear said she’s… comfortable… around him?”

        Sun just thought about it for a few minutes, only not getting anything but just weird thoughts. “Good god, Astra!”

        “What? It’s just one possibility.”

        “One that’s WAY out of left field.” Sun groaned as he saw Shalltear send Asphyxious home. Only leading to her saying something to him.

        “And as for you Sunny, you can go home as well.” She told him, only for Sun to shake his head in response.

        “I wouldn’t mind staying a little longer. Something’s telling me that Asphy’s escapades are more than just drinking that…” He replied to her. “Plus, wouldn’t that mean we would need to make another?”

        All that had her do was groan for a minute, before levitating herself towards her room. “After what happen to me yesterday and from working on that potion. I think I’m gonna call it a day and relax for the rest of the day.” She told him, while Sun offered to stand guard for a while. For one moment, he even brought up the school to see if she was interesting. At least she was going to consider it though, that was a good thing… But it didn’t last long.

        “Well, I thought I never see a ghost from the past again.”

        In turn, Sun shot upward at the sound of the voice. For a moment, he was confused. “Who said that?”

        “Oh Uncle Sun, it’s been forever since I’ve seen you.”

        Now the voice became familiar to him. Looking at the door to Shalltear’s room and remembering that she was lying down, he turned to the window and looked outside. Only to see that everything around him was in suspended animation. Leaves that were suppose to fall were stopped in midair. “Wait… Shalltear?”

        “Well aren’t you just a smart monkey. Guess you’re not as dumb as before when we first meet long time ago.” He heard as the Faunus dropped down from the window. Only to hear the voice again. “If you want to talk with me, meet me outside of Ponyville.”

        “Sun… I don’t like this.” Astra said. “I think we’re walking into a trap.”

        “Again, Astra… That’s a no brainer.” He sighed, complying with the instructions the ominous voice was giving him. “Plus, it doesn’t look like we got any choice in the matter.”

        As he ran outside of town, he soon found the source of the voice. A strange figure that resembled Shalltear, but was not Shallltear at all. For her appearance was a lot different and looked more… sinister.

        “… I’m going to go on a whim here and say that you are Shalltear, but not the one I know.” The Faunus said.

        “Great deduction, Captain Obvious.”

        “Not now, Astra.”

        “You are correct mortal, but you should know who I am seeing how this is the multiverse. But something tells me that your mind wouldn’t even understand so I’ll explain it to you” The Vampire said as she appeared in front of Sun in an instant. “I’m Shalltear’s future self if she chose to kill Celestia and rule over Equestria and part of the multiverse.”

        “Hey!! I take offense to that! I’m part of this monkey’s mind, you little Bi-!”

        “Language Astra!” Sun interjected mentally, before speaking. “And why exactly are you here?”

        “Simple really, I want more power. So where else but to go back in time and go after an alternate version of myself. That and along with my former friends and family.”

        “…… Sorry, but that just sounds like Terminator to me.”

        “What’s a Terminator?”

        “Old action movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger.” He tried to explain.

        “Okay… What’s a Schwarzenegger?”

        “... Let’s save that conversation for later.” He said mentally, focusing on the vampire in front of him as he watched her channel a bit of lightning. Lightning that belonged to his cousin.

        “Unlike the terminator, I can steal other displaced powers.” She chuckled, before pulling off what looked like a laugh of insanity. “Oh how fun it was to kill mother and father. The look on their faces were laughable to watch.”

        “... Okay, that b*tch just crossed a line.”

        “Language, Sun! You kiss your mother with that mouth!?!”

        “Oh shut up, Nick Fury!!” Sun growled, grabbing his Gunchaku.“...... Look, that may be in your timeline, but things are different here. And I’m not taking what you said about Lance lightly.”

        “Oh? And what can you do about? I’m going to do the same thing I did back home with him, but before I do that. I’m gonna have some fun with my alter self, slowly and playfully.” Sun cursed under his breath. She was right… Unless he could pull out something now, then Shalltear was in danger.

        “Sun, this may be the best time to try something out… I have a feeling that we could surprise her.” She said. “Since my energy is combined with yours, it means that you are a lot faster and you can use your abilities in different formats.”

        “Really? Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

        “I didn’t really think it was important…”

        “... Alright, what do we do then?”

        “Just leave that to me. Focus on keeping her occupied.” Astra instructed him as he pulled out his weapons. A new aura glowing from him.

        “Really now? Do you honestly think I would let that happen?”

        “Ah, pointless fighting from a weakling.” The Vampire mocked as she backed away from Sun, a crimson aura appearing around herself. “Just like last time... Do try not to disappoint me like last time uncle Sun.”

        “Step forward.”

        “Oh trust me…” He said, vanishing almost instantly before reappearing behind her and hitting her point blank. “You made a wrong decision coming here.”

        The Vampire simply just scratch the back of her head and turned around to look at Sun. “I hope that wasn’t the best of you abilities uncle Sun. Because if it is, then you need to train more.” What was not seen by her though was Sun’s next attack as he changed out the ammunition in his weapons.

        “Actually, this is just the beginning.” He said, firing off multiple rounds as he got up close and personal with the vampire. With the new shells he put in, the Faunus was firing off rounds of dust that fused two different forms to make steam. It allowed for him to hit the vampire with multiple strikes since each shot blinded her and her field of vision, not allowing her to see what he was doing now. He formed the energy he would muster up in a semblance based attack, only to have it burst outward in an explosive punch. He figured that if instead of letting his semblance form clones and letting it come to his fingertips, it would let him attack more effectively.

        “Interesting little trick, monkey.” Shalltear chuckled, reappearing from behind him in the shadows. But you should know the difference between a time double and the real one. You can thank Max for teaching me that little skill of hers.” She said as she grabbed Sun by the tail and toss him towards a rotting tree.

        “If it’s a clone fight you want, it’s a clone fight you’re gonna get!” Sun smirked. “Says the one that can’t tell which one was a decoy!”

        To his surprise, the steam ammunition served two purposes. One was for blinding the vampire. The other was for letting a fake version of himself commence his attack on Shalltear while the real one watched what was occurring from a nearby tree. Letting him drop down as he shot an explosive round in her face.

        “I’m a trickster after all. I have many tricks up my non existent sleeves.”

        “Sun, Behind you-!” The second he turned around, he saw his opponent re-emerge and grab him by the neck. Causing him to choke and drop his guns.

        “Almost forgot about that trait of yours. But even tricksters have moments of screwing up… Now, you die-.” Then, the vampire’s eyes widened. Something she saw caused her to drop Sun to the ground and flee in a state of fear. When the Faunus got back on his feet, he turned to see a strange grey girl with a hood over her head.

        “What is it with this place!? Can’t they PLEASE cover themselves!!!? Is that too much to ask?” Astra yelled in Sun’s head.

        “Uhh thanks…… who are you?”

        The figure just remained silent, but hearing her speak just left a chill down his spine. “The Grim Reaper.”

        “O...kay. Thanks for the help… Why is that Shalltear afraid of you though?” Sun asked, thinking that she might have some information on the vampire they just encountered.

        “Everyone is afraid of death. Even you were the moment you felt that surge of power flowing from her hand.” She spoke, with no tone in her voice.

        “Well… At least she’s honest.” Sun muttered to himself. “You may be right… But still… thanks. I owe you for that.”

        “It wasn’t your time to die yet. I prefer to not collect a soul that isn’t ready to pass on.”

        He nodded his head. It made sense to hear this from the reaper of all individuals. But then, he had a question to ask. “Do you have a name?”

        “Sun Wukong, Age 18, displaced June 25, 2015. You’re real name is Sean Jiris before you got displaced along with your mother, who I had the pleasure to bring back from the dead along with Jane Anderson.” She said as she turned the pages of a grimly looking spellbook she had.

        “I was asking for your name, not mine. But oka-.” That was when one part of that sentence caught his attention. “Wait, you brought back my mother? Now I am really grateful for that.”

        All she did was blink a minute, before returning her gaze at the faunus. “Just don’t act so reckless around an enemy that years beyond your understanding. Had I not come in time, she would have killed you and stolen whatever knowledge and powers that you have gain.”

        “I’ll take your advice.”

        “Sure… Take advice from the Reaper of all people. I just hope we don’t die from Streakin-.”

        “Astra, I’m trying to talk and get some information.”

        “Sorry… I’m just reeeeeeeally uncomfortable with this place.”

        “Can’t you go get some sleep?”

        “…… You make a good point. Good night!” With that, Sun sighed deeply as he refocused his attention. He continued to speak with the reaper for a little while before finding a pair on index cards on the ground and when he picked them up, the time freeze spell disappeared. As he raced back to Shalltear’s home, he flipped the cards over and saw the label PROPERTY OF SHALLTEAR BLOODFALLEN on the backside in blood red letters. Soon, he was running up the side of the apartment as he hopped back into the second floor room. Approaching Shalltears door with caution, he knocked softly.

        “Hey Shalltear, I found something I think belongs to you.”

        She opened the door and Sun was surprised to see her of all people sleeping in a t-shirt and underwear. Honestly, he thought that for someone who normally wore dresses on a daily basis, she would have something like a nightgown. “What is it? It’s 12 midnight, can’t you see I was busy master…..sleeping.”

        “Well, that could mean many things…” Sun sighed, handing her the index cards that he had picked up on the way back to her apartment. “Well, you might want to see these.” In response to her holding them, the two cards materialized into two different objects. The first being a set of crimson armor that landed with a loud THUD! while the other formed into a Lance that formed in Shalltear’s hands.

        “Never thought I would see these two again. Where did you find them?”

        “That’s a bit hard to explain… I found them after running into a girl who turned out to be the grim reaper.” He said, not stating anything else. “You said you were worried that something bad might happen soon. Maybe these could help you get ready for whenever that day comes.”

        “Only thing left is to remove the magic seal that Celestia had on me when she hit me with the Elements of Harmony, and I’ll be back to my former glory.” She grinned, satisfied with having the armor and weapon back. Sun though, had something to ask in response to her last sentence.

        “What about the lust poison? Wouldn’t that need to be taken care of too?” Sun then asked, curious to hear her answer.

        “I’m working on it. The side effects haven’t hit me yet, so I’m pretty much in the clear until I smell something sweet.”

        “Riiiiiight… Says the fact you were mastersleeping.” He said, chuckling a little and noticing what might have looked like a blush on her face. He knew that when it came it side effects, it’s reflected not just on what you see or smell, but also what you do and your actions. He was a little concerned for her, but right now, he just thought that he should play it safe. If she wasn’t so concerned about it, he should be either.

        “... You do know I can throw your ass out on the street, and the monster girls in town will have a field day with you right?”

        The Faunus gulped a little, scratching the back of his head. “Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you, Countess.” He apologized frantically.

        “Good, now then I’m going back to sleep before something weird happens.” Shalltear said as she walked back to bed. Sun himself just laid down, leaning against the wall in a relaxed pose. Trying to fall asleep… Despite the strange noises he kept hearing throughout the night and the fact that he was sleeping on the floor instead of the bed. Mostly because it seemed like the sheets needed to be washed with another half being that Shalltear might get mad at him for if he tried to sleep in it.



Next Morning

        Sun woke up to the sound of voices echoing from downstairs and one of them mentioning his name as he slowly rose from his spot on the floor and began to walk downstairs. Finding Shalltear with two others and all of them were having breakfast.

        “Wait, that monkey dude is your uncle? How many family members have you not told us about?” One of them asked as they all turned to see him walking down the stairs. 

        “Morning Shalltear.” He said, looking at the vampire. “God help me, I need some coffee.”

        “Morning Uncle Sun, how did you sleep last night?” Shalltear asked him.

        “Alright for the most part. Slept on the floor since I didn’t want to try sleeping in your bed and possibly make you mad for not asking beforehand. Did I miss anything?” He asked, getting a banana from a fruit bowl in the center of the table, that he then removed the peel and tossed it in the trash.

        “Nothing much really. Janelle and Suzy are at Sweet Apple Acres, Monica is busy helping around town, Vinyl and Octavia are off at work. So that just leaves Me, Shalltear, and Rebecca alone in the house.” One of the other girls replied.

        “And I’m going to take a guess that almost everyone except Octavia and Vinyl are Displaced?” He asked, causing everyone to look at him, almost choking on whatever they were eating. “Just curious, that’s all.”

        “Pretty much all the monsters in town are Displaced that have been sealed away for the past one thousand years or so. You can thank Celestia for the blunder.” The one known as Rebecca said.

        “Well… That just makes things more interesting.” Sun replied. “Most of the displaced in my world are Human or Faunus. Humans with animal traits… Not to mention that I was telling Shalltear something that I thought the rest of you might be interested in.” He noticed the look on Shalltears face, almost like she was trying to say “Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it! Please don’t say it!!” telepathically.

        “What would that be?”

        “Back in my world, we’ll be opening an academy for Displaced in the Spring. That way, Displaced don’t have to be sent into the void and have to figure out what happened to them. I asked Shalltear if she and the rest of you would be okay with possibly being students. Asphyxious is even one of the teachers.” The Faunus told them.

        “Huh, that would be interesting. But we would have to decline that offer of yours.” The other one, whose name was Sally said as she took a sip of coffee. “I’m sure Shalltear would join seeing how Asphyxious is there, but we can’t. Mostly because the king of monsters is holding an academy for monsters like us.”

        “Must… resist… temptation!” Sun thought as he saw her set the cup of coffee down on the table. “I see… I was going to say that you could make your own weapons and that where I’m from, almost every weapon is also a gun. But-.”

        “It’s interesting, but like Sally said we have to decline.” Rebecca said as she interrupted Sun. “But I’m sure some of the monsters in town wouldn’t mind joining.”

        “Well, it’s under construction right now. But it will be open in two months. It’ll give you some time to think on it.” He replied to them. “Besides, one of the humans there named Ruby has a scythe/combat action sniper rifle.”

        That… only caused Shalltear to look back at him with a weird expression. “......I get feeling that this Ruby girl has low IQ.”

        “You’re right on that… The second she saw my Celestia and Luna, she thought they were in league with the FBI.” Sun sighed, groaning a little upon recalling his first encounter with her. “Besides Ruby, her sister Yang is there too… Along with Weiss and Blake, who is a black cat faunus.”

        “Dude, your friends are weird.”

        “Trust me… I just ran into them. Ruby thought I was a saiyan at first glance. So yeah… Like Shalltear said… Low IQ.”

        “.....Welp I’m not going to your world anytime soon.” Shalltear said as she munched on a piece of toast.

        “Right now, yes. It’s either that or get stuck in Lance’s universe… Would any of you be familiar with the comic books they have here? Like Power Ponies?” He asked, thinking that Spike would be one for reading an issue right around now.

        “.....And that’s another world on the list of places I won’t be visiting anytime soon.”

        “Maybe once you guys decide to use your vacation days-.”

        “WE HAVE VACATION DAYS!?!” Rebecca and Sally shouted in unison. This in turn, Sun saw as his cue to return home as he looked back at Shalltear.

        “Well, I gotta get back home. Just summon me if you need me Shalltear.” He told her, setting down his token on the table by the Countess. A gold medallion with a monkey insignia on it that looked to be an ancient coin.

        “Will do uncle! Here’s my token if you need me.” She replied, handing the Faunus a bat plushie token as Sun caught it.

        “Thanks! Oh Fluttershy will have a kick out of this. Thanks Shalltear!” He said, before using his own token to return home.



Back in his world…

        By the time Sun had returned back home, he found himself back in the castle of friendship and it was a little bit before Dawn. He noticed the book remained untouched from the way he left it earlier, so taking a moment, he decided it to take it with him as he left to Fluttershy’s cottage. As he went to his room upstairs, he cracked open the book… only to find the most strangest thing inside.

        Somehow… someone had responded to him. 

            Wow I didn’t know you was making a new school. I don’t know who these displaced are but they sound like they could use the help. By the way the girls want to come over and see it but I thought I’d ask you first if that okay.

        Taking a moment to process this, Sun grabbed a pen out of his pocket and began to write in response.

        Umm… Not to sound rude, but who is this?

        Twilight it’s me… you know, Sunset? Are you trying to play a joke on me? Remember how badly that went last time. It was funny but not for the reason you think it was.

        Sun stopped for a second. This required a bit more time to process now. One, he was dealing with some kind of mystic book. Two, it seemed like it worked like writing a letter to someone… And three… someone thought of him as Twilight… Oh the humanity.

        Yeah… Actually, I just came across this while looking for Twilight. Only to turn out that she’s not home right now.

       Who this and where Twilight…

        Whoa, hang on! I was getting there, Ms. Sunset. Ironically, my name is Sun. Sun Wukong. I’m a faunus, or to phrase it in less complex terms, human with animal traits. He sighed for a minute, until he saw something else appear in the book this time.

       Oh my gosh, are you a monkey?! Pinkie Pie Give that back! Wait, are you writing down everything I'm saying? Yes I am. Stop it and give that back!

        “O… kay. That’s… weird.” Sun said to himself. Technically, yes. I am a monkey faunus. Like I first said, I’m a Displaced. A human who is taken from their home and brought into another world as someone else. This typically happens at costumed events, but that just sounds like a stereotype. And yes, before you even ask, I am a person on two legs walking around with a bunch of ponies. The same can be said about Ruby, the crazy one with the scythe/combat action sniper rifle. Penny, the socially awkward, yet awesome synthetic. Weiss, the living diva who can also be bossy. Yang, the party animal. Blake, the black cat faunus version of Twilight minus the bow covering her cat ears. My friends, Neptune, Sage and Scarlett along with a few others. Also, we ended up here with our own tools. Because every weapon here… is also a gun. Something that would make Ruby squeal like a fangirl.

        Sorry got the book back, Pinkie Pie's going on and on about throwing you all a party.

        My Pinkie Pie (The Earth Pony) already did it… Don’t get me started with Nora. Sun wrote down as he looked outside. She’s another Displaced who is just as hyper, but also carries a grenade launcher that turns into a sledgehammer.

        ...I just asked the others what a grenade launcher is and that doesn't sound safe to me…

        How else do you think we are going to protect ourselves from Grimm then? Sun then wrote. Oh and Grimm are monsters that form from negative emotions. You know, like Anger, wrath. That sort of thing?

        Rainbow Dash wanted me to tell that cool. No wait awesome. Now she wants one of these weapons, I don’t think that a good idea.

        Trust me, most weapons here can switch between a melee weapon and firearm. Mine’s a bo staff that’s also Gunchaku (Nunchaku+Shotguns). Trust me, Fluttershy here was first confused when I told her about that and Twilight thought that just sounded theoretical. 

        Someone here had a question, Sun. Are you dating anyone? Rarity asked… I don’t know why. 

        Well, actually I’m in a relationship with Fluttershy (The Pegasus) and we’ve been together for the last three months… Oh sh*t. That reminds me, I need to prepare for Heart’s and Hooves day!

       Okay, our Fluttershy just fainted after reading that. And Rainbow Dash is laughing. Well I hope you have a good time oh and tell Twilight I need to talk to her.

        Probably next time I see her. Sun then wrote inside. Oh and before I forget, here’s a picture. He then took a pencil and spent another five minutes sketching himself out as he then got his pen back. Yeah, don’t think I messed up with the shirt. I normally dress like that.

        Mr Sun. Would you like to go to out to Dinner some time? Once he saw that, Sun just put his pen away and closed the book.

        “...... Twilight’s friends are weird.” He sighed before lying on the couch to get some sleep.



Early Morning…

        The Faunus that laid upstairs wasn’t able to sleep much that night and about a couple hours before Sunrise, he was lying awake in his makeshift bed. Since he couldn’t really do anything until morning in threat that he might disturb someone, Sun turned towards the book he found the other night. Finally coming up with something to say as he wrote it down.

        Sorry for the long pause in the conversation, I fell asleep beforehand. I’m not sure who wanted to ask that, but I was thinking that if you were asking me that Ms. Sunset, then I think maybe we should get to know each other a little better first. Because hearing you offering me dinner just made me think I would be going behind Fluttershy’s back. Not to mention bring back old memories of a date gone wrong that I rather not remember because of family reasons.

        Speaking of family, I can say that mine is very… diverse. I don’t have any siblings, but whatever family I can account for is mostly Displaced like I am. My mother is Displaced as someone named Aya Brea, my cousin Lance is displaced as a lightning based adept (human with psychic) abilities and I can safely bet that my aunt and uncle are probably also Displaced despite the fact that they died in the real world. Oh and not to mention that Lance is going to be a married man soon and that I now found out that one of my nieces is a displaced that’s a vampire.

        Trust me, this might sound crazy, but it’s all true. I kid you not. However, it’s your choice if you want to believe me or not. Maybe you should come over and see me in person first. Therefore, we can finally get acquainted with one another and possibly learn a little bit more. Because personally, I was surprised about having someone else be on the other end of the line.

        With that finally written after giving it some thought, Sun just used the opportunity to clear his mind. The past few days were just flat out crazy for him. With newfound responsibilities involving both family life and life at home. However… oddly enough, hearing from Sunset actually was… interesting. A change of pace from what he normally would have to handle and he liked it. 

             I’m so sorry about before, one of my friends wanted to see if they could get a date with you after seeing your art. But I’m happy to hear things are going well for you. Also we'd like to see the opening of your new school. I’m still waiting on a reply from Twilight, but she could be really busy being a princess and everything.

        Sun smirked a little, sighing happily as he began to write his response. You are right about Twilight. Right now, she and Fluttershy have to solve some… friendship problem or something like that, so she might not be back until tomorrow. Currently though, I’m still trying to think of an application form for future students. Because as of right now, I only have a few teachers and one of them is a weird undead lich. Seriously, just don’t ask. Any suggestions with the form before I try to compose it and send it into the void (You heard me right. That’s how most Displaced meet others).

        It took a little bit of time before Sun got a reply. Just to ask, does this Lich guy call himself Asphy?

        … Okay, how exactly did you know that? He then wrote, surprised to see that appear in the book.

      Well, let’s say when Rainbow was doing a band, he and another Twilight show up… It was kind of strange, even they didn’t know what was going on.

        Sun could only just facepalm himself as he groaned a little. Well, yes. Asphy is a teacher… Hey, just wondering this randomly, but are you doing anything right now? Because if you aren’t… well, maybe you can come over here so I can meet you in person. You said about some kind of Mirror right? Would that be in Twilight’s Castle?

        Yes, are you sure that’s okay? The others want to know if they can come to.

        Technically for me, it’s four o'clock in the morning and two hours before sunrise. They can come if they wish, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole “mirror” thing because I don’t exactly know what that is. With that, Sun took the book with him as he leaped from the top floor window of the cottage as he went over to Twilight’s castle. Along the way, the book glowed briefly for him to look at once he made it to the castle and leaned against the wall, nearby the Cutie Map.

        It’s a large mirror that should be magical. Twilight must of put it in a safe place where no one will notice it. Try looking for a large room with a lot of space.

        Sun followed the instructions, looking around and thinking one of two options. Either the giant hall where the Cutie Map was… or the personal study that looked like a reference section in a library. It took a bit, but he soon found it.

        There we go. Found it in Twilight’s study. Looks like a bookaholic’s paradise because of the amount of textbooks here. I’m ready when you guys are. He wrote, closing the book as he leaned against a stack of large textbooks. Waiting patiently for this Sunset and a few of the people she knew to cross over. Soon, the mirror began to glow as Sun watched a few figures step out.

        “Wow so this is pony world, huh Sunset?” Asked a mare who looked like Rainbow Dash. Just with her mane in a ponytail.

         “Yes Rainbow, this is Equis. Hello you must be... Sun.” Said Sunset as she stared at him.

        “Yeah, that’s me. I did kind of tell you that I was a monkey faunus.” He said, as his tail became visible to them.

        “He’s a Saiyan!” Yelled a mare who looked like Pinkie only she had confetti in her mane and tail.

        “Not Saiyan. Faunus. As in humans with animal traits… You must be the friends that Sunset was mentioning.” He replied, having his Bo staff now over his shoulders. “Nice to meet all of you.”

        “Well it’s nice to meet you, Sorry about being so rude before Mr. Sun.” Said the mare who looked like Rarity who was wearing a hat.

        “It’s alright… How about you all introduce yourselves?” He suggested.

        “Hello, I am Rarity. It’s nice to meet you.” 

        “I’m Rainbow Dash, but call me Dash.”

        “Name Applejack nice ta meet ya.” This mare had some kind of jacket on.

        “Oh, Umm… I’m Fluttershy… Nice to umm meet you.” This Fluttershy wore a hair pin in her mane and looked a bit different on the outside,

        “Hi… I’m Twilight and this… All this is so amazing.” From what Sun could notice, this Twilight had a pair of glasses on and had her mane in a ponytail like Rainbow Dash.

        “I’m Pinkie Pie! Also known as Pinkipler on youtube!” 

        In that moment was when all seven of them got a surprise from the left where the door to the room was. “And I’m NORA! Vanquisher of Grimm and Queen of Pancakes!!” The orange haired girl cried out, surprises all seven of them as Sun could only facepalm himself.

        “No one is the Queen of pancakes but me!” Yelled Pinkipler.

        “Ooooh really?” She asked, bringing out her weapon in her grenade launcher form as it transformed into a hammer in front of their eyes. “You want to prove it?”

        “Nora, we’re not fighting now.” Sun sighed. “Besides, why are you here?”

        “Pinkie felt a doozie and she and I came to see what’s up.”

        “... Wait a minute… Are you telling me that-?”

        “Oh Sunny? Are you in here-?” A certain party mare asked as she entered the room from the entrance. Seeing Nora and… herself. Before squealing like a fanfilly. Sunset friends just stared at this being stunned by both the weapon Nora had and the fact there were now two Pinkie Pies in the same room, talking so fast that no one can understand them.

        “What did I tell you? Any weapon here… is also a gun.” He said, collapsing his staff as he showed them Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang. “Even Nunchaku like mine.”

        “That so COOL!” Yelled Dash as she ran up to Sun even she had wings but didn’t use them.

        “Trust me, that’s only the tip of the iceberg…” He said, looking at Nora as she was hugging both Pinkies in her iron grip

        “Sunset, you do know you have a horn on your head right?” Asked Twilight as she looked at it. This made Sunset laugh.

            “I don’t think you realized this but so do you and Rarity.”

        Both of them stare at one another, before realizing what their companion meant. It didn’t help the fact of what Sun said afterwards.

        “Not only that, but Rainbow and Fluttershy have wings.”

        “WE DO!?” They yelled and looked themselves over. Only for Rainbow Dash’s wings to soon unfold as she tried stretching them out.

            “This feels so weird…” Said Rainbow as she moved her wings.

        “You’ll get use to it… Come follow me and I can show you what we got so far.” He said, having the group follow him as he lead them out of the study and towards the courtyard. “Beacon itself is halfway complete with construction. By March, it should be ready for anyone to come by.” He explained, looking at the others. “Impressed?”

         “I sooo want to enroll here.” Said Rainbow Dash as she looked on in awe.

        “Trust me, like I said before, we have a lot of others here too.” He said, handing a few images of the people he mentioned before. “First is Ruby, with the Combat action sniper rifle/scythe. Second is her sister Yang, with shotgun gauntlets. Weiss with her specialty rapier. Blake with her blades and handgun blade. Team JNPR, which Nora is a part of. Team CFVY, with Coco and the bag that turns into a minigun, and also my friends for Team SSSN. Lastly, there’s Penny, the synthetic.” With that, he handed a few more cards to them. “And these are the professors.”

        “Oh my, who is this handsome young man?” Asked Rarity as she looked over the picture. Sun then leaned over, looking at the one that she was referring to.

        “That’s Asphyxious… Or Asphy for short. May be a bit… weird, but he’s an interesting guy to say the least. Have his token to summon him if I need him for anything out of the ordinary-.”

        “He looks so much older in this.” She said blushing a little.

        “Well technically, he’s an immortal Dracolich.” Sun sighed, soon noticing both Pyrrha and Jaune practicing in the training grounds. “and Undead. But still-.”

        “Spike, we’re home!!” A familiar voice echoed from the front of the castle as everypony soon turned to see Twilight and Fluttershy enter from the front. “How is-...... everything?”

        “Umm Hello again miss Twilight.” The Twilight with glasses said with a sheepish smile. This only caused the Alicorn to look at Sun, her gaze narrowing.

        “What… did you do?”

        “Okay… but you can’t be mad at me.”

         “What, Did you do?!”

        “Well first off…” The Faunus replied, trying his best to stay calm. “I was minding my own business.”

         “LIAR!” yelled the alicorn.

        “I WAS!!” The Faunus responded.

            “Oh really? Care to explain why Sunset and my other friends from the mirror are here?”

        “Well… you did suggest me to start writing in a journal…” He said, causing Sunset to look at him a little.

        “...... Oh dear Celestia.”

        “Psst, Sunset are these two married or something?” Asked Rainbow Dash as she whispered to Sunset.

        “We aren’t married…” Sun deadpanned. “Just a little… miscommunication.”

        “Besides Sun is dating Fluttershy.” Said The Alicorn Twilight then stopped. Both Fluttershy’s had huge blushes on their faces.

        “To further clarify, the Fluttershy I know.” Sun added on. Rainbow just laughed.

        “It’s okay. We understand what you meant.” Said Sunset as she jabs Rainbow with her hoof. “Anyway let's talk over lunch, I have a feeling this will be a long story.”

        “Trust me… it is… Oh and I hope you mean Brunch. Celestia just raised the sun.” The Faunus mentioned as the sunlight from outside poured into the room. Giving light to the entire room around them.

        “Wait, isn’t Celestia a personable here?” Asked Applejack as Sunset friends look at Sun and the others. Sun and Twilight looked to Sunset.

        “You didn’t tell them?” She asked.

         “I thought you were going to tell them. Until we saw that other you with Asphyxious!” Said Sunset annoyed. When hearing his name, the Alicorn’s eyes began to twitch a little as Sun sighed.

        “Uhh… What’s wrong?” The Rarity that was behind Sunset asked.

        “Twilight has had a few… strange encounters with Asphyxious. An experiment with trying to learn about the Displaced ended up with him arriving in her room while she was asleep… and getting blasted all the way to the other side of town.” Sun sighed. “So until they’re on better terms… let’s not mention Asphy for the time being.”

        “Aww why he was a great snuggle buddy.” Said Pinkpiler. “Him and the other Twilight slept like logs together.” Sun just rolled his eyes, looking back at the other Pinkie as he then turned towards Nora.

        “Nora, prepare some pancakes… I have a feeling this is going to be a LONG morning.”




End Tail 20

> Tail 21- Coffee and Conversations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Tail 21- Coffee and Conversations




Castle of Friendship (Dining Room)

        As the smell of freshly made pancakes can be heard from the kitchen, everypony soon sat down around the table and got themselves comfortable. After their… unexpected arrival, Twilight and Sun had to catch Sunset Shimmer up to speed on what had been happening over the last couple of months. Primarily because there had been some major changes ever since Sun and the others started living in Ponyville.

        “So…” Twilight broke the silence, the princess clearing her throat. “What would you like to ask first?” It might not have exactly been the best of questions to start with, but at least it was a good way to begin the conversation.

        “Well, I guess I’d like to ask how can Celestia move the sun seeing as it a scientific impossibility.” Unicorn Twilight began to speak as she adjusts her glasses. “I mean the sun is a star a ball of gas and plasma. I mean the amount of gravity that would be in play could throw the whole solar system out of place.”

        “Twilight, I think she meant something else besides that our teachers being royalty.” Applejack spoke up as she try to pick up a fork with her hoof, but was unsuccessful. “Like how exactly do you hold things with these?”

        “Who cares?” Pinkiplier asked. “This world is magic! Do not question it!” She then tried to pick up the pancake, but failed. “How the heck do you eat these?”

        “To answer your first question Twilight, it’s magic.” Sun replied. “Celestia is basically a goddess here. With Immortality and everything. How else can she be alive for over 1000 years?”

        “A good workout.” Pinkie Pie chuckled, smiling a little while watching her doppelganger struggle with eating breakfast.

        “She's an Immortal! Duh! A Goddess would be invincible!” Pinkiplier added on, giggling a little to add to it. “No seriously, how do you eat these?”

        “Anyway’s I wanted to know when this beacon place will be ready! I can’t wait to join!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed as her wings spread out randomly. “Wow, I’ve got to get control of these things.” 

        “By spring, so I assume a month at most.” Sun replied, in which Rainbow groaned as she put her head on the table.

        “That’ll be too loooong...” Rainbow whined as she began to eat a pancake. Using her teeth and hooves to tear into the warm and fluffy meal as some syrup got stuck to her face. 

        “Honestly, it’s been a lot faster than originally expected.” Twilight replied as the Alicorn looked back at the pegasus, while using magic to hold a napkin as she gently wiped the maple syrup off of her face. “Again, a month is at most. The least amount of time possible might be two weeks if we don’t face any sudden dilemmas.” All seven of the new ponies in the room, including Sunset Shimmer all glanced at one another with a puzzled expression on their faces. It took a couple of moments in order for Twilight to come up with the right words to say, but soon, she explained a little further about the dilemmas that she was referring to. “Those being if we have any more people show up out of the blue or if we get reports of Grimm attacks in the Everfree Forest or outside of town.” 

        “What may I ask is a Grimm? They sound dreadful.” said Rarity as she looked at the Alicorn Twilight use her magic to set her napkin back down on the table.

        “Twilight can you teach me magic?” Asked the unicorn Twilight as she having a hard time trying to understand her magic. Sunset just smiled at her friend.

        “Of course I can. Maybe after breakfast,” The alicorn smiled as she looked to Rarity. “As for your question on the Grimm, I believe Sun can answer that one for you.” She said, looking towards the Faunus as he straightened himself up.

        “Grimm are monsters. Creatures of destruction that lack a soul and are drawn to negative emotions such as hate, envy, sadness and loneliness. Often heading towards the source. There are multiple types and ancient cultures once believed that the Grimm were animals possessed by evil spirits since most forms of grimm are based on animals.” He explained, pulling out a couple of pictures. “Different ones have different capabilities and range in size. But all of them are deadly unless you know how to fight them.”

        “Has anyone try talking to them?” Asked Sunset Fluttershy before the Fluttershy that Sun knew helped her eat a pancake.

        “Grimm lack souls and can’t use an Aura and because of that, they can’t communicate at all. All they know is violence,” He said, dropping his head down a minute. “But some species are more… intelligent than others and are not so easily provoked…” He stopped for a minute, before looking back in the main hall. “Oh you have got to be kidding me…”

        “And then BOOM! The Snake exploded into a million pieces once it ate me.”

        All the ponies in the room looked at one another before Sunset spoke up. “Uhh… Who was that?”

        Sun sighed deeply, almost facepalming himself. “That… would be Ruby… You know… The girl with the scythe.”

        “Did someone called for me?” Ruby asked as she appeared behind Sun. “Because something tells me that you need my expertise on whatever it is you’re talking about.”

        Sun just facepalmed himself, groaning a little as he looked back at her. “Says the same girl who thought that Celestia and Luna were in league with the FBI once you, Weiss, Blake and Yang ended up in Canterlot.”

        “I’m still believe that they are. You never know what they might be planning.” Ruby said, causing the faunus to look back at the others as he saw the Twilight he knew plant her face into the stack of pancakes that she was going to eat.

        “Wow… and I thought our Pinkie was crazy.” Said Rainbow as she licks her lips, eager to devour the pancakes in front of her.

        “You don’t know crazy!” Pinkiplier shouted in anger, still trying to pick up her pancakes. “DAMN THESE FLUFFY ABOMINATIONS!!!”

        “You haven’t seen the rest of her team.” The Faunus added on, looking behind Ruby as she noticed a familiar blond huntress with Ember Celica armed and ready to launch herself inside. “Ruby has a sister.”

        “Incoming!” Yang yelled as she crash landed next to the group. “Ha! Guess the laws of physics doesn’t apply here either.”

        “I was going to ask if she was like Maud… I guess I was wrong.” Rainbow as she found her pancakes are missing. “Hey!”

        Sun chuckled at noticing that Pinkie and Nora were the ones who stole the stack of pancakes that Rainbow had in front of her before trying to gobble everything down in ten seconds flat. “Good morning to you as well Yang.”

        Pinkiplier grumbled and gave Rainbow her meal. “Why am I here again?”

        “Probably because Sunset wanted you to come along so you weren’t bored.” Sun spoke, just to answer her question briefly.

        “I could’ve made a video… SOMA just came out…” Pinkie grumbled, crossing her hooves.

        “So…” Yang asked, trying to break the silence. “Anything interesting happen while we were gone?”

        “Well, just a few things and Beacon Academy might be finished sooner than we thought… Where’s Weiss and Blake?” The Faunus asked, looking around. “Knowing them, I thought they would be right behind you two.”

        “They’re kinda busy at the moment…” Said Yang before noticing Nora drinking syrup and Pinkie chanting ‘chug’. “Hey are they having a syrup drinking contest?” She asked as a ka-chink sound could be heard from her gauntlets. A sound that was music to Rainbow’s ears as they perked straight upward.

        “Why syrup? Whip Cream is so much sweeter…” Pinkiplier drooled.

        “What was that?” Asked Rainbow as she looked to Yang.

        “Ember Celica.” Sun said.

        “Ember what?” Almost everypony in the room except for Ruby, Sun, Nora and Yang said. Almost simultaneously.

        “Ugh, Monkey boy, explain to them what they are. Because right now I’m not in the mood to explain stuff to other people again.” She replied, taking a seat at the table next to Nora as both Pinkies were watching her drink shot glasses of maple syrup, still cheering her on. Sun himself sighed as he looked back at everypony else.

        “To put it simply… They’re shotgun gauntlets.” Sun informed them. “Ember Celica is the weapons name. For mine, it’s Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, Ruby’s weapons is named Crescent Rose and Nora’s hammer is named Manghild.”

         “I want one.” Said Rainbow with large eyes.

        “Ditto!” Pinkiplier shouted in agreement.

        “No.” Sunset deadpanned as she facehooved herself. Sun himself just deeply sighed, looking back at Nora and Yang as both of them began to inhale shot glasses filled with maple syrup like they were having a morning drinking contest. Causing him to look at Ruby as she seemed to be just inspecting the outside of her weapon… Shortly before she had it change into a scythe right in front of Rainbow’s eyes.

        “Want something similar to this, but different?”

        “Technically, Rainbow is eager to apply for Beacon so she can have her own.” Sun replied to Ruby. “She’s been fangirling all over the types of weapons that have been said… and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Wait til she see’s Coco’s.” Rainbow then hugged Sun’s leg, giving him puppy dog eyes.

        “Uh huh…… See that empty can over there on that building over there?” Said Ruby as she points at the can she mentioned.

        “Yeah, where are you going with this?” He then asked, before realizing what she meant. “Oh right, I forgot the sniper rifle part.”

        “It’s also a sniper rifle!?” Rainbow gasped, looking at Ruby as she steadied her aim

        “Yep.” Ruby said as she had her weapon transform before taking a shot at the can, knocking it off of the building. “Boom! Headshot.”

        As the can dropped to the ground, all Rainbow did was just stare, amazed at Ruby’s feet as she was like the goddess of awesomeness. A perfect point for Sun to excuse himself and to get himself a cup of coffee. As he walked into the kitchen, he found the coffee pot brewing as he got himself a cup from the nearby cabinet and some creamer from the fridge. Once that was done and he poured himself some of the hot liquid, he mixed in the creamer and gave it a taste test.

        “Ahh… may need a bit more creamer.” He said, adding a little bit more and trying not to burn himself while doing so. Taking a second sip, he found the taste this time to be… satisfactory as he continued to drink it a little more. Only to almost have himself spill the drink on himself as he heard shouting from the dining room. Curious to see what was happening, Sun peeked into the room, only to find a cyan pegasus and a yellow unicorn in a heated argument with one another over the most craziest of reasons. Even for Rainbow Dash, the idea itself had trouble written all over it and might lead to something out of the ordinary happening in town later today. Especially when you think about a Rainbow maned pegasus armed with a combat sniper rifle that could transform into a scythe almost instantly. An immediate recipe for mayhem and destruction on all levels.

        “No Rainbow! I’m not letting you test out Ruby’s weapon!!” Sunset defiantly snapped as she tried to grab it with her telekinesis, only for Ruby to pull it out of her grip and give it back to the eager Rainbow Dash. “You can seriously hurt somepony with that thing!”

        “Oh come on, Sunset!! This thing is Freaking awesome!!! How else am I supposed to know if it works for me if I don’t try it out?” The pegasus in the other room shot back at her friend while fumbling around with Crescent Rose and trying to not have it slip through her hooves. “Besides, it’s not like I’m going to be able to hurt anybody with this here since Ruby is helping me out.”

        “Uh… Whatever, you only live once.” Pinkiplier said, trotting around.

        “That’s an understatement.” Sun said to himself, rolling his eyes as he walked back into the kitchen. Only to find not just his Fluttershy, but Sunset’s as well walk over to the small table in the kitchen. “Let me guess, trying to avoid Sunset and Dashie?”

        “Y-yeah… Mind if we join you?” Sun’s Fluttershy asked him.

        “No, go right ahead.” He said, letting the mares pull up a chair as they set their unfinished meals on the table and sat with him. Soon though, Sunset’s Fluttershy had a few questions to ask him as she was trying to get the hang of using her new wings and having the feathers hold her knife and fork. 

        “I want to ask you something,” Sunset Fluttershy asked in a soft tone of voice, stopping for a minute to try and hear her own thoughts. “How did you and umm Fluttershy met?”

        “Well… That may be kind of odd to say. Because when I first got to Equestria and entered the Everfree, she found me hurt and bleeding after a Grimm attack. So she did what came naturally to her and helped nurse me back to health.” Sun explained, sharing his first encounter with the pegasus to the… other Fluttershy. “Next morning, I got the chance to talk to her a little and she was comfortable with me being with her since I was… well part monkey.”

             “That must of been interesting… Oh, by the way. Did you keep animals to?”

        Fluttershy nodded, hearing a small yip from the other end of the room as something raced into Sun’s lap. “Well, that’s ironic. You mentioned animals and now Griff here runs up… He’s the wolf pup that Fluttershy and I have been raising.” Sun told her as he scratched Griff behind the ears.

        “Awww, he’s so cute.” Said Sunset Fluttershy as she tried to pet the wolf pup. Griff himself didn’t mind and actually soon got up from where Sun was and leaped onto her chair, trying to lick the maple syrup off of the pegasus’ face.

        “Well, looks like he likes you.” The Faunus commented, watching as the pup soon decided to curl up in Fluttershy’s seat. “I take that back, he definitely likes you.”

        “Hello, everyone mind if we join you?” Asked Rarity as she trotted in, followed by Applejack. “Those two are arguing so much I think my ears are going to fall off.”

        “Kind of figured that.” Sun replied, watching them take a seat and join them as they continued their conversation. “Plus… I think Rainbow might soon learn that trying Ruby’s weapon might not be such a good idea.”

        “Why do you say that?” Asked Applejack as she raised an eyebrow.

        “Well, there are two things. One, Crescent Rose itself is built and modified to accompany Ruby’s height and also strength. Meaning that it can be too tall for Rainbow or too heavy. Secondly, sniper rifles like that are known for recoil shortly after being fired. Which means-.” His sentence was soon cut short as they saw a rainbow colored blitz bolt through the wall and into the next door room, creating a huge hole in the wall. “-that might happen.”

        “Ouch…” Rainbow groaned from the next room.

        “And the crowd goes silent…” Pinkiplier remarks snarkily.

        “Shut up!” Rainbow shouted in pain.

        “How is she still alive?” Asked Rarity with large eyes.

        “Well, Rainbow here is known to be a daredevil. Plus, Pegasi here like herself are known to control the weather around her. Walk on clouds, bring rain, that sort of thing. She must’ve buffered the impact with a cushion of air from her wings.” Sun hypothesized before returning back to the others. “Now, where were we in the conversation before that happened?”

        “Hmm how do Twilight and I use magic?” Asked Rarity as she tapped her horn.

        “That… I don’t exactly know. I think it’s more of a focus sort of thing. Like you are telling yourself to do an action. For me, I have a Semblance and that’s different.”

        “Maybe you should ask Twilight with wings to help with that. By the way, what this Semblance thing? It sounds like a type of instrument.” Applejack asked, causing Sun to chuckle a little.

        “Well, it works like this. All living beings instead of Grimm have an Aura, which basically represents the soul.” Sun explained, using a drawn diagram as an example. “When someone’s Aura is unlocked, it allows some special traits to happen like healing minor wounds or repelling enemy attacks. Semblances are also unlocked, which are special traits and abilities that can be used by a different person. You with me so far?”

        Both Fluttershy’s, Rarity, and Applejack nodded their heads as the Faunus picked up from where he left off on his lecture. “A Semblance is like… a special talent because it relates to you. For Ruby, she can go extremely fast. Weiss can use Glyphs, which is like an exclusive form of magic. Blake can use her shadow as a doppelganger to deceive opponents and for Yang, any hits she takes allows her strength to rise even higher.”

        “Wow…” Sunset’s Fluttershy replied. “D-do you have one, Mr. Sun?”

        “Actually, yes and since I’ve been using it more than once, I can use it in multiple forms,” He replied, placing his hands together as two shining clones of himself stood next to him. “I call this Decoy. It works like a clone, but upon impact, it detonates. I’ve been practicing with channeling the energies used to conjure these to diversify my attacks.” As soon as he finished, he dismissed the clones and restored the energy back to himself. “So all in all, Semblances are a representation of special skills or talents. Kind of like your cutie marks.”

        “What a cutie mark?” Asked the Unicorn Twilight as she trotted in join everypony else.

        “I thought he said beauty mark…” Pinkiplier shrugged. “Is it that tattoo on everyone’s ass?”

        “It’s a mark on a pony's flank that represents their special talent.” Sun’s Fluttershy explained, turning around to show hers. “Mine is for how I take care of injured animals in need. Which includes Angel and Henry.”

        Everyone looked to their flanks to see they haven’t gotten their cutie marks yet.

        “Though, when it comes to Cutie Marks, they are earned once you discover your special talent. Like what Sun said when someone like him discovers their Semblance.” Fluttershy added on. “Speaking of which, what was the name of the two who were in the courtyard training?”

        Sun chuckled a little as he finished his coffee and put it in the sink. “Those two are Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc. They’re just practicing their combat techniques, even though Pyrrha might be seen as unbeatable because of her Semblance.”

        “Wait does this mean that every pony with a mark can use semblance too?” Asked Twilight as she looked at Sun.

        “Actually… that’s a good question. I haven’t come across a pony with a semblance before, but maybe their talents are a representation of that. My Twilight is very advanced in magic and went to a special school at a young age. But I’m not too sure.” He replied to her the best he could. He then noticed the way Twilight was looking at him behind her glasses with a smile.

        “What is Pyrrha’s Semblance then?” Asked Rarity hopefully to stop her friend from guessing about the science behind the magic.

        “Well, let me explain it like this… most weapons are made of metal right?” Everypony nodded, giving Sun the chance to continue. “And metal can be affected by a strong enough magnetic pull. When you have Pyrrha, her Semblance is Polarity. Or in simpler terms, magnetism.” Once he finished saying that, the look on the face of the Unicorn Twilight changed dramatically. Almost like she had just made a mind blowing discovery that could win her a Nobel Prize. “She’s a strong fighter because she uses her Semblance to not only make sure she isn’t disarmed, but to also slightly alter the flow of her opponents attacks to give herself an opening to strike.”

        “I need to write this down!” Unicorn Twilight said as she scrambles to find paper and pine. That when the Twilight that Sun knew joined them and offered to help her other self as they started to work at a nearby table. Rarity soon joined them so that the Alicorn could teach them how to be familiar with their magic and how to use it properly. Leaving both Fluttershy’s and Applejack with Sun as Pinkie Pie eagerly watching Yang and Nora in a Syrup drinking contest and Rainbow still trying to convince Sunset to have a weapon like Ruby’s. Claiming that her previous injuries were… just a scratch.

        “Rainbow I don’t think anything that needs for the first aid kit to be used can be classified as just a scratch.” said Sunset as she wraps up Rainbow leg.

        “Yeah, it’s just a flesh wound.” Pinkiplier said, her eyebrows going up and down.

        “Go to hell Pinkie…” Rainbow growled. “Oh come on. You’re only using the first aid kit because it was the closest thing nearby you can find.”

        Not wanting to hear them bicker once again, Sun returned his focus to his marefriend, her doppelganger and Applejack. “So, do you two have anymore questions? Just out of curiosity?”

        “Umm can we join Beacon to?” Asked Sunset’s Twilight as she played with her hooves a little to try and see how they felt.

        “Sure you guys can.” Sun replied as he noticed Pinkie and Nora going back to Sugarcube corner while Pinkiplier was looking back as an exhausted Yang before watching Rainbow try to resist Sunset. “We might need to find a way to not confuse you with the Twilight and everypony we know though. I mean, you guys may look different from the ponies we know, but your names are almost exactly the same.”

        “Hmmm, I guess we can try some nicknames that could help.” Said Sunset as she looked at her friends, trotting into the room as she looked at everypony else.

        “Maybe. Some though might be easier than others.” The Faunus mentioned. “For example, Applejack can just as easily be called AJ and Rainbow can be called Dashie. But I’m not sure about everypony else besides Sunset.” He then started to scratch his chin, trying to think of ideas as everypony else in the room looked at one another.

        “Hmmm, We could call Fluttershy Flutters for short.” Said Sunset as she tapped her chin.

        “That’s a good one… Why not Twi for Twilight? Or something along those lines. All I know is that calling her Twily can go too far because only her brother is allowed to call her that.” Sun added onto what Sunset was saying earlier. “So that’s four down… What about Rarity and Pinkie?”

        “Hey, let us decide our nicknames! And I’m Pinkiplier!” Pinkiplier said, slightly angry. “Also! Why are we here!? Why did Sunset come here! I’m so confused! And hungry!” 

        “Because Sunset wanted to know about the new academy and some things,” The faunus then used his tail to whittle the skin off an apple as he then tossed it gently to Pinkiplier. “Can this do for now?”

        Pinkiplier tried to catch it but failed miserably. “I can’t hold this asshole!”

        “Let me hold it for you then,” He offered, holding the apple by the stem for Pinkiplier.

        Pinkiplier bit into it lazily. “This is embarrassing…”

        “Why? I would think you’d love to get fed Plier!” Dash laughed. “But yeah, we should pick our own names. I don’t wanna be called ‘Dashie’ all the time.”

        “Well, do you have any other suggestions?” Sun asked, waiting to hear a response.

        “Hmm… Maybe… Danger! It’s my middle name, and I doubt pony me would use it.” Danger said proudly.

        “Your middle name ain’t Danger!” AJ shouted, glaring.

        “Actually it is, I checked her birth certificate…” Flutters added in her two cents, which surprised most of her friends. “What? I didn’t believe it either so I checked.”

        “So… Danger Dash? Geez, that sounds like a superhero name.” Sun chuckled.

        “Well I was a hero for awhile, and my sis thinks of me like that.” Danger said proudly again.

        “I guess that works then.” The Faunus replied. “That still leaves Rarity and Twilight though. What would you two like to call yourself?”

        “Hey, we’d like to pick our names too.” AJ said, gesturing to Flutters. “I could be called AJ I guess, but Fluttershy might want her own ‘codename’.”

        “I kind of like Shia… It sounds pretty…” Flutters said, looking down.

        “As for me I guess I could go with Sapphire.” Said Rarity as she was seen daydreaming a little to herself.

        “Twi can be Twily!” Pinkiplier shouted in excitement. “Maybe…”

        “Well… I guess we got ourselves a plan then…” The Faunus spoke up, straightening his clothes a little.. “You guys are free to go back whenever you wish. I say this because I believe Twi and… Sapphire are eager for Twilight to teach them some more about magic.”

        “I kind of like being called Twily.” said Twi with a little blush.

        “O… kay that’s a new one.” The Alicorn replied. “Sapphire… Twily. Could you follow me please? Sunset might still need to deal with Dashie so I can give you a simple introduction on magic someplace… quiet.” With that, both unicorns followed Twilight to where her personal study was, leaving two earth ponies with the monkey faunus, his marefriend and Flutters.

        “So… do you have anymore questions?” Sun spoke up, looking at both Shia and AJ.

        “...Is there a farm near here?” Asked AJ as she smiled a little. “We met Twilight and Pinkie Pie I kind of want to see myself. Errr I mean Applejack? Wow, that going to get confusing.”

        “Yeah… I’m already getting a migraine…” Danger groaned.

        “There is… but I don’t think you need to go far to see her.” Sun explained, pointing towards the main hall. From there, they could see Applejack walking alongside Applebloom and one of the members of Team CFVY right alongside them named Yatsuhashi. “They came here instead.”

        “What in tarnation?” said Applejack as she stared at AJ. “Is that a changeling!?”

        “Applejack, that’s not a changeling… Do you remember Twilight ever mentioning a Mirror world of some kind?” Sun asked the earth pony to see if Twilight ever mentioned such a thing to her in the first place. 

        “Yes, what you saying Sun?” Asked Applejack as AJ walked up to her.

        “Howdy, just call me AJ. It’s a lot easier, trust me.” AJ said as the two Applejacks shook hooves.

        “As I was going to say… She’s basically you… from the Mirror world.” Sun explained. “I told Sunset about Beacon opening up soon and offered them the opportunity to become students here. Sure I mean it may be confusing to see two of you, but they are eager to help us with helping the students once Beacon opens.”

        “Does this mean I get two big sisters?!” asked Applebloom as she stared at AJ with  big eyes.

        “If I think it safe I may bring my little sister over so you two can meet.” Said AJ with a smile.

        “Yay!” She cheered happily, almost leaping onto her and pulling her in for a hug. “You’re the best second big sister ever!” Sun couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched the two of them get the chance to talk with one another, along with both Fluttershy’s. But his focus though was with Yatsuhashi as he walked over to him, catching his attention as he walked up.

        “Hey. How’s settling into town coming around for you?”

        “Ehh, it’s alright to say the least. Fox is settling in fine, but it’s taking Coco and Velvet a bit more time to adjust than the rest of us because of Coco being separated from her family and Velvet missing her sister.”

        “Well, I just hope the best for her.” Sun replied, personally surprised about the fact that Velvet had a sister. But instead of asking further, he decided to focus on something else. “Anyways, why are you here? Are you looking for someone?”

        “Actually, Pyrrha invited me to the training grounds in order to help me get my mind off of all the craziness that happened when you first found us. Mind telling me where it is?” The Faunus complied, telling him that it was down the hall to the right and that he had to take a right hand turn at the end of the hallway. Yatsuhashi soon thanked him as he made his way over there, allowing for the Monkey Faunus to return to his marefriend and Shia.

        “So uh… Are our homes connected?” Danger asked. “Cause I thought we were part of Asphyxious’ world…”

        “Yeah, I don’t get it, Asphyxious and his Twilight came to our home to stop Sunset’s… Bad self…” AJ said, trying not to talk about Sunset’s bad past.

        “Well, it may not be so simple to explain.” he said, holding out Asphyxious token, a green emerald that had a skull on it. “Have you seen this before?”

        “No.” All six of the mirror six said in unison.

        “Not really.” Twily added.

        “Well, that rules out one possibility.” Sun said, “This is his summoning token. It’s used by Displaced like me in order to summon other Displaced. However, since you aren’t familiar with it, then that means you didn’t summon him when you met.”

        “He came out of our school’s mirror.” Pinkiplier said. “Sunset stole Twilight’s crown, and… Stuff happened…”

        “He came through the mirror like you guys came through mine?” The Faunus asked.

        “Yeah…” Danger said.

        “Well, that just makes it more of a mystery.” He replied. “So… What is this mirror world like?”

        “Hey, why are you calling our home ‘the mirror world’!? It’s not a copy!” Danger said, growling a bit.

        “I-i’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just not familiar with it like how you guys are.” He said, trying to assure them with the best of intentions.

        Danger narrowed her eyes, but luckily Sunset cut in. “Danger, he’s not saying our home is just a duplicate of… Equestria's.”

        Danger looked away angrily. “Whatever…”

        To try and lighten the mood, Shia spoke. “Uh… It’s okay. People in our school are nice.”

        “Not everyone!” Pinkiplier shouted suddenly. “Cheese Sandwich is a d*ck! Trixie is a b*tch! And the Dazzlings are… Well, Sirens.”

        “So… almost all people?”

        “Uh… The Sirens were turned into humans, so… It’s all humans, they were just thrown into our world by Starswirl.” Sunset stated.

        “And let me guess, he’s like Gandalf?”

        “Who’s-” Sunset started, but was cut off by Pinkiplier.

        “How would we know!? Sunset’s addicted to cartoons and animes so much she refuses to watch Lord of the Rings with me! And none of us know what Scartwirl looks like.” 

        “Think the wise yet old mentor kind of figure.” Sun suggested.

        “He’s an elderly wizard, of course he’s wise and old!” Sunset said.

        “Like Merlin or Ozpin?”

        “Merlin from Sword in the Stone, but he’s usually depicted like Ozpin.” Sunset stated.

        “Who cares about some geezer from a magic world!?” Danger asked, bored with the topic.

        There was something in that line from Sunset though that caught the Faunus’ attention. “Wait a second, Sunset? You know who Ozpin is?”

        “Uh… Yeah.” Sunset said.

        “How exactly?” Sun asked. This was new information to him that just came to light. So he needed to find out some more so he didn’t feel like he was left in the dark about it. “Because honestly, out of the few months that I’ve actually been here, this is the first time that I have heard about Ozpin. So could you inform me a bit please?”

        “Well, that might be a bit to explain-.” She said, before being cut off by her friend.

        “Who cares!” Rainbow groaned.

        “Rainbow, I do.” Sun retorted. “Now, as you were.”

        “Well, when Starswirl was young, Ozpin served as his teacher and also the teacher for Celestia and her sister Luna. He was trusted amongst their parents and actually helped both sisters during the best and worst of times…” At one moment, Sunset paused, composing herself before speaking again. “However, one day… he disappeared. Nopony knows how or why, but just… disappeared. This soon lead to the events in the crystal empire, Discord and Nightmare Moon all those years ago.”

        “Wow… I have no clue what you’re talking about…” Pinkiplier said breathlessly.

        “I wasn’t talking to you Pinks.” Sunset grumbled.

        “Different worlds, different circumstances.” The Faunus briefly replied. “Now… what was this about you stealing a crown?”



        Sun then spent some more time talking to them and getting acquainted with the rest of Sunset’s friends after the original discussion with the yellow unicorn, before the seven of them soon returned through the mirror. Leaving Sun with Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack, Applebloom… and a passed out Yang on the table with her sister nowhere to be found.

        “Damn it Ruby!” Sun mentally cursed as he facepalmed himself. He noticed that Yang this time around was wearing her “hunter” outfit… or basically her second set of clothes as her face was flat on the table. “You guys should get some rest. I can deal with Yang once she comes around.”

        “Thanks Sun,” Twilight thanked her as the four ponies soon went their own separate ways. Twilight to her room, Fluttershy to her cottage and the two Apple ponies went back to Sweet Apple Acres as Sun was trying to resist the temptation to poke Yang in the head to see if she was away.

        “Ugh… My head…” She moaned, slowly looking upwards. However, the next thing she did was bolt for the kitchen as Sun could hear her throw up in the sink from drinking down too much syrup. When she walked back into the room, awake this time around, the huntress noticed Sun sitting by the window as he looked at her.

        “How did you sleep, Goldilocks?”

        “Oh ha ha, monkey boy.” Yang rolled her eyes, looking around the room to see that no one else was around anymore. “Hey, where did everyone else go?”

        “Well, after you passed out for a bit, Nora and Pinkie went back to Sugarcube Corner, Sunset and her friends went back to the mirror world, Twilight is in her room upstairs and Fluttershy went back to the cottage. I’m not sure where Ruby went though.” He told her as all she could do was raise an eyebrow.

        “What the heck is a mirror world?”

        “Beats me.” The Faunus shrugged his shoulders. “I honestly never got around to asking about that. Mostly because Sunset and her friends were asking questions about me… You should’ve seen though when Rainbow tried to use Crescent Rose. She got shot like a cannonball through the kitchen and ended up crashing in the laundry room.” With the last part, Sun chuckled a little as he pointed at the hole in the wall that was left behind through Rainbow’s “test round” and the damage left behind.

        “Wow, I guess we should've given her something less powerful to try out.”

        “Maybe. But with her being a part of Beacon, she’s going to have to build a weapon that fits to her fight style. Because I’m not sure if a Scythe and a Sniper rifle would work out for her.” Sun commented, now thinking of something while he was on the topic. “Hey Yang… I was wondering something… Family wise.”

        “Is it about Ruby and my mother?”

        “Well, more about Ruby… I know that she was close to your father and not on solid terms with Raven… but did she have any other family members that you two felt comfortable around?” Sun wondered this thought for a while after finding out about his mother being resurrected as a Displaced. So, given the circumstances and how diverse Ruby and Yang’s family are in the actual series, he would think the same principles applied somehow.

        “Well… There was one person that both Ruby and I really liked to see when we were kids. It was my uncle on my mom’s side of the family. He liked to play games with us and tell stories, and really did not like it if we called him old.” She chuckled, looking back at Sun. “Why do you say that? Do you think he’s here too?!”

        “I’m not saying anything. But given how things have been the last few weeks, I’m saying that right now, anything can happen and that all bets are off.” He said to her as he tried to lean back. “Hell, you and Weiss were there when you saw my mother there a month ago. Right now, I’m just saying we shouldn’t leave it out as a possibility.”

        “… I see your point.” She said, looking back at him. “Just out of curiosity, monkey boy, what was your family like?”

        “Honestly, there's not much to tell,” He replied, looking back at Yang. “Father died when I was six, my aunt died in childbirth when I was little and my uncle died nine years later because he committed Suicide. My cousin Lance is alive and he’s a Displaced as well.” With it, he got up on his feet for a minute and soon stood up. “Would you like some coffee?”

        Yang took a moment to think through her response, but she soon had one for Sun as the huntress nodded her head. “I’d love some.” Sun himself went to fulfil her request as he excused himself to the kitchen, pouring her a cup and adding a couple of sugarcubes to blend in with the taste and the creamer as he brought her the drink. “Thanks.”

        “No problem.” He said, looking back at her as she took her first sip. “Just out of curiosity… Where are Weiss and Blake? You didn’t mention where they went earlier. Just that they were busy.”

        “Let’s just say they’re fixing something that Ruby broke in the school while she was out and about with Penny.”

        “The School? What was Ruby doing there anyways?” The Faunus followed up. “Did the Cutie Mark Crusaders drag her along to a show and tell they had going on at school?”

        “Well that and she raided the vending machine that they just got installed in the teacher's lounge… it didn’t go so well.”

        “What happened? Did she try acting like a ninja only to get caught in the act?” Sun asked, trying to humor Yang a little as they were talking.

        “No she got stuck in the machine and broke her way out of it… and taking half of the classroom with her.”

        “… And just when I thought meeting Shalltear in her world was weird enough.” He groaned a little, using a napkin to clear up his face.

        “Shalltear?”

        “Another Displaced. An adoptive daughter of my cousin Lance who happens to be a vampire. You familiar with the Anime named Overlord?” He then asked Yang. Most of the time when meeting other Displaced that he knew the show or game they were from, he just kept it to himself unless they asked first. Since Shalltear never asked, he didn’t have to share.

        “We weren’t allowed to watch that much TV….we rarely watch TV back home due to… mother.”

        “Oh… Never mind then. Basically, Shalltear is a vampire who has been through some real… grim situations. No pun intended.” Sun replied back, looking back at Yang as she watched her take another drink. “Hey… You know how we have had a few teams show up out of the blue the past few weeks? How long do you think it’ll be until we get word of another team causing trouble?”

        “Possibly less in a week or two given that it is Equestria after all. Stuff like this shouldn’t surprise us.”

        Sun scratched his chin for a minute, thinking this through. “You make a valid point. Though… who do you think it is? I mean, it’s up in the air at this point who it might be.”

        “How should I know, I’ve been locked away from the world for the past 15 years. Don’t expect me to have certain answers for you Sunny.”

        “I wasn’t. I just thought it was best to hear different opinions. That’s all.” He replied as he looked out the window for a moment. For some reason… It felt like trouble was brewing somewhere in the world.



Applewood

        In the movie capital of Equestria, many things happen rather frequently. Whether it was with well known actors and celebrities or if was the news on the street, many things occurred on a daily basis. However, it was within the past couple of days that there had been some strange reports of some individuals resembling some of the characteristics of the humans and faunus in Ponyville being spotted in the area. For what reason, it was unknown. But right now though, those reports were nothing of concern to the two musicians that were walking down the street.

        “I’m telling you Tavi, this is going to be great!” The first one proclaimed, a unicorn with a vibrant blue mane and tail and a slick pair of shades. “I mean, I haven’t gotten the chance to be in this city for so long and I need to be ready for tonight's gig.”

        “Vinyl…” The second one groaned. An earth pony that wore a bowtie around it’s neck. “You do realize that I have more… important matters right?”

        “Oh come on, Tavi. You just have a practice to go too. I’m dropping audio bombs all over the city!”

        “Vinyl!” The other mare snapped.

        “Okay okay, geez. What’s with the hostility?” The DJ asked her friend.

        “It’s because I’m going to be late for my practice if you keep this up.” The mare replied. “I need to go now. I’ll be back at the loft tonight.” With that, the earth pony cellist named Octavia Melody galloped off towards where she needed to be, leaving her friend at the street corner as the unicorn named Vinyl Scratch just looked with a puzzled look on her face.

        “Geez, did you have to be so abrupt about it?” She asked as the mare turned into a back alley. However, as she was trotting, something soon crashed into her and knocked her to the ground as another THUD could be heard against the pavement.

        “Hey, watch where you are going-!” Vinyl almost snapped, looking up to see a female human with light green hair and a purple hoodie hand the mare her shades that were on the ground.

        Her eyes narrowed. “If you want to keep these shades intact, you won’t finish your sentence.” The human said as Vinyl noticed an earbud drop down as it was playing some electronic music loud enough to where she could hear. It sounded like a well choreographed Drum and Bass track with some interesting beats in the mix as well.

        “Uh… Sorry I guess?” She replied, unsure on how to take in the fact that a human was in front of her. “I guess I wasn’t paying attention either. Must’ve been the music I was listening to… Who are you though?”

        “Bli- Reese Chloris…” Reese looked around. “What kind of drug am I on?”

        Vinyl herself took a sniff of the air around her and shook her head. “Nothing from what I can tell. Name’s Vinyl Scratch. You need some help?” She offered.

        “Nah, I can take care of myself. Always do.” Reese pulled out her hoverboard, which started to hover. “Trippy…”

        “That… you don’t see everyday.” The Dj commented. “Then again, I have a bass cannon back at my set so that’s two things.”

        “A what cannon?” Reese asked, then shook her head. “Nevermind, I don’t want to know… Where am I and where’s the nearest bus station?”

        “You’re in Applewood. Entertainment capital of Equestria.” Vinyl replied. “As for the second question… Right behind you…” As she turned around though, the bus filled with ponies going to work drove off.

        “Okay, I’ve never been this high before…” Reese stepped closer to Vinyl and poked her. “High enough to feel fur… Hang on, what the hell!? You’re real!”

        “Uhh… Yeah I am… Reese, are you okay?” Vinyl asked, using her hoof to poke her in the arm.

        “I thought I was high…” Reese murmured to herself. She then growled. “It doesn’t matter… Is there a place I can stay?”

        “Well, I do have a crib that’s not far from here and since I’m going to be here a few days, you can crash at my place.” Vinyl told her, “Just be prepared to meet my roommate Octavia. She… well at times, she stresses out too much over the little things. Follow me.”

        “I’m not much of a problem if you don’t annoy me…” Reese grumbled as she followed Vinyl. “What are you?”

        “I’m a Unicorn.” She explained, using her magic to adjust her shades as they continued to walk down the sidewalk. “You know… I gotta say this but… I’ve seen one other guy that's… well like you… Not like alike like, but like in the same situation as you.”

        “Oh? And who would that be?” Reese asked. A dark part of her mind giving her a feral desire.

        “Well, my memory isn’t always the best, but I remember my friend Pinkie Pie calling him Sun. And that he had a monkey tail. Kind of weird and awesome at the same time.” The unicorn explained, walking up some stairs as she used her magic to pull out the keys to the place she was staying at. “There you go, doors open.”

        “Thanks… And monkey boy, got it…” Reese walked inside, grinning darkly. “I’ll be sure to meet him…”



Elsewhere… (In Applewood)

        It had been almost half an hour since she had parted ways with her roommate and right now, Octavia was waiting in the lobby of the recording studio where she was to meet Noteworthy, a well known violinist who wanted her Cello to help record a duet. The appointment for the time was to be three o’clock sharp. Now it was three-fifteen with no word from the stallion. Still, the earth pony mare waited as dark clouds began to rumble outside.

        “Excuse me,” a soft voice spoke up, causing Octavia to turn around. “Would you happen to be Ms. Melody?”

        “Yes,” She replied, only to notice a saddened look on the mare’s face. “Is something wrong?”

        The mare took a deep breath, looking back at the cellist. “I’m sorry, but Mr. Noteworthy had to immediately cancel all his appointments today. His father had suffered a heart attack and passed away in the hospital.”

        That… caught Octavia completely off guard. She was feeling a mix of different emotions and right now, could not comprehend what exactly was going through her mind. Slowly though, she grabbed her Cello case and proceeded to walk out the door into the rain. Walking down the street as she turned another corner to find her way back to the home that her and Vinyl were staying in. 

        Only to find herself running into a completely… new face.

        A dark skinned girl with blond hair, and hazel eyes. She looked miserable.

        “M-miss?” Octavia asked, nudging a hoof against the figure’s shoulder. “Miss, is something wrong?”

        The girl jumped slightly. She looked at Octavia closer. “Uh… Yeah… Why you ask?”

        “You look… sad. Lost. Like you need some help.” The earth pony explained to her calmly, offering a hoof. “My names Octavia. What’s yours?”

        The girl looked down. “I’m Aiysha… I think… I don’t know anymore… I don’t know where I am, why I… Look like this…” Aiysha sighed.

        “Hey… if anything, I can try my best to get you some help.” Octavia offered. “My friend and I are staying at a home not far from here while we’re in Applewood. Maybe once we’re out of the rain, I can try to help answer any questions you might have.” She then thought for a moment, remembering something before looking back at Aiysha. 

        “O-okay…” Aiysha said, sniffling. Octavia herself took out a handkerchief that was inside her Cello case and handed it to the human girl. Allowing her to use it to wipe away her tears.

        “Here, you should keep this. I have a spare one on me, so go ahead and use it.” The earth pony told her, catching the girl by surprise.

        “Th-thank you…” Aiysha said. “H-have you seen anyone that l-looks like me?”

        “Well… I remember my roommate Vinyl seeing somepony similar. She said it was a guy named… Sun I believe who had a golden monkey tail. I remembered seeing him, but that was only when he passed by us a few times in Ponyville.” She replied, looking at Aiysha. “Come on, we can talk about it more once we’re out of the rain.”

        “Ok-kay…” With that, the two of them walked down a few blocks to where they were staying as the rain kept on pouring down like bullets. When Octavia reached the doorstep, she could hear music from inside. A typical sign that Vinyl was already there. But after knocking on the door, someone else answered the door in Vinyl’s place.

        It swung open, and on the other side was Reese.

        “Aiysha!?” Reese yelped, backtracking.

        “Bliss!?” Aiysha did the same thing, almost falling down the steps.

        “Aiysha, you know this… person?” Octavia asked, looking back at her.

        Before Aiysha could respond, Reese punched her in the face before hopping on her hoverboard and taking off. Aiysha reacted by sending a whip chain towards the board, but didn’t think about the ramifications of being dragged across the road.

        “Octavia, what the buck is going on-?” Vinyl yelled from inside, only to see what was happening. “Oh come on! It’s too early for in-line skiing!!”

        “Vinyl, your friend just punched Aiysha in the face and now is trying to drag her across the road.” Octavia deadpanned.

        “Chill out, Tavi. I got this.” She replied, using her magic to launch a stone in front of the hoverboard and causing Reese to fall to the ground because of the sudden shift in balance. “Reese, I allowed you to stay in here because I didn’t want you causing trouble. This fits along the line of trouble.”

        “You okay, Aiysha?” Octavia asked, watching the girl slowly rise up onto her feet and pull back her chain whip.

        “I am… But I’m not sure this city is!” Aiysha said, slightly panicked.

        “Maybe you two can explain what you mean once we're inside.” Octavia suggested as Vinyl was seen helping Reese up on her feet. A loud crack of thunder going off in the background as the door closed behind them.



Meanwhile…

        Back inside the castle, Sun was practicing his martial arts skills against a practice dummy that he constructed with the help of Yatsuhashi. He already knew how to fight with his weapons, but he wanted to keep up with his hand to hand combat skills as the faunus attacked the wooden target with both punches and kicks. He had been going at this for a while and was about to knock the head off of the self made target, but he restrained his last attack once he saw a new person walk into the training hall.

        “And I can’t seem to use it as a weapon…” Velvet commented to Coco as the two entered the room. “Oh, hey Sun.”

        “Hello there Velvet… Coco… How are you guys?” He asked, putting the jacket that he had on over his sweaty body as he held his staff over his shoulders in a relaxed position.

        “Fine, Velvet’s trying to figure out her weapon with that camera that was in the box.” Coco started. “Also, we saw Penny run off to who knows where.”

        “I see…” He said, noticing the camera that Velvet was holding before a thought came through his head. “Hmm… Hey, I have a theory on the camera if you want me to share it with you.”

        “Shoot.” Velvet replied. “I’d love to know so I can help out…”

        “Well, it may sound odd… But I think it involves the pictures you take,” He explained. “My thought on it is that if you take a picture on a weapon that someone or somepony has, the camera could create a… mimic of the actual one and it’s properties. I know it might sound a little odd, but that’s just my theory on it.” The Faunus’ attention though was redirected towards them. “Oh, that reminds me… what brings you to the training room?”

        “We were curious about it.” Coco said. “Plus, thought you’d want to know about Penny. She seemed odd.”

        “Trust me… Odd doesn’t even come close to what I have seen.” Sun chuckled a little. “When I called Weiss Ice Queen, Penny thought she was in the presence of royalty.”

        “Weirder than that…” Coco stated.

        “I see…” He said, looking at them before noticing something down the hall. “Hey, does anyone know why Twilight’s racing all over the place like a mare on a mission?”

        “Maybe she is, moron. Try asking her.” Coco said, irritatedly. But before she could say anything, the mare soon zoomed over to them.

        “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for somepony!”

        “I was just training, what’s up?”

        “I just got a report from the royal guard stationed in Applewood. There have been reports of human like figures in the area. Four of them.” That news got Sun to look back at Coco and Velvet, surprised.

        “Another team?”

        “Well the reports have been about an white haired woman with dark skin, A man in a tribal outfit, a girl with a hoverboard and another one who seemed to have some kind of ponytail.” Twilight said to them, using her magic to lift the pages as she read the report.

        Coco cringed. “Uh… I think I might know them…”

        The faunus looked back at them, an eyebrow slightly raised. “You do?”

        “Seems so…” Coco stated. “Since I know you, I guess she was displaced with me and my team. What a coincidence.”

        “You don’t think it’s Ayisha and the other ABRN cosplayers, do you?” Velvet asked Coco, who shrugged.

        “They did buy from the same vendor.”

        “Ayisha?” Sun asked, a little confused. “How do you know them, just out of curiosity?”

        “There was this little… thing at our school.” Velvet said, looking away. “Our class were all fans of RWBY, so we dressed up before going to the convention. Ayisha was dressed as Arslan. Her and Coco go way back.”

        “I see…” Sun said, folding his arms. “Well, we should get a group together to go help them. We don’t need a massive party like back in Manehattan. just probably four to five of us should do. You two and me makes three, so who do you think we could have for the last two people?” He then folded his arms, trying to think about some possibilities.

        “Fox and Yatsuhashi went out to train, so I don’t think any of our teammates will help.” Velvet stated.

        “Scarlett is working with Sage on the academy and Neptune is probably helping Pyrrha teaching some combat maneuvers for Jaune. The only two I can think of is Weiss or Blake since Nora would be with Pinkie Pie and Ren might be helping out around town.” He said, remembering something else before speaking up. “We should probably have a pony with us since they know more about the city than we do. You two alright with that?”

        “I may hate being here, but that doesn’t mean I’ll hate the locals.” Coco said, rolling her eyes. “They’re not why I’m here.”

        “She doesn’t mind.” Velvet affirmed. “I hope they can handle Penny’s odd-er behavior.”

        “Well, maybe we should have her stay with you,” He suggested. “Twilight, are you up for coming along?”

        “Sorry Sun, not this time. I have a presentation at Canterlot University to prepare for. But I think Applejack or Rainbow may be up for it.” She said, before excusing herself as she went back to her study.

        “Okay, so it’ll be us, Penny and one of the girls… I’ll go check with Rainbow real quick.” Sun was going to get going, until he noticed a familiar pegasus swoop in from the window and approached the three of them.

        “Somepony called my name?” She asked, looking at Sun before turning to Velvet and Coco.

        “Yeah, do you have anything going on as of right now?” Sun asked her.

        “Nah, Wonderbolt practice doesn’t start up until the spring. Why do you ask?” She replied, curious to find out their answer.

        “We’re going to go to Applewood to look for a team of Displaced that ended up there a few days ago. Wanna come along?” Sun offered to her, only making the pegasus even more excited.

        “Awww yeah! This is going to be fun!” She replied, hoofbumping Sun’s fist as she flew to the center of the room.

        “So… Check on Penny and we leave in half an hour?” Sun asked Coco and Velvet.

        “I’ll try to…” Velvet said, sounding nervous. She jogged in the direction she thought Penny was.

        “If she can find Penny, what are we going to do when we find ABRN? If I’m right and these are the same kids from my class… We might not be able to reason with them.” Coco said.

        Sun sighed, looking through his pockets until he found the emerald gem he put in there earlier. “Well, if we can’t reason with them… I know somebody that probably can.” With that, he put the gem in his pocket and looked back at Coco. “I can stay here with Rainbow if you want to help Velvet.”

        “She’s got it, her ears are good for something.” Coco replied. “So, what do we do when we get ABRN? I think Ponyville’s running out of room for RWBY Displaced.”

        “Once Beacon is open, they can sleep in the dorms along with everyone else,” Sun explained. “I convinced Twilight to add dormitories so we wouldn’t have to have that issue. Seems fair right? I mean, you and the rest of CFVY will get your own room as well.”

        “Sure, but in the long run what’s the plan?”

        “Let’s think about that once we’ve reached that roadblock. Right now, we should just get ready…” He suggested to her. Sun in the back of his mind, believed what Coco had told him. So for right now, they should just prepare themselves for any possible outcome.




End Tail 21

> Tail 22- For those who have heart part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- For those who have heart part 1




Train to Applewood

        Onboard the train to Ponyville, the monkey faunus didn’t feel comfortable despite the fact that he and the rest of the companions that he was with were sitting in first class. Mostly it was because beforehand, when he was telling Raven and Fluttershy about where he was going, something was putting him on edge. Something that made having to leave Ponyville very… nerve racking to say the least. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that something bad would possibly happen while he was gone. The Faunus was never one for superstitions, but something about today seemed… off.

        The storm that was brewing didn’t help ease his tensions as the rain began to pour down. Hitting the glass windows like it was raining hail. Every time the thunder went off, he felt his tail jolt a little in shock. At first, he thought he was the only one that felt this way (besides Rainbow since she was basically idolizing the storm outside), but as it turns out, what was going outside had an effect on the other people he was with as well.

        Velvet was shaking as she curled up next to Coco, who herself was soaking up the atmosphere. Penny seemed to watch the rain, almost as if it calmed her. The Faunus though noticed Velvet and thought that instead of sitting around lazily and not doing anything, he could try to help out. It would help with getting his mind off of what had been bothering him for a little while. “Hey Velvet, can I get you anything? You look kind of cold.”

        “I-I’m f-fine…” Velvet replied. “B-but if it’s not too much t-trouble, a blanket?” Sun nodded as he got up to look for one of the workers on the train as he made his way to the other cars. For some reason, flashbacks of the train ride where Adam attacked them were beginning to surface, but he dismissed them immediately after he found one of the attendants of the train.

        “How can I help you sir?” She asked him as the Faunus approached her.

        “One of my friends in first class is getting cold, would you happen to have any blankets on board?” He asked her. The unicorn mare turned around and used her magic to unlock a cabinet so she could pull out a blanket for him. “Thank you.” The faunus said as he went back to first class, taking the blanket to Velvet as she used it to cover herself up.

        “Thank you Sun.” Velvet said.

        “Your welcome,” He replied, looking over to Coco before asking her something. “You need anything, Charlene?” 

        “No. And don’t call me Charlene.” Coco replied.

        “S-sorry. I sometimes forget.” The faunus sighed, scratching the back of his head. “But on a different note… You said that you guys knew ABRN… is there anything important that I should know? I mean I think we’re going to be arriving in-.”

        Attention Passengers, you will be arriving at Applewood Station within twenty minutes. I repeat, you will be arriving at Applewood Station within twenty minutes. Thank you!

        “- about twenty minutes so maybe it’ll help if I know exactly what we might be dealing with.” Sun finished his sentence after being interrupted by the intercom.

        “There’s nothing much to talk about. Arslan and I had a history back at school, she did something unforgivable. There’s Bolin, a monk boy who’s very ‘spiritual’ as people said, but he’s just smart for his years. Nadir’s a whimp. And Reese is…” Coco didn’t finish as she looked away.

        “I’m going to assume that she’s… worse?” He asked. “You know what, never mind… We kind of already have a basic idea of what they’re equipped with right?”

        “I don’t.” Rainbow stated.

        “I was talking to Coco.” Sun deadpanned as he looked back at her. “Arslan would have a chain dagger, Bolin would have a staff with two blades at the end, Reese has a hoverboard with two guns and Nadir has an assault rifle that’s a sword…… You know now that I think of it, how can he hold something like that if you say he’s a “whimp”?”

        “He’s not weak, I said he’s a scaredy cat. He’ll run away from any kind of fight. Heck, he’s more scared than Velvet and Fluttershy put together.” Coco said, which caused Rainbow to burst into a fit of laughter. “But he is a bit physical. And he even took down the local bully.”

        “Well, guess I’m not going to be underestimating him then.” The Faunus replied, rolling his eyes at the thought of Nadir being a male version of his marefriend. “Well, who do you think should find who then? They could be all across the city and the storm is just going to make looking for them a bit harder.”

        “Velvet should go after Nadir. They’re both underestimated characters, and if Nadir ends up being a threat then Velvet can take him.” Coco started.

        “I don’t even have a weapon…” Velvet said.

        “I’ll go after Arslan. Sun, you can go after Bolin or Reese while Penny goes after the other.” Coco suggested.

        “I might have better luck with Bolin rather than Reese,” The Faunus replied. “Plus, if we do have to fight, I finally get an opportunity to fight against another person who uses a staff. Besides, if Reese tries to get away with her board, I think Penny might be the only one who could keep up with her.”

        Penny suddenly jumped out of her chair and smacked Rainbow and Sun before curling up on Velvet like a cat. Causing Rainbow to look at her with a puzzled look on her face. “Ow… what the hay was that for?”

        “Penny’s been acting weirder than usual, like I told you.” Coco said.

        “I AM NO SHEEP!!!” Penny suddenly screamed.

        Sun just raised an eyebrow, looking at Penny before looking at Velvet and Coco. “Any ideas as to why she’s having these… glitches?”

        “No, and she’s just acting plain weird… She may be a liability.” Coco said simply. That caused the faunus to sigh, but looking at Rainbow gave him a very… interesting idea.

        “Let’s let Rainbow keep an eye on her then,” He said. “Since the rest of us are trying to find these guys.”

        “Wait wha-?” The pegasus stammered, before being interrupted by Coco and Velvet.

        “Good idea!” They said unanimously.

        “Don’t I get a say in this!?” Rainbow protested, but before Sun could say anything, the train began to slow down to a halt as the group looked outside to find themselves at their destination… which was completely soaked.

        You have arrived at Applewood Station. Thank you and have a nice day.

        “Well, guess we're here… Sorry Dashie, but majority rules.” Sun chuckled as they all stepped outside and off of the train. The rain was now falling faster than before as the Faunus took a moment to find a map of the city in order to look for possible locations to investigate.

        “Alright, based on this map… where do you think that they might be?”

        “Hmm… Let me see on my ‘all-knowing’ app… Nope, I don’t have a phone.” Coco sarcastically remarked. “I don’t know them this well! Maybe Velvet’s sister might’ve known, she was always that kind o-”

        Penny pointed to three parts of the map. “Bolin go high! Nadir try to leave city! And last two always find each other!”

        Coco stared at Penny with disbelief while Sun did the same thing. However, the silence was short lived when the Pegasus that was with them soon said something. “Uhh… guys? There’s a dude with a pink ponytail running through the main plaza towards the park and rec’s center.” She pointed out, aiming her hoof in the direction of the fleeing individual.

        “What!?” Coco yelped.

        “That must be Nadir… based on what you told us Coco.” Sun replied, watching them. “Guess we better get started with looking then…”

        “Uh… Penny, Rainbow, come with me. Sun, head to the highest point while Velvet goes after Nadir. Try to reason with him!” Coco yelled as she ran off after Penny. “Stop!”

        Sun himself immediately got to work on getting to high ground, using his acrobatics and handy climbing skills to get up upon a nearby apartment building overlooking the city. True, it wasn’t as tall as some of the skyscrapers for certain businesses in town, but it was a close second. By looking down, he could see Coco and the others just barely.

        “Wow… they look almost like ants from up here.” He said to himself as he began to try and scan the area to see where the monk like member of team ABRN could be. “Now… if I were Bolin… where would I hide?”

        “Who says I’m hiding?” A male voice said behind him. Sun turned around to find the person he was looking for right behind him.

        “I’m actually quite surprised… I honestly thought it would’ve taken longer in order to find you.” The Faunus replied, greeting him with respect.

        “What do you want, I’m processing my situation.” Bolin said calmly. He was sitting cross legged on a bolder.

        “Well… I want to help you,” Sun said. “What seems to be troubling you?”

        “I fell out of the sky as a character I dressed as… That’s what’s troubling me. Also, the dominant race.” Bolin said simply.

        “Trust me… the same thing happened to me… and a few others who are here… In fact, I’m going to guess that you are probably not alone.” The faunus said to him, trying his best not to intimidate him unintentionally.

        “I’m not alone, no. You’re here.” Bolin said, smirking. “But until now, I thought I was the only one.”

        “Yeah… may I be honest with you… I got brought here with three of my other friends as a team… So did RWBY, JNPR and CFVY. So it’s kind of a trend that you were brought here with a team as well,” Sun explained to him. “In fact, we saw one of them scurrying across town. I think his name was Nadir?”

        “Yes, he’s the youngest of my friends.” Bolin said. “He came from a troubled past, and I’ve been trying to help him as much as possible.”

        “Well, hopefully Velvet can be able to reason with him. When someone is afraid, it can lead to many misunderstandings…”

        “I can agree… But tell me, what are you planning to do when you meet Reese?” Bolin asked as Sun readjusted himself. 

        “Penny was going to look for her, but she ran off and is probably causing Coco to go on a wild goose chase to track her down. At least Rainbow Dash is with them and she’s the fastest pegasus I know.” The Faunus said to him as the rain continued to pour. Though, one thing in particular about that sentence of his caught Bolin’s attention. “Hopefully Coco can find her before she tries to find Arslan-.”

        “Did you say Coco? Like, Charlene Coco?” Bolin asked. Sun nodded his head briefly before noticing the expression on the human’s face change. “Would that indicate our entire class here?”

        “Yatsuhashi and Fox are back at Ponyville, but the entire thing in itself is a lot to explain. I just hope that we can have this end-” Before Sun could finish his sentence, the sounds of gunfire in the distance caught both of their attention as he looked in the direction where he remembered Velvet went. “-peacefully.”

        “Well… I can see Nadir is trigger happy.” Bolin stated. “I’ll take care of this, if you don’t mind.”

        “Just don’t have him hurt Velvet. Coco would be pissed if something happened to a teammate. She was wanting Velvet not to startle him.” Sun replied before he watched Bolin take off. “And great, now I’m back to square one… I wonder how everyone else is doing...” However, instead of waiting around, he decided that it would be better to see if he could go down and help. He could still see Rainbow’s brightly colored mane from here, so they shouldn’t be having that much difficulty… right?



Meanwhile…

        “Coco, I think Penny is slowing down!!” Rainbow yelled from her vantage point in the sky. “Should I stop her before she does anything crazy!?”

        “Yes!” Coco yelled, tired out already. With that, Rainbow took action as she swooped down to tackle Penny into the nearby grassy fields of the local park. 

        “Got her!” She triumphantly cried out to Coco as she held her down with her hooves as the human ran over. “Pheww… That was tiring.”

        Penny licked Rainbow’s face. “Oh come on!!! I’m not a dog!” The Pegasus complained as Coco soon showed up.

        “Penny, what the-” Coco stopped as a hoverboard nearly hit her head if she hadn’t tripped.

        “Son of a b*tch! There’s more of you!?” Reese yelled, then soared away.

        “Hey! Get back here-!” The pegasus yelled. She was about to take off, until she looked across the street and noticed a familiar face. “Wait a minute… Vinyl?”

        “Rainbow?” Before any of them could turn around though, the white haired woman that was with the unicorn mare soon saw one another. But what Vinyl said next… didn’t go down so well with her. “Who’s the brunette with the prench cap?”

        “It’s not a ‘prench’ cap… It’s a beret.” Coco spat out venomously.

        “…… I’m sorry, did you say ferret? Because that’s not an animal-.”

        “Vinyl!” Another voice snapped. “Can you quit with your antics? You’re the one who found Reese so she’s your responsibility!”

        “Ugh… yeeeessssss Octavia.” The Unicorn groaned before disappearing with a brief teleportation spell. The pony named Octavia soon looked at the white haired woman, who was staring at Coco.

        “Arslan dear, are you okay?” However, by saying her name, that only triggered something else in Coco’s mind.

        “Ayisha…” Coco said, walking over.

        The look on the woman’s face changed once she heard her real name along with the very familiar voice that came with it. Octavia herself was surprised that this new figure knew her, but before she could say anything, Aiysha beat her to it.

        “Charl-lene!?” Ayisha quivered at the dark face of Coco.

        “Yeah… So, what’re you doing around the freak, Bliss?” Coco asked cruelly.

        “She attacked me! I kept my distance before this, why would I trust that druggy!?” Arslan coughed violently.

        “To be fair, she’s right.” Octavia vouched for her. “I found her and when we opened the door, that green haired girl punched her in the face. Thankfully, she didn’t break her nose.”

        Coco stared down at Arslan, before holding her hand out for the obviously sick girl to take. “This doesn’t mean I forgive you for what you did to me.”

        “I’m not asking for forgiveness…” Arslan sniffed, took Coco’s hand before pulling herself up. This small moment though was interrupted by the nearby pegasus as she looked at the others.

        “Not to rain on your parade… literally… But I think Sun just dropkicked that hoverboard lady.” Dash said, pointing in their direction as Coco and Arslan saw Sun drop down from above. “Also, what’s that huge black bird in the sky?”

        It didn’t take long for them to immediately look to the sky in alarm as they saw the massive black bird with a white skull on it’s head and crimson eyes staring over the entire city.

        “What the!?” Coco snapped,  surprised at the sight of the Grimm.

        “What the hay is that!?” Octavia yelped in shock.

        “I can’t remember!” Arslan panicked, hitting her head.

        “Whatever it is, somepony needs to get Sun before that thing hurts everypony! Just what would bring a Grimm here?!”

        “What is a grimm even!?” Octavia yelled, lost in translation. 

        “It’s a danger, that’s all you need to know right now!” Arslan yelled.

        Coco transformed her handbag into it’s mini-gun form and began shooting. Seeing this though, the Nevermore turned back around and sent it’s feathers flying straight towards them. Landing bare inches from Coco’s feet. As it circled overhead though, the Grimm soon was going in a different direction. The same direction that Reese was running off towards.

        “It’s going towards Vinyl!” Octavia shouted.

        “No duh, Ms. Obvious!!” Rainbow snapped, using her wings to push herself off the ground to get back in the air. “We need to keep that thing away from Civilians. Where the hay is Sun?!”

        The Grimm closed in on it’s target, and just as it was about to deal a deadly blow, Reese swooped in and grabbed the marshmallow DJ and almost made it out. Unfortunately, her hoverboard was knocked out from under her, which sent Reese and the Unicorn skidding across the ground.

        Coco shot rapidly at the dazed monster, shredding it to pieces. However, as it died out, it fired off a few more feathers towards the pony and human on the ground. Only for a certain faunus to race over and use his staff to block the projectiles.

        “You guys okay?” Sun asked as he looked back at both Reese and Vinyl.

        Reese got up and went to her board. “Whatever…”

        “I highly doubt that’s the last of them though.” Sun groaned. “That just makes me wonder… did Bolin settle things down between Nadir and Velvet yet?”

        Reese hopped on her board and gave Sun a mock salute. “Later, I’m out.” Before Sun could react, Reese left him behind in the dust as Sun and Vinyl just stood there. Surprised by what just happened.

        “She’s heading towards the community center. We better hurry before anything else happens.” Vinyl suggested. The Faunus nodded his head, following the Unicorn as they began to chase after Reese. Only to come across a few familiar faces as the began to make their way through the park.

        Velvet was trying to hold her own against a freaked out Nadir… And Bolin was nowhere in sight.

        Nadir was distracted by Sun, and looked like he was about to open fire. However, out of nowhere, Bolin threw his staff hard enough to knock Nadir’s weapon away from him. In shock, Nadir didn’t see the fist of Hori until it connected to his face.

        When Bolin saw Sun, he shrugged. “Nadir didn’t see reason. Thanks for the opening.”

        “Uhh… You're welcome?” The Faunus replied. “Nevermind that, we got a bigger problem here and that means that we need to get Reese back over here before anything crazy happens. Coco already had to deal with a nevermore on the other end of the city and who knows what else is with it.” When that was said, the sounds of multiple shrieks went off as Sun turned to see multiple forms of Grimm that resembled Hippogriffs. All of them were spread out and preparing to converge on their location.

        “Ah crap…”

        “What are we supposed to do!?” Velvet asked, slightly panicked. “I don’t have a weapon and it took us a minute or two to take down Nadir!”

        “They must be attracted to something here that’s either sad or emotionally distressed! That’s the reason why they’re coming!” Sun replied, only causing Vinyl to look back at him in shock.

        “Wait… these things are attracted by feelings?” She asked, when Sun gave her a nod of the head, Vinyl cringed as she gritted her teeth. “Oh damn… I think I might know a reason for why they are here.”

        “What do you mean?” Bolin asked.

        “Octavia told me that somepony she knew named Noteworthy had to cancel a lot of things he had on hold because his father died in the hospital. Him grieving over his loss must be the reason why they’re here!” Vinyl explained to them as Sun looked back at her.

        “If that’s the case, then where is he? The sooner we get to him before the Grimm do, the better.” The Faunus told the Unicorn as she nodded her head and pointed a hoof in the general direction of the Applewood Hospital. To the faunus though, that was just one possibility. The other part that he could do was watch the Grimm and follow them. Having them lead him towards Noteworthy.

        “Okay, now that we at least have a general idea of what is going on, does anyone have a plan of attack?” Vinyl asked the group as Sun prepared both of his weapons for combat.

        “I have a plan… attack.” He smirked, looking back at the three others as he noticed Coco and Arslan racing towards their location with Rainbow Dash, Octavia and an unconscious Penny that was being carried over to where they were. “And here comes the cavalry.”

        “Okay, tell me you have some kind of good news.” Coco panted.

        “Well, we got Nadir to stop attacking Velvet, Bolin is here, Reese ran off again and we might have a general idea of what’s attracting all the grimm here.” Sun started off as he began to explain everything that Vinyl had told him to Coco and the others. By the time he was done, he had one last question for them. “So, what’s our first move?”

        “I suppose the ponies should get Noteworthy to suck it up.” Coco started. “Reese may be a possible danger, but I think we should focus on the Grimm first.”

        “If that’s the case, then we should have Octavia and Vinyl go find Noteworthy and then split into two groups. One to take care of the Grimm and the other to track down Reese. Unless anyone else has any better suggestions.” Sun then asked, looking at everyone else before redirecting his attention back to Coco. Shortly after that, Octavia and Vinyl galloped off to go find Noteworthy, leaving them to settle out how to proceed with the Grimm and Reese.

        “I’ll help in getting Reese back.” Bolin said. “But there’s someone missing. Aiysha.”

        “Missing?” Sun asked. “Coco, are we missing anyone? I thought everyone for the most part is here.”

        “Arslan was too hurt to join us. So who’s going after Reese? I know I’m not.” Coco stated.

        “Velvet should stay with you and I think Nadir and Rainbow should be good for now on your end. Bolin can help me track down Reese. Does that seem reasonable?”

        “Sure.” Coco said, resting her gatling gun on her shoulder. Sun smirked a little as he turned towards Bolin and then walked over to where he was.

        “So, ready to get started?” He asked Bolin as he had both of his weapons collapse into it’s bo-staff form.

        “Yes.” Bolin replied simply. “Let’s go.” With that, both of them began to move quickly as they climbed up to the highest point that they could find in order for them to get a better view of the city. All that while also destroying Grimm along the way and looking out for any signs of Reese. It didn’t take long for them to pick up on her trail as they saw her whisk through a crowd of civilians who were waiting in line to see a new movie that was drawing a bit of crowds. But the fact that Reese was hoverboarding around like crazy put the entire crowd in a panic.

        “Down there!” Sun replied, pointing her out to Bolin as Reese was now in a open clearing and completely exposed.

        “I don’t have any ranged attacks!” Bolin shouted. Sun sighed, preparing one of his guns with a special kind of Dust ammunition as he fired on Reese’s location. The shot causing a cloud of smoke to erupt as it blinded Reese.

        “Problem solved. Now’s our chance.” Sun said as he repelled down the building and went straight towards Reese.

        Bolin took the first opportunity to attack, and knocked Reese off of her weapon. She grabbed ahold of it though and it changed into the duel guns and shot Bolin three times, sending him onto his rear. Sun soon followed suit, firing two shots at Reese’s hands to knock the weapons out of her grip and to also partially stun her, given that the shots had a small electrical discharge. Hoping that would do the trick.

        It worked, and Reese fell forward.

        “Damn it! Why won’t you leave me alone!?” Reese shouted.

        “If you would give us a minute in order to explain instead of running off… Bolin, can you give me a hand here?” Sun asked him as he saw Bolin put away Reese’s weapons.

        “With what?” Bolin asked.

        “Carrying Reese back over to everyone else. Rather not have her slip away again and cause anymore trouble.” He said as he took her up on his shoulder. “You already secured her weapons?”

        “Yeah.” Bolin said as he picked up the growling girl.

        “Alright, let’s hurry and get back to the others to see if they need help.” The faunus replied as they carried her over to where everybody else was. Coco seemed to have no trouble gunning down the last few hippogriffs flying around in the sky as there was no grimm in sight for the most part.

        When Coco saw them, she shouted. “You got Reese! One threat down, one more to go! What now!?”

        “Well, I don’t see anymore Grimm, so my guess is that Octavia and Vinyl had probably calmed down Noteworthy,” Sun hypothesized. “Maybe we should catch the train back to Ponyville? Unless of course, you have any better ideas…”

        “Well, we should thank the girls for what they did, get Arslan, then we can go.” Coco said.

        “This world is dangerous. Any negative person could doom their town.” Bolin added.

        “That depends on if they could keep their emotions in check. If not… well, you have seen what just happened.” Sun shrugged, using his tail to hand Coco Reese’s weapons. “Here, you might want to hold onto these. Might be a while before Reese can use them again.”

        “Hopefully never.” Coco said, putting them away. “How are Grimm in Equestria?”

        “They are rare, but still can be a problem depending on what shows up at a certain time. Most of the Grimm I have seen are the ones that are in the show along with some other types based on animals in the Everfree forest.” The Faunus explained. “So we shouldn’t have to worry about it too much.”

        “Okay…” Coco said. “Bolin… Would you mind taking Reese to the train station?”

        “Of course.” Bolin said, before making his way to the transport. Shortly after that, both Vinyl and Octavia returned with the Stallion named Noteworthy as Sun, Coco and the others thanked them for calming the stallion down. After everything was said and done, everyone walked towards the station in order for them to catch the train so it didn’t leave without them.

        “Shouldn’t you get Arslan?” Bolin asked, and Coco groaned.

        “I’ll get her, Penny, and Nadir…” She sighed. It took a little bit, but when she came back, she made sure that Arslan, Penny and Nadir were with her and that she was able to get tickets to accommodate all of them for the trip back to Ponyville.

        “Thank you for keeping an eye on Reese and Arslan, and for saving this city, have a nice day.” Coco said quickly before getting on the train, still holding all three Displaced in her arms. “Wow, Penny weighs the most…”

        “Well, she is a synthetic…” Sun shrugged, offering a hand. “Need some help carrying one of them?”

        “No, I carry a minigun handbag, I can hold a couple of teens.” Coco said, dropping them on one of the seats. Sun smiled a little, taking a seat as the train soon went on it’s way back to Ponyville. It took a couple of hours, but it still gave Sun enough downtime to recuperate from the Grimm attack and to think about other things for the time being. However, when they came back to Ponyville, they were treated to an entirely new scene. One with Ponies cleaning up debris that had been scattered everywhere and a few ponies staying indoors, scared for their lives while others ran towards the hospital in the distance.

        “What the hell is going on?”

        “Hippos!” Penny yelled, jogging in one place. Coco groaned at that. Sun though, seemed a little more concerned when he say Penny’s dog run towards the direction of the hospital.

        “Guys, I’m going to see what’s going on at the hospital, I’ll be right back,” Sun told them before taking off and making his way to the hospital’s lobby with Rainbow Dash right behind him. That was when he overheard a voice that sounded like Weiss as he turned a corner and saw her in the hallway with Raven.

        “Oh Sun is not going to like this at all-.” Weiss stopped speaking the second that she saw Sun and Rainbow.

        “What happened? There has been panic all over town since we got back a few minutes ago?” He asked them, only to be met with deep groans and silence. Something was wrong and the faunus and pegasus could tell. Not just by how they were acting, but because of all the tears on her clothes. “Weiss…… Where’s Blake?”

        “S-She disappeared after the fight we have with Ruby and Yang’s father in ponyville.”

        “Adam was here!?!” He gasped, looking at them before turning to see the girl that was in the room, fighting for her life. Something triggered inside his head and seeing her caused him to act in a way that Weiss had not seen before as Raven went upstairs to where Yang and Blake used to be. “Oh god no…… Not again…”

        “They were able to keep her stable, but the damage that was done to her left her in a coma.” However, what Weiss said did little to ease anything and it looked like tears were going to form in his eyes. “I’m so sorry Sun.”

        “...... Weiss… do you remember when my mother was here… before I was displaced… she was in the same situation as Ruby. Fighting for her life and I was nowhere nearby in order to help. Just like I felt that I let her down then… I feel like I let you guys down now… I feel like I let all of you down… I’m not going to let that happen again… Because if I can’t help you… I can’t help Fluttershy either.” With that though, he felt a third presence in the room as he turned to see another person standing there. This time it was a girl that resembled Neo, and she had the umbrella, hair and the clothes. THe only difference though was that she could actually speak.

        “In a way, you kinda did. But then again, when you’re busy with other stuff, you tend to forget some of the other things going on around you.”

        “And who are you exactly?” Weiss asked, eager to draw her blade.

        “Easy ice queen,” Neo said as she had Weiss’s rapier in her hand. “I’m just here to see how things are going on.”

        “You didn’t answer my question,” She said, noticing that the Faunus next to her was also tense. The girl herself chuckled, only focusing on Weiss as she walked over.

        “I guess I can tell you, but in private.” Neo said as she placed a hand on Weiss shoulder and vanish along with her. All Sun could do was just clear the thought from his head as he looked back at Ruby in the bed. Fighting to stay alive. All before he began the long and sorrowful walk home to the cottage while praying for a speedy recovery.




End Part 1

> Tail 22- For those who have heart part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- For those who have heart part 2




Ponyville (next day)

        After the events of the night before, the town was still stricken by the surprise attack Adam commenced on Team RWBY. Now two members were gone, one was in the hospital and some time had passed since the attack. Things for the most part have gone back to normal, but today was the day before a very special occasion for most ponies. Fluttershy herself though was concerned primarily for her coltfriend. He wasn’t cheerful this morning like he would normally be and it felt foreign to her. She did not like Sun with the way he was… and she was going out into town for some advice to see if she could fix that.

        After a small trot, she came across the place where she needed to be as she lightly knocked on the door to Carousel Boutique. She waited for a few moments, tapping her hooves anxiously before Rarity soon opened the door. “Why good morning, Fluttershy! What brings you here this early?” Her friend asked, the greeting from her friend revealing both of the figures that were also in the kitchen. One she recognized while the other one was completely new to her.

        “U-uhh H-hello Rarity… Umm… If it isn’t any trouble… C-can I please talk to Weiss?” She asked. “If she is not busy of course. I’m just worried about Sun.”

        “About Sun?” The Unicorn asked. “What do you mean?”

        “Well… he wasn’t exactly his normal cheery self this morning and since I saw him leave the same hospital where Weiss was, I thought I would see if she knows what’s bothering him.” The pegasus said, looking even more shy than before and almost squeaking a little when she finished the sentence.

        “If you must know, it’s because of Ruby being in the hospital after getting stabbed in the heart by her father.” Weiss said as she appeared from upstairs. “In retrospect it wasn’t such a smart idea of Sun leaving us here to protect Ponyville alone. Grimm we can handle but him… well you know the outcome.” The news almost caught Fluttershy off guard and she even gasped when the pegasus heard about Ruby’s condition. 

        “Well… I-i want to help him. W-what do you think I can do to make him feel better? Hearts and Hooves day is tomorrow and I want to show how much I care for him the same way he does for me.” The pegasus stammered, her feathers almost ruffling up from how anxious she was when speaking to Weiss.

        “Unless you can get Ruby out of her coma, then that might help him a bit. Other than that he’s not my problem.” Weiss said coldly as she looked away from the shy pegasus. “Frankly I couldn’t care less about him.” Fluttershy ignored the last statement, but it gave her an idea. Given what she had said about Ruby, the timid pegasus decided to fly over to the hospital and pay a visit to her and see Ruby’s condition. While over there, she noticed a few other ponies with different injuries and minor cuts and scrapes. But when she saw her, the pegasus’ eyes widened.

        She now saw why Sun was acting the way he was earlier… and how Ruby looked in the bed almost scared her.

        “Scary isn’t it?” said Neo as she appeared right next to Fluttershy. “Hard to believe something like this could happen to her.”

        “W-who are you?” The Pegasus asked, surprised and a bit confused.

        “Neo, the void dweller. Just passing by and thought I see how Ponyville’s ray of sunshine is doing. I’m still wondering who’s smart idea was it to leave them in charge of Ponyville?”

        “W-weren’t there other teams here too?” Fluttershy asked.

        “Nope, the others were either in a different state or busy with Sun.” Neo said as she walked over to Ruby. “Poor thing never stood a chance against Adam. It was pretty much a one sided battle.”

        “I-i’m sorry to hear that. I… I just want to help Sun feel better, that’s all.”

        “And trying to figure out a way to wake Ruby from her coma was a way to help Sun? Not that I don’t mind, but you should leave it to someone like me.” Neo said as she pointed the tip of her umbrella at Ruby’s chest.

        “It was Weiss’ idea.” Fluttershy mumbled.

        “An idea that you knew was impossible unless you had some kind of special magic. Again not a bad idea, but you should let someone else do it.” Neo said as she jabbed Ruby’s heart for a quick second before it started to patch itself up. “There we go.”

        “W-what did you do?” She asked.

        “Just a little something I picked up from traveling the void. Ruby will wake up tomorrow, but her reflexes will be a bit slower than usual. But she should make a full recovery in a few days or less.”

        “O-oh my… T-that’s good to hear… right?” All she got was a nod and that sent the pegasi’s confidence through the roof. Neo saw this and just smiled as she looked back at her. This was only the beginning of a good plan.



        Sun felt like the world was being weighed on his shoulders… Literally. After having himself find out about the condition Ruby and Weiss were in, he had put his mind to work on preparing the academy. It became his top priority and because of it, something in his mind made him think that he was becoming a workaholic. He had already sent a letter to a few Displaced, including his friend Ken about the Academy and so far, not many have responded back to him. Just as he was about to pick up the pen he had on the table and begin writing again, he heard a small faint knock on the door and turned around.

        “S-sun?” It was Fluttershy and boy, was she really playing the cute act. “Are you okay?”

        “I am… a little tired, but okay. Why, what’s up?” He asked her.

        “Well… There’s something I want to show you… both you and Weiss.” She said. It was then that Sun looked at the door to notice Weiss standing there in a new set of garbs with her arms folded as she was leaning against the entrance.

        “Didn’t expect to see you anytime soon idiot.” Weiss said as she glared at Sun for a moment before looking away.

        “Hey… Look, I’m sorry about before… I have no excuses for my choices and you can blame me if you want-.” He was interrupted though by Fluttershy as she started to walk towards the door and catch their attention.

        “There’s something I want to show you guys… Follow me.” She insisted, stretching her wings as she began to fly a little. Both of them soon followed her, only to be surprised by two things. The first being that where she wanted them to be was the hospital. A place where Sun was hesitant to step foot in.

        The second being that once they were inside, Ruby was beginning to wake up. “I feel… empty for some reason.”

        The Faunus was at a loss for words as he walked into the room that she was in. “O-oh my god… You’re okay!” He carefully then hugged her for a few seconds before looking back, tears almost falling. “We were worried sick about you.”

        “W-What happen?”

        “Should I let you explain this Weiss?” Sun asked her as he looked at the Schnee.

        “You explain, I have something I need to talk to Ruby about.” The Faunus nodded, explaining everything down to the last detail to Ruby as she absorbed everything like a sponge. Shortly afterwards, she looked at Weiss, asking her if what Sun said was true. An affirmative nod from her was all the proof she needed to see from her.

        “Where’s Yang and Blake?” That though, caused Weiss and Sun to look at one another as they sighed deeply. 

        “Out of all four of us, you were the one in the worst condition after what happened. Shortly after you were stable though, they took off. We’ve been trying to track them down, but we have no clues on where they could possibly be right now.” Sun sighed, noticing Ruby’s expression change as he looked back at her. “We will make sure to find them one day Ruby, I promise.”

        “No, I’ll find them.” Ruby said as she pulled herself up from bed, only for Weiss to flick her on the head and fell back to bed. There was a moment of silence before Ruby said something. “.....Ow.”

        “Idiot, you’re in no condition to move at the moment. Judging by the way your reflexes are, they’re pretty much shot.”

        Sun agreed with what Weiss was saying as he looked at the both of them. “We should give you some time to recover first before doing anything drastic. While we are on that note though, I was giving some thought on something that I want to run by you two first before making a choice.”

        “In a minute monkey boy, I need to ask Ruby something.” Weiss interjected as her expression turned serious at Ruby. “Care to explain why you didn’t take that fight seriously back in Ponyville Ruby?” Sun himself was caught off guard by that. But it did bring up a very good point. To put it in different terms, Weiss basically took the words right out of his mouth before he could even say them. What Ruby had to say though… was different.

        “*Sigh* So you knew I wasn’t taking it seriously huh Weiss?”

        “You could’ve easily cleaved Adam’s head off, but you didn’t. Why is that?”

        “........”

        “Ruby I swear to god if you think this is a game, I will personally beat the crap out of you right here right now.” Weiss threatened, trying to not draw her weapon on her.

        “Look if I were to kill him at that moment, then something tells me that he’ll either come back from the dead or we just basically killed a clone of him. I just got a feeling that something big is going to happen if he dies to soon.” 

        Sun sighed deeply, looking back at her as she noticed him groan. “I think there's more to it than that.” He said, irritating Ruby as she angrily stared him down. “I think it’s more of the fact that he’s your father and that you looked up to him so much that you hesitated to do the final blow.”

        “... Spot on monkey butt-” Before Ruby could finish her remark, she was knocked upside her head by Weiss. “Ow! What the heck Weiss!?”

        “Idiot! I told you before and I’ll say it again! That man is not your father anymore! He’s nothing more than just a villain, and he needs to be stopped before who knows what will happen.”

        “I agree with Weiss,” Sun then chimed in. “But if we’re going to do this, we need to do it right. Which leads to something I wanted to ask you two…” He then straightened himself up as he looked back at them with an honest expression. “I want you two to be instructors at Beacon. There is strength in numbers, so I want your help in being able to work together to take him down. So nopony else can get hurt by him again.”

        “If you can get Yang and Blake back here, then yeah we’ll join.”

        “Princess Celestia has graciously helped us by allowing some of the ponies in the night guard to look out for them while they’re on there normal scouting patrols. Like with anything else in the other cities and towns, they will report immediately to us if we find anything.” Sun explained to them. “In the meantime though, we have to get Beacon ready for when it is open in two weeks. Not to mention the fact that Weiss met a…… surprise visitor.” When he meant surprise visitor, Sun was referring to when Neo decided to “drop” in on the conversation they were having the other day.

        “Greetings, my lovely displace friends!”

        Sun turned around, looking back at the girl that he was just talking about. “Well, speak of the devil… We were just talking about you.”

        “Really? What was it about?”

        “I was saying about how you had a surprise visit with Weiss… Shortly before offering for them to be instructors at Beacon… You can be one too if you want, Neo.” The Faunus offered for her to consider.

        “Sorry I don’t do stuff like that. It’s pretty much boring and I prefer not to have some of the other void dwellers asking questions about where I’m going.”

        “Suit yourself I guess,” Sun sighed, looking back at his marefriend before looking at Neo. “So, what brings you to our neck of the woods?”

        “Oh because I know where Yang and Blake are at the moment and thought I would tell you where they are.” The Faunus raised an eyebrow at that statement. More specifically though, something that Neo said.

        “Would? Why the past tense?” He then asked.

        “I would tell you, but I’m not in the mood at the moment.” Neo said as she began to float in midair. “Maybe if you give me something of interest, then I might tell you.”

        “I’m not sure if I have anything, but maybe Ruby or Weiss does,” Sun replied, looking back at the two of them. “Do you?”

        Weiss sighed as she extended her arm as dust shape crystals appear sticking out of her arm. “Will this do?” Sun was personally surprised by that. He didn’t know that Weiss had turned herself into a walking Dust factory.

        “Oh a personal dust factory! That’s rare! Most people would die from something like this.” Neo said as she examine Weiss’s arm.

        “I guess that is now something of Neo’s interest then.” Sun thought to himself as he watched Neo inspect the crystals emerging from Weiss’ arm. “I’m guessing I should just leave you guys be then?”

        “Nope.” Neo said as she snatched a chunk of crystal dust off of Weiss’s arm. “I got what I needed.”

        “Would that like hurt her? You did just basically rip a crystal out of her arm.” Seeing as Neo wasn’t answering and Weiss’ arm was beginning to heal by itself, the Faunus thought that his question answered itself as he then looked back at Fluttershy before looking back at the three of them. “Okay then, I think we’ll just leave you three alone for the moment. I was going to spend some time with my marefriend anyways.” With that, both Fluttershy and Sun left the three of them alone to spend some time with his marefriend on Hearts and Hooves day. But the whole day in itself was an interesting series of events. 

        First off, there was the fact that stopping by Rarity’s to tell her how everything went lead to Sun having a glance at Weiss’ sister, who was displaced recently as Winter Schnee. Second, Rarity had a new outfit that she insisted for Sun to wear so he wouldn’t be exposing his chest all the time while out in public. And by insist, it meant using her magic to try and yank his jacket off and be forced to try on the clothes. Even though he repeated multiple times that he would try it out and also thanking her for her hospitality.

        The third thing happened shortly afterwards, where Sun and Fluttershy were yanked off by a summoning to another world for the evening portion of that day, with the pegasus coming back early in the morning and Sun coming back a bit later after he helped the Pokemon displaced named Itazura take care of something in her own world. Still, even with all the shenanigans that had been going on during Hearts and Hooves day… the two of them can spend some time together on the day after hearts and hooves day more.

        Almost… “Aww… Looks like the couple of the century are back… and just in time for Beacon’s grand opening…”

        “DISCORD!!!”



Elsewhere in the world…

        Run. That’s the single thing that went through her mind as she trekked through the snowy terrain after sneaking onboard a cargo ship out of Equestria. However, she had exhausted herself more than she originally intended. Even though she found a way to hide her face and expand her powers from what she was capable of before. 

        But she couldn’t run for long… and at one point in her journey, the only eye she had at the time began to flicker out as she crashed onto the snow… But when Blake woke up… She found herself not in the snowy mountains… but in the middle of a cabin that resembled a temple in the country of Neighpon. She was next to the fireplace and found that her mask was removed… But why?

        “W-Where am I?” It was then that the Faunus realized that there were no bandages where her injured eye was and when she placed a hand on it… she felt a healed scar instead of a fresh wound. “M-My eye. How did it fully heal on it’s own?” This meant that there was one last test. The outside wound was healed, she was warm… but was it possible?

        That was when she tried to do the one thing she didn’t think she could… Open the eye… and to her surprise… She was successful. “I can see again? H-how?” That was when her ears twitched. She heard footsteps nearby. And they were getting closer. Who was coming though? “Crap, I better get out of her before something else happens.”

        “Why the rush?” A voice said, showing what appeared to be a man holding a plate of cookies and a cup of milk. “If I didn’t attend to you sooner, you would’ve lost an eye… Something that you should not go through at your age…” 

        “Care to explain who you are?”

        The figure, realizing the blunder, apologized for his rudeness, removing his hood as his face was now visible to the faunus. A face that made her eyes widen.

        “Ozpin!”

        “It seems like my reputation precedes me…” He smiled. “Yes, that is who I am. I’ve been alive to witness many things, young child… I’ve lost track of how long I’ve been away from Equestria though… and originally… I thought I was the only one who was thrown into the position I was in. That was proven false once I came across you.”

        “Where am I?”

        “You are in Neighpon… What you might see as Nippon back on earth. As for right now… You are in the home that I constructed in the mountains.” He looked back, now with a new question on his mind. “How though… did you get here… or for that matter… How did you get hurt?”

        “... I prefer not to talk about it.”

        “What about the first question? We each have a story to tell or something that lead you here… For me,” He spoke, picking something up from underneath his chair. “It was this cane. Now… what about you, young Belladonna?”

        “....I need a place to be alone and become stronger. So I pretty hopped on the next ship to wherever it was going. Geez… Now saying this makes me sound like Sun.”

        The figure raised an eyebrow. “Sun?”

        “A somewhat annoying person who I’m starting to dislike to a certain degree.”

        “I…… see. Would he happen to be known as Sun Wukong by any chance?” That… shocked and surprised Blake. How exactly did he know?

        “Yes, how do you know him?”

        Ozpin sighed, moving a finger as a sliver of warm magic began to appear. “When you’ve been alive for over a thousand years and have a complete mastery in magic… you get to know a few tricks… This is how I healed you… But for Sun… I just honestly took a guess.”

        “Why am I not surprised by that answer.”

        “Heh… However… I do know something that might interest you… what if I told you that you can expand the capabilities of your semblance?”

        “What are you talking old man?”

        “You’re powers are with shadows… but you have only been focusing on shadow creations of yourself…” Ozpin told her, holding out a scroll with strange symbols on it and a series of pictures. “The old guardians of Neighpon were capable of conjuring multiple clones and weapons along with turning themselves into the forms of an animal for stealth… You may not be that… but you can take on the same concepts.”

        “Is there a place where I can train in private?”

        “There is a separate training corridor down the hall. Feel free to train there while you recover. I may have allowed you to see again, but you may feel pain from time to time. Repairing an eye is no easy task.”

        “I’ll manage it.”

        “Suit yourself…” He said as she walked past him. “But pulling this off is no easy task… I was once like you when I first began to learn arts like these… I can feel that you are angry… Remember… Anger gives motivation without purpose…” He remembered having to say those words to another person that he knew… To try and calm them and to see reason. However, he was too late then. He still remembered leaving Equestria. Leaving Celestia and Luna, two ponies that he cared for like they were daughters to him. However, he could not care for them forever, and when he had left… was when one of them gave into Anger…

        And because of it, became a nightmare.

        As Blake herself left the room though, she walked down the hall to the room that Ozpin had told her about. But along the way, she noticed something… strange. It was a picture frame. Only one. There weren’t any accompanying it and she had to wipe the dust off to see the photo inside. There were two young fillies. One with a white coat of fur and a mane of pink and the other one with an azure coat and a night blue mane… However, she had seen the cutie marks before.

        “You knew Celestia and Luna?”

        “Ah yes… The two of them are like daughters to me… I lived with them and helped raise them since the year before my arrival… The Grimm killed their parents. I helped teach them many things… however… I also worry for them… Remember what I just said about your anger?” He asked. Blake’s response was a nod, a sign for him to continue. “I told the same words to Luna, but she ignored me… Because of that, she gave into the darkness… and became Nightmare Moon. I have not seen them in 1000 years… I left because I thought that my student, Starswirl, could help them learn independence so they wouldn’t have to always rely on him or myself in order to do things for them… Such a naive fool I was back then.”

        “We all make mistakes whether it be our past or future mistakes. We just have to keep on moving and try not to dwell on it and learn from the mistake.”

        “Yes… But we can only move so much until we tire ourselves out to the point of exhaustion.” He said, looking back at her. “Can I ask you something?”

        “Yes?”

        “How much has Equestria changed?” He asked, looking at her. “I have heard that Luna is now herself again… But I have heard many other things. And for me… I don’t know what is true and what is a rumor. So… could you tell me please?”

        “All I can say it that Luna and Celestia are ruling over Equestria. You’re gonna have to go there and see how things have changed instead of hiding out here.”

        “I plan too… In due time… The same will go for you though… You can’t hide out here either.” He said, turning around. “So, when you feel like the time is right to go back… I’ll come with you.”

        “You best go on when you’re ready to leave.” Blake said as she walked off. “I can’t return until I have what I need during my training.” Ozpin sighed, acknowledging this. But to him, he knew that he wasn’t going to leave her.

        Blake reminded him of Luna. And the last time he left her, a Nightmare took form… He was not going to let the same thing happen to her.




End Tail 22

> Tail 23- Unexpected Surprises
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Unexpected Surprises




Fluttershy’s Cottage

        Over the last few days, Sun and Fluttershy had been preparing for the first day that Beacon Academy was to be opened. They had been moving some boxes filled with some items that had been in her cottage for a significantly long time. Longer than she could remember to tell the truth. Now, normally she wouldn’t be so open to having to move some items that she would specifically cherish. But because of her coltfriend Sun, she had been more open into trying new things and also with spending more time with him. However, even with that said, one thing that had been on her mind recently had been really bugging her a lot because was unsure how her coltfriend would react if she told him. Fluttershy had already received advice from one other displaced shortly after accidentally summoning her using her token, but she was unsure whether to follow through with the advice from the displaced named Zinnia or not. It felt like she needed a second opinion, but then came the thought of how her friends would react if she told them.

        “You okay there, Shy?” Those words from Sun this morning had snapped Fluttershy out of her personal train of thought as she saw him standing by the door with Angel Bunny.

        “Y-yeah… just thinking to myself,” She weakly replied, assuring the faunus that there was nothing to worry about. “It’s still early, would you like some breakfast?”

        “I would, but we’re trying something out today regarding Beacon…” He told her, surprising the pegasus for a moment as she lifted an eyebrow. “Asphyxious and I were thinking of trying a bit of… an initiation exam in order to see who can be accepted into the academy and what needs to be worked on. We already have a few other Displaced who have agreed to take part in the trials and I’m suppose to be helping proctor it today.”

        “O-oh I see… Um… Can I come along?” She squeaked nervously, causing the faunus to chuckle a little and smile back at her.

        “Of course you can, I wasn’t trying to say otherwise.” Sun insisted, letting the pegasus trot next to him for a little while as they made their way to Beacon Academy. Significant progress over the last few days have helped tremendously with the development of the academy and after releasing an application form into the void, they have gotten several replies back from other Displaced who were interested in being students or teachers. Some who had also came by to help with the development of the academy like Cruger had also taken it upon themselves to become teachers once the academy gets underway. But still, it wasn’t like any of them were going to help her with this scenario… after all, it was a little bit of a personal matter and if she tried asking the girls about it, they would cause the topic to spread like wildfire.

        When the class first began, she saw a lot of recognizable faces from the last few days with a few more added into the mix. Including some furry like critters that were the size of Henry, Asphyxious from the past few times he was here, and a red haired human that stumbled into the classroom and considered his grand entrance to be having his foot smash into Asphyxious’ face. Fluttershy was mostly surprised though when she found out that Sun happened to know the boy, who went by the name of Nicko and asked for him to help proctor the initiation exam. 

        When the Faunus began to explain it, the test itself seemed simple enough. All the current participants had around eight hours until sundown to retrieve a pair of relics from Nicko somewhere farther in the Everfree Forest, using whatever skills and tricks they had to their advantage. They also needed to keep in mind that the Rune Slayer himself had also set up his own traps as well in order to catch them by surprise, meaning that they need to be careful if they wanted to traverse through the forest and come out in one piece. All while Asphyxious was able to bring out a huge tub of popcorn out of nowhere. A trick that made the pegasus think for a second that Asphyxious was somehow like Discord. Just a lot different from what she originally thought now that she tried comparing the two of them.

        Now, as the pegasus sat alongside her coltfriend, she was thinking whether this would be the right time to share the news that she had for him. But when she tried to speak the first time, she heard a loud explosion in the distance, startling all the present instructors and causing one of the participants to shout out, “Holy sh*t, he planted landmines!!”

        Somewhere in the distance, the Rune Slayer smirked as he leaned back in a relaxed manner against a tree. “Well, looks like they found the landmines.”

        However, Sun wasn’t exactly calm with this new revelation. “Oh my god, HE PLANTED LANDMINES!?!” Neither was Fluttershy when someone else asked if they actually walked their dogs out there. Because all that did was make the pegasus worry about Angel and the other animals she helped take care of. Soon though, the faunus turned around to his fellow teachers, speaking up and mentioning something about the Rune Slayer’s strategies as they watched the training unfold.   “No offense to Nicko, but he’s being awfully casual about this… I mean as casual as usual, but isn’t he dealing with an initiation exam mixed together with overwhelming odds and possible Angry birds scenarios given Coco’s approach?”

        “It all depends on who he fights first and who can last long enough for there team mates to show up. But they're not fighting as a team, Nicko planned this all out from the start.” Asphyxious said calmly.

        “True. He was possibly for them to plan some kind of tactical assault, but instead had to deal with a frontal attack with a bunch of idiots walking into enemy territory,” Sun replied as he took some popcorn with his tail. To a certain extent, the Faunus was right. It still just seemed kind of crazy to Fluttershy that some individuals like the ones in this exercise would endure through such physical challenges that could inflict bodily harm. But there was another point added onto this that was expressed by Asphyxious before she could say anything.   “Who knows what kinds of traps and other plans he’s laid ahead of them. Attacking mindless like that won’t get them anywhere.” Fluttershy briefly decided to look up, possibly to have her mind be elsewhere as she looked at the clouds that passed through the sky. But in doing so, one thing stood out amongst the sky that she had to tell Sun immediately.

        “Um… if it makes him feel any better…” Fluttershy momentarily squeaked as she looked up at the sky. “There’s a giant meteor in the sky.” That caused both Sun and Asphyxious to look at each other and for the Faunus to almost choke on his popcorn as he saw what she was talking about. They soon realized that the meteor itself was actually one of the students that was trying to return from getting launched sky high only a few minutes ago, and her name was Leona. A digimon displaced… with a very fiery attitude.

        Which made the faunus personally regret not setting any sort of limit on the amount of power the students could use… briefly. “Oh Sun, one of them figured out the landmines.” Asphyxious said, looking through the spyglass that he kept on his person..

        “Thank god for that. At least she’s not completely insane…… completely being the operative word.” Sun sighed as he felt Fluttershy leaning next to him. Even with everything going on right now, there was one thing that Astra pointed out to him though that the faunus had noticed that was off. And that was the fact that Fluttershy was shivering to herself a little… But it wasn’t because she was cold. No, the faunus could tell that something was on her mind that needed to be addressed. “Fluttershy… is something wrong?”

        His question had caused the pegasus to feel a little uneasy, especially with the other people that were around. So, in her lightest voice, she tried to tell Sun what had been on her mind this entire time. “Sun… There’s something I need to tell you… I’m pregnant.”

        Those two last words in her sentence caused an uproar from the other staff members, especially Asphyxious when he heard the news. Sun tried to block out all the insane rambling from the others, but it was just hard to do so when Astra was doing the same thing. So instead, he focused his attention to the pegasus. The faunus didn’t quite know what to say, but smiled as he deeply pulled Fluttershy in a hug.  “F-fluttershy… I’m so happy to hear that… We’re going to be parents-.”

        Just as he finished his sentence, another explosion went off in the background as Asphyxious himself was getting a little more concerned for the safety of the participants in the exercise. So, while the Lich was going down there to make sure to cast a barrier to keep the violence contained, Sun had Fluttershy go back with him into the Academy. Towards the new settlement that they were living in.

        Thanks to a little help from Discord, the Draconequus used his magic to relocate Fluttershy’s old cottage so it was within the grounds of the Academy. For an added bonus, it was even along the edge of the forest where a few of the animals that Fluttershy had taken care of would be and they were happy to see her. At this moment though, both Sun and Fluttershy got the chance to finally take a much needed breather… Until the spirit of chaos that was there soon came out of one of the side rooms that was on the bottom floor of the cottage, twirling what appeared to be a golden ring.

        “Hey Flutters, I’m not to be asking about this, but have you started beginning to wear jewelry recently?” He asked, a little confused. “I mean, this would look real nice for a good manepiece.”

        “Discord, that’s not a maneloop,” The pegasus sighed. “That’s a wedding ring.”

        “Oh my! Who’s the lucky couple?” He asked, being oblivious to the answer to his question… until he realized that the answer was actually right in front of him. “Wait… are you…?”

        “Yeah, Discord. For Hearts and Hooves day, I really wanted to make it special, so I had Raven help me craft a ring for her and I asked for her hoof in marriage. She accepted-” Just as the faunus said that, he soon noticed the emotions running down his face. “Wait a minute, are you crying?”

        Discord turned to look up at them and indeed, tears were running down his face. But in addition, he was also laughing. “Silly Sun, these are tears of joy. Not tears of sorrow! I am really excited for the both of you and I really do hope for the best for Fluttershy. She was the one pony that helped me with my reformation and when I see you with her, I always see her smiling. You are perfect for her.”

        “I see… Oh, that reminds me…” Sun spoke up, capturing Discord’s attention. “I’m still going to need a best man… Would it be possible that you can help fit the bill?”

        “Me? What about your friends? Sage, Neptune, Scarlet?”

        “All three of them are helping with newfound responsibilities at the Academy, so I thought you can step up to the plate. After all, I’m not going to lie, but I believe you still have some feelings for Fluttershy,” The faunus replied, causing the mare to look back at him in confusion. “Angel found your diary, Discord-.”

        “THAT’S PRIVATE!!” He snapped, glaring at the bunny in response before sighing a little bit and returning his gaze to Sun and Fluttershy. “Well… This calls for a celebration. Maybe I can have Pinkie arrange a party to celebrate-.”

        “Actually… there’s something I need to tell you two,” Fluttershy interjected, looking back at Sun and Discord. “I forgot to say this earlier because of what was going on at the academy, but I’m going to have to go on a trip with the girls this afternoon to the Crystal Empire. Cadence asked for us to come, so I need you two to keep an eye on Angel and the animals while I’m away.”

        “Oh…” Both Discord and Sun were both equally surprised to hear that as they looked at one another. “How long would you be gone?”

        “Probably two days. Twilight was going to tell you, but Spike said that she was busy with trying to get Starlight prepared for meeting Cadence later,” the Pegasus explained to both of them. “Sorry for telling you guys about this now. It sort of came up last minute.”

        “It’s alright, Shy. Things like this happen a lot,” Discord replied. “It’s like when you and Twilight were called by the Cutie Map sometime ago. The same principle can be applied here.”

        “O-okay… Just please keep an eye on things while I’m gone… and DON’T even think about causing any trouble, mister.” Fluttershy glared at Discord, causing him to swallow a lump in his throat and salute the pegasus as she sighed and excused herself upstairs. Probably to tell the news to Chrysalis, Kreed and the others. However, it was also when Discord deeply sighed and looked back at Sun.

        “Something tells me that this might not go well.”

        “Let me guess, the whole wedding fiasco a few years back?” Sun asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at the draconequus.

        “Exactly… Plus, after she was betrayed, Chrysalis has been struggling to be reformed because she doesn’t think she would be forgiven for her actions.” Discord explained, looking at Sun as he raised an eyebrow. “She told me a couple of days ago over a tub of ice cream.”

        “Seriously?”

        “Yes, as it turns out, she has feelings… and it would be so kind of us to never mention it again in front of her.” Discord warned as he scratched his chin a little. “Still though, Fluttershy seems like she’s… changed a little.”

        Sun raised an eyebrow at that, a little confused by what the Draconequus meant. “Change how exactly?”

        “Well, she seems… different… Not to be specific or anything like that, but she reminds me of Princess Cadence while she was pregnant over the past few months.” Discord tried to describe what it was, but couldn’t find the right words.

        “I think you’re talking about mood swings-.” He asked, only for the Draconequus to conjure a mini swing set with what appeared to be Emoji’s swinging on it. “I didn’t mean it like that, Discord.”

        “Then how else do you mean it?” He asked, dismissing his creation and tilting his head.

        “What I said was a figure of speech when someone or somepony has their feelings rapidly change from one emotion to another. Like if they are happy one minute, only to be demanding or upset the next.” Sun replied, explaining it to him.

        “Well, thanks for bringing me up to speed on that…” He said, only to look at the faunus and raise his eyebrows a little. “Sun, is there something you aren’t telling me?”

        “What do you mean exactly?”

        “It’s impossible to hide secrets from me, yet there’s something that you and Fluttershy know that I don't… Care to explain?” Sun definitely felt like his back was against the wall in this part of the conversation. But he wasn’t quite sure how to make of it.

        “Okay, but can you please keep this a secret for right now? I rather not have the entire place town find out about this just yet,” He said, causing Discord to nod his head. “Discord… we’re going to be parents.”

        That left the spirit of chaos utterly surprised as he looked back at Discord. “Wait… you don’t mean what I think you mean… do you?”

        “If that thought is that Fluttershy has a child on the way, then yes,” Sun said to him. “Please though, with everything that has been going on recently, I don’t want anything to get out of control because of this. So, like I said, can we keep this between us for right now? I want to tell everyone once Fluttershy feels comfortable to do so.”

        The draconequus nodded in approval, smiling a bit and then shaking his hand. “Don’t worry… I promise not to say anything just yet.”



        It took a few hours for everything to settle down back at the academy before Twilight and her friends were able to travel to the empire, but once they left the station, it was Sun’s job along with everyone else in the academy to make sure that everything that happens at Beacon… well, stays in beacon. This included combat training, the underground lab built by Asphyxious that he just found out about, and also a extremely long list of guests from different worlds and places beyond comprehension.

        Most of this though was not quite surprising to Sun around this time… But later that afternoon, while he was training on new ways to channel his semblance, his practice was short lived when someone caught his attention. “Hey Sun, can I tell you something real quick?”

        Turning around, Sun soon found the voice of the speaker as he saw Sage standing not that far from him. “Hey man, what’s up? Anything I can help you with?”

        “Well… that’s what I came here to tell you about,” He said, folding his arms a little. “There’s somepony on the edge of the grounds near Beacon that’s been acting very nervously. I tried talking to him, but he was… well…”

        “Skiddish?”

        “Sort of…” Sage sighed in response to Sun’s question as the faunus stopped what he was doing and put his staff away.

        “What’s his name? Maybe I can try to talk to him.” He offered.

        “The stallion didn’t quite exactly say his entire name, but he did say that his name was Zephyr,” He explained, describing him briefly. “Should I send him your way?”

        “No need, I’ll go see him myself. He sounds a lot like Fluttershy and judging from how nervous and timid he might be, I’m going to him so I don’t startle him.” Sun explained as he got up and began to walk to the courtyard of the academy. As he was walking, he soon noticed the stallion that Sage was talking about as he slowly approached him.

        “Excuse me, are you Zephyr-?”

        The stallion flinched at hearing his name as he backed up a little, a little startled by the faunus knowing his name. “Who-?”

        “Easy there, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Sun insisted. “My friend Sage told me that you were out here and lost, so I thought I can help you.”

        Breathing a sigh of relief, the stallion went up to his feet as he looked back at the faunus. “Oh uh… O-okay. I’m t-trying to find my older sister… can you help me?”

        “Yeah sure, that sounds simple enough,” Sun smiled, trying to show to Zephyr that it wasn’t that big of a deal. “What’s her name?”

        The response that he got though, was not quite what he expected at all. “H-her name is F-fluttershy…”

        Raising an eyebrow, Sun was surprised to hear that. “I beg your pardon?”

        “Fluttershy… that’s her name.” Hearing that caused the Faunus to look back at the stallion surprised, before chuckling to himself a little. “What’s so funny?”

        “Well, she never told me that she had a brother actually, so yeah… still trying to get my head wrapped around that first.” Sun replied, looking back at him. Before he could even reply, the Faunus sighed. “She’s my marefriend… and I’m going to guess that your mother’s name is Raven right?”

        “Y-yes actually.” The stallion replied. “C-can I see her?”

        Sun nodded his head in a agreeing motion as he helped the stallion with his bag. With that said, things got to be a little bit easier as Sun was able to take Zephyr back to Raven. At first though, she was overwhelmed to see him… But just as Sun left, he heard her giving the stallion a long overdue talk about how freeloading off of his grandparents wasn’t going to help him now… And Sun did believe that it was one long and serious conversation… since he could hear it from the other end of town because of Raven’s booming voice.

        When he got back to his cottage though, there was one more surprise that he wasn’t expecting… and that was a visitor outside Fluttershy’s cottage. It wasn’t Sage, Neptune, Scarlet, Ruby or even Weiss for that matter… But surprisingly, it was someone else. “Hey Sun? Are you busy right now?”

        “Well, it’s quite a surprise to see you Pyrrha. And no, I’m not busy,” The faunus said, opening the door to the cottage and then motioning to hold the door for her. “Wanna come inside?”

        “Sure… I would like to talk to you about something… though, can we please keep it between us for right now?” She asked, making Sun raise an eyebrow as they walked over to the kitchen table.

        “O… kay, sure. What would you like to talk about?” The faunus asked, a little confused by what she wanted to discuss with him. The words soon forming from her mouth as she asked him something.

        “Sun… do you believe in destiny?” She asked, looking at the faunus as he took his time to answer. But after almost ten minutes or so, he then finally came up with a reply that he thought was best for him.

        “Destiny… is strange.” He told her, thinking clearly. “It’s a strange thing really… many people believe that it is predetermined, but I don’t necessarily think that… I believe that we have the power to forge our own path and to make our own destiny instead of letting it be made for us. I’m not one for having something like that be given to you because I believe that your hopes, goals and dreams will be what you're destined to achieve as you progress through life. Sometimes, life has a way of knocking us down, but we need to make the motion of getting up again if we are ever going to go far in life… Does that answer your question, Pyrrha?”

        “I… I’m not sure if it does,” Pyrrha said, looking back at him. “I’ve only been with you and the others for a while, but I still have many questions that I feel need answering… A lot of things here don’t make sense to me than they did back home.” The last part of that statement though was what really made Sun a bit confused as he looked back at her. 

        “Hang on… what do you mean by… back home?” Sun asked her. Pyrrha turned away for a short moment before looking back towards the faunus as she tried to keep herself composed. “Pyrrha, what are you trying to tell me?”

        The answer that she had for her was nothing like he ever would expect. “Sun… Unlike you, who might’ve came here as someone accidently, none of that happened to me… You might’ve been someone else before you became Sun, but none of that ever happened to me. Who I am is not someone being somebody else… I am that someone… It’s hard to explain, but I really hope you can understand.”

        “No no, I’m getting it.” He insisted, trying to assure her that he wasn’t lost in translation. “Just answer one question for me… What do you last remember before coming here?”

        The answer he got though… was something else. “I…… remember dying at the top of Beacon Tower… in the world of Remnant.”




End Tail 23

> Tail 24- From the Ashes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- From the Ashes




        Sun… was speechless. Well, who wouldn’t be right around now. He had just found out that one of the characters on RWBY… Not to mention one of his other favorite characters besides Sun Wukong… was actually right in front of him. It was a lot to take in, no doubt about it… But the fact was that the real Pyrrha Nikos, in this present moment, was alive. There was no way for him to describe what was going through his mind, but it also explained why Pyrrha asked him that one question earlier in their conversation.

        “Do you believe in Destiny?”

        It was the same question that she had asked her Jaune and also Cinder right before she died. Both of them resulting in separate answers. His though, was different from the other answers that she had already been told and that… didn’t do anything to ease what was going through her mind. The whole concept behind the Displaced and the fact that some of the people here that were displaced as RWBY characters were not exactly the same as she once remembered them before. Not to mention that he wasn’t the same faunus that she remembered from Remnant.

        “Y-you must think I’m crazy…” Pyrrha first began to say, shortly before Sun cut her off. Because now was when he actually had an effective response for her.

        “No, I don’t… In fact, I actually believe you.” He insisted, looking at her straight in the eye and catching her by surprise. “You may not realize it, but there are a lot of people not just in this world, but in other worlds who have gone through strange things like both of us have. But for me to understand you… I would like for you to share your story.” She was hesitant at first, but soon, Pyrrha began to explain what lead up to the last moment that she remembered on Remnant before somehow arriving in Equestria. Telling Sun everything from her first day at Beacon all the way up to her final moments.

        By the time she ended her story though, that was when Penny burst out of nowhere, looking panicked. “Sun! Sun! Sun! Help!” She shouted. “My bow’s missing!” Sun looked at her, sighing a little but also noticing the partially scared and worried expression on Pyrrha’s face while he tended to help her.

        “Did you retrace your steps? Maybe you accidently misplaced it wherever you last were.” The faunus suggested to her as he tried his best to help. “Do you have an extra one to wear while you look for your other bow?”

        “No! I’ve only got the clothes on my body! And that bow! It’s important to me!” Penny then looked to Pyrrha, then her eyes widened a bit and she started to shake. “Uh… Nevermind… I-I’ll ask CFVY if they’ve seen it…” Sun noticed there was fear- no, terror, in her voice. She then turned and ran off. That just confused Sun personally, but still made Pyrrha a bit fearful to speak… until the faunus spoke up instead.

        “Pyrrha? Are you okay?”

        She nodded a little, before looking towards Sun. “I-i… When I saw her… I had a flashback to Remnant… I… destroyed her…” Pyrrha was too caught up in her emotions before speaking again. “She had friends… had a family… yet… what I did to her… still haunts me to this day.” The Faunus tried his best to comfort her, thinking of what he could say to help her snap out of this mood of her’s that she was in. Only to think of something that he soon said after some thought.

        “Don’t worry about it… I know for sure that there would not be anything this time to cause you to do the same thing again…” He said, only for Pyrrha to retort something back to him.

        “Yes, but do you think she would ever forgive me for what I did to her?” Pyrrha then asked him. It was a tough question, without a doubt. But soon, Sun had finally thought of something to say.

        “Pyrrha, you are strong and a brave warrior. A lot of us here can learn a few things from someone who has had your experience… But when it comes to this, there’s only one thing I can say,” He said as he looked back at her. “It’s more likely that she will be able to forgive you… once you are able to forgive yourself.” He got up and was about to help hold the door for Pyrrha, but before she left, the red haired lady pulled a fire like feather and handed it to the faunus.

        “Thank you Sun… I’ll think on what you said… I found this in my satchel when I first woke up in this world. I’m not sure why it’s there, but maybe you can find a better purpose for it.” Before the monkey could say anything though, Pyrrha was gone as she walked back into the halls of the academy. Sun though, did not have the time to investigate the properties of the feather and instead just quickly placed it in his pocket. His main priority right now was to go see Penny and see if she was okay after… what happened earlier.

        When he stepped out, the first thing he saw was Angel, who looked to be chewing on a small ‘baby’ carrot even though he was technically not a baby. “Hey Angel, have you seen where Penny went off too?” He asked. All he got from the rabbit was a tilt of the head and him pointing an ear in the direction of Carousel Boutique, which was a start as he thanked Angel and gave him a couple more carrots for after he finished the one that he was currently munching on.

        Just as he approached the door though and knock a small bit, he could hear something going on inside. It sounded like Penny was doing something, probably to get her mind off of her encounter earlier, but maybe she was still looking for her bow that she lost. 

        When Sun entered, he saw Penny and Coco dancing sporadically. Penny was wearing a fedora as she shimmied around Coco who was spinning in the center of the room. They were listening to Hooked on a Feeling, an old song that ironically… Coco and him listened to a lot when they used to date shortly after Guardians of the Galaxy came out. Coco noticed Sun and yelped, spreading her hands out is surprise. Penny was unfortunate enough to have her eyes closed and continued to dance into Coco’s back hand, which knocked her across the room.

        Sun soon rushed over to Penny and tried to offer a hand. “Penny, are you okay?!”

        “Ah’m… Fine… I think...” Penny dizzily took Sun’s hand and pulled herself up. She looked into a mirror near her and noticed silver was showing on her cheek. “Wowzers! I think you actually gave me a dent!”

        “I’m so sorry Penny, I… Have no excuse…” Coco looked to the ground.

        “Hey, it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.” Sun said to Coco and Penny as he looked back at the Android, “Right Penny? It’s just a simple scratch.”

        “There isn’t much technology, but yes. I can indeed buff the dent and my synthetic skin regenerates on it’s own.” Penny explained. Sun smiled a little bit, before thinking a little bit and then asking her something. 

        “Hey, did you find the Bow you were looking for earlier?” He said, turning his head to the side for a moment.

        “No… But Coco gave me this awesome hat that she made!” Penny beamed, pointing it out to Sun as he had the chance to inspect it himself. He was amazed by the details and craftsmanship in the piece and it looked great on Penny.

        “Nice. Coco did really well in making that… Hey, I’ll still be keeping an eye out on that bow for you… but can I ask you something for a minute?”

        “Sure.” Penny said. Coco understood they needed privacy, so she walked off to find her teammate Fox.

        “Well, how is everything here going for you at Beacon? Are you adjusting well?” He asked, wanting to start slow before getting into the main details of what he wanted to ask.

        “Ugh, I hate that place…” Penny grumbled.

        “Well… other than that, how's Ponyville?” Sun then wondered. “I noticed you have been “having fun with Ruby on occasion along with Coco.”

        “I only came here to ask where my bow is and Coco asked a few questions and one thing lead to another and then she wanted to dance for some reason.” Penny said. “That’s only the ninth time I’ve interacted with her. And Ruby’s been doing stuff.”

        “Well, can I ask you something different now…?” He then spoke up, changing the subject a little. “Earlier, you came by the cottage when you were looking for your bow, but ran out shortly after seeing Pyrrha… Is there something about her that makes you… well… scared?” He tried to make it brief, but also still get the message across.

        “Yeah, when I saw her I got this image of her standing at a far distance, then suddenly she outstretches her hands… Then pain… Like parts of me were cut off. And then… Coldness…” That was when Sun realized what Penny was talking about. She was referring to when Penny in RWBY was destroyed in Season 3. Something that… shocked a lot of people. Now he had to work with not just a real Pyrrha, but also a Penny who has the memories of the Android Pyrrha had torn apart unintentionally. “But yeah, I got scared.”

        “Penny… can I be honest with you on something?” He then asked, looking back at her for a brief moment. “Pyrrha herself… is scared as well… She’s scared because she doesn’t want her powers to hurt you…” He tried explaining it, but it didn’t seem like it was making any sense. “Tell me… do you know what happens when you are affected by magnets?”

        “Yeah… If applied too much it could damage my mechanics permanently.”

        “Well, Pyrrha’s semblance is Polarity… which involves Magnetism,” Sun then explained to her, trying to keep things simple. “She’s scared that she would somehow harm you if she had used her powers on you. The last thing I would want is for you and her to be scared of each other. Both of you and kind, nice and brave and many other students and displaced that come here can learn a few things from you two.”

        Penny smiled, although Sun could tell it was fake, and said, “Trust me, it wouldn’t matter if I died. A robot like me wouldn’t be considered a casualty.”

        “But you still have a soul… You have friends, Penny. They would be devastated if you were gone.” The Faunus explained. “I just want to help you feel comfortable so you don’t need to be scared. The same goes for other people like Pyrrha and Coco.”

        “If Pyrrha wants to be friends, then I’d be happy to put aside my fears and get close to her! I mean, she wouldn’t hurt a friend.” Penny grinned. “Anyway, I better head home.”

        “Would you like me to walk you home or are you okay on your own?” He offered, trying to be nice to her.

        “I’m fine, I don’t live in the Everfree anymore!” Penny stated happily.

        “That’s great news Penny!” Sun congratulated her. “Hey, if you do need anything by chance, just drop by the cottage and let me know. I’ll do anything I can in order to help.” With that, Penny soon stepped out of the boutique and began her walk home. Sun though, happened to spot a small pile of clothes that had a note from Rarity for him. Taking the chance, he changed into them while also putting a thank you note next to her sewing machine as she stepped outside. Only to run into another familiar face.

        “.......Idiot.” Sun turned around, only to see an irritated Weiss as he looked back at her with a tilted head and a raised eyebrow.

        “Hello to you too Weiss.” Sun replied back. “Is something on your mind?”

        “If there was I wouldn’t be talking about it with you.”

        “Hey white.” Coco remarked as she walked into the area outside of the boutique.

        “Hey Coco… Sorry about interrupting your… fun with Penny earlier. I needed to ask her about something.” He apologized to her. Coco then punched him.

        “Thanks you making it sound like I was having sex with her in front of my roommate!” Coco snarled.

        Sun smacked himself in the face, groaning a little. “I’m sorry. You too looked to be having fun while doing kareoke-. Wait a minute, roommate?” He didn’t realize the last bit until the very end, which now made him even more confused. 

        “Yeah, I live with Rarity and her. And we were dancing, not singing. You tell anyone this and I’ll use that backhand on you.” Sun immediately nodded his head, going as far as saluting Coco to show that her secret was safe with him and that he would not tell anyone else. “You too, white.”

        “Yeah, like I’ll tell anyone of my friends.” She said sarcastically while looking at Coco.

        “Thanks. Now, I gotta go tear Fox’s d*ck off. He’s been talking behind my back to fluffy ears.” Coco said, cracking her knuckles. “Then I’mma help gears move in.” As she walked off, Sun soon turned around to Weiss as he had a raised eyebrow on his face.

        “Gears?”

        “Who’s a robot!?” Coco shouted.

        “Oh right… Forgive me, I thought you were talking about somepony else.” He said. Earlier in the week, he had heard of several different names of some of the locals around town. One of whom was named Silver Spanner. So when Coco said gears, he thought that either she was relating to Penny, Silver, or some other pony with a talent for Engineering. Now with that figured out, she then looked back at Weiss. “Now… where were we before that happened?”

        “You tell me. Because right now every fiber in my being wants me to freeze your ass in a block of ice.” Sun backed up a couple of inches, really confused by what was going on.

        “Weiss… What are you talking about? Did something happen to Ruby?” He asked, worried that something actually did happen. It had only been a day or so since the initiation exam and right now, having to keep track of not just Ruby, but everything else at the school was putting a strain on him.

        “Oh no Ruby’s doing fine. Her lack of reflexes and almost getting killed is alway a normal thing for her.”

        “ …… Sarcasm is not very becoming of you.” Sun sighed, looking back at Weiss. “Look, if you are still mad about what happened to Ruby, that was two weeks ago. Are you still going to hold it against me for making one mistake?” The faunus did feel that he was partially to blame for it, but he never thought that Adam would actually use the time that he was gone to perform a surprise attack on Ponyville while he was away. “Besides… No one actually knew that Adam was going to attack Ponyville.”

        “One mistake that almost got us killed! Need I remind that Ruby’s reflexes are shot to hell, Yang got her arm cut off, Blake is missing an eye, and to add it all up the two of them have gone missing. So yeah you can see why I am very, very, pissed off.”

        “Look Weiss, I accept that I made a mistake. But I can’t change the past… What I can do though is prepare for if he tries to attack again.” Sun replied, “But what I want to ask you is what I can do to help you. I know you may not forgive me, but I want to do what I can to make sure everyone is ready next time around.” That was when one of the guards that was by the academy walked up to him and caught their attention.

        “Excuse me, are you Mr. Sun Wukong?” He asked, causing both Weiss and Sun to look at the pegasus stallion.

        “Yes I am… What is this about?” The Faunus asked, looking back as he took a scroll that was handed out to him.

        “Well, my name is Swift Skies and I’m part of the investigation team regarding your friends. We may have found two leads on your companions.” That caught Sun’s attention almost immediately as he opened the scroll that was given to him. 

        That got their attention rather immediately as Sun looked at the scroll and looked back at the pegasus. “What are these leads that you are talking about?”

        “Two of our scouts have received reports of possible locations where your colleagues may have been sighted. The first one, Ms. Belladonna, was spotted in the forest along the mountains in Neighpon and is seen living in what may be an old temple. The second one, Ms. Xiao Long, was seen wandering the dragon lands. We were only able to get this information because any chance of being able to communicate with either of them hasn’t been successful.” What the stallion had to say was both good news and bad news for the faunus. The good news was that they were alive and okay. The bad news though… they were not coming back so soon. It seemed like they needed a little more time to heal first beforehand.

        “Thank you, Swift Skies. You may go now.” He said to him, allowing the pony to return to his pose as he looked back at Weiss before letting her have a look at the scroll that contained the report the pegasus just explained to both of them. “Well, at least we know that they are okay… that’s a start.”

        “At least someone is doing something about it.”

        “It’s a team effort Weiss. Besides, if they had a reason for running in the first place, they would have a reason to come back when the time is right. I would think that given Yang and Blake, they would want to get stronger first so they can hold their own in a fight.” Sun said as he looked back at her. “You did the same when you had yourself fuse with Dust, remember?”

        “Need I remind you why I did it, or did you forget about what happen?”

        “I’m just using it as an example,” The Faunus clarified. “You’re all doing something in order to make yourself stronger than you once were and I would only think that Blake and Yang would come back once they find that something. Hell, even Ruby is getting stronger with learning how to use her new Crescent Rose.”

        “Really, I haven’t notice after what happen to us.”

        “That was a month ago. This is now… You’re dwelling on the past and it’s not letting you see what’s going on right now. How Adam found out about you four being the only ones in Ponyville there is beyond me, but what happened to you was not my fault… And if Adam does come back again, I’ll let you do whatever you want to him and tear him to shreds.”

        “Oh, nononono. When Adam appears again you’re going to deal with him. Don’t get me wrong, I know we can hold our own against him, but after what happen with Ruby. Think of this as a way to own up to your mistakes.” Weiss said as red crystals start to form around her skin. “I know Ruby and Blake will forgive you, but me and Yang will never forgive you.”

        “I already owned up to my mistakes. They make me who I am and haunt me whenever I feel at peace with myself.” Sun then said to her before tilting his head. “Uhh… You’re growing red crystals… again.”

        “A result of being like this. The dust sometime react to my emotions.” Weiss said as she calms herself down, causing the crystals to disappear. “It quite interesting if I do say so myself.”

        “I can agree…” He then replied, before thinking of something else in his head. “Hey… Can I ask you for some advice? I’m trying to help someone get adjusted here and… well, it’s kind of hard to explain.”

        “Normally I would say no and kick your ass, but I’m in a good mood today. So I’ll humor you until I feel like I’m done.”

        “Well, I had a conversation with one of the members of team JNPR earlier today and… found out something that is a little surprising…” The Faunus began to explain. “Remember Pyrrha?”

        “You mean the girl that got shot through the heart in volume 3?.....You know upon saying that I’m starting to miss Ruby being stupid around me….” When she said that though, Sun looked around nervously, hoping that Pyrrha was not exactly nearby when she said that as he looked back at her. “...She’s here isn’t she?”

        “The Pyrrha that is here is the same Pyrrha that died in Remnant. Just… reborn and given a second chance. However, she doubts herself and is also afraid to interact with Penny after what happened back in her home during the Vytal festival tournament.” Sun told her. “I want to help her regain her confidence and help Penny not be afraid of Pyrrha because she is scared of her. When Penny came by earlier today, she got an image of her being torn apart by Pyrrha’s semblance.”

        “… And you think I can help her overcome her fear? The only thing I have for that is to either lock her up in a room with Penny, have Ruby solve the problem, or just tell her to get over before that fear ends up killing her again later on down the line or worse.”

        “That is going to be hard, but I’ll only leave Ruby as a last resort,” Sun replied as he looked back. “I guess some of these things just take time… then again, time doesn’t heal all wounds.”

        “Yeah… I know.” Weiss said as the faunus looked back at her and letting her keep the scroll.

        “So… see you tomorrow then?” He said, looking back at Weiss as he was beginning to walk backwards.

        “If Ruby was here then she might end up bringing me to you to try to be friends and stuff. But seeing how she’s not here… you got about five seconds to leave before I freeze your ass in a tome of ice.”

        “Careful now… Rather not want to hurt a friend… now if you excuse me, I need to go back to the cottage. I got some things to do and help Fluttershy prepare for the new arrival.” He smirked, running off before Weiss could have the chance to encase him in Ice.

        “… One of these days I’m going to enjoy watching him get his ass handed to him by someone else for screwing something up...Wait, what the hell do you mean by new arrival!?”



        Penny was laying on the ground in an alley. Pain shot through her as she somehow bled out of her eyes, mouth and ears. She couldn’t move, errors flashing before her vision, and a voice in her head whispered.

        “Sun will betray you. These ponies hate you. Ruby has abandoned you. And Pyrrha will kill you. Nobody loves us.” The voice said to her as a red eyed version of herself appeared above her. “I’m your only friend… Let me take control and make them suffer… Make Ruby yours… Just take my hand, Penny.”

        Penny was about to answer, when Velvet called to her and the world changed in an instance. “Penny! Are you okay!?” Velvet ran into the alley and fell to her knees, sliding on the dirt slightly from the momentum. She grabbed Penny in her arms and lifted her head up and into the faunus’ lap. Penny then noticed that the blood and tears were gone, the tears, as well as the other her. Velvet hugged Penny’s head tightly.

        “I-I’m okay…” Penny said before hiccuping. Velvet gave Penny a concerned look, but didn’t press on.

        “U-um… Can you get u-up?” Velvet asked, feeling something strange in her chest. An odd, familiar feeling. Velvet felt weaker all of a sudden.

        “Yeah.” Penny replied, slowly getting up. Velvet then noticed Penny’s damaged cheek and gasped.

        “P-Penny! You’re hurt! Did you get in a fight agai-” Velvet froze. ‘A-again?’

        “No, I accidentally ran into Coco’s fist as she was twirling!” Penny said, returning to her chipper self. “Heh… Well anyways, I’ll see you later friend!” Penny then turned around and skipped away. Velvet just stood there, in pure confusion and shock.

        “D-did I… Know her before I was Displaced?” Velvet asked herself, stunned at the potential possibility.



        Penny sighed as she came to a stop outside of a crumbling building, separate from the rest of the houses in the block. It was rumored haunted, which allowed her to move in with relative ease.

        Although, she’d only told Coco about it. The brunette promised to give Penny a house warming party, though Penny doubted that.

        Penny walked in and locked the door. She was alone, locked away from all life. Left is silence. Part of her was happy she was away from others, but most of her was just… Tired. The android walked up the stairs, then went into the bathroom and laid down in the filthy bathtub.

        “I hope Penny will be okay…” Penny said to herself with a sigh. Silence. Penny looked around until she noticed a cockroach on the side of the tub. “Oh, hello Mr. Bug! I’m Penny Polendina!” No reply. Penny sighed dejectedly. “I know, I’m a sad excuse for a friend… I haven’t even seen Ruby in the hospital… Knowing me, I’d just hurt her more…” No reply. “Uh… Mr. Bug? Are you okay? Why are you- OH MY SWORDS!!!” Penny soon saw ants ripping the dead cockroach's leg off. She pulled out one of her swords and sent a green laserbeam at the dead bug and ant, causing a hole to open up in the wall. “I… Didn't need a wall anyway…”

        There were a couple knocks at the door as she heard someone walk onto the porch outside.

        Penny rushed to the door and opened it up. “Salutations guest or guests!” Penny looked to who was there. Turns out, it was Sun Wukong and he was standing on her outside porch.

        “Hey Penny. I was coming by to check on you and see how you were doing.” He said, looking around on the inside of the old home before asking Penny a question. “May I come in?”

        “Sure!” Penny replied, moving away from the doorframe as to let the faunus in. Sun walked in, looking around to see the inside of the home as he looked back at Penny.

        “Wow… this is a… pretty cozy place you have here.” He commented as he walked into what he thought was the living room “You enjoying it?”

        “Yeah… I just need some furnishings like a bed and a skyline.” Penny replied.

        “Ah nice. Nice…” Sun then said to her as he looked around before offering something to the gynoid. “Hey, would you need any help with the furnishings? I can help build you some things like a table and chairs if you want. Anything for a friend.”

        “I’d like that. Coco’s coming over with a spare bed.” Penny said.

        “Like the mattress or a bed frame?” The faunus then asked for clarification as he followed Penny into another room.

        “Everything.” Penny added.

        “Wouldn’t it be hard for her to carry the whole thing by herself?” Sun then questioned as Penny looked back at him. “I mean, many hands make light work and you can’t always do everything by yourself. That’s why you have friends.”

        “Coco’s far stronger than you give her credit for.”

        “True… But sometimes carrying all that weight might throw your back out.” He said, looking around. “Nevermind that, is there anything I can help assemble for you while I’m here?”

        “While you’re here? Well… Maybe you could try to replace the dining room table.” Penny pointed to a pile of wood in the kitchen. “I checked and the wood’s all soggy. And falling apart.”

        “Right… Well, do we have a table that’s ready to be built or do I need to get one from the furniture store?” He then asked so he could have the information in his head.

        “This whole house is pretty old. So the later sounds like the best.” Coco said dully from outside. She was dragging a twin bed behind her, with Fox lying on it.

        “Oh hi Coco… Need help with getting Foxy off of there or are you good?” He offered.

        “I’m good, Fox is just taking a break.” Coco replied plainly while Fox moaned in pain and curled up on the mattress.

        “Alright… I’ll be back with a table and hopefully some assistance.” Sun said as he walked out the door and around the mattress, walking to the furniture store to get a table while Coco and Penny worked on the bed.

        “There, I helped you.” Fox grumbled. “Now don’t hit me down there again.”

        “Fine. And go home. The housewarming party will be at nine tomorrow night, so get some rest.” Coco turned to Sun. “And you’re paying for the booze, Sun!” Sun was already coming back out from the furniture store… along with some friends alongside him.

        “Hey guys… look who I found,” Sun smiled as Twilight and her friends walked up next to him. “They just came back from the Crystal Empire. I told them about helping out Penny with the house and they said they would be more than happy to pitch in and help once they set some things down back at the castle.” As Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie went to their homes to drop some things off, Twilight, Spike, Starlight and Applejack stood around in order to help assemble the recently bought furniture along with cleaning up the interior of the home to make it nice and beautiful for Penny to live in.

        “Now, for those of you who are here to help, this may have some physical labor.” Coco started. “Twilight, Starlight, you two are going to look for weak parts of the house and mark them… If you have that kind of spell. Applejack, you’ll help by finding any piece of floorboard that’s wet and unsalvageable and tearing it out.” Coco ordered.

        “What can I do, Miss Coco?” Spike then spoke up from on top of Twilight’s back as he hopped onto the floor… shortly before almost falling inside… if it weren’t for Sun’s tail catching him at the last second.

        “Well… That makes mah job a bit easier.” Applejack chuckled as she trotted over to those floorboards and began to tear them out as instructed.

        “Spike, you’re going to have an important job.” Coco said seriously. “Are you up for it?”

        “Yes, Ma’am!” He replied, saluting Coco in the process.

        “You’ll be helping me with taking out the carpet.” She instructed before Spike soon walked over to her and followed her to another room while Sun worked on building the new table for Penny’s kitchen. After a while, he was able to finish it and start on the chairs while Applejack was still working on the floorboards, and Twilight and Starlight scanned for the integrity of the walls. When the chairs were done, he set them in the kitchen and turned to Coco to see if she needed anymore help.

        Spike was taking out tacs with a crowbar while Coco was taking out the carpet itself.

        “Sun, why don’t you help cowfilly?” Coco suggested.

        “Ah’m good over here!” Applejack insisted. “Sun should go check on Fluttershy… You know, spend some time with her. We were away for some time, ya know.”

        “Okay fine. Don’t forget tomorrow at nine we’re having a party!” Coco added, letting Sun go return to his marefriend

        “I’ll make sure to be there!” Sun told them as the faunus went back to Fluttershy’s cottage. He definitely missed the pegasus… and they quite a bit to catch up on.




End Tail 24

> Tail 25- Until the End
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Until the End




Beacon Academy

        It had been almost a couple of weeks since the initial gathering was held at beacon academy to celebrate it’s grand opening and for the most part, things seemed peaceful. The party that Coco and him set up for Penny after fixing up the old home that she was staying in went off without a hitch and since then, things have been going along pretty smoothly for everyone. Yet, there were still some things lingering around in Sun’s mind around now as he walked to Twilight’s study at Beacon Academy… or to be more specific, the office that she had. Due to recent events… and with the fact that Twilight usually made a habit out of studying way late into the evening before passing out, the least he could do was make sure that she didn’t overdo it… again.

        However, what he found this morning when he did enter her office was not exactly a tired out Twilight, but a freaked out Twilight… and when she saw Sun, nothing really seemed to change on that fact. “Oh thank Celestia you’re here Sun-!”

        “Woah, hold up there Twilight…” Sun told her. “You look like Pinkie Pie pulled off a terrifying prank that gave you nightmares last night… what happened?” The Alicorn sighed, using her magic to close the door behind him as she looked back at him and saw her pull something out of her saddlebag. Much to his surprise, it looked like one of the small drones that he would see Faith Nocte have beside her.

        “Well, earlier this morning, I got this… drone I think it was from Anson’s daughter Faith,” She replied back, causing the Faunus to remember when she visited the academy and helped Penny be herself again sometime ago. “She’s… requesting help. Not just from us, but from the academy… I-i don’t know whether we should actually get ourselves involved or not.”

        Sun smirked a little as he folded his arms. “Now that’s just dumb Twilight, you should always find a way to get friends involved. Especially us… now what was Faith needing help with?” That was when Twilight sighed as she looked back at the small drone. It was chirping to itself almost like a bird and also spoke sometimes in beeps as it took a moment to try and recognize Sun. When it did, it sighed to itself as Twilight made a simple request for the drone.

        “Nono, please play the message from Faith that she had for us.” The Alicorn’s request soon followed with a transmission that was recorded and stored onto Nono as the drone began to project it onto an empty wall. Originally, Sun thought that when Faith was asking for her help with something small or relatively minor.

        However, what was presented to him was anything but that. Immediately, when the Code Queen was speaking, her tone was serious. Sun wasn’t sure why in the beginning, but what the white haired girl had to show him afterwards soon changed all of that. In her world, demons that were originally locked away in Tartarus had broken out, laid waste to Canterlot and had the refugees flee to either Cloudsdale, Ponyville or the Crystal Empire. Their Princess Celestia and also her brother, Prince Artemis, were weakened because of the attack and because of how bad the attack was, the main hall of the castle in the crystal empire was turned into an emergency medical wing. Many victims had been hurt in the attack, and some of the children that had survived had lost everything that they had in the attack. 

        As for her father, according to Faith, he was scrambling to try and put some kind of plan together. Almost like he forgot about the fact that he could contact them for help. Not to mention that she had not heard from her uncle Nicko in a few days, yet there was the sighting of one of her runes on the top of the tallest tower in Canterlot with the words ‘The Time is Now’ underneath it. With the way things were, she could bear standing around any moment longer and just watch things break apart and other people die around her.

        She wanted… no, needed their help. Food, medical supplies or people who can help push the demons back. She didn’t care… but made it certain that they needed help in any possible way… and for Sun, the whole transmission in itself caught him off guard. Nicko did mention to him that he needed help with fighting demons… but he never thought that it would lead to something like this. This was not any mere fight against a single foe… This was an invasion. And Faith was asking for anyone at beacon that could be able to fight to come and help them push the invaders back. To be honest with himself, it was a lot to think about… but Twilight didn’t have to think so much in order to come up with an answer on what she think they must do.

        “We need to help them… but I’m worried about what would happen if word gets out about this… the school has only been open for more than a week and were being asked to assist in what may be a war. I don’t feel as if we’re ready to help them.” She admitted. That comment though, did little to help Sun with his thought process.

        “So are you actually saying that we don’t help them at all and let them suffer out there?”

        “N-no that’s not what I meant,” Twilight replied. “Sure, we may have the supplies, but what Faith is asking for is a lot more than medical supplies and food. She’s asking for fighters to fight back what she’s up against and that we don’t have.”

        “She’s not specifically asking for student’s Twilight. Faith probably means any of the teachers or staff members that can help them. Many of the students that are still here are still learning how to fight in the first place.” The faunus pointed out to the Alicorn as he looked back at her. “I just… rather not think about it right now…”

        That… surprised Twilight. She had not seen him act this way before… it was… quite surprising and also made her concerned for why he was acting this way. “What’s wrong Sun? Is something on your mind?” The faunus at first didn’t respond… but after some time to think, he did respond to Twilight’s question.

        “I’m worried Twilight…” He told her honestly. “I’m worried that if I do take part in this somehow, my decision would not only affect me, but everybody else I know and also everybody I care for… Especially Fluttershy. I do not want to put her in a position where she would have to worry for my safety and I don’t want to put myself in a position that I would not be able to protect her of help her if I’m gone…”

        “Sun, I think Fluttershy can take care of herself just fi-.”

        “No, she can’t!” The Faunus snapped, startling the Alicorn before trying to calm himself down afterwards.  “She can’t…… Twilight… there’s been something that Fluttershy and I have been meaning to tell you and the girls, but with everything that has been going on, I did not want to make things too hectic for you.” Now Twilight was really confused as to what he was talking about, but a small part of her really wanted to know what it was. In fact, she was anticipating for him to say something… but instead, both of them heard a slight knock on the door as they turned around.

        “Uhh… Were you expecting any visitors this morning, Twilight?” He then asked, acting like he was before.

        “N-no I wasn’t… Wait, weren’t you going to tell me something?” She then questioned him in response.

        “Yeah… I think we should just save that for later…” He told her. “I’m not trying to avoid the conversation, Twilight. I just think it would be rather rude if we make whoever is knocking at the door wait a lot longer than they have to… Matter of fact, how about Fluttershy and I both tell you later when you’re not so busy?” The faunus did make a valid point, Twilight had to admit. Sighing to herself, she then took a deep breath and looked back at him.

        “Okay, but don’t forget about it.” She sternly told him before putting Nono away. However, when Sun did open the door… who they saw behind it immediately caught them off guard.

        “My apologies, but would you happen to be Mr. Sun Wukong and Princess Twilight Sparkle? I was informed by one of the guards on the premises that if I wanted to talk with someone in regards to the academy, I would speak with either one of you.” This person had white hair, a small set of spectacles over where his eyes would be, green shirt, a buttoned vest that was underneath a black suit jacket, long dark green pants and black shoes. That was also accompanied by a cross shaped pin on his neck and a special cane he was holding.

        “Oh… my… god.” Sun was at a complete loss for words right now.

        “W-who… are you?” Twilight then asked as the man realized that he forgot to introduce himself now.

        “Oh… my sincerest apologies. I forgot to introduce myself,” He replied back, as he walked into the room. “It’s been far too long since I’ve been in Equestria that I forgot some basic customs… I am called many things by other people I know, but you can call me Ozpin-.”

        “O-ozpin!?” The Alicorn stuttered. “Y-you mean the Ozpin that was the teacher of Starswirl the Bearded?!!”

        “That is correct…” Ozpin nodded his head. “It’s a pleasure to meet the two of you, but before we continue, there’s someone here that came along with me… Ms. Belladona, would you please join us?” That… caught Sun off guard immediately. For a moment, there was no way that Ozpin here could actually be talking about who he thought he was talking about. Then, from the darkness of the empty hallway outside… she stepped in.

        “Didn’t expect to see you here, Sun.” The faunus was at a loss for words… he couldn’t process what was going on in order to say anything… but instead, all he could do was walk closer to her as he tried to speak.

        “B-blake? … Is that… r-really you?” He wanted to be certain. The mask she was wearing hid her face, but he knew that was her voice. Still though, he wanted to make sure that was truly her and not someone playing a very sick trick on him.

        “Unless there’s another fauna with cat ears, then I doubt this is a trick-.” That, caused him to do the only thing he could think of in that moment and pull the cat faunus into a hug. 

        “Y-you’re okay…” He said, relieved. “I-i was worried sick about you… everyone was… I personally even though that it was my fault that you and Yang took off.” The Faunus then released the hug as there was now an overjoyed look on his face. “But… why did you run?”

        “My reasons are mine and mine alone, Sun.”

        “Blake… Don’t you realize that your decisions not only impact you, but everyone else around you?” Sun retorted. “Weiss has been on my case saying that it was my fault for what happened to you and you’re acting like you running doesn’t matter!?” He calmed himself, looking back at her before speaking again. “I’m glad you are back… but please do take into account that everyone you know cares for you. That what you do impacts them too… I know your reasons are yours alone, but they don’t always impact just you alone.”

        “Like I said.” Blake replied as an onymous dark aura surrounded herself. “My reasons are mine and mine alone.”

        Sun sighed, looking back at her as he was trying to form some sort of reply for him to say… until they heard the door slam open behind them and the sound of footsteps.

        “Even when you were still in the hospital. Ruby you’re still an-.” That voice, Sun knew. Blake did too and by the time she turned around, she was face to face with both Weiss and Ruby… and both of them had equally different reactions to the sight of their teammates presence right now.

        “Blake’s back!” Ruby cried out in pure joy, going as far as to hug Twilight in the process… which made her really uncomfortable. As for Weiss though… her reaction was much… much different from Ruby’s.

        “Where the hell have you been!?” Weiss asked as she walked over to the fauna and punch her in the face. Causing the mask on her face to fall off as she fell to the floor. All Sun could do right now was just watch helplessly as Weiss proceeded to try and knock some sense into Blake. “We been trying to find you after what happen, but you just up and left without saying anything about where you were going! Who the hell give you the right to leave us without even telling us!?”

        “....Sorry.” Blake said as a bittersweet smile appeared on her face.

        “You’re sorry!?” Weiss said as she punched her in the face again. “You got some nerve saying you’re sorry after that little stunt you just pulled!” She said as she quickly pulled herself off of Blake as she dusted herself up and extended a hand towards the fallen fauna. “That being said. It’s good to have you back on the team with us.” Sun was glad to see that things were somewhat patched up between the three of them… but there was still two things that needed to be addressed. And the first one was in the room with them.

        “Are you alright there, Blake?” Weiss turned at the sound of the newfound voice and even Ruby let go of her hold on Twilight after shaking her so much like a ragdoll to look back at the newest person in the room. That being Ozpin.

        “Gah! Creepy old guy!” Ruby said, only for Weiss to smack her upside her head.

        “That’s Ozpin you idiot...wait what is he doing here anyway?”

        “Well… To be fair… I was here a long time ago before you or your companions, Ms. Schnee,” Ozpin commented. “Yet, I only know of recent events because of Ms. Belladona… You see, when she ran, she happened to find me at where I was staying in Neighpon. Thanks to her, I decided to come back… but only on the condition that Blake would find a way for her to get stronger with her Semblance beforehand.”

        When Twilight finally got herself back up, she then began to speak. “It’s been said that Ozpin was the teacher of Starswirl the Bearded, one of the greatest sorcerers in Equestria’s time and knew the princesses when they were just fillies.” She added onto that to try and help answer Weiss’ question. “What he’s doing here now though… that I am not sure about.”

        “He’s here because I told him about it.” Blake said as she walked over to her mask and place it back on her face.

        “Yes and I figured that, with everything that Blake did tell me, I thought I would ask you Ms. Sparkle… If I can help with being the Headmaster of Beacon.” That… surprised both Sun and Twilight… but also felt as if Sun had some of the weight that was on his shoulder before when Beacon first opened felt lifted off it. “Granted, I don’t know much about the Displaced or anything related to it, nor do I know much about current Equestrian affairs. So, If I were to be headmaster, I would still need your help in making sure I am… up to speed to be more specific.”

        He was not sure what to say… But Twilight surely did in that moment. “Of course!”

        “Um, I’m kinda lost. Does this mean we get to have cookies?” Sun facepalmed himself in response as he looked back at Ruby.

        “It means that he’ll need our help in understanding about the displaced if he’s going to be a successful headmaster,” Sun explained, only to add something else to it to simplify things for Ruby. “So basically… if we help him, he can help us with running the academy.”

        “Yeah especially after what we got this morning,” Twilight said to herself, thinking that no one else would hear it… only to underestimate Weiss’ exceptional hearing.

        “Care to explain what you mean by that?” That caused Twilight and Sun to sigh a little as they looked back at Weiss, Ruby and Blake. Now they need to be caught up to speed on the situation at hand before Ozpin arrived with Blake.

        “Weiss, Ruby… do you happen to remember a white haired girl named Faith that was with the Rune Slayer named Nicko when Beacon originally opened?” Sun asked both Weiss and Ruby to see if they remembered.

        “Yeah, what about them?”

        “Well, take a look at this,” Twilight told them, showing them the Nasod Courier drone and the transmission that was on it. “Faith’s asking for help from the academy, but I was telling Sun that not everyone here could be able to fight since many of the students here are still fighting. We can send supplies, but that won’t help push back the invaders. We were trying to figure out what would be the best decision given the circumstances.”

        “Normally we would help. But seeing how Ruby just got out of the hospital, I’m still trying to get the whole dust factory thing with me under control.” Weiss said a pair of red dust crystals appeared on her head. “Blake… well she might help… right?” She said looking a Blake who nodded no.

        “Still… trying to get things under control with the whole darkness thing I have. I would be more of a burden then help. Not to mention Yang isn’t here and she’s missing an arm as well from what happen in Ponyville. But knowing her she’ll figure out a way to fight with something as a substitute for that. But in this case we be more of a problem then we are at helping.”

        “True, not to mention Ruby’s reflexes are still shot.”

        “No they’re not.” Ruby said, only for Weiss to throw a piece of a chocolate chip cookie at her head. “... Did something hit me?”

        “Case in point.”

        “If I may…” Ozpin spoke up, clearing his throat. “I may not be so familiar with who you are talking about, but what I do know is that someone is in need of our help. I believe that all of you can be able to play a part… and I can do something to assist Ms. Rose.” Carefully, he placed a hand on Ruby’s shoulder, emitting a small turquoise glow from his hand for a few moments before looking back at Weiss. “Now, Ms. Schnee… Would you care to try that again?”

        Weiss, at first, was unsure what Ozpin was trying to prove to them in that moment, but nevertheless, she did what was requested… only for the results this time to be much different.

        “Wait a minute… You threw a cookie at my head didn’t you!?” That… surprised Sun. It was only a few moments ago that Ruby had no idea that something was thrown at her. Now though, not only did she know what it was, but could also tell who did it. Something that even surprised both Weiss and Twilight.

        “What did you do to Ruby?”

        “Just a small spell to restore any strain on her muscles. Granted, it will take some time, but I assure you that in the next couple of days or so, her speed would be back to normal,” Ozpin explained. “Which leads me to another point… Some of you don’t have to go immediately to help them, but time is of the essence. The longer you wait, the more things will just get worse… For now, some of you should plan help them as soon as possible… while the rest of you can assist when you feel ready.”

        “Hey I can still help!” Ruby said, only for her to stagger a bit as Weiss moved over to her for support. 

        “You just got out of the hospital Ruby. Remember? The doctor said that you can’t do any physical activities for the next few weeks until the wound is fully healed.” She said as she looked over at Ozpin. “I might be able to help if we can find Yang.”

        “I’m sure that when she’s ready, she’ll find a way to come back to you three… Also, you don’t need a few weeks… The spell I had used also affects any physical injuries and restores them too, but does require time if you want to be fully healed. At most, she’ll need two days… Now, I’m confident in the fact that all of you will make the right decision when the time comes, but take some time to prepare yourselves if you need too.” He said to them, “Now, if you would excuse me for a moment, I would like to have a conversation with Ms. Sparkle.” All four of them stepped out of the room as Ozpin closed the door behind him. For the moment, everything seemed fine and calm… but that all changed once they reached the main hall… and found Pinkie Pie, Neptune, Sage and a few of her friends with all of her party decorations everywhere along with her favorite treats.

        “Hey everypony!! Welcome to Blake’s welcome back party!!!” They heard the mare tell them just as she set out a plate of chocolate chip cookies while they were coming down the stairwell… which Ruby immediately bolted for and almost knocked over Neptune in the process.

        “MINE!!!”

        All that caused Sun to do was chuckle and Weiss to facepalm herself as the faunus looked back at Blake. “It’s good to have you back.”



Fluttershy’s Cottage (Some time later)

        Some time after the welcome back celebration that Pinkie threw for Blake, Sun proceeded to go back to Fluttershy’s cottage. He needed to talk to her about a couple of things and wanted to make sure that both of them were on the same page when it came to some of the things he wanted to discuss. One thing of course involved the fact that he wanted to go and help Nicko and Faith, but didn’t want to just go rushing into something without thinking it over first.

        The last time he did that, it was before he was displaced. His mother Aya had been in a car wreck and with his father gone, he was the only one that could take care of her. However, his mother insisted that he should go to RTX that year. She wanted him to have some happiness despite how things have been for both of them and he jumped at the chance without a second thought. Of course, despite all the preparation then, nothing would’ve prepared him for what lead up to his displacement.

        That kind of separation, he feared… changed his mother to the point that she wasn’t the same as he once remembered her before. That feeling of being separated from someone you truly cared for in the blink of an eye… It was the kind of feeling that he didn’t want Fluttershy to go through… especially since the two of them were going to start their own family.

        The sound of the back door closing behind them caught his attention as he looked up to see Fluttershy walk in. From the looks of things, she was coming back from taking Griff out on a walk… and the young wolf pup was tired out. Going as far as letting himself fall on his bed and instantly falling asleep.

        “Welcome home, Fluttershy.” Sun greeted the pegasus, who soon noticed him sitting on the couch as she trotted in.

        “Oh! H-hello Sun. I didn’t expect you to be h-home so soon.” The pegasus responded, a little surprised to see her coltfriend home early. She had thought that with him being at the academy and helping around there that the faunus wouldn’t exactly be home around now. Seeing him inside was a bit of a surprise to her personally… and also confused her a bit. “I thought you were doing some things at the academy.”

        “Yeah, well, there had been some changes going on at the academy and because of it, I may not be needed as much as before.” He told her before wanting to clear up on something. “That doesn’t mean they won’t need me at all, but it just means that I have a little bit more time on my hands.”

        “O-oh…. That’s well… good to hear.” Fluttershy squeaked in response. This soon lead to what Sun was going to say next as he looked back at her.

        “Hey, Fluttershy… Can I talk to you about something for a moment?” The question surprised the pegasus, but after a bit, she nodded her head and sat down next to him on the couch.

        “Sure, what did you want to talk about Sun?” She asked nicely. Even though Sun was kind of nervous, there were two things on his mind that he wanted to talk about with Fluttershy. The first thing being if they should let somepony know about what was going on between them and let them know of the fact that they were going to start a family. The second was about what the Faunus found out about Faith… and seeing if his marefriend was okay with letting him help the Code Queen in her world.

        “Well… There were two things I wanted to ask you about.” The Faunus told her calmly, trying to not lose his composure. “Remember when you told me that you were pregnant some time ago?” She nodded her head, a little bit nervous since she did not know what he was trying to tell her. “Well… have we ever considered telling everypony else? Like Twilight or somepony?”

        “W-well…” She said, a little bit shy and nervous. “I-i’ve been thinking about it, b-but I’m a little worried about how they would take the news.” That… was a valid point… and something that Sun had not taken into consideration. “P-pinkie would be happy, but not really understand what we mean… Rarity would be utterly shocked about it… Rainbow might get mad at you for getting me pregnant and Applejack may be the same way… The only p-pony that I would think about telling would be-.”

        “Twilight.” Sun spoke, finishing her sentence. What a coincidence that the pony that he almost accidently told her about Fluttershy’s Pregnancy this morning was the same pony that she was actually thinking about.

        “D-dont get me wrong… It’s not that I don’t want anypony else to know… I’m just nervous about telling everypony else. So I want to just tell Twilight first before letting the rest of the girls know.” She explained to him, looking back at him for just a brief second. “Because I wanted to ask her something too if I did tell her.”

        “You… did?” Sun asked. “What did you want to ask her?”

        “Well… I was thinking that… maybe we should ask if Twilight could be our child’s… um… what’s the tern for like a parent, but not really a parent?” That was when things began to click inside the faunus’ head. He knew what she was talking about… and was honestly surprised that she had actually been thinking about this for a while. He had not even had the chance to think about it honestly.

        “You mean… you want Twilight to be our child’s godmother?”

        “Yes! That’s the word for it.” Fluttershy responded, overjoyed now that she knew the right word for it. “D-do you think that’s a good idea?” She then asked nervously, causing Sun to chuckle a little as he looked back at her.

        “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Fluttershy.” He smiled, hugging her in response… until he realized something that slapped him in the face. “Aw crap…”

        “What’s wrong Sun?” Fluttershy asked him.

        “I… remembered that I was going to ask Coco the same thing…” Sun said, facepalming himself. “Ugh, why do I have to make this more difficult on myself-.”

        “No, no it’s okay…” Fluttershy replied. “To be fair… I had Coco be my second choice if Twilight were to say no…  Sometimes, being prepared is a good thing.”

        “T-that’s great!” He said, relieved to hear that from her after his accidental blunder. “When do you think we should tell her?”

        “W-well… maybe after we’re finished talking…” Fluttershy responded. “You did have one other thing that you wanted to ask me about right?” She was right. Sun did say that there were two thing he wanted to talk to her about. Now that they had just finished the first topic, he needed to ask her about the second one… and even that was particularly hard in order for him to say at first.

        “Y-yes… well… do you remember the white haired girl named Faith that helped Penny when the academy first opened?” Fluttershy nodded, remembering the displaced that her coltfriend was talking to. “Well, she’s in desperate need of help from us. Her world is in… really bad shape and needs our help to make everything right. I want to go but… I don’t want to be gone too long and for something to happen to you if I were away.” He was going to continue speaking, but refrained himself from doing so as he looked back at her. But what she had to say afterwards though was what surprised him personally.

        “I-it’s okay…” She assured him, placing one of her hooves on his shoulder. “There’s nothing you need to worry about… I’m sure that Twilight and our friends can help me while you’re gone… When do you leave though?” The question itself… caught Sun by surprise. That was one variable that he didn’t think about.

        “I-i don’t know… late tomorrow I think-.” He was interrupted when Fluttershy actually reached over to him and pulled him in for a light kiss on the cheek before giggling a little at the sudden blush on the faunus’ face.

        “Then perhaps until you have to leave… you can stay with me… Besides, I’m going to the doctor’s tomorrow to find out the gender of our child. Would you like to accompany me?”

        “S-sure.” He replied, taking the moment to breathe a sigh of relief… even if it was temporarily as they soon heard another voice.

        “Okay, just what the hay were you two talking about?”

        Both Sun and Fluttershy turned around to find Twilight by the open patio door. Who seemed to had just arrived only a few seconds ago. “Oh Twilight! E-excellent timing. Come, come. We got some news to share with you.” Now, whenever Sun noticed Fluttershy trying to be insistent, she always seemed to do it in the cutest way possible. 

        “What is it, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, a little puzzled first before looking at both of them in confusion.

        “Twilight, can you promise to keep this to yourself for the time being?” Sun asked her, causing the Alicorn to tilt her head in a puzzled manner. “Fluttershy and I have some news that she’s… nervous to tell everypony right now. So until she’s ready, please keep this to yourself okay.”

        “Um…… okay? What’s going on?” Twilight asked, even more puzzled than before. That’s when Sun sighed and looked back at Fluttershy, who now showed the ring that he had given her on Hearts and Hooves day. “… No way… Are you joking with me right now?” Both of them shook their heads no, confirming something for Twilight. “Y-you two are getting married?!”

        “T-there’s more to it then that.” Fluttershy told her before looking down at herself for a brief moment and then looking back at her friend. “We’re also going to start a family… Twilight…… I’m p-pregnant.” That caused Twilight’s eyes to widen immensely, looking back at both of them.

        “YOU’RE WHAT!?!!” That almost blew Sun off of the chair he was on while knocking Angel bunny onto his face.

        “Keep quiet! Some of us are trying to sleep a**hole!” Reese’s voice screamed. That just had Sun sigh to himself, even though it was only a couple of hours before sundown.

        “Oh uh… sorry. Sometimes, I forget to restrain myself from having that happen.” Twilight apologized as she shook her head. “But still… Why are you telling me this though?”

        “W-well, I was concerned of how some of the other girls would react if we did tell them. I don’t want to have them think that Sun forced this upon me or something else. He asked me first and I said yes…” Fluttershy told her friend in a whisper like tone. “I love him Twilight… and I care for him as much as he cares for me.”

        “You… bring up a valid point,” Twilight responded, realizing what her friend was saying. “So uh… do you know what the child’s going to be?”

        “Not quite actually… We’re going to the doctors for her sonogram tomorrow.” Sun added on. “I promised Fluttershy that until I leave to help Faith, I’ll be spending as much time with her as I can.”

        “So you are going to help her then?” Twilight asked, leading to him nodding his head in response. “Well, that’s good. Right now, I still have to ask some of the others around here, but we do have a good amount of supplies to bring to them. A couple of others did agree to come along and assist Faith as well.”

        Now that caught the Faunus’ attention. “Who are those?”

        “Well, I’m still asking some of the instructors, but a few of the people that were here before we set up Beacon have offered to help Faith. One of them being Neptune while another being Pyrrha if I remember correctly.” Hearing the second name surprised Sun for sure. Last time they talked, Pyrrha still seemed to be a little nervous and promised to think on what he had told her before. Part of him was grateful that she did decide to lend a hand and help… but another part of him wanted to know why.

        “I’ll make sure to tell you who is going to help you out sometime tomorrow. Right now, I need to help Ozpin get situated with the academy first along with show him around.” Twilight replied, before looking back at them. “Oh… I almost forgot… about what you told me… I just wanted to say Congratulations to the two of you.”

        “Aww… Thanks Twilight.” Her friend replied, Sun nodding his head as well. “Thanks for being such a good friend and hearing us out.”

        “No problem,” She smiled as she began to trot out the door. “That’s what friends are for.”



        Late in the town of Las Pegasus, the nightlife of the city was soon going to have some… unexpected guests tonight at the Ponet Fantastique.

        Roman Torchwick stopped walking and slammed his cane on the ground. He breathed in the air deeply, before exhaling and speaking. “Ah, I missed this town… So many bad memories… Like when I was chased out of town. Good times.” Roman grinned. “And this place! This is a joke, it’s gotta be! That chubby con-pony runs this place?”

        “Excuse me sir,” Torchwick turned to see two of the security guards at the front of the casino trotting towards him. “Do you have some form of identification on you?”

        “You… You can’t tell? I’m one of the good guys~! One of those bipedal heroes!” Roman lied half heartedly.

        “Sir, please just-.”

        “No, no, I don’t think you get how this works… I tell you an obvious lie, and you buy it. I’d have to hurt you gentleponies.” Roman sighed, looking around for a moment until remembering the… accomplice that was with him.

        “Allow me…” He heard his companion, Emerald tell them as she focused a little, closing her eyes before opening her eyes. The security guards looked startled for a moment, before she held out a slip of paper like it was a ticket. “Excuse me, gentlestallions, but my name is… Suri Polomare and this is my accomplice. He’s my plus one to this event and we were told that we could visit Mr. Gladmane?”

        “Right this way, Ms. Polomare.” The two security guards replied, leading the two of them towards the elevator in the back at they made their way towards the second floor of the casino. They were soon lead to a room in the back that was Gladmane’s personal office… and the stallion was rather surprised to see the two of them.

        “R-Roman! I-I didn’t know you were… Going to be here…” Gladmane said, sweat rolling down the side of his head. “I-if I did, I would’ve hooked you up with the m-master sweet! A-anything for a friend!”

        “Friend… Right…” Roman chuckled darkly. “I seem to remember to conning me out of three million bits! I had to fire a ton of helpers who were new…” He shook his head, as a way to show his disappointment. “And you said you’d pay me back two years ago.”

        Gladmane started to shake in fear.

        “And you see, I’m very rich now. But I’ve gotten myself into some deep manure. Wait, do ponies say sh*t? Ah whatever.” Roman shrugged. “Basically, I’m trying to fund them. And I’m sad to say, I don’t like the idea of failing my customers… And you know how I get when I’m desperate…”

        Gladmane began hyperventilating. “I-I-I can pay you four times as much! I-I’ll even give you this casino! Just please let me live!”

        Torchwick sighed. “You’re a good con artist… I’ll give you that. But here’s the thing. I don’t just want the money…” Roman pointed his cane at Gladmane, before the heel of his cane flipped up into a reticle sight, and a barrel.

        “Please, no!” Gladmane screamed, before Roman shot one of his explosive rounds into the ceiling above Glademane, and it came down on him, crushing the con pony as his head hit the side of his desk. Roman’s reticle sight went down and he slammed his cane down.

        “Clever I have to admit…” Emerald replied, going to his desk to try and find the keys to the stallions safe… only to realize that the stallion's head hit a button on his desk that was a security switch. “Ah, son of a b*tch… Roman, we got company coming.”

        “I’ve got this, luv.” Torchwick said, before walking out of the office. Four ponies ran up to him, guns drawn. “Looks like it’s your lucky night boys! Gladmane’s been paying you poorly, hasn’t he?”

        “How-?” A stallion started, but was cut off by Torchwick.

        “He conned me. And the poor stallion suffered a fatal injury when his ceiling collapsed on top of him… Bad night for him, but an opportunity for you. You see, I now own this building. If you don’t shoot me, and forget you ever saw me here, I’ll raise you and your colleagues pay, without any strings attached.” Torchwick promised.

        “Why would we listen to you!?” The guard in the rear shouted.

        “Lovely you asked. My name’s Roman Torchwick…” Roman stated, calm as ever.

        “You’re… The leader of the Mafia!” The first guard gasped.

        Torchwick nodded, “And if you let me stay here for at the most, an hour, I’ll make sure that this hotel stays clean. Of blood, drugs, and illegal arms. Meaning if I ever get caught, you’ll never get arrested.”

        It took a minute, but their answer came in the form of them lowering their guns.

        “Wonderful. Just tell any guard that comes by that it was a malfunction.” Roman stated. The guards ran off, and Roman returned to the office. “There… Everything’s taken care of. Now I own this hotel. One of my associate shall forge a last will, and then I’ll have a new way of making you money, new weapons, and help hire more help… Is that an acceptable outcome, darlin’?”

        “Not what I thought would happen, but it’ll work… I just thought that your friend Mercury would be bored waiting outside and would want something to entertain himself.” Emerald replied, almost tripping over something on the floor as she went down to discover a loose panel that was jerked out of place because of the collapsed ceiling. Upon further inspection, Emeralds eyes lit up. “Well… looks like we hit the jackpot. Turns out your friend has a safe installed in the floor.”

        “Wonderful. Just wonderful. What’s mine is yours, within reason.” Torchwick said, playing with his cane. “I mean, I need bits to fund my group as well as yours. And Mercury's a very patient man when asked nicely.”

        “Right… besides, wasn’t there one other mare that was with us in Manehattan before we took off to here? That… Suri Polomare? How is she going to help us in all of this if I may ask?”

        “She has many friends across Equestria. She’s a master manipulator, and a beast with the sewing machine.” Torchwick said, twirling his Melodic Cudgel. “She’s gonna be the face of this place! Out with the old, in with the new as they say!”

        Emerald grinned at that, opening up the safe as she had a look inside. The safe had a whole lot of bits that were inside and also a small book that contained a list of names of all the donors that helped fund Gladmane lavish lifestyle. He kept track of everything from dancers to waitresses and hotel employees. Hell, it even had a section that contained performers for his concerts and shows.

        “I never liked Gladmane, always living the expensive life without thought of the consequences. He reminds me of my father… Even the way he died.” Torchwick grunted angrily. “Murdered by a man who he owed…”

        “And that’s why you always pay your dues…” Emerald added, before noticing something else. “Well, what do we have here… Turns out, that con-man of yours has some dust in here…” Taking a look at the journal, she soon laughed a little upon looking at it. “Oh this is hilarious… that idiot just only saw these crystals as a way to add special effects to his performances… What a dumbass.”

        “He wasn’t a fighter, he had no other uses for them. Well, our gain.” Roman’s eyes then widened. “Uh, I-I mean your gain! They’re all yours!”

        “This partnership works two ways, Roman. You help us and we help you,” Emerald said before tossing a couple of dust shards to the criminal. “Sure we may need dust… but there is the possibility that you can acquire more of it if you and your men are armed with better equipment, am I right?”

        “Right… Of course, forgive my little outburst. I’m a little hesitant to assume to my gain, since I’m fairly sure I’m on thin ice with this partnership.” Torchwick stated calmly.

        “The ice only becomes thin once you try to do something behind our back,” Emerald warned, getting closer to him. “But, as of right now, I don’t see any problems with this relationship. If there is a problem, I’ll be sure to address it with you first… personally.”

        Roman clapped his hands together, grinning happily. “Wonderful! Then there won’t be any problem! Besides possibly future interferences from those heroes, which I’m sure there will be.”

        “They haven’t interfered with our operations yet… But when that time comes… I’m sure we will be ready.”

        “Of course… So, now that this little escapade is over with for the most part, what do you need of me, Ms. Sustrai?” Torchwick asked.

        “As of now, your services have been most beneficial to our cause… But if there is something that we would need from you, I’m sure that you will be hearing from us.” Emerald informed him as she walked out of the room. “For now… enjoy your rewards. You’re now the richest man in Las Pegasus. Shouldn’t you be celebrating with style?” The last part was with a chuckle as she walked to the elevator doors and out of the building into the Las Pegasus night life, leaving Torchwick with his new claims.

        As long as he didn’t double cross them… they will be sure not to double cross him in return.

        “She’s kinda hot.” Mercury stated from his perch on the opened window behind the desk.

        “Oh shut up, Black.” Torchwick facepalmed.

        “You know, I have a feeling they’re a lot more trouble than they’re worth.” Mercury stated dully. “You sure we should keep this partnership, Roman?”

        Torchwick sighed. “Well, I can’t really back out now… Plus, it’ll be fun, too.”




End Tail 25

> Tail 26- Lending a Helping Hand
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Lending a Helping Hand




Next Morning

        Shortly after waking up and helping Fluttershy feed Angel, Henry and the rest of her animals, Sun Wukong and the pegasus made their way over to the Ponyville Hospital for the appointment that Fluttershy had set up for her Ultrasound today. The Faunus wanted to make sure that he helped her as much as possible before he was to go over to Faith’s world and assist her in pushing back the monsters that tried to invade her home. Plus, with Ozpin helping keep an eye on the school, he can be able to help lend a hand by more than just sending supplies.

        Shortly after checking in, both of them were called to the backroom where they were to do the ultrasound. After making the proper preparations, the operation soon began as they began the operation. Soon, on the nearby monitor, the doctor was able to project an image on the screen for them to look at. “Okay, so we’re seeing the head here… there’s its arms… Looks a lot like a human from appearance…”

        That surprised Sun a bit as he spoke up and asked the doctor a question that formed off the top of his head. “Uh, how can you tell? Just out of curiosity?”

        “Well, unlike normal equestria newborns, this one seemed to have what you would call hands near the front here,” the Doctor, a unicorn known as Doctor Stable, replied back as he raised a pointer stick at what he was talking about on the screen using his levitation magic. Putting it back down, he soon moved it further down as they saw something else to add to it. “Well, I was going to think this was human, but now, I’m not quite so sure.”

        “W-what do you mean? Doctor, is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked, a bit scared as Sun tried comforting the mare as the doctor pointed towards the image again before beginning his explanation to both Fluttershy and Sun. 

        “No, nothing's wrong. Something just… puzzling. You see these two spots here?” The doctor asked, causing both of them to nod in response before he continued with what he was talking about. “Normally, when we do an ultrasound and the baby is a pegasus, we would find these spots here because that’s where their wings would be. Yet, this looks human… and we’re seeing those spots now. I’m not sure if I’m seeing things or if something's interfering with the machine.” That left the doctor and the nurse in the room confused and Fluttershy a little puzzled… but for Sun, he was more caught off guard than anything else.

        “Doc, I don’t think there’s anything wrong…” He told them, looking back at Fluttershy before speaking up and saying what was on his mind. “Body of a human… wings of a pegasus… Call me crazy, but I think our child’s a faunus like myself. Humans with animal characteristics and since it had a pair of pegasus wings, I think it might be a pegasus faunus.”

        “That does sounds likely,” The doctor replied as he looked over the file that he had on Fluttershy before turning off the machine. “Do the two of you have anymore questions about the Ultrasound results?”

        “Y-yeah I do…” Fluttershy squeaked as she slowly got off of the examination chair with the help of Sun alongside her. “What’s its… gender?” That was something that Sun originally didn’t think about, but now he was curious to hear what the doctor had to say to the two of them in response to the simple question that was asked.

        “Well, from what we saw today and also from this examination,” The stallion replied before setting the folder down on the nearby table. “The two of you are going to be having a daughter together.” That surprised both of them… a lot. Sun honestly was not sure what the gender of the baby would be, but he honestly did not care either way. Whatever it was, he was still planning on raising it together with Fluttershy all the same. Right now, the both of them were happy for each other.

        “Thank you Doctor. I really appreciate you helping us.” The Faunus told him shortly before leaving the examination room as the two of them left the hospital and went back to the cottage. Only to find a surprise guest inside as the two of them walked through the door.

        Coco was snoring on Fluttershy’s green couch while Velvet was aiding Fox in the kitchen with a cut. “Uhh… Hello?” Sun’s comment caught both of their attention as they noticed both the Faunus and the Pegasus walking into the cottage.

        “Oh, welcome back home! Fox just got into trouble with someone and I’m patching him up. Coco herself wanted to talk to you about something.” Velvet giggled nervously.

        “What would that be about?” Fluttershy asked nervously, looking at Sun before looking back at them. “W-we did just get back from the hospital… Is s-something wrong?”

        “Uh… She didn’t tell me. Why don’t you wake her up?” Velvet suggested. Sun gulped nervously as he looked back at Coco before looking back at them.

        “The last time I woke up Coco was after her hangover from Manehattan… And that conversation didn’t go so well…” The Faunus replied back.

        “Fine, I’ll wake her up.” Fox rolled his eyes and walked over to Coco, before shoving her head forward with one hand, waking her up instantly.

        “No sugar, please!” Coco screamed as she woke up.

        “Uh… Why’d you go to the hospital? Are you sick?” Velvet asked. Sun looked back at Coco and Fluttershy before looking at Velvet.

        “Haven’t you heard of checkups?” Coco asked, sounding annoyed with Velvet, who seemed to shrink a bit.

        “No, it’s not that…” Sun started to speak before taking a deep sigh. “Before we tell you though, can you please not tell anyone else until we’re ready to share the news to them?”

        “I don’t talk to anybody but you guys and Yatsuhashi…” Velvet said feebly, while Fox just shrugged. That gave both of them a bit more confidence as the Faunus took a seat in one of the dining room chairs.

        “Well… a few months ago, I proposed to Fluttershy for us to get married and she said yes. Not only are we getting married, but we’re also starting a family… and we just got back from Fluttershy’s Ultrasound just now…” Sun told them, surprising all three of them at once.

        “Oh my gosh! You’re having a baby!?” Velvet screamed in glee and excitement, while Fox didn’t seem to care.

        “Y-yes… and we asked Coco if she could be the godmother…” Fluttershy added on, looking at the brunette in the process after speaking in a light tone of voice. 

        “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Velvet’s eyes sparkled and she looked about ready to tackle Fluttershy and cuddle her to death. This kind of behavior really made the rabbit faunus look more like Pinkie Pie than anything else, especially with her… happiness in the next question she was going to ask. “Is it a boy or girl!? Well, it could be a colt or filly, but-” Before Velvet could continue, Coco bored into her eyes and soul, shutting her up.

        “It’s a girl… but you might be surprised at the next part,” Sun replied to Velvet. “The child itself is a faunus… a pegasus faunus.” That caught their attention rather quickly. Especially Velvet’s,

        Coco rolled her eyes. “Well duh, what did you think it was gonna be? She was either going to be a pegasus with a monkey’s tail or a faunus with pony stuff. It’s not just one sided.” Velvet glared at Coco’s dull sounding outburst.

        “Well honestly, going into this, I wasn’t really sure what the outcome was going to be,” Sun replied back to Coco’s comment as he looked back at them. “I know that you liked science, but who knows what kind of outcomes there could be… It’s weird like that.”

        “I’m still surprised you two could… Well… Oh my, I just realized what it takes to make…” Velvet’s face went red. “You two had sex with me a floor below you!?” Sun looked back at Coco with a confused look on his face as he sighed back at her.

        “No no… we didn’t really do it here…” Sun replied, looking back at Velvet. “We were summoned on Hearts and Hooves day by a displaced who was extremely kinky, one thing lead to another and yeah… We never actually did it here, Velvet.” The monkey faunus assured the rabbit faunus as he tried to calm her down.

        “Okay, okay, this is getting awkward…” The faunus girl said, covering her face. Sun had to personally agree with her on that, but soon remembered something she said earlier about why exactly they visited.

        “Okay, let’s change the topic… Coco, Velvet said you came over because you wanted to talk about something?” The Faunus asked her. “Well, what exactly is that… something?”

        “Oh, right. Today, I decided to check on Penny but she wasn’t there.” That… caught his attention rather quickly.

        “She wasn’t? …… Aw sh-.” Sun almost cursed, smacking himself over the forehead as he just realized it. “Just great…”

        “Sun, what’s the matter?” Fluttershy asked, a little bit concerned about the faunus as he felt a bit stressed out.

        “I feel really stupid right now…” The faunus groaned as he looked back at her. “I helped Penny build her own home, only to forget about the party that Coco was trying to throw for her last night… I was so busy trying to take care of you that I forgot about the whole thing… Such a friend I am. I really want to help her, but it feels like I screw up every chance I get.”

        “You had a lot of stuff to do, Sun. It makes sense that you’d forget it.” Fox said, before Velvet punched him in the face, knocking him to the floor. Sun was unsure if the rabbit faunus’ actions were really necessary as Fox struggled to get up from the sucker punch to his jaw.

        “I know, but I originally promised to try and help her in any way I can…” He replied back. “Hell, even with the new Headmaster relieving some of the stress I have, we still got to help out Faith back in her world and-.”

        “New headmaster?” Coco asked. That was when Sun realized the… other thing that he forgot to mention to Coco and the others.

        “Yesterday, Blake came back… but you won’t guess with who,” Sun replied as he looked at all three members of the members of Team CFVY before telling them. “Ozpin… Yes, there is an Ozpin here and as it turns out, he’s as old as Princess Celestia and was their teacher. He’s helping Twilight run Beacon, but I have agreed to help him with understanding about the Displaced.”

        “With how many RWBY characters there are here, I’m surprised that there isn’t a Cinder displaced.” Coco said, rubbing her forehead. “So, how are we gonna get Penny back?” That had the faunus scratch his chin for a few moments as he was still processing the question along with every other thought inside his head relating to it and also the possible location of where Penny might be. He did not see her on the way to the hospital, nor on the way back to Fluttershy’s cottage. So at this point right now, he just had to say what was the first thing that honestly came to mind.

        “I don’t know… she’s mostly with Ruby, but I haven’t seen either of them since yesterday,” Sun commented, looking back at Coco. “Do you think she’s wandering around the Academy or the Everfree forest? Those are the two most… likely possibilities and last I heard from Sage, there wasn’t any signs of Grimm in the Everfree.”

        “Or she’s in Beacon…” Fox deadpanned.

        “You sure she’s there? She wasn’t comfortable there during the first couple of weeks,” The Faunus stated, before remembering that Fluttershy was still with them. “Oh, sorry Shy, I didn’t mean to exclude you-.”

        “It’s alright Sun… Uh, could she be hiding because of how some people treat her?” Fluttershy asked. “I m-mean… I’ve heard rumors on campus that… uh… Coco is seen as a bully?” Once he heard that, the faunus was caught off guard. He knew that Coco could be harsh… but a bully? That sounded a bit too… extreme to put it lightly.

        “Coco, when was the last time you talked with Penny?” Sun then asked her.

        “At that party thing. But I told her after an hour that since nothing was happening, I had to go. And bully!? I only hit whoever’s a jerk!” Coco defended. “Who says I’m a bully? I’ll knock their lights out!”

        “Angel told me she saw you drag Penny by her hair and then stuff her in a janitor closet.” Fluttershy then replied, surprising everyone.

        “Coco!! What the hell!?” Sun replied, startled by this revelation. “Why would you do that? To Penny of all people!? She’s a fragile and nervous wreck, this doesn’t solve the problem… It only makes it worse.” The faunus then realized that a possible reason for Penny being like this was because of the way Coco treated her and sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. “You do realize that the reason why she may be hiding is because she’s hiding from you, right Coco?”

        “I… I can’t excuse my actions…” Coco looked down. Meanwhile, Fox was reading a newspaper with a pondering look. The monkey faunus sighed for a moment before looking back at Coco as he sighed to himself.

        “Coco, you really need to treat Penny with more respect… and to start, you need to apologize to Penny first. We’re all trying to help her, even with how things are right now and this… Seeing Penny like that just makes me feel as if we’re not doing enough to help her.” He replied before looking at Velvet and Fox. “You’re going to need to apologize to her. I would want to help, but I promised Neptune and Pyrrha that I would help them look over the medical supplies that we’re bringing Faith in order to help her. I haven’t heard from any of the others instructors in who else is going to help… but still, the three of us are helping Faith no matter who else shows up.”

        “What’s with this Faith thing? Who is she and what’s going on?” Coco asked. Sun then took the time to explain to them the full story. Of how Faith’s world and it’s inhabitants were in dire need of medical help and assistance because of how the demons in her world were able to lay siege to Canterlot. Not only that, but the niece of Nicko Nocte was needing help in pushing back and destroying the demons that tried to take over their world. The last part Sun also mentioned was how Faith and Penny saw each other almost like sisters.

        “Huh… Okay, count me in on that.” Coco said, grinning.

        “Uh… Guys?” Fox said, his voice sounding slightly worried. Sun noticed Fox’s expression and then looked at him with a raised eyebrow shortly after advising Coco to focus on Penny and her apology first.

        “Something wrong, Fox?” He asked, looking a little concerned.

        “I think there’s something you should see… All of you.” Fox said, pointing at his paper. Sun looked at him with a confused expression, but it was Fluttershy who soon said something.

        “I thought you couldn’t see…” She said, originally thinking that Fox was blind because of the appearance of his eyes.

        “... I can feel the ink, it’s got a unique feel compared to the paper.” Fox said, slightly offended by her just reminding him he was blind.

        “S-sorry… I didn’t mean to insult you!” She squeaked, looking like she was trying to defend herself with her front hooves in the air and her eyes closed in fear. All that did was have Sun sigh as he looked at the paper's headline. Which caught him off guard as he looked at the parchment.

        “What in the world?” Sun replied, looking at the front page. “Two strange bipedal figures spotted in… Las Pegasus? What, is that like Vegas?” He asked, only to get no response before he continued to read. However, as he continued on, he soon noticed something in particular as what was on the page made him a bit concerned. “Oh boy… that’s not good… and now of all times.” Before Coco and Velvet had the chance to ask, the Faunus handed the front page to them as the two of them read it together. Only to be just as surprised as both Fox and Sun.

        “After Gladmane’s death by a collapsed roof, a mostly anonymous stallion named Candlewick takes over the Ponet Fantastique…” Coco started, but froze, seeing a picture of a familiar symbol two paragraphs below. “No…”





        “No, it can’t be!” Coco said, frozen slightly. “There’s a Torchwick here?”

        “Torchwick?” Velvet was confused.

        “Do you remember a RWBY character with a cane, a fedora and occasionally smokes?” Sun asked Velvet as he looked back at her. “Let’s just say that he’s a really bad criminal… and if there’s a Torchwick here, then who knows what kind of trouble he may be stirring up.”

        “So… Are you heading to Las Pegasus?” Coco asked. “I’ll handle Penny’s search here.”

        “Well, this is the only time that we’ve heard about this, so we barely know anything… Hell, Las Pegasus might not even be where he has his operations set up,” Sun told him. “I’ll ask Sage and Scarlett to look for and keep an eye out for any other stories involving him so we can put a case file together and track his whereabouts. We got bigger things to take care of and one of them is Penny. Handle the search, I’m going to check in with Neptune and Pyrrha… that is, if Fluttershy doesn’t need anymore help.”

        “I’m good, Sun. If I need anything, I can ask Twilight or Discord for help.” Fluttershy replied as she looked back at him.

        “And me.” Velvet grumbled.

        “And Velvet… Sorry about that.” The pregnant pegasus apologized before Sun then spoke up as he looked back at Coco and her teammates.

        “I guess we know what to do now. Coco can search for Penny, I’ll go check with Neptune and Pyrrha…” 

        Fox placed his hand on the monkey faunus’ shoulder. “Sun, this Torchwick must know about us. Why would he put his symbol out into the public?”

        “If anything, it’s either that he’s cocky or trying to send a message. Hell, I’m not even sure if he knows about us…” He replied. “Still, we should have whoever isn’t coming to help with Faith be assisting in finding out more information on him. We can’t exactly try to track him down based on this single story alone. If there happens to be more, then we should combine them together in like a mind map and try to figure out his movements… Does that sound good, Coco?” He wanted to ask her since she was technically the leader of the team and also wanted to hear her opinion on the subject as well.

        “Sounds good, but who’s available? I mean, Fox is but he can’t really see so he can’t read up on any leads, Velvet has no combat training so she could end up in danger…” Coco stated. “And Yatsuhashi’s… He’s not the brightest. And sending all three is just a terrible idea.”

        “We still have Jaune, Nora and Ren from Team JNPR since Pyrrha is helping us with Faith. Other then that, I would check with team ABRN… besides Reese. She wouldn’t be interested no matter how you try to persuade her.” Sun told her in response as the four of them began to step outside. “How about we meet back at the front of Beacon in two hours to see how everything is going?”

        “Okay. See you then.” Coco saluted Sun with two fingers as he did the same thing before they parted ways. The faunus himself soon began to make his way back towards Beacon Academy as he kept an eye out for both Neptune and Pyrrha. They were likely nearby the supply room where the Academy would keep a lot of their equipment and other necessities in case of emergencies, including Dust. So it would make sense to find them somewhere within the vicinity of that or find them nearby the training grounds.

        When he did find them, the faunus saw Neptune holding a clipboard and checking things off on a list while Pyrrha was making sure that they were in the right crates that they needed to be in and make sure they were properly secured. They weren’t exactly dropping them into the Crystal Empire like it was the Berlin Airlift after World War II, but the situation where they needed this supplies was a lot… similar in a way.

        “Okay, everything seems in order,” Neptune said as he was beginning to turn around. “Now we just gotta-. Oh hey, Sun! Didn’t exactly see you there.”

        “I just got here like… ten seconds ago really,” The faunus sighed as he looked at the collection of crates that were stacked on top of one another. “So is this everything we’re bringing along for the trip?”

        “Yeah it is. Food, Water, medical supplies, dust crystals, and some scrolls that Twilight said would help enhance the capabilities of their armor and weapons so they don’t break so easily.” Neptune replied, going through the list one by one in order to make sure Sun knew what they were bringing along. Though, the cyan haired human still had one other thing to note. “Still, even with all this supplies, it’s still just the three of us-.”

        “Four,” He corrected. “I just talked with Coco a few minutes ago and she’s coming along too… Once she takes care of something first.”

        “So there’s you, me, Pyrrha and Coco,” Neptune replied. “I honestly thought that we would have more people be showing up to lend a hand. After all, almost all of the staff did meet Faith and Nicko when they came to the Academy when it first opened and we treated them like family. Now with the low turnout, it makes me think a lot of the other staff are turning their back on them now.”

        “It isn’t their fault for not answering the call,” Pyrrha soon spoke up. “We tried everything we could in order to get the word out so everyone can help. All we can do now is just find a way to figure out where do we go from here.”

        “Still, shouldn’t everyone at least try to help though?” Neptune then asked.

        “We have trouble brewing over here along with over there too and we promised that we would help. Who would defend Beacon if everyone were to lend a hand?” The faunus then asked him, making his friend a little bit surprised. “Besides, Sage and Scarlett will be having their hands full while we’re gone because I need their help with something else.” With that, Sun had took a copy of the newspaper that was outside the room and held it up for them to have a look at what he was talking about… and both of them were just as equally shocked as they were caught off guard.

        “You have got to be kidding me… Him? Freaking Torchwick of all people?!” Neptune snapped before sighing. “Honestly, just what do you think he’s actually up too?”

        “Personally, I don’t know. This is the only time something like this has come up,” He replied as he set the newspaper to the side. “When Fox told us about this… and don’t start with asking how. He may be blind, but he can feel the ink on the paper… I honestly think that either he was trying to send some sort of message or he was being brash and arrogant. Either way, it doesn’t seem like he actually knows anything about us.”

        “And how does this relate to Sage and Scarlett?” Neptune then asked in response.

        “I was going to have them try to see if there were any similar stories or anything else related to Torchwick so when we get back, we can figure out his movements. I was going to suggest that Jaune and Ren would also help too since Ren can possibly do reconnaissance while Jaune figure out how each piece of this puzzle would connect… I wasn’t sure about Nora because… well, she’s Nora.” Sun sighed a little as the thought of her causing trouble would be either just as bad as Ruby… or worse.

        “Yeah, I can agree with you there.” Neptune agreed with her. “Last time I asked for her to for some help, she treated it as a quest to save a damsel in distress… and that was just me asking if she had a spare pencil I could borrow.” That just cause Sun to sigh a little as he looked back at both of them. He was about to say something, but soon heard some shouting from down the hall as both of them heard a familiar voice echo throughout the academy as they heard the girl they were just talking about sing.

        “I’m queen of the castle! I’m queen of the castle~!!”

        “Nora!! Stop running off and trying to build a table fort!!!” They heard Ren yell back to her as all three of them saw him running after his teammate. Who just happened to be trying to take any possible table or chair in order to stack them on top of one another in the mess hall.

        Coco ran in a few seconds later, looking worried. “Sun! I found Penny!” That was good… but the expression on her face said otherwise.

        “You did? Where is she?” Sun then asked.

        “Uh… That’s what I came here to tell you… She’s met a new friend.” Coco said, slightly panting. Sun raised an eyebrow, looking back at Coco in confusion.

        “Should I even ask?”

        “No need.” A new but familiar female voice said from behind Coco. Sun peeked over the brunette to see a dark skinned girl with a white shirt, a blue skirt, and a matching beret. That… also caught both Neptune by surprise given how she looked by appearance.

        “Well… I honestly did not expect that… First hearing about Torchwick and now this? I’m getting one serious headache right now.” Neptune groaned as he scratched the back of his head.

        “Please, don’t even acknowledge me, my presence won’t impede on whatever you’re working on.” She said, “I’m Ciel. But you most likely know me.” Penny came up from behind Ciel and hugged the emotionless girl.

        Penny squeed. “She’s my new friend! I found her wandering in the Everfree Forest!” Sun raised an eyebrow for a moment before taking a moment to congratulate her as he softly clapped his hands together.

        “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Ciel,” Sun replied, looking back at Neptune and the others. “I would like to stick around and talk, but Coco, Neptune, Pyrrha and I were promised to help a friend in need and we’re not sure if any of the other instructors at Beacon are also going to lend a hand-.”

        “Who knows about instructors… but what about… one of the more experienced Students?” A voice asked from nearby, but strangely it didn't sound familiar. It was only when the Faunus actually turned around that what he saw almost caused him to fall backwards while Neptune turned to look at their newest… guest.

        “Okay, who asked for a Kamen Rider to show up out of nowhere? Because I sure as hell did not.” He spoke up as Sun tried looking over the figure and figure out who it was.

        “Sorry bout the mess of the suit… been trying an upgrade out for my morpher… it’s a work in progress… still this works okay right now.” the figure said with a chuckle his voice changing to sound much more familiar as the figures visor opened revealing Craig’s face.

        “Holy crap, Craig?! Dude, you’ve… changed,” Sun then responded as he looked at him. “Like a lot! How did you find out about us going to help Faith?”

        “Umm… I hadn’t to be honest Nicko mention he need a help a while back… but nothing since.” Craig admitted as he powered down as a staff with what looked to have a clear snowflake like gem on the top appeared in his hand and his normal morpher on his arm.

        “Well, his niece just sent out a message yesterday and they need help… bad,” Sun replied as he took the chance to explain to him what was going on while Ciel and Penny decided to leave them be. “The leader of the demons that he was trying to prepare for broke out early and commenced an all out invasion on his world. Canterlot has fallen and a lot of the injured from there were forced to evacuate to the Crystal Empire. It, Ponyville and Cloudsdale are the only places left that are safe as everything else in Equus has been overrun or communication has been cut off… at least, that’s what Faith told us through the courier drone she sent.”

        Craig then sighed before he said “I’ll need to call in some of my team to help… maybe Storm, Akatsuki and Twilight could help.”

        “Whatever you can spare is fine,” Neptune told him. “We’ll not go until you’re ready.”

        “I’ll give them a call and they should come soon.” Craig said as he held his morpher to his mouth as he started talking into in although Sun couldn’t hear what he was saying. After a few seconds he turned back to the group before he said “They should arrive soon… just give them a minute, Storm and Akatsuki were training and Twilight was well… being Twilight and dealing with Koragg.”

        “Add you four with Neptune, Pyrrha, Coco and myself and we got eight,” Sun responded back to him. “Who else do you think may show up at the last minute?”

        “Couldn’t tell you, Asuna may be free… but she’s quite busy dealing with all the Stingwinger’s that keep appearing back home with Kirito and Scoots.”

        “What about some of the other instructors? Like Asphyxious or other faculty members?” Sun then asked out of curiosity, wanting to hear Craig’s input to his question.

        “Well… if you could get ahold of Cruger he may… Jack’s…. Very burdened at the moment, he’s found out something both good and bad... Haven’t heard from Asphy in a while… and there’s Sebaste and his lot… no idea what they're up to though.” Sun looked away for a moment and looked a little bit… down upon hearing about Jack. But he knew that he needed to not let that affect his thinking as the faunus looked back at Craig.

        “Maybe we should just wait a few moments first to see if anyone else comes first before heading over.”

        “Yeah… you may be right,” Craig chuckled as three portals opened up near him before three figures appeared around him, two in green suits and a third in a purple one that had what looked to be wolf shaped shoulder pads on. Sun honestly was surprised to see the three of them, but given what Craig had told him, he sort of expected for them to come sooner or later.

        “So I’m guessing that’s Storm, Akatsuki and your Twilight, Craig?”

        “Well… yes… although Twilight’s… not all Twilight,” Craig admitted.

“Just because Koragg’s up there doesn’t mean I’m not in control, Craig,” Twilight argued.         Sun was going to ask… but decided not to question it.

        “My lord… why did you need my help… you're not in danger are you?” one of the people in green armour said.

        “No Akatsuki, I’m not in trouble but I’m going to need your three’s help.” He told them in response.

        “What do you need me to do, my lord?”

        “I’ll let Sun explain this to you, but the short story is we’re helping a friend.” The faunus nodded as he took the moment to provide all the necessary details to the three newcomers so they would be caught up to speed along with answering any questions they had. The more they knew about what was going on, the better prepared they could be.

        Once they were Sun finished his explanation Twilight asked “So you want us to help slay demons… sounds like my job back home… I really need to get a team sorted on that front.”

        “We’ll be waiting to see if anyone else shows up first, so take some time to get ready right now.” The faunus insisted.

        “So anyways, what do I do with emo-chick?” Coco asked in a whisper.

            A portal opened as two large warjacks walked out followed by Asphyxious. “Okay, what happened this time?” He asked looking at everyone before noticing Sun and everyone else. “Wow… We having another party or something?” Sun sighed as he shook his head and looked back at the Dracolich.

        “I highly doubt that… Asphyxious, are you familiar with Nicko and Faith Nocte by chance?” The Monkey Faunus asked, just to see if he remembered so the lich’s mind wasn’t all over the place. Asphyxious thought about that before pulling out a notepad and started to read.

            “Nicko the rune slayer right? Or are these two in my classes?” Asphyxious asked as he kept looking though the notepad full of names. “I am horrible with names…” He growled to himself.

        “The Rune Slayer… with the Code Nemesis being his Niece.” He reminded him, going as far as taking out a photograph of them to show to Asphyxious.

        “Oh him, he was cool. So what about him?” He asked putting the notepad away as the two large machines looked at everyone. That was when the Faunus began to fill him on the same information that he told Craig and the others about what was going on along with telling them that Faith was asking not just for supplies, but help in pushing back the demons that were invading her world.

        “That’s the lowdown… now, if we go there though… promise me that you’ll have some form of control over himself.” Asphyxious raised a brow at this and said nothing.

        A new portal suddenly appeared before three armored figures stepped out. “Seb sent us to help out. He mentioned something about a call for assistance from Nicko’s Niece.” Alex said, turning her head towards the Faunus, who nodded in response.

        “This is getting too crazy for me! I’m leaving!” Coco burst out before stomping away, causing Sun to facepalm himself and groan a little.

            “Crazy demon raising an army, so nothing new.” Asphyxious replied offhandedly. 

        “Crazy demon that caused Canterlot to fall. Look, the point is, we’re eating up time here and there’s people that need our help. So let’s go… Oh and the reason why I asked that question Asphy is because apparently that one lady named Amy lives there too.”

        Sebastian winced. “Wasn't she the one Nicko mentioned had an Alucard like personality?” He asked, with the only response being another nod of Sun’s head.

        “I’ll get my dogs.” Asphyxious said as he walked off soon followed by his warjacks. With a snap of his fingers a large portal opens as a number of warjacks and Diamond dogs walked out then line up next to Asphyxious. “We’re ready.”

        “Locked and loaded!” Viktor said as he and the other two summoned and racked their respective weapons. That was followed by Sun seeing Neptune and Pyrrha have their gear ready along with Craig and his friends also being prepared. He was worried about Coco, but he didn't want to end up with him getting punched by her in the face if he insisted for her to come along.

        “Well then,” He said, taking out the drone Faith sent to him as he held it out in front of them. The drone recognizing everyone for a moment before turning towards Sun as he spoke. “Time to answer the call… Nono, guide us to Faith.” The drone beeped a few times before beginning to glow as a bright light began to radiate from it and fill the room as the people that were in the room a second ago all vanished moments later.

        It didn’t take them long to travel through the void… but for some people, it felt a lot longer than that. Case in point… a certain Dracolich right around… now.

        “Are we there yet?” Asphyxious asked with a small smile on his muzzle. Just as his face soon hit the frozen snowy asphalt that he happened to land on. “Why?! Every damned time!” He yelled before getting up and dusting the snow off. Asphyxious looked to his small army to see they didn’t fall like he did, before looking to everyone else. What he found was his army in one big dogpile, everyone else landing fine… and Sun dangling from a statue of Spike since his tail got caught in between the statues claws.

        “Wait… Where are the warjacks?” A loud sound behind him, made it clear where the warjacks ended up. “Please tell me they're not all destroyed…” Asphyxious asked putting his hand over his eye. The Diamond dogs quickly went over to inspect the warjacks, to make sure they were still working.

        “Are we… in the Crystal Empire?” Alex asked, looking around, as she stood up from the crouch stance she had been in.

        “You came!!” Everyone heard a certain voice call out… just as some of the crates they were bringing with them slammed into the back of Asphy’s head. “Sun, thank you for responding to my call.”

        “Faith, who are these… people?” Everyone soon heard as they all turned around to see a young alicorn standing next to Faith as she looked at Asphyxious and tilted her head. “Is he dead? Because he’s really weird looking.”

        “I like to think half and half, now then. Can you remove this young lady off me, I have work to do.” Asphyxious asked politely.

        “Oops, sorry!” Alex quickly jumped off of the warcaster and looked over at the two newcomers.

        “Uh… is anyone going to… you know… get me down!” Sun replied before he felt himself landing on the ground. “Ah… much better… Thanks Faith.”

        “You’re welcome, Sun! I’m just glad you guys responded to my request.” The Code queen responded. “I… honestly didn’t expect ALL of you guys to come. Even I’m… surprised.”

        “Why exactly do you say that?” He asked, just as he felt something pull his tail to see that the Alicorn next to her was messing with it. “Really?”

        “Flurry, please don’t mess with Sun’s tail. That’s a bit rude.” Faith asked her as the alicorn stopped her magic.

        “Sorry.” The Alicorn apologized. “Also… when is your dad coming out here to see them?”

        “Yeah… That’s the thing…” Faith said as she deeply sighed. “I… didn’t exactly tell him about this.” Just as Sun was going to ask what she was talking about, he soon heard another voice.

        “OKAY, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!!” They all heard as a red haired man with a black cloak and a sword on his back came running out with a anthropomorphic earth pony with a metal arm and wearing a white battle regalia and dark pants. “Okay, just who the hell are you guys?”

        “Your friendly neighborhood Displaced-.” Viktor joked, only to receive a backhand from Alex. “What?!”

        “What my brother means is that we’re here to help.” The Spartan Scout said, her right arm whirring as she crossed her arms.

        “Huh, nice look Nicko.” Said Asphyxious as he stopped to see what was happening before going back to making sure his army of diamond dogs and warjacks were okay. But however, what everyone heard next caught them by surprise.

        “Yeah… news flash, I’m not Nicko,” The man sighed for a moment. “I’m his brother Anson…”

        “Dad, what are you and Caliburn doing here?” Faith then asked, only for the start of that sentence to be taken as a major curveball by everyone else. Asphyxious didn’t seem to notice as he stuck his head inside of a warjack.

         “Wait… your dad wasn't here before we arrived?” Sebastian asked in confusion.

        “Uh…… for your information, we’ve been living here for a while,” Anson replied back. “What I’m surprised is that one, Faith didn’t tell me a thing about this and-.”

        “I told Molly.” The Code queen interjected, which in turn caused Anson’s face to twitch a little as Sun soon facepalmed himself and his companions soon joined up. Asphyxious however just pulled his head out of the warjack with a smile, before closing the back armor to its engine.

        “…… MOLLY!!!! GET OUT HERE NOW!!!!”

        “Someone’s a bit ticked off…” Viktor remarked.

        “What is it this time?” Molly asked as she appeared from a doorway made of ones and zeros.

        “Did Faith happen to tell you that she asked for some other Displaced to be stopping by?” Anson then posed the question.

        “Yeah, she told me. I figure she would tell you about it as well seeing how she told me about it.”

        “Well, she didn’t-.”

        “Because I knew that if I even suggest anything regarding asking for help, you would immediately reject it!” Faith interjected, yelling at her father defiantly. “Ever since mom died, you’ve been trying to take on too many things at once and reject help from anyone else. Dad, you can’t take on everything by yourself. Why can’t you just accept that?!”

        “Faith has a point Anson. Doing everything yourself will only cause more problems for not only yourself, but for others as well.” The Mastermind told him. It was really hard for Anson to accept that personally. But that wasn’t exactly the… biggest thing going on right now.

        “Ms. Faith…” One of the drones from Faith’s side soon spoke. “There seems to be something falling at extreme speeds right about Mr. Wukong.”

        “Wait, wha-?” 

        “INCOMING!” Sebastian yelled as he saw the unknown object speeding down towards Sun. Yet, as it crashed down, everyone soon realized that the object he was seeing… was actually a person.

        And that person… turned out to be Coco. “My hero.”

        “M-my back…”

        Asphyxious just looked on as Sun was both in pain and helped Coco not have a hard landing. “Soooo, where are the demons?” He asked looking bored. As his dogs were now ready for combat.

        “Look over the wall for yourself,” Anson replied, having the lich look for himself. All around the frozen outskirts he could see a massive sea of black and cobalt as many of them looked like a massive horde of demonic beasts that could easily overrun the city. “The shield we have in place for here, Ponyville and the Crystal Empire is what keeps them at bay. But they are no laughing matter. They invaded and destroyed almost everything in Canterlot in under an hour. We can’t easily push them back-.”

        “I got extra Displaced!” Coco announced. “Some students offered their services!”

        Asphyxious walked off and started giving orders to his dogs. Anson was honestly surprised that the Dracolich would bring his own forces into the matter, even though he had no information on what was going on at all. For Sun though, he was glad to hear what Coco said.

        “Alright, perfect,” Sun replied, before looking back at Faith as she stood by Anson, Flurry Heart and Molly. “So what do we do now, Faith? It’s your call.”

        “Anyone who can fight should come with my father and I to the barracks while anyone else can go with Molly to help tend to the injured. We got survivors from Canterlot that need the medical supplies you brought and we’re short on doctors. So the sooner we can get them treated, the better.”

        “You’ve got it.” Viktor said before a Cyclops Walker appeared next to him. He then leapt in and sealed the cockpit. *Let's kick some demon ass!* His voice emanated from the intercom. 

        “I think I know someone who could help with medical assistance for everyone… but she’s back home,” Craig admitted. Faith sighed and looked back at him before telling him a simple order.

        “Do whatever you need to do to help them. Lives are at stake here.” Faith told him as she, Anson, Caliburn and Sun, along with everyone else as they followed him towards the barracks and in the main chamber. The designated war room had an entire spread out map of the country, with multiple red X’s in locations that had been overrun by the invasion or have lost contact with. Faith was the first one in the room and had used her drones to start a conversation with one of the… family members she had in Ponyville.

        “Faith? Holy crap, is that you!? We haven’t heard from you guys in weeks!!”

        “Well, things have been a bit… tricky, but we finally got some much new support thanks to some friends,” Faith smiled, having the camera on her end rotate around the room to show everyone else who was there in that present moment. “Everyone, this is my Uncle Leo. Uncle Leo, these are our friends. Say Hi everybody!”

        Viktor, Alex and Sebastian saluted in their own ways. Craig simply raised a hand even though he was looking away seemingly talking to nobody. Asphyxious had his arms crossed and gave a simple nod, with two diamond dogs by his side. All in which caught the Reckless Fist on the other end by surprise.

        “Wow… That is definitely going to help… Speaking of which, Nicko just got into Ponyville a few hours ago and -,” The Reckless Fist replied, looking at a courier that just entered the room. “Hang on just a sec… Okay… uh hunh… Wait a minute, run that by me one more time, I didn’t quite hear that.”

        “Uh oh…” Anson muttered, seeing the change in Leo’s facial expression and hearing the change in his voice. “I betcha fifteen bits that Nicko went and did something stupid… again.”

        “I’m guessing he’s done that a few times than you’d like?” Alex asked.

        “More than enough-.”

        “WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE JUST RAN OFF!?!” They soon heard Leo shout. “Son of a-. He was just here a few moments ago… Wait… ERIS ALLOWED HIM TO LEAVE!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?”

        Sebastian winced, all while Anson just sighed to himself. “Oh boy…. And there's the bomb drop…” The Astartes muttered.

        “Yeah guys, we got a problem. Eris allowed Nicko to throw himself back into the fray… I know he can handle himself, but I’m just concerned that he might overdo it. We’re already low on soldiers as it is.” Leo then replied to him. “And I was going to ask for his help in reclaiming Canterlot since he, his teacher Ryu, Luke and Ciela wiped out the occupying force in Canterlot. If we have that city back up, Molly and I can activate a… project we’ve been working on for the last few years.”

        “Alex, Vik and I can assist with that.” Sebastian said.

           Asphyxious let out a sigh before leaving. “I’ll back the meat head up.” He said as his two diamond dogs followed him out. However, the first thing on Sun’s mind was what Leo was talking about. But before he could say anything, his friend Neptune beat him to it.

        “Wait a minute… what exactly is this… project you’re talking about?”

        “It’s a Nasod modified combat air ship named The Black Crow that works with her Nasod Dynamo’s as well as my arm. Only problem is that the only way to activate the ship is manually. So we need two squads for this. One to reclaim Canterlot and put up a dome shield like the one over Ponyville and the Crystal Empire while the other one to come with Molly and I to fire up the Black Crow.”

        “I’m up for the second half of the job,” Sun offered, “Where is it?”

        “It’s within the underground tunnel system just beneath the city. It’s also ironically the same tunnel used for the train system. So we can use the tracks to guide us to each destination. For the meantime though, I’ll let you guys get situated first before we go after it.” With that, the call ended and everyone else proceeded to step back outside.

        Once outside a black portal opened up nearby, a humanoid machine, a small floating machine, and a large creature, about the size of a small house, walked out, the portal closing behind them.

        “Sheesh, who brought the Tyranid mashup?” Sebastian asked.

        “What should I do?” Coco asked Sun shortly after he got out of the barracks, tossing her weapon over her shoulder.

        “We’re just got done talking with Leo about that,” Sun told her in response as he made sure she was up to speed on the situation. “Right now, Faith said that there’s a lot of wounds that need to be tended to. Once we find out what the plan is, we’ll tell you so you’re up to speed.”

        “I’ll… Just go summon the volunteers…” Coco said before walking away.

        “Coco, do you need any help-?” He was going to ask, but by the time he did, Coco had already taken off down the street. That just caused him to groan a bit as he did not like how that turned out. “Smooth move, Sun… Real smooth.”

        The sound of hydraulics sounded from behind Sun as Viktor piloted the Cyclops up to him and halted next to the Faunus. *Everything okay, mate?* He asked.

        “You tell me… Coco asked what she could do to help and now I felt as if I did something stupid…”

        *She's a fighter at heart, heh, if I didn't know any better, if she hadn't gone as Coco, she would have made an impressive Spartan.* The Spartan remarked.

        “Uh… is it just me or are you guys just ignoring the fact of who just showed up here?” Faith asked as she walked towards the mech that had just arrived.

        “I did mention that…” Sebastian groaned, “As for the mech… Vik, Alex and I encountered it in the War of Shadows. I have no idea who the other two are.”

        The bipedal machine noticed Faith and turned to her, the other two with it simply watching their surroundings. “You are the entity known as Faith, correct?” it asked in a voice that sounded mechanical and, somehow, devoid of gender.

        “That would be me, yes.” She replied back. “I’m going to presume that you got my call to help, Mister…… I’m sorry, do you have a name?”

        “I am known as the Preserver, the other two with me are 797 Empty Spark,” the Preserver motioned towards the floating lightbulb. “And the other is Hybrid.” they motioned towards the large creature.

        “It’s a pleasure to meet you… One second please,” She said before glaring at everyone else that was standing around. “What the hell are all of you doing just standing there!?! GO DO SOMETHING!!!” That caught Sun, Neptune and Pyrrha by surprise as they went to go find Coco while everyone else then proceeded to what they were going to do next. “Now then, where were we?”

        “I have seen that you have few forces, I have come to assist you in taking this world back from the Demons here.” the Preserver told her, “They should arrive within moments.”

        “That… can be useful.” Faith said as Anson soon walked up next to her. “If we have your forces here, then we can have Asphyxious and a few others down at Ponyville to assist Leo. He did say that he needed more fighters.”

        “That… is good,” Anson admitted as he looked at the both of them. “I’ll go talk to him about it.” With that, the Infinity Sword went to go find the Dracolich as the sun soon began to set in the distance and the moon began to rise.

        “Where would you like my forces to stay, miss Faith?” the Preserver asked, “There will be quite a few if it helps.”

        “Here in the Empire for right now,” Faith said, looking back at him. “Even with the shield to the city, the demons perform aerial bombardments over night to try and break through it. If we have something to put up on the outer walls, then it’ll be easier to sleep at night when we don’t need to worry about them breaking through the barrier.”

        The Preserver pulled out a small disk, hit a button on it, and an image appeared. “The Super Sentinel, previously an anti-ground drone, I have redesigned them as a anti-air weapons platform. I can bring in six of these right now to cover most of the city.”

        “That can help for the meantime. Right now, everyone else should get some rest. It would be easier to fight when we’re not half asleep,” Faith responded as she looked around to see everything around her. Because of Sun’s help, everything and everyone in the Crystal empire was slowly recovering and getting better. But most importantly… it gave her hope.

        Hope that they will be able to push back against the encroaching threat… together.




End Tail 26

> Tail 27- Ready to Go
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Ready to Go




Crystal Empire (Early morning)

        Over the course of the evening, Sun barely had the chance to get any rest whatsoever. Whether it was Asphyxious talking too loud or someone who’s snoring sounded like an earthquake, the faunus could not be able to handle all the noise and all the tossing and turning. Not to mention the fact that he was sleeping along the wall instead of a bed because he offered the bed that Anson was going to give to him to Coco instead as a gesture of kindness. Now it was close to five o’clock in the morning and he was wide awake. 

        Sun had already tried several times in order to get more rest, but was unsuccessful in the process. So instead, he the faunus decided to get up off the ground and actually catch his breath outside. Find something to actually do instead of just sitting around. However, it was when he stepped outside that he actually found two people waiting outside. One of them being Faith and the other one being Leo. The fact that Leo was here was surprising to him because last he checked, the Reckless Fist was still in Ponyville. How he was here now was what puzzled the faunus, but he decided to not question it.

        “Well, I honestly did not expect for you two to be up so early… Or for Leo to be here for that matter…” Sun sighed, scratching the back of his head. “Oh… Sorry, was I interrupting something-?”

        “Actually, I was originally going to have Moby and Remy get a few people up in order to help, but you just… happened to show up. As for my uncle, he had just arrived only a few moments ago.” The Code queen replied back to him. “Anyways though, remember when Uncle Leo told you yesterday about his plan to get an advantage on the demons?”

        At this statement, the faunus folded his arms and also raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Wasn’t that also the plan that coincided with reclaiming Canterlot as well?” He asked. “Because I don’t see anypony else awake in order to do that.”

        “I already got Nobleheart assembling a group to take care of that part,” Leo informed him. “What we need to do though is get in the caverns underneath Canterlot and get the Black Crow running. Once it’s in the air, we can have enough firepower both on the ground with Asphyxious forces and in the air to start pushing those demonic bastard back.” That sounded good, but there were a few things that Sun thought about that he had to ask.

        “Who… exactly were you thinking about having come with us for this?” He asked while Leo was stretching out his shoulders. “I mean, I get that you want a few people to help you, but who exactly did you have in mind?”

        “Specifically… I was thinking that your friends… Asphyxious, Sebastian and… the Conservor… Did I say that right, Faith?” The Reckless Fist asked in confusion, causing the girl to facepalm herself as she corrected him. “Ah right… Well, Asphy, Sebastian and the Preserver can stay here and help us not only combat the demons on the battlefield, but also help serve as commanders and tacticians.” That part, even though it was informative, did not answer Sun’s question… yet. “I was thinking some of your companions. Like Pyrrha and… that one girl with the beret.”

        “Coco,” Faith reminded him, only to look back at Sun before sighing. “I’m sorry Sun, but it takes Uncle Leo a bit of time before he can remember people’s names. Not to mention the fact that it’s been harder to focus for him given the present… situation.”

        “I understand… Coco is a good idea, but I’m unsure about Pyrrha. Her semblance is Magnetism and if your ship is made of metal, that could either be good or bad.” The Faunus advised him, giving him the short and brief explanation. “Plus, how exactly are you going to be able to get them in the first place? They’re probably still asleep-.”

        “Shut it, I’m wide-” Coco announced, walking into the corridor while rubbing her eyes. Her yawn cut her off, but she kept going. “Awake…”

        “Good morning to you as well, Ms. Coco,” One of Faith’s drones spoke to her and giving her a polite greeting. “Is it safe to assume that you have been hearing our conversation or do we need to inform you on what Ms. Faith and the rest of us have been talking about?”

        “You’re supposed to use the last name of Ms., otherwise it’s just weird. I’m ‘Ms. Adel’.” Coco complained.

        “Our apologies,” The drone replied. “We’ll remember that for next time… Anyways, we were discussing about getting to Canterlot to reclaim it and get Leo’s Airship, the Black Crow, in the air to help with pushing back the demons. Originally, such an idea seemed impossible, but with the new defenses and assistance you and Mr. S-, I mean Mr. Wukong and the rest of you brought, now it seems more likely.”

        “Why can’t we just wait until daybreak?” The Faunus asked, looking back at the two drones as they looked back at the Reckless Fist and the Code: Nemesis. Leading to Leo answering Sun’s question

        “The Demons always fire artillery strikes from their cannons set up farther out in the crystal empire the minute that the sun rises. I wanted for us to get the Black Crow in the air so not only we take care of the demons themselves, but destroy the weapons they would be using against the city.” Now that they were caught up to speed on everything, Leo also mentioned something else on the side as he breathed out a sigh of relief. “Once we reclaim Canterlot, we can re-establish trade with Ponyville and help them too. Caliburn is in need of soldiers and with their numbers growing thin, I’m worried that the town would fall if we don’t act soon.”

        “I could make a distraction.” Coco suggested.

        That lead to Sun looking back at her a little bit confused as he unfolded his arms. “What… kind of distraction? Leo did say that he wanted to have you and Pyrrha help us get there, but go ahead. I’m all ears.” The Faunus told her, allowing for Coco to explain the idea she had in mind.

        “I could fire my gun into the air to lure them in, and you guys could flank ‘em.” Coco said. “But you know, I’m not a military strategist.”

        “I understand and that… does seem possible. But they’re not fools. We’ve been trying to push them back, but it seems that the only possibility to truly catch them by surprise is an aerial assault.” Leo explained as he looked back at Coco. “I talked with Nobleheart, the General of the military here in the Empire and he suggested to have one group retake Canterlot while we get the Black Crow from underneath it. However, it’s unknown whether or not the demons have found their way into the Catacombs or not. So if it does look like they happen to be there, that would be a good time to use that strategy.”

        “Hopefully, we don’t have any grimm show up while we’re out there. That would just complicate things.” Sun sighed a little, remembering a previous experience when he met Neltharion a long time ago.

        “And things aren’t already complicated? We’re not pawns of war, but we’re fighting like some!” Coco said, suddenly getting slightly angry.

        “We’re not ordering you to do anything and we don’t want too… I was going to ask whether or not you would want to join us.” Leo replied to her. “Besides, it may be a bit boring to just wait for the right opportunity to attack. So it’s your choice whether or not to come. But if you two do want to come, we’re going to be leaving in twenty minutes.” With that, the Reckless Fist left the room as Faith herself just sighed a little before looking back at Coco and Sun.

        “I-i’m sorry about my Uncle… he’s a bit worried about some things and I’m worried that this is getting to him…” Faith replied, looking a bit down on herself for a bit. “But when I called you guys for help… I didn’t do it to make it sound like I was seeing you guys as pawns… I saw you guys as hope.”

        “And rebellions are based on hope.” Sun smiled, looking back at Coco for a moment. “Okay, why does it feel like I was quoting Star Wars?”

        “Dunno.” Coco said. “So who’s with us?”

        “Well, Uncle Leo is going to be with us, I will… and if you two are coming, that makes four of us altogether,” Faith replied, pondering out the numbers as she was thinking everything over. “Nobleheart’s leading another group to take care of Canterlot, but for us, we should have enough on our side to not draw attention, but still… what’s the phrase… kick some ass?” Sun was honestly surprised that Faith would say something like that. He expected someone like Nicko, Anson or even Neptune to say something like that, but not Faith. 

        “No, no, it’s ‘I came here to kick ass and chew bubble gum. And I’m all out of gum’.” Coco corrected, an evil smirk on her face. That caused Sun to facepalm himself in response to what she just said as he made sure that he had his gear with him so they were ready. “What? After you dumped me, I started watching movies while eating ice cream.”

        “Wait, you two were in a relationship?” Faith blinked for a moment, shaking her head for a bit. “Sorry… I was lead to believe that you two were a couple.” That had Sun facepalming himself harder to the point that there was a bit of red on his forehead once he removed his hand.

        “It’s a lot more complicated than that,” He sighed, shortly before remembering something as he looked back at the door to where everyone was currently asleep. “Hey, should we leave a message for Asphyxious and the others so they don’t flip out if they noticed that we’re gone?”

        “Nah, what’s the worst that could happen?” Coco shrugged his worry off. “Also, I have higher standards. Why would you think that?”

        “Well, what would the first thing that Asphyxious would think if he noticed us missing, no note left behind and no one to tell him what was going on?” The Faunus then asked, shortly before Faith then spoke up.

        “Uh… he would think that we’ve been kidnapped?” That was just… one possibility, but Sun had to admit, she made a valid point. “Besides, we can just use the same nasod drone I used to message you guys to leave a quick message for him before we leave.”

        “Alright. Now answer me. Why did you think Sun and I were a couple?” Coco asked, eyes narrowing.

        “Uh… w-well… because you t-two remind me of my m-mom and dad… before my mom died though,” She said, looking down for a little bit as she looked back at her. “I miss her sometimes… and you… kind of remind me of her because of how you act around Sun.” That… was surprising. Sun honestly did not expect to hear that from Faith at all and… it just made him feel a bit bad for her after hearing that.

        “I-i’m sorry to hear that…” Sun told her, putting his hand on her shoulder. “We’ll do whatever we can to help okay? Just get the message ready and we’ll be set.” Faith nodded shortly after that, wiping the tear that almost formed in her eyes and leaving behind the message for Asphyxious and the others shortly before returning to Coco and Sun. She lead the two of them to where Leo was as he was sharpening his sword and making sure that his arm was in peak condition before they were going to head out. He didn’t seem to notice them though until Faith actually spoke up and caught his attention.

        “Uncle Leo, we’re ready to get going.” Faith told him as the Reckless Fist got up off of the wooden crates he was sitting on and putting his blade on his back for when he actually needed to use it.

        “Alright. Nobleheart and the others already got a head start in order to scout the area,” The Reckless Fist informed them as he began to turn around and walk towards one of the nearby rooms. “Follow me and we can catch up to where we’re suppose to rendezvous with them.” Soon, all four of them lead into a courtyard where it looked like some kind of weird looking glyph was glowing on the ground. Before Sun could even ask, Leo had stepped on it and disappeared in a flash.

        “Okay, what the hell was that?” Sun asked, blinking his eyes a couple of times to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

        “Don’t worry. It’s a teleportation glyph that’ll take us to where Nobleheart is stationed with everyone else. We use these glyphs to spare ourselves a lot of time in traveling between locations. Trust me, I know it’s weird, but it works,” The Code Nemesis assured both of them. “Now come on, let’s not keep everyone waiting.”

        “Alright, what are we doing?” Coco asked, completely lost. The only way that was answered was by Faith grabbing her hand and pulling her forward as they both disappeared once they landed across the glyph. Sun was confused… but a few moments later, he just shrugged and then ran in afterwards.

        The moment he felt his feet land on the ground again, he found himself along with Coco, Faith and Leo at the Canterlot station that was outside of the city itself. There were a few ponies there, including the one that Sun remembered Leo had told them about named Nobleheart. But there was still a bit of confusion as to what was next on the agenda.

        “Okay, Leo. We’ll take our forces up to the city itself. The entrance to the caverns should be nearby at the end of the track. You’ll find a symbol at the entrance to show that you are on the right path,” The Unicorn told him as he looked at everyone else, shortly before turning around a few moments later. “Good luck down there. We’re all counting on you.”

        “Wait a second… What symbol would we be looking for?” The Faunus asked in confusion. He did make a valid point since the unicorn said a symbol and not anything specific. But, to his surprise, the faunus did not expect for Faith to actually have Moby and Remy hold out a symbol that replicated that of Celestia’s cutie mark.

        “We placed that on the door since the symbol also serves as a ward against demonic magic… Sorry we didn’t tell you sooner, we were a bit… distracted by the circumstances since we were trying to get here before daybreak.” Nobleheart apologized, looking back at us and handing something to the faunus, which looked like a small baton. “Emergency flares… just in case if things go wrong… Not that I think you would use them, but just in case. Good luck down there.” With that, Nobleheart joined back up with the soldiers he was with as Sun put the baton away.

        “Is it just me or did that make things more confusing than before?” The Faunus asked, looking back at the rest of the team.

        Coco shrugged. “I’m not following any of this crap.”

        Leo sighed for a moment before looking at the two of them. “Don’t worry. I know the path he’s talking about. Just follow me and keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.” With that, the Reckless fist lead the group down the set of train track as they moved along the side of the mountain.

        “Right…” Coco replied, though was completely confused. At one point when the four of them reached a tunnel, Leo and the others had them stick along the walls of the tunnel as the Faunus soon noticed an opening in the wall with the same sun like logo they were tasked to find. Leo himself… since the logo was placed on a stone barrier, solved how to get passed it by the only way he thought possible.

        By punching it… with his metal arm of course. The force of the blow causing the whole thing to turn into a pile of rubble as he looked back at the group. “Alright… problem solved. Let’s get going.” Shrugging a bit, Sun and the others soon followed him… only to find one massive airship deep in the underground caverns. Black exterior, entirely made of the same material that was used for Leo’s arm and had a lot of weapons on board. Weapons that made Coco stare in awe.

        “I want one…” Coco said breathlessly.

        “No…” Faith said, facepalming herself as the group soon approached the ship and Leo dropped down a ladder for them to get on board. As they got on the main deck, the Reckless Fist soon called out to them.

        “I’m going to get the ship's power core online… Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.” He said, just as he was beginning to power up the ship from the inside. Though, the loud roaring of the engines caused everything to rumble in response. Yet… Moby and Remy detected something else.

        “Uh… not to interrupt you or anything, but I think we got company coming…” Remy told them, just at the same time they heard a loud series of screeches echo throughout the cavern.

        “Aw sh*t… We got company coming and I need time in order for the ship to be fully capable for flight. One of you get on the guns on the main deck and hold them off until we’re ready for takeoff!!” The Reckless Fist yelled at the others, causing Coco to immediately run towards the turrets.

        “I got this!” Coco shouted and mounted the gun. She looked at the controls for a second and cursed under her breath. She then pressed random buttons and it turned on. “I’ll hold ‘em off!”

        “We’ll cover you if any of them get on board the ship!” Faith told her as the faunus that was next to him prepared his weapons for combat as a massive swarm of demonic gargoyles came charging at them. The nasod queen had her drones ready as she changed her source code to Battle Seraph and began to blast some enemies out of the sky.

        Sun though, was also focused on making sure to keep some enemies away from Coco and provide cover for her while she was blasting at the onslaught of demonic horrors coming at them. Yet, even with them fighting off and killing any demon that had tried to infiltrate the ship, two more would replace it. Which made things even more complicated with the fact that it was taking Leo a while in order to power up the ship. Though, when they were fighting… Sun got an idea as he looked at the tunnel where they were coming from and remembered the flare he had.

        Pulling it out and lighting it, the faunus threw it to where the flare was just above the entrance of the tunnel as he looked back at Coco and Faith. “Fire at the flare! Now!!”

        Coco did, and the blast caused several huge rocks to collapse on the incoming swarm and blocking off one of the tunnels they came through. Drastically lowering their forces and also blocking off one point of entry for them as Sun looked back at her. “Nice shot! That should give us some more time… and reduce the amount of enemies we need to fight at once.” Coco hopped off of the turret and ran over to the others.

        “My gun does more damage.” She grumbled in response as she pulled out her minigun and had it armed and ready.

        “Well, it was still your first time with it. Getting used to the controls and-.” Moby was going to continue speaking, but a glare from Faith had him stop. “My apologies.”

        “No need to say that yet… Let’s wait until we’re out of this mess first.” The Faunus told the drone as he now loaded some fire dust ammunition into his weapons as he looked back at his allies. “How much longer until this ship's operational, Leo?”

        “Give me two minutes and I can have her airborn! Just keep holding them off!!” The Reckless Fist shouted back from the engine compartment as the three of them looked at the remaining enemies that were all over the caverns.

        Sun himself though, smirked as he looked back at his allies as he took out some of the dust shards that he had in his pockets, each one being an incendiary one. “So, who’s ready for some fireworks?”

        “Me!” Coco shouted. The Faunus smirked, tossing the glowing red shards into the air and at the remaining demons that were still airborne. His friend though, saw this as target practice. Her bag transformed into it’s gatling gun form, and she obliterated the shards in mid flight, causing them to explode in a fiery fury as it turned many of the incoming enemies to ash. Drastically lowering the amount of monsters that they had to face and allowing for Faith to pick off any remaining stragglers that were floating around.

        “We cleared the airways! Is everything ready!?” Sun shouted, waiting to hear a response from Leo once he emerged from down below emerged.

        “We’re clear! All systems are operational,” The Reckless Fist affirmed to both of them before looking back at Faith. “Faith, punch us out a hole so we can get out of here!” Hearing that though made the Faunus that was standing there a bit more confused than anything else. Not to mention also puzzling Coco as well.

        “What on Equestria are you talking about?” Coco asked. All the Code Queen said as a pair of energy formed wings as she looked back at them and said something to them. Not as just a general sentence… but as a precautious warning.

        “Hold onto something…” She said as the energy around her began to surge rapidly as kinetic energy began to channel all around her like lightning. Glaring at the stone wall ahead of her, she grit her teeth as both Moby and Remy stood by her to help her pull off what she was trying to do. “Psychic… ARTILLERY!!”

        Sun himself had only seconds to react as the Code: Battle Seraph unleashed a powerful blast towards the stone ceiling, only making a small hole originally… until the second blast that she fired off made that small hole a lot more massive in size. Almost as if she annihilated the entire ceiling and created an opening for the ship to rise up and become airborne.

        And he only had two words in response. “Holy… sh*t…”

        “This is ludicrous!” Coco shouted. Only for Faith to tire out and fall on the floor after that. Tired out and drained from pulling off the hyperactive skill. The ship was soon in flight, giving Leo the chance to have the ship be parked in the air as he looked back at them.

        “Go easy on her. She just used up all her mana in order to give us a chance to get in the air,” The Reckless Fist told both of them as he walked on over to them. “She’s lucky to not pass out from that. The least you can do is take her below deck and help her get some rest.”

        “You’re a d*ck!” Coco hissed. “I never said anything against her!”

        Leo sighed for a moment as he looked down on himself before forming an apology inside his head because of his reactions. “I just presumed that you were going to say something to Faith afterwards. And for that, I apologize.” Bending over, he helped Faith onto her feet and turned to Sun and Coco for a moment as he looked back at both of them while holding what looked similar to a powerade bottle in his hands. “Can one of you help me get this open?”

        Sun raised an eyebrow as he looked back at him in confusion. “Uh… sure. What is that though?”

        “It’s a recovery potion that can help Faith regain the mana she used just now and restore her energy too.” Leo told him as Sun twisted the cap off and gave it for Faith to drink.

        “Great, I need that kinda thing for my aura and if I had a Semblance...” Coco said, then looked herself up and down. “God d*mn it, I didn’t activate it. I’ve been going on through fights without protection.”

        “I was wanting to ask about that…” Faith mentioned, now that she had a bit more energy now in order to stand as Leo returned his focus to driving the ship. “Sun mentioned something about a semblance for that Pyrrha lady… What exactly are Semblances? Are they something with your world specifically?”

        “They are special abilities tied to individuals. Unfortunately I don’t have one since the character I’ve become wasn’t given one by the creators.” Coco explained. Sun nodded his head, going as far as to demonstrate his semblance by clapping his hands together and forming a spectral clone next to him.

        “Aura and Semblance are two factors that work hand and hand with one another. Aura is what you might see as mana; energy for your abilities. Semblance is a skill that’s unique to a certain person and each one is different… unless if a particular skill is hereditary and passed down through a family tree. Mine is something I call decoy, where I can project my aura into spectral clones that could explode on contact with a target.” The Faunus explained, looking back at her. “Think of it like your uncle and his abilities with Rune magic…… and strangely enough, that just makes me think of Weiss and her glyphs.”

        “Anyways, let’s get back on topic… What now?” Coco asked.

        “Well… It’s about damn time that we finally take the fight to them,” Leo smirked, gritting his teeth as he pushed the throttle on the ship and guided it towards the direction of the Crystal Empire. “We’ve been on the defensive side of this fight for too long… now it’s time to turn the tables… and they have no freaking idea what we have in store for them.”

        “What about Nobleheart and the others?” Sun then asked, remembering the Unicorn and the other ponies that were going into Canterlot.

        “There mission was to reclaim Canterlot and make contact with Caliburn and the others in Ponyville. They only had a minimal amount of contact with each other and once we re-establish contact, we can provide them troops and supplies. Right now though, we should focus on the task at hand,” Leo told them before turning to Coco. “You ready for another round in the cannon? I wasn’t able to do this earlier, but I can modify the controls to make it easier for you to use.”

        “Sure! Always willing to blow something up!” Coco announced.

        “Good to hear it… Because you may be in for a treat with what I need your help for next,” Leo told him as he looked back at her with a grin. “While Sun and Faith are going to man the deck… You are going to be raining death from above on them once we get close enough. Those bastards will have no idea what’s in store for them by the time we get there.”



Sometime earlier…

        By the time he woke up, Anson felt as if something was… missing. Normally when he would wake up; he would often hear Leo conversing with somepony else down the hall or notice Faith’s drones, Moby and Remy, outside her door and keeping watch. Instead, all he got this morning was silence… and it was really unsettling. Getting up from his room and getting dressed, the Infinity Sword walked down the hall to where Leo would normally be and also Faith’s room, just to make sure that they were still here.

        However, his nervousness only got worse. He could not find the Reckless Fist in his quarters and when he went to check on Faith, all he saw was his daughter’s empty room. Anson was beginning to think the worst… like somepony had kidnapped them or something. However, his train of thought changed when the Infinity Sword turned to see a red haired woman approach him. She wasn’t Amy, but one of the Displaced that came with Sun yesterday.

        “Excuse me… you’re Anson right?” She asked, only causing him to nod his head a little. “Would you happen to know where Sun and Coco went? They were missing from our quarters this morning.” That caught Anson off guard for a moment as he looked back at the huntress and processed what he just heard before shaking his head.

        “No, I don’t… it’s strange because I can’t seem to find Leo or my daughter Faith for that matter…” He replied back, thinking of what else to say before looking back at her. “Was anyone else missing from your quarters or just those two?”

        “Just them… and there was this small object left on the table in the center of the room we were in,” Pyrrha told him as she pulled out something from her bag. However, what it was caught Anson off guard… big time.

        “T-that’s one of my daughter’s messenger drones!” Anson replied, shocked to see it right now of all times. “Did it have a message on there?”

        “I don’t know… I haven’t been able to get it to tell me anything and all it had done was speak in beeps…” The huntress replied as the small drone looked towards the Infinity Sword now and recognized who he was. Anson noticed a small blinking button on the drones head and after pressing it with his index finger, the drone beeped some more before presenting a holo-screen to him.

        “T-there’s a message on here… from half an hour ago.” He replied, reading everything over carefully so he could process what his daughter was telling him. It took some time, but he was able to get the context of what she was saying after a few minutes. However, getting over it internally and not having his parental instincts take control of his thinking was a bit harder for him. He personally worried that Faith and the others were in danger.

        “What does it say?” Pyrrha asked him, snapping Anson’s focus back to reality as he looked back at her before turning to the drone to reference what his daughter left for him.

        “It’s says that Sun, Coco and her went with Leo on an important mission to help… turn the tide against the demons. However, she doesn’t go into description as to how they were going to do that or what Leo’s plans were.” The Infinity Sword replied, looking back at Pyrrha for a moment. “I do trust Leo to keep an eye on her, but I’m worried that whatever they’re doing may attract more attention than they hoped.”

        “I’m sure they’re doing just fine… I mean, with Sun and Coco, they should be okay-.” Just as Pyrrha was about to finish her sentence, beams of sunlight soon began to lit up the hall… and the sounds of explosions caused tremors underneath their feet. Anson, in a hurry, went out to the balcony to see what was going on. Noticing that what was causing all the commotion was the sound of artillery fire from the enemy colliding with the shield around the city. Causing him to grit his teeth and curse mentally. 

        “W-what was that!?” Pyrrha asked, caught off guard by what just happened.

        “Damn it… The demons are beginning their assault. They always fire off artillery strikes every time around sunrise,” Anson told her as they felt another series of rumbles along the ground. “Get everyone up and on their feet!! We’re not going to stand around while the Crystal Empire gets attacked! It’s time we take the fight to them!!”

        Just shortly after racing down the hall though, the two of them happened to find someone else who was awake in that moment. One of the displaced from beacon, Craig, was just walking down the nearby hall to a nearby balcony to see everything going on outside when they both noticed him as Anson approached him.

        Craig then simply turned around before he simply asked “Okay so what’s going on outside, some sort of riot?”

        “More like an attack on the city. The demons out there always have been trying to attack the city everytime before daybreak. Not even giving people a chance to wake up first.”

        “Welp… how much collateral are you allowing out there?” Craig asked.

        “If it weren’t for the Preserver’s new shield, then they would already have struck several of the main buildings here…” Anson told him. “Sun and Coco are helping Faith and Leo acquire something to help push them back, but until then, we need to hold down the fort and fight them off. I hope you’re ready for combat.”

        “You really have no idea what I can do,” Craig said almost coldly. “So… where do you need to eliminate the Demons?” a sadistic grin appearing on his face as black smoke began to flow from behind his neck almost seeming to create a cape that almost looked to a moonlit sky shimmering against it.

        “So far, with the back of the city facing towards the mountains, they’ve been trying to push their assault on both sides of the empire and the front. If you can push from the front, we can have everyone else give you backup as well as push away any incoming enemies from both the east and west side of the city.” The Infinity Sword explained as he armed himself with both of his swords. “Do you know of anyone who came with you that could assist you right now or do you have this under control?”

        “Just make sure nobody gets in front of me and I can handle the army.... If anyone finds Asuna send her our way… she’ll likely be at the hospital.” Craig admitted.

        “I can go look for her,” Pyrrha volunteered as she looked back at Craig. “Is there anything important, description wise, that I should be looking out for?”

        “Look for a fairy with blue hair and she’ll most likely be healing the injured using an incantation that will leave what will look to be water droplets in the air around them,” Craig suggested. Pyrrha nodded and shortly afterwards, left to go find her while Anson looked back at him.

        “Is there anyone you would like for me to find while I get everyone else up?” He then asked.

        “Honestly only my Twilight won’t be aware of what’s going on,” Craig replied looking towards where the assault was coming from.

        “So find her and bring her up to speed?” Anson asked. He was all too familiar with the fact that anytime something happens that Twilight is unaware of, she either stresses out about it or over thinks of it in ways that would seem too… dramatic.

        “Probably a good idea… but heads up she has a warrior in her head that is used to this sort of stuff… she won’t be phased by what's happening… if anything she’ll want to take control them.”

        That last part caught Anson’s attention as he looked back at Craig with a raised eyebrow. “Wait… control them? What do you mean by that?”

        “The warrior inside her controls an army of monsters and demons from Tartarus… or the underworld in other terms.” Hearing what Craig said made Anson a bit… curious as to what he was saying. Curious to the point that he then asked something that not only seemed like a longshot of an idea… but a pretty good one at that.

        “So we fight Demons… with Demons?” The Infinity Sword then said to Craig, thinking over the idea as well. “That… sounds risky, but I’m all for it… Does she have control over them though? I rather not cause another problem after we handle this problem right now.”

        “The ones she has… yes and given enough time she could capture some of the attacking ones and bend them to her will.” Craig admitted, clenching his hand as to point out what he meant. What he told him reminded Anson of something that he almost forgot about for a long time. In the original Elsword, there was a rare item that could drop on certain monsters and bosses called ‘Monster Cards’. By using one, it would allow the player to summon a particular monster that the card was based on and it will fight by their side for only three minutes. There were some benefits to this, but also some drawbacks since it would take almost five minutes for the cooldown on some cards to wear off before using another one and you could only have one monster summoned at a time.

        From what it sounded like with Twilight though… that was not the case. This sounded completely different. “That may work, but she should be careful. Some of the demons would rather kill themselves then betray their leader. But if you think she would be helpful here, then let me go find her.”

        “She would be a great help… but getting her to help may be a challenge in itself… I couldn’t even give you a location where she would be right now.”

        “Well, she came here with you, so my best guess is that she’s somewhere in the Crystal Empire… I better start looking,” Anson told him, turning around and racing down the hallway as Craig got himself ready.

        “Yeah, you get on that… oh… I should probably have mentioned she’ll search out any source of demonic energy… eh I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Craig muttered as he began to walk towards the battle outside. “Although I should make sure Twilight doesn’t do anything stupid.”

        As Anson himself made it through the inside of the building and out into the courtyard, he was looking around to see if there was anything that would’ve been… off in this present moment. Surely, the streets were mostly empty since the civilians were evacuated, but there was something that did not make sense-. “Oh, finally! I found somepony that can help me!”

        That had the Infinity Sword turn around, only to be surprised at what exactly he saw. “Flurry Heart? What are you doing out here-!?”

        “I was originally looking for Faith because I did not know where she went, but I’ve been stalked by this weird Aunt Twilight lookalike for the last few minutes. Can you help?” That made Anson facepalm himself on the forehead, groaning a little in response. Not only did he find who he was looking for… but found them in the most weirdest way possible.

        “You didn’t bring out Angkor now, did you?” He asked, just to make sure.

        “No, but he’s bound to me because of our contract so…” The Alicorn’s words only seemed to attract more attention to herself as both of them now happened to lay eyes on who exactly Flurry’s…… stalker was.

        “Twilight, I know you’re there. Come on out please.” He asked.

        “Pretty sure i’m not your Twilight,” she admitted as a figure walked out the shadows wearing purple armour and holding a strange purple shield and sword.

        “And I’m pretty sure that you are Craig’s Twilight, am I right?” The Infinity Sword asked.

        “So… you do know… then you know why I’m following her… or what i’m after from her.” Anson looked back at her, gritting his teeth as he cleared his throat and sighed.

        “You’re after Angkor… I’m sorry, but the demon bat belongs to Flurry Heart and is part of her only… However, we have pressing matters at hand and Craig wants you to help. We got an invasion force of demons outside that are attacking the Empire right now-.”

        “Those demons are nothing in comparison the power of the demon she possesses… with that power I could finally take Craig down and lead the teams like I should.” Twilight said as a purple flicker of light passed through her eyes momentarily. That though, also made Flurry Heart not as scared anymore, but now a bit defensive.

        “Like Hell, I’ll let you do that!” She snapped at her. “Angkor’s my friend and I am not letting a faker auntie take him away from me!”

        “You think you can stop me?”

        “She may not be able to, but you should not take control of my Twilight, Koragg,” Craig voice said from behind Anson as he walked towards them holding what looked to be an oversized Shuriken in his hand.

        “Perfect timing,” Anson thought mentally as he looked back at Craig.

        “But I can’t control demons… I fight with Angkor’s powers and my magic!” Flurry Heart replied, not understanding what Craig was talking about.

        “Don’t worry kid, I’ll handle this,” Craig said calmly with a smile as he walked past her. His weapon shrunk as he placed it on his back and what looked to be a golden sword and black shield appeared in his hands now.

        “Flurry, stay next to me.” Anson told her, the alicorn complying instantly as she stood next to the Infinity Sword while Craig continued to move closer to Twilight.

        “You always ruin the hunt, Craig. You can never let me just take her body, can you.”

        “Nope,” Craig replied as he tossed multiple knifes around the surrounding area before stabbing his sword into the ground before lighting arked between the knives before Craig charged forwards as lighting surround his blade and the knifes all floated around him slicing into Twilight’s armour. 

        Anson himself had to be careful and used his sword to deflect any stray weapons that might’ve drifted their way as both he and Flurry began to back away from both of them.

        “Don’t worry I’ll sort this out,” Craig said as he suddenly disappeared before rapidly reappearing behind Twilight as both his hands struck her neck as she suddenly fell forwards as her armour just disappeared as Craig’s knives either disappeared if returned to the sheathes along his body. He then turned to Anson and Flurry Heart before he asked “Are you all okay?”

        “Yeah, just a couple of scrapes. Nothing we can’t handle!” Flurry Heart replied, looking at Twilight now. “Is she gonna be okay?”

        “She’ll be fine… as long as I’m nearby, Koragg won’t try anything else for a while,” Craig admitted as he picked the unconscious Twilight up.

        “I’ll leave her to you then,” Anson told him as he looked back at Flurry for a moment before speaking. “We’ll go get everyone else.”

        “Probably a good idea… and sorry about not mentioning that she isn’t great at controlling those powers… and not mentioning Koragg to you,” Craig admitted as he rubbed the back of his head.

        “It’s okay. Things happen,” He said before looking back at the front of the empire as they heard some more explosions. “Well, we better hurry up then.” Flurry herself nodded in agreement as both of them raced over back to where they knew that some of the other Displaced were at right now. However, what they found though a few minutes later… actually caught them by surprise.

        Asphyxious was laughing like a mad man as the large boxy like Warjack, a Colossals. Standing tall and aims it large cannons at the demons on the other side of the wall. “That’s it, my Conquest! Up and at'em! We got demons to kill, and sh*t to blow up!” Asphyxious roared as the Deathjack was standing next to him.

        “Uh…… are you sure this guy is here to help us?” Flurry asked Anson, a bit confused and concerned because of the maniacal laughter that was coming from the dracolich.

        “Trust me… this is… supposedly normal I think…” Anson told her. Whether or not he should be concerned was another thing. “At least this isn’t like Amy whenever she gets really excited for taking on a massive group of enemies all by herself.”

        “…… Wait, she can do that?” The young alicorn asked, causing the Infinity Sword to sigh for a moment. The subject of Molly’s sister was not always brought up a lot anytime that she was with the Mastermind. But when it was brought up, the conversation was more focused on all the collateral damage that was left behind from any fight that she was in.

        “Trust me, there are a lot of things about Amy that you have yet to learn about, kiddo.” Anson sighed, turning his head to now notice the lich that was previously laughing his skull off to now be waving at them.

            “Hey guys, what do you think of my Colossal?” Asphyxious asked, finally noticing them. “I was going to order it to return fire if that okay with you?”

        “Craig is going to be out there soon with his Twilight combatting them and Sun, Coco and Faith are trying to get something to turn the tide of this fight and take out their cannons. Return fire, but don’t hit Craig or us while we are out there! 

            “Pffff, you make it sound like I don’t know what I’m doing? I’ve been through war before thank you. Oi! Bull! Shoot back but don’t hit our friends!” However, that only lead to the young filly next to Anson to look back at both of them with a bit of concern.

        “Does he actually know what he’s doing?” She asked, causing Anson to shrug for a moment. Bull, the name of the colossal then fired it two large cannons on it back at the enemy. The sound of a explosion was soon followed.

        “I would think so.” Anson replied. “Otherwise, we’d be in big trouble.”

        ”Trust me, he knows enough to be careful around allies… when he’s not dating one that is,” Craig chuckled as he walked up behind them. Anson turned around, almost surprised a bit to see him again so quickly while Flurry Heart almost reacted a bit defensively after her earlier encounter with the Koragg possessed Twilight. 

        “Relax kiddo. Koragg’s dealt with… he won’t be back again anytime soon.” Craig admitted as he nodded to his Twilight as she walked next to him this time wearing all the armour from the suit completely covering her body.

        “Okay… Yet, Angkor’s still… well… a bit tense after what happened earlier,” Flurry Heart admitted, looking back at Twilight for a second before looking at Anson. Who sighed a bit as he put both of his blades away for the moment.

        “Whatever the case may be, it’s good to see you guys again… Pyrrha’s looking for Asuna, Sun and Coco are with Faith and Leo… which only leaves that… Warhammer 40K or whatever the hell his name is and who came with him.” Anson grumbled.

        “Those lot will be around here somewhere,” Craig admitted, before looking to Twilight before saying “Get some of your army on the walls firing on the demons… and if you feel like you can capture a few to weaken their numbers.”

        “So with Asphyxious and some of Twilight’s demons manning the walls, that would only leave the rest of us to go into the field I think?” Anson asked, looking back at them. “If so, then Flurry should remain on the wall and use her magic to help-.” The sound of cannon fire though interrupted him though as they turned back to see Asphyxious looking back at Bull…… again.

        “What? His doing as told?” Asphyxious said before going to the wall to see who Bull shot at. Once up there he laughed, causing Anson to roll his eyes for a moment as he looked back at the others. Trying to ignore Asphyxious for a moment as he thought everything through.

        “So we’ll have Flurry, Asphyxious and some of Twilight’s demons provide covering fire along the wall while the rest of us fight on the ground until whenever Sun and the others show up.” Anson asked, just to make sure that there wasn’t any confusion at all whatsoever. “God, I hope Nicko’s doing alright with everything on his end right now.”

           “Look on the bright side, at least we get to have some fun!” Asphyxious called down from the wall. As the Deathjack got into place by the gate, ready for any enemies to breach it. The heavy jack almost looked like it was waiting for the demons, as it flach it large claws as magic runes ran over it armor.

        Something that Anson saw as surprising. Runes were Nicko’s specialty, yet these ones were not quite ones that he had not seen before. Yet, there wasn’t any time to be distracted by small things such as that. “Alright… Let’s get going… Oh, and Craig… feel free to get the others off their ass if they stay asleep for far too long. We’re going to need all the help we can get right now.” Cannon fire was heard again, before Asphyxious let out a cheer.

        Flurry Heart, shortly after the small ‘pep talk’ with everyone else, went up to the wall and got to work on using her magic to start attacking the demons while Twilight was getting herself ready. Shortly before Anson and Craig were going to go out and into the fight, a certain huntress soon came back and joined up with them. “I’m back guys. Brought Asuna with me as well.” She said as the fairy she was talking about was seen behind her.

        “So where am I needed.” Asuna asked, looking to the group as she rubbed her hands together..

        “Currently, Asphyxious and a few others are going to be providing covering fire for some of us that are going to push forward on the ground. Though, as to what you may be needed for… I’ll let Craig answer that question.” Anson told her, letting him have a chance to speak now.

        Craig only sighed before he said “We’re just here to help, your leading us all. You need to make the call,” as he began to walk towards the battlefield.

        “If that’s the case, then the ground force should be split into two groups. One group would have Craig and Twilight while you can be with Pyrrha and I if you wish. Right now, Sun and Coco aren’t here, but they’re going to come later. We just need to hold the line until they show up.” The Infinity Sword explained as he now gripped both of his swords and was ready for combat.

        “Come on, you p****d face w**kers!” Asphyxious yelled over the wall at the demons, before sending a fireball of magic at them.

        “Language,” Craig scolded as he walked up to Asphyxious with a smirk on his face as multiple clones of himself followed behind him spreading out against the wall. Asphyxious was found fighting with a demon before driving his cutlass into it gut before throwing it back over the wall.

        “And stay out!” The dracolich called before pulling a staff out of his echo. “Who next?!” Asphyxious roared down at the hoard of demons trying to get up the wall. For a moment, it looked like he was about to jump down at them before calming down. Asphyxious then saw Craig. “Hey, what up?”

        “Just found a new pastime I enjoy… being a demon slayer,” Craig joked as he rose his right hand above his head.

            “Can we do this later, like when they're all dead?” Asphyxious asked pointing his staff at the demons.

        “Sure,” Craig replied as all the clones beside them seemed to be charging up an attack as a blue light appeared in each of their hands before Craig quickly brought his hand downwards before all Twilight Demons and his clones all attacked at once the attacks charging across the battlefield destroying all demons in their path.

        Asphyxious slowly looked at Craig. “That was a waist, you should have saved that for something more dangerous, Not cannon fador.” The dracolich pointed out before starting to clean his weapons.

        “I can reuse that easily… that's just all the clones using the same attack at once.” Craig admitted.

        Shortly after was when they noticed Anson himself jump into the fight. Not only using the two swords he had in order to cut down several of the demonic entities in front of him, but also summoning several more to pin down others as he caught up quite a few in a maelstrom of blades. Yet, he wasn’t fighting alone. Pyrrha was also behind him. Using her magnetism Semblance to guide any loose blades that were flying around to turn around and strike any other demons that Anson might’ve missed. 

        “Yeah… We’re going to be here for a while.” Asphyxious said before Bull fired it cannons once again. Raining death onto the demons, rendering them into nothing more than bloody meat and dissipating shadow magic. “Think I should let Deffy out to play?”

        “Who’s Deffy?” Flurry asked as she was channeling a series of spells that were fired off at several demons using both shadow and light magic.

            “The Deathjack.” Asphyxious replied as he summoned his Bane Knights to the wall. The Deathjack gave out a roar that it wanted to fight to.

        “Oh…… What’s a deathjack?” She then asked. Unlike Asphyxious, Flurry had no prior knowledge to what he was talking about whatsoever. Meaning that it just left Asphyxious in a state where he felt like he had to do everything around here.

        “I’ll explain it after the day is saved.” Asphyxious replied, looking over the wall. “Mind opening the gate for a bit? Deffy want to play with them.”

        “Can’t you just have them land on the battlefield? I mean Anson and some of the others jumped off the wall because I don’t think they want to let some of the bad guys in.” Flurry Heart said… in a way that reminded Asphyxious of his own kids. He found it adorable.

        “Bull, pick up Deathjack and help him to the other side.” Asphyxious asked. Bull did as was told, as the deathjack hang from the colossal hand. Before the deathjack let go on the other side, screams were soon heard as it landed on the demonic entities that ‘Deffy’ happened to squish as flat as a pancake. “You might want to look away, he tends to be… Gorey. And may try and eat them.”

        That was when he noticed Anson use one of his blades to pull himself up along the wall as he looked back at the lich in that moment. “We’ve all seen worse… Trust me… Amy has had things happen to the point where Celestia had to ban her from Canterlot because of all the trouble she was causing.”

           “Well don’t blame me if she get nightmares from this.” Asphyxious replied as he saw the Deathjack hold a demon up, it face plate opened up to show off a jaw full of sharp teeth. It let out a roar before taking a bite out of it.

        “Yeah… That’s small compared to Amy… Do you really want me to explain to you what happened when she decided to use her ‘vacation days’?” He asked, looking back at Asphyxious before raining down a barrage of blades on some of the demons that were trying to race across the battlefield.

            “Not really, I have enough to deal with back home.” Asphyxious added as he looked at the battlefield.

        “To keep it brief, let’s just say the amount in collateral was… the Amy amount.” He told them, looking back at the warzone as they were seeing the massive amount of demons from before be reduced in size. However, the only question though was when exactly was Sun and everyone else going to get back here. Because at this rate, enemy reinforcements might show up faster than they would. “Still… how much longer do you think Sun and the others are going to take-.”

        It was then of course that they happened to see a bright flash of energy go off in the distance. Almost going as far as tearing a hole in the side of a few neighboring mountains as the place shook a little. “...... I take back my last question.” The Infinity Sword sighed.

           “Leave it to Sun to take all the fun.” Asphyxious added with a smile.

        “That… wasn’t Sun,” The comment from Flurry Heart caught both Asphyxious and Anson by surprise. But what the Void Princess said next really caught Anson off guard. “Just now… That was Faith.”

        “Who?” Asphyxious asked before Bull fired it cannons again. The Infinity Sword himself turned around, looking back at him with a sigh as he facepalmed himself.

        “You just met her yesterday and now you forgot who my daughter is?” He questioned, groaning a little as he looked back at him. “No wonder you sound too busy… you might need to improve your memory once we’re done here… Just saying.”

        “Going insane does that to you.” The dragonlich replied like it no big deal. “Luna working on my mind while I’m home. When I sleep it helps, kind of. I forgot a lot...” That just had Anson facepalm himself again as he brought forth his blades once again. Aiming at the ground as he pulled himself back towards the battlefield and rejoined Pyrrha while beginning to fight with close quarters combat.

        A massive wall of explosions erupted nearby, vaporising a group of demons in the process. Before the demons that survived the blast could regain their senses, two armored figures landed in their midst, one wielding a sword that separated into a whip-like blade, while the other cut down more with a hail of bullets from his gun. “Geez, did plans get changed and we weren’t told?!” Viktor asked.

        “No, you slept in.” Flurry Heart then said. “But who sleeps through the sound of explosions?”

        “Eh, when you’ve been doing patrol all night, it’ll tire you out!” the Spartan retorted good naturedly

        “By the way, Flurry who are your mum and dad? You look like someone I know but I can’t put my finger on it.” Asphyxious asked.

        “Really? I thought someone told you that my mom was Princess Cadence.” She said, all before running off to fire off some spells at another angle to blindside a few enemies and provide cover for those that were on the ground. Asphyxious blinked in confusion as he heard this.

        Rolling his eyes, Viktor leapt into the air as a Broadsword fighter formed around him and he streaked into the air before swooping down in a strafing run, machine guns blazing. Alex meanwhile had been forced back, and was now fighting back to back with Anson. 

            “WHAT!?” Asphyxious finally yelled.

        “It took him that long to realize that?” Anson groaned for a moment as he blocked an incoming attack from behind before slicing the attacking demon in half. “My god, he’s slow to react sometimes.”

        “Tell me about it…” Alex grumbled as she blasted a demon back with a magic pulse before wrapping the whip blade around another and slamming him into his comrades. “When I say “now”, duck.” she said.

        “She is Cadence’s kid… Oh my god, I’M GOING TO BE AN UNCLE!” Asphyxious yelled before laughing and jumped into the hoard of demons. The sound of laughter and demons dying was soon heard.

        “NOW!” Alex yelled. She switched her weapon to her right hand and charged it with arcane energy before spinning and projecting a blade of energy that cleaved through anything in its path. Anson and a few others ducked once she shouted as Alex’s blade clawed through multiple monsters that were on the field. Killing most, but leaving a lot of them with serious injuries as a result.

        But Anson was the next one to act as he threw down a huge blade on the ground. “Okay everyone… get down.” With that, the outer edges of his weapon began to crack open and with it, a massive flurry of swords surged forth around them like a vortex. “Blade RAIN!!”

        “Careful, you almost hit me!” Asphyxious yelled. “But seeing as we’re doing a op hour...”

        “I was honestly just trying to thin out their numbers. Besides, until whenever the hell Sun decides to show up, we need to hold the front line.” The Infinity Sword told them.

        “You make it sound like a hard thing!” Asphyxious yelled back as he cut a demon down. “I mean these guys are made of Raditz!”

        “You do realize these same Raditz’s were the ones that almost slaughtered everyone in Canterlot and set the city ablaze right?” He then asked.

        “As he said… Raditz,” Craig sighed as a purple runic portal opened under three groups of demons as they were dragged into it.

        *At least these guys give us some target practice!* Sebastian radioed from where he had his Whirlwind artillery tank positioned and aimed at some of the enemies in the distance. However, before he could be able to attack them… something else occurred instead.

        “Knock knock, B*TCHES!!!” As everyone looked around to see where they heard that voice come from, a powerful blast went off with the force of a nuclear blast… minus the radiation of course as the explosion annhilated all of the enemies that were nearby and also took out a lot of the artillery cannons that the demons were using to launch their attacks. When Anson and the others turned to see where the blast came from, they found a large airship in the sky with a black chrome exterior and the sides of the ship resembling the wings of a crow. Not to mention they found Sun and Faith on the railing of the ship and Coco on the huge big ass turret that was on the main deck.

        “That so not fair!” Asphyxious called out, not happy that almost all of the enemies were dead. Anson just groaned, while Flurry Heart herself giggled a little in response to the lich’s dismay. Yet, there were still some enemies farther in the distance as the Reckless Fist that was the captain of the ship called out on the radio.

        “Says the ones who have been having all the fun so far! I say it’s now our turn!” Leo called out. “Though, I’m not stopping you if you want to join in. Sun, Coco, Faith… Lock and load. This is going to get messy.”

        “Yeah yeah, I heard you the first few times you said that on the way here!” Sun replied, running to the edge and jumping off, preparing his own… landing strategy. If you consider a landing strategy using a certain lich to cushion his fall as he leaped off of him and had Asphyxious’ face land in the snow. “Sorry about that!!”

        Asphyxious slowly get up and bares his fangs at Sun. “I will eat your bones one day…” He growled before standing up and dusting his tail off. Before moving to clean his wings. The Deathjack meanwhile was busy eating demon bodies… or what was left of them since most of what composed up the demons was primarily shadow magic.

        “Asphyxious, are you seriously going to sit around and give yourself a pedicure while we have a job to do?” Anson questioned as he ran after the Monkey Faunus. “Because if I were you, I would move out of the way of the huge cannon that has you in their line of sight.”

        “If she fired she risk hitting the wall and making an opening for the demons.” Asphyxious informed pointing back at the wall behind him. Bull then fired his cannons, most likely spotting a demon somewhere. “Besides my job if you remember was to keep the wall safe. It is safe now, I now have the job of getting everyone ready for the next attack if and when it happens again.”

        “Not this time,” The Infinity Sword shot back, arming himself with both of his blades. “We’re going to push these bastards out of the Empire and teach them not to even think twice of stepping foot in here. The only question is that if you are in… or are you out?”

        Asphyxious let out a long sigh. “I’m in, seeing as none of you understands the basics of strategy.” He complained before ordering Bull to remain behind to guard the city. “If we’re doing this your way, we need to cut down their numbers to the point no one can report what happened here. I’ll leave my Dogs in the city.”

        That was when he felt someone else land on his head again. This time being Faith as the Code Queen looked back at him with a deep sigh as Flurry decided to join up with her. “What do you think they’re doing right now then… Besides… you know everyone else can hear you complain right?” To add to that point, Pyrrha soon knocked Asphyxious on the head with her shield as she was looking back at him.

        “Oh, my bad… I was making sure that you still had your head on your shoulders,” She smirked, looking back at them. “But in all seriousness, we should have some of us go back to check and make sure the town is alright. We came here originally to assist the Empire, not get ourselves and Beacon dragged into an all out war.”

        “Bite me…” Asphyxious grumbled before flying off, as the Deathjack ran off to follow it warcaster. Causing the huntress to look back at the Code Queen and everyone else before sighing as she watched Asphyxious leave them.

        “Can’t that guy take a joke?” She asked, shrugging her shoulders.

        “Not if he’s at the tail end of it apparently,” Faith sighed as she looked to see the Black Crow in the sky keep track of those going after the remaining forces. “Let’s go back and check with the Preserver to see if the shield and the town are alright.”



        Asphyxious’ Diamond Dogs were left behind to guard the city, along with their army of warjacks since Asphyxious had went off on his own. Much to the surprise of Faith and the others upon returning inside the cities walls.

        “There no need to fire your cannons any more you big brute!” Yelled a diamond dog at the colossal call Bull. It was comical to see something so large almost acting like a child being scolded by their parent, even with the colossal pouting at the well.

        “Hi there, everything in order?” Called out a old griffon in some kind steam powered armor. “My name Nightclaw, I’m in charge of the Wolves of cryx until lord Asphyxious get back. 

Sebastian soon walked up to the group. “I see you got the ship operational.” he commented, taking his helmet off.

        “Wasn’t that hard once Kay got her paws on it.” Said the griffon, as the ship engine gave out a boom before running again. “I only worry she going to try and improve it. Or get Gear Shift to help.” Nightclaw then gave out orders to the other diamond dogs who were close by. To send out teams to find survivors and to help with anyone trapped under the rubble. It looked like the warjacks were ordered to standby for now, as some were used to help with reaching survivors.

        “Well, I thank you for your assistance, but I think we got it under control now,” Faith replied as she looked back at them. “We’ve took out the force that was attacking the city and we got Uncle Leo’s ship running, so I think we’re good for now unless otherwise stated. Right now though, I’m going to need to check on something with the Preserver.” With that statement, the Code Nemesis left the group and went farther down the alley with both Moby and Remy being alongside her. She wanted to make sure that the shields stood up to the attacks just now by the demons and also see what else could be done in the meantime.

        Soon, she approached the northwest side of the city to where she found the Preserver. At first glance, it didn’t seem like she had noticed her. But that wasn’t entirely the case once the Preserver turned her head and looked back at Faith once she had stepped closer to her. 

        “Do you need something, Faith?” She asked, curious at to why she was here while also being somewhat alert.

        “No actually… I wanted to tell you that thanks to your help with the new shield in place and the defenses with the Crystal Empire, we were able to handle the last Demon attack much more effectively than before… and for that, I’m grateful,” Faith told him, bowing a bit to show her appreciation. “You really are a lifesaver.”

        “I did what I could at the time. A small part of my calculations weren’t in our favor, but everything worked out alright in the end.” The Preserver stated. “Your gratitude isn’t really necessary-.”

        “Yet, I believe it is… Without your help, our old shield would’ve been destroyed and many ponies would’ve died if it weren’t for you… Because of you, Sun, Coco and everyone else, you gave everypony in the empire… heck, everypony in Equestria hope. That must be what Beacon stands for… You guys are a beacon of hope… for not just displaced, but everyone else too.” She told him, automatically thinking of that off of the top of her head before the Preserver could say anything in response.

        “I’m not seeking gratitude. And gratitude like words have no affect on me.” The Preserver said simply. “Saying such things mean nothing… but you are right. Beacon is for hope.”

        “And hope is one thing that you certainly did provide.” They both heard a new voice speak up as both the Preserver and Faith soon turned around. However, what they did see surprised the Code Queen herself personally because of previous… circumstances.

        “C-celestia? Artemis?! W-what are you two doing here?” She asked, shocked and surprised as she saw both of the royal siblings standing before her. “I-i thought you were still recovering a-after you got hurt from the a-attack on Canterlot with all the other refugees!”

        “We are… but we’re healthy enough to come see for ourselves what you were able to accomplish,” Artemis told her, looking around to see the Displaced that were helping others along with the Preserver and a few others. “All of this was possible because of your friends yes… but if it wasn’t for you, none of this would’ve happened. You were the one who sent out the call to arms to them requesting aide while your father was still trying to figure out what to do. Without you, they would’ve never been able to lend us a helping hand when we needed it most… We should be the ones thanking you, young Faith.”

        “I-i…” The Code queen was rather… caught off guard by this outcome. She had honestly not expected anything like this at all… or to be told that in person. By Celestia and Artemis no less. “I d-don’t know what to say…”

        “Something humble!” Coco shouted from where she was sitting cross legged on the concrete. That made Faith blush a little as she looked back at Coco for a moment before looking at the royal siblings once again.

        “Thank you…” She spoke, looking back at them while taking a deep breath. “It means a lot to me to hear that…” Afterwards though, she turned around to the Preserver and then thought of something. “Um… if it isn’t too much to ask for… can I ask for one more thing before I let you guys go back to Beacon?” She took out what looked like a small set of Nasod blades that were in her hand as they floated for a small bit.

        “I-i’m worried about my uncle, Nicko. Last I heard about him, he ran off from Ponyville before I was even able to get a chance to talk to him. He has a copy of my token here,” She said, lifting the blades a small bit before speaking again. “So I-i wanted to see if you can tell me where he is and… well, if he’s okay.”

        “He’s safe at the moment. Check the Badlands.” The Preserver replied, before vanishing. Not even needing to use the token Faith had in her hands.

        “Knowing Asphyxious, that most likely where he's gone too.” Added Nightclaw, crossing his arms. “I wouldn’t worry, I’m sure they're fine.” 

        “Yeah… Though I think this is something Nicko best do on his own,” Moby then commented as both he and Remy looked back at Faith. “There’s another energy source en route to his present location matching that of Ms. Amy Anderson the Third. With the combined strength of both of them, they can be able to handle themselves I believe.” Even with that though, the mention of Amy just made Celestia groan for a bit.

        “On another note though, we should be making sure to send these displaced that helped us back to Beacon,” Remy then advised shortly after Moby was done speaking. “We don’t want them to stay away from their own worlds for too long. Especially the one named Sun Wukong. After all, they were only needed for a short while to help get the Crystal Empire get back on their hooves again.”

        Faith had to agree that they did make a point. After all, it wouldn’t be right to have someone else fight their battles for them. “That is true… but let’s wait until dad’s back before having them return to Beacon first.”

        “Agreed. But I have a feeling Seb’s gonna want Alex, Sasha and I back in our Equestria as soon as we return to Beacon.” Viktor said. Just as he said that, the faunus soon returned back with both the Infinity Sword and the Dracolich that were with them. Anson himself was honestly surprised to see Celestia and Artemis fully recovered for the most part. But once everything was explained, he could only look back at Faith and smile as he gave her a hug.

        “I’m so proud of you, Faith…” Anson said, smiling a little as the two of them looked at all the other displaced that helped not just them, but also the Crystal Empire too. “Now… Let’s send them back to Beacon. Who knows what’s going on over there.”



Manehattan (Sun’s World)

        It was close to midnight and for Babs Seed, she was barely able to get any sleep right now. Earlier, it was the sound of the neighbor’s dog barking up a storm… but now, it was the sound of somepony impatient knocking at the door. For a moment, she thought that it was a family member. Maybe somepony that her older sister, Sunflower, knew and had not told her about. She wanted to see for herself, because it was better than thinking that something was lurking in the darkness of her bedroom.

        Peeking her head over the ledge of the window, she now saw who was outside… and it wasn’t like anything the filly had seen before. Well dressed, carried a cane, smoked a cigar… but more importantly, it wasn’t a pony. She thought it was a minotaur, but it lacked the horns or the tail for that. Nevertheless, she watched as her sister finally was able to open the door after several minutes… and soon felt worried for her after hearing how this… strange figure spoke once her older sister stepped outside.

        “Hey strawberry.” He said, a grin forming on his face. “You haven’t showed up to work for a week… What’s the holdup?”

        Sunflower stuttered, her eyes wide and somewhat terrified. “I-I-I-! M-my sister’s babysitter canceled! I-I had to look for a new one while taking care of her… Y-you know what it’s like, boss…” She giggled nervously when she saw his stern, smile-less face. “I-I told Dance Fever that I was taking the week off! I thought he’d tell you…”

        Roman stared her down for a moment, before bursting out laughing. “You should see the look on your face! Priceless!” Sunflower chuckled unenthusiastically and nervously. “He told me, I know why you left… I know why you left, and that’s why I believe that I need to make an example of you…”

        Sunflower gulped, “I-I-I’ll work overtime! Please, I’m not like Gladmane! I’m loyal!”

        “Oh, I know, I know. Geez, I’m not going to kill you. I’m just going to decrease your pay for next week, and have you work overtime.” That had a small shiver running down Babs spine. Just who was this man… and why was he making her sister so scared?

        “But I barely get by with the normal paycheck!” Sunflower was shaking again.

        Roman just shrugged. “Maybe after next weeks work, I might promote you if you do well. Otherwise, you're gonna lose this lovely house of yours… One chance. Impress me and our new benefactor.” Sunflower nodded rapidly, her body desperately craving a break from this insane meeting. “Well, goodnight Sunflower. Tomorrow’s a big day! Meet me at the southernmost docking bay at eleven o’clock.” He said, chuckling as he walked away. Once he was out of sight, Sunflower slammed the door and collapsed.

        Babs herself was scared. Shaking a little under the covers as she tried to fall asleep. Her sister had once told her that in their home, she would be safe from monsters and beasts that might scare her… but tonight… one such beast came knocking on their doorstep.




End Tail 27

> Tail 28- Not part of the plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Not part of the plan




Outside Fluttershy’s cottage

“Wow, that fight took a lot outta me.” Coco said, sitting in a lawn chair with Velvet who was doing the same. It had only been a few hours since Sun, Coco and everyone else that was called over to Faith’s world had returned back to Beacon and now, the brunette thought she deserved a much needed rest. “I took down most of the demons.” She boasted. Velvet stared at her, contemplating whether or not Coco was lying, though she leaned towards the idea that Coco did nothing while they were there.

“So, what did you guys do while we were gone?” Coco asked. Velvet groaned, hearing plain as day the ego in Coco’s voice.

“To be honest, you guys only left yesterday for us,” the two of them heard from Sage, who was leaning against a tree not far from the cottage as he looked back at them. “When you did leave, it was a few hours before Sunset and a lot of people thought that you would be gone for a while. Hell, Scarlett was betting that you guys would be gone for weeks, only to lose and pay up to Ren.”

“Huh… Well, a lot can happen in a day, but you guys can’t seem to do that.” Coco stated, leaning even more into her lawn chair as she relaxed. Velvet sighed at that.

“Anyways, Fox had a bizarre idea while you were gone…” Velvet began to tell Coco shortly after looking at Sage for a few short seconds and sighing to herself. “That we should leave Ponyville and go to a farther town.”

Coco laughed at that, “Why!? Free houses, and we don’t have to fend for ourselves! Look carrot cake, I don’t think leaving while there’s a ‘White Fang’ around. We’ll stay, and when the threat is gone, we’ll discuss that.” Velvet couldn’t deny that.

“We did now, did we?” The voice for a moment startled Coco as she felt backward in her chair, her back landing on the wooden porch and soon saw Sun hanging over her. “I think Velvet was referring to all of us… not just your team, Coco.”

“Though, now that you mention it, a vacation does sound nice.” Coco stated, though glared up at Sun. All the Faunus did was chuckle for a bit as he got up off of the porch and looked back at the three of them.

“Yeah, it does. Heck, I’m going to Manehattan later today, but unfortunately it’s not because of Coco’s vacation idea.” Sun replied as he looked back at the group while looking back at the ticket he had to double check when the train was leaving the station. This surprised Sage and also Velvet as well, but it was Velvet’s teammate that was the first person to ask on the matter.

“Why?” Coco questioned, struggling to straighten up.

“Well, after having a long conversation with Rarity, she told me that there’s a pony up in Manehattan that can help me with making a suit for when Fluttershy and I have our wedding in a few months. I have slacks and a collared shirt along with a tie, but mainly I need a suit jacket,” He explained, looking back at them. “Funny thing is, I think it’s the same pony that tried helping out you guys when we found you in Manehatten. Coco Pommel.”

“Oh… Well, here’s an idea, bring me and Fox!” Coco suggested with a grin as she finally got to her feet and stood up proudly. “I have fashion expertise and Fox is cooped up all the time.”

“Things didn’t go well last time you were in Manehatten… Best not go back.” Velvet stated. The Monkey faunus knew exactly what she was talking about. When he originally found team CFVY, he found Fox and Velvet hiding at Coco Pommel’s place while Coco Adel took Yatsuhashi on a drunken destruction spree across the city. Even going as far as insulting Aya because of her… chest size. Something that was pretty uncalled for, especially since Drunk Coco insulted his mother of all people.

“You’re right… Fine…” Coco pouted in response, causing the Faunus to sigh as he looked back at her for a moment before thinking of something. Maybe a way for him to make it up to her somehow after all the chaos they had been through recently.

“Would you like for me to get you anything while I’m there?” He then asked, looking back at her for a moment. “The appointment with Coco Pommel may not take so long and I might have some time to look around before the train to Ponyville leaves. That is of course, if you would like anything.” Sun asked the last part with a bit of caution in his voice… and for good reason. Back home when they were dating, Coco was really fond of gifts that he would give her. However though, it mostly depended on what the actual gift was. He had learned his lesson on several different occasions where recommended gifts that Aya had suggested to him lead to Coco either facepalming herself… or smacking him upside the head.

“Just don’t worry about it man. What’s the point of a gift if you can’t surprise her with it?” Sage then asked, only leading to the faunus sighing for a moment, looking back at Velvet before returning his gaze to him.

“It’s not that simple… you see, Coco is a professional. She doesn’t care that much about gifts with feelings and not only that, but she really hates being given anything that you don’t put any thought into,” He explained to Sage as he looked back at Coco for a moment. “And like how one saying would go back home… Professionals have standards.”

Velvet stood up and walked past the men, whispering something quick to Sun and Sage. “And Coco’s a super professional…” That had the Faunus sigh a little after hearing Velvet’s comment. It just meant that finding something for the brunette was going to be a lot more difficult than he had anticipated. But it didn’t mean that it was going to stop him from trying at least.

“Well have fun!” Coco shouted, before walking off. Causing the Faunus to smirk a little as he saw her leave. Looking down at his ticket, he thought that it would be best for him to go to the station early and wait for the train there. Yet, the only thing he heard as he was leaving was Sage asking a question to their friend Neptune as he showed up a few moments later. One that put a look of horror on Velvet’s face.

“So was it true that Coco had the chance to blow up demons with a massive rocket launcher turret?”

“Wait, there were real demons!?” Velvet yelped.

“In the world we went to, yes…” Neptune sighed as he now took a seat in the chair that Coco had left a few seconds ago. “It’s a long story.”



Later…

After what had felt to be the longest train ride of all time, Sun had found himself in Manehattan once again. There had been three times already where he had visited the urban metropolis… and the first two times didn’t exactly go so well. The first time was when Rarity invited him on a trip to Manehattan to visit the same pony he was going to be seeing now, only to meet Sage and get attacked by Adam on the train ride home. The second time he was there, it was because he had reports of a group of humans in the area… and some of them causing trouble. One of them turning out to be none other than Coco herself with the other humans mentioned being the rest of her team.

Now though, for the most part, things seemed a lot more peaceful. The damage caused by Coco to Centrail Park along with many of the local businesses have been fixed and everything had been going along smoothly. Including his meeting that afternoon with Coco Pommel. She was more than happy to help him out, especially if Rarity had recommended him to come see her. The earth pony helped the faunus by taking some important measurements of his arms, neck and the upper half of his body along with allowing him to choose the fabric that he wanted to use. A lot of options that made it tough for him to choose.

It was after the meeting with Coco that he decided to look around town and see if there was anything that was interesting he could find for the Coco that was back in Ponyville. However… just as he was about to get started was when three other voices spoke up in unison, startling him and causing him to fall backwards. “Hello, Mr. Sun-!!”

“Gah!” The sudden abrupt statement caused him to fall backwards and almost hit his head as he looked up to see who was talking to him. To his surprise, it was none other than Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders… at least, that was what he thought at the time. He noticed a fourth pony that wore a similiar cutie mark crusader cape as they did, but she kept her distance from them as the faunus spoke up. “Girls? What are you doing out here? I thought you had school today.”

“Our class is out on a field trip, so we took a chance to come over and see my cousin,” Apple Bloom replied, looking back at the other pony that was hiding behind a nearby tree. “Babs! Come on, Sun isn’t that scary!” All it caused the small earth pony to do was stick it’s head out as she looked back at Apple Bloom and paid no attention to Sun at all.

“I-i told y-you Apple Bloom, I-i don’t w-want to see him,” She said, a little distressed before saying something that quickly caught Sun’s attention. “One of t-those b-beings c-came by my house and threatened my s-sister the other night…”

Upon hearing that, the Faunus soon looked back at the filly with a raised eyebrow. What did she exactly mean by that? Last he heard, there wasn’t any other humans or faunus showing up in Manehattan according to the reports from the royal guard… but maybe this filly knew something they didn’t. “Excuse me… Babs right?” He asked, wanting to make sure he did not mess up the name. She nodded her head in confirmation as the Faunus cleared his throat. “What was this person like when you saw him?”

The filly was shaking a little at first, nervous to respond after thinking over what she had heard the man last night say to her sister as a threat. But nevertheless, she then decided to muster up any courage she had and answer his question. “H-he had a white c-coat, a cane, s-some weird hat and an orange mane… I heard him say something about meeting my sister today at… I think the southern docks…” Hearing that description immediately made Sun think about when Fox came across the news article about what happened in Las Pegasus with that of Torchwick. Now with a location in mind… and some extra time on his hands, he looked back at the girls as he got up off of the floor.

“Thank you Babs… I need to go now though. There’s something I need to check on before I leave…”



“She’s late…” Torchwick muttered, looking at an orange pocket watch with a sucker in his mouth. “Figures.” He was rather impatient when it came to those who were not on time. After all, if they were behind, than he would also be behind on his schedule. Which, of course, would not make his ‘customers’ pleased. With him was the same mare that he had talked to the other night by the name of Sunflower along with two other henchstallion that were acting as bodyguards.

Yet, it was only a few seconds afterwards that he soon heard a familiar voice. “I’m rather surprised to see that you have some new… escorts,” He looked up to see the same lady that he was waiting on, Emerald, walk into the room. “And for a moment, I thought you gave your boy Mercury a day off. Did he have something better to do by chance?”

“Yeah, cleaning up a mess with one of Gladmane’s relatives.” Roman stated calmly. “Also, Sunflower’s been with me for two years. She was on a break when we began business.”

“I see,” Emerald replied, looking at the mare for a moment before examining her surroundings as she returned her gaze to Torchwick. “Good to know. Adam was impressed with how we took care of Gladmane and is rather… interested in continuing to conduct business with you. However, we may need to be a little more cautious.” Before he could ask, Emerald took out what looked like a rolled up newspaper and tossed it over as it unfolded. Showing the symbol of the Torchwick gang on the front as Roman and the ponies next to him had a look at it. “The stunt with Gladmane has definitely been catching a lot of attention, but Adam’s worried that it might bring the wrong kind if we aren’t careful.”

“You talking about that group of humans over in that backwater town?” Roman asked, amused as he spat his candy out of his mouth and onto one of his guards. “Please, what are they going to do that an entire precinct have been trying since I started. There’s nothing they can do to me legally, and if they try anything else, I think I can at least get them kicked out of the country.”

“These same people are also friends with the princesses and also aren’t as easy to fool as the local police. They even were able to fight back after Adam attacked a couple of them to evaluate their skills… However, out of those same people, there are a few of them that are like Adam in the sense that they are faunus.” She clarified for him, which in turn had Sunflower raise an eyebrow in response. The mare had not heard of the word or knew what Emerald was talking about, so she was rather… confused by what Emerald had just explained.

“And that matters why? Look, you’re right. They’re kids, but there are more of them. But, really now, what can they do to me? Would the Princesses permit an attack because some kids with weapons say so?” Roman asked, shrugging with a smirk.

“Not all of them follow the rules… Are you familiar with an incident a month ago involving several stores and a part of Centrail Park getting torn up?” Emerald asked, looking back at them. “That was from one of those said ‘kids’... one that would gladly take the law in her own hands if she was given the chance.” For a moment, Emerald thought she sensed something down the alleyway and turned to see if there was anyone there, only to just see a small mouse scurry around before taking off. “You made sure that we were alone, right?”

Roman paused to consider. “This location is secure… Fever, Lockdown, go search the property.” The stallions nodded before galloping off. However, it wasn’t until a few minutes later that they soon found out what made Emerald so concerned.

Crack

“Aw, son of a-.” Both of them heard that simple statement before they noticed a huge hole in the roof of an old and abandoned magic shop that was not far from where Emerald and Torchwick were. Hearing the voice put both of them on alert as Emerald drew out her weapons and aimed it at the old shop. Torchwick was also alert since the voice did not belong to that of his two bodyguards that were with him only a few moments ago. Readying his cane as he looked in the same direction as Emerald.

“It’s not nice to listen in on others!” Torchwick shouted, firing three shots in the direction where the voice originated. Whatever was inside quickly scrambled to their feet as the first two shots tore through the wooden cabinets and various other books and papers in the room. But the third one seemed to do the trick as it exploded and had the whole store be engulfed in flames.

“That’s… kind of overkill.” Emerald said. “We don’t even know who was spying on us.”

“That voice is unmistakable. You’ve seen RWBY, that was Sun.” Torchwick snapped angrily. Only for both of them to be caught off guard by what they heard next.

“Thanks for pointing that out, Captain Obvious,” They both turned to the burning store, where they now saw the Faunus emerge from the flames as he now looked back at both Roman and Emerald. Before turning to notice that his tail was partially on fire… and it didn’t go out after soaking it in water. “Now what the hell did you do to my tail?!”

“None of my concern, bananas!” Torchwick yelled. “Sunflower, deal with this smartass.” He added, to which Sunflower nodded.

“Geez, first Babs and now Sunflower? The names of the ponies just keep getting weirder.” Sun groaned to himself, shortly before having to dodge at a few shots fired at him by Emerald as he leaped back up to another roof. “Oh come on! Seriously!!?”

“Get your ass back here, primate!!” Emerald snarled, her weapons changing into a pair of Kusarigama blades as she threw then at the roof. Making Sun retreat back some more before looking at the pony nearby.

Sunflower donned a gauntlet onto her right foreleg which had four shards of red Dust on it. She then proceeded to point at Sun and a massive energy sphere was sent hurtling in the Faunus’ direction. Getting an idea when on the roof, he clapped his hands together and conjured some aura for his semblance as he had two of the clones throw themselves towards the next shot that Sunflower had fired. Exploding on contact as it coughed up a cloud of dust… and provided some cover for him to slip past him… and leave a banana peel on Sunflower’s head as he ran past them and down the alley. “Oh wait, that’s not the compost bin! My bad-!!”

Sunflower’s face went from pink to red as she swatted the banana peel off of her, and it proceeded to disintegrate. She then screamed and sent another sphere in the direction of his voice. Leading to the Faunus to pulling out his weapon of choice as his staff fully extended and the faunus had it spin in a circle. Not only to block Sunflower’s shot… but also send it back at her. “Fore!!”

Sunflower took the hit with her weapon, only for it to absorb it, and send out a blue sphere twice the size. “Oh come on!!” Sun complained, thinking of an idea as he used the surrounding alleyway along with his weapon to pole vault himself farther away… and also next to Roman. “Oh hey, fancy meeting you here.”

“You know, you remind me of someone.” Roman said, before firing his cane in between himself and Sun, sending them flying in opposite directions. While in flight, Sun flipped himself backwards so his feet were aligned with the wall. Clapping his hands, Sun had two more clones appear on the brick wall, using them to propel him forward as he landed not far from the fleeing criminal.

“Oh really? That’s a first.” He said, having his staff break apart into his gunchaku as he began to go on the offensive. “You talk big… but let’s see if your actions speak louder than your words.”

Roman easily blocked all of Sun’s action, only for the faunus to get a buck to his gut from an aggravated Sunflower when she attacked him in his blindspot.

“Thank you darling. Now, let’s see if we can’t make a-” However, what Roman did not realize was that the attack from Sunflower did not have a lot of effect on him as Sun’s staff reformed. Pushing the mare away and proceeding to strike a low blow… literally. His weapon had extended right in between where Roman’s legs would be and in spinning his staff around to knock Sunflower back, the faunus happened to hit the criminal right in between his legs.

“Uh…… Whoops?” Sun apologized, before using the chance to try and get the hell out of dodge as Emerald rejoined up with Sunflower and Roman.

“And you think… Me the bad guy…?” Roman grunted. “Where’s your sense of brotherhood!? F*ck!” He glared at both Emerald and Sunflower as he grit his teeth and tried to get over the pain.

“Get him!” Roman shouted, seething in anger. Emerald turned to Sunflower before both of them started racing after the faunus as he was bolting through a crowded farmers market. Putting his weapons away as he somersaulted over one of the parked carriages that was on the edge of a street and continued to run. He groaned a bit, not liking the fact that his plans to stay a bit longer were cut short because of this incident.

“Okay, when Fluttershy and I are married, we are having our Honeymoon in Canterlot! Nothing bad ever happens there!!” He growled to himself, thinking of an idea to lose them. Using more of his energy, he formed another pair of clones. Only this time they looked exactly identical to him as they took off into three separate alleyways. Confusing Sunflower and Emerald in the process.

“Son of a b*tch… Monkey boy is using his clones to try and lose us…” Emerald cursed, looking back at Sunflower. “Take the alley on the right. I got a feeling he continued going straight.”

Sunflower nodded, before sprinting towards the faunus on the path to the right while Emerald continued bolting forward, trying to use her weapons in order to cripple the one she was chasing. However, when one of her shots was successful, it caused the faunus she was chasing to explode and dissipate. She had fallen for one of the clones… and then realized that Sunflower might have fallen for one too.

However, the situation for the earth pony was different. For her, she had found the real one of the three and was proceeding to attack him, knocking him to the ground. “You’re dead now, freak…” Sunflower cackled, charging up her gauntlet as she got closer. “This thing’s awesome. Better give props to the maker-.” However, just as she was about to fire her weapon, she heard somepony else speak that made her heart skip a beat.

“S-sister?”

Sunflower looked around until she saw Babs Seed, and her eyes widened in horror. She was standing there with Apple Bloom as well while Sun was struggling to get back up.

“B-babs, l-l-look away...” Sunflower weakly attempted.

“Sis, why are you trying to hurt Apple Bloom’s friend?” Babs said, just as soon as Sun got up and noticed Emerald racing towards where they were right now. She had both guns drawn… and had a bad feeling that the two fillies were going to get caught in the crossfire.

“Both of you, run-!” Sunflower turned to the fillies, and her blast went off. The Faunus, realizing that the blast was now fired at both of them, threw himself in between them and used his body to block the attack. Hurting him in the process, but making sure they were both safe. Emerald saw this though as a chance to finish the job as her weapons took form into the pair of Kusarigama blades as they bolted towards the three of them.

Only for a… stranger… to intervene. He held a large blade, which he used to stab into the weapon Sunflower was carrying, and thus her hoof, but before she could let out a scream, the weapon exploded, sending Sunflower across the road and into a building. “W-what was that?” Apple Bloom asked. Sun had no idea as Emerald had to think twice before doing anything else. Racing back to Roman to tell him what happened.

Then… the Stranger turned to face the three of them as Sun got up on his feet. “H-hey uh… thanks for your help…” He said, a little tired out before looking at the figure. One thing that was immediately apparent was the smell… and a flask that was kept in his back pocket.

“Please… Shut up and get lost.” The stranger grunted, glaring at Sun. Not even going to respond to that, both of the fillies and Sun soon ran off. Thankful that they were still alive as they were now not being followed by anyone.

“Is everypony okay?” Apple Bloom asked, looking back at Babs Seed. “Babs… I’m sorry about your sister just now… If you want, you can come stay at Sweet Apple Acres for a bit… until things settle down a little. What do you say?” She nodded her head in response, saying that she needed to pick up a few things first at her house beforehoof. Yet, when they were there… Sun happened to notice that Babs was also writing a letter and leaving it on the table.

“Sorry about that… I just had to leave a letter for my sis-.”

“For Sunflower? She almost killed Sun and her attack almost hit us, Babs…” Apple Bloom commented, surprised to hear her say that and lashing out at her.

“I know… but I know that my sister isn’t a bad pony… She just did whatever she could in order to provide for us. We aren’t so lucky like you and cousin AJ back in ponyville. It’s already hard as it is right now… but I know she isn’t evil… I know she makes bad decisions… but she does it to help us…” That… surprised both Apple Bloom and Sun. The faunus had no idea that Babs… who was just a filly… not only had to go through this, but also say that. “... And I still love her. Not because of what she does or what she says, but because she’s family…”

“Babs…” Apple Bloom said, surprised to hear all of this before looking back at her cousin. “I’m sorry to hear that…”

“Yeah, but one thing I don’t get was who was that guy?” Babs then spoke up, changing the subject. “You know, the one who saved us?”

Now that even surprised Sun… He knew the answer… but did not know how everyone would react to his response. “Well… I think I know his name… but let’s get back to town first. I need to talk to Coco and everyone else about what happened.” With that, they started making their way back to the station as they were calling for all final passengers back to Ponyville.



“Knew it! There is a Roman Torchwick!” Coco shouted. Causing Sun to flinch a little at how loud she was shouting as Fluttershy was bandaging up some of the sores on his arms back at the cottage. It had been a couple of hours after Sundown and Sun had asked for Neptune to get Sage and Scarlett along with Coco and her team as well as Raven. He wanted to tell them first and hear their opinions on the subject before disclosing any information to Ozpin, but it was hard to do that with how abrupt Coco’s interruptions were.

“Coco, I wasn’t denying it… In fact, I didn’t even think that when Babs Seed mentioned another human here that it was Roman. I had to see it for myself,” Sun replied, looking back at them. “I was more surprised at the fact that A, he had formed his own criminal organization and B, the client he was talking too was actually someone that’s here as Emerald.”

“Wait wait wait… Emerald? What would Emerald of all people be doing making business deals with Torchwick?” Neptune asked. “If I recall correctly, Emerald was more of the manipulator, not a negotiator in RWBY.”

“With who Adam has, I wouldn’t be surprised either way.” Fox stated, crossing his arms and humming in thought.

“Personally, I’m more surprised by the fact that Adam’s actually requiring services from that of a criminal like Roman,” Raven then interjected straightening herself up from when she was leaning against a wall a few moments ago. “Adam’s not the kind of person to be asking for help and instead is more likely the person that charges head on into battle. I know that he’s organizing the White Fang, but he wouldn’t go as far as to do this without motivation.”

“He’s in charge of an army that are just as trained in combat as they are,” Neptune pointed out. “Maybe he needs supplies and in exchange for Roman providing them, they help him with whatever he needs assistance with. Would make sense give the Las Pegasus incident with Gladmane, right Fox?”

“I’d say Gladmane could be that or a personal score. Either one.” Fox replied.

Sun himself, once the bandages were fixed on him, put his jacket back on as he looked back at them. “And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. There was one other guy I ran into that helped me out in a pinch, but when I thanked him, all he did was tell me to shut up and get lost… And you’re not going to believe who it was.”

“Who?” Coco asked.

“Qrow-.” Just as Sun said that though was when Raven’s eyes twitched for a moment, slamming her foot down as she glared at the faunus. For a moment, he was unsure why exactly she did not like him saying that. But he was soon about to find out why.

“Him!? That filthy, arrogant, drunk off his ass, no good son of a f***ing b*tch!?! Are you f***king kidding me?!!” She roared, before blowing off some steam for a moment as she looked back at everyone else. Honestly, they were all surprised by her reaction to all of this right now. Including Fluttershy. Normally, Raven always kept her cool whenever they included her in a conversation, but now this was way different. She cleared her throat for a moment, before speaking up. “Sorry… it’s just… Maybe I should explain why I over-reacted first.”

“That would be helpful-.” Neptune said, shortly before Sun elbowed him him the ribs. “Oww, what the hell man?”

“Neptune, don’t be a jackass,” Sun warned him before looking back at Raven. “Go ahead, Raven.” The swordswoman nodded, clearing her throat first before looking back at everyone before speaking.

“Qrow is my twin brother. Originally, long ago, around the same time that Ozpin himself had left Equestria, there were four of us that ended up here. There was Adam, who you know I now despise even if we were once together previously, One other lady that later went off with Qrow… and then Qrow himself. Originally, the four of us were working together in order to try and survive on our own, but Qrow always tried to tell me that Adam was not who he seemed to be. Of course, being the idiot that I was then, I was angry at him for saying that and our argument lead to our group splitting up later on and then Adam trying to stab me in the back. If I had the chance to apologize to him now, I would… yet anytime that I’ve tried to apologize to him before on other matters, he just see’s that as a way of saying ‘I told you so’.” Raven’s explanation had surprised just about everybody, but the first one to actually break the silence on the subject was not Sun or one of his teammates, but Yatsuhashi.

“So… he’s kind of a prick?”

“That’s one way of putting it… But looking back on it, I know that he was just trying to look out for me… However, there was another matter at hand that seemed to be the reason why everything came back to bite me after our group fell apart… And I didn’t realize it until afterwards.” Raven told them as she explained to them. “His Semblance.”

That caught everyone by surprise, especially some of Sun’s team as they looked back at her. “Wait wait wait… How can his semblance be the factor in all of this? When we were displaced, there was never any talk or clues about what his semblance would be.” Scarlett pointed out, which was also what Sun thought about. When they went to RTX, there wasn’t any talk about what Qrow’s semblance would be. So they had no idea at all what he was capable of.

Raven, upon hearing this, just sighed as she looked back at the two teams. “Whether we like it or not, everyone that ends up here along with other inhabitants for this world have a semblance whether they know it or not. Some people, including ponies, think of their Semblance as more of a talent than anything else… For Sun, he can create spectral clones of himself. Pyrrha has Polarity. Nora can withstand and absorb electrical shocks for her to redirect them back at whoever she’s fighting… Heck, it may be the reason why Fluttershy is able to talk to animals or Twilight is beyond talented with magic,” For a moment, she paused to take a deep breath before opening her eyes again. “But it’s different for Qrow… as he would put it… some people are just born unlucky.”

At first, Sun seemed confused, along with a few others in the room. But the one who did figure it out at that moment is Sage as he looked back at them. “No way…… You don’t mean…” Raven nodded her head, sighing a little, but causing some of the others, including Yatsuhashi, to look towards him.

“Sage, what is it?” Yatsu asked, wondering what he’s thinking. Before long though, Sage soon spoke up to him and told everyone what was on his mind.

“It’s Misfortune…… He brings bad luck upon others that are around him. Whether they are family, friend or foe.” Sage then said, looking back at them as Raven nodded her head, acknowledging that he got it right.

“Wait, how does that make any sense? Is he like some sort of bad luck charm or what?” Scarlett asked, which lead to the swordswoman having to clarify on what his partner Sage was trying to explain to him.

“Unlike other Semblances like Sun’s, which he can use it whenever he needs to, or Yang’s, which is active when she’s in combat… Qrow’s is always active, all the time. Something always happens out of the ordinary wherever he goes whether it’s a drinking glass shattering on the floor or someone falling through a roof when in a pursuit.” She said as Raven looked around the room and then to Fluttershy. “Of course, this may be helpful in fighting an enemy… but it’s much harder when it can also affect family.”

“Well… What happened?” Fox asked, raising an eyebrow. “Surely you’d keep in touch with Fluttershy’s uncle.”

“That’s the thing… When we last saw each other… it wasn’t on good terms. Originally when we were first here… he was not like the Qrow you saw today. In fact, he was more of what you would get if you take Fluttershy’s pink earth pony friend, but add her kindness and Rainbow’s attitude. However… over time, once he actually figured out what his semblance was… he began to change. He kept his distance from us, did not have any trust in Adam and kept on thinking of him being a ticking time bomb… Then there was Adam’s accusations of some things Qrow did and I believed in what he said like a complete idiot.” Raven’s analogy was a good one. Because by the time that she had realized what Adam’s intentions were, that bomb blew up in her face.

“So he just left you with Adam?” Coco questioned.

“At the time, it was my choice to be with him because I honestly did not think that he would do what he did. Before ending up in Equestria, we were married and had a healthy relationship. I mean, you would not honestly expect for a partner in your relationship to literally stab you in the back now, would you?” She then asked, which lead to Sun shaking his head. “When I saw Qrow again, it was only after Adam had injured me. He only talked to me for a few short moments to help me tend to my wounds, but other than explaining about his semblance, he was… like what Sage said… being a serious prick and getting in my face for not listening to him… that and he reeked of alcohol and smelled like he hadn’t showered in days.”

That lead to Sun thinking of something else too, looking back at everyone before having the first thought come to his head. “Hey… now that I think of it… since we’ve been displaced, has anyone noticed that we’re acting more like the characters that we ended up displaced as. Like in terms of personality?”

“I don’t know, I’m the same as I’ve always been!” Coco stated loudly. Which startled Fluttershy a bit as Sun decided to sit next to her and comfort her a bit while Sage decided to speak next.

“Well, I’ve noticed that ever since Neptune has been here, he’s been more like… well Neptune. Same can be said for Ren and Nora on team JNPR and a few others too.” Sage replied, looking back at them. “And Yatsu does remind me of how Yatsuhashi was like in Volume 3.”

“Thanks for reminding me.” Yatsuhashi replied sarcastically, noticing Fluttershy on the couch and looking back at her. “Hey… uh, not to sound rude… but has anyone else noticed that Fluttershy seems to be a bit… well… different?” That had everyone else looking towards them as Fluttershy squeaked a little and she hid behind Sun a little.

“She just found out that she has an uncle.” Coco said with a glare, covering Fluttershy.

“No, I mean… she looks like she’s grown a bit… bigger.” Yatsuhashi’s comment just made Sun feel like he wanted to slam his head against a wall right now. He knew that Fox, Velvet and Coco already knew about the fact that they were going to have a daughter and everyone knew about their marriage. But the rest of his team, Yatsuhashi… and freaking Raven did not know that Fluttershy was pregnant.

“Yatsu, man, you never talk about a woman’s size.” This time Fox spoke in a disapproved tone. However, Raven saw something else as she narrowed her eyes at both Sun and Fluttershy while Coco was trying to block the others from seeing them. After a few moments… she looked back at Sun as she spoke up.

“Well… this is a dilemma…” She said, looking back at them before saying the next line that caught everyone by surprised. “I’m not sure if I should be happy about the fact that you two are getting married or that I’m getting grandkids.”

“Whaaaat?” Coco faked shock as she tiptoed away. “You guys should’ve told me!” All Raven did was sigh a bit and looked back at the brunette as she sighed.

“Nice acting… but I don’t easily fall for that…” She sighed, looking back at Coco. “I’m going to assume you already knew about it… along with Fox and Velvet?”

Now that even surprised the Monkey Faunus as he looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. “Okay, how-?”

“Other than the fact that I’ve seen Yatsuhashi mostly by himself and also because Velvet didn’t have the same reaction as your teammates… I need to give credit to Fox though, he almost had me fooled by how he acted. Maybe Coco can learn a thing or two from him… no offense.” She sighed.

“Not our fault Yatsuhashi’s been reclusive.” Fox stated simply. “Also, why would you expect a blind guy of anything?”

“Because I had a feeling that despite your lack of sight, you know alternative ways in order to see.” Raven mentioned before turning to Sun, who was listening to something that Fluttershy was whispering to him before turning around.

“Hey, uh… sorry for having to interject here, but Fluttershy and I are going to get some rest upstairs. I’ll see you guys in the morning.” Sun commented, before helping Fluttershy by picking her up and carrying her to their room upstairs as everyone else looked back at each other for a few moments… processing what just happened.

“So… Sun’s now going to be a dad…” Neptune said, looking at the rest of his teammates before saying something else. “That’s… unexpected.”

“You owe me some bits.” Sage told him, causing the cyan haired teen to look back at him, surprised and a little confused.

“Woah, why the hell would I owe you some bits?” Neptune asked, followed by Scarlett in response.

“On our first night in Equestria, you guys had were betting on out of all four of us, who would be the first one to A, get married and B, have kids. I said Sun while you two thought that I would be there before him. So, you two owe me.” Sage told them as both of them sighed in defeat. Grumbling a little as they were forced to pay up to Sage. For them, this was going to be a long night.



The Hive

In what was once the grand hall for Queen Chrysalis’ castle now stood banners with the markings of a red wolf and three claw marks as the faunus known as Adam Taurus was standing at the end of the hall. Waiting patiently for the return of one of his most trusted adversaries, Emerald, to return to him. When she had originally left the hive to go to Manehattan, it was to continue doing business with the gangster known as Roman Torchwick. In exchange for Emerald assisting him with his… enterprise, Torchwick was to provide any weapons, supplies, and dust that he was able to get his hands on. It was crucial for the White Fang’s operations and also for what he had planned once he had enough of what he needed.

Yet, what he did not expect was that when Emerald returned, he found her covered in scrapes and looking like a complete mess. Not the way he saw her leave. During anyone of these… meetings, Emerald would normally return the same way that she had left. But that wasn’t the case this time… and he wanted to know why. “Did the meeting go as planned?”

“It started like that and Roman is still willing to cooperate and work with us, but near the end of the deal, we had a slight… hiccup,” Emerald began to explain as the faunus turned to face her. “Near the end of the meeting, we had an eavesdropper. That monkey faunus that you had seen on the train when you originally attacked your daughter.”

That made Adam tense up. “What… did he hear?”

“N-nothing… In fact, we never got to the actual business deal until after we had the fiasco with him and one other human that prevented us from capturing him,” Emerald replied, trying to be honest even with Adam’s change in tone. “And this one… was like one of the ones you warned Ilia and I about. Grey clothes, black pants, graying black hair, tattered red cloak and red eyes.”

Adam had only one response to that statement and that was while he was gritting his teeth. “Qrow…… out of all the times for him to show up, he chooses now? Pfft… no wonder he’s always a pain in my ass…” That was when he thought of an idea and decided to redirect his attention towards Emerald. “We can deal with him later… However, I think I’ve had enough of that Sun figure monkeying around with our operations… Emerald, where is Ilia right now?”

Emerald looked around her and took a deep sigh. “I-i think she was in her quarters last I checked.”

“Bring her here… I want you to find that Monkey Faunus and capture him alive… We’re going to teach him what happens when he betrays his own kind.” Adam growled as Emerald nodded and left the room, going to look for her friend Ilia as she walked out of the halls and went going to her quarters.

She arrived at a black door with the White Fang’s symbol burned over what had used to been the logo of the changeling kingdom. Taking a deep breath, she knocked three times on the front door, hoping that the occupant inside the room could hear her.

The door opened, revealing a tired looking girl with oddly big freckles. “What, Em? I just got back from the Crystal Empire and I got stuck outside of the barrier…”

“We got a different mission this time… one that Adam told me himself.” Emerald told her, which caught her by surprise. Normally, when being given missions sometimes, most of the missions that weren’t so important were handed to other members of the White Fang by courier. Receiving a mission from Adam himself was a rather big deal… and it meant that the mission was rather important.

Ilia’s skin turned blue as her hair turned black. “O-oh, okay.” She closed the door to unlock the chain before reopening it and walking out while looking on the ground. Emerald sighed a little, assuring her that it was going to be okay. Both her and Ilia were found by Adam at a young age and trained under him to become powerful fighters. However, Ilia sometimes had doubts over herself and also about if she was fit for the role she was given. In a way, Emerald felt as if she was her little sister because she would always do anything that she could in order to keep an eye on her.

“It’s not that hard of a mission…” Emerald said, remembering that she had a photograph of the target they were going after. “We just need to find this guy, capture him and bring him to Adam. That’s it.”

“I’m a spy, Emerald.” Ilia said, looking away. She stayed quiet the rest of the way.

“True… but if we can work together on this, we can lure monkey boy here into a trap and take care of it. Pretty easy if I do say so myself… Now, based on what we know, he lives at a cottage normally outside of Ponyville near that giant campus that they’re building. If you can spy on him to see what times he would normally come out of the cottage and when he’s by himself, I can take care of capturing him. Sound good?” Emerald asked, trying to not make it sound so intimidating for Ilia to process.

“Alright… Couldn’t we ambush him though? He might not recognise me.” Ilia suggested weakly.

“You said it yourself that you were a spy… But now that you mentioned it, that does sound like a better idea.” Emerald told her, thinking about it as she checked her guns real quick and make sure she had the lightning dust ammunition loaded in them.

“Alright, though I should spy first to see the best time to do it… I mean, it might take a week, but I’d rather not be… Caught by Raven…” Ilia said, shaking where she walked.

“Raven doesn’t live at the cottage. She lives at the forge in the center of town. If we lure Sun into the Everfree forest, then we won’t need to worry about anyone else seeing him get captured.” Emerald assured her.

“He might call her… Maybe if I make a scream in the Everfree he’ll come running to the rescue.” Ilia suggested.

“Yes, but that scream might attract anyone else within the vicinity. We only want to lure him out into the forest, not the entire town…” Emerald sighed for a moment, trying to think a little and figure out a solution. “Hmm… What if you found a way to get him out of the cottage, then I can use my semblance to have him wander into the forest unknowingly? Trick him to think that you were his marefriend?”

That caused Ilia to turn bright pink while freezing up. “Emerald!”

“What? He really cares for that pegasus, so he would most definitely go into the Everfree if he saw his marefriend go in there. He would be concerned for her and before he notices it’s you, I would shoot him with a knockout shot and we would be done. Rather easy actually,” Emerald said to herself now that she thought about it. “Besides, it’s better than anything else we can think of and we have to do this under the cover of night.”

“He better not kiss my leg…” Ilia growled.

“I’ll have him knocked out before that happens.” Emerald told her before they reached the gate. “Now we better get going. Moonlight’s burning… and we don’t have a lot of time until the sun rises.”



Later in the night, Sun wasn’t able to get much sleep. He kept on thinking about things like what the future may hold for him and Fluttershy, how would his mother Aya take the news and so on and so forth. However, in his thinking, he looked out the window and happened to notice something that… did not look right.

He saw Fluttershy… walking into the Everfree. He was told a lot about the forest, but one of the things he was informed about it was that the beasts that lurked there became much more dangerous at night. Out of concern for his marefriend, he quickly got out of bed and got himself dressed. Not bothering to take his weapons with him since he was just going to see what was wrong. Only wearing a sleeveless shirt, pants his gauntlets and shoes as he went out to follow her.

After a while though, it became a little more difficult to keep up with her, going through the forest as he made it into what appeared to be a clearing in the woods. He saw Fluttershy at the other end of it, catching her attention as he spoke up to her. “Fluttershy, what are you doing out here?”

“Oh… I thought I heard an animal scream and I wanted to… Uh, find them to see what happened.” It sounded convincing, but there was something that seemed off to the faunus… something about what she said to him just now.

“Fluttershy, did you forget that the beasts in the everfree become a lot more dangerous after nightfall?” He asked her, moving a bit closer to her. “If that’s one problem, the Grimm that may be lurking in the woods is another.”

“Well… I wasn’t going to go all the way in.” Fluttershy responded simply. However, when the faunus got closer, his expression immediately changed. This Fluttershy… was not the one he knew. Her belly was flat, not like the pegasus that wanted to be with him and was having their daughter.

“…… You’re not her… what are you, a changeling?” He questioned, glaring back at her.

The fake sighed. “Something like that…” The disguise then vanished, showing what looked to be a changeling soldier with a mask that represented the White Fang. “Adam Taurus wants a talk…”

“Pfft… Like I would easily believe that…” For a moment, it looked like he saw the changeling flicker as he blinked his eyes a few times to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. “What makes you think I would want to listen to what he says?”

“Does it really matter? You have no choice.” The Changeling said before Sun felt a painful sting in his chest, and went flying away from the Changeling. Losing consciousness as soon as he hit the ground.



“Hunh… Nice work, Ilia…” Emerald replied, honestly surprised that she decided to use her weapon to knock out the Faunus instead of letting her fire one of her stun rounds. “For someone who was really concerned about messing up, you seemed to have this under control…”

“Th-thanks. Didn’t work as well as I expected.” Ilia responded when the illusion faded. “Why’d you turn me into a Changeling?”

“I didn’t want to blow your cover… the only beings right now that can fully change their appearance to resemble other ponies is changelings, so it was a backup plan for in case he was suspicious,” Emerald replied, picking up the faunus and throwing his unconscious body over her shoulder. “Now let’s go bring him back. Adam’s going to be pleased with our performance once we show him this.”

“I-I hope…” Ilia stated, following behind Emerald as they made their way back to the entrance of the cavern that had the pathway to the hive hidden inside.



Unknown location (Few hours later)

When his vision was beginning to return to him, it did not come back to him slowly, but more likely startled himself awake. He found himself in a dark and cold room. Stripped of his shirt and the only source of light being the fire that was on the end of his tail. He did not realize it earlier, but now noticing that it was still glowing, he used the small light to see his current situation.

His arms were held up by chains, while his was forced onto his knees because of the pressure that he felt holding him in place. Wherever he was, this was not good. Not good at all. He wanted to get out. Break free and run… the memories of when he was captured in Griffonstone were returning to him from when he was originally displaced… and it didn’t help any that the first words he heard were the same ones the faunus heard back then.

“It’s pointless to struggle…” His head jolted up, now looking at the one whom he had once encountered before. Adam Taurus. “Try all you like, yet you’ll still be stuck in this cell.”

He gritted his teeth, angry as he struggled a little bit more. “W-what the hell is it that you want? What kind of gain would you get for taking me like this?” Adam said nothing, but instead drew out his blade as he let the blade cut into the faunus’ chest. Scarring him with a single motion as he cried out in pain.

“My reason for your capture was because you have been interfering with what we have planned for far too long… and you deserved to be punished for your actions.” Two more times Adam used his blade to torment the monkey faunus, cutting into his back and along the middle of his face. Missing his eyes by just an inch as he continued to torture poor Sun.

Then… an awful idea came into his head as he grinned. Turning to something that was in far back corner of the room, the faunus could hear the sounds of sizzling steel and burning heat as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up in fear. “When you play with fire… you're going to get burned...”

Throughout the hive, the tormented screams of a faunus caught the attention of Ilia as she was returning to her quarters. Curiosity lead to her wanting to see where it was coming from… but upon arriving, she was horrified by what she was now a witness too. Seeing the same faunus that they were ordered to grab get tortured and forced to suffer the fate of traitors.

Sun himself continued to bear through the terrifying pain as he was forced to suffer at the hands of a monster. Even hours after it was done, he still felt the agonizing pain of what happened to him as he was now a bloodied mess. To the point that when he heard someone approaching the door, his heartbeat began to race. He was brave, yes… but also defenseless. Fearful too at if whoever was outside his cell was going to do more harm to him.

“W-who’s there?” He weakly asked, caution in his words as he spoke.

Ilia opened the door and quietly rushed in. She tiptoed over to Sun, a key in her hand. She rounded him, and unlocked the chains on his feet, before doing the same with his hands and tail. All the weight that was forced onto Sun was gone as he felt himself collapse, feeling his tail be free as he was able to move it around. It was the only source of light that he had and when he moved it around, the first thing that he saw was Ilia. “W-who-?”

“We don’t have time. Adam could come back at any moment, so you’re just going to have to trust me. Plus you should save your strength.” Sun understood her, but felt as if he needed to thank the one that set him free. She lifted him up and wrapped his left arm around her neck, then began to direct him towards the door. By the time they got closer, the Monkey Faunus was able to regain the feeling in his feet and attempt to walk on his own despite all of his injuries and open wounds.

“Here.” Ilia said, holding up an odd looking pink petaled flower and black stalk. “If something happens, this is a rare herb that’ll give you an adrenaline rush.” He nodded, putting it in his pocket before saying something to the one that helped him.

“T-thank you…… P-please… run.” With one of his legs, the faunus knocked over some wooden pylons that were leaning next to a nearby wall. With a flick of his tail, the wood was set ablaze as the smoke began to rise while the faunus made his way through the dark.

However… they weren’t able to get that far before they heard someone shouting. “Everybuggy get down here! We got a defector that’s freeing a prisoner!!”

“Don’t let them escape!!” Another one shouted as they heard the guard racing to grab their weapons. “For the White Fang!!”

Ilia kicked a wall next to her and a tunnel opened up. “Go!” She shouted to Sun, pulling out her weapon. The Monkey Faunus obeyed, bolting inside as the wall closed behind him. Seeing Ilia turned to the Changelings, fear consuming her mind just as the door slammed shut. With the plant that he was given, he took the flower and bit into it as a new sense of energy kicked in, allowing him to easily be able to reach the other end of the tunnel now that he didn’t have to walk anymore.

But just as he was about to make it out of the forest, the instant kick soon disappeared, leading him to fall to his knees and collapse on the ground.



Earlier…

When Fluttershy woke up that morning, she was honestly surprised to not feel Sun laying right next to her. Matter of fact, not see him nearby. It was strange because usually, he would let her know when he needed to go somewhere or leave a note. But now, things were different… and it was making her a bit worried as she slowly trotted down the stairs.

“Hey Fluttershy, sleep well?” Velvet asked, sitting on the couch. The pegasus noticed her as she was coming down the stairs.

“Y-yeah… Uh, Velvet, did you see Sun by any chance this morning? He wasn’t with me when I woke up.” She asked, a little nervous to say it after the events that played out last night.

“No, I thought he was sleeping in your room when I got back…” Velvet replied, her ears folded back. That to Fluttershy was concerning. She was becoming a bit worried about where he would be of all times as she looked around the room. It was then that something caught her eye as she looked out the window of the cottage. But what she saw made her eyes widen and her pupils shrink as she hurried out the door. Much to Velvet’s surprise. “What?”

“Velvet, go get help!! Sun’s hurt bad!!!” She screamed, racing over to where Sun had collapsed on the ground to see if he was still breathing. Velvet nodded, before rushing off as fast as she could. “It’s going to be okay, Sun… p-please stay with me.” The pegasus pleaded, tears forming in her eyes as she held Sun closer to her. Waiting for help to arrive.

Soon, Fox arrived with a panicked look. He knelt down instantly and picked up Sun’s body with a bit of difficulty. Fluttershy, seeing Fox trying to help, did what she could to make it easier for him so she could bring him inside the cottage.

“His tail’s burning my leg!” Fox yelped, speedwalking. Fluttershy, upon noticing it, first tried throwing a bucket of water at it, which splashed Fox’s legs in the process, but did nothing to put it out. Then, she kept the tail away from Fox and in a bucket of water as Fox set him down once they were inside the cottage.

“Somepony get a first aid kit! Those wounds are still open!” Fluttershy panicked, tearing off a piece of cloth she had from an old tablecover to try and suppress one of his wounds. Doing whatever she could in order to help. “Where’s Velvet?”

“She went to the hospital to tell the doctors.” Fox replied.

“O-okay. Fox, I-i need you to go get help. Get Coco, Raven, anypony! I don’t c-care, just hurry!!” She said before Fox left the house. “B-but for the love of Celestia, d-don’t bring Neptune!”

Fox nodded, before scrambling outside, leaving Fluttershy to try and hold down his wounds. Three minutes later, Penny burst into the door, a large, goofy grin donning her face. “Salutations friend!”

Fluttershy was startled to see the gynoid bust through her door and it also made her slip up on the bandage she was placing on him. “P-penny?! What are you doing here?”

“Fox ran past me and said Sun was hurt!” Penny said, oblivious to Sun’s injury and walked over. “Wow, that’s a lot of damage.”

“Penny, I need some help! These wounds need to b-be bandaged up or Sun’s gonna b-bleed out.” Fluttershy tried to explain while keeping her emotions in check. “Do you know how to help-?” However, the pegasus was interrupted when she saw Penny take a small band aid that was in the first aid kit, placed it on a minor scrape that was on Sun’s shoulder and then kissed it lightly.

“There!” Penny said, but to Fluttershy’s surprise pulled out of her backpack a sewing kit and a small bottle, which she placed next to Fluttershy. “Coco will be here soon. And that potion should slow the bleeding. Zecora said so in her confusing speech!”

“O-okay…” She said, still processing what she said before Penny bolted up to her feet.

“Anyways, I’ve gotta help my caretaker with her work! I’ll see you later, friend!” Penny said. She then walked to the door and opened it just in time to see Coco almost running into the door, followed by Sage. Slamming the door open, which lead to Coco not running into the door… But Penny, which caused a loud ‘ding’ as Coco bonked her head at full speed into Penny’s.

“Gah! Owowowow!” Coco yelped as she squirmed on the ground. Sage just sighed, helping Coco up as Penny left the room… before noticing Sun’s condition.

“Holy sh*t-!” He cursed, racing over to him before looking back at Coco as she regained her senses. “Coco, get over here quick! This is worse than we thought!”

Coco did, and cringed at what she saw. “Alright, I need a sewing kit… It’s about all I can-”

Fluttershy soon interjected, using her free wing to point at the sewing kit that Penny left on the table. “Penny just left one on the table. Sage and I can bandage the wounds on his arms if you can help with the cut on his forehead… i-if you want, of course.” She replied shyly.

Coco nodded and began working to stitch his injuries. While they were working and applying the bandages to him, the doctors soon arrived to help take over as they helped with making sure no other major injuries were overlooked. When Raven saw the Doctors carting Sun to the hospital though… all she did was grit her teeth in anger.

“That bastard… He’s gone too far this time…”

“He’s been going too far.” Coco replied.

“No, not Sun…… Adam,” Raven told her. “I’ve seen those wounds before. Adam tortured Sun… And he left his mark on Sun’s back.” Pointing it to out to her, Coco now saw what she was talking about.

The symbol of the White Fang… branded and burned into Sun’s back. A wound that could never be healed, even if it was given time to do so. Once they made it to the hospital, The doctors did what they could to help stabilize him, making sure that his tail was not interfering with any of the equipment either as they operated to keep him stable.

It took almost an hour, but soon, one of the nurses came out to see both Fluttershy and Coco as they were in the waiting room. “Excuse me, but are you two with Mr. Wukong?”

“Y-yes… i-is something wrong?” Fluttershy squeaked, instantly becoming nervous. “Is he okay? Dear Celestia, please be okay…”

“He’s fine… Lucky, but fine… His condition though is a bit of a different story,” She said as she looked at the clipboard. “Multiple cuts and wounds that were close to vital spots, burn marks all across his back, a scar across his forehead, a burning tail that was probably caused by an accident involving what Princess Twilight calls “dust” and a lot of blood loss… Thank Celestia that you were able to help him when he did… Otherwise, he would’ve been dead.”

“Who would do this…?” Coco asked, looking down to her shoes.

“The woman named Raven Branwen informed us that the attacker may have been Adam Taurus, the leader of the White Fang. He branded the organization's insignia on Mr. Wukong’s back.” The nurse told them, showing a photograph of the brand itself. One that made Fluttershy gasp in horror.

Coco was silent for a moment, then began to walk away. Fluttershy herself watched as she went outside, ignoring anyone passing her as she looked back at the nurse. “H-how long until he’s… awake?”

“We don’t know… But we’ll make sure to call you when he does wake up.” The nurse assured her as she went back to another room in the hospital as Fluttershy had Sage walk her back home. Hoping that Sun was going to be okay.




Manehattan: Torchwick’s Base

Sunflower gasped away in a white bed, the only sounds being her breathing, a heart monitor, and a stallion chuckling to himself.

“Wow, you took one tartarus of a beating.” The male said. “Half of your face is burnt and your right hoof got crushed by the explosion.” He said. Sunflower noted the searing pain on the right half of her face and began to panic when she couldn’t open her right eye.

“Oh, I’m sorry dear, but your eyelid melted shut. I’ll have to do surgery on that once I make sure the rest of you is fine.” He said, almost toying with Sunflower. He then trotted into her view, a sick smile on his yellow face, “Though, I have to admit, I am sorry that this happened to you. I did build the weapon that did this to you, heh.”

Sunflower’s heart rate increased, as did the beeps from the monitor.

“Shh, shh, Mr. Torchwick wants you up and running as soon as possible… I think you’ll want to repay the creature that… Well, to put it lightly, amputated you…” The stallion said, grinning evilly. Sunflower attempted to scream when she realized that her foreleg was missing. She began sobbing as the stallion leaned back in his chair.

“Comet Tail! What are you doing to the poor mare?” Roman said, walking in.

“Just breaking the news to her.” Comet replied simply. Torchwick sighed.

“Get back to work on Sunflower’s gift…” Torchwick said, and Comet Tail nodded, trotting away. Torchwick sat on Sunflower’s bed and looked her in the eye. “I’m going to have Comet Tail fix you up, good as new… Then, I’m quadrupling your salary. Then, you can kill the man you did this to you, and the man who took your sister…”

At the last part, Sunflower sat up, anger filling her eye as she screamed through what she finally noticed was gaz that was wrapped around her head, preventing her from speaking. She continued to rage, and Roman noticed an aura appearing around Sunflower. Before he could react, a surge of pain and agony rushed through him and he screamed in surprise, before falling to the ground.

It was as if… His right half was charred… Only worse. And he instantly understood what was happening. He soon passed out, but he knew Sunflower was knocked out too. He was so going to use this against his enemies.

Make his enemies feel the same pain that Sunflower felt.




End Tail 28

> Tail 29- The Recovery Process
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- The Recovery Process




It had been almost a couple of days since Fluttershy had found Sun in the state that he was in and news of what happened quickly spread across town like a raging fire. All her friends had already heard about what happened, even though Pinkie’s solution for Sun getting better involved sweets and sugar since she believed that a spoonful of it would help any form of medicine that the doctors would give him go down easily. That and Rarity was crying more over how his clothes have been diced to ribbons. Yet, even though all her friends knew about it… and also Sun’s teammates and everyone helping at Beacon, there was still one person that she felt needed to know what happened.

Aya Brea. Sun’s mother. She remembered Sun bringing her over a few times, including some celebrations at Beacon, but the pegasus right now was trying to find her token out of the collection of them that Sun had on a bookshelf in their room. It took her some time to find it, but soon she had found her token and had in front of her. It was a badge with the letters MIST emblazoned on the front of it that reminded her of what some of the officers of the Manehattan Police Department would have. But now wasn’t the time to draw comparisons to things that she had seen before.

Instead, she closed her eyes and held the badge firmly with one of her wings as she tried to recall how Sun was able to bring Aya over all those times before. “Uhh… M-ms. Aya? I-i-if you’re n-not too busy… can you please come here? I-i-i need to t-tell you something about Sun…” She was nervous along with the fact that she wasn’t sure if Aya would hear her.

Aya suddenly appeared, her face blank with a dark look in her eyes. “What happened…?” She asked, her voice cold and hollow. It almost scared Fluttershy for a moment, but after a bit, the pegasus was able to calm herself down and respond to her… properly.

“S-sun’s… hurt. Bad…” She stuttered, looking back at Aya as she tried to form the words. “He’s… i-in the hospital…”

“Bring me to him… Now…” Aya said, the hollow in her eyes vanishing, replaced with worry. Fluttershy nodded her head and lead Aya over to the hospital in Ponyville. Even with the fact that Discord offered to help them, the pegasus ignored it so she could bring Aya over to her son. Yet, in her mind, the pegasus was nervous that Sun’s mother would have the same kind of reaction that Coco had. However, when they actually got to the faunus’ room in the hospital… that was when she saw her be more… emotional.

Aya ran over to Sun and collapsed by the side of his bed and onto her knees, weeping as she took one of his hands. Fluttershy herself trotted over to where the woman was and tried to comfort her however she could. Using one of her wings to try and wipe the tears away from her face. “I-I-I should’ve been here for him!” She sobbed.

“A-aya, it’s o-okay… This isn’t y-your fault…” Fluttershy tried to tell her, even though her words did little to help calm her down. Yet, Aya was more focused on blaming herself for what happened to her son.

It was in this commotion though… that the pegasus noticed something. The faunus’ tail, which was originally hanging over the side of the bed, moved a little bit. That was followed by a brief sounding groan and some shifting around as both Fluttershy and Aya then heard something… that not only shocked them, but also gave them hope.

“U-urgh…… M-my head…” It was brief, but the statement itself caught both of the visitors in his hospital room by surprise.

“Sun! You’re awake!” Aya squealed, jumping on top of Sun and hugging him as she cried. The faunus himself was still trying to get his senses in order while also having to handle a pounding headache… so the sudden hug by his mother felt more like a King Taijitu trying to squeeze the life out of him.

“C-can’t…… b-breathe…” He groaned, trying to get some air while his mother was hugging him.

“Aya, let go of him. He’s trying to get some air…” Fluttershy lightly told the blond haired woman, tapping her on the shoulder with one of her wings in order to get her attention.

“O-oh, sorry…” Aya said, letting go of her son. She then rolled off of him weakly, still shaking. The faunus around then was finally able to breathe in some much needed air and wrap his head around what was going on as he propped himself up on the bed. Causing the bandages on his arms and chest to fall off because of how tight they were put on originally. While also revealing some of the scars from what happened as Sun now looked to see both his mom and marefriend in the same room as him.

“Mom? F-fluttershy?” He asked, trying to wrap his head around things as he tried to adjust himself a bit. As he turned a bit, Aya winced at the sight of the scars on his shoulder and the long one on the front of his chest.

“Yes, it’s us sweetheart.” Aya said in an appropriate motherly voice.

“T-thank god…” He smiled, looking back at the two of them as Fluttershy flew up to get closer to where he was on the bed, hugging him as well. “I’m beyond glad to see you t-two…”

Aya sighed with a smile on her face. “Now that I know you’re okay, care to explain why Fluttershy’s gained some weight?” That question… immediately had a blush rip across the pegasus’ face as she looked back at Sun before turning to Aya.

She may have been too embarrassed to speak, but Sun in that moment just took a deep breath and sighed as he looked back at his mother. “Well… Fluttershy and I are getting married and… well… how should I put this…” He said, trying to look at Aya and tell her with a straight face. “You’re going to get a granddaughter…”

Aya’s smile didn’t fade. “Aww, I’m going to be a grandmother~!” Aya cooed, looking closer to Fluttershy’s belly. “Hi! I’m your grandmother!” She said, before turning to Sun, her smile turning darker. “And why… The hell… Did you just now decide to tell me this… Huh?”

“Uhh… W-we only found out about this r-recently… I wanted to tell you sooner but…” Sun said, before motioning to his injuries. “Well… this happened and I was out… speaking of which, h-how long was I out for?”

“Two days…” All three of them heard from outside the door as they turned to see Raven standing at the door. “It’s good to see that you are still awake… however, I would like to know who is visiting your room other than my daughter.”

“Two days!? What is it with people and not telling me these things sooner!!?” Aya almost screamed, her eyes turning white and a cartoonish vein appeared on her forehead and balled up fist. Only for her to soon realize Raven’s presence in the room as well. She then placed her index finger on her lips. “Oh, I’m Aya Brea, Sun’s mother.”

“Raven Branwen. Fluttershy’s mother…” She replied, looking back at her for a moment before turning to Sun. “You might want to take it easy on him. Your son’s been through hell and has the scars to show for it.”

“Oh, this is my way of taking it easy. And I’ve had my share of scars too.” Aya stated sweetly. “Also, can you believe we’re going to be grandmothers!?”

Raven nodded, sighing for a moment before looking back at her and then asking a question. “Ms. Brea… do you even know why your son received the injuries to his chest, shoulder, face and his back?”

“No, but I can assume it’s some criminal.” Aya said darkly. That wasn’t entirely wrong… but it was also the first time that she heard that her son had injuries on his back. Confusing her for a moment as that thought went through her head. “What happened?”

Raven herself unfolded her arms and closed her eyes for a moment as she was trying to process how she was going to tell her of this. However, when she opened her eyes again, the only conclusion that she came to was to tell her the truth. “Your son was brutally tortured. The scars on his face, chest and shoulders were all wounds suffered from the use of blades against flesh… and for his back… he was branded by the leader of a group known as the White Fang. He’s twisted ideals had lead to him wanting to leave a permanent reminder on his back that he is a traitor of his own kind… Like I said, he’s been through hell and a whole lot worse.” That was followed by her giving Aya the medical file on him to see the extent of the injuries for herself.

“Alright, I’ll be back in a bit. You three seem to need to talk.” Aya said, surprising Sun with how cold she said it. She walked out of the room, reading the file.

“Did we need to talk?” Sun then asked, causing Raven to shake her head as she looked back at him.

“I’ll leave you two alone for the moment and go let the doctor know that you are awake.” She said, before leaving the room and noticing Aya sitting down and scanning the file for herself. Her face was emotionless, though Raven could tell there was a darkness behind her eyes. Like she was planning something. “Aya… can I please ask a favor from you?”

“Sure, what is it?” Aya asked.

“Don’t go after who did this.” She coldly told him, looking back at the woman as Raven’s facial expression and voice was more serious now. “The one who did this to him is a very dangerous man… and your son needs you now so he can get back up on his feet.”

“... You ever had your child hurt while you were away?” Aya asked.

“Yes… Two of them. One lost an arm and another one was badly hurt. To make matters worse, my oldest daughter, the one with the missing arm, took off before she could even recover.” Raven told her, recalling when Adam attacked both of her daughters and her team. “I wasn’t able to be there for them when they needed me the most… but you are… so please… don’t do this for me… but for Sun. Be there for him like how Fluttershy is right now.”

Aya looked down. “I’ve let so many I love down… My parents, my sisters… My daughter…” She added the last part weakly. “I can’t even come to his aid when he’s fighting someone…”

“But you can come to his aid while he is recovering…” Raven told her, getting to her level and placing a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to aid someone by helping them fight, Aya… Sometimes, the best way to help someone is to be with them and show how much you care. Even though he is awake, it will take some time for him to recover. We’ve already had one person go off on a personal revenge quest to try and hunt down who did this and she hasn’t come back… If you can be there for Sun, I will be really grateful.”

“I will be there…” Aya assured her, causing Raven to smile back and hug her briefly.

“Thank you… Though, I will have to return the file… Rather not have the staff here think that you are stealing their paperwork.” She replied, looking back around to notice the ponies at the front desk get back to work once the swordswoman looked in their direction. Shortly before one of the nurses trotted over to them.

“Excuse me, Ms. Branwen… is everything all right?” the mare, whose nametag read “Ms. Redheart” on the front of it then asked.

“Yeah, everything’s just fine,” She replied with a smile. “I was just coming to tell you and Dr. Stable that Mr. Wukong had just woken up a few moments ago.”

“A bit late.” Aya stated in amusement. In response, Nurse Redheart turned around to inform Dr. Stable about what Raven just told her as the black haired woman handed her Sun’s medical file after Aya had seen what was left.

“I think you might be needing this.” Was all she said as the two ponies raced down the hall to where Sun’s room was and chuckling in response. Both ladies watched as the ponies went into the room… only for the stallion to race out of the room with his coat and tail on fire. “Oh right… I forgot to let them know about his tail…”

“What about it…?” Aya asked fearfully.

“Well… let’s say that through an accident with some fire dust, the end of his tail is now a flame that you can’t put out. They’ve had to keep it in a bucket so it wouldn’t catch anything on fire.” Raven told her… before thinking of a better analogy to use in that moment to help Aya. “Think like that one creature from Pokemon… I think the name was Charmander?”

“I only played once, and it bored me… Maybe the black and white graphics turned me off.” Aya mused. Raven sighed a little, looking back at her for a moment before explaining it to her with a visual reference as she had a picture of the Faunus’ tail… only this time with a burning flame at the end of it.

“That’s kinda rad.” Aya said, mouth agape.

“Yes, but he still may be getting used to it.” Raven told her, shortly before they heard another outburst from Sun’s room. Only this time, it was Fluttershy.

“Discord, stop using Sun’s tail to roast marshmellows!!!”

“I… Don’t even want to ask…” Aya moaned, trying to recompose herself a little as she looked back at Raven.

“You haven’t met a draconequus before?” The swordswoman then asked, surprised a little. “Uses chaos magic, made up of multiple body parts and sounds like John De Lancie? Well… piece of advice, he can be a bit of a trickster. Just… trust me on this one.”

“The Star Trek actor who played Q?” Aya was surprised. “Huh… Matches.”

“I’m not sure if Q could make chocolate rain down from pink clouds or have anything he wants to appear with a snap of… whatever he has for fingers.” Raven then commented shortly before Aya interrupted her a few moments later. Having something to say after coming off the top of her head as she looked back at the swordswoman.

“Actually, he made an entire planet with a snap of his fingers. Including the inhabitants.” Aya said. “I think… Maybe… A-anyways, go on.” Raven herself would continue to explain everything to her, if it weren’t for two things. One, the fact that a black leather jacket just happened to spontaneously appear on Aya. Two, the unexpected… guest that was right behind the blond haired woman at the time.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself…” Raven smiled, looking behind Aya to see Discord standing nearby and pointing in his direction, even though he was trying to hold up a finger and tell Raven to not let Aya know that he was there.

“He’s behind me, isn’t he…?” Aya growled. “You try to mess with me, I’ll mess you up so bad that there won’t be enough of you to bury. I’ve danced with demons, so don’t think I won’t mess your face up more than it already is.”

“Aww… And I just wanted to have your appearance look a little more PG…” The draconequus chuckled as Aya turned around to see him.

“My clothes were torn on the way here… I didn’t have much of a choice.” Aya grumbled.

“Funny you say that… I was just originally coming here to check on Sun and make smores, only to hear you girls gossip about me.” He replied back, looking back at Aya. “Oh, and you might want to check your pistols… I did one other thing besides give you a jacket.” Aya pulled out her pistol and examined it. When she pulled the trigger, all that came out was a stick and a red flag with the word ‘BANG!’ on the front of it like it was a fake pistol the Joker would use against Batman.

“You know, I don’t need my gun to hurt you…” Aya threatened.

“And I was just trying to have a little bit of fun.” Discord replied, snapping his fingers as the flag disappeared. “Congratulations on being a grandmother now. You’ll be really happy to help raise a little faunus.”

“Alright…” Aya said, hesitantly holstering her gun, as she feared it might go off due to his power. She then walked back into Sun’s room to check on him and Fluttershy for a moment. “So, how are you feeling-? What’s that girl doing outside the window?” Aya pointed to the window, where Penny was hanging upside down while waving and saying something, though it was muted by the window.

“Does she have orange hair?” Sun asked, watching his mother nod for a moment. “In that case, you’ve officially met Penny.”

“I’m not gonna lie, she’s kinda adorable.” Aya said, waving back to Penny. Causing Sun to raise an eyebrow for a moment as he looked back at her. Surprised to hear her say that, even though she had no idea what Penny was actually capable of as both he and Fluttershy looked back at her for a moment.

“You do realize that she’s not necessarily a normal girl, right?” He asked her, partially confusing Aya for a moment in the process as the Faunus sighed and began to explain. “She’s an android.”

“Wow, who made her?” Aya asked, raising an eyebrow. The faunus was going to clarify a little on that, but that was when his marefriend decided to step in.

“Actually… that’s what she was displaced as.” Fluttershy then spoke up, looking at Sun. “Well, according to what Sun told me.”

“... Okay…” Aya said, staring at Penny. “Must be hard… Not feeling anything.”

“Yeah, well… over the course of the time that we’ve had Beacon established, Asphyxious has helped Penny be able to establish her own senses so she can feel normal, even though her body is mostly mechanical.” The faunus explained, noticing the doctor returning to the room as he opened the door and trotted inside. “Oh hey… Sorry about the whole… accidently setting you on fire thing. I’m still trying to get my head around the fact that my tail is now a firestarter.”

“Right…” The stallion commented as he looked back at the clipboard he was holding in his hooves and analyzing the information on it. “Well, from what I can gather on you, Mr. Wukong… Despite what happened to you, your wounds are healing rather quickly. However, I do stress that you should not do anything drastic to where the wounds may open up again. Take a few days for your body to recover first before you attempt any major form of physical activity.” The faunus nodded in response, understanding what the doctor was telling him as he looked back at the stallion. “Originally, I would’ve thought that you needed some form of medication to help with the healing process, but since you’ve been recovering rather quickly, there’s no need for that.”

“So… I can go back to Fluttershy’s cottage now?” Sun then asked, looking at his marefriend and his mom before looking back at the doctor. Whose only reply was a nod of the head as he sighed. “Well, that’s a relief… however, there may be one problem with that…”

“What is it, Sun?” Aya asked, worry in her voice as she looked back at her son.

“I…… don’t have any clothes…” He said, embarrassed a little bit as the faunus looked back at them. “My old ones were torn to shreds after what happened and… well, I rather have something to wear so I can cover my injuries and not feel like I’m naked in the process.”

“Oh, well shouldn’t you have some clothes at the cottage?” Aya questioned, looking back at her son as she folded her arms.

“Yeah, but that’s almost back on the other side of town and-.” The Faunus said, before noticing something that looked like a brown parcel in the room right by where Aya’s feet would be. Something that wasn’t quite there the last time his mother was in the room as he looked back at her. “Why do I have a feeling that Discord decided to leave behind a present?”

“I get a headache just thinking about him…” Aya groaned, while Sun had to point out the package at her feet in order for her to actually notice it. She picked it up and set it on the bed, “There. I’ll wait for you outside.” Nodding his head, Sun got up and began to open the parcel that was there. What he happened to find was a marooned colored jacket with an oriental theme that reminded him of his gauntlets, a pair of black pants with a nimbus cloud on the right leg, a set of shinguards to match his gauntlets and also a small note.

Hey there, Sun. Rarity had this set of clothes waiting for you and wanted to do some sort of dramatic reveal with it, but given the current situation, I thought it would be better if I cut out the middle mare and gave these to you for her. Just wanting to make sure that your recovery is going smoothly… Now, if you excuse me, I have afternoon tea with Cae-Cae and Moony.
-Discord

“Wow… I never expected this at all… going to have to thank Rarity the next time I see her.” Sun commented as he got up and began to put on his new set of clothes. It was only after that he had got them on though that Fluttershy mentioned something that happened to cross his mind.

“Uhh… Does R-rarity even know that Discord was delivering them to you?”



“AGH!!! MY MOST PRIZED WORK HAS BEEN STOLEN!!!! WHO WOULD COMMIT SUCH A HEINOUS CRIME?!! THIS IS THE! WORST! POSSIBLE! THING!!”



“… Maybe? Discord’s more of the ‘ask questions later’ kind of person and puts his mind to whatever he’s thinking about at the time.” The faunus commented as he stretched out his arms and legs while Aya outside was able to get a look at his new clothes. “Hey mom, what do you think of these?”

“Eh… It suits you, but it is a very different look.” Aya said, shrugging. “Though I think you’d say the same if you saw my ‘hero costume’.” That only had both Fluttershy and Sun look at her with puzzled facial expressions before the faunus then spoke up as he looked at her.

“Wait, you have one of those?” He asked, raising an eyebrow for a moment. He honestly expected to hear something like that from Lance instead of Aya as he saw her chuckle a little bit before clearing her throat and beginning to speak.

“Yeah, Elegance made it. She takes after Rarity.” Aya replied, a smirk ever present on her face. “I was told it gives hope to the ponies I save. My teammates were adamant about me being a symbol back home… I was only wearing this because it’s in the wash.” The Faunus himself chuckled a little upon hearing that as he looked back at her and smiled. The last part was definitely something that his mom would say as he went over and gave her a quick hug as they walked out of the hospital together.

“Thanks for being there, mom. I really appreciate it.” He told her as Aya hugged him back while also smiling a little.

“You don’t give me much of a choice but to.” She teased, “You don’t contact me much, and when you do it’s because you’re either hurt or… Well, that’s about it.”

“I’ve just been really busy with a lot of things. Though, since I am in the recovery process now, perhaps we can have the chance to… well… spend some time together.” He suggested to her as they walked to the cottage while Raven also joined up with them too. “Besides, here… there are a lot of other RWBY based Displaced and some are more… rebellious than others.”

“I’m pretty sure Raven could help with them. She’s kinda intimidating.” Aya joked, clasping her hands behind her back. “And I’d like that.”

“Well… I don’t think you’ve had the chance to actually meet Coco for real this time…” Sun told her as he looked back at her. “The last time you two met was in Manehattan and she was completely drunk.”

“Wasn’t that the brunette with the handbag that was a gatling gun?” Raven then asked, only causing Sun to nod his head… until she mentioned one other thing. “Who also happened to be your Ex girlfriend and is the godmother of my grandchild.”

“You mean that girl you dumped back when I was bedridden?” Aya asked, eyes wide with surprise.

“Yeah… When you got hospitalized, I had to drop a lot of things in order to fully devote my time to make sure you were okay. She has forgiven me though for doing it and we still are friends. Though, I was wondering where she might be… Normally if something happens regarding me, she’s the first to know.” The faunus mentioned… shortly before something surprised the four of them.

“Salutations!” Penny called from a tree branch. “Coco sent me!”

“Speak of the Devil, and her servant arrives… That sounded better in my head.” Aya stated. Sun couldn’t agree more as he looked back at the android and greeted her respectfully.

“Hello Penny… How are you doing?” He asked her, trying his best to be polite as she kept on hanging upside down from the tree she was in.

“I’m fine, still hoping Ruby gets better sooner! Ciel’s been keeping me company though!” Penny replied, hanging off of the tree with her feet. This though… surprised Sun. Ruby had already recovered from her fight with Adam a couple of weeks ago, yet the gynoid was thinking that she was somehow still in the hospital. Which was indeed weird since Ruby was not exactly the kind of girl to have herself be stuck in a bed for a long amount of time.

“Penny, Ruby’s no longer at the hospital…” Raven told her as she looked at the gynoid now and was right next to Sun since the subject was now on one of her daughters as the swordswoman spoke up. “She’s been out of the hospital for the last couple of weeks… when was the last time you heard about Ruby?”

“Uh… Three weeks ago… I wanted to visit her, but the nurses said it’d be best for Ruby’s recovery if I was as far away from her as possible, so I left town, but almost ran out of battery so I came back.” Penny said. Aya turned away from Penny, hiding her snicker.

“Well, she’s been out of the hospital for two weeks and last I checked, she and a few others were worried because they thought that you ran away.” The Swordswoman told her as she looked back at the gynoid. “She’s been living with Weiss now at Rarity’s boutique. You might want to see her and let her know you’re okay.”

“Before you do though, do you happen to know where Coco is, Penny?” Sun then asked, waiting for the right time to speak as the gynoid now was looking in his direction.

Penny shook her head out of thoughts that were forming in her head. “Uh, y-yeah! She’s sparring with ABRN. Coco told me to tell you what she was doing when you wake up.” Penny said. “She also has to tell you something.” That made Sun a little bit curious as he looked back at her for a moment and raised an eyebrow as he looked at Aya and Fluttershy.

“Go on, it must be important. We can talk another time.” Aya said, giving Sun an understanding smile.

“Alright. I’ll meet you guys back at the cottage,” He assured them before looking at Penny and realizing something that she had forgotten. “Also Penny, you didn’t really say where Coco actually was.”

“Oh! She’s…” Penny tapped her chin. “Fiddlesticks… I think it was north east of Ponyville. Shouldn’t be hard though, she’s causing some noticeable explosions.” The last part was rather surprising. He hadn’t heard anything like that at all since he woke up, so why exactly would she be trying to have stuff explode? It was something that was on the faunus’ mind, even after he had left Aya and the others to go find her.

Yet, any question that was in his head at the time immediately burst into a puff of smoke the moment she found them… and saw her throwing numerous amounts of dust at ABRN like they were hand grenades. Whenever ABRN tried to get closer, she’s hit them and send them right back where they started.

“You guys suck!” She shouted, tossing a red Dust shard so hard that when it hit Reese’s face, it caused a massive explosion. Coco then checked her Scroll before looking back at them and smirking confidently, “You’re out, Chloris! Go to the bench with Nadir!”

The bluette huffed, before stomping to the side where her teammate sat in shame. Yet, all that did was also make Sun wonder what kind of hellish training bootcamp did he exactly walk into as he approached Coco from behind and tapped her on the shoulder.

Coco jumped, spinning around while holding the Dust that was in her hand in a readied position, before she noticed who it was. “You jerk! I would’ve given you a flaming face to match that tail!”

“It’s good to see you too, Coco.” He sighed, looking back at her before looking to see everyone else behind her as a question formed in his mind. “Penny told me you would be here… yet I did not expect for you to be running a military like boot camp at all. What have you been doing while I was out for the last two days?”

“Training these nerf herders. Bolin and Arslan are fine, but Reese needs some work and Nadir’s as bad as Jaune.” Coco explained to him before looking back at her Scroll. “SSSN, Raven and you weren’t doing jack. Also took care of a Grimm that invaded AJ’s orchard. Thankfully there were only a few trees destroyed.”

“Technically, I was recovering, Raven is running a forge and I think Sage and the others were trying to keep things running at Beacon with me being… absent for the time being. Plus, the doc said that I need a couple days of rest before any major physical activity.”

“Sun, you haven’t trained them at all, and none of your team let CFVY or ABRN help. RWBY’s scrambled, Penny’s combat ready but stays locked up in her house… I think this town’s getting too small for the humans and Faunus around. There’s too much wasted talent with no direction.”

“And you think trying to blow them up is helping at all?” Sun then asked, looking at Nadir and Reese before looking back at Coco. “Are you really trying to train them… or just blow off steam because you can’t make Adam pay for what he did to me?”

Coco didn’t hesitate to slap Sun across his face. “Sun, if you can’t see what this is then leave. Don’t act better than me.”

Sun shook his head as he looked back at him. “I’m sorry. I just think that there are other ways to train them than by throwing dust crystals… Have you tried anything less lethal?” He asked her. “I like what you are doing… I just don’t think we should be sending more people to the hospital, especially since I just got out and Ruby got out a few weeks ago.”

“I’ve been checking their auras!” Coco shouted, frustration clear in her voice. “People keep asking me what to do because you and your team have been taking care of everything by themselves!” She made a valid point with the last statement and it was something that Sun had to admit personally as he looked back at her. Before noticing something nearby and thinking of an idea as he looked at her.

Yet… what the faunus then said to her actually caught her by surprise. “You’re right… I’m sorry for putting you through that. I should’ve done more to help you and I’m sorry for letting you down.”

“It’s not… It’s not your fault. But we do need to figure out what to do about giving these four and the rest something other than sitting on their asses. They need to help, but we’re all so uncoordinated. Add the fact that there’s another one of us we have no idea about hanging out with Penny, and that whole Qrow thing… It’s too much.” Sun could tell she was stressed, and wanted to do his best to try and help her. So looking at her for a moment, he thought of something as the faunus looked back at Coco.

“Why don’t we go back to your place? It seems like you need to take a break… and I can help with that if you like.” He offered to her.

“No, it’s chaos. Weiss invited Ruby to stay with her at Rarity’s place, and Ruby thought it’d be funny to tie my bed to the ceiling… It came loose and Rarity needs to order a new bed, on top of getting Weiss and Ruby a bigger bed.” Coco grumbled. Which, in turn had Sun think of an alternative proposal.

“How about the cottage then?” He then asked. “Aya is probably going to be talking to Fluttershy and Velvet while Raven would be going back to the forge and with the craziness going on at Rarity’s, perhaps we can relax there.”

“Relaxing with my ex, his mom, and his wife… I think I’ll pass.” Coco said with an amused smirk. “Thanks for the offer though. But I did call you here for more than yelling at you.”

“I meant just us, but go on.” Sun sighed as he looked back at her. “Besides, Aya only remembers ‘drunk’ you, not the real you.”

“And I’d be embarrassed knowing that. Look, your mom always kinda scared me, and I think I insulted her while I was… Out of it.” Sun definitely remembered that, recalling back to when he originally found her back in Manehattan several months ago. But now wasn’t quite the time to dwell on that as he shook his head and looked back at her.

“Yeah… changing topics, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?” He then asked out of curiosity. Allowing for Coco to regain her thoughts before telling him.

“Qrow…” Coco said, her voice growing serious.

“Coco, that only happened once… did something else happen while I was out?” Sun then asked as he looked back at her.

“Kinda… I found out where he is.” Coco stated, crossing her arms. “Remember that letter he sent at halloween?” Sun did remember that… and also remembered how Raven overreacted to finding out about it too.

“Did you find out where the letter came from?” Sun then asked out of curiosity.

“Yeah, there was a stamp on the letter. You know those red wax things from medieval movies?” Coco asked. He nodded in response to what she said, waiting for her to get to the main point as she cleared her throat and picked up where she left off. “Well, I asked Twilight about the symbol on it… And apparently it’s a seal from the Griffon Kingdom. Specifically, Griffonstone.”

That had a cold shiver run down his neck as he looked back at Coco. Not as composed as he was before as he looked back at her. Griffonstone was where he ended up upon originally being displaced and the griffons that did find him ended up caging him like an animal. A neglected animal, not giving him any food or water and treating him horribly. “Oh god, not that place.”

“I sent Velvet and Fox there. They contacted me this morning that the entire area was in lockdown, and they even saw what looked like a minefield…” Coco added.

“You sent Velvet!?” He said, looking a little bit horrified by what she had just told him. “Are you kidding me? Coco, do you know why I hate that place?”

“Not in the slightest, but I told her to just examine it from a distance.” Coco explained. “She’s also with Fox. I know what I’m doing.”

“Coco, the griffons that found me locked me up in a cage and treated me like an animal. Not even giving me food or water for a few days. I had to live on scraps before I could finally get out of that hellhole. Not to mention that they were going to auction me off as a slave before I broke out of there and ran the moment I got to Baltimare.” Sun then took a moment to calm down as he looked back at Coco for a moment. “I… just don’t want the same thing to happen to her… I don’t want them to treat her the same way they treated me.”

“Sun… She has Fox. And she knows how to use her weapon. And she was told to check out the city, then come back.” Coco said. “And if you want, I can go there with Yatsuhashi and find Qrow myself.”

“No… I… I’m sorry I over-reacted…” He apologized, looking back at her as the faunus replied. “I just don’t want anyone else getting hurt… whether it’s the White Fang or anyone else… I…”

“You look like you need a day at the spa… Aloe and Lotus have almost mastered massaging bipeds.” The idea had Sun look back at Coco as he thought it over for a moment, before looking back at her and smiling.

“That… actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea… Maybe we can both get one…” He suggested, looking back at her after thinking over the next part in his head. “Together, if you would like.”

“Just remember, you’re engaged.” She teased, stretching her arms before turning to ABRN. “You morons go practice with Yatsuhashi!” She shouted at them, who nodded their heads and took off the moment she gave the order.

“Let’s go. Your treat.” Coco said, smirking. Sun could only nod his head and chuckle a little as the two of them proceeded to go to the Ponyville spa.



“S-so… uh…” Fluttershy stammered while trying to think of something inside her head as she and Aya were having tea back at her cottage. With Raven back at the forge, the pegasus was having the opportunity in order to be able to talk to Sun’s mom. But in turn, this also made it fairly difficult for her to come up with something to talk about. “You mentioned t-that you are a… superhero back where you are?”

“Yeah, well they’re fairly common things. I’m in charge of a team that deal with evolution based monsters for the most part.” Aya replied simply. “We take care of things that authorities can’t handle, too. It’s kinda like a military and superhero team combined, as we have normal ponies helping us when things get hectic.”

“I-i see…” The pegasus replied, looking back at her and thinking of something off of the top of her head. “Does that mean you have powers too? Like Sun’s Semblance?”

“It’s… A lot different. Where I am, powers can have a number of reasons. Mine are a type of… Forced evolution, where I constantly gain new advantages… Part of me is scared that I’ll lose my humanity…” Aya looked at her hand. “Right now, I can do a few things. I can heal myself, generate fire- although very weak, and a few other things. My team have their own powers, such as Posey who can alter plant life, Firefly who can generate radioactive energy, and Surprise who can teleport.”

“W-was Firefly one of the ponies that was with you last time you w-were here?” Fluttershy asked out of curiosity.

“Yes. She was the pink and blue one.” Aya elaborated. “She’s like Rainbow Dash. In fact, my team is almost like you and your friends.”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at that. “R-really?”

“There’s a reason for it, but it’s hard to explain…” Aya said. “There’s Twilight Mist, who’s a lot like Twilight Sparkle. Three, who’s like AJ. Glory, who’s like Rariry. Surprise is like Pinkie. Firefly’s like Rainbow. Posey and you are alike. There are others, the sisters Cloudchaser and Flitter are fun, though CC’s a bit… Not dumb, but imaginative. You met Miles, he’s a downer.” Fluttershy honestly did not expect anything like that at all, especially the part when she happened to mention Posey.

“C-can I meet Posey sometime?” She asked Aya, a little bit nervous as to how she thought that and also how Aya would respond.

“She might scare you a bit… She was trying to do something and now she… Well, she looks like you, but without wings and a different Cutie Mark.” Fluttershy nodded in response, still wanting to meet her sometime as she listened to Aya some more. “Uh, have any specific questions?”

“Well… what is the rest of Sun’s f-family like? Does he have any brothers? Sisters? Cousins?” Fluttershy then asked, a little curious as to who else was in Sun’s family.

“He has a bit. His cousin, Lance, you’ve probably met.” Aya replied. “He has an aunt and uncle, though you’d hate to meet them. One’s an expressive… You know, and the other’s a criminal…” Fluttershy gulped at the last part as she almost dropped her tea upon hearing that. But there was something else that she happened to not have mentioned.

“What about siblings?” She asked. “I h-have a brother… He’s a bit lazy and such, but I still love him.”

“W-well… Sun had an older sister, but he’s never met her, and I don’t think he will…” Aya said, looking away nervously. The pegasus was honestly surprised to hear about that, but it was from this statement that a new question appeared in Fluttershy’s mind.

“Does he know that he has a sister?” She asked.

“No… I conceived her when I was too young to raise her, so she was adopted out. There’s nothing I could’ve done, so I keep my mouth shut so Sun isn’t hurt.”

That shocked Fluttershy, almost causing her to snap at Aya as she spoke up. “But he should know! How long have you been keeping this from him, Aya?”

“His entire life… I lost her, and I don’t want Sun to get mad at me or himself. Our family has a habit of blaming ourselves for things we had no involvement or control of.” Aya said calmly.

This in turn had Fluttershy shake her head as she took another sip of her tea. “Not Sun… He wouldn’t blame you for this. He didn’t blame anyone for what happened to him and Coco didn’t blame him for ending their relationship… you should at least give him a chance…”

“I still kept it from him. That alone would make him mad, I mean look at you. I don’t even know how to break it to him…” Aya sighed, slouching in her chair.

“We didn’t know how to break the news to you about Angel, but we still told you.” She replied.

“Remember how I reacted? That was because being a grandmother was something I’ve always wanted to be. That’s positive news… This is finding out your mother had a child before you and never told you…” Aya told her, only sounding more stressed out now that she had told Fluttershy about it.

“Umm…… There there, Twilight-.” The pegasus said, before realizing her mistake. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to call you that!”

Aya gave Fluttershy a deadpan look. “You know, the in-laws can end up being your waking nightmare…”

“I… i…” She said, almost looking like she was about to break down as Aya could literally see tears forming up in her eyes from that. “I… just wanted t-to feel l-like I’m p-part of the f-f-family… I didn’t mean this…” And now was when the floodgates were about to burst open.

“Geez, I meant it as a dry joke…” Aya groaned. Was she this emotional when she had Sun? “It wasn’t very nice of me, I admit… At least you didn’t have to bear with my husband…” Fluttershy wiped the tears away for a moment as she looked back at Aya, hugging her with her hooves as well as her wings in response.

“F-Fluttershy… What a-are you doing?” Aya asked, bewildered by the pegasis actions.

“T-thank you…” She spoke, before looking back at Aya as her eyes were back to normal. “I’m a r-really lucky mare to be with your son…” That was before she felt something and looked down at her belly before giggling a little as she looked back at Aya.

“She acting up?” Aya asked teasingly.

“Nope… just kicked a little.” Fluttershy chuckled, looking back at Aya for a moment. “You can feel her if you want.”

“I… I’m good…” Aya replied. Fluttershy smiled a little, looking back at her for a moment and then saying something that caught her attention.

“Well… when she’s born, Angel might be a bit of a handful at first… especially with being a pegasus faunus.”

“Angel? That’s a pretty name.” Aya remarked. “Oh, what’s a faunus? Discord said something about that…”

“Sun didn’t tell you?” Fluttershy asked, surprised to hear that as she saw Aya shake her head. “Well, from what Sun told me, Faunus are human with animal traits… like how he has his tail or how Velvet has rabbit ears… and from what the doctor told us, Angel is going to have wings.”

“Well… I don’t know how to react to that… I guess it’s a… thing?”

“Pretty much… One of our friends has cat ears.” Fluttershy replied back before hearing the door open as she noticed something. “O-oh… Sun, you’re back. I-i didn’t expect Coco to b-be with you though…”

“Hi Shy… We just got done at the Spa. Coco suggested it since she thought that it might help us relieve some stress.” The monkey faunus replied.

“Ugh… You owe me big time…” Coco grunted, rotating her arm in a circular motion. “Who lets a hyperactive steroid stallion operate at a spa!?”

“Hey, I treated us and you were the one who said that you wished for your massage to be more firm.” Sun deadpanned.

“A little… That guy broke a wall and carried me between his biceps!” Coco hissed. “The moment I said I wanted mine firmer than your he busted through the wall… I’m strong, but I’m still not rough without my aura… At least he got the knot out of my back…”

“To be fair… Aloe hates it when he does that.” The faunus mentioned that to her, sighing for a moment before looking back at Aya. “So, did you two have a good time at the cottage?” Fluttershy nodded her head and also looked to Aya, who did the same before she turned to look at Coco.

“Want to insult me again?” Aya asked dryly, and Coco paled.

“N-no…”

“Mom, she’s not drunk…” Sun deadpanned, really tempted to facepalm himself if Aya was going to have things escalate.

“Didn’t you call me little boob lady or something…?” Aya asked.

“I’m sorry!” Coco shouted.

“Can’t take a little teasing… Not a keeper.” Aya teased. Now was the appropriate time for Sun to facepalm himself as he looked back at his mother and groaned a small bit as he looked back at her. What happened in Manehattan while Coco was wasted was not exactly her… most finest moment and it was also something that wasn’t exactly a good thing to bring up in a conversation.

“Mom, was that really necessary? She was trying to apologize to you.”

“And I thought you were the monkey in the fa-” Coco started, but when she saw Aya’s dark look she stopped. “Nothing…”

Aya groaned, looking back at her son as she spoke up. “Sun, let your mother have her fun. Please. I don’t hold anything against her.”

That… surprised him and Fluttershy personally as he looked back at her. “You… don’t?” He asked, finding this a little bit hard to believe at first.

“I got stuck in an asylum for a day. Being called a name is childsplay.” Aya shrugged it off. “Well, I don’t have much time here. I’m glad you’re okay, Sun.”

“Thanks… it always seems like somehow we get ourselves in nasty situations. Hell, don’t even ask about what happened when I first ended up here.” He sighed, looking back at everyone before going upstairs… and noticing something. “Coco… where did you get the dust you were using for your training earlier? Because half of the box of Raven’s dust crystal supply here is missing.”

“Uh… I swear I found them in the Everfree!” Coco replied, alarmed. Personally though, Sun was buying it. Enough shenanigans had already happened and now, he just needed some rest.



Ponyville Forge

When Raven returned to her forge, she felt a pair of eyes on her from a dark corner as she set her weapons down for a moment. “I don’t remember opening for business just yet…” She grit her teeth, motioning one of her hands to the grip of her blade as she turned to see a presence in the back of the workshop. “State your business… or else.”

“Or else what? You’ll kill me?” A familiar voice that was feminine in nature replied. One that Raven remembered as the figure happen to move a little as some of the light from outside shined on the person in the room.

“Glynda… it’s unlike you to come to me unannounced…” Raven responded, setting the weapon down as she turned to face her. “How long has it been since I last saw you? A century or so?”

“Something like that. I see you’ve taken up a family…” Glynda stated coldly, her frown clear as day. “Not the wisest thing to do with your lifespan.”

“Wonderful… you’ve come to mock my life choices…” Raven groaned as the swordswoman happened to pull something from a nearby drawer as she tossed it in Glynda’s direction. “The letter from Qrow didn’t help any.”

“With what? How, or why, would Qrow help you with a letter?” Glynda asked cynically. “And if I mocked Qrow all this time, you’d be no exception.”

“I’m not like him,” She growled in response. “I’m not someone who’s always drunk off their ass and goes around without a care in the world…… However, there was one thing he was right about… and only one thing.”

“I recall him saying you needing a hug…” Glynda said, a small smirk coming to her face.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it… Back then, I was headstrong… unaware of the consequences that came with my choices… not anymore,” The Swordswoman replied. “The only thing he was right about… was Adam.”

“I remember… Qrow being happy… And cheerful… You’ve both changed.” Glynda stated. “He waited for you… To forgive him and let him back.”

“I forgive him yes…” Raven then replied before looking at him. “But I want to hear it from him on his own. Not the drunk him… but the real him… because now… I want Adam dead. He’s become a monster… and needs to be stopped.”

“And what do you think Qrow thinks of you?” Glynda asked. “The sister who threw him out, who never came to help him in his darkest moments… The one who let him become a monster himself…?”

“We’ve all made our mistakes… I’ll be willing to listen to him… if he’s willing to listen to me.” She said before saying something else. “And tell him… that his nieces are here too.”

Glynda stared at Raven for a moment, before sighing. “Qrow would rather kill you than listen, Raven… He’s not the man you knew...” That had her pause for a moment, before looking back at her and sighing for a moment as she decided to ask a different question to Glynda.

“Why was he in Manehattan?” She asked, catching Glynda by surprise with the question as Raven took a deep breath. “You’ve seen Sun, am I right? Monkey Faunus? Well, he told me that the last time he was in Manehattan, he had an encounter with my brother and saved him before running off. So, on that note, why was he in Manehattan?”

“He said he was staying there to settle a score. I’m pretty sure he was hunting a White Fang base… And by the look of him when he returned…” Glynda’s eyes fogged over. “I’ve already told you, he’s become a monster…”

Raven sighed, looking back at Glynda for a moment as she thought that over… then spoke up. “I thank you for telling me… I’ve made mistakes and I’m now seeing what it’s lead too… I’m just glad that you haven’t changed.”

“I… I’ve lost a part of myself…” Glynda said in a near whisper.

“We all have in some way,” Raven replied, hearing what Glynda said. “Some more than others… despite what he’s done before and what he’s done now… Qrow is still my brother. I want to help him… if he is willing to let me.” She then went over to the fridge in the back of the room and then got herself some water as she looked back at her friend. “While you’re here, would you like a drink?”

“No thank you… I need to leave anyways. I’ve recently gained responsibilities because I returned something…” Glynda said, walking to the door. “Be patient with him… He’s formed a centuries worth of a shell, and he barely lets me in… And sorry about your Dust, I’ll refund you.”

“I will… and don’t worry about it. I’m sure someone put it to good use…” She smiled, taking a small drink before thinking of something. “Hold on… how much dust did you took?”

“... I didn’t say.” Glynda said, before quickly exiting. Causing Raven to sigh as she looked at an old photograph that was on a nearby windowsill.

One of her, Qrow and Glynda… while the fourth person in the photo was torn off.




End Tail 29

> Tail 30- Cold Iron
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Cold Iron




Crystal Empire

        It had been a few weeks since there had been any major incidents within the borders of the Crystal Empire and right now, many ponies were lucky to be safe within it’s walls. With the events of the Crystalling happening sometime ago, many have feared the likelihood of another one of those events happening again if the Crystal Heart were to be damaged. So, Princess Cadence, along with Princess Luna, Celestia and also Twilight had already taken necessary precautions in making sure that her newborn daughter, Princess Flurry Heart, did not accidently destroy the Crystal Heart again in the near future.

        However, it was in the conversation after all was said and done that intrigued both Cadence and Shining the most… as well as concerned them too. Talks of creatures known as Grimm and also something called ‘Beacon’ back at Ponyville that served as a school to train a new generation of protectors against the Grimm and other unknown threats. It was a very solid idea… and something that Shining thought should be applied here. But the two of them, along with their advisor Sunburst, still had a few questions on their mind.

        First, there was when Twilight had mentioned a particular… individual during her visit with her friends. One that she called a ‘faunus’ and that his name was Sun…… something. Second, Shining had personal doubts that whoever he was, there was more to him than meets the eye… and that he shouldn’t be trusted too quickly. Even though Cadence just thought it was just him being paranoid, there was still some matters to take seriously.

        Like this morning… When they woke to the sound of a deaf defying series of roars and multitude of loud BANG’s! 

        “What in the name of the empire was that?” Shining asked, startled by what he just heard as he immediately got to his hooves. “Are we under attack?”

        The roars then suddenly ceased with a final bang. Which, had Cadence get up from her room and look out onto the balcony. Seeing a pillar of black smoke as she looked outside from atop of the Empire. “Shiny, something’s going on outside the walls of the empire. Several of the guard are scurrying along the walls to the gate.”

        “Well, I better get down there and see what’s going on. Can you make sure that the commotion didn’t disturb Flurry Heart?” The unicorn asked, concerned about his daughter.

        “I’ll go check on her.” Cadence said, nodding her head as both of them left the room in opposite directions. The alicorn going to their daughter’s room while the Unicorn going to where all the commotion was along the wall. It was only after a while did he soon see what all the other guards were seeing as he looked down as the snowy expanse below. In the middle of what looked like a warzone, stood a bipedal figure with a strange weapon in hand that they were able to put out from inside their jacket. Around him were what looked like animals, but with their appearance being of black and red with bone like features and looking like soulless monsters.

        The bipedal was wearing white, and held a silver handgun in one hand. He then began to fire on all of the surrounding creatures casually, effortlessly almost. Shining watched as the figure dispatched each creature that attacked him, even using one of his hands when a wolf like creature tried to attack from behind. When the coast was clear though, Shining himself teleported down to the field… and had all the guards on the wall be on standby. “Who… are you?”

        “Apologies for the noise. My name is Ironwood. James Ironwood.” The man said, sheathing his weapon.

        “Okay then… Mr. Ironwood, my name is Shining Armor. Captain of the Crystal Guard here for the Crystal Empire… I have some questions regarding what exactly just happened.” The Unicorn told him, waving a hoof to call off the guards that were on standby along the walls of the castle.

        “Those were Grimm. They’re creatures who destroy anything that isn’t a Grimm.” Ironwood said plainly. “I’m unsure on the details though. I was lost and saw this empire here in the distance.”

        “Perhaps there’s some things we can help clear up for you…” He said, looking back up as he used another signal to open the gates of the Empire as they walked inside. 

        “I appreciate it… Sir? Do you use that title here?” Ironwood asked. “And… ‘We’?”

        “Most ponies address me as Captain, but I normally go by Sir during formal occasions,” he said, looking back at him. “And when I mean we, I mean myself and my wife, Princess Cadence.” Just as he said that, the pink alicorn he was referring too soon stepped out as she looked at the two of them.

        “Shining, what happened?” She asked, before looking to Ironwood. “Who-?”

        “Cadence, this is Mr. James Ironwood… Mr. Ironwood, this is my wife, Princess Cadence. Leader of the Crystal Empire.” Shining introduced the two of them before looking at her. “Cadence, Ironwood here just had an encounter with the grimm creatures that Twily told us about… The noise he heard was him defending himself.”

        Cadence herself was rather shocked to hear that, before looking at both of them and then saying something else. “Perhaps we should continue this conversation behind closed doors.” Both of them nodded, before following her inside as two of the guards closed the doors behind them. “Now… Mr. Ironwood… I’m sure you have some questions that you want to ask…”

        “I do…”



        “Fluttershy, does Angel normally have a carrot before or after lunch?” Sun asked while he was trying to boil some water in the kitchen. It had already been some time since he recovered from his ordeal and right now, he was focusing on making sure to help take care of Fluttershy while she was going through the stages of her pregnancy… and was now getting glared at by a white bunny with folded arms that was tapping his foot.

        “After. Angel, you better not try to use this as a chance to get extra carrots, mister!” Fluttershy said from across the room, causing the rabbit to sigh in defeat before hopping off the counter top in disappointment. Making the faunus chuckle as the kettle that was on the stove top whistled loudly. Leading to him pouring a cup of tea to bring over to the pegasus as he set it on the nightstand of her room.

        As he had taken care of that and was coming back into the living room to where the paper was on the coffee table, the faunus happened to notice someone he didn’t see earlier. “Hey, Velvet. How are you this morning?”

        “Terrible… I’ve been having bad dreams.” Groaned the rabbit faunus, scratching her ears.

        “I’m sorry to hear that…” Sun replied, thinking a little bit before asking her something. “Do you… wanna talk about it?”

        “It’s nothing… I just miss my family…” Velvet sighed. “It’s all foggy… Coco and the others say they also are having trouble remember people from our old lives…”

        “I…… don’t know what to say…” Sun said, feeling down about that when he heard that. The Faunus wasn’t sure how to help her, especially with the fact that unlike them, he was able to reunite with some of his family members and not forget them.

        “Faces, names… I can remember doing things, and the feeling, but I can’t remember the order… I know Fox and Yatsuhashi are having similar dreams. Coco says she can easily remember you and the team… It’s just all so surreal...”

        “I… don’t know how I can help…” Sun said in defeat… before asking her something. “Has anyone else had similar dreams? Like outside your team?”

        “I don’t know… I don’t ever talk to anyone and neither does Fox, Coco’s too busy and Yatsuhashi’s tight lipped about the matter.” Velvet replied. The Faunus sighed, partially down since he didn’t know how he could help. But when he opened to the front page of the newspaper… what he saw had him drop the paper on the table.

        “You gotta be kidding me…” Sun said, groaning a bit as he scratched the back of his head. “And just when I thought the story on Torchwick several weeks back was one thing…”

        “Another Displaced?” Velvet asked.

        “Yeah, this time it’s someone different,” He said, showing the picture on the front page of the paper, which was of a man that resembled General Ironwood standing next to Princess Cadence. “According to this, this person, who goes by Ironwood, is planning to assist Captain Shining Armor with not only the Crystal Empire military, but the establishment of a school to help ponies who aspire to be the next generation of protectors called Atlas Academy.”

        “That’s… Actually a good idea.” Velvet shrugged. “So… What do we do about it?” Before Sun could reply though, they soon happened to have a visitor come inside as she looked back at them.

        “Oh thank Celestia, I’m glad I found you.” Twilight replied, gasping for breath as she looked at them. Which, in turn, caused Sun and Velvet to look at her as the Alicorn was taking a couple of moments to catch her breath so she could be able to speak.

        “Are you okay Twilight?” Velvet asked, concerned for the Princess.

        “W-we… We…” Twilight said, taking a moment to breath as he looked back at them. “Princess Cadence is inviting us to the Crystal Empire to come meet them… I’m sure you heard the news about what’s going on in the world?”

        “Just found it on the front page in the paper this morning.” Sun explained to her. “Why, what’s up?”

        “We’re being invited to the Crystal Empire to speak with Ironwood… and for the possibility that Beacon can be partners with them once Atlas Academy is established.” The Alicorn finished. “Ozpin’s already chose who he wants to come with him to the empire… and he chose both of you.”

        “M-me!? I get Sun, but why would Ozpin want me to go? I barely understand my weapon let alone get people…” Velvet said, her ears curling down.

        “He’s concerned that Coco would possibly make a scene along with Ruby and her team, Penny and a couple of others. Don’t worry. It’s not going to be just you two. I’ll be coming with Spike, Starlight and Sage as well and I believe Ozpin was going to ask the other members of your team if they would be available.” Twilight told them. “Though, I was recently told that Neptune and Scarlett would be helping out around the Academy in your guys place, so that leaves either Fox or Yatsuhashi for if they want to come.”

        “What about Reese’s team?” Sun said… before realizing what he said. “Nevermind, forget that I asked.”

        “JNPR?” Velvet added. “At least Pyrrha and Ren?”

        “Pyrrha’s staying behind and Ren’s having to watch Nora since she’s working a double shift at Sugarcube Corner and I’m not sure what exactly Jaune would be doing.” The Alicorn then added. “Don’t worry. We won’t be leaving immediately, so it’ll give you some time to pack. I know Discord’s helping with Fluttershy, so she’ll be okay while you’re away, Sun.”

        “Okay…… Is there anything we might be overlooking, Velvet?” Sun asked her.

        “Who’s going to watch over them? The ones we wouldn’t dare bring?” Velvet asked. “Also now that I think about it, Coco’s a lot more responsible than Ozpin gives her credit for.”

        “Yeah… but after Aya happened to tell Ozpin about the incident in Manehattan when she was drunk… Ozpin didn’t want to risk anything.” That had Sun deeply sigh to himself as he looked back at her. Of course, Aya would happen to share that story with him. Even after Coco tried making amends with her most recently. “I would think it’s likely that Fox may be able to come though. He seemed… interested when I originally told him about it.”

        “Fox doesn’t get out as much as he’d like to…” Velvet stated.

        “So it may be good for him…” Sun said to himself before looking back at Twilight. “Anything specific we should pack?”

        “Not really. It may be Spring, but it’s just like any other city in the north part of equestria.” Twilight replied. “I’ll let you know when it’s time to get ready. The train will be leaving sometime this afternoon and I’m going to have to double check with the ponies at the station.” With that, the Alicorn left the room… leaving only Velvet and Sun in the same room.

        “Well… Would you like me to help you with helping you understand your weapon?” Sun asked her in response while taking out his and setting it on his shoulders. “We do have some time before we’ll be going to the Crystal Empire.”

        “No… I’d rather not.” Velvet replied. “Let me go get changed and I’ll meet you at the station.”

        “It’s still early.” The faunus replied as he looked back at her. “Twilight said something about the train leaving this afternoon and it’s only 10 o’clock. Plus, since all I really need is a second pair of clothes and some dust crystals, I’m set. I just thought I’d offer a helping hand.”

        “Sun, that’s great and all, but I’m not comfortable… Doing anything with anyone outside of my team.” Velvet replied, looking down.

        “Okay… I just thought I would offer and try to help you.” Sun replied, looking back at her before going to Fluttershy in order to inform them on the news that Twilight had just told them.



Later…

        “These seats are small.” Fox stated simply.

        “Well, Normally, the seats are accustomed for that of one or two ponies…” Twilight told him as she decided to take a seat right next to him while everyone else was getting adjusted. Velvet was seated not far from where Sun was and Ozpin sat across from them down the aisle. Sage himself was getting a drink at the dining car while they were conversing among themselves. Spike and Starlight were also in the same section that Ozpin and Sage were seated too. Though, it was shortly after they were all seated as the train was moving that Twilight had a question for them. “So…… do you guys happen to know anything about this… Ironwood person we are going to meet?”

        When Sun heard that, he looked back to Fox and Velvet before looking towards the Alicorn. “Well… that may be a bit hard to explain… You’re familiar with how we all originated as Displaced from RWBY right?”

        “And how each of you were dressed as characters from a series only to be sent as them?” Twilight repeated the definition of Displaced in ‘simple terms’ as Sun nodded his head in response. “Is Ironwood like you then? Like a student at a school?”

        “No no… He’s rather different. In fact, he reminds me a bit of Ozpin,” Sun said, before actually looking towards him and then saying a couple of words. “No offense.”

        “None taken… Though, I do agree with some of what Mr. Wukong is trying to say…” Ozpin spoke up, before allowing Sun to continue.

        “Ironwood in RWBY is known for being courteous to others and tactical when the situation calls for it,” Hearing that at first had Twilight’s ears perk up and she seemed very hopeful and eager to meet him… until the second half of the faunus’ statement was said. “However, he can be incredibly blunt, arrogant and… you guys know any other way to describe him?” Sun asked, looking at Fox and Velvet and seeing if they want to pitch in on the conversation.

        “He’s an arrogant and stubborn man who thinks that he’s doing the right thing and doesn’t think things through. But this man may be different.” Fox added. Which brought up a valid point. There was no point in knowing if this Ironwood was actually like the Ironwood from RWBY itself.

        “Fox is right on that,” they heard Sage as he came back into the car and sat down across from Ozpin. “We’re not quite sure if this Tin Man here is not like the real thing.”

        “Tin Man?” Twilight then spoke up. “Don’t you mean Tin Mare? Like from the Wizard of Oz?” That had Sun look back at Fox and pretty much everyone else that wasn’t either a pony or a dragon as they were quite surprised by this comment. They didn’t even know that Equestria had an equivalent to the Wizard of Oz in this world.

        “Exactly…” Ozpin himself now spoke up. “I’m not sure if Mr. Wukong had mentioned this to you, but the characters in RWBY all had a specific allusion to different characters in stories, fables and old tales. Ironwood himself was based on the Tin Man, or Tin Mare in your case, from the same story.”

        “That… explains a lot of things I was just thinking about.” Twilight thought to herself, before looking at Fox for a moment. “I would want to ask some more questions, but perhaps we could save that for another time. Do you have any questions for us?” That… lead to Sun realizing something. Besides Twilight, Starlight, Spike… and maybe Ozpin, no one else knew what the Crystal Empire actually was… or anything about it.

        Which, lead to the princess, her student and also her assistant giving them a crash course on the Empire itself, it’s origins, the culture… and pretty much almost everything about it. But when they were talking about the crystals themselves in the empire and some of them could be controlled with magic and such, all that made Sun think about at the time was about Dust. Perhaps Dust and these crystals were somehow… similar to one another.

        He was thinking about it all the way to the point that he only snapped back to reality once the train was beginning to slow down and the announcement came from the speaker system about their arrival. “Attention Everypony, we have arrived at Crystal Station. I repeat, we have arrived at Crystal Station. Thank you and we hope you have enjoyed your trip on the Friendship Express.”

        “Well, looks like we’re here!” Twilight gleefully cheered, teleporting out of her seat and knocking over Fox onto the floor of the train accidently. “Oh… Whoops. Sorry, Fox. I didn’t mean to knock you over like that.”

        “It’s… Fine…” Fox groaned, rubbing his head. He stood up slowly, before slowly making his way outside. With Sun and everypony else soon following them outside as they were greeted by a pink alicorn that was just as tall as Luna… along with a white unicorn with a blue mane and tail. Who’s focus was on him, Sun and Velvet.

        “Uh… Cadence, do we need to get a guidepony out here. It looks like one of our guests can’t see-” That comment lead to Cadence elbowing him in the shoulder… and for the person he was talking about to actually comment in response. Much to his surprise.

        “I may not see, but my hearing’s top notch.” Fox said, his face blank. “Meaning I heard you.”

        “O… kay, Shiny, Cadence… I would like you to meet some of my friends that came with us to see you. This is Fox Alister, Sun Wukong, Velvet Scarlatina, Sage Ayana and lastly, the Headmaster and Director at Beacon Academy, Professor Ozpin.” Each one of them greeted the royal couple in their own specific manner before Ozpin went as far to thank them for the opportunity to visit the Empire and it’s people.

        “We’re glad to be able to have the chance to meet each and every one of you. Come follow us inside…” Cadence offered, having their guests follow the two of them inside the walls of the empire and allowing for them to take in the sight of the marvelous city and everything that was inside the Empires walls. “We’re still trying to get a few things straightened out, but Mr. Ironwood has been helping us out a lot recently. Especially with the Grimm that had surfaced.”

        Now that was one thing that caught them by surprise. Especially Twilight with how concerned she would be for her brother and for his family. “Grimm were spotted in the Empire?”

        “Oh yes… When we first had sightings of them though was when we also found Ironwood. He’s been helping train Shining Armor and the rest of the guard on how to fight the grimm as well as help the establishment of Atlas,” Cadence replied in response to the question. “Speaking of which… there he is.”

        Ironwood stepped forward, hands behind his back. “Thank gosh I’m not the only one here. No offence to you ponies, but it’s always good to have others who know some of the same things that you do.”

        “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ironwood,” Ozpin replied, offering a hand for the fellow human to shake. “Or is there another name you would like for me to address you by?”

        “My previous name wouldn’t fit me anymore.” Ironwood replied, taking Ozpin’s hand. “I hope this will be a fruitful venture.”

        “Fair enough. I just figured that you would still be comfortable with your old name before deciding to change.” Ozpin replied as the two of them shook hands. It was when they shook though that Ironwood happened to notice both Sun and Velvet not far from them… and how Sun’s tail and Velvet’s ears were plain in sight.

        “I hope this isn’t too rude, but does it feel to have body parts that you didn’t have before?” Ironwood asked. Which, had Sun raise an eyebrow as he looked at Velvet for a moment before formulating an answer.

        “Oh, it took a lot of adjusting for me to get used to this… and it’s probably going to take more to get adjusted to this.” He said, pointing to the burning end of his tail before looking at Velvet. “Velvet, what do you think?”

        “It… Hurt at first. Sometimes they have a mind of their own.” Velvet replied. At that, Ironwood nodded.

        “An odd question I had a long time ago. Anyways, I have a proposition I want you all to hear.” Ironwood stated. “Let’s speak in private.”

        “Lead the way then.” Ozpin replied, looking back at Ironwood and letting him guide them inside.

        “I want to make an organization dedicated to protecting this land.” Ironwood began. “Drive back the Grimm and protect everyone- er, everypony. A union of ponies and our kind. Atlas Academy’s just one step to a broader plan.”

        “That’s what we’re going for Beacon…” Twilight replied, looking back at him. “Yet, there’s a lot more to Beacon than you may think…”

        “No Twilight…” Fox interjected. “Beacon isn’t here to protect Equestria. It’s to train Displaced. Beacon’s focused on other problems outside of the Grimm.”

        “And Atlas will be the foundation of Equestria’s new defence force. Equestria’s new guardians.” Ironwood said simply. “From what Sunburst has told me, Grimm activity since Beacon was completed is at an all time high.”

        “It’s something we’re aiming to combat yes… and I do believe having a partner to take on the problem head on is indeed valuable.” Ozpin replied. “Though, what exactly is the plan for your force?”

        “I’m glad you asked.” Ironwood began. “Atlas Security. Ensuring Equestria’s safety. Ponies and Humans working together.”

        “He wants to build a military power using ponies…” Velvet commented, glaring at Ironwood.

        “No, no, you misunderstand. I’m developing technology that can act as the cannon fodder while the pony volunteers act as Hunters and Huntresses.” Ironwood corrected her.

        “Ironwood is suggesting for us to start off with developing new tools for the guard to use in handling the Grimm since most of the equipment we have is…” Shining paused before looking at the sword on Sage’s back and the gauntlets on Fox’s wrist. “Not as advanced as some of the weapons that you may possess. We mostly still have suits of armor and spears, but eventually, as Atlas continues to grow, he’s hoping to develop a way to remove the need for equine soldiers so they won’t get harmed by the potential threats they might face.”

        “That… is rather impressive if I do say so myself.” Sage complimented them. Sun himself was liking the idea as well, even though a thought in the back of his mind wanted to see or hear more about it. To which, he had to internally silence as Ironwood was speaking again.

        “And unlike in the show, I plan the control center to be as far away from the prison cells as possible.” Ironwood added. “Though that’s only a dream. It’ll be a miracle if we can even be able to produce the weapons into mass production.”

        “I see…” Ozpin said in an amused tone. “What about Atlas Academy? Do you already have ideas for that?”

        “Yes. It’ll be a school for ponies to train in becoming a Huntsmen or Huntress.” Ironwood stated. “Where they can either join the military or serve as an independent Hunter.”

        “I’m pleased to hear that,” Ozpin replied. “One of the original concerns I had was of some of the practices that Atlas Academy in the series had placed on their students.”

        Twilight herself, at that statement, was partially confused. “What do you mean by that?”

        “Atlas… Wasn’t the most helpful ally Vale had… They were pretty incompetent and stubborn, and way too militaristic.” Velvet said weakly.

        “And I plan to make Atlas a symbol of peace. Anywhere that needs us, will get our support as long as they’re willing.” Ironwood said. “Now, I have to ask… Why bring so many Huntsman and Huntresses? We’re only talking.”

        “Well, I wanted to have a few of those who are in Beacon to come see the empire for itself and have the chance to see if there is anything we could do to assist you with the development of Atlas.” Ozpin offered. “Plus, with what you said on the Grimm, I was concerned that the guards might be having some trouble with keeping the walls safe.”

        “We’ve been doing what we can to hold off any attacks that the grimm try to do,” Shining explained. “We have archers that have been utilizing special arrows that have arrowheads made out of something that Ironwood calls ‘dust’ and the city is protected by a barrier for emergencies.”

        One part of that sentence though… caught Sun by surprise. “Wait, you guys know about Dust?”

        Shining himself nodded his head. “Because of the crystal heart, some of the crystals that normally just either grow from the ground like plants and such appear alongside them. However, unlike normal crystals, these Dust that you speak of react to the presence of ponies and humans, like Mr. Ironwood…” That lead to a question forming in the unicorn’s mind as he looked back at the Faunus now. “Though… that does make me wonder… how do you know about it?”

        “We know a couple of people back at Beacon who use Dust, whether it’s for spells or forging weapons like Raven.” Twilight then spoke up. “I’ve been trying to find the similarities and differences between Dust and Magic, but with everything going on back in Ponyville, I’ve been rather busy. Had to clear some things from my schedule today to see you guys.”

        “Anyways…” Ironwood continued. “I wouldn’t mind having a few Huntsmen and Huntresses move here to join Atlas. Of course, you should probably tell the others from where you came from and talk about it then.”

        “That… we will make sure to do,” Ozpin replied back. “On that note, was there anything else that you wished to talk about while we are here?”

        “Not really. I haven’t had much time in the Empire, and I’m still reeling slightly from… Well, all of this. You all understand, right?” Ironwood smiled for the first time since they’d met.

        “Well, glad to know I was of help.” Fox said sarcastically before he began to walk away.

        “Fox!” Velvet shouted, before chasing after him.

        “It… takes a bit of adjusting before you can get yourself settled in,” Sun sighed, before looking to Sage for a second. “However, the process in which that happens… may be different for some people… I’m just going to step outside for a moment.”

        “I’ll come with you too.” Sage then added, before both of them left the room. Leaving Twilight and Ozpin with Ironwood, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.

        Yet, when the pink alicorn looked back at Ozpin, she seemed… curious about something. “Pardon me for interrupting, Mr. Ozpin, but would you happen to know of my aunts? Celestia and Luna?”

        Ozpin turned to face her, surprised by the sudden question out of the blue as he looked back at Cadence. “Why yes actually, I helped raise them when they were young-”

        “Wait a minute…” Shining then interjected. “Are you trying to say that you're just as old as they are? That would mean you’re over a thousand years old-” The stallion had to shut up though the moment that Cadence then glared at him, causing him to apologize for his outburst.

        “A… What?” Ironwood was lost.

        “I… had arrived here much longer than that of yourself, Mr. Ironwood,” He spoke up, looking back at him. “Some of the others back in beacon have also been around for the same amount of time I have been here. Yet, as time passed, we continued on. We did not age… we did not grow old… and in my time of being here, I have seen many things… and I want to do whatever I can to help those in need now more than ever. Especially against the Grimm.”

        “What about the Grimm?” Shining then added.

        “They’re the reason why I had to raise Celestia and Luna as orphans… The Grimm killed their parents when they were little and I had to raise them on my own… It’s a long story, but I don’t think this is the time or the place to be discussing such things…” Ozpin finished his sentence before looking to Twilight. “If there isn’t anything else that needs to be addressed, then I believe we should take our leave soon.”

        “Very well…” Ironwood replied. “If you need anything, I’ll be happy to help… Though… There is something I’m a bit worried about.”

        Ozpin himself, raised an eyebrow as he looked back at Ironwood. “Yes? What is it?”

        “When I first woke up here, I swear I saw another human running in the opposite direction of the Empire…” Ironwood stated.

        “You did?” Ozpin asked. “Do you remember anything about them? Any features at all?”

        “All I remember was that they had white hair. They were walking away, so I didn’t see their face. I think it was a man though.” That… had Ozpin thinking to himself before looking back at him.

        “I’ll go through my files at Beacon to see if there are any potential connections. I’ll be sure to contact you if I do find anything,” Ozpin told him, before he walked out of the room with Twilight and Spike. That was… before saying one last thing. “Thank you for having us here… General.” With that, the door closed behind them, leaving Shining and Cadence with Ironwood as Ozpin and the others departed to catch the train home.



Meanwhile...

        As he walked through the dark and dimly lit halls of the Hive, many things were going through Adam’s mind. Sure, there were a few setbacks involving his partnership with Torchwick and also the betrayal of one of his own. But, he did not let that affect him one bit. Additionally, he began taking extra precautions to make sure of that.

        Which, as he was walking to the cell of the betrayer, Ilia Amitola, the faunus himself wanted to be sure that she would not betray him or the White Fang again as he looked at one of the drones that was nearby. “You there,” He said, which made the changeling drone stand at attention as Adam stood in front of them. “I want an update on the reformation process… now.”

        “Sir, we’ve been working on the reformation process over the course of the last few days. It should be enough in order for her to listen to your orders directly since we took the time to make sure that she doesn’t succumb to her emotions.” The Drone replied, making Adam somewhat curious and intrigued by the positive news. Yet, he also wanted to be sure that the drone’s claims were as accurate as possible.

        “Let me be the judge of that… Open the cell door.” He ordered, causing the changeling drone to salute him as it unlocked the door to the cell as Adam stepped inside. The first thing he saw was darkness, but when his eyes adjusted to the darkness he saw Ilia in the far corner of the cell, curled up and shaking as she held her head, chanting to herself under her breath.

        “Ilia…” Adam spoke up, slowly approaching her as her head lifted up from the noise. Her eyes widened, and she curled up further, continuing her chanting. But this time, Adam heard her.

        “Please don’t hurt me… Don’t hurt me…” Ilia begged.

        “Ilia… I’m not here to hurt you…… I’m here to provide you a way out…” He spoke, going down on one knee so he could be on the same level as her. “If you pledge yourself to the cause… and to help our cause… you won’t feel pain anymore…” He waited for a few moments in order for that to sink in a little… before he said the most crucial part. “Now… Ilia… Are you ready to comply?”

        Ilia’s eyes became devoid of emotion. “I… Will comply…”

        “Good… Now, come with me…” He said as he turned towards the cell and began to leave. “We have a lot of work to do.” Both of the faunus soon left the cell as they began to make their way back to the main hall of their base. But it was then that Adam happened to see a face that he had not seen in a long time.

        “Well… Looks like things haven’t changed since I last came here…” A female voice was heard as the sound of heels against the floor echoed through the room. A figure appearing out of the shadows in the back as a black haired woman in a blood red dress soon approached the pair. “Oh? I didn’t know you had some new… additions to the cause.” The woman said upon noticing Ilia, who was behind Adam.

        “Cinder…… No one has heard from you in a few months and now you just show up out of the blue?” Adam asked, looking back at her. “Don’t get me wrong… It’s good to see you again, I’m just curious as to why you are here.”

        “Well…” She said, having two pieces of paper form cinder in between her fingers as she handed them to him. “A little birdy told me that there had been some recent… activity in the north that you would want to hear of… along with your newfound business partner.” When Adam had a look at the two pieces of paper, he found that the first one had a picture of a human standing alongside a few ponies, going over some blueprints… while the second one showed those same blueprints with the human when they were beginning to build something from the prototypes.

        “Where did you get these?” He asked, looking back at Cinder as she smirked.

        “In a little known kingdom called the Crystal Empire… word is, there is a person of interest named James Ironwood who is planning to develop new forms of technology, armor and weapons to upgrade the Crystal guard that is up in the empire.” She said, looking back at him. “Now… I would think that with time and a little bit of patience… something like this, which can compete on the scale of weapons of some of the others in that small village in the middle of the sticks, can be rather… useful for not just your revolution, but also your ‘business partner’.”

        That was when Emerald herself had also decided to enter the room and join the conversation. “That is true… Torchwick has stressed repeatedly that his men need better protection and weapons… Something like this could be the key to having our soldiers be on the same playing field as that of a huntsman… with the right modifications of course.”

        The leader of the White Fang himself… was all intrigued by this… and after some more thinking, he made a decision. “See it through then… Cinder, I want you to keep watch over the production of these weapons and keep in contact with Emerald. Meanwhile, Emerald, you are to inform Torchwick of what is going on and keep him in the loop. Make sure that he can get his hands on these weapons without any… accidents.”

        “Yes, sir.” both of them replied in response. But before Emerald could be able to leave, Adam mentioned something else just as Cinder left the room.

        “One more thing… Emerald, I want you to have Ilia with you on future assignments and report to me on her actions during missions,” He said, looking to the chameleon faunus for a moment before she looked back at Emerald. “She’s been undergoing some… treatment, so to speak… but I believe she will comply with anything you tell her… right, Ilia?”

        Ilia nodded. “I will comply…”

        “Good… then both of you are dismissed.” He then said, having Ilia and Emerald leave the room. As they left the room, Adam himself smiled  as he looked down the hall. Despite some setbacks… they were also able to gain new information on how to move forward in their operation.

        And when the time comes, no one will be prepared for the White Fang when they strike. All they need was time, weapons, equipment… and manpower.



Manehatten

        Torchwick was in the middle of playing a card game with himself, bored to tears. Ever since Sun had taken out his guards, specifically Sunflower, Roman had to force himself from not going after the one who did it. Mercury stood by the door, also bored, though with an obviously easier time quelling it.

        “Still nothing?” Mercury groaned. Torchwick took that back.

        “Yes, still nothing! Now go do whatever you do when I’m not here!” Torchwick fumed.

        Mercury rose his hands in defence, “Cool it, I’m not the one who humiliated you-” He started, but was cut off by Roman’s cane meeting his head. Black then made his way out. “Fine, fine!”

        Torchwick sighed as he sat back down. His partners weren’t helping him much with anything. He could barely keep his men in check after his encounter with Sun Wukong. Which, impacted how the rest of his business operated.

        “Something on your mind, Roman?” He heard the question, looking up to see Emerald along with one other girl standing right next to her. “I was wanting to have the chance to talk to you about some new information I happened to pick up on, but after your… outburst just now, I wasn’t sure if it was the right time to come see you.”

        “No! It’s fine, I’ve just had a bit if stress after banana boy.” Roman said, standing back up. “I’ve been dying to do something. You see, I’m a thief by nature, and I have a code I live by. One of those things is that I don’t tolerate others hurting my people. And I’m stuck between what I want to do and the logical thing to do which is not being an idiot and charge into a lost battle… So! Information. What’cha got?” Emerald herself took the chance to explain the situation… and to also give him the pictures that coincided along with it that served as proof.

        “So… New weapons in this stone age civilization. About time. You want me to hit this place and get some “samples”?” Roman asked, smirking.

        “When it’s time… A contact of ours has said that they are right now in the testing phase, but want to go full on production once the testing is complete.” Emerald explained to him. “And given how quickly some of these are being produced, that may be sooner than later… You have been saying that your men needed better protection and this may be what you are looking for… Now… in regards to your men… I have an idea as to what we can do.”

        “Expanding our army sounds wonderful. Do continue.” Torchwick said, smirking.

        Emerald smiled in response as she looked back at him. “Tell me… are there any groups that are seen as… rivals to your business?” She asked, looking back at him. “Any rival gangs?”

        “In Applewood, there’s a gang of bulls. They’re strong, and I would’ve taken care of them if they weren’t on the other side of Equestria.”

        “Hmm… What about locally in Manehattan?” Emerald asked. “I got an idea for expansion… but I want to know the rivals of your business…” She then thought of a perfect example for him to speak about. “Think of it like Chess… You take the king out of the picture and none of the pawns, rooks or any other pieces can do anything about it… Which, leaves you the chance to bring them under your wing.”

        “Hmm… Most of my rivals here have either joined up, moved on, or died… Except one. It’s a gang that’s a lot more secretive than mine, which has made tracking them tough… But I’m sure Mercury knows, we were working on disrupting them before our partnership. He’ll be able to help deal with them.” Torchwick replied, smirking. “I’ll talk to him soon enough.”

        “Good… Because my plans going to need Mercury for this…” She smirked, looking back at Torchwick. “You’re familiar with how my semblance works, yes?”

        Torchwick narrowed his eyes. “Yes… Why?”

        “Well… let’s just say that even though to us, it’ll be Mercury and Ilia doing all the work,” Emerald replied back, looking at him for a moment. “Someone else will be taking the fall for this… Like the old saying… The enemy of my enemy is my partner.”

        “I like that…” Torchwick grinned, before suddenly wrapping an arm around Emerald. “I really like that! You, my dear, are my favorite customer thus far!” Emerald smirked, even though the feeling of Torchwicks arm around her shoulder felt a bit uncomfortable after a few minutes. When she did have him remove it though, she looked back to him and Ilia for a moment before saying something else.

        “Let’s find Mercury and bring him up to speed… we got a lot of work to do to pull this off. But the results are going to be just what we need.”

        “And with those results, we’ll mop up the filth…” Torchwick added.




End Tail 30

> Tail 31- Flickering Deceit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Flickering Deceit




Manehattan

        Roman Torchwick lit a candle in a jack o'lantern outside of his base casually. “For the crooks in the city, places with these outside of them are under my gang’s protection. Except during Nightmare Night, then I just take them away.” He explained to Emerald as she stood across from.

        “And for a moment, I thought the pumpkins were disguised as explosives…” She chuckled a bit, before sighing as she looked back at Torchwick. “Sorry, that was based on something I remembered from my childhood… before Adam took me in that is.”

        “You sound like Mercury. Well, when I first met him. He’s since become more private.” Torchwick stated. “So, Adam’s like a father to you? He’s a scary guy.”

        “To some, yes…” Emerald replied. “But to Ilia and I, he see’s us like daughters… Originally, he told me that he used to have two daughters with another woman… but when they ended up here many years ago with two others, the longer that he stayed with them, the more that he felt like an outcast. So… he decided to cut off ties entirely… forgetting about his past life and embracing who he has become. Taking us in as adoptive daughters and raising us to help him achieve his goals.” She sighed at that, before looking back at Roman. “I thank him for everything… but recently, I’ve begun to wonder if some of his actions could be deemed as ‘necessary’ or not.”

        “Well, good thing you have me to retreat to.” Torchwick smirked at his own joke.

        “True… but, some of them happen shortly after previous… incidents,” Emerald explained. “Remember the monkey when we caught him snooping?”

        “Yeah, banana breath’s already a nuisance.”

        “When Adam got word of it, he had us capture him,” Emerald did as she recalled what she remembered seeing as the green haired girl looked back at Torchwick. “When we did, what… Adam did was something you might see as going too far.”

        “I’d rather not be any more afraid of my business partner anymore than I already am.” Torchwick stated.

        “Adam’s already explained that he won’t do anything to you as long as you don’t try to go turncoat,” She told him. “However, he already sees Sun as a traitor to the faunus… and gave him the scars and the brand to prove it.” That was when she set her scroll down as a holographic image of the faunus’ scars was shown briefly to Torchwick… that was, until she got a message from that of Ilia. Letting both of them know that her and Mercury had already reached the location for where they were going to hatch their plan.

        Emerald turned to Roman as she picked up her scroll. “Well, it seems like the pieces are in position,” she told him as she began to move to the door. “What’s our first move?”

        “I can’t attack myself, it’d be too obvious… You’ll have to take point on this. I’ll direct you.”

        “True…” Emerald replied back, “Like the old rhyme… Jack be nimble, jack be quick. Jack jumped over the candlestick… Though, this time. Jack’s going to get burned.” Closing the door behind her, Emerald began to receive coordinates that Torchwick was providing her as she had Mercury and Ilia be on standby.

        On her way over, she soon received a message on her scroll of the description for the hideout they were going to attack. ‘Red Brick building, old wooden door. Look for my symbol’. Of course, when she looked up, that was when he noticed that Torchwick had taken the liberty of spray painting a decal of his emblem on the door as Emerald rolled her eyes.

        “Merc, Ilia, I found the target… And it’s a big one.” Emerald told them through her scroll before placing it on the wall as it began to transmit a waypoint to both of them. “Can you two see what’s going on inside?”

        “Yeah, they’re unloading trucks of weapons… Lots of military grade weapons.” Mercury replied, shortly before Emerald began to get a video call from Roman as she now looked at him directly.

        “There was another reason I wanted to merge. They’re weapon smugglers that know tricks that even I don’t have. Taking them would guarantee an army’s worth of weapons.” Torchwick said to her through Emerald’s Scroll as she began processing this new information.

        Soon, Emerald now had an idea of what to do as she slid her finger and was now looking directly at Ilia. “Ilia… when this starts, I want you to kill the lights.” Another swipe of the finger and Emerald was looking directly at Mercury now, who looked to be on a nearby rooftop. “Merc, your goal is to make sure that none of the merchandise gets damaged… how you choose to do that I’ll let you decide.”

        “On it boss.” Emerald smirked, closing her eyes for a bit as she took out her guns. Her semblance began to slowly chance how she looked on the outside, while going a bit farther to change her voice. Once ready, she had one last thing to say.

        “Ilia… kill the lights.” She said simply. “It’s showtime.” In that moment, she was Emerald. But when the power was cut and she kicked the door down, startled all the ponies inside, she was someone completely different. Reese Chloris.

        “Wassup, b*tches!?” She shouted, beginning to open fire on everypony in the room that was trying to duck for cover. Several tried to fight back, but were taken down in mere seconds as Emerald acted like the loose cannon the girl she was pretending to be was. “Come on! Why is everyone running?! I’m NOT done yet!!!”

        “Don’t just stand there!!” One of the ponies ordered at the other henchmen, who Emerald believed was the one leading this group by how he was ordering everypony else around like they were his personal soldiers. “KILL HER!!!”

        Yet, even though they tried to stop her, each pony was sent flying into the wall or into one another, before Emerald continued to unleash a barrage of explosive green dust bullets in front of her. Being careful to not damage the ‘merchandise’ that Roman was also after. “You get a bullet! YOU get a bullet! EVERYBODY GETS A BULLET!!!!”

        “What is THAT THING-!?”

        “Excuse ME!?! I AM NOT A THING!!!” Emerald roared in anger as he shot the one commanding the other's point blank in the head. “MY NAME IS REESE CHLORIS!!! AND YOU WILL FEAR ME, B*TCHES!!!”

        While all this chaos was going on and when Emerald was finally able to dispose of their leader and the ponies that were seen as lieutenants, she took a moment to hide behind a carriage as they were firing crossbow bolts at her. Sending one simple message to Roman. ‘Showtime’.

        By that, it meant that Emerald was beginning to finish her rampage as she shot a fire extinguisher and caused a smokescreen, leaving her an opportunity to escape freely while a lot of the ponies inside were still trying to pick up the pieces of everything. “W-who or what the hay was that?”

        “Who cares about who they were. They killed the boss!!” Somepony else snapped. “What are we going to do now!? The guard will be here any minute and if they find out what we’ve been doing here, we good as done for!!”

        There was a lot more arguing amongst those who were inside, trying to decide what the best course of action would be. But… that was when one of them saw something outside as he turned to the other ponies. “Guys… You’re not going to believe this… You know the leader of the Candlewick Gang?”

        “What? That bowler hat freak with the cane?” Somepony else asked. “Why the hell should we care about-?”

        “He’s standing outside our hideout now.” That… lead to everypony else that was originally inside the complex to immediately go outside to see for themselves. 

        “Hello gentlemen! I couldn’t help but hear that nasty gunfire!” Torchwick grinned deviously.

        “The hell is he doing here? And now of all times?!” One of the ponies shouted as everypony left the warehouse in order to see Roman for themselves.

        “I was on my way to make a deal. I’m right here, so don’t act like I’m not.” The small crowd that gathered had erupted into a series of murmurs as they were discussing amongst themselves about what he just said. Only for one of them decided to speak out.

        “What deal are you talking about?”

        “Money for guns of course. Where’s your boss?” Torchwick asked, leaning into his cane.

        “...... He’s dead. Some… freak with light green hair just shot up the place and killed our boss. Called herself … Reese something I think it was,” One pony told him as they stepped forward to meet Torchwick in person. “They also killed some of the bosses acting lieutenants. I was the only one left, but that damned thing almost shot my eye out.”

        “Hmm… Well, looks like you’re all in need of a job. You were loyal to your boss, and I know who killed him.” Torchwick said, which caused a few ponies to gasp in shock and surprise. Some even were asking for who it was so they could track them down and make them pay for what they did.

        “Tell us!”

        “I will! You don’t have to shout… jeez…” Roman pulled out a cigar. “Only one problem. You’re all ill equipped. Your top dogs couldn’t stop her, and she’s allied herself with others of greater skill.” He lit his cigar and put it in his mouth. “Unless… no, you wouldn’t do that.”

        The remaining lieutenant, used a hoof to adjust a pair of cracked glasses that he was wearing as he looked back at him. “Do what exactly?”

        “Well, I’m amassing an army with the help of my partners. If you’d join us, either independently or under my protection, we’d be able to arm my partner's forces and be a step closer to destroying your attacker and her allies. I’ll give you a name and location, but, well, you wouldn’t last with how thoroughly she whooped your asses... no offense to the mule in the back.”

        “What? It’s a phrase, it has nothing to do with race.” The donkey replied.

        The pony who wore the glasses sighed as he looked back at everypony behind him… and also Torchwick. “As of now, we have little choice in the matter as to what we do… But let me assure you, some of us are not to be trifled with. Many of us were hired on by our boss to just order his men around… But, given our position, I think we have no other choice but to work alongside you.”

        “I suppose you’ll be in charge then. Perhaps I can get a name?” Torchwick asked.

        “Please… Call me Van.” The earth pony told him in response.

        Minutes passed, and eventually Torchwick bid them goodnight and walked into a nearby alleyway where he tossed the cigar into the trash while clearing his throat. “Damn I hate smoking, but it makes me look intimidating. Never use real ones but the fakes smell worse.”

        “I take it the operation went well?” He heard a familiar voice as Emerald soon stepped inside. “You got allies on your side and also the weapons you want.”

        “We want. I’m mostly content with my kinds of weapons. These weapons can’t even be acquired legally. High caliber crossbows, cannons, hood mounted blades, even ballista.” The gangster replied, before taking a moment to look back at Emerald and ask him a particular question. “Why’d you choose Van to live though?”

        “Before carrying this out, I looked more into the boss and his lieutenants. Unlike some of the others, Van’s last name is Wellspring. The Wellspring family are famously… and sometimes infamously known for being monster hunters and also those that hunt the supernatural. Most of them were taught how to make equipment for killing monsters at a young age and the weapons you were seeking out were those of their design.” Emerald explained to her. “And unlike the others, he’s already familiar with and actually killed Grimm when one of them murdered his father.”

        “Alright, makes sense. But he could turn into a problem.”

        “Wellsprings are known for their loyalty. To see something through to the end. However, it has gotten them in trouble in the past when laws were passed that made bat ponies legal citizens and the hunting of them a severe crime.” Emerald replied. “If anything does come up though, I’ll be sure to handle it with care.”

        “Good to know. Now, I have two more things we need to do before we report to Adam. My plan, by the way.” Torchwick said as he leaned against a wall. “Interested in joining?”

        “Would they require Mercury and Ilia to still be with us or would it be just you and I?” Emerald then asked, just as they heard Mercury and Ilia step through the door from the building Roman was leaned up against.

        “Nope! Torchwick has me on another assignment in Ponyville. I get to play innocent rookie.” Mercury said as he held in his snickering. “Ilia’s gotta go back to the Fang. Not sure they entirely trust her.” Ilia stayed silent. Though, that was when Emerald decided to speak up and get her attention.

        “What do you say, Ilia? Do you think you should go back to Adam and report on our current progress… or is there something that you think we need to take care of first?” She asked, waiting to hear her response.

        “Must… return.” Ilia muttered.

        “She’s pretty weird…” Mercury said and shrugged.

        “You are free to return back. Tell Adam of our current progress and what the next phase is in the plan.” Emerald replied back to Ilia, allowing for her to leave.

        Once she was gone, and Mercury followed suit, Torchwick turned to Emerald. “I wanted to test my new Huntress in action, and use that as a way to sneak a hint for banana breath’s group to actually attack Van. We’ll use that to solidify his loyalty to us. After that, we’re heading to a newly built dust mine and taking it over for Comet Tail’s finished gauntlet blaster.”

        “New Huntress?” Emerald raised an eyebrow. “Other than that mare, Sunflower? Or someone new entirely?”

        “It’s Sunflower. She’s finally recovered, and I don’t think I can stop her from trying to hunt banana breath down for stealing her sister. Any objections to my plan?” Torchwick asked.

        “No, but what if she tries to turn on us?” Emerald then asked. “Do you have a safeguard for that?”

        “Why would she turn on us? The Seed family are a loyal bunch. I gave her the roof over her family's head… and it all started when I made the evidence against her in her parents murder vanish~” Torchwick smirked, twirling her cane. “She’s worked for me ever since, and betraying me would bring that all back. But I’d rather not question her loyalty.”

        “True… But,” Emerald thought for a moment as she continued to walk with him. “Roman, do you happen to know what a ‘blood rage’ is? It was a term that Adam told me that he learned before he ended up here where one, if fueled by pain and rage, becomes blinded by it and can’t tell who’s friend or foe. And if we’re going to have Mercury there when Sunflower hunts down after Sun, he could get caught up in the crossfire.”

        “He’s preparing, that’s it.” The criminal replied as he twirled his cane idly. “He won’t be there when she attacks.”

        “Good to hear… With Sun in his condition right now, poor guy’s not going to know what hit ‘em. Almost makes me feel bad for him…” Roman saw a smirk on Emerald’s face as she looked back at him again. “Again… almost.”



Meanwhile

        “Coco, are you sure you want to have me practice fighting this soon after getting out of the hospital?” Sun asked her as the two of them were walking towards the combat arena used for training exercises at Beacon. It had been almost two days since Sun had gotten out of the hospital and he remembered that the doctor told him that he needed to take it easy so his injuries and muscles could heal. However, they did not specify how long this would take or what to do what he was out.

        Coco though… didn’t buy any of it. “Sun, you nearly died. You’ve been in bed for a long time. Try to take me out and we’ll see if you still have it.”

        “I get that, but if you had to choose one reason why I should ignore doctor’s orders, than what would that reason be?” He asked her, wanting to know her honest answer as they were getting closer to the entrance of the training hall.

        However, the answer that he got actually came from someone who was waiting outside in the hallway as Coco and Sun got closer. “Unlike us, most of ponykind… aside from a couple of exceptions don’t really know that our aura’s allow for you to heal injuries and wounds faster than normal,” They heard Ren tell them, who got up from being in meditation as he looked back at him. “Even though the scars you have are fairly new, the time you spent in the hospital and at home should’ve healed your muscles of any major injuries. I’m glad to see that there wasn’t anything severe.”

        “Hello to you too, Ren.” The faunus replied as Coco and him now faced Ren. “What brings you here to the training hall? I thought you would normally be keeping an eye on Nora.”

        “I am…” He deadpanned, pointing a finger to the arena. “She’s training right now while Ozpin and Twilight are overseeing everything today. As for who’s she’s facing… well…” That was when they heard Nora crying out in joy as she whacked Yatsuhashi into a wall that was across from where they were standing, using her hammer as it was a golf club.

        “FORE!!!” That just had Ren sigh for a moment as he looked to where Coco’s team mate was before looking back at Sun.

        “Let me help him. You guys go on inside.” The faunus did not need to say anything after that, going on inside as he took a seat near the entranceway and left a spot for Coco to sit down at too. As they came in, that was when Ozpin happened to notice both of them and decided to walk over and greet them personally.

        “Why hello there, Mr. Wukong. Ms. Adel. I didn’t expect either of you to be joining us for today’s sparring sessions given your… ordeal recently,” He sighed, looking back at Sun. Before the faunus could ask about how he knew about it, the headmaster answered his own question. “Twilight told me about what happened after you had been released from the hospital. I am really sorry to hear about that… Is your recovery going well?”

        “Yeah… for the most part,” The faunus replied back to him. “Coco thinks that I need to get back into shape though, given how my aura has been making my recovery a bit faster than normal.”

        “Well, the floor is free if you two want to do that. Though, I must caution for you not to strain your aura too much. Doing so could unintentionally make your condition worse if you two aren’t careful.” He replied, before looking back at Coco. “If I may ask… Ms. Adel, what sort of training did you have in mind for Mr. Wukong today?”

        “It depends on how well he does. Need to make sure he hasn’t gotten soft, you know.” Coco replied. “If he can beat me in hand to hand combat, then I’ll drop it. He is more experienced than me, from what everyone says.” Ozpin nodded his head in response as he looked back to both of them and agreed with what Coco said.

        “Why yes… Hand to Hand Combat could be a good starting point. There would not be a need to hand weapons until you think that Mr. Wukong has recovered enough.” Ozpin told both of them. “If you wish to start the training now, you are free to do so since no one else is scheduled to be on the floor after the match between Ms. Valkyrie and Mr. Daichi.”

        “Alright. Also, I wanted to ask where Penny is. She isn’t at her house or her dorm, and that weird girl with the blue hat isn’t anywhere either.” 

        That had Ozpin look back at her for a moment, taking a deep breath before he began to speak. “Well, that weird girl has a name. Her name is Ciel Soleil and she helps out Penny with certain tasks around campus. As for her whereabouts, she was here earlier… but after Ms. Nikos arrived with the rest of team JNPR, Penny and Ciel made a rather hasty exit. Not sure the reason why though… Was there a particular reason why you wanted to know about Ms. Poledina’s whereabouts?”

        “Penny’s been acting weird… -er. Weirder than usual. It’s weird.” Coco said, crossing her arms idly.

        That was when Sun decided to speak up as he looked at Coco. “How… weird exactly? Because she’s normally just as quirky as Ruby when she’s… yeah, I don’t think that’s the right kind of comparison.” He said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

        “She’s been avoiding everyone, and when I decided to check up on her at her place it looked like she hadn’t been there in days… I even asked around and the neighbors say they haven’t seen her in days.”

        That… made Sun concerned for a moment, especially since the last time that Penny had went off on her own, they found her all the way back in Applewood when they found team ABRN. “Do you think Ciel is with her? And if so, what’s the most likely place that they would go too?”

        “As much as I hate to admit, I don’t have any answers on both of those questions,” Ozpin sighed, readjusting his glasses before looking back at both of them. “Nevertheless, all the staff right now are keeping a look out for her and her companions and Ms. Branwen and Twilight were also able to inform everypony in Ponyville. If something comes up, we’ll be the first to know.”

        “I’m not sure I like that Ciel chick though… she came out of nowhere and hasn’t helped or even interacted with any of us outside of Penny…” Coco said, “We don’t know if she works with Adam. We already know of Torchwick and Emerald, but who says only the villains are working for him?”

        “I am well aware of the circumstances, yet we should not be hasty to judge a book by it’s cover,” Ozpin told them. “If anypony were quick to judge you, they would think more on your previous actions than what you are doing now, Ms. Adel.”

        “Yeah, well when you’re tired and start drinking, you think everything’s a dream. Honestly, why do you keep bringing that up?”

        “And how do you even know about that?” Sun asked in response.

        “I was informed by Ms. Twilight… But the point that I’m trying to stress is that not everyone is what they seem to be when meeting them for the first time. Ms. Ciel may seem as suspicious to you, but only because you haven’t had the opportunity to interact with her and understand her.” Ozpin told them, before looking to Twilight and noticed that she was being rather impatient. “Now, I believe you two have some sparring that you were going to do?”

        “Well then… You have to pin me.” Coco ordered as she cracked her knuckles.

        Sun just raised an eyebrow at that as he shook his head for a moment while getting up to follow her. “That can come out wrong to some people…” He muttered as the faunus followed Coco down to the ring. Setting his weapon off to the side while Coco set her handbag right next to it. “Should I take off the armguards or keep them on?”

        “I don’t care. Just come at me. You have five seconds.” Sun, oddly enough, didn’t expect for Coco to hurry up that fast. So, listening to what she told him to do, the faunus attacked first, leaping at her with a downward kick as the brunette dodged it. His plan was to try and use both his hands and feet in order to combat Coco and to topple her to the ground. But that didn’t prove to be as easy as he had hoped, as she grabbed one of his legs and lifted it up behind Sun until it caused him to faceplant into the dirt.

        “Heh, maybe I should be the teacher at Beacon. You can be teacher’s nerdy pet.” Coco snickered.

        “Right… I’m guessing we’re not just doing one round and that’s it right?” Sun asked. “Because I think this pet of yours still has some fight in him.”

        “Fine, but you’ve shown that you’re clearly not capable. Plant yourself a little more when you’re on the ground, otherwise you’re going to lose your footing.”

        “I just call that a warm up,” Sun told her in response, stretching out his shoulders. “Remember, I’m still getting back into the swing of things.”

        “Yeah, your face warmed up thank to the dirt!” Coco bellowed as she leaned a hand on one of her knees. Only to see Sun smirking a bit when he looked back at her. “I don’t think you’re smiling if from my joke.”

        “Nope, I’m just a little surprised by the one thing you’re not paying attention too.” It was around then that Coco looked down as she noticed Sun’s tail wrapping around her outstretched leg, using his strength to make her fall forward as Sun rolled to the side and prepared to put her in a hold. “Out of all the things, I’m kind of surprised that my tail was one of the things you didn’t take into account… Still, the score’s tied. You took me down once and I took you down once.”

        Coco snickered. “I said you have to pin me.” When she said that, Sun was kicked twenty feet away. Adel stood up, unphased. “I let you catch me off guard. Wanted to see if you even remember the goal. I’ll give you one more try, before I’m becoming your instructor. By the way, my uncle was a sensei at a dojo, so I’m fully capable of kicking your butt with Coco’s and my own skill.”

        “Right… and just when I thought you were joking around when you said that.” He groaned, before looking back at her. “Alright… if we're going to do one more, then we should do it differently.”

        “If I may…” Both of them looked to Twilight, who was watching over them. “I can keep track of your aura through some of the contraptions up here. How about we do it to where the first combatant to have their aura drop to a certain percentage loses the match?”

        “Hunh…” Sun thought it over, before looking at Coco. “Just like with the Vytal Festival… What do you think, Coco?”

        “How about a time limit? Something strict. One minute, and the one with the most aura wins.” Coco stated.

        “So a One Minute Melee then?” Sun asked in response. “I’m all for that. Twilight, can you-?”

        “Timer’s already set and both of you are ready it seems like.” The alicorn said as she had her hoof over the button to start the timer, shortly before pressing it. “Begin!!”



Elsewhere…

        Ciel Soleil sat on a tree stump at the edge of the Everfree Forest as she fiddled with the inners of her watch. She wasn’t that much of a person in order to interact with others, however, it was while she was sitting there that she happened to hear the sounds of someone walking out of the Everfree. “Aw man… ‘This is just a simple patrol’ Scarlet said… Simple patrol, my-” When she turned around, that was when she saw a blue haired man walk out of the forest and put what she thought was his weapon on his back. “Oh… hello. Aren’t you that girl that’s with Penny most of the time? Ciel, right?”

        “Affirmative…” With that, Ciel continued to fiddle with her watch, minding him no mind.

        “What are you doing out here on your own? Are you waiting on someone?” He asked, sounding a bit concerned for her.

        “Your concern is noted, but I have my own reasons for being here. I’m about as close to the Everfree Forest as the butterfly pegasus.” Ciel replied emotionlessly.

        “Oh uh… I’m sorry, is it personal? Because I didn’t mean to bother you at all,” Neptune replied. “I just thought I would see if you are okay because some of the others at Beacon noticed that you and Penny haven’t been seen lately. Even Coco’s getting kind of concerned.”

        “Concern is not required,” Ciel stopped messing with her watch. “My reasons for being out here are personal, in a way. Nothing silly like sentimentality, revenge or concern.”

        “Alright, I understand… but what about Penny?” He then asked her. “Normally, she’s seen with you and since we haven’t seen her recently, people have been concerned.”

        “She’s running an errand for me. She’s been desiring a purpose, and none of you were doing it for her.”

        That… made Neptune realize that. “Oh… I-i’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do to help, but with us building the academy, Sage has been having me on patrol duty to search for any signs of Grimm… If there is anything we can do though in order to make things better, just tell us and we can help out as best as we can.”

        “Penny doesn’t need any of you. She’s already told me that you constantly forget about her. Now, leave me to my work.” That… made Neptune a little worried as he looked back at her for a moment.

        “Can you… at least tell me where she is? Ozpin and everyone have been searching for both of you, so if I could-” 

        “She’s in the Everfree looking for special sap.” Ciel replied simply. “Though her living arrangements are with me. I need to be near in case of a malfunction.” That… eased things for Neptune a bit. Until he remembered something.

        “Wait… Sap? As in Red Sap?” He asked. “You mean the one that attracts Rapier Wasps and Grimm?”

        “Much more rare. It fetches a huge price for its restorative powers, but it’s only located in the Everfree, deep inside. It’s something Rapier Wasps don’t bother, besides the queen herself.” Ciel stated calmly. To which, it eased Neptune’s concerns as he looked back at her. He wanted to ask something else, but wasn’t quite sure if it borderlined the ‘personal’ reasons for being out here.

        So instead, he asked something different. “Would you like for me to wait here with you? I rather not leave you out here to fend for yourself while Penny’s looking for that sap.”

        “I’ll be fine, I’m not helpless.” Ciel looked up at Neptune. “What do you want?”

        “Not really anything. I just thought I could try to help you out, that’s all.” He explained to her, just as Ciel noticed something that was going on behind him.

        “Huh, looks like you have more pressing concerns.” Ciel muttered. Neptune was going to ask what she was talking about, but upon turning around and looking in the direction of the Royal Guard, that was when he noticed what she was referring to.

        “What the-? What are the Royal Guard doing here?”

        “Maybe you should go see instead of pestering me…” Ciel told him, which soon lead to Neptune running on back to Beacon as fast as he could.

        He had a very bad feeling about what was going to happen.



        “Fifteen seconds left in the match, you two…” Twilight told both of the competitors in the ring. “Give it everything you got!!” Sun himself, listening to the Alicorn’s encouraging praise, was in the middle to timing when it was appropriate in order to attack his opponent and when it was appropriate to defend himself. Someone like Ruby would just attack wildly with reckless abandon and hope something would work. But Sun was different. He waited for opportunities in order to strike and make sure that he put his aura behind it too.

        This, of course, was demonstrated when Coco overextended one of her attacks, which lead to Sun using his next right jab to expose the opening she created as she was pushed to the edge of the ring. “Ten seconds left… let’s make it count.” After Sun said that, he was kicked into a tree as Coco yawned.

        “Honestly Sun, you’ve lost your touch.”

        Yet, the faunus himself, using his semblance, had a clone farther behind as he flipped mid flight. Letting the clone explode as he used the blast wave to push himself back in Coco’s direction to deliver a swift roundhouse kick. “I’m still getting back into it… But I’m learning as I go. You are a good teacher after all.”

        Of course, the compliment was rather short lived. Not by what was going on inside of the ring… but what was about to occur outside of it. It first started when Ren noticed something… off as he got up and backed up away from the door. Heading over to where Ozpin was. But before he could be able to say anything… “Hey, there she is!! Grab her!!!”

        “What!? What’d I do!?” Reese screamed before jumping onto her hoverboard and speeding away. Everyone in the training hall soon stopped what they were doing as they heard that. Even going as far as having Coco and Sun put their fight on hold.

        After Coco punched Sun in the face one last time. “Oww… Was that last blow really necessary, Coco?”

        “I dunno. Was it Twilight?” Coco asked the alicorn.

        “Technically, the timer had already hit zero before Coco hit Sun… However, I’m more concerned with the reason why the Royal Guard are all the way out here,” Twilight told them as she got up from her seat and flew down to where the two of them were standing. “They don’t normally come all the way out here unless it’s an emergency or they’re trying to capture a pony who’s a suspect in a crime.”

        “Why were they after Reese though? She’s been improving… mostly.” Coco said. To which, Sun raised an eyebrow at that. Puzzled by what she meant by ‘mostly’.

        “Hey… do the guards need a warrant in order to carry out an arrest?” Ren then asked Twilight as she nodded her head. “Oh no… Then this is bad.”

        “How bad-?”

        “Ms. Chloris,” They heard the voice of one of the guards outside boom throughout the hallway. “You are under arrest for the murders of several ponies in the city of Manehattan to the first degree and numerous other charges. You have the right to remain silent and anything that you will say will be used against you in a court of law.”

        “Wait, what murders?” Reese asked.

        “Last night, a massacre occurred in the northeast of Manehattan that left over 17 ponies dead and many critically injured. Witnesses described the suspect fitting your description and even going as far as to shout your own name, Reese Chloris, while going on a violent shooting rampage at midnight last night.” The acting guard in charge informed her as Sun, Coco, Ozpin, Twilight and a couple others stepped out into the main hall to see what was going on.

        They found four guards, each one of them wearing armor as two of those that were unicorns were using magic to restrain Reese, one earth pony was carrying the hoverboard that belonged to her and the last guard, a pegasus, was reading her rights and details of the incident before telling the other guards three words. “Take her away.”

        “Excuse me, gentlemen,” All of the guards turned once they heard Ozpin speak. “I would prefer for you to not manhandle one of my students in such a manner unless you explain to us the full extent of what is going on.”

        The guard that was the pegasus turned around, looking directly at Ozpin. “And just who would you happen to be?”

        “Beacon Academy’s Headmaster,” He clarified for them. “Professor Ozpin at your service.”

        “Well, ‘professor’, one of your students is being seen as a prime suspect in a massacre that took place in Manehattan last night. We are planning to file charges-”

        “Sir,” Ozpin spoke up. “I can assure you that all the students who were at Beacon weren’t in the city of Manehattan at the time. In fact, if I recall correctly, criminal prosecution is supposed to take a suspect into question them of any wrongdoing before charges can be filed.” That… made the pony blink for a moment, before turning to his colleagues as they too were also stunned. “In addition to this, isn’t there supposed to be an investigation?”

        “There is one. Currently, our only suspect is Ms. Chloris over there,” The head of the small group replied. “And before you interrupted me, I was going to say that we needed to take her in for questioning before we can determine how to proceed.”

        “Then may I come along?” That… surprised Sun for a moment and a few others that were with him. “If you wish to take her in for questioning, that is fine… yet, if I’m there, Ms. Chloris can be calmer and also easier in order to ask questions.”

        That had the guards talk amongst themselves for a moment, before the pegasus looked back to Reese as he turned to Ozpin. “Alright. You may come along. But I’m watching you.” With that, the four ponies began to have Reese come with them as Ozpin followed the small group. All while Sun and the others stared in disbelief.

        “W-what… the hell… just happened?” Sun asked, personally trying to wrap his head around everything that just happened.

        “I think Reese was arrested… Not even we’re safe from the law.”

        “But she wasn’t in Manehattan at the time… was she?” Sun asked.

        “Ozpin believes so… Perhaps he thinks there’s more to it than we might think?” Twilight suggested, before looking down the hall for a moment and then asking a particular question. “Where are the rest of her teammates? Can’t they testify to tell them where Reese was?” That was a rather… appropriate question. Where in the world was the rest of her team right around now?

        “I’ll have to tell ABN…” Coco said in response.

        “Do you need some help?” The faunus asked, offering to help her out. Only to look back at her and see the glare on her face. “Yeah nevermind… stupid question.”

        “I’ll see you in a bit. Then we’ll go to Manehatten.” Coco stated. To which, surprised both Sun and also Ren. Who just happened to be nearby.

        “Wouldn’t law enforcement be still conducting an investigation and collecting evidence?” He asked in response. “They might have the area blocked off.”

        “That hasn’t stopped us before!!” Nora came in from out of nowhere and tossing something to Sun and then posing dramatically with her weapon. “Here! You might need these since you’ll be ON THE CASE!!”

        However, the faunus… wasn’t really amused. “Junior Detective’s badge…? Really?”

        “Yep! I even have another badge for your friend and fake mustaches!!” Nora replied back joyfully. “Pinkie gave them to me.”

        “Of course she did.” Twilight sighed in response.

        “Alright, so Arslan’s already left for Manehatten…” Coco sighed as she returned. Which, surprised Sun and Twilight because of how quickly they heard this.

        “What about Bolin and Nadir? Are they staying behind or are they with her?” Ren then asked Coco.

        “They’re on a mission. Grimm down south that have been heckling Appleloosa. Could be a problem in the future.”

        Soon though, that had Ren think of an idea as he looked back at both Sun and Coco. “I can go down there and inform them of what’s going on while you two go after Arslan.” He suggested. “Twilight can be able to take care of things here and I can have Nora come with me to provide backup for them. Pyrrha is still helping Jaune with combat training, so you can have the two of us back up the two of them.”

        “They don’t need backup.” Coco deadpanned. “Fox and a few other students went with. They’ll be fine.”

        “I wasn’t aware of that, my apologies for presuming.” Ren told them as he and Nora walked down the hall. “Hey Sun, I believe Neptune just returned from his patrol. He seems to be looking for you.” Hearing that, The faunus soon began to make his way into the center of the main hall for Beacon as his friend looked back at Sun with a rather puzzled look on his face.

        “Okay, I just saw Reese being arrested by guards and Ozpin being with her. What the hell is going on?” Neptune then asked.

        “Hello to you too…” Sun replied, looking back at him. “Reese is somehow getting herself tied up in some kind of murder investigation in Manehattan. We were going to check it out after I check on Fluttershy, but ran into you in the process… How did your patrol go?”

        “Well, it went fine,” Neptune told him in response as Sun was going to drink some water. “Killed a couple of Grimm, talked to Ciel-” That, in turn, had Sun almost choke on his water as he spat it out in a bush before looking back at him.

        “A-are you serious? You… talked with Ciel?” The faunus asked, shocked to hear that.

        “Yeah, I did. She was on the outside of the Everfree and waiting on Penny to get something for her,” Neptune replied, glaring at them. “Apparently, we dropped the ball… Big time. She told me that Penny desired a purpose and that we weren’t doing anything to help her in that regard. Which is why Penny is now in the Everfree searching for rare sap and thinking that she doesn’t need any of us given the fact that we never found a way in order to provide time for her somehow.”

        That just had Sun groan to himself as he looked back at Neptune. “Rrgh… Just brilliant… One of us is now being seen as a criminal, Penny thinks we’re excluding her just because we have our responsibilities and now Arslan ran off in order to prove Reese’s innocence… I just hope that at some point, we get some sort of good news at the end of the tunnel.”

        “There is… something I noticed though when talking to her,” Neptune added. “She carried some know of pocket watch with her. Was fiddling with it when I was talking to her and also noticed that she was fixated on the lid when you flip it open. I tried asking her about it, but she told me that it was personal and none of my concern.”

        “She’s been fiddling with Penny too…” Coco stated. “Says she does it for maintenance.”

        “Well, from the seems of things, she seems to be one of those kinds of people that sticks to a rather strict schedule. Where something should occur for a set amount of time. And given the fact that Penny’s an android, perhaps she knows more of the technical expertise in regards to keeping her systems functional and ‘combat ready’.” The last part had Neptune try to say it the same way that Penny would, which only resulted in Sun smacking him in the head. “I’m not apologizing!”

        “That impersonation was terrible…”

        “Heh… Like you can do better,” Neptune rolled his eyes. “Anyways, if you two are going to Manehattan, I’ll see if I can get a few others around Beacon to spend some time with Penny and help her out. Some of us have extra time on our hands since classes aren’t in session yet. And Sun, I can also keep an eye on Fluttershy for you while you’re gone.”

        “I was… actually going to let her know about that. Thanks for the offer, Neptune.”

        “No problem, Sun. Anything to help you guys out.” He replied back to them as both Sun and Coco stepped out of the academy and went to go get themselves ready. Though, there was something that Sun was holding that Coco happened to notice while they were walking.

        “Are you sure you’re ready, junior detective~?” Coco teased.

        “...... If anyone asks, that was Nora’s idea.” Sun deadpanned.




End Tail 31

> Tail 32- Detective Work
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Detective Work




Manehattan

        “Geez, no matter what is going on in the world, I always find myself ending up back here somehow,” Sun sighed as he and Coco got off of the train. For the monkey faunus, this had been the third time that he had been in the city… in such a short timespan. In a sense, he thought it was a magnet that always seemed to pull him back here no matter how far away he tried to get from it.

        “Aahh, this brings back memories… fuzzy ones, but still.” Coco said as she stretched her arms. “What’s the plan, oh fearless banana man?”

        “Well-”

        “We go to the SCENE OF THE CRIME!!” At that moment, Sun remembered that they happened to have a third companion along with them on the trip. That being Nora. Ren wanted to go as well, but with the current situation involving Reese, he thought it would be better to help around the academy in Sun’s absence. “Also, weren’t those memories because you were rather tipsy?” 

        “I wasn’t tipsy...!” Coco’s smile turned into a wicked grin. “I was wasted. I snuck some of my teachers booze into my backpack before I went to the convention, and I needed something to calm my panic attack~”

        “That… doesn’t sound like something to be proud of,” Sun replied, before thinking of something. “Alright… we should probably ask around and see if the locals know of anything that happened recently. From there, we see if we can reach the scene and try to find evidence there that could help prove Reese’s innocent… does that seem like a reasonable plan?”

        “One problem. I doubt they’d let us anywhere close to a crime scene, let alone one where our ‘friend’ is the lead suspect.” Coco reasoned, grin ever present. “I mean, we’re aliens, not princesses… though you and Schnee could fit that role~”

        “Oh haha…” Sun rolled his eyes, before stretching his tail… and a small flame could be seen from it. Upon noticing it, that caused the Faunus to freeze for a moment, almost as if he saw a ghost… before snapping back to reality when he heard Coco speak again.

        “Then again, we could always find a shady looking bar, break in and b*tch slap everyone until someone speaks. Y’know, go out in a big Yang?” There was a hint of concern in her eyes.

        Of course, hearing the part of ‘Yang’ did not help the faunus at all. In fact, it reminded him more of the mistakes that he made. “Sure… if there happens to be one of those.” He replied, trying to keep himself composed and show that he was alright… even though Coco could tell that something was wrong.

        “Look, I’m not the best when it comes to touchy feely crap, and I know it’s off-putting, but you need to man up. Man up, and take things in strides.” Coco said, puffing out her chest, “And what you can’t handle, ya talk about it with Flutters or her mum. The latter for, y’know, sage advice.”

        “What about you?” He then asked, before shaking his head and beginning to apologize for what he said. “Sorry… I just… the last time I was here was when I had the accident with my tail… all before what happened with Adam… But that’s not what the focus should be. Thanks though… for trying to be supportive. I mean it, Coco.”

        “I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you know what I mean. I have my moments, but I’m more of a pain in the ass than actual help.” Coco chuckled dryly. “I don’t like the heavy stuff. That’s probably why we didn’t work.”

        “Um… I’m sorry for having to break up the moment here…” Nora spoke up, appearing right between the two of them. “But I believe we got a case to solve… Besides, there’s a shady looking bar down the street that-” Just as she said that though, the store manager had a look at Coco… Before slamming the door to the place and flipping the sign that originally said ‘Open’ to ‘Close’. “Just closed up shop… Oh well, I’m sure we can find another!”

        “Oh right, that’s where I refilled the tank!” Coco winked. “If ya know what I mean. Apple Cider’s surprisingly strong.” All that did was have Sun facepalm himself before he let out a deep sigh as the faunus looked around him.

        Shortly before a thought came into his mind as he heard what sounded like a boat in the distance coming into harbor and seeing some of the stores and restaurants along the coastline. “Hmm… Hey Coco, did you ever visit any of the shops near the port the last time you were here?”

        “I was slightly busy…” Coco deadpanned.

        “So, let’s call that a no then! Time to go exploring!!” Nora cheered, all while running off and humming something to herself while Sun and Coco were forced to go after her.

        “Nora the Explorer- damn it! Why did I make that connection!?” Coco cursed herself. The faunus couldn’t help but wonder that as well, while also trying to refrain from chuckling at the joke because Coco would think he was laughing at her instead.

        Shortly though, both of them noticed that Nora made a dramatic turn to the right and had herself stop just short of what looked like a bait and tackle store that was on the pier. “Excuuuuuse me, sir,” Nora tried to strike up a conversation with the stallion that was in charge of the place. “Have you seen anything weird recently?”

        “Like weirder than you?” He asked, before being sucker punched in the face by another stallion. “Oww, what the hay Line?”

        “I told you to stop being brutally honest around other customers with your sharp remarks, Hook,” The second one spoke up, before looking back at Nora. “Sorry about my brother. He’s like this with everypony that comes in the store…” Around that time was when the two of them also noticed Coco and Sun walk on in as he greeted the two of them. “Welcome to Hook & Line’s Sinker Shack. How can we help you today?”

        “Wow… Hook and Line running a shop called Sinker? That is the weirdest form of wordplay I’ve heard in a long time.” Sun thought to himself, shortly before looking back at Nora and Coco. After a few seconds though, he thought of something in order to say. “Yeah uh… just out of curiosity… have you noticed anything strange as of recently.”

        “Stranger than-” Hook tried to say, before a sharp glare from Line cut him off. “Okay, okay… How strange are we talking about?”

        “Like something that doesn’t normally happen around here… You know, things that might happen under the cover of night…” Nora said in a voice to try and make things sound rather suspenseful. Of course, even though Sun himself seemed annoyed by this… there was one thing that one of the ponies did say that got them thinking.

        “Well… One of the shipping docks at the other end of the pier seems abnormally busy… like trying to do business after the pier’s closed,” Line then spoke up. “Not to mention that a warehouse just a few blocks from the site is closed off by the police. The paper’s talking about it as a bloody massacre that happened last night at a gang hideout.”

        That was followed by the unicorn showing them the front page of the ‘Manehattan Times’ that described the extent of the event and how it’s shaken up the surrounding neighborhood. Including the fact that at the moment, the police had little evidence in order to try and figure out who or what could’ve caused something like this to happen. “Wow… uh… thanks. This has been helpful…”

        Yet, when Sun motioned to hand the paper back to the stallion, Line insisted on him to have it. “Keep it… I don’t have much of a use for it anyways now.” The Faunus himself nodded, before placing the news article in his pocket. “Is there anything else I can help you three with?”

        “You got any Cider?” Coco spoke up before anyone else could.

        “Hard or Light?” Hook asked, before adding another line as he moved to where the drinks were stored. “The hard stuff would require for us to see an ID. The Light… not so much.”

        “Why do you not need ID for the light cider?” Nora then asked for inquiry.

        “Because it’s Non-alcoholic. We may sell drinks, but we still need to follow the law. Otherwise, we’ll lose our business and our home,” Line then added on as he looked at both of them now. “You have to be of legal age to buy and drink alcohol, so if you want some of the hard stuff, we would need to see some form of ID… Geez, it’s just like with the last guy that was in here…”

        “Screw it, not worth that crap.” Coco grumbled as she walked away.

        “Hold on… what do you mean by ‘last guy’?” The faunus then decided to ask, wanting to hear more about that particular small detail.

        “A week ago, some dusty old looking fellow came in here asking for directions and also wanted the strongest stuff we had… Of course, we told him the whole thing about the ID, but he was already stumbling through here like he was already drunk. Even knocked over and broke some of our merchandise,” Line groaned, before looking back at the three of them. “Never got his name though…”

        Of course… that was all Sun needed to hear before thanking both stallions and proceeding to the exit. As Coco and Nora followed him out, Sun was beginning to process what he just heard from both Hook and Line… while also thinking something else. “Hmm… If that place is closed off by police, then do you think we should investigate the docks they were talking about? They are close to the scene of the crime.”

        “Yeah, but I tuned it out. What would we be looking for on the docks?” Coco asked.

        “Well…” Sun thought to himself for a moment before looking back at Coco. “It’s one possible place. We can still look at other places around the crime scene and talk to people without having to go in though… Nora, what do you think?”

        “I believe that plan is quite a good one… yet, perhaps we should stick together this time around?” She said, while looking at Sun’s tail as the faunus took a deep breath.

        “Right… when I had that encounter with Roman, I had no backup… so sticking together sounds like an option to me-”

        “Or… We can do a stakeout on those docks tonight!” Nora immediately suggested, which threw Sun off guard because that was a complete 180 of what she was suggesting earlier. “What do you say, junior detectives?!”

        The faunus took a moment to compose himself first, before deciding to actually speak on the matter. “How about we try to find evidence like we originally planned and only save that idea for if we lack any crucial evidence? Does that seem like a good idea, Coco?”

        “I guess.” Coco shrugged, “Let’s go before I steal something to make sleeping easier.” That was followed by Nora taking off… once again as Sun and Coco had to try and keep up with her as they continued to explore along Manehattan’s coastline in order to try and get as much info as they could about some of the recent events that have been happening here.

        Of course, when they actually arrived at the crime scene… what they found was not quite exactly what they thought it would be. For one thing, there was no longer any sign of the police there or anything that would show that the place was considered a crime scene… and secondly, the ones who did greet them were not entirely… friendly, so to speak.

        Or royal guards. These were the thuggish type.

        “What’s your business in these parts?” The masculine gray stallion asked. He wore shades to cover his eyes and had no visible mane nor tail.

        “Um… we heard that something happened here?” Sun asked, looking rather surprised as he glanced at Coco and Nora for a moment.

        “This property is owned by Mr. Torchwick. Only he can give you access.” The stallion grunted. Of course, hearing the words ‘Mr. Torchwick’ did not go down well in his mind at all as he felt a shiver go down his spine. “So scram.”

        “Alright, let’s get outta here…” Coco said, tugging on Sun’s shirt. “Not worth it.” The faunus could only nod his head in agreement as he and Nora followed Coco out of there.

        Once they got farther away though, Sun only had one question on his mind. “What would Torchwick’s goons be doing right where a crime scene originally was?”

        Coco looked back, only to freeze. “What the…?”

        “Coco…?” Sun asked, looking back to see what she was seeing… only before having the three of them hide behind a corner. When they both turned around, they saw a human… one with gray hair and clothes to match talking to some of the ponies they encountered earlier. But this person look… just like… “Was that…?”

        “Mercury Black…” Coco stated.

        The boy was dusting his hands off after exiting the warehouse, a content smile on his face. He looked to the three other humans and waved in a friendly manner, though looked surprised. However, out of all three, only Nora was the one who waved back to him… before Coco had to knock some sense into her.

        “That guy’s with Torchwick!” Coco hissed, glaring at Nora.

        “What? I didn’t want to be rude!” Nora said, which made Sun let out another deep groan.

        “How does Ren keep his sanity whenever Nora acts like that?” He asked himself internally.

        “Sup?” Mercury asked, somehow in between the group. Startling both Sun and Coco by how he just came out of nowhere.

        “Jesus christ, where did he come from!?” Sun cursed mentally, caught off guard by Mercury’s sudden appearance. “Um… Hi?”

        Mercury leaned up against Sun. “I haven’t seen other humans in years! Well, humans and faunus… And besides Roman… But that’s beside the point.” He wrapped an arm around Sun’s back in a friendly gesture. Catching him off guard and leaving him at a loss for words.

        Though, it was Nora who was the next one to speak as she looked at him, tilted her head in confusion before pointing a finger at Mercury. “Hey, aren’t you like… armed or something?”

        “I’m not legged if that counts.” Mercury chuckled, grinning wider. “Are you guys armed-? Oh who am I kidding, ‘course you are! So, what’re you three doin’ in this trash dump!?” His attitude was cheery, not unlike Nora, or even Pinkie. To a lesser extent, Coco. Who looked nervously at Sun, clearly distressed with the situation.

        “We’re just… strolling around?” Sun said, not sure how that would come out. “And when we ran into those ponies back there, we kind of figured that we weren’t in the right neighborhood.” To the Faunus, he was a bit surprised by Mercury’s attitude. For one thing, it did seem that, based on what they saw earlier, that he was in league with Roman. But from how he was acting now, it’s almost as if he could care less about him.

        “Well, maybe you wouldn’t mind coming with me over to the library? I have a book to pick up, and I’d love to hear about what you’ve been doing. I thought Torchwick and I were the only humans!”

        “Is it one with pictures?” Nora asked abruptly, before Sun or Coco could even formulate a response in their brains.

        “Yeah, I suppose.” Mercury replied smugly.

        “Hmm…” Of course, it only took Nora a few seconds to think of something in her brain before looking back at Sun and Coco. Both of them really did not want Nora to try and do something reckless. “Can I talk it over with my friends first?”

        “What’s so wrong with talkin’ with me?” Mercury asked, tilting his head.

        “Well… We were doing something kind of important and judging from my friends tone earlier,” She said, pointing at Coco in the process. “She’s not entirely a fan of sidestops.”

        “Can I help?” Mercury asked eagerly. “I’ve always wanted to do important things!” That really had Sun look a bit nervous… but again, before he or Coco could say anything… Nora took over.

        “I don’t know… We’re trying to not create any big scenes… especially since another person we know got themselves locked up for something she didn’t do.”

        “Nora!” Sun finally said something, breaking his silence as he snapped at her.

        “What? You know it’s true!”

        Mercury tapped his chin, “Something to do with the warehouse, I’m guessing?” He deduced. “I can help you get in, but it’s clean.”

        That had the faunus raise an eyebrow for a moment, before looking back at Mercury. “Cleaned? Like the whole place is empty? I thought it was the scene of a crime.” He asked, holding up the newspaper article detailing the incident that happened there. “Weren’t the police over there?”

        “Yeah, but they got all the evidence. Torchwick bought it and decided to clean it up.” Mercury explained. “I can show you to the garbage if you want.” This… leaved Sun rather confused as he looked back at Coco. He wasn’t ideally sure if dumpster diving to find evidence to help Reese was really the best idea… but there weren’t exactly a lot of options at this point.

        “Umm… Sure, I guess?” He said, looking back at Coco. “What do you guys think?”

        “I’m not dumpster diving, I’d never get the smell out of my clothes.” Coco replied, her face scrunching up in disgust. “I’ll go look for more leads. Maybe check the precinct.”

        “Ooh! I’ll come too!!” Nora declared.

        “I… Sun?” Coco gave Sun a worried look.

        “Coco… let’s just roll with it,” He said, getting up and walking to her. Before whispering something in her ear. “If I’m in a jam, I’ll try to signal you and Nora.”

        Coco nodded, “Alright, we’ll see you later. And for the love of god, stay safe.” Sun nodded in response, wishing the both of them luck as Coco and Nora went to look for the police station. Leaving the Faunus alongside Mercury.

        “So, what’s with the Charizard tail?” Mercury asked, crossing his arms as he made his way around the warehouse.

        “Oh that?” Sun replied back as the two of them were walking. “Well, let’s just say that a run in with Torchwick and getting caught up in a dust accident from one of the rounds in his cane led to my tail being infused with fire dust. Was at the wrong place at the wrong time and now my tail looks like a personal nightlight.”

        “Huh… I’ve seen Torchwick acting weird recently. He’s acting a little more paranoid and anxious than usual.” Mercury stated. Hearing that… made the faunus a bit curious as to what he meant by that.

        “Do you mean anxious as in ‘trying to turn something in before a deadline’ anxious,” Sun asked Mercury as they went down an alley and began to get closer to the warehouse. “Or anxious as in ‘fearing for your life’ anxious?”

        “Both. And the gang’s been shrinking, like Roman’s bodyguard. Heard she died after Roman was attacked and it’s done a number on the group’s moral.” Mercury said. “Let me get this straight, we’re a gang but it’s not like humans- and faunus- can just get jobs. Plus we’re quite tame compared to the Applewood thugs. That’s just my thoughts though, you don’t have to agree.”

        “It’s… fine, I wasn’t thinking about anything like that,” He said, before wondering something else. “Say… when was it that Roman started… well… acting a little more paranoid?”

        “A couple months back when we got a mysterious partner.” Mercury replied as they reached the green, rusted dumpster. “And here we are. The police took most of, it. Whatever was left were blood soaked boxes and such.”

        “Well, at least it’s a start.” Sun thought to himself as he began to look at some of the boxes. Most of them were broken and did not have anything really of value that could help him. Some even had rags that look to have been used to treat those survivors that were wounded in the attack He began to look through them, wanting to know if there was anything that he could possibly find.

        Then, on the last box… something fell out of it that landed with a familiar sound. Looking at the ground, the faunus raised an eyebrow to see what exactly had dropped on the ground. And upon closer inspection… it looked to be a shell casing. Not just from a normal round, but from a bullet made of dust. It was something that he saw as important… especially since there was a flame on the casing. Indicating that it was an incendiary ammo type. “Hunh… this could be important…”

        Placing the casing in his pocket, he continued to look around and see if there was anything else that could be of use. Though, there was really a lot in order to help him besides that standard bullet casing. “Mercury, is this the only dumpster here? Or is there one on the other side of the building?”

        “It’s the only one. There wasn’t a lot anyways.” Mercury stated. “Sorry if it didn’t help.”

        “Actually… I think this does help,” Sun replied back to him as he faced Mercury now and extended a hand. “Thank you. I mean it.”

        Mercury took his hand and shook it. “No problem. You can make it up to me by telling me your story.”

        Sun though… raised an eyebrow at that. “I… beg your pardon?”

        “Hey, you’re the first human I’ve seen outside of Torchwick! At least recently… there was that Glynda weirdo.” Mercury muttered the last bit. To which, Sun thought about something in response as he looked back at him.

        “Well… If I tell you my story, can you tell me more about that Glynda person you just mentioned?” Sun asked him. “Better yet, do you want to talk about it over coffee or something?”

        “I hope this isn’t you asking me out on a date!” Mercury cackled, holding his sides as he cracked up.

        All that just left Sun to do was sigh as he looked back at him. “Consider it as making it up to you… Besides, my story is kind of a long one. It would be best to have something to drink while you listen to it.”

        “Course, I know a great place, but I haven’t had coffee since I was sixteen.” Mercury stated. “I’ll lead, Detective Wukong.”

        “Great… a unnecessary promotion from ‘Junior Detective’,” The faunus sighed as he followed Mercury out of the area. “I hope that Coco is doing fine with Nora right now.”



        “I heard you were the lead investigator!” Coco slammed her hands on the stallion’s desk. Said cop looked on, uninterested.

        “Did you check with the front desk…?” He asked in a dull tone.

        “I did! Twice! And they sent me to you after they said it was a mixup!” Needless to say, Coco was getting aggravated. “The line took twenty five minutes both times! I’ve wasted an hour of time where I could’ve gone sightseeing! I’m getting sick of white!”

        “Please use your indoor voice, there are ponies with hangovers in here.” The stallion pointed towards a teenage colt who was sitting at a nearby officer’s desk. “Please go back downstairs and-”

        “RRRRAAAAAAARRRGGGGGHHH!!!” Coco slammed her bag into the desk, snapping it in two.

        The stallion stared at the desk for a moment, completely unphased. Then, he looked back at Coco. “That was city property. I’m going to have to give you a warning and bill you the damage fees.”

        Coco’s eyes bulged. She hated loosing her cool, but without Fox or Velvet, she was a ticking time bomb. “I will destroy you…”

        “You’re threatening an officer. I’m going to have to detain you if you keep this up.” Coco Felt her hand on her bag tighten.

        “Hey sir…?” Nora said, walking out in a very casual manner from around the hallway. “I couldn’t help but notice that the door to the weapons room was ajar… Perhaps somepony should fix that before a filly walks in and does who knows what in there…” Hearing that made the stallion stand up from his chair. He grabbed his name plate with his mouth and slowly trotted to the door. Coco meanwhile was grinding her teeth.

        Though… when Nora went over to Coco, that was when she placed something in her hand. “Here’s a spare key to the evidence room… Don’t ask how I got it, just let me handle the stallion at the front desk.”

        “Where is the evidence room?”

        “Down the hall, across from the bathroom.” Nora whispered, just as the stallion was seen coming back out and locking the door to the weapons room.

        Coco nodded before walking in the direction. Once she was in the empty hallway, however, she felt something sharp pierce her back. Coco tried screaming, but a hand wrapped itself over her mouth.

        “Shh, I’d rather not sever something important~” Torchwick said. “I knew you kids would come, but I didn’t think you’d be this stupid. Walking into my city.”

        Coco’s eyes widened in fear as her body stiffened. Torchwick chuckled as he pushed the blade in deeper, causing Coco to move forward.

        “I’ve learned a lot in the years I’ve lived on this god awful world. I learned how to take out tougher foes such as yourself. I hate blades, but in this instance I’ll make an exception.” Once they were out of sight, Roman twisted the blade slightly, making her injury bleed. Coco held in a scream of pain, fearing that if she’d do so he’d finish her off. “Now… there we are.” Roman spoke as he searched her and located the key. “I apologize, but I know how unreliable chloroform is.” He moved the hand covering her mouth away before punching her. The force of the hit surprised her, before she blacked out.

        “Roman, what the hell are you doing?” He heard another voice speak up.

        “What?” He asked, carefully removing the blade and grimacing. “She’ll be fine, her aura will heal her.”

        “Yes… but you do realize she wasn’t alone… and after our stunt earlier, I did not have enough time to rest before using my semblance again,” Emerald told him. “And it gave out just as you hit her.”

        “Coco? Are you okay back there?” Roman swiftly put his cane over Coco’s face.

        “It was two nights ago, your semblance sucks!” He whispered through his clenched teeth.

        “Yeah and I have been still using that semblance to pose as a pony so that way no one can get suspicious-” Emerald told her, before looking down the hall and realizing who was at the other end. Preparing one of her pistols. “Crap-”

        “What… did you do… to my friend!?”

        “Nothing! Unless you take another step closer!” Torchwick shouted, the sight of Melodic  Cudgel opening. “I’d hate to take a life if I have to. She’d be unrecognisable at the funeral.”

        That was when Nora made a bold move, holding onto her hammer before making a bold dare. “If you want someone to shoot at, shoot me then… I dare you.”

        Of course, the first one to take up on that was Emerald herself, firing two shots that left off an electrical discharge before looking back at Roman. “Stun rounds. Has just as much electricity as a cattle prod… We should go before-”

        “You idiot! She absorbs electricity like she eats pancakes!” Torchwick shouted, eyes widening as he backed away. 

        Unfortunately for him… He only had three seconds to do that as electricity was beginning to tingle around Nora. “You… are SO going to get it now!!” Before they could react, Nora charged at them, swinging her hammer to where it was inches from Roman’s face as Emerald herself tried to fire off a few more shots.

        Nora though, had to turn her attention to Coco, kicking over a foldable table to use as cover before grabbing onto her and having her weapon change forms. Loading two canisters, she fired one right in the middle between them as pink smoke covered the area. Another used to bust a hole through a wall before escaping.

        The officer poked his head out, looking at Torchwick and Emerald. “What the buck!?”

        “I know, Jerry, I know!” Torchwick shouted. “Send me the bill, but keep those keys tighter to your chest!” The orange haired man sighed and pulled out a cigar. “Frickin’ kids… Driving me to smoke.”

        Of course, it didn’t help Roman out that a few moments after he lit his cigar, the fire system went off and the sprinklers began to pour all over the office.

        “I hate this job…” Torchwick groaned, tossed his cigar and slouched. “Where’s Mercury when I frickin’ need him?”



        “Wow, what a mother-in-law…” Mercury chuckled, taking a sip of his tea. “Man, I don’t envy you. Sounds chaotic.”

        “Yeah… and it’s kind of ironic that you say that because Fluttershy is friends with Discord, who is a god of chaos in this world,” Sun told him, careful not to burn anything as he drank a sip of coffee. “She tells me that he’s reformed… though, the way he acts sometimes makes me think that he’s pushing his luck. He tried roasting marshmallows on my tail.”

        “Sounds like a trickster. Helps you just as much as he hurts you.”

        “He means well… He just has a weird way of showing it,” The faunus replied back. “Of course, he’s also been helping me heal after what… happened recently.”

        “That Adam guy… sounds like a dick.” Mercury added, “Wish I could kick him to the moon. Little royalty humor. So anyways, is that everything?”

        “For the most part… Now though, Coco, Nora and I are trying to help out a friend. She’s been staying in Ponyville, but earlier today, members of the royal guard arrested her for commiting a crime here. So we’re trying to find evidence to prove her innocent.” Sun replied back, before setting down his cup of coffee. “Hopefully, Coco would get the chance to find something.”

        “Well, maybe Torchwick could help? I mean, he practically owns the Manehattan Police. I’m sure you could cut a deal with him. He’s reasonable… was...” Mercury sounded as if he was grasping at straws.

        “Was?” Sun asked, raising an eyebrow.

        “You know, his paranoia. Plus, I don’t think his partners like you, and he’s terrified of them. It might cause him to do something rash.” Mercury stated.

        Of course, it was around that time that both of them heard what sounded like an explosion… and a few moments later, saw Nora racing towards the both of them with Coco in her arms. The wound still a little bit visible, but being healed by Coco’s aura.

        But all of this… left Sun shocked and caught off guard. “W-what the hell-? What h-happened?!”

        “That Roman guy! That’s what happened!!” Nora said, before setting Coco down on a bench. “We went to the station to see if the cops can help us, but just as I was coming to check on Coco, Mr. Bowler Hat Guy stabbed Coco in the back and threatened to shoot her!”

        Mercury’s eyes widened slightly. “Really? Roman used a knife?”

        “Yeah,” Nora told them, looking to Coco to check on her condition before looking back at the two of them. “He also punched her too, which lead to me walking back there and finding out what was going on. In fact, he wasn’t alone.”

        That part… now had Sun a bit surprised. “He wasn’t?”

        “Yeah, that Emerald haired girl was with him. Even shot at me with lightning dust.” Nora replied, before smirking. “Sucks to be her.”

        “That was stupid.” Mercury smirked smugly and raised his hand for a high five. Nora herself, wanted to high five him… but the sound of Coco coughing caused her attention to be focused more on her than him.

        That was also when Sun decided to get closer to Coco, hoping that she was alright. “Coco?”

        The leader of CFVY activated her aura, “I was stabbed, guess… Ow...”

        “Easy… Nora told us what happened…” The faunus told her, “If I knew that he was going to be there, I-”

        “Save it, I’m fine. Only my pride’s going to scar, getting jumped by that loser.” Coco said in a huff. “He’s the weakest RWBY character…”

        “Ain’t got nothing on us!!” Nora declared, before realizing that Mercury was there. “Oh… right. Sorry…”

        “S’okay, I understand.” Mercury replied with a shrug. “I wish I could help you all, to be honest.”

        “Hmm… Maybe there is a way you can help.” Sun said, before looking to Mercury for a moment. “I was going to ask you about that ‘Glynda’ lady you were mentioning earlier before Nora and Coco arrived… could you tell me more about her, since I told you my story?”

        “Sure, but it’s not a nice story. Years before even Roman was in Equestria, Glynda Goodwitch was kinda like you, or that Raven. She kept our group of around twenty humans together.” Mercury stated casually.

        That… sounded surprising. However… that also made him ask something else. “Did something happen? Why aren’t you with them now?”

        “Let’s just say that time decays all things. Glynda watched as one by one, the group fell apart. It started with Merlot, who experimented on Grimm and ponies. Then it was an entire team that fell apart years later after one of the members’ lovers died of old age. It was that long since Merlot.” Mercury continued but paused.

        “Hold up,” Nora then spoke up, looking back at Mercury. “You’re telling me that one guy… experimented on Grimm? Who in their right mind would do something like that?”

        “Glynda said he thought he found a way to control the Grimm and fight against whoever controlled them naturally.” Mercury looked to Sun. “We tolerated it until he messed with another Displaced. They stayed in the group until I left. Two of Team NDGO fell in love, watched their loved ones and adopted kids rot away. Team BRNZ lost their Z due to Merlot’s experiments, Amber quit, Summer vanished, and I left after Glynda distanced herself from the group.”

        That… was a lot to take in. And not just Sun, but a lot for Coco and Nora to take in. And left the other two with some more questions. “Wait… Amber… like ‘Fall Maiden’ Amber?” Nora asked. “Also, is Merlot really that much of a freaking jerk? I feel like I want to find him and beat the crap out of him for going as far as to do that!”

        “Yeah, that group fell apart. I haven’t seen any of them since I left, and I assume they either died or became hermits. I did hear that Glynda had joined a newer group… I assume that was Raven’s.”

        “That doesn’t make sense though,” Sun replied back. “Raven doesn’t normally leave her forge unless she needs to find metals and ores for her workshop.”

        “That was years ago. Probably when Fluttershy was born, if I’m estimating correctly.” Mercury elaborated.

        “Oh…” He paused, before looking back at Coco for a moment and then thinking of something. “Let me ask one more thing before we go, Mercury… When you were with Glynda, did she happen to mention anyone by the name of Ozpin?”

        “Once or twice, but I’m not sure. It’s been a long time, and I’m sure memories of the show and here mixed.” Mercury said. “My concept of time’s a bit off.”

        “Well, that was informative…” The Faunus used that moment to finish the last of his coffee before looking back towards Coco and Nora. “It was great to meet you, Mercury… but I think we should be going… Before we do though, do you guys have anything you would like to ask him?”

        “Nope, not me!” Nora replied. “What about you, Coco?”

        “How’d you get involved with Torchwick?” Coco narrowed her eyes.

        Mercury raised his hands in a ‘surrendering’ gesture. “Well, that’s a bit of a long story, but the gist of it was I saw him, I understood his situation and I decided that I’d help him. Things evolved from there.”

        Coco nodded, satisfied with his answer. Mercury waved them goodbye and jogged off. When he was out of sight, Coco gave Sun a worried look. Only leading to Sun saying one thing. “Let’s get out of here and go back to Ponyville… I found something to help us.”

        “But…” Coco trailed off. “What Mercury said… About NDGO...”

        “I’m still shocked about it too… but this is not the place to talk about it. Especially if Roman’s going to have some of his men trying to find us.” The faunus told her with the same expression as hers on his face, before saying something. “Let’s wait until we’re on the train first… Where we know that it’s safe to talk.” Coco just sighed.



Meanwhile...

        It had been only an hour or so since Raven had stepped outside of her workshop and in that time, she felt that things were getting way too crazy. For one thing, she overheard that one of the people that was originally staying at Beacon was arrested for murder, even though they said that they never did anything. Secondly, she learned that Ozpin was trying to help her and prove her innocence while Sun, Coco and Nora were trying to find some form of evidence. And lastly… and the one that she was most irritated about… was that when she got back from a trip to the market, Raven happened to have an uninvited guest in her forge again.

        “Glynda… May I ask how you got in here? I locked the door before leaving here.” Raven asked the visitor, who was waiting on top of an empty workbench.

        “I have ways, but if you think hard enough, you’d figure it out.” Glynda replied, walking out of the shadows. “Does it matter?”

        “Not really… but given how it’s been a while since the last we talked, I thought you would be busy with something,” The swordswoman told her. “So, what brings you to my workshop? Did you want for me to craft something for you? Or did you want to pick up on our conversation from last time?”

        “Somewhat the latter,” Glynda began, adjusting her glasses which had a new crack in them. “I won’t question why you won’t see your brother. I won’t question how you’ve been raising a mortal filly. And I won’t lecture you on either case… no matter how much I want to tell you it was a terrible idea.”

        Though, Raven herself had a different question. “Okay, but let me ask you something then. What happened to your glasses? They normally don’t have that big of a crack on the lense… and would you like me to fix them for you?”

        “There have been… complications. I hate to bring it up when Adam is attacking your new… ‘family’,” Glynda spoke that last word with disdain. “But I knew you needed to know. No point in keeping things in the dark, no matter how much Qrow tried to stop me.”

        “Hunh… You almost sound like Ozpin when you say it like that,” Raven responded as she went over to another cupboard that she had and got out a small vial, before extending a hand and motioning for Glynda to hand over her glasses so she could fix them. The blonde woman scrunched up her face as she took her glasses off, handing them to the blacksmith. When Raven took hold of them, she got out what looked like a small cloth and poured a small amount of liquid from the vial and rubbed it in. Within a few moments, the crack began to repair itself and as it was completely fixed, she returned the pair to Glynda. “So what do I need to know?”

        “There’s another White Fang.” Glynda casually answered, placing her glasses back on her face.

        Hearing that had Raven almost drop what she was holding in her hands as she returned the vial and the cloth to the open cupboard before closing it. “Another… White Fang...? The White Fang here have done enough damage as it is. How is there another one?”

        “While Adam Taurus’ White Fang use Changelings, this other Fang recruits Griffons. Qrow and I dealt with them for a time until their leader began acting more… brash. I’m not surprised you haven’t heard, pony news doesn’t cover outside of Equestria. Even if it did, they’re mostly considered bandits.” Glynda stated, “Qrow’s investigations uncovered what they’ve been up to. The evidence suggests they’re the ones who captured Sun when he first arrived.”

        That had Raven freeze for a moment. She did remember Sun explaining to her what happened upon originally ending up here… but she had no idea that it was part of what Glynda was talking about. Though… there was one thing that Raven did have on her mind that she wanted to ask. “Does your group know about the White Fang here?”

        “Enough. But the leader refuses to make contact.” Glynda replied, crossing her arms as she scowled. “That doesn’t mean Adam won’t try to. She’s a cunning leader, and Adam most likely would challenge her.”

        “Let’s keep it to where Adam can’t. The last thing that we need right now is two White Fangs raging a international turf war,” The blacksmith told her. “I know that Equestria is trying to improve on international relationships, but a conflict like this would be the last thing any of us would want.”

        “Worse would be them joining forces. I’m not asking for help, I’m just warning you. This Fang isn’t a big threat now, but if Qrow and I lose control of the situation… Griffonstone would be only the first to fall.” Glynda stated. “And there’s more… I hate saying that.”

        “Hearing that just makes me think of them as a Blood Red Fang rather than a white one,” the blacksmith added, before asking a question that popped into her head. “Speaking of which, who is their leader?”

        “Sienna Khan.” Glynda replied, before looking away awkwardly. “I… knew her as my right hand before you arrived, and even before that.”

        “Like back before Qrow?” Raven then asked.

        “Before my Displacement. We were close friends…” Glynda trailed off. “I let her down. I let a lot of people down. I don’t want mistakes to repeat.”

        “Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen then…” Raven assured her. “If I can make sure we can keep Adam here in Equestria, then you can handle Sienna right? And if you need any help, just ask me and I can lend a hand.”

        “We need a way to keep you, Ironwood and I in contact. Quickly.”

        “Well, I have my semblance and can use that to get to Qrow… however, Ironwood would be a different story-” That had Raven blink for a moment, before asking a different question. “Wait, how the hell do you know about Ironwood?”

        “A little birdie told me.” Glynda replied stoically.

        “Was he a gray haired owl called Oz?” Raven asked jokingly.

        “No- I haven’t had contact with Ozpin since… you know.” Glynda was quick to continue, however. “Qrow spies on everyone now and then. The Crystal Empire is one place, and Sun saw him on one of his outings.”

        “Oh… right…” Raven said, shortly before letting out a deep sigh. “The one where he got the tip of his tail infused with Dust because of Torchwick… shortly before getting tortured by that bastard Adam. I’m going to be a grandmother and now the brand on Sun’s back will always remind me of what Adam did to him.”

        Glynda’s face darkened. “I understand… I’m sorry we couldn’t assist, I’m sure if you and your brother set aside your feud it’d be easier to find either Fang.”

        “I’ve set my feud aside a long time ago. Ever since I became a mother,” The blacksmith told her. “I’m just waiting for my brother to set aside his…”

        “It’s pride and bitterness. If roles were reversed, would you not do the same? He was exiled, and Qrow was never the same after he lost you.” Glynda’s eyes suddenly softened. “He won’t admit it now, but he missed you.”

        “I miss him too,” Raven personally admitted to Glynda. “And… well… it would be nice to see him again so we can bury the hatchet. He is going to be a granduncle after all.”

        “However much I detest the other races- ponies, griffons, minotaurs, breezies- it’d be amusing to see how the girls will react to their aunt/uncle.” Glynda stated, a faded smile appearing on her features.

        That… had Raven remember something. “Speaking of which… we haven’t heard from Yang since Adam attacked and she ran off. We’re trying to figure out where she is and… well, I’m not sure if my semblance can reach her. I mean… I have a bond with her, but with everything that had been going on and both Yang and Ruby learning that Adam is their father, I’m concerned that those bonds can be strained.”

        “I… could have Qrow look for her. He’s good at finding trouble- I mean finding people.”

        That… had Raven pause for a moment, before looking back at Glynda. “For a moment, I thought you were going to say ‘finding people in trouble’... but I would really appreciate it if you did. Thank you, Glynda.”

        “Don’t thank me yet. We still have a lot to deal with. And don’t trust Ozpin.” That last line had Raven raise an eyebrow for a moment in confusion. But she decided not to dwell on it as she looked back at her.

        “Alright… is there anything else you would like to talk about while you’re here though?” She asked her, leaving the workshop and motioning to where she had her makeshift kitchen. “I can make you some tea if you like.”

        “No, I have work to do.” Glynda turned away before continuing. “We aren’t the first humans, though… You know that, right?”

        “I’m… familiar with that. Ozpin did come before any of us did.” Raven replied. “And you were here before Qrow and I.”

        “Even before him.” Glynda added. “After all… what are Grimm without their Queen?”



        “God I feel icky after that!” Roman said, cringing as he threw away his switchblade.

        “You’re not the only one who feels that. Adam’s going to chew the both of us out if he learns of this…” Emerald grumbled, her clothes still damp after getting soaked by the sprinkler system at the police station. “And where was Mercury? Wasn’t he supposed to meet us at the station after he was done with his task at the warehouse?”

        “Oh, I ran into Sun!” Mercury shouted, jumping in between them from behind and slinging his arms around their shoulders. “Learned a lot by seeing their picture… Also, good to know you took my lessons to heart, Torchwick~!” Roman shivered, a cold chill having run through his spine.

        All of this while Emerald facepalmed herself. “Well great… with you not being there when everything went to hell at the police station, Adam’s going to chew all three of us out… What do you even mean when you say ‘seeing their picture’?”

        “I understand what makes them tick. I know where to hit them. Besides that, I gained Sun’s trust.” Mercury said. “Not our fault Adam’s a sh*tty leader. None of us have a clue what we’re doing. Torchwick and I’ve been doing the best without knowing the end goal...”

        “Grr…” Emerald growled, before glaring at both of them and trying to restrain herself from attacking Mercury. Of course… the sound of someone else speaking up soon got all three of them looking towards the back of the room they were in.

        “Would you look at that… Just as I heard things were going swimmingly, turmoil begins to break out…” They heard a female voice speak up. It was one that Mercury and Torchwick had not heard of before… but Emerald definitely knew who it was for sure.

        “C-cinder?” Emerald spoke, shocked and surprised. “W-why are you here?”

        “Well, one of the spies for the white fang caught wind of what happened earlier today…” She said, just as Cinder extended a hand and had a fireball emerge from it. “And Adam sent me to… assist you. We have big plans for them… all we require though is a little more trust… and cooperation.”

        “Give us something we can use, a heading, and then trust should be restored! Right Merc?” Torchwick said, with high spirits. Mercury glared at Cinder before sighing.

        “I guess… I just don’t like it when information is withheld.” Mercury stated, “But trust? Trust is earned, and you haven’t shown either of us we can trust your leader. Or you, for that manner. We’ve been doing your dirty work.”

        “Yes, but weren’t we the ones who told you about Atlas being formed in the Crystal Empire? Didn’t Emerald help Roman expand his empire and deal with that one good for nothing casino owner in Las Pegasus?” Cinder asked. “Plus… I find it ironic that you talk about trust, though you happened to share to that monkey and his friends about the time before you met Roman.”

        Before Mercury could ask, Cinder snapped her finger and in the blink of an eye, she looked like one of the waitresses that was at the cafe they were at. Matter of fact, it was the same mare that was taking their order. “So… I find it ironic that Roman trusts you… and yet, you hide your own secrets from him.”

        “First; Atlas hasn’t done anything to impend our gang. Second; Roman could’ve done that himself, Emerald just witnessed… And about the weapons we’ve been supplying you with… we haven’t been paid…” Mercury’s eyes darkened. “Plus, you think I didn’t tell Torchwick my sob story? Please, I told a vague fantasy of what happened. So if anything, Adam’s been a parasite sucking us dry!” Torchwick meanwhile backed up, eyes wide.

        Cinder just sighed for a moment, before glaring at him and tossing what looked like a huge sack of bits. “And just when I thought that what Amber told me about you would help me read you like a book…”

        Mercury stared at Cinder for a moment before smirking darkly. “Last time I saw her? I hadn’t killed anyone. People change in a hundred sum years. Surprised Amber crawled out of her hovel to tell you anything, or did you kill her~?”

        “It’s neither of those things… Mercy,” She grinned, dismissing the small flame that was in her hands before looking back at the silver haired man. “But let’s focus less on that and more on the conversation at hand.”

        Mercury couldn't agree more. But first, he opened up the bag, just to make sure what was in the bag was actually the payment that he was mentioning before. And upon seeing the bits inside, that was when he began to speak again. “Torchwick might be a bit spineless-”

        “Hey!”

        “But I’m not an idiot. Show us something that’ll let us benefit like you from this arrangement.” Mercury said coolly. “Sound like something Adam won’t tantrum about?”

        “Well…… Let me ask the two of you this…” Cinder then said, before looking towards what looked like a map. “Have you considered expanding your markets internationally…? A scouting party of ours has caught wind that a group similar to that of the White Fang is in Griffonstone. Adam wants to be able to overthrow their leader and expand… and if it’s successful, you may have new trading partners… Of course, he wants both of you to be a part of it. And even doubled the amount of money in that bag for you to use as you please.”

        Torchwick scratched his chin. “Sounds promising, but I don’t know who I’d send. Mercury clearly has a-”

        “Hey,” Mercury got Torchwick’s attention. “What about ‘her’?”

        Emerald raised an eyebrow at that last statement. “Her?”

        “We’re not sending my girl!” Roman hissed, glaring at Mercury with seething eyes. Emerald hadn’t ever seen him so passionate about anything. But it left the girl of fire still smiling a bit in response to the gangster’s outburst.

        “Well… looks like I touched a nerve on that,” Cinder said, before looking back at the two of them and having Emerald join up with her. “We’ll give you some time to think it over… but you better have an answer when we come back, Roman.” With that, there was a brief plume of flames and both Cinder & Emerald were gone. Leaving Mercury and Roman just standing where they were.

        “I’m not sending my little girl out there…” Torchwick hissed, glaring at Mercury.

        “She’s a big girl… Well, not literally, but you get my point. If things go bad for us, we might want to have her prepared and not sheltered.” The assassin replied, causing Torchwick to let out a deep sigh.

        “Fine…”




End Tail 32

> Tail 33- Past, Present, Future
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Present, Past, Future




        When she first woke up in this new world… she found herself alone. Alone in a dry rocky wasteland with only her newfound sword and her wit. She was stripped from the life she once had and the children that she cared for deeply and was now on her own. In the first few days of ending up in this world, she began to learn a few things about some of the thing that she had as well… as some of the things that she could do.

        The first was that, aside from the fact that the ‘wooden replica’ of a sword she bought was now real, the crystals inside it were also real as well. Real dust crystals, each with different properties that she can use to alter what happened with her weapon. Which helped when she used the ice dust crystal to keep herself cool in the middle of the wasteland. A few days later, she came across the second thing that she happened to have. It wasn’t something that she could hold in the palm of her hand… but more like something that she could control.

        Through an encounter with one of the beasts in these badlands, she discovered that she had an Aura. Which, to her knowledge, was the manifestation of one’s soul and can be used for a number of abilities, whether they’re for defense, offense or healing ones wounds. But learning that she had an aura also meant that it was possible that she had a semblance. Powers that are unique to each individual and what is seen as a projection of the wielder’s aura into a tangible form. Which sounded great… but the only problem was that she did not know of the semblance her character had.

        The swordswoman remembered one thing that could… possibly be it, but it wasn’t something that she wanted to immediately assume one hundred percent. Back home, before she decided to dress as the character that she was now, one of the few scenes where she was shown was when she opened up a portal with a slash of her sword as she looked back at one of the main characters in the show called RWBY. But how this exactly worked was still a mystery to her.

        It didn’t mean that it was going to stop her from trying though. No matter how long it took for her to learn it, she was going to put all of her strength into learning exactly what her semblance was and how she could use it. The newfound huntress saw it as essential to her survival and she spent most of her time trying to find out what it was. Even going as far as to not get any sleep in order to keep on practicing. She had the strength and she had the aura to do it… but there was something else that appeared to be missing.

        On the fifth day though… she made a breakthrough. On this day, she tried the same thing as before… but after a painful first few tries, she began to think of the people that she cared for. Those that were part of her family… and those who she was close too. Primarily, her brother.

        And the moment that she thought of her brother and swung her blade, something new happened. A mass of red and black formed in front of her in the shape of an oval, causing her to move closer and inspect what she had just created. Though, when she extended her hand forward, she felt herself getting pulled through. Emerging through the other side and finding herself in a snow covered plane. White as far as the eye could see as she tried to move.

        Only for her energy to leave her as she collapsed face first into the snow.



        “Hey, wake up little birdy...” An annoyed male voice called. “We’re moving soon, and I ain’t carrying your ass through the snow.” It was a voice that sounded a bit different, but awfully familiar as she was beginning to wrap her head around her surroundings. She blinked for a moment as her vision adjusted, before turning her head and seeing the man that was talking to her.

        It took her a moment… but then finally, she was able to say something. “A-axel?”

        “Yes Rachel?” A smirking black haired man with red eyes replied, his hand on his hip as his eyes narrowed as he said her name. “I was hoping you’d find me. Not you passin’ out though.” The swordswoman couldn’t believe it… her brother of all people was standing right in front of her. And she thought that she had lost him upon coming to this world. It was in that moment that the only thing she could do was get up and give her brother a hug as tears began to come down her face.

        “I-it really is you… I-i thought I lost you,” She told him, looking back at her brother and messing with his scruffy black hair as she wiped the tears away. “I-i never thought that trying to learn my s-semblance would lead me to you but… here we are.”

        “Yeah, here we are…” Axel replied as he sat across from her. “You seen Abel at all?”

        That… made her look away for a moment as she found the strength in her to speak. “No… when I woke up, I was by myself in the middle of nowhere. I’ve been on my own for the last ten days and I only found you because… well… I was trying to learn if it was possible that I have a semblance since I found out I had an Aura. So, I have been trying to see if I could do anything, but I only did something when I thought about you as I sliced my sword. It created some… energy thing and then next thing I know, I found myself here.”

        “I’m sure he’ll be alright. Glynda wants to talk to ya.” Axel said, a playful smile spreading across his face. “But hey, isn’t this awesome!?”

        That… just made her blink for a moment. “This… is awesome to you? Axel, I was separated from my daughters. Your niece’s! If anything, I’m horrified because I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to ever see them again,” She told him, looking back at her brother. “And not to mention the fact that my husband could be anywhere in this place and we don’t know what’s going on with him right now.”

        “I mean, when you put it like that…” His smile faded.

        “Don’t mind him, he’s just been freezing his brain out.” A high pitch, feminine voice said. Rachel turned to see a girl in a white cloak timidly huddled in a corner as she attempted to relight a fire. The swordswoman saw this… and proceeded to walk to her as she looked back at this new figure.

        “Are you… Glynda?” Rachel then asked her.

        “No, she’s outside. I’m Summer, I’ve been nursing you and Qrow- I mean Axel back to health.”

        Rachel blinked for a moment, looking back to Axel for a brief moment before turning her attention back to Summer as she got out a crystal from within her weapon’s sheath. “Thank you… please, allow for me to return the favor.”

        As she said that, she dropped down a fire colored dust shard in the center of where Summer was trying to relight the fire as the embers from the crystal began to come to life. Forming a decent campfire as she looked back towards Summer. Who seemed rather shocked by what Rachel just did.

        “Th-thank you. We ran out of dust weeks ago.” Summer said, smiling thankfully, though shyly. “And… um… I know what you’re going through. Leaving family- especially children behind… It’s not easy.”

        That… had Rachel blink for a moment as she looked back at Summer. “You… lost family as well. I-i’m sorry to hear that.”

        “It’s… especially hard nowadays. I can barely remember my daughter’s face.” Summer said. “But I move on, because I know she would want me to at least try and find a way home.”

        “I still think of them whenever I can,” She replied back, holding out a photograph that had been in the old wallet she had that was just of her and her daughters. “They’re the reason for me to keep going…”

        “I’m glad.” Summer replied softly.

        “So you’re the Raven Displaced…” A cold voice spoke up from behind Rachel. Which had her turn around to see who was exactly behind her as she got up from her spot on the floor.

        “You’re… Glynda then?” She asked, sounding nervous at first.

        “Yes. Glynda Goodwitch. I see you’ve met Summer.” Glynda stated. “I apologize for ruining the touching moment, but I’d like to speak with you about your ability.”

        “You mean… my semblance?” She asked her. “It just… well, it kind of happened really. I had been trying it for days with no success, but when I thought of Axel… or who you call Qrow for a moment before doing it, then something actually happened.”

        “I’d like you to teleport us to ‘Abel’. Whenever you can, it would be appreciated. We need to leave the north before the yaks find us.” Glynda added.

        That… left her puzzled for a moment as she looked back at Glynda. “The what? What exactly happened with you guys?”

        “Well… we were living with the locals for a period before we ticked off the natives.” Summer spoke up. “Yaks. They’re sentient animals… Talking yaks are actually the least crazy thing. Remember the dragons, Glynda?”

        “Wait, there are actual dragons here?!” Rachel then said, shocked to hear Summer actually say that… before thinking that it was some kind of joke. “Real funny there, Summer…”

        A bit of silence began to drift throughout their cave… before Rachel then realized what they were saying was completely true. “Oh god, you’re serious…”

        “They’re not that bad, you just have to stay away from their horde…” Summer quickly mentioned.

        “They’re only passive with you because you saved the Dragon Lord’s daughter…” Glynda countered.

        “But it’s still true, they stay south and are usually asleep otherwise!” Summer defended. Glynda sighed.

        “Summer is on good terms with dragons, so it’s not that big of a deal to her. And isn’t a problem for us.” Glynda brought up. “There are hydras, griffons, unicorns, pegasi, manticores and, unfortunately, Grimm.”

        The last name on that list buzzed through her mind as she stared at Glynda in disbelief. All before she looked at her and asked a question regarding their… present situation. “And what happened to where you made a bunch of yaks angry?”

        “Glynda hit their king with her riding crop for spitting on her glasses.” Summer casually remarked. “They’re very uptight and unforgiving. By far the worst race we’ve come across.”

        “So we need to get out of here before they try to kill us then?” The swordswoman then asked as she watched Summer nod her head.

        “Essentially; yes.” Glynda replied. “Though thankfully the blizzard will slow them down a day or so. But our rations would last the two of us a week, and… well, you you two also needing food…” She trailed off.

        “I’ve been hunger stricken for the last two days and that’s not stopped me yet,” Rachel told them.

        “They’re saying we don’t have enough food to make it south enough to resupply, since the yaks are the only settlement around.” Axel interjected, playing with his weapon, Harbinger.

        “And I’m guessing this is where I come in? You want for me to try and find a way to cut the amount of time it takes to go resupply by trying to find Abel?” Rachel asked for clarification as she looked at all three of them now. “Way to put a lot of pressure on my shoulders… I’ll do it. But it won’t be easy… I found out my ability by accident and I’m still trying to understand it. Can you give me some time to try it again and get better at it?”

        “Thank you.” Glynda said, turning around and leaving without another word. Summer stared at Rachel for a moment, unable to speak. Until finally…

        “Uh, she’s… distant with everyone…” Summer smiled nervously.

        “Keeping people at an arm's length? That’s not always a strategy that works in my opinion…” Rachel replied back to Summer, before taking hold of her sword as she looked back towards her. “So… Glynda said that we had about a day until they caught up because of the blizzard?”

        “At least until they start their search. Overall, we have three days worth of food before we’re out and starve. But I’m sure we’ll be fine, Glynda and I have gotten out of worse.” That… only made Rachel sigh as she looked back towards Summer for a moment. Thinking of something to herself before asking a question.

        “Do you have any bread?”

        “Most of our food is canned, but I think so.” Summer pulled out a small loaf of bread from a satchel, handing it to Rachel. “By the way, Glynda’s like that with everyone because she’s been here the longest.”

        Rachel just nodded, before grabbing what looked like a quarter of the bread and cutting it from the loaf with her blade. Going as far as using the fire in front of them to toast it as she handed the rest of the bread back to Summer. Eating through her piece rather quickly as she looked back to Summer and smiled. “Thank you Summer… now if you excuse me… I have a semblance to practice.”

        In the cold and harsh conditions outside the cave, Rachel began to practice. Trying her best to recall how she did it before in order to be able to use her semblance again this time. At first, she thought that she had to think about a person first before doing it. But when she tried that theory by thinking about Glynda and repeating the same motions, nothing happened. She also tried the same approach with Summer in order to see if she could be able to create a portal that went into the cave, but that did not work out either.

        The third time though, she began to think about Axel again… and with a single slice, the doorway of energy that formed in front of her like last time repeated itself. “Hmm…” She said to herself, curious as she stuck her head through it. Only to find her brother on the opposite side as she then yanked her head out. And with another swing of the sword, the portal she made disappeared. “Strange… It didn’t work when I tried to create one for Glynda and Summer. Could that mean it only works on those I have a close relationship with? Because it worked twice now when I thought of Axel.”

        Now though… came the ultimate test. Trying to see if she could reach Abel. Concentrating, she focused her mind solely on him as her right hand gripped her weapon. Swinging forward, she was able to create a portal. But now she had to see if it was truly him on the other side.

        As she poked her head through it, her eyes widened. Dozens of creatures laid dead on the ground, while many more were in the sky. And they were all focused on one person. One with red hair and a mask on as his blade was drawn. “Come on, then! COME ON!! FIGHT ME, YOU COWARDLY BEASTS!!! TRY AND TAKE ME DOWN!!!”

        Immediately, she pulled her head back. Closing the portal as a look of disbelief was all over her face. That was him… that was her husband. His voice was still the same and his appearance was just like that of when he got separated. But… something about him changed. She could not put her finger on it, but there was something that did not seem right at all.

        Though, that… wasn’t what mattered, according to what Glynda told her. She just wanted to make sure that there was a way in order to reach him so they could get out of the north. And that, she found. So, she began to walk back towards the cave and to where Summer was waiting for her, before asking something. “Hey Summer, has Glynda come back yet?”

        “Yeah, she’s at the entrance sealing it up.” Summer replied.

        “Well, I got some news to share to her…” She said in response, looking towards the entrance to see Glynda there. “We might be leaving here sooner than expected. Is Axel back yet?”

        Summer nodded, “Glynda wouldn’t lock him out.”

        Rachel took a moment to look back at Glynda, wanting to believe that Summer was saying the truth. But also wanting to actually see her brother come on in so that way it was true to her word. Even though they had only met a short time ago and she got along well with Summer, she did not entirely trust Glynda yet. And wanted to see if her actions would speak louder than her words.

        Soon, Glynda and Axel entered the ‘room’, the latter of which was covered head to toe in snow and shuddering. Leading to Rachel to let out a sigh of relief as she looked at her brother. “Welcome back, Snow Qrow.”

        “Aha… aha… real funny.” Her younger brother snarked, hugging himself. “I was j-just unl-l-lucky that time.”

        “Sure, sure…” Rachel chuckled in response now. “Though, I might have some good news that you and Glynda would like to hear.”

        “Your semblance?” Glynda asked, raising an eyebrow.

        “Yeah, and it’s a bit of an odd one… It’s portal creation, but not exactly one where I create a portal to anyone I meet. Trust me… I tried doing one for you and Summer, but that did not work,” The swordswoman explained, showing an example by thinking of Glynda and swinging her blade, only for nothing to happen. “However… whenever I think of someone that I have a personal bond with… like Axel or Abel, this happens.”

        With the second swing, a black and red portal soon opened up as she looked at everyone else. “I’ve made sure that this one can go to Abel… however, there’s something I’m concerned with… I’m not really sure if he’s… well, himself.”

        “Then we’ll beat him out.” Axel replied as he rubbed his hands together. “What?”

        “It’s not that simple… when I peaked through there, I saw him slaughtering creatures all over the place that were attacking him left and right. As if he was asking for a fight,” Rachel replied back, her facial expression looking concerned. “I’m really hoping though that he could see that it’s us and not think of us as an enemy of his. Plus… Grimm are attracted to negative emotions.”

        “I’ll go first. You guys need a meat shield anyways.” Axel volunteered. Summer stared at him in horror.

        “No! No one’s going to be a meat shield!”

        “Perhaps I should go first to see if he’s… well okay,” Rachel then suggested. “If things go well, then I’ll let you guys come through afterwards. Would that work?”

        “Very well, reason with him.” Glynda said. Prompting Rachel to step through again as she found herself in the same place as before. Most of the monsters that were slain earlier were gone. Just only faded blood stains of what happened earlier.

        However, as she looked around, she only heard the sounds of something moving through the trees behind her as Rachel turned around. Only to come face to face with the person she was looking for. But… his tone and voice were different. “Who are you?”

        Rachel turned to face him, her eyes widening as she looked back at him. “A-abel?”

        For a moment, he paused. Even going as far as taking off his mask so he could see his eyes. “O-oh my god…” He said, shortly before hugging her briefly. “I… I thought I lost you.”

        Rachel at first was caught off guard by the hug. Before proceeding to return it with one of her own. “It’s okay… I’m here… everything going to be okay…”

        However… that just made him shudder as he looked back at Rachel. With what looked like fear in his eyes. “N-no… I-i’m not okay… S-stay away… T-there’s something wrong with m-me…”

        “What? What do you mean? What’s wrong-?” Before she could ask, her husband let out a piercing howl, grabbing onto his head as Abel fell onto his knees. “Abel!! Talk to me!!”

        “I… hear his voice…” Abel muttered. “He’s… trying to…”

        “Who trying to do what? Abel, talk to me!” Rachel told him, getting on her knees in order to try to help him. But all that lead too was him passing out on the ground as the huntress looked towards the portal she made. “Guys, I need your help! Quick!!” Glynda was the first to come through, followed by Summer, and finally Axel. Summer dashed to Rachel’s side, eyes wide with worry.

        “Oh dear, oh dear, this is really, really bad…”

        “You don’t know the half of it…” Rachel told her, picking up Abel and placing him on her back as she picked up his weapon before looking at them. “I’ll explain what happened once we find a place to camp.”

        “We’re in Ghastly Gorge, around twenty to thirty miles away from the nearest town.” Glynda began, looking around as she walked past Rachel. “The Grimm are by far the weakest creatures here… stay away from the tunnels if you value your limbs and/or lives.”

        “If there are any left over after what Abel did…” She thought to herself, before following Glynda.

        It took a few hours, but the humans arrived at the outskirts of a small village that was just starting to form. Several different buildings looked to either have been built already or were in the construction process, but Rachel didn’t exactly have the time to look at all of it. They were only passing by it after all, and while they were passing by, she overheard some other people in their small group talking to one another.

        “They’ve done well. Maybe Granny Smith would be willing to house us for the night?” Summer suggested, only for Glynda to roll her eyes.

        “Don’t act like that, you sound vain and needy…” Glynda said, crossing her arms.

        That though, just had Rachel raise an eyebrow as she looked back at them. “Granny… Smith? Is that a person?”

        “Pony.” Summer corrected. “You could call them people too, but I don’t want to get you confused.” That… only had more questions surface in Rachel’s head as she looked back to Summer. But instead of asking them, she just kept her mouth shut and followed them towards their destination. What appeared to look like a bright red barn on an apple orchard that was close to the small village that they found a few moments ago.

        And when they got closer, that was when Rachel noticed what appeared to be a light green pony that was standing on the front porch, a mark of what looked like an apple pie on her flank as she noticed them walking towards the barn. “Well ah’ll be… Summer, is that you?”

        “Yes Granny, it’s me.” Summer smiled warmly at the young mare. “We need a place to rest our heads for a while. Would it be presumptuous to ask if we could stay the night?” She gestured to Rachel, Abel and Axel.

        Granny took a moment to look back at the small group while also looking at Glynda, narrowing her eyes for a moment, before looking back to Summer. “If ya wanna come in, that’s fine… but leave ya weapons or whatever ya have with the rest of the farm tools in the barn. Ah don’t want anyone of those things setting off inside my house. Ya understand?”

        Summer looked to the others, as if pleading. Glynda quickly discarded hers onto the deck of the house as if it meant nothing to her.

        Axel looked at Rachel before shrugging and leaned his blade on the house. She also did the same, while also setting Abel’s weapon down too. That had a smile appear on Granny’s face as she looked back at them.

        “Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres,” She said in a calm tone now, stepping aside from the door and letting them come inside. 

        “Pleasure.” Axel said, a genuine smile on his face as Glynda and Summer entered quickly. 

        Hours pass as Summer tended to Abel’s wounds. Glynda stood outside of the room, reading a book Granny Smith gave her. Rachel was at the table in the dining room, drinking a glass of water as she waited to hear the status on Abel… while also wondering where exactly Axel was.

        Glynda suddenly spoke up as she walked in and sat across from Rachel. “I’m sorry for acting cold. It’s been just Summer and I for a long time. She’s the social one, and you aren’t the first humans we’ve come across.”

        “No need to apologize… I did kind of appear at a time when you guys were in a situation that you did not want yourself to be in,” Rachel replied back to her, setting her drink down for a moment as she thought of a question to ask. “Though… how long have you exactly been here for?”

        “You wouldn’t believe me… almost two hundred years. It will be that exactly in two years.” Glynda stated. “But Summer’s only been here for twenty one years. She doesn’t count the days, though.”

        Rachel blinked at that, caught off guard for a moment as she tried to process what she had just heard. “You’re… telling me that you’re over a hundred? But… you don’t look a day over forty. Is one of the effects of coming here the fact that you can’t age?”

        “Yes. We’re not unkillable, but our lifespans can meant we last forever. I know one man who pretended to be a god and gathered worshippers to create his own kingdom down south.” Glynda said. “He’s essentially harmless, but deeply flawed.”

        “Noted…” Rachel replied back, before looking at where Summer was working and then decided to ask a question. “So… how did you find Summer?”

        “Let’s just say that I was drifting from place to place, then, I was invited to the land of the sea dwellers. She had appeared in the ocean and nearly drowned, so the sea dwellers asked if I’d look out for her.”

        “And how about my brother, Axel?” Rachel then decided to ask.

        “Passed out in the snow and almost frozen to death. Thing is, when a human appears, they make a lot of noise. We followed that for a day and found him.” Glynda answered, setting her book down.

        “I’m guessing he was cursing up a storm because of the situation he was in?” Rachel chuckled, before taking another sip of water.

        “Actually he was squealing like a kid in a candy store. I think he must’ve been dissatisfied with real life. I know the feeling.” Glynda said, leaning on her arms. “I think… my memory of my past life is… weak. I don’t have any mementos or people I knew. Just me.”

        Rachel thought of it for a moment, before recalling a moment that happened earlier in the day and showed the same picture that she had of her children to Glynda. “The only thing I have of my past life is this picture with both of my daughters. I’m just worried of what would happen to them while we’re gone… or for that matter…” Around that point, she stopped, looking back towards Abel as an expression of worry became present on her face. Something that was rather noticeable to Glynda.

        “Elaborate.” Glynda demanded.

        “I’m worried about Abel… Remember when I told you of what he did earlier?” Rachel said, getting only a small nod from Glynda as she continued to explain. “Well, when I saw him shortly before he passed out… He told me that there was something wrong with him… something inside his head… like the story of Jekyll and Hyde. He told me that there’s something in his head trying to take control of him…”

        “I remember Jekyll and Hyde, you don’t have to remind me.” Glynda spoke up aggravatedly. Still, there was concern on her face. “So… 

        “I’m worried that whatever is inside of him is eating away at him… I don’t want to lose him, just after I found him.” Rachel said, her voice now sounding just as concerned as any. “How… am I supposed to help him given… well… everything going on right now?”

        “Be there for him. Be his anchor. Not many of us have that.” Glynda said warmly. “Take care of him, and remind him every day who he is.” Rachel thought about that as what Glynda told her stuck inside her head, before nodding as she looked back at her.

        “Thank you. I’ll make sure to do that.” She told Glynda in response before finishing her glass of water. “It may be tricky… But I’ll do everything I can.”

        “If that doesn’t work, there may not have been a thing you could’ve done.” Glynda warned.        “If worse comes to worse, I will do whatever is necessary in order to prevent what’s inside of him from hurting anyone,” Rachel told her, almost as if she was swearing an oath to Glynda. “But only as a last resort… I don’t want to think that whatever’s inside of him has control over him just yet.”

        “I’ll hold you to that, Rachel.” Glynda said. “And I hope you, Axel and Summer find a way home.” Before Rachel could reply, Summer came into the room, smiling timidly.

        “Oh… hello Summer,” the swordswoman then saia to her, scooting over so she could sit with them. “How did everything go?”

        “The worst of his ailments is exhaustion, but he’ll be fine with rest.” Summer replied. “He’s having a nightmare though, he’s been tossing and turning for a while.” That… made Rachel grow concerned as she looked to Glynda for a moment. Trying to think of what exactly to say inside her head.

        Then, she spoke up. “Summer… There’s something that I think you should know about Abel. It’s… something I was talking with Glynda about, but I think it’s important that you know about it as well.”

        “I’ll tell her, go be with him. It might calm him down.” With that, Rachel got up and proceeded to go to the barn. Where Abel was lying on what looked to be a few barrels of hay as he was tossing and turning in his sleep. As Rachel approached him, she sat down by where his head was before placing a hand on his shoulder. In a matter of moments, Abel’s motions began to cease, becoming more relaxed as he laid on the hay barrel.

        It was in that moment that Rachel thought of something as she looked at her husband. “Abel… no matter what happens… we’ll find a way to get through this… I’m not going to let that monster that’s inside you take over. I promise.”



Three years later...

        “What the hell, Qrow!?” Summer screamed, covered in blood. “Do you know how hard it is to clean blood from a white cloak!?”

        Qrow shrugged, “It’s Grimm, the blood will dissipate.”

        “Why’d you throw a head at me though!?” Summer roared, enraged. She sat in the middle of the woods with a dissipating beowulf head in her lap.

        “Cause you’re cute when you’re scared~” He teased, before Summer threw the head into his and knocked him onto the ground.

        “Or you just happened to be rather unlucky.” Rachel chuckled as she offered a hand to help get her brother back on her feet. He took it and yanked himself up.

        “It’s been gettin’ worse, huh?” Qrow asked sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “Oh, can we get ice cream later!? Oh man, they have this new flavor that’s rumored to taste like cake!” A childish look graced his face.

        “You’re thinking about ice cream right now? Really?” The three of them heard another voice as they turned around to see Abel leaning against a tree. Normally, he would stay out of fights so that way the… beast in him would not take control, but there was one thing that he did notice. “That’s the fourth grimm that we’ve seen over the last couple of days. Normally we would run into them once or twice, but now they’re appearing more frequently.”

        “Maybe those birdbrains finally got their crap together and the Grimm started to notice the ponies?” Qrow suggested, referring to the griffons who had been the Grimm’s focus for a long time.

        “Whatever the reason, we should tell Glynda. She would want to know about this.” Abel said as he got off the tree that he was leaning against.

        “She’s babysitting Bright Mac again? Perhaps the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes afterall.” Qrow joked, only for Summer to thwack him over the head. “Such misfortune…” He groaned.

        To Rachel, she just saw this as Summer messing around with Qrow. However, in Abel’s mind, he honestly could not believe that Qrow would be making jokes on a matter that’s as serious as the Grimm. He personally thought that he should be a little more serious when it came to his job, but from what he was seeing, it was as if he treated it like some sort of game. Something that irritated him beyond frustration.

        Rachel though, noticed what was going through in Abel’s mind and then decided to speak up. “I think Abel’s right. We should head back at least to make sure and tell Glynda. It’s getting close to sundown after all and we rather not get spotted by any of the creatures from the Everfree.”

        “Fine, fine, it’s a pain to have two buzzkills on the field and a third at home…” He grunted and sheathed his blade. He then transformed into a crow and flew off.

        “He abused his power too much…” Summer sighed.

        “Agreed.” Abel said, feeling the need to take off after him. Leaving Rachel with Summer as the two of them started walking back towards the barn. Eventually, the two of them tried to keep up with Abel as they got closer to the barn, with Rachel even going as far as to not use the bird transformation powers she had, given how Abel did not like it when Qrow used his abilities all the time.

        “You think your weapons will dull?” Summer suddenly asked. “Qrow’s started putting more power into his swings.”

        Rachel shook her head, before grabbing something out of her pocket as she looked back at Summer. “Nope… Last week, Granny Smith introduced me to somepony that runs a blacksmith shop in the nearby town and they showed me how to use a whetstone to keep my weapons sharp,” She explained to her. “I’ve been meaning to give one to Qrow, but it seems as if he’s all over the place. One moment you think he’s here, only to learn that he goes somewhere else two minutes later… No wonder he gives us headaches.”

        It was as she was putting it away though that she also got something out for Summer that was wrapped in a black cloth. “That reminds me… I have something for you, Summer.”

        “Really?” Summer asked.

        “Yeah, because when I was at the blacksmith, they allowed for me to try making something. And since I knew that you were the only one who didn’t have a weapon, I made you this,” When Summer unwrapped it, she found what looked to be a silver dagger with a curved edge and a ring on the end of it, with the hilt of the blade having a orange colored gem in the center. “It’s a dagger. One that I put a fire dust crystal in it. You know, for the off chance that you find yourself in a situation where you need to protect yourself.”

        “Oh my gosh! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Summer squealed, hugging Rachel. At first, Raven was caught off guard by the sudden gesture, but then she returned the hug as she looked back at Summer.

        “I’m glad that you like it.” The swordswoman replied back to her. “If you would like, I can teach you how to use it.”

        “You will!?” Summer made more strange noises. “You’re the best, Raven!”

        “Hey, I just thought I would try to help you out. I wanted to make you another one so you could have one in each hand, but I didn’t have the time or bits to make it unfortunately.” The swordswoman sighed, looking back at Summer as she scratched the back of her head. “Just be careful with it though. I rather not have you accidentally cut yourself.”

        “I know how to point a blade away from me.” Summer smirked playfully.

        “Fair point.” Rachel replied back, just as they were coming up upon Sweet Apple Acres. Seeing Glynda on the front porch in a rocking chair while holding a baby colt. Granny Smith was also there too, but it looked like she had just gotten back home recently.

        “Welcome back,” Granny Smith called out to them as they approached the barn. “Was wondering where the heck ya went while Glynda was looking after Bright Mac for me.”

        “We were just patrolling the area,” Raven replied back, before looking to Glynda for a moment. “By the way, did Qrow happen to stop by? He did happen to get a head start on coming back here.”

        “He was here, but only to ask for money…” Glynda replied dully, clearly unamused by his actions. While she was fed the newborn Bright Mac.

        Hearing that though… just made Rachel sound rather frustrated. “God dammit… We found out that there are more Grimm approaching through the Everfree and all he does is ask for money?” She said, rather annoyed by this recurring habit. “And what was his reason for asking for it this time?”

        “Ice cream. He’s a sugarholic, best to keep him energized.” Glynda stated tiredly.

        “Figures…” Abel groaned. “He mentioned it earlier while we were on patrol.”

        “Yeah well, let’s not get all caught up in what he’s doing right now,” Granny Smith told them in response. “Ya’ll look kinda worn out. Let me get ya something to drink.”

        “Thank you, Granny. I wanted to ask you something though, Rachel.” Summer said. “I’ve been planning a trip to the dragon lands, for a few weeks at least to see how things are going. I was wondering if you and Abel would like to come?”

        Both Abel and Rachel looked at one another for a moment, before the swordswoman decided to ask a question. “You’re going to the dragon lands? What’s the occasion?”

        “It’s mostly social, I’m the godmother of the dragon lord's daughter, so I’d like to check on them. Axel can stay with Glynda and investigate the Grimm appearances.” Summer said. 

        “That… sounds like a good idea,” Rachel replied, looking at her husband for a brief moment before looking back at Summer. “It’ll give us the chance to see what life’s like for other species outside this continent. What do you say, Abel?”

        “Ehh… Sure, I guess,” Abel replied. “As long as Glynda scolds Axel whenever he slacks off, I’m okay with it.”

        “It won’t be just her, ya hear?” They all heard Granny Smith speak up as she brought out a few glasses of water for the three of them. “Ah’ll make sure to give him a piece of my mind in Glynda’s place if he does anything stupid now.”

        “Well, if that’s the case, then I think we’re on board,” Rachel told Summer before asking her another question. “When do we leave?”

        “About three or so days, depending on your affairs. Oh, trust me, this’ll be so much fun!” Summer squealed, tapping her knuckles excitedly.

        “Would they be… open to letting outsiders in?” Abel then asked, feeling uncertain by the amount of positivity that Summer was showing.

        “If they welcomed Summer with open arms, I’m sure that they’ll do the same for us Abel.” Rachel assured her husband as she looked back at Summer with a smile on her face.



        The sight before Rachel and Abel was… perplexing and odd. Summer and a massive, massive dragon were talking casually in an outdoor ‘castle’ beside the ocean. The strangest thing wasn’t exactly that, but Summer giving the dragon helpful tips on parenting.

        “The teen years are the toughest. Especially if you have a tomboy, phew!” Summer sighed in an exaggerated manner to emphasize her point. “That’ll give ya trouble!” The event wasn’t entirely new, but the human and Faunus weren’t usually around. But the week was almost over and Summer insisted on a get together. Though, as Summer was talking just now, it also had Rachel look away for a moment as her husband noticed.

        “Rachel, is something wrong?”

        “No, no… It’s just…” Rachel herself sighed, before looking back at Abel. “Hearing Summer talk about parenting just now reminds me of our own children… before we ended up here.”

        “I’m sure that we’ll find a way to get back to them, Rachel… just have a little faith.” He replied back, which soon had Rachel put a smile on her face as she looked back at him.

        “Yeah, you’re right… worrying won’t get us back to the girls now, would it?” She told him in response before looking back at Summer.

        “Sorry I have to go Torch! Tell me if Blaze ever tries for another kid! If her last complication was anything, I’d rather not be told after the fact!” Summer waved goodbye to Torch, who chuckled.

        “I don’t think she’d want to try again after nearly dying last time.”

        “And I won’t be a prisoner like last time!” Summer joked, before grabbing Rachel and Abel’s hands, dragging them away. “Torch is a nice guy, but his wife scares the shit out of me.” She muttered.

        “I could relate… Rachel scares me sometimes,” Abel commented, before getting elbowed in the arm by Rachel. “Sorry!”

        “I rather not be compared to a scary dragoness…” Rachel deadpanned. “Though, Summer… from what I heard, the two of them have a child?”

        “Yeah, little Ember. She’s about… maybe one or two? She was ‘birthed’ three years ago, but hatched around two years ago.” Summer replied. “It was a crazy story, I had to recall my nursing training from back home and things were messy… I really need to get a PHD.”

        “When you mean birthed… do you mean like laying an egg?” Abel asked, which got a look from Rachel. “What? Back home, there are several stories where dragons hatch from eggs.”

        “Yeah, I learned a lot about it. Dragon culture’s pretty brutal but interesting. There are two kinds of dragons- though that may not interest you all that much.” Summer blushed in embarrassment, like a nerd rambling off details of their favorite show to some amish person they knew.

        “Well, we are here, so I think learning about one's culture is important.” Rachel replied back and Abel nodded in agreement.

        “Alright!” Summer grinned from ear to ear. “There are two kinds of dragons. The ones who live out here are more or less normal but strict, brutal and protective of their way of life. In their eyes, a dragon with only one parent isn’t fit to live in their society, so the mothers- or fathers, dump their eggs. The lucky ones who survive actually live in Equestria as ‘tamed’ dragons.” Summer sounded like an eager school girl.

        “That… sounds a bit harsh, don’t you think? Like abandoning your child and not knowing if they’re actually alive or not.” Rachel replied back.

        “Thing is, dragons see it like this. The mother nurtures the young while the father hunts and protects for the family. There was apparently some event where a dragon nest was unguarded and a ton of other races killed the majority. That was thousands of years ago but it morphed their culture around that. It’s obviously flawed, but so are kids put up for adoption.” Summer elaborated. “I don’t like the act but the culture fascinates me. There’s no way I’d want to throw away babies. But there’s apparently a place in this one city called Dragon Town, which is where the ‘tamed’ dragons live.” She rambled.

        “So a town where all the orphans are raised?” Abel asked.

        “Yeah, then they stay there, secluded from the rest of the world. They’re not fond of ponies, and the ponies aren’t fond of them.” Summer continued. “They are considered Equestrian citizens though, and Celestia seems to have tried to keep the peace there. It isn’t dissimilar to what Glynda tried before she met us.”

        Both Abel and Rachel stopped for a moment upon hearing Summer say that. “Wait… Glynda tried something like that?”

        “Yeah, with humans and faunus...” Summer trailed off, before cringing at her mishap. “Oh, she’s not felt comfortable talking about it with you guys yet…”

        Abel narrowed his eyes at that remark, though they could not see it with the mask on over his face. But they can tell because of the shift in his tone. “And why is that exactly?”

        Summer looked to the side. “I… I’m not sure I should be the one telling you…”

        “Abel, stop.” Rachel told him sternly, before looking back at him. “If Summer said that this was something Glynda tried to do, then we should ask her upon coming back to the barn.”

        Abel himself… did not like having the answers that he wanted, but all he could really do was just let out a deep sigh. “Fine.”

        “Let’s go, then.” Summer said, her tone much more sour than before. “And look, it took her two years to tell me.”



        “Glynda, can we talk for a moment?” Rachel asked Glynda as she was in the kitchen. Abel himself was helping prepare firewood outside while Summer was with Granny Smith and Bright Mac. “I wanted to ask you about something that came up on our trip to the dragon lands recently.”

        “Oh? Summer should be able to tell you enough about the dragons there. So what’s this about?” Glynda questioned calmly, raising an eyebrow. She was working on a partially solved puzzle, one that Rachel had never seen before.

        “Well, yeah she did… though, something else happened to come up when she was telling Abel and I more about dragon culture,” Rachel replied back. “Though… it was when she was explaining it that another subject came up… something that she says that you’re a bit uncomfortable with telling us and that I should hear about it from you instead of Summer.”

        Glynda finally looked up from her puzzle, narrowing her eyes. “Oh did she now...?”

        “It… came up when she was talking about a place called Dragon Town here in Equestria,” Rachel replied, looking at the door for a moment before looking back to Glynda. “She said that you had tried something similar before, but for humans and faunus… However, I’m really concerned about how Abel took that news… Given that so far, in our group, he’s the only faunus here and he might think that you are trying to hide from him how there were others…”

        “Bring him in and I’ll tell you…” Glynda sighed in frustration. Rachel herself nodded, stepping out for a brief moment to go get Abel. It took a little bit, but soon Glynda saw both of them walking back through the door. Abel setting his weapon by the door and putting logs of wood by the fireplace as he sat down.

        “Rachel said that you needed to speak with us? Is something wrong?” Abel asked, sounding a little puzzled at first.

        “Remember what Summer said in the dragon lands?”

        “Oh… Oh. I get it now,” Abel replied back, before setting his mask aside as he looked at Glynda. “You wanted to speak with us about that?”

        “I didn’t want to, but you both seem upset. You’re talking about the community of ‘our kind’, right?” Glynda asked.

        “Was that what it was called?” Rachel asked. “Because personally, we were both a bit surprised about it.”

        “In my mind, it felt like you were trying to hide the fact that there were other faunus…” Abel then said, before adding on with something else. “But I think the one question we both want to know is why… Why didn’t you tell us about it?”

        “Because it doesn’t exist anymore.” Glynda said bitterly, her attention going back to her puzzle. “Things fell apart.”

        “What about the faunus?” Abel asked, before he felt Rachel’s hand on his arm. A sign that he should calm himself. However, instead of choosing to listen, he actually ignored it. “What happened to the people in that community?”

        “They split up. One of the founders betrayed us after someone lost a loved one and things escalated. My lifelong friend left me, and for the longest time, I’d been alone until I found Summer.” Glynda said. “Whose been a thorn in my side ever since. As for the faunus, I can’t really say. I only know that a couple followed my friend to Griffonstone and isolated themselves with the griffons.”

        That answered a few things, but now it was time for Rachel to ask something. “Glynda… I’m really sorry to hear about all that… Does Qrow know about this?”

        “No, and I’d rather keep it that way for now. It hurts to remember, and it scares me that I haven’t seen any of them since.” Glynda said with a sorrowful look on her face. “In the end… it all fell apart because we’re all ageless.”

        Abel looked back at Rachel for a moment, before getting up and walking out. Closing the door behind him and leaving the two of them on their own. Rachel got up to try and go after him… but something in her mind held her back. Told her that all he needed was a moment to clear his mind after everything that he heard. But still… there was one last thing that Rachel wanted to ask.

        “Glynda… I’m sorry if all of this is painful to remember but… I had one last question,” She said, her hand on the doorknob as she looked back at her. “What was your friends name?”

        “Khan… Sienna Khan.”



        After the conversation with Glynda, Abel’s attitude was slowly beginning to change. He would ignore Rachel anytime that he told him to calm down or to stop, he would be a bit more aggressive towards not just Grimm, but other individuals as well. Which made Rachel fear that he was losing the battle between him… and whatever was trying to take control of him. It had gotten so bad to the point that some of the others, including Summer and Qrow, kept their distance from him. Fearing that he could snap at any minute.

        As for today though, to Rachel… something did not feel right. Summer had said that she was going to go to the market to get some food for the barn, but it had been over a few hours since she had left. So instead of sitting around inside and not doing anything, she got up, grabbed her stuff and walked towards the door. “I’m going to go look for Summer… She’s never been out this long before, so I think something’s wrong.”

        Before Glynda could say anything, Rachel closed the door behind her and began to race into the woods. Knowing Summer, there was a small shortcut through the orchard and the forest that she always liked to take in order to cut down on time and get back to Sweet Apple Acres as quickly as she could. However, after a little while, her calm demeanor began to fade as she became worried for her. Wanting to find her as quickly as she could.

        Yet, when she did find her… Rachel was horrified by what she saw. “Summer!!”

        She had found Summer alright. However, she had found her pinned to a tree with a blade stabbed through her gut as Rachel rushed over to her. Tears in her eyes and streaming down her face as she looked at the girl. “S-summer… Please talk to me. T-tell me that you’re still there… please…”

        Summer’s hand gripped Rachel’s shoulder desperately as tears stained her cheeks and blood practically poured from her mouth, forcing her to gag on her own crimson liquid. She could only make a whimpering sound as her movements began to slow. Rachel herself was desperate to try and keep her friend alive, pulling out an ice dust shard to try and stop the bleeding on her chest as she looked at her.

        However, things weren’t going so well for her… and Rachel herself, was losing her focus. “S-summer… Please… say something… anything… H-how could something like this happen-?”

        Summer’s head began to sag. “S-sorry…” And her eyes lost their light. Rachel could not believe it… she had promised to keep her safe from harm, but the one moment where she thought that something was wrong, she couldn’t do anything to save her. It made her feel hopeless as she used her hand to close her friends eyes and let her be at rest. Pulling the blade out of her as the tears continued to flow.

        However… something began to boil inside of her as she looked back at the blade. She recognized the design… and knew exactly who it belonged to. “Qrow… You bastard…”

        Picking up the blade, she placed it on her back as she picked up Summer with both of her arms. Carrying the body of her dear friend back to the orchard.

        Soon, she saw Glynda, Abel, Granny Smith, and Qrow at the barn. Glynda looked shocked and about ready to keel over in horror and despair, the most emotion Rachel had ever seen from the elder woman. Abel himself was caught off guard, looking as if the sight made him sick to his stomach as he forced himself to look away. Granny herself looked just as horrified, but was also trying to help Glynda pull herself together despite what they were seeing.

        Then… there was Qrow. He had frozen and was shaking, very visibly. He was the first to speak.

        “Is she…” There was no confidence, humor, or childlike undertones. He sounded dull, void and lifeless. Broken, almost.

        “Yes… she’s gone…” Rachel told her, before taking the weapon that was on her back and throwing it on the ground. Having everypony stare in shock at the blood soaked Harbinger that was on the ground. “And this was what pinned her to a tree… Qrow… Why?”

        Qrow staggered backwards, putting a hand over his mouth as he nearly tripped over Granny. “No, no… no, I didn’t-” He looked ready to cry.

        “Answer me!” Rachel shouted, tears going down her face as she glared at her brother. A look of desperation on her face. “What did Summer do to deserve this, you bastard!?! What did she do!!?!”

        “Sis, I promise I didn’t-” Qrow tried to sound calm as he took a step towards Rachel, hands in front of him in an attempt to hopefully reach out.

        “If you say you didn’t, then why is your weapon covered in HER blood!?” Rachel fumed, turning around as she looked back at her. “I wanted to save her… but when I got there, it was too late… She even blamed herself… All I heard her say was that she was sorry before she died! She never deserved this, Qrow!! And if you didn’t do it, who would!?!”

        Silence lingered in the air as Qrow tried to formulate an answer, but anything he thought of just got caught in his throat, an old timidness reawakening which prevented him from formulating a single word.

        But before he could say anything… Rachel had had enough. “Save it,” She said, turning around and carrying Summer with her. “I’m done… After today, I don’t want to see you again… because nothing you could ever say would ever get me to give you an ounce of forgiveness.” As she said that, she began to walk away. Not looking back as Abel began to follow her.

        “B-but I haven’t seen Harbinger all day! Glynda, I even asked you where it was! And why would I leave my weapon in her-” Yet, as Qrow watched them walk away, he looked at Abel’s face… and saw the murderous grin that he was trying to hide. “You… you’re the one who did it!” Qrow shouted, pointing at Abel.

        Abel stopped, looking back at him. His expression from before was gone as he just looked at him with a confused glance. “I don’t even know what you’re on about…”

        “You took my weapon and used it to frame me!” Qrow shouted desperately, glaring with hatred none had ever seen from him. “You killed her!”

        “Those who commit vile acts are quick to blame others for their misdeeds.” Abel said, motioning his hand towards the hilt of his blade. Anticipating for Qrow to retaliate. For Rachel, she couldn’t see what Abel was doing, but only hear him. But his tone had changed dramatically, forcing Rachel to say something as she glared at Abel. 

        “That is enough…” She grit her teeth, glaring at Abel. “We have no quarrel with them, Abel. Just leave them alone.” However, her husband didn’t listen as he drew out his own blade and pointed it at Qrow.

        “If you really insist on proving that I would commit such an act, then show me your resolve.”

        “Abel!! What did I just say-?!” Rachel snapped.

        Glynda stood between Qrow and Abel, narrowing her eyes. “Don’t start, Abel.” Her resolve was cold, even with her tear stained cheeks and puffing eyes. “Qrow wouldn’t kill Summer.”

        Rachel herself… didn’t want to have things get worse. “I’m sorry Glynda… but after everything I’ve seen… I can’t believe that…”

        “Then I suppose we shall go our separate ways. I hope you find a way home.” Her words were void. Hollow. Lies. She waved her riding crop from one side to the other, and Harbinger flew to Qrow’s hands. “Goodbye, and may you and Qrow be wrong, for both of our sakes.”



        A year had had passed since Summer’s death and after what had happened, Rachel did not look back. The first thing that she had did was gave her friend a proper burial in the dragon lands. After telling the dragon lord and his wife what had happened, Torch had dedicated a memorial to Summer in her honor for everything that she had done to help him and many other creatures like them. It was a place that would be considered sacred.

        Now, when Rachel had returned to the memorial, she was shocked by the amount of tributes that were left behind. Flowers, gemstones, numerous little trinkets that Summer would have loved to seen herself if she was still alive were left behind for them to pay her respects as she looked at the memorial.

        “How are you holding up?” She heard the voice of her husband from behind her as she turned around. 

        “I-i’m okay… it’s just… it brings to my tears to my eyes anytime I come back here… I thought I could have saved her… but…” Before she could be able to finish her sentence, Rachel felt tears stream down her face again as Abel placed a hand on her shoulder.

        “Come here… Let me help you…” He offered, just as Rachel herself looked back at him. Hugging him as he patted her back. 

        However, it was only until after a few seconds that Abel’s tone changed. A grin forming on his face as he looked back to her. “Let me help you ease your suffering…”

        “W-wha-?”

        Immediately, a sharp pain coursed through her body as she looked down. Her eyes widening upon seeing the same knife that she made for Summer shoved into her chest. “GAH! A-abel!! W-what are you doing?!!”

        However, all he did was force it in deeper as she dropped to her knees. Looking back at her with a sinister glare in his eyes as a new voice soon finally emerged. It wasn’t Abel’s voice anymore that she was hearing… it was Adam’s. “I’m sorry… but I can finally now claim what I deserve. The man you called Abel has been long gone… ever since I took over and killed that wench, I have been in his place… but not anymore.”

        At first, he motioned for the hilt of his blade, but then he decided to not grab hold as he left her there. Leave her there to die on her own as he turned around and said one last thing. “At least, you’ll finally be able to see your friend once more… In heaven, that is.”

        “Y-you bastard!!” Rachel was now furious, trying to stand up on her own despite the pain she felt. This man… the man she thought was the one that she cared for the most… was nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. One that tore apart the relationship that she had with her brother and with Glynda and had been deceiving her for months. “I-i’ll kill you for what you did-!!”

        WHACK!!

        Before Rachel could do anything, the faunus that was Adam used the hilt of his blade to knock her to the ground. Leaving her unconscious as blood began to pool out all around her and he began to walk away. Disappearing without a trace.



Present Day

        “And that’s what happened. Adam is the monster that stole your father from me. Using the memories of your father’s life with you, me and your sister to inflict harm… It’s why he showed no remorse in wanting to strike you down.”

        As Raven finished speaking, she watched as Ruby and her friend Weiss were trying to process everything that she had just told them. They were all sitting in the living room at Fluttershy’s cottage, with tea for each one of them set on the coffee table that was placed in between them. 

        Everything was quiet for a few moments. But then Raven broke that silence with one more thing. “Do you two have any questions?”

        “Yeah, I have one,” The white haired girl now asked. “Why did you wait until now in order to tell us this?”

        Raven herself sighed, before looking back at the two of them as she cleared her throat. “There are two reasons why… First, over the last few days, I’ve been trying to mend the wounds that Adam inflicted on my relationship with Glynda in hope that doing so would also mend my relationship with Qrow. He is Ruby’s uncle after all. Second, Glynda is important in another matter,” The swordswoman paused for a moment, thinking about what would be the right way to say it… before refocusing and letting out a deep breath. “She’s trying to help us locate where Yang is through Qrow.”

        That just had Weiss raise an eyebrow as she looked at Ruby, before returning her gaze to Raven. “Are you sure that he’ll be open minded to that?”

        “I… guess. Maybe?” Ruby then added, even though the overall tone sounded like one that was filled with uncertainty.

        Raven herself felt that there was one last thing that she needed to do. Though, before she could do that, their conversation was interrupted when Sun slammed the side door open. “Oh thank god, you’re here!”

        The swordswoman seemed… caught off guard by the faunus’ sudden appearance. “Sun? What’s going on?”

        “It’s Fluttershy, she needs our help-” Sun told her, before they both heard a loud cry from the pegasus outside as the faunus looked back at her. Before saying three words that she… was really not prepared for.

        “The baby’s coming.”




End Tail 33

> Tail 34- Angel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Angel




        There wasn’t time in order to think or process anything when it dawned on everyone that Fluttershy was going into labor. So immediately, everyone had to get up off the floor and pitch in to help her remain calm and to make sure she got to the Ponyville Hospital in time. Raven was quick to get water, blankets and towels for her while also trying to have her calm down and breathe carefully, while Ruby and Weiss immediately rushed into town to try and find Twilight in hopes that they could teleport them to the hospital. Sun himself had little time in order to be able to grab a lot of things, so the only thing that he could get before tending to Fluttershy was Aya’s token.

        Luckily, all the commotion did happen to get onepony’s attention as Sun and Raven attempted to try and help the mare. “What in the hay is going on here-?”

        Looking up, his eyes laid sight on that of Applejack. She was with her brother and looked to have been coming back from the marketplace since Big Mac was pulling a cart with a few empty apple baskets. “Applejack, you gotta help us! Fluttershy’s water broke-” His sentence was cut off by another pain filled scream from the pegasus as he tried to keep Fluttershy calm.

        “Oh hay! That’s not good!!” Applejack jumped off the back of the cart, rushing over to Fluttershy to check on her, before looking back at her brother. “Mac, get over here!! We gotta take ‘Shy to the hospital now!!”

        The stallion didn’t need to be told twice as he moved the cart over to where they were while Applejack prepared one of the blankets and laid it down onto the cart. With Sun picking up Fluttershy from her forelegs, Raven picked up the opposite end as the two of them set the pegasus down gently onto the cart. Shortly before Applejack spoke again. “Well, get on! We’re burning daylight at this rate!”

        “I gotta tell Ruby and Weiss that we found you. They went looking for Twilight in town,” She responded back. “We’ll catch up to you!!”

        Before Sun could even respond back, Big Macintosh took off as he and Applejack were now tasked with trying to keep Fluttershy calm. Over the course of the trip to the hospital, Applejack was thoroughly instructing him on what he needed to do to make sure and help her on the way over and holding onto her left hoof. “Fluttershy, just remain calm. I’m here. Applejack and Big Mac are taking us to the hospital.”

        She nodded her head, letting off another painful groan as Applejack placed a folded towel over Fluttershy’s forehead. “Your doing good, Shy. Just be calm and we’ll be there any moment.” She said, which had Sun look back at the earth pony and ask her a question.

        “How… do you know so much about this? I-i mean, wouldn’t you be nervous?” He asked her.

        “Ah would, but ah had to help my ma when she had Apple Bloom so ah know what we need to do,” The earth pony assured her, before looking back at her brother. “Are we there yet, Mac!?”

        “Ah see it, but we’re still ah bit of a ways,” Her brother replied back. “Ah’m gonna try and go a bit faster. Hold onto something!” And with that, the stallion began to full on gallop down the path towards the hospital. Forcing Sun to hold onto the side of the cart with his free hand while still making sure he was still holding onto Fluttershy. Applejack herself, quickly had to use her lasso to hold up the back end of the cart, which almost came loose after one of the wheels hit a rock that was buried into the ground. 

        The faunus still did everything he could to help Fluttershy remain calm as they approached the front of the hospital. As Mac stopped, Sun let go of the side of the cart as Applejack hopped out. “What was the name of the doctor ya saw last?”

        “Stable. Doctor Stable.” Sun replied, before placing a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder when he heard her emit another painful groan.

        “Ah’m going to go get him. Mac, stay here with them!” Applejack said as she barged through the doors and began to look for the doctor. In Sun’s mind, he needed to make sure to stay by Fluttershy’s side. But with Raven still back at Ponyville, he still needed someone else to help them.

        Then, he remembered the badge. Grabbing it with his free hand, he began to hold onto it and let it glow. “Mom, come quick. This is an emergency! Fluttershy’s in labor and I need your help!”

        “What in tarnations are ya-?” He was cut off in an instant as the wall nearest to them began to grow a flesh-like fungus that bled across the wallpaper and expanded until it made a ‘doorway’ around six feet tall. Not a moment later did Aya Brea, Sun’s mother, struggle to emerge from the abomination of a portal. She fell to the group after tearing the fungoides ‘flesh’, heaving heavily.

        “Where’s the future momma bear!?” She almost screamed. Big Mac was the only one to take in the fact that her clothes were semi-torn, and she was riddled with cuts and bruises. But her arrival had Sun look back at the stallion.

        “Mac, turn the cart around.”

        Instead of asking why, the stallion did what he asked. Turning the cart around so that Sun and Fluttershy faced in Aya’s direction as he let out a small sigh, waving his free arm to try and get her attention. “Mom, over here!”

        Aya stood up quickly, fumbling over towards the couple. “You should’ve told me it was due any day, I would’ve had the equipment on hand! Get me towels, gloves, and something to cover my mouth with, stat!” She was also mumbling obscenities that made the occupants of the room blush in embarrassment as they brought her inside.

        “Ah got the doctor!” They heard Applejack from the other side of the room as she was seen alongside Doctor Stable.

        “Bring her over here! And quickly!” The doctor instructed them. Sun took a moment to clap his hands and conjure a clone with his semblance to grab the towels and everything that was in the cart while he and Aya followed the doctor to bring Fluttershy to the delivery room. After his clone brought the towels, Sun dispersed it, stepping out of the room to grab the rest of the supplies that Aya told him to get before coming back and having them on hand.

        “Here’s the gloves and the face mask,” He told her, handing them to Aya as she began to put them on. “What else do you need me to do?”

        “Be ready, I’ve never done this, and my horse anatomy lessons with Mist have much to be desired!” Aya said, determined. “Have the first aid kit ready, and pray that I remember enough of your birth to do it a third time- well… help someone else!”

        At first, the faunus was puzzled by her words, but instead, he shook his head and began to refocus. Grabbing the first aid kit and setting it nearby for if something happened, while also getting anything that the doctors told him too. This included water and also alcohol for disinfectant… and Aya. But the most important job that he had was to be there for Fluttershy and to help keep her calm through the ordeal that she had to face.

        “Is everypony ready?” Doctor Stable then asked, while looking back at Aya as well. Aya could only nod, finally getting her head leveled.



        As the procedure began and hours began to drift by, Sun was slowly beginning to be nervous. He was unsure what was going on in the delivery room after he was asked to step out, but now he couldn’t get his mind off of it. The thought of whether or not Fluttershy was okay was slowly beginning to drive him crazy. And it was something that both Applejack and her brother noticed while they were in the lobby with him.

        While they were waiting, the door soon opened as Raven stepped in with Twilight right next to her. “Where’s Fluttershy?” She asked.

        “In the delivery room,” Applejack replied back. “It’s almost been an hour and we haven’t heard anything from the doctor or that Aya lady yet.”

        “Hold on, your mom’s here?” Twilight asked, now looking back at Sun with a raised eyebrow.

        “We needed an extra hand with getting Fluttershy into the delivery room,” He replied back to her. “She’s also helping the doctors with the process so everything goes smoothly-” His sentence though was cut off by what sounded like a loud cry that came from the operating room and echoed around the rest of the building. Which was enough to explain to them what was going on. “I’m sorry about getting you all caught up in this, since this was all kind of a sudden-”

        “No need to apologize,” Applejack cut him off. “Though, why aren’t you in there with her?”

        “I was, but then they asked me to step out of the room and wait here until it's over.” At the moment he said that, the doors to the room opened and out stepped a mare that was originally in the room when the whole procedure began.

        “Excuse me, but are you Mr. Wukong?” She asked him as he got up from the chair that he was sitting in the waiting room.

        “Yes, that’s me. Is Fluttershy alright?” He then asked, sounding rather concerned for her.

        “Everything’s fine. The operation went well and she just needs a moment to rest first before you can see her.” The mare insisted, before adjusting her glasses with a hoof. “Although, there is another thing that I would like to ask you… Did you bring in some alcohol earlier?”

        “Y-yeah. Doctor Stable said he needed it for disinfectant,” He replied back to her, sounding a bit puzzled. “Why?”

        “Well, after the operation finished, that bottle went… missing,” She told him in response, briefly looking at Raven, Applejack and Twilight before adding a follow up question. “Would you have happened to have seen anypony with it by chance-?”

        “Never make me do that again!” Aya groaned as she applied the alcohol to her cuts casually upon stepping out of the room. “I swear, I delivered you and your sister in a hospital while I was drugged, and I don’t even remember much of my life anyways! Why call me!?” She sounded slightly tipsy, now that Sun wasn’t so distracted by panic.

        “Oh… so that’s where it went. I’ll just… leave you be.” The mare responded, before exiting the room and leaving Sun and the others with Aya.

        Sun himself, was not sure how to respond to Aya in that moment. Mostly because he wasn’t sure if it was his mother talking or the alcohol. But still, he felt that he needed to say something to her. To tell her that he called her because he did not know of anyone else he could turn to for help. However, that alone was hard enough for him to put into words on the spot.

        So, while trying to remain calm, he then looked back to his mother and began to speak. “Because I was afraid… I called you because I had not been in this situation before and did not know what to do. I-i was scared that I might do something wrong and end up hurting one of the ponies I care about the most. That’s why I called,” Admitting this felt right to him, and with it, that’s when he walked over to his mother and wrapped his arms around her. Holding her close and hugging her. “And I’m beyond grateful that you came.”

        “Don’t make me go through this again anytime soon… if the baby’s due, bring her to the hospital…” Aya sighed tiredly.

        All Sun did was nod his head as he looked back at her, loosening the hug for a moment. “I won’t. I promise.”

        “Excuse me, Mr. Wukong-?” Both of them soon heard the voice of Dr. Stable as the stallion entered the hallway as he looked back at them. “Oh, I’m sorry. Was I interrupting something?”

        The faunus looked back at his mother for a moment, just before looking back at the doctor and shaking his head. “No, we’re fine. Is everything okay with Fluttershy?”

        “Why yes, we just finished up a few things. Everything was successful” He said, looking towards Aya now and trotting away from the door. Though, as he noticed the bottle of rubbing alcohol in her hands, he used his levitation spell to take it back and put it back on a cart of medical supplies that a nurse was moving down the  “Fluttershy would like to see you now. Well, both of you now.”

        As Dr. Stable trotted past them and towards where Twilight and everyone else was, that was when Sun looked back at Aya and walked towards the door. Opening it for her as a polite gesture and letting her go inside first as he followed suit. Both of them found Fluttershy on the bed, resting in what looked like a hospital gown as she looked relaxed. But the real thing that stood out was that in her hooves, she held a young baby girl that was wrapped in a warm blanket.

        “How is our little girl?” Sun softly asked as Fluttershy noticed them walking into the room.

        “W-well, she’s doing fine I think,” The pegasus responded, before looking back to Aya and smiling. “Thank you. I wouldn’t have had my little angel here without you.”

        Aya waved Fluttershy’s thanks off with a wave of her hand, “It’s nothing. My daughter-in-law needed me and I used the breathing technique more than you.”

        “No no, I mean it…” Fluttershy herself insisted. “In fact, I… well…” For a moment, she hesitated, before whispering to Sun as he looked back at her. For a moment, he looked surprised. But then, he let out a sigh as he turned to Aya.

        “Fluttershy and I have already decided what the name of the child would be, but…” He took a moment to compose his thoughts, before looking back at her. “Fluttershy wanted to ask if it was okay if we used the name that you once had back home as her middle name. Silvia.”

        “I… I’d be honored, but why?” Aya was taken aback.

        “Well… I know how important you are to Sun and after you helped me here, I just w-wanted to show how much you mean to both of us. And how much you m-mean to me too.” Fluttershy replied back to her, while Sun nodded his head in agreement. It was shortly afterwards that Fluttershy motioned her hooves so that Sun could come over and have the chance to hold their daughter. Allowing Aya in order to be able to see her up close while her son held her.

        “Welcome home, little one.”



        Outside of the hospital, Twilight waited alongside that of Raven for Sun and Aya to come outside. Originally, they were waiting around in the lobby with Applejack and her brother, but after a while, they said that they needed to go back to the orchard or else Granny Smith would be asking too many questions about why they were gone for so long. So that left both the princess and the swordswoman waiting outside of the hospital doors for what felt like almost an hour, wanting to know more about how Fluttershy was doing.

        Eventually, the doors opened. And with it, both Sun and Aya stepped out as Twilight looked back at both of them. Letting out a sigh of relief in the process. “There you are. How’s Fluttershy? Is she doing alright?”

        “Yeah, she’s doing fine for the moment,” The faunus nodded his head. “The doctors want to keep her overnight, just to make sure that she’s okay after the anesthesia wears off. She should be out of the hospital by tomorrow if everything goes well.”

        “That’s good to hear,” Raven now spoke up as she looked back at both of them. “How are you two? I know that everything happened so quickly, so… how are you holding up?”

        “Oh, I’m fine.” Aya chuckled mildly.

        “Same here.” Sun also responded in the same manner.

        “Okay then, I guess.” For a moment, Twilight looked back at Raven before returning her attention to the two of them. She looked like she was going to ask them something, but the faunus beat her to it beforehand.

        “Hey mom… Did you want to stay for a while at the cottage and catch up a bit?” He offered to her, looking a bit nervous as he scratched the back of his head.

        “I guess… I’d rather not have to deal with MIST right now…”

        “Needing a break from the action? I know the feeling…” Raven replied back. At first, she gripped the hilt of her blade before slicing the area in front of her as a red and black portal emerged on the ground. “There we go. That should be able to take us back to the cottage.” Moments afterwards, she stepped through the portal, followed by Twilight shortly afterwards.

        Sun was going to step through next, before turning around and looking back at Aya. “After you.” Aya thanked her, stepping through the portal shyly. Followed by Sun once she had fully stepped forward.

        Upon exiting the portal, both of them found themselves to be in the living room of Fluttershy’s cottage. Raven had already set her katana down on the coffee table while Twilight herself was in the kitchen. Preparing a tea kettle as the portal behind both Sun and Aya now closed. “Would you like anything to drink? I’m preparing some tea right now.”

        “No thanks Twilight, I think I’m fine,” Sun declined as he looked towards his mother. “Would you like anything, Mom?”

        “Anything strong. It cools my nerves.” Aya replied as she sat down on the nearest seat- which in this case, was the couch that was not far from where the coffee table was.

        “So… would black coffee work for you then? Or was there something else you had in mind?” Raven then asked her cautiously. She was brewing some coffee alongside that of Twilight’s tea as an alternative option, but she was unsure if that was what she wanted… or if what she wanted was the same thing that lead to her ‘outburst’ at the hospital. 

        “Something… strong.” Aya commented tiredly.

        That had the swordswoman sigh as she looked back at her. “So Alcohol then? I don’t recall having much of that stored here, but if you can give me some time, I can make some Hard Apple Cider for you.”

        “Wait, you know how to make that?” Twilight asked, sounding a bit surprised by that statement.

        “Why of course. Back when Granny Smith was younger, she taught me how to make it so that way we could be able to have more on hand during Cider season.” Raven replied back as she grabbed a handful of apples off the kitchen table

        “That’s good.” Aya messaged her forehead, “I haven’t tried any, used to the magic drinks I get back in my world.”

        “Magic drinks?” Sun then asked as he looked back at Aya. “Do you mean potions or is that a nickname for a series of cocktails you guys have back in your world?”

        “Oh, think of them like super drinks that’d knock you out. It’s hard for me to get hammered.” Aya chuckled nervously. “Heh… you probably don’t want to hear that from your mother though, sorry.”

        Around that time though, before Sun could respond to what Aya said, that was when he noticed something else come through the front door. It was Fluttershy’s rabbit, Angel, and the wolf pup that Sun found that the pegasus had been raising named Grif. And as soon as the rabbit came in, he just tapped its back foot as if Angel was impatiently waiting on something important. “Oh… right, I almost forgot,” He said, before looking back at Aya and the others. “Sorry guys, I need to step out for a moment so I can feed Angel and the rest of the animals Fluttershy is caring for.”

        “Alright, we’ll let you know when coffee’s ready.” Twilight replied back as the Faunus began to walk towards the back door. Following both Angel and Griff around back as he found the rest of the animals that were out back. Making sure to provide the right kind of food to each one and distribute it equally as well based on a chart that Fluttershy made for him a while ago. Salmon fillet for Henry, Cheese for a small mouse named ‘Mr Mousey’, Fresh Nectar for Mr. Hummingway, new chicken feed for Elizabeak, bird feed for Constance, small fish for the two otters that were in her, bowl of fruit for Toby the Fruit bat, a bowl of food for Grif and lastly, a carrot salad for Angel.

        “There we go, that should be everything,” he said, before looking back at Grif and noticing something. It looked like some kind of rolled up piece of parchment was in his bed, almost like the letters that Twilight would send to Princess Celestia. But this one was different. “Hunh… I don’t think that belongs here…”

        Extending his hand forward, he picked up the parchment and held it in his hands. But before he could open it and see what it was, he heard the whistling of a tea kettle coming from around the other side of the cottage. Folding the parchment and placing it in his pocket, the faunus went back around inside as he looked back at everyone. Twilight was just picking up the pot with her levitation spell while Raven was handing over a wooden mug to Aya that had a bit of foam that was beginning to fizzle at the top.

        “Alright. I made sure Angel and all the others were fed,” He said, before looking back at Twilight. “Is coffee almost done?”

        “Yeah, just give it a few more moments,” Raven replied back, taking a moment to get out some cream and sugars before setting them on a tray just in case they wanted to sweeten their drinks a little. Before turning her attention to Aya. “So, what do you think?”

        “It tastes great, but is pretty tame… Oh! How are things treating you all, besides Angel?” Aya asked, immediately perking up about her granddaughter.

        “Well, I’ve been trying to fix the relationships that I have between my daughters and a couple of people I know. Other than that, things have been alright,” Raven herself replied first, before turning over to Sun. “What about you, Sun?”

        “Well, the only thing I remember that had been going on recently for me was that I was in Manehattan with Nora and Coco. There was a bit of a stir a few days ago where one of the displaced that’s part of another team here, team ABRN, was framed for a crime she never did,” The faunus responded, recalling the events of the last few days aside from that of staying with Fluttershy. “Fortunately, we found some evidence that could help her case and brought it to Ozpin as soon as we came back.”

        “I remember that. I was talking with Starlight and Sage when I overheard Nora talking about it with him,” Twilight recalled as she looked back at the faunus. “Other then that, I haven’t seen much of your teammates around recently. Mainly, Neptune.”

        “Why’s that?” Sun asked.

        The alicorn looked back, giving off a small sigh before explaining what she meant. “When I asked if Neptune could help me out, he was first agreeable. However, when he realized that I needed help with testing the waters at the pool that was just recently finished in the athletics department for Beacon, that was when he immediately bolted for the door.”

        All Sun did was facepalm himself in response, before groaning. “God dammit, Nathan…”

        “What? Was he not like this before he came here?” Raven then asked, a bit puzzled.

        “Back home, Nathan was the star player on our schools water polo team,” The faunus told them. “Now though, it seems like he’s taking on one of the personality traits of Neptune. That being his fear of water.”

        “That’s pretty ironic…” Aya commented.

        “How?” Twilight asked, looking puzzled.

        Sun took a moment to let out a small breath, before looking back at Twilight. “By now, I think we already told you that some of the characters that we were displaced as have a certain theme or character that they’re based on. Whether it be fairy tales, fables or mythic beings back home. Neptune specifically was based on a roman god of the same name who was the god of the sea.”

        That left the alicorn just looking down at them for a moment, before scratching her chin. “Yeah, I can see how ironic that could be now,” She replied back, before returning her gaze to both of them as Twilight asked a new question. “Out of curiosity, what are you two both based on? Is it anything in particular?”

        “Well, as far as I know, Raven herself is supposed to be based on Norse Mythos. One of two ravens who would bring information to that of Odin, the All-father. Though, I can’t remember which one in particular,” The swordswoman replied back to the alicorn, shortly before turning to Aya. “As for Sun, I think he was based on a story from… china?”

        “Yeah, Journey to the West,” He replied back. “Sun Wukong is the name of a character in that same story that was referred to as the monkey king. Heck, even my own weapons are based on the staff that Sun Wukong had in the story and were named similarly.”

        “That’s… something,” Twilight blinked for a moment, rubbing her eyes for a moment with her wings before looking back. “I don’t know what anything you just said means, but it's still something I… guess?”

        “You know how some stories use other material to inspire it?” Aya asked, before taking a swig of her cider while waiting for Twilight’s response. It took her a few moments, but eventually, things were beginning to click.

        “Oh… Ohh… Oh, I see what you mean,” She replied back. “It’s like you are reading a story and there’s a character in it that is a reference to somepony in history?”

        “Or another more popular story, yeah. From my experience, everything’s inspired by something else.” Aya downed the rest of her drink. “How’s we start talking about this again?”

        “I believe Twilight mentioned Neptune when she was talking about how she overheard Nora talking about what we found in Manehattan to Ozpin,” Sun replied back, now pouring some coffee for himself and sitting down not that far from that of Aya. “You know, with trying to prove another displaced innocent of something they didn’t do?”

        “I had something like that happen. Best way to help is catch the one who really did it.” Aya suggested, looking into her own cup with disappointment. “Anyways, anything else?”

        “Not really,” Twilight replied back, taking a sip of her tea before looking back at Sun. “Oh, right! I almost forgot. Sun, Ozpin wanted to talk with you and I tomorrow morning if that’s okay with you. He said that he wanted to talk about something regarding Beacon.”

        “Thanks Twilight,” He said in response, before looking back to Aya now. “So mom, how have things been with you lately? Working on any new cases?”

        “You don’t even know what I do!” Aya giggled as she gently punched his shoulder.

        “S-sorry. I might’ve assumed that you were some kind of detective since your token was a badge.” He admitted, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

        “I’m less of an agent nowadays. My organization’s really taken off, though your cousin’s been causing me headache after headache.” Aya leaned back before continuing, “I’m pretty much stuck behind a desk and telling people what to do. Not as fun, but very important. I’m the ‘boss’.”

        “Ouch… I guess you’re more of someone who likes to do fieldwork instead of paperwork?” Sun then asked her.

        “Paperwork is boring to everyone, Sun. Your grandfather would always complain about it when he came home from work, and my mother and sister got every detail.” Aya laughed, though mostly to herself.

        “Paperwork can be a pain, but it’s still gotta be done, no matter what it is,” Twilight agreed to that. “You should’ve seen the look on Rainbow’s face when she needed help going over the contract she needed to sign before officially joining the Wonderbolts. She was complaining about ‘why did she need to sign so many papers just to do stunts’ and such.”

        “That would sound like something she would happen to say alright,” Sun chuckled as he took another sip of coffee before turning to Aya. “Luckily, at least you can be able to take a break from all that, even if it's just for a little while right?”

        “Right now it’s piling up… Lance moved into New Yoke City to investigate some illuminati type of group. A group we were looking into before he just walked in and messed up our investigation.” Aya let out a frustrated huff. “Things are stressful with him, Mane Hero Six, the vigilantes who’ve been killing my informants along with petty criminals, and the numerous cutbacks after recent incidents I can’t divulge.”

        Sun was silent on that. Not sure how exactly to respond at first because he did not know how his mom would act. He wanted to ask if Lance actually knew about their investigation before coming in, but given how stressed out Aya way, it sounded like a topic that she didn’t want to talk about. “Damn… it sounds like you need more than just a small break after you’re done. That’s the amount of work that requires a mandatory vacation afterwards.”

        “Geez, and just when I thought that what I’ve been doing already and working as a blacksmith at a forge was a headache,” Raven let out a sigh, before looking to the remaining apples on the table. “If it were me, I would want in on that vacation, big time.”

        “My city’s still got some… infestation problems at the moment. Once they’re gone and Lance stops poking his nose where it doesn’t belong, I’ll take a vacation.” Aya set her cup on the coffee table. “You okay with refills?”

        Raven looked back at the table for a moment, seeing that there were still some apples left over before nodding her head. “Yeah, I got enough to make you another. You deserve it.” She got up to grab the empty mug and walk back over to the kitchen to make the refill that Aya requested.



        “I’m fine on the couch, it’s no big deal!” Aya complained drunkenly, having downed almost one hundred cider bottles.

        “Mom, its okay,” Sun insisted as the princess of friendship just trotted up alongside him. “Just let Twilight and I get a bed ready for you. I’m sure we have some space in the guest room. You don’t have to-”

        “I’mma be fine!” Aya assured Sun and Raven, before giggling to herself.

        That just had the swordswoman sigh as she went back to the kitchen, much to that of Sun’s dismay. “Really? You’re getting her another one? Don’t you think she’s gone over her limit?”

        “Trust me,” She said, before pulling something out from under one of her arm guards that looked like some kind of sweetener packet. “She’ll be done after this. Go ahead and get that bed ready.”

        Without questioning what Raven was talking about, both the alicorn and the faunus just decided to let her handle Aya for the moment as they moved over to the guest room. Taking off the sheets that used to be on the bed and preparing them with a clean new set. Though, it was as Sun was making sure that the sheets were in place that Twilight noticed something that was sticking out of his back pocket. Something that looked to be a scroll or letter.

        “Hey, what’s that?” She then asked.

        “Hmm? What’s what?” The faunus asked, thinking that she was referring to something in the room or on the nightstand.

        “The paper in your pocket. What is that?” She clarified a bit more, before he turned around and pulled it out. Holding it in his hands.

        “Honestly, I’m not entirely sure,” Sun replied back. “I found it in Grif’s bed while I was feeding all the animals out back, so part of me thought that it was something that he mistook for a chew toy.”

        “Have you tried opening it?” The alicorn’s question was then met by the Faunus’ attempt to remove the ribbon that held the scroll in place.

        After untying the knot that was on the scroll, the piece of paper began to roll out. But what he found was something that… caught him off guard. “It’s a letter… from Kreed.”

        “Wait, seriously?” Twilight blinked in response. She remembered when Sun and Fluttershy took both the bodyguard of one of the changeling queens and a former queen herself into their care to treat them after close encounters with that of Adam and the White Fang. But she had not seen, nor heard from them recently. “What does it say?”

        Sun took a moment to exhale as he looked at the top of the letter, before he began to read what was written on the page.



To those who helped us in our time of need, 

        I would like to offer our sincere gratitude for you taking all of us into our care. Unfortunately though, it feels as if we have overstayed our welcome. After hearing about your ordeal from the same figure that left that of Chrysalis in a near death like state, both of us thought that we unintentionally brought this upon you considering our close encounters with that of the one who calls himself Adam. In addition, after hearing how you and your marefriend were planning to start your own family; we came to the realization that our presence in your home, and furthermore, in Ponyville could lead to that of Adam returning to finish what he started.

        Fortunately, while you were helping some of your friends investigate something in Manehattan, we had the opportunity to go to that of the Crystal Empire to visit Princess Cadence and discuss our situation with her. It was during our visit that we realized that we weren’t the only ones who were on the run. There was another changeling that was living in plain sight in the Crystal Empire. His name was Thorax, a part of the scouting and reconnaissance swarm that was away from our hive when the siege happened. After having the chance to talk with him, his brother Pharynx and the rest of the drones in that swarm and fill them in on current events, we’ve now determine a plan for us to be able to be able to start over.

        There’s no point in going back to the original hive the way that we are right now. Even if Adam and the White Fang are purged from this place, there would be way too many bad memories there. So that’s why we are going to go somewhere else instead. There’s an uninhabited forest far to the west of Ponyville right now that we are planning to travel too on hoof. We have enough supplies to last all of us a few weeks and Cadence has provided us a sack of crystals that would provide us with the different emotions that we would need to feed. After we have the chance to resettle, we will send a messenger to Twilight’s castle. As for Honeydew and Reson, both of them will be staying in the Crystal Empire for a while until we have completed the journey.

        Thanks to you, our kind now has a second chance. Perhaps this time, both changelings and ponykind can be able to live together in peace.

Sincerely,

Kreed



        Sun just stared at the letter. Caught off guard by what was inside. Twilight herself was also caught off guard by this too. In fact, no one really knew that they would just decide to leave like that. The alicorn herself was still trying to contemplate it personally, muttering to herself before looking back at him.

        “Sun, w-what should we do? D-do you think we should help them?” She asked.

        “Twilight, If I were to be honest,” The faunus told her in response. “This sounds like something that they have been preparing for a while. The last thing we should do is just show up thinking that they need our help, only to find out that they have everything under control. Besides, if they got a few drones that were once soldiers, then I think they can handle themselves.”

        “What about the Grimm though?” She asked.

        “Either Raven or I would’ve told him about it and in turn, he would tell the others,” Sun then mentioned. “Besides, Kreed was the former bodyguard for his queen. He’s not defenseless.”

        “I know but…” Twilight stammered a little as she looked back at the faunus. “Something tells me that maybe we should’ve done more to help them. I don’t know, this is just all of a-”

        THUD!

        “-sudden.” At the sound of that, both Sun and Twilight dropped everything that they had and raced to the living room. Only to find Raven carrying Aya in her arms, bridal style no less, as she looked back at both the faunus and the alicorn.

        “See? Told you that she would be done after this.”

        That had Sun blink for a moment, surprised. “What did you put in her drink? Sweetener?”

        “More like a knockout agent,” Raven chuckled. “It was a little secret weapon that Granny Smith had me use on stallions that had a bit too much for their own good... So, is the bed made?”

        “Y-yeah, we just finished it.” Twilight said, using her magic to hold the door open for her as Raven set Aya down on the bed and tucked her under the covers. Shortly before closing the door behind her and just letting her sleep.

        “With that, I should take my leave too,” The swordswoman replied, before handing Sun a few bits. Causing the faunus to look at her with a puzzled expression on his face before she began to explain why. “Compensation for the apples. You can use these to get some more tomorrow.”

        “T-thanks.” He replied, just before both he and Twilight watched as Raven transformed into a bird right in front of their eyes and took off through an open window.

        Which in turn, caused Twilight eyes to start twitching a bit as she looked back at Sun, before staring out that same window. “W-what in Equestria was that all about?!”

        The faunus only had one answer for her as he picked up the mug that his mother was using for Cider and brought it over to the sink. “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what just happened either.”




End Tail 34

> Tail 35- Birds of a Feather Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


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

> Tail 35- Birds of a Feather Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monkey Business- Birds of a Feather Part 2




Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The ornate corridors and winding halls of crimson and iron in the acropolis that overlooked the griffon kingdom were quiet and empty. What was once originally a home for the first king of Griffonstone had been abandoned for centuries after the mistakes of the late King Guto. Even though the castle had not fallen, it stood as a reminder to the kingdom of what became of their home because of his arrogance. To venture inside on your own, whether in the pursuit of greed or discovery, was just asking for trouble and for you to be cursed by the kings that came before.

Or at least, that was what the population was led to believe. For in reality, this place was not seen as an ill omen, but a home. A sanctuary to those who had been oppressed and seen as inferior by the self-centered creatures that saw them as nothing more than animals and pets to be kept on a leash. Not just to those who were weak and helpless, but to those who wanted to fight and show their oppressors what happens when the beasts bite back.

Of course, in the present moment, one such person that saw this as their home was making their way to the door that led to the main hall. Two tapestries were placed on both sides of the doors to the chamber, but they did not have the kingdom’s regalia. Instead, the tapestry was black with the red marking of a feral tiger with its fangs ready to sink into its prey. Along with that, two guards stood outside. Griffons that did not follow the mistakes of their forebears, but were still rather rude.

“Halt,” The first one spoke as the two griffons crossed their spears and blocked the way forward. “State your business.”

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

“I have news for the Lady that needs to be shared immediately.” The figure stated directly, her gaze directed at both of them. “Step aside-”

“And who are you supposed to be, ordering us around like this?” The second griffon asked, “I don’t believe the two of us have seen you around here before.”

“Right. Fresh new blood on duty. Of course,” The figure rolled her eyes, before looking back at both of them as she motioned one of her hands to the clock on her waist. “Tock.”

Both griffons looked at each other, puzzled by her words before the second griffon spoke again. “Wait, Tock? Like the sound that a clock makes-?”

“Well, looks like one of ye’ is a quick learner. Should make this simple,” The crocodile faunus grinned, before clicking on the clock and unsheathing the cutlasses that were at her side. In the blink of an eye, she thrusted both of the blades forward as they impaled the door, inches from both of the guards necks as she smiled widely. Both griffons now got a clear view of the sharp metallic edge that was her teeth as she spoke, “I am the lady’s blades. If she wishes for something to be done, it is for me to carry out. If blood is to be spilled, then by my hands will be spilled. And if either of ye’ end up crossing my path, then ye’ will only have seconds to live. Are we clear?”

Both of the guards were quick to nod their heads, just as the faunus let out a small breath and retrieved her blades. “Good. Now, about meeting the lady?”

Immediately, the griffons opened the doors to the inner chamber and let her step inside. The same tapestries hung from the walls on both sides as she followed the scarlet carpet that was stretched out in the middle of the room. Torches lined the walls on either side to serve as light for the room as Tock saw the throne in the back. Carefully, she walked to the steps, before bending down onto one knee as she spoke one simple sentence.

“Lady Khan, I have returned.”

Sitting atop the throne was a dark skinned woman with dark stripes marking her shoulder to wrist and a red bead in the center of her forehead. Poking out of her asymmetrical raven hair were a pair of tiger ears that twitched upon hearing her name.

The faunus, garbed in an elegant red and black feudalistic outfit, opened her amber eyes, staring cooly down at Tock with an unreadable expression.

“Your report?” Her voice was the only sound Tock heard besides the flames, authoritative and on edge.

“There are two things to report that require your attention, my lady,” The crocodile faunus replied back, “While out on patrol, Yuma caught a glimpse of a pair of outsiders that aren’t from here. Not only that, but from what he overheard, their business here might conflict with the goals of the Red Fang.”

Lady Khan’s neutral face cracked, hints of a smile forming on her face. “Oh? And what was overheard?”

Looking up to the fellow faunus, Tock was quick to reply, “That they’re searching for the bird man. And the last purchase is with them.”

“Oh?” The smirk widened into a devious grin, “Well, I suppose he was going to come around eventually. Maybe we should roll out the red carpet for his return~?”

“Oh really? What exactly makes you think that this is a time for celebrations?”

Immediately, Tock rose from her knees and immediately unsheathed her blades as she glared at the newfound voice. The sight of two unfamiliar humans had the crocodile faunus on high alert as she snarled. “How did you two get in here!?! What have you done to the guards!?”

One of the intruders, a pink and brown haired girl with multicolored eyes playfully put her hands together against her cheek in a gesture for sleep. Which did not do well with helping convince Tock of their intentions.

“Easy there,” The green haired girl assured her, “We do not mean any harm. We just want to talk with whoever is in charge-”

“Like hell!” Tock spat the ground and grit her blades tightly. 

“Silence. I will grace them with the chance to plead their case.” Sienna’s mask returned, hiding any traces of emotion. The command was enough for Tock to stop herself, before sheathing her blades as the tiger faunus looked back towards the two arrivals, “Now, what is it that you wished to speak about, illusionist?”



“So, w-we’re actually here,” Sun said as he looked around nervously. “Can’t really say that much has changed but…”

When both he and Raven arrived on the outskirts of the city of Griffonstone, they were welcomed by a mass of Grimm swarming the edges of the glorified nesting ground. The entirety of it was domed by an enormous bubble that shielded the inhabitants from the almost rabid swarm. Yet, it did not stop the Grimm from trying anyway. Some of them even went as far as to rush through the defenses that were stationed outside, only to have themselves impaled on spikes before they could even get close to the city’s walls.

Their guide, a female griffon named Greta, groaned. “Looks like it’s rush hour. We’ll have to be cautious. They usually move on after a few hours for more vulnerable prey.”

“To another town or province?” Raven asked.

“Likely to their own territories. They usually hunt couriers or stray griffons that didn’t get the memo that they’re lunch.” Greta shrugged, trudging towards the city. “They shouldn’t linger for long. You two can clear a path after they settle down, right?”

“I think I can,” Raven said, before looking over to Sun and giving him a reassuring nod, “Do you?”

Sun blinked for a moment, as if he snapped out of a trance as he looked back at her and tried to refocus on the task at hand as he prepared his staff. “Y-yeah, I can help as well.”

“Then don't let them near me.” Greta grunted. As the two followed the griffon, both Sun and Raven took notice of not just the mass amount of Grimm that were on the ground, but also in the air above them. While it was true that the faunus had fought Grimm before, those Grimm were usually in small numbers. If they tried to pick a fight with a horde of this size, it would only be suicide.

Though, as Sun looked around, the faunus noticed that not far from where they were, there looked to be a cave that was above ground. “Hey, y-you think that we can wait out the Grimm from up there?”

Quickly, Raven looked at what the faunus was talking about, “That could work. Wait for the horde to pass and then hurry in when we get the opportunity. Would be much easier than picking a fight with every Grimm here,” The swordswoman replied, before turning to Greta to inform her of their plans. While the griffon wasn’t exactly open minded to it at first, the three of them didn’t exactly have a lot of options to work with.

It didn’t take too long for them to get their chance, yet there were a couple of complications. For when the Grimm chose to move on away from the main gate, some of them almost spotted the three of them. To buy them some extra time, Sun conjured two doppelgangers with his semblance, before sending them out into the forest as a diversion in an attempt to distract the ravenous pack. “I really hope this actually works.”

Luckily for the three of them, some of the beowolves that were farther out into the forest fell for the trick. When the beasts started to swarm the decoys, the three of them hurried through the side entrance along the city’s walls without a second thought. Even when one of the Grimm caught on to their plans and attempted to give chase, they dissolved into nothingness upon coming into contact with the barrier that protected the city. Which had Sun feel a bit of relief, but only for a mere moment.

Then, the monkey faunus realized where he was… and a feeling of dread began to set in. “Welcome to Griffonstone.”

As he slowly turned around, Sun looked upon the city square of Griffonstone as memories the faunus thought he had locked away were slowly beginning to resurface. Everything he was seeing now was exactly the same as it was before. Griffons ignoring those that were desperately in need, shopkeepers overcharging on prices for simple goods and the glares of suspicion from others as they were passing by. Everything was the same as it was before, and nothing had changed. Even with the Grimm on the prowl outside the city walls, the griffons only cared about themselves.

In Sun’s mind, the sooner that they took care of this and got the hell out of this place, the better. Though, he had the feeling that this wasn’t going to be as easy as Raven told him it would be. For if his previous experience here taught him anything, griffons didn’t really take kindly to strangers that just happened to arrive in their city. Especially strangers that did not look even remotely Equestrian.

“Greta, there you are!”

The sudden voice made Sun jump as he immediately turned towards it. He was going to draw his weapons, until Raven grabbed hold of his wrist and shook her head. “Stay calm. This griffon looks to know Greta, so they shouldn’t be a threat. No need to jump to conclusions.”

The swordswoman’s words did little to make the faunus feel relieved, but for the moment, Sun trusted her judgement better than his own. Though, as he looked back towards this other griffon that was talking to Greta, something about them seemed familiar. As if he had seen them somewhere before but couldn’t quite put a finger on it at that moment. Where exactly did he remember them from?

“So, what exactly are you doing out here? And who’re-” As the griffon spoke, her eyes glanced over to both of them. Yet, when she saw Sun, their eyes widened in shock, “Wait a minute, I remember you!”

The faunus blinked, a bit caught off guard by this. Clearly, she remembered him from somewhere, but he was having trouble recalling when exactly, “You… do?”

“Yeah, I was in the harbor when you escaped on that ship!” The griffon's words helped a bit with putting the pieces together. She must’ve witnessed him when he escaped the vessel of the griffon that put him in a cage. Though, he didn’t really stick around afterwards to see what happened to the bastard after he was apprehended by authorities. Yet, the mere mention of that was enough for the griffon’s next words to throw him and the swordswoman off guard, “I’m going to need to have you two come with me.”

“Hold on a minute,” Raven interjected, “Just who are you exactly? And why exactly should we trust you?”

“First off, my name is Gilda,” The griffon told them, “And second, with the way Griffonstone is right now, I know a place we can go that is away from prying eyes,” At that point, Gilda lifted up a talon and pointed directly at the faunus, “Because right now, if any griffon sees him, no one would hesitate to try and kill him on the spot.”

The faunus looked back towards Raven as he tried his best to ignore any feelings of panic and fear so he could focus a bit. While meeting Gilda was rather sudden, she did not come off like any of the other griffons around the town. Not only that, but if Griffonstone was as bad and dangerous as she said it was, going to a place that was relatively safe would be ideal. However, there were still a few things that didn’t make sense to him.

That was when he made up his mind and looked back towards the griffon, “Alright, we’ll follow you, but on two conditions.”

“Name them.”

“First, you explain to us what exactly you mean by ‘the way Griffonstone is right now’,” The faunus retorted as he folded his arms, “Second, you help us with what we came here for since you and Greta know this place better than either of us do. In addition, if we at any point have to venture outside of the city, we’ll keep you safe from the Grimm.”

“You two think you can handle those monsters-?” Before Gilda could continue, Sun noticed Greta say something to her as she broke eye contact for but a brief moment. Shortly afterwards, the griffon looked back at the faunus, “Well, if what Greta told me is to be believed, then you two can handle yourselves against them.”

“So, do we have a deal?”

The griffon replied with a nod of her head, “Follow me and stay close. Just because you’re inside the city doesn’t mean you're safe from harm. If you pay attention, you’ll see why.”

At first, the two of them were confused by Gilda’s words. Yet, as they walked through the various streets and alleys of the city, both Sun and Raven began to notice a few things. To start, some of the griffons they’d seen had scars or injuries that looked too precise to be something from that of a grimm attack. In addition, many of them stuck together in small groups and were armed in some way, whether it be a knife, crossbow, or something else to defend themselves with while anyone else just stayed in their homes.

Something about this was not right at all. Yet, the faunus couldn’t understand why everything was this way.

Before they reached their destination though, Greta had them stop for a moment as several of the griffons they saw before passed by, “Well, that’s just great. Trouble’s about to start.”

“They haven’t noticed us though. Let’s keep it that way,” Gilda told her, before looking at Sun and Raven, “Both of you, whatever you do, don’t draw any attention to yourself. Once Greta unlocks the door, get in quickly.”

As she said that, Greta went over to the building that was across the street from where she was and pulled out a key from under the scarf she wore around her neck. As she went to unlock the door, the sound of shattered glass could be heard in the distance and bolts from a crossbow landed onto the sides of nearby buildings. Whatever was going on made the griffon try to hurry faster as she got the door unlocked and forced it open as Gilda ushered the others inside. As they hurried inside, a couple of crossbow bolts landed in the door as Greta slammed it completely shut. 

Gilda herself let out a necessary sigh of relief as she looked back towards the faunus and the huntress that were inside with them. “Glad we got in here as quickly as we could. If we stayed out there any longer, we would’ve been caught up in that mess.”

“W-what the hell was even going on?” Sun now asked, “Why were those griffons-?”

“Trying to kill each other?” The faunus nodded in response to Gilda’s question as she took a moment to think to herself, before she came up with a proper reply, “Well, I was going to ask if you wanted the short answer or the long one. Though, the thing is, you’re not going to like it either way.”

Then came a question that Sun wasn’t prepared for, “Do you remember the griffon that locked you up on that ship you escaped from? The one that ended up getting arrested by Equestrian authorities?”

“I remember e-escaping, but not what happened to that guy afterwards,” he replied, “Why?”

“Well, here’s the thing about that,” Gilda now took a seat across from where Sun and Raven were as the two of them sat down as well, “That guy was in charge of one of the major gangs that ran Griffonstone. They’re called the Steel Wings and when their leader got locked up and stripped of everything they had, his sudden departure created a massive power vacuum. Which is bad for them… and for us since they were the only ones that kept everyone in line. Now, for the last several months, several different groups have been fighting each other tooth and claw to try and seize control of Griffonstone. There isn’t a day that goes by where fighting doesn’t break out and many griffons are scared to even leave their homes. For not only are their monsters outside the city, but inside too.”

The faunus couldn’t even begin to describe what was going on in his head after he heard that. When he first arrived in Equestria and broke free, Sun thought that he did the right thing by having his captor get arrested. However, he now realized that his actions from back then were the reason why Griffonstone was in chaos right now. The grimm at their front door and all the fighting going on inside the city was his fault… and the whole thing made him sick to his stomach.

“Have anyone tried to get out?” Raven then asked, “I mean, with the way you described it, you would think that someone would try to get out and find help.”

“When the fighting first broke out, Grandpa Gruff left to try and request aid from the Equestrian Diarchy,” Greta spoke up now.

“Who?”

“Gruff’s the town’s historian, and the closest thing we have to a leader,” Gilda added, “Since he left, we’ve received letters from him. However, with the monsters outside the city and the fighting inside, it would be near impossible for him to come back in. And even if he did manage to get aid, it wouldn’t go unnoticed.”

As she said that, Gilda let out a small breath as she glanced back outside briefly. After a moment or so, the griffon refocused his attention back to Sun and Raven, “Now, since I answered your question, it’s time for you to answer ours. Why the beak would the two of you decide to come here of all places?” Then, she focused her attention on the faunus, “Especially you, all things considered.”

“That’s a bit complicated,” Raven answered before Sun had a chance to speak, “But for me… I came here because I want to fix my mistakes.”

“Griffonstone isn't really a place to fix mistakes,” Greta retorted, “If anything, creatures just keep making them-”

“A long time ago, I made a choice that pushed away the only people I had that were family to me,” The swordswoman continued, “Whether it was out of anger or out of fear, I pushed them away and left them behind. Now, they’re the only ones that could help Sun and I find my daughter, Yang. I’m not looking for forgiveness, nor am I trying to excuse what I’ve done in the past. But if trying to make amends with my brother is the only way we can find Yang, then I’ll do anything to find her so she can come home.”

The whole room fell silent shortly after Raven had finished speaking. Sun might not entirely know her story or what exactly led to her and her brother's relationship being the way it was now, but he could tell that her intentions were sincere. The swordswoman wanted to mend the open wounds that she inflicted on their relationship. Yet, she knew that such things couldn’t be healed overnight and that their relationship might not be the same as it was before.

Both of the griffons in the room were silent at first. Though, after a bit, that was when Greta asked her a question, “You’re looking for your brother, right? What’s his name?”

“Well, I’m not sure if he’s changed it or anything since I’ve last seen him. Though, someone I know told me that he calls himself a ‘Dusty Old Qrow’ if that helps at all.”

The name alone had both of the griffons freeze for a moment as they looked back at one another and began to talk among themselves. To Raven though, this felt strange. Mainly, because she wasn’t sure if anyone even knew about her brother or where he might be. Yet, when both Gilda and Greta looked back towards the swordswoman, Raven was caught off guard by the first thing they said.

“You’re… kidding right?” Greta asked. “Is that really what your brother calls himself?”

“Well, from what I was told, yes,” she answered, before looking over to Sun. The faunus added a follow up question after she finished speaking. One that, despite sounding simple, would be difficult for both griffons to answer. “Is something wrong?”

“Is something wrong?” Gilda repeated, before folding her forearms, “Listen… uh, what’s your name?”

“Raven.”

“Well Raven, I’m not sure if you’re aware, but the Dusty Old Qrow is but an urban legend around Griffonstone,” the griffon continued, “A hunter of creatures with the blackest hearts both inside and outside Griffonstone’s walls. No griffon has ever seen them, but the only way they know that they were there was that the mark of a crow was left behind in the vicinity of every creature they hunted and what’s left of their prey. And that’s not the worst of it.”

“The worst of it?” Sun asked.

Now it was Greta’s turn to speak, “Another griffon that we happen to know and that we’re close with, Gabby, claims to have met them. At the time, we didn’t think much of it. But then a couple of days ago, Gabby left a note saying that she was going to prove to us that they do exist. We haven’t seen her since and honestly, both of us are worried. If she didn’t get caught up in the fighting going on right now, then she could end up being a snack for one of those monsters outside if they set their sights on her.”

That was not good. Either this griffon was really brave… or really foolish. If they were honest, both the huntress and the faunus did not want to find out which one of those was true. But then a thought came across Sun’s mind. One that was risky, but if they got it to work, then perhaps it would make finding who they were looking for easier.

“S-so you’re saying that if we find her, we could find Qrow?”

That question had everyone in the room look back at the faunus. “Sun, are you out of your mind? Do you really want to go back out there? With how you were acting earlier, I was shocked that you didn’t have a breakdown.”

“Well, think of it,” he replied, “I-if this ‘Dusty Old Qrow’ is your brother, t-then there’s two things they potentially ‘hunt’. The first being criminals, while the other is…”

At this point, Raven was slowly beginning to realize what he could mean. “The grimm… and if Gabby is trying to find them-.”

“Then she could be either inside or outside of the city,” Greta now realized, “B-but how would we know for sure though?”

That was when Gilda let out a sigh and folded her forearms, before motioning to what was happening outside, “Only way that we know for sure is if we split up… where we have one of you with one of us and go look at both places. While it is a possibility, I’d rather not resort to it. Wandering around aimlessly, especially with the kind of chaos going on right now, is more likely to get us killed than find anything.”

As Gilda was speaking though, that was when the Faunus began to notice something. A bipedal like figure moving closer to one of the windows that was behind Gilda. However, when he saw them move an arm and the windows began to crack and shake, instinct began to kick in. Impulsively, he clapped his hands together and conjured a clone of himself that lunged towards the griffon, before saying two words.

“GET DOWN-!!”

Within seconds, a raging storm of wind and glass scattered everywhere as everyone in the room hit the deck. Whatever had hit the home was enough to have the door swing wide open as the interior if the home was a mess. Almost everything inside had looked to be torn or shredded to pieces. Thankfully though, it didn’t look as if anyone had gotten hurt.

Then, they heard the sound of footsteps and the sound of glass cracking as a voice came from where the door was, “Well, isn’t this a surprise? When the boss told me that a little birdy was in town, I didn’t think that would’ve been you.”

In the doorway was a woman with ice blue eyes, short brown hair and tan skin that almost looked to be around his age. They wore a light brown vest, maroon-colored jeans, dark brown calf guards and a leather pouch on her right side. She also wore sleeveless gloves and was holding a pair of weapons that looked to be a pair of crescent shaped blades with a double barrel pistol in each hand. Though, the woman didn’t pay much attention to him… and instead, she was focused on Raven.

“Y-you know her?” Greta now asked, watching with Gilda and Sun as the swordswoman rose to her feet.

All Raven did at first was nod calmly. Then, she gripped the sheath of her blade, Omen, tightly and spoke, “Hello Vernal.”




End Part 2