Chapter 1: The Battle of Ponyville

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Slowly coming to, I can feel the wind on the sides of my face, my mask obscuring my vision slightly from being crooked. Opening my eyes, I immediately regret it as I am getting the sun’s ray directly into my retina’s. Quickly raising my gloved hand to block there infernal ball of fire, I regain my sight, but what greets me is confusing.

Looking around, I appear to be in some sort of forest. There are a ton of trees, grass, rocks and some flowers scattered around. I carefully get to my feet, my head pounding with the remnants of a headache. Looking down at myself, aside from some grass stains, my outfit is still perfect, the new addition secured to my side.

I don’t have long to contemplate my predicament as I get a sudden wiff of something bad. Smoke. Quickly looking above the canopy, I can clearly see a few smoke stacks rising into the air. I can tell from the smell, it isn’t factory smoke. There is a fire nearby. Normally I would run and call for the fire department, but quickly checking my phone shows no signal and that the GPS is not working. So against all logic I begin to run through the forest to the source of the fires.

It takes maybe ten minutes but eventually I get outside the forest, and onto what looked to be a farm of apple trees. Looking past the farm, what I see is not encouraging. There is a little town a few minutes down the path. A few of the houses having blazes raging in or on them. I don’t even have a chance to think before I hear something that chills me to the bone.

Howls and roars. But they are ones that I recognize. Looking to the town, my blood runs cold at what I see. Creatures made of complete blackness, wearing masks similar to mine, red eyes glowing and leaving a slight trail behind them.

“Grimm...” I say in disbelief, oddly noting my voice sounds different. Looking into town, it looks to be in the middle of an attack by a pack of Beowolves, some Ursas, and a couple of Boarbatusks. Looking at the large pack of Grimm from behind a tree, I notice a few wolves heads rising and looking a bit into the orchard to the right of me. I think back to the show and the one thing everyone should know about Grimm is that they are attracted to negativity. Anger, hatred, loneliness, envy and most of all: fear.

A trio of Beowolves and an Ursa separate from the pack heading a bit into the orchard. I quickly follow them, having a bad idea on what I am going to find. After tailing them for a bit, I heard what sounded like a trio of girls screaming. Picking up the pace I see the Grimm circleing an old tree house, the voices whimpering from inside the house.

‘Oh man, now what! I can’t fight these things!’ I think to myself in a panic, before looking down to my left and seeing my sword. ‘Or maybe I can.’ I quietly take my sword out of the sheath, and unhook the shotgun, holding it in my left hand. ‘Ok, I can do this, I can do this.’

“Hey, you stupid mutts!” I call out getting the Grimm’s attention. At that point something I don’t understand happens. I calm down. Staring down the Grimm, I feel at peace, not panic. And I know exactly what I have to do.

‘Here goes.’ With that thought I rush forward surprising the lead Beowolf and slicing through its head, cleanly decapitating it. I quickly jump back and dodge a swipe from one of the other wolves. Loading my sword back into its sheath, I shoot the sword, handle first into the wolfs head causing it to kick back. Quickly jumping off its shoulders, I shoot down straight into the wolfs head before spinning in mid air and kicking my sword into the last wolfs head.

Retrieving my sword, I look left at the lone remaining Grimm. It looks to be a young Ursa, lacking any scars or spikes and being around the same size as me. I stare down the beast, crouched slightly, hand on my sword. After a second the Ursa roars and charges, before leaping at me. I quickly roll forward, under the Grimm, before jumping up and onto is back, and stabbing it in the back multiple times. I stay on its back until it falls to the ground.

Getting off, I sheath my sword and go to the treehouse. I was about to knock on the door before pausing and taking my Grimm mask off, and then knocking.

“Hey are you ok in there?” I ask to the girls in the treehouse. I hear a couple on whimpers and gasps. “Don’t worry, I took care of the Grimm.” I say. After a second I hear a response.

“Are ya sure they are gone?” A girl asks in a young southern drawl.

“Yeah, I took care of them. But more could be on the way. We have to get you lot to safety.” I say. After a minute the door opens and my eyes widen in shock as a trio of girls come out, but they don’t look like humans.

The look to be a mix between a horse and a human, each with human like bodies, arms ending in hands, but with legs ending in hooves and muzzles. The four of us just stare at each other. Each of them look unique.

One has orange fur, and a purple unkempt mane and purple eyes. She is wearing a pair of green cargo shorts a purple tank top and a denim jacket. I can also barely see a pair of small wings of her back. ‘A Pegasus I guess?’ Next to her was another girl with pearly white fur, a pinkish purple two toned mane and pale green eyes. She was wearing a pink and white striped shirts, a pink jacket and a yellow skirt. She also had a small horn atop her head. ‘A unicorn too?’ The last...filly I guess? Anyways she had yellow fur and a red mane and freckles. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a dirty red t-shirt. Also she had a large pink bow in her mane, but seemed to lack wings or a horn. ‘So a normal horse I guess? Wait, are they...Faunus?’

“Um, thank you mister.” The unicorn says shyly. I nod to them, and help the trio down the tree, the fillies looking shocked at the disintegrating Grimm corpses. “Wha-what happened?” She asks again.

“Like I said, I took care of the Grimm, but that can wait. We need to get out of here before more show up.” I tell them, putting my mask back on, the girls tensing somewhat.

“But where are we going to go? These things are all over the place!” The Pegasus says, clearly trying to stay calm. I look at them, quickly lifting my mask to look eye to eye.

“What are your names?” I ask calmly, crouching to be on the same level as them. The look at one another, silently asking each other what to do. The yellow one walks up to me with a determined expression.

“Mah names Applebloom.” I nod to her and smile, looking back to the other two, the Pegasus walking up first followed by the unicorn.

“My name is Scootaloo.” The Pegasus introduces herself.

“And I’m Sweetie Belle.” The unicorn says before the trio bunch together.

“And we’re... The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” The shout together. I cover my ears at the volume of the three fillies. It takes a second for my hearing to come back, but I look and see the three of them looking at me with sheepish smile, I just chuckle at them.

I instantly decide to go by my character since we have the same first name. “Nice to meet you three. My name is Adam. Adam Taurus.” I smile at the three before looking up and getting an idea. “Hold on a sec you three.”

Before they could respond I jump up the tree to get a birds eye view of the town. Looking into the town I see what looks like a purple energy dome over one of the larger building near the center. ‘The citizens must be holding up in that building, meaning all the Grimm would be converging there.’ I jump down to the CMC and look to them.

“It looks like there is some sort of purple dome over one of the larger building in town. You three have any ideas on what that means?” I ask the three fillies, their eyes widening

“That’s Twilights shield! The town must be hiding in town hall for the monsters to pass or for the royal guard to arrive.” Sweetie says exited. I look back at the town, a plan coming together.

“Alright, here is the plan. The four of us are going to sneak into town to get you three into the shield to be with your families, while I take out the Grimm.” The girls look at me like I have grown a second head.

“Are you nuts!?! If Rainbow Dash couldn’t beat these monsters, there is no way you can!” Scootaloo yells in shock and worry, the other two also looking extremely worried. I just look to them and smile.

“There is a difference between me and normal people.” I look to the three of them with a determined grin. “I am a huntsmen, we are trained specifically to fight the Grimm. And I will not allow these monsters to do as they please.” I reach into my coat and pull out the picture of myself, Lex and Nat with a smile. “Besides, I have a few friends I have to find, so I can’t afford to die just yet.”

The trio look at me in awe and nod to me. With no other words needed to be said we venture into the burning town, myself intent on keeping these girls safe. While walking through town I see the reflection of my maskless face, internally freaking out seeing that my eyes have changed. Gone were the hazel eyes I was born with and in were the eyes of RWBY legends. The same as a certain family of roses.

Silver.

We make our way around a couple building, me taking out the lone Beowolf and Creep here or there, until we can get a clear view of the town hall. It doesn’t look pretty. There are at lease half a dozen Creeps and Beowolves, maybe three Ursas and two Boarbatusks, just wandering around the building. Looking at the shield itself, it seems to be holding strong, but I don’t want to put it to the test.

“Not good, looks like the town hall is surrounded.” I say aloud, the girls looking past me and seeing the amount of Grimm between the four of us and safety.

“Well that is just great! Now what do we do?” Scootaloo asks looking at me. I begin to think, using all the knowledge I have of Grimm to try and think of a plan.

“Well, it won’t be easy, but if we put our heads together we might be able to think of something.” I say looking at the trio, the four of us in a little circle. “Ok. Grimm are naturally attracted to negativity, particularly fear. There doesn’t appear to be an alpha in the group, just a bunch of younger Grimm. That is good, they will be mostly fighting on instinct and be pretty predictable.”

The girls look around the area near us, looking for anything useful when Applebloom notices something by a fruit cart nearby. “Hey Scoots! Look! Your scooter!” She says the rest of us looking, seeing a red scooter with a cart parked next to the stand.

Looking past that I see what looks to be an apple stand with a long coil of rope on the top. Slowly I begin to have a plan.

“Hey Scootaloo?” She turns to me. “How fast are you on your scooter?”

After a few minute we are prepped, Scootaloo on her scooter. But she is shaking like a leaf in a cyclone. I walk up to her and place a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, you’ll be fine.”

“I-I-I can’t! There are too many, I’ll get killed!” She says panicking. I carefully place my hand beneath her chin and lift it up, wiping away some of her tears.

“Listen I know your scared. I am too. But you have to be brave.” She is still shaking but a little less so. I decide to something potentially dangerous, but necessary. Taking my sword out of its sheath, I give the young pegasus Blush, showing her how to hold the gun. “Keep this with you, the open end away from anyone you don’t want to shoot. The kickback is a pain so be careful.” I look her straight in the eyes. “Only use this is absolutely necessary. It isn’t a toy. One shot can kill.”

Scootaloo looks at the shotgun in her hand in fear and confusion. “Why are you giving this to me?” She asks. I just smile and rub her head.

“Because, it is a tool to attack and to protect. For yourself and others. I know you can do this Scoots. You have a brave aura.” I tell her, hand firmly on her shoulder. She looks at me and then to Blush for a bit, before getting a determined expression on her face and nodding.

“Alright Adam, I’ll make sure to be careful.” She says giving me a quick hug, before getting on her scooter, clipping her helmet on and beating her wings quickly, taking off to the Grimm. I smile in pride at the little pegasus. Quickly looking back at the other two, I see they have determined faces of their own as well, finishing up a few of the traps. “Alright, lets get ready.”

After Scoot leaves the alley they were hiding in, she quickly zooms by, careful of the Grimm, making sure to be as quiet and quick as possible. ‘All I have to do is get to the shield and alert the others.’ She looks back at the Grimm before looking down at the shotgun attached to her side. ‘I got this. I got this.’

Looking around the area she sees a spot in the shield not being guarded by the Grimm and waits for a second looking back and forth, before zooming as fast as she can into the shield, getting though without a problem. She takes a breath realizing she was safe for a bit. “Ok step one down.”

Quickly righting herself, Scootaloo rushes to the front door and knocks. “Who’s there?” A bubbly voice asks.

“It’s Scoots!” She answers quietly as to not attract the Grimms attention.

“Scoot’s who?” Came the reply, despite the situation Scootaloo giggled a bit before answering.

“Scoots with a plan to beat the Grimm!” She says. The response was immediate, a pair of cyan hand coming through and pulling her into a bone crushing hug, Blush falling to the ground.

“Scoots! Your okay!” Came a scratchy female voice. This voice belonged to Scootaloo’s surrogate sister, Rainbow Dash. The older mares cyan fur and rainbow hair tickling Scootaloo, causing her to giggle.

“Rainbow! Stop! Too tight and tickley!” She says the older pegasus releasing her number one fan. Rainbow quickly readjusts her blank tank top and running shorts befor helping Scootaloo up.

“Heh, sorry Scoots, but we have been worried sick about you and th-“ she pauses looking around Scootaloo, and in a worried voice she asks, “wh-where are Sweetie and AB?”

The others that came by begin to worry and cry, before looking at Scootaloo and seeing her cocky smile, confusing a majority of them.

“Don’t worry, they are alive. AB, Sweetie and Adam are setting up some traps around the area for the Grimm.” Scootaloo answers, carefully picking up Blush. The surrounding group of ponies confused by both the name Adam and the object Scootaloo was carrying, which looked like a metal sword sheath of some kind.

“Traps? And who is Adam?” A southern voice came from her left. Turning Scootaloo saw Applebloom’s older sister AppleJack and big brother Macintosh. The duo both wearing overalls and plaid shirts, AppleJack with her trademark Stetson on.

“Adam is this cool guy who came by and saved the three of use from some Grimm when we were hiding in our treehouse. He is the reason the three of us are still alive at this point.” She says, the majority of the ponies having this being shocked that one stallion could beat some of these monsters.

“Anyways, I can’t talk long. Like I said, the four of us have set up some traps for these things, so I just came by to tell everypony to prepare for things to get loud.” Scootaloo says before turning back to the door and beginning to walk away. The others are not shocked for long before a yellow pegasus in a green jumper and a pink skirt, flutters up to her in worry.

“Y-you are going back out to fight those things are you?” Fluttershy asks, her friends immediately standing in front of the young pegasus.

“NO WAY! You are staying here young filly!” a purple unicorn in a white t-shirt, black skirt and violet vest says with authority, her horn glowing to keep up the shield. Unfortunately her authority that was lost on Scootaloo.

“Relax, I am not going to be fighting, I just need to signal Adam to start and then these Grimm are toast.” Scootaloo says full of faith for her new friend. The gathered group was worried but the last pony they expected spoke up.

“Let her go.” a pink mare with a mane that looked like cotton candy says, a serious expression on her face, slightly unnerving her friends.

“Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked worried.

“I can tell, this Adam guy is going to kick these monster meanies butts! The fact he has this much faith in Scootaloo says a lot.” Pinkie says looking at the young pegasus with a smile.

Her friends just look to each other before relenting and letting Scootaloo past, but they choose to follow, to make sure she will be safe. Once outside, Scootaloo goes to her wagon and pulls out a blue gemstone and flashlight. Looking to the correct house he shines the light through the gem, shining a blue light around the area.

‘Good luck Adam.’

After waiting for a few minutes, I see the refracted blue light from Scootaloo’s gemstone, a smile etching itself on my face. “Good job Scoots.” Looking down from my perch on a house I get a clear view of the town and the Grimm just wandering near the town hall. “Showtime.”

Quickly jumping down, I immediately get the attention of a few Grimm, particularly one of the Ursas. Looking around I keep their attention on me before turning a sprinting down an alley, the Grimm giving chase. Looking behind me, I see one of the Ursas, three Creeps and two Beowolves behind me. “Perfect.” I say with a smirk. After passing a certain point a set of intertwined rope raise up from below the Grimm, getting them stuck. I don’t waste a second and pounce on the Grimm one by one, stabbing or slicing until they evaporate into their black smoke.

At the town hall, the group of girls are sitting on the top by the bell and see the smoke beginning to rise into the air. “What in tarnation is happenin over there?” AppleJack asks aloud, not expecting an answer.

She got one anyways.

“Looks like Adam killed a couple of the Grimm. When they die they evaporate into some wierd black smoke.” Scootaloo says, earning everyponies attention.

“He killed them? How? Is he a soldier or something? Perhaps a knight?” A posh white furred and curly purple maned mare asks. She is wearing a rather simple blue t-shirt and a pair of skinny blue jeans.

“Not sure. He is pretty good with his sword but I don’t know if he is a soldier or knight. I do know he is one tough S.O.B.” Scootaloo responds.

“Scootaloo! Where did you hear that acronym?” Rarity asks appalled by the language the filly just uttered. Scootaloo just blankly points to Rainbow, the older pegasus beginning to sweat at the glares of her friends.

“Crap.”

After taking care of the first group of Grimm, I prepare to take down the Boarbatusks, as they have the most armour of any oth the Grimm here. Finding one of them, I quickly get its attention. By throwing a flower pot at its head. Anyways it immediately sees me and rushes forward myself running through a few alleys before hiding in a side alley, my black clothing coming in hand as the Grimm runs by.

The Grimm is confused as to where I could have gone but before it can backtrack it hears someone whistling. Looking down an alley it sees Applebloom, standing with her back to a wall with a confident smirk on her face. “Well? Ya’ll wanna go or what?” She asks the Grimm, who’s only response was to curl up into a ball and start speeding toward the earth pony.

As it was getting closer, Applebloom was quickly covered by a pale green aura and lifted into the air, the Boarbatusk hitting the solid brick wall behind her. It gets out of the new hole in a daze, and before it could react, Applebloom appears beside it and gives it a hard buck to the side, sending the Grimm tumbling and even cracking some of its armour.

Taking this opportunity, while the Grimm is on its back I quickly jump down from my spot above it and stab it directly in where its heart is. It squirms for a second before going limp and evaporating. Getting up and looking at the two ponies, I give a proud smile at the two fillies. “Great teamwork you two.” I say as we go for a three way high five.

Quickly climbing up to the roofs again, I see that the numbers of Grimm are now lowered to a more manageable amount for me.

“Ok, that’s good for now. Let’s get you two to the shield.”

At town hall, Scootaloo is telling the girls about how they met Adam and what the plan was.

“So let me get this straight. This ‘Adam Taurus’ person, not pony, person, comes out of nowhere, saves the three of you, takes you into town while killing these ‘Grimm’ whenever he can, before coming up with the idea to make some traps around town, while you come by to warn us of the coming battle and to act as a last line of defence, while he kills all the Grimm he can before coming here and getting his weapon, which you hold in your hands, back and introducing himself to the townsfolk?” Twilight asks the young pegasus is disbelief.

“Yup” Scootaloo says simply. At this point Twilight’s eye begins to twitch and her hair seems to fray in utter confusion and disbelief. Before she could go out on a tangent though, she was interrupted by Pinkie pointing down a nearby alley.

“Hey! What’s that?” She asks, gaining everyponies attention. Down the alley there was green glow emanating from around a corner.

“It’s Adam! The green glow means mission accomplished for now. I am supposed to use my green gem to tell him he and the others to come into the shield.” She says taking out said gem. The girls look at each other, Twilight and Fluttershy with worry, Rarity and AppleJack with curiousity and Pinkie and Rainbow Dash in exitment.

I can see Scootaloo using the green gem I gave her, telling us it is safe to come in. I turn look around making sure there were no Grimm around, “Ok, go go go!” I tell the girls rushing, them into the shield before me. We make it in no problems and take a breath of relief.

“Sweetie Belle/Applebloom!” I heard two voices shout before a white and an orange blur go by me. I look back and see Sweetie and AB being hugged by two other...mares I guess? Anyways they are getting hugged to death by the older mare, who I would presume are their sisters they told me about.

“Adam!” I hear Scootaloo call before getting tackled by said young pegasus, almost sending us to the ground. I smile, lifting my mask and hug her to my chest.

“Hey Scoots! Great job getting here. I knew you could do it. I am proud of you.” I tell her, the orange filly blushing from the praise.

“Eh, it was nothing. You just gave me the courage to get here. Oh! Also here is your weapon back.” She says handing me Blush after we end our hug. I take the shotgun sheath and loop it into my pants before twirling Wilt and putting it into the sheath. I look to Scootaloo with a smile.

“I am proud you didn’t need to use it. It shows that you didn’t take any unnecessary risks in getting here. You played it safe. Good job.” I tell her, crouching and putting my hand on her shoulder. She smile warmly before giving me anoth quick hug and going to Sweetie and AB.

“Wow. I have never seen Scootaloo so proud like that.” I turn to the one talking and find a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane just hovering there next to me with an indeterminate expression on her face looking at Scoots. I quickly snap my fingers in her face, causing her attention to shift to me. “So your Adam huh?” She asks, almost in a challenging tone.

I don’t fall for it. “Yes I am, and you are Rainbow Dash right?” I say as three other mares come by. Rainbow gains a cocky grin, looking at me.

“Oh, you heard of me have you? Well the rumour are true. I am Rainbow Dash, the only pony to preform the Sonic Rainboom, Element of Loyalty and th-“ I cut her off by covering her mouth with my hand, an unamused expression on my face.

“Actually, Scootaloo just said you were like her big sister. I don’t know about anything other than that.” I tell her, the rainbow maned pegasus falling onto her butt is shock. I just ignore her and turn to the others. “There will be time for introductions later. Right now I have a few Grimm to take down.”

Without waiting for a response, I walk out of the shield and to the front of the town hall, seeing that the remaining Grimm are preparing for a final charge to break the shield. I note in my mind that one of the Ursas is missing, before seeing it running into the forest on the edge of down. ‘Huh, must have gotten bored.’

I decided to start us off, shooting Blush into the air, the bang getting the attention of the Grimm and the ponies in the building. A few of the ponies come out to see what the noise was seeing me in the middle of the road staring down the Grimm.

“What are you doing?!? Get in the shield!” Big Mac yells to me, surprising some of the other that he said more than ‘Eyup’ and ‘Enope’.

“You won’t last a minute against them! Come back!” Berry Punch says, some jokingly surprised she is still sober right now.

“Don’t worry everypony.” The gathered ponies turn to see Scootaloo with a confidence smile on her face. “Adam is going to turn those Grimm into mincemeat.” This description slightly disturbed some of the ponies, but most were suprised by Scootaloo’s confidence in somepony other than Rainbow Dash.

Looking at the Grimm, they begin to encircle me one Creeps and one Beowolf each on the left and right of me, the Boarbatusk and Ursa staying in front of me with the last two Beowolves acting like guards for the two of them. The ponies continue to shout in worry.

‘Ok here we go again.’ I think as both the Creeps jump at me. I quickly unsheathed my sword and spin in a circle slicing both the Grimm in half from the head through. Not giving it a second thought I rush through towards the Beowolves. They conveniently line up for me. As I rush past them I slash through them from the pit to opposite shoulder. After slashing the fourth one, I do as Adam did in his trailer, and re-sheath my sword, the Grimm falling to pieces behind me.

I quickly dodge back to avoid the swipe from the Ursa, this one being slightly bigger than the one I faced before. As it rears up to slash me I raise my weapon, the sword midway out of the sheath, blocking the strike. I quickly pull the trigger to my shotgun, the blow pushing the Ursa back. Before it can recover I shoot it three times in the chest before running up impaling it and pulling up, slicing it from the mid chest through the head.

As it falls I don’t get a chance to react as the Boarbatusk comes barreling though, slamming into me. Oddly it didn’t hurt that mush, despite being sent into a nearby cart. Probably my aura protecting me.

“No! My cabbages!” A pony yells out loud, and I am barely able to hold in a laugh at the absurd reference I just took part in.

I quickly recover, both from the blow and my barely contained laughing fit, before I dodge left to avoid the Grimm as it rolls towards me. I quickly get at least a dozen feet away from it. The Grimm tries once more to do as a certain blue hedgehog does and tries to bowl me over. As it gets close I raise my weapon again. The Grimm rolls straight into the waiting sword, continually rolling into the immobile weapon as I hold my position.

The ponies watching could only stare in shock as I take on the Grimm, the group of six mare and CMC in particular. They watch in awe as I hold my own against the monsters they were afraid of.

“How is he doing this?!? These monsters are nothing like we have seen before, yet he taking them down no problem.” Twilight asks in shock, unaware that she lowered the shield and is taking notes on the fight. It was at that moment that Rarity noticed something odd about me.

“Hey, is it just me, or are the red parts of his outfit...glowing?” She asks, everypony looking to me and seeing that all the red parts of my outfit, the rose on my back, the marks on my mask and gloves, even my hair are gaining a glow the longer I hold off the Boarbatusk.

‘What is going on with this guy?’ Twilight and Rainbow think in unison.

Back to me, I managed to angle the blade of my weapon so the Grimm uses it like a ramp, being sent into the air. As it is airborne I fire shots at it, cracking its armour. Once it lands it has many crack and looks tired. Not giving it a chance to rest I run straight for it and tackle its side, sending it onto its back before thrusting into one last stab, ending the threat.

I turn to the other, about to speak when I get a strong feeling of dread. Like all my instincts are telling me to run. Looking to the gathered ponies I can tell, they feel it too. Lowering myself down and taking my glove off, I feel the earth and focus. Subtlety, I can feel six sets of feet running this way, and judging by the level of vibrations, it both big and close.

I look to the forest that one of the Ursas ran to earlier and think maybe it went to get reinforcements. I was unfortunately proven right in that though when a loud screech echoed through the air causing all present to cover their ears. “No...”

Just after I utter those words the trees burst forth, revealing one of the Grimm I was afraid of seeing. The same one that team JNPR had to fight during their entrance exam.

“A DEATHSTALKER!” I scream out, the ponies frozen in fear of the giant scorpion Grimm coming through out of the forest towards the town.

‘Damnit! It just had to be a Deathstalker! The one Grimm you should never fight alone, right here, because screw me!’ I think to myself in a panic, shaking. I suddenly stop when I feel a hand wrap around my own. Looking down I see non other than Scootaloo, looking up at me with a smile.

“Hey now. What are you so scared for? You told me I had to be brave before, I can’t do that with you freaking out.” She tells me. I look back and see most of the townsfolk panicking or giving up, hugging their loved ones. I look at the approaching Grimm and think.

‘I will NOT allow it to tear these families apart. I just have to think. What can I do?’ I begin to think back to everything I know about Adam and this Grimm. It takes a minute but I think of something. The final opponent in the black trailer. My eyes widen at the idea. ‘Well, its better than nothing.’

“Hey!” I yell, getting everyponies attention, “who was the one holding up that shield before I arrived?” All eyes travel to the purple unicorn I saw its the CMC’s sisters earlier, who cautiously walks forward.

“That was me. Why do you ask?” She asks politely confused. I look back to the Grimm as it just entered the towns perimeter.

“Do you have a way to blast the energy you generate into a condensed beam?” I ask, earning a confused look from all but the purple mare.

“You mean if I can cast a magical energy blast? Yes, of course I can.” She replies, not seeing where I am going with this.

‘So this world has magic then? Is it like magic from RWBY or is it unique.’ I think before being brought back to the issue at hand. “Alright, this is going to sound crazy, but I need you to blast me with the strongest blast you can before the Deathstalker gets here.” I tell her, everyone looking at me like I had a death wise.

“Are you nuts?!? If I do that your turn to dust! Are you trying to kill yourself?!?” She yells in shock. I was about to respond, but Scootaloo beat me to the punch.

“He knows what he is asking Twilight. Adam has to find his lost friends after this, so he can’t afford to die yet.” She looks to me, “right?” I just smile at the young filly.

“Right. Also you don’t need to worry, I can absorb incoming energy through my sword, increasing my strength and speed.” I tell her, the group remembering when the red on me was glowing. She doesn’t get a chance to argue or question it as the Grimm is only a dozen blocks away. Looking to the Grimm then to me she sighs and backs up, levitating Scootaloo back to the group.

“If you die, I am going to kill you.” She says, not caring how stupid it sounds. I just nod and get ready. She begins to charge her spell, a small orb appearing at the tip of her horn before growing. The Deathstalker notices and charges at us, intent of ending us all in one fell swoop. Once it is four blocks away, Twilight fires, the beam being condensed till it is the size of my torso. ‘Perfect.’

I raise my weapon like with the Boarbatusk, blocking the beam. The energy is clearly being absorbed into my blade and me, as the red in my appearance changes. Once over the reds of my outfit and hair are now white with red outlines. Twilight fall to the ground, exhausted, but conscious. She looks to me to see the change in my appearance. ‘Incredible.’

I had to time this perfectly. As the Deathstalker cleared the last block between us, it decided to crunch me by jumping onto me. Time seemed to slow for all that were watching.

Then in an instant, I pull Wilt out of Blush and slash through the beast, straight down the center. The Grimm’s momentum was reversed, it beginning to fall the other direction and as it does it begins to rapidly disintegrate, not into smoke, but into red and black flower pedals which begin to circle me.

One of the kids watching, a colt named Featherweight. Sees this and quickly takes out his camera, taking a picture of the pedals dancing around me with me still sword our in the slashing position.

Getting up I look at the pedal dancing around me, seeming like they were happy. I just smile and look to the forest that the Grimm came from.

‘Who’s next?’

Chapter 2: Meeting the locals

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Panting, I twirl my weapon for flair and to get the Grimm remnants off it before retuning it to my sheath. Turning to the ponies in the building, I see everyone who was previously hiding looking at me, some with fear, some with shock, most in awe. I just smile and wave before walking over to them, the CMC and their friends meeting me halfway.

“That Was Awsome!!” Scootaloo yells, before trying to help me stay upright. “You were incredible Adam! You took on those Grimm like it was nothing.”

“Heh, I told you I wouldn’t let these things do as they please.” I say as a yellow pegasus helps me stand up straight. I noticed that all the ponies nearby were shorter than me, the big red stallion in the crowd looking to be the tallest, but still a little shorter than me.

“Are you going to be ok Mister Taurus?” Sweeties sister asks me, sounding like a mix of posh and friendly.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine in a minute, and please drop the mister. I am only 18 after all.” I tell her, which immediately causes all eyes present to widen in shock.

“You’re only 18?!? But your so tall and you took on these things all by yourself?!?” A mare with dark pink fur and a light and dark pink mane in a school teachers outfit yells in shock.

“Yeah? I may be young, but I think my actions speak volumes about my skills.” I respond, a few of the stallions nodding in agreement. The mares on the other hand look at me with worry.

We are barely able to relax when we heard what sounds like armour clanking against each other. Looking up we see what could only described as the flying Calvary. A ton of of cararrages being pulled by some Pegasi, all the ponies wearing golden armour and wielding swords, spears, hammers and some bows.

The small army lands an immediately goes to help and treat the civilian and put out the fires. By having the Pegasi GRAB the clouds and JUMP on them, making it rain.

I just looking in shock at the absurdity of the situation I am looking at when Scootaloo taps my arm to get my attention. “You ok Adam? You look like you just saw Pinkie Pie for the first time.” She asks, seeing my dumbfounded face.

“Y-yeah. It’s just I have never seen stuff like this back home.” I respond. I quickly notice a couple of intricately designed carriages coming in, one white and gold and the other black, purple and blue. “Hey Scoots? Are those important?” I ask, pointing at the incoming carriages.

I heard a few gasps and heard a mare shout, “the princesses carriages!” After I hear that I tense slightly. They may be princesses, but I don’t know if they are the spoiled brat kinds, the tyrannical kinds or the benevolent kinds. The carriages come to a stop a bit down the road. The carriage door opens, but it wasn’t a pony who walked out first.

A small lizard like person, about the same height as Scootaloo walks out quickly, wearing a pair of tan cargo pants and a purple t-shirt and green writs bands. He had green fin-like spines on his head where his ears should be and a pointed tail.

I stare confused at the kid when her rushes forward, causing me to tense and reach for my sword before Twilight runs past me to him. “Spike!” She yells before brining the smaller reptile into a hug, the kid hugging back full force.

“Twilight! Your ok!” He says relieved. I look at the duo in confusion, before turning to Scootaloo, and nudging her to get her attention, nodding to the two with a raised brow.

“Oh! That’s Spike. He is a dragon and Twilights assistant/brother/sorta son. She hatched him when she was taking her entrance exam to Princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorn. It’s actually how she became the princesses person student.” She explains, this revelation causing me to look at the duo in shock.

‘A Dragon!?! What next, a hydra? A Sphinx? A Minotaur? A Freaking Griffon?!? And Twilight is the princesses personal student?!?’ I think to myself in exasperation. My mental tangent gets interrupted by a soothing, almost mother like voice.

“Young Spike is right to be worried. I am glad to see you and the others are ok my faithful student.” Looking back to Twilight and Spike, I see the owner of the voice, who is presumably, Princess Celestia. She is a rather tall pony, even taller than me, just barely. She has both wings and a horn atop her head, her malty white fur looking soft and three toned rainbow mane waving in the non existent breeze. She is wearing a long, gold and white dress that makes her figure rather subtle but also alluring.

Next to her is a slightly smaller...pegacorn? Whatever, winged unicorn. Likely another princess. She has navy blue almost black fur and her mane looks like the calm night sky that also waves in the non existent breeze. She is wearing a blue and purple combat dress with a chest plate and arm guards with dual sabers at her sides. Clearly she was ready for a fight.

Looking at the two princesses, the light and dark, day and night, ying and yang comparison was just trying to hit me in the face. Twilight quickly hugs the larger princess, looking happy to see her mentor.

“Princess Celestia! I’m so happy to see you again. You too princess Luna.” She adds, looking at the smaller princess who smile at the young unicorn.

“We are glad to see you as well, Twilight Sparkle. It was fortunate for thou that thee were able to wait out these beasts.” Luna says, in a rather ‘ye olden days’ voice and manner of speaking.

Twilight shakes her head at the two princesses, backing up and putting an arm around Spike. “No, we didn’t wait them out. In fact, I am not sure if we would have survived if not for Adam and the CMC.” She tells them, the princesses looking both worried and confused.

“The CMC? You mean Generosity’s, Honesty’s and Loyalty’s younger siblings?” Luna asks, to which Twilight nodded, both the princesses again looking shock. The fact that three fillies were able to help save their town was mind boggling.

“And who is this Adam Twilight?” Celestia asks, to which Twilight just points to me, where I am leaning on the side of a building catching my breath with Scootaloo at my side. I just smile and push off, taking my mask off and handing it to Scoots.

“Hang on to this for me, would ya?” I ask, to which she nods and actually tries to put the mask on, but it doesn’t fit right with her muzzle. I chuckle and begin to walk to the princesses, the civilian making way and the guard nearby tensing after spotting my hand on my sword.

We stare at one another for a few moment, before I quickly unsheathed my sword, twirl and plant it into the earth, and go to one knee like the knights of old. “Princess Celestia. Princess Luna. It is an honour to make your acquaintances.” I say keeping my head down, one hand on my sword.

“Oh my. He certainly is flashy when showing respect. Please rise, young warrior.” Luna say. I get up and take my sword out of the ground and back into the sheath. Looking around in my peripherals, I can see the guards nearby having hands on their weapons, just waiting to attack.

“Are you guys going to attack or are you just trying to intimidate me?” I say, the princesses noticing their guards at the ready to slice me up. They quickly glare at the offending guards, the guard releasing their holds on their weapons.

“You seem rather in tune in the ways of combat. I must ask, what are you doing in Ponyville to begin with.” Celestia asks, a neutral expression on her face.

“First, I am not that in tune with combat. I am just known for studying my surroundings. For your second question, I am not a hundred percent sure myself.” I say honestly, earning a raised brow from the princesses.

“What do ya mean yer not a hundred percent sure?” Applebloom’s older sister asks, the group having come over during my flashy introduction.

“Well I was just at a convention with my two friends Lex and Nat,” I take out the picture to show the others, “and we each bought something from some merchant, and then poof! I was in that forest by the farm. I saw the smoke stacks and thought, maybe I could help.” I tell the assembled group. The princesses take the photo and look at me and my friends.

“Quite the colourful trio. You three must be very good friends.” Celestia says, looking at the smiles on each of our faces.

“Yeah. We have been friends for nearly a decade. I was going to be moving away to go to college in the fall, so I wanted to make the most out of my last summer in my hometown and with my old friends before leaving.” I tell them, the mares each gaining a smile on their muzzles. Luna hand me back my photo and I put it back in my coat pocket.

“Adam. With your agreement, I would like you to come to Canterlot with the girls so we can write a report on what has happened her and get properly aquatinted. Perhaps we can help you find a way to find your friends.” Celestia says. I was about to agree before looking back at the CMC talking to the mare in the teachers outfit.

“Very well Princess.” They smile, “but,” the look back at me. “Only if the CMC can come with. I didn’t defeat the Grimm on my own. They deserve at least some of the credit.” The group looks surprised by my request.

“Um, I don’t think they can. They have school tomorrow.” Rarity says sadly.

“Actually, one of the building that were burned down was the schoolhouse. It will take at least a week to rebuild it so classes are off till then.” The teacher says, walking up to us with the CMC after hearing my request.

“Please sis! Can we come?” Sweetie and AB ask their sisters in unison, giving the mares a trio puppy dog stare. The three sister figures try to resist, but eventually succumb to the stares.

“OK OK, you three can come! Just stop with the stares!” Rainbow says, covering her eyes. The others laugh and we walk towards some of the carriages that were going to taking us to Canterlot.

“Mister Adam! Wait!” I heard a boy yell. Looking back, I see a small pegasus colt with a cream coat and brown hair and buck teeth running up to me. He is seriously skinny, wearing a brown and white polo shirt and brown shorts, with a camera around his neck.

“Hey, what’s up sport?” I ask, crouching to get on better level with him. he quickly takes out a photo from his pocket and holds it out to me.

“Here. I took this photo after you took down that giant scorpion monster.” He says, handing me the picture. I look at the photo and pause in shock. It looked to be timed perfectly, the petals dancing around me, with me being in a badass pose for it, the background all red from the Grimms corpse.

“Wow! You have a serious talent for timing kid. This looks awesome, thanks!” I tell him, rubbing his head. He just blushes at the praise and laughs, quickly turning back and going to his friends, but not before waving to our group as he goes. I just chuckle at his enthusiasm.

“You seem to be rather good with the foals of this town.” Luna says from beside me, causing me to jump slightly. I calm down and smile at her while walking to the carriages.

“Eh, not surprising. Even back home, I was always good with kids.” I tell her. As we get to the carriages, I see I will be riding with RD and Scootaloo, the latter telling Rainbow about what I did after I saved her and the other two.

“I was so cool! Even though he said he was scared he didn’t look it at all! He just acted in spite of it.” She says animately, the rainbow manne pegasus looking at her with an expression I couldn’t place before noticing me.

“Hey Adam. Guess your riding with us huh?” She asks blankly. I was a little worried about that.

“Yup, guess so.” I say, sitting beside Scootaloo, my weapon on my lap.

The carriage begins to move and lift off the ground taking us to the city. I look out the window at the passing terrain below and looking further ahead of us and see a large city hanging off the side of a mountain.

‘How is it not falling?’

Chapter 3: Proper Introductions, Grimm and a Duel

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After a few minutes of riding in an almost eerie silence, we arrive at the capital city precariously hanging off the edge of the mountain. Getting out of our carriages the group reconvenes together before a group of guard come by for us. Checking my phone, I see that is only around 3 o’clock in the evening. After I see that I have to do a double take as my phone is different. It looks and works like a scroll from RWBY. I put that thought on the back burner for now as we begin to walk though the castle, the guards tense at the sight of my sword and proximity to the princesses.

After a few minutes our group makes it to what appears to be the throne room. The princesses take their places on their respective thrones, the guards taking up position next to them and by the doors. The girls seem to be non the wiser, but I can see their tensed muscles and hands hovering over their weapons, as well and that most of their eyes are on me. We stay there maybe a minute before the door opens and two more ponies walk in.

One is an ‘alicorn’, as Scootaloo says, like the princesses. She has a pink, yellow and purple striped mane and pink fur. She is wearing a pink and purple dress shirt and a pair of blue pants. Oddly casual for an Alicorn.

Next to her is a male unicorn. The dude appeared to have a slightly larger build than most of the guards with the same white fur and a blue two toned blue mane. He is wearing a blue dress shirt and a pair of simple black pants. Looking between the two, I could just feel the love from the two. My guess is they are either marrried or soon to be engaged. A quick glance at their hands shows that it is the former.

“Shining! Cadence!” The purple one, Twilight, yells and rushs over to the two of them.

“Twily!” They say in unison, brining the shorter unicorn mare into a small group hug. They break apart and Twilight and Cadence do some wierd, childish song and dance. After they finish the stallion noticed me watching them, my silver eyes covered by my mask once more, and immediately gets a defensive look on his face.

The others notice our staring contest and begin to worry. “Adam? Are you ok?” Scootaloo asks from my side. I look to her and raise my mask and wink with a smile.

“Don’t worry Scoots, I’m good.” I say to her. She nods, but stays by my side. I look forward again and look to the two newcomers, the mare looking at me with curiosity and the stallion looking to me with caution. I suddenly get a realization of something important.

“I just realized something.” I say aloud, the gathered ponies looking at me. “I only know some of your names and stuff from Scootaloo and the other two of the CMC. We haven’t had any proper introductions.” At this most of the mares from Ponyville get sheepish expressions and blushes.

“Well, if that is the case, perhaps it would be best for me to start our introductions.” Celestia says standing from her seat and spreading her wings. “I am Princess Celestia, alicorn of the sun and co-ruler of Equestria.” She says with a warm smile and nods to her sister.

“I am Princess Luna, alicorn of the night and co-ruler of Equestria alongside my elder sister.” Luna introduces herself properly before looking to the gathered mares.

Twilight steps forward from the stallions side. “I am Twilight Sparkle, wielder of the Element of Magic and personal protégé of Princess Celestia.” She says with pride, the sun alicorn looking at her with a motherly smile.

Applebloom’s sister step up next. “I’m AppleJack, wielded of the Element of Honest and farmer of Sweet Apple Acres.” She says, tipping her hat at me.

Sweetie’s sister comes up next. “My name is Rarity Belle, Element of Generosity and proud owner of Carousel Boutique, where everything is fresh, unique and magnifique!” She says, her slogan ringing a tune in my head.

The yellow pegasus from before walks up and begins to speak. “Um, my name is Fluttershy and I am the Element of Kindess and the animal caretaker of Ponyville.” She says in a soft voice. I just smile to her and nod.

“Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty and only mare to pull of the Sonic Rainboom.” RD says in a rather annoyed voice. Everyone looks to her worried then to me and Scootaloo. We both shrug at them, not knowing what is going on with her.

My vision is suddenly filled with blue as the pink one suddenly appears in my face. “HiI’mPinkiePie!IrepresenttheElementofLaughter!Iwannaknow,whenisyourbirthday?Whatsyourfavouritecakeflavor?Andwhydoyouhavehorns?” She says quickly. The others look at her in embarrassment, before I start chuckling and hold up my hand.

“Hi Pinkie. My birthday is January 13th, my favourite cake flavour is red velvet and I have horns because I am a bull Faunus.” I answer her question while counting them off with my finger. The other look to me in shock that I could understand her. Even Pinkie looked surprised. I just smile and explain, “I had to babysit a lot of hyperactive kids back home so I know how to listen to people who speak fast.” The others nod at my explanation.

The newer alicorn step up and spreads her wing like Celestia. “I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but I prefer Cadence, Alicorn of love, wife to Shining Armor and former foalsitter to Twilight.” She introduces herself. After she finishes I take my right hand and place it on my heart before giving her a bow. She just laughs at my response.

The white stallion, Shining, walk up to his wife, slightly more relaxed but still on guard. “I am Shining Armor, former Captain of the guard, older brother to Twilight and husband to Cadence.” I raise my mask and look to him, then nod in respect. He nods back after a second.

I smile for my turn. “For those who don’t know me, I am Adam Taurus, professional huntsman, formerly a normal 18 year old and now one of the most powerful swordsman in the many stories I have seen.” The two newcomers look confused so I give them the abridged version of what I told the others back in Ponyville, complete with the photo of me, Lex and Nat.

“Well, now that we are all acquainted, shall we proceed with the report of the attack on Ponyville?” Celestia suggests, a mare with a white coat and brown mane in a receptionist uniform walks out with a notepad and quill. Shining and Cadence’s eyes widen at the declaration.

“Attack!?! There was an attack on Ponyville!?!” Shining shouts. I quickly turn to him.

“Yes, Ponyville was attacked by a pack of Grimm. Luckily I showed up before they could overstrain Twilights shield.” I tell him. The group soon get confused expressions on their faces. I raise a brow. “What?”

“Pardon me Adam, but what is a Grimm?” Cadence asks, my eyes widening at the question. I sigh and look to the new mare in the room.

“Be sure you take notes on this.” I tell her, the mare nodding her head and readying her quill.

“The creatures of Grimm are the black monsters that attacked Ponyville. They come from the same world as me or more accurately my character. They are manifestations of darkness, animosity. They are, as far as I can tell, the only creatures in the world that literally lack a soul.” There were a round of gasps at that declaration. “The Grimm come in a variety of forms, from standard animals like bears, or Ursa to birds or Nevermores. They can also come in more fantastical forms. A twin headed snake: the King Taijitu and even a large sea serpent: the Sea Feilong.” I look at the others to see their shocked and slightly disturbed faces.

“While they come in a large variety of forms, most Grimm share a few common characteristics. They are attracted to negativity. Anger, hatred, envy, loneliness and most of all, fear. They have a common goal of hunting down and consuming sentient life, however they rarely, if ever, attack wild animals. Perhaps for territory, but that is it. Their only goal in their lives are to find and kill human, Faunus, and from what it looks like, Ponies.” Princess Celestia suddenly stands up with a fierce expression on her face. The other begin to worry, while I just remain standing and look to her, lowering my mask so she can look at me in the eyes.

Luna and Cadence go to her and begin to help her calm down from her anger. She looks to me. “What else do you know of the Grimm?”

I nod to her and continue. “The Grimm do not age like most. The way to tell the difference between say, a Beowolf alpha and a ‘cub’ is their size, scars and spikes. The bigger and more battle worn a Grimm is, the older and stronger it is. Take the Deathstalker I faced. Young, inexperienced Deathstalkers are only about as big as me. The one that showed up in town was at least a couple decades in age.” The other think about this then look to me in shock.

“B-but you took that thing down in one hit! And the thing was the size of a house!” Twilight exclaimed, the guards and royalty looking to me in shock. I just nod to her.

“True, but remember. That was after I absorbed one of your strongest magical blasts, making my technique, Moon Slash, powerful enough to do so.” I tell her, Twilight blushing at the reminder of her own assistance in the fight. I look to the others and then to the note keeping mare. She nods to me after getting a new page for notes.

“The last thing I know about the Grimm, is they actually have a Queen.” This immediately gets everyone’s attention. “Her name is Salem. No one knows how long she has been alive, how she became the queen of Grimm, where she is, what she does, or how she does it. All we know is her name and only few more know her appearance.” I look to the princesses. “Do either of you know a spell that can project an image from my mind?” They look to one another then nod, their horns lighting up, before nodding to me.

Literally everyone asides from me took a step back from the image of Salem that was project. “Sweet Faust...” Luna muttered breathlessly. The others numbly nod in agreement before I make the image disappear.

“That is all I know of the Grimm. What I do not know is how they are getting into Equestria. Hell, I don’t know how they appear in Remnant, the world their story is based in!” I say. Looking to the note keeper, she nods that she got everything. I turn to the princesses, who look slightly disturbed by all the information I just gave them a nod in apology to them.

Then I feel a small pair of arms wrap around my waist. Looking down I see Scootaloo shaking in fear, likely from all this info. I gently pick her up and hug her to my chest, the small pegasus beginning to calm in my arms. “I’m sorry you had to see and hear all this Scoots. You too AB, Sweetie and Spike.” The two other members of the CMC hugging their sisters, and Spike by Twilight.

Cadence looks to me as I hug the pegasus and without anypony noticing, casts a spell she calls ‘Loves Sight’ on herself, her blue eyes gaining a barely noticeable pink ring around them. She sees a stream of pale blue energy being passed to Scootaloo from me. One she recognized as similar to her husbands to his sister. ‘Brotherly love.’ She thinks to herself and smiles.

Though it turns into a frown as she sees a pale green stream directed at me. Looking to its source, she is shocked to find it is coming from Rainbow Dash. ‘Jealousy?’ She thinks in shock. She quickly dismissed her spell as the hugs break apart. ‘I am going to have to tell the others later. This could be serious.’

After the mare in charge of notes gets a fresh batch we begin to detail the attack itself. Apparently the Grimm gave off several loud roars and howls before attacking so the townsfolk had plenty of time to get to town hall and for Twilight to raise her shield. I had arrived at the edge of town less than two minutes later.

After that revelation, the CMC and I began to detail our own side of things, from me finding them in their treehouse, to setting up the traps and Scootaloo getting into the barrier on her own. The Princesses were shocked and amazed that I put so much faith into a young filly I had just met maybe a few minute prior. I told them I could tell she had a brave aura around her and just knew she could do it. The group was further shock upon hearing how the three of us took down a Boarbatusk.

After that the elements took over and detailed my fight with the remaining Grimm and the Deathstalker before their arrival. After all that was taken care of I check my scroll again and see it is about 4:30 in the evening.

“Well, is that everything that needed to be done?” Celestia asks the gathered ponies, only for her sister to raise her hand. “Yes Luna?” The night princess gets up from her seat and walks to me. She is only a few inches shorter than me if you don’t count her horn.

“Adam, I have a request of you.” She says. I lift my mask and raise a brow at her. “I have now heard of your strengths and feats, but I wish to see it for myself.” She says to me. Celestia and Cadence tense and their eyes widen, while the others look confused. It takes a second before I realize what she is asking.

“Are you challenging me to a duel?” I ask, to which she smirks and nods. Celestia immediately teleports to her sisters side and takes her arm to get her attention.

“Luna what are you doing?!? We both know that you cannot just ask someone to a duel witho-“ “Alright.” I interrupted Celestia’s scolding and the two princesses look to me in shock. “What?”

“I said alright. Truthfully since I saw you had some armor on when you arrived in Ponyville, I have been curious what you can do.” I lower my mask and leaned towards her, the guards grabbing their weapons. “Just don’t expect me to go easy on you just because your royalty.” She smirks and puts on a face of mock confusion.

“What and not because I am a mare?” I just laugh at her response.

“Princess, I know at least a dozen females that could kick my butt around the block. I don’t discriminate.” I tell her, the two of us laughing while everyone else looks at us like we have lost our minds. “So, how do you wanna do this?” I ask her.

“There is a arena in the guards training hall we can use. I’ll give you an hour to get ready. Just keep your promise and don’t be late.” She says.

“Likewise.” After I say this Luna teleports away, likely to get her armor and weapons. I turn and immediately have a pair of rose eyes staring at me. Celestia looks to me in complete confusion and shock.

“I do not understand. Why did you just agree to battle my sister?” She asks. I just smile to her and take my mask off.

“I have heard the best way for to warriors to learn about one another, is to test the others prowess. I can tell just by looking at you two, Luna has more desire to fight, while you are always looking for the peaceful solution. We both know the way of weapons in a way most do not. This is the best way for us to get to know one another.” I tell her before reaching up and patting her shoulder. I begin to walk away from the group before pausing and smiling sheepishly. “Umm, where is the training hall?”

Almost an hour later, everyone is at the arena. And by everyone I mean our group and practically the entire castle staff and some nobles. Apparently nopony heard of something discretion. Less than half an hour after Luna and I left the throne room, word got around quickly and practically every pony in the castle heard and showed up in at the arena waiting to see their princess beat ‘something’ senseless.

I was sitting at one side of the arena, legs crossed and eyes closed, going over my techniques with my sword. For some reason, despite the fact I only took kendo for a few years and am a blue belt in judo, I remember so many different fighting techniques. In spite of not remembering the fights I could easily remember the scenario. A group of people pinning us down and shooting us. A bunch of robots in a factory. More of the robots on a train with Blake-.

My eyes widen at the realization that I came to. These are Adam Taurus memories. I begin to worry that the other Adam may somehow take over before I dismiss the thought and focus on the fight as I hear a teleport on the opposite end of the arena. Getting up from my spot and putting my mask on, I wait as Celestia comes down to the arena.

“Mares and Gentlecolts! We are gathered here today to witness the duel between two very powerful warriors. Now allow me to introduce our fighters! On my right, we have the returned Princess of the night and the guardians of dream, my little sister: Princess Luna!”

Luna walks out of the shadows of her side and the gathered crowd erupt into cheers, though I do see some nobles staying quiet. She is wearing what looks like a dark blue combat skirt and black leg armor and breast plate with shoulder guards and leather arm guards. In one hand she holds a broadsword and in the other a large dagger.

(Like this but anthro)

“And now for her opponent. A huntsman from a kingdom unknown who has already defended the town of Ponyville from an attack by several vicious monsters. Please welcome, Adam Taurus!” I walk out of the darkness of my side, only about a third of the gathered crowd cheers, the girls from Ponyville, Scootaloo in particular make the most noise.

“Go For It Adam!” The young pegasus shouts out to me. Me and Luna meet in the middle with Celestia by our side.

“Please you two, don’t do anything too extreme.” Celestia pleads to us quietly, to which we look to her then smirk in unison.

“No promises.” We say together. Celestia just sighs at us and flies to her spectating box where Cadence and the girls are watching. She nods to Shining Armor who raises a shield around the arena to prevent collateral damage to the ponies and structures.

‘Here we go.’

The two of wait for the signal from Celestia. She looks to the two of us, me being crouched low, right hand on the handle of my sword and the left on the sheath itself. Luna crouched as well her wings tensed ready to send her flying to me. She raises her right hand and pauses, before quickly dropping it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5e2IXqibVJg

. (Loop)

At the drop of her arm, Luna and I burst forward. We clash barely a second later, my blade midway though the sheath blocking as Luna tries cutting in an X with her sword and dagger. We stay locked for a second before I pull the trigger in my sheath, shooting the sword into the air and knocking Luna back.

She doesn’t get a chance to recover as I am on her with a firm roundhouse to the gut before I jump and catch my sword on its way back down. Luna quickly recovers and sees me falling and tries to shoot me as I am on my way down. She fires several bolts of magic, which I just slash though.

Landing, I immediately jump left as Luna charges again and we begin to trade blows, me blocking both her weapons with my one. This goes on for a bit before, on one swing with the dagger, Luna leaves an opening and I grab her hand holding the dagger. She can’t recover in time to block the sword handle to the gut followed by a right hook to the muzzle. She teleports out of my hold and reappears on the opposite side of the arena again.

Her horn glows and she tries shooting a rapid fire barrage of magic bolts at me. I take my sword out of the sheath and spin it in front of me like a pinwheel, blocking all of the bolts but one that I lean my head to the side to dodge. As I stop spinning my sword Luna appears in front of me and slashes with her broadsword to my chest. I almost leaned back enough but still get a cut on my chest. Luckily my aura protected me.

We begin another close range bout but with Luna adding in some point blank magical blast that I mostly avoid with a few exceptions. We go like this for a bit before I get some room and swing at her with both hands on my sword to add more power than normal. Luna quickly casts a shield spell in front of her to cushion the blow, but the magical backlash from the force of my strike does cause her to wince.

She looks to me and her eyes widen as I aim my shotgun at her. She senses she is in trouble and focuses on her shield as I fire shot after shot into the shield. Crack soon begin to appear before I stop the barrage of shells and just slash at the shield. Luna dismisses the shield before it can shatter and quickly blasts me back with her magic.

The entire audience watches the fight in baited breath and anticipation. Each blow from both of us causes them to pause, each strike sending chills down their spines. The one watching the closest was Celestia, seeing her sister give it her all in a duel against someone who appears to be her equal in swordplay and speed, Celestia began to feel something grow within her. A fire long since extinguished, the embers burning brighter as the fight goes on. A desire...to fight!

‘This feeling. This...excitement! I had forgotten this feeling.’ The solar princess soon gains an exited grin as she watch’s our match.

Cadence meanwhile was using her magic to see our emotions during the fight. What she finds is both very surprising and not surprising in the slightest. While we both are taking this fight as seriously as we can, there is the overwhelming feeling of excitement and happiness emanating from the both of us.

‘They both are so happy to just let loose and fight each other.’ She thinks to herself, before noticing a small, almost imperceptible pale pink stream going between the two of us and her eyes widen, before smirking at us. ‘This is quite the development.’

I quickly recover from the blast and get back to my feet. Luna sees this and quickly charges a magical blast and condenses it down, making it more concentrated before firing. I see the bowling ball sized, galaxy shaped magic blast coming to me...and I smirk. ‘Thanks for the boost.’ Raising my sword I block the blast, every unicorn in the arena looking at me in pure disbelief and shock as the blast is dissipated into my sword, the reds of me turning white with red outline.

The group from Ponyville look to me in worry seeing that I just got the boost. Luna looks dumbfounded, that blast should have beaten me! Before remembering something I said in the throne room earlier.

“B-but you took that thing down in one hit! And the thing was the size of a house!”

“True, but remember. That was after I absorbed one of your strongest magical blasts, making my technique, Moon Slash, powerful enough to do so.”

Realizing that she just gave me a boost, Luna did not panic or worry. Instead, she grinned. Sheathing her dagger, she crouched down, both hands on her sword and focused. Soon, the blade itself seemed to take on the same characteristics as her mane. A calm night sky appeared to replace the blade, before the calm night turned into rapidly swirling galaxies and began to give off a faint purple glow.

I see this and see that it is time we end this. I, too, crouch and get ready, the sword sheathed and behind my back as I focus all the absorbed energy into the blade.

The audience sees us crouching and believes the fight is going to be ended in the next blow. The girls hearts all begin to beat rapidly, Celestia’s in particular after sensing that we are focusing our energies into our blades. Cadence adds her own magic to the shield Shining Armor is holding up just in case.

Once ready the both of us run forward. Time seemed to slow for everone. They see each step we both take, the energy pulsing within our blades, the air we both exhale. And in a flash, Luna and I are on opposite sides of each other, swords extended after slashes.

For a few seconds that felt like eternities, nothing happened. Till there is the sound of cracking and coming from both of use. In that instant, Luna’s breast plate explodes outward as my aura becomes visible and shatters with it. Still, we remain in the same positions for a few more second, Shining Armor and Celestia noticing blood slowly dripping down both our blades. We both move an inch up and then fall to the ground together.

There was an instant uproar of voices from the crowd as Celestia and Cadence teleport to me and Luna and turn us over, seeing a large slash mark on both of our chests.

“Medical!” Celestia yells out, and in the next instant a dozen medical ponies arrive and check on both me and Luna. They quickly take the both of us away to the castle medical wing for treatment. Celestia stands and looks to the gathered ponies.

“Mares and Gentlcolts!” She yells out, looking to the gathered ponies as they quiet down. “We have a DRAW!” The arena erupting into cheers for me and Luna. Celestia go’s and picks up mine and Luna’s weapons, then looks the direction we were taken.

‘I should have made them promise.’

Chapter 4: Recovery and Dreams

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Walking through the halls of the castle, Celestia and the girls are still worried about mine and Luna’s condition. Cadence had little experience with the types of wounds we received but Celestia could tell, the only risk to our lives were if we were left to bleed out. Though, one prismatic pegasus was rather apathetic to my condition, something Cadence noticed by sensing her emotions.

It had nearly been an hour after we were taken to the medical wings when the doctor in charge, Dr. Heart Monitor walked out with a clipboard in hand and a proud smile on his face. Looking to the waiting area, he sees Celestia and the girls and walks up to them.

“Well? How are they?” Celestia ask quickly. The doctor just gives her a reassuring smile.

“Mr. Taurus and Princess Luna are both fine, your highness. Both of their slash marks are superficial and will heal within the night and the two will be up again in the morning. Though I do suggest you make sure they do not do any staining activities for a few days as not to reopen their wounds.” The group sighs in relief at the bit of good news. But he was not finished. “The odd thing I find though, is that the magical signature between the two slashes are near identical. Do you have any idea how that is?” He questions, Twilight stepping up.

“During their duel, princess Luna sent a magical blast at Adam, which he absorbed.” The doctor looks shocked by this info. “They probably have similar signatures because it was originally the princess’s own attack that got absorbed then launched back.” Twilight finishes. The doctor thinks for a moment, considering this new data and nods.

“Can we see them?” Scootaloo asks, looking up at the doctor with a worried expression. He just smiles and rubs her head.

“Of course. We decided to keep the two of them in the same room just so you do not have to go to two separate places to talk to them.” The doctor says, calling up a nurse to guide the group to our room. Room 115.

I look away from my scroll and to the door to our room as the others start to filter in. I had woken up maybe fifteen minutes ago and was going through my phone turned scroll. I found it still has everything on it, from my music to my photos as well as some odd locked files. I was going to try and figure them out later. I saw earlier that Luna was in the same room as me and was reading thought an old book. Though I did notice her glancing at me from time to time, or to be more accurate, my bandaged chest and bare arms.

Looking to the other, most of them seem surprised to see that we are both awake. Scootaloo wastes no time and claimed one of the chairs on the side of my bed and smiling up at me.

“That was incredible Adam! I knew you were strong, but I never thought you would be a match for one of the Princesses!” She says adamantly.

“I believe that was quite a surprise to all of us Scoots. Honestly, I didn’t expect to make it as far as I did in that fight, considering I don’t use magic.” I tell her. The others nod to me in understanding, but then Pinkie tilts her head in confusion.

“What do you mean Adam? What about that spell of yours that lets you absorb energy and that weird field that showed up around you after you slashed at each other?” She asks, the others remembering as well.

“Oh, that wasn’t magic. The field thing was my aura. In Remnant, Huntsman and Huntresses are taught not only to fight but to harness and wield our souls themselves.” The others look to me in shock and awe. “Using a combination of studies, meditation and a few unique scenarios for some, they can harness their souls as a tool. The most common uses for aura is to diminish blows and to heal minor injuries like small cuts.” I notice that Twilight is once again taking notes on what I say.

“The whole absorption of energy thing I do is what is called a Semblance. Every person who can successfully harness their aura will eventually unlock a Semblance that is unique to them, like a personal superpower. My Semblance is to absorb oncoming energy through a conduit, mostly my sword. The energy could be kinetic like my sword hitting another’s, energy based, or as we have seen, magical in nature.” The group look to me in surprise and the CMC suddenly think of something.

“It’s like earning your Cutie Mark!” They say together, the others seeing the similarities and agreeing. I raise my brow at them.

“Cutie Mark?” The group looks to me in shock and are about to go on tangents before they remember I am not from Equestria. Scootaloo come up to my bed and puts on a explainer face.

“A Cutie Mark is something that appears on a ponies shoulder and flank when they discover what their special talent in life is. Take Princess Luna.” I turn to her and see a crescent moon in front of a black splotch on her exposed shoulder. “Her special talent is the control over the night and moon.” Scootaloo joins her friends and they show their bare shoulders to me. “The girls and I don’t have our Cutie Marks yet. That is the whole reason we made our club to begin with. We go around and try different things that could get us our marks.” She finishes, the gathered ponies looking to her in surprise at the rather calm explanation from the most daring and troublesome Cutie Mark Crusader.

“I see. That is actually really cool. Getting a Semblance just seems overly complicated in comparison. There is one example I know. A girl names Nora Valkyrie who, and I swear this is true, leaned of her Semblance after getting stuck by lightning and not dying.” The others look shocked (ha) for a second before a few, Pinkie, Applejack, Cadence and the CMC, burst into laughter at the thought.

“HAHAHA! She-she was stuck by Lightning!?! That is awesome!” Scootaloo says, barely managing to stay in her chair. The others soon join in and laugh a little at the absurd way Nora gained her Semblance.

“Well, seeing that the two of you are fine and content for the moment, I think it would be best for the rest of us to leave and get some food while you two rest for a bit.” Celestia says. The CMC are about to argue, before getting interrupted by their stomachs growling like a trio of young Beowolves. The fillies blush in embarrassment and nod to the princess of the sun. Before leaving, the trio give me a careful group hug and promise to stop by before they go to sleep. I just smile to the three and rub their heads before the group leaves. I had my eyes closed with a content smile, so I didn’t notice the glare Rainbow gave me before she left.

Luna and Cadence did though. And they didn’t like it.

While walking down the hall Cadence suddenly spoke up to Rainbow.

“Hey Rainbow, how about you and the fillies go ahead. Your the fastest so you should get them there quicker.” She suggests. The others look to the pink Alicorn in confusion, before noticing she had a slightly worried expression on her face, well hid behind her royal mask.

“Yeah. Why don’t ya’ll go ahead. We’ll be there in a few minutes.” AppleJack says. The CMC are slightly suspicious of the mares, but don’t argue with the chance to eat sooner. Rainbow just shrugs. She crouches down to the ground letting Scootaloo climb on her back and wraps an arm around each of the other two before zooming off to the dining hall.

Once they were out of sight, the group turned to Cadence, silently asking for an explanation. She just sighs and puts up a silent spell around them to ensure nopony who shouldn’t know hears.

“Has anypony noticed that Rainbow Dash has been acting off after the events at Ponyville?” She asks the group, each of them thinking for a minute.

“Well, she did seem mighty annoyed during introductions.” AppleJack points out.

“Indeed, and she has been uncharacteristicly quiet since we arrived here in Canterlot.” Rarity adds in. The others begin to worry for their cyan furred friend. Cadence nods but continues.

“And have you all been seeing how Scootaloo has been acting?” She asks, the others getting confused by what she means.

“What do you mean Cadence? Scootaloo has just been acting like herself, just around Adam and not-.” Twilight pauses and her eyes widen at the realization. the others look to her to finish her thought. “-not around Rainbow.” She finishes quietly.

“Indeed. Young Scootaloo has been around Adam almost the entire time since his fight with the Deathstalker. She has been by his side during the walks around the castle, she had been riding by his side on the carriage ride here, she even went to Adam when she was scared by all the info he has on the Grimm. And he comforted her like a brother would.” Celestia says in thought, connecting the dots in her mind. The others see what is going on between me and Scootaloo, but don’t see the problem.

“Ok, so what? Scootaloo likes having Adam around? Then why is that makin Rainbow act all dark?” AppleJack asks the pink alicorn. Cadence sighs at her.

“Don’t you all remember what happened with the Mare-Do-Well plan of yours? Rainbow got legitimately depressed and desperate for attention to overshadow Mare-Do-Well, but turned around and became humbler after she unmasked you all. This time it isn’t some mysterious pony that comes by, saves a few townsfolk and then vanishes. It is an actual warrior that was able to take down opponents she couldn’t and that placed a large amount of faith in a filly to do what is right for herself and to protect others and stays, without mentioning it. She knows she can’t win. And she is worried she will lose Scootaloo as her number one fan and her surrogate little sister because of it.” Cadence explains and the girls worries effectively double.

“This could be serious if allowed to fester.” Celestia says in worry. “In the past Rainbow Dash has been to very proud and rather egocentric, so the thought of losing Scootaloo could be seen as betrayal in her eyes.” Celestia shivers and takes a breath. “I do not want to see what happens when Loyalty is betrayed. For all we know Rainbow could become the next Nightmare Moon if left unchecked.”

“Well, what are we going to do? We can’t just keep Adam and Scootaloo apart. They have grown very close over the day and we cannot just make Scootaloo spend more time with Rainbow either.” Fluttershy mumbles quietly. The others begin to think as well.

“For now we mustn’t act hastily. Right now it is just simple jealousy. But I want you all to keep an eye on her for a while. Should she get worse and actively act against Adam, then we will intervene.” Celestia says, the girls nodding, still slightly unsure. Cadence dispels her privacy bubble and the group continues on, Celestia sending a note to the head chef to serve the CMC and Rainbow before they arrive.

After about an hour a pony that looks like a bat comes in and helps Luna stand so she can walk to the window nearby and raise the moon. I watch from my seat on my bed and see at her horn lights up as the sun lowers over the horizon and the night sky takes its place high above us. After she was back in her medical bed she was informed that Shining Armor and Cadence would be taking care of the night court so she can rest.

After the guard left, Luna and I just made small talk with one another. She told me about her life with her sister, her transformation into an evil being called Nightmare Moon due to her jealousy to her sister and her sisters arrogance and ignorance, and her eventual return after a thousand year banishment on the moon, where she was essentially sleeping for a century, then awakes for a week and falls back to sleep. I already knew that the girls are the Elements of Harmony but hearing her explain what they are and what they did really puts things into perspective of their power.

After out dinner arrived, I began to tell her about my life back home, being an almost straight B student in high school, making all my friends, soccer, Kendo and Judo practice. I also told her about Lex and Nat after fishing the photo out again. She was shocked to learn about Sorano and how, after she showed up and joined our group, we became closer to the point some would say we were family. Our families even spent Christmas together because of us. I then told her a bit about the girls personalities, Luna paying particular attention to my description of Sorano.

By the time we were finished talking to one another it was nearly ten o’clock at night.

“Well this was nice. We should do this again some time Luna. Just without the injuries.” I joked, earning a giggle from the mare.

“Indeed. ‘Twas nice to speak to someone who is willing to really listen to our tale. And your story is very interesting as well Adam.” She replies. The door to our room opens and a nurse walks in alongside the CMC, all of whom looked well fed and ready for bed.

“Hey girls. Shouldn’t you all be in bed right now?” I ask, the trio all yawn for a second before responding.

“Well, we did promise to come by before we went to sleep. Right girls?” Applebloom says, the other two nodding, making me smile at them. I wave them up and the trio hop onto my bed an give me a group hug, before turning to Luna and silently asking her permission. Luna just levitates the trio to her and hugs them goodnight as well.

“Hey Scoots.” I get her attention as they begin to leave. I quickly go though my pockets and take out the photo Featherweight gave me. “Mind holding onto this for me?” She quickly nods and carefully takes the picture before joining her friends and walking back to their rooms for the night.

“You really are like a brother to her, in spite of only knowing her for a few hours.” Luna points out. I just chuckle to her.

“Well, I did go to the Con dresses as the most spiteful character in Remnant.” I tell her, Luna remembering that this isn’t my original form. She smile and turns to her book.

“Safe dreams, Adam.” She says as I cover myself to sleep.

“Safe dreams, Luna.” I reply back, my eyes closed and beginning to drift off. I was asleep by the time Luna begins her other nightly duties. Protecting her subjects dreams.

Opening my eyes I am greeted by a starry void around me. Looking to myself, I see I am back in my outfit and that I do not have my bandages on my chest. Looking around the space, all I see are stars, the moon above me and a few spinning galaxies past the moon.

“Where am I?” I say aloud. After a minute of nothing I just choose a direction and begin to walk, my steps echoing though the void. After what feels like five minutes I find something. It looks like a door. It is two shades of pink and has three smiling suns on the front. Looking closer at the door, there appears to have a dark outline that almost looks like it is pulsating.

I don’t get a chance to investigate before the darkness around the the door disappears and becomes more vibrant. A minute later the door opens and Luna walks out with an accomplished smile on her face. She turns and lights up her horn and the door vanishes. She turns with a smile, then notices me. We stay there, staring at one another for a bit before I break the tension.

“Umm, hi?” I say lamely. Luna blinks and immediately gets her bearing again and looks to me in confusion.

“Adam? What are you doing here and not in your dream?” She asks me.

“Well, one: I don’t really know where here is. I just opened my eyes and I was here. Second: what do you mean why am I not in my dream? Am I asleep?” I ask her. Luna looks to me with narrowed eyes. She looks for a minute before her face softens.

“Well for the second part, yes you are asleep. The place we are in is the astral plane, where dreams reside. As Princess of the Night it is my duty to aid my subjects with their nightmares and make sure they have happy and safe dreams.” Luna explains. I look past her to where the door she just entered through was.

“So I guess the door you came through was someponies dream?” She nods to me. She begins to walk and I choose to follow her. “So you do this every night? Go through the astral plane and aid ponies with their nightmares?” I ask, to which she nods again.

After a minute or two we show up and see a pair of doors each with the darkness around them. The first door was silver and grey with the image of a silver spoon on the front. I guess the images are the ponies Cutie Marks. The other door is pink with purple and white stripes in it. It has the image of a screw and baseball in it. I look to Luna.

“Do you know whose dreams these are?” She looks to the marks and nods.

“The first door is that of young Silver Spoon. She is from a rich family and has a bit of a superiority complex and is also apparently a bully towards the CMC.” That made me glare at the door a bit. “The other is the dream of Screwball. I do not know what to say about that young mare. She appeared in Ponyville during Discord’s escape and is rather chaotic in her ways. Most in the town avoids her and she is rather lonely.” I look to the door in thought before making a decision. I walk to Screwballs door. “What are you doing?” I turn to her.

“If I am here in the astral plane, then I have the power to interact with others dream. Correct?” Luna nods to me. “In that case, tonight how about I help you split your work? I’ll handle Screwball’s nightmare, while you deal with Silver Spoon.” Luna looks to me in surprise.

“You wish to aid me in my duty of nightmare vanquishing?” I nod to her and gesture to the doors, silently asking permission. Luna bites her lip, before lighting up her horn and providing a bracelet with an aquamarine in the center. “Should you get in over your head, tap the gem three times and I will be there.” She says giving me the bracelet. I nod to her and turn. I open the door and see shadows and a small purple dot. Quickly jumping in I am consumed by the darkness.

Opening my eyes again I am greeted by the sight of Ponyville. But it looks wrong. The ground looks like a checkerboard, there are floating pies nearby my spot and the sky is yellow with red polkadots. At least I think it was yellow. All the colours look muted and some of the pies that flew by had evil eyes and razor sharp teeth.

“Okayy? Now I know what Luna was talking about when she said chaotic.” Looking around the area, I hear some howls that I recognize as Beowolves and above the howls, a maniacal laugh. I quickly run and soon find the source. There are indeed Grimm here but they appear to be bowing to...something. I looks like if a zoo had access to a gene splicer.

It had a serpentine body with a scaled tail with spikes ending in some fur. It had what looked like a deer hoof and a lizard claw for the other leg. It also had a lions paw and eagle talon for hands, finally it had a bat and blue pegasus wing each and a goats head complete with a goatee, and a warped antler and a blue horn on its head. This must be Discord.

Only he wasn’t his normal self. His colours had all but been abandoned, his fur and scales turning pitch black and purple and his wings being purple and blue. His goatee and tail being black and looking like the night as well as having what looks like bone plating. Finally, adorning his face was a twisted version of a Grimm mask, his red eyes leaving a momentary trail behind them.

Discord was a Grimm Draconequus.

(Just add a Grimm mask)

Looking at this new Grimm, this guy is all sorts of messed up. I look to the front of him and see a young mare crying. She looks to be a few years older than the CMC and has pink fur and purple and white curled hair. She is wearing a green and yellow propeller hat, a yellow t-shirt and a green vest. She has purple fingerless gloves, a red skirt and one pink and white striped and one blue and black netted leggings.

“Ohhohoho! Who would have thought. These incredible monsters of chaos, making me all the more powerful!” Discord gloats, the young mare infront of him still crying and shivering. The Grimm don’t notice me so I just watch to see what will happen for now.

“Please daddy! Stop this! This isn’t you! The monsters are making you hurt others!” Screwball yells. I am left shell shocked for a moment at this revelation. Discord is Screwball’s dad? That would explain her chaotic nature. Do the princesses know?

I don’t get a chance to think about it as the wolves growl and begin to move to Screwball. She begins to back up in fear of the Grimm. All the while Discord just looks on with a bored and even annoyed expression on his face. He walks next to the Grimm and looks down on his daughter.

“Hmph. You really are pathetic. Your only good for being a snack to my new friends.” He says in an annoyed tone.

OK, that is it! As the Grimm begin to close in on Screwball, I leap out of my spot and slice through the first three in the way, coming to a stop in front of Screwball. I realize I don’t have my Grimm mask, but I know how to get it. I raise my hand and pass it over my face much like Ichigo in Bleach and summon my mask. Screwball looks at me towering over her in a protective stance and ask, “Who are you?” I turn to her and smile, seeing her eyes were just swirls of purple without pupils.

“A friend.” With that I rush forward and slash the Grimm into tiny bits before looking at Grimm Discord. He looks to me in rage and roars. He charges forward and tries to slash me with his talons. I just block the blow and fire my weapon, knocking him back.

“Begone Vile Nightmare!” I yell out, suddenly filled with energy and launch a slash though the air and slice the Nightmare straight down the middle. It looks to me in shock before rapidly turning to a rainbow of flower pedal. The pedals surround me and Screwball. After they dispersed, we are not in a dark, chaotic Ponyville anymore, but in a field of rainbow coloured flowers.

I sheath my sword and dispel my mask before turning to Screwball. She looks to me in awe and doesn’t respond to me until I am crouch right in front of her. “Why did you help me?”

I look to her in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I? You were having a nightmare and I had the power to stop it. It would be mean of me to leave you be.” I tell her. She looks down then to the field around us.

“It...was just a dream?” She asks as she picks up a flower that looks to be made of crystal. I go and sit next to her.

“It may have just been a dream, but the fear was real. What are you so afraid of that you would imagine Discord as a Grimm?” I ask her. She shakes for a second before I take her hat and gently rub her head. “Take your time.”

“I-I am scared that if daddy comes back, the monsters will make him do bad things. During his rule he made a mess and annoyed ponies, but he never hurt anypony. During his imprisonment he made me in his mind so he would have sompony to talk to and play with. After he escaped, the burst of chaotic magic gave me a form. But, I don’t think he noticed. After he was re-petrified, I stayed in Ponyville, hoping to make friends. But I am just to wierd. Then the monsters came by, and I saw all the chaos and destruction they made within a few minutes. If they g-get to d-daddy...” she trails off and begins to cry again.

I gently turn her to me and hug her, letting her cry onto my shoulder. We stay there for what felt like a few minutes before she stops and I lift her head, wiping her tears away with my thumbs.

“I won’t let that happen.” I tell her resolutely. She looks to me in surprise and confusion. “As a Huntsman, it is my duty to protect the innocent. Your dad may be the Spirit of Chaos, but chaos and evil are two different things. Should the Grimm appear again and try to get to Discord, I will cut them all down, even if they are Deathstalkers, King Taijitus or a Nuckelavee.” I tell her. She looks to me again then buries her face in my chest while saying ‘thank you’ as fast as Pinkie.

I let her go and we both stand up. “Well, time for me to go. There are a few more nightmares to deal with tonight.” I am about to leave when Screwball grabs my hand. I look to her and she is holding out the crystal flower for me. I just smile and take to flower, before putting it in her hair just below her cap. “This looks better with you Screwy.”

She blushes and gives me another hug before a door like the night appears in front of us. I walk to it and give one final wave to the chaotic earth pony, before walking though and back to the astral plane.

Chapter 5: The Android and The Huntress

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After entering the Astral plane again, I am greeted by a slightly worried looking Luna. She looks me over quickly, noticing my tear stained shoulder, and asks, “So what happened and how did it go?”

I tell her about the dream and of Screwballs fear, but only after she agreed to not do anything drastic. She was complete shocked to learn that Screwball is Discord’s daughter and her fear of the Grimm. After agreeing to keep an eye on Screwball so Luna wouldn’t tell her sister and do something they may regret, we begin to go through the astral plane together. Whenever any nightmare doors would appear we would take turns on who dealt with them. It wasn’t all that surprising to find that most of the nightmares were coming from Ponyville and the surrounding areas.

After dealing with the nightmares we would sometimes find some more doors scattered around which were just normal dreams. We did go into a few to find some either adorable or just hilarious scenes. Like Twilight being in an endless library with flying books and endless scrolls. It kinda reminded me of a skit in RWBY Chibi with the Geist Grimm controlling a bookcase and attacking Blake.

We even found Celestia’s dream and decided to pull a prank on her. We entered and found ourselves in what could only be described as the ‘candy land of bake goods’. We found Celestia resting under a tree with a piece of cake in her hand preparing to eat it, only for Luna to turn the cake into a bunch of brussel spouts, the tree into broccoli and the surrounding area into a variety of other vegetables. Let me be the first to tell you, her face when she saw all this was worth being forcefully ejected from her dream.

Luna and I laid on the ‘floor’ of the astral plain for a good few minutes, just laughing out asses off and taking a few more minutes to get our breaths back. We soon get up, wiping our eyes with the remnants of our laughing fits dying off before we completely right ourselves.

“You know she will be wanting payback for that right?” I tell Luna with a smile. She just gains a victorious smirk.

“She can try, but this is payback for all the pranks and embarrassment she has caused us in our younger years.” She says to me and I nod. “Well, the sun will be rising soon, but I believe we have time to see one or two more dreams.” She tells me. I was going to respond, only to stop as I get this wierd feeling.

“Adam? What is it?” She asks as I go quiet and turn, looking around the area.

“Luna, have you ever gotten the feeling that someone is calling out to you while you are here?” I ask her, beginning to walk. Luna quickly catches up to me.

“A few time. Though that only happens when one of our subjects are having a night terror and are specifically calling for help.” She explains as we reach the area the feeling is strongest.

Looking around, I expect a door or two to show up, but nothing. I am not sure how, but I know what I have to do. I raise my right hand, and the hand and my horns are quickly covered by a silver and red aura, much like when Luna uses her magic. Luna gasps, but otherwise stays quiet as I focus on the feeling. Before long two doors appear, but they are different than the ones we have seen tonight.

The one on the left is neon green, silver, and white with the symbol of a sword that is split down the middle leading to a circle where the guard would be and stops just before the handle. The door on the right is red, gold and bronze with the symbol of a spear going though a large circle, looking like a shield. Both doors have a black and white aura around them, making them different from normal nightmares.

“Luna, do you know whose doors these are and what is with the auras?” I ask her as I lower my hand, the aura vanishing.

“No. We do not recognize these marks. However, the aura around them marks it as they are having a memory nightmare. We can go in and see what they are seeing, but we at most can merely pause the events.” She tell me. I stop and think, trying to think of where I have seen these symbols before, but for the life of me I cannot place them.

“Luna, I think it would be best for the both of us to enter the same dream. These symbols look familiar to me, and if you do not recognize them, who knows what could be lying past them.” She looks to me and sees my determined yet worried face and lights up her horn and in a flash she is in the same outfit as our duel. She looks to me again and nods. We first go to the door with the sword symbol and walk though, the darkness covering us together.

Opening our eyes, we find ourselves in a grey hallway. There appears to be some banners and a sign for a concession stand, if the giant tub of popcorn was any indication. Luna looks around us, just as confused as I am, before noticing a banner with a message on it.

“Adam? What is the Vytal Festival Tournament?” She asked, and I turn to look at the banner and freeze. It is made to look like the sunset with a building in front of the sun with the description being. ‘The 40th Annual Vytal Festival Tournament. Hosted by the city of Vale’. I stare at the banner, shellshocked, only for Luna to begin shaking me.

“Impossible...how-how do they know of this?” I question myself. Luna grabs my face and forces me to look at her face.

“Adam, what is going on? Where are we?” She asks worried. I shake my head and get my bearings.

“If this banner is any indication. We are in Remnant.” She looks confused before remembering our talk about the Grimm and her eyes widen in shock. I continue, “More accurately, it looks like we are in the Amity Colosseum where the tournament is held. Long story short, Remnant is split into four neighboring kingdoms: Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo and where we currently are, Vale, each with their own schools for training Huntsman and Huntresses. Every four years the kingdoms have a tournament that pits up and coming huntsman and huntresses against each other to show who has the best students for that year and essentially gain bragging rights.” Luna looks to me in shock.

“They pit children against each other in battle?!?” She yells in outrage before I place a calming hand on her shoulder.

“Remember Luna, Remnant is not Equestria. Also they have very strict rules so no one is every truly injured. They are either rung out, or have their auras depleted, where they would be eliminated from the fight. But what I do not understand is how somepony could know of this and be having a memory nightmare of it.” She puts a hand on her chin in thought. Before she can speak some static comes though the speaker in the stadium, followed by a voice.

“Alright, it is now time to begin the randomization process for our next fight!” The muffled voice of one Dr.Oobleck says, to which I again freeze.

“No...” Luna sees me frozen and gets worried. “Not here. Not this point in time!” I say in a slightly panicked voice. Luna puts her hands on my shoulders for support.

“Adam! What is happening? When and where are we?” She asks. I don’t get to answer as another voice speaks up.

“It looks like our first contender is...” the voice of Professor Port pauses for a second, “...Penny Polendina from Atlas!” He finishes and we hear a crowd cheer outside. My eyes are as wide as dinner plate and my pupils are pinpricks at this point. I know when and where we are. Luna continues to try and get a response from me, only for Port’s voice to soon come back.

“And her opponent will be...Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!” At this point Luna slaps me in the face, causing me to stagger back and come back to my senses.

“ADAM! What is going on!?!” Luna yells at me in panic. I shake my head and get back to my senses.

“Luna, this is the beginning of one of the worst events in Remnant’s recent history. An event referred to as ‘The Fall of Beacon’.” I tell her and she looks worried.

“B-but isn’t Beacon one of these Huntsman schools?” She says worried and I just nod. She realizes the severity of the situation we are in, even if this is a dream.

I quickly grab Luna’s hand and begin to run to one of the entrances to the stadium, bursting though, the light blinding us momentarily. Once we regain our sight, we both see a packed stadium full of humans and Faunus, Luna looking at the crowd in shock. I ignore her and look to the stadium where I see them. The two opponents of the beginning of the fall. Penny and Pyrrha.

Penny looks like a pale human with curled orange hair with a pink bow like Applebloom. She has a black and neon green choker a pale white blouse, a grey and green skirt and black leggings with green lines down the sides and black high tops that looks attached with a green circle she also has bright green eyes. She has her swords resting in her back and her green parts look like power buttons.

Pyrrha is a white human with red hair in a ponytail and a bronze or gold circlet, gold choker with an emerald in the center and bright green emerald eyes. She is wearing a brown, bronze, and gold breastplate, arm guards, leg armor and high heel boots. She has her spear and shield on her back, a red sash the same color as her hair around her maroon short skirt with her symbol on a gold medal.

Luna and I watch as Penny and Pyrrha talk to each other before their match starts. It is only once they get ready that I remember something.

“The symbols!” I yell out in realization. Luna jumps and looks to me in surprised, confused, shock. I look to her and see her confused look. “The symbols from the doors. They belong to Penny and Pyrrha. That is where I remember they are from!” Luna looks to me with wide eyes and then to the two girls as they get ready, momentarily blanking out as Penny’s swords come out.

“But...if this is not Equestrian, then who’s dream is this?” Luna questions. I think for a minute about this before remembering how the doors had the Cutie Marks of the ponies. But the door we walked through had Penny’s symbol.

“Luna, you said that we cannot actually interact with this dream, right?” I ask her. She looks to me in confusion and nods. I think for a minute before getting an idea. “Luna, can you use a spell to track the dreamer in the real realm?”

“Yes, there is a spell that could let us find the dreamer. Why?” She asks and I look to the duo as I know Port is about to start the countdown.

“I may have an idea on who the dreamer is. I think you should use the spell so we can find this person in the morning.” I tell her, and she thinks for a minute before nodding. Once she begins the spell the fight between Penny and Pyrrha starts. As they begin, Luna watches their battle in awe, seeing their skills as they trade blows. Though she looks worried as Pyrrha begins to panic and looks to me.

“What is happening to Pyrrha?” She asks. I look around and find the reason. Emerald Sustrai. She is a dark skinned human with red eyes and pale green hair done in a bowl style with two long strands down the back. She is wearing a forest green bra-like front and a white back straps with a black gemstone symbol on her back. She has some white pants that end in her mid-calf and brown pant covers and brown strap shoes.

I point to her and Luna sees the women. “Her. Her name is Emerald. She is a minion for the one responsible for the Fall. Her Semblance is to make someone experience illusions, making them see something that isn’t there. Right now Pyrrha thinks her Semblance of magnetism is going out of control and affection her weapons.” I tell her and Luna look to Pyrrha in worry. The fight goes on and midway though Luna finishes her spell and gets the location of the dreamer.

After Penny manages to disarm Pyrrha do I remember something. “Luna, there is something you should know about Penny.” She looks away from the fight and misses Pyrrha’s reaction to her swords. “Penny is not a human or a Faunus. She is an android.” Luna tilts her head. “Have you heard of Golems before?” She nods, not seeing where this is going. “Well, think of an android as a mechanical golem that is preprogrammed for a specific purpose. Penny is unique as she is true first android capable of generating an aura. Meaning, she is the first robot to have a real soul.” Luna’s eyes widen and she looks back at Penny.

“Why do I need to know this?” Luna asks as Pyrrha begins to use her Semblance. I just grit my teeth and point to the fight. We watch as Pyrrha takes control of the metal strings attached to Penny’s swords...and slices her apart. Luna covers her mouth in shock and begins to shake as a few stray tears escape my eyes. I hated this scene. Penny is my favourite character in RWBY and the fact Cinder had her killed...

We stay there, looking at the aftermath, the crowd going nuts for what just happened, when a new voice comes over the speakers.

“This is not a tragedy.” The voice begins and I feel my blood begin to boil as Luna looks around in confusion. “This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians. But are in reality...nothing more than men.” Luna looks to me and sees my enraged expression and involuntary takes a step back.

“Our Academies headmasters wield more power than most armies and one was audacious enough to control both.” Luna and I look nearby as General Ironwood stands in defiance and walks away. “They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nations attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another’s star pupil.”

“Adam, who is that that is talking right now?” Luna asks, I just look to Emerald as she leaves and then to one of the monitors that have a chess piece on it.

“Cinder.” I growl out, Luna still worried about me.

“What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent girl? I don’t think the Grimm can tell the difference.” Cinder continues her monologue, all the while I am seething in rage at this mad women. I soon begin to walk to the arena, Luna following close behind.

“And what I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsman and Huntresses should carry themselves with honour and mercy. Yet I have witnessed neither.” At this point Luna and I have jumped into the arena itself and begun to walk to the girls.

“Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps, this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces.” Luna and I make it to the girls, Luna looking at Pyrrha’s broken and saddened face, and I seeing Penny, laying motionless with her eyes looking glossed over.

“Honestly? I haven’t the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know that the existence of peace is fragile. And the leader of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you; the situation there is...equally undesirable.” I walk over to Penny and crouch down, looking at her face with sadness, before noticing a slight spark in her eyes.

“Our kingdoms are at the brink of war. Yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you...when the first shots are fired...who do you think you can trust?” Cinder finishes as the feeds cuts out and the sirens come on. Soon Grimm fly past the stadium, the crowd panicking.

“This is the beginning of the Fall?” Luna asks in shock seeing the monsters go by and the civilians panicking to get to the escape ships. I go to answer, only for the area around us to become muted and darkness to surround us and Penny. In that moment Luna and I get close, standing back to back and look around, before hearing a gentle, yet strong male voice.

”No. It is not yet your time, young one.” it says, and their is a bright flash, causing me and Luna to look away. Before we are gone, I see the outline of two men.

When we open our eyes again, we are back in the astral plain, the doors are still there, but the one we went though now lacking the aura and looking to be normal. I look to Luna who looks very saddened by what we had just witnessed. I go over to her and bring her into a hug, one she returns in full. We stay there for a bit, before letting go and turning to the other door. The one with Pyrrha’s symbol. I look to her with worry, but she nods with a determined expression. I nod back and with that we enter the second door.

Opening our eyes we see we are in a long and tall hallway with green lights near the tops of the walls. I recognize this place immediately. We are in the vault under Beacon tower. Luna looks around us, noticing the elevator moments before it opens revealing Professor Ozpin, Jaune Arc and Pyrrha.

Jaune was a pale white human with blond hair and deep blue eyes. He is wearing a white chest plate over a black hoodie with orange interior and white armored shoulder pads, brown gloves overtop some are guards, blue jeans and black sneakers. His sword is held in her right hand and his shield over his left arm.

(I just thought this looked awesome for Jaune)

Ozpin was a tall, older looking human with grey hair and forest green eyes, and pair of glasses lowered so you could see his eyes. He was wearing a dark green overcoat over a button up black vest and green t-shirt, a green ascot around his neck and a pair of dark green pants and black dress shoes. He held his weapon, a retractable cane in his hand as they rushed forward past us.

Luna and I follow behind them as Jaune asks where they are and Pyrrha answers, before arriving at our needed location. Just past them was some kind of machine that had two pods, one on which was occupied by young tan women with brown hair and a severe scar on her face. The current fall maiden Amber.

“What? Who?” Jaune asks in confusion.

“Jaune.” Pyrrha start before being interrupted.

“Pyrrha! Get to the pods!” Ozpin says urgently. Pyrrha looks to Jaune and nods slightly before going to the pod. “Mr. Arc, if you would like to help, you can stand guard here.” Ozpin says, to which Jaune nods and turns around, sword and shield at the ready.

Ozpin begins typing some data and readies the pods while Luna and I watch.

“Adam, what is happening?” Luna asks me. I focus my mind and momentarily pause the events.

“That woman in the pod is named Amber. In Remnant, magic does not exist, except for in four maidens. The maiden of the seasons. Amber is the current fall maiden.” Luna looks to Amber and cringes at her injuries. “Not too long ago, Amber was attacked by Cinder and her team and for the first time in Remnants history, part of her power was stolen.” Luna look to me in shock. “Cinder has half of the maidens power, so if and when Amber dies, it is likely the rest will seek out its other half. The plan was to physically move the other half to a new host so Cinder couldn’t get it. That selected host is Pyrrha.”

Luna looks to Pyrrha and Amber in pity and worry. “But...if the magic within her would seek out its other half after death, how will they transfer it to Pyrrha?” She ask and I sigh.

“She cannot be gifted her powers naturally, but they can move what their powers are connected to.” I look to Luna with a grim expression. “Her soul.” Luna gasps and looks to Ozpin.

“You mean that they are going to force young Ambers soul into Pyrrha?” She says in shock. I just sigh again and unfreeze the dream.

“That was the plan.”

Ozpin finishes the data entry and tells Pyrrha she has a choice. Pyrrha looks to Jaune as he is standing guard in sadness and longing, something that doesn’t escape Luna’s sight. She look to me and then point from Pyrrha to Jaune. I nod and she gains a sad expression.

Pyrrha steps into the pod and Ozpin begins the process after thanking her. The pod holding Amber raises slightly and her eyes flutter open as an orange and gold aura covers her before going though some tubes into Pyrrha’s pod. Pyrrha is covered in the aura and begins to scream in agony and pain. Luna and Jaune both go to her pod in worry.

“I’m...so sorry.” Ozpin says in remorse. It only last for a minute before we hear a bow being fired and glass breaking. Looking to Amber, Luna gasps and covers her mouth when she sees an arrow going straight in the center of her chest. We all look back down the hall and see her. Cinder Fall.

She is a white skinned human with raven black hair that covers one of her bright gold eyes. She is wearing a below the shoulder short red dress with a lot of leg showing with intricate yellow designs down the arms ending at her hand. On her back is a black tattoo of her odd symbol. She lowers her bow she just used and looks to us with a blank expression.

“Cinder!” I say, Luna’s eyes widening as she looks at the woman responsible for all this.

“That is Cinder!?” She asks in outrage and I nod to her. We look back to the others as the aura surrounding Pyrrha rapidly returns to Amber before being launched out and into Cinder, who rises into the air with her eyes seemingly having fire coming out of them. Jaune rushes forward with his sword at the ready.

“Stay back!” Luna and Ozpin say together, before Jaune was forcefully pushed back and onto his back.

“JAUNE!” Pyrrha uses her power and pushes the door to her pod open and gets her weapons to fight, only for Ozpin to stop her.

“Take Jaune and get out of here! Find Glinda! Ironwood! Qrow! Bring them here right away! The tower cannot fall.” Ozpin orders, Luna looking to them in worry.

“But I can help.” Pyrrha says. Ozpin looks to her with a serious face.

“You’ll only get in the way.” He says, Luna looking shocked at the declaration. Pyrrha looks sad for a moment before running to Jaune and helping him up and they begin to run to the elevator.

“C’mon Luna.” I say to her, grabbing her hand and following the two students. Luna looks back at Ozpin and Cinder, and she silently prays for him. We get to the elevator and I have Luna cast the same tracking spell as before as the four of us run out the door. Luna looks around in complete shock at the destroyed area. She looks up and sees some Grimm flying over the city, and sees some of the evacuation ships.

“Ok, I think I have Glinda’s number.” Jaune says pulling out his scroll and going through it. “Oh, where is it?” Pyrrha and Luna both look back to the tower in worry.

“Pyrrha?” She turns to Jaune. “What was all of that?” He asks breathless.

“I-I...” she doesn’t get to continue as an explosion rocks the ground and we see what looks like fire rapidly climbing the tower. Luna’s eyes widen with tears and she looks to me. I just nod solemnly.

“But...Ozpin...” Jaune says in shock.

“There’s no time...” Pyrrha looks to Jaune. “Go! Get to Vale and call for help.”

“Huh? What’re you going to do?” He asks as Pyrrha looks at the tower. Luna realized what she is planning at the same time as Jaune. “No...No Pyrrha, you can’t! You’ve saw how powerful she is! Pyrrha, I won’t let you do-“ Pyrrha cuts him off by bringing him in for a kiss.

Jaune is shocked for a moment before actually joining in. Luna looks to the two students with tears in her eyes as she knows what it going on. I put my arm around her and she lays her head on my shoulder and sniffles. She finishes her spell as Jaune and Pyrrha break apart.

“I’m sorry.” She says before pushing Jaune into a rocket locker and setting some coordinates, Jaune begging for her to stop all the while. Jaune launches off as Pyrrha look to the tower again and runs in with a determined expression on her face.

“She doesn’t make it, does she?” Luna asks me. I remain silent and follow after Pyrrha, Luna by my side. We go into the destroyed elevator and Luna watches Pyrrha in awe as she uses her powers to lift the elevator. We soon make it to the top and Pyrrha thows her spear in before launching herself with her shield. Cinder blocks both and Pyrrha backs up, ready to fight.

Luna and I watch from the side of the room as Cinder and Pyrrha fight with all they have. Luna is awed by both of their abilities. We get interrupted by a screech out the window and see the large bat-like Grimm dragon as it comes for a flyby.

“What the buck!?!” Luna yells as Cinder breaks Pyrrha’s spear and the Grimm flys by, destroying the top of the tower. We turn and see Pyrrha crawling to get her shield as Cinder levitates above her, before she looks around and sees all the gears. Pyrrha uses her powers to throw Ozpin desk at Cinder while grabbing her shield.

Pyrrha is put on the defensive as Cinder launches several fire blasts at the young Huntress. Pyrrha throws her shield at Cinder like Captain America and while she is blocking, uses her power to levitate several gears around Cinder. Luna watches her magnetic powers in awe.

“Star pupil is right.” She mumbles as Pyrrha trips up Cinder and buries her in the gears. Nothing happens for a second before the gears begin to glow orange and burst away, Pyrrha being sent into the wall and her aura shatters. Pyrrha gets up and throws her shield again as Cinder fires an arrow. The two weapon would have collided if the arrow hadn’t turned to shards and gone through the shield, continuing on and striking Pyrrha in the heel, causing her to go to her knees.

Luna looks to her in fear and even though we cannot do anything walks to her and puts a hand on her shoulder. Cinder walks to talk to Pyrrha face to face.

“It is unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours.” Cinder lifts Pyrrha’s head up and continues. “But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined.” Luna is seething at the woman who did all this. Pyrrha moves her head away and looks to Cinder.

“Do you believe in destiny?” She asks, tears falling down Luna’s face.

“Yes.” she says simple before standing up and summoning her bow before pulling the sting back with an arrow appearing in it. Luna walks back to me and buried her face on my shoulder again, just watching in sadness. I hear running so I look left and see the one and only Ruby Rose coming up the tower. Luna noticed her as well but did not look away from the two adversaries.

Just as Cinder fires. Pyrrha struggles for breath for a second before Cinder walks up and lays her hand on the side of Pyrrha’s head. In that instant, Pyrrha’s body flashes and turns orange, before dissolving into bright ash and blowing away. We watch in agony, Luna openly crying, before we turn to Ruby, Luna now seeing her silver eyes are like mine.

Ruby looks at Pyrrha in disbelief and sadness before all those emotions burst.

“PYRRHAAAAAAAA!!!!” Ruby screams as light comes from her eyes. The Grimm dragon that had just been watching screech’s in shock and rage.

“WHAT!?!” Cinder yells in outrage. The light covers the area, Luna and I having to shield our eyes once the light dies down we are not on the top of a destroyed Beacon tower, but some kind of grey void. We look around for a bit before I see something. The bright orange ashes that we once Pyrrha Nikos. Before we can do anything they ashes glow brighter and form again, and as the glow dies down, there laying on the ground is Pyrrha, once again whole but without her circlet.

Luna and I look to each other before we are interrupted by a new voice.

”It would appear that another has fallen before her time brother.” an almost teenage sounding, cocky voice says with remorse, before the same voice from before come back.

”Indeed they have brother. I believe she would do well to join her friend from before.” the gentler, slightly older sounding voice said. Luna and I continue to look around for the source of the voices before Pyrrha begins to glow black and white and there is another flash, blinding us for a second.

We come to in the astral plane again, both doors now lacking the memory nightmare aura and seeming normal. I get up and help Luna stand before she hugs my chest and begins to cry anew. I just hold her close, being mindful of her horn, and let her cry. We stay there for who knows how long before Luna lets me go and summons some tissues for herself. She gets herself under control after a moment and looks to the doors.

“Do you still have their locations?” I ask her carefully. She nods and summons a table with a map of Equestria on it. She uses her magic and the two symbols from the doors appear. It zooms in and what we find is rather surprising. The two symbols are hovering over Canterlot. More accurately, what Luna sees is the royal hedge maze. I look to her with a raised brow and she looks just as confused as I am.

“I-I do not understand. How is it these two are in the royal garden?” Luna questions aloud.

”Because it was the safest place for them.” Luna and I quickly turn around, weapons at the ready, and pause at what we are seeing. There are two beings standing there. One is completly white with a black outline and the other, slightly taller, one is completely black with a white outline. I can’t help but get flashbacks to FMA when the characters meet Truth.

The four of us just stand their not moving before the shorter of the two speaks up. ”Ya know, I never expected a copycat of one of our people to appear here as well.” he says and I can’t help but think he sounds a bit like Michel Jones, the voice of Sun Wukong in RWBY.

“Yes, well it isn’t like I knew what would happen when I bought this weapon.” I say back, the younger (I think) one laughing at my response.

”However you came here is not really relevant to us. Tell me, what are you going to do once you find the ones who dreamed these events?” the older one, who actually sounds a bit like Monty Oum the creator of RWBY (RIP), asks calmly, but with an undertone of protectiveness.

“The plan for us is to find them and ask how it is they know of such events. Afterwards we will, as they say, ‘play it by the ear’.” Luna answers, the bigger of the two nodding. The brothers look to one another before looking to me.

”Young man, we have a request.” the younger one asks, to which I raise a brow and motion to continue.

”When you find the two, please, protect and help them. They have been through far too much, too fast for their age.” the older finishes, this all but confirming my theory of who it is. I look to the two and summon my mask before taking out my sword and placing it across my heart.

“You have my word.” I tell them with determination, not noticing as Luna looks to me and blushes slightly. The two being nod in thanks and begin to fade away from the strap plain, likely returning to their home. I look to Luna after dismissing my mask.

“I believe it is time we wake up.” I tell her and she nods. Her horn lights up and the area around us begin to crack and soon the ‘ground’ shatters. We are consumed by light and I wink to her before we leave this land of dreams.

‘Penny. Pyrrha. Hold on.’

Chapter 6: Welcome to Equestria Penny!

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Coming to in our room I look to the side and see Luna up and by the window, her horn glowing, lowering the moon for the day. As she is doing that I get up and notice my clothes on the side of the bed, freshly washed, as well as my weapons resting atop them. Getting up and off my bed I walk to the washroom for privacy and change into my clothes. Once set I walk back out to find Luna having teleported in a dress for herself and was still looking out the window, watching the sunrise.

“So, are you ready to go look for them?” I ask her. Luna turn and nods to me and after a nurse comes by we both leave for the hedge maze. “Luna, do you know where your sister and the others are?” I ask her.

“Yes. They are most likely in the dining hall eating breakfast. Let us guess, you want to get them just in case?” She says and I nod to her. Luna quickly takes the lead and in a few minutes we arrive at the dinning hall where all but Shining and Cadence are present.

“Adam? Sister? What are you two doing here? You should still be in bed to recover more.” Celestia says with worry and confusion.

“No time for that princess. We have a bit of a situation. Where are Shining and Cadence?” I tell and ask, the girls all getting slightly worried expressions.

“Present!” Luna and I turn and see the duo walking to us, still obviously a little tired from the night before.

“Adam, as much as this is important, we should at least eat something.” Luna tells me and I just sigh. Looking to the table I spot some good looking apples and raise my hand. To everpony but Luna’s shock, my horns light up and one of the apples is covered by the same mixed aura before being launched straight into my waiting hand. I bring it up and take a bite before noticing everyponies shocked expressions. I blink and remember that Luna is the only one who knows I can use magic now, and that was just in the dream realm.

“You can use magic?!?!” Twilight shouts, causing me to flinch from the volume. She noticed and apologized.

“Apparently. Late night I was able to join Luna in the dreamscape so I know basic levitation and dream walking at least.” I tell them. The ponies look to me in amazement as Luna quickly chugs down some coffee and eats some toast with honey. I finish my apple and then levitate two more to me for the two newcomers.

“Adam? What’re you takin those apples for?” AppleJack asks me.

“Last night, me and Luna found some dreams that were not like others. Unlike most nightmares that call out for Luna, these ones called out for me.” I tell them, the CMC now wolfing down their food so we can go. “After entering them, we found out why. They were not the dreams of ponies. They were the dreams of two women from Remnant, the world the Grimm are mostly seen in and the original world of my character.”

“So two individuals from Remnant are now here in Equestria?” Celestia asks, now getting a little defensive.

“Calm yourself sister. These two are not evil. Rather they came here because...” Luna trailed off, remembering what had happened to the two of them. I place a hand on her shoulder in support and pick up where she left off before the others could ask.

“Short answer?” Most of them ponies nod. “They both died before they should have.” The others paled at this. The group, now realizing the situation, finishes their food quickly and get up. We all soon leave the dinning hall, Scootaloo by my side again, and we walk to the hedge maze.

“Luna, Adam. What are the names of the duo we are looking for and what do they look like?” Celestia asks us. I quickly take out my scroll and go though my photos before finding some screen shots from RWBY for Pyrrha and Penny. I turn the device to her and show them the images.

“The girl with orange hair and the bow is named Penny Polendina.” The group gets a good look before I find the next one. “They girl with the red hair done in a ponytail is Pyrrha Nikos. They are both around eighteen or so and likely will be a bit skittish when we find them.”

“Why would they be skittish when we find them? They sound pretty tough to me.” Rainbow says, getting a glare from me and Luna, causing her to flinch.

“How would you react if you died in a fight then brought back to life in an entirely different world Rainbow?” I ask her in an annoyed tone. The others look down in worry for the girls and a few also glaring at Rainbow. She just huffs and turns her head away, but still hovers after us.

Not long after we make it to the maze. Cadence had brought in a first aid kit with us just in case. Luna casts a spell on me so that my magic would work like a tracker for the girls. Celestia summons a map for the maze so we can get though without getting lost.

“Ok, I think it would be best for Fluttershy, Luna and I to talk with them. They may be mentally hurt so we need to be careful. Since Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness she and I will start with talking them down if they are freaking out. After that we will send them to the medical wing for some tests to make sure they aren’t hurt.” Fluttershy and Luna nod.

We walk though the maze for a few minutes, my horns acting like a tracker and we soon reach an area with a large pond and some ducks and flowers. Suddenly a duck runs up to Fluttershy and start quacking in panic.

“Oh, what is it? Please calm down for a second and tell me what is going on.” Fluttershy says softly to the duck. They take a breath and begin quacking again, but slower. Fluttershy’s eyes widen and she looks to us in worry. I have a good idea of what the duck is saying. I crouch down and look at the duck.

“Have you seen some odd looking females? Maybe one with orange hair and another with red?” I ask. The duck nods and turns, before beginning to waddle away. I look to Fluttershy and she nods. We follow the duck to the the edge of the pond where a large tree is located.

All of us look around the area, before Scootaloo looks to the tree again and begins to walk to it. Going past the tree she sees a creature that looked just like the photo.

“Hey, I found her!” Scootaloo calls out. We all converge on her position and find one of the two new Huntresses. Her orange hair still in its curly style, and her bow still being in the same spot. Penny Polendina was here in Equestria.

“Great job Scoots!” I say to her and rub her head and ears. She smile and leans into my hand. I stop and go to Penny to look her over. I see that the sleeve of her arm is cut and just dangling on her reattached limb. It is as I am looking her over that I notice something.

She is....breathing?

I do a double take and see that her chest has a steady rise and fall. Putting my hand near her nose, I feel the air being exhaled from her.

‘What the heck? Penny is an android, she shouldn’t need to breathe. Unless...’ I stop that train of though and carefully place two fingers on her neck.

“Adam, what are you doing?” Luna asks.

“He is checking for a pulse. Though I don’t know why, she is clearly alive.” Shining Armor says. Luna looks to me in confusion. I feel her neck, just putting enough pressure on, when I feel it. A steady, resting pulse. I pull my hand back with a shocked expression on my face.

“Luna, do you remember what Penny was back in Remnant?” I ask her, not looking away from Penny.

“Yes. She was an android. A machine. The first android capable of generating an aura you said. Why?” Luna says, the group being shocked by this information.

“Tell me. What do living things have that machines do not.” I ask the group, each of them thinking for a minute.

“Well, machines don’t have will, reason, a soul, a heart-“ Twilight cuts herself off as she sees where I am going with this. She looks to me then to Penny. “No way.” She whispers. I nod to her and Twilight and Luna both come close and place a couple of fingers on Penny’s neck. They both felt the pulse and look at her in shock.

“She-she is alive?” Luna says breathlessly.

“Looks like whoever or whatever brought her here decided to make her dream a reality. She is human.” I say with a smile at this. It looks like Penny is living up to her inspiration of Pinocchio. The others don’t get a chance to react to this, before we hear a soft groan. Looking back to Penny, her face is scrunched up in discomfort and she is slowing moving.

We all back up as Penny’s eyes slowly begin to flutter open. Her eyes are the same shade of green as before and she looks tired.

“Where..?” She says. She opens her eyes fully and blinks a few times, rubbing them. She grimaces and places a hand on her head.

“Ugh, my head. I think we may have made some miscalculations in that duel.” She mumbles to herself.

“Not exactly.” I say. Penny immediately looks to me and then to the others next to and behind me. She tilts her head and feels near her bow, only to gain a confused expression on her face.

“What? Where is my data manager?” She asks in confusion. Everypony looks to her in confusion, while I walk forward and crouch to be eye level with her.

“Penny.” She looks to me. “When you were constructed, did they program pain receptors into your body?” I ask.

“No, they did not. Though Father did make my processor recognize danger and they can sometimes come in to form of headaches.” She says in her almost robotic tone of voice.

I take this info and nod. Before reaching forward and flicking her forhead. She flinches back and rubs her head.

“W-what was that?” She asks, slightly shaken up.

“Pain.” I say simply. Penny looks to me in confusion. “Penny, when they constructed you, did they make it so you could feel certain sensations like heat or cold?” I ask again.

“N-no, they made it so my coating would be all but immune to natural element so I wouldn’t malfunction.” She answers. I look to Luna and wave her over. Crouching with me, I take Luna’s hand and place it on Penny’s face. Penny’s eyes widen.

“I-I can feel that. I feel your hand.” She says in shock. I nod and take Penny’s own hand and place it on her chest. She looks down in confusion before freezing. She feels her heartbeat. She places her other hand on top of the first before moving them away and looking to them in shock. She looks up to me questioning.

“What is the last thing you remember?” I ask her. She looks down a second to think.

“I remember being called up to fight against Pyrrha Nikos. The duel started and we were pretty evenly matched. I noticed that Pyrrha was panicking slightly then...” she trails off as she remembered what happened. She looks to herself, seeing her torn sleeve and then to her waist to see a scar running through. She looks to me again, this time with realization.

“You were torn apart. Though it was not Pyrrha’s fault.” Penny tilts her head questioning. “Emerald Sustrai. Her Semblance is creating illusions for someone. She made Pyrrha think your eight swords were actually hundreds. She sent a magnetic pulse that she thought was just strong enough to protect herself, when in reality, it was enough to destroy you.”

I hear several gasps behind me but ignore it. Penny looked over herself again, passing her hand over the scar on her arm especially and then turning to look at Luna. She raises her brow and looks Luna over.

“Excuse me, but I have never seen something like you before. Are you some kind of Faunus?” Penny ask, Luna just chuckles at the question.

“Well young Penny, the reason for that is because this isn’t Remnant. I am not a Faunus, but an Alicorn. You see, after your demise some sort of powerful being had said that is was not yet your time to die, so they used some of their powers to send you here, to the land of Equestria with this new body so you could live.” Luna explains.

Penny looks to her hands again and feels her chest once more. A small smile soon breaks across her face. “I-I got my wish.” She whispers to herself. The others are curious about what she means but I know. I place a hand on her shoulder and smile to her.

“You did. Your alive.” I say. Soon tears begin to fall from her eyes so Luna and I bring her in to a small hug. She cries for about two minutes before calming down with small sniffles and hiccups.

“S-so that is ‘sniff’ what it is like to cry.” She says with a smile. The others look to her with smiles all around. Celestia summons a box of tissues and helps clean her face. Penny laughs lightly at the sensation of a tissue wiping against her cheek.

“Can you stand?” Cadence asks Penny, coming close. She nods and carefully lifts herself off the ground, using me for support. I am rather surprised by her height, being only about five and a half feet. Then again I am freakishly tall so...
Once Penny is to her full height she walks forward for a few steps to get to Cadence, still retaining the basic motor functions from before. Cadence quickly checks her over, finding nothing wrong with her physically.

We are about to start on our way when we are interrupted by a small growl. Looking around, we see Penny holding her stomach and frowning. I just laugh a bit, getting her attention.

“Looks like someone is hungry. Then again, who knows how draining your transition here was.” I say before taking out one of the apples from before and handing it to her. She looks at the piece of fruit before carefully opening her mouth and taking a bite. Her eyes shoot open as she eats the apple and a couple of happy moans come from her.

“Wow. Ya’ll would think you never had an apple before.” Applebloom says in surprise at Penny, only for the new human to look at her with a sheepish grin. “Ya’ll have never eaten an apple before, have you?” She deadpans, to which Penny nods.

“Makes sense. An android doesn’t need food and water to survive. All she would need it to keep her power source full. Speaking of, what was your power source before anyways?” I ask.

“Well, my power source was electrical dust powered cells that would be recharged in my room at the end of the day. I could have gone a few days without recharging and could even last for a few hours without them, but then I would go into power saving mode until I was fully charged, like a coma.” She answers after finishing her apple.

“Well, perhaps we should have some proper introductions.” Cadence says, all the ponies nodding. I move Penny next to me and begin to introduce them.

“Penny meet Princess Celestia of the sun, Princess Luna of the moon, Princess Cadence of Love, Prince Shining Armor, the Elements of Harmony Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, AppleJack, Rarity Belle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom.” I say pointing to all of them in order.

“Salutations!” Penny says with her normal upbeat tone and smile. she looks to me. “And you are Adam Taurus right?” All of us look to her in surprise.

“Well, yes and no. My name is Adam, but I am not the same one as in Remnant. Clearly.” I say back to her. She nods with a smile.

“Yes, I could tell. You are not like the Adam Taurus I have heard of.” She says. I just smile. I look to the others.

“Well, now that is done, there is one more person to find.” The others nod and we begin to walk back into the maze with my horns lighting up, Penny right next to me.

‘One down, one to go. Hold on Pyrrha.’

Chapter 7: Welcome to Equestria Pyrrha!

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Beginning to walk through the maze with our new addition, we look for the other Huntress from Remnant. While walking some of the others are talking to Penny to make her more comfortable with this whole transition.

“So Penny, Adam said that you were an android before and that you were also a Huntress. What weapons do you use?” Shining Armor asks. Celestia looks to Penny as well, curious of her skills.

“Well, I use multiple foldable swords that are connected to me via some near invisible wire attached to the hilts. They have miniature boosters to allow them to levitate away from me and are controlled by subtle movements, mostly my hands as well as the rest of my body.” She explains.

“It is true sister. When we were in her dream last night I saw her skills first hand, and it looked like she was almost dancing with the ways she was using her swords.” Luna interjects, before Penny looks to her hands and frowns a bit.

“Though, they were also controlled by my mental processors, but now that I am human, I am not sure if I can even use them.” She says in contemplation and worry.

“Why don’t we find out?” I say, getting their attentions. “It is not like you are about to fight or anything, but we should check to see if you can still contol your swords. So just do what you would to extend them from your pack.” I tell her, our group stopping for her.

Penny looks to me and shrugs. “I’ll try.” After she says that she narrows her eyes slightly and the pack on her back opens up and half a dozen folded swords come out before extending behind her like she is unfurling wings, the others jumping slightly. She looks back and smiles as she moves her left hand a bit and a few swords go around her like a slow cyclone and then to Celestia, while pointing down and the blade away from her.

“Fascinating.” Celestia says, before looking to Penny and pointing one of her swords. Penny nods and lets Celestia pluck the weapon out of the air. She feels the smooth and slightly warm metal of the weapon, marveling at the craftsmanship of it and its copies. She lets the sword go and they return to ‘floating’ behind Penny before folding and retuning to her pack.

“That is awesome!” Rainbow, Pinkie and Scootaloo yell in unison. Penny looks to them with a grin and a blush, before feeling her face in worry.

“Wh-why does my face feel hot?” She asks slightly worried.

“Relax darling, your just blushing.” Rarity says, helping calm down the newly turned human. Penny takes a breath and sighs.

“All these sensations will definitely take some time to get used to.” Penny says, her blush now gone. We all laugh, and continue our trek to find Pyrrha. We walk for about five minutes before we arrive, not in the maze, but in some garden of statues.

Using my magic, I can tell that Pyrrha is around here somewhere, but where exactly?

“She is here, but where?” I say aloud.

“Odd, I could have sworn the symbol on the map said that she was in the maze like Penny was.” Luna mutters to herself. The others think for a minute.

“Maybe she woke up and decided to look around?” Sweetie Belle suggests. We all look to each other and shrug. That is about as good an explanation as any. We look around, before a certain pegasus get impatient.

“Ok, this is dumb.” Rainbow says before flying up and yelling out. “HEY PYRRHA!! ARE YOU HERE?!?”

“Rainbow Dash!” The girls and I yell to her. We don’t get to continue as a voice calls out.

“Hello!? Is someone there?!?” The muffled voice asks.

We all look around and see no trance of anyone. I light up my horns again and follow the connection. The others look around as well.

“Pyrrha! If you can hear us keep talking and we will try and find you!” I call out to her.

“OK! But I have no idea where here is! It is all dark and the only light I have is from my scroll!” She calls back, her voice slightly louder and clearer than before.

“Ok, what do you see around you?” I ask her, feeling the spell tell me I am close.

“Well all I have seen are dark hallways. I have no idea where they lead, I just woke up here. In front of me are some stairs, but they just lead to a dead end.” She says back as I come to a stop in front of a certain statue. Looking at it, in spite of the difference, I can tell it is the same creature from Screwballs nightmare last night. A non-Grimm Discord.

Lighting my horns again, the spell almost hurts at how close we are to each other. I look to the princesses.

“Is there some sort of underground tunnel network beneath us?” I ask, the princesses eyes widening before the three of them facepalm.

“Of course! The emergency evacuation tunnels! That is why the map said she was in the maze, she was beneath it!” Luna says in exasperation, giving herself a light bonk on the side of the head. We all look to her in surprise, then back to the statue. I crouch down to the base.

“Pyrrha! If we are right, we are directly above you. The hallways you are in are evacuation tunnels. The entrance right here is blocked by a statue. We are going to try and move it so stand back.” I say to her.

“Alright. But please be careful. I do not want anyone hurt because of me.” She says back. I just smile at her response.

‘Always the polite one.’

I stand up and go to our group. Just as I am about to ask how we are going to move it Celestia and Luna light up their horns and begin to levitate the petrified draconequus off the entrance. We hear a slight yelp and look to the hole. Climbing up a set of stairs is the red haired warrior of team JNPR. Pyrrha Nikos. I notice she is actually missing her sash around her waist, her circlet and that her hair is down, making it seem a little wild.

Pyrrha looks to the ponies in shock, having never seen anything like them before, until she sees me. Her eyes widen for a second before narrowing and she gets her shield and spear ready. I see where this is going.

“Pyrrha wait!” She doesn’t listen and rushes forward. I unsheathed my sword and block her slashes with my weapon and barely manage to push her back. She looks to me and thows her shield at me. I dodge to the side and Shining Armor summons a shield to protect the others. “Pyrrha stop! I am not your enemy!”

“Be quiet! You are Adam Taurus. Leader of the White Fang. Your the one responsible for the Grimm invading the academy. It is your fault! You and that...that bitch Cinder!” She yells out, tears in her eyes. The others look to me in shock for a second before remembering how I am entirely different person.

Though one of them does make sure to remember this info.

I don’t get a chance to respond as she rushes forward again and I am put in the defensive. I do not want to hurt her and I have to be careful of my injury from yesterday. We go back and forth with her attacking and me defending before I manage to fire my weapon during a stalemate and send her spear away from her. I rush forward and tackle her to the ground. She struggles to get free but I hold her down.

“Stop! Pyrrha you need to calm down, please! The fight is over!” I tell her. She still struggles and her hand lights up as she lifts her spear above us.

“Adam look out!”

Holding her down, I hear what sounds like weapons clashing behind me. Turning, I see Pyrrha’s spear a few inches from my head, being held in place my four swords. I let Pyrrha go and move away. She gets her spear back and gets up, just as confused as me.

“That’s enough!” We turn and see a very angry looking Penny walking to us, her weapons drawn behind her. Pyrrha is frozen in shock at her.

“I-impossible. Y-you were... I k-killed...” Pyrrha stutters at her. Penny walks up to me and check me over.

“Are you ok Adam?” She asks worried.

“Y-yeah. Thanks for the save Penny.” I say gratefully. She smile and nods before frowning and looking to Pyrrha and crossing her arms. Pyrrha is still comepletely dumbfounded by the fact that Penny is A) alive B) here.

“I-I...I don’t understand. Penny?” Pyrrha says still shocked. Penny nods and walks up to her. Pyrrha takes a step back involuntarily, then looks Penny in the eyes. They stay there for a minute before tears begin to fall from Pyrrha’s eyes again. Penny quickly pulls the taller woman to a hug. The others look to the duo with sad smiles, with Shining keeping the shield up.

After they break apart Penny helps dry Pyrrha’s eyes with her tissues and they smile to one another. I have my weapon sheathed and carefully walk up to the duo. Pyrrha sees me and gets a defensive look on her face.

“So, are you two good?” I ask, throwing Pyrrha off her defence.

“Yes, I believe so.” Penny says to me and looks back to Pyrrha. “Are we good?” She repeats. Pyrrha looks between me and Penny, seeing our casual nature to one another.

“Y-yes, I suppose.” She looks to Penny with guilt. “Penny I am so sorry. I-I didn’t mean to...I-I just” she begins to choke up and cry again. Penny places a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look to the shorter girl.

“It wasn’t your fault Pyrrha.” She says sternly. Pyrrha looks to her with confusion as the others begin to get closer.

“She is right Pyrrha, it wasn’t your fault, it was Emeralds.” I tell her, the red haired Huntress looking to me in confusion. I sigh and begin to explain.

“You and Yang, Coco and even Amber. You were all victims of Emerald using her Semblance to change your perceptions. She made Coco think Yatsuhashi was with her when he was being eliminated by Mercury and that caused her to second guess herself, leading to her defeat. She made Yang think Mercury was getting up and attacking her after his defeat, making her think she was defending herself. She made Amber think a young girl was hurt in the middle of the road and she ended up letting her guard down.” I look to Penny in sadness then back to Pyrrha. “She made you think Penny had way more swords than she really did, making you send a pulse that was actually too powerful.”

Pyrrha looks down and processes all this information for a second, remembering the fights Coco and Yang were both part of. I see her contemplating but continue anyways.

“Not only that, but Cinder had hacked into the randomizer after the qualifyers.” Penny, Luna and Pyrrha all look to me in shock. “You know what that means? They CHOSE who would fight who. They forced the two of you to face each other. They forced Yang to fight a battle they had a backup plan for.” I grit my teeth in anger. “They played with the tournament like it was a toy and caused so many innocent lives to be lost during the invasion of Vale. Both of yours included.”

Penny looks down and idly rubs the scar on her arm. Pyrrha remembers her fight with Cinder atop Beacon Tower and places her hand in the center of her chest where a star shaped scar is the only sign of her injury. They both look to one another and then to the others scars.

“But...if we both died, then how are we here, where ever here is.” Pyrrha asks. Luna walks forward to stand beside me.

“Young Pyrrha, last night Adam and I had an encounter with two odd beings. They did not say who they were, but they are the ones responsible for your arrival here. This is the land of Equestria. More accurately, the royal palace in Canterlot.” Penny and Pyrrha look to her in surprise before I motion for them to turn around. They raise a brow but listen and see the palace behind them.

“How am I just now noticing that?” Penny asks herself.

This causes some of our group to laugh at her statement and for the rest to smile. We quickly introduce Pyrrha to the ponies and have Cadence check her over. I give Pyrrha the other apple I had after hearing her stomach growl like Penny’s did and AJ gives her one of her spare hair bands to tie up her hair. After making sure they are fine, I take the lead and bring them to the medical wing of the castle, both to make sure the two of them are actually ok and to have my bandages changed.

In the medical room a couple of doctors are testing the girls reflexes and also taking some blood tests, Penny being endlessly fascinated by the fact she has blood running through her now. The two of them are also shocked to learn about the fact this world relies on magic then same way Remnant relies on technology and Dust. As that is happening I am having a couple of nurses change the bandages on my chest. I noticed Luna and Penny stealing glances at me as I am getting the old bandages removed.

“Well Mr. Taurus, it looks like your wounds have all but healed up. Give it another couple of days and you should be able to do some strenuous activities without worry. For now keep these bandages on till tomorrow morning then you should be fine to go without.” The nurse helping me, Nurse Suture, says to me. I nod in thanks before putting my shirt and jacket back on.

“Hey Adam, how did you get that scar on your chest?” Penny asks, an almost unnoticeable blush on her face. Pyrrha looks to me as well, curious. I just smile and point a thumb to Luna.

“After I showed up here in Equestria I had to take down a horde of Grimm that were attacking the girls home town. Afterwards we were brought to the castle to file a report and Luna here decided she wanted to see my skills first hand.” I say. The duo look to the night princess in surprise before she smirks and lights up her horn, once again adorning her combat outfit.

“Wow! That is a really good look princess. I think that Ruby would wear something like that with enough motivation.” Pyrrha says, before the duo frowns a bit thinking of their friends in Remnant. I see this and think for a moment.

“Listen girls,” they look back to me, “I know you are worried and miss your friends from Remnant,” I look to Pyrrha, “especially Jaune. But I will tell you now, I am also trying to find a way to get into contact with two of my friends I was separated from when I was sent here.” I pull out my photo of the three of us and show the two Huntresses. The look surprised at the three of us, considering Lex and Nat are human and I look like a Faunus.

“If we can find a way to contact my friends Lex and Nat, we should be able to find a way to get in contact with your friends in Remnant as well. But it won’t be easy. It will take time.” I tell them. The two girls look sad and nod. I go up and place a hand on each of their shoulders.

“I know it sucks, but I promise, as soon as we are able to, we will find a way to get you two home. Until then I gave my word to the two beings that brought you here that I would help and protect you. And I don’t go back on my word.” I tell them. Pyrrha and Penny both look to me in surprise and soon both jump up and bring me into a hug. I just smile and hug them back.

“Thank you.” They say together. After we break apart Celestia and Luna come up to the three of us, Luna back in her dress.

“Pyrrha and Penny. My sister and I wish to help however we can so we will be having some our brightest minds searching the royal library to see if we can find a way to get the two of you back to Remnant. Until then we have made it so that the three of you can live in Ponyville alongside the Elements until then.” Celestia says to us.

“Oh yeah, I completely forgot about where we are actually going to live until then.” I say with a sheepish grin. The others chuckle at my response.

“No worries Adam. I have been in contact with Mayor Mare in Ponyville and she says as a reward for helping defend the town you can have one of the vacant houses that have been without a buyer in a while. It may need some renovation and cleaning, but it should be plenty big enough for the three of you to live in.” Twilight says. The girls look to her in surprise.

“Wait the three of us? Living together?” Pyrrha says in confusion. I just shrug.

“Ok.” I say nonchalantly. The other look to me in surprise at my response. “What? I had to grow up with two older sisters and a younger brother, plus I used to babysit for some of my neighbors. Living with two girls doesn’t affect me too much.” I say, Pyrrha and Penny suprised by my lack of concern.

“Well, I guess I did have to live with Jaune, Ren, and Nora for a while. Living with you two in an actual house instead of a dorm would be fine.” Pyrrha says after thinking about it for a second.

“Wait. You used to be roommates with that girl that got struck by lightning?” Rainbow asks.

“You mean Nora? Yes. She, Lie Ren, and Jaune Arc were my team mates back at beacon. All teams live together in their own dorm rooms.” She says before pulling out her scroll and showing a photo of the four of them together.

The others look at the photo and smile at her group.

“Oh my! Who is that strapping young man in the back?” Rarity asks.

“Oh, that is Ren. He is rather quiet at time, he is an amazing cook and he and Nora have been friends since they were kids. You know the old saying; opposites attract.” Pyrrha says, the girls nodding their heads. Pinkie suddenly come forward and begins waving her hand in the air.

“Yes Pinkie?” Penny asks, not fazed by the pink mares antics.

“When are your birthdays and how old are you two?” She asks quickly and pulls out a notepad. Pyrrha laughs as Pinkie reminds her of Nora.

“I’m 17 and my birthday is October 7th.” Pyrrha answers, the pink mare writing it down. They look to Penny and see her thinking hard.

“Hmmm, I don’t really know when my birthday would be or how old I really am.” She says in thought. Pinkie lets out a large gasp and gets in Penny’s face.

“How can you not know your own birthday or your age!?!” She asks frantically and in shock. I quickly go over and pull Pinkie back by her tail. She turns to me and I point to Penny.

“Android.” I deadpan, Pinkie tilting her head in confusion. I sign and rub my eyes. “Remember Pinkie, Penny wasn’t born like the rest of us. Before she came here to Equestria she was a machine. She doesn’t have a definitive birthday. Should they count it as when she was first created? First activated? Or when she was thought of? Not to mention she was made to look like she is now. Now that she is human she will grow and age like the rest of us. But before she didn’t and would have likely looked like she does now for eternity.” I explain to her, Pinkie and the others nodding in understanding.

“Why don’t we make it today then?” We all turn to look at Scootaloo who says that. “I mean, why don’t we make today her birthday since this is the first day she was even human. And if you two are any indication, say she is around seventeen.” We all look to each other then to Penny, the young human thinking for a minute.

“That is fine with me. My father did say I was meant to be like the other students at the academies and the youngest one there is Ruby so, I guess I would be seventeen.” She says. We all nod to her and smile.

“Good suggestion Scoots.” I tell her, the young pegasus adorably puffing her chest out in pride. I just chuckle at her and ruffle her mane like I would for my little bro back home. She giggles at it and pushes my hand away with a smile.

Once that was done our group leaves and gets ready to head back to Ponyville with our two new additions. Rarity was talking to the two of them about making new clothes for them when they get back while I walk up to the princesses, the guards already relaxed about my presence.

“Hey Princess? Just how are we going to get some money to pay for the three of us anyways?” I ask them. Luna and Celestia just smile to one another.

“Well Adam, after your ‘performance’ against my sister, many of the guards and some of the Nobles have suggested that you should be a combat instructor and the like. While this could work, I do not believe it would be a good idea now that you have to keep an eye on Penny and Pyrrha.” She says looking back at the two Huntresses. “So my new idea it to have you as a hired blade for any Grimm activity that is reported and you will be given an annual pay for your services. When waiting between jobs, there are plenty of on call jobs in Ponyville like working with AppleJack on her farm.”

I think about it for a second and weight the pros and cons, the former outweighing the latter. I look to the solar princess and nod to her gaining a smile in response. We walk for a bit, going past the girls rooms so they can get their stuff, before arriving at the gates to the palace itself.

Our group is set to head out when Luna come up with a large bag of gold coins.

“Here Adam. You and your friends can use this to live off till you get proper jobs or we have a mission for you.” She tells me, handing the bag to me. I smile to her.

“Thank you Luna. Also if you ever have any trouble with some nightmares don’t hesitate to ask for help.” I say back. Luna looks around quickly before giving me a grateful hug. I hug back and we break apart for after a few seconds. We smile to each other before I turn and join the group going to the train station.

Celestia walks up to her sister with a smirk. “Looks like you found yourself a keeper there Luna.” She says. Luna blushes and looks to her sister with defiance, then looks to me as I am walking away from them.

“Perhaps I have.” she responds before teleporting to her room to sleep. Celestia just gives a victorious smile to and walks back to the castle to begin the delayed day court.

Walking though the morning streets of Canterlot we hear more than a few noble talking and ‘whispering’. Mostly about my fight with Luna, though when some noticed Penny and Pyrrha they began to get curious.

“Who are those two mares with him?”

“Are they his family or something?”

“More warriors? The monsters don’t stand a chance.”

“I wonder what their weapons are.”

These were just some of the comments we could hear. Penny looked around to the ponies nearby with worry before I place a hand on her shoulder and smile to her. She calms down but stays close to my side. Before long we arrive at the train station and wait. Some of the passing noble do take not at how close Penny and Scootaloo are staying to me but we manage to ignore them.

Soon the train for town arrives and after the passengers exit, more than a few of them looking to me and the girls, we enter and prepare to get to Ponyville. I look to Penny who sits by my side then to Pyrrha who was talking to Rarity about something about clothes.

‘I promise, we will find a way to get you two home.’

Chapter 8: Renovations and a Party

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On the train ride back to town all the girls just talk to one another, the main six telling Pyrrha and Penny about Equestria and their lives, and Pyrrha talking about her team and time at Beacon. Penny was mostly quiet as her life mainly consisted of functionality tests and ‘military’ training. I just listened for the most part and answered simply for most of the questions I could. Before long the trains whistle blows and the machine itself begins to slow as we arrive in Ponyville.

Stepping out of the door to the loading platform, we are greeted by the large red stallion I saw in the crowd from after the attack, an elderly looking wrinkled green mare with a cane and a slightly younger mare with tan fur, greyed mane with glasses and in a professional looking suit.

“Big Mac, Granny!” AppleJack and Applebloom rush forward and hug the stallion and old mare. Guess those two are family. I hear somepony clearing their throat and I turn to the other mare here.

“Hello, it is nice to meet you in person mister Taurus. I am Mayor Mare. I wanted to personally thank you for saving the town and to show you to where the house I was planning on giving to you is located.” She says holding out her hand. I smile to her and shake her.

“Pleasure to meet you Mayor Mare. And please just call me Adam. It was no real trouble, though I think the Deathstalker caught us all off guard.” I say with a slight chuckle. Once the Apples finish their reunion they go off to work and our group follows the Mayor around the edge of town to the house.

“HEY ADAM!” I hear someone yell. Stopping I look around before sighting a familiar face.

“Hey Screwball! How are you?” I call to the chaotic earth pony who comes bouncing up and giving me a hug. She look up to me with a smile.

“I am fine. Thanks for helping me last night with my nightmare.” She says after letting me go. She looks past me and noticing Penny and Pyrrha. “Who are those two?” I smile to her and put her next to me.

“Screwball, meet Pyrrha Nikos and Penny Polendina. They are Huntresses from Remnant. They are like me in that they hunt Grimm. Penny and Pyrrha, meet Screwball.” I introduce them.

“Hi there!” Screwball says with a smile.

“Sal-u-tations little Screwball!” Penny says with her joyful smile and tone. Pyrrha looks to Screwball, staring straight into the young mares eyes. We notice her being silent. “Pyrrha are you ok?” Penny asks.

Before any of us can react, Pyrrha rushes over and hugs the adolescent filly tightly. “Oh my gods, your so CUUUTE!” She says with glee. We freeze for a second before we all, Screwball included, laugh at her reaction.

Once she calms down, she releases the captured filly and gives a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t control myself.”

“It is okay. I am made of pretty sturdy stuff.” She says as we continue behind the Mayor. “So where are you all going?” Screwball asks as she joins the group. I noticed that Pinkie had disappeared.

“Well after some talking with some of the citizens and corresponding with the Princess via Twilight and Spike, I decided to gift Adam one of the vacant houses that are around the edges of town so he could have a place to live as well as function as a first responder if more monsters appear and attack the town.” Mayor Mare explains to her, then gains a slightly sheepish expression. “Unfortunately the house has not been very well kept for a while so it may take a while to clean it all up properly.”

“Eh, no problem. I had to clean my parents cabin before their anniversaries every year so cleaning a house shouldn’t take too long. Plus it isn’t just me but Penny and Pyrrha who will be living there so we should be able to finish it up in a few hours.” I say to her.

“Plus you’ll have the rest of us to help too!” Sweetie Belle adds in.

“Oh! Can I help too? I wanna see if I can help in painting the place at least.” Screwball asks with swirly puppy dog eyes.

“Sure Screwy. It will be fun.” I tell her chuckling. We go on for a mew minutes before coming up to the house, a few minutes from Fluttershy’s cottage.

Looking at the house, I can see that some of the boards on the sides of the house will need replacing and the paint outside will need redoing. The door looks like it just needs to repainted as well. Mayor Mare walks up and unlocks the door and we all walk in.

The insides seem pretty good, a kitchen with dining table and chairs, cabinets for dishes and food, a refrigerator and stove and the standard sink and drying table. Past that, the living room had an older looking couch and recliner, an empty book shelf and a simple oak coffee table and a fireplace. Almost everything was covered in a thin, almost unnoticeable layer of dust. Going up the stairs we find two simple washrooms with the amenities, three bedrooms without much in them and an empty room we could use for something later. In the basement there is one more bedroom, another empty room we can use and a storage room that holds a power breaker and some weird looking generator.

“Hey, what is this generator thing?” I ask the ponies.

“Oh, that’s a gem powered electric generator. Certain gems can conduct magic naturally and this machine converts it into electrical power. The best gems for the generator to use are quartz as they are extremely common and are some of the best for conducting neutral magic” Twilight begins to explain after seeing our slightly confused looks. “Different gems conduct different natural elements into magic, like rubies being the best for converting heat or fire, sapphires for cold or ice, emeralds for wind, onyx for lights, and topaz for electricity. Luckily Equestria is extremely rich in gemstones, there is even a gem range and cave system just outside of town that Rarity and Spike visit for harvesting.”

“Huh, this is almost exactly the same as the Dust generators we have back in Remnant.” Pyrrha points out, reading through the owners manual for the generator that was sitting atop it. Going back outside, I check my scroll and see it is around noon.

“Well this will definitely take, maybe a day or two to get back to a hundred percent then a bit more for the three of us to furnish it. Twilight, can I borrow a notepad and quill?” I say, Twilight quickly summoning in the two items and I begin to write a to do list. After done I look through it.

“Ok, after lunch we should start by taking the things already here outside to clean them and then clean the inside and maybe get some painting done on some of the rooms. After that is done we can put everything back and tomorrow we can go into town and buy the things we need like replacement planks, paint, dishes, hygiene supplies and food.” I look to Rarity. “When is yours and Spike next trip to the gem range?”

“Well, Spikey and I were planning on going to the range tomorrow morning so I can get some more gems for some orders I have gotten.” She says. I think and nod.

“If you don’t mind, I think I will be joining you two so I can get a variety of gems for the house and generator. Plus with what happened when I arrived, it should be safer if I come along in case some Grimm show up.” I look to the others, “While I am gone can someone go with the girls to do the shopping?”

“Um, I can go with them, if you don’t mind.” Fluttershy says quietly. The girls nod to her with a smile.

Mayor Mare gives me the key to the house and says she will have somepony make copies for Pyrrha and Penny. We walk into town, the new duo extremely amazed by the colours of both the buildings and the ponies themselves, more than a few stopping and waving to us with smiles. After walking for a few minutes we arrive at what looks like a building sized ginger bread house.

Entering the establishment, we see a short line of ponies up front, a few booths like a retro cafe and several baked goods in display cases.

“Hey Adam, Penny, and Pyrrha!” We all look and see Pinkie as she pops out of the back kitchen and to the register. Huh, guess she works here. We all smile to her as we walk up.

“Hey Pinkie. So this is where you disappeared to.” I say as we make it to the front of the line.

Looking at the counter, it actually has a menu between two sheets of glass so we can read the menu from the top down and then see the baked goods from the front. Looking though the menu, the group decides what we want, Penny taking longer than most as she has only eaten an apple before, with Rarity and Twilight paying for us all. We all take some of the booths, with Penny, Pyrrha, Screwball and Scootaloo sitting in one with me, and Twilight, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Fluttershy and Rainbow sitting in another next to us.

“Hey, your that Adam fellow that protected the town!” Looking next to us I see a brown furred stallion with a darker brown mane in a brown suit and pants, with a white dress shirt. He actually looked a bit like a pony version of Dr. Who. Next to him is a grey pegasus mare with golden blond hair and crooked golden eyes in a pair of blue jeans and red t-shirt. Hiding behind her is likely their daughter, a greyish purple unicorn filly with the same coloured eyes and hair, wearing an adorable blue kids dress. I just smile to them.

“Yes, that is me. And it really wasn’t anything special that I did. It is the job of huntsmen and huntresses to deal with Grimm.” I say with a smile. The two humans smiled at my response.

“Well I am Time Tuner, but most call me Dr. Hooves and this is my wife Ditzy Doo or Derpy and our daughter Dinky.” He introduces them. “So are you going to be staying in this town?” He asks, Dinky peeking out from behind her mothers legs a bit more to get a good look at us.

“Yes actually. As thanks for protecting the town, Mayor Mare is letting me stay in one of the houses on the edge of town. My friends Penny and Pyrrha will be staying with me too until we can find a way to get them home.” I say pointing to the two girls with me.

“Sal-u-tations Time Tuner, Derpy and Dinky!” Penny says with a smile.

“Hello, nice to meet you three.” Pyrrha says with her own smile.

“Pleasures all ours my dears.” He says then puts his hand to his chin and hums in thought. “If you are staying in one of those houses on the edge of town, it is likely you will need want a gem carver kit so the gems fit your generator. If you want, I have a spare I have been working on that you can have.” He says to us.

“That would be very much appreciated. Thank you Doctor. The house we are staying in is the four person house a few minutes from Fluttershy’s cottage.” I tell him. They nod and leave the bakery, Dinky turning back and giving us a shy wave. We all smile and the three of us wave back.

Soon our food arrives and we eat while having casual conversations with one another. Once done and payed for, we leave and pass by Rarity’s Boutique so she can get some of those white painting suits and then to Twilights Library to pick up some spare books she is letting us have as well as grab Spike. After introducing the drake to the girls we all walk back to the house.

Arriving, we find the Apple family members with a bunch of painting supplies and some building supplies and Time Tuner and his family with what looks likes a small air pressure generator, a vice, a large work table and a large tool set. We all walk up and they notice us.

“Bout time ya’ll showed up! Time Tuner and his family showed up sayin ya’ll needed some replacement planks, paint and other supplies. We got some of our paint and some extra stuff we had for repairs.” AppleJack says pointing to the supplies they brought. I smile to them in thank. They effectively just cut our shopping list in half with these supplies!

“I brought the tools for gem carving for you to use as well as a work table and spare tool kit.” He says, patting the large device next to him. Looking at it, it has a some slots for the gems in the between the vice itself and two separate compartment beneath it to gather the shards and dust separately.

I look to the gathered ponies and see that all of them look ready to work. I smile to them all and nod to the two humans. “Alright, let’s get to work.”

We start with taking the things already in the house like the couch, bookshelves, tables etc, and also the generator out to clean. After we do that some of the ponies go in and start to sweep and wipe down the rooms, while me, Big Mac, Screwball, Rainbow and Pyrrha start replacing some of the planks, bricks and shingles on the outside of the house, Screwball having somehow teleported to the roof.

After doing the necessary repairs and cleaning, the girls and I decided to each take one of the rooms upstairs and to move the bookshelves into the spare room to turn it into a study. We move some of the things around and then Penny decided to have the bedrooms and the study be painted by her, the fillies and Rarity. Mine was going to be mostly black, red and white, Pyrrha’s red, gold and bronze, and Penny’s green, silver and white.

While they are doing that, the remainder of the main six are repainting the doors of the house and the outside to make it more pleasing to the eye. Me, Big Mac and Spike have been setting up a workshop for the gem carving tools and air pressure generator in the basement spare room and Time Tuner had been checking the connections to the power generator to make sure everything works. Tuner made sure to run a few tests on the generator with some gems he brought and set it to take quartz and topaz for power.

After that, the girls and I decide to label each of our doors with our symbols so in case we had guests, they could tell which room was each of ours. Pyrrha’s and Penny’s were already set but I was having a small problem. I didn’t want mine to be Adam Taurus symbol of a rose, I wanted my own. After some thinking I came up with one. I drew a symbol of a red and black solar eclipse with a white wolf’s head starring right in front of it, like a front view of the symbol for the White Fang. The others were suprised and impressed by my choice of personal symbol.

After nearly six hours and a few breaks each, we have almost everything done. The needed repairs were done, the generator was fully functioning, the workshop was set, and each of our rooms and the study just needed time to dry. We all decided that we would go shopping and do the rest, like set up the beds and stuff tomorrow after I get back with Spike and Rarity. After that we all cleaned ourselves up and put what we didn’t need away.

“Thanks for all your help today everypony. With the rate today went, I say this will all be done around tomorrow afternoon.” I tell them, the ponies cheering.

“Well, I don’t know about ya’ll, but I could go for some food and drink after all this work.” AppleJack says, getting several grumbling stomachs in response. We all share a good laugh and head back to town to get some food.

We decide to head back to Sugar Cube Corner for dinner as they have different menus for each major meal time. Walking through town, me and the two humans notice that there are nopony outside and it seemed everyone is gone. Seeing this we all tense up, me putting my hand on the end of my sword, Penny barely opening her pack, and Pyrrha’s hand lighting up slightly with her magnetic aura.

After a few minutes we arrive at the bakery and find that the door says open but all the lights are off. This makes the three of us even more tense. Twilight walks up, opens the door and we get set for a fight. But....

“SURPRISE!!” The three of us jump back as almost every pony in town shouts this. Looking into the bakery I see three banners on the roof. One is labeled ‘Welcome to Ponyville Adam, Penny and Pyrrha!’ Beneath that is one that says ‘Welcome to Equestria Penny and Pyrrha!’ And the final one is ‘Happy Birthday Penny!’ Pinkie quickly bounced up to us, a proud and joyful smile on her face.

“Well? Were you suprised? Were ya? Were ya? Were ya?” She asks quickly. Pyrrha and I recover and smile to her, while Penny is still confused.

“Yes Pinkie, you sure surprised us, right girls?” I ask, the duo nodding, Penny now understanding what is going on after seeing the banners.

“Then let’s party!” She says, tragging the three of us in. The gathered ponies begin to converse with one another, almost all of them saying happy birthday to Penny and welcoming the three of us. Our friends come up with a few of them sporting smirks on their faces. I just smirk back to them as Penny is drinking punch and Pyrrha is talking with some of the ponies.

“You all knew, didn’t you?” I say.

“Duh! Everypony knows that Pinkie throws a party for new arrivals in Ponyville. Plus the fact that those two just showed up in Equestria today, AND that we decided that today is Penny’s birthday, I am honestly surprised you didn’t think this would happen.” Rainbow says, some of the others nodding with her. I just laugh.

“Fair enough. I was wondering where everyone was when we walked here. This was certainly a pleasant suprise.” I look to the two Huntresses and frown for a moment. “I think these two needed it.” The others look to me in worry. “Remember, those two were brought here after they died. They need something to keep their mind off this fact. I can only imagine what is going through their heads.”

The others bow their heads a bit, looking to the two smiling humans. I walk up to Penny and see she is just hanging out by the punch bowl looking over the crowd. I smirk. Socially awkward just like Jaune and Ruby.

“Hey Penny. Enjoying yourself?” I ask, getting my own cup. She looks up to me for a moment and then to her cup.

“I don’t understand. Why is it that everyone here is so nice?” She questions. My response is just a raised brow. “Back in Remnant, the human and Faunus, even just humans and humans, they had very clear lines drawn between them. There was distrust, envy and fear. Yet here in Equestria, no one care that we are not ponies. They don’t care we are a different species with different view. Why isn’t Remnant like this place?” She asks. I sigh and lean on the table a bit.

“I don’t understand it either. But from what I can tell, this is just how Equestria is. Remnant and Earth are worlds built on survival and war. Equestria doesn’t seem like it has seen any major battles in a long time. What day to day life is like in Remnant may seem like the apocalypse to the ponies.” I look her in the eye. “For now, just enjoy it Penny. For all we know, the princesses will find a way to get you home tomorrow. Don’t lose this chance to have fun and not worry about things.” She looks to me and smiles with understanding in her eyes. I smile back and pat her shoulder.

I mingle with some of the ponies and see that Penny has left the punch bowl and begun to talk with some mint unicorn mare and that Pyrrha was talking with Big Mac and that school teacher I saw from after the attack. I smile seeing them so happy and continue to talk to some of the ponies here and there.

The main six are all together and watching the three of us separately talking to some of the ponies.

“Nice job as usual Pinkie. Those three look like they are having a blast.” Twilight says, seeing Penny laugh at something Lyra said.

“You said it Twi. I ain’t one to complain, but ah could tell how distracted those two girls were being when we were working on the house. They must really miss their friends, especially Pyrrha about that Jaune fellow.” AppleJack says, taking a bite from an apple fritter Mrs. Cake made for the party.

“Indeed. Perhaps this Jaune is Pyrrha’s special somepony? I cannot image how it must be like to be separated from your true love after valiantly giving your life to stop a mad villain.” Rarity says, imagining Pyrrha and Jaune as a pair of royal warriors.

“Um, Penny seemed to get distracted too, but mostly about her new body, like when she was feeling the sand paper earlier.” Fluttershy says quietly, drinking some punch she grabbed earlier.

“Yeah, it must be pretty weird being able to feel stuff after not being able to for the longest time.” Pinkie says, blowing up another balloon as she sees one fall to the ground.

Rainbow was just watch me like a hawk as I talked to the flower trio and asked them if I could come by and get some flowers for the house.

“You know, since their house isn’t done yet, some of us will have to house them for a night or two. I can have Adam stay with me and Spike at the library.” Twilight says.

“Um, maybe Penny can stay with me? Some of my animal friends can help her get used to her new form and keep her distracted and happy.” Fluttershy suggests.

“And I can have Pyrrha sleep over and I can make her some new clothes. Going around in that armor all the time will get uncomfortable and she could use a more casual look.” Rarity says. The group nods their heads before Pinkie rushes to the kitchen after hearing the oven beep. She comes back and whistles loudly, getting everyone’s attention.

“Ok everypony! We all are here not just to welcome the a trio of Huntsman to Ponyville but to celebrate Penny’s birthday!” The crowd cheers and claps for the young girl, causing her to blush and smile. “And what party would be completed without...a cake!” She says bringing out a large chocolate frosted cake, the crowd cheering again. Looking to the cake I suddenly get an idea. I grab Pyrrha and Penny and wave Pinkie over. I tell them the plan and the three females get mischievous smile on their faces.

“Okay. Everypony, step back!” I call out, all the ponies listening.

Pinkie goes to the cake and lifts it with seemingly no problem, Penny extends four of her swords and Pyrrha lights up her hands and levitates some metal platters. Pinkie suddenly throws the cake into the air, most of the ponies shouting in shock. While in the air Penny sends her swords at the cake and slice it into even pieces and Pyrrha sends the platters through the air and catching the peices of cake and places them on the tables next to the plates and forks.

Pinkie, Pyrrha and Penny walk forward and give a play like bow and the ponies come back to their senses and applaud the trio. After a laugh, those present at the party begin to eat some cake, finding it is a chocolate frosted, red velvet and vanilla filling cake.

After everyone eats at lease one piece, Pinkie begins some games like pin the tail on the nightmare and Twister Pyrrha having to opt out of Twister because of her armor. Penny took her pack off and showed that she actually has a microchip in the back of her neck where the the top of the pack connects to her.

The party goes on for a few more hours till it was around eleven thirty when all the party goers leave and we begin to clean up the bakery. Once done we all split up, the girls going with Fluttershy and Rarity separately as I go with Twilight and Spike to her library.

‘Talk about a good day.’

Chapter 9: Puppet Master and Moving in

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After a goods nights dreamless sleep, I wake just before dawn and decide to take a shower and make some breakfast for the others. Going in to kitchen and checking the fridge, I take out some veggies like carrots, celery, tomatoes, and some eggs. Getting everything ready I begin to make some omelettes for us. After putting the eggs and milk into a pan and start cooking, I hear a pair of feet walking down the stairs. Looking away from the pan for a second I see Spike walking in with a yawn. He sees me cooking breakfast and has to do a double take.

“Adam? What are you doing?” He asks in confusion.

“Making veggie omelettes for breakfast. I figure I might as well make you guys some food till we get the house ready. Oh! Can you put on the coffee maker?” I tell and ask. He raises a scaly brow for a second before shrugging and turning the machine on. I remember last night Spike was eating a cupcake with some gemstones in it so I found a mix of gem dust and sprinkle it into his omelette. Once they are all done, I plate them and make some coffee for us. Just in time too as I hear a pair of hooves walking down the stairs.

Twilight looks into the dining room groggily and sees Spike sitting at the table, reading the newspaper and then sees me as I am brining the food and drinks out with my magic and cleaning things. She stares for a second then does a double take like Spike at seeing the situation.

“Spike? Adam? What is going on?” She asks in confusion as she sits in her chair and sees her omelette and coffee.

“Oh, Adam decided to make breakfast this morning as thanks for us letting him stay the night.” Spike says, putting the paper down and taking a sip of his coffee. Twilight looks to me with a raised brow as she takes a sip of her coffee as well.

“I figure I might as well be the polite one and make something for us to eat. I didn’t want to back to sleep and make Rarity and Spike wait because I fell back to sleep.” I say as I take my seat after cleaning the dishes and we all begin to eat. The duo take one bite then begin to wolf down their omelettes with huge smiles. I just chuckle at their reactions and eat my food casually. After they finish up their food they put their dishes away Twilight begin to clean them while Spike and I get ready to head to the gem range.

“Kay Twilight, Spike and I are headed out! We’ll be back later. Can you and the girls met us at the house later?” I call to her as I get my jacket and sword.

“Sure thing! Also be aware that Rarity will probably want you and Penny to come over later to get measured so she can make you two some new clothes.” She calls back, just finishing up the dishes.

Going outside, Spike goes around the back and pulls out an empty wheelbarrow for me to use as he said Rarity has her own wagon for herself. We walk through the early morning town, seeing a few ponies here and there opening up stands. Once we make it to the Boutique, we find Rarity and Pyrrha standing outside of the building and Pyrrha is actually in some casual clothes. She is wearing a red t-shirt and yellow skirt with a denim jacket and her boots. The duo spots us as we walk up.

“Good morning you two! Thank you two so much for agreeing to accompany me to the range. The last thing I want is for those filthy Diamond Dogs to show up again.” Rarity says to us. I look to Spike and raise a brow.

“Long story short, we went on a gem hunt a while back and Rarity got foalnapped by some diamonds dogs who wanted her for her spell of locating gems underground. She ended up actually complaining her way to freedom.” Spike says with a disappointed sigh. I just raise a brow again before shaking my head and turning to Pyrrha.

“Morning Pyrrha. Like the new look of yours.” I tell her. She just smiles and leans against the building.

“Yes, well Rarity was kind enough to make some new clothes for me so I didn’t have to wear my armor all the time. Though it will be rather interesting to see what she has planned for you and Penny.” She says with a smirk, and I can’t help but get a little worried.

After that, me, Spike and Rarity all head out to the edge of town, on our way to the range. Once we made it to the edge of town I put my jacket on and placed a hand on my sword. We walk through the forest for a few minutes before arriving at what looks like a quarry with a bunch of holes in and around it. Rarity lights up her horn and seemed to use it like a dowsing rod. Once she finds a spot she marks it with an X and Spike digs in to the dirt with his claws until he finds the cache of gems.

While those two are doing their thing, I am keeping an eye on the perimeter, making sure no animals or Grimm show up. It is while I am looking around I spot something odd at the base of a tree. Walking over, I find it is a blank white mask without any real details on it. Picking it up, I quickly get a headache and hear a voice I have never heard before.

I am the Puppet Master, forger of masks, and teller of stories through literal puppetry. The tragic and misunderstood are my allies, and those who would do the true evils my enemies. Those wishing to teach a lesson, or need a story told, will find my nature of value.

I jump back with a gasp and drop the mask. Looking around, I see no one nearby aside from Rarity and Spike, the duo still hard at work. Confused, I pick the mask back up and the message doesn’t go off again. I look the mask over and see nothing special about it, but I do sense a strong magical connection attached to it.

‘Weird. It this some kind of summoning item like in SPTST? (South Park: The Stick of Truth)’ I decide to hook the mask to the side of my sheath and go back to the others. I’ll check what this can do when Penny and Pyrrha are nearby for extra protection in case this thing is dangerous.

After a couple hours Rarity has the gems she needs for her outfits, Spike has some for his own consumption and I have the wheelbarrow full of a variety of gems I can go through back at my soon-to-be home. The walk back to town was quiet as there were no monsters or Grimm and just the occasional squirrel or bird going by.

Though I did notice a crow following us a bit before flying off.

We made it back to town within a few minutes and Rarity and Spike went ahead to her boutique to put her gems away and to bring some clothes she made me, Penny and Pyrrha. Heading to the house, I find the girls and a few worker stallions with things like the beds, cabinets for clothes, as well as several shopping bags with dishes and food.

“Hey Adam! Wow! You got a lot of gems!” Penny says as I walk up with my haul. I just smile and begin to pick through the pile of gems and find a piece of purple quartz.

“This will definitely be useful. I wonder what we could make with these gems aside from jewelry and to power the generator.” I say aloud with a thoughtful expression on my face.

“Well, I was reading through one of the gemmology books Twilight gave us, and I think these gems can theoretically work as a step down and more natural version of Dust. So technically we could use them for making ammunition for our weapons or for other projects.” Pyrrha says, putting away a book she was reading through. I think for a minute as Penny looks to me and notices the mask I found.

“Hey Adam? What is that mask you have there?” She asks, pointing to the mask on my sheath. I look to it and take it in my hand.

“I am not a hundred percent sure. I found this mask when I was guarding Spike and Rarity. Once I picked it up I got a headache and heard someone calling themself the Puppet Master. I thought that maybe this could be some kind of a summoning tool. I decided to bring it with me so that you two would be near in case whoever, or whatever comes through is dangerous, we can work together and subdue them.” The group looks a little worried and Pyrrha and Penny nod with serious expressions.

I take a few steps away and look at the mask for a moment before focusing my aura onto it.

‘Puppet Master, come forth.’

The mask begins to glow and spin out of my hand and a portal appears in front of me. I grab my katana, Penny extends a few of her swords and Pyrrha gets her shield and spear ready as the ponies stay back. We wait for a few second all set to fight some sort of giant monster of a storyteller.

Image our surprise when some short guy in slightly scorched robes fell face first out of the portal, followed by several cosplay masks. We all raise a brow at him before a large, what looks like, crafting kit falls through and on top of him, causing him to yell in pain. We all wince at this.

“Yeah, he is going to be feeling that tomorrow.” One of the stallions nearby says. We nod at this as the man begins to right himself. Just looking at him I notice he is wearing a pair of white gloves with an odd symbol on the back. They look familiar, but I can’t place it.

“Ow! Damnit, I really need to find a new way to get summoned aside form getting literally ripped from home.” He mutters to himself. Getting up, he is barely taller than half my height. And I thought Lex was short! Though when I saw his ‘face’ I tensed up. His face was covered by a mask with the eyes being two orbs of blue fire and from his slightly open mouth, I can see his tongue is the same blue fire as his eyes.

“Are you the Puppet Master?” I ask him, hand still on my sword. He sees this and raises his hands in defence.

“Woah, calm down dude. You are the one summoned me. No need to go off the rails.” He says before hunching over and quickly straightens his back with a loud crack. Some of the mare cringe at this. Penny walks up and stands beside me and looks the short person over.

“Are you a human? Or a Faunus?” She asks, the Puppet Master looking to her in confusion. (I think, no eyebrows)

“Yes, I am human. What is a Faunus?” He questions and begins to gather the masks that came with him. I walk over and pick up the large craft kit and noticed there is some sort of marionette attached to it.

“I am. Faunus are basically humans with animal like features. Most have things like horns, animal ears, senses and even scales.” I explain to him as I bring his kit over to him. He nods in understanding and thanks then looks past me and Penny and sees the others, and frowns slightly.

“Oh great the Elements. Guess you are one of their friends?” He says with slight distaste. I raise a brow at him.

“Yes I am. We met after I protected the town from a Grimm attack. What is with the tone little dude?” I ask him. He just takes a breath and sighs.

“Sorry. I haven’t been having a great time with my version of the Elements aside from Rainbow. And even then, it is only because she ‘works’ for me.” He explains. The girls and I raise our brows at him.

“Well, let me be the first to welcome you here to my home. My name is Adam Taurus.” I say holding out my hand. He cautiously reached forwards and shakes my hand before looking to Penny and Pyrrha. “Those two are Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos.” I lean down to his ear. “They are characters from the show RWBY and they both died in their world. The gods of their world decided it was not their time and sent them here.” He looks to me with widened eyes.

“Nice to meet all of you. I go by Puppet Master in my home but that is just a title and alias. My name is Xander.” He says with a fiery smile. The others nod to him, still slightly unsure.

“Sal-u-tations Xander!” Penny says with her smile and tone. Xander laughs a little at her response. He noticed the sword levitating behind her and then to Pyrrha, who used some of her magnetism to put her spear and shield on her back.

“Wow, you three look like your ready for a fight.” He says with a chuckle.

“Of course. It the duty of the Huntsman and huntresses to be ready at any time to fight and protect the innocent from the Grimm.” Pyrrha says, picking her book back up.

“Grimm?” he asks. I quickly give him a rundown on what the Grimm are and their capabilities and the dangers they represent. He listens intently, and gains an intrigued look on his face. “I wonder if I could use some Grimm puppets.” He says to himself.

“I wouldn’t recommend it. The Grimm lack souls and are only driven to hunt and kill humans, Faunus, and Ponies. Most captured Grimm don’t even last a day.” I tell him. He just waves it off with a smile.

“I don’t mean to catch any Grimm.” He says before taking out a mask that looked like Bowser from the Super Mario Bros. Series. “Before I was sent to Equestria I was a prop and costume creator. Once I was brought to Equestria I gained the power to have any of my props I make act like they do in their stories. And my masks...” he trailed off with a smile and put the mask on.

We all step back as he begins to glow and grow. After a second we are no longer looking at a short man and instead a very large dragon-like turtle with extremely spiky shell and orange hair.

“When I make a mask, any who wear them will turn into the characters and gain their powers.” Xander explains, his voice now deep and scratchy voice of Bowser. We all look to him in shock until a smile breaks across my face.

“That is awesome!” I say, snapping the others out of their reverie and most agreeing. He smile before glowing and shrinking back to normal. He looks to us and gives a stage bow to us.

“Thank you, thank you. It is nice to see my powers not seen as a threat for a change.” He says and notices all the supplies outside of the house. “So what is going here?”

“Oh, me, Penny and Pyrrha are going to be moving into this house for a while so we needed to refurnish it. Your welcome to stay and help if you want.” I say to him, taking my jacket off and getting ready to work. Xander looks to me and seems to get an idea.

“Hey Adam?” I look to him. “How about a trade? Like I said, I can make almost anything with my prop kit and tools, and I am starting to hit a block in terms of coming up with tragic villains to add to my force. If you want, how about I make you something and in exchange, you write down a list of tragic villains and their backstories for me?”

I think for a minute before remembering what Pyrrha and I talked about earlier with the gems. Taking out my scroll I find some blueprints my older sister Sarah made for a pair of Yang’s Ember Celica for her own cosplay for the next RTX. I give my scroll with the image of the blueprints to Xander.

“Do you think you could make these?” I ask him. He takes the scroll and goes over the blueprints with critical eyes, seeing all the separate parts of the shotgun gauntlets.

“Hmmm...give me an hour or two and I could make the actual weapon, the problem though would be with the ammunition. I am no blacksmith nor am I a gem carver.” I smile to him as he says that.

“Actually, I have a plan/experiment in mind for the ammo. I have a workshop in the basement of the house you can use of you need a quiet environment.” I offer him and he nods, taking his tools and stuff inside, quickly finding the workshop.

Once Xander begins his task, having summoned a couple of wooden puppets to help, the rest of us begin getting the house ready. Taking the beds and stuff to each of our rooms separately, the mare putting all the dishes and food away for us, and some of the stallions double checking the plumbing and electric connections throughout the house. Once done, I sit at my new desk and begin to write out some characters I can think of from internet games and internet based shows including a physical description.

Chara Dreemur, Geno Sans, Buddy, Xtale Sans AKA Cross, Handsome Jack, and a few others from games and internet shows. But as I was thinking of them something popped into my head. Creepypasta. These characters and monsters all have their own stories and most are tragic and gruesome. With that in mind, I begin to write about several Creepypasta characters.

The Puppeteer, Ticki Toby, the Bloody Painter, the eyeless girl/fog daughter AKA Lulu, little Lazari, Nathan the Nobody, Lost Girl. The last one I wrote about Lost Girl, while not a villain, could make for a good lesson on family and abuse. After writing a few more characters I get a knock at my door.

“It’s open!” I call out, the door opening to reveal Xander with a pair of red and black Ember Celica in his hands. I smile and walk over to him with the list I wrote. Taking the new weapons I put them on and with a flick of my write they retract into two large bracelets. I smile and flick my arms forward and they extend again to their full size. Xander looks through my list of characters with widening eyes.

“Wow. I haven’t even heard of some of these characters before. These guys could be useful for some lessons.” He says in thought. I smile and tap his shoulder for him to follow. Going to the study and grabbing a couple of magic books, we head to the workshop again. I take out my shotgun sheath and unload a shell. I checked earlier and found I only had five shots left. Taking a few tools out I take the shell apart, carefully putting the buckshot and gunpowder and other things into their own spots then look through the books looking for a specific spell.

“What are you looking for?” Xander asks. I don’t respond immediately before finding what I need.

“This.” I say as I show him the page with the spell I was looking for. The page shows the instructions on how to use a duplication spell, letting us use magical power into solid items. This is a rather advanced spell and takes quite a bit of magical energy. He looks to me in surprise.

“You plan to use a duplication spell? That could work I guess, but you said you had an experiment to test.” He says in curiosity.

“I do. Do you have any material similar to the coating for the shells?” I ask him, earning a nod and Xander searching his tool box and pulling out some odd plastic material. I just nod and go through some of the gems I brought back and take out a bunch of topaz, rubies, sapphires and emeralds.

Plugging in the air compressor and connecting some of the tools, I shave off the gems into dust and place them into the shells Xander makes. After a few minutes we make some shotgun belts with twelve shots each that can connect with the Ember Celica. Each shell is coloured to match their ammo type. Once we have one belt of 12 ready for each, Xander and I focus our magic and make five more of each before I almost pass out and my aura shatters. Xander seems to have way more magic than me as he is barely sweating.

Attaching the ammo belts to my pants and putting everything away, we walk upstairs and find the girls all in the living room drinking tea and eating some sandwiches.

“Bout time you two! We were stating to get worried.” AppleJack says. The others look to me and Xander, seeing the fatigue on my face and the new shells.

“So, what was it you two made anyways?” Rainbow asks, munching on a sandwich. Me and Xander smirk and we motion for them to follow, going out the door. After walking for a bit we reach the edge of the forest. I extend my bracelets, Penny and Pyrrha recognizing the weapons, and load one topaz ammo and one ruby ammo in each and get ready.

“Here goes nothing!” I say and punch forward, the weapon firing off the ruby ammo and igniting the dead tree I was aiming at. I smile as the shell comes out before punching the other one, the topaz ammo landing and releasing electricity in a circle around it. I smile in glee and load the sapphire ammo and emerald ammo. Punching forward again, the sapphire freezes the blazing tree and and then the emerald shot, it releasing a miniature tornado.

Once I finished my test, we all stay there for a second before me and Xander cheer. “WOOHOO!!” We laugh for a minute and give a high five.

“I cannot believe that worked! You just gave me all sorts of ideas for props.” Xander says, before digging into his robes and pulling out what looks like another list and holding it out to me. “This a maintenance manual and I left some spare parts in your room just in case. Be aware the more you have to repair the prop, the more it deteriorates.” I take the booklet and smile at him in thanks.

“Thanks for the help Xander. These should really come in hand with protecting others from the Grimm. Oh! How am I going to contact you if something happens or you to me?” I ask him.

“Just take out the mask you found and you can summon me. Though you should make your own token so I and any other Displacers can contact you if we need help.” he says. I nod and immediately take out my Grimm mask. I think for a minute before thinking of a creed like Xanders.

I am the sword of equality and fighter for the weak. If you find yourself cornered and too weak to fight, call on me and I will be there to protect you.

After thinking my creed I drop my mask into a portal that appeared before me, my mask coming back a second later. Another portal appears next to Xander and her gets a copy of my Grimm mask.

“Alright. I probably won’t call you if I don’t have to, but be ready if I do. Now just say my contract is complete and I can go home.” He says and I nod to him.

“Puppet Master, our contract is complete.” After I say that another portal opens behind and below him so he waves to us and jumps in, returning to his own home.

Chapter 10: First Mission and ROQ

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I look through the pile of onyx beside me and sigh as I finished the flashbang shots for my weapons. It has been two weeks and a half since Pyrrha, Penny and I have moved into this house and so far things have been pretty relaxed for us.

Pyrrha has taken to sitting in on some of the classes at the school house and got a job as Ms. Cheerilee’s part-time assistant for marking exams and the like, as well as teaching a few classes on Remnant and the Grimm. She was rather hesitant to teach at first but according to the CMC, she has gotten used to it already.

Penny spends a lot of time at Fluttershys. Apparently almost all of Fluttershys animal friends like Penny. Even Angel Bunny. She has been pretty chill and has been helping Fluttershy with some of the animals as well as patrolling the perimeter of Ponyville so no Grimm get in. So far she has only had to take down one Beowulf and a few Creeps. She has also been getting lessons from Pyrrha as well so she can unlock her Semblance, since being a machine before, she could only generate aura.

I have mainly been going through the gems I got from the range and thinking of uses for them, like making ammo for me and Pyrrha to use in our weapons as well as making some new weapons like the onyx powered flashbangs to temporarily blind Grimm. So far I have two prototypes. I have also been patrolling the perimeter like Penny and so far I have dealt with a flock of small Nevermores and a couple of Ursa. I have also helped Luna a couple of nights ago with some nightmares after a flood on the coast and getting magic lessons as payment.

Aside from that I have been hanging out with Scootaloo and her friends and Screwball when none of us are busy. Turns out Screwball and Scootaloo both live in a local orphanage, Screwball since her family is unknown (Discord) and Scootaloo after her parents went missing one day when they were going to the Everfree to get some medical herbs to sell. After I talked to the both of them, Screwball and Scootaloo actually got really close, even letting Screwy become an honorary CMC in spite of her having a Cutie Mark already.

Things have been pretty good here in Ponyville. I found a couple other tokens like a purple snowflake for someone named Jack Frost and a cell phone for someone calling themselves Ichigo, but I haven’t been summoned yet so there have been no problems of a separate dimensional style yet.

But I was wondering about why there haven’t been any major Grimm attacks lately. According to the princesses, the Grimm became much more active after Lunas return and yet there hasn’t been a major attack since Ponyville when I arrived. Maybe it was my knowledge of Grimm or something, but I had a sneaking suspicion that something was coming, something major.

Sighing, I get up from the work desk and up the stairs. It was around five thirty and it was my turn to make dinner for the three of us. After talking to the others we came up with a plan of me and Pyrrha taking turns to cook for the first few weeks till Penny can get the hang of it and not pull a Sweetie Belle and burn the food.

Getting the ingredients together, I start to make some fish and a garden salad. We talked to Fluttershy and she said she would get us some fish and maybe other meats so we don’t just eat fruit and vegetables all the time. Getting the pan we were given by Mrs. Cake ready, the front door opens and I hear the girls talking.

“Adam! We’re home!” Penny calls out. Turning and going past the wall separating the kitchen from the main room, I see as Penny and Pyrrha walk in and remember to take their shoes/boots off. Penny was wearing a dark green t-shirt with her symbol on the back and a pair of grey jeans with her bow in her hair like normal. Pyrrha is in a pair of tan pants with a yellow dress shirt and green hair band holding her hair back in its ponytail.

“Hey girls, just starting to make dinner. Pyrrha, why don’t you set the table and Penny you can come and help me.” I tell them, Penny smiling and all but rushing into the kitchen. I just shake my head and smile at her eagerness. After about ten minutes, the food is ready and we are all at the table taking what we want and begin to eat while talking about the day.

“Who would have thought those two spoiled little fillies would make such a racket at getting a pop quiz on a Friday! Me and Cheerilee should really talk to Mr. Rich and Silver Spoons parents about their behaviour. Even I have limits and those two are testing it!” Pyrrha complains, munching on her salad. Penny and I laugh a little at her predicament.

“The CMC did warn you. They said Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were a handful. But hey, as long as those kids learn about the Grimm and the dangers they pose, they will know to stay away and will thank you later.” Penny says. Lately she has been getting better at speaking more naturally as opposed to her almost robotic tone and phrasing. Though she does slip every now and then like Luna and her older style of speaking.

“Penny is right Pyrrha. And besides, remember what Dr. Oobleck says, ‘Knowledge is the greatest weapon of all.’ Keep that in mind and you should be able to pull through.” I say, patting her shoulder.

Pyrrha goes to continue when we hear a buzzing sound and the sapphire ring on my hand glows bit. A few days ago the princesses had sent me, Pyrrha and Penny personal gem rings enchanted to work like Spikes magical fire so they could send letters directly to us and vice versa. Mine is a sapphire, Pyrrha’s is a ruby and Penny’s is an aquamarine.

The gems glows a bit more before a mist appears before turning into a scroll, landing in my hand. Looking at it, it has Celestia’s seal on it and is marked as urgent. I quickly unseal it and begin to read aloud.

Dear Adam and company,

It has been a while since we have written to you and I wish it was with good news. Unfortunately this is not the case. I recently received a report from Appleloosa. There has been a large gathering of Grimm spotted on the edges of the Buffalo’s territory and the ponies and buffalo are worried they are getting ready for a large assault.

I ask that you and your team go to Appleloosa to deal with this threat. I am going to be sending Shining Armor and a squad of royal guards as well to act as support, but I know it is best if I place my trust in you and your friends.

Please respond immediately with your choice. Sincerely yours,
Princess Celestia.

As I finish reading the letter, I look to Penny and Pyrrha, the duo looking worried.

“Pyrrha, do you think you can stay here for defence while Penny and I go to Appleloosa?” I ask her. Pyrrha thinks for a moment and nods with a determined expression. I get a scroll and quill from a shelf and begin to write my response.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I talked it over with the girls and we decided that Penny and I will be going to handle this while Pyrrha stays here in Ponyville as a last line of defence while we are away. We will be taking the earliest train to Appleloosa in the morning. Just be sure that Shining and his squad are there when we arrive.

Sincerely yours,
Adam Taurus.

I roll the scroll up and place a seal on it before pointing my ring at it and a silver magical flame comes out and ‘burns’ the scroll, sending it to the royal palace. I quickly get my shoes on and grab a bag of bits to go to the train station and get our tickets.

“Girls, I am going to get the tickets for tomorrow morning! Should I grab anything else while I am out?” I call, before Penny pops her head out of the kitchen.

“Can you swing by Sugar Cube Corner and grab a box of muffins for the morning? So we don’t have to rush and get them before leaving.” She asks. I just smile and nod to her. Every since Derpy has made her some muffins a week ago, that is all she wants to eat for breakfast.

Going out the door and to the station, I make it just before closing and get two ticket for the seven a.m train and walk into town to the famous bakery. There were still a few ponies out, most closing their stands from the day. They wave to me and smile, I respond in kind. The town had gotten used to me and the girls so most of the town know we are not a threat. It take a few minutes, but I arrive at the bakery and walk in to find a few ponies eating at the booths and for Mr. Cake to be at the till.

“Evening Adam! What can I get ya?” He asks as I walk up.

“Evening Carrot. Can I get a box of assorted muffins please.” He nods and goes to the back to get the box for me.

“Howdy Adam!” I turn and see AppleJack in line behind me with a smile.

“Hey AJ. Whatcha doin here?” I ask as Carrot comes back with half a dozen muffin and I pay.

“Just picking up an order of apple fritters. We just sent the apples over here so I wanted to grab some for tomorrow before the morning rush.” She says, Mr. Cake already having her order ready. The two of us decide to walk to together as both our houses are the same direction for a bit. “So anything going on with you and the gals? Any problems or events?” I just nod with a small frown.

“We just got a letter from the princess. Apparently there is a large group of Grimm gathering just outside of Appleloosa and me and Penny are going to be taking care of it tomorrow.” I tell her and she gets a worried expression.

“Appleloosa? Hmm, do ya mind if I come along? Some of mah family lives there and I’ll be worried sick if I don’t make sure they are fine.” She says. I look to her and stop walking.

“You know we aren’t going sightseeing. It is likely we will be forced to fight a bunch of Grimm.” I tell her and she looks up to me, dead in the eye with determination.

“Ah know, but if any members of mah family are in danger than ah ain’t going to be sittin around on my flank while they fight.” She says. I just sigh. I learned in the time I have known her, when AppleJack decides something, she almost never changes her mind.

“Alright, but you will stay with me, Penny or a royal guard at all times. No heroics.” I tell her with a pointed finger. She nods. “Ok, meet us at the train station in the morning for the seven o’clock train.” After that we split up to go to our respective homes for the night.

The next morning, me, Penny and AppleJack are waiting on the platform for the train to arrive. Penny and I were back in our original outfits, but with small differences. The back of my jacket had my eclipse wolf symbol instead of the rose, curtsy of Rarity and Penny also had her own Grimm mask and a dark green jacket. I made a mask for Penny and Pyrrha that both have the material used for sunglasses built in so they could use the flash shots without worry of blinding themselves.

Even though they were hesitant, I pointed out the White Fang don’t exist here in Equestria and that I was thinking of starting my own squad of the royal guards eventually, with their own masks to differentiate them from the White Fang of Remnant.

Penny and I munched on our muffins waiting, while AppleJack ate her fritter in silence. It lasted for a few minutes before the train pulled up and the conductor walked out.

“Next train to Appleloosa! All aboard!” He call out and we walk up and show our tickets. Getting in the train, only one or two other ponies enter after us. The train starts to move and I look though my scroll and put my earbuds in to listen to music. Before I can hit play, Penny pokes me and points to my headphones. I just smile and take one out for her to listen too. I go through and put my music on shuffle. The first one that played was oddly appt for some reason.

Home from Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=POoeN5v2U6Y

As the song begins, Penny swings her legs in tune and then lays her head on my shoulder. I just smile and look out at the passing scenery. AppleJack just looks to the two of us and smiles.

‘Those two are mighty cute together. Now ah can see what Rarity and Fluttershy were saying about them.’

Me and Penny just listen to my music fo the rest of the trip while AppleJack pulls out a book she brought. Looking out the window again, I can see the town just a couple of minutes away and I pause my music. Looking to Penny, she seemed to have fallen back to sleep holding my arm. How is it I didn’t notice yet? I put my hand on her shoulder and gently shake her awake. Her eyes flutter open and she yawns and stretch’s a bit before returning my earbud and getting ready for the train to stop.

Walking out of the train and onto the platform, we are greeted by the sight of a town that looks like it belongs in an old western movie with ponies and buffalo walking around. There is also about a dozen guards around the town. Walking into town I quickly see Shining ordering a trio of guards around.

“Shining Armor!” I call out. He turns and sees the three of us and smiles, though his is slightly confused by AppleJack being here.

“Adam! Penny! Am I ever glad to see you two. We’ve got what we can from the locals and it looks like the Grimm are gathering for one large assault.” He says after shaking our hands. AppleJack coughs and gets out attention.

“Um, if it is ok, ahm going to go look for mah family.” She says.

“Ya won’t need to look far cousin.” Turning we see a yellow earthpony stallion in his early twenties, in a sheriffs outfit walking up alongside a thin buffalo girl that looks like she is in her late teens, in a traditional First Nations outfit of a poncho and feathers in her hair.

“Braeburn! Little Strongheart! You’re ok!” She says, pulling the duo into a hug. Penny and I chuckle and see they are starting to have trouble breathing.

“Hey AJ! You might wanna make sure you don’t take them out before they can help with the Grimm.” I say, and she looks to see her cousin and the buffalo’s faces going a little blue. She lets them go and they begin to gasp for air.

“Ya ok little Heart?” Braeburn asks the girl, helping her up.

“Yeah. I’m ok BB.” she says and the stallion blushes a little. I look between the two and smirk at the blatant relationship between these two.

“Well AJ? You going to introduce us?” I ask and the mare blushes with embarrassment.

“Right. This is mah cousin Braeburn, he is the deputy of the town. And this is Little Strongheart, she is basically the ambassador for the buffalo and ponies of Appleloosa.” She turns to her cousin and friend. “These two are Adam Taurus and Penny Polendina. They are huntsman, it is their job to deal with Grimm, the black creatures that have been showing up lately.”

“Howdy you two./ Hello, nice meet you.” They say over each other. Me and Penny smile at the duo and shake their hands.

“Well, know that we’re all acquainted, how bouts we head over to the sheriffs office and make a plan. Cheif Thunderhooves and sheriff Silverstar are already trying to come up with one.” Braeburn says and we all nod. We walk for a minute before arriving at one of those old fashioned jail buildings. Walking in, I see an older looking stallion with a black moustache talking with a large buffalo in native chief cloths going back and forth about something.

“I still say we should get everyone ready for a fight in case these monsters attack us.” The chief says. The sheriff goes to respond before seeing our group as we all walk in.

“Prince Armor, Braeburn. I hope you two have come up with something.” He says. Shining smirks and steps aside as Penny and I walk up to them. The two leaders raise a brow at us.

“Hello Chief Thunderhooves, Sheriff Silverstar. My name is Adam Taurus and this is my partner Penny Polendina. We are huntsman sent by the princess to deal with these Grimm.” I say and they look to us in surprise.

“Wait. Adam Taurus? As in the same Adam Taurus that duelled Princess Luna to a draw a few weeks back?” The sheriff asks and the newcomers all look to me in shock. I just nod and raise my shirt and show my scar from the fight. The others look to me in shock and awe before the chief gets a smile on his face.

“Well, it seems we have a true warrior on our side!” He says, clapping me on the back before looking to Penny. “And considering this young mare is your partner, I assume she is very skilled as well?” He asks, and I just smirk and nod to Penny. She puts on one of the most innocent smiles I have ever seen...then extends a dozen of her swords behind her to act like wings. The four newcomers all jump back at this.

“Sweet Celestia! I knew being a huntsman you’d have to be good, but this is nuts!” Braeburn says and the others nod. Me and Penny just laugh at their reactions.

“Well now that introductions are done, how about we get down to business and think of a plan to deal with the Grimm.” I say at the two leaders nod before pulling out a large map of the area. A few sections are marked with apples, a few with buffalo headpieces but there is a large area blacked out at the edge of the buffalo’s territory.

“All we really know for sure is that, a little less than a week ago, about five days, a large horde of these ‘Grimm’ went past us and towards the old abandoned rock quarry for some reason. A lot of them stopped and a few even got close, but they did not attack us. We also heard a loud screech unlike any we have heard before about two days ago. Since then more and more Grimm have gone to the quarry. We believe that the Grimm are gathering and getting ready for a large assault on us.” Thunderhooves explains, pointing to a few spots in the quarry. I look to Penny and see that she may have the same idea as me.

“Does anyone here know the terrain leading up to the quarry?” I ask and Strongheart raises her hand and nods.

“Grimm are naturally attracted to negativity, so they should have sensed all the panic from the town and the tribes and attacked, yet they haven’t. Grimm hierarchy works through the laws of strength. The bigger, stronger and more experienced a Grimm is, the higher up the chain it is. The only reason the Grimm wouldn’t attack, would be if either a very large or very powerful Grimm ordered them not to.” I say, and go through my scroll and put it in hologram mode.

“Off the bat, I can think of four Grimm that could fit that criteria. A King Taijitu, a Nuckelavee, a Gargantuan or worst of all, a Grimm Dragon.” I say, showing the images of the offending Grimm. The ponies and buffalo look like they are going to be sick once I get to the Nuckelavee, likely because of the equine half. I look to all of them then Penny who nods at me.

“Little Strongheart, I want you to gear up with whatever weapons you can use. You, me, Penny and Shining are going on a recon mission so we can see what we are dealing with.” I tell her and she looks to her chief. He nod to her, his eyes full of faith and confidence in her. She nods and she and Braeburn go out to get geared up.

“Applejack, I want you to stay here and set up a perimeter around the town and get whoever can fight ready to do so. We may end up shaking the Lancers nest.” I tell her and she nods with the two leaders before I roll up the map and hand it back and leave to wait by the edge of town.

Me and my squad are almost ready to head out. Shining is giving some last minute orders to his soldiers and AJ is helping move some stuff like boxes and barrels around to make a blockade.

Little Strongheart soon walks up with a large spear and bow on her back and quiver at her side. Braeburn walks up to her and talks for a second before bringing her into a hug, getting a kiss on the cheek in response. She walks up to us as AJ goes over to her cousin with a smirk and the stallion blushes at a comment of hers.

“Everyone ready?” I ask and they all nod, Penny putting her Grimm mask on. I look to the buffalo girl and motion for her to lead the way. She nods and we walk behind her. We go on in silence for about half an hour before arriving at the cliffs that look over the quarry.

“From here there are several small caves and spots we can use to spy on the Grimm.” She says to us. I go to answer, only to be interrupted by a loud caw. Looking around, a black crow with red eyes perches itself on a dead tree near to us. Shining goes and lights his horn before I place a hand in front of him.

“Wait. That isn’t a Grimm. It’s just a crow.” I look to it and something clicks in my mind. “The same crow I saw over two weeks ago on my way back from the gem range.” The others look to me in confusion as I look back to the bird. We both stare at each other for a minute before it caws again and flies up, before stopping mid air and looking to us.

“I think he wants us to follow him.” Little Strongheart says and I nod. Our group begins to follow the bird, keeping an eye on the quarry for any sign of Grimm. We go for a few minutes before finding a cave that goes back a couple dozen feet into the cliffside. Looking in, I see the remnants of a campfire, the wood still smoking.

“A campsite? Who would be camping this close to a Grimm infested quarry?” Shining asks aloud. We all look around the area and Strongheart notices something.

“I got tracks!” We all go to her as she is crouching near the mouth of the cave. “But these don’t look like the tracks of any creatures I have seen before, not even Grimm.” Going to her, I look at the tracks and my eyes widen.

“That is because these aren’t foot prints. These are boot prints. See the repeating lines and that they are exactly the same on each foot? That is because these are from the bottoms of a boot like my shoes.” I tell her, pointing from the prints to my shoes.

“But, who would be wearing boots aside from you two? Most creatures in Equestria have natural padding on their feet like our hooves or a dragons scales.” Shining says. Penny and I look around the cave some more and Penny finds something behind a rock.

“What the?” Picking it up, she sees it is some kind of scarf with a repeating pattern. “Hey, what do you guys make of this?” She asks, bring the scarf over. I take it in hand and see a small tag and my eyes widen at what it says.

“Impossible..” I whisper in shock. Before the others can question me, we hear voices coming towards the cave. I react quickly, grabbing Penny and Strongheart and casting an invisibility spell on us, Shining casting his own on himself.

“I swear, I had it before we left the cave this morning.” A young boys voice says from beyond the cave. There is what sounds almost like a shimmering for a second.

“I agree. I know we had it last night before we went to sleep at least.” A slightly more experienced and almost British sounding version of the same voice said. The others look to me in confusion as I am staying quiet, and beneath my mask, my eyes are as wide as dinner plates and pupils pinpricks again.

“Come on Oscar! What is so important about that scarf? We have to deal with these Grimm before they attack a settlement!” A young female voice says, and I feel Penny tense up against me. We both know that voice. Not a moment later, two figures walk up to the cave. One Penny knows all too well, and the other I know just as much.

“Ruby, my scarf has the same sentimental value as your cape does to you. It just feels wierd to be without it.” Oscar Pine says, as he entered the cave. He looks to be around fourteen or fifteen with black hair, tan skin with freckles and green eyes. He is wearing a pair of brown work boots, tanish pants with orange strapes over the shoulder, a dirty white shirt and orange gloves with black straps and a backpack. Basically, standard farmer clothes for Remnant.

“Fine, I guess. But still, how is it you lost your scarf in the first place? Isn’t normally attached to your pocket?” Ruby Rose said. She was in the same outfit as from season 4-5, her cape still having parts of it near the ends being ripped, her silver eyes almost shining in the low light and her hair still short and around her shoulders. I can barely catch a glimpse of her weapon, Cresent Rose, behind her.

Oscar goes to respond before his eyes light up and I can tell, Ozpin is in control. “Somethings wrong.” He says and looks to the ground and sees mine and Penny’s shoe prints and Shining and Strongheart’s hoof prints. He motions for Ruby to be quiet and follow the tracks, headed straight for Shining.

The prince looks to me for help and I silently sigh. I point to my head, indicating his horn and then to the girls, telling him to cast his spell on them. He nods and does it, and I let them go and sneak to the entrace of the cave, right behind the two younger warriors.

‘Well, leap of faith time.’ After I think that, I disable my spell and become visible behind them. They don’t seem to notice till Ruby sees my shadow. She turns on a dime, hand on her weapon and freezes, seeing me. Ozpin follows suit and we all stand there frozen at this scene of reveal. I try to break the ice.

“Umm, hi?”

And then all I see are rose petals.

Chapter 11: Ruby Roses Rage!

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It’s kinda odd, when something happens then it takes a second for your mind to recognize it has happened. Like being tackled at high speeds by a sixteen year old huntress. I only realized this once I hit the ground and begin to bounce away from them cave. I bounce a few times before stopping by hitting a dead tree. Looking around, only my back is sore from the attack. Thank you aura!

“Get up! I know you are stronger than that!” Ruby demands, walking up to me. I look to her and see her silver eyes narrowed and full of anger. I place my hand beneath myself and lift, getting to a knee. My mask is still on my face luckily so I have the element of surprise when it comes to my eyes at least.

‘This is going to be tough. Considering that Oscar/Ozpin is here, these two are from episode two of volume five at the least. Meaning Yang still is hurt and Blake would be in Menagerie. Also meaning Adam is still an unknown in terms of power to them, but Ruby would have more than enough reason to be pissed.’ I get to my feet and look past her to the cave and cast an all seeing spell and see the others about to attack. I lock eyes with Penny and subtly shake my head. She nods and waves the others off.

“Well?! Are you going to fight or what!?!” Ruby yells in annoyance. I do a double take. That isn’t something she would say, even angered. Something is up. I place a hand on the end of my sword, but don’t unsheathed it.

“You need to calm down Ruby.” I tell her, seeing Ozpin looks surprised by my response. Ruby just grinds her teeth and looks even more annoyed.

“Shut up! You hurt my friends, took my sisters arm, and almost destroyed Haven!” my eyes widen beneath my mask. So these two are from the end of volume five. Not good, that means Oscar has at least some of Ozpins muscle memory for fights and that Ruby has been training in hand-to-hand.

I don’t get a chance to respond before Ruby shoots behind her and launches herself at me. I quickly dodge to the side, away from her slash and kick forward, putting some distance between us. Distance she closes in the next second. I raise my arms and focus my aura to act like a shield and protect myself as Ruby slashes at me again, her weapons being stopped by my forearm.

We are in a deadlock for a few seconds and as I look to her eyes I see something. Her shining silver eyes have an almost unnoticeable red ring around them. Thinking about our short interactions and the way she was talking to Oscar earlier and something clicks. Something is controlling her through her rage!

I push her off and rush, landing a punch to her chest, pushing her back more. I follow up my unsheathing my sword and slashing at her, Ruby dodging and blocking with Cresent Rose. I look to her face, and see something wrong. Her eyes are still full of rage, yet she is smiling. Yup, something is controlling her.

I jump back again, Ruby following, only for me to stop on a dime and shoulder check her, causing her to go flying over me. She laughs.

“That’s more I like it!” She shouts out. I look and see Penny and Oscar both looking worried for their friend.

“Ruby, what is wrong with you?!? You are never happy to fight someone, even your opponents like Cinder or Emerald!” Oscar shouts out. Ruby looks to him over her shoulder and she looks annoyed.

“Shut up before I come for you next, kid.” She says, and I can tell, whatever was convincing her to fight has taken control.

“Oscar, take cover! That isn’t Ruby, something is controlling her through her rage!” I call to him. He goes to respond before stopping, Ozpin obviously talking to him. I look back to Ruby and get ready as she pulls her weapon back and fires. I block her with my sword as she tries to slash me again, only for her to fire again and push me back. I recover and duck from another attack, and sweep my leg beneath her, tripping her up.

As she is on the ground, I rush over to the reincarnated wizard and get ready.

“Oscar, whatever is controlling her is feeding on her rage and making her act out. We need to think of a way to snap her out of it.” I tell her, the others listening as well.

“I don’t know, we need some way to get her to calm down. Maybe something to make her happy?” He suggests. I think for a second before noticing Penny walking up. She looks to Ruby as she gets up with a smile and then to me and nods. I look to Shining and nod to him.

“The three of us will have to fight her to make her stop then calm her down.” I say, and Oscar looks to me in confusion.

“Three?” He asks, as Shining releases his spell. Penny suddenly become visible right next to me, Oscar jumping and does a double take. A second later his eyes glow and Ozpin takes control. “Miss Polendina?” He asks and Penny nods, taking her jacket and mask off and throwing them to Shining.

“Well what do ya know! The foolish program back from the dead.” Ruby says with a smile before it turns sadistic. “Looks like I’ll have to fix that.” She gets her weapon ready and Penny flinches and looks down. I put a hand on her shoulder.

“Remember, that isn’t Ruby right now. Whatever is controlling her is clearly sadistic and intent on getting a fight. We need to knock some sense into her.” I tell Penny and she looks to me again and nods.

“Are you two ready?” Ozpin asks and Penny steps forward and looks back at him.

“Don’t worry Oscar.” She looks back to Ruby and I know what’s coming. I walk next to her and we smile to each other.

“We’re combat ready!” We call out before she extends her swords and we rush towards Ruby, the girl doing the same. We clash in the middle, Ruby blocking my katana and a few of Penny’s blades. As we are locked, Penny launches a few more swords at her, Ruby firing her weapon and launching into the air to dodge. While she is in the air Penny fires a few blasts, Ruby using her Semblance and bursting to rose petals to get away.

Ruby lands and is immediately attacked by Oscar, the girl blocking the boys strikes, until I show up behind her and land a solid punch to her side with my shotgun gauntlets, firing and sending her flying into another tree. Oscar looks to my versions of the Ember Celica in shock, before shaking his head as Ruby yells out in anger.

“This isn’t fair! You’re supposed to be easy to fight!” She shouts before bursting out of her spot and straight to me. I block with my sword and send her back, Ruby stabbing her scythe in the ground to slow herself and firing a few pot shots at us that I block. She looks to me and Oscar in rage and notices a certain Huntress is missing. She barely has time to turn and block before Penny hits her with several swords, causing her to go to a knee in an effort to stop them.

“Ruby! You need to snap out of it! This isn’t you! This isn’t the girl who became my first and best friend!” Penny tells her, tears in her eyes. Ruby flinches and looks to Penny again, her face softening.

“Penny?” She asks weakly before grinding her teeth and firing to get away. “NO! NO, I am NOT going to lose here!” She says, another woman’s voice overlapping hers and grabbing her head with a hand.

‘That’s it!’ I quickly launch myself with my gauntlets and tackle her, Ruby losing grip on Cresent Rose. As she is falling down, I kick her up into the air and jump up above her. She looks to me in shock, my arm cocked back, before I land a hard punch followed by a shot, sending her crashing into the ground with the sound of her aura shattering. I land and the dust from the collision obscuring my vision.

The dust settles and Ruby tries to get up she finds she can’t move and feels...cold? Looking over herself, she finds her body is actually frozen to the ground from my frost-shot. She struggles for a bit, before feeling a weight on her chest. She looks up and sees me with Cresent Rose in gun mode, pointed at her face.

“You lose. Now let Ruby go.” I say, leaving no room for excuses or discussion. She looks between me and the weapon a few times, before seeing the others around her. She closes her eyes and begins laugh. But not a maniacal or mad laugh, one of surprise.

“Looks like my little brother was right. You Displaced are a lot stronger than you look. No wonder he lost to that pink haired girl as Discord.” She says with a genuine smile at me. “Nice teamwork you lot.”

After she says that, the rings in Ruby’s eyes look like they are evaporating away, before her eyes roll up and Ruby passes out. I quickly take out a flame-shot and take the ruby dust out of it, the dust making the ice around her melt fast. I pick her up and rest her against one of the nearby trees.

“Is she ok?” Shining Armor asks, Oscar doing a double take as he just now notices Shining and Strongheart. I place a hand on Ruby’s head and then her neck, feeling she is fine in terms of temperature and pulse.

“I think so. She may end up getting a cold from the frost-shot but otherwise, she’ll be fine.” I say to him before turning to a group of trees near where they fight was taking place. “How long are you going to hide there? I know you have been watching the whole time.” I call out, the others looking around confused.

“Ha, and here I thought I was being subtle.” A slightly slurred voice comes from the tree line. We hear steps and a certain heavy drinking Huntsman walks out, his black hair both slicked back and a mess, and his short red cape being ripped in a few spots.

“Qrowe.” Me and Oscar say together, the natives being confused and Penny being shocked.

“Ruby’s uncle was watching this whole time? Why didn’t you help?” Penny asks him. Qrowe laughs a little and takes out his flask.

“What, and ruin the chance to see what this Adam is capable of? Besides Ruby needed to get some of her pent up frustrations out before something like that happens when they are surrounded by Grimm.” He goes to take a drink before I wrap my magic around it and take it away from him. He and Oscar look to me in shock and confusion.

“You should really cut yourself off Qrowe. Your liver might as well be a lump of coal with how much alcohol goes into you system.” I say, clasping his flask and putting it into one of my internal jacket pockets. He just slumps in disappointment like a kid. “Though, I am confused, why is it that none of you have shown up in any of the towns before now?” I ask the huntsmen.

“What do you mean? Me and Ruby just arrived here last night.” Oscar says, and I look to him in shock, removing my mask to rub my eyes. Qrowe and Oscar/Ozpin are shocked by my silver eyes.

“Last night? But Qrowe appeared here over two weeks ago.” I say and Oscar looks to Ruby’s uncle in shock before Ozpin takes over.

“You showed up in this place weeks ago Qrowe?” He asks, placing his cane on his belt. He nods, but before he can actually explain, Ruby begins to groan and wake up.

“Urrg...what happened?” She asks, rubbing her head.

“Something made you go nuts with rage and try to kill us.” I say without missing a beat. Ruby looks to me and tries to move, only to wince and grab her chest. I go down and place a hand on her shoulder. “Try not to move to much. It takes a lot of force for someone to shatter another’s aura like I just did.” She sighs and frowns, but listens and lays back against the tree. Before she or the others can talk, Penny walks forward and the duo look to each other in silence. Before long tears begin to fall from Penny’s eyes and she pulls the other girl into a hug.

“I was worried I’d never get to see you again.” She whispers and Ruby hugs her back, crying.

“Same here.” The two girls cry against each other’s shoulders, so I take the boys and walk away to get some answers while those two reunite.

“Ok, just tell me, what exactly were you all doing before being sent here?” I ask them. Ozpin walks forward and I could tell that type of look on his face. Pyrrha puts the same one on when she was teaching Penny about how to unlock her Semblance.

“Well, after our success in defending Haven academy and get hold of the relic, our group was trying to come up with a way for us to get to Atlas so we could keep it safe. The problem was the General Ironwood had closed the borders to the kingdom so we couldn’t just take a train or something. We needed another way.” I nod and motion for him to continue, handing Qrowe his flask back after seeing his bored face.

“We spent maybe two or three days just trying to get in contact with Atlas officials though the CCT in Mistral, but with no such luck. After that we returned to our temporary residents and found a letter. It said that whoever had written it had a way to get us all to Atlas. A experimental teleporter. At this point all the rogue members of the White Fang had been captured and the only ones left were those still loyal to you and-“ I cut him off with a raised hand.

“Let’s get one thing straight Ozpin. I. AM NOT. THAT. ADAM. I am someone entirely diffrent and if I ever see that bastard Faunus, I am going to make him wish he died during the Fall of Beacon.” I tell him with barely restrained anger and conviction. Qrowe whistled, impressed at my declaration and offers his flask. I sigh and take a quick swig, the drink burning on its way down. Ozpin coughs and recovers from my interruption.

“Yes, well, like I was saying. There were barely any members of the White Fang around the city anymore and the only ones not accounted for were Hazel, Emerald, Mercury, and the other Adam. At this point we were near desperate to get to Atlas as soon as possible. We went to where the letter said the teleporter was located. An old warehouse near the lower part of the city. We entered and met a man in a jet black cloak that hid his face and he said his name was Doctor Rojo Syan. He apparently developed the teleporter a few years prior and was getting funded by the Mistral government before being cut off my Leo Lionheart. Regardless, he finished the device and said he would gladly help get us to Atlas with it.”

“We were of course skeptical, but he showed us a video of him successfully teleporting himself from the lab in the warehouse to the entrance to the academy. After we say that, we decided to take him up on his off. His only condition is that we talk to some of the scientists in Atlas about collaborating to make the teleporters more advanced and accessible for the future. We were all set to go and Dr. Syan said he would be teleporting us to an old warehouse just on the edge of the city for discretion. But once he activated the machine, I remember hearing a gunshot and seeing blue and purple sparks coming out of the machine. The next thing we know, Ruby and us are here in this quarry.” He finishes and I look to Qrowe, silently asking for his side of things.

“After the teleporter went off, I found myself in an old castle, the one in the Everfree. I didn’t recognize the structure or the forest so I thought it best to get some information on the area and see if I could find the others. I ended flying around for a bit before I found you and that wired lizard kid and horse lady.” He says.

“Spike the dragon and Rarity Belle the unicorn. Try not to call anyone a horse. It is the equivalent for whore here.” I warn him and his eyes widen a bit and he gains a sheepish smile.

“Oh, um, that would explain some things.” Me and Ozpin look to him with unamused looks on our faces. He coughs and recomposes himself. “Well, after I saw you and those two I knew I wasn’t in Remnant anymore. I spent the next couple weeks sneaking into libraries and the like to research on what this place is. You can image my surprise when I learned what Equestria is like. I have also been keeping an eye on you and your friends just in case.” He says, taking another swig of his drink.

“So, to recap. Some unknown professor made a teleportation device, offered to let you guys use it to get to Atlas, was likely attacked when using it, and now it is bringing those in the machine here to Equestria as seemingly diffrent times. Is that all right, or did I miss something.” I ask the duo/trio (Oz).

“Well, there is the part about Miss Polendina being alive and well here too.” Ozpin says, looking as the two girls are talking to one another after their tear-fest.

“Honestly I am not a hundred percent on that. Right now, I think the gods of Light and Darkness brought her here and made her human after her demise in Remnant as a second chance to live.” I say and the two of them look to me.

“How did you come to this conclusion Mr. Taurus?” Ozpin asks.

“While I have been here, I gained the ability to enter the astral plain, the place where dreams reside. Me and one of the princesses of this kingdom, Luna, who also has this power found Penny’s dream and afterwards, we met two beings. One was seemingly made of light, the other darkness. They asked me to watch over her.” I think for a moment before talking again. “Though, Penny wasn’t the only one they brought here.” Oz looks to me with a raised brow.

“Who else was brought to...’Equestria’ was it?” He asks and I nod for the second part before taking out my scroll and finding a photo I took a while ago of me and my housemates in front of our house. I sigh before showing the other two.

“The other one that was brought here was Pyrrha.” I say and Ozpin take my scroll from my hand and stares at the photo in shock.

“She-she’s alive?” He asks in shock, and I nod, taking my scroll back.

“The three of us have been living together in a town called Ponyville that houses a group of national heroines. We have making a living there by protecting the town from Grimm as well as being hired guns for the Princesses in case there is a Grimm problem. Like with what is happening in the quarry. Nearly a week ago a large horde of Grimm has been converging in the quarry, seemingly getting ready for an assult on the local settlement. Me, Penny and the other two were out her to scout and come up with a plan when Qrowe showed up as a crow and led us to your campsite. You know the rest after that.” I explain. The others nod and we go back to rejoin the group.

Penny and Ruby have gotten to their feet and were just talking about things, while Shining and Strongheart were giving them space. They notice us and they all get together.

“So, you two ok?” I ask the girls, Penny nodding with a smile and Ruby wiping her eyes from all the crying. “Well now that all that is done, we could use your guys help with our mission.” I say to the three newcomers.

“You want us to aid you and your team with dealing with the Grimm before they have a chance to attack the local settlements, right?” Qrowe says, to which I nod.

“If there are as many Grimm as I think there are, me and Penny will need all the help we can get to deal with them.

The newcomers all look to one another then each nod in agreement. After that Strongheart leads the way out so we can get a good look at what we are dealing with.

‘Those Grimm are screwed.’

Chapter 12: Grimm Assault

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Once we begin to walk behind Strongheart again, Penny begins to quietly tell Ruby, Oscar, and Qrow what we have been up to since she and Pyrrha arrived here in Equestria. The three newcomers listen to her carefully, Ruby and Oscar being shocked by how she was describing what I have been doing and what I am like.

“So, Pyrrha is a teacher now? I can honestly say I never would have seen that coming.” Ruby says, rubbing her head. Oscar nods and I can tell that Ozpin is deep in thought.

“Indeed. Pyrrha and I have become rather close even after what happened back in Remnant. It was rather awkward for a while I will admit, but she and I are cool now.” Penny says as we climb over some rubble in the way of the path.

“I must say miss Polendina, I am surprised by your manner of speaking now. Before you were almost robotic, now you almost sound like any other human.” Ozpin says as he gets up with us.

“You said it. She has really been making great strides in terms of being ‘normal’. I am honestly impressed by how much she has improved over the last couple weeks.” I say to them. I look ahead of us and don’t notice the bright blush taking over her face. But the others, aside from Strongheart, notice. Ruby looks between me and Penny a couple times with a raised brow before shrugging and continuing on.

We continue on in relative silence for a couple minutes before we hear several animal like noises from the canyon below. Looking past the ridge we were on, what I see in not very encouraging. I see a huge swarm of Grimm, all of them being land based luckily, consisting of Creeps, Ursas, Beowolves, a few Deathstalkers and Boarbatusks, and even a couple of King Taijitus and I think I saw a duo of Beringel as well. This was definitely not good. Why were so many types of Grimm converging here?

I take out a pair of binoculars the sheriff gave me before we left and take a closer look at the Grimm, Ruby using the scope of her rifle to do the same. I look through the huge crowd of Grimm, seeing nothing of particular note, but I do notice something.

“There’s no alpha.” I mumble in shock.

“What was that Adam?” Shining asks as he and the others crouch near me and Ruby.

“The Grimm. There isn’t a single alpha in the whole horde. There all young. Just from the looks of them, most are still relatively fresh, lacking in any real experience.” I say, handing the stallion the binoculars. He remembers what I told him about differentiating inexperience Grimm from alphas, so he is equally shocked by the lack of a leader from what we can see.

“But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would this many young Grimm converge on this one location instead of attacking randomly or when they have the chance?” Penny questions. I shrug to her, not thinking of a reason for this.

“Any ideas Oz?” I ask the young wizard.

He goes to talk, but gets interrupted by the Grimm becoming louder. I take the binoculars back and see the Grimm looking to one of the caves. Looking in, my heart drops in fear of what was coming out. Two alphas, but of unique Grimm compared to the rest. One looking like a spectre with a single eyed mask on its face. The other having the bottom body of a horse with a rider fused to the top, its curved horned mask adorning its own face.

An alpha Geist and Nuckelavee.

I look wide eyed at the two Grimm as they walk out the cave. I look to Ruby, seeing she is just as shaken as me. Considering she and the rest of team RNJR had to take care of one of each and they nearly died both times, this will not be easy.

“We got trouble. I think we found the alphas in charge.” I say, handing the binoculars around as Ruby does the same with her detached scope. The gather group all look in shock at the two creatures presumably in charge.

“Not good. Those Grimm are no joke. Just one of them would be a challenge on their own. But they are together with all these other Grimm in the way.” Qrow says, taking a stiff drink from his flask. I don’t blame him, I would take a drink if I could.

“W-what are we going to do?” Strongheart asks fearfully. I think for a couple moments trying to think of a plan. After a bit, I come up with one. Sorta.

“Strongheart, Oscar. I want the two of you to head back to Appleloosa and get the town ready. We will try to take these things down, but there is the chance some may get past us.” I tell the young duo.

“Wait, what exactly is the plan here?” Ruby and Shining together. I look to the silver eyed huntress.

“Ruby, how much ammo do you have?” I ask. She looks confused for a second before taking her backpack off and digging into it, taking out five clips for her weapon.

“I have three clips of standard ammo, one of electric dust ammo and one of fire dust ammo. Each of my mags hold twenty rounds.” She says, separating the magazines. I nod and motion Shining to come over here.

“Shining, you and I are going to use some duplication spells so Ruby can provide sniper cover.” I tell him, getting confused and shocked looks from the new trio.

“Spells?” They ask together. I look to Shining and nod before picking up one of Ruby’s standard ammo clips and lighting my horns, casting the spell. A couple seconds later, another clip appears in my other hand. I make two more of the standard and another one of the electric and flame ammo before I stop, panting a little. Shining nods and makes a few more. Seems we both have around the same amount of magic in our systems.

I look to the new trio again and see that Ruby and Oscar have eyes wide and jaws dropped to the ground while Qrow just looks surprised. Guess he didn’t know I can use magic.

“Like Qrow said, Equestria is very different from Remnant.” I say before standing and getting closer to the edge.

“Qrow, Penny. The three of us are going down into the gorge and are going to take down as many Grimm as we can before we try to take on the Geist or Nuckelavee. Ruby, I want you to stay here on the ridge and provide sniper fire. Once you get down to two clips, feel free to jump down and join us. Shining, I want you to stay here with Ruby and protect her while she is sniping before joining in as well.” I explain to them. The group look surprised by how I was taking charge, but Penny and Strongheart nod, the human joining me and putting her mask on and the buffalo goes to Oscar.

“Come on Oscar. We need to get back to town and get everypony ready.” She says to the young boy. He looks to us before nodding and turning to Ruby.

“Be careful Ruby.” Oscar says before he and Strongheart leave for the town. I inwardly smile to myself from his response. Looks like Rose Garden may be canon after all.

“Are you sure this is the best idea Adam?” Shining asks, looking at the horde of Grimm again.

“Not really, but right now it is our best bet. We need to take these things down before they have a chance to attack, and right now they aren’t prepared for an attack by a group of huntsmen. If we can take out these Grimm, any survivors will scatter and likely go back to just wandering around before attacking so they can be defeated easily.” I tell the stallion before getting ready. I place my hand on my sword and crouch, getting ready to jump down.

“If you’re sure about this, I will trust you for now Adam. But I expect a full explination of what has been happening here after all this is over.” Ruby tell me, laying down on the ridge and getting her weapon into sniper mode. I nod to her as Qrow walks to the other side of me after taking one last drink from his flask.

“Qrow, try not to stay too close. The last thing I want is for your Semblance to effect us when we are surrounded by Grimm.” I tell him with a smirk. The huntsman just scoffs and gets ready to jump as well.

“Alright. Let’s do this.” I say before the three of us jump off the ridge. I use my Ember Celica and slow down my decent before landing, Penny uses her swords and stabbing them into the wall of the gorge to slow down, while Qrow just turns into his bird form and then back before hitting the ground.

Our little entrance didn’t go unnoticed by the Grimm as many of the horde saw us and roar, alerting the rest to our presence. One of the Ursas tries to get close, only for Ruby to fire and blow its head off. I smile and get ready before punching forward a few times, sending shock shots at the Grimm that fry four with each burst. Penny follows my example and fires a few blasts with her sword while Qrow runs forward and begins to slash the Grimm to pieces.

Many of the Grimm roar again and attack, most of the Creeps and Beowolves being taken out at a range by me and Penny while Qrow is taking out the Ursas that cross his path of slashes and shots. I retract my gauntlets and begin to slash through the crowd of Grimm with my sword and shooting when I can, Penny backing me up with her blades, using them like buzzsaws and lasers to cut down the ranks.

All the while Ruby is sniping any Grimm that even attempts to sneak up on us or get away. She fires each shot from her rifle at the head of a Grimm, blowing them to nonexistent pieces. Shining Armor just watched all of us in awe at how we are dealing with this hoard.

‘Sweet Celestia. I knew these guys had to be strong if they are also Huntsmen and Huntresses, but this is incredible. And here I thought that Adam was powerful. The Qrow guy and this Ruby could probably fight him to a standstill.’ He thinks as he looks around the area near him and Ruby, not spotting any Grimm that could be trying to sneak up on them.

I slash through another trio of Beowolves before I hear a hissing and dodge right just in time for one of the heads of one of the three King Taijitus to go by me. I jump back a few feet and get ready. I jump over its black head as it tries to eat me again and fire several shots at the second head as I am running along its body. The white head tries to tackle me, only for me to fire down and launch myself with my gauntlets. As I am in the air I load my sword and fire it straight down into the top of the white snakes head. Falling down, I punch the sword with a flame shot and it goes straight through the Grimm’s head and out the bottom to the ground, a burning trail being left behind inside the Grimm.

I jump to the ground and grab my sword just as the first head tries to attack me again, only to for me to do as Ren did and I stop it by grabbing its fangs with my aura enhanced hands. I pull, breaking the fangs and as it goes to attack again, I stab it in the eye with one before punching it through the head, blowing it up. I hear a couple more Grimm exploding and see as Penny and Qrow both took down the other King Taijitus.

At this point I was beginning to get a little winded from all this fighting and my earlier magical strain, but I manage to power through for now. I look and see as the Boarbatusks were joining the fray. I remember what I did during my fight with one in Ponyville and get an idea.

“Ruby! Penny! Pull!” I call out and point to the Grimm. I can see Penny looking confused for a second before I point up and she gets what I have in mind. She runs toward the Grimm as the five of them go to do a Sonic spin dash at her. She smiles and angles a few swords in their path and once they hit them, their own momentum sends them into the air. I hear as Ruby begins to fire several shots in rapid succession at the airborn Grimm before they land, two of them already dead from the sniper shots and the other three having cracked plates and appear tired. Me and Qrow don’t give them a chance to recover before we rush forward and slash them to pieces.

I look and see as the two Beringel charge at me and Penny and some of the Deathstalkers head to Qrow. Me and Penny meet the Grimm apes in close quarters and trade blows with them. Even if they are young, their strength is no joke. It feels like it might punch my sword to pieces, but no such luck for it. As it pulls back to deliver another punch, Ruby fires at it, striking it in the protected chest and cracking it. As it is momentarily stunned I rush forward and slide under it before jumping and running its head clean through with my sword. As it falls I take my sword out of its head and see as Penny manages to slice her opponents head off and that Qrow managed to slice the smaller scorpion Grimm to pieces, so far not using his scythe mode.

I see that Qrow, Penny and I are all showing some exhaustion from this battle, but we managed to take out a majority of the horde. I hear a pop of a teleportation spell and turn to see as Shining Armor and Ruby came down from the ridge, Ruby looking a little wobbly from the sudden transition. She soon gets her senses back and runs up to her uncle as he is swaying a little, and not from alcohol. I walk over to Penny as she is panting with her hands on her knees from the effort.

“The one thing I do not like about being human. The exhaustion.” She says before coughing and straightening up, her orange hair looking a mess from sweat and the fight. I nod as Shining comes up beside us as we look to the remaining Grimm and the alphas who were hanging back the whole time. The Nuckelavee releases a loud screech and the remaining Grimm begin to scatter, the Creeps digging into the ground and the few remaining Beowolves and Ursas straight up running away. I glare at them and grab my sword, getting ready for a harder fight.

‘Oscar, Strongheart. I hope you two made it back the town.’

Meanwhile at the edge of Appleloosa. 3rd person POV.

Oscar and Little Strongheart had been running to town for the past few minutes before arriving at the edge of the barrier set up after she and the others left. The young duo were able to hear as the fighting started in the quarry not long after they left so they decided to book it back to town to make sure they were all ready to fight in case Adam and his team were not able to stop some of the Grimm.

After arriving at the edge of town, Oscar and Ozpin notice the slightly surprising lack of humans. In hindsight, they shouldn’t have been that surprised consider what they were following.

“Hey! Braeburn! Chief! We’re back!” Strongheart calls out. Not even ten seconds later the barrier opens and Braeburn and Applejack come out.

“Little Strongheart! You’re ok!” Braeburn says, hugging the young buffalo girl.

“Wait, where’s Adam and Shining Armor?” AppleJack asks, before noticing the faint gunshots and roars of the Grimm in the distance.

“Adam and the others are taking out the horde back in the quarry. He asked the two of us to return here to get the town ready for a fight in case some of the Grimm get by them.” Oscar says, the ponies and buffalo just now noticing him and doing a double take.

“What the? Are ya’ll from Remnant too kid?” AppleJack asks as the four of them head back into town.

“Yes I am. My name is Oscar Pine. I am an acquaintance of Penny and Pyrrah’s. I am friends with their teams.” He says as they head to the sheriffs building.

“Alright. I take it yer a Huntsman too? Yer pretty young for that line of work, don’t ya think?” AJ asks.

“Maybe, but I am more than capable of taking care of myself in a fight. Adam asked me to come back so I can help with any Grimm that gets past him and the others.” He explains as they enter the building.

’You shouldn’t worry too much about them Oscar. I am sure that those five will be fine. We may have only just met him, but I can tell that Adam is not like the one back in Remnant.’ Ozpin says to him in his mind. Oscar just silently sighs.

‘I know I shouldn’t worry, but I am still not a hundred percent sure if even all five of them can take out that many Grimm.’ He thinks back as Strongheart begins to brief the others what happened back in the quarry. ‘I guess I should just put my faith in them for now and help out in getting this place ready.’

“Alright, it is good to know that Penny, Adam and Prince Armor have some backup for this fight. For now, let’s get everypony and buffalo who can fight ready in case any of these beasts get to us.” Sheriff Silverstar says, earning a round of nods from the gathered creatures, Oscar included.

“Alright ya’ll! Let’s make sure our town is ready for a fight, and hope it doesn’t come our way!” Braeburn says before they all head back out to help get the townsfolk ready.

Back in the quarry...

My ‘team’ and I get our weapons ready as the Nuckelavee gets closer to us. Shining Armor takes out a magic sword and shield and get into a defesive stance as Ruby extends her scythe and me and Penny get our swords ready. Qrow was already at the ready with his sword by his side. For some reason I had a odd feeling about this Grimm, unlike all the others I have faced since I arrived in this world. The Grimm looks to me and we lock eyes. I can see that is no different from the other Grimm I have faced, but I cannot get rid of this feeling.

“Get ready guys.” I say as we all tense. The Grimm screech’s at us and pulls its arm back. The five of us dodge just in time for it to extend its arm like it was Luffy before retracting and trying again with its other arm, doing it again and again. As it tries to grab and hit us, the five of us run around it in a circle, shooting it with our guns and magical blasts in Shinings case. I get a pretty big feeling of déjà vu from when team RNJR fought one of these things.

As it tries to hit me and Qrow, the both of us manage to dodge and pin its arms and Shining runs up while covering his sword in his magic and slashing at its flank. Wow, he is acting like Jaune. Unlike the human though, Shining managed to dodge its buck at him and slash at its ankles, causing it to go to its knees for a second before it manages to rip its arms away from me and Qrow. The stallion quickly teleports to my side and we stare down the beast as it looks at us. I see as it pulls back it’s arms and twists its body and me and Ruby see what it is going to do.

“Get back now!” We say together as the Nuckelavee begins to spin with its arms out. The five of us barely manage to get out of range of its arms, Qrow and Ruby launching themselves into the air to dodge and Shining, Penny and I just running back. As it retracts its arms again, I can’t help but feel like this thing is doing the same thing as the one team RNJR fought.

It covers itself with its arms and we hear the sound of bones cracking as the spines in its back extend and it begins to jerk around erratically before extending both arms and letting out an ear piercing screech, causing all of us to cover our ears. Ok, time for phase two of this thing.

I look to it again and it tries to catch me in its hand again, its arms moving faster than before. I manage to roll out of the way and slash at the arm as it was retracting, causing the Grimm to screech in pain. The horse part suddenly roars and begins to charge at me and Shining. I see that the two of us are backed against a wall of the quarry and smile. I place a hand on the princes shoulder, focus my magic and wait a second. The Nuckelavee gets closer and closer, and as it is a few feet from us, I activate my spell and teleport me and Shining to Penny’s side, the Grimm running face first into the wall.

My victory was short lived as my vision becomes blurry and I fall to my knees, barely conscious.

“Adam!” Penny and Shining rush over to check on me as the Grimm is dazed.

“You need to take it easy Adam. You’re dangerously low on magic power.” Shining says as he helps me to my feet, my mind coming back from that sudden daze.

“Shining is right Adam. I may not know a lot about magic, but I can tell that running out is not something you want to happen right now.” Penny says, looking me over and helping me stand up properly. I spit out bit of blood that got in my mouth and get back to my stance.

“Right, sorry. I guess I really need to take more care of myself in the magic department.” I say as Qrow and Ruby join up with us and tha Grimm seems to get out if its daze. It looks to our group and both half’s growl at us before charging. The five of us split up again and keep moving around it, managing to keep it distracted as Ruby and I think of a way to take this thing down. I suddenly get an idea as I dodge a punch from the Grimm and feel something in my pocket. My prototype flashbang!

“Guys! Cover your eyes!” I say before taking my flashbang out. Penny recognizes what it is and does as I ask, the others following suit as I pull the pin of it and throw it at the Grimm. The Nuckelavee actually catches it before looking at it confused, before...

BANG!

The flashbang goes off, giving off a blinding light and causing the Grimm to cover its eyes and screech in pain. I look to Penny and nod as it is distracted. The both of us rush forward, the horse half seeing us and the rider half throwing a punch in my general directing. As the fist goes flying past me, I take out my sword and spin, slashing the arm a few times before cutting completely through it. It roars in pain and tries the other arm, only for some of Penny’s swords to pin the arm to the ground, then cut it off comepletely.

As the two of us gets closer, the light dies down and the rider half can barely see as Penny and I are on either side of it before we both grab our respective swords and seperate the body of the rider from to horse. The rider flies off and the horse roars in pain and runs forward, away from us.

The horse goes to charge at us, only for its hooves and claws to be covered by a pink aura from Shining Armor.

“Now Ruby!” He calls. I barely am able to see as a tornado of red rose petals flies by me and I hear the shots from Cresent Rose and the horse becomes silent, its head slowing falling off of its neck. Not long after, both parts of the Grimm begin to evaporate and turn to smoke, leaving nothing but some black stains on the stone. I sigh with a tired smile, sheathing my sword and leaning on the wall of the quarry.

We don’t get a chance to celebrate or recover however, before we hear...clapping? The five of turn to see the Geist just floating by the cave, slowly clapping its hands. I frown and try to push myself off the wall, only to fall back onto it.

‘This is bad. I am so exhausted, I can barely stand. Penny isn’t looking to good either. If that thing uses the stones in this quarry to make a golem body, it will be up to Shining, Ruby and Qrow to take it down.’ I think to myself as Penny makes her way over to me, the two of use supporting each other as we stand. The Geist just stays there, looking between the five of us, before it shakes its head.

“What? Aren’t you going to fight?” I ask aloud. To my shock, it turns to me and shakes it head, before pointing to Ruby and Qrow and making a finger gun and making the motion of shooting itself in the head. I think it is trying to say those two will end up killing it?

“So, you’re not going to fight us?” Penny asks, clearly tired like me. Again the Geist shakes its head.

“You do realize you two are talking to a Grimm right?” Qrow says as he and the others make their ways over to us. The Geist just looks to Qrow before looking up at the sun, then to the cave it was in before. I seems to sag like it is sighing before....waving at us? Yup, it is waving at us and soon after seems to fade like mist.

The five of us just look at the spot where to Grimm was floating not two seconds ago in shock and confusion, before I look to the others.

“What the hell just happened?”

Chapter 13: Remnants Reunion

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The five of us just look to the spot the Geist Grimm was floating a minute ago in confused silence. As far as I know the only Grimm that could do things like that were from RWBY Chibi, which was supposed to be none canon. I swear if that was the one from that comedy spin off...

We just stand there in silence for a few more seconds before I let out a loud sigh and fall onto my back as my adrenaline runs dry, Penny following suit and laying her head on my chest as we both catch our breath from the fight. I hear some steps and see as Qrow and Shining look down at me.

“You really shouldn’t push yourself like that Adam. Magical exhaustion isn’t a joke. The fact you are still conscious at this point is shocking in and of itself.” Shining says. I just roll my eyes and try to move, my muscle sore from the fight. I look down at Penny, who is pretty much in the same boat as me, minus the magical part.

“I have to say kid, you have a lot of determination to power through all that. I know a few huntsman who would have thrown in the towel before this point.” Qrow says, crouching down to help me sit up, Ruby doing the same for Penny.

“Well, it wasn’t like these Grimm were just going to take care of themselves. I had to push myself to beat them.” I say, wincing a bit as I sit up. “Just..give me a little bit then we can head back to town.”

“Actually, Mr. Branwen?” Penny asks, getting the huntsman’s attention. “Maybe you should go on ahead to town and tell them that the threat has been taken care of. And maybe ask AppleJack if she can make some food for when we get there?” She requests with a growling stomach. Qrow looks like he is considering it before nodding to her. He turns and transforms into his crow form and flies off as Shining helps me back to my feet. Ruby helps Penny up as well, the two of us being a little wobbly.

“Well, it is probably going to take a while for us to get back to town, so we might as well catch you up on what has been going on here in Equestria.” I tell Ruby, walking through the quarry. The others follow me, Ruby staying next to Penny.

“Yeah, there are a few things I would like to know about. Like how the heck Penny is human?” She says.

“Honestly, my best guess is that the gods of Light and Darkness brought her and Pyrrha here and decided to turn Penny here into a human just for the hell of it.” I tell her. Ruby nods after a second and turns to Penny to talk. I look ahead of us and think to myself.

‘If Ruby, Qrow, and Oscar were sent here through a teleporter, than I am going to have a hell of a time when the rest of their teams show up. I can’t imagine Yang and Blake will like me. Though, I know Pyrrha will be exstatic when Jaune eventually shows up.’

Meanwhile, in Appleloosa...

The crowd was in tense anticipation at the barriers around the town. None could hear the sounds of the fight from the quarry any longer and they were tense, not knowing if Adam and the others succeeded or failed. Oscar and Applejack were waiting on the barrier for the main entrance to town looking towards the quarry.

“Do ya think they won?” AppleJack asks the young huntsman. He remains silent for a moment, just looking out towards the desert before his eyes light up.

“I believe Ruby, Adam and the rest have done what they can. That being said, we should still remain on guard until one of them arrives back.” Ozpin says, Oscar being lost in his own thoughts. AJ goes to talk again before hearing a loud caw. Looking up, the duo see as a red eyed crow flies towards them.

“Qrow!” Oscar calls with a smile. The others tense for a second before the bird does a flip and transforms back into the adult huntsman. The ponies and buffalo look to him in surprise as Oscar runs up to him.

“Qrow, are the others ok? What happened?” Oscar asks with worry. The older huntsman just chuckles and rubs the kids head.

“Relax kid. The others are ok. They sent my ahead to tell you guys that the threat has been taken care of, and to talk to someone called....AppleJake?” He says, the mare walking up.

“It’s AppleJack. That’s me. What did the others want?” She asks him. Qrow looks the mare over for a second, liking the look of hers.

“Penny asked if you can get some food ready for when they get back.” He says, taking out his flask and a drink. The others look a little surprised by this request before the sheriff and cheif walk up to him.

“So the monsters are dead?” The cheif asks, his spear on his back.

“Yup. We managed to take down most of them, the few that were left ran away and scattered. They shouldn’t be too hard to take them out if it is just one or two at a time.” Qrow says. The leaders smile and raise their arms, the gathered crowd cheering for the good news.

“Alright ya’ll! Let’s get some food ready for the returning heroes!” Braeburn calls out, getting a loud cheer of agreement. Qrow chuckles at their decision. AJ looks back into the desert and smiles.

‘Guess their tougher than I thought’

Back with Adam, A Half Hour Later...

Our group finally makes it back to the town after walking for about half an hour though the desert. Luckily it wasn’t as hot as one would expect so we weren’t too tired from all the walking. Plus we were able to stay distracted by talking to one another.

“So, let me get this straight. You are something called a Displaced, which is someone who got transported to another world as someone they were dressed up as and gained their powers. You were dressed up as Adam Taurus at a convention, where you bought your sword and then got transported here?” Ruby recaps.

“Yup. At the very least I know I am not the only Displaced, there are lots of us.” I tell her.

“Yeah, like when we met the Puppet Master or Xander after Adam found his token. I have a hard time wrapping my own head around it myself, but considering we are no longer in Remnant right now, I can extend my range of disbelief.” Penny says, fixing her hair again. Ruby just rubs her head and sighs.

“This is all just too wierd. And here I thought learning about the relics was complicated.” Ruby says as we enter the town. Looking around, I see that most of the town are out and about again and it almost looks like a party was set up.

“Adam! Penny!” Looking to one of the booths, I see as AppleJack walks up with Qrow and Oscar, the two humans eating some apple fritters.

“Hey AJ. What’s going on? It almost looks like a festival over here.” I say, grabbing the apple fritter she offered all of us.

“Yer not wrong. After this guy showed up telling us what happened, we decided to throw a bit of a victory party for ya’ll.” She looks to Ruby. “You must be Ruby. Nice to meet ya. Mah names AppleJack or just AJ to mah friends.” She says, offering her hand. Ruby raises a brow and shakes her hand after a second.

“Nice to meet you.” the young huntress looks around the town. “So, we are really the only humans here?” She asks.

“Pretty much. Aside from Pyrrha, you lot are the only humans in Equestria from what we know.” AJ answers as we all walk to the sheriffs building. All of us enter and I see Braeburn, Little Strongheart, Silverstar and Thunderhooves all talking to one another. They stop after seeing our large group walk in.

“Ah, Adam Taurus! Good to see you again my friend.” Thunderhooves says, walking up and clapping me on the back, almost making me fall over.

“Hey Chief. Good to see that the Grimm didn’t try to attack while we were on our way back. Though, is the party really necessary?” I say and ask. The two leaders just laugh a little.

“Well, now that the scare of the potential threat to the town has been dealt with, we decided the townsfolk could use something to unwind and have a bit of fun. Besides that, do you think you could write a report for the princesses?” Silverstar states.

I think about it for a minute and agree. After a potentially terrifying and dangerous event, it would be best to do something positive and exciting to become more positive. I nod and smile before grabbing some paper from the main desk and writing my report of the events at the quarry, with Ruby, Shining and Penny adding their own parts. Before I send the report I pause and think of a better way to send this report. I take out another scroll and begin to write.

Dear Princesses Celestia and Luna,

I am writing to you to report that the threat of the Grimm in Appleloosa has been successful neutralized. But not without the help of a new trio. During our way to the quarry to face the Grimm, my team and I ran into a trio of people who aided us in defeating them. These three are not ponies, and are actually from Remnant like Pyrrha and Penny.

Our group is going to be staying in Appleloosa for the night and then be coming to Canterlot to deliver the report in person. I would like if you can get the Elements and Pyrrha to meet us at the palace for introductions.

Thank you for your time again. Sincerely yours,

Adam Taurus

P.S: Just so you know, one of them is a rather heavy drinker, so expect him to have a hangover when we get there.

After I finish writing my letter, I seal it and raise it above my ring. Ruby and Oscar look to me in confusion.

“What are yo-“ Ruby didn’t get to finish as the silver fire comes out of my ring and burns the letter, the smoke going out the window of the building and towards the royal palace. The two younger duo look to me in shocked confusion.

“My ring is enchanted to send letters to and from the princesses. Penny and Pyrrha have their own enchanted rings too. Anyways, I told them that we would be staying in town for the night and head to the capital city tomorrow since it is starting to get a little late.” I tell them, the group all looking at their scrolls or the clock and seeing it was a little after five in the evening.

“I suppose it is getting rather late in the afternoon. Besides, I am curious about what this town has to offer as opposed to Ponyville.” Penny says, turning to Strongheart and Braeburn, the trio leaving together. I just chuckle and head to the door before turning to AJ.

“Hey AppleJack? You mind staying with Ruby and her group and telling them about some of the customs here in Equestria?” I lean towards her ear. “Qrow especially.” I lean back and she nods at me with a smile and I leave the building, intent on enjoying myself for the rest of the night.

After about an hour later I get a reply from Celestia saying she will have everypony at the palace when we arrive and that ‘someone I know well’ will meet us at the station. That was odd because I didn’t know anyone from Canterlot all that well aside from the royal family. I just shrug and go back to shooting arrows with some of the buffalo warriors.

The next day...

I yawn as I lean against the train station. It was around eight in the morning and me and my group, minus Qrow, were waiting for the train to Canterlot to arrive. I readjust my sword on my waist along with my new bow on my back. After a really great party last night the Chief decided to make me an honorary member of his tribe and had me make a bow of my own to commemorate it. Of course Little Strongheart taught me how to make it, but otherwise, I think I did a pretty good job. I plan on decorating it once we get back home.

Penny had actual made a couple friends with some of the farmers here in town and Ruby had been socially awkward as expected. Qrow got hammered, no surprise there, and actually beat the Chief in a drinking contest, to the shock of the tribe.

I turn as I hear a pair of hooves and feet walking up and see as Braeburn is supporting a hungover Qrow over to us. Perfect timing too, since the train was approaching. The train whistles and Qrow places his hands on his head in pain from the loud noise. I just chuckle at this, seeing another reason for me to not drink as much as him. The train rolls up and the doors open, only three ponies walking out and sending odd glances at our group. Soon the conductor comes out the front.

“Next train to Canterlot! All Aboard!” He calls out. I can see Qrow cringing in my peripherals again, but ignore it as I turn to the sheriff, Braeburn and Little Strongheart.

“Looks like we are out of here.” I say. The group nodding.

“Hey now, if you ever find yourself nearby don’t be a stranger, ya here?” Braeburn says, shaking my hand.

“I won’t be. It was nice meeting you lot. Take care of each other.” I tell them with a smirk. The nod to me with a smile as our group walks to the train. Before I get into the cabin I turn back to them. “Oh yeah, and Braeburn?” He turns to me. “Hurry up and take her out already.” After I say that I retreat into the cabin with a huge grin at seeing both of their flushed faces. The others see their faces as well and AJ chuckles at her cousin. The others just smile.

Soon the train begins to leave the station towards Canterlot. Shining and Applejack take out books and begin to read as I take out my scroll and headphones, handing one to Penny and playing my music on shuffle again. The two of us just zone out into my music again, Penny laying her head on my shoulder like before.

The three newcomers are at a loss for what to do as the three of us do our own thing. Except Qrow, who passed out as soon as he sat down in his seat. Shining and AJ see Oscar and Ruby just awkwardly sitting in their seats and pass then two books for them to read on the way to the city. Ruby’s was the first Daring Doo book in the series and Oscars was a book on pony customs and nature. They look to one another, then to their respective books before shrugging and beginning to read. The cabin was in a relaxed state of silence aside from the slight sound of my music and the trains natural noises.

While my music is playing I am going through my scroll and am trying to get into those locked files again, without much luck. I have been trying to unlock them for over a week, but nothing I do seems to work. I tried every password I could think of connecting to the White Fang and Adam Taurus, then I just tried ones connecting to other members of the show. Right now I am trying some that connect to Blake.

I type in ‘Deadly Night Shade’ and suddenly an alert comes up and one of the files is unlocked. I raise a brow at this and look through it, seeing it actually has information on Blake that was not told in the show. Odd. It has rather personal info, like height, favourite food, her three sizes, and even what her first words were in their world. This is all sorts of weird. Why would this information be in a locked file on my scroll? I look further and I see...a timer?

Looking at it closer, I see it is indeed a timer that is set to hit zero in two weeks and two days. The heck? Now I really wish I could talk to the Merchant that brought me here and ask what the heck all this is. I mean, why would this file with tons of unknown personal info on Blake be locked with the password being what her last name relates to.

I don’t get a chance to dwell on it as I see Canterlot coming up fast through my window. I look to my side and see Penny is asleep again and that the others are all reading through some books, Ruby being completely absorbed into hers, as seen by the speed in which her eyes are moving, and Qrow is still passed out. I pause my music and shake Penny awake again. Her eyes slowly flutter open and sees herself holding onto my arm like I was stuffed animal. She looks at my eyes and see my raised brow and blushes, lets go and hands me my headphones back without saying a word.

I nod to her in thanks and put my things away before clearing my throat and getting all but Qrow’s and Ruby’s attentions. I motion to the window and the others see we are about three minutes out. They nod and pack up their own things, Oscar returning his book to Shining. I look and see that Ruby is still zoned into her book so I cover it with my magic and lift it out of her field of vision, getting her attention. She looks to me with slight annoyance before she feels the train slowing down and realizes what’s going on.

I look to the sleeping Qrow and smirk as an evil idea comes to mind. Taking out my water bottle, I splash him with its contents, the huntsman waking up with a start and falling off his seat. All of us laugh at his reaction while he just looks to me with annoyance. Not long after, the train finally stops and we get ready to depart.

Exiting the train and stepping onto the platform of the Canterlot train station, I look around the small crowd of ponies, a majority looking to my crew in confusion and curiosity, but I don’t see anyone I recognize.

“Hey Adam? Wasn’t someone supposed to meet us here?” Ruby asks.

“Yeah, the princess said it would be someone I know well, but I don’t see anypony I recognize.” I reply, scratching my head. Before the others have a chance to talk we hear someone yelling out.

“ADAM!” I suddenly feel a weight on my right arm and look down to see a familiar orange pegasus.

“Hi.” Scootaloo says. I lift my arm with her still attached to it and she just smiles at me. “Oh, I am so happy you’re ok! Did I ya miss me? Did ya miss me?!” She says to me with a wide grin. I just keep a blank expression before smirking at her.

“Nope.” I say before flipping her around and getting her into a loose headlock and giving her a noogie.

“Please don’t noogie the pegasus!” She yells with a laugh. I just laugh with her and place her back on the ground, some of the ponies nearby smiling at our exchange, while more just turn their noses ups. Pompous jerks.

“Seriously, good to see you Scoots. I take it Celestia asked you to meet us here?” I ask her, getting a rapid nodding from the filly. I just smile and pick her back up before placing her on my shoulders.

“Then let’s go!” She cheers as I begin to head to the castle, the others all just following me silently.

“So....are you going to introduce us, or what?” Ruby says after we walk for a couple minutes.

“Oh! Sorry Ruby. This is Scootaloo, a friend of mine from Ponyville and most would say, my surrogate little sister. Scoots, these three are Ruby Rose, her uncle Qrow Branwen and her friend Oscar Pine.” I introduce them all.

“Hi! Wow, I never thought I would meet any more humans aside from Penny and Pyrrha! You guys are pretty cool. I mean, not as cool as Rainbow or Adam, but still up there.” Scootaloo says from my shoulders. The trio just chuckle at the fillies antics.

“Nice to meet you too Scootaloo. I have to admit, you look pretty cool yourself.” Ruby says with a smile. I just smile at the huntress’s reply. Not long after we make it to the main gates to the castle, the guards stationed there seeing our group and tensing somewhat at the new additions. I see them tense and place Scootaloo down before walking up.

“At ease gentlecolts. These three are friends of our. You don’t need to get all tensed up.” I tell them, the two stallions looking over the three again before nodding.

“Alright Sir Taurus. If you say so.” One of the guards say. After that, our group walk into the castle itself.

“Sir Taurus?” Ozpin questions. My eyes widen as I remember I hadn’t told them about my duel with Luna. I facepalm at that, confusing the trio.

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you three. The day I arrived here in Equestria, I had to defend Ponyville from a horde of Grimm. After I was able to take them down I came here to Canterlot with my friends to file a report about it. After that, one of the princesses, Luna, actually challenged me to a duel.” The trio’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Well? What happened?” Oscar asks, clearly curious.

“You should have seen it you guys! It was incredible! Adam and Princess Luna both gave it their all, they used all their tricks and in the end, it was a draw.” Scootaloo says in excitement. The trio look to me again in shock, probably because I fought royalty and ended in a draw.

“Even though I haven’t been officially given a title or anything like that, just for the fact that my duel ended in a tie, most here in Canterlot see me as some knight from a distant land and things like that. Though, it honestly gets annoying after a while, ponies trying to kiss up to you in exchange for training or something.” I say to them. Not long after we reach the doors to the throne room. I turn to the three huntsman, motioning for the guards in front to listen as well.

“Alright, here’s how this is going to go. Me, Shining, Penny, AJ and Scootaloo are going to go in first then I will tell them that there is a trio they need to meet. After that, you three will come in and introduce yourselves. Alright?” I say and ask, getting three nods in reply. I look to one of the guards and he nods, opening the door for my group to walk in.

My group of five walk in and I see the three princesses, the rest of the elements, the rest of the CMC and Pyrrha all talking to one another by the thrones, Pyrrha being back in her armor. After we walk in, all attention is brought to us.

“Big sis!” Applebloom runs forward and embraces her older sister, Cadence doing the same for her husband. The others all smile and greet us in their own ways.

“Hey guys. Glad to be back.” I say. Celestia walks a couple step off the throne and summons a table for all of us to sit at.

“Now that you all are here, we can record what happened at Appleloosa in detail.” She says. Before any could sit however, I raise my hand to stop them.

“Before we do that, there is a trio of individuals I would like you all to meet.” I say and Celestia and Luna seems to get a look of realization on their muzzles.

“Ah yes. The trio that aided you in the quarry. Where are they?” Celestia ask. I look to the guard by the door and nod to him. He nods back goes to open the door.

“Pyrrha, get ready for a shock.” Penny says. The huntress looks to her in confusion, but before she can talk, another voice breaks the silence.

“P-Pyrrha?” Her eyes widen and Pyrrha looks to the door and sees Ruby, Qrow and Oscar as they walk in. The two huntresses look at each other in silence before Pyrrha walks forward.

“Ruby?” She asks in disbelief. Ruby numbly nods and silence returns before Ruby begins to sniffle and tears appear in her eyes. Before any could react, Ruby bursts into rose petals and tackles the taller huntress with a hug.

“PYRRHA!!” The duo fall to the ground the ponies look worried before seeing the duo crying into each other’s shoulders. “H-he told me you were a-alive, but ‘sniff’ I needed to see it to believe it!” Ruby sobs out. The ponies look to them with sad smiles, realizing they are friends. Luna walks up to me while looking at Ruby all the while.

“Adam, isn’t that..?” She didn’t finish, but I know what she is asking.

“Eeyup. That is Ruby Rose, the last person to see Pyrrha alive back in Remnant.” I say to her. Luna looks to the two crying girls and smiles at their reunion. They cry for about two minutes before stopping and standing back up.

“S-sorry everyone. I-I just..” Ruby struggles to talk, wiping her eyes.

“There is no need to apologize Miss Rose. Being reunited with a lost friend would cause any to react the same way.” Luna says, summoning a box of tissues for the girls. The duo dry their faces and smile to one another, Penny coming up with a small waste paper basket. The duo smile to her and the three of them have a group hug. I just look to them and smile.

‘Three lost huntresses, reunited.’ I think to myself. I then take off my mask/token and look to it in thought. ‘Nat, Sora, Lex. I know I will find you three. I just need to be patient.’

“Adam?” I look up and see Penny looking to me with worry, the others looking both concerned and curious. I just smile and put my mask into my pocket.

“Sorry, just lost in thought.” I say. The others don’t look entirely convinced but don’t push the subject. I clear my throat and motion for Ruby and her group to start. They nod and Ruby steps up.

“Hey there! My name is Ruby Rose, youngest huntress accepted into Beacon academy and leader of team RWBY.” She introduces herself. The others look to her in surprise for the two claims.

“Wait, you were the leader of your own team?” Rainbow asks, flying up to the girl. Ruby nods with a smile and Rainbow turns to AJ.

“She’s tellin the truth.” AJ said bluntly. The others look to her and then Ruby in surprise before nodding. Qrow comes up next.

“Hey. Names Qrow Branwen, professional huntsman and I am the uncle and trainer to the squirt here.” He says motioning to Ruby. The group look to the duo a couple times before Celestia turns to me.

“I take it he is the heavy drinker?” She says, and we all look as Qrow is about to take a drink from his flask. He pauses and sees all of us looking at him before shrugging and taking a swig. Some of the group chuckle at this. All eyes turn to Oscar, who looks a little uncomfortable.

“Um, hello. My name is Oscar Pine. But I am also known as....um..” he pauses, trying to gather his thoughts. I just sigh and look to him.

“Ozpin, the only one who knew about you are Pyrrha and Luna, so how about you take over?” I say, and the two mentioned females look to the boy in shock. Suddenly his eyes light up and he straightens up and seems to get more confidence.

“I suppose it would be a little less awkward if I was the one in control.” Ozpin says, the ponies looking to the wizard in confusion. Pyrrha looks to him in shock.

“Professor Ozpin?” She asks in shock. The young wizard turns to her with a sad smile.

“Hello miss Nikos. In truth, I was not expecting this to happen, ever.” He says. Pyrrha is just frozen in shock at this.

“Can somepony explain what’s going on?” Twilight asks. I just nod and stand beside Ozpin.

“Everyone, meet the second personality within Oscars head. Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon academy.” I introduce him, the ‘boy’ giving a bow. The others all look to him in befuddlement.

“I don’t understand. How is this possible? I thought he was killed by Cinder during the Fall of Beacon?” Luna asks, the ponies looking to her in shock at this. Ozpin just nods to her.

“That is correct, I was killed during my battle against Cinder. I underestimated her and didn’t take her as seriously as I should have.” He looks to his cane at his side and sighs. “You see..I am...cursed. For a thousand years I have lived on the world of Remnant, dying and being reborn in the body of a likeminded soul. Oscar just happens to be next in line.” He explains, Twilight taking notes about all this. Celestia and Luna look to the wizard in shock.

“So, you are immortal?” Celestia asks.

“Yes and no. This curse of mine does stop me from passing on, but with every iteration, I gain a new identity as both the souls within the body eventually merge. Oscar and I will eventually become one being, at which point ‘Professor Ozpin’ will cease to exist as an individual.” He explains further before looking to the side, and I could somehow tell that he was talking to Oscar.

“Well this is certainly surprising. That being said, I welcome the three of you to Equestria. I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of this country along side my sister Luna.” Celestia says, Ruby and Oscar bowing to her and Qrow just nodding. Once they get up the others all introduce themselves, Ruby and Oscar laughing at Pinkie Pies antics.

After introductions, the six of us begin to describe how things went in the quarry, me, Shining and Penny explaining up to the point we ran into Ruby and Oscar before they add their own perspective of the events. The gathered ponies were shocked and worried about the fight I had with Ruby and the princesses were especially concerned about the presence that took control of her.

After that, we gave our own descriptions of the battle against the Grimm, the CMC, Rainbow and Luna all paying close attention to that part. They were curious on how the newcomers all fought and Ruby just extended Cresent Rose in response, most of the girls jaws hitting the table at sight of her weapon. Luna in particular being amazed by the scythe. Ruby smirked at their reaction and retracted her scythe again and we continued on. The gathered group, Pyrrha in particular, were all curious and confused about how the Geist acted, none of us really having an idea of the how or why.

After that, Ruby and Oscar explained what they were doing back in Remnant before being sent here, Twilight and Celestia seeming to consider several things after hearing about the teleportation mishap.

After we finish the report I check my scroll and see it is ten passed noon and I was getting a little hungry. Celestia looked to the sun outside and seemed to get the same idea as me.

“Well, I believe that now would be a good time to get something for us to eat before all of you head back to Ponyville.” She turns to the new trio. “I believe that it would be best for the three of you to stay with Adam and his house mates until we can find a way to get you all back to Remnant.” She says. The trio nod after considering for a moment.

Once all that is done, our increased group leaves the throne room and heads to the dining room to eat. I look over the ponies and humans in the group with me and let my mind wander a minute.

‘Ruby and Oscar arrived yesterday. Qrow arrived over two weeks ago. I wonder, who is next?’

Chapter 14: The First Equestrian Huntress

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“Ok, so do you think you understand how these are made now?” I ask Ruby as she looks over her new ammo. It has been about a week since she and the others arrived and I am helping her make some new ammo types out of the gems here in Equestria.

“I think so. I know how to make each type, but you still haven’t told me how we are going to make more of them.” Ruby replies, putting together her own wind-shot. I figured have a sniper rifle that could shoot mini tornados would be really cool.

To answer her question I just pointed to her extra clips me and Shining made her in the quarry. She looks to the clips and makes and ‘oh’ face. She nods and goes back to her ammo creation, making her frost shots next.

I decide to leave her to it as I go back up the stairs to the living room. I see as Qrow is still asleep on the couch as we agreed. We decided that while the others are living here, Ruby would share a room with Penny and Oscar would get the spare bedroom in the basement. Since he is a drunk and would be used to it, Qrow sleeps on the couch. Or a tree in Sweet Apple Acres as Big Mac and I found out. That was both funny and disappointing.

So far the new trio have been adjusting rather well here in Equestria. Qrow spends most of his time wandering around town, keeping the perimeter safe, or at the local bar. Apparently he has already become good friends with the bar owner Berry Punch. I have a bad feeling those two get will get into either drinking contests or just causing trouble for those who are sober.

Ruby has mostly been hanging out with Penny and Pyrrha or learning about the properties of my version of the Ember Celica and leaning about the ammo me and Pyrrha make for ourselves. She was really interested in making some upgrades to Cresent Rose with some of the crystals I got from the gem range or to see if she can talk to Shining about using magic to upgrade it.

Oscar and Ozpin spend most of their time at the library, learning about this worlds magic and history. The duo-in-one has been listening intently whenever Twilight goes off on one of her explaination tangents about something, a result the mare really likes apparently. They have also sat in a couple classes from both Pyrrha and Ms. Cheerilee. Ozpin even gave Pyrrha some pointers about being a teacher and has helped her out with some lesson planning.

While Qrow, Oscar and Ozpin were rather accepting of me and my team, it was rather awkward between me and Ruby for the first few days. I honestly didn’t hold it against her, considering I look exactly like the man that took her sisters arm and almost destroyed Haven academy. But after a couple hand-to-hand sparing match’s and teaching her how Pyrrha and I make our ammo, she began to warm up to me.

I checked my watch and see it was only around ten o’clock and I didn’t have a plan for today. I shrug and grab my jacket and shoes and decide to head out and see what happens. I pause for a second before grabbing my weapons as well. I head out into town to see what might come my way today. I am not sure what will happen, but I wouldn’t mind a slow day.

I walk down the market street, waving to ponies here and there. Even though a lot of the mostly ponies like me because of when I saved the town, a bunch have taken time to know me as me and not as the professional hunter. I have made some great friends like Thunderlane, Derpy and her family, and even Bulk Biceps. That guys is weird, but he has a really good heart, also he is a pretty good masseuse. Just from strength alone he would be a good hunter.

“Hey Adam!” I stop my walking and look up as Rainbow flies over. The two of us have been awkward for a while before Ruby and the others arrived, but we have mostly gotten used to each other. Applejack ended up telling me about how she was jealous about how me and Scootaloo are with each other, so we ended up sitting down and talking. Not easy with someone like Rainbow Dash, but we ended up finding some common ground of both of us wanting to protect the town.

“Hey Rainbow, what’s up?” I ask her. Rainbow looks a little worried about something before she takes a breath.

“Listen, can you and I talk in private for a bit?” I raise a brow at her request. I nod and she begins to hover ahead of me and I follow her. We walk in relative silence for a bit before arriving at one of the open fields outside of town, just a little bit before the Everfree. She turns to me and rubs her arm.

“Listen Adam, I am not sure if I am allowed to ask this, but...can you teach me to be a huntress?” She says the last part quickly that I had to take a second before her request registered in my head. I look to her wide eyed at this.

“You want to be a huntress? What about being a Wonderbolt? Being either would be full time jobs.” I say to her.

“I know that being either a Wonderbolt or a huntress would take a lot of training and time, but with how the Grimm have been lately, I think the town could use all the protection it can get. I know that Ruby and her friends won’t be around forever, so I want to help.” She says determined.

I look in to her rose eyes and see her strength within and her loyal spirit. I smile and take my sword and bracelets off and place them by a tree with my jacket. Rainbow looks to me with a raised brow as I stand across from her again and stretch. Her eyes go wide as I get into my judo stance and motion for her to come at me.

“What?” Rainbow says in surprise. Before she can react I am in front of her and swinging my arm. She barely blocks with her arm before I elbow her in the gut.

“Wait, Adam!” She doesn’t get to continue as I throw a few more punches that she blocks before I spin and land a roundhouse to her gut sending her on her back. She looks to me with a confused and annoyed face.

“Lesson one: hand-to-hand and adaptation. You need to be able to defend yourself at any moment, not just against Grimm, but also potential criminals and rogue hunters.” I say with a grin, offering my hand. She looks to me for a second before taking my hand and standing up again. I walk a couple feet away and get into my defensive stance. She nods and comes at me fast and hard, but her swings were a little sloppy and a bit predictable.

On one attempted kick, I grab her and flip her around, pinning her beneath me. She frowns at me and I get up, helping her to her hooves again. We go on like this for about an hour and a half, Rainbow’s strikes getting weaker but less predictable as I point out the flaws and areas she needs to improve. She actually managed to hit me properly once. I then kicked her hooves out from under her as she was momentarily celebrating.

“Nice try RD, but it will take more than that to be a huntress. While you are a black belt, your martial art of choice is a little predictable. I need to be more relaxed, fluid like.” I tell her, helping her back up again. She sighs and actually looks tired. I smile at her as I grab my gear.

“How about you and I grab some lunch, then we could go and find Ozpin and Ruby to help out.” I suggest. The pegasus nods before hovering over me and we head to town to get something to eat.

The two of us arrive back at the market street and look around, finding AppleJack and Big Mac at their stall. They siblings smile as they see me and Rainbow as we walk up.

“Hey there you two. What do ya’ll need?” AppleJack asks.

“Hey AJ, Big Mac. Do a think we could get half a dozen apples please?” I ask, taking out my bit pouch. They nod and Mac grabs a bag to put six apples in.

“That’ll be 18 bits.” I nod and hand the coins to the mare.

“So, what have ya’ll been doin this morning?” She asks. I look to Rainbow with a raised brow.

“Do you want to tell her and the others, or should I?” I ask. Rainbow thinks for a minute before sighing and turning to AJ.

“Adam is training me to be a huntress at my request.” She says and Big Mac drops an apple he was about to take a bite out of and AJ just looks like she saw something Discord made. We are silent for a bit before I snap my fingers a few times, knocking the farmers out of their stunned states.

“Yer what?!” AJ shouts in shock, somehow not grabbing the attention of the nearby ponies. Rainbow just rubs the back of her head with a sheepish grin.

“Yeah. I know that I always talked about being a Wonderbolt, but I know that Ruby and her friends won’t be around forever. I know they will eventually end up back in their own world, so I wanted to get some training for when that happens.” She explains with a slightly embarrassed expression. Applejack just looks to her friend with wide eyes for a few seconds before I wave in front of her face. AJ sighs after a second.

“If that’s what ya’ll want, ah’ll be right behind ya.” She says, laying a hand on the pegasus shoulder. I smile at the support from the farm mare. After we get our apples the two of us head to the library to see if Ozpin has some time for us. We arrive after a couple minutes of walking and open up, seeing Twilight and Ozpin both reading through some books while Spike is sweeping the floor.

“Oh Adam and Rainbow. Good to see you two again.” Ozpin says, putting his book down. Twilight sees us and smiles as we walk up.

“Hey Ozpin, Oscar, Twilight. What are you two reading?” I ask.

“Oh, I am just reading through a couple of novice magic books Twilight gave us. I am seeing if my magic from Remnant could be focused and work the same way as Equestrian magic.” He answers, showing the book. I raise a brow and light up my horns, levitating the book to me. Ozpin goes wide eyed at this before remembering that I can use magic myself. I look through a few pages and see the formulas and steps.

“Ok, I see what the book is trying to say, but reading the steps and preforming them are two different things. Luna taught me that you should try and experiment with your magic to see if you can find a way to do it yourself. Everyone is different, so the way they harness their magic would be just as unique.” I explain to the young wizard. He gains a thoughtful expression before looking at one of the books and lifting his right hand towards it. His eyes begin to glow olive green as well as his hand and after a minute the book begins to levitate off the table and towards him slowly. He drops the book into his lap and pants slightly.

“That took more effort than I thought.” He mumbles to himself as I put the book into the proper spot on the shelf.

“So what is it you two needed?” Twilight asks, putting her own book away.

“Well we came to see if Oz has some free time. We wanted a hand with something.” I say. The young wizard raises a brow but nods nonetheless and gets his gear.

“Very well. I can tell this is something you want to talk about in private so I will come along.” He says. I nod to him as he writes down the titles of some books he is borrowing and the three of us head back out. I think Ruby should be finished with making her weapons by now, Penny is on her patrol and Pyrrha is at the school house teaching a lesson on the types of Grimm.

“Hey Adam? How is it you have been so relaxed about your own transition here from another world?” Oscar asks suddenly. That was actually a good question.

“Well, I am not really sure. I have been known for going with the flow a lot, but also being very protective of others. When I saw the town being attacked, I couldn’t just sit around and hope everything would be alright. I had the powers to help, so I used it to protect others. And after I learned from Xander about being a Displaced, I knew I would see my surrogate sisters again. They are really the only ones I am worried about. I know my blood related family will be fine, my family is kind of rich after my parents won the lottery a little after my brother was born. But Nat and Lex are up in the air. I just hope I can find them and at least give them my token before something happens to them.” I say.

I take off my mask and look to it with concern. I have talked to a few other Displaced like Zoro through his earring, but none of them have seen or heard anything about Nat and Lex lately. Maybe it is just time flowing differently between worlds, but I can’t help but worry. Our group is silent for the rest of the walk before we arrive at the house.

Walking in, I see as Ruby is at the kitchen table eating a grilled cheese. She sees us and swallows what was in her mouth and smiles. I motion her to join us in the living room. After taking my shoes and stuff off I motion Rainbow to sit on one of the recliners as the rest of us sit on the couch.

“So, what is it you wanted to talk about?” Oscar asks. I look to Rainbow and nod. The mare sighs and gets into a more comfortable spot.

“Well....I want to be a huntress.” She says and Oscar and Ruby’s eyes widen.

“Yeah I had the same reaction.” I say with a grin. The duo shake their heads after a second.

“You want to be a huntress? I thought you wanted to be a...what was it again?” Ruby says with slight embarrassment.

“Wonderbolt. And yes I did. But I know you and your friends won’t be around forever. The princesses will find a way to send you all back to Remnant eventually and after that we will be back to the way things were before, with a bunch of royal guards that can barely take down a couple Ursas! I don’t....I don’t want something to happen to the ponies I love.” She says. I look to her and can tell she is thinking of all the deadly things that could happen without hunters and huntresses, what could have happened to Scootaloo if I wasn’t around. I place a hand on her shoulder and smile at her, the prismatic mare smiling in thanks.

“Hmm, if you are going to be a huntress, you will need some training.” Ozpin says in thought.

“That is why I grabbed you Oz. I may know a thing or two, but I am haven’t completely mastered aura yet. You have more experience in that field than me or even Pyrrha. I was thinking you could train Rainbow in using her aura and eventually her Semblance, while I train her in hand-to-hand and Ruby helps her with designing and making her weapon.” I say. I then realize something.

“Actually, have you ever used a weapon before Rainbow?” I ask the mare, who thinks for a second.

“Well, I am pretty good at archery. Back in Cloudsdale it was an optional class for gym. Aside from that, the only ‘weapons’ I have used are my own fists and hooves.” She says.

I think for a moment before going to the study and grabbing some sheets of paper and pencils and putting them on the coffee table. The others raise a brow at this. I look to Ruby and Rainbow.

“Ruby you should be able to help her with designing her weapon since you are a huge nerd when it some to weapons.” She blushes at this fact. “Just from our sparring match earlier I know that Rainbow relies on speed and not really strength so I think a pair of swords would work well.” I say, drawing a rough sketch of Rainbow holding a pair of swords.

I gave Ruby and Rainbow some pencils and then offer some pieces paper and point to the blades. They get the idea and Ruby begins to draw the blades and Rainbow begins to draw a bow with a similar design as Ruby’s blades. It took a little over an hour but we come up with a pair of blades like scimitars and the bow actually looking like a Meteor Bow from Kid Icarus.

“Ok, so a pair of tonfa style blades that could connect into a bow! When you detach them they would be guarding your forearms and you would be able to slash an opponent during a flyby. When connected, the bow could be spun like a pinwheel to extend its reach and distract enemies and then you could fire some arrows made out of the gemstones to deliver elemental hits.” Ruby explains with a smile. Rainbow looks at the sketches with a smile at it. I go up to the study again and get some color pencils for them. Rainbow grins and puts the pencils to the side and she, Oscar and Ruby begin to redraw the weapons into proper blueprints.

I smile at their focus and head out the door with my item, seeing Penny as she is finishing her patrol.

“Hey Penny, how was your patrol?” I ask the human. She smile and fix’s her hair a bit.

“It was a little slow. All I found we a duo of Creeps and I ended up talking with the flower trio for a while.” She says with a smile. I smile back at her, not really minding it.

“Well, I have some big news for us.” That gets Penny’s attention. “Rainbow Dash wants to be a huntress.” At this Penny’s jaw drops.

“Seriously? I have to admit I did not see that coming.” She says, rubbing her head. The two of us walk down the road, around the edge of the forest for a couple minutes in relaxed silence. I am not sure why, but Penny and I feel really at ease around each other.

“So, Rainbow is going to be with Oscar and Ruby for a while to work on her weapon designs, so do you want to hang out till dinner?” I ask her. Penny smiles at me and nods as we walk. Suddenly I get a bit of a headache and hear something.

I summon the sword of equality.

I look around for a second before some kind of portal appears before me and Penny. Penny stays behind me, thinking something was coming out, but nothing did. It took a second, but I realized I was being summoned by another Displaced. I look to Penny who is still hiding behind me.

“Relax Penny, I am just being summoned to another world.” I tell her. Penny goes wide eyed as she remembers how I can be summoned to other worlds at any moment. She looks down for a second before looking back up at me.

“Um, can I come too? I want to know what this other world might be like.” She requests, shyly. I smile and pat her head, causing the girl to blush a bit.

“Sure thing Penny. Honestly, if we end up in a fight I wouldn’t mind having my partner with me.” I say with a smile, Penny’s face erupting into a blush, but she smiles nonetheless. The two of us turn to the portal and walk in, Penny right behind me.

‘I wonder who I am going to meet.’

Chapter 15: The White Fang

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Huntsman House
Ruby POV

It took a couple of hours and several redesigns, but we finally finished the blueprints for Rainbow’s weapons. We haven’t decided on a name yet but I could tell that the pegasus was thinking hard about what they would be. I check the clock and see that it is almost five o’clock. So we have been at this for nearly four hours!

“Woah, I didn’t think we would spend this much time on this.” I say, getting the others to turn to the clock and see the time.

“Geez! I am really glad I had the day off otherwise I could have gotten into trouble.” Rainbow says, standing and stretching. I think this is the longest time she has spent in one spot since I have met her.

“Hey, wasn’t Penny’s patrol supposed to finish at one?” Oscar questions and I go over to the fridge where we have a patrol schedule Pyrrha made and see he is right.

“Yeah, she was. Maybe she got caught up with some friends?” I say with a raised brow. Rainbow and Oscar just shrug at the idea when we hear the door open and Pyrrha walking in with her bag full of papers.

“Oh! Hey Ruby. What’s going on?” She questions, going into the living room.

“Well Rainbow here wants to be a huntress so we have spent most of the afternoon making designs for her weapon.” I say, handing her the blueprints. She looks the weapon designs over and nods.

“This is a good design, and it just feels like something Rainbow would use.” She says before looking around a bit. “Wait, where is Adam and Penny?”

“We’re not sure. Adam was the one who gathered us but he left soon after we started designing the weapons, and Penny hasn’t come back from her patrol yet.” Oscar says. Pyrrha puts a hand on her chin in thought.

“Curious.”

“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am going to head back to my place. Thanks for the help Ruby, maybe we can start making my weapons later.” Rainbow says before flying out the window. What is it with that pegasus and not using doors? That is the third time I have seen her leave or enter a place through a window.

“Hmm, I wonder where Adam and Penny are?” I question aloud. The others wonder as well, not thinking of where they could be. The others think about it as well as they can’t think of where they could be.

I suddenly get a weird feeling and head out the door, the others following behind me when some kind of a portal appears in front of the house. It isn’t like a Grimm portal or the teleporter we went through, so I have no idea what could be coming through it. Without warning I burst to Penny’s room and grab my scythe, coming back a second later. The others tense up as we can barely see the outline of two people coming through the portal. We stay on guard as they begin to take form and I notice the one in the back seemed to stop for a second. Before long I can make out the first person and I drop my guard at who it is.

“Penny?” I question as my friend steps out of the portal, seeing all of us in front of her.

“Hey guys, what are you up to?” She asks with a innocent tilt of the head. I just look to her for a second before putting my weapon away.

“Well, we were wondering where you and Adam were when this portal opened up. Since we didn’t know what it was we were getting ready for a fight.” I explain, Penny nodding. Before she can talk though, the second person who I recognize as Adam walks out, the portal closing behind him. I go slightly wide-eyed as I see his jacket and parts of his shirt are torn to shreds, looking like sword slashes as opposed to claw marks.

“Jeez! What happened to you Adam?” I ask as I look him over. He gains a slightly sheepish expression and rubs the back of his head.

“Hehe, had a bit of a sparring match that went a little too far. A new friend of mine, Edward, needed to blow off some steam so we ended up fighting for a couple hours. He is one hell of a fighter so we both ended up getting shredded.” He says with a grin. Penny just sighs and rolls her eyes at this. I find it odd how expressive Penny has become as of late, especially towards Adam.

“Yes well, we also got some pretty interesting upgrades.” Penny says, Adam nodding with a smirk.

“Well, how about you two come in and you can tell us about it.” Pyrrha suggests. The duo nod and quickly enter the house, Adam running upstairs and changing his shirt.

“So, Adam got summoned by another Displaced and I decided to tag along. I was curious about visiting other worlds, and the world we went to was defiantly different that this one.” Penny says, taking a seat at the table as Adam comes down with a new shirt on and his shredded jacket and shirt in his hands.

“Man, Rarity is going to kill me.” He mumbles, placing his clothes on the back of his chair.

“Do you have any material? We could probably patch it up here, that way Rarity won’t try to make you model for a dozen suits.” Oscar says, laughing slightly at the thought. I have to admit, that is a legitimate threat from Rarity. She may be a genius when it comes to clothing, but she is almost sadistic when she has a model.

Adam places a hand on his chin in thought, before glancing at Penny and his eyes seem to light up.

“Actually, this could be a good trial run for Penny’s new power. Hold on a sec.” he stands and rushes down to the workshop in the basement. I raise a brow at Penny, who is looking at her hands in thought. After about a minute, Adam came back with some red and black cloth. He quickly clears the table, and places his jacket and shirt on the table, placing the cloth over the areas that are shredded. “Alright, looks like that’s it. Penny?”

I step over to Penny as she walks to the table and take a deep breath. She seems to think about something before raising and clapping her hands, odd green sparks coming out of them. She places her hands on the jacket and shirt, and we all watch in shock as they begins to spark with green electricity and glow. Pyrrha, Oscar and I have to look away as the glow becomes more intense, before it fades after a couple seconds.

All of us look at the clothes on the table, and are shocked as we see the areas on Adam’s shirt and jacket look good as new, the cloths he brought up earlier gone.

“What.” I ask in confusion. Adam just smiles and places his jacket back on, testing the movement of the arms with no clear change in material.

“Alright. Good as new. Nice job Penny.” Adam says with a smile, and I notice Penny blushing and playing with her hair for some reason. I look to Pyrrha with a raised brow, but she was just grinning at Penny and Adam. Penny coughs into her hand after a second and hold her hand out to me.

“Ruby, can I borrow Cresent Rose for a second?” I raise a brow but nod and hand over my weapon to Penny, who places it on the table and claps her hands again. The table glows again and once the glow fades, my face splits into a stunned smile.

My baby, Cresent Rose....she looks brand new! I squee loudly and pick up my girl, looking her over with a smile. All the scratches, the chips of metal and paint, everything is gone and she looks like she did when I first arrived at Beacon.

“Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods!” I repeat as I hug my weapon to my chest, smiling wide. I could hear the others laughing, but I didn’t care. I look to Penny, who is sweating slightly and rush over, hugging her tight. “Thank you Penny!”

“N-no problem....Ruby.” she struggles to say. I laugh a little and let her go, Penny almost falling over.

“So, what exactly was that? What that your Semblance?” Oscar questions.

“Nope. That was a power called Alchemy. My friend, Edward, gave Penny the ability to use it as a thanks for our sparring match.” Adam says, walking to the kitchen and turning the kettle on.

“And he also gave Adam the ability to increase certain aspects of his, like speed and strength, with his magic as opposed to his aura.” Penny says, taking a seat on the couch.

“Cool!” I say before heading upstairs and putting Cresent Rose away.

“You know, now I am a little jealous you got summoned.” I hear Pyrrha say as I make my way back down.

“Yeah well, its all part of being a Displaced I guess. I am just glad I didn’t get summoned during a fight or something. That would have been awkward.” Adam says with a laugh.

I just grin and head back down to the workshop to work on Rainbow’s weapon. I hope the pegasus doesn’t mind me getting a head start on it.

Adam POV
Four Days Later...

I glance out the window of the train as I see Canterlot coming up fast. After Penny and I got back from Ed’s world, we started practicing with the new abilities we got, Penny hoping learning Alchemy would unlock her Semblance, but so far, no dice. Using magical strength enhancements were pretty easy for me once I remembered to retract my aura from around where I am focusing. That is the only downside, once I cover it with my magic, it is vulnerable as it is unguarded by my aura.

After practicing for a few days, I sent a letter to the princesses, requesting a personal audience. I was thinking it was about time I start up the White Fang here in Equestria, but instead of being a militia of misguided faunus, I wanted it to be a squad of the royal guard.

After I sent the letter, I told the others of my plan. While Rainbow, Ozpin, and Penny were all for it, Qrow, Oscar, Pyrrha and Ruby were not all that thrilled with the idea before I explained that it would be nothing like from Remnant. While they accepted to wear their own Grimm masks since they are part sunglasses, they still had the negative stigma of the White Fang in general, especially Ruby and Pyrrha. I couldn’t blame them though, especially with what happened back in Remnant.

So it was just me, Penny, Qrow and Rainbow on the way to Canterlot while the others stayed back in Ponyville. Apparently Ruby was going to start forging Rainbow’s weapon at the local blacksmiths, while Pyrrha and Oscar have some lessons to teach back at the school.

“Oh man, I am so excited. Do you think that the princesses would let me join as a member of the White Fang?” Rainbow questions.

“I think you would. I have been practicing with my aura, so I can see how yours is. After the training we have been doing, your aura has ‘stabalized’ as it were. You were super sporadic and hotheaded before. Now you should be able to use your aura with some practice. Being a member of the White Fang however, we would first need permission to actually form the squad in the first place.” I explain, taking my earbuds out and putting them away as we near the station.

“Are you sure you still want to call it the White Fang though. It is clear you and the squad are completely different from Remnant, so why would you refer to them as the White Fang?” Qrow asks.

“Well, it is mostly for making a point. The White Fang of Remnant was led astray from what they were supposed to be after Sienna Khan took over from Blake’s dad, Ghira. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel that the White Fang was supposed to be both an organization for peace, and an organization for protection. They were supposed to show humans that the faunus are equal to them, and also to provide protection to the faunus that are being persecuted.

After Ghira stepped down and Sienna took over, things changed. Things that were once peaceful and respectful, like protests, became violent and fearful. It didn’t help the fact that their methods worked for the most part, the faunus were being treated as equals. But not out of respect, but out of fear.

Here in Equestria, I am the only faunus thus far, and from what I can tell, none of you or I have been persecuted by the ponies. So I think the White Fang would do well to be a squad of the royal guard as opposed to a militia-like organization. It will make sure they have respect of soldier as opposed to a bunch of misguided and mistreated faunus.”

The group slowly nod as the train pulls up to the station, all slightly less uncertain than before. Once we left the train station, we headed down the Main Street towards the castle. I was mentally preparing my arguments and points about making the squad, when I am interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Why, Sir Taurus! Welcome back to Canterlot!”

Turning around, I see a duo of ponies coming out of a little cafe. They were instantly familiar to all of us, being two of the most famous residents of Canterlot. Fancy Pant and his wife Fleur De Lis.

“Fancy, Fleur. Good to see you two again.” I say, walking up with a bow.

“Likewise my young friend.” The stallion glances past me at my group. “And I see you did not come alone today. Good to see you all again, Miss Dash, Miss Polendina, Sir Branwen.”

“Salutations Sir Fancy and Lady Fleur.” Penny says with her own small curtsy.

“Hey there Fancy, Fleur. Nice to meet you in person.” Qrow says with a grin. I am really glad he isn’t drunk right now.

“The pleasures all ours.” Fleur says with a smile. “So Adam, what are you doing back in Canterlot? I would have assumed you were busy hunting down the....Grimm was it?”

“Actually, after the almost attack on Appleoosa, things have been rather quiet, so I have come by to talk to the princesses about a way to help make sure the ponies can defend themselves against the creatures of Grimm. I can’t get into any details for political safety and not to get your hopes up, but I think the princesses will approve of the plan.” I explain, keeping an eye out for any prying eyes or ears.

“I see. Well, best not to keep you occupied. Good luck my friend, hopefully things go well.” Fancy says, patting my shoulder.

“Thanks Fancy. If you two ever find yourselves in Ponyville, feel free to pop by our place for some tea or something.” I say with a smile, the others rolling their eyes at the stereotypical offer.

“Of course Adam, it was nice to see you all again. Have a good day.” With that, the duo head down the road, likely to their home, while our group head towards to the castle again.

“Well they were nice.” Rainbow says suddenly.

“Yeah, Fancy and Fleur were some of the more resepected members of the nobility since they see the ‘commoners’ as just as important, if not moreso, than the other members of the nobility.” I explain. Qrow nods after a second with an appreciative smirk.

It didn’t take us long to reach the castle gates, and talk to the guards about our appointment. We were actually just in time for lunch apparently, so the duo of guards led us to the dinning hall where Celestia and Luna were. I am honestly surprised that Luna is awake, but I did say in my letter that my idea would help against the Grimm.

It only took about five minutes before our group arrives at the dinning hall, the doors opening to reveal both princesses at the table, small talking with one another.

“What do you think his idea is sister? Do you think he will teach us how to craft firearms?” I hear Luna question. I admit that was an idea, but maybe not for now.

“Perhaps he is going to teach our guard how to utilize their aura.” Celestia suggests before looking to the door and seeing my group. “Ah! Perfect timing. Welcome back to Canterlot everyone.”

“Thank you Princess. It’s nice to be back.” Qrow says, walking towards an empty seat, followed by Penny and Rainbow.

“Salutations Luna and Celestia!”

“Hey Princesses.”

“Hey Celestia, Luna. Thanks for agreeing to meet with us.” I say, taking my own seat between Penny and Luna. Celestia claps her hands and a royal waitress comes out and takes our orders before rushing to the kitchen.

“So, how have things been in Ponyville? I heard from Twilight and Ruby that you and Penny were ‘summoned’, whatever that means.” Celestia questions.

“Yeah. I got called to another world and Penny decided to tag along. To make a long story short, there are others like me, called Displaced, who are sent to their own versions of Equestria and are able to summon other Displaced if they have the proper token.” I explain, taking out the pocket watch and necklace I got from Ed.

“Remarkable. So, what was it thou did in this alternate Equestria?” Luna asks with a hint of excitement.

“Eh, not much. Got summoned by a guy named Edward Elric and we had a sparring match like you and I did Luna. Though he is way stronger than me. The dude wasn’t even winded before I got knocked out.” I say with a slight laugh, Penny barely holding in a giggle.

“Wait, you got knocked out?! Now I wished I stayed at your place longer to get the full story.” Rainbow says with a pout, crossing her arms.

“Sorry RD, snooze you lose.” I say with a smirk. A second later the doors open up and a couple carts with food are wheeled in and each of us get our lunch. Once all our food was placed in front of us, and we had a few bites, Celestia decided to get right to the point.

“So Adam. What was it you had planned to help fight against the Grimm?”

I take another bite of my sandwich and swallow before turning to her.

“Well, with your permission, I would like to recreate the White Fang here in Equestria.”

“White Fang? I have heard you mention it during your dreams, but what exactly was it?” Luna questions.

“The White Fang was an organization made to promote peace and equality between the Faunus, my species, and humans, Qrow and Penny’s species. Unfortunately, it didn’t work all that well back in Remnant. To make a long story short, some humans still saw themselves as the superior species and the Faunus as nothing but animals or even slaves.”

The princesses were angered, I could tell, about the last part. I raise my hand and scoot an inch closer to Penny to stop the alicorns from interrupting.

“The White Fang of Remnant was created to be the forefront of faunus equality and protection, but some people are too stubborn. I am sure you two have met your fair share of adamant politicians and nobles who would not step down from their views or positions.”

The duo nod and barely take note of my proximity to the former android.

“Well, things went south for the White Fang of Remnant, for a lack of a better term. Their old leader, Ghira Belladona, stepped down, and the next leader, Sienna Khan, had a more violent approach to respect. She changed the White Fang from a peaceful organization, into a militia and even terrorists band of faunus. The sad part is it worked to a degree. Faunus were being seen as equals to a degree, but it wouldn’t last the long term.” I trail off remembering one thing that pissed me off, especially now.

“He also made it all the worse for Ruby and her team.” I mutter with venom, the ponies raising their brows while Penny and Qrow frown, the former placing her hand overtop mine.

“He?” Celestia finally questions.

“Adam Taurus.” Penny, Qrow and I say in unison. The trio raise a brow again before Rainbow’s eyes light up.

“Oh, you mean the original Adam Taurus from Remnant.” She explains, earning a nod from the three of us.

“The other Adam is a real peice of work. As Blake put it and as I have said before, that guy is basically the embodiment of the word Spite. He wouldn’t accept equality, saw himself and the other Faunus as above humans, and was one of the people responsible for the fall of Beacon.” I explain with barely restrained anger. The ponies all frown at the thought, before Luna clears her throat.

“Well, that explains Pyrrha and Ruby’s less than hospitable introductions to you. But, I just have to ask, what did the other Adam do to make Ruby and her team so miserable?” She questions. I was really hoping she wouldn’t ask that.

“You want the long version or the short version?” Qrow questions, taking a swig of his flask.

“We’ll take the short version for now.” Celestia answers.

“Short version, Adam and Blake used to be partners when they were part of the White Fang, but Blake didn’t agree with his extremist ideals, and left. Adam became obsessed with getting revenge on her, and when they met during the Fall of Beacon, he vowed to destroy everything Blake loved. He started with Ruby’s older sister, Yang.” The ponies tense up as they seem to get the implications. “Yang tried to protect Blake, but Adam beat her in one hit and cut off her right arm.”

The ponies gasp, the severity not lost on them. I meanwhile have my hands shaking in anger. Even if I dressed as him at the convention, I hated that bastard for everything he has done. Maybe it is my own sense of self-righteousness, but he is the perfect example of what not to become when looking for peace in my eyes.

“Wow. Just....wow. That is messed up.” Rainbow states bluntly, earning a nod from everyone at the table.

“And almost everyone would agree with you on that Rainbow. I only got a small amount of information about the other Adam before I died, so I am mostly going off Ruby, Pyrrha and Adam’s descriptions and experiences.” Penny says, taking a sip of her water.

It was as I was thinking about what he did that something I was honestly scared of began to happen again. The visions. I had been getting them every now and then, and most of have been mundane, weapons training, meditation, raid plans. But every now and then, more dangerous ones pop up.

The fire around me in the cafeteria. A human beneath my boot. A Grimm trying to ambush me, and being swatted away like a bug.

Blake’s pleading and yells of pain.

Yang’s scream of rage.

The moment our sword sliced-

“Adam?” I blink several times as I realized I had been slowly tensing like I was about to get into a fight to the point the leather of my gloves make audible stretching noises and my breath had become rapid and heated. I was only brought out of it through Penny’s hand on mine and her voice.

“S-sorry.” I say quietly, trying to take my hand back. But Penny just holds onto it tighter.

“More visions?” She questions. I just nod slowly, Penny moving her hand from my hand to my shoulder. She and Qrow are the only ones who knew about my visions of the other Adam’s memories. At least they were.

“Visions?” Luna questions. I just sigh and take a sip of my water.

“You remember how this isn’t my original form, right?” The three mares nod. “Well, right before our duel Luna, I had a couple of visions of some things I have never been through before. It turns out, as a Displaced, I also have some of the memories of the one I turned into.” The trio raise their brow a moment before thinking about it.

“So, you have flashbacks about things the Remnant’s Adam went through?” Celestia questions, earning a nod from me.

“Yeah, sometimes at random, sometime during things like meditation. Or....whenever I am talking about events from Remnant. Like right now.” I say the last part softly as the events play out in my head again. I grit my teeth in anger at his sadistic joy from taking Yang’s arm. Of how blind he was to what he was doing, merely doing it to hurt Blake.

“That must be tough, remembering and living through events through the eyes of the one who caused it.” Rainbow mutters to herself, but we all heard her.

“Yeah, it is rough. Luckily I have yet to have any visions of some more, explicit things Adam might have done.” I mutter. While I doubt he would go that far, there is no real way to know how far that bastard has gone.

There was a bit of silence that followed afterwards, the six of us not really sure how to continue, before Celestia clears her throat.

“Well, it seems we have gotten slightly off topic. Back to it I suppose. You said you wanted to create the White Fang here in Equestria, what would that entail, exactly?” She questions. I internally smile as she managed to move the conversation to something less depressing.

“Well, to start off, the first part would be selecting the members of the Fang, which would be more like a specialized unit for dealing with Grimm. From there, they will be trained in aura useage from myself and my friends, and then potentially, weapons forging. While it is fine to go with the basics, the reason huntsman and huntresses work so well, is their surprising and somewhat unorthodox weapons.” I point to Qrow for example.

“Take Qrow’s weapon, Harbinger. Normally it looks like a large sword with gears in it that can shift into a shotgun. But, with some movements, he can shift it into a large scythe much like Ruby’s Cresent Rose, allowing for farther reach than its sword form.” The huntsman stands and shifts his weapon into scythe form for emphasis.

“I see. And if our forces have access to weapons that can change form like that...” Luna begins.

“Then they would have a much better chance against the Grimm, as well as being more used to daily combat.” I finish.

“I see. So, who would be in charge of the squadron then?” Celestia questions. I smile sheepishly and rub my head.

“Well, I was thinking I could. I may be young, but with both my knowledge of combat from my past as well as Adam’s, added to training with Ruby, Penny, Qrow, Ozpin and Pyrrha, I think I can handle training and directing some soldiers. I can tell you right now, most of them will be young, and inexperienced. So mostly privates as they will be easiest to teach. Plus my dad used to be a marine, so I have at least some experience with working with soldiers. ” I state.

“What’s a marine?” Penny questions.

“Basically they’re one of the special forces from my world. Remember, Earth doesn’t have Grimm or faunus, so most of the conflicts we deal with are from other humans. He was deployed in a desert country call Afghanistan for a couple years where he was forced to deal with some deadly terrorist nearly daily before he became a reservist and met my mom. He wouldn’t share much about his experiences until after I was sixteen unfortunately. But he did let me tag along when he went to train some new recruits when I was younger.” I explain with a thoughtful smile, one that threated to lower into a frown as I thought about my family back on earth. I have little doubt mom, my sisters Sarah and Maria and my little brother Tai are worried sick about me. I know dad would at least have faith in my survival. That guy could get nominated for an award for having faith in others.

I am quickly brought out of my thoughts as I hear Luna humming at my proposition, before turning to her sister and lighting their horns. I guess they are having a telepathic conversation or something. After a minute of silent deliberation, they seem to come to a decision.

“Very well. We will allow you to create the White Fang here in Equestria. However, I believe it would be best for you to show us what you can do in terms of leading a squadron before the selections process....Captain.” Luna finished with a smirk. The four of us lean back slightly from her last word.

“Captain? Wouldn’t I just get placed with a rank of drill sergeant or something instead of such a high ranking position?” I question, Qrow and Penny nodding along while Rainbow just looks confused.

“Ordinarily, but it is custom in Equestria for independent, separate divisions of the royal guards to be lead by one who has the rank of captain at the lowest. The solar guard are currently led by Captain Iron Frost, the night guards are currently led by Captain Midnight Blossom, and the Wonderbolts are led by Commander Spitfire.” Celestia explains.

“So the White Fang division would have to be led by Captain Adam Taurus, as opposed to, say, Lieutenant Adam Taurus.” Rainbow summarized.

“Correct Loyalty, I mean Rainbow Dash.” Luna says, catching herself. “Luckily, with our duel and your success in Appleloosa, I have little doubt many would argue with you instant promotion to such a high ranking position, as well as your creation of the division in general.”

I nod after a second and take a breath. I smile up to the royal sister with a determined glint in my eye.

“Well, let’s get started.”

Chapter 16: Big Sisters

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“One more time Private! Remember, left hoof forwards, hands near your chin!” I call out to one of my new recruits, Private Quick Strike, as he faced off against me, the others nearby taking mental and actual notes. It has only been four days since the creation of the White Fang, and so far, things have been pretty promising.

Once we informed the current members of the guard that we would be creating the White Fang, the responce was silence, since they had no idea what the White Fang was. Once I explained it though, both the solar and lunar guards were intrigued. I went through the selections process, choosing several young and new members of the guard, the highest ranking one being one Sergeant Razor Wave, a specialist in dagger fights. Most thought I was just picking soldiers at random or by young age, but I was actually using my aura to view each of theirs and select those who have ‘aura imbalance’ as I call it. Basically they are like a Jaune before he unlocked his Selmblance. They are inexperienced, but have to the potential to grow and become far better than they already are.

After selecting them, I immediately set up a workout and training regiment for them all, and joined in myself. While I was strong and deadly in my own right, I knew nopony would follow me if I made them trudge through hell while I relaxed in heaven. So came the obligatory training days, consisting of speed and strength training one day, weapons training the next, and we are currently in hand-to-hand and martial arts training. I already had a couple more days planned before I head back to Ponyville for a bit. The plan is I spend a week or two in Canterlot for training, then head back to Ponyville for another week to recharge before coming back and doing it again.

I stare down my opponent as he rushes forwards, trying to punch my face, which I block easily with my arm, before spinning him and placing him in a rear headlock.

“Now, how does he get out?” I question to the crowd before us, a certain rainbow maned pegasus speaking up as I slowly increase the pressure on the stallions neck.

“Clear your airway first!” RD calls, Quick barely being able to nod before turning his head slightly and pulling my arm down slightly by the elbow, gaining his breath a bit. Next a certain former android spoke up.

“Try and tuck your chin in the crook of his elbow! This’ll make it harder for him to try and cut off your air again!” He follows her directions and manages to get the bottom part of his muzzle into the crook of my elbow, stopping me from tightening around his neck.

“Now step back, and lock your leg behind his.” Qrow says from his perch on the ceiling support beam. Quick nods and does as instructed, before finishing the move by turning and tossing me past him, tripping me up with his leg causing me to fall on my back. I smile up to the stallion as he catches he breath properly, getting to my feet.

“Well done Quick.” I say with a pat on the back before turning to the group before me. “That’s enough training for today. Tomorrow we go through Grimm and their weaknesses, so be sure to bring some notepads and pay close attention. Dismissed.”

The crowd parts, each soldier heading to the showers and planning to relax for the rest of the night. It was an hour before sunset, and we started an hour after sunrise, so all of us needed a shower. After each of us cleaned up, I met up with RD and Penny at the entrance to the training hall.

“Another day down, eh cap?” RD says with a grin, her black and white sport shorts and blue t-shirt beneath her denim jacket looked clean. I am really glad Rarity all but forced RD to pack several changed of clothes once the girls learned what we would be doing in Canterlot.

“Yeah, I knew this would be tough, and I am not disappointed.” I say with a slight wince as I stretch.

“Are you ok Adam? You have been taking a bunch of hits lately.” Penny questions with worry, back in her original outfit. She has been a huge help with selecting which lessons to go through at what time, considering she can think faster than others, it seems.

“Yeah I’m fine Penny. What better way for the members to learn and vent stress than fight against the one putting them through hell in the first place.” I explain as the three of us head into the castle, noting Qrow flying away, likely to one of the taverns nearby.

“So, you girls got any plans for the rest of the night?” I question as we pass the library.

“Not really. I was thinking of going for a flight back to Ponyville to pick up the new Daring Do book Twi is holding for me.” Rainbow answers.

“Um, I was thinking of spending some time in the library to read up on more of this worlds history and maybe how their magic works.” Penny replies, a bit of shyness showing through. I can’t help the grin that crossed my face at that. Penny can be pretty shy sometimes, and super outgoing other times. Not sure why, but I found it really cute.

“Well, what about you captain? Aside from those lesson plans.” Rainbow asks, hovering next to me.

“Hmm, not sure. I was thinking of relaxing for the night. Tomorrow shouldn’t be too hectic since we are going over the Grimm.” I respond, idly rubbing my necklace. Before we left for Canterlot, I had Rarity make me a necklace to hold the philosopher’s stone I got from Ed, so there is no chance of me either losing it or it getting stolen.

“Urg, I really wish something new would happen. I mean Grimm training is great and all, but I wanna experience something entirely new, ya know?” RD says with a mix of boredom and annoyance. Penny and I couldn’t help but nod in agreement with her though.

“I know what you mean. While being a soldier is something I expected to become, going through the training as a normal human is definitely not what I was expecting.” Penny responds.

“Amen to that Penny.” I say. The three of us stop, just outside my room in the guest wings. “But, it’s not like a portal will just open up and suck us through and on an adventure.”

With that, I realized I just invited Murphy over for tea and cookies.

I blink a couple times as I feel a small tingling in the back of my mind and hear a voice, one that sounds familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

”I call upon the Sword of Equality and the Fairy of Justice.”

I look around for a second before a large portal like the one that appeared when Edward summoned me appears right infront of the door to my room. There was a beat, then Penny began to giggle quietly.

“Well, it seems you are getting your wish Rainbow Dash. Adam is being summoned to another world.” She says, motioning to the portal.

“And apparently I am not the only one being summoned.” I mutter, picturing the blue crystal pendant I got from Ed as well. I just shrug and turn to RD and Penny. “So, you two wanna come along?”

“You know I’m in. I wonder how this world will differ from ours or Edwards.” Penny says with a smile, one I couldn’t stop returning. We turn to RD, who places a hand on her chin and thought for all of five seconds before grinning.

“Let’s go.” She says simply, and the two of us chuckle at her daredevil nature. With a quick check of our equipment, the three of us walk through the portal and our visions go white for a second.

****

Walking out of the portal, our visions coming back, we are greeted with the chill of winter and the sound of snow crunching under our boots and hooves in RD’s case. I quickly adjust my mask out of habit before stretching slightly.

“Oh man, I wonder who summoned us this time.” I mutter aloud, enjoying the cold air passing through my lungs.

“Yeah you said it dude. I wonder who would be the first to summon me.” I hear from next to me and turn. I go wide eyed as I see the group that was standing next to mine, consisting of a silver coated, black maned unicorn stallion with red eyes, a freaking purple flying cat with white wings and brighter red eyes and who I guess is the displaced of their group. She had slightly spiky blue hair with golden stripes in them, and heterochromatic eyes, one being pale yellow and the other being chocolate brown. She had a blue guarded rapier attached to her side, and was wearing a very familiar looking orange dress beneath a gold rimmed, white jacket.

I lift my mask and get a better look at the woman before me, before we are interrupted by the sound of someone sniffling. The two of us turn to the source, and I am stunned stupid for a second at who I am looking at. A pink haired girl, with a pair of rose eyes that seemed full of life. She was wearing a purple long-sleeve shirt with a pair of blue cargo pants and a purple bow in her hair. But what really caught my attention, was two off-white horns protruding from her temples.

Despite the difference in clothing, I knew this character as Lucy/Nyu from Elfen Lied. But I also knew someone who was dressed as her before we all got separated. So, I took a leap of faith and hope.

“Nat?” I question, barely noting the woman next to me asking the same thing. The woman nods, tears beginning to form in the corner of her eyes.

“Adam? Lex?” She asks, and I nod, before processing what she just asked and turn to the other girl. I look her over with widened eyes, how the heck did my squirt of a big sis grow that much in a few months?

“How..? Who..?” I question intelligently, unable to comprehend what I am seeing right now. I don’t get to dwell on it for long though, before I feel something wrap around my torso and send me flying straight into the arms of my now Diclonius sister.

“ADAM! LEX! You’re ok!” She yells with relief, tears flowing down her eyes as the three of us land in the snow. I shake my head and pull my big sisters close, letting them cry their eyes out on me while I admittedly struggle not to join them in shedding tears. I am not entirely sure how long the three of us were laying in the snow for before they dry their eyes and I feel something help me to my feet. Once we are up we give one another an individual hug each.

“Oh man! I can’t even tell you two how happy I am to see you again!” Nat exclaimed with glee.

“Same here sis. I can’t believe it. Though, in hindsight I shouldn’t be all that surprised, since the three of us sent out our tokens.” I point out with a grin, my sisters nodding with their own grins. We hear the snow crunching behind us and turn, seeing the stallion, feline and my friends walking up with wide eyes.

“Adam, is that?” Penny questions. I nod with a warm smile before the three of us line up.

“Penny, Rainbow. Meet my big sisters. Natali and Alexandria, or just Nat and Lex.” I introduce with a smile, my friends smiling warmly as well.

“Sonbā and Echo. Say hi to my little sister and little brother, Natali and Adam.” Lex says to her friends with a grin, the duo nodding with smiles. Nat turns to the small crowd gathered behind her, consisting of Shining Armor and his family, though Cadence was missing.

“Guys, meet Adam and Lex.” Nat says simply. The three of us smile as our respective groups begin to meet and greet each other.

”Hey! Don’t forget me guys!” We hear from out of nowhere. Lex and I look around in confusion, before noticing Nat’s smirk. We both raise one brow, before the other catches up as the air next to Nat seems to shimmer like it is heating up, and someone becomes visible. She looks like Nat, but her hair is covering one of her darker eyes, she is wearing different clothes and she is partially transparent. It barely took a second for me to guess who it was.

“Sora?!” Lex and I exclaim in shocked confusion. My transparent little sister nods with a smirk before hovering in the air next to Nat.

”The one and only. Who did you expect? Mrs. Hyde?” she says with a smirk. Those who don’t know her look shocked at Sora, so I am glad this worlds Shining and Spike explain to them who Sora is.

“How is this possible?! I mean I know you can take control over Nat’s body but how are you appearing right now?” I question somewhat frantically. I barely spare a glance to Lex and note her eyes were glowing green for some reason.

“Well the first Displaced we summoned was a draconequus named Loki. He found out about Sora almost instantaneously and afterwards cast a spell on us to let either of us have an astral form for whenever the other is in control of our body.” Nat explain. I nod after a second and turn to the gathered group behind us, seeing my friends talking with Shining and Lex’s companions talking with Spike.

“Ok that is cool.” I turn to Lex with a raised brow, her eyes still glowing green. “Looks like your astral form is the result of a combination of chaotic and Harmonious magic being combined properly to give you control over outside magic.” Lex explains to Nat. The three of us turn to her with questioning looks on our faces, all of us silently asking how the heck she could figure that out.

“After I had to deal with something in my Equestria I found a chest that was sealed by a powerful spell. Turns out one of the versions of Master Mavis, the founder of Fairy Tail, sent out the chest that was filled with info on Fiore magic. I unlocked it and gained way more magic than I had when I arrived in Equestria. I have been practicing with my different styles of magic for the past couple months.” She explains after a second.

“Yeah, Edward mentioned that you taught him Arc of Embodiment, but I was a little confused on how.” I add, idly rubbing my philosophers stone again.

”Um, can someone please introduce us?” Lex and I turn around and look around a bit as we hear that. I didn’t recognize that voice. Didn’t sound like anyone I have met back in my Equestria.

“Oops, sorry Selene. I guess we got too excited.” Nat says, turning to someone behind her. I raise a brow, before my jaw gets reacquainted with the ground as she turns. In her arms was a familiar creature with a flytrap like appendage on the back of her head, on her hear sat a familiar grey and blue fox and standing next to her was another familiar lion-like animal. Lex beat me to the punch with our exclamation though.

“You have Pokemon here?!” She yells in shock. Nat nods with a smile, her pokemon companions smirking at our reactions.

“Guys, meet Selene, Topaz and Chance. They have been showing up in Equestria seemingly at random, and have each been great friends.” Nat introduces, the three pokemon greeting us.

“Ok, those things look awesome.” RD says, hovering over to us.

“Agreed. These creatures are more adorable than me, and that is no easy feat.” Says the purple Exeed, Echo I think, as she flys over as well. Nat giggles as Selene jumps into Rainbow’s arms and nuzzles up. Without any prompting, Rainbow can’t help but go ‘awww’ and coo at the little fox. It only took a second for her to realize what she just did and looks to all of us.

“None of you heard that.” She says sternly. There was a moment of complete silence, before all of us burst out laughing. It took a while before all of us managed to calm down.

“Don’t worry Rainbow. We’ll be quiet.” This worlds Twilight says, wiping her eyes. RD raises a brow and hovers over to Twilight, looking her over more closely.

“So you’re this worlds version of Twi, huh? Weird. You look exactly like the one back home, but I feel there is something different about you.” Rainbow mutters, hovering over Twilight. The unicorn raises a brow but eventually just shakes her head.

“So, any real reason for our summoning Nat?” Lex questions with a small smile.

“Not really. After I got your tokens I was just planning on summoning whoever they belonged to and to offer my token before we went to the party.” Nat replies with a shrug.

“What party?” Penny asks.

”Its Hearths Warming right now. We got invited to a private party by the princesses. Actually, would you guys like to come? We told Luna we might be inviting some friends.” Sora informs. Lex and I glance to our accompanying groups. Penny and Rainbow glance to one another before shrugging and nodding to me. I smile to them before turning back to Nat.

“I’m in. There is no way I am leaving my sisters to go though this holiday without me.” I say with a smile, my friends walking up to me with their own smiles.

“But, not all of you have some outfits that would work.” Points out the older stallion, Twilight and Shining’s father I guess?

“No worries there. I can just use some of my abilities to make our outfits.” Lex states with a grin. I glance to my friends as I see Penny’s eyes light up with a smile.

“Oh! If you can just get me some material, I can use my alchemy to make myself a dress.” Penny says with a smile. Now I am curious. What can Penny make in terms of fashion?

“You have alchemy?” Sonbā asks in surprise. Penny nods and begins to go over how she and I met Edward.

It didn’t take as long as I expected it to for our groups to get properly acquainted and for us to head into the house. The girls were changing in the living room and Twilight’s old bedroom, while Shining, Spike, Night, Sonbā and myself were changing upstairs. Sonba got lucky in that he has the same figure as Shining Armor so he could borrow one of the unicorns suits. Myself on the other hand...

“So you really have nothing that would fit me?” I question, looking through the closet.

“Sorry Adam, but you’re just taller and a little thinner than me or my dad.” Shining says, putting on his suit jacket. I just sigh and rub the back of my head before taking off my necklace and putting it in my pocket.

“Well, do you guys have a spare tie? My outfit could work as the bare minimum of formal wear.” I point out. Night nods and digs into a drawer before tossing me a black and grey tie. I nod to him in thanks before tying it.

“So, how long has Nat and Sora been in the world Spike?” I question as the drake finishes getting his clothes on.

“Oh, they’ve been here since Discord got escaped, so three or four months.” He replies.

“Really? Lex has been in our Equestria for almost five months already.” Sonbā says.

“Hmm, looks like we each entered our Equestria’s at different times than each other. I have only been in my Equestria for a couple of months now. And it looks like each of our worlds are at different points in time, since Discord was already turned back into stone when I arrived.” I mutter.

“Same with our world.” Sonbā says, double checking his suit. I place a hand on my chin. I guess the transition to each of our Equestria’s took longer for me while Lex was the fastest. Makes sense, since she is still a human just with magical powers now, while Nat, Sora and I were turned into a different species.

I just shrug and shake my head before heading out the room and downstairs. I internally laugh as I see my sisters posing to one another while the other takes pictures with their phones. Nat was wearing a really nice black and red dress with a silver buckle and black heels. Lex was in a familiar purple dress with her longer hair done up in a bun with two strands on the sides of her face. It took me a second to remember where the outfit was from, it was one of Erza Scarlet’s dresses from Fairy Tail. Makes sense, considering Lex is a Fairy Tail wizard now. Rainbow was in a white dress with red cuffs and a blue collar beneath a black hooded jacket. Finally Echo was wearing a different light blue and pink dress with black shoes for herself

“I should have expected you two to be taking photos of each other.” I say with a grin, the girls seeing me and the other guys walking down the stairs. I can see Nat roll her eyes at my lack of a different outfit.

“And we should have expected you to barely change anything.” Lex counters. All of us chuckle at this again. We hear tapping and see as Penny’s mirrors disappear. I am pretty sure my eyes would have poped out of their sockets if there was a chaos magic user nearby as I look over my friend. Penny’s dress was grey with light green symbols around the bottom, her brown straps around her shoulders, her boots being changed as well, turning them into high heeled versions that also reach near her knee and a pair of black and green gloves on.

“Um, how d-do I look?” She asks shyly. I barely register Nat grabbing her and Lex’s phone and snapping a picture of Penny.

“Wow! Penny you look incredible!” Sora says, looking her over. Penny smiles before turning to me and it was almost like the world around us was turned off. While I know I wasn’t wearing anything too different, Penny’s eyes still traced over me while I did the same. Now, I will be the first to admit that Penny is pretty, but this?

The only words that could be used to describe her in my opinion would be beautiful or even breathtaking.

I am not sure how long Penny and I were stuck frozen, looking over one another, but we were brought back to reality by someone shaking my shoulder.

“Um, Adam?” I turn and see it is Nat, who is looking to me with a very confused look on her face. I blink a couple times and shake my head before clearing my throat, trying to ignore that the temperature of my face was increasing very fast.

“Um, wow Penny. You look incredible.” I say lamely, rubbing the back of my head with an embarrassed grin. Penny blushes brightly and rubs her hands together, but I could see the smile she was trying to hide. Unfortunately, I missed the glance and grin my sisters shared.

“Well, all we need now if for mom and Twily to finish and we can head to the castle.” Shining says, thankfully breaking the awkward silence that had befallen us.

“You won’t need to wait long.” We all turn as Twilight’s mother, Twilight Velvet, walks down in a rather nice looking pale blue dress with a sapphire necklace. I could see Twi’s dad having a smile and blush on his face as his wife walks over to him. We all turn to the stairs as we hear another set of hooves coming down, seeing Twilight walk down the stairs.

Twilight was wearing a dress I think Rarity would have, and probably did, make. The lower part of the dress and the collar were dark indigo and the torso being light blue, the bottom of it having stars around the bottom and one star hair pin with her hair being in a bun. Not going to lie, Twilight looked pretty cute.

Before Twi reached the bottom step, she stopped and her eyes widened. I raised a brow and followed her gaze, seeing she has her eyes locked with Nat. The duo look over each other, remaining completely silent. I tilt my head slightly and glance to the others, all of whom shrug or sigh. Eventually Sora hovers down from her spot on the ceiling and clears her throat loudly, gaining their attentions. The duo end up blushing brightly as they realize how long all of us have been waiting for them

“Ahem, sorry. You look beautiful Twilight.” Nat says with a smile and blush. Twilight plays with her hair a bit before responding.

“Thanks Nat. You looks great too.” She says with her own smile. The group stays silent for a bit after that before Lex let’s out a loud sigh and claps her hands.

“Alright! If that is everything, can we get going?” She says and all of us nod. Nat remembers to return her pokemon to their pokeballs, then we all leave and head towards the castle. Though, we barley made it a block before lex stopped and her idea face appeared.

“Hold on everypony. How about I just teleport all of us to the main hall?” She says, everyone but her friends, Nat, Sora and I looking confused.

“But a teleportation spell of that magnitude would take tons of magical power.” Shining says with a little worry in his voice.

“Maybe for a teleportation spell with pony magic, but I am using a type of magic called Direct Line, which is used for fast paced teleportation. I have used it before, but this will be the largest group I have ever teleported before.” She explains. It took me a second before I remembers how Direct Line works in Fairy Tail. It is very useful for short and medium ranged travel, but rather limited in very long ranged travel. Luckily I could see the castle from here, so I think it should be close enough. Nodding to Lex, I place a hand her shoulder, holding Penny’s hand with my other. Eventually everyone is connected and Nat and I nod to my sister, who takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

“Direct Line!”

The imagery around us flickers before changing to what I recognized as the entrance to the main hall in the castle. I didn’t get to marvel for long though, before I felt lightheaded and had to catch myself as well as Penny. I guess the Teleportation takes a toll on everyone who uses it, even if they didn’t cast the spell, as seen by RD falling on her face.

After a minute or two all of us regained our bearings and walked towards the door. Lex walked up and knocked loudly, the handles being covered by magical auras and slowly opened. Inside the grand and decorated ballroom was several ponies I knew back home.

Celestia, Luna, Rarity, Fluttershy, this realms Rainbow Dash, a couple guards and, urg, Blueblood. I really do not like that guy. He is so obnoxious and prideful. Luckily he has yet to mess with me and my division, but I have heard the equivalent of horror stories about him back home.

“Um, why are you all so tensed?” I am brought out of my mental rambling as Sonbā asks this. Somehow I missed how tensed up the resident ponies were, Fluttershy hiding behind Luna, the guards with their hands on their weapons and...Blueblood standing protectively in front of a batpony?

After a second Celestia coughs into her fist, earning the resident ponies attentions. The guards subtly nod and release their holds on their weapons, while Fluttershy slowly come out from behind Luna. Though, this worlds Rainbow Dash, I’ll just refer to her as Dash, remained on guard, seeming ready for a fight. My worlds Rainbow noticed and chuckles.

“What’s so funny?” Dash demands harshly.

‘Rainbow please don’t do something reckless....did I really just think that?’

“You know, I really should have expected you to be on guard. It is what I would do.” Rainbow says, her tone suggesting she is loving the looks on the resident ponies faces. I could see her large smirk as she reaches up and lowers her hood, revealing who she is. Dash’s jaw and butt got acquainted with the ground as she sat down in disbelief.

“R-Rainbow?” Fluttershy asks quietly, in shock. Dash looks like she needs a rebooting, the others not being any better. The awkward and stunned silence was broken like a thunderclap by Rainbow bursting out laughing.

“BWAHAHAHAH!! O-oh my Celestia! You g-guys should see your faces!” She yell in laughter, a couple of the group laughing as well. I just sigh and facepalm, glad I took off my mask earlier.

“RD, I don’t think that was a good idea.” I say, pointing to the still stunned Dash. Rainbow looks to her before shrugging to me.

“Eh, if this version is anything like me she will-“ she doesn’t get to continue before she dodges out of the way Dash rocketing towards her with a punch.

“Alright copycat! Who are you?!” Rainbow shouts. I cross my arms and get ready to see the Rainbow’s fight, before some kind of green rope is launched from next to me and wrapped around the Pegasi, separating them. I glance next to me and see it is Lex using one of her magic spells.

“Hey!” They both shout. Lex seems to think for a minute before speaking up.

“Yeah, I am just going to stop you two before this becomes a problem. And just so we don’t end up mixing you two up...” she trails off before lifting her other hand, a different matrix appearing in it. All of us are confused and interested in what she is doing, so we all look to the two Rainbows. Suddenly the fur of my RD changes from cyan to cerulean and the order of the color in her mane reverses. The rope holding them is disperses and the newly changed pegasus looked herself over.

“Huh, I always wondered how I would look if I dyed my fur.” She says to herself. I silently whistle, impressed by Lex’s magical abilities. I hear a sigh and turn, seeing Celestia looking to Nat and Twilight. The two natives look to one another and sigh to themselves.

“It’s a long story.” They say together. Celestia raises a brow, before taking a seat in her throne, followed by her sister and the others in their own spots.

“We have time.”

Around an hour of talking later, we got everyone up to speed on what all of us were doing here and why there were two Rainbow. It went without saying, but my RD was loving every second of her counterpart being confused. Anyways, after everything was said and done we were greeted properly by the native ponies, Rarity walking up with a warm smile.

“So this is Adam and Alexandria. I had hoped we could meet one day, though I did not expect it during this holiday.” She says with a slight flutter of her lashes. The three of us just look to her with deadpan expression, she immediately blushes and looks away. I hear some more hooves and see it is Blueballs, I mean Blueblood, walking up. Oddly, he had a smile I wound expect on Celestia and maybe Luna.

“Well, allow me to be the first to welcome the six of you to this realm. I am Prince Blueblood, but please just call me Blue.” he says with a smile, holding his hand out to shake.

...say what now?

It appeared I wasn’t the only one confused as I see Lex and her group looking slightly stunned as well. This dude is polite here? I shake my head slightly and step up, albeit awkwardly, and shake his hand, feeling he is quite strong for a unicorn.

“Nice to meet you to Blue. I am Adam Taurus, leader of the White Fang squadron of the royal guard. This is my partner Penny Polendina and our realms version of Rainbow Dash.” I respond with a moments hesitation, Penny subtly nodding and doing a curtsy next to me. Lex ended up following my example and walked up after me.

“I am Alexandria Justine or just Lex, Faekage of the Fairy Tail guild. This is my friend Sonbāsutā and his assistant slash little sister Echo.” Lex says just as awkwardly, Echo doing a midair curtsy.

Barely a second passed when we hear a duo of sighs coming from Nat and the batpony, Scarlet I learned.

“Let me guess, your guys’s Blueblood’s are total asses aren’t they?” Nat asks. I try and shake my head to not be rude, but I end up nodding anyways, along with everyone else. This world’s Blue sighs with what looks like a disappointed smile.

“I see, that seems to be a bit of a trend in the multiverse according to Natali. Well, let me just say that while I can act like a total prick, please be aware that at the very least it is only an act here in this dimension.” He says with a slight bow of his head. Lex and I glance to one another but eventually nod to his with small smiles. I turn my attention to the royal sisters as I notice they are looking at Lex friend Sonbāsutā very carefully.

“Excuse me sir? But, who exactly are you? You look very familiar.” Celestia asks. I raise a brow, curious as well. For some reason I get the feeling this guy is far more than who he appears, just from the magic I am sensing from him. It was darker than most, but it wasn’t evil in the slightest. I could see my eldest sister and her Exeed friend look to Sonba with worry, but he just smiles to them and walks forward with another bow.

“Hello. Like Lex said, I am Sonbāsutā, and I am the former king of the Crystal Empire.” He says with a smile. It took me a bit to properly process what he said. Former ruler of the Crystal Empire, the place Cadence and Shining rule in my Equestria. Which was formerly ruled by-

“King Sombra?!?!” The princesses and Nat yell in shock. My eyes shoot open wide and I extend my Ember Celica, but I don’t get into a combative stance. While I knew about Sombra from some history books I read, my instincts as a warrior were telling me not to do anything for some reason. So I just stood on the sidelines, watching Sonbā as he made a ‘sorta’ gesture with his hand and began to explain.

“Yes and no. Sombra was the name I took after I became corrupted by evil magic. You see, when I was younger, I met a mare named Crystal Dust and foolishly fell in love with her. She pretended to love me in return and appeared to be a well mannered and respectable mare. But it was a lie, a cover hiding a greedy, egotistical and sadistic pony. She wanted to get close to me so I would marry her and she would all but take over my kingdom. After I learned of this, I blew up. My emotions ran rampant and because of this my magic became corrupted by my anger and sadness, turning me into the tyrant king Sombra.”

I could swear I heard some glass shattering. He....he was just like Lex. After what that bastard Ray did to her, she swore off relationships beyond platonic, professional and familiar, so the fact he went through something just as bad made all those memories appear at the forefront of my mind. Before even I could finish processing it, my hand was on my sword, trembling, and I felt like my teeth are going to break at the rate I am grinding them against one another.

“Nat? Adam?” Lex says cautiously. I spare a momentary glance to Nat, seeing her seething in anger as well before we both turn our attentions to my human sister.

“Targets, now.” We say sternly. Lex nods and gets into what I recognize as Ice Maker stance. The matrix appears and after a second two large targets made of ice appear in front of her, which she promptly threw in the air. I hear Nat growl and barley see some distortion in the air as her Vectors are launched and shred her target to pieces. I focus on my target and funnel my magic into my sword before rushing forwards, slashing it into even ice cubes before it has a chance to hit the floor. Before it hits the ground, Nat picks them up and places them in the punch bowl as I twirl my sword in anger before sheathing it.

Nat and I take a second to catch our breaths and calm down, before we each feel a hand on our shoulders. Turning, Nat and I see Sonbā with a sad yet appreciative smile on his face.

“Thanks. I know about how you both helped Lex after her experience with Ray so I appreciate the reactions.” He say. Nat and I nod to him before the others come out of their stunned states.

“Wow! I don’t think I have ever seen you that mad before Nat.” Dash says. My sister just shrugs and we all seperate as more guests begin to arrive. I mostly stayed near some of the guards, seeing they were watching me since they noticed my sword and gauntlets. After a bit I managed to make small talk with them, telling them stories about the Grimm and the training regiment my troops and I are going through. I actually saw them flinch as I described some of the exercises we went through.

After a while of talking to the guards and some of the nobles, Shining Armor and Night Light walked up and we began to talk to one another, mostly about my fights as a huntsman. I even pulled out my scroll to show the duo what some of the Grimm I faced look like, as well as what my friends look like.

“So, you duelled your version of Princess Luna, and it was a draw?” Shining asks in stunned awe.

“Yup. But I know Luna was holding back quite a bit. After learning to control my powers, I could essentially see how strong someone is through their soul and aura. I have little doubt Luna could have wiped the floor with me if she started off seriously and didn’t want it to be a fair fight.” I reply with a laugh.

“Heh, I wonder how she would stack up to this world’s Princess Luna?” Night questions. I just shrug to him.

“Who knows? But you have to remember that my Equestria was infested with Grimm, the black creatures I mentioned, well before Nightmare Moon happened. So my worlds variants are no strangers to battle, so they would probably have the advantage.” I mention, the two stallions nodding.

After talking for a bit longer they took off to the party, smiles on their faces as they thought about trying some of my training exercises. I smile to myself and grab some fruit from the buffet tables before looking around, noticing Nat and Sora walking over.

“Hey Nat, Sora. Thanks for the invite to this. It is really nice here.” I say with a smile, taking a bite out of some apple slices. My sisters nod and grab their own plate for food and just stand next to me for a bit, eating.

“So, anything significant happen to you in your Equestria?” Nat eventually asks, looking up to me.

“You mean besides becoming the leader of my own squad of the royal guard, discovering and living with versions of the characters from RWBY and fighting my worlds Luna to a draw, not in that order? Not really. Just me being the protective me I have always been.” I reply with a small smirk, my sisters laughing at my responce.

”So you been getting along with your new friends from Remnant?” Sora asks, hovering by my head.

“Sure. I mean, it was awkward to say the least, especially with this new form, but me and the others have gotten used to each other by now. Ruby and I were the most awkward around each other, but we have gotten used to each other. Honestly, I am just worried for when the rest of their teams arrive.” I reply with a very slight wince. Yeah the first few days with my housemates were rough to say the least. Like when I was trying to help Ruby with creating some flashbangs, and she didn’t trust me fully and ended up detonating one in the workshop. That hurt.

Ignoring the less than great memories popping into my head, I glance around the party, spotting Lex talking to Twilight and Penny talking with this worlds Fancy and Fleur. It seemed my sisters were following my gaze as they spoke again.

“What about Penny?” Nat asks.

“What about her?” I reply bluntly.

“I can tell you two get along really well, otherwise she wouldn’t have come along with you. From what she said, she even went with you to Ed’s world where you two got your new powers. Also about a certain comment the alchemist may have made.” I could all but hear Nat and Sora’s grin as my face heats up. Gods damn it.

“C-can we not bring that up? Edward implied some embarrassing things.” I mutter and take a bite of my food, purposefully trying to change the subject.

“Adam what’s the problem? Penny told us what Ed said, and judging from your reaction, you aren’t against it.” Nat says. I finish my food and allow my mind to drift slightly with a sigh.

“I mean, I have thought about it after what he told me, but I am not sure if it could work between us. My realms princesses are looking for ways to get the others back to Remnant, and I am sure Penny will end up going with them. I don’t want to give her something to cling to.” I reply.

And I wasn’t lying, more than once I have thought about what Ed said, about telling Penny that I like her, but it wasn’t as simple as that. She only recently started to gather her emotions and truly act like a normal person, and I didn’t want to throw a monkey wrench into that with telling her I may have a slight crush on her. Combine that with the persistent fact that Luna and Celestia are still searching for a way to open a portal to Remnant, and you have a very reluctant faunus.

Besides, there was no guarantee that Penny even saw me as more than a battle partner and housemate, the same way she sees Pyrrha and Oscar. It seemed Sora heard my thoughts as she spoke up.

”A little late for that Adam. Penny cares about you, and not just as a friend or teammate. You have been with her through all her hardships since she arrived in Equestria, so she is already attached to you. The question is, if you will let it grow, or cut it off.” My younger sister states.

I spare a glance at her before turning my attention to Penny as she laughs with Fleur. Just watching her laugh, that adorable smile on her face, I knew what the feeling in my stomach meant, but I still didn’t know how to go about dealing with it.

“How about this?” Nat speaks up, a spark in her eyes. “I’ll talk to the band and have them play some relaxing dance music. You ask her to dance, and the two of you can talk or just think about how you feel about each other.”

She must have seen the reluctance and worry on my face at that. I wasn’t the worst at formal dancing, but I only knew a few moves. Add that to the fact that plenty of other couples would likely be dancing as well, and I was having doubts with Nat’s plan.

“How about this. You ask her to dance, and I will find my own partner so you aren’t the odd ones out.” I look down to her, trying to think of a different way to go about this, but I had to admit to myself that this was the best choice right now and eventually I nod to her. Nat smiles with glee and all but skips over to the band ponies. I just watch her go and sigh.

‘What am I getting myself into?’ I question as I finish my food and look over the crowd, spotting Penny talking to Fluttershy. I take deep breath and make my way over to her, being careful of those between us.

‘Alright, calm down Winger. It’s nothing big, its just a dance. It’s just a dance. It’s just a dance.’ I mentally repeat a few times as I make my way over to Penny, silently wishing I could put on my mask. Eventually I made it to her as I spot Lex and Sonbā heading to the dance floor themselves. I clear my throat slightly, earning the humans attention.

“Oh, hey Adam. Did you need something?” Penny asks with her smile. I am not sure why, but that smile alone made me calm down a fraction. It didn’t stop my cheeks from heating up though.

“Um, w-well I was w-wondering if-if you wanted...” I stutter, mentally slapping myself as I sound like a total dork. Hell, Jaune trying to hit on Weiss probably sounds better! Penny just seemed confused though, tilting her head to the side.

“Adam, are you ok? Your face is red.” She question in concern. I shake my head slightly and take another breath, remembering something my sister Maria used to say.

‘Sometime, the direct approach is the best approach.’

With that thought in mind, I straighten up slightly, clearing my throat and hold out my hand, my eyes seeming to shine slightly.

“Penny Polendina, would you like to dance?”

It was blunt, but sometimes that is the best way to go. Penny’s eyes widen as her own face turns red, looking to my hand then to my eyes a couple times. I felt like time was slowing down as Penny was processing what I just asked, while I was internally trying to keep myself from backing out and pretending I was joking. After what felt like hours that was actually about a minute, Penny smiles slightly and places her hand in mine.

“Of course.” She says quietly, and I release a small breath I didn’t even realize I was holding.

I smile down to her and lead her to the dance floor. A passing glance showed Lex with Sonbā as her partner and, oddly, Nat with Twilight as her partner. Before long I could hear the band getting ready to start, so Penny and I take a half step back and bow to one another, along with the other couples on the floor.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ9RPTEkQW4&list=PLW7qeV9-hAPo3CkjGcR8xcd_rN_asehoq&index=132&t=0s

Been a while since I have heard a cello, but I knew Octavia would make this song great. Taking another breath, I take Penny’s hand in mine and place my free hand on her shoulder, while she follows my lead. We were slow, inexperienced compared to those around us and were clearly nervous, made obvious by the fact both our faces were as red as Big Mac’s fur. But for some reason, I couldn’t really find a way to care.

Being almost a full foot taller than Penny, you would think this would be an awkward experience, but Penny seemed to follow my steps perfectly, neither of us stepping on each other’s toes or bumping into those dancing around us. I could see her reluctant shifting turning into almost confident steps as she follows my pattern. At one point she even begins to lead before differing back to my lead.

I smile down to her as she manages to lift her gaze to meet mine, her own smile breaking across her face as she follows on, even allowing me to twirl her around once or twice. I am sure Penny felt it too, the world around us being drowned out and replaced by the music and our steps. I could almost see it in her eyes, and I am sure mine had the same look. At that moment, little else mattered more than our partner.

I decided to take a small risk and pulled Penny closer, making it so her head rested against my chest. I could see her blush intensity, but rather than push away, she shifts her position so she can look up to me with a smile. I just smile back down to her, lowing my arms to her waist as she rests hers on my shoulders. Now closer, I could catch Penny’s unique scent, that of lilac and oranges. I guess a faunus sense of smell could come in handy during times like this.

Before either of us could really register it, the music began to die down and we backed away from each other enough to look at one another properly, but we didn’t let each other go. Instead, I smiled down to her and pulled the human into a hug, one she returned instantly.

We both knew how the other felt. I could tell, we didn’t need to say it. At least not yet.

Before too much times passes, we let each other go and walk to the side of the dance floor, still holding each other’s hand, but neither of us really noticed until we let each other go. Glancing around for a second, I see Sonba and Lex walking over and motion to them with my head.

“Well, looks like you have a few things to do when you get home, eh Adam?” Lex says with a smirk, trying not to giggle as Penny and I blush again, her meaning not lost on us. She just smiles and then turns to Penny. “Be sure to take care of him Penny. He can be a little reckless.”

“Trust me I know.” She replies with a small smile, before giggling as I knew she was talking about a less than great moment of mine recently. I just huff and cross my arms. “Oh relax Adam. It isn’t like you meant to teleport yourself half a mile above the castle.”

“You did what?” Sonbā, Echo and Lex question in unison, the Exeed having flown over.

“Hey I was just trying to see how far my teleportation spell could take me and I forgot to set a direction is all.” I huff in annoyance. The four of them laugh at my responce and I have to stop myself from joining in. Like I said, not my best moment, but admittedly, one of my funniest.

“Hey guys!” Lex and I look over to Nat and Sora as the former points towards the stage. “How about we put on a bit of a show before I send you guys home?”

Lex and I grin as we get her idea, while our company are confused. I have been so busy back in my Equestria I haven’t had much of a chance to practice one of my favourite hobbies. Music. Lex and I direct our friends to where the Elements of this world are hanging out with the Royals before the three of us head to the stage, earning the attention of the band ponies.

“Oh, hello Natali. And it is a pleasure to meet you two in pony. Adam and Lex, correct?” Octavia says as we walk up. Lex and I nod with polite smiles and shook her hand.

“Pleasures all ours Octavia. Anyways, could we ask for a favor?” Lex asks, earning a couple of raised brows.

“What is it?” Lyra asks, walking up.

“Well, the three of us wanted to see if we could play a few songs before we have to head home.” I explain with a grin.

“Wait, you all play?” Octavia asks in surprise. The three of us smile and raise our hands.

“Piano and vocals.” Nat states with a smirk, Sora appearing with her own smirk.

“Practically any strings, violins and acoustic guitars are my best.” I inform with a confident smirk. I learned to play violin from my grandma and my dad taught me how to play guitar when I was youger.

“I am really just a singer.” Lex says with a sheepish grin for not being as musically diverse as Nat or I.

The gathered band ponies look at the three of us in surprise before smiling and nodding, letting the three of us step up and get our instruments and everything. Lyra handed me a spare violin and I started to tune it properly and went through a couple notes to get used to the instrument again. I saw my sisters doing a couple of vocal exercises before feeling something poking inside my head. It didn’t take a genius to figure out Lex was trying to ask what song I wanted to play. With a thought, the song I wanted popped into my head and into Lex’s by extension. I saw her nod to me as the band ponies walked up.

“So, what songs are you going to be playing?” Octavia asks.

“Oh it isn’t just us. A couple of the songs we have in mind need more than three people to play.” Lex informs, adjusting her dress again.

“But, how are we going to play with you if we have likely never heard these songs before?” The flute player questions.

“Simple, I will use one of my magic styles to implant the songs into your heads so you know how to play.” Lex says before placing two finger on her head and point out with the other hand.

“Telepathy Magic, Broadcast.” A small purple beam goes out of her hand and into the heads of the band ponies whos eyes all widen as they get the info from the songs we have in mind. They smile and get their instruments ready. I nod to Nat, who walks to the front of the stage where the mic is and clears her throat, earning everyone’s attention.

“Hello everypony. Are you all enjoying tonight’s party?” A round of cheers was the responce. “Alright! Tonight, my siblings, Adam Taurus and Alexandria Justine and I are going to be playing three different songs before we leave to go to our homes, so I hope you all enjoy them.” Nat ends with a curtsy, the crowd cheering again as Nat heads to the piano and does a quick stretch, the mic hovering over to her.

“The first song is going to be played by me. It is called, Kindness. And no Fluttershy, it doesn’t directly involve you.” I could clearly hear the pegasus squeak from here, and had to stop myself from laughing as my sister begins to play her song.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ewBkq44wynk

I smile as Nat begins to play her song, the notes flowing seamlessly from her mind onto the instrument. I missed her music. I am not really sure how she learned to play so well, but Nat was one of the best pianists I know, and she shows it. I smile to myself and lean back against my seat, enjoying the music my sister is providing. Not sure why, but this song always reminded me of my blood sisters, and how helpful they tried to be when I was growing up.

Before long Nat’s song comes to an end, the result being a loud cheer from the crowd, and her face turning red. I smile as she walks up with a bow, before walking up myself and giving her a quick pat on the back. As the crowd calms down I walk up to the mic with a serious look on my face, immediately earning the crowds attentions.

“Alright. This next song is for those who...could not make it at this time. Those we have lost, and those who we will never forget.” I state, many in the crowd bowing their heads sadly. I quickly scan the room and find Penny, sending her a quick wink and a sad smile, one she caught and blushed at, but still smiles back to me. I look to my eldest sister and motion her up to the mic while I take a seat beside her. Once I am all set, I nod to my sisters to begin.

“This song is called Cold, and may those who could make it, never be forgotten.” With that, Nat begins the song.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vgAQzPK53Rg

As Nat begins to play her part the crowd is immediately drawn into the tone of the song. And once Lex starts singing, then the real song begins. The somber tone, the melancholy lyrics, all of it cultivating in one of the few song that made me cry when I first listened to it. Once my part came up, my violin’s sounds melded perfectly into the melody, just adding more power to the song.

I closed my eyes and allow myself to focus solely on the song and the thoughts it brings rushing to the surface of my mind. Of course, this song reminded me of what Penny and Pyrrha when through back in Remnant, but it also brought to mind what Lex went through on Earth. Even if things looked sad at that moment, there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Before long the song fades out, each of us taking a small breath as the crowd erupts into tearful cheers at our performance. I lower my instrument and glance to the crowd, locking eyes with Penny again as she wipes her eyes. Penny smiles to me and places her hand on her heart, a motion I smile and mimic myself. I place my violin down and walk to my sisters, bringing them in for a quick group hug before Lex steps up to the mic again.

“Alright, after an emotional song like that, I believe we have the perfect one for our last performance. This one is for those who never give up, for those who follow their heart, no matter what. An Unwavering Heart.” She says, getting ready. Nat heads to the mic and stands next to her and I get my instrument ready again, Sora appearing at the piano for this song. With a nod, we begin again.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=id4iRkRAT7Q

The crowd is immediately drawn in as my sisters sing together. They listen in awe as I begin to play my violin along with the other musicians, adding to the song again. I could all but see the memories of determination appearing in the heads of all the ponies present. I am not sure how, but I knew Penny we remembering the moment she revealed to Ruby she was an android. I just smile as I continue to play, the band ponies smiling as well.

Before long the instrumental piece begins, the crowd in awe at the music we are creating for this party. I smile as we soon come to the end of the song, the crowd cheering louder than before. I smile and stand next to my sisters, the band ponies next to us and we all bow to the crowd before exiting, stage left.

All of us smile as we walked off stage and towards our friends. Penny was the first to reach us, or more accurately me, jumping up to me with a small cheer and a laugh. I laugh along with her and spin a couple times, holding her close as she nuzzles into my chest. A quick glance showed my sisters being hugged by their dance partners, each with their own smiles. I let Penny go and we meet back up with the others.

“Wow, at least I now know what is different about this realms Twi.” Rainbow says, and I just now notice just how close my sister and Twilight are. Twi and Nat blush look away from each other and before glaring at Rainbow.

“Very funny Dash. I am sure your Twi would love that joke.” Nat says sternly, but with a blush on her face. I quietly laugh to myself at how flustered she is being.

“Oh calm down Nat. We all know that you don’t swing that way. That we know of.” Dash says with a smirk, leaning against her double. Nat and Twilight are not amused and just glare at the chromatic Pegasi with deadpan glares, the two Rainbow’s beginning to sweat under their intense gazes before Lex steps between them.

“Relax sis. We all know how Rainbow acts. It’s a multiversal constant.” She says. Nat just sighs with a nod, the princesses walking up to our group.

“Well, I guess its time for you guys to go huh?” Nat says sadly. I nod with a small sigh, putting my mask back on. Lex also nods, but seemed to remember something if her grin is any indication.

“But first things first. Meet you guys at Twilights! Direct Line!” After she says that she disappears, leaving us in confusion. We look to Echo and Sonbā with raised brows, only for them to shrug. Each of us sigh and put our coats on, before leaving the castle and towards Twilight’s old home.

“So, any idea what Lex is up to?” I ask after a bit, pulling the slightly shivering Penny closer to me.

“No idea. Though this was good timing as Lex was having some trouble deciding what magic to teach some of the guild members.” Sonbā replies.

“Yeah, Edward mentioned how she taught him Arc of Embodiment, but how did she do that?” Penny asks, trying to get closer to me as we walk, Selene on her head not helping at all.

“Well, like Lex said earlier, she found a chest that contained a bunch of the magic styles from Fiore. She learned the style called Archive and used that to teach me and this Edward how to use the new type of magic.” He replied.

Oh, cool. I wonder if Lex could give me and my friends magic?

As I wondered this, our group finally passed by the last turn to Twilights. Walking up to the door, Nat paused, eyes shifting around slightly. I wonder what she is doing. And what is up with the magical energy surging in the house?

Walking in, we hear what sounds like crinkling paper, and we spot Lex panting on the couch, sweating quite a bit

“Lex? Are you ok?” Nat asks, taking off her boots and coat.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just took a bit more energy than I thought to get the stuff ready.” She says, getting out of her seat. I watch her leave for the kitchen, curious what she is doing. She comes back a second later with a couple of present boxes in her magic. I raise my brow them my eyes widen in excitement as Lex levitates the presents over to my group. One for me, one for Penny, and one for Rainbow. I glance to her and see her pointing to the tree where there are a few more presents for the natives of this world.

“Obviously, as per the rules of Hearths Warming and Christmas, you guys are not to open your presents until tomorrow morning.” Lex says. The three of us nod with excitement and pluck our boxes out of the air, curious about what Lex made the three of us. Lex then snaps her fingers and suddenly brings up a screen with Archive. I tilt my head curiously as she creates a few screens with her magic.

“Alright. Before we leave, I think we should have a group photo.” She says. All of us smile and Nat heads to the couch, sitting in front of it with Sora appearing next to me. The rest of us follow suit with Chance laying next to Nat on the floor and Topaz sitting on her lap and Selene on her head.

I stand in the centre behind the couch, Penny and Rainbow coming over to my sides, Penny wrapping her arms around one of mine. I just smile down to her as the others find their spots, Twilight’s family sitting on the couch itself, Sonbāsutā and Lex at both ends of the couch, and finally Echo hovering above me in the centre.

“Alright, everypony ready?” We all nod to her. “Alright, on three. One...two...three. Say cheese!” We all smile and say cheese as the screen in front of us flashed like a camera. Lex hovers the screen over to her and types in a few commands into a keypad and summons a different spell matrix. After a second, the spell matrix causes four different versions of the photo to appear in her hand. She smiles and dismisses the screen, handing a copy of the photo to Nat, Twilight and myself before dismissing the screen. The four of us get together for another group hug before we all leave.

“We missed you guys.” Sora say quietly as Nat grabs some kind of screen device from her purse and tosses it to me and Lex, her creed playing in our heads. So this is her token. I nod with a smile and toss my mask to Lex, another one appearing on my face a second later.

“Well, looks like we are done here. I won’t lie, this is a huge weight off my mind to know you two are ok. If either of you ever need any help against an opponent, don’t hesitate and my team and I will be there.” I state with a smile, my partners nodding with me. My sisters nod in thanks.

“Same here. If you guys ever feel like popping by or need a place to stay for a bit, I can make you guys honorary members of the guild.” Lex says with a smile. We smile to her as Nat takes out our tokens.

“It was great to see you two again. I love you both. Our business is finished.” After she says this, our portals appear again. Sonbā and Echo leave through theirs first and before Lex leaves she turns to my Rainbow.

“Oh yeah, that spell altering your color will dissapear in a couple days just so you know.” She finishes with a smirk and jumps into her portal back home. RD goes wide eyed as she remembers her colours were changed.

“Dang it! Hopefully the girls don’t freak out too much about me having a different color scheme.” She says to herself as she leaves through the portal with her present, earning a chuckle from the rest of us. Penny and I grab our things before heading to the portal, pausing before entering to wave goodbye to my sisters. I smile as the two of us walk through the portal to our version of Equestria.

‘I missed you girls. I love you three. Don’t be strangers.’

Chapter 17: Semblance of Magic

View Online

I can’t help the smile on my face as Penny, Rainbow and I leave the portal and arrive back in front of my guest room in the castle. Checking the window, I see the moon is high in the sky, around the same position as when we left Nat’s world so time didn’t flow all the differently from this world.

“Oh man, I can’t wait for tomorrow morning! I am not going to be getting much sleep with this thing in my room.” Rainbow says, tossing her present box into the air a few times.

“I know you’re excited RD, but try to restrain yourself.” I tell the pegasus before an idea pops into my head. “How about this? The three of us will meet up at dawn and open the presents before heading to the training grounds for tomorrow’s lessons. Sound good?”

“Sounds good to me captain. I’ll see you two in the morning, night!” With that, Rainbow dashed down the hall towards her room. I chuckle slightly before looking to Penny, the girl shifting on her feet.

“I’ll see you in the morning, okay Penny?” I say, stepping closer to her. Penny looks up to me and nods, her face flushing slowly. I raise a brow, but before I can question it, Penny leans up and gives me a kiss on the cheek before sprinting down the hall and to her room. I just stand still, eyes wide, before slowly placing a hand on my cheek and smile.

‘Yup, I have a crush alright.’ I think with a laugh before entering my bedroom and getting ready to sleep. After a quick shower and changing into some sleeping shorts, I crawl into the oversized bed and turn off the lights. Right before I close my eyes, I glance to the present I got from Lex, silently wondering what my sister made for me and my friends.

Right Before Dawn...

My eyes snapped open to the sound of almost frantic pounding at my door. Getting out of the bed and putting on a shirt, I open the door to reveal Rainbow and Penny, the latter still in her pyjamas, rubbing her eyes, while the pegasus has a giddy smile on her face.

“About time Adam! I wanna see what we got, so hurry up!” She says, rushing past me and sitting on the couch, her present sitting in front of her. I spare a glance to Penny, who just shakes her head and carries her own present to the table, yawning again. I sigh and levitate my present to the table and join the others, Rainbow vibrating in her seat.

“I guess, go for it?” I say slightly unsure, rubbing my face. Rainbow immediately grabs her box and begins to tear apart the paper wrapping, while Penny and I actually unfold the paper as not to make a mess. Looking to the presents, they all appear to be the same thing, a cardboard box with some kind of digital writing on it. Rainbow looks to me with a raised brow as she looks at her sealed box.

“Looks like some kind of Enchantment. The questions is what it does, considering these appear to be sealed with scotch tape.” I say, slowly peeling back the tape from the box. As soon as the tape comes free and the box opens, the writing glows, then fizzles out. I raise a brow again and look into my box, seeing....something I was not expecting.

Inside my box is a black, dark green and purple flame, the plasma somehow not burning the box or really emitting any form of heat. The girls share my confused expression as they open their own boxes, Penny’s having a bright yellow flame and Rainbow’s being somewhat transparent and prism looking.

“Okay? Any idea what this is Adam?” Rainbow questions, looking at the flame in her box from several angles.

“Not really. I am not the best when it comes to magic, but these are no normal flames, that much is certain.” I mutter, looking over my own flame in confusion. Penny just looks at hers, almost mesmerized, before slowly extending her arm and trying to hold the fire. Rainbow and I jump back as the flames rapidly climb up Penny’s arm before covering her completely.

“Penny!” I yell in shock, about to grab my sheets to beat down the flames, only for them to dim and begin to fizzle out, leaving my partner confused.

“Um, what? Why don’t I feel burned, hot, or in pain? Why do I feel....stronger?” Penny questions, looking herself over. I raise a brow for the third time this morning, glancing to Rainbow, who is equally confused, before looking to my own flame.

After a moments hesitation, I back walk to my box and grab the fire, allowing it to cover me like Penny. I could feel it, this was no normal fire. I didn’t feel warm at all, in fact I felt a chill go down my spine as the flames cover me from head to toe. I look over my flaming body with a critical eye, seeing the fire appear to meld into my flesh instead of burning or sizzling it.

After a few moments longer than Penny’s, the flames begin to reseed, leaving me with an odd chill and burst of energy, making me one hundred percent awake. Once the flames go out, I glance over my body again, seeing nothing new, before focusing inwards. I could sense my soul, my aura, was slightly stronger, but when I focused towards my magic, I can’t stop from gasping.

My magic, visualized by a red and silver orb, now had black mist surrounding it, some off purple and green lines wrapping around it. I open my eyes wide as I realize what this was, just as Rainbow grabbed her own flame.

“Magic.” The girls turn to me, curious. “These flames, they’re magic transfer flames.” I explain, the duo still not understanding, before Penny looks to my box and spots a note sticking out of the bottom.

“Adam, it looks like your sister left you a note.” She says, grabbing the note and handing it to me. I nod in thanks and take a seat on the bed, the girls sitting on the sofa nearby. After a quick breath, I open the letter and begin to read aloud.

”Dear Adam,

Hey bro. It’s nice to see that you trusted me enough to grab the flames in your boxes, I know that must have been nerve wracking, but I promise it will be worth it.

Anyways, as we have told you before the party, I am a wizard with many forms of magic at my disposal. I also have the ability to grant others their own magic through spells like Archive’s Download and the Transfer Flames, similar to the Flames of Rebuke. You have told me how dangerous your version of Equestria is, what with the Grimm running around, so I decided to grant the three of you Fiore magic to give you a leg up on the Grimm.”

I go wide eyed and look to my friends, Rainbow and Penny looking to their hands in shock at learning they now have their own magic flowing through them. Rainbow in particular looks excited, her wings springing out. I shake my head slightly and continue to read.

”For you Rainbow Dash, you mentioned that you are training to become a huntress that uses a bow that splits into scimitar-like blades, so I want to help you. I grant to you an experimental magic I had been working with that allows you to create magical arrows for combat. For example, with this magic, you can create arrows made of pure light or pure darkness for an attack, as opposed to just regular arrows. Now since this magic is experimental, it will be up to you to discover its limits and how to compensate.”

Rainbow’s face splits into a smile I would expect on Pinkie at the prospect, before she closes them tight, clearly trying to concentrate. Penny and I scoot back a couple inches as Rainbow tries to use her new magic, a small silvery spell matrix appearing in her hand before a single arrow that looks like it is made of green wind appears in her hand. Rainbow pants from the use, frowning that she only made a single arrow.

“Ok....looks like you are going need to practice with that.” Penny mutters. Rainbow sighs and lowers her arm, the arrow disappearing in a small swirl of wind. I shake my head slightly and look back to the letter again.

”Next, for Penny. I know about how you used to be a robot back in Remnant, and you mentioned you knew quite a bit about how electrical currents worked, so that is the magic I gave you. Lightning Magic. As the name implies, it allows you to control and use the power of lightning and electricity at your leisure. Obviously it is very useful for offence, but it can be used for defence as with enough practice, you can learn to turn your whole body into plasma, making you virtually intangible.”

Penny goes wide eyed as I read that out, before gaining a determined look in her eyes and sits cross legged. Unlike Rainbow, Penny tries to meditate on it, and I can sense how she is trying to not use her aura. Rainbow and I watch in silence as Penny focuses, and before long, arcs of gold and green electricity begin to spark around her body almost calmly. Rainbow and I smile and Penny opens her eyes, looking at the electricity dancing across her body and between her fingers.

“Wow.” Is all she can say, her eyes shining with happiness. She closes her hands, the electricity vanishing from her body before nodding. “Alright, it appears I need to study those magic books on my free time.”

I smile to her with a nod before looking to the letter once again, curious about what magic I got that could change my magics look so much.

”And for you my brother, I have given you magic that is actually the opposite of what you should be able to use, but I know you can do it. You told me once about the silver eyed warriors, how they were fighters of the light and have the ability to use their eyes to defeat the Grimm. I can tell you haven’t been able to unlock it yet though, so I grant you the opposite power, some I know you’ve always wanted to be able to use.

Darkness and Shadow Magic.”

The three of us go wide eyed at this, the girls looking to me then to one another in shock. I quickly shake my head and continue to read.

”Back when I first introduced you to Fairy Tail, you mentioned how you would love to be able to use the darkness for good and to protect others, trying to be the opposite of the villains who use the darkness. Well, here’s your chance. Along with the Shadow magic that was showed early on, I also gave you several dark magic spells used by the likes of Zero and Midnight. The list should be in the box. I don’t need to tell you have powerful and dangerous these spells are, so practice with caution.

Also, for each of you, your magic is very adaptable, so I have no doubt the three of you will end up developing your own spells (or create magic forms of attacks from other media) so be sure to practice and don’t go overboard. Good luck!

Sincerely, Lex.”

I put the letter down and take a seat on my bed, trying to wrap my head around this. I have darkness magic? A silver eyed warrior, has the ability to use the darkness and shadows? I sigh quietly and look to my present box, seeing the small note that should be a list of spells. I am about to get up and grab it, only to pause and thought of something else.

Sitting cross legged on my bed, I focus on my magic, and more accurately, the new magic I can sense is flowing through my veins. After a second, I feel the magic connecting to me and I smile. The girls look in confusion, then shock as my shadow begins to shift before what looks like a tendril of pure shadow stretched from my shadow towards the box, leaving the floor and grabbing the note before bringing it to me. I grab the note from the shadow tendril as my shadow shifts again and goes back to normal.

I chuckle a little at the stunned looks on Penny and Rainbow’s faces before looking at the list. According to this, I have access to quite the selection of darkness and shadow magic. Pretty much all the spells used by Zero during the Nirvana arc, and the spells used by Kageyama during the Lullaby arc. Somehow, I knew I could also use this magic to copy the abilities of some other characters from other shows, eventually.

I smile and place the note on my nightstand before grabbing my outfit for the day.

“Well, it looks like we have quite a bit of training ahead of us. But for now, I suggest you two get changed and meet me at the training hall, we still have a long day ahead of us.” I tell the duo, Penny and RD nodding and grabbing their messes before leaving my room. I release a sigh as I head to the washroom to shower, grabbing a towel with my shadow.

‘Yeah, I could get used to this.’

One Week Later

Opening my eyes, I am greeted once again my the canopy of my temporary bed in the guest wing of the royal castle. Today was the last day for training the White Fang before we head back to Ponyville to recharge and hang out before coming back. Plus I apparently had a meeting with the other leaders of the guard and Shining Armor today for some reason, so there was that.

Getting out of bed and heading to the washroom, I pause as I pass the mirror, looking over myself for a second. I was by no means ripped or fat before coming here, being an athlete prevents you from being the latter, but I saw how lean and admittedly muscular I was, especially now with all the small bruises dotting my body from training my soldiers.

After a second though, I activate a spell I gained from Lex, one not in the show, and watch with fascination as black markings begin to climb and cover my exposed skin and even along the sides of my face. They looked a lot like the black markings Black Star from Soul Eater gains whenever he used his Shadow Star forms. I am not sure if the markings were intentional, but they were badass. Especially my eyes, in which my sclera turned black and my pupils narrowed into slits like Spikes eyes.

Dismissing my spell, I hop into the shower and get a quick rinse before getting changed into my original outfit and heading to the dinning hall. Passing by the other guest rooms, I stop in front of one a few doors down and knock.

“One moment please!” I hear from inside before the door opens, Penny walking out with a smile, tightening her bow. “Good morning Adam.”

“Morning Penny. Ready for breakfast?” I question with a grin, the human nodding with a smile and walking alongside me to the dinning hall. “Hey Penny, nice job with practice last night. You are really getting the hang of using your lightning.”

“Thank you Adam, but it is only because I have such a great teacher.” She says with a wink and a giggle, earning a chuckle from me. The night we got our magic from Lex, Penny and Rainbow have been wanting to practice, but it is rather difficult to do so after a whole day of training, so I found a small loophole that lets the three of us training without worry of either someone getting hurt or needing to worry about our bodies exhaustion. Dreams.

So at night, I used my Dream Walking magic and made a shared dream between myself, Penny and Rainbow, where I would help Rainbow practice how to utilize her magic, while also showing Penny a bunch of electrical attacks, not just from Fairy Tail, but also from other universes like Naruto, Pokémon and DC.

So far, Rainbow has been able to figure out how to summon arrows made of wind, light and ice, and how to summon them continuously, though she can’t seem to fly when she is summoning a bunch of them. Penny has also managed to learn how to control her lightning for attacks like her own version of Chidori and Discharge as well as how to turn her body into intangible plasma. But I knew the three of us still had a ways to go before we can claim to have mastered these new powers.

Shaking my head to clear it, Penny and I turn a corner and see the entrance to the dinning hall, but something is defiantly up. Not only are there two solar guards up front, but also two lunar guards, two White Fang members, two Crystal Guards, and also what appears to be the Wonderbolt guards. I look to Penny, who is equally confused, before walking to the doors and opening them up.

I am immediately bombarded by the sound of talking as I see that not only are the royal sisters here, but so are Shining and Cadence, the Element bearers and Spike, Ruby, Pyrrha, Oscar, Qrow, Captain Iron Frost, Captain Midnight Blossom, and who I recognize as Spitfire of the Wonderbolts, all sat around a table eating and chatting with one another. All talking comes to a screeching halt as Penny and I walk in.

“Ummm, are we interrupting something?” I questions awkwardly. The large crowd all shrug.

“Not really. We were waiting for you two to show up.” Twilight says, motioning to two seats next to Luna that were empty. Penny and I shrug to each other and take our seats.

“So, what’s up Adam? Been a while since you were in Ponyville.” Ruby says, taking a big bite of her sandwich.

“Eh, not much Ruby, just training the White Fang took a little longer than I thought.” I say, grabbing an apple and taking a bite.

“Quite. Though I must admit, the coloration of your division is simply divine darling. White and red work so well together.” Rarity gushes, looking at one of the members, who blushes under her gaze.

“Thanks.” I say simply, silence slowly beginning to cascade across the table. Eventually it becomes enough and I sigh. “Alright, what’s this all about? I know I had a meeting with the other captains today, but over breakfast and with my friends present?”

After a second, Celestia clears her throat, earning our attentions.

“Well Adam, you see, the other captains have brought to my attention that you have had no previous military training, yet your training regiment you place your soldiers under is top notch and even stressful. They merely wish to understand the man behind the madness as it were.” She says, barely flinching as I turned my masked gaze to her, lowing my mask.

“Alright, but that still doesn’t explain why everyone else is here. No offence guys, but I assume the military of this kingdom would have some degrees of discretion.” I say, looking over the elements and Remnant natives.

“Maybe I can explain.” We all turn our gazes to Spitfire, who looks to me with a neutral yet almost challenging face. “I heard about how you faced Princess Luna in a duel a few months back and to be honest it sounds a little too fantastical for me. I mean, absorbing a spell that would normally kill somepony then sending it back. Yeah that sounds a little much.”

I look to her with an almost equal neutral mask, before seeing the glint in her eyes and get what she wants.

“I see. So, am I to assume you want to test me to see if I deserve the rank of Captain of the White Fang?” Spitfire barely flinches as I hit the nail on the head. I smirk to her, before leaning back and thinking about it. I have little doubt I could beat her, she is just really fast and strong, but training with Ruby and Rainbow made me great against speedy opponents.

“Do either of you agree with her?” Penny questions Midnight and Iron, the two captains glancing to each other.

“To be perfectly honest? I know that Adam is more than material for his rank, but I wouldn’t mind testing him out in a personal duel. Unlike her highness, I don’t plan on holding anything back.” Iron Frost states, Luna shifting in her seat as she realized all of us knew she held back in our fight.

“Same goes for me, though I do want the chance to fight more than just you, Captain Taurus. I would like to fight one of your subordinates as well, to see how they would stack up.” Midnight says. I look to her with a nod before turning to Shining Armor, seeing if he wants to add his hat into the ring. After a second, and a nod from his wife, he spoke up.

“For me, I just want to see how I would stack up compared to you Adam. I know firsthand how well you fight against the Grimm, and I have little doubt fighting actually sentient beings wouldn’t be much more difficult for you.”

I nod to him before leaning back again, thinking about all this. The three leaders of the other three branches of the guard all want a chance to fight me, and one of my soldiers in Midnights case. I am not sure how a normal person would react to this, but I was far from normal. I wouldn’t completely mind fighting each of them, but setting up individual duels would be rather tiresome. After a second, I get an idea, but I needed someone’s opinion.

“Hey Luna? Can you cast a privacy spell on me and Penny?” I question, the crowd caught off guard from my request.

“May we ask why?” She questions.

“Just wanted to run something by her really quick.” I answer simply, the gathered ponies and humans looking to one another in confusion before Luna nods and light her horn, a blue bubble appearing around Penny and I. I nod to the lunar princess in thanks and turn to Penny.

“What’s this about Adam?” Penny questions, I just grin, and go over my plan with her, those outside the bubble confused when Penny begins to silently gesture around.

“What do you think their talking about?” Ruby questions her uncle, who just shrugs with a grunt.

“With those two, who knows? They have a different type of chemistry with each other than they do with others.” Qrow says, taking a swig of some coffee.

“Kinda an understatement.” Rainbow mutters, not being heard by anyone other than Cadence, who raised a brow at her, sensing the jealous she senses when we met was all but gone.

‘Hmmm...maybe..’ Cadence turns to Penny and I as I finish going over the plan, Penny thinking for a moment and nodding. I wave over to Luna who drops the spell around us.

“Alright then, we have come to a sort of decision. You four all want the chance to fight me, and I wouldn’t be completely against that. But I think we should make it a little more interesting.” The four ponies look a little nervous at my grin. I glance to Penny, who nods with her own grin, before turning back to the ponies.

“Eight on two. You four and one of your strongest subordinates against me and Penny.” There was stunned silence for a moment, before Pinkie took a swig of her water, only to do a spit-take that somehow missed everyone,

“WHAT!?” Was the collective yell, Penny and I covering our ears.

“Ow! Hey, watch the volume! Stronger hearing than most here!” I yell, shaking my head to get rid of the ringing in my ears. I could see the others give sheepish looks as my hearing goes back to normal.

“Sorry, but seriously, what!? You two against these four and their own soldiers?” Pyrrha questions, looking to Penny, who shrugs.

“In truth I am curious how I would do against true opponents, since the most I have done is sparing. I haven’t been in a real fight with another warrior since our duel in Remnant Pyrrha, and we all know how that turned out.” The Remnants flinch at that, Penny sighing slightly. I place a hand on her shoulder, the human smiling up to me.

“As for your worry, Penny and I are both more than strong enough to take on hordes of Grimm by ourselves, but we must also be ready to fight other warriors. So far it has been your groups to arrive, but there is no guarantee that Salem and her crew couldn’t find a way to get here. A battle against the leaders of the royal guard sounds like a good way to make sure we are ready to me.” I point out, leaning back in my chair. The gathered ponies all look to one another while the humans glance to Penny and I.

“I say go for it.” All eyes turn to Qrow. “He makes a valid point. Salem could find a way here, and we would need to be ready, not rusty from fighting only Grimm. Fighting one another is a good way to push yourself, to see how you would stack up against one another.” He goes to take another swig of his coffee, only for him to miss the handle and causing the remaining coffee to spill on the floor. He frowns and sighs at that.

“Yeah your Semblance sucks sometimes Qrow.” Spike deadpans, the others all nodding in agreement. There was another silence that settled over the table as the others all truly thought about my suggestion, Penny and I waiting quietly while munching on the odd piece of fruit. Before long Spitfire straightens up, a cocky grin on her muzzle.

“I’m in. And I know Soarin wouldn’t mind the chance to take you on. I just hope you can keep up Taurus.” She says.

“I guess we’ll have to see, won’t we?” I retort with my own grin on my face.

“In that case, Star Seeker and I are in as well. And we won’t hold back.” Midnight states, her fangs poking out her muzzle from her smirk.

“Same goes for me and Storm Hammer.” Iron says. All eyes soon turn to Shining Armor, the prince looking to his wife, silently asking permission. After a second, Cadence sighs and addresses me.

“Just don’t hurt them too bad Adam. Or else you’ll know why love can be so dangerous.” I felt a shiver run down my spine at her sweet yet deadly tone, nodding quickly.

“Well, it appears we have an impromptu fight to set up. Mayhap's we could inform the soldiers?” Luna says, her excitement evident in her eyes.

“Of course. It would only be natural for the soldiers to be present to watch their commanding officers battle. I just hope it doesn’t end up being too big a deal.” I say, grabbing a whole apple before standing up. “How about, two hours for prep before our fight?”

The ponies all nod and stand up themselves, heading to the doors to get ready. I turn to Penny, who nods up to me, the two of us leaving as well to grab our gear.

‘Looks like I get to practice my skills against some hopefully worthy opponents.’

Two Hours Later
Canterlot Training Stadium

I was leaning on the wall behind the entrance to the arena, waiting for Penny to show up. Like I expected, practically every soldier in the city and not a small amount of the populace came to the arena when they heard that I would be fighting again, even more so when they heard who my opponents were. Before we knew it the place basically turned into the Amity Colosseum, complete with concession stands selling popcorn and soda. The royals, Elements and humans were all seated in the VIP booth, having the best seats in the house, and I could all but hear the excitement coming from them.

“Are you ready?” I look down the hall as Penny heads my way, her back secured on her back and her mask resting in her hand.

“Yeah I think so. The question is if the ponies are ready to get beaten.” I say with a laugh, adjusting my Ember Celica. I had Wilt and Blush secured to my left side, and my philosophers stone around my neck, so I was more than ready for this fight.

Penny nods with a smile and leans on the wall next to me, seeming content with her proximity to me. I smile down to her before getting serious as I hear the horns blaring music. With a quick nod to Penny, we place our Grimm masks on, and wait for Celestia to call us out.

‘Here we go.’

Chapter 18: Battle of the Captains

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The gathered crowd made quite a bit of noise, all excited to see the match between the one who duelled the lunar princess to a draw and his partner, against two of the Wonderbolts, the captains of the Solar and Lunar guards, and the prince of the Crystal Empire. Most in the crowd were other soldiers, all of them hyped to see the battle between their commanding officers. In particular the members of the White Fang were all sorts of excited to see their leader give it his all against some of the best fighters in the kingdom.

In the VIP box overseeing the arena, the atmosphere was electric with excitement, mostly coming from the red hooded huntress who was vibrating in her seat.

“Eeee! I am so excited! I saw how well Adam fought Grimm when we met, but I have never seen him fight for real! And he is fighting alongside Penny to boot!” Ruby gushes, looking down at the arena.

“Ordinarily I would tell you to calm down Ruby, but I have to agree with you. Even when we have spared with one another, I could tell Adam never truly went all out against me. I am curious about what he can do.” Pyrrha says, taking a sip of her soda.

‘These guys are in for one hell of a surprise then.’ Rainbow thought to herself with a grin, looking towards the arena as well.

Before too much time passes, Princess Celestia gets a nod from one of her guards, telling her the fighter are ready and nod back. Some horns begins to sound out, causing the crowd to burst into cheers before silencing as the royal sisters appearing in the centre of the arena.

“Welcome everypony, to this exciting impromptu duel!” The crowd cheers again, before Luna raises her hand to silence them and turns to one of the entrances.

“On the left, we have the group of defenders you all know, those who protect our homes every day for years. Please join us in welcoming those ponies! First, Prince Shining Armor and Captain Shattering Jade of the Crystal Empire!”

The Crystal Prince and Captain duo entered the arena in their own respective armours, Shining Armor wearing his go-to gold and purple armor, a large trident held in his hands, with a sword sheathed along his back, the pommel having a shard Crystal from the Empire adding to its magical power.

Captain Jade was in the standard crystal armor, the silver shine contrasting with his green crystal coat and blue eyes. On his side was a simple sword and on his arm a triangular tower shield, nothing more. But those who knew him well, knew of his proficiency with both weapons.

“Captain Iron Frost and Lieutenant Storm Hammer of the Solar Guard!”

The two solar guards were wearing similar, but differently layers golden armor common in the solar guard. The pegasus Lieutenant had his helm in one hand, releasing the mess of a black mane normally hidden beneath, his other clutching a halberd, while his superior had his broad sword resting on his back, his usually bandages covering his eye replaced by a simple eyepatch for the match.

“Captain Midnight Blossom and Second Lieutenant Star Seeker of the Lunar Guard!”

The Lunar guards walked out after them, Midnight Blossom in full black, dark purple and silver armor, her bright yellow eyes appearing to glow in contrast to her uniform. On her belt was a single longsword, the cross guard matching her wings, with a few small notches near the end of the sword for catching enemy weapons and a sapphire in the centre part of the cross guard.

Her partner did not wear her helmet, preferring to keep her head free and letting her grey mane blow in the slight wind of the open arena. Her sword was similar to her Captains, but with a different gem, an opal, in the cross guard. Her outfit had slightly less armor, allowing for more maneuverability compared to her Captain.

“And finally Commander Spitfire and Lieutenant Soarin of the Wonderbolts!”

Spitfire and Soarin wore what appeared to be Wonderbolt gladiator-like leather armor with goggles, with Spitfire holding a large spear in her hands, the crosspoint having a small Fire Ruby embedded into it, while Soarin was with a belt of throwing daggers wrapped around his chest and two short swords in his hands.

(Authors Note: couldn’t find one for Soarin, but they are basically the same armor but obviously male and his has the dagger belt.)

The crowd erupted into cheers akin to a thunderclap as the ponies walked out of the tunnel and into the arena, each soldier looking ready for a fight. Star Seeker released a low whistle as she looked around the arena.

“Quite the turn out, eh Jadey?” She says jokingly, the Crystal captain sighing with a nod.

“Indeed. I did not expect this many ponies to be here. I guess word traveled faster than I thought.” He replies.

“Well when basically every soldier in the city heads to the same place at the same time, ponies are going to ask what’s going on.” Storm says, looking over the solar guard section and nodding to his brothers and sisters in-arms.

“And considering who it is we’re fighting against, you know Canterlot is going to be swarming in here to get some seats to this.” Midnight says, adjusting her gauntlets.

“Plus the fact you two are fighting as well just adds more publicity.” Shining says, addressing the Wonderbolts, who just chuckle at his pointing out the fact.

“Maybe. But I would like to think that most of the ponies here are just looking for a good fight as opposed to just wanting to see Soarin and I.” Spitfire says, throwing a thumbs up to the crowd, who cheer in response.

“That remains to be seen.” Iron states, keeping his eye locked on the tunnel on the opposite end of the field. The crowd eventually quiets down enough for Celestia to speak up again without using the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“And to our right, we have the warrior who duelled my dear sister to a draw all those months back, and along with his friends protected the settlement of Appleloosa from a horde of the Grimm. Please join me in welcoming the Captain of the White Fang, Adam Taurus and his partner, Lieutenant Penny Polendina!”

The crowd erupted into cheers again as the two masked warrior walked out of the shadows of the tunnel, their expressions hidden behind the masks of the very monsters they fight. Despite this however, practically everyone could feel the aura of seriousness coming from the duo, who remained silent for a while, standing a dozen feet from their opponents. Adam looks around the crowd, then over his opponents, before turning to his partner.

“You ready Penny?” He questions with a grin, one the human returns as she flexes her right hand, the pack on her back opening up as six swords extend and float behind her. Those who have never seen this before go wide eyed and stare in awe at the swords behind the human, barely noticing as the bracelets on Adam’s wrists extend into a pair of gauntlets.

“You know what I always say to that Adam.” She starts, grinning as they nod to the royal sisters who nod back and teleport to their seats. Penny turns back to the ponies before her, her grin never moving from her face.

“I’m Combat Ready!” the human calls out as Celestia nods to Ruby, the huntress extending Cresent Rose and aiming to the sky.

“Then let this match....BEGIN!” With that call from Celestia and a gunshot from Ruby, the battle begins.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kBQCwcjcMtY&t=10s

The response was immediate, Spitfire, Soarin and Star Seeker flying forwards quickly. Before they would reach the two hunters though, Penny goes through some quick movements, almost like dance moves, and controls her swords to fly forwards and intercepts the Pegasi and thestral. The three ponies are forced back as Adam and Penny rush towards them.

Adam gets the first strike, appearing before Soarin as the pegasus defends against two swords with his own, and earning a hard punch to the stomach, before being blasted back with a gunshot, his armor absorbing only half of the force put behind it. Adam barely has a chance to smile before he is forced to block several bolts of magic from Shining Armor and Iron Frost, the two unicorns firing off blasts while drawing their swords.

Adam grins and retracts his bracelets before rushing towards the two stallions, blocking each bolt that was aimed at him with his sword, before loading it into its sheath and firing it. Shining raises a shield that blocks the sword and sends it spiralling into the air. The prince barely has a chance to grin before Adam closed the distance, running along the shield and grabbing his sword out of the air before plunging it through the shield, barely missing Iron Frost’s face.

Adam jumps off the shield as Storm attempted a flyby stab, only to successfully break Shining Armors weakened shield while Adam lands on his back and pushes him downwards, resulting in Storm crashing into the other two stallions, the trio falling into a pile. Adam just chuckles at that.

With Penny, she is successfully holding back the likes of Spitfire, Midnight, Star and Jade, the four ponies unable to get a hit as Penny keeps them distracted with defending from her swords, and if they get close, they are ill prepared for the almost erratic movements Penny implements to dodge.

Spitfire grits her teeth as she tries to go in for a stab at the huntress, only for three of the humans swords to intercept and redirect her spear, resulting in a miss and a hard kick to the muzzle for her attempt. Penny focuses again and spins her swords infront of her like a pinwheel as Midnight and Star try to kick her, only to get tossed back and cut on the leg by the spinning blades.

Penny quickly backflips away from her spot as Jade charges through the spinning blades with his shield, attempting to run down the former android, and barely missing. To retaliate, Penny sends on of her swords infront of the stallions legs and pulls back, the invisible string causing him to trip and fall, where he is pinned by six swords pointed at unguarded spots.

Penny grins, then barely dodges as Midnight tries to slice her up. Bringing out another sword, Penny begins a standard sword fight with the Lunar Captain, one made harder as she takes out a second sword to defend against Star’s attempts. At one point the two ponies try to strike at once, Penny barely holding them back and going to a knee from effort before smirking as another two swords appear next to her shoulders. The two mares seem to recognize the danger and fly up just in time to avoid a duo of energy blasts. The two thestrals pale slightly as Penny points four of the blades at them, the blades retracing into a more compact shape, before beginning to launch several blasts of energy.

Adam spares a glance to his partner and sees her focusing on the two batponies and not noticing as the Wonderbolt duo get up and make a beeline to her. Adam sees this and grabs his sword, the red of his outfit growling slightly before unleashing a slashing beam towards Spitfire. Soarin sees the beam heading their way and warns his partner.

“Lookout Spits!” The pegasus turns in time to see the red slash of energy and takes to the air, dodging the slash which continues on its way, going past Penny and barley missing Jade before stopping at the wall on the side of the arena. The ponies all look to Penny and Adam as the duo group up before following their example and grouping back up with each other.

“This...this is not going well.” Shining states, rubbing his head with a wince.

“They’re so....powerful! Now I see how they were able to beat that Grimm horde by Appleloosa, and this is just the two of them!” Iron Frost says in disbelief.

“Yeah, I defiantly was not expecting them to be this strong.” Soarin says, rubbing his stomach.

“I don’t suppose anypony was able to spot any weak points in their defences?” Star questions, looking over Penny with a critical eye as her swords slowly hover around her.

“None. Not like we would do much damage anyways, their aura is protecting them from pretty much anything we would be able to hit them with!” Shining says in exasperation.

“Damnit, we should have studied these two more before rushing into this fight.” Midnight grumbles.

“Hey, did anypony notice how the red of Adam’s outfit lit up before he launched that slash attack, or was it just me?” Storm questions, the ponies all nodding to him.

“Yeah, apparently that’s a side effect of his Semblance, that lighting up thing. But that doesn’t really help us in taking them down.” Midnight states.

“I noticed when we were fighting there always seems to be a moments hesitation in their attacks. Maybe we could use that our advantage?” Spitfire questions.

Meanwhile with Adam and Penny...

“How are you fairing Penny?” The faunus questions with slight worry.

“I’m fine. A little worried though. These eight are no joke. I half expected this to be easy, but those eight could probably take on Carden Winchester and his team.” She says, adjusting her mask.

“Yeah, their flying in really annoying, and I am having to constantly stop myself from going for killing blows. I counted at least five strikes I could have taken that would have killed one of them.” Adam says with slight annoyance.

“And the fact they don’t have access to their aura’s is making it even more difficult. I am not sure how much longer I can use my swords before one of them gets seriously hurt.” Penny states with equal annoyance.

Adam looks to the eight ponies, seeing their annoyance at not being able to land a solid hit on them, before his eyes drift over the crowd and towards the VIP box. After a second, his eyes land on Rainbow Dash, who is talking with Oscar about something, and he gets an idea. He turned to Penny with a smirk.

“Hey P, how about we make this more interesting?” Penny raises a brow and leans in as Adam tells her his plan, causing Penny to light up in excitement and nod rapidly. The duo smirk and turn towards their opponents, Storm Hammer noticing the looks on the hunters faces.

“Hey guys, I think we got trouble.” The eight ponies turn to the human and faunus, prepping themselves for the duo to rush forwards and attack. They weren’t expecting Adam to slowly raise his hands, a dark aura covering them.

“What-“

“Dark Moment.”

The audience gasps as darkness like the moonless sky begins to rapidly fill the arena, blinding everyone who is covered with it. Even the nocturnal batponies night vision barely works as they are now only able to see half a dozen feet infront of them.

“What is this? Who turned out the lights?” Pinkie questions, looking around the darkness.

“Huh, looks like Adam and Penny are breaking out their new powers.” Everyone in the VIP box turns to the direction of Rainbow Dash, who has remained seated.

“What new powers does thou speak of Loyalty?” Luna question, using her own night vision spell to look at the mare.

“About a week ago Adam, Penny and I got summoned to another world like when Adam met that Edward guy. We actually ran into Adam’s sisters and one of them, Lex, gave the three of us new magical abilities. The reason Adam didn’t tell you guys is because we are still training with them.” Rainbow answers, holding up her hand, an off silver spell matrix appearing and summoning an arrow made of light that lights up the booth.

“Fascinating!” Twilight gushes, before everyone turned their attention back to the arena as they see sparks of electricity travelling along the floor, and into the air in some places after the sounds of claps.

“That must be Penny using her Alchemy. So this darkness....it is a spell Adam got?” Pyrrha questions, trying to figure out what Adam and Penny are doing.

“Apparently. He hasn’t actually shown Penny and I any of his spells, but I know from his sisters letter that he got a ton of darkness and shadow magic.” Rainbow explains, Oscar turning to her in shock as Ozpin takes over.

“Darkness magic? That shouldn’t be possible, he is a silver eyes warrior. A warrior of light! How can he have access to darkness?” The professor questions.

“That’s something Adam wants to know too. He was in the same boat as you professor. He doesn’t understand how he can use the darkness either, but he can.” The pegasus says with a shrug, before all eyes turn back to the arena as silence fills it.

In the darkness of the arena, the eight ponies all stand back to back with one another, looking around at any sound, mostly the sound of giggles from Penny and a sinister laugh from Adam.

“This is bad. Since when can Adam do something like this?” Shining questions.

“How about we ask him if we survive this Shining. Hey Midnight, Star, you two see anything?” Iron questions.

“I got nothing. This darkness, I can’t see a thing either. All I have been able to see is that Penny girl running around clapping her hands before the ground shifts.” Midnight answers, turning as her hearing picks up the sound of feet running across the ground before it goes silent again.

“Damnit. The clapping must be Penny using her Alchemy power. I’ve seen her use it every now and again to fix some stuff around the castle. Whatever she is doing, it can’t be good.” Storm says, looking over as he swears he could hear Adam laughing before it fades out like a ghost.

“Ok, anypony else starting to freak out here?!” Soarin says, looking around frantically.

“Calm down Soar! This is just to scare us as they get ready! Don’t lose your cool.” Spitfire reprimands, the stallion nodding before all of them freeze as they hear something. It sounded like something landed in the centre of the circle they made. Slowly turning, the ponies watch as Penny slowly becomes visible, a smile on her face.

“Hi.”

With barely a chance to yelp, Penny glows brightly compared to the darkness around her, electricity sparking around her, the released electrical pulse pushing back the ponies who go in all directions, some flying into pillars that were defiantly not there before. Before long the darkness surrounding the arena fades, and the gathered audience gasps again.

The arena that was once a simple dirt platform had changed. Dotting the arena was two dozen pillars, standing tall in seemingly random spots. Adam’s sword was stabbed into the top of one of these pillars with his bracelets and jackets wrapped around and laying next to it. Penny was sitting on the top of one of the pillars as well, somehow managing to get to the top within the few seconds the ponies were stunned.

Penny smiles down to the ponies who are managing to pick themselves up, before looking around at the randomly placed pillars.

“What the hell is this?” Jade questions the human, who smile down to him.

“Well, Adam and I wanted to make things more interesting, so we are not going to be using our weapons. We recently got a bunch of new magical powers, so we decided to turn this into a magic duel.” Penny states with a smile, the ponies looking around with confusion.

“Wait, where’s Adam?” Midnight questions, looking around the area.

”I’m right here.” the ponies look around, searching for the slightly distorted voice, when Shining looks to the bottom of the pillar Penny is on, and gasps as the shadow the pillar casts begins to shift.

“Um, ponies?” The others look to where Shining is pointing and watch in shock as the shadow begins to grow before rising up like a bubble. Once the odd orb of shadow is fully risen, it pops, revealing Adam, but something is different. His red t-shirt and visible skin has odd black marking covering it, even going to the sides of his face. Adam just grin and leans against the pillar with his hands in his pockets.

“I hope you guys are ready for round two.” He states, pushing off the pillar as Penny jumps down to stand next to him. The ponies all get themselves ready, the crowd cheering for the battle.

“Wooo! Go for it Penny! Mess them up!” Ruby cheers loudly.

“Go Adam! Beat the captains and I can throw you a party!” Pinkie yells, wearing some kind of Adam Taurus memorabilia, complete with a replica of his jacket. The others in the booth just shake their heads and laugh at the duo excited cheers.

The stare off lasted for a couple of seconds before Soarin decided to take the first move. Grabbing three daggers from his belt, he threw them at Adam with intent to at least distract him. He didn’t expect him to simply raise his arm, Adam’s own shadow shifting to rise off the ground and catch the daggers. With a quick flick of the wrist, the shadows twist and throw the daggers right back.

The ponies jumped back at the simple use of darkness, but this was just the beginning. While recovering from the surprise use, Storm got shocked as Adam suddenly appears in front of him in a swirl of shadows. Storm tried to defend himself by slashing at Adam, but his sword went straight through the huntsman, who disappeared and reappeared right above and behind the pegasus. Storm barely had a chance to look before Adam attacked.

“Shadow Knuckles!” A dark purple and black spell matrix appeared in front of Adam’s hand and from it a dozen fists made of shadow rained down a flurry of blows on the unsuspecting pegasus, sending him crashing into the ground. Adam smirks and uses ‘Shadow Walk’ to get to the top of one of the pillars, looking down at the stunned ponies who are looking to their injured friend.

“Is that all you got!?” Adam gloats, causing some of the ponies to become annoyed. Spitfire, Soarin, Midnight and Star all flew into the air, staring down the faunus.

“Don’t get cocky Taurus!” Spitfire yells in annoyance, but Adam just smirks, confusing the flying ponies.

“Look out, behind you!” The pegasi and thestrals barely have a chance to turn before they feel like they are getting shocked. They barely see the golden outline of a girl before the electricity flowing through their bodies and stopping their wings from beating results in them falling to the ground as well.

Penny frowns slightly and hovers over to another one of the pillars, deactivating her Lightning Body spell and looking down at the ponies.

“I’m sorry! I forgot that your armor would conduct my electricity more than your bodies!” The human apologizes with a bow. The ponies grit their teeth and the Wonderbolts manage to get to their hooves, while the Lunar guards are stuck on the ground.

“Heh, good thing leather isn’t a great conductor.” Spitfire snarks, spreading her wings and prepping her spear. Penny frowns to her and crouches slight, holding her left arm with her right hand, electricity beginning to gather in her hand with the sounds of a hundred birds chirping loudly.

With a grin, Spitfire launches herself off the ground fast enough that she causes a fiery trail to be left in her wake. Intent of striking the girl with full force, Spitfire clicked the Fire Ruby in her spear beforehand, causing the spearhead to burst into flames.

Once she is close enough, the pegasus thrusts the spear forwards, intent of breaking the humans aura, only for Penny to grab the spearhead in her electrically charged hand, the two forces of plasma trying to overpower each other. Spitfire grits her teeth in annoyance, before noticing Penny’s other arm being cocked back, her hand being straightened into a spear-like shape. Her eyes widen as Penny’s right hand is covered by electricity as well.

‘Is she going to try and stab me?!’

“Chidori!”

Spitfire doesn’t have time to react as Penny pulls her closer by the spear, and strikes her in the chest. Instead of stabbing her with the hand, Penny pushes her palm forward at the last second, still striking with enough force to both electrocute the pegasus and send her flying straight through one of the pillars.

“Spitfire!” Soarin rushes past the human towards his downed commander, the pegasus coughing up a small bit of blood while trying to remain conscious.

“Well...there goes a couple of my ribs.” Spitfire manages to say with a weak grin.

“I’d really suggest staying down Spitfire.” The duo look up to see Adam half submerged in the pillars shadow above them, his arms crossed. “Chidori is more than strong enough to kill someone if used as intended, but even the none lethal form will leave some damage.”

“Hey, don’t tell Spits what-“

“You’re right.” Soarin looks down to his commander in shock as she manages to rub her chest. “I’m done. I know that Penny could have killed me right then and there.”

Adam nods and merges into the shadow of the pillar before a shadow quickly travels along the ground towards Shining Armor and Jade. Spitfire looks up to her Lieutenant and friend.

“Soarin, don’t hold back. The hesitation thing I noticed earlier, it was those two trying to fight none lethally. All those small pauses were opportunities Penny and Adam found that could have killed us and stopping themselves from doing so. Be careful.”

Soarin looks down to his friend and nods with a determined glare, before rushing into the air and towards where Penny is facing off against the solar guards and Star Seeker.

“Ow damn it!” Storm Hammer yelped, jumping back from another bolt of lightning launched from the girl, a golden electric aura surrounding her and preventing anyone from getting close to her.

“Sorry, but you won’t be winning this.” She states, raising her right hand before launching orbs of electricity towards the two flying ponies, the duo doing their best to dodge even as the electricity in the air causes their fur and manes to stand on end, before rushing towards Iron Frost.

The unicorn stallion tried to shoot at Penny with his magic, but every magic bolt was either dodged or countered with a bolt of electricity. Eventually Penny made it in past the stallions sword and began to engage in hand-to-hand combat, her strikes enchanted with electricity, increasing their speed and force.

The stallions armor did little good and a lot of bad as the metal conducts Penny’s lightning, causing just as much damages as the hits to the spots without armor. Eventually Penny stops punching and spun on her heel, delivering an electrical roundhouse to the stallions face, launching him into another pillar.

“Damn! Since when was Penny so great at hand-to-hand?!” Ruby asks aloud.

“Since day two of training the White Fang. Adam pointed out how easy one could be left defenceless if they lose their weapons, so he trained all of us in Judo and some other martial art the original Adam knew. Penny seemed to be able to pick it up better than anyone else but me.” Rainbow answers, keeping her eyes on the battle.

With Adam, the faunus smiles as he used his shadow to work like spears and spikes, the Crystal guards and Midnight having to dance around him as his shadow increased to be three feet long, with a three hundred sixty degree circle of protection around him.

“Damn it! We can’t get close to him!” Midnight yells in annoyance, flying up as Adam’s shadow tries to go for her hooves.

Shining Armor growls quietly and tries to send a rapid fire barrage of magical bolts at Adam. In response, the faunus raised his right hand, dark green and black energy appearing in it.

“Dark Delete!”

Several orbs of dark green magic are launched from his hand and intercept Shining’s attack, before more are launched past them, causing Shining and Jade to take cover being their respective shields to avoid being hit.

“Oh come on! How is that fair?!” Midnight yells indignantly. In response, Adam just looked up to her with a raised brow.

“I’m sorry, but when has a war zone ever been fair? In a real battle, you either fight, run, or die. You use all the tricks in the books, even the ones we’re told never to use. In a real fight, if you continue to hesitate, you’ll be going home in a casket.” His cold response caught everyone off guard, even himself. Adam blinked a couple times and shook his head in confusion. “Okay...I have no idea where that came from.”

‘Now!’ Midnight sought to capitalize on the huntsmans confusion, sword at the ready to strike him. Adam noticed her though, and spoke two words.

“Dark Gravity.”

In that instant Midnight fell to the ground of the arena, feeling like she weighed a ten tons, being pressed flat against the ground hard enough for cracks to spider web out from under her.

‘Whhyyyyyy?’ She thinks to herself from her position on the floor.

“Ouch, I recon she’s going to be feeling that tomorrow.” Applejack states with a slight wince at the predicament the lunar captain found herself in.

“Indeed. This is almost embarrassing how our ponies are fairing against Adam and Penny.” Luna states, looking as Penny engages Soarin in combat while Adam takes on Shining and Jade.

“Yeah, but it looks like Adam and Penny are starting to run low on energy.” Oscar says, noticing the lightning around Penny becoming less prevalent and Adam pausing for a second every time he uses his shadows.

“Hmm, if they manage to notice that, then this could be over sooner than I thought.” Pyrrha says quietly, looking at all the combatants, in particular the resting Spitfire.

Back in the arena, Penny manages to fend off Soarin and force him to defence while Adam does the same with Jade. Before long both groups disengage and group back up together.

“How are you feeling Penny?” Adam questions with a slight pant.

“Tired. This is harder than I thought it would be.” the human says, trying to catch her breath. “I know that Twilight said magical exhaustion would feel like this, but feeling it and hearing about it are two very different things.”

“Yeah, you said it.” Adam replies, looking over the tired ponies talking with one another, clearly trying to think of a plan. “I think we should end this now.”

Penny looks up to her partner with widened eyes. “Unison?”

“Unison.” Adam says with a nod, taking off his mask and hooking it to his belt. Penny follows his example, taking off her mask as well.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FqLFj4LGEv0&t=9s

“Hey guys, I think those two are up to something.” Midnight says, seeing Adam and Penny take off their masks and take a few deep breathes. They watch as a dark aura covers Adam, his eyes opening and shocking the ponies as they see his black sclera and slit pupils. Penny also has her electrical aura covering her, her eyes glowing with electricity flowing out like tears.

“Oh crap. Whatever they’re planning, it cannot be good.” Storm states, standing slightly behind his commanding officer.

“What the hay!? So much magic energy!” Twilight shouts from her seat, watching in shock at all the magic being released from the already tired hunters.

“What is it those two are about to do?!” Pyrrha questions frantically, taking a swig of her soda in anticipation.

“Uh Shining? How strong are your shields again?” Star questions with worry, seeing all the energy being released by their opponents.

“Not strong enough on its own. Everyone grab hold of me, I’ll try to siphon some of your guys magic to add to my own.” the prince says, lighting his horn.

“Wait you can do that? Since when?” Iron questions.

“Do you really want to have this conversation right now?!” The stallion yells to his friends, Iron shaking his head and laying his hand on Shining’s shoulder. The audience watch in anticipation as the ponies all lay their hands on Shining, the stallion using a spell he learned recently to siphon his friend magic to create a shield the likes of which he had never made before.

At the same time, the humans and White Fang watch as Adam and Penny slowly raise their hands to one another, interlocking the fingers of their hands as their magic powers interact with one another. After a couple of seconds, their magic balance out, and they pull their arms back.

“Unison Raid! Two large spell matrixes appear above the two none ponies, the audience looking in awe at the attack.

The duo grit their teeth as black and green dark magic and lightning begins to gather around their interlocked hands, the two magics combining into one. Penny raises her free hand and makes a circle, the lightning appearing and staying in the air as Adam adds his own magic, red and black energy looking like fire wraps around the circle. Adam’s markings seem to emit a black mist as he uses his Semblance as well, the absorbed energy gathering at the point where he and Penny are connected.

“Sweet mother, whatever they are about to do is not going to be small!” Luna yells in excitement and a little bit of fear. Everyone in the VIP box nod in agreement to the princesses words. As the spell is about ready to be launched, Celestia and Cadence use their magic to create a shield around the audience.

“Let’s go!” Adam calls out, Penny yelling as their magic reaches the limit. Shining stresses his own magic and that of his teammates before being able to summon a rainbow coloured shield, much stronger than any he has ever cast before.

“Hold on guys!” The crystal prince yells to his teammates, the six other ponies nodding to him. A second later, the magic from the huntsman and huntress is ready.

“Dark Capriccio!”

“Laser Circus!”

With those two calls, the duo push their interlocked hands through the circle, their spell being a black and dark green beam of energy the size of Penny herself with blue, green and gold electricity wrapped around it being launched towards the defending ponies. The attack strikes the shield and begins to throw up a large amount of dirt, the shockwave of the initial strike causing the princesses shield spell to bend slightly from the magical pressure.

Shining Armor grits his teeth and tries to bear it, even focusing solely on the spot the spell is striking his shield to try and stop it. But they didn’t realize that Adam’s spell alone acts like a drill, weakening the shield spell with the lightning just making it all the stronger. Adam and Penny growl loudly as they push themselves to the limit, Adam’s Semblance running low fast.

A couple seconds later, they all hear it.

CRACK

All eyes in the arena widen as they see cracks begin to spread across the shield, the ponies behind it stunned as they see it happen right before their eyes. They don’t have a chance to react as the shield shatters and time seemed to slow down as the spell still speeds towards them. Soarin was the one who managed to say what all of them were thinking.

“Oh buck.”

In the next second the attack strikes and basically explodes, dust being sent into the air and blinding the audience of the arena. All around the arena watchers yell in excitement, worry, fear or all three at the same time at what just happened. Nopony knew what just happened, but they knew it hurt.

“Holy gods!” Oscar eloquently yelled, ducking as a chuck of rock broke through the shield and nearly hit him.

“Sweet mother that was strong!” Luna yells as well, looking to the arena with more than a little worry. For what felt like hours the arena was obscured by the dust cloud, before it began to settle, revealing the participants.

Adam and Penny were still in the same position, hands interlocked and outstretched with the sleeves of their arms being torn from the spell. The black markings and changed eyes of Adam had disappeared along with Penny’s electrical aura, the two warriors panting hard for breath. Their friends could tell the duo were struggling to stay standing.

The cloud of dust settled more, revealing what was left of the ponies. The seven ponies were scattered around their area, their armors in shambles compared to what they once were, with more than a few wounds bleeding. Each and every one of them were clearly unconscious, some twitching while others were completely still.

There was a stunned silence that covered arena as the audience looked at the aftermath of the attack. Before long Adam sighs slightly and looks to the VIP section.

“Can we get some medics down here please?!” He yells, his voice snapping the audience out of the stunned trance. The crowd roared into cheers at the spectacle as medical personnel run onto the field and take the unconscious ponies away. Celestia can’t help but smile as she stood from her seat, addressing the crowd.

“Mares and Gentlecolts, we have our winners! Adam Taurus and Penny Polendina win!”

The crowds cheers increased in volume again as the two warriors manage to smile before sliding down one of the pillars and sitting on the ground.

“Well...that was a thing.” Penny says between gasps for air. Adam nods and adjusts himself, putting his arm around Penny and letting the exhausted human rest against him. Penny takes a glance up to Adam and smiles as she rests her head against his shoulder. Adam smiles down to his friend and rests his own head against hers, letting his adrenaline run dry and rest.

In the VIP box, the element bearers and humans were going insane.

“That was amazing!” Pinkie yells, bouncing around the room.

“You said it Pinkie! I wish I could use magic like that! Oh, maybe I could connect it to my eyes!” Ruby theorizes in excitement, her uncle laughing with a sigh as he glances down to the resting duo. Something about how close those two were, their contentment at being so close to one another, it reminded him of someone. An old friend, and the times he and her were like that.

With a barely noticeable frown Qrow took out his flask and took a stiff swig of the liquid inside, trying to clear his head. All of the ones in the VIP box missed it. All of them, but his niece. Ruby frowned to herself and followed her uncles gaze, falling on the resting forms of Adam and Penny. Ruby was confused at this, why did Qrow need a drink after seeing those two together?

‘Uncle Qrow, I really wish you would just talk to me already.’

With a small sigh, Adam pulled his arm back and was about to stand to leave, when an admittedly adorable sound reached his ears. Looking down to his partner in battle, he found the shorter huntress snoring lightly, having fallen asleep from exhaustion while resting against him. Adam was momentarily stuck, not knowing what to do, when an obvious idea came to his mind.

With a quiet laugh, Adam adjusted his positioning, allowing Penny to fall into his arm, before putting his other arm beneath her knees. With a quick breath and turn, Adam stood to his full height, the sleeping huntress held bridal style in his arms. Penny didn’t seem to notice the shift in position, merely nuzzling her head into Adam’s shoulder in her sleep. With a small smile and a quick glance to his friends, Adam headed out of the arena and towards the barracks nearby. He got lucky in that everyone who saw him and his partner were quiet as to not disturb the slumbering huntress.

Entering the barracks a few minutes later, he walked into the commanders barrack, reserved for himself is he wished to stay in the barracks rather than the castle. Walking past the main room and towards the bedroom, Adam removed the covers and gently placed the still sleeping huntress in the bed, covering her up a second later. For a couple seconds, Adam just stayed there, crouching next to his sleeping friend, before smiling and leaning up, giving the huntress a small kiss on the head.

“You really are too cute for your own good. You know that right?” He whispers before leaving the room, missing the blush and smile on the tired huntress. Turning slightly in the bed, Penny allowed herself the quietest of all squeaks as she rubbed her chest, right above her heart.

‘This feeling....is this really what being in love feels like?’

Chapter 19: Newcomers to More Than Friends

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I release a tired and quiet sigh as I close the door to the bedroom, Penny clearly needing her rest, and I wasn’t all that better. Making my way over to the personal study area, almost like an office, I smile and lay down on the provided couch, kicking up my feet and relaxing my sore muscles. Never thought I would be able to say I helped in preforming a Unison Raid, but then again I could say I have done many impossible things since I got Displaced.

I knew that Penny and I would need at least a couple hours rest to be able to get our stuff and head back to Ponyville, but it was only a little after one in the afternoon, so a quick nap couldn't hurt.

At least that was the plan before I am broken out of my drowsy trance by a knocking at the door. I get off the couch as fast as I could to get the door. I didn’t want anyone to wake up Penny after a fight like that.

Opening up the door with a slight frown, I am tackled to the ground by a pink and red blur.

“Adam! That was awes-“ I cut off my fellow silver eyed friend and her pink earth pony attack partner with a hand over their mouths, shushing them and pointing to the bedroom door. The duo nod slowly and I release their sound holes and stand up, seeing the rest of the Elements, the princesses and humans silently laughing at the doorway.

“Come on, let’s head to the office. The walls and door are near soundproof in there.” I say quietly, everyone nodding and following me to the office. Once Fluttershy makes her way in, I close the door and sigh. “So....sup?”

“Sup?! Adam that fight was crazy! Why didn’t you tell us you and Penny could do that?!” Ruby yells, struggling to stay in one spot. I just laugh a little at her excitement.

“Because I wasn’t sure how to. It’s not exactly something you can randomly bring up in casual conversation.” I reply, taking my seat at the desk and leaning back. The others all find their own spots to either sit or lean against, each clearly curious.

“Well, could you maybe fill us in then? Rainbow only told us you three got summoned to another world and had a run in with your sisters.” Twilight says, clearly curious with a notepad and quill at the ready. I nod and reach into my jacket pocket, taking out the photo we all took at the end of the night.

“Here, maybe I should go over who is who first.” I say, holding the photo out. With that began the hour long explanation of who and what each of my sisters were, what we were doing in Nat’s world, and how we got our new powers. All the while everyone in the room payed very close attention to every word coming out of either mine or RD’s mouth.

“I was curious about how Loyalty’s fur and mane had changed, but I had just assumed she was victim to a prank backfiring.” Luna says with a small grin.

“Yeah you have no idea how weird that spell felt. It was like getting submerged with warm water but I could still breath. But, I’m not complaining. I always wondered how I would look if I decided to dye my mane or fur.” Rainbow says, lounging in the air.

“So you had fun at this...Hearth’s Warming party?” Pyrrha questions. I nod with a smile, but I wasn’t the one to answer.

“Best. Night. Ever.” All eyes turn to the door as a very much awake Penny walked in with a smile and blush directed at me, causing me to blush a little as well. The group all look back and forth between the two of us in confusion.

“Um, what?” Ruby bluntly asks.

“U-um, well...Penny and I may have...shared a dance?” I say quietly, suddenly feeling very shy. The girls all go wide eyed and look between the two of us quickly again.

“No...way.” Twilight whispers with a small smile. Penny ends up breaking the stunned silence with a small giggle.

“I am not sure why you are suddenly acting so shy Adam. It was a dance, so what? While it was amazing, I don’t see the reason to be so embarrassed about it.” Penny says, and I just sigh along with Qrow.

“It’s a guy thing Penny.” The drunk and I say in unison. The girls all laugh a little at our response before I shake my head again.

“Anyways, how are you feeling Penny? That spell we cast used a ton of magic.” I question with worry clear in my voice.

“Fine I suppose. A little tired still, but I am sure I can take a nap on the way back to Ponyville.” She says with a slight shrug before smelling something and scrunching up her nose. “Although, I may need to take a shower before we leave.”

“Hehe, I hear ya.” I say with a small grin, very much aware of how much I was sweating in that fight.

“Well then, I suppose we should go and grab our things for the trip back.” Pyrrha says with a smile, the others all nodding.

“Actually Pyrrha, can I talk to you, Ruby, Cadence and Rarity for a second?” I request, the four females looking to me curiously.

“Uh, sure thing Adam.” Cadence says, turning to the others. “You all go on ahead, we’ll catch up.”

The others all nod and head out of the office to their guest rooms, each of them curious about what I wanted to talk about. Once all of them leave, I close the door and cast a soundproofing spell for good measure.

“So, what is it you need to talk about darling?” Rarity question. I take a deep breath before addressing the girls.

“First, I need the four of you to Pinkie Promise you won’t tell the others about this.” The four girls look to one another in worry, all very much aware of the severity a Pinkie Promise is needed for. The quartet nod and go through the motions as I take a seat at the desk and rest my head on my hands.

“Alright, What’s going on Adam?” Ruby question with worry. I take another deep breath and try to steel my nerves. I never thought I would need their help with this, but I do. After a second, I look to the four of them with a serious gaze in my silver eyes.

“I want to ask Penny out on a date and I need help on how to do it.”

The silence at descended on the room could only be described as deafening as the girls all slowly process what just came out of my mouth. I knew they would be stunned silent at my declaration, but I needed to be blunt about this. Eventually, the first one to come back to her senses was Pyrrha, who looked only slightly broken.

“Say what.” She says bluntly.

“As I said, I wanna ask Penny out and am not entirely sure about how to go about it.” I reply, the girls processing it still.

“I...I don’t even....when...who....mouth, not working with brain.” Ruby mumbles incoherently, looking to my eyes for any trace of this being a joke. There is none. I just sigh and lean back in my chair, rubbing my face in only slight annoyance.

“So....I take it this came on after your dance?” Rarity finally asks, having brought her mind back from the aether. I shrug at her question.

“Sorta. I mean, even back on Earth, Penny was always my favourite character in Ruby’s universe, so I already liked her. I am honestly not really sure when it changed to this point.” I reply, glancing over the slowly recovering girls.

“Ok. Ok ok. So, why did you pick the four of us to ask for advice?” Ruby questions, sitting on the couch.

“Well a couple of reasons, first and foremost being you four are my best bets. Ruby you are Penny’s best friend, so you know her better than anyone else. Cadence you are the Princess of Love, so asking you for help was a given. Rarity you are the drama queen of Ponyville, so I knew you would at least be able to give suggestions about what to do and I was going to ask if you could make me a new outfit. And Pyrrha, really its because aside from Penny or Qrow, you are the one I trust the most.” The girls slowly nod along as I talk.

“Plus my selection is rather limited anyways. I can’t exactly as Qrow or Oscar about this since one is a drunk and the other is only fourteen. The rest of the Element bearers are also out since they aren’t really objective. They would tell me what they would want to do, not what Penny would want to do.”

The four girls nod again at my explanation, looking to one another and silently asking how we should start.

“Well, perhaps you can give us a frame of reference about your experience so we can help. How many dates have you been on back on Earth?” Cadence asks, the three other girls curious as well.

“Absolute zero.” I reply bluntly, the four of them leaning back somewhat.

“Wait, seriously? You’ve never been on a date before? How is that possible? You’re a great guy.” Ruby says, completely unabashed.

“Thank you, but Ruby, you have to remember I am only two years older than you. Plus after a not-so-great event with my eldest sister, I was always cautious when it came to those looking for a relationship beyond platonic or familiar. I was hit on quite a bit in and out of school, don’t get me wrong, but I never really allowed myself to look into the romantic side of things. At most I have been forced to suffer through a bunch of chick flicks with my sisters because they needed a chaperone or something. And one time I had to help a friend of mine come out of the closet to his parents, but that’s it.” I explain, leaning in my chair again.

“Well....I certainly didn’t expect that. You have been so outgoing to others from what I have seen. But then again I have seen how defensive you have been when it comes to your sisters.” Pyrrha mutters, pacing the length of the room.

“Yeah, so all my experience comes from a bunch of chick flicks and word of mouth so I really no idea on how to ask Penny out or even what we would do for a date. I’m kinda flying blind here.” I mutter in annoyance. I really wanted this to be a simple affair, not a five-star restaurant, walk under the moonlight kinda thing.

“Well, you already know my advice.” I look up from my desk as the smiling Pyrrha. “Just be yourself. I can tell that Penny likes you a lot as well, so why pretend to be someone you’re not. Like I told Jaune, you can’t get it wrong if its the truth.” Pyrrha and I end up chuckling at that, both of our laughs a little melancholy. I could tell she was thinking back to what Nora said after she told Jaune that.

“While I agree with you in that regard dear, I can perhaps make this a little more extravagant. Nothing over the top of course, but there is a new omnivorous bar and grill opening up in a couple days in Ponyville in response to the rise in visiting griffins to Equestria. Perhaps I can set up a reservation for the two of you.” Rarity says with a smile, one I return and nod in thanks.

“Honestly, I think you can handle this Adam.” We all turn to Cadence as she said this, the mare inspecting her nails. “I have been using my magic to see the emotions of pretty much everyone in the booth and in the arena during and after the fight, and I haven’t sensed a speck of lust or any other negative emotion between you and Penny. There is only curiosity, attraction and a growing speck of love. It’s obvious both of you are unsure if that is what you feel, but the fact is I can sense that both of you are at least curious about pursuing it.”

I nod after a second and truly process what she said. I knew that Penny and I like one another, the emotions the both of us felt during our dance being a pretty big indication, but the fact she was curious about pursuing it too did give me some relief that this wasn’t a one sided thing. I smile a little before turning to Ruby, the girl just raising a brow at me.

“What? It’s not like I can give you any dating advice here Adam. At least compared to these three. I’m just as blind about dating as you, probably even more since I never really felt attracted to anyone I have met before.” She says, leaning against the wall. I nod with a small laugh.

“Yeah I expected as much. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t help. There is at least one thing I want to do for Penny that I am sure she’ll like.” The four girls all lean in closer as I say that, clearly curious. I just smirk and shake my head. “I’ll tell you if she agrees to going out with me.”

The four girls all groan and frown at me, and I can’t help but laugh at their expressions. Eventually the four of them relaxed and joined in the laughter.

“Hehe. Alright, let’s get out of here. Thanks for the advice girls. Hopefully this all works out.” I say, dispelling my soundproofing spell as the five of us leave the room and the barracks. After a stopping by my guest room for a quick shower and to grab my clothes, I met up with all my friends at the entrance to the castle before we all left for the train station.

The girls, Oscar and Qrow all made small talk with one another as we made our way through the city, while I remained silent, trying to figure out the best way to ask Penny out. I knew it would have to be at some point when the two of us are alone, and wouldn’t be interrupted. Then I also had to check out that restaurant Rarity mentioned before stopping by Vinyl’s store to pick up something I commissioned her for. I just hope they’re done.

Before I even realized it we had arrived at the train station and were waiting for the next train to show up. I took out my scroll and began to listen to some music before going through some of the locked files again. I figured out that timer was for when I would run into my sisters, somehow, but other than that, not much has popped up in my device. I managed to open the ‘character files’ of team RWBY, JNPR and some of the secondary characters like Qrow, Sun, Ilia and obviously Penny, but some of the info almost looked like it was missing.

It may be because of when I left, but I think the missing info had to do with Volume 6. When I was displaced the Adam Character Short had already been released and I think the intro was going to be revealed a month or two later, so it could be possible my missing information had to do with Volume 6’s original timeline compared to the timeline of my friends. I could only hope this device was self updating so I could read about what I missed back on Earth. Maybe I could get some answers to some of the mysteries of the RWBYverse.

Before long the train arrived and all of us were in our cabin as the train headed down the mountain towards Ponyville. As she said she would do earlier, Penny found a way to lay down on my lap and fell asleep for the ride while I absentmindedly rubbed her head, the human humming in contentment. Honesty, this kind of physical contact is something I was always hesitant about when it came to those who weren’t family, but I seem to do almost on instinct with Penny. Maybe being a faunus made me more comfortable when it came to physical contact, I don’t know.

I could feel the girls eyes on me as I rubbed Penny’s head but I just ignored them and continued to read through some of the info on my scroll, learning little bits of information that I seriously doubt was in the show. Like Blake’s file, the rest of the files on the girls had things like their three sizes, preferred weapons, favourite foods, just random personal information that one would try to keep personal.

But there was one file that I haven’t been able to crack despite how much time I spend trying. Adam’s character file. No matter what password I try, what connection I try to make, that one file just refused to open. Maybe it is because I turned into him, but I feel like I should know any and all info about him.

With a silent sigh I exit the character files and go through a couple of my contacts, seeing I still have my sisters numbers even if I can’t contact them with my scroll. Maybe I could ask Screwball if she could use her Chaos Magic to let my scroll make calls through dimensions. Aside from them, I also have the numbers of the Remnant gang and Ruby even gave me the numbers for the rest of her team and of team JNPR. I can only hope they would actually pick up when they show up and I call them.

I must have been really lost in thought, going through my scroll, because before I knew it an hour had passed and Ponyville was coming up fast. Pausing my music and putting my scroll in my pocket, I glance down to the still sleeping Penny, seeing the small smile on her face. I guess she is having a nice dream. Good. The last thing I would want to see is her having a nightmare.

Gently shaking her shoulder, the girl mutters in her sleep before her eyes slowly flutter open with a small yawn. Rather than just sitting up though, Penny rolled onto her back and chose to remain laying down, looking up at me with a smile. I couldn’t help but chuckle and smile back down to her.

“You feeling better?” I asked.

“Much, thanks for letting me rest here.” she replies, finally sitting up and stretching with a satisfied sigh. The both of us turn to the others as we hear some of the girls giggling. While Penny looked confused, I just deadpanned stared at them and willed myself not to blush.

Eventually the train came to a stop and all of us departed into town. Looking to my scroll, it is around three in the afternoon, so I still had some free time to take care of some things. After arriving at the house and unpacking our stuff, I grabbed a bit bag with some of my personal funds and got ready to leave again.

“Hey Adam, where ya heading?” Oscar asks from his spot on the couch.

“Oh, just heading out to pick up a couple things. I should be back in an hour or so.” I reply, heading out the door as I see the young warrior nod. Making my way through town, my first stop was the music store Bass and Orchestra that was run by Vinyl and her marefriend Octavia. I had only briefly met them in my time in town and obviously I ran into Octavia in Natali’s world, but Vinyl seemed pretty cool.

Walking into the store, I smile as I see all the different instruments, from guitars to tubas to piano and even a theremin. Looking to the desk, I can see a familiar headphone wearing unicorn nodding her head to her music I can partially hear as some serious dubstep. Her purple shades were resting on the table infront of her, letting her bright scarlet eyes show.

“Hey Vinyl.” I say, earning the mares attention, who gives a cocky grin.

“Yo Taurus! I was wondering where you were. Heard you got into a scuffle with some of the captains of the RG. Good seeing you not in a full body cast.” She replies, her voice a lot like Rainbow’s in tone, very tomboyish, but higher in pitch.

“Hehe, yeah. Though that might be the case with my opponents, Penny and I didn’t really hold back.” I reply with a smirk, walking up to the counter. “So, you got my orders?”

“Yup, came in yesterday. Gotta admit, never saw you as a guitarist or a violinist. But, I guess books and covers right?” She says, heading to the back and coming back a minute later with a guitar and violin case in her hands.

I smile as I open up the guitar case, revealing a beautifully crafted mahogany six-string acoustic with forest green and yellow flower designs painted along the sides. Picking it up, the guitar is sized perfectly to fit my stature, the neck being smooth and long to work with my arms and the bend in the body all but moulded to fit against my knee.

Putting the guitar back in the case, I move on to the violin case. Inside is another masterpiece of musical crafting, this one being made from the wood of some apple trees apparently, with the four strings stretched perfectly and this one had a Snow White finish with ocean wave designs painted along the sides. The bow on the other hand was pitch black with swirling silver and cerulean designs along it, contrasting pretty well with the instrument itself.

I gently pick up the string instrument and place it on my shoulder, resting my chin on the chin rest just as I have been taught so many years ago and go through a couple of notes, the sound reverberating throughout the empty store. I barely noticed as a certain grey earth pony walked out the back room as I play the a few more notes before a song I love begins to come together.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CIXCL5VR9Ho

I am not sure where they were coming from, but other instruments began to join in as I played the song, these two being my absolute favourite songs in the whole of the Legend of Zelda series. I just closed my eyes and allowed myself to be absorbed into the music, barely noting as I hear a slight beep behind me.

Before long I come to the end of my impromptu song, hearing a duo of claps behind me. I turned and saw Octavia with an awed smile at me, while Vinyl was giggling to herself, a small recorder held in her hand. I end up blushing a bit as I realize Vinyl was recording my music.

“Umm, tada?” I say lamely, the two mare giggling at my response as I put the violin away.

“That was incredible dear! I never would have thought you were such an amazing violinist! Just where did you learn to play, might I ask?” Octavia praises, causing me to blush brighter.

“Heh, thanks. It was my grandmother who taught me when I was a kid, and it always just stuck with me. I prefer a violin over a guitar, even though I am about as good with one or the other.” I reply, taking out the bits for Vinyl to ring up my new instruments.

“Really now. Huh, despite the warrior motif, I can oddly see that. You always struck me as a family stallion-er, man.” Octavia says, so which I just shrug.

“Yeah I get that a lot. But having two older blood and surrogate sisters, a younger blood brother and younger surrogate sister, it isn’t all that surprising. My family is pretty big, yet really close.” I reply. The two mares nod, being used to big families because of the Apple family.

“Well, if you ever have some free time, feel free to stop by and we can record a couple of your songs.” Vinyl says with a grin.

“Maybe. But please don’t try and make an album. I am a huntsman, not a musician.” I reply with a laugh as I head out the door.

Exiting the store, I make sure the shoulder strap for the guitar case is properly set before heading into town, intent on finding that new restaurant Rarity mentioned. I saw that a new building was being constructed a little ways past the market, but I didn’t really take the time to wonder what it is going to be.

Walking through the market, about half the stalls are beginning to close up as the afternoon changes to evening, but they all wave and smile to me as I pass by, more than a few sending curious glances to the two music cases in my possession. I just smile and wave back as I make my way through before arriving at the new restaurant. From the outside it looked like one of those bar and grills my dad would visit with his friends every now and then, it even had outdoor seating.

Walking through the front door, I see that the inside is an average looking bar with a separated lounge area where the those who just want food would sit. I could see a few ponies and griffins going around, cleaning, setting up the tables and generally getting everything ready for the opening in a couple days.

One of the apparent employees noticed me and walked over with a small smile on his beak. He was a black feathered griffon with a gold beak and talon, his feline half being what appeared to be part lion judging by the tail. He was wearing a nice white chef coat and pants, with a small pair of glasses hanging off his coat pocket.

“Hello there. Welcome to The Valley bar and grill. I am sorry, but we won’t be open for business for another two days.” He says.

“Oh, ok. Um...dumb question. Are you guys accepting reservations for the opening?” I question awkwardly.

“Of course. Though, this would only be the third reservation for the time being. So, how many and why?” He asks, going over to some kind of log book.

“Just two. I was going to ask a friend of mine on a date and I wanted it to be at least slightly more romantic than a lunch date.” I reply, suddenly very nervous from saying it aloud. The griffon smirks somehow, and nod, writing in the book.

“Alright. Am I to assume it will be under Adam Taurus?” He says with his smirk.

“Oh! You’ve heard of me?” I ask in only slight surprise.

“Of course! There are very few who haven’t heard of ‘The One Who Matched The Moon’. You have really made a name for yourself both inside and outside the kingdom.” He replies with a laugh.

“Hehe, I guess so. Really though, I am not that much. I am a warrior sure, but I am not like, a knight or anything like that.” I reply with a sheepish grin.

“Heh, coulda fooled my mate.” He replies, closing the book. “I’ll do what I can and see to it that your date has the best night of her life.”

“Thanks, nice meeting you.” I reply, leaving the establishment and heading back to the house with a slight spring in my step. One that vanished as I got closer to the house and just now realized I had to figure out how to ask Penny out.

“Great. Now the hard part.” I mutter to myself as I see the house come into view. Walking in, I see the place it pretty deserted from the ground floor. With a small sigh of relief, I head up to my bedroom and put my new instruments away. Afterwards I check around the house, seeing that I am the only on in here at the moment. I guess the others found some things to do before dinner. With a sigh I head back to my room and grab my new guitar, intent on getting rid of the rust on my skills.

Sitting in the living room, I bring up my new guitar and tune it for a minute before its all perfect and begin to play a bit. Nothing all that extravagant, just a small tune that helps me get a feel for the instrument. I smile as my muscle memory for it comes back to me, my hands flying across the guitar as I pick up my pace a bit. Before long I stop my tune, and sigh with a smile.

“Wow. I knew you were great with a violin, but I didn’t know that extended to a guitar as well.” I jump slightly before turning to the front door, seeing as Penny walks in with a smile.

“Oh hey Penny. Scared me for a second.” I say with a small chuckle, Penny giggling and sitting next to me.

“So this is what you were saving up for.” She mutters, looking over my guitar.

“Heh, yeah. Even though we have jobs as hunters, we still need some hobbies to help us relax.” I reply with a smile, before an idea pops in my head. “Would you like to learn?”

Penny looks to me with widened eyes and then to my guitar before nodding rapidly. I laugh a little before freezing with a blush as Penny takes the guitar out of my hands and sits in my lap with an excited smile. It took me a second to recover, but eventually I take a breath and begin to go through how to hold and play the guitar, guiding Penny’s hands over the instrument. She seemed to understand quickly, playing through some of the notes without me guiding her.

“Ow!” She yelps as she goes through a couple more notes, looking to her fingers. I saw a few blisters beginning to form along the tips of her fingers.

“Sorry, I forgot to warn you. Your body will end up developing these blisters as you play a steel string. That is a good sign for us to stop for a bit.” I tell her, expecting her to get up. Instead she just nods, places the guitar on the side of the couch and leaned back into me. I tense up as she relaxes against me. “Am I seriously that comfy for you to rest against me?”

She just grins and nods, laying the back of her head on my shoulder. I just sigh and resign myself to being a cushion for the time being, wrapping my arms around her. I could feel Penny tense against me as well, before relaxing again.

‘Now you idiot! She is literally resting against you and no one is here!’ I think to myself. I gulp and take a couple breaths, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the human in my arms.

“Are you alright Adam?” She questions, looking over her shoulder to me. I take another breath and nod with a blush.

“Y-yeah, I’m good Penny. Um, listen, Penny?” She turns and looks to me directly. “Um, w-would you um...would you like to go out and grab a bite to eat in a couple days?” I finally manage to ask, my face feeling like a volcano.

Penny tilts her head to the side, clearly not understanding, before something seems to spark in her eyes and she ends up blushing and leaning back a bit.

“Are....are you asking me on a date?” She questions quietly. I just nod slowly, trying to will my face to stop burning. Penny is silent for a bit, which was torturous, but eventually she smiles and nods. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”

“Great!” I say a little too loud, before coughing into my hand, Penny giggling from my response. “Um, I mean, great. So, how about Tuesday night, we can go to the new restaurant for the opening?”

“Sounds like a plan.” She replies with a smile, leaning in and giving me a hug before getting up. “My turn to make dinner tonight, so I’ll be in the kitchen. The others should be back soon.”

I watch as Penny makes her way out of the living room and vanishes past the wall dividing the kitchen before releasing a large sigh.

‘Hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life thus far....worth it!’ I think to myself with a smile, grabbing my guitar and heading back to my room as I hear the front door open and the others begin to filter in.

In the kitchen, Penny appeared calm and content, but in her mind she was happily freaking out.

‘I have a date with Adam! I have a date with Adam!’

Chapter 20: A Date

View Online

I cover my ears as Rarity squees loudly. It was the day after I asked Penny out and I knew I would need a new outfit for it. Sure my usual attire could be seen as at least semi-formal, but I didn’t want this to be over the top or completely casual. It was just two friends, trying to see about going past that stage.

I uncover my ears as I see Rarity blushing as she finally noticed the state I was in. I swear, sometimes these enhanced senses are more trouble then they’re worth.

“Um, apologies darling, but I am so excited now! I get to make you a suit for your first ever date!” She say with a squee.

“Woah, woah, backpedal there Rarity. I don’t want a suit, I want a new outfit. Nothing too fancy or flashy, just something nicer than my combat attire.” I tell her firmly, the mare pouting but nodding anyways.

“Well then, perhaps we should remeasure you, I noticed a couple of your clothes have been getting a little tighter since the last time I made them.” She says, levitating a bunch of measure tapes, sketchbooks and notebooks over. I just sigh and nod, striping down so she could get this done. I managed to keep my stoic visage on my face as Rarity went over every inch with her measuring tapes, taking a little longer than I think necessary when going over my chest and abs.

Before I could comment, Rarity finished recording everything, motioning for me to get dressed again. The whole ordeal was only about ten minutes long, but it always seems to take forever when you have a female looking over you so closely. Especially one like Rarity who enjoys memorizing all the details.

“Well, I can think of plenty of designs for you and Penny each, but I would like some input at the very least. Colour combination?” She inquires.

“Red, silver and black as usual.” I reply simply, putting my bracelets on. Rarity nods and begins to draw on multiple sketch pads while simultaneously looking over some materials on her shelves.

“Right right. Well, I should be finished with your outfit well before your date tomorrow night, so I’ll leave you to setting everything else up.” She says, barely passing me a glance as I nod and head out of the boutique. It was my turn for patrols this morning so I decided to pop by beforehand so I wouldn’t make Rarity rush.

After leaving the store, I just wander around the perimeter of the town, keeping a close eye on the forest line and areas around the town where the Grimm could congregate. At the same time I go through what I was going to actually do for Penny on our date.

Of course the actual dinner would hopefully be good for us, considering Penny has only had so many different foods since becoming human, but then there was what we would be doing afterwards. I knew I didn’t want it to just be dinner and that’s it, that is way lame. No, I wanted this to be a great night for Penny, something she wouldn’t forget anytime soon.

It was as I was trying to think about what I could do, when I saw something blue shimmering in the darkness of the forest. Curiosity overruled caution, so I temporarily left my patrol and headed into the forest, trying to find the source of the shimmering. For all I knew it could be a stealthy Grimm lying in wait for the perfect moment to attack the town.

It was still rather early in the morning, so the forest was still very dark with the lack of the sun being in its higher positioning. So I was forced to focus on not just my natural senses, but my new ‘Shadow Sense’, being able to use my Shadow Magic to ‘feel the shadows’ around me, giving me a larger range of awareness in the darkness around me.

I must have been wandering around the inside forest edge for about ten minutes before seeing the blue shimmer again, this time a little brighter. Following it, I could hear some water flowing, which I guess would merge with the stream going past Fluttershy’s house. Before too much time passes I find where the shimmering was coming from, and a gasp catches in my throat.

What I found was a small lake, the water being filtered in through a small waterfall and filtering out through a stream, looking to be some of the most pure natural water I have ever seen. I walked closer to the lakeside, and it was like a perfect mirror. I could see myself in the reflection of the water, yet also see somewhat through it to the bottom of the rather shallow lake. My guess it was only two to four feet deep.

I just stood there, looking over the natural scenery in awe for a minute before smiling and leaving the area, going back to my patrol. As I was walking, I figured out what I was going to do for Penny.

‘Here’s hoping...nope, not even going to finish that thought and risk Murphy showing up.’

Penny POV
The Next Day

‘Oh man, I can’t believe I am doing this.’ I think to myself as I head towards Rarity’s store. Tonight was going to be my first ever date, and if Ruby is to be believed, it is also Adam’s first ever date as well. I knew him, and I knew Adam would be doing all he can to make tonight great for me, so I wanted to try and look my best for him.

We agreed to meet up in the park around five before heading to the restaurant, so I had a few hours to get ready, and I knew this would be rather tough. I have no idea what I should do when it comes to dating. I was only programmed with a rather basic understanding of human courtship and displayed of affection back in Remnant, so I didn’t really know what I was going to do.

Though, I wonder why father even added that information to begin with. I know he wanted me to blend in and learn about being a huntress from other humans and faunus, but why would I need to understand courtship before coming here? I honestly doubt anyone back on Remnant would have taken a liking to me like Adam has.

I am still curious about that. Why is it that I have....what’s the phrase? ‘Caught his eye?’ Yeah, that sounds right. How is it I have caught the eye of such an amazing man? I mean, I understand he is naturally caring and protective, so him being nice and teaching me isn’t that odd, but when did it change? When did he start to see me as more than just a friend and partner?

....when did I?

I knew I liked him since I met him all those months back, but when did I start to see him as more than a friend and a leader? I knew things really became obvious to me when I shared that dance with him in his sisters world, but when did it actually start?

All these questions and thoughts filled my mind to the brim as I made my way through town and to Rarity’s store. I knew that it would take a while, but I agreed to let Rarity and Pyrrha help me with my outfit and makeup for the night. I just hope they don’t go overboard with my look. The last thing I want is to be unrecognizable because of some makeup.

Entering the store, I look around for a second, taking in all the beautiful dresses and accessories displayed around the store. I knew many of these dresses would be sold before then end of the week, that being a testament to their quality and Rarity’s popularity.

“One moment darling! Pyrrha could you be a dear and see who it is?” I hear Rarity in the back of the store, likely working on an outfit or something.

“Sure thing Rarity.” I hear Pyrrha say before hearing her boots against the floor as she comes around the back to the see me looking at some of the accessories. “Oh, Penny! Perfect timing. Rarity is nearly done with your dress.”

“Great!” I reply with a smile, following my friend into the back and up the stairs. Entering what I think Rarity referred to as her ‘inspiration room’, we see the white unicorn in question with her red glasses on going over a dress that I couldn’t see that well since Rarity is in the way.

“Ah Penny! Perfect timing darling, I am just about done here.” The unicorn says, adding a couple stitches to the dress and stepping back a bit before nodding. She turns to Pyrrha and I and steps aside with a bow, revealing my dress.

It was a strapless deep forest green dress with a black buckle, it actually looked a lot like the dress I wore at the dance at Beacon. Over the top of it was a black jacket with the collar and cuffs being a shining silver with a few small red markings a lot like Adam’s mask along the sleeves. On the floor next to the dress were a pair of black and silver heels that I guess were sized to fit me.

While it was a little simple compared to the others designs I have seen Rarity make, in my eyes this dress was beautiful. I am sure she also had some accessories to go with it, and I now couldn’t wait to see Adam’s expression. I guess the girls could read my mind or something as they both smiled at me, Rarity checking her watch quickly.

“Well, it appears you have a couple hours before your date dear, so how about we start with your makeover.” Rarity says with an, admittedly creepy, yet excited smile. While Pyrrha wasn’t creepy, she did look extremely excited as well. I suppose she never really had the chance to help anyone with their looks aside from maybe her teammate Nora.

“Well...alright I guess. But please don’t go overboard. I don’t want to be unrecognizable because of some makeup.” I say, taking a seat in front of Rarity’s vanity table. The duo giggle and Rarity summons a bunch of makeup items.

‘Oh boy here we go.’

Ponyville Central Park
4:53 pm

Walking to the park from the boutique easily had to be one of the most nerve wracking thing I have had to do since becoming a human. The sun was just beginning to set in the sky, so the blues of the sky were slowly beginning to change as I made my way through the closing market. I noticed I got quite a few glances from both mares and stallions alike. Probably because of my new look.

Before long I arrive at the edge of the park and look around for a second before I spot Adam and my breath catches in my throat.

Adam was leaning against one of the trees with his eyes closed, clearly trying to relax. He was wearing a pair of black dress pants with silver lines along the sides of his legs, with a red and silver belt and a pair of black dress shoes. His regular red t-shirt was replaced with a silver dress shirt with a red collar, the first couple of buttons undone, showing the very corner of his scar from his duel with Luna, all covered by a black vest with red and silver designs like his mask along the holes. Around his neck was his philosophers stone pendant, and on his side was a small pouch that I guess was full of bits.

I am not sure how long I was just standing there, staring, when Adam seemed to sense me and opened his eyes, instantly locking onto me. I saw his eyes widen as he looked me over, a blush creeping onto both our faces as I slowly walked towards him. Once I was about two feet away I stopped and locked up to his eyes as silence descended on us.

“Um, hey.” I say simply, Adam shaking his head and rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

“Hey.” He replies with a weak smile. Before long he clears his throat and seems to get more confidence as he smiles down to me and holds out his hand. “Well then, shall we be off Ms. Polendina?”

I giggle a little at his attempt at formality, and take hold of his hand as he leads me out of the park. No matter how hard I would try, I couldn’t help but feel a little giddy as we walked towards the restaurant.

Adam POV

‘Holy crap Penny looks so cute.’ I think to myself as I lead the former android out of the park, taking a small moment to really look her over. I knew Rarity made her dress and jacket to contrast my outfit, but I have a sneaking suspicion it was Pyrrha that helped her straighten her normally curly hair and put it into a small ponytail with her bow. Around her wrist were a couple of silver bracelets with small gems around them, giving them more sparkles in the light.

She had some very light silver eyeshadow on her eyes, giving them an almost glowing quality, and I could swear she was giving more swing into her steps as she held onto my arm as we made our way to the restaurant. All in all, she is easily one of the prettiest girls I have seen, period.

I could only imagine how my sisters would be reacting to this. Maria would be trying to take picture for her scrapbook while Sarah would just be teasing me endlessly like its her job or something. A small chuckle escapes me as I imagine their reactions to what I am doing what now.

“What’s funny?” Penny questions as we see the lineup to the restaurant. I just sigh slightly as we get in line before smiling.

“Just thinking about how my sisters would react to us being on a date. You know, I think they would like you.” I reply, seeing Penny become confused.

“What do you mean? I already met Natali and Alexandria before, during the Hearth’s Warming party.” She says, causing me to chuckle a little sheepishly.

“I mean my blood sisters. Their names are Maria and Sarah Winger. That was actually my last name before appearing here, Winger.” I reply, Penny looking surprised before nodding.

“You know, you never really talked about your family from Earth. What are they like?” She questions as we enter the restaurant. I raise my hand to her, telling her to wait as the two of us are lead to a small booth near one of the windows.

“Well my actual family is a little odd. Like I mentioned back in Canterlot a while ago, my dad, Cameron Winger, was a marine for nearly a decade before coming back home and becoming a reservist and the recruitment officer for my hometown. My mom, Samantha Fleur, was just a normal homegrown girl, with my grandparents raising her while they ran their own pawn shop. My eldest sister, Sarah, is a bit like Yang when I think about it. She is pretty hotheaded and an adrenaline junkie, but she does recognize when she has to be serious and calm. Maria is a very sentimental and emotional woman, she can easily be turned into a sobbing mess when presented with the right scenario, but she uses her emotions to connect with others. She was actually studying to become a therapist. Then there’s Tai, my little brother. He is still a kid, so he hasn’t really developed into his own true personality. When I left he was hyperactive, excitable, may have had mild ADHD, but overall, he’s a sweet kid.”

Penny was listening intently to everything that came out of my mouth, trying to picture each of my family members in her mind. She giggles as I described Maria and Tai, before falling silent while looking over her menu.

“Wow. Your family sounds amazing. I....I wish I had that back in Remnant. Before I came here the only one who I think really cared about me as more than a machine or a weapon was my father.” She says, her mood beginning to nosedive. I frown a little and lay my hand over hers, causing her to look up to me.

“Well, that isn’t the case anymore. You’ve got Ruby, Pyrrha, Oscar, and Qrow as your friends. And....you got me.” I say the last part a little quietly, blushing a bit. Penny smiles and nods, squeezing my hand for a second before returning to her menu. Before long a waiter comes by and takes our orders, Penny getting a chicken fettuccine and I some apple smoked salmon on rice.

The two of us just enjoyed some casual conversation while we waited for our food, Penny telling me about her time at Beacon, me telling her about some of my more favourite moments back on Earth. Of course she was still a little confused about how her being a fictional character back on Earth, but she actually managed to accept it, even if she didn’t understand completely.

“So, the woman who voices Yang, it pretty much just Yang minus her Semblance?” Penny says with a laugh.

“Pretty much, Barbara makes terrible puns from what I know, and she has apparently gotten pretty mad at some of her coworkers. Man, I can only imagine if those two ended up meeting, it would be an endless loop of puns.” The two of us share a good laugh at that idea, missing the small mare stealthily entering the building.

“Hehe, oh man. So, you said that the create of our show, that is weird to say, passed away right before the airing of ‘Volume Three’ which is when the tournament started?” She questions.

“Yeah, it was a pretty big thing. Monty was more than just the creator of your guys show, he was also the voice of Ren. After he died his brother took over.” I mention, taking a sip of my soda, seeing Penny blink a few times before placing a hand on her chin.

“You know, I did notice that Li Ren’s voice sounded a little different before the tournament started, but he just said that he was probably just catching a cold or something. Now that I know he wears voiced by two different yet similar people, how does that work exactly?” She wonders. I go to answer, only to pause and really think about it.

“I...am not really sure. By all rights Ren should have sounded the same in your world, but if his voice changed....Gah this is confusing.” I mutter in begrudging defeat. Penny nods, rubbing her head, before the both of us smile as our food arrives. The two of us enjoy our omnivorous meals in silence, minus the odd moan of satisfaction from us as we ate. Before too long both of us finished our foods and leaned back in our chairs, smiling.

“Wow. I really gotta see if I can convince the chef to give me the recipes here.” I state with a laugh, Penny giggling in response. Before too long the waiter came back with the bill, which was actually a lot less than I thought it would be, and we left the establishment.

“We are for sure going to have to bring the others here some time. I am sure Blake would love the selection of seafood it has.” Penny says with a giggle. I laugh a little as well, before falling silent as I thought about that faunus. I am still not sure about what I am going to do when Blake and just as importantly Yang show up here. I know those two are going to want to beat the everliving crap out of me, and I am not sure if I will be able to stop them. Penny seemed to understand my silence as we passed the park.

“Thinking about Blake and Yang?” She questions, earning a nod from me. She nods and looks down, trying to think about it herself.

“I am just not sure what to do when they show up.” I state, earning her attention. “I mean, they have all the rights to be pissed at Adam, and considering who I am, that just doesn’t help. I can’t let Ruby defend me either since I don’t want her to fight her team. They’re like me and my Displaced siblings, they’re more than friends, they’re family. And I do not want to see a family fight just because of me.”

“Well, maybe we could come up with some kind of plan for when they show up. I mean, I have little doubt you and I could hold them off and probably beat them in a fight, especially with our magic, but I can understand that fighting would do little good.” Penny says, placing a hand on her chin in thought. I just sigh a little before looking down to her with a smile.

“For now, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now isn’t the time for worrying about when they show up.” I say with a smile, Penny smiling up to me and now noticing the surroundings.

“Hey where are we going?” She question, seeing we are nearing the edge of the Everfree, the moon beginning to shine brightly in the sky. I just smirk and gently take her hand, leading her along a small path, Penny looking around with slight worry. “Adam?”

“Don’t worry. We aren’t going very far in. Earlier, I found a very cool spot, and I thought you would want to see it.” I reply cryptically. I could tell Penny was still nervous, so I slow down and put my arm around her shoulders, keeping her close as we make our way through the forest. I could feel her beginning to relax against me as she was reassured I wasn’t going to let anything hurt her.

The two of us walked in silence, carefully paying attention to the sounds of the forest, before I spotted our destination and smiled. Carefully I raised my arms and covered Penny’s eyes with my hands, the human tilting her head in confusion.

“I take it you want this to be a surprise?” She asks with a grin. I just laugh a little and lead her forwards, moving small bushes out of the way with my magic before we arrive.

“Alright. Get ready for a sight.” I say as I remove my hands from her eyes. Penny blinks a couple of times before gasping with a small smile.

The small lake I found was in the perfect spot for the moonlight from above us to break through the canopy, giving the reflective water a shine brighter than any jewel. Above and around the water many fireflies flew around, giving the area an almost mystical feel. I smile as Penny slowly makes her way to the water, looking over the area in awe as she seats herself on the edge of the lake. With a smirk I quietly walk over to a hollowed out tree trunk and take out my guitar case I had hidden earlier. Penny didn’t seem to notice me as she was just looking over the lake with an awed smile. I chuckle slightly as I make my way over and sit next to her, taking out my guitar.

Penny looked over and saw me with my instrument, and got was I was going to do. I smile to her as I take out my instrument, tuning it for a second and going through a few notes. I didn’t really have anything in mind to play, I was just going to follow my instincts.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xp-ghMXBImA

(Stop at 2:17)

The tune was coming together, and while it was slow compared to some songs I could play, that didn’t make it any less fun to play. I glanced over to Penny while I was playing the song, the human just smiling and listening to my tune while watching the fireflies hover about.

I could see Penny relax more and more as I played my song, the human eventually beginning to struggle to keep her eyes open. Makes sense, considering what this song is called in the first place. Before long my song comes to an end, Penny smiling warmly to me.

“Wow. That was amazing. What song was that?” She questions, scooting closer to lean on me.

“It’s called Zelda’s Lullaby. It’s from one of my favourite game series from back home, The Legend of Zelda. I always prefer listening to the music games have to show more than the gameplay itself, so I learned to play a bunch of songs from games.” I answer, laying my arm around Penny’s shoulders. She smiles and lets herself relax against me, the two of us just enjoying each other’s company and the ambiance of the dark forest.

Before too long the two of us get up and leave the forest, luckily not running into anything, and made our way along the tree line to the house. The silence between us was not actually awkward, but companionable. Once we made it to the house I checked my scroll and saw it was nearing nine at night.

“Wow, we stayed out longer than I thought. I guess we should get to bed.” I say, kicking off my shoes. Penny nods and takes her own shoes off before the two of us make our way upstairs, stopping at our doors across the hall from one another. “Well, this was fun. I’ll see you in the morning.” As I was turning the knob of my door, I felt Penny grab onto my free hand.

“Um, Adam?” I turn to look at her with a raised brow. “Um, now that we’ve been on a date...what does that make us? I mean, are we still just friends, or are we together? Like together, together.”

I stay silent for a moment, processing her question, before smiling down to her.

“In my opinion, we’re friends first, and if you want to move to the next level, I won’t have any complaints. I do like you Penny, but I won’t pressure you into anything. Personally, your opinion and wants come first.” I reply with a smile. Penny seemed stunned for a second before smiling, leaning up and giving me a kiss on the cheek again.

“Despite how things may turn out if a portal to Remnant is opened, or if some of the others from Remnant arrive, I wouldn’t mind it if I was your girlfriend.” She says, leaving me slightly stunned myself. Penny giggles before turning and going to her room. “Goodnight, Adam Winger.”

I just stand there in the hallway for a second, just trying to process what she just said, before smiling to myself and going into my room. A quick change of clothes later I am resting on my bed, the night happily replaying in my head, before glancing over to the side wall where I have a photo of Penny, Pyrrha and myself infront of the house after it was finished. With that final happy image, I allow myself to enter Luna’s domain, letting my body rest for the rest of the night.

??? POV

I managed to follow that man to the house on the edge of the village, and watched from my spot on a hill as the last light in the house went out. I was confused. That man, he hated humans before, all but wanted to commit genocide, but when I find him in this weird world, he is on a date with a girl I know was killed.

It didn’t make any sense. Who is that faunus really, and why is he so buddy-buddy with humans? I needed more information. Leaving my spot, I headed back into the village to the hotel I was staying at. I was really lucky that I was able to pick pocket enough of those gold coins to afford a room. I could have just squatted as some abandoned house, but that would only work for so long.

How do you hide a tree? Put it in a forest. With that question, I managed to make my way to the hotel and stood on the side of the doors, where an ashtray was just calling to be used. With a sigh, I reach in my pocket and take out one of my few cigars from home. Who knew these things were so hard to come by nowadays in this world. Taking out his lighter, I take a few puffs of the killing gas, the toxins relaxing me somewhat.

I allow myself to drift back to everything I have learned so far. I knew that man was not the same as before. Either something happened to his head, or he isn’t really Adam Taurus. If I could just get close to him, I could get more info. Maybe....maybe he could tell me what happened to him.

I could also see if I could get closer to her. She would know what happened, considering its her fault anyways. With a sigh, I take off his hat, looking at the scratched and tears forlornly. I remember when he let me wear it, like when we first met and he took me out for some frozen yogurt. I can’t help a tear or two from leaking from my eyes before putting our my cigar and heading back to my room.

‘A beast, an android, and Little Red. Those three should have what I need.’

Chapter 21: Soul Wavelength and Ice Cream

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I grunt in mild pain as I fail to block a punch from Ruby, the young huntress not letting me rest as she continued her onslaught of attacks. It was about two days after my date with Penny, and thus far, despite Qrow, Oscar and Ruby still being shocked by it, everyone accepted that Penny and I were trying to be together together now. Of course since we are both completely in the dark about these kinds of relationships, we haven’t really done anything differently. Just the extra display of affection every now and then, but that’s it.

Anyways, I decided I wanted to see how Ruby and Oscar have been keeping up in their training, so we decided to all come together today to have a training day. First off was one I knew Ruby would need a little work with, hand-to-hand combat. And so far I am impressed. She isn’t on the same level as say Rainbow, but she is very fast and has learned to implement plenty of feints into her techniques.

With a quiet growl I lean right to avoid the huntress foot and grab her shin, pulling and tossing her over my shoulder and onto the ground. She hits the ground with a painful grunt.

“Ow.” She says weakly, rubbing her back. I laugh a little and offer her a hand up.

“I have to say I’m impressed Ruby. You have gotten a hell of a lot better at hand-to-hand than you were back in Remnant.” I compliment, helping the huntress to her feet.

“Thanks, it was thanks to Applejack giving me a couple pointers. Who knew some farmers would have taken their own self defence classes?” She says with a laugh, wincing slightly and stretching her back. I laugh a little as I turn and see Oscar and Penny going back and forth in their own match. The two of us just rest and watch for a little while before Penny manages to put Oscar in a headlock.

“Ok, uncle uncle!” The farmboy says, Penny letting go and letting him fall to the ground, catching his breath. I laugh a little as we walk over, patting my girlfriend on the back.

“Nice one Penny. Now Oscar, what did you take from this?” I question the young wizard.

“To keep an eye on my opponents movements as a whole and not just their feet or arms.” He recites in a tired tone, resting for a second more before flipping to his feet.

“And to make sure to study your opponent during the fight, instead of focusing solely on defence or offence.” Pyrrha adds, coming over alongside RD. I nod with a smile before checking my scroll, seeing it was only around ten.

“Alright, I think that’s enough hand-to-hand for now. Any suggestions on what to do next before lunch?” I question, Penny and Rainbow raising hands.

“How about aura and semblance training?” They suggest together. I laugh a little as the duo look to one another in confusion before nodding, heading over to the area closer to the small steam. Each of us found a spot to sit down near the river and got ready in the one thing Rainbow has always had trouble with.

Meditation.

Each of us took our spots and took some deep breaths, trying to focus our minds and drown out the noises of the world around us. I stopped after a minute to look at the others to see how they are doing. Ruby, Pyrrha and Oscar each have their auras coverring them, going over their bodies calmly as I expected. Penny also had her aura covering her, as well as some sparks of electricity dancing around her.

Rainbow though, looked to be straining to focus, clearly not used to being still for extended periods of time. Makes sense, apparently Pegasi are naturally hyper and prefer moving as opposed to staying still, Fluttershy being an exception.

“Rainbow you need to stop trying to force it. Just calm down, open your mind and let it flow.” I try and explain, the Pegasus eventually groaning and falling on her back for a minute.

“Forget this I’m going crazy!” Yells the mare before she flipped up and began to do some squats.

“Uh, what are you doing? Meditation is all about focus and staying still.” Oscar says.

“Well I think I’m an exception. I’m hotheaded and hyper, so I can only really focus when I am moving around a lot.” She replies.

“Hmm, I suppose that could be a possibility.” Pyrrha admits as we watch for a minute before we see a cerulean aura slowly covering Rainbow. She just give her signature smirk as she sees her aura beginning to cover her.

“Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” Rainbow cheers, doing a few air flips. The rest of us all laugh a little at her excitement.

“Alright RD chill out. We still have a lot or work to do. You may have begun to control your aura, but you’re still a ways away from unlocking your semblance.” I tell the mare, forcing her back to the ground with my shadow. The others all get back to their mediation, or exercise in Rainbow’s case, while I just watch for a minute.

It was weird, but lately I have been feeling like there is something I am missing whenever I am meditating with the others. Like there should be something to see, yet there is nothing. Maybe it’s just because of my magic I can sense others souls a little easier.

Shaking my head, I get back to my own meditation, feeling outward with my soul and feeling as my aura covers me from head to toe. It was odd, but I have always wondered if it was possible to cover someone else with my aura like when Jaune used his to boost Weiss aura after she got hurt. It was an idea I had a couple days ago, and now I had a chance to test it.

Focusing a little harder, I try and connect to those around me, and I actually feel my aura begin to waver and change. Confused, I try and find a focal point to work with, and I eventually find it as I see a green and yellow orb. I somehow knew that that was Penny just from the colouration, and I try to connect with her. At this point I could hear what sounded like wind in my ears, but I ignored it and tried to focus more. Eventually I could feel my aura again, but it’s felt different somehow, and my own soul was wavering as well. I could tell that Penny’s soul was trying to connect, so I give one more push, trying to do anything with our souls.

“ADAM! PENNY!” I am broken out of my trance as I hear Ruby yelling, looking around in confusion for a second. I then see the scorch marks on the ground around me and Penny, like lightning bolts, and that she I were actually back to back, in spite of being a few feet away from one another when we started.

“W-what just happened?” Penny and I question, shaking our heads.

“Maybe you two could tell us that. You have been sitting there for the last five minute with some kind of spheres pulsating around you and whenever we got close Penny’s lightning sparked out.” Pyrrha says.

“Really?” We reply.

“Yeah, it was weird. It started out with both of you heaving your own blue spheres, then they changed to red and green respectively. After Penny walked over to you Adam, your spheres looked like they were trying to push back against each other while also trying to merge or something.” Rainbow explains animatedly. While Penny looked confused, I was shocked as that description was very familiar.

“Holy crap we were using a Chain Soul Resonance!” I yell, earning the others attention.

“Chain Soul Resonance? What is that?” Ruby questions. I shake my head and reel in my excitement for a second.

“Alright, well back on earth there was a show my siblings and I watched called Soul Eater. The whole point it that the Weapon, literal humans who can turn into weapons, and their Meisters, the humans who team up and wield them. Actually I think I have the fifty one episodes downloaded on my scroll.” I mutter before shaking my head again.

“Anyways, the point is these Meisters and weapon were actually a lot like huntsmen and huntresses. Only they trained and hunted corrupted humans and witches instead of Grimm. They like us had the ability to access and use their souls, but they used it differently. The way it was described is that a soul is like a radio, each soul has their own wavelength that is dependent on their personality. The reason this is important is because a Meister and their weapon could preform something called Soul Resonance. Can you guys guess what it is about?”

It took a bit, but eventually Pyrrha was able to come up with an answer. “They were able to alter their own wavelength to match their partners?”

“Correct. The way they described it is that the Meister is like an electric guitar and the weapon is an amp. While one can make a strong surge with enough effort on its own, preforming a Resonance would boost their power exponentially and allow for unique and powerful attacks.”

“Ok, but what does that have to do with what you and Penny were doing? From what I can tell, neither of you can turn into weapons.” Ruby states, before getting a faraway look. Probably thinking about how it would feel to become a weapon.

“I was getting to that. Something else they can do is what Penny and I were doing, a Chain Resonance. This is when multiple Meisters and weapons match their wavelengths with one another, dramatically increasing each of their abilities. From what I can tell, Penny and I were actually preforming a Chain Resonance somehow.”

The others, Oscar/Ozpin in particular, looked intrigued, while Penny was a little shocked.

“So, that sensation, the one where I was pushing my aura outwards, that was me using my souls resonance to connect to you?” Penny questions, earning a nod from me.

“Pretty much. I was confused when I could sense your soul unlike I could before or why my aura felt different, but now I know why. I was altering my souls wavelength to match yours.” I reply. “Actually, I wanna try something. You mind being my partner?”

Penny nods after a second and we sit cross legged across from each other. The others all step back to let us have some space just as a precaution. Penny and I keep close our eyes and try to do as we did before. After a minute or two I could sense my soul was finished covering me like before, so I try and force it outwards. Once again I feel like my aura is wavering before feeling it move away from me. Opening my eyes to the sound of wind, I see, just like Rainbow said, there was a transparent red orb with a wispy top surrounding me. There was a small burst of wind and I saw Penny had her own soul orb around her.

Penny looked to her orb with an awed smile, before looking to me. With a quick nod, Penny and I focus our souls again, this time trying to properly connect with one another. We both take a breath and try to focus our auras onto one another, and the others watch as the wisps on the top of our orbs slowly reach to one another, slowly wrapping around one another. There was a beat as our souls connect, before the two orbs merge and grow into one large orb, a burst of energy pushing the others back.

“Wow! That’s awesome!” Ruby yells, the others nodding with her. Though they go silent as Penny and I groan, before the orb bursts like a bubble, sending the two of us flying back a few feet.

“Oh crap!” Rainbow yells as Ruby and Pyrrha check on Penny and Oscar and Rainbow check on me. The two of us were just laying on the ground, panting to regain our breaths.

“Well...I honestly....didn’t expect to....connect with her on the first try.” I say through breaths, Oscar and Rainbow helping me to my feet. “Hey Penny! You ok over there?”

“I’m good! Just....tired!” She calls over, the girls helping her up.

“What just happened? It looked like you two merged your souls, then it just popped like a bubble or something.” Oscar questions.

“Well this kind of thing would require intense focus and practice at first since we have to maintain a balance with our souls. Since it was our first attempt I didn’t expect it to work for more than a second, let alone work at all on the first try.” I explain, my energy coming back to me.

“That makes sense. After all, you all learned to use your souls and auras in a different manner than what you and Penny just attempted. I am impressed that it even made it that far all things considered.” Ozpin adds. “And to even alter your soul in such a manner. You have quite the flexible aura Adam.”

“Eh, I am known for going with the flow back home, so I was always adaptable.” I shrug. “Plus I always wondered if there was a way for someone to use their aura in a different manner than just protection or someone’s semblance.”

“Well either way, I am curious if all of us could do this.” Ozpin wonders, the others nodding. I check my scroll again and see we have only been at it for around ten minutes.

“Well, we got time. Let’s do it.”

Time seemed to pass in a blur as the six of us tried to use our auras and souls. Not all of us were able to connect to one another right off the bat like Penny and I, so we mostly spent our time meditating and trying to understand our wavelengths. Pyrrha and I seemed to have the easiest time with it, almost connecting to each other after twenty minutes, but Oscar was having the most trouble. Makes sense, considering he has two souls, one of which has been around for millennia.

Penny and Ruby were able to connect for about five seconds after an hour had passed, but that was still impressive. I think connecting our souls have to do with our connections to one another. I think Ruby might have an easier time connecting to her family and teammates, same with Pyrrha and her team.

Rainbow was mostly ‘silent’ throughout the training, merely doing her own thing for the most part. She managed to successfully summon her aura around herself with little issue, but she didn’t seem any closer to unlocking her semblance than Penny, nor was she able to connect to any of us with her soul.

Before we knew it a couple hours had passed and each of us were starving. Heading into town, we all took a seat at a small cafe a few blocks from the market and got some food for ourselves.

“I have to admit, as much as I dislike the lack of meat, the meals here in Equestria are likely a lot better for us than the food back in Remnant.” Pyrrha says with a grin, munching on her salad.

“Makes sense. Considering most to all the ingredients in all the food is completely natural without added preservatives and sugars they are naturally better for everyone than anything we had back home. Even the candy at Bon Bon’s Sweet Shop and Sugarcube Corner are healthier than the same stuff we had.” Penny adds, taking a bite out of her grilled cheese.

“I still don’t understand that stuff. I mean, why would you guys put the equivalent of poisons on your food just to prevent bugs from showing up?” Rainbow questions.

“Don’t look at me Rainbow, my farm was all natural.” Oscar says with a laugh, taking a sip of his coffee. I just laugh along with them, agriculture was never my strong suit in science, so I was mostly as lost as RD was. The six of us just spent our time talking with one another and relaxing from our training this morning. Though, when we left, I could tell that somepony was following us.

I managed to get a few glimpses of them out of the corner of my eye. Earth pony mare, vanilla white fur, pink mane and tail, brown eyes. Wearing a pair of black jeans and a off brown t-shirt under a pink and white jacket. Very short, easily shorter than Ruby and maybe even Oscar, so I thought she was a teenager. For the moment I was ignoring her since the others didn’t seem to notice her presence, but I still kept an eye out.

“Alright, so what training is next?” Ruby questions. I just grin and take off my Ember Celica.

“Weapon variety training.” I respond, Ruby and Oscar groaning. “Oh be quiet you two, it isn't like I am training you to do the impossible. You need to be able to use any weapon you pick up. It’s fine to have preferences, but it helps to be versatile.”

The duo nod begrudgingly as we all swap weapons. I decided it would be a good idea for each of us to learn to use each other’s weapons, just in case we get disarmed, we wouldn’t be completely helpless or dependant on hand-to-hand. So now Oscar is learning to wield Cresent Rose, Ruby is using Wilt and Blush, I am using Miló and Akoúo̱, Pyrrha’s weapon, and Pyrrha is using Oscar’s cane. Rainbow’s weapon is still being made so she is just watching, and Penny is the only one who can use her swords anyways. That said, the duo are learning to use the Ember Celica so they aren’t just sitting around while we train.

“Alright, let’s get to it.”

Once again time seemed to blur by as each of us learned to use one another’s weapons. I seemed to have the easiest time with learning to use Pyrrha’s weapon. It was especially easy since I could emulate her semblance with my magic, levitating the javelin and shield back to me after throwing them. The others though, were having their own problems.

Oscar was mediocre at using Cresent Rose considering he uses a bludgeoning weapon and not a slicing one. Still, Ruby was able to walk him through using it and he managed to learn to swing the thing properly. Though when he tried shooting, he ended up launching himself into a tree. I think he believes it was worth it to see Ruby laughing like she did.

Ruby was having a little trouble with the Quickdraw part of my fighting style, in that she was able to unsheathe it, but she had trouble putting the sword back in sheathe afterwards. But, she more than made up for it with her speed. Thanks to her semblance she was able to create a bunch of rose pedals as she is unsheathing the sword, hiding it so an opponent wouldn’t know when or where the strike would be coming from. She also didn’t have any problems using the shotgun part.

Pyrrha was fine for the most part in using Oscars cane, she was just used to having a shield with her, so she stumbled a little bit. Ozpin went over some simple but effective moves with her, emphasizing on speed and maneuvering around to keep an opponent on their toes.

Penny and Rainbow took turns in using the Ember Celica, the duo being well versed in hand-to-hand helping them a lot. Though Rainbow did nearly shoot herself with a tornado shot after the thing jammed.

Before any of us really realized it a few hours had passed and it was about time for us to wrap up. We went over everything we learned in using each other’s weapons by having a quick sparing session. Myself against Oscar and Ruby against Pyrrha.

I managed to win my fight rather easily since Oscar still isn’t used to using Cresent Rose as I am in using Miló and Akoúo̱, so I told him to imagine the weapon like a pendulum, and to let himself flow with its movements and not try to control it. Pyrrha actually lost her duel against Ruby after she used her Semblance to hide my sword from Pyrrha’s view, letting her get around her and place the sword against Pyrrha’s neck and the shotgun on her back.

Penny and Rainbow both we exhausted after their own sparing match, the duo using one Ember Celica each. It was a draw between the two of them after they both agreed not to use their magic against each other. Afterward all of us headed back to town, over to Sugarcube Corner to grab some ice cream before turning in for the day.

Once again I kept an eye out, and once again that mare from before was following us once we entered the town. I didn’t know who she was, but I felt like I should. It was at the tip of my tongue, but I just couldn’t place it. For now I ignored her and focused ahead, each of us entering the shop and getting something sweet to bite.

Penny got chocolate mint chip, Pyrrha got orange, Ruby got straight chocolate and Oscar got coffee. Rainbow, oddly got a low fat bubblegum flavour, while I stuck with cookie and cream. The six of us just relaxed in the booth and ate our food in companionable silence.

Though, once that mare from earlier walked in I kept an eye on her. She didn’t speak, merely giving Mrs.Cake a note and getting a small bowl of Neapolitan ice cream afterwards. After she took a seat at a table nearby she looked up as she was about to take a bite of her ice cream and noticed me. She slowly lowered her spoon and looked towards me, before grinning and closing her eyes. I had to stop myself from reacting when her eyes changed from brown to pink and white like the ice cream in front of her.

With that, I had a sneaking suspicion I knew who that mare was. For now though, I was silent, eating my own frozen food before we all finished and began to head out. Before leaving the establishment, I glanced back to the mare, who was looking to me with a grin, and mouthed ‘Hill. Sunset.’ With that, I left, heading back home to help get started on dinner.

Later....

It was about an hour before sunset and I had a meeting to get to. After dinner was made and eaten, the others all wondered if they could watch Soul Eater on my scroll. I agreed, but only after warning them about the blood, language and the fact most of the females are as big as Yang, which resulted in Pyrrha and Ruby frowning. Though the latter perked up when I mentioned the main character was a scythe wielder.

I set the show to play in English for them, while also making sure Oscar wasn’t present for some parts of it. He may have a millennium of experience in his head, but he is still fourteen. They watched the first few episodes, noting that Death the Kid sounded a little like Qrow, to which I had to explain their same voice actor.

After that I managed to slip away and headed to the hill just a few minutes away from Applejack’s farm. As a precaution I brought along my weapons, mask and my necklace, just incase this goes south. After a few minutes of walking I made it to the top of the hill, a small bench standing beneath a large tree sitting at the very top.

With a sigh I walked over to the bench, took a seat, and waited. I was going through everything I knew about the mare in my head, or more accurately, who I thought she was. The more I thought, the more obvious it was. Her colour scheme, her stature, her lack of noises, it just made sense.

I must have been thinking for longer than I thought, because before I knew it, I could head the grass crunching beneath someone’s hooves. Looking to the path nearby, I saw the short mare walking up towards me, a familiar umbrella held in her hands. She stopped a few feet from me, grinning in a very familiar way.

“How about you drop the disguise. I would prefer to talk to the actual you...Neo.”

She nods after a second, sparkling energy appearing at her hooves before climbing up, revealing a very familiar human, though, she had changed since I had last seen her on screen. She was wearing a brown jacket that ends just below her shoulders and above her chest and has pink trimmings on top and is pink on the inside, two brown belt shoulder straps, a gray scarf similar to Roman's, and a vest, gloves, a belt, pants and heeled shoes of a matching white color. She also had a familiar bowler hat that looks to have been damaged slightly if the tears on the rim are any indication. She’s also let her hair grow a bit as it now reaches her waist.

The two of us just stay there, looking one another over, before I sigh and take off my mask, Neo’s eyes widening slightly as she sees my eyes.

“So, how long have you been in Equestria?” I question. Neo just smiles and points to her lips. “Huh, looks like all the rumours were true after all. You’re mute aren’t you?”

She tilts her head to the side, slowly nodding in confusion. It took a second, but I managed to think of why she was confused.

“I take it you thought I knew?” She nods, and I chuckle. “Well sorry to disappoint you Neo, but I’m not Adam.”

She takes a step back and silently gestures to me, clearly not understanding. I pat the spot next to me, Neo slowly walking over and taking a seat. I didn’t miss the fact she has her hand on the end of her umbrella, where I knew a hidden blade was.

“I guess it would be more accurate to say I am not Remnants Adam. I take it you have been around for a while now, watching me and my friends?” She nods. “Well, I could tell you the whole story, but I am not sure how long I have until the others come looking for me.”

I snap my fingers and a notepad and pen appear, Neo jumping from the sudden appearance.

“Here. I can tell you have a lot of questions, and I don’t wanna play charades, so write what you wanna ask.” Neo looks between me and the notepad a couple times before taking it and beginning to write. Her first question was a pretty obvious one.

‘Who are you then? If your not High Leader Taurus.’

“Well, I go by Adam Taurus. I am the Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard White Fang Division. But my actual name is Adam Winger. Just your average guys who got sent to another world after buying my sword from some interdimensional merchant.” I reply with a laugh. Neo begins to write again.

‘A normal guy? Like a human?’

“Yes. Before I was sent here I was a normal human dressed up like Adam at a convention. After I bought my weapons, I was changed into this form, with the horns and my aura, the whole nine yards. As it turns out I am not the only one. I am a being called a Displaced. Turns out the are hundreds, thousands of us. We were all taken from our native worlds and sent to alternate versions of Equestria.” Neo slowly nods and begins to write again.

‘You said you were dressed as Adam at a convention. Why? I mean, you said you weren’t from Remnant, so how do you know about all of us?’

“I was hoping to avoid that question for a bit. It’s a long story and quite frankly you probably wouldn’t believe me since I don’t have my scroll.” She tilts her head to the side. “Now, there are a few things I want to ask you Neo. First of all, how long have you been here?”

‘About two weeks. I showed up in an alleyway by townhall and decided it would be best for me to lay low until I could find someone I knew. Unfortunately that ended up being you and Little Red.’

“Ok. Then, how is it you got here? Ruby and the others showed up because of an experimental teleporter malfunction.”

‘Same way. I was there when the thing blew up. I had heard that little red and her friends would be meeting someone in those warehouses and I thought it would be my perfect chance to get some answers from the girl. Unfortunately as I was making my way in the thing blew up and the next thing I knew, I was in that alley.’

“Huh, ain’t that convenient. Were you able to see what caused it to blow? The others say they heard a gunshot then boom.” She shakes her head. “Damn. So, what answer were you talking about?”

Neo was still as I asked that, her writing having stopped. She just put the pad down, and took off her hat, looking at it sadly. It didn’t take a genius to figure out her question.

“You want to know what happened to Roman.” It was more of a statement than a question, but she still nodded, placing the hat back on her head.

‘After the fight with Ruby, I managed to make my way to the crash site of the ship we were on. I had to take out a few Grimm along the way, but all I found there was his hat, his cane, and a few cigars. There was no body. There was no blood.’ She paused looking to me almost pleadingly. ‘He is the only friend I have ever had, he was almost like my dad. So, if you know what happened, please. Tell me.’

I look down to the saddened and almost desperate woman before me, before I sighed, and tried to get a little more comfortable, even taking off my bracelets.

“There is no easy way to tell you this Neo, so it’s best to just get it over with.” I look down to her with a sorry, yet stern gaze. “Roman Torchwick is dead. After you were sent flying he got distracted by attacking Ruby, and a griffon came up behind him and ate him. Ruby managed to make the griffon crash into the control room of the ship, which is what caused it to crash.”

That look in her eyes, as they both turn pure white. I could never think of a comparison. She just sat there, slowly shaking her head, before getting up and punching the tree behind us, silently screaming. I let her beat on the tree for about a minute, Neo just silently screaming and crying, before I stepped up and stopped her, her knuckles bleeding as she didn’t let her aura cover them. She turned her attention to me and started beating on my chest. I just let her get all of it out her system, eventually calming down enough for me to help her back to the bench.

“I’m sorry, Neo. I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose someone close to you. I have been lucky enough to keep all of my family members thus far, but it isn’t like I’ll be able to see most of them for a while.” I look down to her as she keeps her gaze on the ground. “I know you probably hold some resentment to her, but please, don’t blame Ruby, or yourself. What happened was pure chance, and I don’t want you to destroy yourself or others because of it.”

Neo is still for a while, her tears beginning to slow before she picked up the notepad.

‘I-I need some time to process all of this. I think I’m going to head out, maybe head to Manehatten for a while.’

“Of course. But, if you ever need someone to talk to, or you need a place to stay, my house is always open.” I tell her. Neo nod before writing something else on the note, handing me the pad, and head out. I watch her leave for a minute, seeing her turn back into an Earth Pony, before glancing to the notepad, seeing a bunch of numbers on the bottom.

“Heh, I am getting pretty good at getting girls numbers now. Ain’t that a thing.” I mutter, pocketing the notepad and heading back to the house, silently hoping the others haven’t been looking for me.

Once I got back I found the others were still bing watching Soul Eater on my scroll, already they were on the seventh episode, Ruby looking to be the most intrigued, while also looking to be the most creeped out by Ragnarok. I just shake my head and head to my room, intent on catching some Z’s. Unfortunately fate had other plans as just as I sat on my bed, I could hear what sounded like a phone vibrating.

Checking my drawer, I see it is the alchemist watch Edward gave me a while ago. Confused, I pop the lid and watch as the clock begins to spin rapidly, before what looks like an older Edward appears on screen.

“Ed? What’s up?” I question, sitting at my desk.

“Um, hey Adam. It’s a good thing you’re sitting. I need to talk to you. It’s about Natali and Sorano.”

And with that, I had a feeling my meeting with Neo would seem like a walk in the park compared to the conversation ahead of me.

Chapter 22: Chaotic Reunions and Past

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I release a small yawn as I lean back in my chair in my room. It had been two and a half weeks since my family and their friends were here in this Equestria, and I was honestly surprised about how easily I was able to get back into my role as Captain for the White Fang.

After Ed, Nat, Sora, Lex and their friends returned to their own worlds we spent the rest of the night relaxing before Ruby, Penny and I headed back to Canterlot for training. Qrow came too, but he was mostly on his own, practicing with his new and enhanced abilities. I still cannot get over the fact he agreed to be turned into a homunculus. That is like taking a bullet for the hell of it.

Anyways, we spent our time in Canterlot training the members of the White Fang in weapon usage and design. I decided Ruby would be teaching them about constructing their own weapons, so each of them would be unique. I also gave in and made blueprints showing the inner workings of firearms for Celestia and Luna. Though the latter has prevented her sister from seeing them after her stunt against my uncle. Who knew Celestia could be so terrifying.

After a week or so of teaching them about the inner workings of weapon designs, every member of the White Fang worked on making their own weapons, with help from us and one another. It went without saying the castle blacksmiths were crowded and busy. But I think it will be worth it. As the weapons were being made, I went over some of the Grimm in greater detail and then we all went over aura and soul usage.

After that we just did our own thing for a couple days, Ruby teaching about the different weapons and their pros and cons, Penny helping them train in their own aura usage, and I in hand-to-hand and firearms combat. All in all, a calmer version of our training compared to the first few weeks when I whipped the soldiers into actually fighting condition.

Now I was back in our shared house, just hanging out in my room and writing down the training schedule for when we go back to Canterlot. I picked up from Penny and Twilight to write down a plan and schedule well before the event in question. And so far I think my plan is all good.

Checking my scroll, I see it is a little after noon, so I decided to go out for a walk. Pyrrha and Oscar are at the schoolhouse today, Ruby is taking a nap in her room and Penny is out on patrol. Qrow is....I am not really sure. I knew he would need some time alone to really get over the fact he can’t get drunk and would have to face whatever he was trying to drown in all that alcohol, so we mostly left him to his own devices. Well, except Ruby, she has been really intent on spending as much of her time as possible with her uncle.

After grabbing my gear and stretching a bit, I took off in a light jog to the town, enjoying the light breeze and cloud cover scheduled today. I am not sure what I was going to do today, but I know that tonight was going to be interesting. After we all got back home from Canterlot the other day, everyone came together to ask a very odd request of me.

Yesterday....

”You guys want to watch your show?” I question in shock, looking over my friends before me.

“That’s right. You said you have up to the end of our battle at Haven saved on your scroll, so I personally want to see what it is you have seen.” Ruby says, the others nodding along with her.

“I’m with the squirt. You said that all the things you know about us beforehand came from this ‘show’, so we wanna see what you know. And hey, it could give us some of our own answers to things we didn’t know about.” Qrow adds.

“Plus Penny and I wish to see what happened to our friends after our....deaths.” Pyrrha says, Penny patting her back. I just scratch the back on my head sheepishly.

“Well, I guess that makes sense, but you have to remember that the show doesn’t just focus on each of you from the outsides. There are flashback episodes, inner monologues, mostly from Weiss, details none of you could have noticed or seen, as well as whole episodes dedicated to other characters.” I blink a couple times as something pops into my head. “Actually, now that I think about it, I should have shown you guys volume four and five already.”

“What do you mean? Why?” Penny question.

“Salem. There are a couple parts of some episodes that focus on her and her pawns.” I could barely see Ozpin’s soul waver, almost like he was flinching.

“Tell me Adam, what do you know about Salem?” The professor requests.

“Not much. There is little I actually know for sure about Salem. All I know is she’s an immortal, she can control the creatures of Grimm, she hates you Ozpin, and she commands respect from her subordinates through fear. Other than that, I am just as in the dark about her past as the rest of you.” I turn to Ruby.

“Also, during the attack on Haven, you used your eyes, right?” She nods. “The reason the eyes seemed to work is because Cinder’s arm, the one she has covered my that long sleeve, is Grimm.”

The others all shoot up in shock and a little confusion. “Say what?”

“I have no idea how they managed it, but Salem somehow turned Cinder’s arm into that of a Grimm’s. She was going to use it to literally suck the magic out of the spring maiden for herself.” The others all lower their heads and think for a moment.

“That is....very concerning.” Penny states.

“That’s...an understatement.” Qrow adds. The others all look to one another before nodding.

“Well, all the more reason to watch our show. It could give us some clues or something.”

****

Eventually I relented and we all agreed we would binge the trailers and volume one tonight after dinner, and then watch the other volumes over the next few days. I also agreed not to spoil anything, while the others would point out any differences from their timeline compared to the show’s timeline.

I was honestly wondering how the others would react to watching their show, seeing themselves from an outsiders perspective rather than being right in the middle of the fight. At the very least, this would make it a very interesting movie night.

Breaking out of my thoughts, I have to move out of the way as I see the element bearers suddenly rush past me and to the library. Confused, I follow after them and make it just in time to see a flash of light in the library. Before anyone could begin speaking, I knocked on the door. There was silence for a second before Spike opened the door.

“Hey Adam.” He says simply, moving aside to let me in. Looking in, I see the element bearers and Celestia and Luna, the latter holding the case that contains the Elements themselves.

“Uh, what’s going on?” I question with more than a little worry. The princess look to one another a sigh, looking to all of us.

“Discord has escaped.”

That one sentence sent the element bearers into a frenzy of worry and panic, while I was just confused.

“How? I thought that the seal on him could only be undone by the elements themselves or from an insane amount of chaos energy.” The others all look to me, clearly wondering how I knew that. “I read a couple of Twi’s reports she left lying around.” I point to one that was just sitting on her desk. The others all look to one another before shaking their heads.

“Well, you are correct. Though, we don’t have any idea how he could have escaped so soon. We didn’t use the elements, nor was there any event recently that could have caused that much chaos to be present.” Celestia says. All of us were silent for a second before we hear a loud smack, and see Spike’s face in his claws.

“I think I know what allowed him to escape.” He deadpans, looking to Celestia. “Your fight with Edward.” All of us go wide eyed at that.

“That’s right. Your fight with Ed was would be more than powerful enough to be considered chaotic, plus my sister casting Fairy Sphere probably didn’t help in the matter as well. Your combined forces were probably more than enough to be felt in Canterlot and allow Discord enough energy to escape.” I explain.

At this revelation, Celestia looked more than a little embarrassed, her sister looking to her with an annoyed glare. After a second though they both coughed into their fists, holding out the box with the Elements.

“Well, that doesn’t matter now. What matters is finding Discord and getting him back in stone. I made sure to case a new protection spell on the elements so that beings with chaos magic wouldn’t be able to get ahold of them.” Celestia states, opening the box and levitating the elements to their bearers.

“Hold on a sec.” I interject as the girls get ready. “Why do we need to imprison Discord again? Ed said that his version is reformed and free in his world. Couldn’t we just do the same thing?”

The others all raise their hands to argue, before pausing and thinking about it.

“Well, I suppose that is one way to do things. I mean, I can see the merit in having someone like Discord on our side, especially with the Grimm running around.” Luna says in thought.

“And I mean, I guess he isn’t really evil per say. He is naturally chaotic, he’s just being himself.” Rarity admits, shuddering as some of memories come back.

“And then there is Screwball. We could ask her for help with this too.” I add, the others but Celestia nodding.

“Screwball? That odd filly that hangs out with the crusaders? How would she be able to help?” the solar mare questions. I turn and open the door, about to head out.

“Well, she is his daughter.” I say with a slight grin, walking out then teleporting away. Looking around, I realized I teleported just outside of the schoolhouse. Perfect timing too, as the bell on the top sounds out for lunch, and the foals all flooding out of the door. I wait for about a minute before I see Pyrrha and Oscar walking out with Cheerilee.

“Hey guys!” The trio turn to me as I walk up.

“Oh, hello Adam. What can we do for you?” Cheerilee questions.

“Have you guys seen Screwball?” The trio nod and point to a tree where the crusaders are all eating their lunch. “Well, I need her help with something, so I need her to cut class for at least a couple hours.”

“Really? Why?” Ozpin questions.

“Um...let’s just say I need her...chaotic expertise, to deal with this problem.” The trio look confused, but nod nonetheless. I smile and head over to the crusaders, hearing them talk about my squad.

“Hey girls.” The quartet look to me.

“Hey Adam.” They respond.

“Hey Screwball, can you come with me for a bit? I need your help dealing with some....chaotic, problems.” I request, the filly tilting her head before nodding.

“Sure thing Adam. Miss Nikos said we would be going over Nevermores later, but I think I got it.” She respond, snapping her fingers and teleporting her lunchbox away. I noticed since becoming friends with the CMC, she has been learning to use her Chaos magic more recreationally.

“Sweet. Let’s go. See you girls later.” I say as the two of us head out. Screwball and I just walk in silence for a bit before we’re nearing the library.

“So, what did you need help with Adam?” She finally questions.

“Your dad escaped.” I respond, Screwball comically face planting into the dirt.

“Say whaaaaat?!” She quietly yells. Not sure how.

“Yeah, our best guess is the duel between my uncle and Celestia was strong enough to allow Discord to break out of his seal. Anyways, our plan is to find him, and reform him, as opposed to turning him back into stone.” I explain, Screwball popping back to her hooves.

“So you need me to help track him down?” She questions with a grin.

“Eeyup. You’re a chaos magic user, so I figure you can help us track down your dad. Plus your his daughter, so he’ll have someone to base off of as a helpful member of society.” I respond with a grin, heading into the library where the girls are all still hanging out.

“About time Adam. Did you get Screwball?” Rainbow question. I just nod and scoot out of the way to let Screwy into the library. She smiles to the element bearers before yelping and teleporting behind me as she sees the princesses. I chuckle sheepishly as they blink owlishly at Screwball.

“Uh, its ok Screwy, Luna knew about you for months. They’re not going to hurt you or anything.” I tell the filly, who slowly peaks out from behind me. She then looks to Celestia and hid behind me again. I look to the solar mare who is slightly glaring at Screwball and cough, the mare seeing my own glare.

“Um, yes. It is nice to meet you Screwball.” She says with a nervous grin. I just roll my eyes and turn to Screwy.

“Alright, do you think you can track down your dad?” I ask, the filly nodding and taking off her propeller cap. She then reached her entire arm into in and shifted around before putting her head into it to look closer, and then pulling out what looks like a metal detector.

“Here we go. My Chaos detector should find daddy in no time at all!” She says with a laugh, putting her hat back on, the propeller spinning quickly. She extended the retraced detractor and hit the button, the sounds of quacks beginning to play like a radar.

“Ok. Looks like he is...this way.” Screwball mutters, looking at the screen and following it with the rest of us behind her. We walked in silence for a few minutes, some of the ponies around looking in confusion at our group, some bowing as the princesses walk by, before the quacking of Screwballs tracking began going berserk before turning into a duck which waddled away.

“Well, it said he is right...” she stopped as we all looking forwards and realized where we were.

“The hell? Why is Discord at my house?” I question, looking at my own house. We suddenly hear loud laughter coming from inside. I look to the others, who shrug and head to the door.

Walking in, I hear what almost sounds like the street fighter background score playing in the living room. Once everyone made it in though, we heard something I didn’t think I’d hear again.

”Soaring Ninja Wins! Total Annihilation!”

“Yes! Eat that Chaos God!” We walk into the living room and see easily the most random thing ever. Ruby Rose, the silver eyes scythe wielder, sitting on a cotton candy couch with a glass of soda, playing video games with Discord on a holo screen attached to the wall.

“Ohahaha! Well done my hooded friend. But I won’t lose the next match!” The draconequus announced, hitting a few buttons on his own scroll as the next match loads.

All of us just stood to the side, watching the impossible as Ruby and Discord mash the buttons on their scrolls and play through their game. I am not sure how long we were standing there, but eventually the next match ended with Discord winning.

“Aw man, I thought I had you.” Ruby whines before noticing all of us. “Oh, hey guys. Um, how long have you been standing there?”

Discord turned to us with a toothy grin. “Why, if it isn’t little Sparkle and her friends. And Lulu and Tia too! Talk about a reunion. And....” he paused as he saw Screwball, the filly looking to him with wide eyes. Discord snapped his eagle talons, the couch going back to normal.

“Um, hey daddy.” She says quietly.

“Hey.” He responds quietly. There was an awkward silence for a couple moments before I sigh loudly.

“Discord I swear to Harmony if you do not hug your daughter right now I will summon my sister and get rid of your magic for a week!” I yell, the draconequus jumping and suddenly clutching his daughter. The others all look to me in slight awe at my scolding.

“How?” Celestia asks simply. I just shrug.

“Big family remember? I know when to show some tough love.” I respond, walking over and sitting next to the chaos god. “So, how long have you been hanging out with Ruby?”

“About an hour. I woke up and almost cut off Discords head.” Ruby answers with a sheepish grin, slowly putting Cresent Rose on the side of the couch.

“Well, I have heard about all this from my petrified prison, and I saw you all when Miss Nikos and Polendina arrived, but I was curious who this little flower was.” He says with a grin, lightly rubbing Screwballs head, the filly’s propeller spinning faster.

“Ah, that explains so much.” Rainbow mutters. I just shrug and see that the last match was the tenth in a row.

I go to add something, before a buzzing and music began to sound out from my pocket. Confused, I take out my scroll and see I have a new text. The others look to me with equal confusion as I unlock my scroll and go to my messages. I am really glad I had my mask on, because my eyes shot wide open at the message.

New Message from: Neo.

Hey Adam. Uh, is that offer for staying at your place still open? I want to see if I can talk with Red.

The others are silent as I send a text back.

I mean, I guess the offer still stands. Where are you. You have to be close to get a signal with my scroll. A second later I get a response.

Train Station. Spending some time in the slightly more advanced and familiar city of Manehatten let me relax and think a bit. And I wanna get all the facts about what happened to Roman before deciding if I want to kill you guys or not.

I chuckle a bit before responding.

You’re welcome to try, but I doubt you’d get very far. Anyways we are kinda in the middle of something, so how about you stop by around say six?

Deal. See you and your friends then. Try not to miss me too much.

I chuckle again as she wrote that, I swear I could just hear her smirking as she wrote that. Closing my scroll, I see that everyone is looking to me with anticipation.

“Well? Who was it?” Twilight questions.

“Well, let’s just say someone else from Remnant arrived here a few weeks back but needed some space to sort some things out. She said she’ll be popping over around six to talk.” I explain, not wanting to tell them who it is yet.

“And you are being cryptic about it why?” Ruby asks.

“Well, let’s just say you two weren’t exactly on the best of terms back in Remnant. But she wants to talk, so she’ll at least be civil before trying to kill us.” I respond with a laugh. The others look to Ruby with a raised brow as she thinks about who it could be before shrugging.

Time flew by for us again as we all just hung out with Discord. While the ponies were very cautious and rather distrusting of the chaos god, Ruby and I actually got along with him pretty well when we mentioned what our occupations were. He actually had a lot of hate for the Grimm, saying that they are nothing but blood thirst, evil monsters, and that’s coming from him! He apparently doesn’t like the whole death thing saying ‘there is nothing else so stagnant, so boring, so....final.’

We mostly spent our time telling Discord about our own adventures, Ruby about some of the things she went through with team RNJR and I when I arrived here in Equestria, and even a few things from back home. Before we even realized it it was nearly five in the evening.

“Well, this has been a very nice time. Maybe I should pop by again some time.” Discord says, twisting himself into a pretzel shape and cracking his bones. The girls that stayed all cringed at that.

“You know, despite how ‘evil’ you’re supposed to be, this was pretty nice.” Rainbow says with a grin, stretching her wings. I nod with her, standing up and stretching myself.

“So Discord. Where are you and Screwball going to stay from now on?” I question.

“Oh my little Screwy and I are going to be living in my old house in the seventh dimension. Don’t worry, I’ll send directions later. It was a pleasure my new friends. Farewell!” He then grabs his daughter, who waves quickly, and begins to fold in on himself before disappearing with a quack. There was silence for a minute before Ruby broke it.

“I like him.”

Rainbow, Fluttershy, Twilight and I laugh at her blunt response before I walk over to the pantry, leaving my mask on the table.

“So, you girls wanna stay for dinner? Could be a good chance to introduce you guys to our new....acquaintance.” I offer, taking out ingredients for dinner.

“Can’t. Princess Celestia wanted me to study the elements a bit more for the next couple days.” Twilight says, putting on her vest.

“Um, I can’t either. I need to get home and feed my animals.” Fluttershy mumbles. I just shrug.

“Oh well, your loss. I can stay though. I haven’t got anything else planned tonight, and I really wanna meet this new person.” Rainbow says, lounging on the recliner. I smile as Ruby sees Twi and Fluttershy out and I get started on dinner. I think a veggie stir fry would be good.

I spent the next half hour to hour in the kitchen as the rest of my housemates eventually made their way in. I had to remind Qrow to take off his shoes of course, but other than that, we all mostly did our own thing. Pyrrha and Ozpin were marking test results in the study, Ruby was teaching Rainbow how to play her video games in the living room and Qrow and Penny were helping me with dinner. It was actually pretty calming, all of us just hanging out in the house. It reminded me of the summers my siblings and I would spend with my grandparents, all of us just helping out around the house.

Before I knew it the food was finished cooking and Penny and I were plating it. Everyone slowly made their way to the table, noticing the empty seat. Rainbow and Ruby had told the others we had a guest, but since they were just as in the dark, they didn’t really mind it.

“So Adam? When is this guest supposed to arrive?” Oscar questions, helping take all the food out. I go to answer, only for there to be a knocking at the door a second later.

“Heh, speak of the devil.” I mutter with a smirk, heading to the door. Opening it up, I look down to a familiar earth pony with a cane and umbrella in her hands. I frown slightly and hold out my hand.

“Hand them over Neo. No weapons near the dinner table.” I inform, the disguised human slowly nodding and handing over her weapons. I move aside and let her in, the ‘mare’ taking off her boots before I lead her to the dinner table. The others all look to her with confusion.

“Uh Adam? Didn’t you say she was from Remnant?” Ruby questions, trying to figure out who this mare was. In response I just push the mare forwards a bit and motion to the others with a raised brow. She looks back to me with a light glare before silently sighing.

The others all look in confusion, then shock as the sparkling energy appears at her hooves before moving up, revealing her outfit slowly before ending with the bowler hat on her head. She looks up to my friends with a playful smirk. The others are silent in confusion, I realize they have never seen Neo’s true form, except one.

“NEO?!” Ruby suddenly falls out of her chair as she yells that, Neo silently laughing at Ruby’s misfortune, and her expression as she carefully looks over the table.

“Who’s Neo?” Oscar questions. In response, Neo rolls her eyes and the energy appears again, changing her form into that of the girl she was disguised as during the tournament. That got a response as everyone but Rainbow stood from their chairs and got in fighting stances.

“What the hell?!” Qrow yells. I stand before Neo.

“Calm down all of you. Neo isn’t here to fight.” I inform sternly, the others shocked I am protecting the girl.

“Adam you know what happened! You know what she did!” Pyrrha yells in anger.

“That right, I know what she did. I also know what she was forced to do, what she didn’t want to do, and what she lost. But I only know so much, and you guys know even less than I do. So I invited her here so we can learn just who is Neo Politan, and see if we can’t work together. Trust me,” I look down to the woman behind me with a glare, “she tries anything, I’ll kill her myself.”

That got a flinch from everyone, seeing how serious I was about this. I silently walked over to my seat and sat down, gesturing Neo to the free seat beside me. She slowly nodded, now clearly nervous, and took her own seat. There was a tense silence that followed, before being broken by Penny.

“So Neo. How long have you been in Equestria for?” She question, beginning to eat her food as though there was nothing wrong. Neo took out her scroll and sent me her response.

”About a month or so. I saw you and Adam during your date and decided to lay low for a while. You have no idea how hard it was to avoid that pink earth pony.”

“You mean Pinkie? No wonder she was so hyper lately, she did say there was a new pony in town but she just couldn’t find her.” Rainbow mentions, munching on her own food.

“But...a month? Why haven’t you tried anything against us then?” Ruby questions.

”I needed time to think. I met up with Adam a couple weeks back and he told me-he told me what happened to Roman.”

That response made Ruby go silent. I can tell even she regrets what happened to Roman, and considering how sudden it was, she was clearly caught off guard.

“I...I see.” She mutters quietly. The others look to her with a little worry, Penny reaching over and patting her back. My fellow silver eyed warrior looked to my girlfriend with a thankful smile.

“Hey, how come you’re using your scroll? Can’t you just tell us?” Qrow questions o so eloquently. I glare at him for a second before Neo sighs and undoes her scarf. She then walks over to the kitchen and we hear the tap running for a second. She comes back and takes her seat again, a damp cloth in her hand, and she takes a breath before slowly rubbing the cloth against her neck. We look on in confusion, then horror as a very large scar is shown going across her neck, hidden behind some makeup.

“W-w-what?” Oscar stutters. We all look to the hidden wound in shock and horror before Neo grabs her scroll and begins to write a very, very long answer.

”When I was a kid, maybe around seven or eight years old, I was heading back to my sleeping spot for the night. Incase you guys couldn’t figure it out, I am an orphan. I was abandoned on the streets before I even knew what my parents looked like, and I was scared of going to an orphanage because I have heard bad things about them.

Anyways, I was heading back to my hideout, when I ran into a trio of drunken bastards just wandering around the alleys. I guess they were....lonely, because they ended up coming after me as I ran. I am not sure how long I was running for, before they ended up cornering me. I wasn’t planning on going quietly, so I screamed as loud as I could.

They got annoyed so one of them took out a hunting knife and threatened to slit my throat if I didn’t shut up. I called his bluff and screamed again.”

She paused for a second, absentmindedly rubbing her neck, a distant and terrified look in her eyes.

“He wasn’t bluffing.” Pyrrha mutters, just loud enough for us to hear. Neo nods and takes a couple deep breaths, before noticing the hand on her shoulder. She followed it up to Penny, who was kneeling next to her. She slowly nodded in thanks before texting again.

”I thought if I didn’t die then those monsters would take me away to be their toy but...as luck would have it. Someone showed up and stopped them before they could do anything. I was out of it because of the pain and my blood loss, but I did see a white coat and orange hair.

I was out for two days after that. When I woke up, I found I was in the hospital with bandages over not just my throat, but some small bandages over other parts of my body from small injuries I had from just surviving on the streets. I was confused, who saved me?

I got my answer when he came in with a small vase of flowers. My saviour was the then small time crook, Roman Torchwick. He was walking to his home after a job of his when he heard me scream. Those bastards that slit my throat were apparently feeding some fish at the bottom of a river while I was unconscious.

After that, I learned that while I would survive, my vocal cords were irreversibly damaged, so I would never be able to speak again. But I didn’t care. I had survived like I always do, so I was prepared to be discharged and go back to my hideout.

But that didn’t happen. I learned before I was discharged that Roman somehow got legal custody of me after they found I was a street urchin. He later explained that he saw a lot of potential in me, and he planned on teaching me how to thrive, not just survive. He took me out for some frozen yogurt and even let me wear his hat. Then we robbed the shop.”

She was silently chuckling at the last part, while the rest of us were stunned silent. Roman Torchwick, the con artist of Vale, had saved her when she was a kid.

“Wait a second. How old are you Neo?” Ruby questions.

”I’m nineteen.”

That caused everyone to go wide eyed, looking at the short human.

“What the hell?! You’re older than me!” I yell, Neo looking to me with a tilted head. “I’m eighteen. Well, at least for another couple months.”

“And you’re the same age as the rest of our teams.” Pyrrha adds, going to take another bite of her food, before we all noticed we ate everything.

“Whoa, I didn’t even notice we ate everything.” Rainbow mutters, looking around at all of us. I rub my head for a second before grabbing all the plates with my magic and sending them to the sink. Neo watches all the plates hover by with wide eyes, before texting again.

”No matter how many times I see it, I still can’t believe this place has magic. And you of all people have it too Adam.”

“Well, I’m not the only one.” I inform, Neo looking around curiously. The others smirk and Penny, and Oscar use their own magic to clean the dishes from their seats. Neo’s jaw nearly hits the table, before noticing Pyrrha pouting.

”What’s wrong Pyrrha? You seem jealous.”

“Oh um. Well, I have magic as well, but I haven’t been able to access it. I have been given some advice about how to unlock it, but it doesn’t really help when I don’t even know how to go about it.” She explains. Neo looks to me with a raised brow, but I just shrug. Even after everything, Pyrrha still hasn’t been able to use her magic.

“Well, it was....nice meeting you Neo. I think I’ll head out. You guys have a lot of catching up to do.” Rainbow says, putting on her jacket.

“Please use the door this time, I really don’t wanna repair a window again.” Penny groans, her magic almost slipping. Rainbow blushes and nods sheepishly, heading out the door.

”Do I even want to know?”

“No.” Was the collective response. Neo looked at all of us before shrugging. A few minutes later the dishes were done and we were all gathered in the living room.

“So...we still on for movie night? Discord left the holo screen, so I can connect it to your scroll Adam.” Ruby says. In response, I unlock my scroll and pass it to her. Ruby smiles and begins to go through a couple things on the screen and scroll. Penny quickly writes down her number for Neo, who adds it to her contacts so she can still ask questions.

”So she said movie night. Are you going to be watching some movie from your world Adam?” The others all look to me as I divert my own gaze.

“You didn’t tell her about the show did you?” Qrow questions, frowning at my sheepish grin. He sighs and turns to the short woman. “Well, get ready for a shock Neo. Adam know more about us than I think any of us. And we were going to be watching why.”

Neo just stood blankly at him as Ruby tossed my scroll back, allowing me to go through my downloaded videos and found what we were looking for. As soon as the screen came on, showing the silhouettes team RWBY, Neo turned to me and mouthed one thing.

‘What?’

Chapter 23: Crystal Confrontations

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I release a large yawn as I see the forest and grasslands change to a bright snowy landscape. It had been a couple weeks since Neo had joined our little group, and needless to say, she was beyond shocked when we all watched the trailers and first volume of RWBY. The fact she was considered a fictional character in my old world didn’t escape her a bit, but she stayed quiet and just watched. As soon as we finished the first volume, she promptly fainted on the couch. The rest of us decided to call it a night after that and left her to recover.

The next few days after that we watched the rest of the volumes, and the others noted a few differences between their reality and the show. The others were really messed up after Volume 3, having to watch their friends and themselves die again. We then took a day off the recharge as it were. Neo and Ruby actually hung out after that, going over their own perspectives. Of course I made sure they left their weapons where I could see them. I can’t even imagine what it was like for Pyrrha, Penny, even Oscar, but they stuck together during our recharge day. After that we got back to it and watched volumes 4 and 5.

Ruby was really messed up after volume four though, having to watch what her team went through without her. She was especially pissed about what happened with Weiss and Blake, but was proud of the initiative Yang took. Also she brought up how weird it was to watch herself go through all of those things she did with team RNJR. And of course there was the collective shock that came with Ren’s childhood chapter. Ruby then felt very happy they took down the Nuckelavee.

Pyrrha was both proud and terrified for Jaune, seeing what happened to him after her death. She saw how much he had grown, but also how much he was hurting. She spent an entire day alone in her room after we watched the last volume, just trying to sort out her thoughts about it. But I could tell, her love for him was even stronger than it was before, and I was thinking I might need to soundproof her room when her team and Jaune arrive.

After that, we mostly went over some of the different things from the others reality, things like Qrow’s meeting with Raven, which apparently caused him to go sober for a couple days. It went without saying the others were beyond shocked when it was shown that Raven was the spring maiden and not Vernal, and that Yang knew. And just how strong and manipulative Salem was.

Ozpin was silent for a while after we watched the volumes, Oscar saying he felt Oz was sorting out his thoughts on the matter. We mostly left him to his own devices, but I can’t help but feel a small amount of distrust for the former headmaster. I wanted answers, we all did, and quite bluntly, Ozpin would never give anyone a straight answer, either talking in riddles, or just straight up trying to divert the conversation elsewhere.

After all that, it was time to head back to Canterlot, now with the addition of Neo, who agreed to help train the recruits in hand-to-hand and counteroffensive combat. Although we did need to bail her out a couple times when she tried to steal Celestia and Luna’s crowns. She almost did it, and mostly just does it to annoy us and the princesses. They put up with it though, especially after I told them about Neo’s past. While they were cautious, they were willing to give Neo a chance.

A chance she has taken to hanging out with Discord and Screwball and pranking the castle staff and the recruits whenever possible. I don’t think I have ever seen Luna laugh as hard as she did when Celestia asked for a strawberry cake, only for said cake to fall on top of her. Discord and Neo were forced to hide for the rest of the day, else they face the wrath of the sun.

While it was funny, Neo has been all sorts of helpful, but annoying sometimes. I guess she is just venting in a way, not really used to Equestria yet. She needs to blow off some steam to cope with learning how things went in Remnant, and so far pranking Celestia seems to be her method. Well, that or beating up the recruits. She is really good at silently teaching but she is also very mischievous.

Anyways, after our training in Canterlot, we were requested by Princess Cadence to head to the Crystal Empire along with the Element bearers to help prepare for some kind of inspection by a game inspector or something. I think Rainbow said that the Empire was going to be picked to host the Equestria Games, their version of the olympics.

All of us agreed to go, even Oz, and we are now on a train heading to the empire. I was pretty curious about it, I haven’t seen the empire since I have arrived here in Equestria. I wonder what kind of things we’ll see.

A bit of shifting next to me reminded me of the fact I am once again being used as a pillow by my girlfriend, and I couldn’t really find it in me to care. This has just sorta become a normal thing for us, Penny using me to sleep on during long train rides. I just smirk and lay my arm around her, before going back to watching the scenery go by. The others were all just doing their own thing, talking, laughing, or in Neo’s case, texting. We really need to find a better way of communicating with her.

“So, we have one day before the inspector shows up, so we will have plenty of time to show you guys around the Empire so you won’t get lost.” I hear Twilight say.

“Oh, I am so excited! An entire city made of crystals!? You would never see anything like that back home in Remnant.” Ruby squees, bouncing in her seat. I hear the tapping of Neo’s scroll before the ding of a received message. The others look to Ruby as she deadpans Neo.

“Seriously? I doubt they would accept any of the crystals as payment back in Remnant Neo. Please try to avoid the pickpockets by the way.” She request, Neo just shrugs.

I tuned out the rest of their conversation as I watched the snow pass by the train. To be honest, it was calming in a way, just watching nature settle. It was as I was looking out the window, I thought I saw someone near the base of one of the hills, but once I looked again, all I saw was a dead tree. I tilt my head in confusion, before shaking it out of my mind.

I am not sure how much longer I was looking out over the landscape for, before we arrived at our destination, a coaling station a mile or two from the Empire. Shaking Penny awake, each of us grabbed our luggage and began to trek through the snow covered fields.

“So Twilight. You said Shining Armor was going to meet us at the edge of the empire?” Ruby asks.

“Yup. My bro wanted all of us to get assigned our rooms first before going through a tour of the town. With any luck we’ll finish the tour in time for dinner.” Twilight replies with a grin.

After a minute or two we pass over a hill, and stare in awe as we see an amazing looking city, shining brighter than the stars in the night sky, covered by a translucent blue bubble. Walking down to it after snapping out of our collective awe, we passed through the barrier and are immediately bombarded by the heat. While outside the bubble felt like a sunny winters day, it felt like the middle of spring inside the barrier.

“Wow! This place is awesome!” Ruby exclaimed, running ahead with Pinkie and Rarity. the rest of us chuckle and make our own ways there.

“Twily! Adam!” We turn as see as Shining and Cadence walk over.

“Shiny!” The unicorn rushes forwards, almost like she teleported and brought her brother in for a crushing hug. After releasing him and greeting Cadence, the duo walk over to us.

“Hey guys, nice to see you again.” I greet, shaking the duos hands. They smile and nod as well, before noticing Neo looking around with wide eyes.

“Oh, who's this?” Cadence questions, the Alicorn looking down to the woman.

“Shining, Cadence, this is Neo. She’s...well I can’t really call her a true friend, more like an ally. Neo, this is Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, the rulers of this empire.” I introduce.

“Hey there Neo, its nice to meet you.” Shining greets, holding out his hand. Neo tilts her head and slowly shakes his hand back. Cadence looks to me with a raised brow.

“She’s mute, and wasn’t exactly a hero back in Remnant. But don’t worry, she won’t cause any trouble. At least of her own volition.” I send a slight glare at her as I notice her about to take Shining’s bit bag. She immediately jumped back and walked over to Ruby while whistling. I just shake my head.

“Well then, how about we head over to the castle and get all of you to your rooms before starting the tour.” Shining says, earning a nod from most of us. With that, our large group made our way through the town, those of us never having been here before all look around in awe at the architecture, the crystal ponies, everything really.

“Woooow!” Ruby gushes, looking at everything with an awed smile, and squealing slightly when she sees a couple of crystal fillies running by.

“I have to agree with you there Ruby. This place is amazing! And this is just the suburbs!” Oscar exclaims, looking at some of the houses.

While my friends are all enjoying the scenery, I am staying back with Neo and Penny, looking over the area with a critical eye. Why you ask? Well, I got the feeling that something was subtly wrong here. Like there was something that’s missing. I could tell, Neo and Penny felt it too.

“Anything?” I question quietly, my companions shaking their heads.

“It could be nothing, but your intuition is usually very sharp Adam.” Penny mutters. Neo just nods along, looking around with her mismatched changing eyes.

Before long our group arrived at the crystal palace, the energy in the air around it calming us like nothing else had. Each of us were led to our own individual room and quickly unpacked our gear. We were planning to stay for at least a couple days, so we brought a few days worth of clothes, along with plenty of ammunition for each of our weapons. With her permission, Ruby actually disassembled Roman’s cane and Neo’s umbrella in the workshop during our time off. While she was nervous about it, Neo was relieved when Ruby put the two weapons back together without any problem. After that, we made ammo for the cane so Neo could help out with long ranged combat.

Once all of us were situated, we got a proper tour of the empire, Shining pointing out some of his favourite spots, like the training yard and a small family run cafe near the market. I noticed that the crystal guards here actually looked a lot more battle ready than the Solar guards back in Canterlot. I am not sure if I should be proud of them, or disappointed in the Solar guards.

While we were going through the tour though, I had that feeling again, but it was stronger now. While I did pay attention and made a mental map of the empire, that feeling kept bugging me almost to the point of auditory frustrations. It wasn’t until we finished the tour three hours later than it began to waver. I sighed as we made our way back to the castle, choosing to just ignore the feeling now, despite how strong the pull was.

At the dinner table, things were mostly silent on my end, my friends all chatting to one another about what they are going to do to help setting things up for when the inspector arrives. I barely paid attention really, just silently eating my food and trying to figure out what is going on with me today.

I am not sure why, but I could almost sense that something is wrong, but I can’t find what it is right now. Maybe I should just sleep on it.

Before I really realized it, everyone had eaten their fill and decided to call it a night. I walked to my room in silence, my mind abuzz with curiosity. Maybe it was nothing, but still...

“Adam?” I look up from my spot near my door, looking to the left as Penny walks over with a concerned expression.

“Are you alright Adam?” I just sigh.

“No, not really. I am not sure what it is, but I have this feeling that something, something bad is going to happen.” I mutter, Penny frowning and pulling me into a hug.

“You just need rest. Don’t think I haven’t noticed the all nighters you have been pulling with how to teach your troops. I think you just need to sleep, and hopefully whatever this feeling is will be gone in the morning.” She tells me, rubbing her head on my chest. I sigh again, this time in both agreement and defeat.

“Yeah, you’re right. I think I just need some proper sleep, maybe without the mental training.” I mutter, hugging her back. Penny smiles up and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek, one I return after a sec.

“Goodnight Adam. I’ll see you in the morning.” She says softly, heading to her own room. I just smile and head into my room, quickly stripping down and covering up in the bed. While it was only around nine at night, I think Penny is right, I could use the shut eye.

As I rest my head on the pillow, I chose to ignore the chill going down my spine, writing it off as the chill of the bed getting to me for a second.

It wasn’t until I was truly asleep, that a faint flash went off near the outer edge of the barrier.

****

I was walking. I didn’t know where, I didn’t know why, but I was. I surveyed the area around me, I was in what looked like a large hallway in the middle of the night. There was a bunch of light high up on pillars, some windows between the pillars showing the red night sky and the shattered moon.

I stopped for a second, looking to the broken moon. How did that happen? Did Salem have something to do with it? Or was it...something else? These thought were only in my mind for a moment before passing away in the night.

I shook my head and continued down the hall, ignoring the sounds of a struggle ahead. I continued on, even as I hear the screams echoing ahead of me. Even as I feel a sickening pulse go through my body. Wherever I was going, it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

I come across a single door. There was nothing unique about it, merely a mahogany doorway. The only real difference was it was oddly large, about twice as tall as me. I tilt my head and go to the door, slowly opening it up.

What greeted me was a familiar setting. I could smell the fires and death around me, swatting the creep that was attempting to pounce on me as I made my way through the wrecked cafeteria. I found a human, the boy trying to back away from me, but something was off. He was, hurt? No...he was scared.

I tilt my head at him, but he seemed distracted by whatever was scaring him. Something....behind me?

Turning, I am greeted by a familiar mask and head of red and brown hair, along with a pair of black horns. We just stood there, staring at each other, before it finally clicked who I was looking at. We both seemed to realize it and spoke in perfect unison, even as we grabbed our respective swords and lunged forwards at each other.

“Adam?”

There was the sound of swords clashing, a spark of metal, and then, darkness.

****

I woke up with a gasp, sitting up fast enough to launch my bedsheets away, sweat covering my body. What...what was that? A dream? It had to be, and yet, why did it feel so real. The smells, the sounds, the shock, all of it ingrained into my mind like a permanent photo.

“What was that?” I mutter aloud, trying to catch my breath.

I check my scroll next to me, seeing it was around six, just before sunrise. Deciding I had slept enough, I made my way out of bed and to the washroom. After going through my morning routine, I went over to my wardrobe and chose my outfit for the day. A pair of black jeans, a red t-shirt, a sleeveless dark grey jacket with a hood and my wolf symbol on the back, a pair or red fingerless gloves and a pair of black combat boots and then my mask. As I was about to close the drawer, I paused as another article of clothing caught my eye.

It was a scarf, a simple looking silver and black scarf with red markings, but it was a lot more than it seemed. A while ago, Rarity and Fluttershy had decided to teach the girls how to sew and knit properly, just incase their clothes are damaged and they can’t get a proper seamstress to fix them. Penny took her knowledge from Rarity and Fluttershy, and made the scarf for me as a present. I felt like total crap after she gave it to me since I hadn’t gotten her anything, so I ended up fixing that by making her some breakfast in bed the next morning. The others wouldn’t stop bugging us about it for a couple days.

While it was silly, the scarf meant a lot to me. It was the first gift I have ever gotten from the first girl I have ever been in a relationship with. Sentimental value be damned, I also just liked how it looked. So after a moments deliberation, I grabbed the scarf and tossed it around my neck, wrapping it like Natsu in Fairy Tail. After a quick check in the mirror, I nod and head out of my room.

Entering the hall, I am greeted by a guard who directed me to the dinning hall again. Walking in, I see Cadence, Oscar and I are the only ones present.

“Morning guys.” I announce my arrival, the others looking to me with a smile.

“Morning Adam. You feeling better? You seemed kinda out of it yesterday.” Oscar questions. I just rub the back of my head with a sheepish grin.

“Sorry for worrying you guys, but I’m fine. Just a little freaked out by my dream last night.” The others tilt their heads.

“Oh, that’s odd. I don’t think I have ever heard of you having a bad dream since arriving here in Equestria.” Ozpin mutters.

“Yeah, weird right? I almost never have nightmares, even back on earth. But last night was....odd. It felt really...real I guess. Almost like one of those memories that are just on the edge of your awareness.” I explain, the duo looking to me with raised brows.

“Odd. The crystal heart should keep out all nightmares, especially with our close proximity to it.” I hear Cadence mutter. I just shrug to her. After all, life and death always finds a way.

We don’t get to dwell long, as the rest of the crew slowly make their ways into the dining room. I noticed Ruby was wearing a replica of her Volume 1 outfit, along with having her Grimm mask attached to her belt. It was a little odd seeing Ruby in her original outfit since, as many certain fans pointed out, she had actually grown a noticeable amount during the time skip. And I don’t just mean her height.

Anyways, once everyone was seated the food was rolled out, and we each grabbed what we wanted, Twilight already assigning rolls for the day. I just tuned her out after she said that Ruby, Neo and I would be running security for the empire as a precaution. Not sure what she was thinking could happen, but I learned to not argue with her when she has made a schedule or whatever.

As I was eating my peanut butter and apple sandwich, I could feel a pair of eyes on me. Turning, I see Penny is staring at me intently, clearly trying to ask a question with her expression alone. Luckily for her I could tell what she was asking.

“Penny I’m fine. Just a little weirded out by my dream last night.” I tell her, Penny narrowing her eyes slightly before smiling and taking a chunk out of her apple. I just chuckle and roll my eyes before going back to my own breakfast. I guess she was right, since aside from the oddity of my dream, I felt totally relaxed.

After we finished out breakfast everyone went back to their rooms and grabbed what they needed for the day, those of us with them grabbing our weapons and ammo. We all met up in the main foyer where the crystal heart is located and began to get ready. The elements and Shining would be heading to the train station with Oscar while Cadence, Penny and Pyrrha would be helping set things up in the stadium. Qrow would be keeping a birds-eye on things just in case. Ruby, Neo and I will essentially be patrolling the area to make sure there is nothing that could ruin the inspection.

Once we all had our assigned tasks we split up. My group and I made our way to the edge of the barrier and began to walk its face, keeping an eye out. Not really sure why though. According to one of the guards, after the crystal heart was returned and Sombra was destroyed, the cold weather Grimm of the tundra all steer clear of this place. Too much positive energy.

“Man, I wonder if we are going to find anything worthwhile. Maybe we can find that Sombra’s horn or something.” Ruby mutters.

”I doubt that. Apparently one of the guards found it some time ago and it is being held in an extremely powerful and well protected magic vault under the castle.” Neo responds. I remain silent and kept an eye out. Not sure why though, all I could see was a light snow outside the barrier, a bunch of crystal flowers, some foot prints, crystal berries...

Wait what was the third one?

Stopping on a dime, I look over to one of the small fields of plants, and notice several unmistakable shoe prints going through them and towards the nearby storage warehouses. The girls almost bumped into me as I stopped, but before they could complain, they noticed what I was staring at.

“What the?” I hear Ruby mutter as I get a closer look. The shoe prints are very familiar to me, almost the same pattern as my own shoes, and they were dragging slightly. Whoever made these was clearly tired, and may have decided to crash at one of the warehouses.

“Hmm, looks like we got someone else from Remnant here.” I mutter, keeping my mask on my side for now. “I think we should-”

BANG BANG BANG

All of us jump as we hear that, the unmistakable sound of a gun. Looking to the warehouses, I see some smoke rising from one of them near the centre.

“Oh that is not good.” I hear Ruby mutter. I quickly put on my mask and rush towards the fight, the girls behind me with their own masks on.

The three of us reached the warehouses and began to jump across the roofs to get around faster, heading towards one of the warehouses I could make out was for shipping crystals to Equestria and the Minotaur Kingdom. These enhanced senses are now being very helpful since I could see the sign from here.

As we were running, I could make out several scents coming from the warehouse, three that were familiar, but I know I have never smelled any of them myself before. The first I could only describe as a cross between blackberries and lavender, the second, summer humidity and melted gold. Third was that of a frozen lake and snow. Last though...it was odd. I couldn’t really describe it, but I know I have smelt it before.

Momentarily putting the scents on the back burner, I see we have nearly made it to the warehouse where there was clearly a fight going on. I could here more shots of what sounded like a pistol, and shotguns. I also could here an odd shimmering sound, almost like when someone is using magic. Once we got close enough, we could also make out the sounds of swords clashing against one another.

The three of us stopped on the building across the lot from the warehouse, looking through one of the windows and seeing the flashes of gunfire. I go to direct the girls, before the main doors burst open in a cloud of smoke, and I could clearly hear three voices yelling in pain as they were thrown from the building.

Crouching near the edge of the build, the three of us look into the smoke, but I got a little impatient, so I cast a small wind spell to make a breeze go by. What was uncovered though, shocked us to the core.

Slowly getting to their feet, were three very familiar huntresses, each with some bruises slowly healing on their skin. First was a certain ex-heiress with pure white hair held in an off centre ponytail on her right side, her pale complexion almost accentuating her scar over her left eye. She was wearing a short, glittering dress with a color gradation of blue to pale blue at the hem, a sweetheart neckline, and a white, tulle petticoat.

A white ribbon is wrapped multiple times around her waist, and over the outfit is worn a slightly sheer long-sleeved blue shrug fastened at the collar with a large sapphire broach that has three pendants dangling from it. Printed on the back of the shrug is the Schnee Crest. Completing her attire are dark blue wedge heels and sapphire drop earrings. She was also wearing a red scarf the same shade as Ruby’s cape and blue tights on her legs.

Helping her up was a familiar faunus, her raven black hair was a bit of a mess from the fight, her black cat ears all but pinned to her head in anger and worry.

She was wearing a long white tailcoat with dark gray lining and a sleeveless black crop top. The crop top has rectangular and diamond-shaped cutouts around the neckline. She was also wearing a white belt over black fitted pants. She had a pair of thigh-high black heeled boots with gold-colored edging around the top on her feet, the left boot having a belt wrapped twice around the thigh. Each boot bears her belladonna emblem in white on the outer side of the thigh, and a white pouch is attached to the back of her belt.

Punching the ground with a growl, the last huntress manages to get to her feet, her bright gold hair falling to one side before being brushed behind her. She was wearing a tan jacket with orange lining and gold edging, unzipped halfway to show an orange crop top. The coat has darker brown short sleeves, a thick collar that completely encircles her neck, and two long gold-trimmed rectangular tails, which were detached as she was thrown from the building. She was also wearing fitted black pants. She had a pair of knee high brown boots with gold caps on the heel and toe, with the heel cap attaching to a gold strap across the front of her ankle, and a gold zipper on the upper half of the front of the boots. A single small buckled strap is on the upper outside of her boots, and a purple bandanna tied around her left knee. A pair of black fingerless gloves with long brown cuffs reaching to mid forearm complete the outfit and clearly showing off her prosthetic arm.

All of our eyes shot open at this little revelation, and I could see Ruby’s smile put Pinkie to shame right now. I can’t believe it, team RWBY is here. But, what are they fighting?

The three of us freeze as we hear a sinister laugh coming from the warehouse, footsteps echoing through the lot.

“You two couldn’t hope to defeat me back in Beacon, what made you think you could take me on now? Just because you have some princess working for you?” My blood turned to ice as I heard that. That voice....it couldn’t be.

Looking to the warehouse, a man slowly walked out of the smoke and darkness, his red and brown hair accentuating him black horns, a black blindfold covering his eyes.

He was wearing a rather form-fitting, double-breasted three-tone black and gray leather tunic jacket with red interior lining and two-layers of flares that hung the entire bottom of his jacket around his thigh, his rounded collar up to the shoulders of his jacket was black, with the two tone grey colors at the rest of his jacket, which also included a zipper for his left breast pocket, and two more at the sleeves, which also possessed black cuffs.

His dress pants were a matching gray to the tunic, and mounted a maroon belt at the right thigh. The back of his tunic retained his red wilting rose emblem with white nightshade stem and flower sigils. Completing this outfit were plain black gloves exposing his wrists, along with twin maroon criss-crossing belts that hung Wilt and Blush on his left, and a black and red-lined drape retaining the red thorn sigil on his right. Finally, he still wore his red-soled black shoes.

“No....” I whisper in shock, seeing that madman walking out of the building. I could make out Ruby and Neo looking between me and that monster several times, clearly as shocked as I am.

“Why can’t you just leave us alone?!” I hear Blake scream.

“I’m sorry Blake, but I haven’t made good on my promise to you. Do you remember it? The one I made to you back in Beacon.” Adam says almost mockingly, causing my anger to spike, a low growl escaping me. The three of us have to duck as we notice them glancing in our direction.

“Holy crap holy crap holy crap.” I hear Ruby repeat to herself. Neo looked just as shook as Ruby, taking a couple deep breaths to calm down. I had to follow her example as all I wanted was to jump over the ledge and kill that bastard, but I knew I had to be smart about this. My duty came first, revenge second.

“Neo, Ruby.” The girls turn to me. “I want you two to go around the area as fast as you can and evacuate any civilians. Then I want you guys to find the others.”

“But what about you?” Ruby question, taking off her mask. I remain silent, glancing over the roof to the group below us.

“I’m going to take that guy down.” I say simply, the girls looking to me like I grew a second head.

“Are you nuts?! Do you have any idea how my team would react to there being two of you!?” Ruby frantically questions.

“Then I’ll make it so there isn’t two of me.” I tell her, the duo looking to me with raise brows. I then raise my hood and cover the bottom of my face with my scarf. While it was good, I wanted to be sure, so I case a localized Dark Moment spell, making it so my face is covered by darkness. The duo look to me with raised brow, Neo slowly nodding.

“I mean, I guess that works. But they’re my teammates! I should be here to help them.” Ruby says, Neo placing a hand on her shoulder and shaking her head.

“And you will. Once you have evacuated everyone, I expect you back here to help your team.” I tell her, slowly walking to the side of the building roof. My magic activates, and I sink into my own shadow, but not before looking to the duo again.

“I will protect your friends Ruby, but I need to fight him to do so. And I’ll tell you this. I will not hold back.” With that I fade into my shadow and rush through the darkness, heading to the rest of team RWBY.

The duo look to one another again before Ruby groans, puts her mask back on and rushes off the roof, closely followed by Neo.

‘Adam, please. Protect them for me.’

Chapter 24: Mirror Match: Adam Winger VS Adam Taurus

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The three girls all groaned in frustration and mild pain, facing off against one they all have a grudge against. They didn’t even know how it came to this really. They remembered being teleported, something going wrong, and then appearing in some weird tundra with a kingdom unlike any they have seen before surrounded by a bubble.

If only that was their only problem. They were together, but separated from the rest of their friends. And now they had to deal with some spiteful psycho hellbent on torturing Blake. They knew they had to stop him, but he was far stronger than they gave him credit for. He clearly has been training for the past couple years since the fall of beacon, even if his performance at the attack on Haven was less than respectable.

What they didn’t know, was there was another man hiding within the shadow of the building, watching events unfold with a critical eye, just waiting for his moment to intervene, attack, or protect. The hidden man had to stop himself from acting recklessly, else he could put the others in danger. That didn’t stop him from lowly growling as Adam continued to mock and blame Blake for all the things that happened after she left him. The girls remained on all sides, far enough from each other to dodge, yet close enough to help. Eventually though, Weiss had had enough.

“Will you shut up! Blake didn’t do anything to you! All these back things, they’re your own damned fault Taurus!” Weiss screams. In response, Adam just growls, before perking up slightly, the reds of his outfit and hair glowing slightly. He smirks and turns to address Blake.

“You know Blake, I was planning on finishing what I started with your blond friend there, but I just remembered there is someone here I hate almost as much as you.” he says with an evil frown. Before they could really react, Adam unsheathed his sword, sending a moon slice to the former heiress.

Weiss takes a step to dodge, before losing her footing on a destroyed stone. Her eyes widen as she trips, the slash getting closer by the second. There was a sudden flash of red and grey, before the attack lands, kicking up large amounts of dust.

“WEISS!”

The girls look to where their friend was in fear, anger and sadness all at once, turning back to Adam with matching glares. They are about to attack, before noticing Adam hasn’t turned away from where Weiss was. Confused, the girls follow his sight, seeing the dust begin to settle. They perked up when they hear their friend coughing, before freezing in shock an confusion at what they are seeing.

Weiss wasn’t sure what just happened. She felt herself fall to the ground, an embarrassing moment for her, and she expected to feel excruciating pain, but as the seconds ticked by and she felt nothing, she risked to open her eyes. She had to do a double take at what she was seeing though.

What greeted her first was what looked like a white wolf with silver eyes, but as she looked again, she realized it was just an image, that of a wolf’s head looking back with some kind of red eclipse right behind it. She followed the image, seeing it was on the back of a mans jacket, overtop a red t-shirt. He had his hood up, and Weiss could just barely make out a scarf coming out from under his hood.

Then she remembered her hearing, and she could hear what almost sounded like bells or wind chimes. Looking past the man, she realized he had his right arm extended before him, and when she looks, her jaw nearly hit the ground.

The dust cleared, and everyone could see some kind of red and silver shield, made of some kind of plasma, or energy the likes of which they have never seen before. The girls all had to rub their eyes to make sure they were seeing things right. Weiss then noticed the mans hand was glowing the same colour as the shield.

“What the hell?!” Adam yelled in shock and annoyance. In response, the hooded man just huffed and closed his hand, the shield before him swirling before being condensed into a fist sized orb. Adam suddenly had a bad feeling about this. The man cocked his hand back, the orb following like it was in his hand.

“EAT THIS!” he launched the orb forwards, straight to Adam. He somehow knew he couldn’t block it, so he jumped left, the orb barely grazing his coat before going through the building behind him. Then the next. And the next. It went through them all before stopping in the back of the sixth building.

“Holy...” Yang mutters. Blake slowly nods along with her friend, before they shake their heads and turn to run to their friend. They found her just staring up at the man with more than a little shock, though she couldn’t see his face. It was almost like all light from under his hood was being drained by shadow.

”You alright Schnee?” he questions, Weiss slowly nodding, unsure of the mans intentions or alliances. She seemed to get her answer, when he offered her is hand, his stance relaxed, inviting. After a moments hesitation, she reached up, allowing the man to pull her to her feet.

’That idiot’s left himself wide open!’ Adam thinks before rushing forwards, appearing behind the duo in an instant. He thought he had them, but as he was swinging his sword, he noticed the man looking at him out of the corner of his hood. Adam thought he was going to counter attack, but instead his sword went straight through the duo, only for them to disappear like a shadow and reappear right next to Blake.

“What the?” Weiss mutters, looking around to her friends, who are just as confused. It was then she noticed the man was holding her shoulder, before letting go and walking forwards.

“Is it just me, or did he just use your semblance Blake.” Yang questions. Blake goes to answer, but gets interrupted.

”Not quite.” the trio turn to the man as he is staring down Adam. “Blakes Semblance is all her own. What I used was something else entirely. While it is similar, it had little to do with my Semblance. Now then.”

“Hey, am I the only one who thinks he sounds familiar?” Weiss question, her friends shrugging before grabbing the weapons as Adam charges. He doesn’t even make it half the distance before he is blocked by the hooded man. Adam swings his sword, only for his opponent to block it with the bottom of his boot. Adam looks between the his weapon and his opponent in confusion.

”Iron plated grooves. Sorry to tell you this. But your fights with me now!” Adam then receives a hard punch to the gut, sending him stumbling back a few feet.

”Hey Yang! the blond perks up as her name is called. “I hope you don’t mind if I copy you a bit.”

Yang tilts her head in confusion, before they see as a pair of bracelets extend into a pair of familiar gauntlets. Yang looks to hers in comparison, seeing they look almost exactly the same, but the colours are different and the chain of shells are all different coloured as well.

”So, you think you can beat me when those three didn’t even stand a chance? That’s just laughable.”

”No. I don’t Think I can beat you. I NEED to beat you. I have to get rid of the stain you have created on the world. And that starts with your death, Adam Taurus.”

Adam looks to his opponent with intrigue. Whoever he is facing, it was clear they knew quite a bit about him and his exploits. Sheathing his sword, Adam waits, expecting his opponent to come charging in like the blond behind him. He was only half right. His opponent took two steps forwards, before disappearing. Adam looked around in confusion, before his instincts kicked in and he jumped back. A moment later, the spot he was standing was all but blown up.

Looking to the small crater, they could see the man with his fist in the ground. Adam knew what happened. His opponent jumped or something, before letting gravity carry him back down, increasing the velocity of his punch that could have knocked him out.

”Damn. I missed.” the man mutters, standing straight again, before charging. Adam grabs his sword and swings, only for the man to block and redirect the blade with the back of his gauntlet, followed by a punch to the gut again. Adam growls and begins to try and cut his opponent, but every slash was blocked, dodged or redirected. It was almost like he knew what he was going to do before even Adam did.

On one swing, Adam’s blade was caught, before he received a headbutt to the face, causing him to stagger back again. He growls as the man merely retuned to his stance. He then glances over to the girls who have been watching in surprise, and smirks. Adam grabs his sword, and tried to do a repeat of what he did to Weiss.

”Oh crap, no you don’t!” the man suddenly disappears and reappears before the girls. They expect him to push them out of the way or something, but they weren’t expecting him to grab his own sword, and do the EXACT SAME THING as Adam. They watch in shock as the two moonslices strike each other, the resulting blast of wind causing the girls to shield their eyes.

Once the wind was down, they looked to their ‘saviour’ and could swear they heard glass breaking. The hood had fallen down, revealing a head of red and brown hair, two black horns, and a very, very, familiar mask, along with a similarly coloured scarf. There was a stunned silence that followed, everyone, even Adam, at a complete loss for words. Before Blake finally found her voice.

“Adam?”

*****

“Get to the castle! I promise once everything is over you can go back to work, and if you have any complaints, we’ll listen after we make sure that terrorist is in a cell!” Ruby yells out, the workers of one of the warehouses heading to the castle. This was the fifth warehouse they had evacuated, and Ruby was very worried and anxious.

After they had left Adam to take on...well, Adam, they had rushed through warehouse after warehouse, evacuating any ponies they had to so they wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire. At first they we’re taken seriously at all, but that changed when some kind of orb of magic bore through six warehouses, miraculously missing any ponies. Once that happened, they were taken seriously, some managers even staying with them to help evacuate neighbouring warehouses.

Neo rushes over to her new ally, holding out a note for her.

”According to Lock Box there are a couple more warehouses nearby that need to be evacuated. I’ll take the three to the eastern side, you go with Crystal Bit and evacuate the two on the west side.”

Ruby nods, glancing back to the warehouse her team was at after another burst of energy went off. She whines slightly as her worry spikes again, Neo placing a hand on her shoulder. Neo sighs and takes out a small notepad and pen, writing a response.

”As much as I hate to admit it, you’re a good leader Ruby, and I understand you’re worried about your team. But you need to trust Adam. I may not know him very well personally, but I can tell, he’s one of the good ones. Like your friend, Jaune.”

Ruby looks slightly down to the older girl, nodding slightly and take a breath, adjusting her mask. With a small smile, the duo split up, meeting with their respective pony guides and heading to the next warehouses.

‘Adam. Good luck, and please Yang, don’t hurt him too bad.’

*****

The stunned silence at followed Blake’s question was torture for everyone, none of them having any idea on what was going on right now. The man that had been protecting them, looked exactly like the one trying to kill them in the first place. Adam sighs, lowering his scarf.

”You know, I was kinda hoping to keep this a secret a little longer. At least until I could knock this bastard out.” he turns to his stunned counterpart. ”Well, plans never last long against first contact with the enemy.”

“Okay seriously, what the hell is going on here?! Who are you?!” Yang exclaims, her friends and her getting into combat stances. The two Adam’s just continue staring at one another.

”Can’t believe I am saying this, but I am actually with Yang there. Who the hell are you, and why do you look exactly like me?!” Taurus demands.

”Well its because I am you.” was the instant reply, throwing everyone off guard. Winger slowly shakes his head. ”No, that’s not right. I am who you could have, and should have been Adam.”

”That doesn't make any sense!”

”I suppose that doesn’t, but really, who cares. Right now all you need to know it I am the guy who is going to kick your ass.” he glances back to the girls. ”I suggest you three stay back. He’s mine.”

“What, then you’re going to attack us after you beat him?” Blake questions. Winger just sighs, turning to address her.

”I know you think it is total bull crap, but I am on your side Blake. I don’t want to hurt you, I just want to take this guy down, and protect the city.”

Taurus growls as his counterpart talks so calmly to her. To his love. To the one he need to make suffer most. Taurus crouched, hand on his weapons. He was noticed, and then copied by his counterpart, the duo mirror images of each other. The girls just looked back and forth between the two, clearly scared about what is about to happen.

“Um...I think we should listen to him and take cover.” Weiss mutters.

Not a second after she said that, the two Adam’s launched themselves at each other, clashing in a burst of wind. The girls had to stand firm as the wind rushes past them, the two men locked in the exact same position as each other. With a click, both swords were fired, the two of them sent flying into the air.

While Taurus was prepping to catch his sword, he was struck by a roundhouse in the same spot as before, sending him back a few feet and causing his sword to land harmlessly before him, while Winger caught and sheathed his.

”You can’t win Adam.”

”Shut up! I don’t care who you think you are, but you will NOT get in the way of my path.”

Winger just sighs, picks up his opponents sword, and tosses it to him. Taurus caught it, but was confused. Why did his opponent give him back his weapon?

”I told you I am who you should have been Adam, and that means I posses what you should have embodied. Honour, loyalty, respect, justice. But you don’t embody them, you can’t embody them. You won’t accept your own failings, and choose to lash out at any and all who try to help you. You are nothing more than a sociopathic, spiteful dog, who has been let off his leash for far too long. And I am going to put an end to that.”

The original growls as his counterpart berates him, charging almost blindly and being blocked at every strike, slash and shot. Each one was deflected, absorbed or dodged. It was almost as if he could see the attacks before they happened. Taurus chose to test that, continuing to attack in his normal style, seeing how easily he was being blocked, before jumping back and getting into a defensive stance.

Not a second too soon as Winger rushed forwards, going on the assault, using the exact same fighting style, his moves almost mechanical, carbon copies of Taurus own. With a smirk, Taurus sought to capitalize on their same fighting style, waiting a few strikes before seeing an opening. He goes to cut his opponent while he is unsheathing his sword, only for his opponent to punch his sword back into the sheath, throwing him off balance and leaving him open for another roundhouse to the gut, sending him on his back for a second before he rights himself. He growls and glares at his opponent, his counterpart calmly sheathing his sword and staring at him.

“So, any bets on who's winning?” Weiss whispers, the trio staying back in an alleyway and watching the battle.

“I couldn’t tell you Weiss. They seem evenly matched, but the Adam that was protecting us seems better in terms of martial arts that the one that attacked us.” Blake replies, never taking her eyes off the two warriors.

Yang was just silent, watching the fight with a shaking hand, still wrapping her head around what she is seeing. It doesn’t make sense, this shouldn’t be possible. There shouldn’t be two of them.

Taurus growls as his opponent slowly walks around him, his expression hidden behind his mask and scarf. He could tell, he needed to be more aggressive if he wanted to win and move to his actual targets. With a snarl, he rushed forwards, but instead of unsheathing his sword, he pulled back his fist to punch. The attack was caught by his opponent, but Taurus quickly pivoted on his heel, forcing his opponent over his shoulder and onto the ground.

Taurus was barely able to smirk at his copycats pained groan, before a pair of boots found themselves connecting with his lower jaw, sending him staggering as his opponent flipped back onto his feet.

”Not bad, but you’ll have to try harder than that if you wanna hope of beating me. My training was far greater that yours Adam.” Winger smirked at his opponents snarl, cracking his knuckles while adjusting his gauntlets.

’I can’t tell if he is holding back, but so far I have been able to keep him on his toes, but that won’t be enough. I can’t keep using the same style with the odd melee attack. I need to use a different style.’

’This guy is more than a copycat. I can tell he has had different training, and he almost seems like how I use to be when I was younger. Whatever he is, I can’t keep leaving so many openings. I have to end him.’

The duo stood across from each other again, before Winger began to snicker, which turned into a chuckle and then full blown laughter. Taurus and the huntress trio looked to him with confusion, and more than a little apprehension.

”You know Adam, I just realized that we are going to be stuck here if things continue like they have. This entire time, we have been copying one another, using our shared skills and Semblance.” Adam lowered his scarf to show off his wide and menacing grin. They watch in shock as black and green energy suddenly covers his hands. ”Let’s change that shall we?”

Taurus could barely raise his sword in time to block as Winger launched himself at his confused counterpart, his hands covered in the odd energy, and striking Taurus weapon. Taurus growls and pushed back, Winger flipping through the air and stopping in the shadow of a building, his grin never leaving his face.

’W-what is that? That isn’t our Semblance, and I have never seen anything like it.’

Winger chuckles as he walks backwards, confusing his opponent and WBY, before they are shocked as he walks into the buildings shadow, disappearing from view instead of bumping into the building. Taurus looks around frantically as his own voice echos around the area, laughing in a mocking tone he is oh so familiar with. Now he knows how it feels to be on the receiving end of it.

”Hehehe, hows it feel Adam? To feel such confusion? Such fear and anxiety? Remember it, for you have caused so many humans and faunus to feel this. And I will make sure you NEVER forget this feeling.”

Taurus suddenly looks up as he sees a shadow, seeing his counterpart looking down on him from atop the building, before Winger raises his right hand to the sky.

”Know despair. Dark Rondo!”

No one was prepared when dark energy like ghosts began to rise up from the shadows, condensing in Winger’s hand before he thrust his hand forwards, the ghostly beams sending a shiver through all their spines even as Taurus began to dodge and block the attacks.

He was so busy defending himself from the spell, he wasn’t prepared for Winger to suddenly jump down and try to drop kick him, his feet and shins covered by the same green energy. The resulting strike sent Taurus flying into more beams, redirecting him into the side of one of the buildings.

He looked up from his spot on the ground, watching as dark markings began to appear on his counterparts flesh and clothing. He couldn’t help but shiver as he sees that menacing grin, before anger and rage took over for the fear. He forced himself to his feet, the last attack surprising him.

”Well how about that, you’re still standing. Colour me impressed....not.” Winger mocks, a dark aura unlike any the Remnant natives have seen before appearing around him. Taurus ignored his sense of unease and fear, gripping his sword in anger.

With a roar he rushed towards his counterpart, Winger never moving from his spot, even as Taurus swung his sword. The blade went straight through him, but like when they started, Adam disappeared in a swirl of shadow, appearing a few paces away. He smirked as the dark energy condensed in his hands again, extending into a pair of whip-like forms.

”Zero Slash.”

Taurus was forced to defend again as the two whips of energy threatened to sear him, the energy sending a chill up his spine, even as the energy was being absorbed by his Semblance. On one swing, the energy whip wrapped firmly around his sword, Taurus nearly losing his grip on it. He growled and gripped his shotgun, shooting at his opponent, but each shot was blocked with Winger’s free hand.

Suddenly, Taurus couldn’t help but draw parallels to one of his spats with Cinder, the witch blocking his shots just like this. He growled again and let go of his sword, charging at his opponent while shooting, Winger jumping back and blocking the shots. Taurus regained his sword and slashed with his Semblance.

”Guard Shadow!” Winger raised his arms, the shadows around him rising into a dark cocoon and blocking the slash. Taurus was stunned, this being the second time his Semblance was blocked completely. Winger smirked and slammed his hand on the ground. ”Shadow Orochi!”

Taurus spun his sword on instinct, barely blocking the snakes made of shadow from taking a bite out of him. He would never admit it, but he really did not like snakes. He was so distracted by the snakes, he didn’t notice his opponent appearing behind him until he felt a hand on the centre of his back.

”This ones for Sienna.” That was all the warning he got before he felt like he was punched in the back by lightning, the tingling sensation staying with him as he was launched through the air. But Winger wasn’t done.

”This ones for Ilia.” He lost the air in his lungs as a hard kick was driven into his stomach, sending him flying another direction.

”This ones for the humans and Faunus you murdered!” He felt as his shoulder strained to stay in its socket as he was grabbed by the arm and thrown into the air.

”This ones for Weiss and Ruby!” Adam could feel a couple of his teeth cracking despite his aura protecting him as he was stuck hard in the face. He could barely open his eyes while in midair in time to see his copycat, void of his mask, looking to him with anger and disappoint in his silver eyes. He watched as he pulled his arm back, his hand not in a fist, but palm first.

”AND THIS IS FOR BLAKE AND YANG!” Winger struck Taurus in the centre of his chest, his palm staying there for a moment, before he twisted it, and there was a burst of energy. Adam Taurus aura shattered like glass as he was sent flying into then through the wall of one of the warehouses, his blindfold unwrapping and flying another direction. Taurus could barely register what happened, before his eyes rolled up and he passed out from the pain.

Winger stood there for a moment, panting hard, trying to regain his composure. He sighed after a moment, putting his mask back on and wiping the side of his head with his scarf. He couldn’t help but feel a small sense of accomplishment as he saw the aftermath of his attack.

The members of Team RWBY were speechless as they saw all that. They had never in their lives seen attacks like what they just witnessed. But more than that, the words the second Adam announced while he was fighting had struck an odd cord with the three girls. For the Weiss and Ruby? For Blake and Yang? It didn’t make any sense.

They were unsure of what to do, merely staying behind the building and continuing to watch as their ‘saviour’ sat down and took some deep breaths, trying to calm down. Suddenly, Blake’s ears shifted, and she could hear boots running across the ground heading in their direction. Adam noticed as well, shifting from his spot and looking to one of the buildings.

”It’s about time! You missed all the fun!” he called out, the girls looking where his is looking. They blinked as several rose petals and embers began to appear with the wind, before an all too familiar voice rung out.

“Hey give me a break Adam! Do you know how many workers were nearby?” The girls watch in shock as their leader, Ruby Rose, appears on the edge of the buildings roof. She smirked as she saw Adam sitting on the ground. “But from the looks of things, you took care of it without me.”

Adam just rolled his eyes, smiling up to his friend, while the rest of her team were stunned at the casual tone they were taking with each other. Yang and Blake in particular were rapidly looking back and forth between the two.

“Girls, if you keep doing that, you’ll end up snapping your necks!” Ruby calls out, jumping down from her perch on the roof. The rest of her team slowly come out from behind the building. There was a beat, then Ruby was suddenly on the ground.

“RUBY!” Was all she could hear as her teammates tackled her to the ground, causing her to groan and wheeze as all her air was launched out her lungs. She missed as her mask was knocked off her belt.

“Oh my gods Ruby you’re ok! I was so worried!” Yang yelled, hugging her little sister tightly.

“Ack! I-I missed you too Y-Yang. Now p-please, let me breath!” Ruby struggled to say, the blond blinking for a second before releasing her captive. Blake and Weiss giggle at their teammates embarrassment, Yang just struggling to not laugh as well as she helped her sister to her feet.

“Whoa. Hey Ruby? Where’d you get that replica? It looks exactly like your outfit you had back in Beacon. And what’s that symbol on the back of your cape?” Blake question, looking over her leader with a small smile.

“Oh, my friend Rarity made the clothes for me. She is an amazing dressmaker and seamstress, so making this wasn’t a problem for her. As for the symbol...well its kinda hard to explain.” Ruby replies, adjusting her bullet belt. Weiss smiled to her younger leader and took a step forwards, before feeling something bounce off her foot. The ice queen looked down and tilted her head before picking up the object. She froze and looked to Ruby in shock and a little horror.

“R-ruby?” The rest of the team turns to Weiss. “W-why do you have a Grimm mask?”

Ruby’s eyes widen as she looks at her belt, finally noticing her mask in Weiss hand. There was a stunned silence, Ruby unsure what to say. Luckily she didn’t need to.

”Well, it is a necessity for higher ranking members of the White Fang.” the girls turn to Adam as he stretches, a smirk on his face. ”Ain’t that right....Acting Sergeant Rose?”

On reflex Ruby stood at attention and saluted. “Yes sir.” The girls look back and forth between the duo in shock, before Adam burst out laughing.

”OH OH GODS YOUR FACES!!” he cries out, falling on his back and laughing. Ruby blushes sheepishly to her team and takes her mask back, securing it to her belt.

“ADAM! It’s not funny!” Ruby pouts, the Faunus finally getting back to his feet.

”Hehhe, haha hooo boy. Ok, ok I’m good. Ahem, sorry, couldn’t really help myself there.” he chuckles, his warm smile sending an odd feeling down Blake’s back. She couldn’t help but remember when she used to see that smile back on Remnant.

“Umm...could someone fill us in here? I mean, who the heck are you um, Adam?” Weiss question, surprising everyone. Though, they did notice she was holding Myrtenaster cautiously.

”Wow Weiss. Not going to lie, you were one of the last people I would expect to ask that so calmly.” Adam comments, looking to Ruby who shrugs. With a breath, Adam lowers his scarf but keeps his mask on. Blake and Yang couldn’t help but feeling uneasy talking to this man. ”Right then. So, my name is Adam as you might have guessed by now. Obviously I am very different that that bastard in the wall over there.”

Ruby looks to where he is pointing and winces slightly at the damage. “Damn Adam, you weren’t messing around.” Adam just looks to her, and Ruby can tell she was getting a deadpan stare.

“Ya think? No offence sis, but this guy doesn’t mess around.” Yang mutters, never taking her eyes off the man before her. Adam sighs again, rubbing the back of his head. Before he can talk though, they were interrupted by a ringing coming from Adam’s pocket. The faunus quickly dug out his scroll and saw it was from Neo. Confused, he answered it.

”Taurus here.”

“Adam! What the heck were you doing and why are there so many workers here in the castle?!” Adam winces as Shining Armor’s voice could be heard loud and clear for all to hear from his scroll.

”Shining! Stop yelling I can hear you just fine. And about the workers....”

While he was talking on his scroll to Shining Armor, Ruby was suddenly dragged back a few feet by her team and all but pinned in the corner.

“Ok Ruby, spill. What the hell is going on, where are we, and who the hell is that Adam lookalike?” Yang demands, constantly looking over her shoulder to Adam, despite Blake keeping her eyes on him.

“Well for your second question, we’re not in Remnant anymore if that is what you are asking.” Ruby replies, prying her sisters hands of her biceps. Yang didn’t miss how firmer her sisters arms felt. “We’re in another world called Equestria. More specifically we are in a place called the Crystal Empire. Creative, I know.”

“Equestria? Why do I feel like that was a pun?” Yang mutters, much to Weiss annoyance.

“We can worry about potential puns later Yang. Ruby, can you at least answer her third question?” Blake all but begs, watching Adam as he rubs his face in annoyance.

“Well....its kinda hard to explain. That Adam, as you girls have seen, is very different than the one you were just fighting. He’s nice first of all, and he has absolutely no animosity towards humans.” That caught Blake’s attention, making her look to her leader.

“Say what now?”

“Yeah I was just as surprised when I met him. Then again I may be slightly biased considering I have been living with him for the past couple months.” That caused her teammates eyes to widen.

“MONTHS?!” Ruby covers her ears as her team screams that.

”Hey! Everything alright?!” Adam calls out, getting a sheepish thumbs up from Ruby. Adam narrows his eyes, (not that they could tell), then went back to his call.

“What do you mean months?! We were together less than a day ago!” Blake yells.

“Well, it seems like when the teleportation device went haywire it teleported us through dimension, but it ended up teleporting us all here, but at different intervals of time. At least I think that’s how Twilight put it.” Ruby mutters.

“Ok, teleporting through dimensions, I can kinda get, but teleporting us into different points in time? That’s just confusing.” Weiss mutters.

“This coming from the one who can dilate time with her semblance?” Blake replies, Weiss begrudgingly nodding.

“Point taken.”

Yang shakes her head and grabs her arm, trying to stop it from shaking. “It’s bad enough that we had to fight him barely a day after we arrived here, but now there’s two of them?! We are so dead.” Ruby grabs Yangs shaking hand and rubs her shoulder.

“Calm down Yang. Remember what I just said, that Adam on his scroll is a good guy. He’s a friend. He’s been helping not only me, but Oscar, Uncle Qrow, Neo, and the natives from this world to. Please, at least give him a chance.” Ruby pleads, her sister taking a few breaths to help as her hand slowly stops shaking.

“Ok. Ok, ok. I’m...I’m good Ruby.” Yang says quietly, Ruby smiling and rubbing her arm. Yang chuckles slightly. “Since when did you grow into such a great woman?”

“Around the same time you faced the spring maiden.” Ruby replies, before leaning close to her sister ear and whispering. “By the way...I know it wasn’t Vernal.”

Yang freezes up as her sister leans back with a smirk, winking to her sister before looking to Adam as he closes his scroll with a sigh.

”Well looks like Shining is annoyed by what has been going on, but he understands now and is getting a medical team ready for when we arrive just incase.” Adam says, carefully eyeing the new humans as they do the same to him. Ruby just smiles and nods.

“Makes sense. Neo and I didn’t really have time to explain what was going on before I bolted over here.” Ruby mutters.

“Well, I guess we should get going?” Weiss adds lamely.

While the group of five were talking and figuring out what to do, none of them noticed a dark energy seeping into the rubble where Adam is.

*****

Deep with a magical vault, several floors beneath the castle and the crystal heart, a red and black horn was kept in a very powerful magic box. The box was meant to keep in any number of dark magics and keep it in. Unfortunately, there were dark forces the creators of the box never thought of, let alone encountered. And that, would be their undoing in a few moments. For they underestimated the determination of darkness.

Within the dark unicorn horn, there was a semi-dormant entity, a consciousness born of the dark and hatred. It was sealed within the horn of its previous host, the former king of the Crystal Empire, Sombra. Despite its dormant nature, it was always trying to escape, trying to find a way out and find a new host to posses and use.

It was during one of these conscious attempts to escape, that the entity sensed something. Or rather, someone. It could feel him, this being fulled with anger, hatred, spite and a very twisted sense of justice. If it had a body, the entity would be salivating at the sensations.

’Yessss. This feeling. So much negativity. They will make a perfect host for me and my kin.’

The entity knew it had to escape, before its new host was lost to it. With all its remaining might, all its slowly draining magic, it pushed against the barrier of its confinement. And in that moment, it broke through. The ‘hole’ in the barrier was only the size of a pinhead, but it was enough. With more determination than ever considered before, the entity forced its way through the hole on the tip of the horn, appearing as a coal black mass of mist with a single yellow eye with a slit pupil and a near unnoticeable tiny red heart symbol on the back. The mist was only the size of an apple, but it was enough.

It would smile with mad glee if it could, as the small mass of darkness seeped through the minuscule cracks of the room, going through the ground of the empire, bearing the pain of passing through so much positivity in the area, before it could sense it was nearing its quarry.

Before long it arrived where it could sense the negativity, hiding in the shadows as it viewed several creatures, humans, it remembered, before looking to the hole in the wall of the building.

It’s eye narrowed. It found its target.

Adam’s Mind

“Damn it. Damn it. DAMN IT!”

These thoughts were really all that were going through Adam’s mind as he was unconscious, his anger, hatred and frustration the only things breaking through the fog of his mind.

“DAMN IT ALL! I swear when I get up that guy is dead! How dare he lecture me! He clearly doesn’t know what I went through. If he did he would have joined me and killed those bitches!”

He continues to mentally rant to himself in anger, not noticing as his mind becomes darker and darker around him.

”So it’s vengeance against the humans you seek?”

Adam turned in the darkness, looking for the voice.

“Who’s there?!” He yells to the void, turning around almost frantically. As he turned again, he was greeted by an eye floating before his face.

”Perhaps we can help one another then.”

Adam jumped back and reflexively went to grab his sword, before noticing it was missing, along with his shotgun and mask.

“Who the hell are you?” He questions, feeling like he should be freaking out with talking to an eye.

”We are....complicated. We are darkness itself. We could be your ally. Or we could be your demise.”

“That doesn’t explain anything. If your not here to help me out then you can get the hell out.” He snarls, still not sure where ‘here’ is himself.

The entity merely widened its eye, and it would be grinning if it could.

”Perhaps you didn’t hear me about something. I said I could be your ally. I could help you in defeating these women, no, these children, and that stain that dares wear your face.” the darkness around Adam shifted, an odd purple mist wrapping around him like a snake. And yet, he didn’t seem to notice as he looked at the eye over his shoulder.

“And how the hell would you do that?” He questions, unknowingly breathing in the mist.

”We are darkness itself, but from what we saw, that fool has been using a bastardized form of our powers. He fuels his darkness with positivity and hope. But you....you could use true darkness, fuelled by your desires and hatred. You could be and are stronger than them all Adam.” the being continues to whisper sickly sweet promises to the faunus, who was completely unaware of all the mist around him. He turned to the eye and grinned, his left eye snapping open despite his scar.

“I’m listening.” The entity mentally ginned as Adam’s left eye turned a sickly yellow.

*****

“Alright, so you girls have your things?” Ruby questions as her teammates bring out their suitcases they hid in the warehouse alongside Yang’s motorbike, Bumblebee.

“Yeah, and thank gods the teleporter brought my baby with us.” Yang sighs, rubbing her bike. The others roll their eyes at the blonds priorities. Adam just grins as the girls relax a little, before motioning to follow. Almost reluctantly, the other members of team RWBY follow the faunus, but as they were about to leave the area, he stopped.

“Adam? What’s wrong?” Ruby questions, looking to her friend in confusion.

None of the girls were prepared for him to quickly jump off the sides of the buildings they were between and then over them to look at where the other Adam was. All their eyes widened as they now saw all the black mist seeping out of the rubble like a Grimm.

“The hell?” Yang mutters, extending her singular gauntlet while her team grabs their weapons. Adam was just silently standing before them, a frown crossing his face as he stared at the rubble. Before long they hear as the rubble begins to move and eventually, the other Adam digs himself out and stands up.

Despite himself, Adam placed his hand on the left side of his face as he sees the brand mark on his counterparts face. But something was decidedly wrong. The black mist like a Grimm was seeming to emanate from Adam, and they could barely see as some of his visible injuries were rapidly closing up.

”Damnit, guess I wasn’t convincing enough for him to listen and stay down.” Adam mutters, hand on the trigger of his sheath. ”Let’s fix that.”

Adam pulled the trigger and his sword shot out, quickly followed by the faunus himself. He wasn’t really prepared though, for his counterpart to raise his hand and deflect the blade into the air. Not one to get distracted, Adam caught the blade on the way down and swung, planning on putting an end to his counterpart once and for all.

Everyone was shocked though, when Adam grabbed the sword with his bare hand, no aura, and stopped it dead in its tracks.

”W-what?” he then got a good look at his opponents face, and shivered. Adams right eye was a bright, almost neon blue, but his left?

His left eye was a sickly yellow, the pupil was slit like a cats and the sclera was a dark coal black. Not only that, but black veins were visible around his eye, almost like Salem.

Adam was so distracted and stunned by the sudden change, he couldn’t react in time as his opponent suddenly jabbed him in the stomach, followed by a heavy haymaker to the face, sending him flying into a building.

“ADAM!” Ruby yelled in worry, turning her glare to the scarred original. With an angered yell, Ruby shot behind her, flying towards the bastard before her. Adam merely looked to her with a neutral expression and stomped on the ground. Ruby blinked as coal black crystals sprouted from around Adam’s foot, creating a barrier before him. Ruby growled slightly as she landed on the crystals and shot back to her team, the wall shattering like glass as soon as she jumped back.

“What the hell was that?!” Weiss exclaims.

“Magic.” Ruby bluntly replies, shocking her team.

“What? B-but I thought only Ozpin and the maidens had magic?” Blake questions, aiming her gun at the still form of her former ally.

“Yeah well things as different here in Equestria. Seriously, at this point there’s like, two entities in the this world that haven’t used magic. Well, five now.” Ruby mutters, her glare staying on Adam’s form.

The scarred man seemed to ignore the girls, looking at his hands with a neutral expression. At least, that was the case for a minute before he looked up with a bone-chilling grin.

”Remarkable. So much power.” the girls flinch as they hear his voice, or rather voices. It sounded like there was a second person talking at the same time as Adam, its voice was sickly sweet, maniacal. They all take an involuntary step back.

Adam grins and glances around for a moment before rushing forwards almost as fast as Ruby and picks up his sword before heading to the girls.

Yang rushes to meet him halfway, blocking his sword strike with her right arm. Barely. She glares back at the mad smirk Adam has before pushing him off and launching a few shots from her arms, which he seems to block with ease. Adam runs towards her, creating three other afterimages, causing her to flinch.

Seeing their friend in trouble Blake and Weiss rush to her side and stand back to back as Adam and his afterimages circle them.

“Wait for it.” Weiss mutters before stabbing her weapon into the ground, creating a white glyph that launches the trio into the air as Adam and his clones rushed forward to slash, just barely missing the heiress foot.

Ruby sought to take advantage of his miss and launched herself to him from behind to hit his back. She was shocked then, when one of Adam’s afterimages blocked her itself. For a brief moment, Ruby was suspended in the air with the Adam clone blocking her attack, and she got a good look at it.

The entire being was pitch black with wisps of smoke coming off it, the beings mismatched yellow and blue eyes glowing with malice as it blocked her. She looked past it for the briefest moment, and blinked as she saw the rose on the back of Adam’s jacket had changed into an odd heart symbol she had never seen before.

Time seemed to unpause as another clone jumped over the one blocking her and dropkicked the young huntress in the face, sending her flying back a few meters before she righted herself.

“Ruby, are you ok!?” Weiss calls out, rushing to her partners side while Blake and Yang began to fight the shadow images. Ruby rubbed her jaw with a slight wince.

“Yeah, I’m ok. But what was that? Adam’s Semblance is a conduit based energy absorption. Not cloning!” Ruby questions, watching as her sister and teammate seemed to kill one of the clones, only for it to dissolve into black mist and head back to Adam, who inhaled it with a smile. She frowned and headed towards the recovering version with worry.

”Yup, I am definitely feeling that tomorrow.” Adam mutters as he regained his senses from slamming his head against the wall. He heard and smelt Ruby and Weiss before he could see them.

“Adam, somethings happened to the other Adam. He’s gone dark or something!” Ruby states, causing Adam to perk up and shake his head before looking to his evil counterpart. He blinked once. Twice. Then he raised his mask and rubbed his eyes before looking again. Sure enough, Adam was seeing one evil counterpart inhaling black mist from three destroyed shadow clones.

“Ok, I don’t suppose you have any idea what happened to him do you Adam?” Blake questions as she and Yang rush over.

Adam was silent and frowned before his horns lit up with their red and silver aura. The newcomers looked surprised for a moment before turning their attention back to their opponent who just stretched with a grin. Adam gasped and fell back a bit before catching himself.

”Impossible. He’s filled with some much dark magic energy. It should be bursting! He shouldn’t be alive right now!” Winger announces with slight fear, causing the girls to shiver slightly as Taurus chuckles darkly.

”You would be right about that. If we were to simply use darkness, then we would be overpowered and consumed by it. But what do you think happens, when one willingly joins the darkness?” He says with an evil chuckle, grabbing his sword with his right hand, and holding the left out parallel to the ground.

The five warriors ready themselves for his attack, but they weren’t prepared for a pillar of black crystal to suddenly sprout behind them. Adam saw it a split second before the girls and barely managed to push them just out of the way, but the pillar still stuck him like a truck and sent him flying forwards. Right into Adam’s swung sword.

Adam could feel his aura straining to stay together against the double attack, and he managed to keep it, but he did lose his breath as he was sent sprawling to the ground, black spots in his vision.

“ADAM!” He could hear the four voiced yell. But he couldn’t move, tiny black crystals forming around his torso.

’What is this?’ He questions, seeing the four huntresses charge the man before him. ‘Why can’t I move? Why do I feel so....weak?’

He ponded this as he watched Adam meet the girls head-on. He blocked Blake with his sword and speed easily. He dodged and parried Weiss attack like it was nothing. He ducked and rolled away as Ruby swung her weapon. He met Yang’s frontal attacks with his own sword.

The girls were growing frustrated, worried and more than a little scared. What was going on? How is he so much faster and stronger now?

After a few failed strikes, the team regrouped as Adam cracked his neck.

”Our turn.”

With a grin, Adam raised his leg, and slammed it down on the ground hard enough to crack the crystal street. Suddenly black thorn like crystal began to sprout and head to the four girls, who then scattered to avoid the attack.

Ruby used her Semblance to zoom around the area, rose pedals and embers being left in her wake. She frowned as she made several sharp turns in every direction to avoid the seemingly randomly attacking crystals. She got cut on the wrist once as she was bursting upwards, and instantly felt her energy drain.

‘W-what’s happening?’

Weiss used her glyphs to launch herself around the area as well, summoning pillars of ice and bolts of lighting and fire to destroy and block the incoming attacks. During one jump where she landed on the wall of a building for a moment, she winced as she was cut by a small crystal on the ankle. Like her leader, Weiss suddenly felt weaker, her glyph fading for a moment before she launched herself away.

‘What just happened?’

Blake used her swords to slice through the oncoming crystals with some difficulty, while using her natural feline instincts to dodge and jump away. She frowned as she turned her weapon into its smaller form and threw it, hooking onto the roofs of one of the building and swinging away, but not before get a small cut on her left leg. The instant the cut appeared, she felt her knees go weak, not a moment after she jumped and began to swing.

‘Where did my strength go?’

Yang growled as she met the incoming crystals head-on, shattering the attacks with her own blasts while trying not to stay in one place. She moved her head to the side then punched upwards at an oncoming crystal, the thing shattering and sending shards raining down on her. She got cut on her arm and her shoulder, and almost fell to her knee before rolling away from another ‘vine’.

‘What the hell is going on?!’

The four huntresses continued to defend and run, their strength leaving them quickly as they got cut more and more from the dark crystals, before they managed to regroup, their auras running low.

“W-what the hell? Why am I so...tired?” Yang question, trying to regain her breath. Her own Semblance wasn’t even useful since she hadn’t technically taken much damage.

“It’s those crystals. They’re draining our auras or something.” Weiss mutters, trying to stay on her feet with her rapier stabbed into the ground to steady herself. She was slightly behind her friends, and this proved to be her undoing.

”Correct. I guess you’re not just a spoon fed bitch after all.” The four girls were frozen for less than a second, but that was all the opening needed for the dark Adam to slash at the former heiress, Weiss barely turned to blocking with her arms, before being sent into the wall, her aura shattering like glass with a yell of pain.

“NO!” Her team screamed as Weiss fell to the ground, blood slowly seeping from the shallow slashes on her forarms, as well as dark crystals forming on them. Despite herself, Weiss was suddenly hit with a sense of déjà vu from their battle at Haven. Only Jaune wasn’t here this time around. She mentally chuckled as she thought about the white knight of JNPR.

Adam Winger’s eyes widened and time seemed to slow for him as he watched Ruby’s BFF fall to the ground. He mentally screamed at himself, trying to get up from his position on the ground to help, but his body wouldn’t respond, a numb sensation spreading through his body from the crystals on his stomach.

’Get up damnit! They need help! Move, for fucks sake move!’

He couldn’t move at all, not even as he watched Ruby try and slash the dark Adam to pieces, her anger clear for all to see on her face. The same face she had when they met. She was the next to fall as Adam blocked her scythe then summoned a pointed crystal to hit her in the stomach, Ruby’s aura shattering as well as getting lightly stabbed by the black gem, the hooded huntress falling to her knees and clutching her stomach, a small amount of blood slipping through her fingers. Adam could see it clearly through his misted and teary eyes.

’PLEASE! Get up for gods sake! I need to help them!’

He groaned, and tried with all his might to get his knees under him, hearing as Yang and Blake defended themselves as best there could, but Adam knew they were outmatched, both physically and mentally. He had seen Yang’s arm shaking, he knew her PTSD would act up sooner rather than later.

His mask fell off at the same second he heard Yang scream, the blond warrior having a thin black crystal sticking out of her good arm, her aura long since broken, another pointed crystal at her neck keeping her in place as she was scared to move. Blake tried to get to her, only for several black pillars to form a cage around her. The faunus realized too late as the crystals formed a roof, completely trapping her.

“YANG!” Blake grabbed her gun and tried to shoot out the crystal bars, only for them to regenerate from the damage a second after they were shot. She tried ramming and slashing it, even using her Semblance, but nothing worked. She began to get more frantic as Adam walked towards Yang, his sword dragging and sparking against the ground.

“Leave her alone! I swear to god if you hurt her I’ll kill you!” Blake screamed, trying to shoot Adam, but he just blocked until she ran out of ammo. He smirked to Blake as he sheathed his sword.

”I promised you didn’t we? I am going to destroy everything, you love. Starting with her.” Adam states, unsheathing his sword, Yang shaking in fear as Adam walks over to her.

Adam could do nothing but let tears fall from his eyes, watching as the madman walked slowly over to Yang. It hurt. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to protect them. He is a huntsman! He is a fighter! Not some weak little kid.

”You know, you are one heck of a warrior little bro. I couldn’t be more proud.” Adam blinked as Lex’s voice echoed in his mind.

”Dude, That’s awesome! Adam can you teach me and Dusk some of your moves?” Nat’s excited tone sending a surge through him for the briefest of moments. Slowly more voices joined theirs. Pyrrha, Rainbow, Luna, Ruby.

”Thank you Adam. I know this must be awkward, helping a girl that just tried to kill you. And....thanks for letting me know. About Jaune.”

”Listen Adam, I am not sure how if I am allowed to ask this, but....can you teach me to be a huntress?”

”You are quite the helpful man Adam. I don’t know of any other who could help me with my nightmare watch quite like you.”

”Adam, please. Protect them for me.”

Adam grits his teeth and silently gets to his knees, his arms shaking from rage, exhaustion and fear, before another voice breaks through the cloud of his mind. He could see her clearly as the memory played out.

”Here Adam. I thought since we might be going somewhere cold eventually, you could use a scarf. I hope you like it. And....maybe we could go on another date sometime?”

The dark Adam smirked as he raised his blade behind him, and swung, intent and expecting to decapitate the frozen huntress. As the blade neared her neck, and Yang braced herself for death, it stopped with a loud CLANG, as it stuck metal.

Adam and Yang looked to the blade slowly, seeing a familiar form standing between the blade and the huntress, his right gauntlet nearly cut through.

”I....won’t....” Adam raised a brow along with Yang as Winger slowly raised his head, only for their eyes to widen as they see his silver eyes slowly beginning to turn white and glow.

“What the-”

”I WONT LET YOU HURT ANYONE ELSE!!”

His roar caused all present to widen their eyes, before clutching them closed as a bright light rapidly encompassed the area, everyone trying to keep the light out of the eyes. The sound of shattering glass or crystal filled the area alongside a dual-voiced yell of pain.

At the crystal palace, the Crystal Heart began to glow and spin quickly in its spot, the crystal ponies throughout the kingdom having a strong sense of safety washing over them. Penny, Pyrrha, Oscar, Qrow and Neo all looked from their individual locations to the warehouse district, the same sense of determination running through them all.

The members of team RWBY could only shut their eyes, but they all could feel the oddest sensation, one of safety, of protection. The light washed over them like a tsunami and in that instant, they felt better.

Yang felt as the crystal impaling her arm shattered and evaporated, her wounds closing rapidly, and letting her fall to the ground. Blake could feel as the cage she was trapped in was destroyed and reduced to nothing around her, leaving her on her knees with a sense of relief. Weiss sensed as her aura was being returned to her rapidly, again feeling déjà vu to when Jaune finally unlocked his Semblance, her small wounds healing over.

Ruby managed to pry her eyes open despite the glaring light, and gasped slightly as she saw the outline of a familiar form, two new yet familiar objects held in each hand.

Before they knew it, the light died down, and the four girls checked themselves over, seeing all their little wounds had healed and they could sense that their auras had been restored. Not all the way, but by about half. When they looked towards Yang though, they found a new sight.

Adam stood there with a determined yet unfocused glare, and they could all see, he had changed.

The black horns on his head had grown longer, and changed to a dazzling silver, another pair of shorter black horns appearing behind them. He had the dark marking running along his flesh and clothing again, but half of the markings were silver instead of black. But most of all, was his eyes.

His eyes had the black sclera they had seen before along with slit pupils, but they had turned into a blinding white, what looked like silver flames flaring around the edges of his eyes like a mask, and much like one of the maidens, they subtly connected.

While her team was looking at his physical appearance, Ruby was smiling a million watt smile at the two items in Adam’s hands.

Keyblades. Two Keyblades.

In his left hand, held in a reverse grip, the guard was large, and slightly box-like, the half closer to Adam’s body being a dark, yet shiny black, while to other side was a dark, bloody red. The blade itself was a slightly darker red, reaching three feet long or so, the teething fanning out like a bladed wing. Each tooth looked like a cross between a sharpened feather and a large claw. On the end was a chain that ended after a half dozen links with a keychain that was the symbol of what almost looked like a red sideways eye with a couple circles around it and odd wisps flowing from it.

In his right, the guard was more unique, looking like a bunch of intertwining, silver vines with white thorns. The handle was slightly curved black with red markings going around it. Near the base was a couple of small notches clearly used for catching, and possibly breaking, swords. The blade was about four and a half feet of white and silver with the tip being a red spearhead. It was dual sided with the right and left teeth being red and silver respectively, the teeth themselves almost looking like tiny tower shields. The chain on the end was rather long, having a dozen and a half links and the keychain was that of two white swords behind a round shield with a silver eye with a slit pupil on it.

If it weren’t for the situation at hand, Ruby would be fangirling like crazy about the fact that Adam has multiple keyblades, but that would have to wait. Adam shook his head slightly and just now seemed to notice the two weapons held in his hands.

”Whoa.” Ruby and the others jumped slightly as Adam spoke, his voice now having an odd echo to it.

He tilted his head and looked to the girls around him, before looking down to the sitting form of Yang next to him. With a quick spin, Adam stabbed his larger keyblade into the ground and offered Yang his hand. After a moments hesitation, she grabbed his arm and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.

”You girls ok?” He questions, the huntresses nodding slowly.

“W-what was that just now? That light? It felt so familiar.” Weiss mutters, earning the others attentions. “It was almost like when Ruby-”

”-used the power of her eyes during the attack on Haven.” Adam interrupts, shocking the girls as Weiss nods. Adam just chuckles. ”There’s a reason for that.”

After a second, Blake gasps in realization, earning her friends attention.

“Y-you....you have silver eyes.” That caused Weiss and Yang to snap their attention back to the now nodding faunus. Ruby grins and shrugs as her teammates look to her.

Adam suddenly tenses and grabs his keyblade from the ground, causing the girls to worry. Not a second later, he turned and released some kind of white energy slash, shattering a dark crystal from impaling him.

”HOW?! HOW DO YOU HAVE KEYBLADES?!?” The five of them look to the enraged, and smoking form of Remnant’s Adam, the right side of his face being completely black with cracks on the other side of his face like he was made of glass. His jacket was shredded to pieces and his right hand had sharpened claws of shadow instead of fingers.

Winger was silent as he twirled his new weapons, holding them in front of him, the fire coming from his eyes seeming to increase in intensity, standing before the girls protectively. His glare of defiance and duty, a visible counteraction to his opponents glare of rage and spite.

”Alright then. You ready for the final round monster?” He question with a grin, the light in his eyes glowing brighter than ever before. His opponent sneered at him before giving a mad grin, crouching down on all fours like the monster he was. This was it then.

”Yes. Let’s end this, you beast.”

Chapter 25: The Beast Of Balance VS The Monster of Spite

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Penny looked to the warehouse district from her place near the highest point of the crystal stadium. She could sense it, her boyfriend was fighting hard, possibly for his life. And she knew it would not be for much longer.

She stayed vigilant above the crowd near the entrance to the stadium. Many of the ponies had rushed over to the stadium to ask Shining Armor what was going on. Cadence managed to calm most of them down, but once the situation was explain by Neo through Pyrrha, it was decided that the warehouse distract was closed off until Adam and team RWBY arrive.

While it calmed the ponies, it just left Penny with an intense feeling of dread. Right now her boyfriend, the first male to ever take a liking to her, was fighting against a megalomaniac that looked just like him. She knew he had enough problems with the random flashes of memories he has. She can’t even imagine what he is going through right now.

And that was just a few moments ago, before a bright light shone from the area he was fighting. That light sent a feeling of safety and determination through the entire kingdom, and Cadence and Shining could tell the crystal heart was affected as well.

While the ponies were confused about what the light was, those from Remnant knew all too well. There were only two sources the light could come from, and it was all but agreed on who it was.

Penny barely glanced to her right as Qrow flew up and shifted next to her. The older huntsman was silent for a few moments, looking over the young ginger then the crowd beneath them.

“You know you don’t need to stay here. I am sure Adam wouldn’t mind the backup.” He states, crossing his arms. Penny shook her head.

“No. I know he is going to win. It’s just taking a little longer than expected is all. He’ll be back before we know it.” She mutters, mostly to herself Qrow realized. The man sighed and took a stiff swig from his flask. Sure he couldn’t get drunk anymore, but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy the burn.

He looked to the area he knew Adam was fighting, raising a brow as some kind of dark sphere was erected, momentarily scaring the ponies, before it burst into silver flames and seemed to solidify into crystal. He frowned and looked to Penny, who was beginning to shake, clearly keeping herself in one spot.

“Penny. Just go to him already. We both know you want to, and I know firsthand what it feels like. If you don’t go now, you’ll just be torturing yourself with constant thoughts of ‘what if.’” Qrow firmly states. Penny looks to him for a few moments, then to Pyrrha, Neo and Oscar who were helping with the ponies. She took a deep breath and jumped to the street below, taking off into a short jog.

Qrow watched her run with a small smile, before turning his head to the sky, watching the small snowstorm raging outside of the barrier. Once again, that one memory popped into his head. He sighed, not trying to ignore it as it all came back to him again.

‘Summer. You and Penny are too much alike. I just hope she and Adam don’t meet the same fate as we did.’

*****

CLANG!

Both Adam’s righted themselves again as they were sent sliding back from their attacks, Winger keeping a tight grip on his keyblades, while Taurus flexed his darkened claws, a growl escaping his mouth.

Team RWBY were still slightly stunned. One second the duo are talking, the next they launch themselves faster than the girls could react. Shaking off their shock, the huntresses go to join in, only for Adam to raise his arm, blocking them.

”Don’t come closer. This is not your fight any longer.” he states, keeping his eyes locked on his dark counterpart.

“Say what?! Adam this is still our fight!” Blake yells, about to walk over, only for Ruby to place a hand on her shoulder. The faunus looked to her younger leader in confusion.

“Adam. Is that Adam what I think he is?” Ruby questions, getting a slightly unsure nod from her fellow silver eyed warrior.

”I think so. I think he is at least partially a Heartless.” Adam replies, confusing three of the four girls. Ruby just sighs.

“Then that means our weapons would have no effect on him, right?” The girls look to their leader, then Adam in shock, seeing him nod. He frowns and crosses his blades as his dark counterpart tried to rip him to shreds again. Adam growled as he uncrossed his weapons and tried to slash at the former faunus. Taurus just blocked with his katana and jumped back.

“Ruby we have to help him.” Blake states, surprising herself for a moment before Ruby shook her head and backed up.

“We’d only get in the way. We may be able to kill Grimm, but we would have next to no change against a heartless on our own.” She replied. Her team look to one another, then to the fighting duo in worry, before listening to their leader and backing up to the nearby alleyway.

Adam spared the quartet a glance and he saw they were in the alley, before smirking.

”Alright, now I can make sure you won’t be going after them!” Adam calls out, confusing everyone present. He took a breath and twirled his shorter keyblade, A Grimm Fate (AGF), and stabbed it into the ground. Instantly black magic began seeping into the area around the weapon, before quickly spreading out into a circle.

”Sealing Shadow Vortex!”

The shadows on the ground quickly rose up around the duo, creating a shifting black and purple sphere of darkness. Adam took a breath and focused on his larger keyblade, Silver Resonance (SR), and felt the flames of his light burning brighter.

”Silver Crystallization!”

To both Adam’s it just looked like the area suddenly gained light, showing an ever shifting floor of darkness with walls of silver fire on all sides. The those on the outside, the orb suddenly burst into silver flames, the huntresses backing up as the heat reached them, before the flames quickly were snuffed out, showing a dome of black, purple and silver crystal. One could barely make out the outline of the two men through the walls.

Ruby rushed over to the dome and tapped it several times before punching it, wincing when she felt a knuckle crack. She frowned as she shook the pain away, looking at the still figure of her friend.

“Great, now we can barely see what’s going on.” Weiss mutters. While she was outwardly annoyed, inside she was worried. She didn’t know why. Before becoming a member of team RWBY she wouldn’t have batted an eye at the prospect of faunus fighting one another, let alone Adam Taurus. But that was before, and now, Weiss could tell who was an animal and who was a faunus.

Yang was silent as she looked over the large dome, unsure of what she was looking for to begin with. Maybe a weak point? Then what though. All she knew, was she still wanted to fight for some reason beyond herself.

Blake just stayed back from her team, holding her hand before her chest with a worried expression, her ears pinned to her head.

‘Adam...’

*******

Taurus looked around the dome with an angered and annoyed expression before turning back to his opponent, growling as Winger stood back up at the ready.

”What is this?! What do you hope to gain by trapping us in here?” Taurus demands.

”It isn’t what I have to gain. It’s what I can’t stand to lose. I will not allow you to hurt Blake and the others. As a huntsman, its my duty to defend the innocent. With that being said...” Winger looked up with a flaring glare, his eyes filled with determination and more than a little anger, ”I guess you could say I am also going to be your comeuppance for all the sins you have committed in Remnant.”

Taurus was merely silent and grabbed his katana in his left hand while flexed his right clawed hand, crouching down with a glare. Winger responded by crouching as well and held both of his weapons in a reverse grip. There was a few moments of silence save for the crackling of the flames around them, before in an instant, the duo rushed forwards to one another.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QOhbyicn9Ek&t=15s

Taurus rushed with an overhead slash, only for it to be blocked by Silver Resonance, earning an attempted punch from the guard of A Grimm Fate in the stomach. Rather than being sent back though, he jumped at the last moment, Winger missing his strike, but turning fast enough to block a claw strike.

Taurus jumped back and raised his right arm, black energy traveling down the limb before condensing into several spear-like projectiles. Winger spun his two weapons before him, blocking all the bolts and sending a couple back, which Taurus blocked with his sword.

Winger rushed forwards as Taurus was sheathing his sword and managed to get in a quick three hit combo on him before being forced to fall back as Taurus countered with several quick slashes from his sword. He then proceeded to run in circles around the silver-eyed faunus, several heartless afterimages behind him.

Adam looked back and forth to the solid afterimages, frowning as he could barely keep track of them all. He counted ten at least. He dodged as one tried to run in and slash him, and tried to retaliate, only for a second one to block his weapon and punch him back. He continued to dodge, block and try to attack back, but his opponent was too fast.

’Damnit, I need more speed!’

In that instant, something happened that none could have expected. Adam felt as though something was activating, almost like when he was using Moonslice, but it was clearly different, an energy running through him from his very core.

Outside the barrier, the members of team RWBY were all looking over the barrier, trying to find a way in, when Ruby suddenly stopped, an odd feeling running through her.

“Ruby? What is it?” Weiss question, earning the others attention. Ruby was silent, but her face was contorted into a confused, yet concentrated frown. She closed her eyes, and something seemed to click. Without really meaning to, her eyes began to glow softly, as some small pebbles began to rise up an inch.

“What the?” Yang mutters, as a large silver orb with a wispy top appears around her sister. Ruby looks to the dome again, and focuses her soul, her aura covering her from the feet up.

‘Adam.’

Adam Taurus was startled as he watched a red aura slowly covering his counterpart from head to toe. He shook his head and charged in as the aura covered his opponent completely, noting that his hair had changed from auburn and red to black with red highlights.

Winger blinked as the sensation stopped and saw as his opponent and all of his afterimages charged at him at once, clearly choosing to try and overpower him. Without really registering it, he crouched down and jumped, and the impossible happened.

As Adam jumped, some kind of red, black and grey energy that looked almost like cloth covered him to his head, and he spun away, almost like he was flying, red, black and silver flower petals being left in his wake. Taurus and his afterimages watched in shock as their strikes missed, two of them actually taking each other out on accident, and his opponent flew around before landing a little ways away, the energy disappearing to show his own shocked expression.

Weiss and the others were worried for their team leader, but the young huntress payed them no mind as the looked at the barrier with wide eyes, somehow seeing clearly through it unlike a minute ago. And what she saw sent her mind reeling.

‘Did he just-’

’-use Ruby’s Semblance?!’ Adam unintentionally finished Ruby’s thought, looking over himself before noticing some of his hair that was on the edge of his vision. He shook his head as he noticed his opponents had gotten over their own shock and were all charging him again. Without really meaning to, he once again turned into a burst of flower petals and appeared next to one of the afterimages, before disappearing in a burst again to attack a different one.

(cuz why not use this)

Adam Taurus couldn’t keep up as he watched him doppelgänger move so fast he looked like he was at multiple places at once, creating a storm of flower petals and death. Before he could even react, his afterimages were destroyed, the black mist burning into silver flames, and he was forced to block as he noticed his opponent above him, using his blades to act like a buzzsaw.

He frowned as he was blocked and burst away, trying to attack his opponent from a different direction, managing a few blows before his opponent caught on and began to successfully defend himself with his sword and claws.

Winger frowned and tried to burst forward, attempting to split himself like Ruby did in the Volume four trailer, but to his shock and Taurus surprise, he couldn’t split himself and ended up tackling the heartless faunus, catching them both off guard.

’Ok then, looks like I can’t use her Semblance to the same degree as Ruby herself.’ He thought to himself, dodging to the side as his opponent sent several large dark projectiles at him.

”I don’t know what you just did, but it won’t save you!” He roared, rushing in with both hands now covered in darkness, Usra-like claws covering his hands. Adam switched his keyblades around to a regular grip style and met his doppelgänger head on, SR’s greater reach proving effective against the madman of darkness, while AGF’s shorter stature aided him in defending himself.

After going back and forth for about a minute, the duo jumped back from one another to catch their breaths. The silver-eyed faunus was looking only a little tired from the fight, subconsciously keeping a steady stream of magic to keep up the barrier is not easy. Luckily it didn’t take nearly as much magic as he expected when he realized that it was gaining energy from the crystal heart itself. But still, this was starting to weight on him.

The scarred heartless was less than pleased. He was hurt, he could tell, and those keyblades provided a greater cutting power than he expected since they looked more like clubs than freaking swords! He growled as he held a small gash on his shoulder, the wound leaking darkness instead of blood.

Winger looked around the area they were in, thinking of how to attack next, when he noticed some debris on the dark ground. Some of the destroyed area and a portion of a warehouse were brought into the dome as well, and he suddenly got an idea.

’Hmmm, I used Ruby’s semblance somehow. If I could use hers, could I use the others?’ He mentally questions, looking at some of the debris and seeing some metal beams and rebar and gets an idea. He closes his eyes as he opponent prepares to defend, and thinks of someone. Someone who’s semblance could work here.

‘Pyrrha.’

*****

At the stadium where the others were, Shining Armor just realized after way too long that the mare he was showing around was just some random vacationer and not the game inspector and was trying to do damage control. Meanwhile those from Remnant were just watching him flail hilariously.

“You know, you would think he would have had a backup plan for something like this.” Oscar states, sipping his coffee.

”You have to admit though, this is kinda funny.” Neo responded, taking a bite of a crystal berry fritter. Qrow and Pyrrha were just quietly chuckling to themselves as they saw the prince panic. Though, Pyrrha frowned and looked to the warehouse district again, which Qrow noticed.

“You shouldn’t be so worried. Penny and the others will be fine. They have the numbers to overpower that bastard faunus.” The red-eyed huntsman says. Pyrrha just sighs.

“I know, but I can’t really help it. Penny is easily one of my best friends and Adam is a great guy as well. That’s not even mentioning Ruby and her team.” The young human replies, sighing to herself. Qrow nods and goes to talk again, only for Pyrrha to suddenly stiffen, her eyes wide and confused.

“Pyrrha?” Oscar questions, earning the others attention. They watch as she turned to the district again, but doesn’t move, her aura and soul sphere slowly appearing around her.

‘Adam?’

******

Taurus all but roared as he charged his opponent, attempting to take him down swiftly, even as a new red aura covers him again, his hair changing from black with red highlights to bright scarlet in a few moments. Winger smirked and backflipped away, before pointing his hand out, said appendage being covered in some kind of dark grey energy.

Taurus barely had time to wonder what his counterpart was doing, before his instincts screamed at him to jump. He listened a second before a large steel beam was launched past him from behind. As soon as he landed he was forced to jump away as several pieces of rebar stabbed into where he was standing a second ago. He looked to his opponent, seeing various pieces of metal floating around him, including his own sword.

Adam smirked as he thrust his hand forwards, the rebar flying through the air towards his opponent, forcing him to run while his opponent attempts to shoot him with his gun. A beam of steel between them stopped that plan in it’s tracks. With a swipe of his hand, the rebar was out of the ground and spinning towards Adam Taurus like a bunch of spinning blades. Adam stood his ground and deflected the rebar away, before rushing to his opponent.

Winger lowered his hand in a chopping motion, controlling his sword into intersecting his opponents attempted slash, while he jumped forwards and swung his keyblades at his opponents exposed side, sending him to the ground for a moment before he righted himself.

Adam winced to himself as he felt a new strain on his mind, trying to control all the floating pieces of metal was proving to be far more taxing than expected. He was already developing a headache, and he couldn’t focus on keeping all the metal floating. He clenched his hand and dropped all but his sword from his magnetic aura, alleviating the strain on his mind.

He focused and rushed towards his still recovering opponent, forcing him to defend against his keyblades, while floating his sword behind him and slashing his back, forcing a roar of pain as he tried to defend against the blade, only to be beat by the keyblades. This went on for only a couple seconds before he jumped back and tried to blast Winger with his gun, the silver-eyed warriors katana spinning in front of him like a pinwheel and blocking the shots.

He frowned and sheathed his sword, releasing the change in himself, his hair going back to normal as he rushed forwards again, his opponent growling and meeting him halfway, the duo going back and forth between attacking and defending. Both were beginning to feel the strain of their battle, but neither were willing to give an inch.

******

Ruby and her team were still trying to find some kind of weak point in the barrier blocking them from the duelling Adam’s, but after going around it half a dozen times and checking the top, they were beginning to think there was no way in.

“He would trap himself in a barrier to keep us out.” Ruby mutters with a sigh, annoyed by her friends strategy, but she couldn’t really fault him. She’d probably do the same if she could.

“I take it this would happen a lot if it could?” Weiss questions her friend, Ruby slowly nodding as she slid down the side of the building to the floor. After she got over her shock at seeing Adam use her Semblance, she seemed to lose sight as the crystals became clouded again.

“Well what now? We can’t just leave in case your Adam gets hurt and needs backup, but we can’t just sit here!” Blake complains, kicking the barrier lightly in annoyance. The others sigh and go to talk, only for Blake’s ears to shift back, that one movement telling her team she hears something.

“Someone’s coming. Fast.” She states, grabbing Gambol Shroud as her team grabs their own weapons. Ruby closes her eyes and tries to focus on her soul, her team stepping back as it becomes visible for a few second, before she opens her eyes with a smile and releases it.

“We don’t have to worry. It’s a friend.” The hooded huntress states, putting away Cresent Rose. Her team looked to one another in confusion at how she could know that, but slowly followed her lead as the sound of footsteps slowly got louder.

They weren’t prepared for a burst of electricity above the building with the sound of a dozen Nevermore's screeching in unison. Blake and Yang had to grab their hair as the static electricity in the air forced them up. They watched as a golden blur went past above them and slammed into the barrier with a shout of, “Chidori Drill!”

The blur seemed to try and drill through the barrier, electrical arcs flying off it before it seemed to be repelled, and the girls can see the outline of a person inside of the mass of gold and green lightning.

“Damnit.” The person said, before noticing the quartet below them and began to slowly hover down. Yang, Weiss and Blake reflexively grabbed their weapons while Ruby walked forwards with a small frown.

“Yeah, I guess that didn’t work.” Ruby mutters, standing next to the mass of electricity, who sighs and begins to take proper form. The members of team RWBY dropped their jaws again as the mass solidified into a very familiar girl, Penny looking over the barrier with a frown, her fist still sparking sometimes.

“He’s in there, isn’t he?” She questions Ruby, ignoring the stuttering huntresses behind her. Ruby nods.

“He decided that this was personal and now we can’t get in. We can barely see.” Ruby says, watching the two blurs going back and forth within the barrier. Penny sighs and walks up to the barrier, feeling it with her hand and frowning.

“P-P-P-P-Penny?!” Weiss finally manages to get out, causing the ginger to look at her and her friend for a moment before turning back to the barrier.

“I think I can make it so we can see what’s going on at least.” Penny announced, snapping the trio out of their stunned states and confusing Ruby.

“What do you have in mind Penny?” Ruby questions. Penny doesn't answer right away, but she takes a closer look at the barrier before taking a couple steps back.

“This barrier appears to be made through a combination of dark magic, light magic, and crystal magic. While the first two are none-alterable, the latter is an easy alteration.” Penny states, confusing team RWBY before she brought her hands up and clapped them together, blue and green sparks flying out of them. Ruby’s eyes widen in understanding a moment before Penny placed her hands on the barrier, the blue electricity spreading from her spot quickly as the barrier slowly begins to lose the clouded look and becomes see-through.

Penny smiles and nods to herself in satisfaction at a job well done, before noticing both Adam’s going back and forth for offence and defence. It only took her a moment to see a familiar scarf around the neck of one of the Adam’s to know who is who.

“Adam!” Penny yelled in worry, seeing him fall back and deflect several dark projectiles. “He can’t hear me.”

“Just because you made us be able to see what’s going on, that doesn’t mean he would be able to hear us, right?” Ruby questions, her friend nodding slowly. Penny frowned in worry and gripped her right wrist, or more accurately, a silver bracelet on her wrist.

“Ahem!” Penny and Ruby turn to Weiss, Blake and Yang, the latter being the one to loudly clear their throat. “Can someone tell us what the hell is going on!? Who are you!?”

Penny and Ruby look to one another, then to the girls before sighing.

“It’s a long story, and right now is not the time to explain, so for now, just know this. I. Am. Penny. I am not a clone, I am not a illusion, and I am not a robot. Not anymore.” That didn’t help the girls curiosity and annoyance at all, but they relented and chose to look through the ‘window’ of the barrier Penny made, hoping the fight would be over soon so they could get some answers. Yang kept an eye on her though.

******

Winger growled to himself as he ran around his opponent, deflecting dark energy bolts when he needed to and launched his own shots from his keyblades. Took him a while to realize how to do it, but it was better late than never. He flipped around and blocked another heartless trying to slash him before slashing it into silver fire.

He took a second to try and compose himself and catch his breath, his opponent doing the same as they stare each other down, silver reflecting blue and yellow.

“Alright. I have had about enough of this.” Winger announced, gripping his keyblades so hard he was nearly bleeding.

”For once we agree on something. I believe its time we end you.” was the reply as Taurus crouched down, hand on his sword.

Suddenly, his katana began to change from a deep blood read to a menacing black as Taurus focused all of his dark energy into his sword. Winger frowned as he could see what he was doing and figured this was the last strike he was going to be going against. He crouched as well after bringing his scarf to cover his mouth, allowing his eyes to glow brighter as the flames intensified as well as the black smoke coming off of his markings as he own weapons began to glow their respective colours.

“Um, I think we may want to take cover.” Weiss points out to her friends as they see the duo crouching down. While Yang and Black shakily nod in agreement with the ex-heiress, Ruby and Penny remained where they were, worried expressions on their faces.

‘Adam. Please be careful. I know you can do this.’ Was Penny’s thoughts as she gripped her arm in worry.

The duo stood still, the area around them seeming to become muted as they stared one another down, drowning everything else out. Their eyes reflected one another, each filled with their own desires and traits.

For one, a thirst for revenge, anger, spite, and a desire to destroy all that oppose him on his path.

For the other, a sense of duty, justice, determination, and a desire to protect all that he would call friend and family.

The silver fire around them silently flickered, the shadow covered ground beneath them shifted and changed slowly, and neither noticed as they remained locked in their stare off.

To the girls outside the barrier, it felt like eternity was passing by as they remained locked in their own spots and watched with baited breath at what was going on. A single drop of sweat went down the side of Penny’s head, sliding down to her chin before falling to the ground.

The droplet hitting the ground was the silent signal as both faunus tensed and their pupils turned to slits. The ground beneath the both of them was crushed under their pressure as they both launched off their positions towards one another.

Adam Taurus gripped his sword hard, brining it out of its sheath as the black energy around the blade caused it to grow in size.

Adam Winger held his arms across from his body, slashing with both blades at once, his arms spreading out as he neared his opponent.

Time slowed for the girls outside as they saw the duo rush towards one another. Reflexively, Ruby and Penny put their masks on while the others prepared to cover their eyes.

Both men grew closer, and closer to one another before, in a flash and with a resounding and echoing CLANG, they were opposite each other, both with their blades extended with their backs to one another.

Time seemed to freeze around them, the ground stopped shifting, the flames stopped burning, even the air itself seemed to pause as they both stood still.

No one breathed. No one moved. Nothing was happening. Penny was wide eyed as she looked to her boyfriend, silently praying he was ok. Then they heard it.

CRACKLE

The girls jumped slightly when the loud sound of something breaking echoed through the area. They watched as a small crack appeared in the dome before them, before quickly spreading in a spider web pattern across the entire barrier. With a small burst of wind, the barrier shattered like ice, tiny shards of crystal raining down on everyone nearby. Even then, no one dared to move a muscle.

The girls watched as the two men slowly straightened up, and Penny covered her mouth to quiet a gasp as she saw blood slowly covering the left side of her boyfriends face. His opponent seemed completely fine, a small grin on his face as he held his katana with one hand, before he finally exhaled.

”Lucky....shot.” was what was said as his sword suddenly, CRACK, snapped in half, the blade falling to the ground.

PSSSHHT

A wound suddenly burst from Adam Taurus shoulder, the wound spraying blood and darkness alike as he slowly fell to his knees, the darkness around him evaporating into nothing as he finally fell. He closed his eyes with a small grin as his blood slowly began to pool around him.

The girls were wide eyed as they saw the now downed faunus, before turning to the one who was still standing. He was breathing heavily, gripping his weapons in shaking hands, his adrenaline beginning to wane, before he finally sighed, dropping his weapons as they disappeared in a flash of light and darkness, his own alterations disappearing, leaving him as he was before, only with blood covering half his face.

The man was swaying on the spot, trying to catch his breath, so he wasn’t prepared for Penny when she suddenly jumped onto him with a cheer, taking the two of them to the ground.

“You did it!” She cheered, nuzzling herself into the crook of his neck. Adam’s mind finally caught up with him and he smiled, slowly wrapping Penny into a hug with only a slight wince.

Once again three fourths of team RWBY had their jaws on the ground at what they were seeing, the trio slowly turning to their leader, completely ignoring her mask as she smirked to the duo. She noticed her teams expressions and couldn’t help but giggle.

“You’ll want to pick up those jaws. This is only the third weirdest thing I have seen since coming here.” Ruby states with a smile, walking over to her friends as her team tried to recompose themselves. She frowned as she saw Adam’s wound, a shallow cut from the centre of his forehead to the beginning of his temple. Without missing a beat, she grabbed Crescent Rose and her cloak and cut a strip of cloth from the bottom. “Here.”

Penny nods in thanks and wraps the cloth around Adam’s head, wincing along with him as she tightened it. He took a breath and leaned against Penny, the human blushing from suddenly having Adam’s head on her chest, but she smiled and rubbed the area around his horns to relax him.

“Wow. That is....strangely wholesome.” Weiss comments, still a little lost at what was going on. Her teammates nod as they slowly join up with their leader. Adam noticed the trio and groaned as he sat up, Penny supporting him with worry.

“Hey, you girls ok?” he questions, only slightly surprising the trio.

“Y-yeah, we’re ok. Whatever it was your eye did healed the smaller damage.” Weiss responds, pointing out the slightly scarred cuts on her arms. Yang nodded as she flexed her good arm, showing the scarred puncture wound. He nods with a small smile.

“Glad to hear it. That’s....good?” Adam trailed off as his eyes widen suddenly. Everyone was confused, before they heard rapid footstep.

Time slowed down again as the group turned around and saw Adam, on his feet, broken blade in hand, barely three feet from Blake. They didn’t have time, Blake’s eyes wide in shock as she saw him running at her with a deranged glare despite his own injuries. She couldn’t react, she was frozen, and reflexively closed her eyes.

SHINK

Blake’s mind couldn’t fully comprehend what happened. Once second, her ex in running at her with a broken sword, the next, she felt something lightly poking her chest. She slowly opened her eyes, and saw the blade of Wilt lightly poking her left breast. Every girl blinked a few times as their minds slowly began to process what just happened.

Blake’s eyes slowly trailed up the blade, noting the blood dripping off it, and barely stopped herself from screaming.

Wingers eyes were wide as he stared down his counterpart, the latter eyes matching his own as they were locked. Slowly, agonizingly, their eyes trailed downwards, and Winger found his breath catching in his throat.

Everything snapped into focus for everyone as they all fully realized what they were seeing. Once Winger saw his counterpart up and running to Blake, he acted on reflex, shadow bursting towards Blake and standing before her a second before Taurus could reach her.

And he was paying for it.

Penny and Blake slowly covered their mouths as tears shone in their eyes, now aware of what just happened. Penny didn’t want to believe her eyes. She wanted to pinch herself and wake up back at the castle. She wanted to talk with Luna about a weird dream she just had. But she couldn’t, because this was real.

Adam Winger stood slightly slouched, arms spread wide, the broken blade of Adam Taurus Wilt going clean through his chest, the White Fang terrorist keeping a firm grip on the blade with his right hand to the point he was cutting his own hand.

No one moved again, no one could as they processed what just happened. And none of the girls wanted to accept it.

Surprisingly, it was Adam Winger who recovered first, with a slight cough of blood mind you, but he then snarled at his counterpart and gripped the arm that was holding the blade. Taurus quickly regained his own function a second afterwards, looking up to his copycat and the mentally paling as he saw his younger self raise his free hand, dark magic appearing around it and forming into a dark green and black blade.

In the next instant, Taurus fell back as he lost the feeling in his right arm. He reflexively looked at it to assess the damage, and then wished he didn’t. A small thud and splatter seemingly echoed through the area as Taurus right arm hit the ground, the limb cut off from the bicep down.

Then the pain registered in his head. And he wished it didn’t.

”AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Taurus gripped the stump where his arm should be to try and stop it from bleeding, he mind going mad with pain. His counterpart wasn’t much better, coughing out a small mouthful of blood before going to a knee, hand gripping the wound in his chest.

“ADAM!!!” Penny rushed to her boyfriend in tears, her breathing near hysterical as she processed what just happened. “Nonononono, fuck Adam I-your g-g-going to be ok- fuck that’s a lot of blood.” Penny stuttered, trying to reassure her boyfriend as much as herself, tears freely falling from her eyes now.

Adam groaned and cough out another batch of blood before turning to his squirming opponent with an almost feral snarl. The sound made the girls jump as Adam got his feet under him.

“Shit! Adam you need to stay still!” Blake yells, before seeing his eyes and nearly falling black. Gone were the silver eyes of safety. Now, his eyes shown only anger as his pupils narrowed into slits to the point one could barely see them, his snarl shaking the girls and Taurus to their cores as he took a step forwards.

”You....you can’t just stay dow-” he coughed up more blood, but he seemed to get the point across as his counterpart tried to back away. Tried. ”That’s it. I’m done playing around!”

Winger growled and raised his arms, green dark magic appearing at his fingertips before he slowly began to move them into a circle, the magic energy staying in the air as he traced them through the air. Penny paled as she saw what he was doing.

“No. ADAM ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU CAN BARELY STAND, LET ALONE CAST THAT SPELL!” Penny screamed in fear. Her announcement stunned team RWBY for a moment. Ruby took a step forward, only for a certain blond to lift her by her hood. Yang grabbed Blake by the arm and turned to run, Weiss following suit with Penny in her clutches.

“What the?! YANG LET ME GO!” The reaper struggled, her eyes never leaving her friend as his arm became perpendicular to the ground, before slamming together.

“NO! ADAM!” Penny screamed as she couldn’t get Weiss to let go of her.

”Genesis ZERO!” From the area around Adam, ghostly purple and black figures rose up like a wave, the sheer number of them stunning the huntresses as Adam pointed his arms towards his wounded opponent.

“Open, Portal of the demons wail.” His tone was almost monotone, but the undervote of rage made it all the worse as the ‘portal’ opened up. ”Go travellers of the void, I want you to consume that monsters memories. I want you to consume his essence, his soul, CONSUME HIS VERY EXISTENCE!”

The spirit rose up and surrounded the downed and wounded faunus, who could only watch in horror as the swarm of distorted spirits came crashing down on him. Like expected, it felt like getting caught in a wave filled with seaweed as several ‘spirits’ latched onto him as the wave became a whirlpool. He tried to escape, struggling to get the monsters off of him. He reached out with his severed arm, and locked eyes with his counterpart.

His eyes were the last and only thing he could see in the wave. They weren’t the silver eyes he saw before. Instead, all he saw was a sad blue. It was a face he had see before, back in the mines. Back when he tried to get extra rations. A face he last saw, before he got his brand.

And then....darkness.

Adam stood tall as he saw the orb of shifting darkness in the air slowly begin to shrink before blinking out of existence. He took a breath. That was it. The end of a monster.

He didn’t feel good. He felt....tired. He closed his eyes and breathed out a small, bloody mist.

He felt to his knees, he was so tired.

He managed to land of his side as he fell, the blade in his chest shifting slightly.

He was so tired.

He saw as RWBY and Penny rushed to him, none of their eyes dry, but their voices were all just white noise. He took another breath, and closed his eyes.

The last thing he saw, was Penny’s face, eyes red as tear rapidly fell from her eyes. She was shaking her head. He managed the tiniest of grins.

”ADAM!”

Chapter 26: Penny

View Online

Penny POV

Beep....Beep...Beep....

Drip....Drip....Drip....

Beep....Beep....Beep....

Drip....Drip....Drip....

The sound of a heart monitor and an IV drip were the only sounds outside of quiet shallow breathing in the IC room. Laying on the bed in a hospital gown, a breathing mask over his mouth and nose, Adam Winger laying unconscious, the previously mentioned monitor and the slow rise and fall of his chest the only signs he was still among the living world.

A small dry sniffle escaped me as I traced Adam’s knuckles with my thumb. My eyes hurt from crying. My nose hurt from crying. My head hurt from panic. But my heart hurt most of all from this idiot I was in love with willingly putting himself in harms way like that.

I sighed again as I layed my head on his arm, refusing to let go of him. I am not sure why. I just....I needed to know he was still here. I needed to know he wouldn’t suddenly disappear on me.

I think I know what Qrow goes through with flashbacks now, as my mind drifted back to what happened after he was stabbed.

*****

“ADAM!!” I screamed as he closed his eyes. I could barely see through my tears, he wasn’t moving! He was barely breathing! He is losing so much blood! He’s gonna-

“PENNY!” I suddenly realize Weiss is in front of me, shaking my shoulders, my own breathing coming out in pant. “Penny look at me, calm down, you’re hyperventilating.” I try to look back to Adam, but the ex-heiress grabbed my face. “No, look at me. Take deep breaths with me. Inhale, and exhale, slowly.”

I slowly follow Weiss’s instructions, my breath coming back to me, my tears beginning to dry out. After I don’t know how long, I calmed down a bit, Weiss letting me go and letting me see that Ruby and Blake were also teary eyes and at Adam’s side with me, but not panicking as I was a moment ago.

“Crap crap crap.” I hear Yang repeatedly muttering nearby as she paced around, messing with her hair in worry.

“We have to get to the castle.” Ruby said abruptly, catching our attention. She wiped her eyes before addressing us. “Shining said he was getting a medical team ready incase any of us were hurt. We need to get him to the palace, now.”

“But we can’t move him with that damn sword in his chest! And we can’t remove it or he’ll just bleed to death!” Blake shouts, I don’t even think she realized she was shouting.

As team RWBY were talking amongst themselves, I was trying to think of a solution. My mind, while still slightly frantic, began scanning the area, looking for some way to help.

‘Yang’s bike? No, he can’t hold on and Yang isn’t exactly a safe driver. Ruby’s Semblance? No, she can’t carry someone of Adam’s size and weight for long or far, plus she could end up jostling the sword. My Lightning travel? I don’t even want to think about how that sword could conduct electricity.’

As I was thinking, my eyes land on Weiss. I looked to her in silence for a moment, my mind going a mile a minute, before something sparked in my mind.

“Lancer.”

The girls turn to me as I muttered that aloud. “What was that Penny?” Ruby questions. I don’t really respond before all but pouncing of Weiss, causing her to yelp.

“Weiss! Summon a Lancer! It can airlift him to the castle!”

That caused the others to perk up as they realized what I wanted.

“She’s right! Weiss, hurry up and summon one of those things!” Ruby yells, the former heiress nodding as I got off of her and she walked a little bit away. I noticed her hands were shaking a bit as she gripped her weapon, so I guess she is also a little panicked as well. She soon took a breath and twirled her rapier before stabbing it into the ground.

Behind her, a large white glyph appeared and soon an animate ice sculpture in the shape of a Queen Lancer appeared, clicking its mandibles as it looked around. Weiss pulled out her sword from the ground and points to Adam, the large Grimm-like ice sculpture focusing on him and buzzing its wings. Once it was in the air, it positioned itself over Adam, carefully placing its legs under him to lift him into the air without moving his positioning.

Weiss summoned a glyph under herself and launched herself up and onto the summons back, sitting down as it got a little higher.

“I’m going on ahead! Try and catch up as fast as you can!” She yells. I burst into electricity, shocking the others as I hover over to her.

“Follow me, I’ll guide you to the castle, and keep them from attacking.”

With that, the two of us flew off towards the castle. I could see Yang and Blake running to Yangs bike while Ruby jumped to the roof of a warehouse to follow. I just ignored them and focused on keeping myself in the air and not having another panic attack. I do not like those.

It felt like an eternity, but it took next to no time at all to reach the castle. Unfortunatly, a giant white Lancer caused a bit of commotion as it flew overhead, but this was good for the most part. Once I saw several ponies with bows, I immediately dived and slammed into the ground, stunning them.

I looked around frantically, before my eyes find Shining, Twilight and Cadence, the trio looking to the Lancer, clearly getting ready to fight. I ran over them as Weiss and her summon slowly began to lower themselves to the ground.

“Shining, Cadence!” I all but scream, the duo turning their attention to me. “Shining, where is the medical team?! Adam’s hurt!”

That got their attention as they turned back to the Lancer and just now noticed Adam’s limp form in its clutches. Shining’ immediately called off the guards who were about to attack while Twilight teleported to get the medical team. It barely took fifteen seconds before her to come back with a large group of ponies with a stretcher.

I directed Weiss as she controlled her summon to gently lay Adam down on the stretcher before he was rushed away to the medical ward. I was about to follow before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over, and saw Qrow.

“Hold up a second there kiddo. We need to wait for the others.” He states, but I can see the hesitation in his eyes as well. We both knew he was right, and we both hated it. I began to cry again before I realized it. I don’t like this feeling.

I saw Weiss looking around in shock, completely at a loss for words both at the environment around her, and the residence looking back at her with either curiousity or wariness. Must be from her sword.

“So, who’s this?” I turn to Twilight, who has an awkward smile on her face as she tries to defuse the situation.

It doesn’t work.

I look around as I hear hoof and footsteps and saw the rest of my friends minus Pyrrha coming up the road from the stadium. Oscar/Ozpin perked up when they saw the former heiress next to the crystal heart, but then they seemed to notice both my expression, and the blood on me and the ground.

“What happened?” Was Ozpin question, his voice earning Weiss’s attention.

“Professor, I could really use an explanation right now about where we are and what is going on.” Weiss said walking over.

“Join the club Ice Queen.” Rainbow said. At that, I couldn’t help but snort as I saw Weiss eye twitch before she groaned and buried her face in her hands.

“Seriously!? Even in another world with beings I have never met before, everyone keeps calling me that!”

The natives looked confused while Qrow was trying to contain his laughter. Oz just chuckled. We all went silent as we hear the unmistakable sound of an engine getting closer. Though the ponies didn’t know what it was and tensed up. I look down the road and see Ruby using her Semblance to clear a path while Yang and Blake drive after her.

The trio stopped just outside the palace, and while Yang and Blake were gawking at the architecture, Ruby ran over, and suddenly gave me a hug. I am not sure why she did this before noticing I was still crying. I hadn’t even noticed. I hug her back hard and buried my head into her cloak.

“It’s going to be okay Penny. Remember this place has magic. They can help him.” Ruby whispered, her words gave me some comfort as I clung to my friend.

“What the hell?” I hear Yang and see her and Blake now gawking at Twilight and her friends.

“Ok, before anything else, quick introductions.” Shining all but demands, looking weirded out by the looks WBY were giving him and the others. I sniffle and wipe my eyes again as Ruby lets go and runs to her team.

“Ok, these are my teammates Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and my sister Yang Xiao Long.” Ruby said quickly before clapping and turning to her team. “This is Twilight Sparkle, Rarity Belle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Princess Cadence, and Prince Shining Armor.” Ruby nearly fell as she said all that in one breath, trying to catch her breath before quickly looking around. “Wait, where Pyrrha and Neo?”

“Pyrrha!?/Neo?!” We chose to ignore the trio as Twilight took out her prototype scroll. I am still surprised that they were able to make some of those just from taking Pyrrha’s apart and putting it back together once. Granted the range is terrible, but it works.

“Pyrrha said she was running back to her room to grab her gear just incase when we got here to the castle. Neo is back at the stadium keeping an eye on things. I’ll send them a message to meet us in the medical wing.”

I nod before looking to Shining with a pleading expression. He nodded and began to walk towards the castle. I admit that I needed Qrow’s hand on my shoulder to stop myself from just running there myself. I didn’t look back, but I heard the others following quickly as all of us rushed towards the medical wing.

I was shaking. For almost three hours, I just sat in a chair closest to the entrance to the ICU Recovery Ward while the others were scattered about. I barely paid them any mind as the trio were being introduced to the locals, or their freaking out at Pyrrha walking in. I paid her no mind, even as she walked over and gave me a hug, one I barely reciprocated. I did appreciate that she brought me some clean clothes. I couldn’t get out of my bloody ones fast enough after I realized how bad they were.

I did have to intervene when Neo walked in and Yang tried to attack her. Though I admit I may have gone a little overboard when I short circuited her arm father made for her, but right now I didn’t care. Everyone got quiet after that, and it stayed that way for the last hour before a crystal pony wearing surgical garbs walked out.

Everyone immediately stood up, though Neo did have to catch me as I nearly fell from staying seated for so long. The doctor looked over us all before his eyes landed on me.

“You are Captain Taurus girlfriend are you not?” I just nod. He sighed and lowered his surgical mask. “I suppose you are close enough to next of kin right now. Physically, he is very lucky.” He looked down at a clipboard he had with him. “That sword would have gone clean through his heart had it been less than two inches to the left. He may have some residual nerve damage, but we won’t know for sure until he awakes. What I am more concerned about is his magic and mind.”

He rubbed and shook his head. “That man. How reckless. His mana pool was below what should have been possible for most unicorns to live, let alone whatever he is. He was suffering from severe internal magic burnout, and since his entire body is the conduit as opposed to a unicorns horn, I don’t know what kind of damage he had done to his magical pathways.

From what Prince Armor told me, you all have this ‘aura’ thing to help repair physical damage, and so far that is the only reason he made it through surgery at all.” He sighed again and put the clipboard down. “If this were a pony I would say he should wake up in a couple days as we put him into a magically forced coma so he can heal, but considering what and who he is, it’s my professional statement, that I don’t know how long he is going to be under. We will keep him here for a week before transferring him to Canterlot General, or until he wakes up, whichever comes first.”

Everyone was silent after that, or at least that’s how I heard it. I couldn’t really hear much besides the doctor as I began to cry again. Neo and Pyrrha were rubbing my back to help me calm down as I barely noticed the others look sadly and worriedly to one another. But it was Yang who pointed something out.

“Wait. You just told us how he is physically and, I can’t believe I am saying this, magically. But what was that about worrying about his head?”

That caused everyone to tense up and look to the crystal pony doctor as he sighed and leaned against the wall.

“That is something I am indeed worried about. After we got him through the surgery, pulling out that blade and stitching him up, it was a quick magic scan of his brain that confused me. From the brain activity we got, it appears he is going through some kind of Unconscious Somatic Flashbacks.”

“Um...what?” Ruby questions.

“He is living through some of his own memories while he is asleep.” Weiss explained. Ruby made a noise of understanding, but I ignored her and walked up nervously.

“C-can I s-see him?” I stutter. I was very worried. What if they wouldn’t let me-

“Of course. Like I said, you are the closest to his next of kin as his romantic partner, so you can see him first after he is moved out of the ICU and into one of the recovery wards.” He placed a calming hand on my shoulder. “Just wait a little bit longer and you can see Adam again. Ok?”

*******

Three and a half weeks.

It had been three and a half weeks, and aside from some occasional movement from his eyes and twitches, there hasn’t been any sign of him waking up. It hurt. It hurt so much!

His body had healed up as best it can with a combination of his aura and the doctors healing magic, but he just won’t wake up. His mind was still going through those somatic flashbacks, and the doctors theorize until his flashbacks reach what he went through in the fight, he won’t wake up.

....I’m scared.

I....I can’t lose him. Even now as I lay my head on his arm, I am scared. I am scared that I’ll fall asleep, only to wake up and fine he never will.

How is it that in just a few months I could be so attached to another living being?

As the doctor said Adam was transferred to Canterlot a couple weeks ago, and this gave Ruby the excuse to introduce her team to everyone here. Qrow had decided to pick up the slack in training the White Fang for Adam, and considering I saw a couple of our recruits here for checkups, he isn’t pulling any punches. Pyrrha and Oscar kept themselves busy with teaching both the soldiers, and the school back in Ponyville about the Grimm and how to defend ones self from them. Neo for her part just did her own thing for the most part. There were times no one would see her for days before she suddenly popped back up again.

I refused to leave his side through the whole time. I knew its wasn’t healthy. I had read and memorized several books on human psychology and how to deal with stress, loss, worry etcetera. But actually feeling them was another hurtle in and of themselves.

I hate this. I hate seeing someone so strong look so weak.

More than once I was tempted to try and summon another Displaced to ask for help, but I am not sure what anyone could do. His sisters would probably try to go into Adam’s head, but if Luna couldn’t get in, I don’t have much confidence in the others. Plus I don’t even want to imagine how they and Edward would react.

I sighed again, looking out the nearby window. Adam would be getting fed soon, and I had to get back to the castle, no matter how much I didn’t want to.

I turned my head slightly as I hear the door silently squeak open, before a familiar head with black hair and cat ears popped in. Blake and Yang, of course, had been the more reluctant visitors, the latter more than the former, but Blake was always silent. She didn’t say a word as she walked over and took a seat at Adam’s other side, looking over his still form before looking to me.

She didn’t say anything for a while. Not that I blamed her. After what happened, she probably blamed herself again.

“Anything?” She questions. I shake my head. Grabbing a bottle of water nearby and taking a sip. My throat felt dry. Blake nodded sadly and turned her gaze back to Adam, his eyes slowly moving under his eyelids.

“Why are you here Blake?” I bluntly ask. I internal wince at Blake’s wince. I guess I was a little harsh sounding.

“I-we, my team and I, are worried about you.” I look to her blankly. “Penny you barely leave his side and I get that your worried about him. But this isn’t healthy. Princess Luna said you get maybe two hours worth of sleep a day, you barely eat anything and quite bluntly, its starting to show.”

I knew she was right. My eyes felt like lead with dark bags under them. My hair felt gross and too long, it was starting to cover my eyes. My stomach hurt, even through I had trouble keeping most food down. But..but I-

“I get that you love him.” Blake continued. “Or, at least you think it’s love, but would Adam like seeing you like this?”

I didn’t even notice when tears started falling from my eyes again, or when the faunus stood from her chair and hugged me.

“I’m scared.” I mutter pathetically. “I don’t wanna leave him. I don’t want to come back, only to find he won’t. I-I-”

“Shhhh. It’s okay Penny. We’re here.” Blake whispered, rubbing my head. I just continue to cry into her shoulder. ‘Gods, why did she have to be so emotionally stunted when it came to connections. I guess Ruby was her only real friend back home, but this is nuts.’

I am not sure how long we were like that for, but eventually we broke apart. Blake smiled down at me, and I could see the concern in her eyes. I weakly smile back before walking to the washroom sink, splashing water in my face a few times.

“Better?” Blake question, leaning on the doorframe.

“Better.” I respond, slowly drying my face before frowning. “Blake I’m sorry for worrying you and the others. I just-”

“You don’t have to apologize Penny.” I look out the door and see Yang and Weiss standing there, the latter being the one who talked. “I know you’re rather sheltered and a little underdeveloped when it comes to some of these emotions, so it’s only natural for you to act like this. But try and remember you have friends to lean on. Right Yang?”

The blond bombshell nodded silently with a smile I remember Ruby calling her ‘Big Sis Smile’. I smiled back before grabbing my coat from the back of the chair.

“Hey, how about you come with us to grab some dinner Penny? Ruby is setting up a reservation for us at Saffron’s, and I don’t think she would mind having you eat with us.” Weiss offers. I look to the trio for a moment, before smiling softly.

“Sure. I’d like that a lot.” I said, the trio smiling back before I turn to Adam. “I‘ll see you soon, Adam.” I whisper before kissing his forehead. With a deep breath, the four of us leave his room and head out the hospital.

Had I stayed a minute longer, I would have seen the smile appear on his face.

Chapter 27: Awaken

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Penny POV

“Hey Adam. Still sleeping huh?” I muttered, gently brushing some of Adam’s hair aside. It had been a whole month since Adam was put into his coma now, and I admit I was doing a little better. After I went to dinner with Ruby and her team, I decided to try and reintegrate myself. It wasn’t easy. More than once I had to stop myself from wandering off to the hospital to see Adam, but I made sure to keep myself busy and only visit when I had time. I am down to three visits a week.

The doctors had told me earlier that things might be looking up for Adam. A magic scan of his brain waves showed that he was beginning to return to normal, signalling he is going to be waking up soon. Of course he is going to be going through a bit of physical therapy to get back in shape before he would be allowed to go back to fighting again. At least, that’s what the doctors said, but I am not sure he’ll need it.

It was weird, but after I took some time for myself then came back to tell him about it, I noticed he hadn’t actually changed much in terms of his body. He still had his athletic build, and strong arms, the only difference what that his hair grew and it almost looked like his horns had grow as well. It was barely noticeable to most, but it was there.

I had told Twilight and Luna, and they said it was probably his magic and aura that were working together to keep his body from deteriorating. Though they said he’ll probably be as stiff as steel when he wakes up.

I smiled to myself as I took my usual spot near his bed and took out a couple apples before beginning to peel the skin off with one of my swords. I still remember the doctors reactions to seeing me do this, and couldn’t help my laugh to myself a little.

Time passed me by as I ate my food and told Adam about what had been going on. Ruby, Qrow and Ozpin had made some deals with the local blacksmiths and the princesses so now they have rudimentary mechashift weapons under construction for some of the troops in the White Fang.

Blake spent a lot of time either patrolling Ponyville, teaching stealth to the members of the White Fang, helping out with odd jobs and her team, or reading either at Twilight’s or in the castle library. Now I understand when Ruby said that Twilight and Blake were alike yet opposite. Both bookworms became near instant friends, though more than once I had overheard them arguing, mostly about something called ‘ships’, and not the sailing kinds as I learned.

I can tell the feline faunus wanted to do everything in her power to bring her team back to once it was before, but she seems a little much when it comes to helping Yang. Not that I blame her, she must still feel responsible for what happened during the Fall.

Weiss helped with Rarity’s boutique and teaching the princesses and guards the ins and outs of using Dust with their versions of gem dust. While it took a while, Weiss eventually managed to learn and then teach the ponies how to refine and utilize their gems as ammunition like she does for her weapons. She managed to recreate Wind, Fire, Lightning, Water, Earth, Ice, and even create Light/Flash and Darkness/Shade variants of Dust. Though, she still hadn’t managed to recreate Gravity dust, since the only thing that could potentially be used was Moon Stone, which was so rare the only sources were meteors or the moon itself.

Yang had spent a majority of her time at Applejack’s farm, helping out the family with their chores alongside Oscar, mostly just to keep herself busy. Since the ponies aren’t nearly as advanced as Remnant, and I assume Earth, she couldn’t really find much to do aside from working at the farm and playing video games back at the house.

I blushed a little to myself, hoping Adam didn’t mind that I slept in his room while team RWBY was mostly in mine and Ruby’s room.

Aside from that, things haven’t really been all that interesting. The girls were adjusting to this new world, Oscar was learning the ins and outs of being a huntsman. Neo was teaching Ruby her methods of hand-to-hand, sighting that they are close to the same size so Ruby could learn about how to fight from her. Despite how much it annoyed Yang, Ruby picked up her own fighting style very quickly.

Qrow was....being Qrow. There really wasn’t any other way to say it. He just stuck around when he could, helped train some of the new recruits for the Fang, took out Grimm that got to close, and mostly just did his own thing. Though, I had noticed him staring at Ruby with an odd, almost nostalgic expression when no one else was looking. Maybe he is remembering his time as a member of his own team?

I managed to convince Mayor Mare to construct two small houses next to ours for teams RWBY and JNPR respectively, since our place was a little crowded. Ruby’s place was nearly finished construction as they had RWBY helping with its construction, while Pyrrha, Applejack and Pinkie helped in the construction of JNPR’s place. It was slow going since all of us keep coming and going between Canterlot and Ponyville. And aside from a small request from some smaller towns and villages, the Grimm have been next to no problem.

With a sigh I took out my scroll and went through the messages I got recently. Thanks to the girls, in particular Weiss, relatively rudimentary scrolls have begun being made. So far the princesses, captains of the guard and a few other select individuals have access to them, with my friends and I being used as focal points to test the range of the connections. From our tests, we can get messages from the edge of the city, but any farther and it takes forever to go through, or just doesn’t at all.

Though, I have noticed Adam’s scroll has been getting a couple of alerts, but none of us knew his password so we can’t access them. I admit I was extremely curious about what had been going on.

With a sigh as I saw the time, I packed up my things, gave my boyfriend another kiss on the cheek, and made my way out the hospital and back to the castle to start my turn in teaching the troops of the White Fang.

If only I stayed a little longer.....

Adam POV
??? Hours ago/later...

“Blake, its time.”

”Hey, how much for the Wilt and Blush?”

“No. But they’ll listen to me.”

”I am a huntsmen, we are trained specifically to fight the Grimm. And I will not allow these monsters to do as they please.”

“Hello my darling.”

“Well this was nice. We should do it again some time Luna. Just without the injuries.”

”I am going to destroy everything, you love.”

”You have my word.”

“Starting with her.”

“You lose. Now let Ruby go.”

....

.......

“High Leader!”

“Captain!”

”Get away from her!”

“No...please....

“NOOOOOOO!!

Shing

“I-I got my wish.”

“Salutations!”

“Wow. I knew you were great with a violin, but I didn’t know that extended to a guitar as well.”

.....

........

”You two couldn’t hope to defeat me back in Beacon, what made you think you could take me on now? Just because you have some princess working for you?”

“I will protect your friends Ruby, but I need to fight him to do so. And I’ll tell you this. I will not hold back.”

“So you think you can beat me when those three didn’t even stand a chance? That’s just laughable.”

“No. I don’t think I can beat you. I NEED to beat you. I have to get rid of the stain you have created on the world. And that starts with your death, **** *******

“You can’t win ****.”

“Shut up! I don’t care who you think you are, but you will NOT get in the way of my path.”

.....

.......

“I promised you didn’t we? I am going to destroy everything, you love. Starting with her.”

“I....won’t....

”I WONT LET YOU HURT ANYONE ELSE!!”

******

I was....floating? No, falling. I could feel a breeze go by me as I kept my eyes closed, just letting the air pass me by, before I felt my body right itself on its own. Even as I felt my feet touch the ground, I kept my eyes closed. A small sigh escaped me as I opened them, and saw only blackness and a white circle I was standing on.

I...felt like I know this place. I could not put my finger on it, but I know this place somehow. It was almost like I have been here before......but, how? And where?

And....who was I?

Glancing around the platform, I noticed a small section was cracked and broken, before slowly being filled in. I tilted my head in confusion. Why did that happen? I took a step forwards, then looked down as the spot I stepped on turned into white flower petals, spiralling into a small cyclone, before revealing a large glass pane beneath my feet.

It was mostly red and silver. The outsides was ornately made designed, much like his (my?) Grimm mask. It revealed me (him?) near the centre, leaning on the left side of the circle while looking up at the shattered moon, Keyblades in hand. In the circles beneath the moon, it showed the faces of his (my?) family. Natali, Sorano, Alexandria, Edward.

Penny....and....Ruby.

Groaning, I clutched my head and fell to my knees, a headache being accompanied, by a torrent of memories. Images, sounds, smells, feelings, enough for two people being crammed into my skull!

“Stop....please...” I begged no one and nothing, the information making my head feel like an egg in the microwave.

”Adam!”

“Mr.Winger?”

“Hello Adam Taurus.”

”How’s my little bro?”

“High Leader Taurus!”

“Hey big bro.”

“Adam!”

“Adam?”

“STOP!” I cried out, and at once, the torrent stopped, leaving me on the glass pane, in pain and tired.

Adam Taurus.

Adam Winger.

....w-which am I?

I groaned as I slowly got my feet under me, having to readjust myself or fall down again. I had to take a minute to get my breath back, groaning as my head still pounded.

After a while I managed to get myself under control and took another look around the area I was in. A ‘Dive to the Heart’, I remember. It must be from me using my Keyblades. But...now what do I do? I looked around, and when I looked behind me, I saw something.

Behind me, were three mirrors. Each of them were blank, but as I stepped up, three figures became visible in the reflection.

The first one on the right has a young man, with wind blown brown hair and deep hazel eyes. He was looking back at me with a smile. The one on the left, had a scowl on his face, his left eye was scarred closed from an SDC brand, like one they would use on animals, and red and hazel hair and black horns.

The middle one though, caused me to pause. It was...me? He looked like the man in the left mirror, but he lacked that brand on his eye. His eyes were a bright silver, but with slit pupils and what looked like silver fire coming out the sides. He had black and silver marking all over his body, along with two serious scars on his chest. One going across diagonally, and another that looked like a stab wound.

I am not sure how long I was standing there for, just looking at my reflection, when I slowly raised my arm to the mirror, the man in the reflection copying the action. In my peripherals, I could see the man in the right mirror nodding, while the man in the left just quietly scoffed. I barely noted my own arm seemingly being mad of black and white energy, when I placed my hand on the glass surface.

Apparently that was enough as I felt something pulling me, and I almost tripped over my own feet, being sent through the mirror like it was just a pane of water. Once I was through, I felt a shiver run up my spine as I looked to my gloved hands and scarred chest. Turning back, I could see my reflection as I am properly. Regular silver eyes and all.

Before long, the mirror seemed to disintegrate like a Grimm, the white particles circling me and flowing off the platform, before several large ‘window’s’ came up from the abyss. I watched as the window’s circled my platform, each one showing memories that are both mine and his.

Three window’s glowed before lowering to my level, the three of them showing a different event. The first, showed me as Winger, practicing several forms in a dojo along with my friends. The second, showed me as Taurus, showing several White Fang members back in Remnant how to actually throw a punch and not flail about. The last, showed me going through an obstacle course alongside several ponies.

The Student, The Mentor, or The Captain.

It wasn’t really a question on what I pick. Without hesitation, I summoned both my my Keyblades and pointed them towards The Captain. Two beams of light and dark respectively left my blades and disintegrated the window, the other two going back up to join the circling towers.

Three more glowed and made their way down. The first, showed me meditating with several shadow tendrils waving around me. The second, showed me practicing with my sword against Blake in an old warehouse. The last showed me sparring against Ruby and Rainbow in hand-to-hand, dodging around the two before striking them myself.

The Spell Caster, The Blade Master, The Fighter.

After a second, I pointed my dark Keyblade towards The Blade Master, the dark beam hitting it dead centre, before it became engulfed by shadows and turned to dust.

The mirrors suddenly began to spin faster and higher, and before long, they were all gone. I dispelled my Keyblades and looked around again, a small glass staircase catching my attention. It led up, above my platform, where I saw there was some kind of doorway. Without anything better to do, I began to climb the stairs.

‘My heart is whole again. I didn’t even notice it was broken.’

’I carry the strength and sins of two. Two become one in the heart and mind.’

‘I will not follow his path, but I will gladly carry his sins.’

’I have already begun down the path of balance. What’s a small bump in the way?’

I stopped in front of the door, seeing two keyholes on the sides. I re-summoned my Keyblades and pointed them forwards.

‘All is as I allow it. The past has been recorded and the present is set. All that is left is to....’

”Open the door.”

Two beams shot out of my weapons into the keys, and the door slowly opened, and all I saw, was white and black.

******

The first thing I became aware of was the sound of a heart monitor slowly increasing in pace. I quietly groaned to myself, before finally managing to pry my eyes open. Looking straight, I was greeted by a white ceiling. In my peripherals, I could see some green blinds in front of a closed window, the reflection of the sun showing it was late afternoon. I remained laying there for a minute or two, before sighing as I decided I was laying down long enough.

Painfully, I pushed myself up, several of my bones and joints cracking as they finally moved after however long I have been asleep. Once I was actually sitting up, I took a moment to turn my head and arms, pain giving way to relief as the room was filled wit h the sounds of cracking.

I was sore, that was for sure. I wonder, how long have I been under? Glancing around the room showed several ‘Get Well Soon’ cards, likely from the troops in the White Fang. I managed to spot a clock on the far wall, which showed it was 3:30 in the afternoon.

With a small groan, I managed to throw my feet over the edge of the bed, noticing the heart monitor and IV connected to me. Without a second thought, I took the IV out of my arm and healed the insertion point with my aura, before removing the heart monitors connected to my chest, and turning the machine off.

With another groan, I got to my feet, pacing the room for a second before checking the nearby drawers for my clothes. I was lucky since they were really clean. I managed to make my way to the washroom and got changed. It admittedly took longer than I was used to since I was so stiff.

Once I managed to get my shirt and jacket on, I heard a commotion coming from my room. Confused, I exited the bathroom, and all noise seemed to stop as I saw several doctors, nurses and other ponies just staring at me in shock.

“What’s going on?” I questioned, my mind still a little sluggish.

“C-captain Taurus? You’re awake?” One of the doctors said in shock.

“Clearly.” I said, making my way over to the bed. Rubbing my head as I felt a small headache coming on, I turned to the stunned ponies. “How long was I out for anyways?”

“Um, about a month?” One of the nurses said nervously. I looked to her with a blank expression, before shocking them as I chuckled to myself.

“Damn. New record.” I muttered loud enough to be heard. The ponies looked among themselves for a second as they heard me.

“Um, are you ok Captain?” One of the ponies, I noticed a member of the White Fang. “You are taking the fact you have been in a coma for a month extraordinarily well.” I just shrugged to him.

“Isn’t the first time I have been unconscious for an extended period of time. But like I said, this was definitely a new record.” I said, leaning against the headrest of the bed as several of the nurses came over to give me a check up. “One time I was out for nearly two weeks after a failed raid on an SDC mine. Wait....what?” I muttered that last part to myself, rubbing my head as the event played out in my head.

“Um, what? I thought you were from earth sir?”

“I-I am. Sorry. I guess being in a coma makes me have some odd memories that aren’t really mine.” I said to the doctor that said that, who just rose a brow. I shook my head as a couple things popped into my head.

“Well, in any case, now that you are awake, we will be giving you a full check up to see how long your physical rehabilitation will take before you can go back to training the guards and being a huntsman.” The doctor said, before looking me over with a smile. “Though, considering you managed to get dressed with no problem, I don’t think it should be very long.”

I sighed and nodded to him, knowing I wouldn’t be able to talk my way out of that. As they were getting everything ready, I glanced out the window then to my hand.

‘I know I am fine with it, but this is going to take a while to get used to it.’

Later....

I released a small sigh as I looked to the sky. Celestia had just begun setting the sun, and I could sense Luna connecting to the moon behind me to raise it to the sky as they have done countless times before. I took a breath, enjoying the slightly cool air as it flowed through my lungs and body.

I leaned against the railing on the roof, looking over the ponies below me as they all made their ways home for the night. I shook my head and frowned as a couple off thoughts entered them. I knew it would take a while, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.

“So, how long are you going to just stand up here?”

I chuckled to myself as I looked over my shoulder to a certain huntsman behind me.

“Not long. I know the girls are going to want to go out for a celebration.” I responded. The drunk just scoffed and took a swig of his flask.

“Maybe. But I can tell it is going to be way awkward, so I am staying out of it.” Qrow said with a grin, before frowning. “So, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” All he got was a raised brow. “I heard that you have been shaking your head a lot and frowning more that any of the troops have ever seen you before. Plus, you just have this unsure aura around you now.”

My frown deepened as I turned back to the setting sun, watching as the sky began to change from a blue to yellow and then orange. I looked to the sky straight above me, before sighing loudly.

“I...remember.” I could feel Qrow’s confusion from here, his frown almost audible. I turned to him with a serious frown on my face. “Qrow. I remember everything. All the raids. All the fights. All the humans that hurt my kind.” I took a breath as my anger began to spike, and when I opened them, I could see Qrow’s shock and worry. “I have all of Adam’s memories. All the plans, every member that followed him....all the humans he killed. All the sins he carried.”

“And? Sorry if I seem rude, but that doesn’t seem like much.” He responded, clearly trying to remain unconcerned.

“Maybe not for you, but now, there is no escape from them. Now that Adam is dead and I have his memories...well....those sins don’t just go away.” I said, holding the railings tightly. “I remember all the nightmares. All the moments where he thought, ‘maybe this is it’ or ‘now I can rest’. And that terrifying. But you know the worst part?” I question, not giving him a chance before I answered. “I remember, everything, he has ever felt for Blake.”

That got his attention, if his clenching his flask was any indication. I tried to calm myself as it all went through my mind. All the training sessions. All the conversations between us, them. All the moments...where he wanted her.

His rage at her ‘betrayal’. The satisfaction I got when I stabbed her and cut off Yang’s arm.

I growled to myself, and before I realized it, I had broken the railing I was holding onto with my hands. I could feel Qrow about to grab me, but I growled again, sensing him back off as I tried to get myself under control. The memories, they were becoming harder and harder to tell when it was actually me and not him.

I could sense that Qrow was at a loss at what to do himself. I knew he drank to forget his pain and because of that he sucked at helping others through their own pain. But it seemed he was in luck as we both sensed a familiar soul rapidly approaching. While Qrow smirked and flew away in his bird form, I was frozen in fear.

‘Please not her, not now.’

“Adam?” I tensed as I heard her voice, before taking a breath and turning around.

“Hey Penny.”

There she was, my girlfriend, barely two dozen feet away. She looked to me with widened eyes, which I saw began to tear up as she saw me. I gulped and backed half a step away, before almost falling, before righting myself.

“Adam be careful! You shouldn’t be this close to the edge!” Penny said, pulling me back a couple steps away. I tensed as she grabbed my arm, looking over to the setting sun again. “Adam? Is something wrong?”

Human!

Unhand me!

Their fault!

Kill her!

I clenched my teeth as his voice echoed in my head, forcing Penny’s hands off me and backing away. I could see her eyes widen in fear but I just grabbed my head.

“Damnit shut up shut up shut up.” I muttered to myself. I hit the wall near the doorway hard, the pain in my hand stopping the voice as my aura healed the damage. I tried to catch my breath, ignoring the pain in my hand and chest.

“Adam what is wrong?!” Penny yelled at me, I flinched at her shout, the fear, worry and pain evident in her voice.

“Stay back!” I yelled back, the human stopping as I griped my head. “Please, just stay back.”

“Adam....what’s wrong? This isn’t like you.” She said, her frown audible as I tried to get my head back together. I stayed silent, keeping my eyes off her as I stopped the flow of memories and thoughts that were not mine.

I got so lost in thought, I didn’t sense as Penny came up closer to me, before I felt her hand on my cheek. I immediately tensed as I felt her touch, several dark thoughts plaguing my mind in an instant, but before I could pull away or something, Penny did what he would consider unthinkable. She had a determined glint her eyes, and grabbed my head before pulling me down.

I am pretty sure I blanked out again, and when I came back, all I could feel was Penny’s lips on mine.

My eyes shot open as I realized what was going on, while Penny was just holding me by the cheeks and stopping me from moving. Not that I could. I felt like all my muscles had turned to lead as I just stayed there.

After a second, I could sense Penny getting nervous and scared, and it took a second for me to realize why. Without a second thought, I gently put my hands on her back and pulled her closer. She gasped against my lips, but I didn’t let her talk as I kissed her myself. She reciprocated a second later, wrapping her arms around my neck.

Heh, not how I would think our first proper kiss would go. But I’m not complaining.

I am not sure how long we were like that, just standing there, but eventually we needed air and released each other. The two of us took a minute to get our breath back, before I looked down to her.

“W-where did that come from?” I questioned, not letting her go. Penny at the least managed to look bashful, gods that’s cute, and turned away slightly.

“Well, I have been waiting for you to wake up for a month now. You can’t really blame a girl for wanting to be with her boyfriend after all that.” She responded with a blush, I could feel my own face heat up at that addition and rubbed the back of my head. She suddenly frowned and asked again, “Adam, what’s going on with you?”

I sighed, knowing I couldn’t get past this. “I...have all of Adam Taurus’s memories. All of his nightmares, all of his skills and sins....all of his feelings.” Penny was silent for a bit, laying her head on my chest.

“Blake?”

“Yeah.” I responded, holding her tighter. “It’s....confusing. I can’t tell which memories are mine and which are his sometimes. And....I’m scared.”

“Scared? Adam you’re one of the bravest people I know. How can you be scared of your own memories?”

“Penny...all of his thoughts from before, all of his experiences, all the hatred for humans, all of it is in here.” I tapped my head, trying to back away. “And, I don’t know if I can really be ‘myself’, with all these things in my head.”

Out of everything to happen, I didn’t expect Penny to begin giggling at me. Which only got louder until she was leaning on me to stop herself from falling over. I just stood there awkwardly as she continued to laugh for a full minute before righting herself and wiping her eyes.

“Oh man, that is the greater joke I have ever heard.” She managed to say, which only caused me to frown. She saw this, but still smiled. “Seriously Adam, how is it you can be so smart and yet so dumb at the same time.”

“What.”

“I mean, I thought it was your sister that goes through the identity crisis. Then again, Natali and Sorano are two different people.” She continued with a grin. “I get that you have his memories now, but that doesn’t change the fact of who you are.”

“Really now? Then, who am I Penny? Who, is standing right in front of you, physically stopping himself from lashing out and slicing you to bits?!” I yelled, trying to reign in my anger as the human, Penny, just smiled warmly at me.

“You’re Captain of the White Fang.” That caused a brief pause. “You’re the strongest faunus I have ever met. You are the one who saved Pyrrha from her nightmares not long after we arrived here.” She took a step forwards.

“You are Natali and Alexandria’s little brother. You are Sorano’s elder brother. You’re Edwards nephew and Cameron and Samantha’s son.” She took another step.

“You are the one who protected Ponyville moments after arrival, you are the one who duelled Luna to a draw, you are the one who connected to Screwball almost instantly like you were lost friends.”

She finally stopped right in front of me, and reached up before pulling my head down to touch her forehead to mine.

“You are the one who comforted me when I first arrived, and you’re the one who is making me experience feeling and adventures that I could never have calculated. You gave me powers that Salem herself would be jealous of. You...you’re my boyfriend. My first love. And I am not about to let you stop being so.”

I am not sure how long I just stood there, taking in everything that she said, the sun had nearly vanished from he horizon at this point, but still, I cared not.

All I cared about...was this perfect girl in front of me.

Gently, I wrapped my arms around Penny and pulled her to my chest, laying my head atop hers and allowing myself to take in her scent. I barely noted, then dismissed, the pair of amber eyes leaving the stairwells shadows.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered. “You’re right. I can be pretty smart and idiotic at the same time.”

“Well, you are only a faunus.”

“Just as you are only human.”

I am not sure why, but I knew what she was going to say next, and I agreed wholeheartedly as we spoke as one.

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Chapter 28: Let’s Just Live

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“I still say you should be resting for longer.” I rolled my eyes as I chose to ignore the hooded huntress spotting me, grunting as I lifted the bare bell again, my arms burning as I continued my exercise.

It has been only a week since I woke up and four days since I was released from the hospital, and I needed to get back to how I was before. Not a hard task, but physical exercise became way harder when ones mind was occupied with something else. With another grunt, I lifted the weights and left them on the handle above me, sitting up as Ruby handed me a towel.

“I know Ruby, but I can’t let you and the others get ahead of me, now can I?” I grinned, the girl adorably rolling her eyes at me in return before I frowned. “Besides, we both know it is only a matter of time before they blow.”

“We don’t know that!” she replied instantly, frowning at my raised brow. “I mean, I told the girls what has been going on. They wouldn’t just attack you.”

“I know they wouldn’t attack me outright Ruby, but I can’t just expect them to instantly accept me, even if they know I am not him.” I replied, frowning to myself.

I didn’t want to be a pessimist or anything, but I have seen the sidelong glances the rest of RWBY have been sending me whenever they were nearby, always ready for an attack, always ready for my turned face. It was beyond annoying, knowing that Yang and Blake especially would never let me out of their sights when nearby.

Weiss for the most part just left me to my own devices and I left her to hers. But one out of three isn’t the best.

I sighed as I stood, stretching out my arms and back before placing them on my hips and looking around the gym. I could point out several lower ranking members of the White Fang working out themselves, as well as Rainbow flying around.

I admit I was a little annoyed by how far behind I was behind everyone else. I wasn’t completely out of shape or anything, but with how stiff my body was, I knew it would still take a while before I was combat ready. And that sucked, I always hated being stuck on the sidelines. For now, my plan was just to work out and get back to how I was while also finding time for the others.

But there was still something that I was honestly scared of.

Not long after I was released, I checked my scroll to get rid of all the messages, like the test ones from the Elements, when I saw several new files had been added to my scroll. Including several videos I know I didn’t have before. It was when I took a look at the title of the file that I saw why.

V6. RWBY Volume 6 was added while I was in a coma.

I haven’t watched any of it yet, not sure when I will, but I am not looking forward to it. It’s funny, back on earth I would be waiting at my computer in anticipation for the latest episode to drop, now I was worried about what is on the show and how it would connect to my friends. They are obviously from a separate timeline, but that didn’t mean much in the long run since the volume would answer some questions while also raising others. And that is scary to me.

I haven’t told the others, not sure how I could without knowing what happened myself. I am worried, I just have this feeling that something will be shown that will shake the others to their cores.

Maybe it’s just me, but I want to find the time to watch the show first before I show it to the others, especially RWBY.

With another sigh, I went over to the rack were there were some weights for me to use, motioning for Ruby to head out. The girl frowned, but listened, heading into the castle. I saw a flash of yellow as Yang intercepted her, but chose to leave them be for now. Attaching some weights to my legs, I began to go through some exercises the doctors recommended I do to get back up to speed.

I guess I lost myself in my mind again, since before I knew it, I had someone lightly patting my shoulder. A glance over showed Neo, the mute smirking before lifting her arm and motioning to an invisible watch.

“Let me guess, Lunchtime?” She nodded with a grin as I took off the weights and sighed in relief from the lack of added weight. I shakily stood up and stretched out before looking to Neo, who just silently giggled and shattered, her Semblance revealing she wasn’t there. I just rolled my eyes at the girl before making my own way to the dining hall.

After a few minutes, I arrived at the dining hall, seeing team RWBY, Qrow, Neo and Penny eating their own food, somewhat silently. Pyrrha and Ozcar were back in Ponyville, keeping an eye on the place as well as the construction on the other houses nearby. That was a certainly a surprise when I heard it. I can’t wait to see how far they have come.

After I walked in, I could see WBY glancing to me and quieting down a bit, not that it helped. I could hear them clear as day. I just ignored the hushed conversation and took my seat next to Penny, who looked to me in with concern.

“You alright Adam?” She questioned, to which I smirked an pat her head, getting a pout in return.

“Yeah, I’m fine Penny. Just a little tired from my workout.” I replied, grabbing some food.

“I said it before and I’ll say it again, you should rest more.” Ruby said from across from me, munching on a cookie.

“And replied before and will reply again, I’ve been through worse Rubes.” I said with a grin, earning another pout from Ruby. “Besides, I hate waiting on the sidelines, especially when it comes to protecting my comrades.”

“Still, I think you should at least take some more breaks.” Penny added, a worried frown on her face. I just sighed in response and smiled to her.

“Penny, you don’t need to worry so much. I’m not going anywhere.” I said softly, earning a small smile and nod from my girlfriend. I knew she had a couple nightmares after I woke up, so I made sure to keep an eye on her dreams.

A small scoff caused me to frown and glance to the other occupants at the table, seeing Yang wearily glancing from me to Neo and then to her plate and back again. Her eyes were an odd shade of maroon, showing she was on edge. I’ve seen her eyes that colour more than just red or violet in the past week.

Blake for the most part stayed silent, briefly conversing with Weiss before going back to her tuna salad with extra tuna. Though, she also glanced to me and Penny a few times. Not surprising, considering who I am to her.

Weiss for her part chose to simply ignore me and focused on eating her own food before replying to Blake. Honestly that is more than I could have asked for now, I didn’t want to get into an argument with a Schnee, especially Weiss considering how hard she has been trying to change. I still need to talk to her about what her plan is if/when we find a way back to Remnant for them.

I swear if we find a way to Remnant, and more specially Atlas, I am going to castrate that sperm donor that dares call himself a Schnee. What the heck was Weiss’s grandfather thinking when he appointed that bastard? Then there is Shitley to deal with for actively trying to ruin Weiss. Hmm, maybe I’ll get something nice for Klein.

A small chuckle escaped me as I thought about how Sienna and the old White Fang would react to me defending Weiss.

“What’s funny?” I turned to Penny as she asked that.

“It’s nothing, just thinking about High Leader Khan and the others back in Remnant.” I replied, a small, sad smile on my face. Penny said nothing but nodded, knowing what happened.

“Do you do that a lot?” I turn to Weiss as she asked this, a brow raised.

“What?”

“Do you reminisce about Remnant a lot?” I barely noted as her teammates tuned in.

“Um, not really. I mean...yeah sometimes I can get lost in his memories, especially lately, but I wouldn’t say I actively try and reminisce about a place I have only seen and never been to.” I rubbed the back of my head. “It’s just that every so often these random thoughts and memories pop up, and I let my mind wander, especially during times like now where I don’t have to be constantly looking over my shoulder.”

The former heiress was silent for a moment before nodding to herself and turning back to her own plate of food. I raised a brow. That was odd. That’s like the fourth conversation I’ve had with her, yet it felt a little...off. Not like I know how she talks or anything, but still. I get the same feeling from her as I do when my sister Maria is trying to ask something, but chooses to dance around it.

I glanced to her team leader, but Ruby looked just as confused as me. Qrow too, not that the former drunk had any room to talk.

Neo was narrowing her eyes a bit in suspicion, before I tapped her head and shook my head. She rose a brow herself but shrugged and took a bite of her sandwich. I left it at that and finished my food before heading back down to the training hall, more accurately the weapons depot.

I chose to ignore a certain feline following me from the shadows.

After a couple of minutes I arrived at the weapon lockers and grabbed my gear. Specifically my altered Wilt and Blush set, as well as another red and black blade. It was Adam’s Wilt, but heavily modified. Specially that it was nearly half the length as before, since the other half was embedded in my chest. Apparently Luna and Penny remade the broken katana into a kodachi so it wouldn’t just be collecting dust.

Since I had a suddenly ingrained knowledge of duel wielding, I have decided to take up the blade, which I decided to name Manchar or Stain in Spanish, and began to practice duel wielding blades. Not as easy as I thought, but not as hard as I dreaded.

While I prefer to just use Wilt, I have managed to think of and practice using both or switching between them, like Hero Killer Stain in My Hero Academia. I kept the smaller blade sheathed behind my back, perpendicular to my spine and resting near the small of my back. I had the sheath made a little longer than the blade itself so I can unsheathe it faster than one would expect with the size of the sheath itself.

I had practiced not just my sword styles and forms, as well as trying to increase my speed. Now that I had unlocked my Semblance, I had been slowly learning how it works.

I like to call it Soul Link. From what I have been able to gather, it connects my soul to those I have a powerful bond with, such as friends or family, and then I can use their powers myself, to a lesser degree than the user of course, at the cost of about a tenth of my aura with every use. Also, an odd addition, my hair changes to the colour of whoever I am connected to. Honestly, I don’t mind the pink hair, makes my horns stand out more.

When I first started practicing, I found I had what I call ‘Level 1 bonds’ to Ruby, Pyrrha, Luna, Rainbow, Neo and Qrow. I can use their Semblances, like what I did with Ruby’s speed and Pyrrha polarity, but it wasn’t as fine tuned as them. I could only really go in a straight line with Ruby’s speed, and I could only effect certain metals like iron and steel with polarity, plus they both gave me a serious headache if I tried to push it.

I have ‘Level 2 bonds’ with Aunt Luna and Penny. I can use their powers a lot easier and have access to more power than before, but it also can strain my aura, and once it runs out I end up feeling like I went through Saitama’s workout.

My ‘Level 3 bonds’ are connected to my sisters, and Edward but I don’t try and use them. When I was training and connected to Nat, I actually could create a couple Vectors, but they only lasted ten minutes before my aura broke and I passed out. I guess the strain of our connection is too strong when we aren’t in the same dimension, and the backlash is too rough, so I won’t be using their powers or magic anytime soon. I don’t even want to know what would happen if I tried to use Lex or Ed’s magic. I would probably end up like Midoriya after a 100% smash.

From what I can tell, I likely have as much aura as Jaune, maybe even more, so I am hoping I can eventually use my Semblance in rapid succession without passing out. But that is still pretty far away from now.

With a deep breath, I jumped over the dummy I was practicing against, taking out Manchar while in the air and slashing from behind with the shorter blade before spinning and landing a kick to the side. I continued to go through my training for maybe an hour before I figured I could take a break.

I sheathed my blades and made my way over to the bench, grabbing my water bottle to take a drink. I released a loud breath as I poured some of the water down my back, enjoying the cooling liquid.

I glanced around the training hall, seeing several members of the White Fang practicing with their new weapons. Ruby and Luna had enthusiastically told me about how they were beginning to dish out both mechashift weapons and firearms for the troops, and some of the regular guards were a little put out by the fact my troops got first picks.

I saw a recently promoted pegasus, Second Lieutenant Glass Cutter, using a broadsword before tossing it past the target, two strings attached to his wrists letting him split the blade and bring it back and cut the targets arms off from behind. He had gotten really good at that, which isn’t all that surprising since he apparently had a hobby of collecting yo-yos.

I saw another member, Sargent Blitz Blur, using a pair of six-shot revolvers at the shooting range, before he threw them up and took out a collapsed spear. He thrust the blade at the nearby target before letting the two guns fall and click into place along the sides of his polearm, turning it into a trident.

There were a few others around that I saw lately, like a unicorn using emerald infused daggers for ranged wind slashes, to another earth pony using an onyx lined battle axe for surprise flash’s to blind opponents.

That and several other new weapons have been popping up with the troops lately, so I have been thinking about having a mini Vytal tournament some time to see how everyone is when it come to their own weapons, but that’s just my thoughts on it right now.

I sighed to myself again before frowning and looking above me to the rafters.

“How long are you going to hide up there?” I called out, earning a muffled yelp in return. After a minute, I saw a pair of amber eyes appear in the shadows before Blake jumped down, landing a dozen feet from me.

We both stayed silent for a while, Blake just standing there with a cautious shine in her eyes, while I just sat on the bench and rested. Not sure how long we were like that, silver reflecting amber, but eventually Blake sighed and walked over to a nearby locker. I followed her with my eyes, and saw her grab Gambol Shroud from the locker, before looking back to me and unsheathing the katana part and loading a clip into the bottom.

“I want a match.”

Chapter 29: Belladonna’s Resolve

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Penny POV

“So, have you been getting better at using your eyes yet?” I questioned Ruby. The two of us were just relaxing in the library along with Weiss and Twilight, Yang went to workout not long after Adam and Blake left.

“I’m not sure. From what I can tell, my eyes seem to only react when there are Grimm nearby, unlike Adam who could probably do it on command since his light is connected to his keyblades.” My friend said, reclining on some bean bag chairs Luna had brought in. I still felt it odd that I can refer to one of the ruling monarchs by her name instead of her title.

“That’s too bad, maybe we should head into the Everfree when we get back to get some training in?” I questioned, earning a shrug from Ruby and a frown from Twilight. Weiss was busy reading.

“I really wouldn’t recommend that you two. It’s near Zap Apple season, and the Timberwolves become way more active and vicious around that time. And unlike the Grimm, they can regenerate unless you set them on fire, which is beyond dangerous in a dense forest.” She pointed out, earning a whine from Ruby and a sigh from me.

“That sucks, I really wanted to go do some training with Adam now that he’s awake.”

“Same. Though, I guess you want to spend some extra time with him, eh Penny.” I felt my face heat up again, still not 100% used to blushing.

“Well, I wouldn’t be adverse to it.” I muttered, earning a giggle from my friend. I pouted and lightly shocked her in response, the girl yelping and jumping to her feet. I just smirked at her halfhearted glare.

“Can you two please be quiet, I am trying to read.” Weiss snapped, but I could see the faintest of a smirk on her face. The two of us pouted to Ruby’s BFF, but left her alone and quieted down.

“So, how long do you think Adam is going to take before we head back to Ponyville?” Twi questioned.

“He said he was planning on heading back in a couple days. He just wanted to get some proper exercise and to see how the White Fang changed while he was unconscious. I know he was shocked by the new mechashift weapons as well as the fact you and the girls have scrolls.” I responded, earning a nod from the unicorn. I laid back and looked through the skylight above us, watching the clouds.

“It’s a shame friend-er Jaune, isn’t here. I feel like he could help me with unlocking my Semblance, no disrespect to you and your team Ruby.” I muttered, correcting myself. My mannerisms are still rather difficult to break, so I keep referring to the others from Remnant by how my processors categorized them.

“Yeah, I am wondering about that as well.” Weiss piped up, closing her book. “You have been going through everything Pyrrha had put you through. You even went through some of the exercises that I went through when my sister was teaching me. But you haven’t even got an idea what your Semblance could be?”

“None.” I responded sadly. “It’s almost like no matter what I do, I can’t figure it out! I know that Jaune unlocked his Semblance to save you Weiss, but I really wanna try to avoid that sort of situation if possible.”

“Well, maybe it connects in some way to who you are?” The three of us turn to Twilight. “I mean, I watched the show a while ago. Yang’s Semblance is connected to her anger, so she is hotheaded. Blake said her Semblance is about ‘running away’, even if that is debatable. Jaune is a White Knight, a support role, so his being Aura Amplification makes sense.” She turned to me. “Maybe your Semblance is connected to your personality or something.”

That was a good idea, but that doesn’t really help out too much right now. I am...a lot of things. I am learning to be human. I am rather...blunt, in my speech. I have trouble discerning how some people are feeling without my processors. I am not a machine anymore. Even Father or Uncle Ironwood didn’t have any idea about what my Semblance could be.

I sighed again and picked up a book I grabbed earlier about electronics and magic electrical energy. I figured I could at least learn a thing or two that would work well with my lightning magic. Ruby followed suit and picked up her scroll, going back to one of her games, luckily muted.

I think the four of us stayed there, enjoying the silence, when I perked up as I heard some hooves running past the door. I thought nothing of it at first, but became curious as more and more ponies ran past the doorways. I wasn’t the only ones as I saw the others slowly looking to the doors as a veritable stampede ran by.

The four of us glanced to one another before making our way to the door, seeing several guards running down the hall. I managed to catch one by the arm, a Pegasus mare from the White Fang.

“What’s going on?” I questioned. She looked back for a moment to nod to her allies before turning to me.

“Captain Taurus is about to get into a match with Miss Belladonna. We’re going to watch!” She got out of my grip and turned to the other. “Hey guys wait up!”

“Wait, what?!” Weiss yelled as we processed what we were just told.

“Damnit Blake!” Ruby yelled before we all ran down the halls as well. I frowned at what was going on, I knew it was only a matter of time before Blake or Yang did something. And I am more than worried now with Adam still not a 100%.

‘Adam, please be careful.”

Guard Training Arena
3rd person POV

Standing in the centre of the arena, surrounded by cheering ponies on all sides, Blake and Adam remained silent as they checked their equipment. The area was a little different than normal as it had several trees and raised ground into mounds for the fights. It also had a small pond that was about five feet deep.

Adam readjusted his Ember Celica as well as checking that he had two extra belts of shells for both, before double checking his swords. With that done, he adjusted his scarf and nodded to himself, lowering his mask.

Blake meanwhile, double checked her extra clips for Gambol Shroud, nodding as she still had a couple for Ice, Earth and Fire Dust she brought along, before adjusting her open jacket and unsheathing her swords. She held the katana and cleaver in a tight grip as she readied herself.

The duo stared at one another in silence, hidden silver reflecting amber, before turning to a unicorn and nodding, who nodded back and took out his weapon, a dust powered flintlock pistol and pointed up in the air.

“Begin!”

The loud shot was all the was needed as Adam rushed forwards, unsheathing his sword, swinging it at the other faunus, who blocked with her cleaver before trying to stab with her katana. Adam adjusted their position and blocked with his own katana before twisting and trying to get behind Blake. In response, she used her Semblance and jumped above and behind Adam, who jumped back in response, and began firing from his shotgun.

The feline easily blocked the shots with her cleaver before rushing her opponent. Once again the duo were clashing swords, but Blake was forced to use her Semblance again as Adam took out Manchar and slashed at her, before he crouched both blades held tightly. Blake copied him, the duo silent as they readied themselves.

With little warning, Adam focused aura into his feet and flew, but not at Blake. He landed on one of the trees in the arena, before jumping again, quickly becoming a blur as he zoomed around the feline faunus. Blake turned this was and that, trying to keep up with the other faunus who was speeding up with each jump, becoming a silver and red blur.

‘Dammit, he’s nearly as fast as Ruby.’ the girl thought to herself, dodging left as Adam swept by. ‘This is going to be harder than I thought.’

‘She’s stronger than before.’ Adam thought, jumping from one of the pillars towards Blake, the feline jumped away at the last second. ‘She was nowhere near this strong during the Fall of Beacon. Then again, that was a year ago. And I couldn’t get a good scale for her skills at Haven. Still, I won’t underestimate her.’

The duo continued this dance of blades for about another minute before Adam jumped up and tried to strike Blake with a downward strike. She rose both blades and blocked the attempt, leaving Adam suspended in the air for a moment.

Blake looked at Adam’s face with a determined grimace, before paling slightly as she noticed both his smirk, and the fact his hand was at an angle so if she looked at their blades, she would be staring down the barrel of his shotgun gauntlets.

With a mental slap to her head, she used her Semblance again, but infused some Fire Dust into it, leaving a clone of pure fire, which exploded when Adam shot his weapon, sending him flying to other direction.

Adam groaned as he skipped off the ground and to his feet, knowing that took a good chunk off his aura. He frowned to Blake as he sheathed his swords and got into the stance that was nearly iconic at this point. With only a moments pause he launched his sword with a shot, following it a second later.

Blake sent the sword into the air, but was surprised when Adam didn’t try to grab it, but unsheathed his other sword with a reverse grip and nearly stabbed her. A second later, he pulled back and caught his falling sword and began to try and slash Blake. The feline faunus defended herself well, barely getting a scratch here and there that healed up, before she jumped back and shifted her weapon.

With a shot from the pistol, she launched her weapon, which Adam sidestepped out of the way. With a pull of the ribbon and another shot, she tried to tie him up, but Adam backflipped out of the way, continuing to dodge and block as she began to spin around with her weapon. Each stray shot directed at him, he specifically blocked with his blade, building up his Semblance. Blake frowned as she saw this but continued, trying to keep up the momentum.

Which didn’t last long as Adam suddenly sheathed his sword and ran to her, extending his gauntlets and while Blake managed to get her weapon back, she wasn’t fast enough to block a shotgun propelled elbow strike to the stomach. Her body barely hunched over before she was hit by a right hook to the temple, followed by Adam placing his leg behind her and left clotheslining her, sending her flipping in the air a couple times before she landed on her back.

Adam jumped back and brought up his hands in a guard as Blake took a second to get her breath back, a hand on her stomach and messaging her neck. She turned and saw how Adam’s fighting style changed, showing a mix of martial arts and boxing instead of swordsmanship. Nothing she had seen before back in Remnant.

Blake gripped her weapons tightly, more on guard than ever, seeing his style isn’t like Yang, meaning she has no idea what he is going to do. Her frown deepened as Adam took half a step forwards, before she was suddenly forced to block several fiery shotgun blasts. Adam suddenly began to run around her, circling her as he released a shot every now and again.

Blake returned fire with her weapon, using Ice Dust ammo, but Adam simply jumped or dodged each strike, while taking note of each chunk of ice appearing on the field. Slowly, a new plan came together, which caused him to smirk, something Blake did not like at all.

On another pass, Adam suddenly jumped, and, while reinforcing his leg with aura, did a strong axe-kick to the floor, shaking the ground and sending the chunks of ice nearby into the air. Without a moment’s pause, he spun and kicked the ice towards Blake like a soccer ball, before seeming to teleport to the next chunk and doing the same thing.

Blake was forced to slash through the two torso-sized chunks of ice, and was understandably caught off guard when Adam suddenly appeared next to her and began to strike her. Now, Blake was no slouch without her weapon, but she was unbalanced and unable to defend herself as Adam proceeded to launch several rapid blows to the body, before preforming a leg sweep, sending her into the air, then roundhouse kicking her into the wall, causing it to spiderweb crack and sending all but her cleaver away from her.

‘D-dammit. He’s way too strong, nearly as strong as Yang. How?’ Blake thought to herself as her aura began to repair the damages, but still spat out some blood as she felt some of her ribs creak from the healing. Blake managed a glance to the back of her sword, where her scroll was, and saw her aura was already below half while Adam’s was still above eighty percent.

Blake’s ear’s were basically pinned to her head and she glared at Adam, who’s expression appeared calm as his eyes were hidden behind his mask, taking several deep breaths to calm his heart. She managed to get to her feet, and held her cleaver with both hands, her amber eyes displaying so many emotions at once.

In the stands...

“Wow, he’s really going all out.” Weiss muttered, standing in the royal section alongside the rest of her team, Penny, Twilight and the two Captain of the Guards, Midnight Blossom and Iron Frost. The two ponies had overheard the fight going on and brought the five females to the best seats in the house to watch. At first, Yang was about to storm the field and fight Adam herself, but a combination of Ruby’s authoritative voice and Penny’s lightning making her hair stand on end made the blond bomber go with them .

“Indeed, Captain Taurus isn’t exactly known for going easy on anyone, himself included.” Midnight said, watching the fight with rapt attention.

“One of his arguable qualities since he had been known to overwork himself, especially now that he is out of his coma.” Iron added, taking note of Adam’s strong fighting styles.

“I knew Adam was powerful, but it seemed like he should have used up more of his aura already.” Twilight muttered, watching the aura gauge on her scroll, glancing back and forth with each attack.

Penny and Ruby were oddly silent, just watching the battle between former partners. They both knew this was a very important fight, even if Adam wasn’t the one Blake worked with in Remnant, they knew she felt like she needed to beat him to move on. And that line of thinking was dangerous in Penny’s mind, while being necessary in Rubys.

Yang meanwhile was silently seething at the fact she wasn’t allowed to do anything but watch, her red eyes giving everything away. She should be in the field alongside her partner and cr-friend, fighting with her. Instead she was all but stuck to her chair, watching as Blake was fighting and losing to her opponent.

Penny noticed Yang’s grip on her chair, the magically reinforced metal being the only thing keeping it from shattering as the air around Yang slowly began to heat up. She frowned as she knew her friends thoughts, and was worried she would try and something to end this herself. Penny was not a fool. She didn’t like it and knew how dangerous this was, but she trusted Ruby to know what was best for her teammates.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t worried about her boyfriend. Far from it, she was very scared.

She wasn’t worried about him losing the fight. No, she was worried about him going too far. While Adam knew his limits as well as his opponents, he seemed to have a bad habit of hurting himself for others. His last fight was fresh in her mind as she thought this.

“You should retreat Blake.” His voice brought her back to the fight, watching Adam stay on guard.

Below....

“What?” The woman responded, his sudden statement catching her off guard. While they were hidden behind his mask, Adam’s eyes were narrowed to her own.

“I said you should retreat. It’s obvious that you can’t beat me as you are right now. Not alone.” He said, his tone not giving anything away while Blake slowly got angry.

“Shut up. I’m not running away, I am going to beat you.” She stated this as though it was fact. Without a moments pause, Blake ran at Adam and began to attack with her cleaver, slowly pushing him back. Meanwhile Adam blocked or deflected each strike with the back of his gauntlets, allowing himself to back up.

“You can’t win alone Blake. Not at this level.” Adam stated, his lack of tone only making Blake angrier. The duo had been walking back a bit and Blake noticed the rest of her weapon on the ground nearby. She disengaged from Adam as he tried to strike her with a left cross. He managed to get a hand on her back of her jacket, but she used her Semblance to get away, leaving her clothing in his grip as she rolled and grabbed her weapon, pointing the pistol at him.

She began to fire at him, while Adam retracted his gauntlets and deflected each bullet with his sword, allowing his Semblance to charge up again. Adam suddenly launched his sword at her, allowing it to spin in the air as Blake blocked it, the spinning blade forcing her back before he jumped over her, grabbing the blade and trying to slash her back. Blake again used her Semblance, trying to get above him, but was met with a shotgun blast to the chest, sending her back.

Blake groaned as she slowly got back to her feet, spots dancing in her vision from that last hit before glaring at her opponent.

“I never said run away.” He said right before launching his sword again, Blake sending it into the air before he jumped and caught it.

“I said to retreat.” Blake crossed her blades as his tired to impale her, before he twisted himself midair and kicked her dead centre in the chest.

“To run away is to give up, to surrender the fight and act like a coward.” Blake got to her feet, barely, and was beset again, this time by more melee.

“I said you should retreat.” Blake barely lifted her blade to block as right hook to the face, but got a fast straight jab to the chest again.

“To retreat is to fall back.” Blake raised her arms to block a kick, losing grip on Gambol Shroud, her stamina waning.

“To fall back is to save one’s self, and learn from the fight.” Blake wasn’t able to block a sudden right right cross to the face, causing some blood to escape her nose and disorient her, allowing Adam several quick jabs to the torso.

“To learn from the fight, is to learn to fight again, and to not fall for the same trick twice.” Blake was sure she blacked out as she felt Adam’s aura covered fist impact her chin, before, with a loud bang, a blast of burning gem ammo sent her into the air. She fell on her back, hard, hearing more than feeling as her aura finally shattered.

Blake looked up from her spot on the ground as Adam looked down on her, a frown on his face. Blake barely managed a glare as he lift his mask, his silver eyes not showing anything to her.

“What’s it going to be Blake?”

“I-I w-won’t run away.” She managed, trying to force her body to move. Adam sighed, before his belt in his gauntlet spun. Without any warning, Adam cocked back, his fist glowing red with his focused Semblance and swung down. Blake closed her eyes and turned her head, bracing for impact.

A loud crash was followed by a dust cloud being kicked up from Adam’s attack. Everyone in the stands was shocked, did he just land a fatal blow?

RWY were all frozen, the latter two thinking he went through with it, the temperature rapidly beginning to grow, while Ruby didn’t know what to think. Twilight was shaking, thinking that Adam lost it.

Penny....Penny was just blank. Her face was cool, and without a single emotion. The former android remained silent, nothing given away, as she watched the cloud slowly dispersing.

Once it was clear enough to see the silhouettes of the fighters, what they were able to see what shocking.

Blake waited. And waited. And waited. All she could hear was an incessant ringing from all four of her ears. Her nose could only pick up the smell of dirt and dust. Her eyes were clenched shut, waiting for her mind to process the pain. When she didn’t, slowly she inched her eyes open.

What she saw, was a black and red gauntlet, covered in aura, halfway imbedded into the ground half an inch from her head, it’s red glow dying out rapidly.

She blinked once. Twice. Thrice. Then moved her head to look up. Adam’s face was inches from her own, his mask resting behind his horns. His mouth was in a thin line.

But his eyes. Blake blinked again.

They were....warm. Soft. Adam’s eyes seemed to glow with so much security, and safety. Blake was taken aback, not reacting as Adam pulled his arm free from the ground, and went to a knee next to her.

“I didn’t say to run away, Blake. I said to Retreat.” He repeated, before smirking to her. “To retreat, is to go over what you learned. To realize your limits, strengths and weaknesses. To learn your opponent. To live to fight another day.” He glanced to the box above them. She followed his gaze and locked her eyes with a pair of lilac.

Yang was silent as her eyes went back to their original colour, the tears at the edges disregarded by her, but not by Blake. The faunus own amber eyes was able to see through her act, to see the pain, worry, fear, anger, happiness. All the emotions the blond actively tried to hide away

She saw everything in those pools of lilac.

Everything.

“To retreat, is to come back to those who will fight beside you. Those that will only make you stronger.”

Blake turned her eyes away, watching as Adam stood up, a smile breaking across his face as he looked down to Blake.

“So, what’s it going to be?”

Blake was silent, staring at this enigma of a man. He was so...different than him. So much like how he was before, yet not at the same time. He looked just like him, sounded just like him, fought just like him.

Yet he didn’t act like him. He didn’t talk like him. He didn’t fight like him. He wasn’t....

She blinked, then smiled. Like a puzzle, it was finally put together, finally in place.

“Yeah, I’m done. Time to go home.”

Because he wasn’t him.

Later...
Adam POV

“Did you really have to go that far Adam?” I scratched the back of my head, wincing slightly at Ruby’s glare. Not sure how, but her glare could probably make Salem feel apologetic if she could.

Blake was in the medical bay with a split lip, some fractured ribs and a minor concussion. Admitting I may have gotten a little too into the fight, but I know Blake was way too stubborn about certain things, so I decided to beat it into her head.

Call me thickheaded if you want, it works on some of my friends back on earth. A good spar does wonders for ones thought process. Even if I did ‘go overboard’.

I just rubbed my head, trying to avoid eye contact with Ruby and Penny as we were hanging out outside the medical bay. Weiss and Yang were with Blake right now, but the room she was in was only good for two to three visitors at a time.

I knew Yang wanted to see her first, and Ruby decided Weiss would go ahead of her. What was off was that Yang didn’t even glare at me or anything. It wasn’t like she ignored me, she just walked by when Ruby told her to go in.

Hopefully that means we’re getting better, but she was probably more focused on checking on Blake than trying to intimidate me.

“Well, it’s good to see that you aren’t feeling too bad.” Penny’s voice brought me out of my thoughts as she checked me over herself.

“Hey, I told you I was fine babe. If anything that fight made me feel better since I could use Moonslice to boost my aura.” I said, stretching my arms as I felt the absorbed energy in me slowly being released. Penny just rolled her eyes with a grin, showing she was going to drop it for now.

I sighed in my head. One of the things about our relationship is that we both like proper communication with one another, so I know we will be talking it through in depth later tonight.

Just hope the girls don’t try and eavesdrop.

Before long the doors opened again and Yang and Weiss stepped out. I smiled to them, then immediately raised a brow as I saw Weiss smirking while Yang seemed to be running on autopilot. She didn’t even greet the others and glare at me, she just went through the doors. And....was she blushing?

We blinked a couple of times before all three of us turned to Weiss, who just continued to grin impishly. We all looked back and forth between the former heiress, the doors Yang left from, and the doors to Blake’s room down the hall.

I wanna say I know what happened, but at the same time I didn’t want to assume.

“So...what did you three talk about?” Penny finally asked. Weiss turned to her, before glancing at me oddly, before smirking again.

“You know. This and that.” Was all the Ice Queen said before walking out the doors. I glanced to Ruby, who just looked lost, and suddenly I got déjà vu from when my sister Maria first brought her first boyfriend home.

That train of thought instantly derailed as I put the pieces together. Then facepalmed, earning the girls attention.

“Goddamn Bumblebee.”

Penny and Ruby glanced at one another before turning to me, but I just waved them off, shaking my head. The duo glanced to one another again before shrugging, and the three of us made our way to Blake’s room. Penny knocked on the door, and I swear I heard and ‘eep’.

“Hey Blake, can we come in?” Ruby questioned. I heard a small ‘come in’ and nodded to Ruby, who opened the door.

Walking in, I saw the window open, letting some fresh air into the room, before glancing at the sole occupant. Who currently had a pillow over her face.

The three of us blinked. At least that explained why her voice was muffled. I lightly tapped the top of the pillow on her face, earning a small whine as she took the pillow off her face, but still clutched it to her chest. I blinked as I saw Blake again. Aside from the small bandage on her lip and around her head and chest, she looked fine.

If you didn’t count the fact she was as red as a ripe tomato.

She slowly glanced to us, not leaving her position, and while the girls were confused and a little concerned, I just glanced back to the door, before looking at her with as straight a face as I could possibly manage.

“So how was it?”

Aaaand now she’s hiding her face again, a muffled groan echoing in the room. The girls looked to me again, but I just shook my head, nodding to Blake. They looked to one another before looking back at Blake as she removed her feathery cover and sighed loudly.

“So, Blake, how are you feeling?” Her team leader questioned, sitting on the bedside.

“Sore, tired.” She stated, before glancing to me. “Hey Adam? Thanks for the spar.” She then grinned. “Even if you went a little overboard.”

“Oi, we went through nearly as much back on earth. And we didn’t even have aura to heal and defend ourselves, so you have no room to complain.” I retorted with no real heat in my words before I grinned. “Seriously though, it’s good to see you acting like yourself again Blake. The whole ‘overly paranoid and ready to attack at a moment’s notice’ thing didn’t really suit you.”

“Oh like you can talk. Don’t think I haven’t seen the extra cautious glances you have been sending to me and Yang.” She responded, grinning as well. The two of us managed to share a small laugh before Blake winced, holding her side. I had to turn away as Penny and Ruby checked on her.

Those girls of hers aren’t mine to see.

After a minute or two, Penny tapped my arm, signalling it was okay for me to look. Blake was laying below the covers again, smirking like a cat to me as I rolled my eyes to her. It was as I was rolling my eyes that something random popped into my head.

“Huh.” The girls turn to me. “I just realized something.” I turned to Blake with a rather serious expression. “You and I have the same birthday, and we’re both going to be 19 when it comes to pass.”

“Wait, seriously? Your birthday is January 13th?” Blake said incredulously. I nodded, the other guys knowledge proving surprising at this moment. Ruby and Penny looked to one another in surprise before I shook my head and smiled softly to the bed bound faunus.

“Well, get some rest Blake. As soon as you’re good to go, we’ll all head back to Ponyville.” I said, patting the feline on the leg, who just nodded before something lit up in her eyes.

“Hey, I have been meaning to ask this while I was in town.” She began, slightly tilting her head. “But would the spa ponies do haircuts as well?”

Later that night...

I glanced around my room, making sure I was alone. I walked over to the open windows, slamming it shut before locking the window and closing the blinds.

I made sure the door was locked tight, before sitting in the centre of the room and focusing on the spell I learned earlier in the week. A small glow emitted from my horns before quickly covering the room, especially the doors and windows before the faint red and silver aura died out.

With a small breath, I placed my scarf and jacket on the rack nearby, before grabbing my scroll and setting it to Holoscreen mode, the light appearing on the wall before me. Going through the files, I found what I wanted.

With another deep breath, I pressed the button, and prepared myself.

The screen faded in, showing a small wooded area as the snow breezed by, the wind sounding through the screen. Dead centre on the screen, ‘Rooster Teeth presents’ appeared. It faded away as the screen cut to another area, showing ‘Rooster Teeth original series’. As it faded in the background a train horn was audible.

The screen cut to a cliff side before music cut in, the screen lowing and showing a train go by. As the final car nearly went off screen, a large Manticore Grimm flew in with a roar.

The Grimm flew over the train, spinning to avoid several sniper rounds, before crashing and rolling atop the train.

“Yah!” With a small red blur the Grimm rapidly dissolved, revealing Ruby as she spun Cresent Rose behind her. “Got em, now who’s next?”

Chapter 30: Dragon Riders

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Penny POV

“So, he still hasn’t said anything?” I turned to Weiss as she asked this, shaking my head negative.

“I wonder what’s going on with him. Adam has never been this...out of it, since I have met him.” Pyrrha added, a frown on her face as well.

It had been about a week since Adam and Blake’s duel, and while he still acted like before, it was obvious to everyone that something was wrong. The day after his fight, he returned to training but there was clearly something bothering him. It was like he was running on autopilot, a far off look in his eyes.

He still fought hard, and trained to his limits and a little beyond that, but there was clearly something occupying his mind.

I tried to get him to tell me, but he just shut me out. He said he’ll talk when he sorts it out himself, but that just made me more worried.

For now, all of us decided to just give him some space, let him figure it out. It was clear whatever was bothering him was different than when he woke up. Weiss and Pyrrha suspect he learned something and it wasn’t good.

As I said, we’ve let him be for about a week now. It wasn’t like whatever it was was directly messing with his fighting and training, if anything it made him push himself more.

He was really surprised when we all returned to Ponyville, and he saw the new houses for teams RWBY and JNPR. Only the latter was furnished right now, with Ruby taking her things from her room to the new house while the others went out and bought their own things.

I have been spending quite a bit of time with Weiss after everything was said and done. I don’t know, but for some reason I felt a sense of comradery with the ‘new’ Weiss, like how I felt connected to Ruby when we first met. Plus I always like hanging out with Pyrrha after our arrival.

Granted I was admittedly a little desperate sounding with how I acted towards Ruby, but could one really blame me. I was an android and a sheltered girl going to a new kingdom for the first time.

I sighed as Weiss, Pyrrha and I made our way back to the houses, a couple of grocery bags held in our arms. We were planning on having a barbecue in the back later today, and Yang and Qrow asked us to get supplies.

“Hmm, maybe we should ask someone else who could help?” Weiss added, bouncing ideas around in her head.

“Yeah, but who?” Pyrrha questioned. “He doesn’t seem to wanna talk with anyone here, so Rainbow, and the girls are out. And I don’t think that Qrow will be getting him to talk.”

“Maybe professor Ozpin?”

“No, I don’t think so.” I muttered. “I noticed him sending these odd looks towards the professor whenever he is in control and not Oscar. Whatever happened, I don’t think the old wizard would be a good person to ask.”

“Well, what about a Displaced?” Weiss and I turned to Pyrrha, brows raised. “I mean, maybe he learned about something back on earth, so maybe he needs to talk to someone not from this dimension or Remnant?”

I slowly nodded, before frowning again.

“Okay, but who? I don’t think this is something he’ll tell his sisters, or his uncle. The last thing we need is for them to get upset as well.” I said with a frown. “Any idea’s Weiss?...Weiss?”

I looked over and just now noticed the former heiress was missing. Looking around, Pyrrha and I found her down the road, looking at something in her hand.

“Whatcha got there?” I questioned.

“I...don’t know? It looks like some kind of orange or amber gemstone, but it has this weird symbol on it.” Weiss said, showing us. And she was right. The symbol was rounded and spiky and kinda looked like a curled up dragon.

“Oh, is this a token maybe?” Pyrrha said, causing me to perk up.

“Hmm, maybe.” I took the gem from Weiss, sensing it with my magic. I could find trace amounts of Void Energy, confirming Pyrrha’s question. I smiled as this really helped out. “Well, maybe we can have Adam summon this Displaced. I noticed we haven’t had any interdimensional visitors lately, aside from you and the rest of your team Weiss.”

With a smile, I pocket the gem and the three of us continued on our way back home.

Adam POV

“You want me to what?” I questioned, looking at the trio before me as Penny offered an odd gem to me.

“Well, it’s been awhile since we have met any new Displaced lately, so we figured you could summon this one. What’s the harm?” My girlfriend said with a grin. I rose a brow, putting the last of the groceries in the fridge then grabbing the gem. Like many times before, a voice sounded within my mind, but considering the girls small jump, they must be hearing it too.

“My name is Elwood. I extend my invitation across the void, seeking out those who are listening. I am trying to revive the old order of the dragon riders for Queen Sunfire, so I ask you this question: Are you interested in getting your own dragon egg? If so, please summon me. I’ll be testing to see if you’re worthy of my trust if you allow me to look through your mind.’

I blinked a couple times, the creed flowing through my mind. The girls were in the same boat, blinking as the info was being processed.

“Wait, dragon riders?” Weiss finally broke the silence.

“That’s...huh.” I muttered looking at the gem with wide eyes. Admittedly, I didn’t really think I needed a dragon, I mean I could handle myself, but for some reason the thought of teams RWBY or JNPR having dragons with them was...oddly appealing. I laughed a little as I thought about if Nora got a dragon.

“Hmm, dragon riders, that sounds awesome!” Penny said with a smile, clearly thinking about how we would look atop dragons.

I frowned for half a second, many thoughts whirling through my head, then sighed and began to head to the door, the girls close behind as they saw I was leaving. I grabbed my swords and my scarf, but I left my gauntlets behind.

We walked in silence for a minute before arriving at the clearing not far from the houses I used for practicing my forms. Taking out the gem, I looked back to the girls, who actually looked excited and mentally sighed before holding the gem out.

“Um, Elwood I summon you to this world?” I muttered lamely, earning a snicker from Weiss and a giggle from Penny and Pyrrha. After I spoke, the dragon in the gem suddenly narrowed out into a slitted eye, quickly looking up at me and staring. A moment passed before I heard a voice echoing from within the gem.

“Sé iet gatharí ládrin.”

A swirling portal quickly opens as a tear in reality. At first, a head came through the portal, looking like that of a dragon’s head, although slightly looking like that of a pony. Eventually when its body was more out, I saw someone who I assume was Elwood riding on it’s back. Once the dragon was fully out, I couldn’t help but scratch my head in confusion. It looked alot like a dragon, but it had some pony-features to its body, mostly the ears, the mane, and some parts of it’s body.

I glanced at the girls next to me, their eyes wide as they looked at the large reptile. I noticed Weiss had a hand on the pommel of her sword and Penny’s hand was twitching, sparks of lightning arcing between her fingers. Pyrrha appeared calm, but I could see a cautious glint in her eyes. I cleared my throat and walked up, earning the newcomers attention.

“Um, Elwood, I presume?” I questioned, a hand on the back of my katana. The man nodded and slid off the dragon, his face impassive.

“I’m not here to make any enemies…” Elwood said as he glanced around noticing the caution yet minor hostility toward him. “Queen Sunburst wouldn’t like that.” Elwood said. Appearance wise, he didn’t look much wearing clothes that look like they were from another era, especially that sword with the orange blade and a gem to match. Come to think of it, his dragon is the same color.

I nodded and took my hand off my sword, motioning for the girls to stand down as well. Reluctantly, Weiss released her sword and crossed her arm, Penny smiled and stopped sparking, and Pyrrha visibly relaxed. I reached up and moved my mask behind my horns.

“Sorry about that, being warriors like us makes it so we are always on guard.” I said with a small grin before holding out my hand. “Names Adam Taurus. That’s my girlfriend Penny Polendina and our friend Weiss Schnee and Pyrrha Nikos.”

“As my token mentioned before, I'm Elwood, and this,” Elwood said as he gestured his hand toward his dragon. “Is Kaiserin. Also, she’s a telepath.” Elwood warned me. There was a moment of silence before I felt a strange feeling in my mind.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” A voice echoed in my head. Considering the girls jumped and began looking around, they heard it too. I turn to the dragon with a smile.

“Pleasures all our Kaiserin.” I said with a small bow, earning a nod in return as the girls bowed as well.

“Wow, this is the first time I’ve encountered someone with telepathy.” Weiss said in awe, looking at the larger dragon with almost childlike wonder. Though Penny and Pyrrha giggling broke her out of it and she turned away with a huff. I chuckled as well at that before turning to Elwood.

“So Elwood, your token said something about restoring some order of dragon riders?” I asked.

“Yea. To those I’ve tested with my mind so far, I’ve allowed them access to Sunfire’s chamber of eggs to get their own dragon,” Elwood said as he looked around at the group. “If they’re all here for one, this would be the largest group. Most Displaced I would just see one or two. Do you have any questions?” Elwood asked as Kaiserin got comfortable on the grass; her light blue furry tipped tail curling around her body.

Penny walked up with a smile. “So, your token said something about seeing who is worthy, can you do it for us?” She motioned to herself, Pyrrha and Weiss. I just shook my head to him, showing I didn’t actually want a dragon.

“Alright, just calm your mind. You may feel weird for a moment.” Elwood warned. The girls looked to one another, before looking to me, but I just shrugged. After a minute or so, Penny stepped up with a smile. Elwood nodded and gently placed a hand on her head, saying something under his breath that was too quiet for even me to hear. I saw as Penny’s eyes went blank and couldn’t help but wonder what she was seeing.

Penny’s Memories

Penny suddenly starts seeing images of her life move across her vision, almost like an old reel-to-reel, but more detailed as if she was reliving what she’s been through.

She watched as her father worked with an elderly woman’s artificial eyes, hiding behind the back door. She was supposed to be charging, but she was curious what her father did here day to day.

She nodded as Winter taught her how to maintain a sword. Hers were cleaned by some of the Generals men, but Winter felt it imperative she learn to take care of her own equipment, just in case.

She smiled as she brought Ruby into a hug, her first friend! She made a friend! She was so excited to go shopping, and talk, and spar and, oh the limits were endless!

She looked around carefully, managing to sneak into her father's Vale office was not easy. The guards nearby were very dedicated. She walked to the computer nearby, seperate from the CCT and used to perform diagnostics on her and her father's equipment.

Carefully, she took out a connector from the back of her head, and plugged into the computer. Her eyes went wide and she unconsciously hummed as she began to make a backup of herself into the system. She knew this was underhanded, but she didn’t want to leave. Even if it wasn’t really ‘her’, she would be happy to stay here and protect Beacon.

Her processors were sending errors. She couldn’t compute. She lost feeling in her legs and her arm. Falling to the ground, she felt something, something truly real, something her father warned her about. It was the last thing she felt, before nothing but blackness.

Fear.

She couldn’t see anything. Her sensors were offline. Wait...there was something. She could...hear voices? Slowly, something overtook her. Something...new.

Her eyes stung as they opened, something that shouldn’t be happening. She blinked, wiping her eyes, feeling that they were wet. That was odd, her eyes shouldn’t be wet. Blinking again, she looked back and forth, seeing one man, and several off creatures. Where was she?

She looked down, careful not to step on his feet. Dancing was harder than she thought. She looked up and smiled at Adam as he smiled down to her, laying her head on his chest. He was...so warm.

“Thank you Penny.” She heard, looking at him next to her as they laid on the grass. She smiled up to him. Despite how distracted he had been lately, he was still the man she loved. Laying on his chest, she allowed herself to drift off.

She liked being human.

****

Penny gasped, nearly falling to her knees. I managed to catch her as she took several breaths, eyes wide. I glanced to Elwood, who blinked a couple times as well.

“Something about those memories felt… ” Elwood said with a frown. “Almost artificial, no pun intended. Sorry about that.” Elwood said as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Um...” Elwood turned to Pyrrha, “Penny was originally an android before we were brought here, so that probably had something to do with it.”

“Yeah, we should have seen that coming.” Weiss muttered, helping me as Penny tried to shake off her headache.

Hearing the word Android got Elwood thinking; his face having concern and doubts about something. “Hopefully no issues should arise when she gets chosen by one of the whelps and when it comes to the bound that will form once it has hatched and touched.” Elwood explained as he looked at the others in case anyone else wanted to step forward. Behind Elwood, Kaiserin let out a soft hum.

After a moment, Weiss stepped up, sending a slightly worried look to Penny before steeling herself. She nodded to Elwood, who placed a hand on her head as well, her blue eyes becoming vacant.

****

Weiss smiled up to her mother as she brushed her hair, looking over to her baby brother as he played with his blocks. She knew Whitley would become a great boy when he grew up.

She shook her head to clear it off the ringing as she looked through the window, scared eyes looking at the burning car in front of the one she was in, holding onto her crying brother as she saw the men in Grimm masks shooting at her guards.

She wiped her eyes, tears falling down them as she clutched onto her sister. Winter frowned down to her, gently patting her head before grabbing her suitcases and heading to the bullhead. She watched as Mister Ironwood nodded to her before turning to the vehicle as well.

She clutched her ears as she could hear her parents screaming at one another, her father being far louder and his booming voice nearly shook the windows, followed by a loud smash. She cried herself to sleep in Kleins arms, hearing her mother crying down the hall.

She managed to keep herself from crying in pain, her eyes closed as the blood blinded her for a moment, before she steeled herself at the large Arma Gigas. She knew her father would try and stop her, but she wouldn’t allow him. She would stop him and bring honor back to her family.

This didn’t make sense. Why did the professor let that little kid be the leader? She wasn’t old enough, experienced enough to lead. She frowned and chose to ignore her as she left the classroom, barely making note of her ‘partners’ expression.

She managed to get her breath back, looking at everyone. All her friends around her as they stood together in the chaos, the Grimm running around. She saw all the machines nearby glow red before collapsing in heaps. She frowned and stood tall as everyone began to retreat to the airfield.

She glanced around the hallways. She and Klein made sure there was no one around that could stop her, but her little brother called him away. She looked back and forth, freezing as she heard her father and Ironwood arguing again. She jumped back as one of the was trying to leave, casting a Black Glyph on the door before leaving. She could hear as the door was broken down.

She looked around at the bandits hanging around, their cocky demeanor and attitudes irritating her way more than Yang or Jaune ever did. She glanced around again, making sure there was no one nearby and summoned her tiny knight. She would get out, and she would find her team. Her family.

She held onto Yang and Blake as they stayed warm together, the warehouse they found themselves in not proving to be very insulated. It was pretty old, so they didn’t really have much room to complain.

Weiss couldn’t help but to smirk as she saw Ruby on the ground, Neo standing above her with a grin as they finished their spar. She glanced at Yang as they were watching, a frown on her face, but it only stayed for a second before she looked to the side, avoiding Blake’s view.

This was the life. She may be in constant danger, but at least she was with her friends. With her team.

She was with her family.

****

Weiss blinked a couple times, shaking her head. I glanced at Elwood, who actually smiled, clearly he enjoyed some of Weiss’s memories. She managed to ignore her apparent headache and made her way over to us, blinking her eyes rapidly.

“That is...wow, that’s a rush.” The Ice Queen muttered.

“I feel your dragon will love you the most.” Elwood said with another smile.

I glanced at Weiss with a raised brow, but the ex-heiress just shrugged before tapping her chin and smiling, probably thinking about how it would be to have a dragon. I ignored her as she began to daydream and turned to the last of our group. Pyrrha looked a little unsure, unconsciously rubbing her scar on her chest, before she took a breath. I nodded to her with a smile, I think getting a dragon would help her out. She needs someone close to her aside from just friends, and I think having a magical dragon partner would be a good start.

Pyrrha nodded to Elwood, who nodded as well, and placed a hand on her head.

****

Pyrrha smiled up to her mother, the duo walking in the town's botanical garden. She loved the place, she always felt relaxed here. No pressure from teachers, no expectations from peers, just her, her mother, and the nature around her. She just wished she could come here more often.

With a determined glare she stared down her opponent. This was it, the final battle of her first ever tournament, and she was determined to win. She managed to sweep through the others before her, and now she was facing her next opponent, the current champion for the past two years. With a roar from her opponent, she launched herself forwards, spear clashing against mace, and began.

She smiled awkwardly as she signed another box of cereal. Why she allowed herself to be pressured into this deal she forgot, but she did anyways. She managed to smile a little brighter at the little boy's smile, but when he left and the next one came by, something began to fester. Something she never actually felt before now.

With a sigh, she placed her weapons away, looking down to her defeated opponent. Four years now, she managed to set a new record. The Invincible Girl they began to call her. She admit, she liked the attention at first, but then the solitude began to set in. Now, all she wanted was to be seen as her and nod as Pyrrha Nikos, four times champion.

She hugged her mother tight, tears in her eyes as this would be the last time she saw her face to face for a while. The last bullhead was set to depart behind her, her ticket to basically a new world. A place to start over, and be someone both the same, yet new. She could finally be herself. A quick kiss to her mother's cheek and she boarded the aircraft, waving goodbye to Argus. Until next time.

She raised a brow as she watched him leave the area. The girl in a red hood had run to who Pyrrha assumed was either a friend or sibling, and the blond boy didn’t even glance her way. Hmm, maybe he just didn’t see her? Everyone else had given her a wide berth, too scared to talk to her. Maybe...maybe he would?

She couldn’t believe it. He didn’t know. He didn’t know who she was! She was being treated like a background character, like some random girl in the locker room. From some reason it stung when he flirted with the heiress she was talking to, but that just meant more! She watched him, time seeming to freeze. She took in everything. Was...was he the one?

She placed her hands on her knees, trying to regain her breath. Incredible! She’s never met anyone with this much aura before! It was...almost drowning. But it was so warm, so safe. Jaune Arc. He truly was an interesting one.

She laughed to herself, helping her team leader back to his feet, getting her breath back. His growth had been explosive! He nearly overpowered her! She smiled as he began to go on about how thankful he was, a blush adorning her face as she turned away. There was no doubt anymore. He was...perfect. He was the one.

It burned. It hurt so much. She couldn’t breath, and could only watch as Cinder stepped forwards. Time slowed to a crawl as she saw her life. She saw her mother, her friends Reese and Arslan eating lunch with her, Nora and Ren ‘arguing’ about not being together, Ruby and her team eating lunch with them in the cafeteria. She felt Cinder place a hand on her head, and all she knew was burning pain.

Jaune…

She groaned as she managed to get her feet under her. She waved her scroll around, the light showing nothing but empty hallways. This place, where was it? She kept walking forwards, seeing some stairs in the distance, but was confused. Why was it blocked off?

She looked to the ground, idly rubbing her scar as her mind ran a mile a minute. Ruby was in her room with Neo and Penny, but she decided she needed to be alone. Her team, they all looked so different, yet the same. Ren and Nora only needed another push before they finally admitted to themselves at least. But….Jaune. She wiped away her tears. She needed to be strong. She would see him again. She would see them all. They would be a team again.

She would love him.

****

I ran over and caught Pyrrha before she could fall back, her breathing a little uneasy before she calmed down. I glanced to Elwood, who had a sad smile on his face. I managed to help Pyrrha upright again, and she shook her head a bit before sighing. She nodded to me in thanks.

“So far of the three of you, I don’t see any evil intention. I believe I can trust you with your own dragons.” Elwood explained.

I smiled at the girls, who looked excited at the prospect, before stepping back, allowing Elwood to do his thing.

“Sé iet gatharí ládrin.” Elwood spoke the same words as before that allowed him into this world, but instead of a portal, a magical door slowly materialized into existing. Reaching out, Elwood opened it, revealing a room on the other side. “Come with me so that your future dragons may sense your presence.” Elwood said as he walked through while Kaiserin stayed behind.

The girls all but ran in, while I glanced to the dragon, who just nodded to me, and followed behind them. The room was a bit bigger than I thought, and there were a ton of large eggs resting around the room.

Pyrrha, Weiss and Penny were looking around the room with awe, seeing all the eggs of such powerful creatures. I just stayed back near the entrance as the girls began to walk around, looking for their partners. Something told me I should just remain in the back and leave them be.

Weiss walked along the eastern edge, seeing all the bright eggs. There were so many and they all had different sizes and colours. She scratched her head, wondering how she was supposed to pick one.

She glanced around again, not feeling anything until, her eyes passed over a faint blue blur and she paused. Her heart began to beat rapidly, feeling like she was about to read a new book from her favourite author. She glanced back, and saw it. The egg was about the size of her head, with beautiful icy blue designs that almost looked like claws. The egg itself with a dark ocean or navy blue.

Slowly, she made her way over, looking at the other eggs, but ultimately being drawn back to this one. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster, like she was on one of those ridiculous roller coasters that Yang dragged her too back in Vale. Not even registering anything else around her, she reached out and brought the egg close. For some reason, she had a flash and through about her little brother when he was still a baby, the first time she ever held him.

Penny was glancing around the room from above, hovering with her magic to take in the room. All these eggs, so full of life just waiting for their partners. She could feel the magic in the room, it was so comforting. She smiled as she hovered around.

Looking around, she saw some of the shelves high up with eggs, and paused when she heard something. Looking around, she heard it again, it sounded like something rolling on wood.

Flying around, the sound got quieter, so she backtracked and the sound got louder. Unconsciously, she began to follow the sounds, hearing it louder or quieter as she flew about. After a minute, she found it, and for some reason it stole her breath.

On one of the perches, near the back, there was an egg only the size of a bowling ball, with white lightning patterns on the grey egg. She flew closer, and the egg shook faster as she got near. Everything else seemed to fall silent as she neared the egg, before she reached out and grabbed it. She cradled it to her chest, a small smile appearing on her face without her knowledge.

Pyrrha frowned slightly, looking around her section. All the eggs around here were rather small, and she could make out some empty spots. Clearly she wasn’t the first one here. The four times champion continued looking around, trying to find anything that could point her in the right direction.

She blinked as she heard something. She glanced around, hearing something. It sounded like something was...moving? She could hear the shifting of cloth and began to follow it. She was silent as she seemed to get closer to it, before pausing.

She was near a small pile, and the sound stopped, but as she looked around, before she paused. Looking near the bottom of the pile, behind the others, and she suddenly felt like she did when she first began her first fights.

The egg was mostly red, it was around the size of a softball, with white and blue markings. She couldn’t explain it, but to Pyrrha, the egg looked...cute?

She walked up, and crouched to the egg, her heart hammering in her chest, as the egg wiggled around on the ground, almost like it was trying to spin. Slowly, like she was in a trance, she reached forwards as the world around her fading away as the egg was all she could focus on. She held the egg with both hands, carefully, some knew instinct telling her to protect it.

I glanced around, seeing all the girls seemed to almost be in a trance, and I noticed the eggs seemed to glow, but that might have been just my eyes. I glanced to Elwood, who just nodded with a smile, one I returned as I watched the girls hold their new eggs like they were infants. Which they kinda were.

After a minute, I cleared my throat and the girls all snapped out of their respective trances. I smiled as they all made their way over, before we turned to Elwood.

“Alright, just a few notes for you to remember. Much like Kaiserin, your dragons will develop their own telepathy alongside psychic abilities once they’ve grown a year old. The dragons of my world are fast at growing, so Queen Sunburst has placed a spell on them to grow only as big as you want them too. You wouldn’t want your dragons to be like mountains. If your ponies are similar to the dragons, your dragons will be able to have the following: Control the weather, use magic, or have alot of strength to earth itself. You, too, will be able to do the same through the bond if you ask them to lead them their power. Speaking of bounds, once they’ve hatched and you touch them, you will feel an intense rush of burning heat or icy coldness for a split second. You may not handle it at first, so be sure to have something soft nearby if you were to pass out. Depending on what you use to touch your dragon, you will get a marking called the Gedwëy ignasia, or the shining palm as it's called in english. That marking will tell other riders who you are. The marking might glow if you use magic though.” Elwood explained as he tapped his chin in thought of anything he might have forgotten. “Oh yea, you and your dragon after a year, will start to feel each other’s emotions, thoughts, and physical pain, so be careful.” Elwood warned as Kaiserin let out an amused snort.

Kaiserin’s head poked through the door’s entrance.“Be sure not to get separated for long periods. We dragons can’t stand being without their rider.” Kaiserin explained to us.

The girls and I blinked a couple times, processing all of that. I glanced at the others, Penny and Weiss holding their eggs close to them while Pyrrha kept them in her hands. They were looking to one another, thinking.

“Um, is it safe for them to go through dimension before they hatch, or are we going to have to stay in our dimension?” Penny asked.

“Oh, no need to worry about that. They’ll hatch once they feel safe in their new environment in your world. But of course, you could ask them to wait, just don’t wait for years. They’ll go insane if they do.” Elwood warned as Kaiserin gave them a glare.

The girls nodded, while I smiled at them. I glanced to Elwood again as he finished glaring at his partner.

“Thanks for this Elwood. It’ll be nice to have some new members of our families.” I said, earning nods from the girls. I motioned to the doorway back and the girls began to head out, bowing to both dragon and rider before they left. I shook Elwoods hand with a smile.

“We’ll see you again soon. Who knows, if you need any help, you have three dragon riding huntresses and their teams watching your back.” I said with a grin.

“If there’s no further questions or anything you’d like to learn, all we gotta do is return your world, then I’ll need to reopen a portal back to my home.” Elwood explained as he walked through the door.

I arrived back in the yard we were at, seeing the girls smiling down to their eggs while I smiled at Elwood who nodded to me. With a smirk, I quickly took out my scroll and took a picture of the girls as they all sat down with their respective eggs in their laps.

Elwood snapped a finger “I just remembered something. Your dragon can share it’s energy with you, allowing you to cast more magic, or even stay awake longer or doing more intense activities without getting tired.” Elwood explained

“There’s a few things I must tell you as well, future riders.” Kaiserin began. “Do your best to protect your dragon and they will do the same for you. If one of the two die, one of you will be overcome with great grief, it's like losing a piece of yourself or a lover.” Kaiserin explained.

The girls nod, and I noticed Pyrrha having a very bright look in her eyes. I blinked, it was almost like there was a literal fire in her eyes.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” The redhead muttered, gently rubbing the top of the egg. “I’m not losing or leaving anyone else.”

“Same.” Penny said, hugging her egg protectively. Weiss just smiled, likely thinking about how she had her team to help her with this. I nodded to Elwood, who smirked back and turned to leave.

“Sé ono mor’ranr Ilian.” Elwood said as something unknown washed over us. Elwood didn’t explain anything except with a smile. Elwood walks on through the door, which at this point has changed to that of a wooden door that expanded to allow his dragon though. With the duo gone, the door to his world slowly faded with orange sparkles.

I smiled as the girls just kept hold of their eggs. I looked to the sky, and saw that a bit of time had already passed, so the others are probably waiting for us. I turned to the trio and was about to talk, when someone else showed up.

“There you guys are!” The four of us turned around as Screwball suddenly appeared behind me. “We were wondering where you guys were, you’ve been gone for nearly an hour. Everyone else is at your houses about to start cooking!”

The four of use blinked once. Twice. Then I laughed a little at the interruption. “Thanks for coming to get us Screwy, but we just got back.” She blinked.

“Let me guess, Displaced?” I nod with a smile. “Figures, I knew I could sense Void Energy in the area. So what did this Displaced want any-” she cut herself off as she finally noticed the girls new additions. There was silence, before she suddenly squealed and teleported to the girls. “Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh! Are those dragon eggs?!”

“Indeed they are Screwy.” Pyrrha managed to say, making sure her egg was secure on her arms. She actually unwrapped her sash and made a makeshift sling, something Weiss copied with her scarf while I gave my scarf to Penny for her to use.

“Eeeeeee! This is amazing!” She said hopping around with a spring in her steps. Literally, she had spring boots on her hooves. I just chuckled and placed a hand on her head, stopping the chaotic Earth Pony while looking to the amused girls.

“Well, we should probably get back.” I turned to Weiss. “I know the rest of your team are going to want to know they have a new member.”

Weiss just rolled her eyes and held her egg tight as we all made our way out of the field. We walked in silence, I knew the girls would be more focused on the eggs than cooking, so the I’ll probably have to pick up the slack. I smiled as I saw the girls talking to one another about things to do for the dragons when they hatched. I just rolled my eyes as the houses came into view. Like Screwball said, the element bearers, Spike, Screwball, RBY, Qrow and Oscar were all setting things up in the back.

Fluttershy was the first to notice us and waved us over, earning the others attention as we walked up.

“Hey, I was wondering where you all went.” Qrow greeted.

“Weiss, tell us when you’re heading out next time. I was starting to worry.” Ruby said with a cute frown. Weiss just rolled her eyes with a smile.

“Uh,” they all turned to Blake, “what’s that you girls have there?”

That got the others to look at the girl, their eyes widening at the eggs. There was silence, and then it was broken by the most unlikely of sources.

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy zoomed over to the girls with a huge smile, causing them to jump and hold the eggs protectively. “I have never seen eggs like these before. What are they, where did you get them?” The girls glanced to one another while I just shrugged.

“Um...they’re dragon eggs?” Pyrrha said, shocking the others while Fluttershy suddenly...paled? She zoomed back, standing behind Applejack, shivering. Huh, guess she has had some bad experiences with dragons other than Spike.

“Dragon eggs?!” Twilight squealed, taking out a notepad and teleporting to them. Though, she couldn’t do anything else as she suddenly had Myrtenaster, Milo, and Penny’s swords at her neck. She gulped and now noticed the protective looks the girls were giving her. She nervously laughed and slowly walked back to the others. The others were surprised by the girls reactions, but managed to shrug it off.

“Woah, where did you girls managed to find dragon eggs?” Ruby questioned, looking at Weiss egg.

“Displaced.” Was the Ice Queen’s response, gently rubbing the top of the egg.

“Seriously?” I heard Spike mutter.

“I know right?” I replied to the only dragon here.

“So, you girls have a couple dragon eggs now. When are they going to hatch?” Qrow questioned. The girls and I shrugged,

“We’re not sure. Elwood said they wold hatch when they felt safe, so it could be in ten minutes, or not for a week or longer.” Penny replied, carefully sitting down and holding her partner. I sat next to her and pat the egg, earning a smile from Penny.

“So, I take it you three aren’t going to help with cooking?” Oscar stated more than asked. In response, the girls just sat down with their eggs on their laps. I just rolled my eyes and went into the house, grabbing the food to start cooking.

The barbecue was a very fun time. Oscar, Spike, Qrow, the element bearers and I were the ones who made a majority of the food with RWBY not moving away from Weiss as she gave them a rundown on what had been going on for us earlier. I laughed a little as I saw Pyrrha cuddling with her small partner, while the girls began talking about renovating the houses for the partners.

I had to hold my laughter as Blake was going to town on her smoked salmon fillet on rice I made. The others except Yang and Penny were a little put off by the faunus enthusiasm, but didn’t complain. I smiled as I watched my friends being so relaxed. It was nice to just have a minute to do nothing and relax.

I managed to hide a frown as Ozpin began to question the girls about their dragons. I can’t get mad. I have to sort things out first. I reached into my jacket, taking out a small notepad, writing a quick note before putting it away before anyone could notice.

Cleanup was done quickly and efficiently, and the girls all made their way out, RWBY to their new house, Pyrrha to JNPR’s home, and the element bearers to their respective homes. Qrow decided to head out to the bar again, while Penny made her way to bed, tired and wanted to get some rest.

Oscar said he was going to check on a couple things before heading to his room, to which I nodded and retreated to my own room.

I locked my door, and frowned. I cast a quick silencing spell and opened my closet, taking out a hidden cork board that had several sheets of paper on it, a couple strings attaching sheets here and there. Taking out my note, I attached it near the bottom, a frown on my face. I glanced back and forth across the board, rereading my notes. What I learned, like Jinn’s powers. The stories truths. Ozma. More info on my silver eyes via the Grimm Reaper; Maria Calavera. Argus and Jaune’s family. Pyrrha’s mom. The original Adam’s demise. Summer’s appearance.

I glanced to the right side, reading my questions. Did the other relics have guardians? What would Choice, Destruction and Creation actually do? Why did the gods act like that, like...spoiled children abandoning their toys, yet were completely different when I met them? Were those two I met even the actually Gods of Light and Darkness? Were the Maiden powers actually from Ozma and Salem’s daughters, and not Old Man Oz separating his magic, like in the Story of the Four Maidens? I scowled as I looked towards the biggest questions on the board.

How can one defeat Salem?

Can Salem even be defeated? Or...can she be ‘saved’?

And what would happen to Oz, the Grimm, and Remnant as a whole afterwards?

‘Ozma. You and I are going to have a loooonng talk.’

Chapter 31: Light and Life

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“One more time Ruby.” I said, leaning against a tree as Ruby tried to get her breath back. I didn’t even turn as I calmly blast a Creeps head off with Blush as it tried to jump on her. It had been a couple weeks since that Dragon Rider Displaced came by and let some of the girls have dragon eggs, and while Weiss, Penny and Pyrrha have been taking care of the eggs, the others have been mostly training as well as finishing up some projects they started while I was comatose.

Ruby in particular wanted to train with me in how to use her eyes. I have so far managed to keep my own secrets, but I have also have been helping out my fellow Silver Eyes. No one appeared to suspect anything from me as of yet. I just....wasn’t ready to confront Ozpin, or I guess I should say Ozma, about his actions. I knew I needed more time to fully wrap my head around everything I learned after I woke up.

Ruby didn’t seem to pay much mind to my sudden advice in how to use her eyes. She trusted me completely, willing to spend the afternoon in the middle of the Everfree as Grimm after Grimm came by. I didn’t let any get too close to her, as Ruby meditated. I didn’t need telepathy to know she was repeating my words in her head.

“Our eyes are gifts from the God of Light, to counteract his brothers creation of the Grimm. It is our light that the Grimm fear, and our want to protect and save that opposes the Grimms desire to destroy and kill. To use our light, we must know what we are protecting, what we want to protect, Who we want to protect, and how far we are willing to go to achieve that. Only when you have that state of mind, that state of consciousness, can you use your own light.”

While Ruby did ask how I knew it was the God of Light that granted us our eyes, I managed to deflect the question by saying it was a simple correlation when you thought about it objectively. She agreed after a full minute of thinking about it. Since she agreed, I managed to play it off as coming up with the idea for her eyes to activate in the presence of Grimm, mostly by pointing out her previous encounters with Cinder. From there it was a simple task of coming into he forest and letting her practice while I covered her.

That was a little over three hours ago, and so far we have actually made a bit of progress. Ruby has managed create the mentality needed for her eyes, mostly by thinking about her mom apparently, and while I have been covering her, I allows one or two smaller Grimm get close. So far she’s managed to petrify a small Creep and disintegrate a crow-sized Nevermore.

Unfortunately it still left her a bit winded, and it was clearly using up both a portion of her aura, but also a chunk of her magic. While Ruby couldn’t access her magic in the same ways as Penny, Ozma, Raven or Cinder, the fact its gotten to the point she can consciously make her eyes glow shows she has magic energy pumping through her veins. And I know she isn’t the only one who will have that magic unlocked.

I sighed as I watched Ruby take a breath, her closed silver eyes having the smallest of silver ember emanating from the sides of her eyes to show her magic coming through. With a small switch on my view, I watched as her very soul began to pulse and writhe, not like a creature in pain, but almost like a baby in the womb.

Ruby, despite everything she has been through in the recent years, still has a small, and more honest soul. One that was splashed with heartbreak and battle, but not drowned. One that is still relatively weak, but is not stagnant. Even now, she continues to grow, and with her team by her side now, I know that growth will be exponential. And perhaps, the most simple things she reminds us of, would be victory enough.

I smiled in response to her own, knowing that her mind in showing all the happy moments she can think off. I heard a branch snap and bushes move as a Beowolf entered the clearing we were in. I placed a hand on Wilt, but didn’t draw it as the Grimm crouched and growled, eyes locked on Ruby’s still form. I narrowed my eyes and lowered my own stance just in case I am needed.

The beast growled again, before with a small roar it pounced. Time seemed to slow as I watched the black beast fly through the air towards my young friend, before her eyes snapped open, and flecks of silver embers appeared before her eyes turned pure white. I watched a bright light fill the clearing, and a second later, it was gone, and all that was left of the Grimm was a stone statue, that immediately fell and shatter into dust.

I smirked as Ruby blinked a couple times, before coughing and waving at the dust in her face. I laughed as I walked over and pat her shoulder.

“I think that’s enough training for now Rubes. Let’s head back.” She nodded with a smile and tried to stand, only to stumble and force me to support her. She sighed.

“I guess this is going to take a while before I can use my eyes without much trouble.” She looked to me as we made our way through the woods. “But still, progress is progress.”

I nodded in agreement as we made our way past Zecora’s hut. Once we arrive at the Poison Joke patch, Ruby could walk without my support, but I still kept an eye on her to make sure she didn’t call into the flowers. The last thing we need is to find out what happens to someone from Remnant when exposed to Poison Joke.

I nodded to the side as a certain crow flew past us back to town. I knew he was watching since we started, not that I minded. I am not sure if Ruby knew, but if she, did she didn’t mention it. Ruby and Qrow had been hanging out a bit more than before recently, but I knew the dusty old crow was still lost in the past. At the very least he isn’t as bad as Kakashi.

Once we past the treeline to town, Ruby and I separated. She went off to town to grab Yang and Blake for dinner while I head back to the house to get some rest. I knew Penny, Weiss and Pyrrha have been spending their days relaxing until their eggs hatch. Heh, RBY had been treating their last member like she was pregnant and on maternity leave or something.

Not that I can blame them. According to Blake, getting that egg seemed to have kick started Weiss’s maternal instincts. She was constantly hovering over her egg, but she was also double checking to make sure Ruby at all her food, helping Yang when they were doing laundry, and even helped cut Blake’s hair when she decided to get it done. Heh, I could only imaging how Winter would react to Weiss right now.

I’ll admit, Blake looks good with short hair, and I know Yang would agree. She cut it to barely above her shoulders in a, I think Lex described it as, hime-style. Now all she needed is a different outfit. Not that there is much wrong with the one she has now, (Ghira is right it only covers so much), but it just doesn’t look right with Blake’s hair now.

With a sigh, I tilted my head left, avoiding a small water balloon, before turning and catching the next one, looking to the one responsible. I smiled a bit as I saw the distinct yellow propeller cap and mismatched horns hiding on my roof.

“Alright Screwball, Discord. Come on out.” I stated calmly, before there was a quack, and both chaos being were infront of me.

“Awww! How did you know it was us?” Screwy pouted. I just laughed and pat her head.

“You’re one of the only one who would think a water balloon filled with orange juice would be sneaky enough to get me.” I stated before tossing said balloon into the air where it burst on Discord’s horn. I barely held in a laugh at the draconequus stunned expression, before the three of us lost it.

“Hahahahahahah!!” The three of us laughed and laughed, at least for a few minutes, before we managed to get our bearings. I invited the duo in, who nodded in thanks, and made my way to the living room. I smiled as I saw Penny laying on the couch reading, the back of her head to me, and her egg gently placed on her stomach. She had one hand on her novel, while to other was slowly rubbing the egg.

I smiled and quietly walked over, surprising my girlfriend as I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. She barely started before she smiled as I wrapped her up in a hug, gently patting the egg.

“Won’t be too much longer. I can tell.” Penny whispered, marking her spot on her book before sitting up, still holding her egg.

“I’ll get started on dinner. Want anything in particular?”

“Not really. I’m good.”

I nodded and left Penny to herself, making my way over to the fridge to look for what to make. I vaguely noted Screwball sitting on my shoulders, she was really light, and nodded as I grabbed some ingredients for chicken salad. I smiled as I heard Pyrrha walk in and begin talking to Penny and Discord. Since her team isn’t here yet, Pyrrha is still staying with us, not wanting to live alone in an empty house. Plus I knew those two were especially hanging out in anticipation for their eggs to hatch.

I went about the needed steps for dinner, handing the odd piece of lettuce or tomato to the chaotic earth pony on my shoulders. I could hear as Qrow and Oscar came back, the small group all hanging out and watching some videos from Pyrrha’s scroll on the holoscreen. I really have to thank Discord again for that thing. It has really been helpful for passing the time, just rewatching things from Earth like Glitchtale, Jacksepticeye and some of the Let’s Plays I saved on my own scroll. I remember Weiss and Blake’s faces when I first showed them a Rage Quit.

I smiled as I finished tossing the salad together, and separated it into their plates, before placing them on the table. A whistle later, and everyone was seated and eating their food. Though I did have to push Discord’s Sci-fi Novel salad out of the way before it fell in mine.

“So Penny, Pyrrha.” The two girls turned to me, one hand on their respective eggs. Did those two go anywhere without those things now? “Can you two meet me and Ruby at the stream by Fluttershy’s tomorrow afternoon. I want to go through some things with the three of you.”

“Sure Adam.” Penny agreed, munching on a tomato. Pyrrha just nodded, finishing her own piece of lettuce. I could see Qrow and Oscar giving me questioning looks, but I just shook my head, silently telling them, later.

Dinner was pretty silent after that, and before I knew it I was sitting on the couch with the others while they began watching the second season of Glitchtale from my scroll. I knew they were mostly interested after I explained how SOULs in the Undertale Universe works. I winced a bit when I heard them all gasp as Papyrus was shot with that SOUL blaster or whatever it was called.

I got up and made my way over to the fridge, grabbing a can of soda. I leaned on the counter, thinking about my plan again. I figure this would help out a lot, since they are really strong against the Grimm. With a mental nod, I finished my drink and rejoined the others on the couch, mentally preparing myself for tomorrow. For now though, I just held Penny as the show continued.

The Next Day....

“Thanks for coming guys.” I said, sitting on the edge of the river. I didn’t need to turn to know the girls were walking up. Enhanced hearing and smell for the win!

“So, what’s going on Adam? I was going to hang out with Yang and Qrow.” Ruby said, pouting a bit as she crossed her arms. I ginned and shook my head along with Penny and Pyrrha. I stood and took a second to stretch.

“Well, call it intuition or just a gut feeling, but I figured we could use a small power up for things to come. I dunno, but I just have a feeling things are going to escalate soon.” I said, turning to the trio. Penny and Ruby tilted their heads while Pyrrha just rose a brow.

“Really? So what do you have in mind? Some kind of, super secret training schedule?” Ruby questioned with an excited grin. I rolled my eyes and tapped her on the forehead, making her step back and rub her head, glaring at me.

“Sort of, but also, not really.” I replied cryptically. The three girls frowned but I just kept my grin and hooked my mask behind my horns before taking a breath. I raised my right hand, the tingle in my eyes and hand being the only needed alert as Silver Resonance appeared in my hand. The girls were surprised by this, but their eyes widened larger and as I tossed the keyblade and held the handle to them.

“Wait, seriously?”

“W-wha?”

“Adam, are you sure?”

I nodded with a serious look, my eyes still glowing as I chant, “In your hand, take this Key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder, you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend. No ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love.”

I could feel a small pulse through my weapon as I finished talking, looking to the trio of girls before me with an expression that all but demanded attention. The trio was silenced as I just stared. It was almost like the local animals and insects could tell the seriousness of the situation as even they went silent.

After a moments hesitation, Penny walked forwards, looking to me then to the offered weapon, before steeling herself. With a slightly trembling hand, she grasped the grip of my weapon. I felt a small pulse through the keyblade again, and judging by Penny’s surprised expression, she felt it too. After a second she let go and just looked at her palm, walking to the side next to me.

I rose a brow before a small gust of wind hit me. Unsurprisingly Ruby was now holding onto the hilt of the keyblade, a big smile plastered onto her face as I once again felt a pulse of magic. She let go after she felt the pulse herself, flexing her hand a couple times before tilting her head and walking over next to Penny.

I turned my attention to the last of our little group. Pyrrha looked rather unsure, a small frown on her face as she rubbed her scar on her chest. She had been doing this quite a bit, especially when she is lost in thought. She closed her eyes, clearly thinking hard, before she seemed to hear something, turning away. I rose a brow, seeing her frown more as she seemed to hear someone or something. After a minute of silence, I saw a steely determination fill he eyes as she stepped up and gripped the hilt of my Keyblade tight.

My eyes widened, as well as glowed brighter, as a larger pulse of magic flowed through the weapon, and into Pyrrha, who visibly grit her teeth as I noticed her own eyes beginning to glow. Penny and Ruby entered my peripherals, but I kept my gaze on Pyrrha as she took a breath and closed her eyes. I noticed her scar glowing through her shirt she was wearing, before she let go.

I dismissed my keyblade and tilted my head at Pyrrha, who still had her eyes closed.

“Pyrrha? Are you okay?” Ruby asked, worry on her face. Pyrrha put her hands on her face, taking a few deep breaths, visibly worrying us. Penny opened her mouth, but Pyrrha beat her to it by lowering her hands and opening her eyes.

I am pretty sure I blacked out for a second, my mind failing to compute and comprehend what images my eyes were sending it. Ruby and Penny gasping loudly finally kickstarted my brain as I leaned back in shock.

“What? Is there something on my face?” Pyrrha questioned, her left eye blazing with power. Literally, the outer edge of her eye had emerald green flames spewing from it, while small smouldering sparks were visible in her right eye. Yet she didn’t seem to notice.

Rather than answer her question, I took out my scroll, (closing Penny and Ruby’s mouths with a finger while doing so) and showed her herself through the camera.

Pyrrha immediately grabbed my scroll from my hands and looked through the camera, her eyes shaking as she began to breath quickly. She raised her hand to the side of her face, barely brushing her hand past her eyes, the flames passing through her fingers like water. It didn’t burn her, but rather felt...nice and warm like a bath or shower.

I saw that Pyrrha was beginning to hyperventilate, and quickly grabbed her shoulders and pulled her in. Pyrrha resisted for a couple seconds, before she seemed to get her head on straight, her breathing beginning to even out as I rubbed her back. I felt another couple arms wrap around me and Pyrrha, and the redhead visibly relaxed in the group hug.

The three of us stayed like that for a minute or two, before I slowly let go of her, Ruby and Penny following suit immediately. I looked slightly down to the girl with a small grin.

“Better?” She nodded, taking a deep breath. Penny placed a hand on her shoulder and grinned reassuringly. Pyrrha smiled thankfully in response. After another deep breath, and a couple blinks, her eyes went out and she looked just like how she was before.

“So, I guess your magic is finally unlocked huh?” Ruby stated, smiling wide at the amazon redhead.

“So it would seem.” Pyrrha muttered a reply, looking at her hand. After a second, she seemed to realize something and raised her arm out in front of her. With barely a flinch, she flicked her hand, a small pillar of orange flame appearing in her hand, just like Cinder does. I smiled, then tilted my head at something.

“Hmm, how odd.” The trio looked to me, but I kept my eyes on Pyrrha’s eyes. “Your left eye is aflame, meaning you have about one half of a maidens power, but that shouldn’t be possible since Cinder should have the full Fall Maidens power.” I paused, before looking closer at Pyrrha’s right eye. “And you have sparks appearing in your other eye, showing you have more than half, and I can sense its just growing.”

“But, how is that possible?” Pyrrha asked the million lien question. I rubbed my head, unsure myself, before Penny began to clap her hands.

“I think I know!” I turned to her. “The magic from Remnant was a gift from the gods, but despite that, we’ve seen it is inherently connected to the Maiden’s aura, like a Semblance. Like aura, it probably refills on its own through the Maiden’s aura, but slowly, and a Maiden has a defined limit.” She then began to spin and gesture around. “But the magic in Equestria is everywhere! It’s in the air, the water, the food! Pyrrha has probably been gaining more and more magic from just the environment to fill in what she was missing since Cinder has the rest of the Fall Maidens power! And with the Keyblade, she probably finally has enough magic for it to appear.”

I looked at my girlfriend with wide eyes, running what she just said through my head, before slowly nodding. “I think your right Penny.”

“But, wait a minute. I thought Ed said she was subconsciously locking her magic because she couldn’t fully accept her life here in Equestria?” Ruby added. I rose a brow and nodded, before turning to Pyrrha, who was just staring at the flames in her hand. She noticed our looks, but said nothing and frowned.

She seemed to know what she was doing, as she extinguished the flame in her hand, before holding it out, palm up. I was confused, for a second, before seeing her hand glow and closed her hand while she swiped at the air. There was a small flash of light and something formed in her hand, covered with orange and bronze flames for a second before it seemed to finish taking shape.

Mine and Ruby’s eyes widened as we got to see Pyrrha’s new weapon (Penny was still rubbing her eyes from the flash). The guard was exactly like they outer edges of her shield, just with two almost-hooks pointing inwards. The grip was wrapped in leather red as Pyrrha’s hair, along with the bottom-most part of the blade and what looked like the rifle barrel being a metallic red. It had bronze reinforcements near the guard set into two segments that looks like Milo in its rifle form. The key teeth looked like Akouo with three different sized tips of Milo, all bronze coloured. Finally her keychain was, unexpectedly, an orange leaf. Just like the ones that fell during Jaune and Pyrrha’s attempted heart-to-heart.

Pyrrha herself looked over her new weapon with wide eyes, clearly she was just going on instinct when she summoned it. She tested its weight, swinging it around as easily as her other weapons, before placing it on her shoulder. She smiled as she muttered, “Fallen Pride. I like it.”

I finally managed to pick my jaw off those ground, before smiling to Pyrrha, patting her shoulder.

“Nice Pyrrha. First try too!” I congratulated, snapping the other girls out of their shocked states. Ruby used her Semblance and began going over Pyrrha’s keyblade with stars in her eyes and a huge smile.

“Awesome!” Penny nodded to Ruby’s cheer, looking over the weapon as well. Pyrrha smiled wide before her mouth turned down into a thin line. She let go of her weapon, which vanished in a small burst of light.

“I...” we turned to her. “I know that there is the chance I can’t go home. That I can’t get back to Remnant, and definitely not back to Beacon or Argus. And...I’ve accepted that.” She then smiled. “I have a...unique responsibility right now. I can stay here and protect people, I can be a huntress here in Equestria. And...” she summoned another pillar of flame in hand. “I can make sure, no one else can misuse this power.”

“That’s a lot of things to shoulder Pyr.” Penny muttered, before smiling and wrapping her arm around her. “But that just means you’ll need all the help you can get to keep standing. Just know I’ll be there too.”

“That goes without saying for me as well.” I added, a smile on my face.

“Thank you Penny. You as well Adam.” Pyrrha replied, some tears going down her face. I just smiled reassuringly. We turned to Ruby, after hearing her grumble. She was waving her hand out, trying to flick it or something.

“Ruby it’s not going to be how you flick your hand that lets you summon a keyblade.” I stated with a grin. The girls seemed to ignore me as she kept trying. She even tried using her Semblance on her hand, but all she ended up doing is making some rose petals flying in the wind. I just rolled my eyes and smiled, turning to my girlfriend, who was tapping her chin in thought.

Penny took a second before choosing to sit on the edge of the river, clearly meditating. I stood back with Pyrrha as the other two tried their own methods of summoning their keyblades. I shook my head with a fond smile before turning to Pyrrha, and summoning both of my weapons. She knew what was up instantly and summoned her own new weapon.

I settled into my own keyblade stance, with my larger keyblade on my right shoulder while holding my shorter one closer to my body, spinning it in hand occasionally (think the Valor Form stance from KH2). Pyrrha took a moment to test to the weight of her weapon again, before seeming to come to an epiphany. She relaxed her stance, left leg forwards and raised her keyblade above and slightly behind her while holding her free hand forwards, her free hand clenching and unclenching as spark of embers smouldered in her hand (Riku’s stance from KH:DDD).

With an unseen signal, Pyrrha and I launched ourselves at each other. I smiled as Pyrrha seemed to grasp the concept of keyblade combat really fast, easily parrying and defending against my speedy strikes. Her stance appeared to be more defensive with her outstretched hand being used for spells like Fire and Blizzard. At least, that’s how it looks. She is rather sloppy right now, but I know she’ll grow into her own fighting style with her weapon soon enough.

I am not sure how long Pyrrha and I spent sparing with one another, each taking turns for offence and defence, but we were eventually interrupted by a very triumphant cheer from a certain Rose. Pyrrha and I unlocked our blades from one another, and turned to the younger huntress, who was now jumping around while enthusiastically waving a keyblade above her head.

As I half-expected, it looked like Cresent Rose, but in a keyblade form. The guard looked like two of the large blade of her scythe with a spear like tip, the handle being long and black metal. The blade was slightly curved, yet straight red and black metal. The teeth was of three blades attached to what looked like the scythes retracted form, with the back of it being curved into two more blades. The keychain was, expectedly, her rose symbols with the chain itself being segmented red, black and clear glass, making it look like there is only air connecting the keychain to the bottom of the guard.

(sorry, not the best with descriptions)

I rolled my eyes with a smile as Ruby was gushing over her new weapon, unconsciously using her Semblance to zoom around in her excited pacing. If she wasn’t so distracted by the weapon, and us waiting on Penny, she probably would have zoomed off to find her team and show them. I walked over and placed my hand on her head, stopping her in her tracks.

Ruby flushed immediately upon realizing what she was doing and rubbed her head, before spinning her keyblade in her hand, a huge smile on her face. I can only imagine that this is what she looked like when she finally finished making Crescent Rose.

“So, what’s her name?” I questioned, a grin on my face as Ruby tilted her head for a second before looking at her weapon and holding it in a reverse grip.

“Vermilion Thorn. I heard HIS name when he appeared.” I rose a brow, surprised that Ruby gave her second weapon a male pronoun. Oh well, they can’t all be counted as girls. With a small nod, I turned and stood off to the side, confusing Ruby, but I just pointed to Pyrrha, who had been silent with a smile on her face the whole time. With widening eyes and a slow, understanding nod, Ruby began to twirl her keyblade again while Pyrrha went back into her stance.

After a couple twirls, Ruby nodded and widened her stance, lightly bouncing on her feet as she twirled her keyblade. (Ventus stance from KH:BBS). As expected, Ruby’s style was all about speed, using rushed combos and evasion. She didn’t have a kickback to use like with Crescent Rose, so she utilized a mix of her Semblance and literal flexibility from her training with Neo. While Pyrrha began to sharpen her own stance and style as she continued to spar, Ruby seemed to have her style down near right off the bat.

I really need to check what Neo was teaching Ruby, my eye wide as she preformed a near perfect ninety degree back bend to avoid Pyrrha’s swipe before she did a handstand to launch herself into the air and attack again while in the air. I mentally winced as Pyrrha took some strikes to the shoulders before she could block, then missed as Ruby zoomed behind her.

I left the two redheads (or red-tripped-ravenette and redhead), and took a seat next to my girlfriend, who was just calmly breathing, her hand on her knees, palms up. I knew she had been spending some time with Twilight and Blake, the former teaching her some meditation techniques for focusing her magic, and then the latter when they decided to make a book club together.

I wonder what books they are reading? I know about Blake’s....tastes in literature, but I don’t actually know about Twilight’s. Hopefully they don’t end up turning Penny into a closet pervert or something.

I was broken out of my thoughts as I saw a now familiar flash of light. Penny just smiled softly as she held her new weapon on her lap. It’s guard was a metallic grey with gold enforcements on two sides, surrounding a black and green handle. The blade itself looked like two of her swords stacked and attached to one another connected to the guard with a ‘power button’ shaped blade connector. The teeth were three single sided blades like her swords were cut in half vertically. Her keychain was connected via mint green wire, and was her sword symbol that she had on pretty much all of her clothes.

“You know, somehow I knew the calm meditative route was going to work for you.” I muttered as Penny stood and began to test the weight and balance of her new weapon, then proceeded to dispel and summon it back a couple times.

“Indeed. This just feels...right, in my hands. I am unsure of it just being my keyblade, or something else.” Penny muttered, before turning to watch our friends continue their spar before turning to me. “Well, shall we get going?”

I just grinned and pulled out both of my weapons again as Penny crouched slightly and held her weapon with both hand (Sora’s stance.), before surprising me by channelling electricity through it. I just grinned at her, getting an, admittedly adorable, grin back. With barely a second to pause, Penny and I began our own spar.

It was going to be a long afternoon.

Later that evening....

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.” I rolled my eyes as I adjusted the tired Ruby on my back. She went a little too far in her training and ended up making her entire body so sore she couldn’t walk back, so I was forced to carry her. Pyrrha and Penny had also gone to their limits, and were leaning against each other and stumbling down the street behind me like a pair of drunks as we all made our way back home.

“Well that’s what you get for going overboard with your semblance Rubes.” I stated to the young huntress, who just pouted at me and weakly tried to hit my head, but with how tired she was, it was like getting hit by a pillow.

I’ll admit I was sore too, but since I had at least a little more experience with Keyblade spars I wasn’t in that much pain or anything. Just a little tired. At least compared to these three. I was mostly just twitchy from having Penny’s lightning hitting me.

Side note, my muscles have never been more relaxed afterwards.

I allowed myself to grin as we got closer to RWBYs house. I stepped a little faster before I was in front of the door, knocking a couple times. A minute later, a certain ex-heiress opened up, dragon egg in hand and her hair was down. She blinked a couple times before sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose.

“She overdid it again.” It was more a statement then a question, but I nodded nonetheless as she moved to the side to let me in. I gently placed the tired Rose on the couch while Weiss disappeared to the kitchen before coming back with an ice pack. Ruby just grinned a bit as she rest the ice on her legs.

“Well, I think she should be fine in an hour or so. Just in time for dinner.” Weiss said before heading into the kitchen. Curious, I followed her and was surprised to see her chopping some vegetables to put into a large pot next to her.

“Since when do you cook?” I questioned the huntress, who just scoffed at me, not looking up from her cooking.

“Just because my family has many butlers and maids for things like cooking, doesn’t mean I can’t handle myself.” She gave me a side glance as I handed her some carrots. “Especially given recent events.”

I just nodded with her, knowing she would have to be able to take care of herself prior to running into Raven back in Mistral.

“And besides,” Weiss continued on. “If I left it to the others, we would be having tuna covered in chilli peppers baked into a cookie.” I barely stopped myself from laughing at the mental image. “Besides, I kinda like cooking. I am not really sure why.”

“Maybe because it is something you can have total control over?” I teased, earning a blushing pout from the white-haired girl. “Or it could just be your maternal instincts kicking in.”

“Hmm, probably the latter.” Weiss muttered quietly, letting herself gaze to the left, where I just noticed her egg was sitting on the counter, surrounded in a fluffy blanket to keep it from rolling. “I am excited for her to hatch.”

“How do you know its a girl?”

“Women’s intuition.” I just rolled my eyes, but left it alone as I left Weiss to her devices. I took a quick peek into the living room, and saw Penny and Ruby now playing that fighters game on their scrolls and the holoscreen. Again, gotta thank Discord and Screwball for those housewarming gifts.

I just smiled and let myself relax and lean on the wall, watching my girlfriend actually put up a good fight against the experienced Rose. That was odd, I noticed that Penny is actually really good at video games. She actually beat me in a couple rounds of Street Fighter than I had on my own scroll.

I was lost in thought, wondering about Penny’s uncanny gaming prowess, when I heard a very loud gasp. I wasn’t the only one, as the girls all perked up from what they were doing, and looked behind me.

Into the kitchen?

Weiss Schnee
A Few Moments Earlier....

I sighed to myself, shaking my head as I finished chopping all the food into the pot before grabbing the rice cooker Mr and Mrs.Cake bought for us while she was in Manehatten. I really need to remember to thank those two, they have been such an incredible help when Yang, Blake and I first arrived here.

I quickly added some spices for Yang that I knew the others could also eat, before finishing the rice in the cooker. Now all was needed was to stir the curry and keep an eye on it. It should be done by the time Blake and Yang get back.

I allowed myself to glance into the living room and watched my leader playing games with her friend as Pyrrha was reading a book and Adam was just leaning against the wall, watching the former two as they played.

I smiled as I saw this. Before everything went to hell, back at the start of Beacon, I would have scolded Ruby for wasting her time playing games and not training.

Gods I was such a bitch.

With a silent sigh, I went back to the kitchen, and smiled as I saw my egg sitting on the counter. It should have been impossible for me to become so attached to someone that wasn’t blood, but if Ruby was any indication, I guess I have been relaxing more. And technically, the little life resting in the shell would be a part of my family.

She would be my friend, my partner, my little hatchling. Gotta thank Twilight for clearing up the term for a baby dragon.

I kept my smile as I walked over and rubbed the egg. My egg.

“Don’t worry.” I whispered. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Or anyone else I care about. Not anymore.” I laid a gentle kiss on the top of it, rubbing the smooth surface a little more. I wonder what Winter would say if she saw me like this. Probably scold me for letting my hair get messy and for getting some stains on my shirt behind the apron.

I giggled to myself as I thought of my sister, especially how she would play with me and Whitley. I blinked a couple times. I can’t remember the last time I laughed at such a simple memory before. I guess Mrs. Cake was right about the ‘high of maternity’. I can only imagine how Penny and Pyrrha are feeling when they have their eggs with them.

I let my hand slide off my egg as I turned to the pot, stirring it up a bit as it began to bubble. I was only at it for a few seconds, when something interrupted me.

CRACK

I blinked a couple times, wondering what that noise was, before I heard it again. Slowly, I put the spoon I was using next to the pot, and turned towards the sound.

I couldn’t help the very loud gasp the escaped me.

“Weiss? Is everything-?” Ruby didn’t finish as the others entered the kitchen area and followed my shocked gaze. I could see their eyes widening in my peripherals, but kept my eyes on the object in question.

My egg...there’s a huge crack in it!

I immediately ran over and just hovered over my egg since I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t need to look to know that Ruby’s as gazing over my shoulder with her wide doe eyes.

“Is...is it...” Ruby just kept stuttering as the egg gained more cracks, and I swear I could see something moving.

“It’s hatching!” I heard Penny finally yell, before I heard the front door slam open. I still didn’t move from my spot, when I felt an uncomfortably large chest pushing against my back.

“No way! Your egg is hatching Weiss-cream!” I just ignore Yang as she tried to get a better look over my shoulder, and noticed Blake just standing to the side to get a look as well. All of us just stood there as more and more cracks broke across the egg and it began to shake. I felt a smile slowly appear on my face as the shell began to fall apart and the membrane beneath stretched and finally broke.

“Awwwww.” I agreed with my leader. She’s adorable!

My little hatchling finally stumbled out of the egg, and onto the blanket covered counter. Her scales were a deep navy blue, with the skin of her underbelly being a deep grey. On her back were a pair of fresh wings that also had grey webbing, and she had a little bit of a white mane and tail.

The little one finally shook her head and opened her eyes, instantly locking onto mine.

“Woah, their the same shade.” I heard Blake, but ignored her as I stared into my partners bright blue eyes. I tilted my head, and she followed suit. I did it the other way, and she copied me. Slowly, I reached out with my right hand, and just kept it in the air. My dragon slowly edged forwards, sniffing my hand, before gently nuzzling into it.

Pain.

I yelled as I felt a searing and freezing pain my palm, the other all jumped back as I stumbled to my knees. I grabbed my wrist and clenched my fist as the pain flowed through my body from my hand. My Aura wasn’t helping at all! After about a minute it died down and I was left breathing heavily on the ground.

I heard a small whimper before me, and turned my gaze up. Somehow my dragon had gotten down from the counter and was now sitting infront of me, her ears were pulled back and I could tell she was frowning.

I couldn’t have that, now could I?

With barely a moments pause I reached out and took hold of my new friend. She tensed, then relaxed against me as I held her softly. She was so, warm. Warmer than Zwei and much smoother.

Click

I turned with a raised brow as I saw everyone was now holding their scrolls and were taking pictures. I just smiled and rolled my eyes before grabbing the blanket from the counter and gently wrapping my little hatchling up. She just nuzzled into my chest as I wrapped her up, and before long a tiny snore was flowing through the room.

“Well, looks like you should go relax Weiss.” Yang said with a grin, walking to the pot that was starting to boil over.

“Indeed.” I turned to Ruby who has the dumb serious look on her face. “Weiss as your team leader, I order you to relax on the couch with your dragon!”

I just covered her mouth as she raised her voice at the last part while motioning to the sleeping bundle in my arms. She just blushed sheepishly but silently mouthed that she was still ordering me. I just rolled my eyes and made my way to the living room, taking a seat on the recliner Big Mac gave us.

I laid back on the chair and adjusted the little one on me as I heard the others silently working in the kitchen. With a smile, I gently rubbed her next, earning a happy coo from her. After a moment, something popped into my head, and after a moment, I knew what it was.

“Welcome to the family, Boreas.”

Chapter 32: Fairy Tail Magic #2

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Lex POV

A loud yawn escaped me as I made my way through the empty halls of the guild, the night sky outside showing just how late it is. I knew I shouldn't have had so much to drink the night before, so now I was behind on paperwork, particularly for property damage a couple of Element Bearers caused.

I sighed as I finally arrived in my room, seeing a certain someone fast asleep in her little bed. I was honestly a little worried at first when I had to by another bed for Yoru, but considering how big she’s getting, it couldn’t be helped. I really wish I knew why her having Alicorn DNA alongside my magic energy is causing her to grow so fast.

Magic and science don’t really agree with one another on things like this.

I shook my head and smiled to myself, gently tucking Yoru back in as she was sprawled out, watching her clutch her Eevee doll with a smile on her face. I felt myself relax as I made my way over to the washroom, giving myself a quick rinse before changing into my nightgown.

As I was making my way to my bed, I saw a light appear at the bedside, my phone vibrating with an alert. Grabbing the cellular device, I smirked as I saw the reminder I set for myself, adding a few things into the list I had. Once I was done, I went to bed, using my magic to appear in my mental warehouse to practice some more abilities for the guild.

‘Good thing I have been keeping an eye on the newcomers, their magic is ready to learn. I also need to talk to Cheerilee about enrolling the kids.’

The Next Morning....

With a grin, I entered my office, keeping my other daughters occupied as I grabbed my Gummy Phone, looking through the contacts before finding who I was looking for. A quick click, and the screen showed four different images, one of a white wolf on a red eclipses, another of a pokeball held in a transparent hand, an alchemist symbol surrounded by an ouroboros symbol and the last of a familiar keychain, the former being at the forefront.

After a few rings, I could see the screen light up with my brother's face without his mask. He blinked a couple times, and I noticed he had a piece of toast in his mouth.

“Oh, hey Lex.” He muttered around his food, swallowing quickly as he saw my glare. “Sorry, you caught me just as I finished making breakfast.”

“Clearly.” I responded with a grin as Adam put his food down.

“So what’s up sis? Not that I am complaining, but I don’t normally get a call from you this early in the morning.” Adam questioned, sipping some coffee. I noticed Penny behind him as she took a seat next to him at their table.

“Well today is the Fairy Tail promotion and placement exam, and I was wondering if you and anyone else from your world wanted to come, be it to join the guild as an honorary member, or if just to party.” I explained, smiling as Adam’s eyes widened and he smiled.

“Alright! Hold on a sec, let me call Ruby and Pyrrha.” Adam said as I saw him going through a couple things on his scroll, before my perspective changed so I was looking down slightly through the screen?

“Holoscreen mode, comes in handy for talking face to face.” I heard Penny explain as I could see her, as well as Oscar and Qrow in the shot now. After a moment, I heard a couple of beeps and two more screens popped up.

The first was Pyrrha, who looked to be doing her hair in her room, while the other showed Ruby and, to my surprise, the rest of her team eating breakfast.

“Adam? What’s up?” Ruby questioned, munching on some strawberries.

“Yes, is everything ok Adam?” Pyrrha added before she seemed to notice me. “Oh, Lex! Good to see you again.”

“Hey Pyrrha, Ruby, good to see you two again too. Hi, Qrow, Oscar, Penny!” I greeted, getting some equal greetings in return. “So, like I just told Adam here, today is a placement and promotion exam for my guild, and I was wondering if any of you wanted to come for the party afterwards.”

“Really?! Yes!” Ruby cheered.

“That would be lovely Lex.” Pyrrha agreed.

“Wait, slow down a second here!” I turned to Ruby’s screen as that Weiss girl walked up. I blinked a couple times to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me as I saw a small dragon resting in her arms. “Who the heck are you!?” I noticed Blake and Yang, I think those are their names, looking over Weiss’ shoulder.

“Sorry, my name is Lex, I am the dummy Faunus surrogate sister.” I ignored the annoyed ‘Hey!’ As I introduced myself.

“Oh, you’re one of the other Displaced that Ruby talked about.” Yang added. I nodded, and then I noticed Yang tilting her head. “Nice hair.”

“Thank you.” Was all I replied, lightly brushing my hair. I just realized how similar our hair styles are, only mine is a little spikier. “So, anyone else aside from Ruby and Pyrrha wanna come?”

“Do you guys have any Strawberry Sunrise?” I nodded. “Then I’m in.”

“Well, I suppose it could be fun.” Weiss aquiested quickly, and I could see a smirk on her face. Blake just shrugged and nodded.

“Thanks for the invite Lex, but I have some lessons to teach at the schoolhouse later today.” Oscar politely declined.

“I have some more recruits to whip into shape, so I’m out too.” Qrow stated, sipping some coffee before turning back to the screen. “Try not to have too much to drink Yang, and Ruby, keep a lid on your excitement.”

“Like you’re one to talk Qrow.” Yang fired back. I grinned at their quick back and forth before snapping my fingers to get their attention.

“Alright, I’ll call you guys back in a couple hours, be prepared to go through a Stargate.” I told them, earning nods from everyone before I hung up on them with a quick wave.

With a sigh, I worked out a kink in my neck before swiping the screen and selecting the pokeball symbol. A few rings later, and my sister's voice was coming through the speakers.

“Hello? Lex?”

“Hey Nat, morning.” I greeted with a smile, hearing my sister's drowsy voice.

“Hey, what’s up?” Nat questioned, and I could hear her Twilight groaning next to her.

“Not much. Just wanted to ask if you, Twilight and Sora wanted to come by today for the guilds placement and promotion exam and party.” I stated, and I could imagine my sister's eyes widening as I heard her sit up. At least I hope that is what is making the bed squeak.

“What, seriously!? Hell Yeah!”

“Babe, can you keep it down?”

I smiled as I heard Nat quickly apologize to her marefriend. I could hear her getting out of their room before hearing her knocking on another door.

“Nat, what’s up?” I smiled as I heard that other voice. It sounded older, but I knew who it was.

“Hey Sora! Good morning!” I called through the phone.

“Oh, morning Lex!” I hear my littlest sister respond. “So what’s up?”

“Well I wanted to know if you, Nat and Twilight wanted to come by for the guilds promotion and placement exam and the party afterwards.” I repeated.

“Alright! I’m in. I’m sure Nat can convince Twilight to come by too.” Sora responded.

“Sweet, I’ll call you two later when it's time to come by.” I smiled as the two agreed before I gave a quick farewell and hung up.

A couple of swipes later, I selected the image of a keychain, hearing the phone ring a couple of times before I heard the receiver pick up.

“Hello? Lex?” I heard Kairi answer.

“Hey Kairi, been a while. How have you, Luna and Haley been?” I asked.

“Good, good, actually, you called at a pretty good time,” Kairi replied. “Not much of anything going on, which, while pretty good, is highly suspicious. What’s up?”

“Well later today is the promotion and Placement exam for the guild, and I was wondering if you, Haley and Luna wanted to come by and stay for the party afterwards. My siblings are already coming, so this could be a good chance to introduce you to Adam.”

“Oooh! That sounds great!” came the eager reply. “Will I be participating in the exam?”

“That’s the plan. I know Ed knows where the locations for the totems are, so I plan on omitting him, but you and the others are free to join in since you're honorary members. Afterwards we will just be showing off our magic to see where you land, then I’ll be explaining what magic some of the newcomers will be learning while the rest of you relax at the guild.” I explained.

“Sounds like a plan to me!” the Keyblade Wielder cheerfully replied, before continuing in a more serious turn. “On a more serious note, I have two jobs I want to register with your guild. One of them S-Class.”

“What happened?” I questioned with a stern voice. If this was S-Class, then it was beyond serious.

“Well, you remember how during your last visit, we all inspired my Trixie to go in a new direction?” Kairi questioned.

“I take it she has something dangerous in mind?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” the girl quickly dismissed. “No, she started a theater company, and after the first show, the creator of my world, Faust herself had a little talk with me about an IMMENSELY serious threat, not just to my world, but ALL worlds.”

“Talk. Now.”

“His name is Tash. He is the literal embodiment of death and destruction, and he’s been masquerading as The Master of Masters,” Kairi quickly explains. “He’s the one who first convinced Luna that extracting her heart was a good idea. There is a trail of dead worlds in his path, and he has his sights set on mine currently, but I have it on VERY good authority that he’ll go after yours right after.”

“Well….shit.” I replied with a frown. “I can ask Ed or Loki for a hand if need be, but there is only so much I can do.” I sighed as I sat in my seat. “As sad as it is, I think I am starting to stagnate with my strength. I’ll help out however I can, but there is only so much I can do.”

“What I really need are mages, and Keyblade wielders who can stand with me and the Elements when he comes.” Kairi sighed. “As it stands, I’m the only person who can actually fight here, and with the amount of time we have before Tash gets here, its simply not enough time to train the Elements.”

“Alright. We’re in. I’ll tell the others tomorrow, and we’ll select who will fight. Obviously Dawn and Trixie are in, but can’t allow Sonbā to join.” I sighed. “In case things go south, I won’t let my girls grow without their father.”

“I have a failsafe ready, in case things go south to evacuate everyone other than the user from the battlefield,” the voice of Melissa chimes in. “If you’re familiar with Final Fantasy XIV, its Louisoux’s spell that sent all the fighters during the Seventh Umbral Calamity off the battlefield as he fought Bahamut.”

“Sweet.” I stated. “But I am still not letting my boyfriend participate in the fight. I’ll need him here to take care of the guild.” I sighed again, not liking how serious this got, before perking back up. “But all this is Future Lex’s problem. For now, how about we set things up for you guys? Are you coming too Melissa?”

“Of course, it’ll be fun!” Melissa chuckled. “Plus, I need to run a diagnostic on the three Figure 17 units I sent with you. There’s a minor glitch that makes them repeat the last thing they said for about 5 minutes. Figured you wouldn’t want that left in the program.”

“Oh yeah, I honestly was wondering if that was just a quirk you added for the lols.” I replied with a laugh, earning some back from both girls in the call. “Anyways, I’ll call back in a bit for when you can come over. There are a couple things I have to finish before then. See you girls later.”

“Later!” both girls replied.

I smiled as I hung up on Kairi, sighing as I checked the clock to see I had been at it for a while, but I still had one more person to call. Swiping around, I found the number to call, and quickly dialed in. After a bit, I heard the call pick up.

“Hello,” came the voice of a little girl. Soon the display showed a little alicorn girl. “Hi pretty lady My names Morning Star!” She giggled. “What’s your name?”

“Oh, hello there little one. My name's Lex.” I replied sweetly, though I was really confused that a little Alicorn girl was answering. “I don’t mean to be rude honey, but is Edward Elric available?”

“Edward Elric?” She tilted her head. “Um… I think that's my daddy's name,” My eyes got wide. “I think he is teaching right now, or in the throne room with Auntie Tia… There are a lot of daddies running around usually.”

“Morning why do you have Ed’s watch?” Came a new more adult female voice.

“He let me borrow it,” She said looking up.

“Let me see it honey and you go play with Eclipse,” Said the voice.

“K,” In a quick blur the watch shows a dark tan skinned woman with a gnarled black horn and green hair and eyes.

“Hello, who is this?” Said the woman.

I blinked a couple times, getting the fact that Ed has a daughter through my head, before looking at this new person and for some reason I knew she was. “Chrysalis?”

“Yes that’s my name, who are you?” She narrowed her gaze at me. “I don’t really care for my baby cousins to talk to strangers. Had I known Ed gave Morning his watch I would’ve been watching her more closely and so would please identify yourself.”

“I am Alexandria Justine, Master/Faekage of the Fairy Tail Guild. I’m Ed’s eldest Displaced Niece.” I responded sternly. “Now, mind telling me why the person who attacked during Shining and Cadence’s wedding is hanging out with my little cousins?”

“Excuse me, I happened to live here and I often look after the twins while their parents and aunt are busy,” She scowled at me. “I know I did wrong back then but here things are different. As I said, they are my cousins and I look after them a good portion of the day, Nyx to sometimes if Twilight’s parents can’t look after her. Now what do you want?”

I stared hard at the human/changelings face, before taking a breath and putting my screen on the table so she could see all of me. I then surprised her by giving a formal bow.

“I deeply apologize for insulting you. It was wrong to assume, and I hope this doesn’t do anything to negate your opinion of me.” I stated, before sitting down again. “Anyways, I called because I wanted to ask Uncle Ed if he wanted to come by later for the guilds promotion and placement exams.”

“Give me one second and let me see if I can catch one of him,” She sighed. “I might get lucky and find one in a hallway. I’ll leave you with the twins for now,” She walked over and in another blur of images I saw the twins. “Stay here you two. I need to track down one of your father.” She walked off leaving the kids staring at me, one of them looked almost exactly like Luna.

“This is bubby his name is Solar Eclipse,” Morning pointed at her brother, it looked like he was trying to hide behind his sister. “You called daddy uncle, are you our aunt or cousin?”

“I seen you before,” Eclipse finally spoke up from behind Morning. “Daddy has a picture of you in his and mommy’s room and in his workshop.”

“Well, I suppose you could call me your aunt.” I replied to Morning with a smile. “I have some little girls of my own I know would love to have some cousins.” I then turned to Eclipse. “I am glad your father is remembering to have something to remind him of the rest of his family.” I perked up as I heard my baby monitor beginning to rumble.

“How would you two like to meet one of your cousins?” I smiled as the duo immediately began to nod. Leaving my office, I entered my room and smiled as Yoru’s eyes opened from her sleep, immediately reaching for me. “Morning, Eclipse, meet your little cousin Yoru.”

“Pretty baby,” Morning giggles.

“She look like you,” Eclipse finally came out from behind his sister.

There was a door opening and the Twins cried out, “Daddy!” and rushed off. “Hey there guys are you being good,” I heard Ed off screen and the twins giggle. “Let’s see here,” The display showed Ed. “Hello Lex, long time no see.” He looked at me as the Twins were hanging off his shoulders. “I see I wasn’t the only one busy in the bedroom since the last time we spoke. What can I do for you my dear niece?”

I blushed a bit at Ed’s middle comment, before smiling as I set my youngest on my lap. “First off uncle, Sonbā and I haven’t gone that far….yet. It was a real mess with Yoru here showed up.” I clarified, earning a laugh from the alchemist. “Secondly, I wanted to see if you or anyone else from your world wanted to come by for the guild’s placement exam and party.” I gave a sheepish grin and rubbed Yoru’s head. “Though I will have to omit you from the searching part of the exam since you know where the totems are.”

“True but I would still be eligible for the other parts at least,” Ed chuckled. “I sure would like to come. It's been awhile since I’ve seen you and seeing as it’s the placement exam I also assume you’re also bringing your brother and sisters as well as their friend too?”

“Yup. Adam, Nat, Sora, and Kairi have all agreed to come by with some of their friends, though Yang just wanted a strawberry sunrise.” I smiled as I let my youngest crawl onto the bed. “And besides, it would be nice to have another full family reunion, especially with the additions we both have had lately.”

“Yes it would be,” Ed nodded. “I’ll have to see if Blue would be up for running the country while we’re away,” He stroked his chin, I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t look at me like that. He is the current Captain of the Guard here seeing as he is the only one on par with Shining’s power level and with my training beside Polearm. I think we can bring Twilight, Nyx, Pole, lord knows Tia needs some vaca time too since we got together,” My eyes went wide. “Yes, Tia and i are together now. I love both of them dearly Lex, and herds aren’t uncommon here. Anyone else is welcome that wants too. Spike is another definite. Now I have a question for you my dear niece, what else is on your mind that you’ve been holding back?” He set the twins down and they ran off to play.

I check my youngest, seeing her curling up on my bed, before sighing. I told him everything Kairi informed me of, allowing some fear to appear on my face as I talked about how serious this was. Ed’s own face shifted into a serious look as I continued to almost rant at him about what Kairi told me.

“It’s a good thing you told me,” Ed leaned forward and interlaced his fingers. “Having a keyblade I can help. I can also share a few of my powers that don’t rely on magic as well. Still this big. If I didn’t have Truth’s power I could possibly even die for good this time. How are we getting to your world? Are there any specific things that you need from me to bring along as well?”

“Uh, I don’t think so. I am planning on using the Stargate that Kairi and I set up in the basement to get you guys here. I don’t think Adam has one, but Nat and Sora do, so it would be easy to connect to all of you.” I sighed, looking at my daughter as she slept, and smiled. “Right now, I just want to have time to be with my family, not worry about the end of the world.” I wiped my eyes. “It would be nice if you could bring Morning and Eclipse, they should meet their cousins.”

“I have a stargate we can use, I helped develop the ones Nat and Kairi have so it’s simple to connect them,” Ed leaned back and I mentally face palmed. “As for us getting there I’ll just use my Rinnegan to open a portal. I have your world coordinates already and I really don’t want the twins to go through a gate. They’re only a few months old after all.” He stood up as my eyes widened again. “From that expression I can tell you aren’t familiar with an alicorn's rapid aging. I’ll explain it once we’re over there but for right now I have de spawn and convey this message to the Ed network. We’ll be ready whenever you want us Lex and thanks for the call. Until then later,” He waved and poofed into a puff of white smoke.

I blinked a couple times, sighing as I hung up on my phone, before grabbing Yoru and helped her change into her own tiny kimono. She immediately began to suck on her fingers, smiling at me as I went back into my office. There were still some things to finish for later.

“Now if only you would start talking.” I muttered with a smile, quickly writing some things down at my desk while Yoru was drinking from me. She just let go and wiped her mouth before nuzzling up to my chest. Only two and a quarter months and she looks nearly a year old now.

“Ed can’t get here fast enough, Luna and Celestia have been no help with her.” I muttered as I finished the last request sheet from this world, before making one for Kairi. My frown didn’t leave me as I made the sheet, marking as SS-rank as a precaution.

Nodding, I grabbed the quest sheets, posting the S-Class quest first before heading down and posting the rest of the quests. By now some of the early risers and the staff have come in, so I didn’t need to worry about opening the guild.

I smiled as I saw Sonbā and Echo leading a groggily trio of creatures into the guild for breakfast.

“Morning girls, Echo, honey.” I greeted, getting a trio of ‘morning mama’ and two more energetic greetings from the exceed and Alicorn.

“Morning babe.” I smiled as I kissed the Alicorn on the cheek, before our youngest was out of my arms and in his, squealing in happiness as Sonbā tossed her in the air a couple times.

“Alright, do you five know what today is?” I smiled as Echo and Sonbā nodded while the girls began to wake up more, excitement overpowering their sleepiness.

“Today’s the placement exam!” Ammy cheered.

“That means you’ll be teaching us our magic afterwards, right?” Kuna said, and I nodded.

“Not just that, the rest of my family will be coming from their worlds with some of their friends for the party and for a family reunion.” I stated, making the girls excited for the chance to meet their Displaced family. Echo looked surprised while Sonbā just nodded, keeping a hold of Yoru.

“I guess you’re going to go pick them up?” I nodded at my coltfriend, before deciding to try and get things along for us. Giving Yoru to Mei, who had been silently looking at her Tarot cards, I turned and gave Sonbā a kiss.

Not going to lie, it took awhile to get used to kissing someone with a muzzle, but I got the hang of it.

His surprise didn’t last long before I felt him return the kiss. I smiled as I released the Alicorn, ignoring the embarrassed gagging from our daughters.

“What was that for, not that I am complaining.” I smiled and nuzzled the slightly taller stallion's neck before grinning.

“Can’t a girl show her appreciation for their other half?” I barely restrained a laugh as Sonbā tried to hold in a moan as I bit his neck. My canine apparently helped me find the sweet spots on his neck.

“If you two are going to try anything, can you not mentally scar your daughters in the process?” I laughed a little at Echo as I released my dazed stud, seeing the girls cover their eyes while some of the others in the room had red faces.

“Hey, I’m just staking my claim. Don’t want any of the newcomers to get any ideas.” I said with a cheeky grin before lightly bopping my stallion on the head, snapping him out of my spell.

“Seriously?” Echo deadpanned, but I just grinned, taking my youngest back before handing her to Sonbā.

“I have to go check a couple things for the tests and then I’ll be picking up the others from their timelines. I’ll be back in a couple hours.” I stated as I headed to the door.

Once I was out, I made sure I was ready and envisioned the locations of all the safe houses.

“Direct Line!”

A Few Hours Later….

With a nod, I checked the large portal in the basement, double checking my Archive screens to see everyone beginning to arrive. The test was in an hour and a half, so I had plenty of time to grab the others.

I double checked my outfit, wanting to look my best for the day. I had decided to go with a more free feeling outfit that was based on Homura Kōgetsu from Edens Zero. It consisted of a sleeveless orange kimono with a light blue floral pattern that was loose around my forearms, a pair of thin dark blue fingerless gloves and finally black knee length leggings, black biker shorts under the kimono and red tabby sandals. It had many hidden pockets, so I wouldn’t lose anything.

Taking out my phone from my sleeve pocket., I opened up the Stargate App and selected three different coordinates, Adam’s I set to appear where he is via his token since he doesn’t have a Stargate yet. Once the coordinates were locked, I went back into the phone app and dialed Nat’s number first.

“Hello?”

“Hey sis, you, Twilight and Sora ready?” I asked.

“Just one sec, we’re on our way through the castle to the portal right now.” Nat answered, grunting as she spoke.

“Well, when you’re there, text me and I’ll light up the portal before I go grab Adam and his crew.” I said, earning a positive reply before hanging up. I dialed Adam’s number afterwards, hearing him a moment later.

“Hey Lex, good timing. We just got everything and everyone ready.” Adam stated, and I could hear Ruby excitedly talking to her team in the background.

“Alright, well I am going to be opening a Stargate by you, so Adam, get somewhere you don’t mind a very large portal appearing. Make sure you’re not near anything important so it doesn’t get destroyed.” I started and heard a confirming grunt from my brother. “Alright, I’ll open the portal in a minute after Nat and Sora get here.”

Hanging up, I waited in the basement for about a minute, before my phone went off and I saw the text from Nat saying they were ready. Opening my App, I sent in the command for the portal to open to Nat’s world, and a second later the water-like portal opened up.

A few moments later, Nat, Sora and their Twilight/Dusk walked in. I was surprised when I saw that Dusk was an Alicorn, I am going to have to make a note of that for later. Sora was in her child form still, but that didn’t last long as she almost immediately shapeshifted into a teenage form, wearing what I recognized as Futaba Sakura’s outfit.

“Hey girls!” I greeted with a smile, hugging the trio. Sora and Nat managed to return the hug while Twilight was stuck in the middle and couldn't do anything. I laughed as I took a better look at my sister's marefriend, seeing she was wearing her medallion from aunt Luna, but she had some new additions. First and foremost being the gauntlet on her real hand and the sword at her waist. She also seemed to have bulked up a bit. Not so much that it was distracting, but she now had a swimmers build hidden under her coat. She also had a dark red choker with a red gemstone embedded in it. Odd.

“Hey Lex, been a while.” I nodded to Nat as she said that before taking out my phone and setting the coordinates for Adam’s world.

“Well, going to have to hold off on the reunion for a second sis, Adam and his crew will be using the Stargate for the first time, so we should probably be ready to catch them.” I stated as the portal shifted around before stabilizing. The trio nodded and stood near the portal as it shifted around a bit, signaling its use.

I blinked as the first thing that came through were a couple of rose petals, before I had to duck as a certain huntress zoomed over my head. I blinked as I heard a soft yet loud ‘Thump’ as Ruby ran headfirst into one of the couches I had down here.

“Ow.” I turned as Ruby managed to right herself on the couch, shaking her head a couple times to get rid of the cobwebs.

“Ruby Rose, what have I told you about running ahead!” I turned back to the portal as the rest of team RWBY came through, though Weiss was ahead of the other two with her dragon on her shoulder, marching to her team leader while Yang and Blake were getting their bearings. I just let the ex-heiress walk by as she began to scold her younger leader.

“Woah, nice automail.” I turned as I saw Yang and Twilight/Dusk comparing prosthetics. Though I could see a flash of sadness in the huntress's eyes. I wasn’t the only one as Blake pat the blond on the shoulder while Dusk apologized.

“You alright Ruby?” Nat questioned as Weiss finally finished scolding her. I smiled as I sensed the next batch come through.

“I am going to go out on a limb and say Ruby just ran through once the portal was open and her team reflexively ran after her.” I turned to Adam as he walked up with Pyrrha, Penny and Neo. “Right?” I noted with surprise Pyrrha and Penny had an egg each strapped to them.

[“That about sums it up.”] Neo signed to me. Thank goodness I had Nurse Redheart teach me and Mei sign language.

“Alright, I guess this is all of you?” I asked, giving my taller brother a hug.

“Yeah, like Qrow and Oscar said, they had to stay behind and none of the girls wanted to come by.” He replied, walking over to Nat and Sora as I smiled and gave the others a hug as well as introducing myself properly to Team RWBY.

“Alright, only two left.” I muttered aloud, going through my phone to Kairi’s number. After a few rings, she picked up and the screen showed herself, Melissa, Haley and Luna along with Chirithy.

“Hey Lex, everyone’s ready over here.”

“Alright. You and Ed’s group are the only ones not here yet, so feel free to come on through while I call him.” I replied, earning a nod from the keyblade wielder as I hung up then dialed Ed’s number. I smiled as the three humans, filly and shadow all walked through a minute later while Ed’s number was ringing.

"Hey Lex, Blue and Chrissy are handling affairs here so we're good to go. I've got everypony is ready to go and I do mean everypony." I smiled as my uncle said this.

“Alright, just lock onto my signature and come over. I’ll have the others make room for all of you.” I said, hearing a small cheer as I hung up. Apparently Ruby was now fawning over Chirithy while Haley was talking with Pyrrha. “Hey guys, mind heading into the safe room? I wanna make sure there is plenty of room for Ed and his group.”

The three groups all nodded and entered the panic room next to us, Adam, Sora and Nat staying at the door to wait for our uncle. My senses picked up a slowly building pool of void energy, so I ran over to the door, watching as a ripple in the air began to grow before I blinked at the large flash.

Regaining my sight, I saw Ed, Aunty Luna, Aunt Celestia, my apparently new niece and nephew Morning Star and Solar Eclipse, Polearm, Twilight, and somepony I have never seen before. She looked like a filly Nightmare Moon, around Arakunia’s age. This must be that Nyx girl. The next through were Spike and Rarity followed by Rainbow Dash and that was it as the portal closed.

"Sorry for not using the gate," Ed said. "I find using my own portals much easier on the stomach. So good to see everyone again."

“Hey Uncle Ed.” Adam greeted as he walked up with his group. The three other groups then noticed all the new additions to Ed’s aunturage. “Uh, what’s with the kids?”

“Well, these are mine and Luna’s kids. Nyx over there is Twilights.” He stated it was no big deal. Since I already knew about it, it wasn’t a big deal, and clearly Nat and Sora knew too, but Adam was definitely surprised.

“Sweet. I was wondering if you guys would have kids.” I rose a brow at Kairi as she said this, but shrugged before noticing she was looking at me. The keyblade wielder pointed to the kids with Ed, then to me and my siblings. I knew what she was asking, and smirked as I shook my head. Her eyes widened with a grin.

“Alright everyone.” They all turned to me. “Now that you’re all here, let’s head upstairs.” They all nodded and followed me as we walked the several flights of stairs.

‘Oh this is going to be fun.’

3rd POV

“Welcome to Fairy Tail!” Lex allowed herself to feel a good amount of pride as all the newcomers looked around in awe at the guild. Ruby and Haley were looking around quickly with childlike wonder at the guild and its members. The rest of Kairi’s group all smiled as they remembered the last time they were there.

Nat, Sora and Twilight/Dusk all looked around with wide eyes, smiling as several members greeted them warmly.

Adam and the rest of his group all looked around in surprise, the humans and faunus earning some surprised, but no less enthusiastic greetings from the members nearby. Blake in particular was surprised by all the different species in one place. She was thinking about how this would be like in Remnant, with all the none-ponies being Faunus to the ponies humans.

‘If only this place existed back home.’ She thought to herself, before having to reign in her instincts as she noticed all the Gem Hounds around. ‘Oh crap, this is going to be harder than I thought.’

Ed led his largest group over to one of the tables, smiling as this world's counterparts to his friends immediately began to talk to their other selves. The Spike’s seemed really interested in one another, as well as the two Rainbow’s.

“So Lex?” The Faekage turned to her uncle, while the others perked up. “Where is the little one I saw earlier?”

“Little one?” Adam questioned. Lex smirk impishly, before it turned to a warm smile at something behind her brother.

“Mom!” Most of the Displaced crowd froze as Amaterasu, Arakunia and Unmei ran past them and proceeded to glomp the mage. Lex allowed herself to laugh as she held her daughters in her arms. Her smile only widened as Sonbā flew over the others with Yoru in his arms, who immediately began to reach for her mother.

“Hey girls, sorry I was gone so long. I had to get everything set up.” Lex apologized as she placed her three daughters down and grabbed her youngest, giving her Alicorn a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for watching them babe.”

“Hey, I am their father. Kinda comes with the territory.” He said, grinning widely while clearly trying not to laugh. As was most of the guild as they saw the Displaced crowds stunned expressions.

Unfortunately, some like Pinkie, Maddie, Verdant and Rainbow couldn’t hold it for long and burst out laughing at the crowd.

The laughing infection seemed very contagious as before long, the entire guild, Displaced included, was on the floor busting a gut. Even Dawn was quietly chuckling to himself.

A minute or so later of pure laughter, everyone manages to get themselves under control. Lex allowed herself a bit of satisfaction, seeing the results of her impromptu test of one of her newer Aroma magic spells.

Who knew just a little laughing gas aimed at Pinkie’s group would make everyone bust a gut.

Once everyone calmed down, Adam, Sora, Nat, Ed and Luna walked up with widened eyes as Lex was sitting on the bar while bouncing a drowsy Yoru on her lap while her other kids were hanging out next to her along with Sonbā.

“How….when did….how did you…” Adam couldn’t fully finish his sentence, trying to wrap his head around what he was seeing, and the realization that he was now an uncle.

“About a month after the Hearth's Warming Party for these three.” She began, pointing to the changeling, kirin and gem hound. “Black market slave traders. Not a problem for the guild. Yoru here was actually the Tantabus before we did a huge transmutation on her.”

“Girls.” The quartet turned to their mother, who smiled and pointed to the group. “I’d like you three to meet the rest of our family. These are my sisters, Natali and Sorano.” Said Dicloni were smiling wide, the former looking a second away from glomping the kids while the former was carefully studying them. “The redhead with the sword is my little brother Adam.” The faunus was still slowly computing what he just learned, but still smiled and waved. “And last but not least, my uncle Edward and his wife Luna.”

“Hi!” Was all the three eldest girls said as they heard their mother finish. Lex waved her youngest daughter's hand for her, the infant just smiling as she chewed on an apple slice.

“EEEEEEEE!!!” Nearly everyone had to cover their ears as Natali, Ruby and Haley all squealed at the absolute adorableness that was sitting at the counter.

“RUBY!/HALEY!/NAT!” Everyone called out to one of the girls responsible, loudly telling them to stop.

Blake, Adam, the gem hounds and abyssians appearing to be the ones in the most pain. Weiss couldn’t hear anything anymore as she used her hands to cover Boreas ears instead of her own. Maddie was being held by Verdant and Pinkie while rubbing her ears, glaring at the three humans responsible for her ringing ears. Lex was fine since she just cast a quick silencing spell around herself and the girls, Ed’s kids and Sonbā. Once they realized what they did, the trio all rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly.

One of the only ones not affected was Sora, who was just shaking her head. Then her ears sparked as she shapeshifted her eardrums back to normal after essentially turning them off after seeing her sister’s expression. “Saw that coming.”

“Tell me about it.” Kat muttered, taking some earphones she got from Vinyl out of her head, turning off her music from the MP3 that had recently started coming out from Manehattan. A gift from some of her fellow Abyssians and Gem Hounds after she was finally discharged from the hospital. But even through her music she could hear the girls squealing.

‘Sometimes I hate having hearing twice as good as a normal abyssian. And I really have to ask Lex for a few new songs to listen to.’ She thought to herself, rubbing her ears as they flicked about.

Once everyone was calmed down again, several sending annoyed glares to the three girls, Lex teleported to the second floor, standing atop the railing with a smile.

“Hello everyone! Great to have all of you back together in one place. Now, I know many of you know what today is, but for those who don’t. Today is the annual Fairy Tail Promotion and Placement Exam. Not only are those of you who are new going to be going through the Everfree in search for a totem, but you will also be assigned a primary magic that you can now use.” Lex paused as everyone soaked up what she said.

“Now, as many of you have noticed, we have several guests here for the exams today.” She waved towards the crowd of newcomers near the bar. “These are Displaced, more specifically my family and friends. Many of you remember Kairi and Luna.” The aforementioned duo waved. “But they also brought their friends Haley and Melissa along too.”

“Hello!” The duo greeted with a smile.

“Now for my family, some of you remember Uncle Edward from when we were building the guild.” The aforementioned alchemist smiled at Twilight, Echo and Spike. “He brought along some of his friends and family as a vacation of sorts. I don’t think I need to tell you who is who aside from my niece Morning Star and my nephew Solar Eclipse.” The two Alicorn smiled and waved. “And Twilight’s little girl Nyx.” The little one just hid behind Twilight.

“Next is my little brother, Adam Taurus and his friends Penny, Neo, Pyrrha, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang.” The eight hunters all waved, Ruby and Penny being the most enthusiastic. Yang was just sipping at a smoothie.

“Last but not least, my sisters, Natali and Sorano, and Natali’s marefriend Dusk.” The two Dicloni smiled at the crowd and Dusk just nodded with a grin. The main Displaced could tell some were a little unnerved to see three Lunas and Twilights.

“Now that introductions are done, those of you who are new, meet me at the teleporter in the back. Those of you Displaced who want to join in, come along too.” Lex handed her youngest to Sonbā, who nodded as she led the crowd to the teleporter. She noticed Kairi and her friends, Adam, Penny and Pyrrha, and Nat, Sora and Dusk decided to come along as well.

“Now then. Before all of you gain your magic and placement, you must go through the Everfree forest and retrieve one of these totems.” Lex made said item in hand with Ice magic. “Once you find your totem, make your way to the Training Hall, once there we will continue with the examination. Are there any questions?” No hands were raised. “Good. Best of luck to you all.”

With that, the Exam was on.

Two Hours Later….

“That didn’t look so bad.” Yang muttered, watching the newer guild members and Displaced easily make their ways through the forest with Lex’s Archive Screen. The Displaced that were only here to relax stayed at the guild hall while Lex went with the other members and waited for the second part of the exam.

They were definitely surprised when Lex showed them what she could do by using what she nicknamed the ‘Ultimate Paperwork Destroying Technique’.

Or as it was actually called, Clone Magic: Kage Bushin.

Yes. Lex recreated the Kage Bushin Technique from Naruto, and it worked exactly like what it was based on. And Lex’s comparing her magic container to Naruto’s chakra reserves became more apparent when she visibly struggled to make twenty five clones, only to dispel twenty four of them.

When asked, she mentioned that she could easily summon a hundred, and any less than fifty is a struggle at times.

Anyways, back on track.

“It may not be difficult for trained huntresses, but you have to remember most of the members lived pretty mundane lives before becoming members here.” Lex’s clone explained, going through the archive screens to keep an eye on everyone.

“It looks like your girls have made it. Impressive.” Melissa pointed out one of the screens showing the three sisters making their way through the forest towards the training hall after they found their item.

“Was there any doubt? The boss's girls are a trio of prodigies.” The clone bragged, clearly acting like an overly proud mother. Everyone rolled their eyes with smiles as they watched all the members make their way through the forest towards the old castle where Lex, Ed and the rest of the guild was waiting.

“I am honestly surprised Pyrrha and Penny decided to join in.” Blake muttered, watching her friends and Adam make their way to the crevice where the training hall was separated by.

[“Well they have said they need some more practice with their magic.”] Neo signed, taking a sip of some Pyro Whiskey, freshly imported from the Dragonlands, and coughing up a small wisp of fire afterwards. Neo has had plenty of drinks in her life, but one that lets her cough fire is definitely new. [“Adam said he mostly just went with them to keep an eye on Pyrrha incase her magic goes out of control.”]

“Well we all know that won’t happen!” Ruby cheered enthusiastically, before pouting at her sister as she still wasn’t allowed to have a drink even though the legal age in Equestria is 16.

‘So not fair!’

Fairy Tail Training Hall

“Welcome back everyone!” Lex smiled as she saw that everyone had arrived, the ‘newcomers’ waiting on the other side of the bridge. She and Ed were levitating over the crevice, smiling towards the group. “Now then. I can see all of you have your totems. If all of you would care to join us in the training hall proper, we can continue the exam.” Lex smiled before turning and flying into the training hall, her uncle close behind while everyone else took the bridge.

“Hey, what exactly are we doing?” Adam questioned as the groups all got together and made their way through the training hall.

“Well first the newcomers, IE yourselves, will be taking the MPF test to determine your magical output, thus deciding your placement.” Raine began.

“After all of you are done, the members who have been here before will do the same to see who would get a promotion.” Spike continued.

“Lastly, Lex will be using her Archive magic to transfer knowledge of the primary magic each new member will be learning, along with potential granting some of us new abilities if she thinks it would be best for us.” Zen finished.

The Displaced all blinked a couple times, not knowing beforehand how this was going to work. They turned their gaze to the blunette leading them, who just smiled and nodded.

“This should be fun,” Ed’s Twilight clapped.

“Calm down Twi,” Polearm placed his hands on his marefriend’s shoulders. “The only reason we didn’t take the first course is cause Ed told us where the stuff was. I know you're excited but you can already do great stuff on your own.”

The others, even Lex’s Twilight and Dusk, rolled their eyes at Twilight’s excitement. But they couldn’t help the smiles as they were just as excited.

Before long the large crowd made it to the range. Lex had moved several things around, making it so there were several targets set up in case the members try and use AOE attacks, while also connecting the modified MPF to a platform scanner, making it even more accurate than before. Many of the targets were made of wood, straw or other softer material, but some were made of stone, crystals or even metal.

She figured since they have Displaced for today's test, they should be more accurate for the guests to see how strong they are.

Lastly, she renovated the actual room so its roof was ‘retractable’, in that the seals nearby used Transport magic to make the roof disappear if needed.

“Alright!” Lex clapped her hands, earning the attention of everyone. “As had been mentioned on the way here, how this is going to work, is that we will be having the newcomers to the guild go first, more accurately the once that originate here first, followed by the Displaced, then finally the previous member to see who has become strong enough for a promotion.” She looked around, seeing several nods and hearing several hums of understanding.

“Now then. Shall we begin?” She snapped her fingers and summoned an Archive screen, tapping at the magic keyboard a couple times to link up with the MPF. With a nod, she stepped to the side and gestured to the platform.

The first one up was the eldest new member, Aspen. The towering Abyssian walked up and allowed herself to be scanned, nodding as it beeped before stepping towards the nearest target. Getting into position, she proceeded to spin quickly, shattering the target with a hard roundhouse.

Lex sweat dropped as she saw the feat of strength, mentally reminding herself not to get on the feline’s bad side. Her eyes then widened as she stepped back onto the MPF, scanning her to show her output.

An impressive 432, more than some of the unicorns when the guild started up.

Clearly Lex wasn’t the only one impressed, shown by the several wide eyes as the score appeared above the MPF. Her daughter was the loudest when they started cheering.

“Alright, a great example Aspen.” The Abyssian bowed slightly before going back to the group, chuckling as her daughter jumped onto her back with a smile. “Shall we continue.”

The next one up was Cobalt, who followed Aspen’s example and gave a super strong right hook to the repaired dummy, shattering the torso to splinters.

Lex was mentally asking herself how the hell she managed to beat him and a second Minotaur when they met. Without magic, she was sure she would be a large stain on the ground right now.

Though, when she was watching, she noticed that the Minotaur was actually increasing his strength with inherent magic, much like Earth Ponies did at times.

His score was a larger 501, very, very impressive. His cocky smirk directed at Aspen was returned twofold. Lex was mentally paling at the thought of those two acting like Gajeel and Natsu or Erza and Mira.

After she got herself together, she motioned back to the stage, Capper choosing the go up. The tomcat didn’t expect himself to reach the same level as the previous two monsters.

He extended his claws and slashed at the dummy, making it to the inner wood support before stopping. He did gain some laugh as he realized his claws got stuck. Once he was free, his score showed a decent 109. He knew he wasn’t close to the strongest, but was surprised he made triple digits.

After those three, the newcomers went through like clockwork. Maddie popped into the scanner before appearing behind the dummy and using it like a scratching post. A decent 127. After her was Sythe, who’s skill in spear combat showed as he skewered the dummy, earning 122. Next was Bertha, the teenage cow giving a strong but sloppy punch and earning 78 points.

The ponies began next as Red came up and gave a strong left kick, earning 126. Violet decided to go next, giving a hard back fist after a spin, earring 110. Her sister was less impressive, trying to kick it and nearly falling over. She got 89 points.

Lastly was Dawn, who gained curious looks, many wondering what he was going to do. Choosing to forgo his keyblade combat, he got into his Gale King fighting stance and focused his magic into his hands, creating miniature tornados. He then zoomed to the dummy and delivered a cyclone enhanced punch that shattered the dummy and embedded some wood into one of the targets behind it.

He earned several wide eyes from those who did not know the colt, only to increase said eyes in size as he score showed a very respectable 234, almost 10 times greater than Applebloom at the start of the guilds existence and 13 times greater than Sweetie Belle, a unicorn the same age as him!

His face didn’t appear to change to the newcomers, but those that knew him, mostly Kairi and her friends and the current members, could see a small smile on his muzzle.

After Dawn’s impressive show, it was apparently silently decided it to be the Dragon Slayer’s turn. Fizzle stepped up with a grin, tapping his claw against his chin before choosing what he was going to do. With a nod to himself, he crouched, then flew into the air, before falling to the target.

“Lava Dragon Mantle Crush!” With a lava covered double hammer fist, Fizzle both smashed, set fire to, and broiled the wooden target, smiling as his attack left some leftover lava on the ground. He needed to work on not leaving any behind. Lex gave him a silent stare, telepathically telling him to work on his control.

She didn’t need more complaints to start coming in about leftover lava around a town!

Fizzle grinned wide as his score of 568 points appeared, knowing he still had a ways to go to catch up to Spike.

Amber walked up next, knowing she could use a spell she developed some time ago.

“Plasma Dragon Hard Shell!” She placed her fists against one another, knuckle to knuckle, and an orb of hardened plasma surrounded her, the glow showing whoever would touch her would be zapped and burned. The MPF showed her score as 393, impressive for a defensive technique.

Reni came up next and took a quick bite of some Bits she brought with her before choosing a medium distance target.

“Gold Dragon Pillar!” Her right arm transformed into an ornate golden pillar that extended towards the target, smashing the wooden target before retracting. She kept her arm transformed as she was scanned again, and only made her arm go back to normal after her score of 482 was shown.

Laruma walked up with a determined scowl, waiting as she was scanned before flying into the air, black clouds and wind appearing around her right hand. She whirled her arm back a couple times before spinning it.

“Storm Dragon Cyclone Strike!” Punching forwards, a cloudy black tornado left her fist and spell seal, the wind causing many hairs to fly back as she sent the targets flying into the wall. She was internally happy at her score of 571.

Next up was Kathrine. Many in the guild were curious about this girl, some of the more magically adept members seeing the hidden potential just waiting to be unleashed in her. Kat looked a little nervous before steeling her expression and running up to the dummy and delivering a jumping kick. Unexpectedly, she kicked the dummy’s head off.

Lex and some of the other Displaced could sense she was using her inherent magic to increase her strength, but because of how surprised she herself appeared, it was clear Kat didn’t do it on purpose.

Lex had been told by some doctors that looked over Kat when she first came to the guild that she has an unnaturally large, if strained and drained, magic container, even surpassing some teenage unicorns. And it showed as her simple attack showed a strong score of 192.

After Kat was Willow and Wisp, the two parts of one person stepped up before the lantern glowed brighter and launched a small, slow ball of magic at the target, burning it. 124 points, but they had only started practicing for a week and a half.

The four new Exceeds decided it was their turn next and stepped, or rather floated, up. They each decided to just fly and tackle the dummy, knowing they didn’t have many attacks aside from that right now.

Gil got the highest score of 62, then was Marnie at 57, Joy at 52 and finally Saya with 43. Not bad for some flying cats, but they knew they needed to do some extra training with Echo later.

Finally, it was time for the last four and the youngest members of the guild. Maeve, reluctantly went first, shyly going to the dummy and proceeding to try and claw and bite it. Unfortunately it was too cute to be taken seriously and many had to muffle themselves lest they laugh or coo at the kitten and make her feel bad. Her score was 23.

After the Snow leopard was the sole changeling in the guild. Arakunia took a second to breathe, before purple flames erupted from her hooves, and standing on the scanner is a little human with dark brown/black skin, lavender hair and purple eyes.

Lex’s eyes widened at her daughter's shapeshift, not knowing she was working on a human form. She still smiled as her second youngest was scanned, showing her rather small score of 30.

After Arakunia was the eldest of the three, Mei. She thought for a second before shrugging and focusing her magic to her horn, sending out a small beam of magic like a unicorn. She scored 38 points.

Finally, last of the newcomers, Amaterasu. The gem hound crouched a bit before pouncing at the target, knocking it over as she bit at the head of the dummy, actually going rather deep. Her score was 31.

“Alright!” Lex clapped a bit, gaining everyone’s attention again. “Now that the newbies are finished with their test, we are going to have the Displaced who are or wish to be honorary members take this test.” The group nodded and got themselves organized.

Up first was Adam, who stepped up before widening his stance. His hand began to glow and eerie green and black, before swirling around itself as he got the spell ready.

“Dark Capriccio Scream!” A large beam of green, black and orange magic left Adam’s hand, piercing through the dummy, the target behind it, and then flying through the wall behind it and out the building.

Lex and the members of Fairy Tails eyes blew open at the strength of the spell. Lex was looking at her brother in awe and surprise. Until she saw him nearly fall to his knees as he began to try and get his breath back.

“You tried using as much magic as you could in one attack didn’t you?” Was her rhetorical question as her brother nodded, getting his breath back and making his way back to the scanner.

That showed the difference in her guild, as all the members would be using attack they can hit you multiple times and not their strongest at the risk of self-harm and rapidly draining magic.

But it showed Adam’s potential as his score appeared and blew everyone out of the water. 3,732 points. That was more than Luna when the guild opened and about a quarter of Lex’s original score.

While some of the creatures from this world were trying to get their jaws off the ground, Penny took place at the scanner, a peppy air around her as she hopped on the balls of her feet.

To the surprise of many present, Penny waved her hand and summoned her keyblade, before charging it with crackling green electricity, the sound of a thousand birds chirping as she ran forwards.

“Chidori!” The electrified keyblade easily slashed through a stone target like a hot knife through warm butter. Lex allowed herself to be pleasantly surprised by her brother's girlfriend. She knew the redhead could keep her brother in line, especially if she just decided to shock him.

Penny’s score showed her strength in that regard. 2,791 points. Very, very strong. It was clear the former android had been training hard after she was given her lightning magic.

Lex looked towards Pyrrha, who was clearly reluctant to go up. She didn’t need to wonder why. Lex, as well as some of the other guild members, watched through RWBY some time ago so she knows her story. Adam mentioned while they were waiting that Pyrrha has some of the Fall Maidens magic, but is still reluctant to use it. Not much of a mystery why.

Pyrrha glanced to the guild master, who just shrugged. She couldn’t tell her to go up, she was a guest right now. Adam and Penny gave their support, holding the redheads shoulders, but she just took a breath and shook her head.

Oh well, it was her choice if she wanted to see how strong she is compared to other mages.

Nat decided to get things moving as she stepped up, smiling as she got scanned before stepping up. Wind immediately began to swirl around her, causing Lex to raise one of the shields around the range or some would go flying. Nat then raised her arms, summoning several sensory blades, which were then covered by the wind.

“Solo Unison! Maguilty Whirlwind Blades!” With a forward gesture, the wind covered blades zoomed towards the targets around the area, hitting bullseye on all of them but not stopping as they followed Adam’s example and went out the building before hitting the shield around the training hall.

Lex gave her sister a blank look, knowing that she only did that much damage because Lex could rewind it back to the way it was before. She sighed and turned to the scanner as Nat hopped back up.

Again, the Displaced show they are far stronger than they seem. Nat score was an astounding 4,034.

Lex’s theory on the inherent void energy in Displaced increasing their magical output seemed to be proving itself true. Nat has had her magic for several months and had been practicing constantly either in her own world or during her time in Ed’s world. She knew that she herself was several times stronger than her siblings, but the amount seemed by a lower amount than she originally anticipated.

Choosing to just continue to monitor, Lex watched as Sora stepped up to the plate, cracking her neck as she got into her magic stance.

“Ice Make Thousand Demon Mirrors!” A large dome of ice appeared around the range, staying up for several moments as everyone could hear something happening in the barrier. Most of the Equestrians were confused, but the Displaced knew what this attack was based on.

After a few moments, the dome shattered and revealed nearly every dummy and target was riddled with ice senbon needles, making them look like frozen pin cushions. The Equestrians were impressed by the spell, while the Displaced just grinned at their youngest member for the feat.

3,928 for Sorano’s score. She pouted as she got a lower score than her sister, but it couldn’t last long as Ed began to mess with her hair. Lex shook her head fondly at her family as the next one stepped up. Dusk.

The heir of nightmares took a moment to breath as she was scanned, before allowing her magic to flow over her, letting her levitate and then placed her hand on her other open palm, two fingers up for the latter.

“Seven Star Sword, Grand Chariot!” And from that, seven large bolts of magic came down in the shape of the Big Dipper, before detonating on the range. Once again Lex was thankful for her own foresight as knew from experience how destructive that attack is. Thank the void for overpowered seals and enchantments.

The training hall did shake a bit, but nothing aside from the annihilation of the dummies in the range happened. While Lex was repairing the damage, Dusk was scanned again, and showed her very strong score of 2,718.

With a grin, and a crack of her knuckles, Kairi stepped up as she summoned Way to Dawn. “Angel of Black and White!” she cried as the white angel wing and black demon wing sprouted, before calling out, “Shadow Dragon Full Cowling!” The shadows of the room drew up around the Keyblade wielder, covering her in shadows, leaving two glowing eyes peering out towards the scanner.

Kairi took a stance, conjuring a murky orb of magic; a mixture of light and shadow magic. “MEGIDOLAON!” she cried, launching the orb at the scanner in a spectacular burst of destruction.

Again Lex was thankful for her foresight, sending another pulse of magic into the protective barriers, making only some wind hit the audience.

‘Okay.’ Lex thought to herself. ‘Good thing these are set to defend against anything except full powered spells or Crash magic.’

The scanner beeped through a couple times before showing Kairi’s score. 3,823. Very impressive.

Lex allowed herself a smirk, knowing that Kairi’s magic isn’t as high as her physical skills in some regards.

Once the dust settled, Filly Luna stepped up, Oblivion appearing in her hand. “Double Form!” The filly’s clothes darkened, with white star designs, and in her left hand Oathkeeper faded into existence. “Ultimate Finish!” Beams of light and darkness arced from the two keyblades, impacting the scanner simultaneously.

Lex nodded to herself along with the other Luna’s in the room, seeing one of the smallest Alicorns doing a very strong looking attack.

Another scan later, and little Luna’s score appeared. 2,242. Only about 700 less than this world's Luna. Very impressive given the physical age and magic difference.

Up next, Melissa stepped up, handing her glasses to Kairi as she went. “One for All: Full Cowling!” Green electricity arced off of her form as the artificial Quirk channeled itself through her body. With a cry of “Equestrian… SMASH!” the techie shot forward, nailing the scanner with a full power punch.

Many a grin appeared in the audience, several guild members having read the My Hero Academia manga that Lex managed to recreate. Lex in particular was grinning like a loon at the use of OFA. The scanner went over Melissa again and popped her number up top.

2,973. That was actually around this world’s Luna at the guilds beginning. Melissa took a breath and smiled at her score, taking her glasses back from Kairi. Lex took a glance at Haley and Chirithy, seeing them shake their heads with smiles. Lex shrugged to herself, if they didn’t want to try, no harm done.

Ed’s group all talked to one another for a minute, before Rarity took a seat next to her counterpart. Lex nodded to the unicorn before waving a hand to the scanner, offering Ed’s group to go next.

Aunty Luna decided to start off, wanting to see how she compares to this world counterpart. Like Twilight, Trixie and Luna have done in this world before, she just built up magic at her horn before launching it once it is finished. Once again Lex added a bit more magic into the seals for reinforcements as her aunt's magic blew up the range before fizzling out.

Aunt Luna’s score of 10,728 made many eyes widen. Lex herself wasn’t as surprised as one might think, knowing her uncle made sure his group was exceptionally strong, so that would extend to his lovers as well. Still, it was surprising just how much stronger her aunt was compared to this world version of her.

Aunt Celestia, as Lex referred to mentally, was after her sister, and decided to follow her example, only instead of a beam of pure magic, it was with a magical beam of pure white fire. Lex took a breath as she added a bit of ice magic to the seals to cool down the group from the intense heat. Her score of 9,927 was expected, though it was surprising that it was smaller than her younger sister.

Polearm decided to walk up next, wondering himself just how strong he was compared to the Displaced in the room. He summoned a magic sword to himself, surprising many as they didn’t know he knew Requip magic. They were further surprised as Polearm sent his magic into the sword, making it extend with a blue blade before he ran up and sliced through three different targets that were near each other. His score showed 4,532, revealing just how strong he is with his magic. And making Adam grin, clearly wanting a match.

Ed’s Twilight decided to go after her boyfriend. She knew she was way more powerful than both of her counterparts, because she was curious by just how much. She learned this world focused on Dark Ecriture magic while Dusk used Heavenly Body magic, and both were very different from each other, so she was excited to test herself. With a grin, she chose to copy Luna as she gathered magic in her hands, cupping them above her head as she continued to gather more and more magic. A large purple orb of magic appeared above her head, slowly growing as she fed it more energy. Lex had a mental squeal as she realized Twilight was unintentionally making a magical Spirit Bomb.

Once she thought it was ready, Twilight threw the now eight and a half foot wide magic orb at the range. The backlash from the spell made Lex, once again, increase the magic input to the seals. Many were wide eyed in surprise at the apparent magical strength she has at her fingertips. Her score of 8,823 definitely proved their surprise and awe justified.

Ed’s Spike helped the tired mare back to her seat before stepping up himself, grinning as he remembered the power of the other dragons in the room. Unknown to all but those from Ed’s world, he had been working on his own form of Dragon Slayer magic himself. He dug into his pockets and grabbed some items before munching on them, making sure to hide them from the others, wanting it to be a surprise. Once he was ready, he took a deep breath, a familiar spell matrix appearing before him, causing many to jump in surprise at the spell.

“Mineral Dragon Roar!” The spell made the room shake a miniscule around from the kickback, causing many to jump, again. Many were thinking just what kind of training Ed's friends went through. Though his score of 3,138 was smaller than what they honestly expected, it was still more than large enough for them to seriously question Eds in his teaching methods, effectiveness aside.

Rainbow Dash was honestly feeling a little intimidated. She knew she wasn’t as magically strong as Spike, her speed and physical strength being her greatest parts of herself. A little unsure of herself, Rainbow took a breath before crouching and zooming up to the cloud layer, before turning around midair taking a half moment to enjoy the cold air before dive bombing towards the training hall. Her trail behind her lit up as she picked up more and more speed, before exploding behind her in her trademark Sonic Rainboom, causing many to smirk as they knew this was all Rainbows pride and joy.

The prismatic mare’s counterpart zoomed into the room, before performing many sharp turns that let her hit as many targets as she could before she was forced to pull up and avoid hitting the wall before slowing down. Letting herself breath as she scanned again, she smirked to this world's counterpart, who apparently could sense the magical build up and release of the skill, which was way more than her own. The revealed 2,832 score just made her smile as she saw how strong she was, though it was a blow to her ego that she was the weakest of her group at the moment.

Edward walked in front of everyone and cracked his neck. "My turn," He said with a smirk. "Crimson Dragon Roaring Inferno!" He reeled his fist back and punched sending a massive red spiral flame at the sensor.

Lex’s eyes widened as her uncle's magical output began to strain the wards around the area. The Faekage immediately began to send her own magic into the wards to reinforce them to beyond maximum, while also erecting several shield spells around the audience, mostly her daughters.

“Jesus Christ Uncle!” Lex and her siblings yelled, seeing the destruction their uncle caused. The entire wall behind his attack had been melted into molten slag, each target on the way likewise meeting the same fate. Lex could even sense the protective seals outside the training hall being damaged.

Lex’s eye began twitching rapidly, knowing how difficult this would be to fix. Repairing destroyed objects was one thing, rewinding molten stone was another thing altogether!

With a sheepish grin, Edward got scanned again, mentally going over how to fix all this, when his score popped up.

THUMP

Several jaws hit the ground as the alchemist's score appeared, and they processed it. It was difficult since his score was 99,999, maxing out the MPF.

Everyone was quiet for quite a while, the Displaced being less shocked than the Equestrians, but still shocked anyways. Edward took this time to use his own alchemagic to repair all the damage he did to the range, rebuilding the walls, floor, targets and dummies.

Eventually, Lex and many others managed to get their bearings again, the Faekage nodding in thanks to her uncle for fixing everything while she was in La La Land. She cleared her throat after a moment to fix the seals and enchantments. “Now then.” Everyone turned to Lex, many of the members now picking their jaws off the ground. “Those that are already part of the guild during the first time can now test themselves so we can update their strength and see who is now strong enough for a promotion to go on higher ranking jobs.”

Stepping to the side, Lex let the members organize themselves, deciding to go from the previously weakest to the strongest.

First up was Fluttershy, many encouraging her to try her hardest. The pegasus fluttered up before taking a breath.

“Full Body Takeover, Animal Soul, Bat!” Fluttershy began to glow before her body began to shift around, revealing her new form. Her arms and wings had merged and become bat-like with bony protrusions on her fingertips. Her ears had become more feral-looking and two large fangs popped out of her muzzle. Her eyes turned from bright blue, into an even brighter blue with deep slit pupils. Her mane became messy and wild, and her fur darkened a shade or two.

Seeing her take a deep breath, many covered their ears, just in time for the former pegasus to release a sonic screech that sent the target flying into the wall. Once it was done, Fluttershy immediately hid herself behind her wild pink mane as she noticed everyone’s looks at her.

Many wide eyes were prevalent as the pegasus stepped back to the scanner, her score shocking many. 142, 35 and a half times greater than her original score.

“Holy crap Flutters!” Gilda and both Rainbows yelled at once. The Takeover mage blushed sheepishly as she went back to normal and hid behind Gilda, said griffon rolling her eyes, but some could see a blush on her beak.

With that impressive display, the members started to get the line moving. Sweetie Belle walked up next, using her Snow magic spell Total White Out to create a mini localized blizzard. Her score increased to 74.

Applebloom went next and decided to copy Adam’s Darkness magic. She used the Dark Delete spell, hitting several of the targets, though it didn’t seem to do too much damage. Her score was 82.

Scootaloo stood next, before crouching down and High Speed jumping to the roof, then with a boost of Freerun, towards the target with a cry of ‘Falcon Sword!’ Her score was the highest of the CMC at 97.

Echo floated up to the scanner, before taking a breath as she used her Transformation magic, which covered her with pink and purple pixels before bursting into pink smoke. Now in her humanoid Neko form, she zoomed towards the target with her Aera magic and used the Wind magic spell Gale Palm on the dummy, sending it splintering into the wall. Being rescanned, her score showed 152, just over triple her original score.

Next was the second Element Bearer, Rarity. Rarity used her Mirror magic to create four mirrors, before using Shattered Hail, shattering them and sending the shards flying towards the targets. This was one of the few offensive spells Rarity knew. Her score was an impressive 144.

Silk walked up next, the short Earth Pony allowing herself to become water before it began to spin with her Water Jigsaw spell, her water body laying waste to the target. Her score was 157.

Raine took a breath as she was scanned, thinking of which spell to use, before deciding on an often used one. Once she was ready, she wrote in the air with her Solid Script magic, casting Solid Script Fire and burning the targeted dummy. Her score was revealed as 136.

No one present really knew when Pinkie went up, they just knew they heard her yell ‘Wave Pound’, and suddenly one of the stone dummies was stuck head first in the ceiling. Lex couldn’t help but allow her eye to twitch as she saw the pink party pony bounce up to the scanner, showing her score of 204.

Nate was next, the effeminate male sighing as he crossed his hands before the four containers of sand he always kept on him opened up, several litres of sand swirling around him before he launched it forwards like arrows via Sand Arrow Barrage. He hit both bullseyes on the targets and debilitating non-lethal points on the dummies. He smiled at his accuracy, his control being the main focus of his training with his magic. His score of 180 wasn’t bad either.

Swift went up next, the young mare smiled as she was scanned before extending her wings, which held several sheets of paper. She cast Red Dance at the dummies, making a cyclone of flames and red paper. She smiled at her spell, before showing her control as she made the flaming paper into a pyramid and spinning it around like a drill. Her score of 161 was better than she was expecting.

Spark marched up to the plate with a grin, knowing his control was the main thing he was practicing in since he got his magic, so he wasn’t expecting too big of a difference. Despite this, he was prepared to go all out. A wave of his hand, the red seal of his Fire magic appeared with a spew of Purple Fire. The line of dark purple fire attached onto one of the dummies without burning it, before tossing it into the air as he launched a Red Flare. The target burned and shattered, not in that order. Spark’s score of 268 surprised him, not expecting it to be over double his original score.

Next was Zen, who looked very excited to test himself, bouncing on the balls of his paws. Once he was scanned, he walked up to one of the dummies and got into his new stance. Silverish yellow magic, the colour of his aura, began to appear around his hands, before he rushed forwards with a yell of ‘Eight Trigrams: Twenty-Four Palms!’ Zen’s arms moved like a blur as he struck the wooden dummy twenty-four times within a couple seconds, each strike set to a pressure point he had been reading up on.

Lex had a big grin on her face, seeing someone use the Hyūga clan signature fighting style, Juken or Gentle Fist. She saw how studious Zen had been with his studying in his free time, this show only proving what she needed to know. His score of 192 also played into her choice.

Gilda tried to stay nonchalant as she walked up, but one could easily see the excitement in her eyes. Since beginning to hang out, and subsequently moving in, with Fluttershy, her active Ice Make magic has been getting plenty of inspiration. For the test, she decided to go all out with one of her stronger spells. She got into her stance, and slammed her talons on the ground, using Ice Make Frost Hydra to create a large ice construct of a five headed hydra that attacked the range. She smirked to herself at the spell, a smirk that just grew as her score of 231 showed itself.

Master Sergeant Azure Skies flew over, her recent promotion not leaving her mind as she prepared herself for this test. Her use of Dark Regulus has been most helpful in Luna’s Night Guard, so she had been practicing a lot lately. Once she was ready, she focused her magic into her right arm, and suddenly flew forward towards one of the stone targets, shattering the dummy with Pitch Black Punishment. Azure shook her hand as she felt the slight pain from hitting a stone target. Her score of 321 made up for the pain a bit.

Flora hopped up to the scanner next, the hen hopping on her paws as the scan finished its scan of her. Walking up, the female prepped her talons around each other before opening them, the air distorting around her as her Aerial Phose sending several wooden targets flying back. Her score of 242 was around what she was expecting.

The Element of Honesty herself was next, the farm pony cracking her knuckles as she got ready. She knew her magic could be rather destructive, especially in the build made of stone, so she went with one of her more controllable spells. She turned the stone floor into mud with her Earth Magic, before using Mud Dragon Bullet making the head of a dragon out of mud and stone, before telepathically controlling it to aim and launch blobs of mud and stone at the targets in rapid succession. She smiled and stomped her hoof on the ground, turning everything back to normal, minus the muddy and damaged targets. Her score of 280 made her smile.

The Element of Loyalty flew to the scanner just as AJ finished, determined to outdo her Earth Pony rival. Unclipping her retracted staff from her belt, and extending it, the pegasus let herself levitate in the air without flapping her wings, summoning dark storm clouds at the roof. With a wave of her staff, and a cyclone of wind, lighting and rain launched from the tip of her staff. The destruction to the dummies made her smile as Laruma decided to eat up the rest of the leftover clouds. Rainbow Dash smirked at Applejack when her score showed 281 points. Her grin was returned by the Earth mage.

Bladed Wind allowed himself a small smirk as he was scanned, before Requiping a yellow broadsword with a lighting motif, before slashing the dummy with the sound of distant thunder. The rumbling made many jumps, not expecting that from a simple sword, but Blade’s training in Sword Magic really came into play. His score of 304 showed just how much work he put in.

Star Burst held his arm out summoning his magic revolver with his Gunner Requip before using Guns Magic: Spark Shot to electrocute and shatter the crystal target, using all six shots in rapid succession for the attack. He smirked as he reloaded his gun before sending it back into his pocket dimension. His increased score of 328 made him especially happy.

The apothecary and medic of the guild, Zecora, silently walked up next. The zebra spent most of her time not on jobs making potions and herbal remedies, her Green and Plant magic making ingredients gathering a breeze. The zebra took a breath before placing her hand on the ground, her fingers extending into large roots that ripped up the ground and surrounded the target, before suddenly sprouting deadly black and blue thorns and retracting, acting like a chainsaw in the process. Many flinched at the damage done to the targets, but agreed Zecora’s score of 362 was well earned.

Trace was up next, the unicorn taking a breath as he was scanned before holding his hand out, spatial distortions visible as he gathered energy, before tossing his newer attack, Spiral Pain Grenade. The attack worked, looking like some kind of odd bubble before landing on the target and exploding with warping wind, severely damaging several dummies. His score shocked many but his teammate and guild master, 731 being an impressive display of just how strong the unicorn has become since joining the guild.

Emerald walked up with a determined march, cracking his knuckles as he was scanned, before using the Archive buff Clock Up which increased his magical output, and then summoning several screens that attacked every target once with Overload. The bursts of magic damaged all the targets to a considerable degree. His score of 602 was a little smaller than he expected, but he shouldn’t be too surprised since he spent most of his time doing financial work as opposed to the others who actively went out on quests.

Trixie walked up to the plate next, stretching her muscles as she was scanned to loosen up. Once she was, she grinned and placed her index and middle fingers on her head, summoning the red and gold spell matrix behind her for her Memory Maker magic. Forest of the Frost was a spell she developed by combining the two Ice spells Bufudyne, and Demonic Ice Mirror, along with the Great Arc of Trees spell Nativity of World of Trees. Numerous dead-looking trees made of ice appeared around the range, before shattering and the shards flew towards the targets. Trixie smiled at her spell, her impressive score of 849 just made her happier.

Spike was up next. The Emerald Dragon Slayer smirked as he got ready, igniting his hands in emerald flames, before turning up the output, green electricity sparking around him in a similar manner as Melissa. With a burst of speed, he appeared behind one of the iron dummies, punching and shattering it with his Emerald Dragon Bolt Strike. He smirked as he was scanned again his score of 925 making him smirk wider.

The Element of Magic herself was next up to bat. She took a moment to adjust her hair, having let it grow out a bit so it covered her right eye. She drew her sword and several magic runes appeared along the blade. Behind her hair, her Dark Eye glowed as an enchantment appeared on her back and she began to change, her hair being pulled into a high ponytail as an outfit of dark armor appeared around her. Dark Ecriture Absolute Shadow. She zoomed into her own shadow, before appearing behind the crystal dummy and roundhouse kicked it into pieces. 992 was her impressive score after she dispelled her enchantment.

Shining Armor stretched his neck as he was scanned next. He had commissioned several blacksmiths from the Crystal Empire to make more suits of armor and outfits for him to use with his Knight Requip, so he had plenty of choices of what to use. After a moment to think, he decided on one of the armours Lex gave him at the beginning. His Lightning Emperor Armor looks more like that of a Japanese shogun's battle armor than the priestess-like outfit of its female counterpart. He summoned the lightning spear that naturally comes with the armor, and smirked as he let loose with a large blast of lightning, shattering many of the crystal targets he aimed for. 1,493, makes sense since the room shook with a thunderclap after Shining fired his weapon.

The Princess of Love, Cadence, was up next. The Alicorn was seemingly in thought, tapping her hand on her chin, before nodding to herself. Once she was in position, she launched herself into the air with her wings and summoned several sensory blades with her Maguilty Sense magic before continually launching them with Maguilty Rays. She continued to shoot the gold sensory blades until every single target had three bullseyes. Her score popped up as 2,351, honestly not that surprising since she had been shooting for three minutes straight, even hitting some of the hidden targets Lex left around.

The former crystal king Sonbāsuta walked up with a determined smirk. He knew just what spell he was going to use. He had been practicing for a while now. Getting into his stance, he flapped his wings to send himself into the air, and targeted the range. “Crystal Make Ame-No-Nuhoko!” From his position in the air, Sonbā made a crystal naginata that struck one of the targets before going through it and hitting the floor, which quickly was covered with blue and purple crystals before said crystals rose from the ground and extended spikes to the other targets before retracting into the shape of, to some of the humans surprise, Japan.

Lex smiled warmly at the flying alicorn, knowing subconsciously that attack was for her since she mentioned multiple times her love of Japanese folklore, history and mythology. That attack was based on the legend of Izanagi and Izanami, who used said spear to create the first island of Japan where they lived. His score seemed to reflect how powerful his spell was as well, 3,341. Definitely worthy to be named after that legendary spear.

Luna gently flew up the scanner next, wanting to prove herself with her guildmates. The Princess of the Night had a determined glare on her muzzle as she flew towards the range. Once she decided she was close/far enough to the range, and warned Lex to prep the barrier seals, before gathering magic on the tip of her horn. At first, it was blue and white, twisting itself like a nebula, before she grimaced and the orb grew to three times the size while also turning black, blue and red, looking like a black hole.

Lex kept an eye on the princess, sensing she was using the more dark sided part of her magic to use this spell.

Once she was ready, Luna opened her eyes, which were pitch black, before rearing back and sending the now ten foot wide orb towards the target. Once it left her horn, the orb rapidly began to shrink before it was barely the size of a fist. It was barely an inch from the target before Luna launched another blast of magic at the orb, which then detonated into a large orb of magic, causing the sealing enchantments to flare to life at the backlash. 3,452 was the eventual score once the magical explosion generated wind died down.

Lex let herself grin, knowing this was the result of Luna accepting the darker half of herself. She wasn’t completely over her ‘Nightmare Phase’ as Lex called it, but she was healing quickly, especially without the Tantabus in her head. As a precaution, Lex had been hopping into Luna’s dreams every now and then. Most of them are rather unique landscapes where the Princess is just napping.

Sleeping in a dream. Meta.

Lex was about to announce the plan as everyone finished, but she couldn’t even get a word out as she felt several arms wrap around her and lift her to the scanner. She raised a brow at her sisters, who just grinned and raised a brow each. Her brother was the same, all conveying the same message. ‘You’re going up too.’

With a sigh and a nod, Lex telepathically told her uncle to connect to the enchantments, making sure to keep them up. The alchemist nodded as the Faekage thought about what spell to use.

‘Let’s see. I could just unlock one of my seals and use either God Slayer or Demon Slayer magic. That would be kinda boring though. Hmmm….maybe one of those spells. Yeah, those could work. Not anything about number sixty-five though….that should work.’

With a deep breath, Lex summoned a recently finished katana, and unsheathed the ocean blue blade from its golden sheath. Though she wouldn’t use it, just having the sword made this feel more authentic. She then took another breath and jumped until she was near the ceiling and right above the range and, to the confusion of the crowd, began to speak in Japanese.

“Scatter beast bones! Spire, Crimson Crystal, Steel Wheels! The wind if it moves, the sky if it stops, the tone of the spire striking fills the lone castle! Hadō #63: Raikōhō!”

From the palm of her hand, an orb of bright yellow lightning was generated, magical energy being built up during the incantation. Once it was ready, Lex released the attack at the range, the attack looking reminiscent of a lightning strike.

Edward sent his magic into the seal not a moment too soon as the attack caused a massive detonation that shook the building, the enchantments becoming visible as they held back the effect of the spell. Part of the wall closest to the spell was destroyed, letting the resulting smoke out of the room, much to the relief of the audience.

Lex landed without a scratch, rubbing her wrist to ease the soreness from the kickback of the spell. Not too much, just like one-handing a revolver. She did sweatdrop as she saw the destruction of the range similarly to her uncle's attack.

Lex let herself relax as she stepped up the scanner again. She herself was curious how much stronger she’s gotten since the last time they did the test. Her eyes widened in shock at her score though. 27,152, over double her original score, much like many others in the guild.

She honestly didn’t expect to go that high. Most of her time in the guild has been for managerial work, artwork, testing and recording new magic, and helping the members of the guild with their training.

She had only developed her Kage Bushin a couple of weeks ago, so she had been using only the regular cloning magic before then, and that has mostly been for doing one thing at a time. So most of her proper magic training had been maybe twelve hours a week prior to using Kage Bushin.

‘I guess cloning magic really is as overpowered for training as its original equivalent. Good to know.’ Lex smirked to herself at this. She used Arc of Time one last time, resetting the range, before sighing and taking a seat on the bench nearby.

“You alright sis?” Lex looked to the side as Adam offered her some water, smiling to her brother.

“I’m good, just tired. Using Arc of Time a bunch of times can be really exhausting. Not to mention that last spell.” Lex took another deep breath, turning to the crowd as many were wondering what was next.

“Alrighty then.” Everyone turned to her. “The Displaced, and those of you that already have magic, please head back to the guild. We are going to be having our party in a bit. Those of you without Fiore magic, stay here.” She turned to the guild bartender. “Zen you stay too. There is one form of magic I had recently developed that I think would be perfect for you.”

Everyone was a little confused, but most of the guild immediately listened, knowing their guild master was the best to listen to when it comes to teaching the guild. Sora, Nat, Adam and Ed raised their brows, but she just smiled and shook her head.

“Come along everyone.” Auntie Luna led Ed’s group, giving a quick hug to her niece.

“Don’t take too long sis.” Adam said with a grin, motioning for his friends to follow.

“We wanna start this party the Fairy Tail way.” Nat and Sora started with matching grins. The two Dicloni followed at the back of the pack. Lex nodded to herself before turning to the smaller group with her.

“Alrighty then. Now that all of you have seen what we can do, I am going to show you what magic each of you are going to specialize in, along with what you can do with it. Some of you will be learning from and training alongside with other members of the guild that have either the same or similar magic abilities. But first things first.

“Zen.” The Gem hound stepped up with a grin. “I noticed you have managed to make a magical version of the Juken fighting style, so this is actually perfect timing for this magic I managed to recreate.” Lex waved him forwards, before placing her hand over his eyes. “Now, this form of Eye magic will feel a little off at first, and you’ll need to learn to turn it on and off. Keep your eyes closed until I say so.”

From Lex’s hand, a bright white glow covered her hand and Zen’s eyes. Lex used her free hand to use the Archive spell Download to send the information about his new magic to Zen’s head. Though she thought he might not need it.

After about thirty seconds, Lex felt the spell finish connecting and removed her hand, seeing the veins on Zen’s cheeks leading to his eyes visibly distending. She took out a wrap of bandages and wrapped it around the canines eyes.

“Now Zen, you have to keep your eyes closed for a bit, but your eyes should have activated.” She took a step back. “Can you tell me where Maddie is?”

The members looked visibly confused as Zen nodded and turned to the group, pointing to Maddie, who was hanging out on top of her mother’s shoulders.

“Wait, how can I see her if my eyes are closed and wrapped up?” Zen questioned as he turned back to Lex, who just grinned.

“What can you see, specifically?” Lex questioned back. Zen frowned, before looking at Lex through his eyes and bandages.

“I see, blue. And red. Blue and red lines running across your body.” He turned to the crowd. “Each of you have them. There is a large blue orb at the centre of your chests and a red one on the left. There aren’t as many blue lines compared to red ones.”

“What you are seeing are the magical pathways and blood lines of the body.” He turned to Lex, who just smiled. “The blue orbs as you described are the magic containers, and the red are likely the heart. The red lines are the veins and arteries of the body. Zen, you have the magical equivalent of the Byakugan.”

“Say what.”

“The Byakugan, the first form of Eye magic I have managed to successfully develop. When I saw you studying pressure points and the Juken, I knew what you were doing, so I figured I could step up the testing for this magic. I just finished all the trials on it a few days ago.” She turned serious. “Now, like I said earlier, you are going to have to learn how to turn it on and off, so I blindfolded you so as to not overwhelm your eyes since they are more sensitive to light now. You can still see, clearly, but your sight isn’t as ‘All-Seeing’ as the Hyūga clan thinks.”

“Right. There’s a blind spot right at the back of my head.” He replied. “So I have, what, 340 degree vision?”

“Pretty much yeah. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t get rid of that little niche in the magic.” Lex was a little put off by the fact she couldn’t get rid of that weakness, but figured everything needed some kind of weakness. With a soft hand, Lex led the gem hound to the bench. “While I am teaching others their magic, you can practice turning your eyes on and off.”

“Sure thing. Gives me something to do before the party.” He replied before going cross legged, palms up and meditating. Lex nodded before turning to the waiting members of the guild.

“Ok! First up, Luna.” The princess stepped forwards. “Your magic I figured out during the first exam, but I needed time to figure out how to unlock it. After some time, and an admittedly scary encounter, I managed to get access to your magic.” Luna looked excited. Lex smirked back and dug into her backpack that she brought with her that had an enlarging enchantment, essentially making it into a bag of holdings. After rooting around for a minute, she found what she was looking for.

Luna was excited, then confused as Lex brought out a square dark blue pouch, before opening it up and taking out a key ring. There were two gold keys, four silver keys, and three bronze keys.

“Here we are. I knew they were in there somewhere.” Lex muttered before handing the pouch and keys to the confused princess. “These, Luna, are what are known as Celestial Keys. You are the Princess of the Moon and Night, so it would only be natural you have a magic that connects to the other part of the night, the stars. These keys allow you to summon beings known as Celestial Spirits to your side to aid you in battle, as well as lets you have access to several powerful spells.”

She motioned to the golden keys. “The golden keys summon the spirits of the Zodiac. There are twelve in total, and are considered among the strongest around. Right now, you have access to Leo the Lion, and Ares the Ram.”

She pointed to the silver keys. “The silver keys summon some of the lesser spirits. While they are weaker than the zodiac spirits, they can hold their own and have their own unique abilities. You have Crux the Southern Cross, Polaris the Bear Cub, Caelum the Chisel and Nikora the Canis Minor.”

“Finally the Bronze keys summon ‘spirits’ that aren’t actually sentient beings, but rather tools and weapons. Since they aren’t actually living beings they don’t cost as much magic to summon them, but they also can’t act on their own, so it will be up to you to use them to their fullest potential. I didn’t actually know they existed till I had a talk about Celestial magic with Grandpa Crux. You have the Gate of the Revolver, the Gate of the Spear, and the Gate of the Scimitar.

Now, I want you to summon Leo.” Luna raised a brow, but listened as she took the key off the ring and held it out. While she was explaining, Lex had sent the summoning phrases into Luna’s head.

“I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirit! Now! O Spirit, answer my call and pass through the Gate!

Open, Gate of the Lion! Leo!”

DING DONG

Below Luna a gold spell matrix appeared, before another appeared before her, and golden particles began to appear. Quickly the particles came together and took form.

Leo looked like a very handsome twenty-something year old human at first, with spiky orange hair, two spikes having the patterns of ears, and hazel eyes. He was wearing a very elegant black suit with the jacket being unbuttoned that showed his white dress shirt and red tie. He was also wearing a pair of blue tinted sunglasses and three gold rings on each hand.

“Well now, this is a surprise. I honestly thought old Crux was joking when he said someone managed to create the bridge.” Leo said as he looked over the crowd with a grin.

“Hey Leo. Good to see you.” Lex greeted with a smile, earning one back.

“You must be Lex right? Crux told us about you.” The lion spirit greeted back.

“Yup, that’s me. And this is Luna, the guilds new Celestial mage.” Lex introduced the stunned princess.

“Well, pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He took Luna's hand and kissed it formally, making the princess sigh.

“It is great to meet you as well, Sir Leo. But, please don’t act so formal around me. I get enough of that at home.” Leo raised a brow at that. “I am an actual princess. More accurately the Princess of the Night.”

“Really now? Well Virgo is going to love you.” Leo replied with a grin, before rubbing his shoulders. “Well, if you want, I can go over the basics of Celestial wizardry with you while your friends do whatever it is you’re doing.”

“That would be most appreciated Leo.” Lex replied with a grin before turning to Luna. “Luna, I want you to go with Leo as he explains the basics. Tomorrow you will be making the contracts with your spirits, and after that I will be teaching you some of the spells you can use.”

“Perfect! This will be most fun.” Luna exclaimed enthusiastically. Lex smiled as the alicorn led the lion out to another room, while she turned back to the crowd, who looked shocked at the magic that was just shown to Luna.

“Ok, now that that is done. Aspen.” The large Abyssian stepped up after placing Maddie on the ground. “What I have in mind for you, is a lot like Cadence’s magic in that it is a form of Lost Magic. This magic, as I explained before, requires a certain amount of discipline and training so as to not suffer from the side effects.

What I am going to teach you is a form of nature magic called the Great Arc of Trees.” The feline looked intrigued, but got serious as Lex didn’t smile or anything. “This magic is far more powerful than Zecora’s Green or Plant magic. It focuses on the control and manipulation of the power of the trees. You can summon trees to control and battle opponents.

Additionally it allows the user to have a firm connection with the earth, and use the earth's natural power through either the caster, or a type of ‘fruit’ the trees produce. Most of the effects are very….explosive, in nature.” Lex took a breath before turning to the range. She raised a hand, and the ground began to rumble as a large swirling tree grew right next to the human.

“Bleve.” From the tree, many sparkling yellow orbs appeared, before flying towards the targets. Once they made contact, they detonated, causing many to brace themselves from the resulting wind. Aspen didn’t budge an inch, just standing with her arms crossed as she saw the effects of her new magic.

‘Definitely going to need a lot of practice.’ She thought to herself as she nodded to Lex, who motioned back to the benches.

“Cobalt, you’re next.” The towering Minotaur walked up with a grin. “Now, the magic I have in minds for you is actually one that works with your strengths in weapons and metalworking. Iron Maker magic.

Like Sonbā and Gilda’s Crystal and Ice Maker magics, Iron maker lets you give your magical energy tangible form, in the form of iron. You can create weapons, barriers, traps, basically anything you can think of. It is all up to your imagination and skills.” Lex turned back to the range again.

“Iron Make Barb Shots!” From the spell matrix’s around Lex, iron barbs the size of her arms flew out and stuck to several targets, turning them into large pincushions.

The soon-to-be Iron Mage nodded, remembering all the things the alicorn stallion and griffon hen made with their maker magic. He was visibly excited as he made his way back to the group.

“Dawn.” The pegasus seemingly teleported next to the Faekage, who didn’t seem surprised at all. “The magic I will be teaching is a little more nuanced than your Gale King fighting style, but I think it should fit perfectly for you. It’s called Airspace magic.

This magic is invisible, so opponents won’t actually be able to see it. It revolves around manipulating the airspace for offensive, defensive and supportive spells, like teleportation.” Lex looked back to the range and raised her hands, twisting them slowly. To all but Lex’s eyes, there was nothing, but to the human there was visible distortions near her hands and the targets.

“Airspace Zetsu.” Around the targets, the air turned visibly purple before detonating only a second later, causing many to jump at the suddenness of the attack. Dawn looked nonplussed, so it was hard to gauge his excitement about learning this new magic.

It was about the same as when he learned he was staying with Gilda and Fluttershy. Content.

The colt nodded to his Faekage and zoomed back to his seat, not even reacting as many jumped at his sudden appearance. Lex looked over her list via Archive and nodded to herself again.

“Maddie.” Again Lex didn’t react when the Abyssian kitten suddenly jumped out from behind her. “Your magic is a fair bit more dangerous than most, and also requires a certain amount of discipline. But I think you can handle it if you work alongside your mom. The magic is called Terrain Effect magic.

As the name implies, it revolves around altering a certain area and making it into a specific effect. For example.” Lex turned to the range and placed her hands on the ground. “Iceberg Zone!” Around the range several large spires of ice appeared, creating something of a wall of icebergs, while below the range far more ice appeared. “Now clearly this magic is dangerous as it can change the terrain into a number of different ‘zones’, all with unique effects, many of them borderline deadly.” Lex turned back to the frozen range.

“Scorching Wind Zone!” The ice began to melt rapidly as the burning wind swept over the area. The crowd definitely felt the heat, making them know it was easily enough to burn someone. Once all the ice had evaporated, Lex turned to Maddie with a serious look in her eyes. Maddie just nodded, knowing she had a lot of work ahead of her

“Kat.” The hybrid walked up, a curious look in her eyes. “This was actually a tough one. You have just recently recovered, but despite that, I think I know what magic would be perfect for you.

To put it bluntly, you’re something of an untapped prodigy. I saw how much work you have been putting yourself through to catch up to everyone else. Physically, mentally and magically. You seem to be able to retain information to an incredible degree, and the doctors and I have noticed you have an abnormally large magic container. Much more than some unicorns your age.

So, I think these forms of magic would be perfect for you. But first.” Lex reached to the air next to her, her hand disappearing into a black void before pulling back with something in hand. It was a katana. The blade was sheathed in an emerald green Saya sheath with pale purple wrappings. “Take this.”

The hybrid took the blade cautiously, looking at it was an intrigued eye. Lex nodded to her, and Kat unsheathed the sword. It was beautifully made, clearly not something that Lex just made or a whim.

Kat’s eyes widened as the sword seemed to glow before it began to change colour from the handle up. The blade went from original grey/silver, to a deep white, then clear lemon yellow, then emerald green. It seemed to alternate between these three colours, before seeming to stabilize. The back of the blade took on the emerald shade, while the blade itself was white and the center was yellow. The three colours seemed to fade into one another so seamlessly, it was near impossible to tell where one colour stopped and another began.

Kathrine looked to Lex with a confused look, while Lex just looked over the sword with a critical gaze. “White, emerald green and a bit of yellow. Interesting. That aura enchantment I placed on it during forging is interesting.” Lex turned back to Kat as the hybrid sheathed her new sword. “Anyways, I want you to try and learn swordsmanship with this katana. It will give you more options than just spamming spells. Plus, I believe you can pull it off.

Now, for magic, we are going to be working together for this. I am going to be personally teaching you how to use a group of magic referred to as Kido. It is separated into five separate disciplines. Bakudō which are binding and battle support spells, Hadō which are destructive offensive spells for direct attacks, and Kekkai & Fu which are barriers and seals respectively. And finally Kaidou, which is mostly healing spells.

That attack I showed during the exam was a Hadō spell. Hadō and Bakudō spells are numbered based on difficulty and strength. But don’t think that #99 is the most powerful. With enough training and mastery, even #1 could become more powerful than the last ones. Each spell requires an incantation to focus through at first, similarly to how we all call out our attacks, though eventually with enough training one can learn how to cast without an incantation, though there is a decrease in strength. Through a bunch of tests, I found that saying the incantations in Japanese makes them much easier to control than trying to say them in English or Latin or whatever. So, you are also going to be working on mastering the Japanese language.

I know this seems like a lot but-”

“I can do it.” Lex looked at Kat with a raised brow, seeing the hybrid's determined glare. “This may be a lot, but I know I can do this. I am going to catch up and surpass my guild mates. So I won’t ever be weak again.” Lex smiled at the fire in her eyes, knowing Kat would be doing everything she could to master her new magic.

The hybrid walked back to the group, keeping a firm hand on her new blade, while Lex went through the Archive lists again.

“Red.” The earth pony walked up with a grin. “The magic I am going to be teaching you is a little destructive, but it seems to fit with your personality. You’ll be learning Explosion magic.”

“Seriously, that’s a type of magic?” Red stated with a deadpan, quickly learning how diverse the guilds magic is.

“Yup. Though it is more complex than you’d think. Firstly, the magic allows you to make different types of explosions, clearly. For example.” Lex turned to the range. “Explosion Spiral!” In the range, the air began to distort, before quickly igniting into a spiraling explosion that sent many of the audience back. “With Explosion magic you can use it for long range, short range, and even support spells with remote detonating spells. You can even set traps. Like this.”

“Exploding Mine!” Several gold circles appeared around the area, which many were weary of. Lex quickly made a Kage Bushin, who sighed and walked onto one of the mines, causing it to explode and the clone to poof out of existence. “Now, since this magic is very dangerous, the first thing I am going to have you practice is controlling the power of the explosion. I personally separate them into levels ranging from C1 to C10. The last of which I used well beyond the badlands and….let’s just say there is a surplus of glass over there now.”

“I was wondering why there was a report of a small earthquake near the Badlands guard outpost.” Luna piped up from the crowd, having finished talking with Leo for the moment.

With a final nod, the earth pony made his way back to the audience, taking out a notebook to write a ‘workout plan’ of sorts for his magic training. Lex waved the next member over, who was Sythe.

“Now Sythe. From what you have told me in the info sheets that you are knowledgeable in spear and knife fighting. You also studied to be a, uh, political advisor.” Lex reflexively shivered as she remembered several ‘nobles’ she’s had to deal with. “So, I plan on you learning both Archive and Blade Requip magic. The former so you can help me with dealings with politicians and business partners.

The latter I think would be handy for you since I know you have a collection of knives in your flat.” The canine had the decency to look surprised at his boss's knowledge. “Plus I can commission and give you some other blades that have elemental properties. Just don’t overdo it. Archive can really give you a headache if you’re not ready for it.” Sythe nodded and headed back to the group.

“Adria, you’re up.” The elder Riftwall walked up with a curious gaze. “So, what I have in mind is actually three different forms of magic, but two are technically related in that they are the same element. Water Maker magic, Aqua Aera, and finally Transport magic.

The first is fairly simple. Like Sonbā, Gilda, and Cobalt, your maker magic is only limited to your imagination and skills. However a few unique nuances of Water Maker magic, is the ability to control most liquids and alter them, so long as they have water in them. For example, the water mage Juvia Lockser was able to use Water Maker magic to move, manipulate and change her blood to match Grey Fullbusters when he needed an emergency transfusion. This will be most helpful for you I think when you’re working behind the bar with Zen, even if it is just for tricks.”

Lex took a breath as she got into her maker stance, again. “Water Make Bleach Blade!” In Lex’s hand water began to form, before its chemical makeup changed from simple H2O, into bleach. Adria nodded, thinking about how useful this magic would be for laundry. Lex tossed the bleach blade away before continuing.

“Aqua Aera is a special magic in that it allows the user to warp between dimensions to go very far distances near instantly. The only requirement is the medium of water being present. With this you can go back and forth between the guild and your families tavern if you ever want to talk to your family or if they want to visit or something.

The last magic I am going to teach you is specifically for emergencies. It’s called Transport, and it is similar to Requip magic in that it allows you to access a personal pocket dimension. However instead of tools, or weapons, Transport Magic lets you capture and contain People. When ‘captured’ the individual's presence is completely erased so they can hide, and you can carry as many people as you want in your pocket dimension. I am teaching you this just in case there is a major threat to the guild, the town, or your tavern, so you can grab everyone and use Aqua Aera to evacuate.”

Lex's eyes turned serious, into a glare that Adria has had on her own face several times. “I am trusting you to not just help the innocents of the guild, or the town, but I am trusting you, as a mother, to take the kids and run, if something seriously bad comes our way.”

“You don’t even need to ask.” Adria replied, smiling reassuringly at Lex. The Faekage nodded with a smile as Adria went back to the group. Some were surprised by the sudden turn during the Abyssians turn up, but many had the same thought.

‘Hell hath no fury greater than a mother scorned.’

“Exceeds. You four, fly up here.” The quartets of felines flew up, wondering what was next for them. “Now, you four will clearly be training with and alongside Echo as she has the most experience in both Aera magic, which is letting you fly, and Transformation magic, which you have seen her use to make her Neko form. Echo had begun training in Wind magic not long before she ran into you four and Kat, so she won’t be able to work with you all the time.

For individual magics, Gil, I am going to have you working alongside Reni and Cobalt in using Gold maker magic. I don’t think I have to explain that magic at this point.” Lex went back into her stance. “Gold Make Battleaxe!” The golden axe appeared and sliced through one of the targets with ease, before Lex destroyed it.

“Gotcha.” The sandy Exceed nodded, excited for the chance to use magic besides his wings.

“Marnie, I am going to have you both working with Zecora in learning Green magic, but I am also going to have you learn Healing and Support magic to help during fights. Call it intuition, but I can tell you aren’t one to be on the front lines of a fight.”

“Correct. I won’t let you down Lex.” The green feline replied, mentally going over some books she plans on reading after all this is over with.

“Joy, you’re going to be working with me and Spark in learning Rainbow Beam magic. It is similar to Spark’s Rainbow Fire magic, but it is technically a form of Light based magic as opposed to fire, so you’ll be working with me most of the time.” To show this, Lex simply whipped out her arm, rainbow light appearing around it as she launched it forwards like a bullet, which tore through a target.

The pink Exceed, if she wasn’t flying, would be bouncing in excitement at being able to learn how to use this magic.

“And finally, Saya. What I have in mind for you is mostly a form of non-dangerous magic called Wool magic. It allows you to summon large puffs of wool in either solid or gaseous form. The wool is mostly for entanglement, defence and distractions. The wool is stupidly comfortable so anyone who gets caught will reflexively relax and get distracted so you or your teammates can use more offensive spells afterwards.”

“Mini Wool Shot!” Lex smirked as she sent the small ball of blue wool at the floating maroon kitten, causing her to blink before she was covered by the comfy wool.

“Woah, this is, so nice.” Saya muttered lethargically, shifting and snuggling into the wool, letting herself rest in the ball of floating wool. Everyone was surprised by the effectiveness of the wool.

Lex grinned as Marnie led Saya back to the group, the youngest Exceed now sleeping on the cloud of wool.

“Capper, you’re up.” The tomcat walked up with a grin, wondering what he could use. “Now, what I have in mind for you is actually a few forms of magic. I have had you working to set up my information network, but sometimes I might need someone to look in on things of a more….morally questionable nature, even if it is just to make sure there are no serious threats to the guild and Equestria. So for that, I am going to be teaching you Shadow magic, Stealth magic, Transformation magic and Teleportation magic.

Shadow magic is fairly simple when you know how to use it, it’s actually the first magic you saw me use.” Capper nodded, remembering her swiping his bit pouch. “Not only can you control shadows, you can also use it for a multitude of attacks, make shadow barriers, and even travel quickly via shadows.” Lex looked over the range and chose her targets. “Snake Shadow!” Multiple snakes made of shadows jumped out of her own shadow and bit into the targets multiple times, before swinging them around.

“Stealth magic is easily one of my more useful magics, and I pray you don’t misuse it.” Lex glared at the tomcat, who just raised his paws in defence. He then blinked, and Lex was gone. The audience looked around as well, not knowing where she went. “Stealth magic allows you to erase your presence completely and utterly. Sight, hearing, smell, everything that shows you are somewhere. ” Everyone looked up as Lex used her Gravity Change to make it so she was sitting on the ceiling. “Not only is this great for espionage, it allows you to see things that are invisible to normal eyes and even make items you want to carry invisible, though the latter will make it invisible to you as well.”

Suddenly Lex began to blur before she was suddenly back on the ground again. “You’ve seen me use Teleportation magic countless times, and you have experienced it with the seal by the entrance, so I don’t think I really need to explain it to you at this point. Finally you will be learning Transformation magic just in case you run into someone who only works with another of their species like some unicorns up in Canterlot.” Capper nodded, knowing many ‘nobles’ would get on his case for simply being an Abyssian so using Transformation magic would be perfect for blending into the crowd.

Lex nodded to herself, taking a breath as she felt the strain from showing all the different forms of magic begin to affect her. Luckily she only had a half dozen more members to go through. She took another breath before turning to the crowd.

“Violet, come here for a sec.” The earth pony mare stepped with a raised brow. “So, for you, I actually have a form of magic that is more complex than you think. It’s called Aroma magic. It allows you to release different forms of gas that have different effects, such as poisoning, causing hallucinations, healing and numbing pain, even increasing one’s strength and speed. Like this.” Lex grinned as she raised her hand to Violet's face. “Knockout Aroma.” A quick spurt of bluish gas hit the mare in the face, almost immediately causing her eyes to droop before Lex caught her. “Awakening Aroma.” Another burst of a slightly different blue cloud made the mare’s eyes snap open as she saw she was in Lex’s arms.

“Ok not going to lie. That is going to come in very handy incase any of my exes come by.” Violet stated as she righted herself. Lex gave a slight grin at the mare's own mischievous smirk.

“Verdant.” The teenage mare hopped up with an excited smirk. “What I am going to have you learning and training with Zecora on is a form of magic called, I kid you not, Vegetable magic.” The mare's eyes turned wide before narrowing. “Yeah, I know. Really specific. Though it does allow you to use some forms of fruit, so not really accurate, but I digress.

Anyways, in the info sheet I gave you, you said that you and your mom were in charge of growing most of the produce for your guys' tavern, so I figured this would be perfect. The veggies are technically edible, but they don’t have any nutritional value and taste super bland, so don’t use them for cooking. But they are very strong and oddly good for fighting with.”

With a grin, Lex ran up and jumped above one of the targets. “Smashing Pumpkin!” From the seal in Lex’s hands, a large jack-o-lantern shaped pumpkin appeared which smashed the target into the ground with enough force to crack the stone flooring. Lex then jumped back and used another spell. “Carrot Missiles!” Several sharp carrots were launched through the spell and hit many targets, embedding themselves deep into the hit spots.

Verdant looked with wide eyes, clearly not expecting simple fruits and vegetables to be able to do so much damage. Lex grinned at her expression, and took a breath as Verdant headed back to the crowd.

“Maeve.” The youngest Abyssian perked up but didn’t leave her mothers side. She liked Lex, but didn’t like crowds still. Lex didn’t mind that, walking up to the kitten. “So, the magic I have in mind for you actually has to do with your love of swimming and digging. Earth magic, more specifically a type called Diver magic.

It allows you to dig holes and tunnels through the ground extremely fast, and even move through the dirt and stone like you are swimming. Not only that, but I am going to have you working with Applejack to use Earth magic spells. Like this.”

Without actually moving, a matrix appeared below Lex before, with the sounds of a jackhammer, she dug into the ground. Lex tunneled through the ground below as though she was swimming through a pool before appearing in the wall nearby. “Spica Lock!” Nearby stone debris from the broken targets began to float into the air before converging on a single target, trapping and crushing it.

The little kitten looked at the spell with awe, wondering if she could be that awesome as to use magic like that.

“Bertha.” The only other Minotaur in the guild walked up with a tilted her head. “What I have for you is similar to Gilda’s magic, but not exactly the same. Standard Ice magic, not Ice Maker magic.

You mentioned your love of winter and all the things that go with it, so this magic I think is perfect. Ice magic allows you to supercool the water particles in the air, as well as any at the time existing water into ice for spells. It is a little more restricted than Maker magic, but it does have its benefits.

Now, many of the spells are similar to Maker magic in nature, but they are their own thing.” Lex turned to the range again and took a breath, before getting into an odd stance, crossing her legs over themselves like she was doing a curtsy. “Thousand Frozen Petals.” All around Lex, the air turned cold, forming many flower petals made of ice, before they spun around the Faekage, creating a cyclone of blue ice petals, before they rained down on the range, many petals hitting with the force of a rifle bullet.

Bertha went wide eyed, not expecting the power of simple ice that was so small as opposed to Gilda’s Ice creations.

Lex took a deep breath, feeling just how low her magic reserves are. She knew this would take a lot, but not this much. Luckily she only had the ones she was most prepared for next.

“Girls, come here please.” The ‘Fairy Heirs’ as they had begun to be called walked over to their mother, excitement brimming in their young eyes. Lex smiled, before sighing as she dug into her bag again.

The trio looked curiously at the bag before Lex released a small cheer as she pulled out four things….well, technically two since the first three were the same things.

The first were necklaces with magatama beads, three on each side of a larger one at the centre of each, which had a faint glow. While they looked simple, having spent so much time with their mother taught them that these necklaces were not normal jewellery.

The other thing was a leather holder full of magic cards. The small belt attached to it was clearly meant to wrap around either a person's waist or their thighs if wanted. Lex smiled and crouched down to her daughter's level.

“Now, you three will be learning not only a personal magic that I want you to use more often than not, but, I am also going to have you three gain and learn a form of Lost magic.” The human held up the three necklaces. Without needing to prompt, the trio reached forwards, grabbing one of the necklaces each that felt right to them, green for Arakunia, orange and red for Amaterasu and dark pale purple for Unmei. Lex nodded to herself as the trio looked at their new accessories.

“Those aren’t just to show you three. You may remember when Kairi came over the first time, I gave her access to Shadow Dragon Slayer magic via a lacrima implanted in her.” They nodded. “Well, this is similar to that, only it isn’t painful. Those rosary beads are actually a lacrima I managed to remake to make them more stylish.

Instead of giving you access to the magic right away, and causing severe pain from the implantation, these necklaces will slowly merge the magic inside of them over a short amount of time. This way you will have more time to study and practice with your other magic as the lacrima increases your reserves and allows access to the magic.”

“Um, mom?” I looked at Ammy, who looked a little curious. “You keep dancing around it. What type of magic is in these lacrima?”

“I’m glad you asked. As my daughters, I figured I would give you guys a form of magic that is very powerful, but requires a certain level of discipline. Slayer magic.”

“Like Spike and the others?” Arakunia added with an excited buzz of her wings.

“Yes and no. See Spike and the other dragons are what we could call Generation Zero Dragon Slayers. Their magic is mostly for fighting against dragons and since they are creating their magic from scratch. What you three have is Slayer magic, but it isn’t dragon slayer. It’s something a little more….divine and destructive.

What these lacrima will do is make you three First Generation God Slayers.” That made their eyes snap open and their jaws drop. “Yeah, big title right. Anyways since you are gaining the magic from a lacrima, that would normally make you a Second Generation, but since the magic itself is fusing with your magic containers as opposed to having a lacrima implanted in you, it makes you three, technically, First Generation.

Now, like I said before, Slayer magic, particularly God Slayer magic is very difficult to control. It is more directly tied to your emotions than nearly any other form of magic so you three will be working with me personally on it when the merger is complete.”

“What’s our elements?” Mei questioned telepathically, now rolling the bead in her hand where it rested around her neck. Lex smiled and pointed to Mei, then Ammy and then Kuna in turn.

“Ocean God Slayer. Earth God Slayer. Sky God Slayer.” Lex smiled as the trio looked to one another, then their necklaces. “Now, like I said, it is going to take some time for the magic to stabilize internally, so for the time being you three will also be learning another form of magic.

Mei, you already have Telepathy, but I wanted to give you these after seeing how great you are with fortune telling.” The kirin took the pack of cards and looked through them with wide eyes. “Card magic is incredibly diverse. It includes not just tarot cards which have their own effects, but also elemental, utility and summoning cards. What’s unique is you can mix and match your cards for different spells, instead of simply using singular card effects.” Lex showed an example by summoning three cards for herself.

“Lightning, Reverse Tower, Lovers! Bane of Lightning!” From the cards several powerful arcs of lightning burst forth, striking and burning many targets at once. Mei looked extremely excited, looking over all the cards in her new deck.

“Oh oh, me next!” Ammy bounced up, the canine barley keeping her body still. Though her tail was another story as it whipped back and forth quickly. Lex smiled at her canine daughter.

“Ammy, what I have in mind for your other magic could be seen as the opposite of it.” The puppy stopped her tail wagging and tilted her head. “It’s a form of Spacial magic called Territory. It allows you to manipulate space itself for a multitude of tricks. You can cause spacial explosions, make gateways, teleport, make shields and a bunch of other stuff.

One of its most useful tricks is the ability to switch places with someone instantly. Like this.” Ammy blinked, and the next second her mother was gone and Capper was standing in her place. The Abyssian and Gem Hound looked around in confusion before hearing someone clearing their throat, and turning to see Lex sitting in Cappers spot on the bench nearby. A second later, Capper and Lex switched again. “Handy right?”

The canine nodded quickly, wanting to start immediately. She calmed herself though, going over to her eldest sister and smiled as Lex moved over to the only changeling in the guild.

“Kuna, what I have for you is actually rather tricky to use. It’s called Thread magic. It lets you shoot thread, similar to that of a spider, from the seal to entangle the opponent. Nothing too dangerous on its own, but, what I recently discovered is you can change the makeup of the webs to have different effects.” Arakunia looked very intrigued.

Lex turned to the range again, and summoned a pale gold spell seal, which launched several thick strands of webbing. The changeling nodded to herself at the example of the regular magic. Lex then smirked and waved her hand, thin strands of webbing appearing at her fingertips. “Steel Thread.” With a wave of hand the threads flew through the air and sliced through the nearby stone target like a knife through butter. “Electro Thread.” Another seal and a yellowish web flew towards the target, before Lex flicked her wrist and multiple arcs of electricity ran up the webs.

The changeling looked with wide eyes, before calming herself and showing a maturity above her years, by just nodding with a thoughtful expression before heading over to her sisters.

Lex took one last breath, wiping some sweat from her brow, before smiling to the group. Many nodded to her, knowing what was next for them. With a smile, Lex opened a couple of Archive screens and tapped a couple commands. After another nod to herself and the crowd, Lex pressed the enter button, ignoring the headache it gave her as several progress bars appeared above the newer members' heads.

Once all the progress bars finished, Lex stumbled a bit before Leo caught her. She was surprised that the lion was still here and not back in the Celestial World. Luna just smirked at her new partner. Lex nodded in thanks to the human-looking spirit as she got her breath back.

“Alright. Now that we’re all done, time to head home. Hopefully the others haven’t either robbed the bar or destroyed the pantry yet.” Lex said with a grin, leading the crowd out the door and back to the teleporter.

‘This was fun. And things are only going to get crazier.’

Chapter 33: Party Time! Fairy Tail Style!

View Online

The crowd of newly minted mages smiled as they made their way back to the guild, already seeing that the building is luckily intact. Lex in particular was half expecting the large building to be shaking from a fight, what with her luck and how Fairy Tail can be.

The crowd entered the guild, watching as the current members and Displaced all hung around one another, spotting Flora and Nate manning the bar in Zen and Adria’s absence. The duo took the position as Lex hugged her Displaced family before teleporting to the second floor, sitting on the railing with her legs crossed.

“Now then. Now that we are all gathered, it is time to announce who will be getting a promotion to their next rank, as well as the ranks of the recently tested members.” She turns to the Displaced. “The Displaced have their own rank and title, Displaced obviously, which is equal to that of an S-Class wizard. Any objections to this rule?” No one raised a fuss, knowing just how strong the other dimensional beings are.

“Now then, let’s see here. We are going to start with the newer members and where they are ranked. The new Genin mages of the Guild are; Maeve Riftwall, Arakunia, Amaterasu Shiranui, Unmei Gaidancu, Saya Source, Joy Fleese, Marnie Daisy, Gilded Breeze, Bertha Will, and Verdant Tavernda.” Lex allowed the guild to applaud the new youngsters, officially, to the guild as mages.

“The new Chunin mages of the guild are; Capper Dapperpaws, Violet Tavernda, Adria Riftwall, Sythe Slain, Willow Wisp, Scarlet March, Madness Marigold, Kathrine Spot, and Dawn Lightwing.” Bigger applause as there are more people clapping.

“The new Jounin mages of the guild are; Amber, Aspen Marigold, Reni, Cobalt Will, Fizzle, and Laruma.” Even more clapping with more people! Lex smiled before looking back to her Archive list floating next to her.

“There are no new Kage or Rai mages as of yet, but I just know that will change during the next examination. So with that out of the way, the following mages have been promoted from Genin to Chunin; Raine Jewel, Fluttershy, Rarity Belle, Echo, Silk Song, Swift Service, Nate Quartz, and finally Pinkie Pie.

The Chunin who have now been promoted to Jounin are; Bladed Wind, Azure Skies, Star Burst, and Zecora.

Jounin Promotions to Kage are as follows; Emerald Blizzard, Legacy Tracer, and Trixie Lulamoon. Finally, there are no promotions to Rai.” Lex smiled as everyone cheered, now being able to enjoy their new ranks and such.

“Now that all the boring stuff is out of the way, what do you guys say we show these Newbies how Fairy Tail party’s!” The cheers were near deafening, making Lex glad she had a clone put Yoru to sleep in her room and soundproofed it. “For those who are feeling up for it,” Lex pointed to the stage near the back, where many now noticed several clones of Lex setting up instruments, microphones and stage lights. “Who wants to have some karaoke in the guild hall!”

“Hell yeah!” Nat and Sora yelled out. Adam smirked wide as he saw Lex had an electric guitar and amp set up as well. Ed and his group all cheered as well. Lex smirked as a few of her clones popped, before Lex raised her hand, index finger up.

“Alright Fairy Tail! Let’s party!”

Adam POV

“Cheers!” I smiled as I took a long swig of some cider Zen brought my table, watching as my friends, new and old, all took their own drinks. At least most of them.

Like she had asked for before, Yang was at the bar with a fancy glass that had a Strawberry Sunrise in it, complete with the tiny umbrella. The blond had a near visible aura that said she wanted to be left alone for a while, so I managed to convince the others to give her some space and to mingle with the guild. It wasn’t that hard, especially for RWB to leave their Y alone for a bit.

The long table I was at was full of cheer as everyone got to have fun with one another. Neo was signing to the dragons, Reni, Laruma and Amber, about some of her ‘adventures’ in our timeline. They seemed interested, mostly Laruma, about some of the grimm and huntsman she had faced prior to our Displacement.

Ruby had a big smile on her face as she talked to Bladed Wind, Star Burst, Sythe and Shining about their weapons and armor, taking the chance to show off Crescent Rose to this world's ponies.

Pyrrha was talking with Aspen about her team as well as names for her dragon when it hatched. Speaking of, Weiss was one of the few not drinking and instead was playing with Boreas along with Penny, who kept stopping to check her own egg.

Blake was kinda off to the side, talking with Kathrine and Willow while purposefully avoiding eye contact with any of the canines in the room. At least she was talking with people instead of actually all, as Ruby so aptly put it, Blake-y.

I took another swig of some whiskey I got. I don’t know what they do here, but this was a hell of a lot better than the crap Qrow let me drink when we met a few months back. Good thing aura apparently burns off alcohol influence very quickly depending on how much you have. I am tempted to go out with Qrow and see how much I can take since I have nearly as much Aura as Jaune did according to Pyrrha.

“Hey Adam.” I turned to Polearm as he shimmied over on the bench. “Once you’re finished, wanna head back and have a spar?” I raised a brow as I took another sip. “I saw how high you scored during the MPF, but I know you are more of a swordsman than a mage, so I wanna see how good you are.”

“Really now? I suppose I could use a good fight. I’ve been pretty chill today.” I replied, downing the rest of my drink and slamming it down with a sigh, unconsciously getting the others attention. “How do you wanna do this?”

“No holds barred? I wanna see you at your best.” Was Polearms reply as he slammed his own drink down. I grinned and nodded, extending Ember Celica around my wrists.

“Let’s do this.” I turned to the others who looked curious and a little concerned. “Pole and I are going to go have a spar in the back. Anyone wanna come?”

“I wanna watch.” Ruby stated, sipping the last of her milkshake.

“I suppose it could be interesting to see you go all out.” Weiss added, giving Boreas an apple slice.

“You know I am coming with.” Penny stated, Neo nodded in her head next to her. “What about you Pyrrha?”

“No thank you. I think I’ll just relax here in the guild.” The Amazon declined before walking up and heading to the bar. I shrugged as she left.

“You think I could join in?” Shining Armor questioned. I glanced to Polearm, who shrugged and nodded. “Thanks. Wanna come watch Caddy?” The pink alicorn nodded, quickly drinking the last of her own mug. I glanced towards Blake, who was now talking to Nat, and then to Yang, who was calmly just eating a wrap.

“Let’s go guys.” The group all nodded and we made our way to the door. This should be a fun time killer.

I wonder how strong Polearm and Shining Armor are?

Eight Minutes Forty-Seven Seconds Later...

’Hooooly crap!’

That was all I could think before I was forced to dodged a bolt of lightning coming from the Lightning Emperor clad Shining, then raised my sword to parry a very fast slash from Polearm’s own blade.

We had only been fighting for a few minutes but already I knew I screwed up by not taking them seriously from the get go, so I am stuck on the defensive and playing catch up. I started going all out barely a minute ago, and so did the other two, as Shining finally requiped armor and Polearm seemed to suddenly get faster.

I narrowed my eyes as I began to fall into my battle mentality, whipping my blade out and returning it like a viper strike, deflecting many of Shining projectiles, before backflipping away from Polearm. I landed and went on the attack, using my still superior speed to slash and try and break Polearm’s guard. I had to disengage as Shining came in with his spear to try and stab and/or shock us.

I am not sure how long the three of us went back and forth in this spar of ours. But I do know I needed my aura when Pole managed to land a strike on my back and Shining managed to burn me once. Likewise Shining was forced to change armours at least three times to defend himself while Pole was in a firm stance and got a few hits here and there.

Before long though, there was a loud ringing that brought our attention to the crowd watching. Penny was holding out her scroll, which had a timer and the aura metre that we were using to decide who wins.

“And the winner is....no one! It’s a tie!” Penny cheered, but that just made me and guys slump as we saw the metre was at the same for all of us.

“Damn it I was hoping to win.” Shining muttered, Requipping back into his casual clothes while Pole sheathed his sword. I sighed and picked up my spent shotgun shells. I didn’t need my sister getting on my case for leaving ammo around where the kids could grab them by mistake.

I nodded thanks to Weiss as she passed water to each of us while we made our way back into the guild. I could hear some of the members on the stage, making me smile as I heard the cheer coming from the building.

I saw Rarity walking off the stage as the guild clapped for the unicorn, but I noticed she looked a little disappointed. I couldn’t really see what or who she was staring at as she walked away to her friends, but I hope things work out for her.

“Oh oh, Adam!” I turned to my girlfriend as she got an excited expression on her face. “Why don’t you go up and play something?”

“Seriously?” Weiss muttered behind me. I then remember WBY didn’t know I can play guitar.

“I’m not sure babe.” I halfheartedly resisted as Penny began to drag me to the stage.

“Come on, its been forever since I last heard you play! This will be fun!” Penny cheered, still dragging me, while I noticed the others grabbing a table near the stage. Ruby had a big grin on her face, same with Neo. Weiss looked on with a raised brow. I noticed Nat was talking with Blake and Yang, and it seemed rather serious.

“Come on Adam!” I rolled my eyes, but grinned anyways as I was dragged backstage. “Alright. How does this work?”

“You tell me the song, and the others get to the instruments while you take the stage and any instrument you wanna use.” I admittedly jumped a bit at my sisters voice, and turned to Lex, or rather one of her clones, that was hanging out backstage. At least she made it easy to tell who is the original since the clones have black stripes in their hair instead of her normal gold.

“Oh, so you...what, scan the singers mind for what the song sounds like if you didn’t know it?” I questioned while heading over to one of the guitars.

“Pretty much. But I don’t think we’ll need to do that with you little bro.” A clone resting by a drum set said. “We and the boss already know most of the music you listened to back home.” Another clone by a digital keyboard stated. “So just name the song, and we’ll looked through our memories for it.” The last clone, the first one I was talking to, finished.

“Please don’t do that! You know people finishing each other’s sentences have always freaked me out!” I yelled at my sister(s?), grabbing the electric guitar I was looking at. Penny gave me a double thumbs up before heading back to the others. I sighed and nodded to the Lex clones before taking out my scroll and showing them the songs I wanted to do.

“Well now. This will be fun. Let’s do this bro!” I nodded to the clones cheer, heading through the curtains.

“Alright Fairy Tail! Who’s having a fun night?!” The guild all cheered at the clones call. “Now then. This karaoke thing is about to turn up, with the first Displaced of the night! Give a quick cheer to my little brother, the Grimm huntsman, Adam Taurus!” I admit a little stage fright set in as I walked up with the guitar in hand, looking over the crowd of the guild as they cheered.

“Hey everyone, I guess this is a first for me. So, tonight, I am going to play a couple songs from home, and hopefully not screw it up in the process.” I smiled as the guild laughed a bit. I managed to see Blake and Yang watching from a back table with raised brows, and sent them a quick wink. “Now, I hope you enjoy this little show of mine. Let’s rock Fairy Tail!”

Reluctant Heroes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C19C6H9_Ug

The guitar rift was first before it was followed by my sister on the keyboard, and before I knew it, my own voice echoed through the guild.

“Day by day
We have lost our edge
Don’t you know?
Forgotten is the life we’ve led
Now it seems
You don’t care what the risk
The peaceful times, they have made us blind

Can’t look back
They will not come back
Can’t be afraid
It time after time
So once again
I’m hiding in my room
The peaceful times, they have made us blind

So you can’t fly if you never try
You told me, oh long ago
But you left the wall
Outside the gate
So more than ever, it’s real

It was like a nightmare
It’s painful to me
Because nobody wants to die too fast
Remember the day of grief
Now its strange for me
I could see your face
I could hear your voice

Remember the day we met
It’s painful for me
Because nobody wants to die too fast
Remember the day we dreamt
It’s painful for me
I could see your face
I could hear your voice”

During the small pause in singing I allowed my eyes to drift over the crowd. The guild members were all cheering in excitement, clearly getting into the song. I didn’t know where this singing came from, but I am not going to complain.

Ruby and Penny were likewise cheering loudly, Neo next to them only smiling and clapping. Weiss’s jaw nearly hit the table, Boreas cooing on her head.

The Bumblebee duo in the back were wide eyed as I played my song, their faces not hiding their expression of shock. Though, even from my position I could see Yang struggling not to nod her head to the beat. I managed a smirk before I started the second half.

“Song for the reluctant heroes
Oh give me your strength
Our life is so short
Song for the reluctant heroes
I wanna be brave like you

Song for the reluctant heroes
Oh give me your strength
Our life is so short
Song for the reluctant heroes
I wanna be brave like you

Can’t look back
They will not come back
Can’t be afraid
It time after time
So once again
I’m hiding in my room
The peaceful times, they have made us blind

So you can’t fly if you never try
You told me, oh long ago
But you left the wall
Outside the gate
So more than ever, it’s real

It was like a nightmare
It’s painful to me
Because nobody wants to die too fast
Remember the day of grief
Now its strange for me
I could see your face
I could hear your voice

Remember the day we met
It’s painful for me
Because nobody wants to die too fast
Remember the day we dreamt
It’s painful for me
I could see your face
I could hear your voice

It was like a nightmare
It’s painful to me
Because nobody wants to die too fast
Remember the day of grief
Now its strange for me
I could see your face
I could hear your voice

Remember the day we met
It’s painful for me
Because nobody wants to die too fast
Remember the day we dreamt
It’s painful for me
I could see your face
I could hear your voice”

Once the instrumental and synths ended, the crowd immediately began cheering louder than before, clearly excited and happy after the song.

I sighed in relief as I finished, shaking my hands and taking a glass of ice water from Lex’s clone. I normally didn’t sing, at least back home, but I have a sneaking suspicion some magic is in the air around me that made me start singing.

My voice was a little sore, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be since, again, I don’t sing. Though, I guess that is a lie now.

“Alright everybody! Wasn’t that a ride!?” The crowd cheered in excitement at Lex’s call. “So, who wants some more?!”

I blinked at my sister's clone, then to my actual sister, who was talking to Edward. The crowd was cheering again, making me blush and rub my head as I never really was much of a performer.

“I-I’m not so sure.” I muttered into the mic, earning a crowd of calls from the crowd. I rubbed my head again, before glancing to the back where Yang and Blake were talking. I raised a brow as the two seemed to come to an agreement, before making their way closer. They stopped at the table the others were sitting at.

Then they began yelling.

“Come on Adam! You can do better than that!” Blake yelled with a smug grin. For some reason, my eye began to twitch.

“Yeah, you call that music?! Give us something bigger!” Yang cheered as well, grinning as my eye continued to twitch.

That was a low blow. No one messes with my music!

“Come on Adam! Try again, encore and all that crap!” The blond continued, before loudly slamming her metal hand on the table. She started quiet, but soon the guild began to fill up with her chant.

“TAU-RUS! TAU-RUS! TAU-RUS! TAU-RUS!”

My face probably went red, my eye continuing to twitch while my hands began to shake.

“ALRIGHT!” The crowd stopped at my yell, luckily it wasn’t into the mic. “You want more? Let’s kick this up another level!” The crowd all cheered as I yelled that. I turned to the Lex clones, and tapped my head. They nodded and I felt a foreign yet familiar presence in my brain.

I smirked and gripped the guitar, sending a small nod to my friends, before lightly scraping my fingers against the strings. I tapped my foot to get the rhythm built, and thought to Lex.

“One, two. Three!”

The guitar rift mixed with the drums as I started, smirking as the crowd all jumped at the sudden and loud start. Then, I began the vocals.

Believe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Ym4pzESj4

“I won’t fall to pieces
Counting up these scars
Things that keep me decent
Never seemed so far

Believe
In letting go
I was born from sin

Believe
In taking hold
Power from within, I’m

Holding onto seconds
To make em’ turn into minutes
Counting all my blessings
I never want him to finish, no

Climbing all my towers
This evil’s gotta diminish
We’ll never grow apart
I’m by your side (I’m by your side)

Believe
I can Achieve
See this fire in my soul
Will guide me right to you

Believe
I fear nothing
See I’ve come to clip your wings
Can you hear the angels sing?

Come to clip your wings
Can you hear the angels sing?
Come to clip your wings
Can you hear the angels sing?

It’s like cold hands around my neck
Not a life that I’d come to expect
No rest for the wicked, I’ve come to learn
It’s not the fire inside that’s gonna burn

Everybody living day by day
Not knowing what lies
And waits no

Got my own vengeance on my mind
Gonna right the wrongs
That took place on that day

(What could I have done?
I’m by your side
What could I have done?)

Believe
I can Achieve
See this fire in my soul
Will guide me right to you

Believe
I fear nothing
See I’ve come to clip your wings
Can you hear the angels sing?

Come to clip your wings
Can you hear the angels sing?
Come to clip your wings
Can you hear the angels sing?”

The soft piano finished the song, letting me relax and catch my breath. My hearing though, nearly went out as the crowd before me cheered loudly. I managed a grin as I left the stage and rested the guitar on the back amp. One of the clones patted my shoulder as I made my way out to the others.

“Adam!” I lost my balance as a couple living guided missiles impacted my chest, sending me to the ground.

“Why?” I groaned as Penny and Ruby were blabbering atop my chest about my music.

I managed to look past the two excited girls, seeing everyone else I brought with me laughing at my position. Even Pyrrha was looking away and covering her mouth!

Eventually I had enough and placed my hands over the mouths of the two girls still sitting on my chest. I leveled them an unamused frown as they seemed to just now realize what just happened.

They managed to barely keep themselves from laughing in embarrassment, quickly getting off me as I got myself up. Ruby was nervously rubbing the back of her head, while Penny was just smiling that same smile of her, trying to act all innocent, but her red face ruined that.

I rolled my eyes, and messed up their hair, earning indignant yelps from the duo as I walked over to the table with a grin.

My grin grew as I just now noticed Yang’s impressed smile. “I think it goes without saying, I know my way around a guitar.”

“Hehe, no argument here bully.” I frowned at her lame pun, not even gracing her with a response as I sat down and immediately took her drink. “Hey!”

“I normally don’t sing and I just had to do two songs. I need one of these.” I told her before drinking all of it in one go, sighing as the alcohol burned my throat a bit before I used Qrow’s method of burning it off.

“Not cool Adam.” I just raised a brow with a grin, earning a pair of narrowed red eyes in return.

“Oh, well what are you going to do blondie?” I grinned as Yang began to grind her teeth, before her eyes suddenly went back to their normal violet, and she smirked.

I raised a brow, but couldn’t do much else as I felt a strong and painful electrical current running through my body, making me jittery and fall onto the floor again.

“I don’t need to do anything when your girlfriend holds your leash.” I heard her say as I saw Penny looked down at me with a grin, her right arm still sparking with electricity.

“N-n-not c-c-cool!” I managed to stutter out, the current dying in my body as I muscles tightened and then went slack.

“Sorry Adam, but we all know how much Yang likes her Strawberry Sunrise.” The ginger above me replied as she took a seat, while I was slowly getting control of my body again.

“Yeah you kinda had that one coming.” Ruby stated, the tri-coloured mute next to her nodding as she took a shot of some alcohol she had with her.

All I did was the most mature action I could take at the moment I sat up.

I stuck my tongue out at them.

“Hahahahahh!” I glanced over to a suddenly laughing Blake, who was trying to calm herself as she sat at the table. “I-I’m sorry! But your face is too good! I never thought I’d see the day Adam would look so childish!”

That destroyed the underlying tension like a bomb as the group descended into laughter. I smiled as I managed to get up, seeing the damaged team RWBY, Neo, Pyrrha and Penny all smiling happily as they laughed.

“Hey.” I turned to Penny, who just smiled. “Thanks for bringing us together.”

“Anytime babe.” I replied, giving her a side hug as the group devolved into merriment.

Some time later….

“‘Hic’ you know you can’t beat me d-dude. So why don’ ‘hic’ don’t you c-call it quits?” Yang tried to say, her red face betraying just how far she had gone into the bottle. I’ll admit I was a fair bit buzzed myself, but nowhere near as much as the bombshell before me.

Turns out I can handle my liquor pretty well. Who knew?

I admittedly lost count of how many drinks the two of us had, the small towers of mugs only giving me a rough estimate since Zen had been refilling some of them as we called him.

I honestly don’t remember how we got here, but all I knew was that a slightly tipsy Yang had challenged me to a drinking contest since her uncle wasn’t here. Blake was hanging out with Pyrrha and Weiss and Ruby, Neo and Penny were all properly meeting and greeting the guild members of this world, so I was kinda left alone at the time.

I knew that both of us were using Qrow’s aura trick to burn off the effects of the alcohol before it would hit us, but it seemed the amount of aura is also important, and since I have more than her, I have been doing pretty well.

At least I think I have. This is only my fifth time going out drinking.

“Y-you know Adam, you’re ‘hic’ not all that- ‘hic’ all that bad.” The drunk managed to slur out, taking a big swig from her mug. “You would ‘hic’ would have been a gre- ‘hic’ great party pal.”

“Alright, now I know you’re drunk.” I replied with a grin, almost wincing at the sensation of the liquids in my stomach. I finished the last of the drink in my mug, before seeing the others slowly making their way over.

[“Wow, you guys really don’t mess around.”] Neo signed, her eyes wide at all the mugs around Yang and I.

I chuckled a bit in embarrassment, before noticing a wobbly Penny being supported by Weiss and Ruby. They saw my raised brow and sighed.

“She is a bit of a lightweight apparently.” Weiss stated, helping Penny to the table as the ginger giggled aloud.

“How many drinks did she have?” I questioned, scooting over to her.

“Two bottles of hot apple cider.” Ruby answered, chugging her own non alcoholic cider.

“Really?”

“She’s never had alcohol before, remember?” Pyrrha added, looking a little pink in the face, but still coherent.

I was going to respond, but was stopped again, this time by my clearly drunk girlfriend all but jumping onto me, wrapping herself around me like she was a sloth. I raised a brow as she was just giggling to herself.

Then I blushed brighter as she began to nuzzle into my neck, her natural scent invading my senses. Damn these increased senses for allowing me to pick up some pheromones!

“Eheheh, so ‘hic’ so comfy.” I glanced to the others for some help, but they were either trying to hide a smile (Ruby), struggling to contain their laughter (Neo), blushing and looking away (Pyrrha and Blake), or facepalming (no need to say who is doing that).

I rolled my eyes and tried to adjust myself as my giggly girlfriend was just hanging off me, seemingly happy for no reason. The sudden roar of laughter from my drinking buddy told me all I needed to know about how Yang sees this.

I sighed, resigning myself to being a cushion to Penny as the others took their own seats.

We all perked up as someone was tapping the mic a couple times, gaining our attention. Why did I just now notice Lex was on stage. And, wasn’t she just singing.

‘Wow, I must be more out of it than I thought.’ I blinked a couple times, catching the music over the members in the guild. ‘Hotaru? I remember this song.’

I smiled as my eldest sister began to sing in Japanese, causing my friends to become curious. The tone was so soft, so relaxing, I remember the last time I was listening to this song was during Nat’s high school graduation two and a half years ago.

I relaxed as the tone of the music flowed through and over me, and I knew the others as they all visibly relaxed. I felt Penny relax and rest against me, almost falling asleep. Yang was the same, her head resting on Blake’s shoulder, seeming to use her hair as a pillow.

Weiss smiled as Boreas yawned, wrapping herself around the Ice Queens shoulders and nodding off. Pyrrha, Ruby and even Neo all smiled and relaxed as the song continued, allowing themselves to relax.

I smiled warmly, calmly adjusting Penny in my arms so she was actually resting against my chest instead of hanging off my shoulders. I felt her go somewhat limp in my arms as the alcohol in her system finally made her fall asleep.

I sighed to myself as Lex finished the song, the soft cheers from the crowd making my sister smile widely. I was curious when she used some kind of magic that made a beam of blue light pass through the heads of all the still awake guild members, but considering almost all of them were heading to the door and Lex made a bunch more clones, I knew she was giving them the go ahead to head to bed.

I gave a quick glance around, seeing all the Displaced in the room looking at Lex, who just raised her hand, and I noticed the door to the basement was glowing. I glanced to Kairi, who nodded, the message clear.

Time to go home

3rd POV

“Thanks so much for the invite sis. This was a lot of fun.” Adam grinned, helping Penny as she yawned and stumbled, the alcohol going through her, but now making her sleepy.

“We have got to get together more often.” Nat stated, stretching with a yawn, causing Sora to do the same. That just caused a chain reaction as everyone in the room below the age of twenty yawned as well, starting with Ruby and ending with Kairi.

“We are in complete agreement on that sis.” The Faekage agreed, sighing as she set up the portal for Kairi’s group first. Her daughters were just hanging out on the couch in the bunker with their alicorn of a father, who was seeming to doing stock of the room.

“So, not to bring down the mood, but are we all in agreement to fight when the time comes?” The keyblade user asked, earning serious nods from the others.

“We’re in. I know Penny won’t leave Adam when the time comes.” Ruby stated.

“Dawn and Trixie are all ready for the fight when it comes. They are willing to go all out for the fight.” Lex stated, nodding as the portal began to spin.

“You’ll have a hell of a time trying to keep us away from the fight.” Nat stated, a nod from her girlfriend and sister all the agreement she needed. Kairi smiled, knowing her Displaced friends were ready and willing to fight.

“Before you go Kairi.” Lex stopped the group before they left, holding up her phone. “Group photo?”

“Hell yeah.” The Displaced all grin, Edward taking over the cloning duty and summoning a few of his own so the group could all have their own photos. Adam and Blake managed to wake Penny and Yang up, though it was only through Lex’s Aroma magic.

“Sorry Penny, I know you want to sleep, but we have some last minute photos to take.” Adam apologized, earning a rolled eyes, but a bright smile from his girlfriend who was slowly gaining her first hangover. Yang was more vocal about being woken up, but relented as she admittedly wanted her own photos.

“Alright everyone. On Displaced! One, two, three,”

“DISPLACED!”

The snapping of several cameras filled the otherwise silent bunker, earning smiles from everyone.

“I’ll call you guys if something comes up. Until then, stay safe guys.” Kairi smiled, hugging her friends and fellow keyblade wielder before entering the portal with her sleepy friends.

“Family photo?” Sora muttered, earning a nod and pat on the head from Aunt Luna. Ruby and her friends grabbed the phones/scrolls from the Displaced.

“Ah, no you don’t Penny.” Ed stopped the ginger from walking to the others, earning a tilted head. “Hey, you’re my nephew's girlfriend, you’re as much a part of this family as I am.”

“Indeed Penny.” Aunt Celestia said, holding the sleeping Morning and Eclipse as Luna quickly fussed over Sora, Kuna, Ammy and Mei. “We’re family, whether you like it or not.”

Lex rolled her eyes but smiled, having always wanted a large family. She quickly made a clone, who teleported away, and a minute later was walking down with an awake Yoru in her arms.

“Hey sweet pea.” The bluenette whispered, bouncing the tired but giggly infant in her arms. “Sorry I had to wake you but, I knew you would just be waking up a bit anyways. Now, I need you to be a good girl and smile for me when we take the photo.” All she got was happy gurgling and coos, but Lex knew her youngest was agreeing with her.

“Alright, RWBY, Neo, Pyrrha, you guys got the camera features ready?” Adam questioned, earning a nod from the aforementioned females.

The large Displaced Family got themselves ready on a couch Lex levitated over. Edward sat on the centre of the couch with Luna on his left and Celestia on his right, Morning Star and Solar Eclipse sitting on his lap. Lex sat on the floor with her daughters surrounding her and Sonbā on her right with his wings wrapped around her, the infant Yoru in her arms. Nat sat on the right armrest, the child formed Sora sitting on her shoulders while Dusk stood next to her with her arms wrapped around the Diclonius sisters. Adam sat on the left armrest, Penny smiling as she sat on his lap, the faunus wrapping his arms around his girlfriend.

“Alright. Everyone ready?” Lex questioned, earning a couple positive noises in response. “Alright Ruby, on your mark.”

“Alrighty. Everyone, look at the huntress!” The reaper grinned as the kids focused their attention on her. After a couple moments, the huntresses began to snap the pictures. Several snapped photos later, the large family smiled at one another and dispersed.

Adam grinned at his friends as he set the family photo to his Home Screen. Lex grinned as her sibling hugged their nieces as the portal was set for Adam’s world.

With a mischievous grin as she went over and used some Sleep magic on Penny, causing the former Android to fall asleep on her boyfriend. Lex grinned at her brother, who rolled his eyes, lifting the ginger onto his back and attaching Penny’s dragon egg to his chest. She then did the same thing to Yang. Blake sighed, but still smiled to the Faekage as she managed to lift the blond onto her back as well.

“See you later Lex. Feel free to call anytime.” Adam said, going through the portal with his friends. They all sent their own farewells, Ruby zooming around and hugging everyone in the room in the span of twenty seconds. The former heiress gave a quick bow, her dragon companion copying her. Pyrrha and Neo gave their own waves goodbye before entering the portal. Blake sent a thankful smile to Nat, and a still-not-completely-asleep Yang sent the same to Edward.

Adam POV

Walking back through the portal, we found ourselves back near the backyard of the house. The portal made an odd powering down sound, before turning off and shrinking so it was barely bigger than my hand. I gotta love that time lord magic.

“Well, I am going to bed.” Weiss stated, carrying her dragon in her arms as they made their way back to the RWBY house first.

“Weiss! Wait up!” Ruby ran after her partner, and I could swear I saw a grin on Weiss’ face.

“Adam.” I turned to Blake, who was still carrying the now unconscious Yang on her back. “We’ll see you later. Take care of her will ya?”

“I should be telling you that.” I responded with a good natured grin, before looking at Yang and grinning wider. “And try not to test how soundproof your room is.”

“What do you mean?” I didn’t answer, just turning and walking back to the house while Neo and Pyrrha were heading to the JNPR house, the mute having a shit-eating grin on her face while Pyrrha was blushing brightly.

I knew Yang would answer for me, and considering I heard a loud meow-like yelp behind me, I knew Yang was taking care of Blake.

I managed to open the door to the house, glance at the clock on the wall. It was just after 2 am, so pretty late. I glanced to the living room where Qrow was asleep on the couch while I sensed Oscar in his room.

Making my way silently through the house, I managed to get Penny’s door open. As gently as I could, I placed the sleeping former android off my back and onto her bed, before placing her dragon egg on its own little bed she made.

I glanced at my girlfriend, seeing how her hair was spread about the bed, blushed, before shaking my head and helping her into the bed properly. She’ll probably be a little annoyed about sleeping in her clothes, but I am NOT about to change her into her pyjamas myself.

At least, I was planning on leaving, before I felt something grip my arm, and the next thing I knew, I was on my back. On the bed. With a hazy eyed Penny holding herself above me with a big grin.

“Hey babe.” I blushed at Penny’s slightly slurred, but extremely low and sultry tone. “Where did you think you were going?”

“P-P-Penny! You’re awake?” I managed to stutter, my face going redder as Penny lowered herself to nuzzling into the crook of my neck. Why, why does she smell so good?! And why is dragging her chest against mine!?

“Hehehe, you smell nice.” That wasn’t an answer. “I wonder why you were going to leave? Did you not wanna sleep?”

‘What is she talking about? Is she more drunk than I thought?’

“Maybe you’ll spend the night working on that cork board?” I froze. “Maybe planning to talk with Ozma about Salem and his plan? About Jinn and her answer?”

“How-” I blinked, turning red as Ruby’s cape as suddenly my mouth was covered by Penny’s, her tongue wrestling against mine as I had my mouth open.

“Hehe, I knew that would getcha.” She muttered against me. She pulled back, and I was going to try and talk, but froze when I saw Penny taking her dress off. “I don’t like sleeping in this thing.”

My mind was short circuiting, trying and failing to compute what was going on, and I only managed to get control of myself when I noticed I was missing everything covering my top while Penny was working on my belt. I grabbed her hand, stopping her as she got the loop undone. I got a look at her, seeing she was wearing a very nice pair of tan underwear and her black stockings, while her hazy eyes were a little more focused.

“Penny, don’t you think you’re going a little fast? You’re clearly not in your right mind and are letting some kind of instincts take over.” She frowned, making me feel a little bad, but I didn’t want her to do something I’ll regret later.

Penny let go of my belt and raised herself up so she was face to face with me. She was silent, making me a little nervous, but as I turned to look away, she grabbed my face and forced me to look back at her.

She looked, scared. Her eyes had a faint mist, but it was clear to me she was at least coherent right now.

“Somethings coming.” I raised a brow as she lowered herself and kissed my forehead. “Something big is coming. I don’t know how I know.” She kissed my cheek. “I don’t know what it is.” She kissed my nose. “I don’t know what is going to happen, but I don’t want it to take anyone away.” She pulled back, tears slowly falling from her eyes and onto me.

“Adam. I don’t want….I don’t want to lose anyone else. I don’t want to see you, or Ruby, or Weiss, or Pyrrha, or Neo, anyone else to disappear. Adam I-” I cut her off this time, grabbing her cheek and gently placing my lips against hers.

Penny stiffened, then relaxed as I used my free hand to gently push her, flipping us over.

“You won’t.” I placed a kiss on her forehead. “I won’t let anyone else die.” I kissed her cheeks. “I won’t let Salem and her cronies take anyone away.” I kissed her nose. “I won’t.” I looked at her, in her beautiful green eyes. “I won’t allow any of it. Whatever is coming, we’ll stop it.” I moved my arms, carefully pulling her hands above her head, interlocking our hands. Penny glanced to our hands, before looking up at me, and tearily smiling.

“Together?”

“As one.”

Equestria’s White Fang

by Garnet Naturea

Prologue

Chapter 1: The Battle of Ponyville

Chapter 2: Meeting the locals

Chapter 3: Proper Introductions, Grimm and a Duel

Chapter 4: Recovery and Dreams

Chapter 5: The Android and The Huntress

Chapter 6: Welcome to Equestria Penny!

Chapter 7: Welcome to Equestria Pyrrha!

Chapter 8: Renovations and a Party

Chapter 9: Puppet Master and Moving in

Chapter 10: First Mission and ROQ

Chapter 11: Ruby Roses Rage!

Chapter 12: Grimm Assault

Chapter 13: Remnants Reunion

Chapter 14: The First Equestrian Huntress

Chapter 15: The White Fang

Chapter 16: Big Sisters

Chapter 17: Semblance of Magic

Chapter 18: Battle of the Captains

Chapter 19: Newcomers to More Than Friends

Chapter 20: A Date

Chapter 21: Soul Wavelength and Ice Cream

Chapter 22: Chaotic Reunions and Past

Chapter 23: Crystal Confrontations

Chapter 24: Mirror Match: Adam Winger VS Adam Taurus

Chapter 25: The Beast Of Balance VS The Monster of Spite

Chapter 26: Penny

Chapter 27: Awaken

Chapter 28: Let’s Just Live

Chapter 29: Belladonna’s Resolve

Chapter 30: Dragon Riders

Chapter 31: Light and Life

Chapter 32: Fairy Tail Magic #2

Chapter 33: Party Time! Fairy Tail Style!