Locked Heart

by Thisguyhere

First published 30th of October, 2015

Hi, I’m Tifa; or at least I am now. I’ve been accidently displaced and with some… side effects. Now the Shinra of this radically different Equestria wants me as a failsafe in their plan to “Save the World!” …Yeah right.

So funny story, I actually wasn’t supposed to be displaced.

Yeah, even he was surprised by it. Oh sure, the set up was all there, but here’s the kicker: It wasn’t for me. Following some… unfortunate events involving a disintegrating friend, a lot of blood and some blathering about experiments, I ended up…

Well, I’m pretty sure I died…

And yet then I woke up! Alive, changed and with some… side effects. Right in the slums of Midgar too. A Midgar in an Equestria that’s not quite Equestria and full colorful people and ponies that really aren’t quite ponies either. And now for some reason this world's Shinra thinks I can help save them, but from what they wont say. That's assuming they’re not just lying to use me of course. Either way though, I guess it’s time to make this second life count.

[Final Fantasy 7 Displaced story -with a twist]

Prologue: How I Died

“It is a very nice replica.”

The zombified Aerith looked over the white materia the purple coated man held out to her.

“And it would complete your ensemble all the better Miss Stranger.”

“I thought you were going to make it yourself,” the Tifa cosplayer piped up.

“Well I was, but this could save me a lot of time” ‘Aerith’ replied “And you gotta admit Tiff; even if we do figure it out, I don’t know if we could make it this nice.”

“I assure you stranger, my trinkets are truly one of a kind…”

‘Yeah, that didn’t sound suspicious at all…’ Tiffany frowned at the vendor, his statement gaving her sudden goose bumps.

“We never buy things we can just make ourselves” Tiffany urged “If this was something we couldn’t make at the workshop then yeah maybe, but I'm sure Jessie could-.”

“Oh but surely such a little piece isn’t going to compromise your work’s integrity or lessen the pride” the coated vendor interrupted.

“This was a personal project too Tiff, so we wouldn’t have to worry about the shop even if using outside props did matter” The Aerith cosplayer agreed “What’s really up?”

“He's sellin’ shit out of his coat Liv!” Tiffany exclaimed “I mean no way is this guy an approved vendor!”

“I’ll have you know I guarantee the quality of every one of my pieces! I’ve yet to hear a single complaint!” the vendor looked appalled.

“Please, the only way to make you any more shady would be with a windowless van and free candy!”

“Well stranger at this price I would say it’d worth it even if it’s just for the day,” the vendor disregarded Tiffany and turned back to Liv, smiling at her from beneath his hood “Wouldn’t you?”

“That’ll work, right Tiff? Just for the day! We can still make ours and have another souvenir from the con!” Liv told her smiling.

“Getting it for the day would be pointless” Tifa stated, Liv’s eyebrow arching in response “What happened to the white materia when Aerith died?”

Liv’s eyes went wide with her mouth forming the ‘O’ of comprehension. The salesman realized it too, an anxious scowl peeking through his mask at Tiffany’s victorious smirk as she gave him a silent 'Ha-ha'.

“That’s right! It fell out of her ribbon, didn't it?! She wouldn’t have it as a zombie!” Liv realized and turned back to the vendor with an apologetic smile. “Oh I’m afraid she’s right. I'm sorry but I won’t be needing it. It is very nice work though, you should be proud.”

“Hey, How about a discount then?” he persisted, reaching out at Liv as the pair began to move away.

“Whoa!” the cosplayer quickly jumped back, turning hostile “I know you're disappointed but hands to yourself there pally!”

“But I think you're passing up-”

“You’ve lost the sale creep! Deal with it!” Tiffany snapped.

“For free then! You can just take-”

“FUCK OFF!” the two cosplayers yelled simultaneously. The nearby attendees stopped and stared at the display, a few even calling out for security before the man threw his hands up dismissively.

“Fine! Fine… have it your way,” he finally relented, losing the 'stranger' act “I was just trying to make your life more interesting.”

The two girls glared after the man as he disappeared back into the crowds grumbling obscenities. Scowls remained on their faces until they were sure he was gone, finally letting the tension drop as the crowd began to move along again.

“Prick,” the heavily padded cosplayer muttered “You alright Liv?”

“Yeah I’m fine, he never actually touched me” she answered, rubbing her arms “Good call on him though… You okay?”

“Other than being pissed off? Yeah I’m good...” Tiffany replied, trying to shake off the anger “Now then! Let’s see if we can’t find some more pleasent vendors shall we?”

The rest of the day continued on as pleasantly as before, their little incident practically forgotten. One of the security guards did take a report but ‘The Merchant’ was apparently a pretty popular costume that day and the masked nature of it left them with little hope of any resolution. Still, they carried on not letting the shady vendor ruin their geeky acquisitions.

“That was damn good find” Liv comment before a sly grin graced her face “Though it’s yet another thing from Final Fantasy. You know there are lots of other properties that have merchandise right?”

“They’re not all from the same game!” Tiffany defended herself jokingly as she readjusted the bag holding her new replica “And Kingdom Hearts doesn’t really count either!”

“Sure it doesn’t.” Liv giggled.

“I have bought other things! Besides, you’re hardly one to talk!” she said, shaking the bag she was holding up.

“I’m only teasing Tiff” Liv consoled, readjusting her own bag of convention buys. They were eventually stopped when someone starting calling out to their ‘names’.

“Tifa! Aeris!” a young man with his phone out smiled next to his friend “You mind if we get a couple pictures?”

‘AeriS? Ugh…’ Tiffany groaned internally.

“As long as you don’t plan on doing anything weird with them, sure” Liv joked.

“Mind the hole” Tiffany warned as they took turns standing between the pair for the last couple shots. One of their elbows had nearly brushed against the fake sword wound they had painstakingly applied around the red splotches stained on Liv’s dress.

The pair gave the women a sincere thank you and began to go their own way when a purple coat abruptly barreled into the two cosplayers, knocking them both to the ground.

“Hey what the hell man!?” one of the young men shouted after the masked figure stalking off back into the crowds “You could at least say sorry!”

The other helped Tiffany up and went to check on her friend, now slumped awkwardly as she sat on the ground. Worry suddenly creased the trio’s brows as they saw the girl sway slightly, unable to properly right herself even sitting down.

“Hey you alright Liv?” the Tifa cosplayer asked as she hefted the zombie guised girl off the ground, eliciting a weak groan from the young woman “Come on now girl, we’ve taken harder knocks than that…”

She draped the unbalanced girl’s arm over her shoulder before noticing that her hand felt sticky against her friend’s abdomen. Sighing, she realized she just messed up the fake wound. She pulled her hand away to find it covered in red… a wet and warm re-

“OH GOD LIV YOU’RE BLEEDING!” she panicked as she realized it was real. Her head snapped to the two men as she screamed “GO GET HELP! PLEASE!”

“HEY! HEY WE NEED SOME HELP! SOMEONE’S HURT OVER HERE!” one began shouting over the crowds and trying to wave down convention staff as the other called for an ambulance.

“Hold on Liv,” Tiffany began, holding her friend closer as tears began welling in her eyes “Just hold-”

Tiffany didn’t get to finish as her throat was suddenly torn out.

She managed to shove her blood soaked friend off of her, the surrounding crowd screaming and gasping as Tiffany fell back. She clasped her hands fruitlessly against the heavily bleeding tear before her friend lunged at her again with flat, white eyes.

Then Liv suddenly stopped, everything suddenly stopped. The crowds frozen mid-panic when a well dressed, bespectacled man in a a long white lab coat stepped between the two women.

“I must admit, I do find myself impressed” the balding fellow said calmly in a familiar voice, the exaggerated rasping now replaced with a far more cultured, German accent. He adjusted his glasses and summoned a stool from nothing to take a seat next to her, wrapping his hands around a lifted knee.

“Nearly all of zee others have just taken zee bait vithout question; hell most of them practically jump in zee boat for me!” he chuckled, glancing down are her rapidly paling face “Even zose who grow suspicious still juzt try to get the exchange over vith as quickly as possible.”

Tiffany gave a choking chough, misting the air with red.

“But You! You vould have nothing of it!” he announced boisterously, a flamboyant hand shooting upward “You knew something vas afoot and helped your little friend wriggle avay from mine hook.”

Tears streamed down Tiffany’s face, the edges of her vision already beginning to fray as the suited man’s voice started growing further away.

“You even told me to fuck off! I horribly bad decision had I actually been who I vas impersonating, but fortunate for you I am a gud bit more understanding than... zat man, if he can even be called zat” he stated, standing from his stool to examine the vacant Liv. Tiffany found it difficult to track his pace, her reactions feeling slower the more blood she lost “But that von’t stop what’s going to happen. I’ve prepared an experiment for zis girl and she iz going to partizipate.”

He affixed the white materia to the ribbon in Liv’s wig, its effect instantaneous. Dancing golden sparkles coursed down her form as she rapidly dissolved into white and green hued streams of light.

“Looks just like the Life Stream, doesn’t it?!” he asked with a grin as they watched the dissipating swirls of energy. He glanced over to see one of the dying woman’s hands weakly reaching out to her dissolving friend, her eyelids struggling to stay open as her face filled with despair. Both their eyes flared open however at what they saw next.

The blood on her hands began to glow.

“Oh! OH!-OH!-OH! Vhat is ZIS now?!” he cried excited, rushing over and lifting the woman to sit against the base of the stool “I can make it contagious?! Oh I do so love surprises; zey often have such interesting data...”

The enthralled time stopper tilted Tiffany’s head up to examine the wound, now glowing bright gold and letting off sparkles matching those from earlier. He ignored her pained groans of protest as the heat of the light grew ever warmer in her veins.

“Zis opens up so many more options! Heh, eet looks like I have a full day ahead of me at zee next zombie valk no?” he giggled, cheerful smile still plastered on his face “But before you are gone tell me, vhat are you feeling right now?”

Tiffany scowled at him; summoning what little of her strength was left, she focused everything into raising a shaking fist in front of his face and extended a single finger. He blinked at the unexpected sight and let out a boisterous and thoroughly amused laugh.

“Oh, I really do have some moxie don't you girl!?” he chuckled, his mirthful grin meeting her sight as he became the only thing she could see among the black “You vill make an excellent subject...”

He reached out to flick her in the forehead but the darkness already swallowed her whole.

She bolted straight up in the bed, clothes and sheets sticking to her in a cold sweat. Practically wheezing she brought a hand up, forcing herself to calm down.

’It was a dream, calm down… it was just a dream’ her breath evened out and she let her hand fall-

‘Wait. What?’

She let her gaze drop to what blocked the hand's path and, despite the dark only allowing a vague silhouette, she found a lot more than what had been there before. She stared down wide eyed for a moment, trying to register if the sudden ‘increase’ was even real or if she was still dreaming.

She slowly brought her hands up to soon find a very real and very significant weight meeting them. She lifted slightly and even gave a tentative squeeze, earning a small ‘eep’ from herself in confirmation.

‘Yeah, they’re real alright’ she thought, baffled of how it could have happened. She quickly rolled over to hit her light only find herself headed toward the floor, falling off the side of what should have been a lot more bed.

“What the hell?!” She exclaimed. She untangled herself from the sheets and clumsily groped along the bed until she found a night stand.

‘Oh right, the con… I’m just in the hotel room with Liv’ She remembered as she fumbled for a switch on the unfamiliar lamp, feeling silly over her reaction ‘And geez, was that my voice? Do I always sound so different in the morning?’

“Sorry Liv, but I need to see what I’m-”

Her voice caught in her throat, seeing the room as it blazed into view. This wasn’t the Hotel and Liv was nowhere to be seen.

“Where the fuck am I?” she whispered in the only vaguely familiar voice, eyes wide and pupils tiny. The single bed dominated the small room, the only other furniture a simple desk and chair next to an open door leading into a small bathroom. She moved across the small space to look in the full length mirror blotted to the back of the door-

“AH!”

The short yelp echoed through the room, the chair clattering loudly against the desk as she fell back into it. It tumbled to the floor with her as it failed to stop her momentum, both falling back against the bed and slamming it hard into the wall.

She stared in awe at the very real sight of none other than a frightened Tifa Lockhart staring right back at her. She shakily pulled herself up and took a few slow, weary steps back towards the mirror. With quite an audible swallow, she began taking her new self in.

She started at the feet, bare beneath a pair of long legs that led up to a very decent set of hips hugged by a comfortable, if rather plain pair of panties. She then saw she actually had a bit of a six pack, in fact she was pretty toned all over. It wasn’t terribly obtrusive, her form was still rather smooth and soft looking but there was still some very clear definition of a woman in very good shape.

‘And my MaGuppies have become Bazongas…’

Yes, then there were of course, the breasts; to many, Tifa’s most defining physical trait. Now they weren’t Gigantic as a lot of artists like to portray her with but no would ever be calling her small again, that’s for damn sure. She was now easily in the D to Doubles range.

Finally, she brought her head up, seeing a very pretty face under dark locks. The red eyes of the video game vixen looked into her own, deeply concerned under a frightened brow. They were familiar and unfamiliar all at once, not right but somehow not feeling entirely wrong either.

She tentatively began to bring a trembling hand to the face when a soft knock broke her focus.

“Miss Lockhart?” a feminine voice asked softly, slightly muffled by the door “Is everything okay in there?”

She opened the door very slowly, peering out to see a young woman peeking back through curiously.

“Is anything the matter Miss Lockhart? We’ve been hearing a bit of a clatter” the girl carrying a clipboard asked nicely as the rooms occupant stared at her with wide eyes.

‘Why is her skin yellow? Why are her eyes purple?! WHY DOES SHE HAVE A HORN?!’ thoughts screamed though Tiffany’s head.

“…Miss Lockhart?” the girl repeated, her genuine concern breaking through her shock.

“I… I tripped over the chair” she managed dully.

“Oh, I hope you didn’t hurt yourself. I think we may have something in the first aid kit if you need” the blue haired girl offered.

“No, I’m not hurt…” she answered still in a bit of a daze, but the girl certainly seemed nice enough “Where am I?”

Her brow shot up in surprise, the horned girl taken a bit aback by the abrupt and confusing question.

“Well, you’re at the Out of the Way Inn in Sector Six Miss Lockhart” she answered “Room Seven to be exact.”

“And why do you keep calling me that?”

“Oh, that’s what it says in the ledger” she flips through a few pages on her clipboard “Miss Teefa Lockhart, Room Seven; the note says you arrived earlier tonight after calling ahead to reserve the room for the rest of the week. Payed in full up front too. Did we get your name wrong?”

‘Paid in full earlier tonight? But how could I… What the hell is going on?’ her mind reeled.

“Uh, yeah my name’s not Tifa, it’s Tifa. Wait, what? No, sorry; it’s Tifa Lockhart” she sputtered “Errr no… I mean -mmnnnn!”

She slapped her now aching head, the horned employee’s brow wrinkling at her.

“Um... That’s what we have you down as Ma’am” she said, looking at the notes “T-E-E-F-A and L-O-C-K-H-A-R-T?”

“No, T-I-F-whoooa…” She stumbled, clutching the door frame as she fought for balance until the room stopped spinning.

“Whoa easy there… Are you sure you’re okay Ma’am?” the girl asked as she reached out to help steady the teetering woman.

“Yeah” she responded as she was already recovering “Yeah I’m-”

“I mean I think we may have some medicine in the office, or one of us could run down to the pharmacy over on the Wall Market’s main strip for you” she offered “We may even have an esuna materi-”

“No, no really; I think I just have to lie back down for a while” Tifa stopped her.

“Well if you’re sure… I’ll just go make the spelling correction to the ledger then; at least we got the pronunciation right huh?” the girl relented, giving her a consoling smile “If there’s anything else you need we’ll be just down stairs at the front. I hope you feel better Miss Lockhart, and have a good night.”

“Yeah, you too” she said as she walked away. She started slowly closing the door until she called down the hall to the girl “Th-Thank you!”

The girl turned and gave her a quick smile and nod before continuing on her way. Tifa closed the door and stood the chair back before sitting on the bed, staring once again at her reflection.

‘Ok, let’s try that again' she repeated internally.

“My name is Tifa-UGH! My name is TiffffffffaaaaannnnnNA!” Her vision swam again, almost sending her tilting off the bed “Why can’t I say it? I couldn’t even spell it…”

‘Tiffany? Ok… I can still think it’

“Tiffany.”

‘Okay I can say it too, I just can’t seem to say it’s my name’ she took a deep breath ‘Ok, once more- My name is Tiffan-!’

Thousands of voices screamed nonsense throughout her mind on a tidal wave of pain, far worse than any of the former attempts’ dizzy spells. A sharp gasp escaped her as she fell back onto the bed, hands clutching at her scalp.

‘OKAY! OKAY! I’M TIFA! MY NAME IS TIFA NOW!’ the voices ceased even faster than they had started. She pulled herself back up, looking into red, watery eyes.

“I guess I’m Tifa then… I suppose it’s not that different” she sighed before standing back up and moving to the window. She pulled open the curtains to maybe get a better idea of just where this ‘Out of the Way Inn’ was.

“Hello slums-ville” she muttered. It actually wasn’t that bad and it certainly seemed a lot cleaner and brighter the word slum would suggest; a ‘higher class of slums’ if there was such a thing. The dirt paths were bordered with surprisingly healthy grass and based on the room she was in now she was guessing the buildings’ interiors were nicer than the exteriors, which were still far more coherent and solid than what most would picture for slums. A few blocks down she could see what looked like a heavier concentration of buildings and neon “That must be the main strip she was talking about.”

Then she saw the people, and all the different kinds of them. Most looked human but like the girl who checked on her they all had very colorful skin and hair, and a handful of them had horns or-

“Wings?” she asked rhetorically. From this view alone she could see half a dozen pairs of big, feathery wings; most matched the person’s skin color but there were a few exceptions. Yet, as weird as they seemed, they were nothing compared to the standouts; what look like a minotaur and a glimmering-

“That guy’s made of crystal… That’s a crystal man” She stated bluntly.

Along with seeing a man made of shiny minerals walk below the window another realization suddenly hit her; the lighting was off. It wasn’t harsh or anything but it was an ever so subtle artificial yellow blended with a fainter industrial white. It also looked like it was coming from multiple sources. She looked up to indeed see a multitude of large hanging lights over the slums, and far above them even larger lights set into…

‘WHERE THE FUCK IS THE SKY?!’ her mind screamed before she began to hyperventilate. She followed the metal ceiling high above to a massive pillar beyond the slums and large piles of scrap metal. She could just barely see the thin moving lines of trains circling the massive support.

‘Oh… Ooooohhhhhhhh… aw crap…’

“I think I know where I am now…” she bemoaned, head thumping against the glass. All the pieces clicked together; The Wall Market, Sector Six, Esuna and all as she was standing there in the body of Tifa Lockhart herself. She backed away from the window and fell face first onto the bed before rolling over with tears pooling in her eyes.

She wasn’t dreaming, and she now knew that wasn’t a dream before either. Did she die and this was some kind of afterlife? Did that magic guy in the suit send her here?

She didn’t know. All she knew is that she was alone in an entirely new world that she knew for a fact was dangerous and with only a week of somewhere that was maybe safe to stay. She had no idea where Liv was or if she was even still alive… or undead. She knew she had just lost her entire life,

‘I’m not even me anymore…’

The tears began to flow freely with choked sobs forcing themselves from her. She weakly cried the only thought she felt she could express at the moment,

“Well… fuck…”

Author's Notes:

So here we are at the beginning of my second published story! Much like my first story, while I DO have an outline of several plot points and resolutions, everything else will just be me flying by the seat of my pants! It’s been working pretty well so far, so let’s hope it’ll be as effective (and fun!) for this one!

Another small note, like any who have read my other story know: I DO NOT have an editor currently. I do however review chapters several times before publishing. Small things have and almost certainly will slip by but thankfully, from what I’ve gathered, they have yet to make anything illegible or terribly distracting. Still, I apologize in advance for any it may end up bothering and if you feel inclined to correct me or point out errors then please feel free to do so- I would be more than happy to correct things!

Now as always (or what will be always to any new readers)- Thank you all so much for reading and I hope to see you for the next chapter! Have a good one!

Chapter 1: Drafted

“Sir! The signs clearly say no flying inside!”

Tifa looked out from the back to see the new girl, Sunshine… something, yet again trying to convince the gryphon and his friends to stay out of the air.

“You’re blocking the other customers' view of the screens! Please sit back down!” Sunshine insisted, finally coaxing him back to his seat. She avoided his pegasus friend’s grope and moved off the help the other patrons of the ‘fine establishment’.

Hops’ 6th Gate sports and karaoke bar, just a block off the Wall Market main strip; also the current work place of one Tifa Lockhart. She didn’t particularly like serving families and drunken idiots in a tight shirt and hot pants but she felt it was at least still better than working down at the Honeybee.

‘He is a gryphon right?’ she pondered, studying the patron as she rested her feet. She had figured out the differences between all the races for the most part, but still had to double check sometimes.

She had learned that apparently, a long ass time ago this and a parallel human world had collided and merged or something. She had no idea how but it meant that this world had both colorful humans and colorful ‘ponies’ that looked just like the humans, just with horns and wings. Occasionally she’d see one with a horse tail or ears, but not often. Apparently it also meant it was possible for someone to find an alternate self in extremely rare cases, though she had only heard rumors about that.

‘Yeah he’s a gryphon,’ she concluded; they’re the ones with ‘normal’ skin tones and different colored wings, even if they still usually had weird hair sometimes filled with feathers. This one had kind of olive-tan skin and brown wings, a sharp contrast to his lime green and cobalt pony buddies.

“TIFA! Break’s over! We need you back on the floor!” Hops called. Hops was a tall and rather round earth pony and was almost never seen without a greasy apron. He also always carried a rather jovial outlook on life and had a definite 'appreciation of owls’, if you get the meaning.

“Here, take over seven” he said handing her an already full tray “I’m pretty sure they’re Shinra, so be nice and don’t be afraid to flaunt a bit; they can be real good tippers.”

“Thanks boss” Tifa said dryly as Hops just smirked and continued cooking. He was actually a pretty decent boss. Despite the skimpy uniforms and primarily female staff, he did seem to genuinely give a crap about them. And Shinra employees did tend to tip a lot better than the slum dwellers, so the extra bits would be nice.

Sure enough she came upon a quartet in upscale black and blue suits emanating a definite aura of authority. She put on her best fake cheer and approached the group.

‘Be nice, be nice, be nice- Big fake smile!’

“Hi there! I hope we haven’t kept you waiting too long! So I have a Canterlot strip, a double bacon burger, a veggie burger with extra tomato,” She listed off as each signaled which was theirs “And that’s means you must be the Celestia Salad. And of course here’s the basket of wings for all of you.”

She placed the salad in front of the blueish-gray girl with twin pig-tails before taking the wings off the tray, trying to ignore her staring at her chest. She had also learned this world was at least a bit more open and tolerant of same sex orientation, and she was still getting used to the 'gaze' now coming a little more often from her own sex.

“You have sauce on your under-boob; you’re carrying the trays wrong.”

Tifa was immensely proud of herself; her only tell was a single twitch of the eye. She didn’t even loose her fake smile.

‘Bitch’

“Thank you so much for telling me! It would have been pretty embarrassing to have it there the whole night!” she ‘thanked’ the… ‘human?’. Humans and earth ponies were particularly difficult to tell apart. Earth ponies tended to be more physically strong and durable but lacked much natural affinity for materia.

‘Not that such knowledge made a visual guess any easier…’

“Is there anything else I can get you for now?” Tifa asked and was largely ignored as they began eating; not an uncommon occurrence.

“No we’re fine, thank you” the group’s only male, a large tanned man with a shaved head told her quietly.

‘Well, at least one of them is polite.’

“Well then, I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit. Enjoy your meal!” she concluded and strode away, face dropping in exasperation as soon as she left eye sight. She moved back through the kitchen toward the sinks when she spotted a familiar mane of green hair.

“Hey Zest, thought you had tonight off” she commented as she moved next to the pink girl bouncing and swaying to her head phones. She kept washing and bobbing until the darker haired female reached over to pull off one of the phones “I said Hey Zest! Thought you had tonight off!”

“Oh Hey Tif! Yeah, Starry called me to cover; something about her aunt or something” Lemon Zest explained, moving her headphones to her neck “And it’s just a half shift here in the back, no problem.”

The music lover grinned at her, of course it wasn’t a problem for her; dishes and bussing were her favorite assignments. She could just sit back here listening to her headphones and usually didn’t take them off when bussing either. It wasn’t as generous with the tips but she was hardly hurting for cash, not with her parents.

“UGH!” Sunshine stormed in and dumped a bin of dishes in off to be cleaned “I just had to get the gropers didn’t I? Meanwhile you get the big tipping Shinra mooks… why did I ever leave Dodge Junction?”

“Oh we’ve got more Shinra types in?” Zest asked “Don’t worry Shine, Hops has us pool the tips remember?”

“Yeah and besides, I’m pretty sure they’re Turks,” Tifa added as she tried to lift and adjust to find the stain “Not sure you’d want to deal with that kind of pressure right away.”

“Turks?! Down here!?” Sunshine exclaimed.

“Again?” Zest asked “Group of four with a big bald guy? They were here last night too.”

“That can’t be good…” Tifa muttered as she was trying to angle the sponge right with the sink back’s distorted reflection.

“What could they be doing down here?” Sunshine asked.

“They actually come down here pretty often, more than up on the plate at least. They like to hang out down at the Wall Market Pub a lot during their down time... Maybe they’re just getting tired of it and are giving us a try” Zest mused, reaching a gloved hand out of the soapy water and taping the underside of Tifa’s chest. A quick strobe of magic sparkled and the stain dissolved.

‘Prestidigitation, gotta love it’ She thought as Zest gave her a quick wink.

“Thanks, and I guess you would know Canterlot girl” Tifa teased, now leaning against the sinks rim.

“Canterlot?” Sunshine looked confused “As in topside of the plate?!”

“Yep! Her parents are real big wigs up there, very respectable” Tifa smirked as the green haired girl shot her a look “She’s got a trust fund and everything!”

“Why the Stream’s name would you live down here then?!”

“Because it’s too fake up there, everything’s too easy” Zest grumbled “I want something real, to actually DO something. Not just flutter about fretting about appearances and reputations that don’t even matter.”

“Ah the classic independent princess shtick” Tifa jested “You want real you should just go to the Under City.”

“I don’t need things to be THAT real” she chuckled earning a laugh from the other two.

“CAN’T WORK THE FLOOR FROM BACK HERE LADIES!” They heard Hop’s call from the kitchen.

“Sorry Mr. Hops!” Sunshine scurried back out to the bar, giving their boss a quick bow as she passed.

“Don’t let him catch you using that materia” Tifa whispered as she passed. Hops held the belief that materia contaminated the food; it didn’t but he was the stubborn type.

“Don’t piss off the Turks” Zest shot back, advice Tifa wasn’t hesitant to take to heart. She only made it a couple steps through the door when the clatter of shattering dishware grabbed her attention.

“Oh don’t play hard to get now sweet cheeks, you’ve been flirting with us all night!” one of the gryphon’s drunken buddies was holding Sunshine by the wrist. She wrenched herself free and quickly retreated a few steps “Come on! We can afford the cover!”

“This isn’t that kind of place! You want some plot then the HoneyBee is just a few blocks over!” Sunshine snapped.

‘Huh, the girl has more bite than I thought’ Tifa admitted. The drunken pegasus sauntered forward still believing himself to be charming.

“I think you can make an excepti-huh?” a hand suddenly on his chest stopped him. His gaze began following the arm, hitting her shoulder but quickly detouring from his destination.

“Eyes are up here dumbass” he glanced up “And the lady said no.”

“Well, then how about I just get a feel of y-AH!” the drunk ragdolled back into the table, sending his friends sprawling to the ground as it tipped. The gryphon leader sprang back up, wings unfurling to make him look bigger.

“Oh you wanna throw down little girl?!” he taunted, his tough guy act cranked up to eleven as his pegasus and earth pony buddies took up positions behind him “We ain’t afraid to fight mares!”

“Oh good, neither am I” it took their intoxicated minds a couple extra beats to register the insult before the gryphon piped up again.

“Get her!” he called and the trio charged; Tifa just rolled her eyes.

Twenty seconds later, passersby outside had to dodge the bruised and bloodied trio bursting through the doors and frantically scrambling away from the woman calmly following them out. She stood in the doorway a moment longer before turning to see their bouncer for the night, a broad shouldered earth pony named Chunk, giggling behind her.

“And where were you?!”

“Like you really needed any help,” he smiled “Why do you think we love working during your shifts? It’s like free money!”

A heavy, aggravated sigh escaped her with another eye roll. She shoulder checked him as she passed to help Sunshine clean up the overturned table, unaware of the gazes of four pairs of eyes’ studying her.

“Not bad” one of the women with red hair under goggles commented, lounging in her chair “She barely even broke anything too.”

The one with the shaved head just grunted his agreement, calmly watching the martial artist.

“She seems more capable than we predicted, or at least notably stronger” the spectacled grey girl added plainly “This could be difficult if she proves uncooperative.”

“We’ll see…” the first Turk returned, pausing a moment to consider “See if we can call in the priss, she’s good at convincing people.”

“And if she doesn’t show up?” the last suited agent asked.

“Then we improvise.”

“Oh come on Lock! You can’t say that didn’t work out at least a little tension” Zest claimed as they walked toward their apartments. Zest lived just across the hall from Tifa, she’s actually the one who let her know the unit was available.

“Knocking around a few drunks in what couldn’t even be considered a fight? Yeah, not so much.”

“Well then I suppose you just need to get laid” She concluded as they reached their respective doors.

“Oh ha ha” Tifa replied flatly.

“I’m serious! Plus I doubt you’d have any trouble finding takers” Zest added “I know I wouldn’t mind a little T-L-C.”

“What?”

“Some Tifa-Lockhart-Contact?” Zest smirked.

‘God, just any contact sounds absolutely divine after so long.’

“Another time maybe.” Tifa returned plainly, wresting a sigh from the pink hued girl.

“You gotta learn to let yourself go Tif, express a little y’know?!” Zest sighed, letting it drop with a shrug “But fine, whatever. Suit yourself.”

“Have a good night Zest” Tifa chuckled walking into her apartment.

“I’m right across the hall if you change your mind!” Zest sang.

“GOOD NIGHT ZEST!” Tifa repeated, hearing the girl laugh as she closed the door.

‘Wild child that one’ she thought, already removing her uniform and headed toward the shower ‘Still, don’t know where’d I be if it wasn’t for her help.’

One shower later Tifa changed into a tanktop and skirt before flicking on the TV, she did find them unusually comfortable.

‘Another inherited preference I guess’

She didn’t much care what was on, she just liked background noise while she worked on her form; she had dropped her elbow a little early against the second drunk and it was bothering her. She didn’t really get a lot of opportunity to use the martial skill she inherited but that didn’t stop the irritation that came from getting sloppy with it.

“We’re here with the leader of our fair city and the CEO of Shrina Electric Power herself; President Celestia!” The unicorn woman on the tv announced.

‘President Celestia’ She thought, already losing focus on her choreography ‘That still sounds weird.’

She had figured out pretty quick after her arrival that this was some kind of My Little Pony world, however screwed up of one it was. That unfortunately didn’t help her much. Like the block preventing her from using her old name, there was something keeping a lot of her memories of the show suppressed.

‘I can’t remember what it is but I remember it’s important...'

'Isn’t that a bitch?'

She remembered Celestia was actually a princess and not a president, there were a lot of rainbows you didn’t want to mess with and that there was a lot of affection connected to the name ‘Derpy’; that was about it. Oh, and that Liv was way more into it than she was.

‘Hardcore pegasister that girl’ she thought and ended up making herself sad; she still had no clue what happened to her friend. To further complicate matters her memories of Final Fantasy VII and it's universe were spotty at best too; she remembered a lot more of that then the show though, so that was still something.

“So I am sorry but of course the first question I must address the shoopuf in the room; what is your response to certain groups’ allegations that harvesting Mako energy is harmful to the planet, that we’re literally draining its life force?” The interviewer continued.

“Such claims are completely unfounded. As we have said several times; we take every precaution and devote significant time and resources in insuring that very thing is not the case” the strikingly beautiful woman replied with a slightly tired smile. Her exceptionally fair skin seemed to shine in the studio’s lights as a long horn and flawless wings accentuated her majestic appearance. “Not that we do not understand their concern, but I assure you and all the viewers, there is no need to worry.”

Celestia was one of the few 'ponies' Tifa had seen who's color wasn’t perfectly aligned; her skin was just a few shades more tan than the pure white of her horn and wings. Eventually she reasoned that she might actually be white but, as one of the few thing she remembered being that she was the sun princess, maybe she was just tanned. She was actually a little proud of herself for figuring it out.

“And their insistence of using the illnesses of the Under City as examples to the contrary?” the hostess countered, a small, regretful sigh escaping the president in response.

“We have urged the citizens of the ‘Under City’ to relocate countless times; The cave structures alone make the area inhospitable but unrefined Mako crystals and exposed Hamony Stream wells can be exceptionally dangerous without any interference. The effects those groups claim are our fault would happen to anyone exposed for so long” The alicorn explained “We do what we can to support them, but we can only do so much without needlessly exposing even more people and ponies to unacceptable risk.”

“There have also been several reports of increased Shinra security activity in Midgar between them and us” the interviewer added.

“That is merely a precaution; I’m afraid we’ve received some… concerning reports about some the area’s organizations and we’re simply taking the first steps to prevent any future problems.”

“Organizations like AVALANCHE? Rumor has it they’ve been causing the company a good deal of grief lately.”

“I’m afraid I can’t disclose any more information, as it could compromise our sensitive investigations. You understand.” The company leader apologized.

“Hm” the interviewer hummed disappointed “Well then perhaps you could tell us about this new Wonderbolts project you’ve been teasing the public with-”

Her choreography already long forgotten, Tifa was leaning on the back of the couch watching the CEO talk when something suddenly bounced off the back of the martial artist's head. She spun to find no one there.

“What the hell?” she asked, thoroughly confused. She looked down to see what looked like a tiny cardboard box lying flat on the ground. She picked it up and immediately her phone beeped an alert.

-New App Available!- flashed on her screen. She looked back and forth between the phone and tiny box before tapping the notification. An instant later the box jumped out of her hand, constructed itself and snapped to a size big enough to fit someone inside. The next instant the phone's camera flashed and the box was gone.

She stood staring wide eyed at the empty air the box once filled, her phone still beeping and vibrating in her hand. She finally blinked and looked down to see the new alert -You have 1 new token!- with a picture of the vanished box. She continued staring until-

“Fuck it!” she exclaimed, dropping the phone and walking away with her hands up “Whatever! Too much weirdness!”

She cracked her neck on her way to the fridge, trying to ease her sudden tension. She dug around for some leftovers and plopped them in the microwave. First the reminder of Liv and now her phone, her own phone from home mind you, was doing crazy things. The hum of the microwave calmed her mind as she drifted back to when she discovered she still had it.

Tifa eventually stopped crying and regathered herself, sitting back up on the bed trying to figure out what she was supposed to do now.

‘A shower could be a good start.’

Groggily rising, she walked to the small bathroom and waited for the water. It was an interesting and unsettling experience cleaning an entirely new body; it almost like she was washing a stranger except she could feel it. She eventually got over the odd sensation and after bumping her new chest and hips several times, was finally clean and at least a little more relaxed.

She turned off the water and began to step out before stopping, sighing, and stepping right back in. She turned the water back on and lifted her new additions enough to rinse the new area she never had to worry about before. THEN she got out of the shower and unfortunately only then had the realization of,

“I don’t have any clothes do I?”

Sulking back into the room in nothing but a towel she began thinking of options. The top and panties she was wearing were now a little too damp from the shower and she still couldn’t very well go out in public in just that anyway. She checked around, not seeing anything in the drawers or closet. She was about to give up when she saw something sticking out from under the bed.

‘MY BAG!’ she dropped down and quickly ripped the large duffle from its hiding spot. She immediately noticed the difference however; for one it was a good deal fuller than it was before and a reddish-brown pair of reinforced boots, Tifa’s boots, now hung from the side. Right on top over the zipper was a simple note.

~Yeah I was a bit late to the draw, so here… Because moxie.~

She turned the note over and saw that’s all there was. She frowned at the paper, but set it aside and opened the bag all the same. Just like her, her things inside were now very different.

All of her clothes were changed and Tifa couldn’t help but notice they were mostly comprised of tank tops and skirts, there were a few other things but that seemed to be the running theme. There was also a few large and very sturdy looking bras and sports bras, as well as a decent number of panties for which she was very grateful.

The clothes however, were just beginning. Several slightly glowing spheres were found beneath them next to a cellphone, a heavy bundle of paper currency she didn’t recognize and finally a small sack of what felt like coins.

‘Is this how I supposedly paid for the room?’

She left the money and marbles alone for the moment and picked up the cell phone. It was hers; the familiar Fenrir emblem on the cover gave that away. She quickly turned it on to find all her contacts missing; she still tried to manually enter one of her parents’ numbers but wasn’t terribly surprised to not get an answer. In fact it didn’t even complete the connection; they apparently used a dialing different system here.

'Or I just didn’t have a carrier anymore.'

She checked the media and was surprised to find that a good bit of it seemed to still be intact. Pictures, music, and movies; however most of it seemed blocked by a password she couldn't remember. Some of it was completely missing though, and it didn't take her long to figure out it included all the stuff with any trace of her in it.

‘Guess who I was really is just gone now huh? Even if I didn’t actually die, I’m still effectively dead…’ she thought, face dropping as she tossed the phone back in the bag.

She sat there staring at the floor, occasionally glancing at some part of her new body. What the hell was she going to do now? What could she do? She was in an entirely new world, alone and afraid. She didn’t know how to handle this! She worked in a damn practical effects workshop for goodness’s sake! She-

‘Tsuru, Tsuru, Tsuru, Tsuru...’

A quiet voice whispered from the back her mind, the onomatopoeia breaking through her second break down before it started. She stopped and sighed with a small, if tired smile.

“Dilly Dally Shilly Shally…” she muttered, feeling at least the tiniest bit calmer.

She gathered herself and decided it was finally time to leave the room. She got dressed, pocketed the phone and found what must be the room key on a hook by the door. Grabbing a few bills and coins of the unfamiliar currency and putting on a brave face she actually felt more than she expected to, she took her first step in exploring this strange new world.

‘Whether I died or not, I’m alive now and I won’t get anywhere dragging my feet here forever.’

She snapped out of her remembrance when the microwave beeped at her. She grabbed the food and headed back to her, as Zest put it, ‘rescued’ couch. She had just gotten back up to toss the plate when there was a knock at the door.

'Three distractions in just an hour? When did my life become so active?’

She approached the door cautiously; she only knew like eight people and only half of them knew where she lived. She peered out the peephole to see a pair of women in nice suits.

‘Aw crap.’

“Miss Lockhart we know you’re there, we can see the light flickering behind the peephole” she heard the same opal haired bitch from earlier declare.

“What do you want?” she called through the door.

“I suggest you open it,” she rounded to see a pair in black suits, the sloppy girl with red slicked back hair and the tall tanned guy still wearing his sunglasses “They’ll just do it themselves otherwise.”

She backed away from both the door and the two intruders; as to how they got in she didn’t have the slightest, but it wasn’t really important anymore. A second later the door clicked, slowly swinging open as the other pair entered. She bumped into her small dining table, already out of room before the turquoise girl with streaked purple hair stepped forward.

“Miss Lockhart, My name if Sunny Flare; this is Rina, Rude and Sugarcoat” She said “And you have something we need.”

“And this is how the Turks operate? You break in and make demands without even asking any questions?” Tifa stalled, leg slowly sliding behind a chair leg “I know the SOLDIER recruitment stuff you feed the media is bullshit, but I still thought you lot had a bit more style than this…”

“We find our patience in the matter has grown rather frayed. We’ve spent a lot of time and resources looking for-*GASP*”

The chair shattered against the turquoise Turk's face, sending her to the ground as Tifa was already closing on the next agent. Sugarcoat couldn’t even draw her gun before a fist drove her head back and left a sizable dent in the wall as she fell to the floor.

A sparking baton shot in front of her face as she leaned back just in time. She swung an high kick against her attacker only for them to dodge back as well while her partner charged in with a straight punch. Tifa redirected the attack and tried a low jab just to rebound off a guarding elbow. She slammed forward knocking him off balance with her shoulder and followed through with elbow strike turned back hand that forced the larger Turk to back off.

Rina left her no reprieve however as she launched forward again, electro rod sparking as she swung at the buxom human relentlessly. Tifa caught the Turks wrist on the cross of her arms during her next down swing, kicking straight out against Rina’s own counter. The displaced’s strength won out as she launched the suited female across her apartment and crashing through her coffee table.

Sunny and Sugarcoat tried to rise again when a heel swept across both faces. She completed the ark into an axe drop against the charging Rude, a quick snap kick following and catching him the chest, staggering him nearly enough to fall pry to the other foot flying up as the girl flipped backward. She just barely grazed his glasses, knocking them into the air as she continued her rush.

‘The other pair I got the drop on, but these two…’

The pair blocked and countered each other into a brief stalemate until the unmistakable sound of a shotgun cocking made the room freeze.

“BACK THE FUCK DOWN!” she heard a wonderfully familiar voice shout behind her.

‘Oh Zest I could kiss you!’

Tifa stood straighter and quickly stepped back, making sure Zest could have a clear shot against any of the disadvantaged group. She picked up the Turk’s sunglasses, putting them on and sticking her tongue out at him as her friend circled the group to stand next to her.

“Nice timing” she complemented the music lover as the floored Turks slowly rose to their feet. Zest was about to reply with something undoubtedly witty when the apartment’s windows exploded inward with blinding twin flashes.

Two pairs of Shinra security troopers repelled in and at least half a dozen more burst from the hallway flanking the pair, every one of their rifles leveled at the two women. They slowly raised their hands as Zest dropped the shotgun. The Turks regained their footing and moved toward them smugly but halted confused when half the troopers redirected their aim to them. Their bewildered expressions quickly grew worried when they heard somepony storming down the hall, complaining loudly.

A pure white and very pissed off unicorn strode into the room, glanced that the two women holding their hands up before glaring as the quartet.

“REALLY!? You couldn’t wait Five Minutes?!”

Tifa and Lemon were now seated at the small kitchen table, surrounded by the troopers as they all listened to the unicorn tear into her colleagues in the hall.

“-Completely Unprofessional! What was the point of even calling me down if you were just going to try and pull this! AND YOU TWO! This pair has the excuse of being new but I know that the two of you know better! Ohhh, when Sweetie Drops hears about this!-”

They could just barely see the one called Rude shifting uncomfortably and avoiding her gaze in the hall.

"Y'know Me and Rude are technically your superiours-" Rina tried.

"ALL THE MORE REASON-"

“I actually know those girls, we used to be friends,” Zest commented quietly “We were at Shinra Prep together; Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat and Rina ‘Indigo’ Zap. I had heard they’d become big shots at Shinra, but I didn’t think they were Turks.”

“Indigo?”

“It’s the color she used to dye her hair all the time… Or maybe it was the color she was always dying over? I don’t know; I always put my headphones back on during the less interesting conversations.”

“You always have your headphones on.”

“I don’t find a lot of interesting conversations.” The pair chuckled before the unicorn stopped yelling.

“Ms. Lemon Zest?” The woman came back into the room and walked up to the table as the other four Turks hung around the door looking dejected and, in the case of the newer two, a little bloodied “You’re free to go. You don’t have to worry about any legal repercussions for your actions; You were merely aiding a friend against an Unprovoked attack. Your shotgun has already been placed back in your apartment and you have my apologies for any inconvenience.”

The unicorn shot the unprovoked bit back over her shoulder at the gathered Turks while Zest glanced at Tifa unsure.

“Go on Zest, I’ll be fine. Thanks for the backup” Tifa consoled her, only to be caught off guard by a sudden hug.

“You be careful here girl” Zest whispered before letting go.

“Um… Yeah” Tifa replied awkwardly as Zest gave her a worried look and made her way out of the damaged apartment, one of the troopers closing the door behind her. The unicorn then moved to sit across from the displaced woman. Tifa couldn’t help but notice her suit was exceptionally well-tailored even compared to her colleges, and that her hair was impossibly maintained.

“Now on to you Miss Lockhart; on behalf of Shinra Incorporated, I sincerely apologize for the unauthorized and frankly Asinine methods of my colleges here. They really should know better,” She offered, glaring back at the group as she spoke before turning back to her “I assure you the company will comp any and all repairs required from this incident.”

‘They damn well better.’

“Just what is this all this about?” Tifa asked.

“Well, we recently learned that a very rare and rather unique materia somehow made its way into your possession within the last six months. A materia that may prove absolutely vital in ensuring the success of our mission” the woman with fabulous hair explained.

'Wait she doesn’t mean-'

“It is a very rare combination materia; one that’s bridged the gap between types and abilities. Such a feat is a very difficult thing to achieve for even just two abilities, let alone the several we believe this one to possess. Not even our current level of materia fusion can produce them predictably or with any kind of frequency.”

‘Oh no...’

“Among other notable additions, this one managed to create a particularly unique melding of both the Enemy Skill and Mime abilities; creating what we theorize is a new method of duplicating and imitating abilities unlike either base skill, perhaps even absorbing power in the process. It’s this feature we’re so intent on utilizing.”

‘Aw crap…’

“Materia that bridge types tend to have a mixture of the types’ colors in a kind of swirling pattern, opposed to a mere blending of colors. This one in particular appears to of had a primary base of Yellow Command materia with swirls of either blue or-“

“Yeah, I know the one you’re talking about… it’s just, well… you see…” Tifa interrupted, sucking her lips in for a moment as she searched for the words “Um… I uh, I kind of…”

“Why the hell won’t it fit!? The other ones shrunk into the slots just fine! Why is this one bigger!?”

“Some Materia are just different Tif, this one definitely is. We can just get you an adjustable slot for it later. Stop freaking out.”

“Well… maybe if I just hold it real tight”

"I don’t think that’s such a good-"

*CRUNCH*

“…”

‘SHIT!’

“You… You broke it!?” the horned agent stared at her in disbelief.

“I didn’t mean to!”

“Lady even if you are freakishly strong enough to crush a materia, you wouldn’t have an arm anymore if you did” Rina snarked from behind the woman. The well coiffed Turk was about to respond when Sugarcoat strode forward and jabbed Tifa’s hand with something.

“OW! What the fuck!?”

“Sugarcoat!”

“...She's absorbed it, permanently it seems too; we may not be able to extract it” she stated after dropping the needle into a small tube of solution “The ‘internal slot’ is a very advanced technique; you shouldn’t try it if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

‘It’s a damn good thing this bitch is cute or someone would have stabbed her in the face with an ice pick long ago’ Tifa scowled at the girl while grabbing a napkin for the new hole in her hand.

“Okay!” The purple haired Turk rose quickly, waving them at to the door “All of you! Out!”

They quickly complied with only Rude faltering a bit upon reaching the door and glancing back at Tifa, or rather at the sunglasses perched atop her head.

“You’re not getting them back.”

The bald man frowned, flipping open a spare pair from his coat pocket and exiting with an annoyed grunt.

The unicorn gave a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. She let her hand drop to look up upset but suddenly she seemed to almost swallow the frustration, perking back up with a forced smile before taking out her phone.

“…Yes Hello Ma’am… Yes we found her Ma’am but there have been some complications… Yes with that but also with the team… Well, you see they took it upon themselves to-”

While the senior Turk reported to her superior Tifa looked down at the tiny wound, the bleeding had already started to slow but that wasn’t what was concerning her. The Rina girl was right; when a materia breaks the result is often quite explosive. She absorbed it though and never even noticed; and she certainly hadn’t used any magic or special abilities without actual materia.

‘Then again she said it was primarily a command materia, and I think the other color was blue meaning support… both usually need a deliberate attempt or are just passive effects’ she mused, those would certainly be easy to overlook ‘But Enemy Skill mixed with Mime huh? That’s not too bad actually.’

“Yes Ma’am, I understand… Of course, I’ll report when there are any new developments” Tifa watched the Turk hang up and sit down again “So it seems we have a new direction to take here Ms. Lockhart, one that now requires your cooperation.”

“I don’t suppose I have any choice in this, do I Miss…?”

“Oh where are my manners?! I’m Rarity,” she answered, shaking the human’s uninjured hand “And while I would so like to say you do, I’m afraid this has become a matter of national security. As much as I deplore the use of such tactics they would virtually freeze your accounts, relieve you of your employment, seize your apartment, probably threaten deportation and do I really need to continue this distasteful list Darling?”

“You really don’t” Tifa sighed, head thumping down on the table.

“You will of course be compensated for your cooperation and we will be able to rectify the… inconsistencies in your citizenship” she confirmed “We wouldn’t force you to comply and leave you out in the cold. In fact I dare say your situation will improve quite a bit afterward. ”

“Can I at least know what I’m being forced to do?” her words muffled against the wood.

“Yes of course dear,” Rarity answered warmly “We’re going to save the world.”

Tifa’s head shot up from the table.

‘Say what now?’

A blue and pink haired Turk gave the smallest of sighs after the call ended, a mildly irritated expression on her otherwise collected appearance.

"Hmmmm… Well this certainly complicates matters" she addressed the woman on the screen above the phone.

"Perhaps, but not to a degree we can't handle," the alicorn replied, absently looking out the tinted window as the limo passed through the city "As it was, the materia was merely a failsafe; the primary plan is still our best option.”

“Should we bring he in for testing then?” the agent asked, the president looking pensive for a moment before finally responding.

“I don’t think so, not yet… if what agent Rarity said is accurate then this Lockhart may in fact prove to be a potent ally after all” Celestia decided “Integrate her into the effort and make use of her abilities, at least until more develops.”

“Are we to tell her about-“

“No.” she abruptly cut the Turk off, a focused intensity in the president’s eyes as she continued staring out at her city “No, she doesn’t need to know. Until the time comes the fewer that know, the better.”

“She’s almost certainly started asking questions already; she may be more cooperative if she knows what she’s doing” Sweetie Drops offereded.

“By all means Agent Sweetie Drops, have your Turks explain what she’ll be doing as you’ve already instructed,” Celestia answered more understandingly “Just don’t tell them why. We don’t need this getting out and spreading confusion or panic. I'm afraid the masses wouldn’t understand until it’s already upon them.”

“Very well Ma’am, of course” Sweetie Drops acquiesced before shifting the discussion to another pressing matter.

“Now what are your orders regarding AVALANCHE?”

Author's Notes:

And there's Chapter one! Yay!

For those that don't know, the 'Tsuru' bit is actually what they say in the original Japanese of Advent Children instead of 'Dilly Dally Shilly Shally'- It's the japanese onomatopoeia for 'dragging' and can be used to point out when someone's dragging their feet. Sorry for any that looked at it wondering just what the hell I was writing about lol.

So quick question readers; Music or No Music? Some authors, including myself in my other story, often provide links to songs to accent the scene; be it for action, suspense, comedy or what have you. In this story I believe it would be mostly limited to action unless truly called for. But let me know what your opinion is; I'm personally on the fence as to whether it would add emphasis or distract from immersion.

As Always readers; Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope to see you for the next! Have a good one!

Chapter 2: My First Day

-Party Load Out and Materia-

Tifa: Human (Displaced)

Metal Knuckle- Fire, Ice ---- Upgraded Bangle - Time + Added Effect

Other: Enemy Skill+Mime (Absorbed), Rude’s Sunglasses

Rarity: Unicorn

Silken Dream- Restore, Esuna, Ice ---- Mythril Armlet- Barrier, Lightning

Other: Enchanted, Reinforced (and Perfectly tailored) Suit

Sunny Flare: Human

Shuriken- Afflict + Added Effect --- Mythril Armlet- Lightning + Water + Elemental

Other: Enchanted, Reinforced Suit

“So there’s Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity and Magic?”

Tifa walked through the Wall Market with Rarity and Sunny Flare as the morning lights over the slums shifted to their afternoon settings. It had been two days since the incident in her apartment, Rarity having thought it’d be best not to start immediately after the confrontation. For one it gave Tifa a chance to make sure that strangers weren’t in her apartment alone again as they fixed her windows, and it also gave her sometime to recoup and get used to her new, forced employment.

“Yes, that is correct dear” The horned woman answered.

“And we have to find these Elements?” Tifa continued.

“Regrettably, the true elements themselves have been lost for nearly a millennia” Rarity clarified “But! There are some… ‘stand-ins’ that should also serve our purposes.”

“Stand-ins?”

“Huge materia attuned to each of the Harmony Stream’s currents of the respective elements” Rarity explained matter-of-factly “Along with suitable wielders for each of the materia, we should be able to use them to largely the same effect as the originals.”

“So we have to find six huge materia And six people to use them? I’m guessing these six can’t be just anyone either” Tifa surmised.

“You guess right dear. Though we only have to find five of the materia; Shinra already has a huge materia that we believe has proven a suitable substitute for the element of magic” Rarity confirmed.

“And where do I fit in all of this exactly?” Tifa inquired further, the rookie Turk finally speaking up in response.

“You’re a failsafe; you’re here in case we screw up and can’t find everything” she said bluntly, glancing at her through a black eye. While her face wasn’t the swollen mass it was after the chair broke against it, she was still left with a pretty good shiner; even after the healing spells.

“Well dear, to put it a bit more thoroughly… we had hoped to be able to use the materia, the one now within you, to… well, to ‘fudge the details’ as it were” Rarity tried to find the right words “In case we couldn’t find all the materia or suitable wielders we planned to use your materia to imitate any missing piece and hope for the best. As you’re not a mere materia though, you could consider yourself a kind of reserve team rather than a failsafe.”

“Well if I’m just a back-up then why do I have to go with you guys and be part of this whole investigation and searching thing?” the buxom fighter asked “Why not just set me up in the tower and keep me safe there until I’m needed?”

“Because Shinra is a business” Sunny stated “It’s inefficient to waste talented assets when they could be best served helping with the cause.”

“I’m an Asset now?” she didn’t like the sound of that one bit.

“You really must work on your delivery Agent Flare” Rarity grumbled to the girl “You’re still a living being darling, but she is correct; it would be a waste to lock you away when your abilities make you so well suited for the kind of challenges ahead of us. That you were able to hold off Rina and Rude is testimony enough to that, even if they were only trying to incapacitate you. Think of yourself as more of an involuntary contractor; you don’t represent Shinra, but you do still work for us.”

“So I have to help because I’m just so damn good?” she snarked “You can’t tell me there aren’t far more qualified combatants at Shinra. Can’t you just get a platoon of SOLDIER on this? You’d think ‘saving the world’ would be on their to-do list already.”

“Much of SOLDIER IS working on this darling, or preparing for if it all goes kerfuffle. Our part is only one of a larger whole after all; a very significant and important part yes, but that’s why it requires so much more delicate maneuvering. We don’t want to incite panic or have word of these sources of power fall into the wrong hands after all. We’re also not the only team assigned to this particular task either” the senior Turk deliberated “There’s also the fact that it’s very possible any opportunities to use your materia’s abilities will only be available as they happen. I’ve seen it myself, when things simply can’t come together in time if they aren’t together already.”

“…sounds like just a lot of bureaucracy to me” Tifa muttered, to which the younger Turk give a light huff in response.

“We’ve been told to bring you with, so we’re bringing you with” Sunny stated plainly and not a little irritated “It’s not like you’re not being compensated.”

“Fine, whatever” Tifa relented as they came up to a large and very flashy building with a pair of Shinra troopers talking with the door guard “Though you still haven’t-”

“I'm afraid the rest will have to wait,” Rarity interrupted as they approached the main doors “Time to go to work.”

“Here? But this is Corneo’s place!” Tifa exclaimed, feeling grimy just saying the Don’s name “You can’t tell me this guy is one of the wielders!”

“Oh heavens forbid! May the Stream help us all if that were true!” Rarity gasped.

“Pfft yeah, I’d resign right here if that were the case” Flare added “Still, the slime ball has info and the reports say he’s been in contact with AVALANCHE sympathizers; we may be racing to the first materia already.”

“Agent Rarity” one of the troopers addressed them “the Don has agreed to see us but insists we disarm.”

“Well that simply is not going to happen” she countered before striding up to the door guard herself “You will remind Mr. Corneo of section 12- article 14 of Midgar security statutes and kindly inform the Don that despite the times Shinra has overlooked his questionable business practices in favor of region stability, it does not infer any authority over us and he should consider that we haven’t simply arrested him for conspiracy as a sign of good faith.”

The guard bristled under the shorter woman’s tone but returned inside to inform his boss all the same. Tifa stood by, impressed by the unicorn; even after seeing her tear into the other Turks she still got the impression of her being rather soft. She’d have to stop thinking like that if she didn’t want the Turk to get the better of her next time.

“The Don will see you now” the guard returned and led them through the gaudy estate. They passed a kind of office Tifa recognized from the game; this is where he’d line up girls to choose his favorite. They moved past the long desk to a pair of massive doors with the don’s own likeness carved into them. The height alone necessitated the use of automatic openers rigged to the tops.

“Overcompensating much?” Tifa muttered “he must be tiny…”

Sunny and the troopers found themselves struggling to suppress chuckles while even the proper Rarity failed to hide a snicker. They all quickly righted as the doors opened, revealing a pudgy sack of grease with tiny wings lounging on a bed.

“Well well well, the latest fox in my hunting grounds,” the balding pegasus cooed “I told you I’d get you into my little love palace someday, didn’t I Tifa?”

The brunette woman’s skin crawled as his eyes danced hungrily over her body; she was now really wishing she wore more covering clothes today. Rarity quickly stepped forward to block the don’s view.

“Miss Lockhart is a member of our investigation Mr. Corneo, she’s to be treated with the same respect as the rest of us.”

“Oh don’t get jealous now, you still look equally delicious my little tart” Tifa saw Rarity’s shoulders tense as he leered at her “The dessert to Tifa’s meaty entrée.”

“I don’t think you understand the seriousness of the accusations levied against you ‘Don’” Rarity continued “That title that so impresses your little band of ruffians will not save you from the consequences of consorting with known terrorists.”

The Don’s face actually managed to reach a modicum of seriousness at Rarity’s threat. It was short lived however as a feigned ignorance took its place.

“Terrorists?! Why I have no idea what you mean! I would never consort with anyone set against our city’s most generous benefactors” he lied easily, the younger Turk stepping forward in response.

“We have some very damning evidence of multiple meetings between you and several flagged individuals ‘Don’” Sunny tossed a folder of photos and eye witness reports on the bed. Concern peeked through again as he sifted through the folders contents, Rarity gaining a smirk of her own.

“Now it would be a terrible shame if you broke your record of cooperation and made this city’s benefactors generously give you a new home” she delivered smugly.

“The kind with metal walls and barred windows if you’re too dense to catch on” Sunny continued for the ivory skinned woman “but if you start talking…”

The greasy lecher scowled at the Turks before looking back at the pictures.

“Yes… Yes now I believe I do remember meetings with some of these painfully serious sorts” he finally relented “But I assure you I had no idea they were AVALANCHE.”

“Funny…” Tifa finally spoke up “None of us said they were AVALANCHE.”

“Oh uh… Well-um-I mean who else could they be?! Are there other groups foolishly opposing Shinra?! I certainly haven’t heard of any! They’d have to be mad! Heh heh…” he sputtered rapidly.

“What did they want?” Rarity quickly cut in, not caring for any excuses.

“What everybody wants from me that’s not in my pants; Information” he delivered, failure of a suave smile on his lips “I came across some dated but still apparently profitable material about some dusty, old artifact...” he trailed off as five sets of eye’s continued to look at him expectantly.

“…Well?” one of the troopers finally broke the silence.

“Well what?” he mocked “I told you this was profitable information. I wouldn’t be a very good businessman if I let it go for nothing!”

“Seriously?!” Sunny snapped “You actually have the balls to try and charge us!? You’ll be lucky if we decide not to arrest your ass and leave it in a cell for the next twelve lifetimes! Assuming you’re not tried for Treason first!”

“We are here asking for cooperation we could easily force Mr. Corneo” Rarity threatened “The only reason the company has turned a blind eye to your little ‘enterprises’ down here is that fact that you have offered an odd semblance of peace to the area. But some infractions simply cannot be ignored.”

He studied the group pensively, determining the validity of the threats before finally relenting.

“But of course, I would be more than happy to assist agents of the company in any way possible…” he leaned back against the elaborate head board, arms spread wide along its fixtures. His left hand rested atop a blue ball lamp as he spoke again “it’s just too bad they never showed up.”

‘Oh crap!’ Tifa’s memory sparked. She tried to dash forward as the others stood confused.

The lamp lever swung down triggering the floor to fall out beneath them and even for all her strength, Tifa couldn’t push off something that wasn’t there. The others fell as she just barely snagged the edge of the trap door, fingers screaming as they struggled to keep hold of the wood. The don slipped off the side of the bed and stood over the hole.

“A real shame to lose such a prize, but oh well” he sighed, foot coming to hover ominously over her hand “Do you remember the first thing you said to me, you top heavy tramp? I think it’d be quite appropriate for this…”

The sandaled foot began pressing into the straining digits.

“So little Lockhart, 'you think you can do me a solid? And FUCK OFF?!'”

He kicked out and sent her plummeting into the dark, the obscenities echoing back up music to his ears.

Foul water engulfed her, invading Tifa's senses as she tried to keep her mouth closed and figure out which way was up. She breached the surface, the light barely enough to even see the sludge but ambient enough to show that she was slowly headed toward a drop.

She didn’t bother fighting the weak current and merely swam to reach the side, her fingers finding easy purchase long before the drop. She clawed her way out of the stream of filthy water and slumped against the sewer wall for a moment to catch her breath. She immediately regretted the first deep inhale, the smell so pungent you could actually taste it.

One lost breakfast later she was up and following the current, a small flame held above her palm for light. She had to be rather particular about her materia choices with her limited slots and was now glad she made the right call on the fire. She pondered if Shinra would ante up for some better equipment for her now that she was helping them; no doubt they kept the Turks well equipped.

She hopped down the drop that was a lot shorter than she thought and was immediately attacked; a terrier sized crab flying at her face. A single punch and the mutant flew back, shattered bits of shell raining in its wake. More splashed toward her from below the stream a moment after, earning a heavy sigh and eye roll from the buxom fighter.

A sharp gesture and a snap of the fingers later, the small group lay frozen in great chucks of ice along the surface. She ignored the weakly snapping claws and continued on, the first crab hastily hobbling its way back into the muck as she passed.

A cacophony of echoing shots rang out ahead, quickly sending the woman sprinting toward the source. She soon came upon a large battle, the four Shinra employees on a grate over the sludge and surrounded by grotesque bipedal turtles and slimy blobs inching towards them. One trooper unleashed another burst into one of the slime creatures, the rounds sinking harmlessly in to its gelatinous body. The turquoise turk shoved him aside, as sparks began to dance around her fingers.

“They’re flans idiot!” she snapped “You have to use magic!”

An arc of lightning flew from the Turk’s hand, detonating the blob before one of the turtles lunged at her. The creature’s trident soared at her face only to veer off course as a shot rang out next to her head, the monster’s head snapping back as it fell to the ground. Sunny flinched way from the rapport of senior Turk’s unusual gunblade, holding her ear as more of the creatures moved in.

Tifa sped forward, turning the flames above her hand into a fully-fledged fireball before it sailed toward the attackers. Half of the survivors scrambled in retreat as the rest turned to the new threat, one of the larger mutants striking out at the female. She easily sidestepped the trident, snapping the shaft swift kick before redirecting the strike.

The turtle monster retreated into its shell as the kick struck, unfortunately only to find itself hurled back against its allies. The others slowly regained themselves as to see their clan mate’s limbs falling flaccid out of the protective covering, countless cracks spider webbing out from the massive dent now across its surface.

Their beady eyes bulged at the fighter raising her fists up, ready to continue. They wearily stood their ground until a shriek escaped one warrior taking up the rear, a bright blue streak of light passing straight through its shell. They rounded on the ivory skinned Turk, her weapon glowing brightly to match her horn.

They took just a single glance between the two before immediately scooping up their wounded and retreating to the water, their best defenses proven useless against the pair’s abilities. It didn’t take long for the united group to mop up the remaining flans, the goopy abominations falling easy prey to their combined magics.

“Sorry we weren’t able to wait for you darling, as you saw we found ourselves a tad preoccupied” Rarity apologized “Very glad you made it down without injury though.”

“Yeah…” Sunny added slightly begrudgingly, a finger probing at her ear “Nice timing.”

“Oh terribly sorry about that Sunny dear” Rarity gave “but I figured I bit of ringing in the ears was better than a trident in the face after all.”

“No it’s fine, don’t worry about it” Sunny admitted before looking back to the troopers “You two alright?”

“We’re good, we’ve been on the sewer sweeps before” one answered, a small smile beneath his helmet as he slapped the other trooper on the back “Though it seems Norman here forgot some of the basics.”

“Yeah yeah, I screwed up” the other grumbled “Not exactly standard procedure here though.”

“Sewer Sweeps?” Tifa inquired before the turquoise agent elaborated.

“Every few months Shinra sends squads through the sewers to keep the monster population under control and escort maintenance teams to fix any problems.”

“So you know how we can get out of here then” Tifa shot to the pair.

“Not this section exactly but most of the city’s sewers follow the same configurations” Norman admitted “So we really shouldn’t be too far from an exit; if we just keep going we'll hit one eventually.”

“Alright…” Tifa started as they began walking “Now that we have a moment, maybe we can get back to what I was asking before-”

“Here we go…” Sunny muttered, earning a disgruntled glance from the fighter.

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to know just what we’re trying to find all this stuff for.”

“As I’ve said several times Miss Lockhart; We’re trying to save the world” Rarity repeated.

“Yeah, I got that part. But from What?”

“I am terribly sorry Miss Lockhart but it has been deemed prudent to maintain a certain level confidentiality in-” Rarity began the practiced response before the younger Turk cut in.

“We don’t know” Sunny stated bluntly “The director and President have been pretty keen to keep it that way until ‘the right time’ too. There, you now officially know just about as much as we do.”

“They’re not even telling you guys?” Tifa stared at the pair, concern deepening on her face.

‘Well this whole thing just got significantly more shady…’ she added mentally, though Rarity still seemed to pick up on the context.

“I am willing to admit that it is a wee bit… concerning yes, but one doesn’t have to spend long in the upper levels of the company to learn just how dangerous even simple knowledge can be” she admitted “Just look at materia for example; half the reason they allow people to use magic is by imparting the knowledge to do so; some materia are forbidden just because most minds simply cannot withstand the knowledge within.”

“I always thought it was weird how such dangerous things can come from energies connected to the Harmony stream” one of the troopers replied.

“Harmony doesn’t necessarily mean peaceful” Sunny stated “true it usually suggests as much, but just like the musical term it can be happy, sad, peaceful, violent, angry or any number of things.”

“Is that an exit?” Tifa interrupted, pointing to the small shaft of light a ways ahead.

“Yeah I think so, not sure where we’ll end up but it should at least be on the street level again” Norman confirmed.

“I don’t understand what Corneo was hoping to accomplish with this other than ruining our clothes” the first trooper mused “It’s not like there’s anything down here that-”

The trooper suddenly crashed into the tunnel's wall, hurled by a giant fist crashing through the debris of a side passage as a thunderous roar filled the sewers.

A massive… THING barreled into the open space, chained arms and clawed tail thrashing about. The four still standing retreated from the swinging limbs as the abomination rounded on them, its hooves cracking the stone as it stomped forward and barred their escape.

Norman opened fire as he strafed toward his fallen compatriot, quickly drawing the beast’s attention. He blanched under his helmet at the horned monstrosity’s arm bore down upon him, only narrowly missing as something tackled him from the side.

The trooper looked up and found his vision almost entirely blocked by dirty white cloth, even when the woman on top of him was already arm’s length from the ground. Several deeper shots rang out beyond her as the two Turks drew the creature’s attention back to them.

“SURGE!” Sunny shouted, a geyser of the foul water beneath the grating shooting up into the beast and knocked it off balance. Before it could recover a line of freezing spikes streaked out from Rarity, the materia glowing brightly on her unique weapon as the geyser froze the monster in place.

The hold proved fleeting however as with a roar it quickly broke free, already charging the agents when a third woman jumped between them with fists ablaze. Torrents of flame crashed against the charger, sending it reeling back screaming.

“It’s weak to fire!” Tifa shouted back during the brief reprieve.

“Ummm… hehe, well…” Sunny began, sheepishness poorly hidden behind the pair’s unsure smiles.

“I’m the only one here with it aren’t I?”

The beast didn’t allow an answer as it lunged at them again, focusing on the fire bringer to snuff out the source of the flames. Ducking under the punch she leapt at its face still trailing fire, just to have its giant tongue lash out at her.

“Eww!” Tifa moaned, firing the flames out to rocket her away from the slimy whip. The monster scrambled back flailing panicked at the flames once again washing across his face. She landed back among the Turks still unleashing their ranged attacks at their opponent, their continuous assault finally showing a cumulative effect. Rarity began charging the shots as before, her horn further illuminating the cave as streaks of light pierced the beast again and again.

Another, pained roar assaulted the group before a loud snorting sounded above the echoes.

“How uncouth…” Rarity criticized the monster’s mighty intake. Offence soon tripled as the collected phlegm suddenly drenched them, a disproportionately large glob completely covering the trio “By the Stream, it’s EVERYWHERE! This is simply the WORST POSSIBLE THING!”

Disgusting as it was Sunny soon realized the true threat of the mucus, as every effort movement now felt like trudging through molasses. She quickly saw the others struggling to move at more than a snail’s pace.

“We’ve been SLOWED!” she called, even her words coming out at a drawl.

The beast smiled before bounding forward on all fours, tongue lolling as it leapt with a fist raised. It smile abruptly fell to a scowl as the jiggly food flared brightly, the gooey filth shattering off her in a blaze of light. Tifa struck out against the mammoth strike with a fist of her own, an ear rending crack singing through the tunnels when they met.

The abomination reeled back clutching its broken fingers, snarling at the tiny food before trying to pound it flat. Tifa flipped over the arm to land a heavy sweep kick to its jaw, pulverizing stone as the beast’s head drove straight into the tunnel’s wall. Now bereft of one of its horns it, it ripped itself from the reinforced supports to see its meal now gathering blinding flames all around itself.

It turned to retreat to only receive a grenade detonating beside its head, the trooper now firing after his thrown explosive.

“PARALYZE!” Sunny shouted before sparks danced across the creature, its limbs going sluggish as they grew numb to the world. Another point of light lanced through the beast’s leg, finally breaking its balance and sending it right into the martial artist’s waiting strike.

'Where’s the fanfare when you need it?' Tifa gave a small smile as she delivered the full force straight with as much fire as her reserves would allow. The beast soared back through the sewers, right past their exit and crashing through the metal grates into the current below.

Tifa stood straight, humming the little tune since the world wouldn’t do it for her. She looked back to see the pair slowly liberating themselves from the unpleasantness clinging to them as the trooper dragged his compatriot over. A quick esuna later and Rarity was kneeling over the fallen grunt. She pulled a small bundle of fiery feathers from her coat, closing her eyes and illuminating her horn as she scattered them across him.

Tifa and Sunny waited as the senior Turk alternated between the item casting and her restore materia. Unlike the games, Phoenix Downs weren’t a sure thing here. Healing in general could already be pretty hit and miss with grievous wounds, and while it could still bring some back from far further gone than back on earth… others weren’t so lucky. Dead was still dead; even in the games Aerith proved that.

The glow receded but the trooper remained motionless. The pair let their shoulders slump but then Rarity spoke up, her ear against the trooper’s chest.

“He’s still with us, but we do need to get him proper care quickly if we want him to stay that way” the other grunt quickly hefted his friend at her words and made way for the ladder. The senior Turk nodded at he looked back to them “Take him up first and get him to a hospital, we can take care of everything else on our own.”

He nodded back to the ladies and began trudging up. They waited below at the base of the rusted ladder, ready in case the soldier's grip slipped. Just as he reached the top and began opening the hatch Sunny spoke up, scowling upward.

“I swear I’m gonna put a bullet in that fat fuck,” she growled “right in his little pecker…”

“Even at point blank that’ll be quite the shot” Tifa quipped, earning a tired chuckle from the Turks before the Trooper called down.

“It’s clear! We’re in sector five near the border; it shouldn’t take too long to make it back to Corneo’s!”

“Thank you Darling, now just go get him-” Rarity’s words were cut short as the grating behind them exploded upward, an enraged shriek ringing out. Beady eyes rounded on the pair as the burnt and bleeding abomination gained a sickly glow. Only half out of the demolished waterway the monster bellowed a guttural scream, a tingling wave of air washing over them as it surged through the sewers and beyond.

“What the hell?!” Sunny exclaimed “It knows Magic?!”

A faint rumbling met the trio’s ears, soon growing to the unmistakable roar of rushing water. The beast actually laughed as the torrent appeared, swirling and racing towards all of them from behind the creature. The tidal wave of sewage crashed into the monster first, instantly pulling him from sight as it passed. With it moving far too fast to even attempt to escape, Tifa had but a single though before it was upon them…

‘Aw shit...’

Corneo lounged smugly in his bed, nibbling on a plate of strawberries as he watched the young women on his TV bounce around in short shorts. He did so love girls volley ball; the hot pants, the jumping and jiggling, and all those deliciously suggestive grunts. He dragged a hand down his flabby chest until he found his lip curling.

He let out a disgusted snort; as much as he loved his little trap, he still lamented the odors that always managed to creep though despite his best efforts. He stood to spray yet another misting of air freshener when he thought her heard a commotion from downstairs.

“I swear to the stream if another one of you morons broke one of my vases I’ll-” he blanched as a burst of gunfire rang out closer. He froze; hearing shouts and yells among shattering furniture and dwindling weapons fire.

“No, no it couldn’t be! How could they have survived my sweet little Aps?!” he whimpered panicked before a loud bang hit his bedroom doors, a weak groan heard as something slid down against them. He scrambled back onto the bed and flattened himself against the headboard just before the doors flew off their hinges and a fresh wave of stink assaulted his nose.

A woman covered head to toe in filth stood in the opening, the fury of the sun itself in her eyes as she stalked forward. The terrified Corneo slammed the lamp down for the trap door, only to have the woman stride straight across the hole on the massive doors now easily bridging the gap.

The lecher’s eyes bugged as he dove at this nightstand, fumbling with the drawers before a steel grip latched onto his throat. Powered plaster filled the foul smelling air as he felt himself slammed into the wall, his stubby legs dangling as he was held aloft by a single hand. He stopped dead as a fist struck an inch from his head, denting the reinforced metal behind the plaster as if it were tinfoil.

“So Don…” he stared terrified into the furious, manic smile of the buxom woman holding him. He could feel a warm wetness trailing down his leg as she spoke,

“Ya Think you could do me a Solid?”

Tifa plodded through the dimly lit hallway, the uncomfortable squelching of her boots sounding with every step. They hosed themselves off only after… ‘apprehending’ Corneo, having agreed to wait as to drag as much through the prick's estate as they could.

‘He should still be able to talk with some missing teeth and a swollen face right?’ she mused.

They were not gentle. Rarity had managed to keep Sunny from what she called ‘Degloving his Berries’, but the younger Turk still got in a really good kick… it might take the doctors a while to find where that dislocated orb ended up. Even after everything the he put them through in the sewers, Tifa still actually felt a little bad about that one.

Only a little though… maybe.

“TIFA!” the door across the hall flew open, its occupant immediately slamming a hand over her nose “Um… so… mmnn… so how was your first day?”

Tifa looked over to the pink woman who was trying to hold her breath and keep smiling.

“Shitty” was all she said as she lumbered into the apartment, not even bothering to strip out of any of her ruined clothes save her boots before stepping into the warm shower. She stood letting the hot embrace of the water course over her, washing away the day as she tried to relax.

‘Today could have ended a lot worse’ she thought tiredly ‘we nearly lost somebody… I nearly lost myself.’

She didn’t admit it to the Turks at the time but she had nearly drowned in the beast’s final attack, and was a little disturbed by just how undisturbed she was about it at the time. But now that she had time to actually think about it… she quickly shook the thoughts away, burying them as she grabbed the soap, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and the little gift set of mini scrubs and other fancy stuff and got to work.

After several latherings and lots of scrubbing her stomach finally gave a lurching growl, forcing her to leave the comforting warmth and cleanliness of the shower. She glanced at the dripping, tried up trash bag of her clothes and decided she'd deal with it later. She threw on some pjs and headed back toward her living room when she heard someone moving around on the other side of the door.

‘Damn it, they said they wouldn’t bother me for at least a few days’ she thought before opening the door, about to tell the suited pricks to fuck off. Instead she found a mane of green hair swaying about as it emptied the take out bags marked with the logo of the Wutai restaurant on the corner.

“~Comfort fooooood~” Zest sung as she held up a couple boxes “~I got your faaavorite~”

Tifa smiled tiredly as some of the stress drained from her shoulders at just the sight.

‘How’d I manage to just stumble into such a good friendship?'

'Oh! You should tell her that- Tell her she’s a good friend. And don’t puss out like you always-’

“Thanks Zest.”

‘God fucking damnit Tifa…’

“Any time girl” Zest winked at her with a smile before sitting down, her music faintly heard from the headphones round her neck “So now that you’ve had your hour in the shower, how was your first day?”

Tifa sighed before taking a seat and grabbing one of the to-go boxes, eating a little before getting into the details. She didn’t much enjoy reliving the day but she did have to admit it had a kind of detoxing effect. Zest was also a pretty damn good listener, Tifa guessed it had something to do with the fact that listening was half her life when it came to music.

“You got to beat up Corneo?!” Zest yelled “You lucky bitch! How could that ever be a shitty day?!”

“Um, with virtually everything else that happened before that?”

“Well yeah okay, but still… you got to kick the Don’s ass! You can’t say that didn’t make the day at least a little worth it!” Zest laughed.

“Well… maybe a little” Tifa admitted with a small chuckle.

“Though hopefully his arrest won’t cause some kind of power vacuum” Zest added a bit uneasy, to which Tifa shook her head.

“The Turks told me they’d recommend more security to try and prevent that…” Tifa offered “Maybe they’ll see the city below the main plate needs a little more attention than the one on top…”

“Fat chance…” Zest mutterd “You need an esuna after being down in the sewers?”

“No I’m okay, thanks. Rarity already cast it on all of us after Sunny cast cleansing” the brunette answered before taking another bite and trying to enjoy the quiet moment, but having trouble not dwelling on the fact they’d be back within just a few days to pick her up again.

“So did you learn anything by chance?” Tifa snapped out of her daze at Lemon’s question “Y’know, with your enemy skill?”

The brunette blinked, having completely forgotten about the actual purpose of the materia outside of the ‘fail safe’ they wanted it for. Now that she actually thought about it, she could feel the little tingling of added knowledge materia gave at first.

Zest jumped as the buxom woman’s head abruptly met the table, making everything atop it jump with her.

“Um, Tif?” Zest asked hesitantly as her friend only groaned meekly toward the floor.

“Sewer Tsunami…”

“…What?”

“Sewer Tsunami!” she practically shouted “The very first ability I get and it just had to be summoning a literal tidal wave of shit that also hits me!”

Zest blinked a few times, processing what she just heard. A blush rose in her cheeks as she pulled her lips tight, small tears welling as she struggled to control herself.

“Pfffffffffff-”

“Go ahead” Tifa sighed, head still resting on the table.

“BA-HAHAHAHA!” Zest burst out “OH that is just too fitting!”

Tifa’s head snapped up, looking hurt as her supposed friend continued to laugh at her.

“Oh don’t look at me like that! I didn’t mean for you!” Zest argued between bouts of laughter “I mean for this whole thing! One day you’re just serving your tables and the next thing you know a wave a crap hits you and pulls you into this shitty situation.”

“Well, when you put it that way…” Tifa grumbled.

“Hey look at the bright side, at least when this is all over you have a perfect way of showing them just how much you appreciate it” the music lover grinned at her, it only growing more mischievous when her next thought struck her “And just think if you learn typhoon or tornado to go with it.”

“Let ‘em deal with the ‘shit-storm’ they brought upon themselves?”

“Literally.”

The pair burst out laughing, Tifa finally relaxing fully.

‘Ok, maybe all this will be worth it after all.’

“She matched the strength of such a creature?”

“According to agent Flare’s report, she actually surpassed it by a decent margin Madam President” Agent Sweetie Drops read “True her strength didn’t completely out class it, at least based on what she observed; but it would seem there’s even more to this woman than we suspected…”

Celestia continued looking through the paperwork, pausing only to glance over the latest memo at the director's unsaid thought.

“How many times must I repeat that you are free to speak your mind in my presence Miss Drops?”

“Well... perhaps it would be prudent to fully assess her abilities and perhaps prepare some sort of containment-”

“She is not one of the Professor’s experiments Agent Drops” the president stated sharply.

“No, of course not ma’am; I did to mean to suggest-” the Turk leader paused to regather herself “I simply meant we should know the full extent of her abilities; to not only see if she can indeed serve the purpose we may need but-”

“Yes I know…” Celestia sighed, already regretting snapping. She knew Agent Sweetie Drops wasn't too much happier with the possibilities than she was. Setting down her paperwork, the Shinra leader stood up and strode to the window to look over her city. Unless they pulled off a miracle, if things didn’t go just right… It was regrettable yes, but it would be for the greater good.

“We need to know for when her sacrifice is needed…”

Author's Notes:

So I didn't see any answers if you all would like music in the story or not- It would probably just be something like just little blurbs of [Optional Music] for certain scenes but let me know down in the comments what you think... If you feel so inclined.

But YAY! Finally a second chapter! Sorry about the wait readers. Admittedly I'm not entirely satisfied with how this chapter turned out, I don't hate it by any means yet it's still not as much as I was hoping of myself... BUT thankfully I think my writers block is starting to dissolve. I AM looking forward to the next chapter quite a bit though so I know it'll be good (We get to see a little of another of the Mane 6's roles in the story )- so stay tuned readers!

But until then, as always: thanks for reading and hope to see you for the next chapter! Have a good one!

Oh and P.S. - Don't look up pictures of degloving, seriously- just don't. It's gross.

Chapter 3: Tests and Terrorists

To returning readers- There have been some notable but still mostly minor changes to the earlier chapters- Tifa’s displacer is more obviously not ‘The Merchant’, Sunny Flare’s Weapon has been changed to a Shuriken like Cissnei's, and certain aspects of Tifa’s absorbed materia have changed (Notably that while merged materia aren’t terribly rare, combination one’s like hers are, and that's it).

-Party Load Out and Materia-

Tifa: Human (Displaced)

Metal Knuckle- Fire, Ice --- Upgraded Bangle - Time + Added Effect

Other: Enemy Skill+Mime (Absorbed), Rude’s Sunglasses

Rarity: Unicorn

Silken Dream- Restore, Esuna, Ice --- Mythril Armlet- Barrier, Lightning

Other: Enchanted, Reinforced (and Perfectly tailored) Suit

Half the group flinched back when the tentacle backed hound hit the window, dissolving back into pixelated particles.

“~She’s gonna break your recooord~”

“Oh shut up” Sunny grumbled at Rina’s teasing, though not taking her eyes off the show like the others.

Two more canine shaped holograms stuttered into sight in the simulated slums before a spark of mako flashed to give them substance. The new hounds rushed to join the others supporting the squad of virtual Troopers bearing down on the test’s buxom participant.

“Keep the arm up…” the group’s bald member muttered just before the butt of a trooper’s rifle crashed across the fighter’s face.

“Three targets dealt with only to drop it on the forth,” Sugarcoat added “she has sloppy focus.”

Tifa snarled, snapping back and turning the recovery into a brutal back hand. Rina let out a low whistle as the offending trooper flew across the area and crashed straight through one of the virtual scrap metal shacks.

“Geez, I’d hate to see this chick’s limit…”

“If she’s keeps going we just might” Rarity countered as they watched Tifa sprint toward the last two of three troopers, the third currently held off the ground before her to shield against their fire. They fell quickly under the fighter’s assault, a chime from the speakers signaling the last phase of the round. The low drone of propellers filled the fighter’s ears as a trio of large guns attached to a hovering central core materialized.

“Bet she wishes she carried a lightning materia now, huh?” Sunny quipped as the heli gunner drone spun in place and aimed its weapons at the seemingly unfazed Tifa. The woman snapped her fingers and the drone dropped like a stone, its propellers frozen in great blocks of ice. Sunny stared on, her brow high as Rina laughed.

“You were saying?” the red headed Turk shot back as the machine struggled to even turn itself over. After a few moments it simply shut down and dispersed back into pixels.

The tone chimed again and the system began to reset the location as the fighter readjusted and itched at the awkward goggles meant to further immersion. Her surroundings shifted to a grassy plain with large, rocky outcroppings jutting harshly out of the ground. Another hologram shuttered into view, stretching high above the ground before the mako current sparked through it.

“A dragon” Tifa muttered meekly “…wonderful.”

She began her rush as the beast roared, a torrent of flame erupting from its maw to meet her approach. Tifa flung her hands before her without breaking her stride, a freezing mist scattering the fire just enough for her to sprint through. The tactic however seemed to be coming up short as she was forced to stop just to keep the flames even close to tolerable, her focus so centered she missed the small tingling at the back of her mind as the heat surrounding her grew.

“A clever use of what she has available” Sugarcoat admitted “Though she wouldn’t have to if she didn’t overspecialize in hand to hand combat.”

“You can compensate with materia” Rude stated quietly.

“Not the way she uses it” she shot back just before the simulation shuttered. The gathered Turks all tensed slightly as the arena and dragon dispersed before Tifa gave a heavy sigh of relief “What’s happening?”

“Someone’s overriding the system from the upper booth…” the technician explained as he scoured over the controls. Rarity’s glanced up curiously through the resetting testing area to the reflective glass of the VIP observation room, seeing two vague silhouettes through the window’s glare as the tech spoke again “She’s being bumped up to level 12 by… Whoa…”

“Was that supposed to happen?” Tifa’s voice piped up in the empty chamber “Did I lose or something?”

“Stand by Miss Lockhart” the tech spoke through the microphone before turning back to the others “the override’s coming from a Level 7 executive code.”

“Oh holy crap” Rina muttered.

“President Celestia is watching?!” Rarity gasped as the environment constructed anew around the confused martial artist. She of course realized that Ms. Lockhart was now an important part of the company’s plans but for Celestia to come observe such a routine test herself… Maybe she was underestimating the true severity of the situation.

Tifa looked around as her surroundings built up into a Y shaped intersection of the city; one with a small kiosk style market, a café with outside seating and a generic sports bar surrounding her. She looked up to see the goggles filling in the city's skyline, the extent of the simulation impressing her. The level data in the corner of the goggles’ Heads Up Display updated, skipping straight to level 12 and indicating she was on phase 1 of 1 with 4 out of 4 enemies remaining.

Her head snapped to the quartet of figures materializing, her eye’s widening as she recognized the threat. While the each had a degree of personal customization, they all shared the similar enough indicators of their position; thick leather belts and suspenders, round metal pauldrons and knight like helmets obstructing most of their faces.

‘SOLDIER’

The two in light blue fatigues broke from the group in a pincer approach, the first with a masculine build wielding the traditional SOLDIER longsword while the other looked to be a female wearing a pair of pneumatic gauntlets. The buxom fighter leapt back as the sword cracked the pavement, dodging the lunging straight of the second and returning a quick elbow and a jab to her torso.

“That’s the one based off Canyon Crusher, isn’t it?” Rude stepped closer, now more focused on the exchange between the two hand to hand specialists. He made a slightly impressed grunt as he saw her keeping the gauntlet wearer between her and the swordsmen, relegating him to token assistance.

At least until a lightning bolt shattered the street lamp above her. The Canyon Crusher copy took the opening to land solid blow across Tifa’s face as the burning glass rained around them, the second rushing past with an upward swipe. Tifa threw herself back while trying to turn away from the blade, only to still feel the sharp pain lance into her shoulder.

A quick flash of fire erupted between Tifa and the SOLDIER, throwing them all back. Tifa quickly flipped and landed with a splash in an unseen puddle, skidding slightly at she looked back to her opponents. They weren’t pushed back nearly as much as she hoped, her face falling as she saw they were barely fazed at all by her quick spell.

‘Of course they’re resistant to magic, their SOLDIER… Come on Tifa, Think!’ she either needed a way through that resistance or force them to stick to physical combat. She rose clutching her shoulder as she worked her jaw, the simulation greatly muted most actual damage but it still felt real. With water dripping from her form she realized the puddle was the only one present in the simulation, having come from her melted defense against the dragon. Meaning it wasn’t supposed to be there.

Her thoughts broke as the pair closed again, forcing her to drop into a defensive ready stance. A spike of ice shattered against the metal of her gloves, freezing the droplets on her skin and accentuating the bite of the cold. She faltered several steps back as the two slowed, waiting to strike as the glow began fading from their materia when the thought struck her-

‘That’s an idea, a stupid idea but...’ she waited, hoping the simulation wouldn’t consider the variable and act in her favor. The sword wielder launched forward again, thrusting for center mass. The blade sailed past as she shifted and punched out, her retaliating fist easily avoided as it flew past his head. The other leapt at the vulnerable martial artists with her fist ready.

‘Please let this work!’ Tifa slammed her elbow back against the SOLDIER’s helmet as she kicked out his footing. She pivoted and spun them in place, swinging him straight into his comrade’s heavy strike. The other faltered as her gauntlet crumpled the swordsmen’s helmet, Tifa rolling over his back and bringing her heel down on her helmet as well. A quick kick off and she landed just at the edge of the puddle, an icy mist surrounding her hands.

“Well I’ll be damned” Rina grinned as the participant swept her hands up and the materia in her glove pulsed. The puddle rushed up the unbalanced, soaked pair, adding just enough to the spell to encase them.

A much taller figure stared down from the room above, her tone also a little impressed… if still a bit critical.

“Well… she certainly shows a lack of experience, but she’s still proven herself resourceful if nothing else.”

Tifa braced with a smirk while wiping the sweat from her brow and threw herself at the helpless pair when a shadow flared in her peripheral. A pair of curved blades came spinning at her, the winged 2nd Class SOLDIER still airborne in their strike. She only managed to catch one on the small plate on her glove, the other scoring a shallow hit along her forearm. With grunt the buxom fighter shoved back and threw the elite off, a quick orb launched from the Griffon SOLDIER as she flew. The ball of magic splashed over Tifa, leaving the simulation perplexed as it seemed had no effect.

‘Slow won’t work on me’ she internalized before the SOLDIER was on her again ‘but holy crap is this girl fast!’

Tifa barely dodged another pair of attacks before missing her counter as her opponent spun away with a flourish. A short yelp escaped the brunette as she stumbled back clutching her collarbone, another bright red line glowing under her hand.

‘Real or not these hits still hurt like a bitch!’

The dual wielder flew at her again to find the woman crashing into her, jerking up and rolling her over her shoulder as she found purchase. The winged fighter twisted and landed with ease but found herself quickly rolling to avoid the café table hurled at her a moment later. A loud cracking sound issued from the iced over pair as the dual wielder sprung back to her feet to see her opponent covered in an amber glow, the materia on her bangle shining bright.

“So you wanna play with time magic?” Tifa muttered as a temporal glyph appeared beneath her feet, the clock face within speeding up exponentially.

Before the SOLDIER trio could even finish recovering, a knee was driving itself into the 2nd classes’ gut. An uppercut snapping her straight up an instant later and setting her up for a one-two combo, then a three four and then several more numbers all delivered in the span of a few moments. A boot swept up and finished off what was left of the soldier’s helmet, knocking her off her feet. A steel grip latched onto her ankle and the dual blade wielder found herself crashing through the market kiosk. The others only just managed to free themselves when the brunette was on them as well but, unfortunately for Tifa, they were saved moments into their own assault.

Finally taking action, the last soldier was on her in an instant. Her hasted state let her manage to dodge the first swipe but not the follow up of the sword’s pommel slamming into her side. A static sensation spread across her form from the hit until the glow literally shattered off of her.

‘Aw crap’

She sprung away before he could follow up again, her focus entirely on the first class. A mistake she realized the hard way when twin lances of pain shot across her back, the second class passing to stand with the rest. Tifa stumbled back barely keeping her footing, completely spent from not only the attacks but also pouring the rest of her reserves into the haste spell.

‘How did they say I could forfeit again?’ she thought tiredly as the first class stood before her, sword held forward as a fiery blue aura engulfed him and the small bit of horn visible through his helmet began to glow ’Well, this is gonna hurt.’

Launching forward he delivered a rapid string of eight slashes, each more devastating than the last.

The spectators looked on, a few disappointed sighs released as they saw the test’s participant fall back. The victorious first class SOLDIER stood straighter while his second class compatriot stood behind to nurse a bent wing. The third classes, functional but more heavily injured, fell to a knee before they started to disperse with the rest of intersection as the simulation shut down. Mako filtered back into the power lines and the room turned back to its default state.

“Well, that was fun!” Rina said, jumping off her counter seat “Come on Rude, we’ve got all that wonderful paperwork to get back to.”

The bald headed man gave a small, noncommittal grunt as he and the other Turks left the room while Rarity went to check on her charge. Above, the two figures continued to watch as the medic team carted the woman to the recovery area.

“Even if it was by exploiting an extra variable; she temporarily disables two third class SOLDIER, harries a second class and may have even given Armor’s duplicate a small bit trouble had she been given the chance…” the Shinra CEO mumbled, whether her tone was awed or just confused it was hard to say; they were just simulations after all “How could this woman have stayed under our notice for so long?”

“We’ve been trying to figure that out since her name came up during the materia search” Sweetie Drops answered, looking through the dossier “Her strength alone should have tripped some kind of flag but we can’t find a single hint of her beyond six months ago. We’ve sent a request to our foreign contacts regarding any possible immigration but the earliest record we have is that ledger from the inn.”

“I suppose I’ll get the chance to ask in person…” she began when her phone buzzed. She gave a small sigh before ignoring the call and continuing. There was something so… familiar about the girl and how she fought, but she just couldn’t put her finger on it “Keep searching, but first let us go have a talk with our new hire before you-know-who starts panicking that I’m behind schedule again.”

Tifa blinked through a haze as she felt herself being moved from one bright white room to another bright white room. What felt like a healing spell washed over her but it held a bit less substance. The lingering sensations of the simulated wounds faded away, replaced by a headache as she tried to stand.

“Easy now darling, just because the simulation’s wounds aren’t entirely real doesn’t mean they’re exactly fake either” Rarity cooed as one of the medics put a hand on her shoulder, guiding her back down. A second wave of the lighter magic washed over her before the Turk moved to help her to her feet “There we are now, feeling better?”

“Yeah… thanks” Tifa blushed, still exhausted but not in as much pain. She was grateful when the door opened to save her from any bumbling, at least until she saw who walked through; A very well known figure with both wings and a horn towering over any in the room, flanked by the Turk Director.

“That was an impressive display to say the least Miss Lockhart. I hope you haven’t suffered any lasting damage” the Shinra president complimented as she offered her hand. Tifa nervously took it, her mouth fumbling for words as she looked up to the alicorn.

‘I wasn’t expecting her to be so tall…’

“Thank you ma’am, I’m fine ma’am” Tifa delivered stiffly, the alicorn woman giggling in response.

“Relax Miss Lockhart, before you sprain something” she delivered in good humor. Tifa tried to force herself to calm down as the president continued “My apologies for any confusion from the sudden stage skip. I’m afraid my schedule wouldn’t allow me to observe the entirety of the tests and I felt the SOLDIER program would be a more expedient gauge of your abilities… and I must say, you did not disappoint.”

Tifa found herself fumbling for words as the president complimented her.

“Eh, I- uh- It was just luck really. If that puddle hadn’t been there I’m not sure I could have even lasted against the first two. It was still a pretty solid loss even with it anyway…”

“You nearly matched two third class SOLDIER and notably ruffled a second class just after. Simulations or not, that requires a bit more than just luck Miss Lockhart. Don’t denounce your accomplishment or-” Celestia countered until one of her aides walked in, a phone in their hand and a consoling look on her face.

“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt Ma’am but she’s being even more insistent than usual.” they gave the phone to the alicorn woman now rolling her eyes with an amused smile “You might have better luck calming her down.”

“~Hello~ Yes, I know- Please, calm down- Then I’ll just have to have the pilot fly twelve minutes faster, won’t I?” the president put the phone to her shoulder with a sigh and flashed Tifa a warm smile “And here I thought I’d get away with at least a few minutes. My apologies again Miss Lockhart, but I must cut this even shorter. Let me just thank you for all your cooperation, and say; ‘Welcome to Shinra’.”

“Thank you Princess!” Tifa managed to blurt out before the leader and her aides left the room. All present paused and shot the woman befuddled looks. An amused and confused Celestia spoke first.

“P-Princess?” the president repeated with a small chuckle “I’m flattered Miss Lockhart, but I don’t think my position is quite that prestigious.”

“Did I say- I didn’t mean- ugh…” the brunette fumbled out, forcing an awkward smile “Sorry, I must have been hit harder than I thought.”

“Not at all Miss Lockhart, I could always use a laugh. Have a nice day now” Celestia smiled and turned to leave with her aide. Once on the other side of the door she hesitated and glanced back, a look far more pensive now on her features. She however shook her head and dismissed the thought, continuing on to the hanger.

Back in the recovery room Tifa was busy burying her very red face in her hands as her Turk acquaintance suppressed a giggle of her own. Their attention snapped back as the senior Turk that stayed behind spoke up.

“With the unorthodox progression of the test, the analysis may take a bit longer than usual. Once we know what level of equipment you’re deemed fit enough to use though, we’ll let you know” Sweetie Drops explained “Until then please feel free to use any of the Turk level facilities; Agent Belle, she’s in your charge.”

“Of course Ma’am” Rarity replied as the Turk leader was already walking out of the room “So then Miss Lockhart, allow me to show you to the specialist wing.”

“Agent Belle?” the brunette asked as they navigated the halls toward the elevators.

“The company requests a second name in the records for simplicity’s sake. It’s not necessary but it can help keep things better organized” the Turk answered “So instead of awkwardly trying to split my name I just use my younger sister's. Not only does it brighten my day when it reminds me of her but I will also admit, Rarity Belle does have a certain ring to it.”

“Ha ha” Tifa returned in good humor, which ‘Agent Belle’ seemed to appreciate. They stepped through the doors and in a moment after they heard the elevator’s hum, Tifa offered an apology “Sorry you got stuck with babysitting duty again”

“Oh don’t fret dear. True, ‘babysitting duty’ can be a rather dreadful assignment when you’re guarding some eccentric scientist or fussy debutant but other than that unpleasantness in the sewers, you’ve actually been quite the pleasant charge” Rarity smiled at her “and the fact I don’t have to try so hard to protect you is very nice as well. If anything, after that performance I think you might end up protecting me as much as I do you. Ah, here we are then.”

The pair stepped off the elevator and Tifa stood a little uneasy as Rarity gestured about the spacious halls.

“There’s a small gym down to right in case your little workout wasn’t enough. The café is across the hall while the breakroom proper is the big area on the left here and-”

“You guys get an entire floor as a break room?” Tifa asked incredulously “All to yourselves?”

“Oh no, there are actually a few floors like this open to all employees” Rarity explained “Though I’d be lying if this one didn’t see mostly Turks and SOLDIER, seeing as our primary offices are on the surrounding floors.”

“Hm” Tifa grunted absently as Rarity continued leading her to the left. About halfway to the next set of doors she spoke again, a bit more hesitantly.

“Not to judge your tactics Miss Lockhart, but if I may ask…” she began “Why didn’t you use your limit? Surely the simulation’s previous levels offered enough to get you there, didn’t they?”

‘Wait, Limit breaks are real?!’ Tifa’s mind exclaimed, brow furrowed as she searched for an answer. She knew people could pull out some crazy stuff like what the SOLDIER did when he handed her own ass to her, but she always figured they were just advanced techniques or magic. She’d never been pushed far enough by her few altercations in this world to have anything like a limit break happen. In fact, the simulations and the sewer incident had been the biggest test of her abilities to date.

“I uh… well, I’ve never actually used mine… I don’t know how” She fumbled into the incomplete truth. Rarity actually stopped to stare back at the brunette. Wide eyes blinked at her as the Turk seemed to have trouble processing the information, making the fighter wonder if she just revealed too much.

“You’ve… Never broken your limit? But with how well you fight and how strong you are, then surely… it’s something most manage pretty early, even if it’s just the most basic boost…” Rarity finally began processing, until a small smile broke through her confusion and severely eased the worry on Tifa’s mind “You really are an odd one, aren’t you dear?”

“You can say that again…” Tifa muttered, earning a slight chuckle.

“Well, here you are now,” the unicorn announced as she led her into an open room. A large screen dominated one wall as some couches and a few tables filled the rest of the space “I’ll be off to wrap up a few things and see what I can do about getting your results faster. As the director said, the odd progression may have complicated their evaluation. You have my number if you need anything.”

With that the well-groomed woman turned on a heel and strode off, leaving Tifa to meander over to one of the couches toward the back of the room and promptly fall into it face first. Rolling over, she ignored the curious glances it earned her from a few of the room’s occupants and heard a small chuckle from a pair at a nearby table. She glanced up to see Rina and Rude sifting through a sizable stack of folders unenthusiastically, the former shooting her a quick smirk.

“You earned it girly” was all the messy haired Turk said before going back to their forms. Tifa draped her arm over her eyes and found herself falling fast asleep.

“Well that was an entertaining diversion…”

“Oh yeah, a real blast! Especially that part where I got my ass handed to me.”

“Oh I don’t know. I think it went pretty well, all things considered.”

“I guess I did get further than I- wait… wh-”

“-Your phone’s ringing.”

The brunette jerked awake, trying to blink away the sudden blindness caused by the inset lighting above as something vibrated against her chest. She fished the offender from her shirt and her brow peeked at the listing.

“Hey Zest” she answered tiredly, but still with a small smile.

“Hey girl, you pass your test thing?” the familiar voice of the brunette’s neighbor chirped through.

“In a matter of speaking. Did decent up until I got my ass kicked by some SOLDIER.”

“Well that’s kind of their whole deal isn’t it?” Zest consoled “Anything else exciting?”

“I got to meet the president, which was… interesting.”

“Oh yeah? Didn’t I tell you she was even prettier in person?”

“Yeah, though I was more surprised with just how tall she was” Tifa delivered as she sat up and started to wake up proper, searching for a clock to see how long she’d been out. Rina and Rude were gone and there were only a couple employees still around.

“Oh I know right?! I first met her at this fancy event my parents were involved in. You think she seemed tall? Imaging seeing her as a five year old!” Zest laughed “I actually hid behind my mom she was so intimidating. That didn’t last of course, but still…”

Tifa grinned at the imagery. She couldn’t help picturing the miniature Zest fiddling with a pair of headphones far too big for her as she sheepishly peered from behind her mom’s legs to greet the much taller woman.

“That sounds adorable!”

“Shut up!” Zest shot back halfheartedly, Tifa was about to push the teasing further when a tone chimed above, she would have ignored it like the few others she heard that day but it seemed this one was for her.

“Would ‘Tifa Lockhart’ please report to the specialist armory? Miss Lockhart to the specialist armory” a smooth voice announced softly as her phone beeped in her hand, a quick glance showed a text notification from Rarity just received.

“Sorry Zest; seems like they're ready for me to jump through more hoops. Catch you up later?”

“You better!” Lemon warned jokingly “Have a good one girl, stay safe.”

“You too” Tifa stood as she hung up and stretched, not realizing she was doing her digital counterpart’s infamous ‘victory pose’. She checked the text from her designated Turk as she rubbed a bit more sand from her eyes.

- In a briefing sry. Go up 4 flrs to reach the armory. Your picture’s been given to security so just follow any instructions if asked for clearance and you should be fine. We’ll meet back up soon! ;) -

‘Holy hell I’ve been asleep for hours!’ she realized, noting the phone’s clock as she read the text. She made her way back to the elevators and hit up. The elevator stopped briefly halfway there as the camera in the corner whirred lightly as it focused. A few more moments passed before the elevator began moving again.

She stepped out into a small, relatively simple seating area in front of a reinforced wall. Several posters and notices of policies and safety procedures peppered the rest of the room save for the full length window looking over the city all lit up under the night sky. Next to a metal door was a gated opening over a counter, similar to what one might see in a bank or pawn shop. A friendly looking man waved her over.

“Miss Lockhart?” Tifa nodded as she approached, seeing isles and isles of equipment behind the counter. The rapid clacking of typing keys echoed as the clerk looked through his files. She caught a glimpse of another clerk escorting what looked like a first class SOLDIER though the expansive armory shelves just before the first spoke up again “Ah yes, sorry it took a bit but it seems you’ve been cleared for Grade C Specialist equipment with limited access to Grade B on an item by item clearance.”

“Uhhh… Neat?” the fighter quipped, earning a muted chortle from the clerk.

“Specialist equipment is what the Turks and SOLDIER use; Graded C through S” he explained “Trust me, even at Grade C there’s some pretty nice stuff available, and you even have a list of recommendations from some that have seen you test recordings… Once one of our clerks is free they’ll show you though your options. It shouldn’t be too long if want to just take a seat until then.”

Flashing a half-hearted thumbs-up she retreated to the seats, snagging one of the complementary bottles of water on the table. After a few moments of playing with her phone the elevator pinged again and opened to a young unicorn woman in a lab coat and carrying a tablet atop an overstuffed clipboard. She strode to the counter with an air of purpose, not necessarily confidence but certainly with a goal.

“Ah! Our esteemed treasurer! Let’s see here then…” the clerk warmly greeted the horned woman, who fidgeted slightly at the exuberant welcome. After another bout of rapid typing later, a small frown found him “well it seems it’s still not quite ready yet; it looks like they had a bit of trouble implementing the extra slots due to the… ‘unorthodox’ nature of the… tool. I can go see how much longer it’ll be or what they may be stuck on.”

The purple haired unicorn sighed before glancing at her watch, one of her heels tapping slightly with either impatience or annoyance.

‘Probably both’

“Uhg, fine” the woman grumbled and turned to the seats. She immediately perked up at the sight of the brunette though “Oh! Miss Lockhart! How fortuitous you’re still here!”

The lavender skinned woman quickly moved and took the seat across from her, scrolling through her tablet while the papers shuffled on their own within a purple haze. She smiled slightly as the papers stopped and reattached to the clipboard as it floated over to Tifa.

“I was going to just delegate this but since you’re here we can get this out of the way and sorted nice and quick. So if you’ll just sign here-here-aaaand here,” little magical pointers actually appeared over each line her stylus pointed to “And if can get your thumb print on my tablet here… and we’re done! You should be receiving your first week’s pay iiiinnnn…”

Tifa’s phone rang a quick notification.

“Now!” the unicorn woman smiled with pride.

“Just like that?” Tifa asked confused and not a little surprised “No ‘Next pay cycle’ wait?”

“Pfft” the young woman scoffed “Those are just excuses for disorganized companies.”

“Well cool then” Tifa smiled and checked her phone as she took a sip from the water, and then nearly sprayed it all over the treasurer. Coughing over the impeded spit take, she rasped out “That’s for just a WEEK?!”

“Well actually if you see here,” she turned the tablet back to her, a small list with number amounts next to them on the screen “The standard weekly freelance salary isn’t actually that high, but there’s also the mission commission, and I even managed to get you a partial percent of the bonus we usually award troopers for sewer sweeps and an extermination bounty for that odd creature detailed in the reports as well; that last one’s the bulk of it actually. I figured you could use a little boost after your… ‘involuntary’ employment.”

“Geez, no wonder you Shinra types are such good tippers” Tifa quipped, earning a giggle. Rarity hadn’t been kidding that her financial situation would improve; even without the bounty it was still well above her wage at Hops’.

“We Shinra types Miss Lockhart” she corrected with a smile and a small hint of pride.

“Miss Lockhart? We’re ready for you” the clerk announced, prompting her to stand. The unicorn woman also stood with her, apparently not willing to wait for her ‘tool’, whatever it was.

“Well thank you for your time Miss Lockhart, you've helped me recover a good bit of my schedule without even trying” she smiled as the martial artist passed before turning to her tablet a moment, rearranging the list to fit her gained time.

“Glad I could help” Tifa returned. She glanced to window as she moved to the counter, she didn’t really like heights but it was a pretty nice view of the plate. She stopped however when she saw something glide up into view, something big.

’Oh it’s an airship… really close and right outside… and turning a very large cylinder toward-’

The horned woman gave a sharp cry as the fighter suddenly tackled her from behind, the whole window shattering an instant later as a massive hooked javelin crashed straight though the space the pair occupied a scant second before.

“Wh-wha?” was all the treasurer beneath her managed before heavy metal panels slammed down over the armory wall and the hooked anchor caught with a deep trench through the floor. Tifa leapt to her feet and quickly wrenched the girl beneath her to hers, looking out to see armed figures now running across the grapple’s barrel thick tether.

“We should move” she said urgently, noting the bright red warning light over the elevator.

“The stairs are this way! Quick!” the other woman shouted and barreled through the rooms only other door. Tifa caught up and saw the familiar dedicated room for wide unconnected stair cases. However once they entered they could hear it; the sounds of gunfire and combat echoed from both above and below. The treasurer however held resolute and called “We need to get to the security buffer on sixty, we should be safe ther-”

She was cut off as she ran straight into a masked figure at the top of the first flight, the startled intruder rounding with his weapon raised as soon as he recovered. The purple female was shoved aside, the sharp scream that followed sounded even over the rifle’s report.

“MOTHER FUCKER!” was heard just before the assailant smashed into the far wall, another more irritated yelp sounding just after. The horned treasurer leapt to her feet to help the martial artist that was now holding a bleeding hole through her bicep “Why did I do that?!”

‘Note to self: Don’t punch with an arm that was just shot.’

The sound of a much closer burst of gunfire from below prevented any kind of answer and spurred them to climb faster. The quick glimpses each floor afforded them shown that not every floor was under siege but it still sure sounded like it. Several more floors and another close call later they stumbled through the doors of the 60th floor, immediately coming face to face with whole different threat.

Two heavy cannons snapped straight at the pair, attached to a four legged automaton towering over them with its long tail arching over from its rear. Several Troopers behind the guard scorpion leveled their rifles at the sudden guests as well.

“Aw crap…”

Several floors down, Rarity flinched as a round shattered against the cover an inch from her face. Sweetie Drops emptied her handgun in return before ducking back down and flashing the defending agents a quick series of gestures before reloading. Quick nods followed and they braced, waiting for the signal.

“Now!” the director shouted, the Turks breaking cover to lay down suppressing fire. Rina and Rude vaulted over obstacles as glittering, pointed panes of colored light flashed in front of them, Rarity’s horn glowing with the barrier marteria on her armlet. The pair made quick work of the small group of attackers once they managed to close the distance. The rest rose to join them over the fallen troops, Rarity fidgeting at a pair of new holes in her suit.

“You hurt?” Sweetie asked, Rarity sighing with a shake of her head in response.

“Oh no, the enchantments did their job. Just a little sore is all” she returned before muttering under her breath “I just made this…”

“Where the hell is SOLDIER?!” Rina complained, looking around the workstations and back at the few scientists still hiding along the back after their escape was cut off “Not that we can’t handle this but we can’t afford to lose the proxy.”

“There weren’t many here tonight, and those that are seem to be otherwise preoccupied or blocked off” The director delivered curtly. Rina was right though, they couldn’t afford to lose the element proxy or even the floor. It was the main materia lab and too valuable even if it wasn’t the resting place of the one crucial element they’d managed to secure for their mission so far “We can’t let them have the huge materia, even if we have to-”

The director couldn’t finish the sentiment before the wall to the stairway exploded, sending fire and deris flying right at the gathered defenders. Rude dragged a now unconscious Sugarcoat to safety as an injured Sunny fell back into cover, both having taken the brunt of the blast. The rest stood their ground for the attack’s follow through before quickly realizing the mistake. An exceptionally large, heavily armored man stepped forward with a masked squad following close, a massive cylinder slug on his back connected to a multi-barreled death machine in his hands. The Turks quickly leapt to join Sunny, putting as much as they could between them and the now revving up weapon.

“BARRIERS!!!” The director screamed, three layers of the translucent magic walls appearing before the consoles they were currently crouched behind. The rounds that didn’t still make their way through shattered and ricocheted everywhere, and when the defenders tried to pop up in an opening the man’s cohorts would suppress them with a burst from their own rifles.

“Two rifles and a magic support!” Rina tried to call out the opposition over not only the chain gun’s constant report but also the labs several alarms. Rarity sighed internally, not helping but think of all that work now being pulverized as the exceptionally large man’s weapon shredded the lab. She angled her gun while returning blind fire, using its polished blade to see the supporting pair trying to make their way to the reinforced cylinder of the chamber’s main station. The larger of the two returned her fire with a burst from what looked like a light machine gun rather than a rifle, hefted like it was no heavier than a carbine. She also realized the smaller of the two carried one too.

‘Geez these guys might be as strong as Tifa!’ she thought before they caught a lucky break, or rather their opponents caught an unlucky one.

“W-WOAH!” was heard as the heavy gunner was now slipping and twisting desperately to keep his balance atop the multitude of fallen materia now rolling beneath his feet. Unfortunately for both sides the bullet hose was still firing, now keeping friend and foe alike stuck in cover as his flailing sent rounds flying everywhere.

“SHOES WATCH OU-!” the magic support shouted before the giant man crashed right into her and sent both tumbling down the stair way. The Turks moved to take the advantage when a whole new disaster reared its head; the main containment module pulsed erratically as its alarm blared, a deep crack in the materia's form behind a cluster of clean holes in its clear tube.

“YOU LOT! RUDE! WITH ME!” the director shouted as the two agents made for an immediate beeline for the chamber’s control station with the left behind science team, leaving Rarity and Rina to deal with the remaining pair now moving to cut them off. They quickly dove in close to make it more difficult for the pair to use their long barreled weapons properly, the less refined Turk choosing the larger male of the group. Even if not as large as the minigunner, Rarity noted that he still had significant height and bulk beyond the average man and easily out classed them physically.

Before she could worry about Rina’s chances, her own opponent forced her to reconsider her own. An expertly placed kick was only just barely avoided, the reprieve short as the machine gun’s stock swung at her face. Catching it roughly against the side of her gunblade she finally had a second to take stock of her opponent; a female with a few inches on her and while the mask and body armor hid much she could still tell this woman was in exceptional shape. A fact only enforced by her brute forcing past the block and the following shoulder shove driving her back a few paces alone.

“HIT THE RELEASE! NOW!” the director screamed behind them, the remaining scientists scrambling between consoles before the chamber’s heavy safety shutters fell in place over the clear tube “LAUNCH IT!”

The emergency protocols completed and the destabilizing materia was rocketed through the building and high into the night sky, but unfortunately not before a massive burst of magic flared from within the chamber. Great ribbons of unstable magic spread forth, easily slicing through their reinforced confines and then the room and surrounding floors.

Rarity fell back as one of the glowing bands swept right between her and the masked attacker, a sharp scream still sounding even through all the chaos in the magic’s wake. She had little time to consider it however as a large section of the ceiling and floor collapsed.

Once the ground stopped shaking Rarity groggily pushed herself off the floor, her face and clothes caked with blood and dust. She managed to stand to see most of it wasn’t hers as a large trail of red started at where her attacker had been and led off down the stair way. She heard coughing behind her, looking back she could see the director and others suck on the other side of the debris and small fires.

“Rarity go!” Sweetie Drops called “Don’t let them escape!”

“Right!” the now less well coiffed Turk took off, keeping track of the blood trail and the large footsteps tracked through it. She landed heavily as she hit the landing a couple flights down, mindful not to slip in the slick redness and noted the sound of an airship from the other side of the door. She braced against its frame, renewed her barrier spell and took all of a second to breathe and focus.

She charged through the door and the roar of the flying machine filled the space from its position right outside the window, enough to even drown out the clatter of automatic fire now bouncing of the Turk’s magic defense. She had a perfect shot at the now unmasked pair that began round on her from the ships open hatch, the larger male carrying the female now cradling the bleeding stump of her forearm. The unicorn woman stood ready, ignoring the flashes of deflected rounds as lined up her sights, ready to fire when the woman’s eyes locked to hers.

And froze as bright green eyes under blonde locks stared into her.

“Applejack?!” Rarity gasped, disbelieving as her aim began to drop. The moment broke when not only the room, not even just the building, but when the entire city suddenly shuddered and shook violently. The huge magic materia now high, HIGH above it all after its ejection finally destabilized fully and erupted with enough force to make even the plate itself quake far below.

Once the vibrations finally stopped, Rarity warily pushed herself up. The tower remained standing and a quick glance outside confirmed the plate was in no danger, but the airship was gone. She stayed her ground even as a quick pounding of steps echoed from the stairway behind her and Sweetie Drops appeared in short order. Noting her subordinate’s relaxed pose she slowed her gait and holstered her sidearm as she approached.

“I’m sorry Ma’am, I’m afraid I let them get away” Rarity reported, her gaze still turned away toward the broken windows.

“Did you at least get and I.D.?”

Rarity tensed almost imperceptibly, hesitating a moment. She sighed and finally turned to the senior agent.

“No ma’am, they were still wearing their masks” she lied, conflicted and obviously distressed “The best I got was what may have been the AVALANCHE emblem on the inside of the airship.”

The director studied her for a moment. Rarity could almost feel her see through it, but then the director’s stance relaxed as she released a sigh of her own.

“Damn…”

“I’m sorry ma’am.”

“Don’t worry about it Priss, I’m sure you did all you could have” Sweetie Drops consoled her with a small, tired smile; the use of the ‘affectionate’ code name confirming the sentiment. She was disappointed but knew better than to deride one of her team, especially when she seemed just as disappointed. “Come on, the others still need us back in the lab.”

Tifa sat back against the wall with the other non-combatants tucked into a corner of the security floor, away from any open fire lanes. Not that such a thing was as much of a concern anymore; the fighting had all but stopped after that explosion that shook the building nearly a half hour before. They were just waiting for the all clear.

“Really Miss Crusher, to prioritize my safety over the others is not only unnecessary but rather irresponsible for a SOLDIER.” Her purple skinned accomplice complained to the second class once again standing nearby. Thankfully when they burst onto the floor right in front of the guard scorpion, the elite was quick to call it down and usher them aside so it could have a clear shot at any pursuers. They also learned they weren’t the only ones to think of seeking refuge here, though ‘SOLDIER Crusher’ still seemed to be keeping an eye on her specifically.

“I assure you Miss Sparkle, I can protect everyone from any remaining threat just fine from right here” The elite answered coolly, before adding with a playful tone “Besides, you’re not the one who’d have to answer to your brother if something happened to you.”

The treasurer huffed and refocused on the cure spell she was casting the Tifa’s bicep; sans any materia the martial artist couldn’t help but notice. That brought back up and compounded one of the first thoughts she had about the girl, and since they still seemed to be stuck there at the moment she figured she might as well ask.

“So Miss Sparkle, If I may ask,” the brunette questioned “why does a treasurer need to wear a lab coat and know how to cast unassisted magic?”

“Oh, well I… uh… I’m not actually the official treasurer. They retired a little while ago and I’ve just been filling in” the magically adept woman answered a bit clumsily “I used to lead one of the science teams, until… well, that position became a non-option for me. The president insisted I stay though, so I’ve just been helping out wherever I can ever since. I’m really good with organization, numbers and planning; so the treasury seemed like it’d be a nice fit until… whatever comes next… I also try to help President Celestia with her scheduling... not that she ever follows it...”

Tifa snickered as Miss Sparkle grumbled the last little bit, realizing it was probably her panicking over the phone earlier. Though the pauses and occasionally defeated tone of the answer only lead to a deeper suspicion of the girl’s circumstance. One made all the more evident by the scar running down almost the whole side of her neck that Tifa couldn’t help but notice as the treasurer turned away. The materia-less caster perked up however as she turned back.

“Though if I may now ask a question of you Miss Lockhart,” she began before reigning it in slightly.

"Shoot."

“Well I’m sorry if this is asking you to admit too much but my curiosity demands to know" she elaborated "Before the president skipped you ahead to the SOLDIER round, your strategy against the dragon seemed to be coming up short. With that option failing, how were you planning on beating it?”

Tifa leaned in a bit as if sharing a secret, but then very bluntly and honestly answered,

“I wasn’t.”

Miss Sparkle blinked at her a moment, perplexed until the implication hit her. She tried to stifle a laugh but didn’t hide it once the martial artist gave her an honest smirk.

“Well at least you know your limitations!” she managed as the laugh petered out. As the girl worked to finish the cure with a small grin Tifa noticed the SOLDIER glance back, an incredulous and slightly befuddled smile on their lips as their gaze shifted between the two. She then squinted slightly as she studied her, before shrugging and turning back to the door.

‘What was that about?’ she wondered before a two tone chime sounded and the lights shifted from the emergency lighting back to their normal settings. A series of radios about the room crackled, sounding the all clear and issuing instructions to the different security divisions. Miss Sparkle helped her stand with everyone else, the fighter smiling as she looked down to her arm.

“So doc, am I all good?”

“Well you'll probably be tender for a few days and a some more cure castings over the next couple definitely wouldn’t hurt, but as long you stay well hydrated and don’t over exert the muscle I’d say you’ll be just fine” she smiled back, before a voice called out to her patient.

“Tifa Darling! There you are!” the fighter’s ‘keeper’ crossed the floor to them, many notably moving aside for the suited female “Oh and Twilight dear! So very good to see you safe as well.”

“Hi Agent Rarity, y-you too” Twilight returned awkwardly “Well as much as I’d… love to stay and chat I should go and see what I can do to help organize the clean up until the President gets back. Have- well, try to have a good rest of the night.”

Twilight excused herself and began moving to the surprisingly still working elevators but stopped short and quickly looked back a little abashed.

“Oh and uh, thank you for, y’know… Saving me… twice” she quickly muttered and redoubled her pace. Rarity gave a sympathetic half smile at her back.

“Poor dear. She was never the most social but ever since the accident she’s never been quite the same...” the Turk trailed off before perking and refocusing “Anyway darling, you’ve been cleared to leave whenever you want. I doubt we could arrange a ride, I’m sure you can understand but did you need an escort back down stairs?”

“No I should be fine but no debriefing or anything?” Tifa cocked an eyebrow.

“Well how much do you know about the attack?” the Turk asked simply.

“…uhhhh, it… happened?”

“Exactly” she smirked back “Just don’t talk to the press and we can handle all that later.”

“Well alright then, if you’re sure” Tifa replied a little hesitantly “Good luck with all of this.”

“Thank you dear, enjoy the rest of your night.”

“Ehhh, I don’t know Tif…” Zest offered before taking another bite of her steak. She had surprised Tifa outside the tower, having been on the plate to see her parents and heading over when news of the attack broke “The whole thing?”

“No, just the front… probably.” Tifa clarified, her friend still looking pretty skeptical.

“…Is it moving?”

“Yes.”

“Well then no” Zest finally answered bluntly, the brunette looking a little insulted.

“Not even a ‘maybe’?”

“Well come on Tif, I know you’re like crazy scary strong and all that but a SUPLEX? Knocking it over or off the tracks? Sure. Stopping it? Maaaybe, if you’re not in front of it. But no, I don’t think you could suplex one.”

"Hmph..." Tifa slumped and pouted degectedly, resting her chin in her hand. Zest just rolled her eyes with a playful smile and turned her attention to the game currently all over the bar’s screens; a friend from her old team was playing and, according to her, was kicking ass. Tifa didn’t know much about the sport but the reminder of Lemon’s school days did bring up another thought.

“I don’t suppose you know a Twilight Sparkle do you?” Lemon Zest had known some of the Turks and Twilight seemed like the same age group and certainly the type to get into Shinra Prep. Tifa figured it was maybe a long shot but-

“Purple Smart? Oh sure, she was our classes’ valedictorian” Zest answered nonchalantly “Not the most friendly girl. Not that she was bitch or anything, especially compared to some of the other students. No she was nice and all but just pretty socially incompetent. Not surprising she ended up at Shinra though; she head of their science division or something?”

“She’s the treasurer at the moment. Though she did say she led one of the science teams but there were definitely hints that something happened that lost her that position; something bad and at least sort of recent…” Tifa explained “Still wore her lab coat even.”

“Oh she’s been wearing those forever” the pink woman waved off “Wait, so is she was the one you took a bullet for?”

“That would be her.”

“Sooo…” the music lover began with a somewhat amused curiosity “You not only tackled this girl out of the way of a giant harpoon but then, not even knowing her name yet, shoved her out of the way of a rifle and got shot in her place? For what was essentially a complete stranger?”

“I… I guess I did…” Tifa admitted. She really hadn’t thought much of it at all until it was phrased like that. Why did she risk herself so much for a stranger?

“Damn girl, I always knew you were a bit of a badass but I never knew you were so…” Zest offered not a little impressed as she looked for the right word “…Heroic.”

“Yeah,” the ‘heroic’ woman muttered “Me neither…”

‘When the hell did THAT happen?!’

Now she couldn’t be sure, as it could have just been someone at another table, but she swore she could hear an echo of someone giggling at the thought.

Author's Notes:

OH MY GOD I FINALLY DID IT! Uhg! Why is this story so much harder to write than my other one?!

ANYWAY- Sorry again for the exceptional wait readers, life has sucked pretty hard this past year. Still working an things but hopefully I can get my writing rolling a little easier from now on.

Not entirely satisfied with this chapter but I don’t hate it and now that it’s done I can finally try to keep going lol. So until next time readers, as always; Thanks for what I hope is still many of you reading and have a good one!

Oh and P.S. for a slight spoiler: No that second voice in Tifa's head isn't Liv, for any jumping to that conclusion. But please, feel free to speculate

Chapter 4: Rough Currents

-Party Load Out and Materia-

Tifa: Human (Displaced)
Armored Knuckle- Fire, Ice, Gravity ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle) - Time + Added Effect
Other: Enemy Skill+Mime (Absorbed), Rude’s Sunglasses

Rarity: Unicorn
Silken Dream- Restore, Esuna, Ice ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle)- Barrier, Lightning
Other: Enchanted, Reinforced (and Perfectly tailored) Suit, Earrings

Rina “Indigo” Zap: Human
Collapsible Baton- Lightning + Elemental --- Shinra Alpha (Bangle)- Pyramid, Neo Fire
Other: Enchanted, Reinforced Suit, Tough Ring

Celestia sighed into her tea as the gentle hum of the airship’s engines threatened to lull her back to sleep. Currently turned away from her desk to the large window, she gazed at a sun higher in the sky than she was used to so shortly after waking, making her lament missing its rise. A gentle golden glow lazily danced over her horn as she, completely unperturbed by the glare, watched the point of light shine down on the glimmering sea.

She stayed like that for a time with a tired yet still content smile on her lips as she just took in the moment. At least until a shadow passed by her window and another airship slowly drifted into view as it followed her craft. With an appreciative eye she studied its long sweeping curves, bright colors and intricate designs that served as a sharp contrast to the typically far more utilitarian designs of Shinra. Not that every Shinra airship lacked a certain flare; Celestia’s own ship was quite the work of art itself, but she always admired the aesthetics of the neighboring continent.

A small knock on her door suddenly echoed as her working life was looking to find her once again.

“Come in” she called just before a young, dark haired woman entered with her gaze down to her tablet.

“Good morning Madam President, the captain has just informed me that our escort has arrived,” the bespectacled aide informed her, eyes still on her tablet. Celestia gained a playful smirk and pointed over her shoulder.

“Yes, I can see that” she returned with good humor. The woman finally looked up and blushed as she spotted the large airship just outside the window.

“Oh, hehe… sorry ma’am” she smiled sheepishly, eliciting a chuckle from the president.

“Not at all Raven,” she assuaged the woman “Please, continue.”

“We should be arriving at the capital within a few hours” the assistant continued on “So communications with Equestria will soon become less and less immediate and thus less reliable. So hopefully nothing like last time happens again as we’d be hard pressed to even hear about it quickly, let alone able to return in time to make any difference.”

“I doubt anything like that will happen again so soon. It would seem our adversaries spent and lost quite a few resources on the assault themselves, not to mention those we managed to apprehend that they are now deprived of” the president consoled her “And I’m sure the department heads can handle anything that does happen.”

“If we can trust them…” Raven grumbled before she could stop herself, immediately sputtering after “I-I’m sorry ma’am! I didn’t mean to speak out of turn or-”

“Calm down Raven, you’re more than entitled to an opinion” the alicorn woman quickly interjected “I rue the day everyone agrees with me and my appointments after all.”

‘Especially when I don’t fully trust most of them myself’ she added mentally as her smile slipped a little. She sighed internally at the thought, regretting yet another necessary evil of their goal. She could only hope it would be worth it in the end. She banished the thought and with another sip of her tea she refocused.

“So, back to work then?” the president smiled warmly at her assistant.

“As always” Raven smirked before they dived back into that wonderful world called responsibility.

Tifa squinted at the sun just barely cresting on the horizon as the wind swept her hair into her face. She brushed the locks back behind her ear as she watched the pilots continue to prep the helicopters. She fidgeted with her gloves and double checked the rest of her new equipment; it wasn’t a lot but it would help and the materia could have been tricky to get a hold of outside of Shinra.

‘Perks of working for a company that owns half the world I guess’ she thought before spotting Rarity emerge onto the helipad with the other senior Turks, the ones she knew about at least, and what looked the be Ms. Sparkle. The purple haired agent waved as the pair of unicorn made their way over to her.

“Good morning Darling! I love the new touches to your usual style, very sporty!” Rarity complemented the small additions to the martial artist’s typical skirt and tank top. It was just a black leather vest, a hip pouch she got with her new equipment and a short pair of spats under her skirt “Tired of giving everyone those little peaks eh?”

Twilight blushed slightly behind her as the Turk just smiled coyly. While it was true that she didn’t feel like giving a free show on this mission with what she had been briefed on, Tifa was surprisingly unconcerned with the brief flashes one may glimpse in combat actually. She figured the more distracted they were, the better.

‘I don’t really mind the bouncing either come to think of it…’

‘At least as long as it doesn’t cause a black eye right?’

“You said we might be climbing” Tifa replied simply with a small smile, before turning to the other woman that very much dressed for an expedition; she even had a pith hat on “Good morning Miss Sparkle, does the treasurer usually go on missions like this?”

“Oh, and good morning to you Ms. Lockhart! And uh, well no…” Twilight giggled a little awkwardly “Most of the science staff is still busy recovering and cataloging after the attack, including all those qualified enough to help with this mission. I was available however and with my… previous experience, I was asked to assist.”

“The copters are prepped! Let’s Go! You can talk in the air!” Sweetie Drops’ shout interrupted the exchange and urged the trio to board. They climbed into the smaller copter with the director, Rina and Rude as a decently sized squad of troopers loaded into the larger craft with the majority of the equipment and the medic team. The takeoff was fairly smooth and soon enough they well above the city and headed towards its borders.

They had just crossed over the barrier wall when Tifa suddenly realized this was the first time she was actually outside of the city, bringing up a whole myriad of questions she hadn’t really thought of. Was this continent like the Gaia of the game? Or the Equestria of the show? Or like the rest she’d seen was it some mishmash of both? She already knew it wasn’t the whole planet, what with the neighboring continents and all, but she didn’t even know what was right outside the city.

“Never seen the city from above I take it?” the director asked, snapping the brunette out of her haze.

“Never even been in a helicopter before” she answered back, glancing down and taking in the sight of the receding plate nested atop the mountain range. From here the second plate below it looked like little more than a shadow “Sure looks a lot nicer from above than below…”

A few shrugs and slightly uneasy expressions acknowledged the somewhat somber observation. People knew that the lower support plate known as Midgar was a far step below the luxury of the plate above it known as Canterlot. They weren’t destitute by most means, particularly where Tifa lived in Sector 6, but things could always be better. A lot better for some of the other sectors especially. Twilight was the first to say it though;

“It could always be worse; you could be stuck in the Undercity. Surely you saw those conditions.” Tifa arched an eyebrow at the treasurer’s comment.

“Why would I have seen the conditions the Undercity?” she asked, the lavender woman matching her confusion.

“Well if you didn’t fly in and we don’t have any record of you going through the gondolas or checkpoints then I just assumed…” she trailed off before then asking “did someone sneak you in then?”

“Oh um… yeah, something like that” Tifa answered quickly before turning back to the window, hoping this current line of questioning would drop before-

“So where ARE you from anyway?” Rina piped up.

‘Fuck’ the martial artist’s face dropped. By some miracle she’d managed to avoid or dodge this question all this time, even with them occasionally reminding her of her ‘questionable citizenship’. It wasn’t like they could deport her when she technically wasn't from anywhere but the more lies she told them the deeper her hole got and she couldn’t very well tell them the truth; they’d think she was insane. ‘ Kalm? Junon? No, they practically own those places. Wutai? No, that won’t work. Oh come on Tif! Think! The longer you stall the more-’

‘Nibelheim.’

“Nibelheim” She quickly repeated aloud with her best poker face, still looking out to the horizon. She could still see Ms. Sparkle's perplexed reaction out of the corner of her eye though, along with an unsubtle ‘pfft’ heard from the less kempt Turk.

“Fine, don’t tell us” Rina shot back, leaving Tifa to ponder the implications of her answer. Thankfully the conversation then turned to one a lot less stressful or personal. With the focus off her she continued to watch the scenery pass by below as the rhythmic humming dulled her thoughts. She eventually found herself being stirred awake by Rina trying to ask her something, having falling asleep against the glass without even realizing it.

“So Tif… Tif wake up! Has Zest ever told why she doesn’t play anymore? I heard she didn’t even try to get on a team after graduation!” Rina exclaimed.

“Oh uh… no, no she hasn’t told me why” she fumbled out eventually “but if had to guess it has something to do with her independence and whole ‘money don’t make me happy’ thing.”

“Did any of the teams ever try persuading her though? Surely at least Sour’s team has tried with the kinds of tricks they used to pull off together in school” the red-head reasoned.

“Oh yeah, even in just the time I’ve known her she’s had a few recruiters track her down. She’d always hear them out and get a free meal out of it, sometimes even both of us one, but she’s yet to bite” Tifa explained with a stifled yawn “I think she’s just not too interested in that kind of life.”

“Fuck’n-A man, I’d jump on that in an instant if it were me. Fuck this government shit if you can have that kind of life” the Turk bemoaned, earning an irritated look from her superior and an eye roll from Rarity.

“It may not many of ours’ first choice but we are still doing a very important duty Rina dear” the well coiffed woman countered to which her compatriot just shrugged. Tifa’s interest however was piqued.

“So what was your first choice then?” Rarity’s expression faltered slightly at the brunette's question, falling to a more somber smile. Before she could answer however the pilot announced their descent, the unicorn mouthing ‘Another time’ with the interruption.

‘I slept through the whole trip? Geez, good job learning the lay of the land Tif… I need to start getting some better sleep...’ she mentally berated herself as the craft slowly weaved through the trees and touched down in a clearing. Climbing out she took in the forest surrounding them as the troops unloaded the gear.

“So where are we supposed to be finding this… whatever? Do we even know what it is?” the martial artist asked. The director spoke evenly as she checked her sidearm.

“We have a good idea, and given the area and what we’re looking for I’d surmise it’s in the nearby ruins or their connected cave systems” she explained before they started moving “And with the new information Corneo gave us we can finally bypass one of the obstacles the excavation team has run into.”

A pair of troopers took point as the group started on their way, their machetes chopping as clear a path as possible. The director was right behind them with Twilight in tow acting as navigator, though how she knew where they were going in all this overgrowth with just a compass and her tablet was beyond the brunette. The troopers and Turks chatted amongst themselves as Tifa mostly concentrated on not tripping or falling into the walls of vines and trees all around them.

They finally came up to a large set of ancient stone doors carved into a suddenly steep incline and a trio of field researchers milling about examining the runes. Their trooper escort straightened as he spotted the director before what was apparently the excavation team’s leader finally took notice and jogged up to Sweetie Drops.

“AH! So that garbled message Was that we would be receiving visitors! Though I must say I certainly wasn’t expecting Turks! Let alone the director herself!” the excitable man rambled before collecting himself “but on to business then, right? What can I do for you?”

As the senior Turk explained the situation, Tifa hung back with the others. She shifted back and forth as the scientist began reading through a folder Sweetie Drops handed him, his growing interest contrasting the group's increasing boredom. Tifa didn’t even realise that she began singing softly to herself.

~”What can I do for you, What can I do for you, What can I do for you?”~

~”I can’t hear you!”~ Tifa jumped almost imperceptibly as Rarity and Rina suddenly finished the lyric for her, each with their own smile.

“Didn’t figure you for a Dazzlings fan Lock’, I’d think they’d be a little too ‘pop-y’ for you” Rina smirked. The brunette just shrugged back; she actually hadn’t heard much of the Dazzling’s music, her singing triggered by a sparked memory she only just realized she had forgotten.

“Well I’d say it means you have wonderful taste in music!” Rarity proclaimed proudly, saving her from having to potentially bluff her way out something else today.

“Says the girl who likes Sapphire Shores” Rina teased the pale Turk, earning some laughs from the troopers. Even Rude give a small chuckle.

“Oh Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” the scientist began spouting excitedly, drawing back their attention “This is exactly what we’ve been looking for! With this we could finally be able to access the ruins proper!”

With that he immediately grabbed his colleagues and dove through the doors as their exasperated guard quickly moved to follow. The rest followed through a wide, stone passageway boarded with portable lights, piles of gear and small stacks of wall etchings.

“Quickly! Quickly! Rotate that slab over there! No, the one above that!” the team could hear from further down the hall. When they caught up they could see the science team scrabbling back and forth in front of a much larger and more intricately designed door than the one leading outside. “And… TURN!”

With the final synchronized twists the great doors began to rumble and pull apart, revealing! …a rather ordinary looking cavern. The only real thing of any interest Tifa noticed was the intricate stone work beneath their feet. The science team and Miss Sparkle seemed enthralled but the rest well, underwhelmed is a good word. Sweetie Drops instructed some of the troops to stay behind and secure their exit before addressing the rest of them.

“Watch for pressure plates and traps, ancient Equestrians just loved to pack these kind of places full of them for some reason” the Turk director warned the group. Sure enough it wasn’t long before one of the scientists, a unicorn with his horn aglow, cautioned them to stop before marking a floor tile with a small flag.

After a few more flags and having to actually set one trap off to proceed, the group reached a large chamber with another intricate door at the the other end. As the researchers rushed toward it, Tifa took in the surroundings. Another fairly uninspiring room overrun with jungle growth along the wall and lit by large cracks in the ceiling above them.

“Why didn’t they just force their way in though one of those?” Tifa asked looking at the openings, the answer coming as a surprising huff from the lavender unicorn behind her.

“It could compromise structural stability, maybe even throughout the whole ruins” she delivered briskly “Plus with how few resources we’ve been able to give them out here, they probably wouldn’t have even found them anytime soon. In fact, our budget for all the science departments outside of-”

The surprisingly impassioned rant from the normally timid treasurer was suddenly cut short by a rustling amid the dense vines of the wall. The Turks and troopers readied their weapons at the potential threat…

Only for a small white rabbit to emerge and take a seat at the tip of a broken branch sticking out of the foliage. It tilted it’s head curiously at them, completely unconcerned about the amount firepower currently pointed at it. With an eye roll, Sweetie Drops held up a hand for the rest to stand down while holstering her own sidearm. Along with a few relieved sighs, Rina was the first heard.

“What the hell’s a rabbit doing in the jungle?”

“Well there are actually a few species of rabbits that-” Twilight began when the ‘branch’ the rabbit was set upon pivoted down and the room began to shake. The reason why soon became clear as the floor grew steeper, pitching toward a growing darkness opening below the far door. The researcher trio were the first to disappear, being the closest to the edge.

The few fliers among the troopers took to the air and moved to help when the sound of several heavy shots rang through the cavern, knocking them from the air to tumble down into the pit. Tifa couldn’t see the shooter and was unfortunately a bit too preoccupied trying not to slide down the the rapidly tilting floor to try. Even the handholds she and a few of the others managed to grab were rendered moot when more holes exploded all around them and sent the stragglers plummeting with the rest. The only thing the brunette managed to see before the light cut out was a glimpse the rabbit on the lever.

'Was that little fucker Waving?!'

As the darkness engulfed her she felt the wide expanse of the hole replaced by a narrow tunnel, separating her from the others as they were shunted down other chutes. After a few dips and curves she found herself falling into a dimly lit room, key word on falling. After failing to tumble as well as she hoped to she started to raise with a groan. Again with a keyword-

“OUF!” Tifa grunted as she found the weight of someone slamming into her back from above. The body pushed themselves up to take a seat on her, legs straddling on either side.

“Hey thanks for the assist Lock’!” Rina’s voice delivered with good humor, patting the the brunette on the back before bouncing her plot lightly against Tifa’s own “Guess all your extra cushioning didn’t just go to your chest, huh?”

Even in the dark, the flat glare the martial artist shot back was clear. The Turk just chuckled back before getting off the fallen woman. She did at least help her up after though. Tifa stretched and brushed herself off before trying to check herself over but couldn’t see much in the near dark. A sudden crack sounded next to her before a Rina’s image became much clearer.

“Here,” reached up and flipped down the sunglasses perched on Tifa’s head, the room instantly several shades brighter.

“Whoa” she replied with slight surprise. It was far from daylight but at least she wouldn’t be tripping over herself with these “No wonder Rude wanted these back.”

“Oh forget that, he has tons and puts darkness protection on all of them, what with his weird compulsion to always have some on. Besides, I’d say you earned them by now” Rina waved off as she took in where they landed. Far less constructed than the room above, the naturally carved cave walls were marked with small, faintly glowing crystals providing the only other light besides the agent’s glow stick.

“Is this natural materia?” Tifa asked as she learned in to take a closer look.

“Almost, bit more time and they could be. But no, this stuff's not concentrated enough to be used as actual materia; you can tell by how pale they are and the lack of color. But!” Rina explained before tapping her her stun rod on one of the larger protrusions, eliciting an odd but not unpleasant chime “It does mean we’re on the right track. We’re definitely over a mako surge. Come on, we should keep moving.”

Tifa had no complaints and followed as the Turk took point. Still watching for traps, they slowly made their way down the only path they had until they came to a another heavy door. This one lacked any of the complicated components of the the other two, it was just down and blocking their way forward. Tifa simply stepped forward and squatted before it to get a handhold and, while certainly not without effort, hefted the door high enough for the two to slip under. After the loud thud of it falling back into place she turned to see Rina smirking at her incredulously.

“You sure you’re not a Earthie? I’d say even most of them would be hard pressed to match you girly.”

“Pretty sure I’m human… even if I still have trouble telling them apart...” Tifa shot back with a smirk before mumbling the last part.

“Preaching to the choir there Lock, I still haven’t figured out what the hell the director is and we’ve been working together for years now” the redhead laughed as they moved on “but if it helps; Me, Sunny and Sour are Human, Rude’s an Earthie and of course Rarity’s-”

“Is someone there?! Lady in distress here!”

“-Just ahead apparently” Rina finished as the voice echoed from ahead. The pair ran forward into a cavern to find one of the pegasus troopers dead at their feet, a hole through his wing and his neck broken from the fall. Rina summed up the sight fairly succinctly with “Aww shit…”

“Rina?!” a shout sounded from high above. A small purple light ignited to show the porcelain skinned Turk dangling from slide identical to the one the pair exited earlier, except this one was far higher off the ground.

“Hold tight Priss! We’ll try to find somethi-” Rina started before the woman next to her simply shouted,

“Just let go!”

“What?! Tifa dear even IF you manage to catch me it’s much to far of a-WHAAAAA!” the horned Turk was cut off when a tremor shook the room, breaking her grip and sending her screaming towards the floor. Clenching her eyes she waited for the sudden stop, though when it struck her that she’d been screaming long enough to need to take a breath she cautiously cracked one open… just in time to see herself drift gently into the martial artists arms “....uhhhhh”

“Gravity materia” Tifa said a bit winded before setting her down. With the blushing unicorn’s fellow agent snickering nearby, Rarity quickly righted her suit and hair before sighing heavily at the sight of the dead trooper and bringing the group back to reality. Tifa fidgeted uncomfortably as the Turk crouched down over the body searching for something; The only dead body she’d ever been around like this was her grandfather’s when he passed. She knew it was kind of silly but still couldn’t shake the uneasiness, at least he had died of natural causes though.

Rarity rose a moment later with was seemed to be a dog tag and after nodding to her cohort the pair simply started walking on. Tifa stood and gave a quick double take between the pair and the body.

“Wait, we’re just leaving him?”

“We’re still in hostile territory Lock’, we can’t afford to have him slowing us down” Rina replied simply, to which Rarity cut in.

“As callous as it is, I’m afraid that’s the just standard procedure darling. ‘Until the area or at least an escape has been secured, agents are to retrieve identification if possible and leave the fallen behind’” she explained “I’ve activated his tracker, so for now we just have to focus on our task and hope the company will send a retrieval team when all this is over.”

Tifa frowned but nodded. She understood the reasoning, she didn’t like it but she understood and didn’t argue as she took up the rear. She didn’t have time to dwell though when another temor vibrated beneath their feet, though without Rarity’s screaming they could hear a distant echo of an explosion through the tunnels this time.

While still mindful of traps the trio quickly picked up the pace as they continued toward the now near constant clamor of what sounded like gunfire echoing ahead. Between the urgency and darkness Tifa almost didn’t notice the walls were now carved or constructed again, unlike the natural cave she and Rina fell into. Though even that didn’t seem to stop the solid mako protrusions from forcing their way through, which only got bigger and brighter as they delved further in the tunnels.

They passed through a final archway and suddenly found themselves in a massive cavern on a stone catwalk above…

“Is that…?” Tifa began, staring down at the great, glowing river made of multi-chromatic ribbons of light and magic flowing under and through the earth beneath them. She could see that some of it also seemed to branch off to crawl up the walls and ceiling toward-

“Down!” a shout sounded from above just before a barrage of shots nearly shattered Rarity’s barrier. The fashionable Turk fell to a knee, fishing something from her pockets as the other pair crouched behind the cracked shield. More shots rang out above them though thankfully aimed elsewhere, at what looked like more mako crystals sticking out from the wall. The resulting explosion sent more tremors through the rock that began threatening their balance.

Tifa then finally spotted the source of the shots, what looked like a living cloak weaving wildly through the chamber. She couldn’t even make out anyone inside the dancing crimson ribbon, only the bright flashes and booming rapport of the seemingly endless shots coming from within and toward a group of troopers on the lower catwalks with them. Without a protective barrier like Rarity’s they were forced to simply try avoiding it. The martial artist grimaced as one unlucky rifleman took a shot to the chest, knocking him off into the stream below.

“We need to move up!” Rina yelled as Rarity held the barrier, still searching for something on herself until the former jammed what looked like a morphine syringe into the latter’s leg. The cracks in the barrier disappeared almost the instant after while the purple haired unicorn shot a rather nasty glare at the other Turk, who just ignored it and continued “To the center! Stay close Lock, Rares can only cover one direction! ...Move!”

The trio crouch ran as quickly as the could toward a wide platform in the room's center under a ring of the upper catwalks. The flash of red wiped past them when Tifa thought she saw an opening and quickly casted another gravity spell centered on the threat, hoping to drag it into the pit. Her only reward was to see a brief humanoid silhouette with wings before it flashed and a tight grouping of shots struck her shoulder, her bangle’s defensive charm only barely deflecting them into a pair of deep gashes across her bicep.

“Not to deride your efforts dear but maybe you should just keep your head down! This kind of fight doesn't exactly seem like your forte” Rarity offered consolingly as they reached the center. Tifa obliged and took cover behind the Turks again, far more exhausted than she expected.

‘That armory clerk hadn’t been joking when he said this materia was strenu… holy shit…’ Tifa’s thought was quickly derailed as she looked up.

Suspended right there above them, from what looked like a mass of huge coiled roots covered in jutting, glowing crystals, was an unrefined materia the size of her torso that simply radiated with a pinkish magic.

‘Well, they did say there’d be no mistaking it’

“Hey Boss!” Rina shouted next to her, breaking her out of her awe enough to follow the agent’s gaze. Perched on the edge of the of the ring above was the the rest of the team with two of the scientists and Twilight scrunched under a domed barrier spell. The Shinra treasurer clutched her pith hat tightly against her head with her horn glowing brightly within her protective bubble. Agent Sweetie Drops paused mid-aim to glance down at her subordinate's call “Are you a Human or an Earthie?!"

The Turk director rolled her eyes with an irritated huff and returned to the task, emptying her side arm before deftly dodging another barrage of bullets. As Rude rushed to her side with a barrier of his own she looked back down at them, her gaze shifting between Zap and Tifa. She knew so long as their opponent kept up this pace and their seemingly endless ammo that it wouldn't be long until they were whittled away enough to finish off. The arrival of the two gave her an idea, even if she didn’t like it…

“GaH!” another trooper cried out behind her when a heavy round caved in half his helmet, sending him falling to a bridge below. She let out a heavy sigh as she relented and with a frown, ached an eyebrow at the bald man next to her who returned a quizzical look.

'It's just so stupid.'

“PITCH IT!” she called out. A beaming smile immediately exploded onto Rina’s face.

“Really? You’re saying that?” Rude asked incredulously.

“Shut up you'll ruin it!” Rina was practically bouncing “Lock, that arm still work?”

“Uh, yeah mostly. Why?”

“NOW!” Sweetie Drops yelled out before an answer and broke away firing, drawing the cloaked enemy's aim. The rest of the troopers caught on to open in full too. As the streak of red danced and weaved through the fire above, Rina had sprinted back down the catwalk and was now charging straight back toward Tifa.

“Ally-OOP!” the Turk called as she planted a foot in the cup of the surprised martial artist’s hands. The brunette’s wounds protested but she thankfully caught on quick enough and heaved the woman straight up to her partner, who was now glowing along with a materia under his sleeve. Flipping in mid-air she landed against a pulled back forearm that launched right back out.

“EEP!” the cloak tried to stop as a sloppily dressed red-head was suddenly an foot from her face, a pale figure finally visible as it tried to reverse its flight. It’s eye’s bugged and pupils shrunk as it realized it was too late.

“FASTBAAAAALL-SPECIAL!” Rina cheered with way too much joy and cracked her baton against the flier’s face as hard as she could. Their opponent landed in a heap on the center platform between Tifa and Rarity, who were the first to see it was a pegasus woman under all those layers of a tattered red. She began to stir as the remaining Shina forces moved to surround the downed shooter.

“Noooo…” Tifa heard the girl groan angrily and a pair of blood red eyes under ratty pink locks suddenly caught her own as the girl pushed herself up. The gaze snapped about erratically to the approaching threats before locking back on to her’s, Fury and pain shone clearly in the intense orbs; Fury, pain.. and fear “I won’t go back there…”

Pale yellow bat like wings with odd patches of askew feathers flared out when a shot shattered the stone before her.

“Don’t move!” Sweetie Drop’s voice echoed with strict authority, sidearm aimed unerringly at their opponent.

“I’M NOT GOING BACK!” the red-eyed woman screamed, head whipping around frantically in an enraged panic. She suddenly snapped her massive handgun's aim upwards at the hanging materia “I WON’T LET SHINRA TAKE ME AGAIN!”

Another shot from above struck the girl’s chest, sending the shot wide and into the roots. Unfortunately, it became abruptly clear it hadn't been wide enough.

The chamber began to to shake even more violently as great cracks of light spread from the hole. Everyone struggled to keep their footing as the mako flow intensified and grew to an almost blinding brightness. To worsen an already bad situation the currents flowing up the walls now blocked the ways out. Even in her short time here Tifa already learned that making contact with raw, unfiltered mako was a very bad idea.

“GET TO THE CAVES! YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO PUSH THROUGH!” the Turk director’s distorted voice called through the rumbling. Tifa and Rarity sprinted down the catwalk with the remaining troopers, the brunette only barely catching the pegasus woman mumbling a mantra of “Never again” over and over as she passed. Another pang of guilt hit her as she left the girl behind, but they couldn’t afford to stop with their footing readily crumbling beneath them.

They had nearly reached the exit when a beam of pure white engulfed the narrow path from above, erasing it from existence. They couldn’t even turn around before the catwalk fell out from under their feet…

Sending them into the surging stream below

The three Turks sat huddled together under blankets in front of a medical tent near the landing zone, trying to shield themselves from the essentially constant gale the presence of so many more copters cramping the clearing had created. Holding oxygen masks up to their faces as as IV drips fed a mako neutralizer into their systems, the trio looked like death.

Sweetie Drops looked again to where the needle met her arm, failing to ignore just how much she hated the stuff. She of course knew it was deathly important but even the smallest amount made the patient feel like complete shit, even worse than what was causing it in the short term. But still, Mako poisoning wasn’t something you messed around with.

All things considered though their exposure was pretty minor, and with the full treatment and how quickly their support arrived most of those that were lucky enough to be on the upper walkway would be better within a day or two. Maybe not feeling too great for a while yet, but not in any danger.

‘Those that were on the lower level though...’ the director thought grimly. A grunt from Rude immediately refocused her attention however. The larger Turk jut his chin at a group in hazmat suits wheeling a trio of isolation pods into another tent. The Turks immediately rose to follow.

“Hey now you need to-MRPH!” a medic protested until a hand latched onto their face.

“Fuck off” Rina grumbled as her partner easily shoved the poor fellow to the ground without even breaking his stride.

“Did you find them?” Sweetie immediately asked as they entered the tent, her tone calm and even but still clearly without the patience for any bullshit. One of the hazmatted medics turned but appeared to be struggling on how to answer.

“Yes, and they’re… well, there’s some… complic-” he faltered, before cutting himself off and with a heavy sigh just gestured “See for yourself.”

The group shouldered past, Sweetie and Rina stepping between the two on the left to look in the pods' observation windows. Rarity and the yellow woman they’d been fighting both lay unconscious within. By some miracle they looked fine, other than the wounds the girl received in the fight they looks perfectly unharmed. A least until they realized-

“Are they glowing?!” Rina balked, her fellow Turk looked to be illuminating her entire pod in a deep purple light. She turned back to see the pegasus was the same only glowing a bright pink instead.

“See what I mean? They’re completely saturated yet have virtually no symptoms typical of mako poisoning” the medic shrugged “And that’s just them, her on the other hand… forgive my bluntness but I’ve got NO damn clue.”

The pair followed his gesture to the last pod that Rude was standing over, staring down in stunned confusion. Seeing him slack jawed and with glasses having allowed to fall askew, the two shot each other concerned glances and rushed over.

It was then that those in the tent witnessed a far rarer sight than a mere shaken Rude. Sweetie Drops had been in the game longer than most Turks and had seen more than most anyone else in the company, which was saying something considering her age. There was nary a sight that could shock her. Oh sure she could get flustered or even angry, and there still plenty of things she knew better than to assume she knew or to think there was any lack of what could still surprise her. But she liked to believe herself disciplined enough to never be completely caught off guard. So when she looked at something and her only response is,

“What the FUCK?!”

Then you know that something was seriously wrong. For there below the trio in her pod was Tifa Lockhart, lying unconscious like the others.

And with her entire form covered in large, brightly shining cracks of light.

‘Uuuuugghhh...’

‘Hey! There you are! You were out for a while there.’

‘Uhhhh …hwha?’

‘Yeah, that lifestream can be pretty nasty huh?’

‘Steam?’

‘But good news! You’re still alive! But you really should probably wake up’

‘Wha-AAAAHHHHHH!!!’

‘To find out what’s causing tha-

Tifa awoke with a scream as an electric current surged through her. Her panicked attempts to flee quickly revealed she was restrained, suspended vertically in a great ring by her arms and legs. The voltage mercifully stopped and let her fall limp in the shackles, leaving her panting and her eyes wrenched shut in pain.

“THIS IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE! SHE’S A SAPIENT BEING DAMNIT!” she could hear what sounded like Sweetie Drops shouting at someone, though it seemed a bit muffled and distorted. With some effort she cracked an eye open to see she was on a raised platform behind some kind safety glass, little bleeps and whirs of monitoring equipment sounded around her.

“Oh it was just a little wake up jolt. It’s nothing a specimen of her caliber can’t withstand” a flanged, female voice the martial artist couldn’t describe as anything other than sadistic answered back over an intercom “See?”

Tifa cried out as another shock ripped through her, this one lasting just a little longer than the first. Though it certainly didn’t feel like it to her.

“STOP IT!” the Turk leader demanded, which Tifa was immensely grateful that is seemed to work. She sagged down as low as the restraints would allow again, a pitiful groan escaping her as the director continued “You have no right to-”

“I have every right!” the voice interrupted smuggly before quoting “-With the exception of the company president herself with support from the board, the head of the science division has full jurisdiction and final say of all matters both scientific and medical-. Meaning you have no place here Turk! Let alone any authority! I'd say you’re lucky you still even have a place in this company after losing the third one like you did!”

“Policy doesn’t allow you to just ignore-”

“SECURITY!” the intercom squealed slightly with feedback at the interruption “Agent Drops seems to have gotten lost on her way to the security offices. Please see she makes her way there.”

“This isn’t over professor” the woman warned as a quartet of guards escorted her out. Tifa watched helplessly through squinted eyes as her only rescue was forced out. The intercom clicked again as the doors closed.

“And bar the Turks from the detention area, in fact no unauthorized personnel are to permitted on even the surrounding floors!” the voice added.

“Yes ma’am” one of the guards confirmed before relaying the instructions.

A moment later Tifa heard a pressurized door open behind her and footsteps making their way over. Vision still blurry, she couldn’t completely makeout the woman she could only assume was ‘The Professor’ that stepped in front of her, only the general details: Lab coat, Glasses, Dark grey skin, flat turquoise hair hanging limply down over her face, and what even with her hazy sight seemed to be an exceptionally jagged horn. Tifa tried to speak but found she could barely manage small choking sounds, a small collar around her neck impeding her voice.

“Now then…” the scientist purred as a complicated contraption lowered in to view behind her. The device sparked to life and began radiating waves of mako around it’s tip as the changeling smiled deviously “Let’s see just how ‘Broken’ you are...”

“Oh no. OhnoOhnoOhnonono this isn’t good” an excitable woman paced frantically back and forth in her office, bouncing nervously on the balls of her feet as she tried to wear a hole in the carpet. She turned back to her screen, double checking the logs and schedules “This is very bad.”

The woman stood back straight, trying to think of an answer. With the sudden addition of the professor’s ‘new toys’, she had pushed up several of her other project plans to get the out of them the way; Including the one the woman had been working so hard to postpone. In her near hysterical state she turned so suddenly that she banged her leg into her cabinet, nearly knocking her little pet project off to the-

A huge gasp immediately filled the room.

“THAT’S IT!” she cried before quickly clamping hands over her mouth. She quickly snatched the bundle down with a small giggle.

Rarity jumped as Tifa unceremoniously collapsed to the floor before the door even closed behind her, the guards that shoved her in completely unfazed as they walked away from the cell. The martial artist stirred but failed to make any traction in her condition.

“Easy now darling…” the unicorn quickly knelt next to the fallen woman, trying to hoist her up to at least sit against the wall. Brushing the brown locks away from the woman's face, she tried to best to assess the damage. Between the deep bags under her eyes and the sickly pale tint to her skin she looked like hell, but Rarity released a small sigh of relief that were no obvious injuries “Alright, let’s get you on the bed now.”

“No, no I just… I’m fine, I just- I don’t wanna move right now…” Tifa managed, eyes still closed as she weakly waved the woman off. The Turk seemed to accept it and stepped away. The martial artist had lost count of how many times she lost consciousness as that grey woman repeatedly exposed her to different forms and concentrations of mako. She wouldn't have thought something like that would hurt all that much; she was wrong. Even worse the professor never seemed to recreate whatever she wanted to and Tifa had a feeling she wasn’t the type to just let it go.

“Here you are dear” she cracked an eye open as she heard Rarity return, seeing a cup of water in her hands. She took an unsteady sip as the disheveled unicorn retreated to take a seat across from her on the cell's only bed “Your... ‘session’ was even longer than mine. I’m guessing she was indulging herself looking for something other than another potential wielder.”

The human's eyes shot open and shot her a quizzical look, uncertain she heard what she thought she did.

“Yes, so... We found one... Yaaaayy...” Rarity delivered with in mock celebration before sighing heavily, her head hanging low “Actually it appears we found two from what little I overheard from the guards. Both that pale pegasus woman and I were apparently glowing after they recovered us from the stream, which of course led to my own 'examination' and the discovery that I'm one of the very things I was assigned to find. Not sure why she’s so interested in you though.”

“She said something about me being ‘broken’, whatever the hell that means” Tifa answered after a moment, her head clearing ever so gradually. “How long’s it been?”

“Since we fell in? About two days from what I’ve gathered. I haven’t seen any of the rest of the team since I woke up and the professor had us taken for ‘observation’ ... I think we’re on our own here darling” she answered solemnly before placing her head in her hands. She seemed to be just barely holding it together herself. She slid them to the back of her neck, staring at the floor in her hunched over position “...I’m sorry Ms. Lockhart.”

“Hey I’m not blaming you, not when you’re sitting here in the same cell as me” she responded truthfully, Rarity had been nothing but as upfront with her as she could be during this whole mess “Besides, I'd be lying if said I didn't kind of see this coming. If it wasn't one thing I'd figured it'd eventually be another.”

“Heh, I guess there are some pretty nasty rumors about us out there isn’t there?” she scoffed with dark humor “And I’ve seen that at least some of them are true personally but, I didn’t think they’d ever just… I always felt that at least the president was always trying to keep us on the better side of things. That while the means could be undoubtedly questionable that ends were usually worth it for the greater good. But if she can condone the methods of a woman like the professor, not even to mention some of things I've heard about the others on the board...”

She trailed off before they both just let out another heavy sigh together. From there they shared what little they gleaned to try to fill in the blanks but ultimately there just wasn’t much to say. The conversation died off and the two eventually drifted off to sleep, still exhausted and having no idea what to do about their current situation other than wait.

A few hours had passed before an odd whirring noise caught the pair's attention, even waking the resting Tifa. A churn of a lens focusing rather loudly drew their attention to the small black dome covering a corner of the ceiling. The sound grew louder and began to stutter continuously until they saw a small spark flare behind the dark glass and a deep *fRRzzZT* groaned down at them.

The two glanced back and forth between each other and the dome a few times before Tifa finally voiced the shared thought.

“Did the camera just… break itself?”

Rarity began to open her mouth with a shrug when a loud clunk echoed from a the vent at the floor along the cell’s back wall. Several smaller thuds echoed from what sounded like something fumbling around behind the grating. Both pairs of eyes snapped wide as the cover’s screws began to push themselves out from the other side. As soon as the last screw fell out the grate immediately tripped forward, allowing what Tifa never expected to see in this version of Equestria to step out.

Standing on four legs ending in smooth, marshmallow like hooves, a brightly colored pony about the size of a large house cat or small dog emerged from the vent covered in dust. And not like the 'basically human' ponies she'd grown used to here, but an actual tiny horse with vibrant pink fur walked out of the vent wearing a small cape on its back and a tiny crown perched atop its particularly poofy mane.

The two just stared in a shocked awe as it somehow shook every last particle of dust off itself with a single tremor that slid from the tip of its muzzle to the end of its tail. A pair of bright and very large blue eyes snapped open as it found them with a simply beaming smile.

“HIYA!”

Author's Notes:

I BACK, BABY! And with a new year's resolution to FINISH MY DAMN STORIES!

To any you readers returning: thanks for coming back! and to anyone new: Welcome to the madness! I still wouldn't expect any kind of set schedule of releases but by harmony if I'm not gonna try to keep things moving and accomplish that resolution.

Stay tuned readers, more of both Locked Heart and Nano Machines and Magic are on the way. But until then, As Always: Thanks for reading and have a good one!

Chapter 5: L1+R1

-Party Load Out and Materia-

Tifa: Human (Displaced)
Armored Knuckle- Fire, Ice, Gravity ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle) - Time + Added Effect
Other: Enemy Skill+Mime (Absorbed), Rude’s Sunglasses

Rarity: Unicorn
Silken Dream- Restore, Esuna, Ice ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle)- Barrier, Lightning
Other: Enchanted, Reinforced (and Perfectly tailored) Suit, Earrings

Pinkie: Pony?
Sparkly Megaphone- Lightning, Earth, Fire --- Carbon Bangle- Transform, Manipulate
Other: Red Cape, "Moggy"

The pair sat there trying to process the small pink thing smiling at them. Tifa knew what it was, but didn’t understand how it could be what it was in this world. Rarity on the other hand, simply had no clue.

“Um… hello?” the tiny pink equine looked quizzically up at them, only somewhat breaking through the initial shock. Tifa opened her mouth but failed as her face fell back to bewilderment. Rarity however did manage a response.

“Uh, hello there little… cat thing?” sort of a response at least. For her part the little quadruped just giggled.

“I’m not a cat silly, I’m Pinkie Sith!” she announced proudly.

“Pinkie… Sith” Rarity repeated slowly while Tifa finally found her voice.

“You’re a pony” she stated plainly.

“Pony? Darling that is not in any way a pony, I’m a pony” the very human looking woman with a horn declared.

“No no, she’s right!” Pinkie bounced excitedly on the tips of her hooves and learned in close with a look of wonder “No one else has ever known that!”

“A small horse is also called a pony” Tifa turned back to tell the Turk who continued to look back and forth between them incredulously.

“...Horse?” she asked after a beat.

“Yeah horses, like…” the martial artist faltered, they didn’t have horses here. A few monsters were vaguely horse shaped but those were definitely not horses. Everything was chocobos as she understood it, but she could have sworn there was somethin- “Odin! Er, Orin’s mount rather. But y’know, with fewer legs.”

Rarity still looked unconvinced. She supposed the were some vague similarities what with the hooves and muzzle, but this was no Sleipnir.

“If you say so,” Rarity shrugged “More importantly though, why are you here?”

“OH! Right, I forgot,” Pinkie giggled again into her hoof. She then straightened to stand tough and proudly declare “I’m here to rescue you!”

“You’re here to rescue us? Tifa repeated flatly.

“Yep! ‘Cause if you think what the professor’s done to you so far was bad, then Ho Boy you don’t wanna know what she put in her notes that she hasn’t ordered for yet!” the caped quadruped explained, and then started listing things anyway “Pain tolerance testing, forced breeding, vivisection, personal Mako extraction-”

“MAKO EXTRACTION!?” the unicorn paled, sputtering as she tried to process “But that’s- it’s- NO! She wouldn’t even dream of it! The president would never allow it!”

“The president’s not here,” Tifa pointed out “Also what’s Mako extraction and how could it be worse than everything else she listed?”

“You know how Mako not only flows through the planet but also every living thing?” Rarity asked to receive a confused nod from the pugilist, one that slowly morphed to reflect the horror that began to dawn on her “Exactly darling, it’s akin to ripping out one’s soul essentially.”

“I say we go with the pink pony in the cape!” Tifa voted anxiously.

“GREAT!” said pony chirped “Oh! But I have one condition, you also need to help my another friend of mine escape too.”

The two bipeds looked to each other and shared a shrug.

“If we're already on our way out, I guess it couldn’t couldn’t hurt to have some more help” Tifa reasoned.

“Okie-dokie then!” Pinkie beamed “I’ll go get the door, though I’m afraid I can’t help with the guards from inside the vents.”

“How many are there?” the displaced asked.

“Two at the end of the hall. Everypony else was shooed off the floor by the professor.” a tiny beep from her crown spurred the pony back into action “Oh, gotta get going before the bypass fails. Try to be ready!”

With that she leapt back into the vents, several clangs and bumps heard as she rushed back up and overhead. Tifa quickly moved to the door, hands flexing.

“Tifa dear, I know you technically don't need weapons but without our bangles and materia those rifles will chew through us before we take two steps” the Turk pointed out, only for the brunette to turn and wink at her. Before she could inquire further however a soft chime issued from the door and the woman had already leapt into the hallway.

“Hey!” Rarity heard a guard shout at the captive now inhaling deeply through her nose.

‘What in the world is she-’ the purple haired woman’s thought broke as a torrent of flame erupted from martial artist’s mouth, slamming into the guards and driving them to the back wall. As soon as the stream of fire cut out Tifa was sprinting down the hall with Rarity peeking her head out just in time to see one guard receive a fist to his helmeted temple followed by a roundhouse to the other’s jaw. The singed guards crumpled to the ground as the Turk approached her ally, who was now coughing up small puffs of smoke.

“Ugh, that’ll cause some reflux…” Tifa grumbled, rubbing at her chest before seeing her bemused companion “What? Did you forget the whole reason you guys picked me up in the first place?”

“Why yes, I suppose I did” the unicorn answered with a chuckle “Well, it seems we’ll have to make do with their equipment for now.”

“NOPE!” the pair jumped as a voice squeaked from above, a small vent hiding a dark silhouette directly overhead “Meet me ‘round the corner!”

The pair followed the thumping in the ductwork cautiously but soon saw that the mare was right, the floor seemed abandoned other than the two unconscious guards. Tifa would have been more concerned about them y’know, dying of head trauma or something, but apparently that wasn’t really much of a concern in this world. Evidently the people here were simply made of tougher stuff and were able to bounce back better, which she learned rather quickly given her inherited proclivities. No, what she was the concerned about was what she saw waiting for them around the corner.

In no unsimple terms, it was a large deformed moogle.

“Is that the robotic mog from the Hearth’s Warming party?” Rarity asked rhetorically “I thought the R&D department dismantled it afterwards. They only built as a joke afterall.”

Another clang issued from above as their pink savior dropped with a vent cover and landed on her plot. Shaking away the cobwebs, she stood and made her way over.

“He got lost thanks to some confusing paperwork, didn’t you Moggy?” Pinkie explained, giving the white furred robot an affectionate pat as she passed the group. The mog just gave a deep pitched hum and reached its large mit into its even wider mouth, pulling out a small wrapped bundle before offering it to Rarity. Gingerly taking the thankfully dry package, the Turk opened it to find all of her confiscated gear. Another package was subsequently handed to Tifa, followed then by a pair of tiny, bite sized cupcakes for the two of them.

“Uh, thanks” the brunette offered as they took the tiny confections. The mog seemed indifferent and moved to join its master now typing away at a console near of a large chamber for observing specimens. How the pony was typing with its marshmallow-esq hooves escaped her but even within the few moments since they met, Tifa was already learning to not question how the mare operated. Instead she found herself distracted by the glowing window of a large, reinforced dome opposite the viewing platform. She slowly ambled her way over despite something telling her to not look inside.

‘Don’t look inside’

She leaned in.

‘Seriously, you don’t want to look inside’

She already was looking inside.

...

There was nothing inside.

‘...huh, never mind then’

“Ah shoot!” the pony’s frustration drew the brunettes attention away from the empty chamber “They still haven’t pushed through the transfer… Okay, change of plans! We need to get down to Specimen Holding.”

“Miss Sith, that’s twelve floors down! Past a security checkpoint and doors we don’t have ID cards for!” Rarity protested “And why is your friend in Specimen Holding?”

“Because he’s- urg, it’s too complicated to explain. It’ll make sense when we get there!” the pink mare was becoming flustered “Look, you can take the main stairs to the the floor above the security checkpoint, and from the vents I can trip an alert to draw them away while you bypass the checkpoint with the emergency scaffolding. From there you can get back on the main stairway-”

“The emergency scaffolding?” the Turk interrupted “You mean that glorified plywood hanging off the side of the building?!”

“Well, it’s either that or stay up here and throw the security troopers a welcome party” Pinkie smiled nervously at them.

The unicorn looked like she was about to lose it when she caught and regathered herself. With a sharp huff she examined the pony before turning to the brunette, who gave a tired shrug in return.

“It’s not like we have much of a choice” Tifa pointed out.

“That’s the spirit! I’ll meet you down there!” Pinkie cheered with an oblivious smile “Come on Moggy, back in your safe space!”

“Saaafe” the mog groaned slowly as he dissipated into glowing particles that were absorbed by a red materia set in Pinkie’s crown. A moment later the mare was gone again, disappeared into another maze of ducts. The left behind pair shared a sigh and made their way to the stairwell.

Like before the stair cases were separated by the different floors, creating a moment of tension everytime they had to expose themselves while swinging around to the next decent. They had made it less than halfway to their goal when flashing red lights went off all around them.

“All security personnel, prisoners have escaped the holding cells on the 67th floor. Converge and secure. All other personnel will follow protocol 617. Repeat: All security-”

“Seems our ‘pony’ friend triggered that alert a bit prematurely” the Turk griped before they heard rapid footsteps echoing from both above and below “Quickly, through here.”

Rarity led the pugilist into a floor dedicated to the most oddly arranged offices and cubicles Tifa had come across. The pair scanned for anywhere they could hide from the closing security forces when a stroke of luck found them.

“PSST! Agent Rarity!” a loud whisper hissed from an anxious unicorn woman peeking out from a door to their right. She frantically waved them over, stepping aside as they rushed inside not a moment too soon. Several troopers burst into the room in a sweeping formation not a moment later. The treasurer issued a frightened "EEP!” as one of the trooper’s rifles landed on her still peeking from the door.

“Miss Sparkle! My apologies!” the infantryman immediately dropped his aim “You should stay in your office for now ma’am, a pair of prisoners have escaped the science team’s holding cells.”

“Oh um well, I haven’t seen anyone this floor. Not that I’ve been keeping watch or waiting or anything like that. But I didn’t see them, certainly not in my office at least, so you, you know um, don’t have to come in to check or anything” Rarity and Tifa both face palmed from behind the door at the other unicorn’s rambling.

“That’s uh, that’s okay Miss Sparkle. We’ll just do a quick sweep and leave a guard by the stairwell. If you… do see anything you can report it to him” the trooper trailed off, his tone suggesting he was almost afraid of upsetting the woman.

‘Wait, that seriously worked?' the brunette thought ‘Oh my god. Is she literally so awkward that all that blathering actually seemed normal for her?!’

‘Oh that poor girl... think she has any idea?’

The dejected look the purple woman wore as she closed the door suggested that she did.

“Thank you Twilight dear, I always knew you were one of the good ones” the Turk offered quietly, a hand on the girl's arm.

“Oh well, you uh… you’ve always been real nice to me and with how I still owe Miss Lockhart here for saving me and all, I figured anything I could do to help…” she trailed of, then perked up “Oh, I know!”

She scurried off to a filing cabinet, finding whatever she was looking for in an instant and then moved to her computer. While the treasurer was furiously typing away Tifa took in the office as Rarity listened at the door. Unsurprisingly, everything proved to be meticulously organized. Even the few framed photos that were scattered about the room looked to be at precisely placed angles, one in particular catching the martial artist’s eye. A tall white unicorn with blue hair stood with a smiling Twilight, there was something very familiar about him but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Okay” Twilight spoke up and scampered back over, holding a pair of plastic cards “Here, I managed manage to pool your accounts into a another anonymous account that should elude the typical freezing process. Especially since I’ll probably be the one they have do it anyway. Sorry I couldn’t keep the funds separate, but on such short notice it-”

“This is wonderful dear, more than we could have hoped for” Rarity caught the fellow unicorn off guard with a hug, saving her from another apologetic rant “This will be an enormous help.”

“Yeah besides, I really didn’t have much in there anyway” Tifa added in consolation “Now we’ve just got to get down to Specimen Holding somehow and then out of the actual building and your effort won’t go to waste.”

“Specimen Holding? Oh! I think I can help with that too!” Twilight exclaimed as she broke away from Rarity. She stepped over to Tifa and dragged her to stand rather close to her well coiffed companion, adjusting their positions with gentle nudges as she seemed to be measuring the ground between them. When she finally appeared satisfied she gave them nervous smile “Okay, hold still. I haven’t really done this to other people much.”

Twilight stepped back and scrunched her face, eyes closed tight in concentration as her horn flared with a bright purple aura.

“Wait, haven’t done what to other-” and suddenly the whole room erupted in light and Tifa felt her stomach do flips as the world spun out from under her. Then as abruptly as it left them, everything snapped back in sharp relief and sent the pair flailing as they tried to blink away the spots floating around them.

“Oh my, a little more warning would have been nice Twilight” Rarity huffed out, trying to clear her head with a shake. Tifa pushed herself off some kind of metal gating when something violently crashed against it, snarling and snapping. Jumping back with a yelp the brunette now saw a feral, tentacle backed guard hound locked in what she now realized was a cage. Blushing, she straightened and brushed herself off before seeing Rarity trying to suppress a smile “Don’t worry Darling, I won’t tell a soul.”

A clamor of shifting hooves drew their focus as they saw a pink poof of hair proceed its owner when she poked around a stack of crates.

“Oh wow, that was quick. Well great! Let’s do this thing!” Pinkie spouted happily and forged a path through the cages and creatures. Weaving through the maze of animal prisons ranging from the simple cage to wholly recreated habitats, Tifa spotted a few iconic adversaries but there was an absence of a different kind that she couldn’t help but notice.

“Shouldn’t there be like handlers here or something?” She asked. She wasn’t complaining for the lack of obstacles but it struck her as strange they’d only seen guards so far.

“It’s the night shift dear. Didn’t you notice how dark it was outside Twilight’s window, or how no one else was in the offices with her?” Rarity quarried, a concerned look shot at the human.

“I guess I didn’t…” the brunette muttered back, another blush creeping up.

“I wouldn’t fret about it, it’s been quite the long day after all” the Turk consoled her before nearly tripping over the pint-sized mare that suddenly stopped in front of her.

“This is it!” Pinkie announced as they found themselves in front of a large metal box that was notably isolated from the rest against the back wall. It had no view ports or cage meshing but instead was a near solid cube with a series of air holes along the top and bottom. A faded ID number of ‘S-91k3’ printed in on its front the only other defining feature.

Tifa noticed a hastily painted yellow outline surrounding the crate as Pinkie trotted over casually, oblivious to the large ‘FIRE HAZARD’ warnings bordering all around it. Only after that discovery did she see that several of those air holes were bordered with dark scorch marks.

“Pinkie…” Rarity started warily as the pony hopped up to cling to the a panel next to the container “When you said transfer I thought you meant an employee stuck working in this department. Just what kind of ‘friend’ of yours is this.”

“Why would an employee need rescuing silly? Well, I guess you could say he technically works with the people who work here, does that count?” the mare mused still messing with the panel “and as for what kind, you can see for yourself!”

“Pinkie wait!” the unicorn tried but a pink hoof had already pushed the button, triggering the whole front of the cage to pop off and hit the ground with a deafening clang. The two escapees started inching away, the Turk’s hand hovering just above her weapon as the shadow within began to stir and stand. Stepping next into the floor’s dim light was another quadruped, but another little pony it most certainly was not.

What stalked out was roughly the shape and size of a lion or some other big cat, though other than the claws and sharp teeth most of the similarities ended there. It was covered in dark purple, armor-like scales save for its underbelly which shone with much smoother, pale green scales more like those of a snake. A ridge of rounded spines in a more saturated shade of the same color ran from the top of its head to nearly the tip of its thick tail that ended in what seemed to be an actual flame burning bright green.

‘Holy shit it’s a fucking dragon.’ was the first thought that resembled anything coherent in the brunettes head. For its part, the reptilian fire breather merely studied the pair passively before looking down to the pink pony grinning broadly up at him.

“Friends of yours?”

“It can talk!?” Rarity exclaimed.

“Yes… I can talk” the dragon affirmed flatly in a deep but still somewhat young voice, its gaze returning down to the pony again “So?”

“Yuh-huh!” Pinkie confirmed his earlier question. The fire-breather gave a small hum and continued his earlier study, particularly the hand still on the unicorns holstered weapon.

“If that’s right then I assure you that won’t be necessary, not for me at least.”

“OH! Yes, yes of course excuse me. It’s just, well you…” The Turk fumbled until reaching some semblance of control “You can talk.”

“Yes, that's been established” the reptile quipped, a small smirk appearing on his lips. Rarity once again corrected herself before elaborating.

“I’m sorry, but I was under the assumption that all sapient dragons had gone extinct.”

“Well there's at least one left as far I know, so not yet they're not” the dragon shrugged.

“Not to interrupt” Tifa interjected “But we’re still escaping right?”

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie chuckled “Okay then! Now we just have to head down to the Fiftieth floor to reach the fire escape stairs.”

“Cutting it a little close there between the SOLDIER floor and their director’s but I suppose that does seem the best course. ...Ugh, all those stairs though” Rarity sighed before giving Tifa a less than eager look “Hope you’re ready to work up a sweat darling.”

The brunette didn’t look any more enthused, even without the memory of the game it didn’t take a genius to figure out that fifty flights of stairs didn’t make for a fun time. Thankfully it seemed like the elevator would actually be safer to get them down to the determined floor at least. Since it wasn’t a vital area, Rarity said security wouldn’t be pinged to question the looping feed Pinkie apparently set up.

“This is the break room floor you took me to right?” the buxom fighter asked.

“The very same, it hasn't been two weeks but it seems so long ago now doesn’t it?”

The doors chimed and they piled out. Pinkie finagled with the panel and managed to activate the emergency stop; it wouldn’t hold up any longer than a call to maintenance or security to flip a switch but it would still buy those extra few seconds. The unicorn woman also sealed the door with a quick flash of her Ice materia.

Satisfied they started their way across the floor when a glowing clock rune suddenly appeared under their feet, spinning rapidly before abruptly stopping. None of them had a chance to to even budge before they no longer had the ability to, save for the groups only human.

“Here everypony is rushing to the cells when the most obvious way out is right below them” a cool feminine voice echoed as a side door opened between them and their goal. A tannish woman stepped out wearing the dark red uniform of a 2nd class SOLDIER, the telltale glow of mako infusion clear in her eyes. Placing a pneumatic gauntlet on her hip and flipping her long, dark grey hair out of her face, she smirked at the brunette in front of the Stopped escapees “But then again, maybe they just remembered I was here and knew they wouldn’t be needed.”

Tifa immediately recognized the elite as Canyon Crusher, the same one who watched over Twilight so vigilantly during the AVALANCHE attack and who she later found out was one of the 3rd classes she faced in the simulation. Evidently, she’d gotten a promotion since that template.

Swallowing audibly, Tifa slowly raised her fists and fell into her usual stance.

“Oh you’re kidding, right?” the SOLDIER practically laughed “What? You think because you sort of beat up a couple old 3rd class simulations and held off Rina and Rude when they were deliberately trying not to hurt you that you’re hot shit now?! Do yourself a favor love, and just give up.”

The human risked an uneasy glance back to her frozen allies, it was true she didn’t think she could win on her own but if she could just break Canyon’s concentration or keep her busy until the Stop effect wore off then they could probably take her all together. She could at least do that, right? Steeling herself, Tifa took a deep breath and charged the woman before dropping into a slide against the SOLDIER’s exposed feet.

The elite stepped forward into a wide stance at the last moment, absorbing the strike and stopping it so solidly that Tifa’s momentum actually snapped her almost back up right. A metal covered hand snatched the her suspenders and yanked her the rest of the way, straight into the other gauntleted fist slamming against her face. Hitting the ground, Tifa quickly scrambled backward as the earth pony woman brought a hand up to a chortle.

“Oh wow, I knew you looked a bit sloppy in the test recordings but now I just kind of feel bad” Tifa stood scowling, hands raised again. The SOLDIER barely gave her a moment before retaliating with a charge of her own and a fist reared back. Tifa braced to block high, absorbing the strike and preparing a counter. Or rather she was until the fellow pugilist continued forward, shoving into the brunette while sweeping her leg, the other pneumatic glove catching her in the stomach on the way down. Tifa shouldered back and arced her fist around only for it to be deftly caught, the stressed grunt of the SOLDIER a cold consolation indeed. Tifa kept pressing the punch to try to unbalance her opponent with little success “Now don’t get me wrong girly, you’ve got the strength alright… But you have no idea how or when to use it!”

Crusher spun out of the to hold to guide Tifa’s own strength past her and smash a backhand into the back of her head, accelerating the brunette’s face first trip to the ground.

‘Shit, I didn’t think I’d do this badly’

‘Just got to try and hang on…’

“And while I’ve never seen a style quite like yours…” Tifa pushed off the ground into a sweeping kick that her opponent easily jumped over and returned a knee to her face for the trouble “you broadcast so much you might as well call your attacks through a damn mega phone. Looks like the little pink thing has one you can use.”

The earthie casually circled her with her arms loosely crossed as Tifa struggled back up to her feet. As soon as she had a semblance of balance she swiped her arm up with a rapid retreat, sending a wave of flame rushing at the mako infused fighter. The SOLDIER burst straight through without so much as a blink to descend upon her again, lecturing her while emphasizing each point with another strike.

“This isn’t some bar fight to break up!”

A backhand snapped her head to the side.

“Real fighters aren’t stumbling drunks!”

A kick slammed into her ribs.

“You have no idea how to read your opponent!”

A head butt crashed against her already bleeding nose.

“You only use your materia as an afterthought!”

A painful current from the SOLDIER’s fingertips coursed through her.

“And you can’t even keep your damn arms up!”

A one-two followed by a quick three and four found her just before her suspenders were in her opponents grasp again, their other arm primed over a shoulder.

“Or in other words: You’re Green."

The SOLDIER’s clenched her fist in preparation... only to see the girl’s head loll back, eyes closed with pain. Crusher realized her grasp was one of the only things keeping the buxom novice vertical. The arm dropped and the clearly disappointed elite just lazily pushed the brunette away, watching her fight frantically to just stay on her feet. She sighed as the stumbling finally stopped and began to give way to gravity.

So it’s understandable that Canyon’s blinked in disbelief when a leg to shot out, saving the girl from the floor.

“So the newbie's got some grit huh?” the super soldier droned out, already growing bored of the distraction. She put the hand back on her hip as the woman began to take a deep, ragged breath, arms and head still hand limp towards the floor “It’s admirable, really. Color me impressed by that if nothing else but, believe it or not, I really don’t want to keep hurting you. So please, just stay dow-”

The word caught in her throat at the uncertain sight of the girl releasing the breath.

‘Did she just… shimmer?’ The SOLDIER tried to process the brief flash of what looked like countless, very faintly glowing cracks sweep over the woman’s form. It was missing the telltale aura of subtle colored flames of a limit, so she knew it couldn’t be that. The bloodied martial artist abruptly stopped trembling and lifted her back foot slightly, her head still down. The elite leaned forward to curiously study the movement.

Until the foot shattered the tile beneath it and the girl was suddenly a foot from the mako infused woman’s face.

“HOLY FUC-!” A red glove smashed into the 2nd class’s face, the first solid hit from the brunette since they started managing to drive her back a good couple feet. Barely catching the next punch, the SOLDIER tried to turn the attack again. She balked when her target twisted in turn and swung back before she could, the strike knocking the wind out of her as a fist drove into her gut. Still taking advantage of the hunched response though, Canyon snapped up and caught Tifa’s chin with the back of her head.

“Where from the stream did all this come from?!” Crusher demanded, blocking and deflecting against the now relentless assault against her. A pair of simultaneous tackles slammed the pair’s shoulders together, their hands becoming locked as mirrored counters cancelled each other out. The moment finally allowed Canyon the chance to see her opponents face as her head came up to meet hers.

And all she found was a silent, hard stare that gave even her pause. Gone was the panicked fear of a novice; this was the steel gaze of a veteran.

“What in the goddamn?” she muttered before Tifa jumped away, her grip still locked in the elite’s and dragging her off balance. The SOLDIER caught sight of the brunette shifting into a low stance but couldn’t react before the heel of a palm struck her chin, followed by two more. She only then regained her footing and shielded her face the next blow.

“I’M A SECOND CLASS SOLDIER! I WILL NOT BE BEATEN BY A ROOKIE!” Canyon roared, dumping her mana into a single overcharged shock and detonating it between them. Both were thrown back but the SOLDIER’s unnatural resistance let her power through and launch at her stunned opponent. She halved the distance when a snap echoed through the room and she was hit with the sensation of gliding through molasses.

Her eye’s flew wide as Tifa’s face snapped up with a scowl and she realized her error. The bloodied and beaten woman stepped forward and reared back an arm. Canyon’s pupils nearly vanished when a flaming aura surged over the the buxom martial artist before dissipating an instant later, leaving her fist with a subtle glow.

‘THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE! HOW COULD A GREEN HORN LIKE HER-’ and then it hit her. It hit her like a frag grenade strapped to the front of a double decker bus and exploding point blank in her face. The wall next to the fire door cratered as a body crashed into it, flaking away into large chunks as it slowly slid out. Now it was the elite’s turn to fight gravity, catching herself for just moment to stare uncomprehendingly at the other martial artist.

“What the fuuu...” she slurred out and crumpled unconscious to the floor.

A satisfied hum chirped from the smirking Tifa as she stretched her arms out behind her. Aching her back into it and thrusting certain assets slightly more skyward, she sung a very familiar victory tune under her breath as she took the in moment.

She collapsed not a second later when another shimmer washed over her, legs splaying to either side as her knees and tail bone met the tile. A quick arm shot out to catch the rest of her while the other hand flew up to grip her head. She swayed uneasily as the room refused stay still until a gentle hand landed on her shoulder to steady her, a cure spell soon washing away some of the pain and dizziness.

“Easy now darling, we’ve got you.” Rarity cooed softly and repeated the casting. The victorious brawler shook away the last of the effects before lifting her head, marveling at the scene around her. Her gaze whipped around between the fallen SOLDIER and her freed companions. Wide, searching red eyes finally landing on the Turk’s.

“What happened?” the trio flinched back in surprise. They all traded a worried glance with one another before turning back to the human.

“We were about to ask you the same question.”

Tifa arched an eyebrow and opened her mouth to respond when a metal grinding noise demand their attention. Several bangs and muffled grunts sounded from the still frozen over elevator

“Perhaps later then!” Rarity relented. Spurred back into their escape, the four of them barrelled past the prone super soldier and into the stairwell. Another chill fell over the group as this door was encased in a thick layer of ice as well.

“We’ll not make it more than a few floors before they’re through that, any ideas?” the sapient dragon queried.

“We JUMP!” the pink pony announced with a smile. She leapt onto the exhausted Tifa’s shoulder before hanging down to her bangle and popping out one of the materia “Don’t worry Tif-Tif! I’ll cast this one!”

The bipedal pair moved to argue when they heard the guards breach the elevator. With some unhappy hums and grunts they hopped up on the railing, the narrow opening of the spiral not even enough for them to see the bottom. Accomplishing an uneasy balance on the bar they took a deep breath.

“OKAY! ON THREE!” Pinkie yelled

“ONE!”

“TWO!” The pink mare shoved them as she jumped herself.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO THREE!?” the purple haired unicorn screeched they plummeted toward the ground.

“HAVEN’T YOU EVER GONE SKYDIVING?!” the pony cried, giggling all the way down in contrast to the women’s screaming. A magical hum barely sounded over them as a dark aura enveloped the quartet, gradually slowing their decent and letting go with just a half story to go.

The dragon landed solidly with the pink mare bouncing onto his back. The other two hit the ground a bit less gracefully.

“I vote we never do that again” Tifa groaned as they rose on violently shaking legs.

“Party poopers” Pinkie teased. The focus was reacquired when the Turk cleared her throat.

“Don’t let your guard down, we’re not quite out of this yet ladies. And gentle… drake” the well coiffed woman added “Come on, I can lead us the rest of the way.”

Several back alleys and a harrowing climb down a loosely supported cable later, the group found themselves sprinting down a train tunnel to their next destination. They’d gotten lucky with the train schedule so far, not only were there only a few that ran this late but it seemed the company shut them down to impede their escape. Too bad they had no intention of riding any.

They just hit a fork in the tunnel when a gout of red and black flame erupted before them.

“Heya Priss” a familiar voice spoke from an alcove set in the side of the tunnel “See that Rude? Told you she’d bring ‘em through here.”

The tall Turk stepped out from the opposite side to Rina, moving to block their way forward with his partner. Rarity stalked forward with a fierce look.

“Move.” she demanded with a deadly serious tone. Rina just slumped her shoulders with a dramatic sigh.

“All you had to do was stay put. The president would have returned and-”

“And how long until she left again and we were once again at that madwoman’s mercy, or until one of the other division heads decided to see how much ‘use' we could be?” the unicorn spat back “No, for her to have even tolerated this kind of corruption is damning enough alone. I won’t sit around waiting for this to happen again or follow a woman who could have allowed it to happen in the first place. The ends no longer justify the means. Now move.”

“We can’t let you get her Rare.” the red head side stepped to stay in her path.

“You will not keep me from my sis-”

“DO YOU REALLY WANT HER INVOLVED IN THIS PRISS?!” Rina snapped back, dropping the easy-going act and stopping Rarity in her tracks “She’s a kid, she shouldn’t have to live as a fugitive just because you lost your faith in the company. Besides, the boss already picked her up.”

“WHAT?!” the pale woman screamed, stomping forward.

“She’s a close contact that needs to be monitored until the search is called off. She’ll stay in Turk custody until deemed appropriate.”

Rarity faltered at that, her eyes narrowing suspiciously at the pair.

“Turk custody?” she asked warily. Rina shot back a confident smirk.

“Well you escaped a high security holding area.”

“It’s a security matter now” Rude finished calmly. The unicorn stepped back, gaze down as her mind raced.

“We’ll take care of her Rares, she's already with Lyra. She likes her right? We’ll probably even be able to send her back to your parents when things calm down” Rina finished when Tifa finally spoke up.

“And what about us?” the casual Turk met her wary gaze with with a steady one of her own. It shifted to her now former coworker and finally to share a long stare with her partner. She finally just threw her arms up in a shrug, the bald operative raising a pair of fingers to his ear bud in response.

“This is Rude, still no sign of the targets… acknowledged, maintaining position for now. Out.”

“...Well go.” Rina finally said to the hesitating fugitives, gesturing to the other tunnel. Still watching the pair closely, the group skirted past and ran down the tunnel.

“PRISS!” the called echoed out behind them, the horned woman turning to see Rina looking over her shoulder at her seriously “We can’t do this again. Next time…”

Rarity nodded solemnly at the implied warning before turning back and continuing with the others, hoping this was still the right decision.

Faint beams of light filtered down through exposed and broken rafters as Tifa worked to remove a heavy, makeshift grating from a large manhole. Pinkie and the dragon they’d come to know simply as ‘Spike’ kept watch on the nave of the abandoned church while Rarity dug through a summoned foot locker. The fist fighter finally broke the obstruction free to expose a rough hewn, rocky tunnel; a covert entrance used by the Turks to get into the subterranean caves beneath the plates.

‘Guess I’m going to see the Undercity after all, huh?’

‘...’

“Ms. Lockhart” Tifa jumped as Spike’s soft call brought her back to the moment “I believe she’s here.”

Tifa turned to see the very welcome sight of a pink woman with bright green hair and a shotgun on her back stepping somewhat gingerly past the odd pair. As soon as her eyes found the martial artist her face lit up and she quickly ran straight to her, shifting the heavy bag draped across her chest before landing on the brunette with a hug.

“Hey Zest” Tifa returned the embrace with a tired but very genuine smile “Sorry to drag you out here.”

“Hey no worries,” Zest tried to wave off despite the distressed uncertainty behind her expression “Always good to remind myself I picked the right sector, Five being the shithole it is… But here, special delivery.”

Lemon unslung the very familiar looking duffle from her shoulder, grunting slightly as she handed it over to the now criminal. Tifa accepted the weight but immediately dropped it at the sight of a smaller travel bag that was hidden by the larger luggage.

“No!” Tifa shot a deadly seriously look at the music lover as she snatch the base of the bag’s strap.

“Lock’ I’m not just gonna-”

“NO!” Tifa repeated louder, her gaze growing almost angry as she cut the girl off.

“But Tif’ even without my parents I still have contacts and money! I can help!”

“I won’t allow you to just throw everything away for me! Especially when your parents have enough clout to keep you out of trouble!” Tifa finished, letting go of the strap and standing her ground against the girl’s protests. Rarity meanwhile, having dismissed the trunk back to the red materia on her wrist, shot a raised eyebrow at the girl who returned a shrug.

“Citris is my mom” Zest explained simply. It took a moment but a wave of comprehension washed across the former Turk’s face.

“Ah, yes. I suppose trying to prosecute the child of one of their own best lawyers would give even the board some pause. Particularly when you’ve done nothing wrong.”

“That they know about at least” Lemon added, gesturing around to the situation they were in. Her shoulders slumped and her gaze fell as she turned back to her friend “I just… I don’t think I could stand knowing all I did for you was drop off a bug out bag...”

“Zest all you’ve done for me these past six months is more than I could have ever hoped for. I…” Tifa struggled as the sentiment caught in her throat.

‘I don’t know how I could ever thank you enough.’ Just fucking say it and make a connection damnit!’

‘...’

“We should get going, even with my former cohorts dragging their feet the rest of the company will think of this way out eventually” Rarity interjected after the awkward moment stretched on a bit too long. Tifa gave a dejected nod, pretty much hating herself at that point. She lingered a few seconds longer as the others filed down the hole, giving her first and best friend in this world another quick hug.

“Thanks Zest. Don’t worry, just stay safe and I’ll do the same.” she let go and quickly rushed down after the others, dragging the grate back over to cover their escape.

The music lover meanwhile stood there staring at the hole for a good while longer, silent until a few drops of moisture streaked gently down her cheeks.

“...You better.”

Author's Notes:

So fun fact, this story was almost about a Yuffie displaced instead of a Tifa one. I rather like both characters (which is kind of funny because I used to Hate Yuffie) but after a decent bit of deliberation I came to the conclusion that Tifa just had more story and development potential than Yuffie.

That and I already had a displaced story with more lighthearted tone (comparatively). One that also starred a character that's a goofy and kind of obnoxious ninja just like Yuffie. Speaking of which I'm already a few pages into Equestria Gear's next chapter so for those of your that read that as well, know that you won't have to wait long

But for now, as always: Thanks for reading and Have a good one!

P.S.- Oh and for those confused by the chapter title, holding L1 and R1 is how you flee a battle in FF7. Figured it was appropriate

Chapter 6: Consolations

-Party Load Out and Materia-

Tifa: Human (Displaced)
Armored Knuckle- Fire, Ice, Gravity ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle) - Time + Added Effect
Other: Enemy Skill+Mime (Absorbed), Rude’s Sunglasses

Rarity: Unicorn
Silken Dream- Restore, Esuna, Ice ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle)- Barrier, Lightning
Other: An undecided rotation of outfits (currently), Earrings

Pinkie: Pony?
Sparkly Megaphone- Lightning, Earth, Fire --- Carbon Bangle- Transform, Manipulate
Other: Red Cape, "Moggy"

Spike: Sapient Dragon
Claws and Teeth (No Weapon Equipped) --- Mythril Armlet: Restore
Other: Natural Fire Magic, Hardened Scales

The lobby doors burst open covered in a golden aura, employees and guests alike scattering in the wake of the very pissed off CEO storming in. Raven and Twilight struggled to keep up with the President and Turk quintet’s brisk pace. It had been three days since the escape and to say Celestia wasn’t happy with the first report she was able to receive would be an understatement at best.

“I want Chrysalis put on immediate probation, with every last one of her projects placed on hold for review! She’s not to examine a single beaker without the direct and explicit consent of either myself or a pair of scientists I deem fit! For now they’ll be...” the alicorn woman fumed as she looked to the ranking personnel files on her tablet “Twilight and Miss Heartstrings.”

“Me ma’am?!” the treasurer blanched.

“She did say ‘for now’ Miss Sparkle. Though the professor won’t be too happy answering to anyone outside the main science department” Sweetie Drops calmly pointed out in a neutral tone, though her underlings caught the ghost of a smile on her lips.

“They’re still scientists” Celestia countered. They were also among the few she could count on for this; Twilight would understand the science probably better than any of them and Lyra was one of few left in the company that wasn’t afraid of the woman.

“She should be happy to still work here at all frankly ” Raven grumbled as she marked down the president’s orders on their way the the elevators. Celestia’s anger ebbed a little at the comment however. She really didn’t approve of or even like the professor but she was the only one she knew both brilliant and unscrupulous enough to perform the science necessary for their success. It was when she went beyond what was necessary and began indulging herself that things got messy.

‘And it's my fault she ever achieved such a position of power to abuse in the first place’ she sighed heavily. She was saved from dwelling on the fact by the chime of the elevator ushering them in, the the group in easily fitting into the spacious lift despite their numbers. Celestia had to suppress another sigh as she noticed Twilight staying as close to the door as possible with her eyes glued to the floor, the best ‘view without a view’ as it were. She really hadn’t been the same since the incident, 'Yet another event that weighs on my conscience…’

“Where is the Proxy now?” she refocued, turning the topic away from Chrysalis Hojo. If there remained but one piece of good news in all this, it was the retrieval of the huge materia from the ruins.

“Reactor 3, within its reinforced storage and under heavy guard consisting of both infantry and mechanized units” the Turk director informed “Much to the delight of the latter’s department head.”

‘Ah yes, she has been clamoring for her mechanized troops to serve an even larger role for a while now hasn’t she?' the CEO remembered.

Celestia rather was ambivalent about the head of the company’s weapons development and robotics division, unsure if her motives were genuine. She was easily one of the most neutral members of the board and had so far managed to stay above the corruptions that plagued most of the others, both petty and otherwise. However, she also had the habit of becoming rather… zealous in her beliefs and how they applied to her work. Still, better an eccentric than a psychopath the alicorn supposed.

“Any word on the AWOL copter?”

“No ma’am, though I doubt they deviated willingly. I suspect the captive awoke prematurely and commandeered the craft. The transponder was disabled as well, so we haven’t been able to track them. I apologize that we were not able to pursue at the time but I believed our own cargo demanded priority and we were limited to the two copters.”

“You did not make the wrong decision Agent Drops. Securing the proxy and greater number of potentials was more important, even with how everything turned out.” the president confirmed “Now according to the report, the gunwoman was shouting about what seemed like a very personal beef with Shirna, yes?”

“Yes ma’am” Sugarcoat answered this time “She was screaming something along the lines of never going back, suggesting she has a history within the company. So I’ve been looking through the former employee records and similar avenues with the assistance with Ms. Sparkle. Thus far, nothing has come up.”

“Very good Agent Coat, and a nice show of initiative. I trust you’ll let me know as soon as you find anything.”

“Of course ma’am.”

The elevator pinged again as they reached their first stop. The doors began to part but then let out a number of loud clucks and squeals before stopping only halfway open.

“Oh right, sorry ma’am” Sweetie Drops offered as she and Rude moved to pry the doors apart fully “They’ve been getting stuck on this floor ever since the guards had to force their way through Rarity’s ice spell.”

Celestia simply gave an acknowledging hum in her passing and Twilight quickly stepped through after her, letting out the held breath as she landed on more secure footing again. The stand-in treasurer made a few notes on her tablet as the rest filed onto the recreation floor. Celestia gained a small grin as she peered over the unicorn woman’s shoulder to see her currently sifting through the maintenance budgets, checking on the repair schedule.

‘Always the reliable one, aren’t you Twilight?’ she thought before approaching the scene of the altercation. A few stubborn scorch marks remained but it seemed the area had been well cleaned since the fight. The only other signs left were a sizable crack in the hallway tile and, of course, the person sized dent next to the fire exit. It was actually a surprisingly small amount of damage for a fight that bested a SOLDIER, but it was not simply that nagging at the CEO.

It was almost like there a strange kind of imbalance lingering in the air, a nearly unconscious sensation of something unnatural.

“How is SOLDIER Crusher recovering?” she inquired of the Turk director after a moment, shaking off the feeling.

“Steadily ma’am” the stoic woman delivered.

“Though her pride may take awhile to recover” Agent Flare added, earning a few smirks from her comrades.

“Do you have the feed ready then?” Celestia moved on, overlooking the quip.

“Yes ma’am, I just finished compiling and editing it prior to your arrival. As a precaution, I’ve limited the number of those that have seen it as much as possible.” her own team gave her some confused looks at that one “Trust me ma’am, you’ll understand when you see it.”

“Then I suppose we should get to it right away then” the alicorn woman said as they returned to the elevator, giving her another moment to inquire further “What would you say is the likelihood of reconciling with our wayward employees?”

Sweetie Drops hesitated as she considered the more subjective nature of the the issue.

“Difficult at best. Ms. Lockhart is an uncertainty but while she hadn’t shown any open hostility toward Shinra, she never seemed to let go of her initial suspicions. I very much doubt recent events have helped that case.”

“I can vouch for that” Sunny added “while she seemed open minded enough and not too begrudging about the whole forced cooperation thing, she was always pretty wary and I never got the feeling that she ever fully believed our intentions.”

“Now as for Agent Belle?” the director paused again and turned to Rina and Rude “You two were more personally acquainted with Rarity, what is your assessment?”

Rina scratched the back of her head, reminding herself to phrase the answer like she and Rude hadn’t personally let them escape.

“Ehhh, I won’t say it’s impossible but it’ll probably take a lot more than a sorry and a ‘it won’t happen again’ to bring her back” now, always the eloquent one, Rina continued unperturbed “I’d say her faith in the company was pretty well fucked with what was allowed to happen to her and honestly, I can’t say I blame her.”

“Rina!” Sweetie Drops started to scold the tactless Turk when Celestia gently stopped her.

“It’s alright Ms. Drops, there were more than enough oversights within the company that led to this failure. Thank you for your honesty, Agent Zap.” she delivered stoically, but there was a somber note behind the words nevertheless. The doors chimed once more and the entourage made their way to one of the company’s private meeting rooms. As they filed in, the treasurer hesitated at the door.

“Should I be here? What with this being so top secret and all?” Twilight fidgeted as the director turned to regard her.

“It’s not entirely a secret Miss Sparkle, I merely wished the president to be the first to see the footage and be the one to decide how much to keep ‘top secret’ and what to reveal to the rest of the board and security.” Sweetie Drops expressed in another neutral tone “You’re scientific insight could prove useful though and the president trusts you. Besides, you still have your top level clearance.”

“I do?!” Twilight squeaked. As the treasurer, she had a fairly high clearance as it was but she had been sure it was downgraded after her reassignment. Yet the director merely nodded and turned back to the screen, grabbing the remote.

An image of Rarity, Tifa and the yellow thestral-like girl glowing within their isolation pods appeared at her first click. Celestia gave a curious hum at the images; they had been described in the initial report that expedited her trip home but the pictures had been absent for security sake.

“So the professor was able to determine Agent Rarity is attuned to the Generosity currents of the stream, yes? Have we any idea what your assailant was attuned to?” the alicorn asked, studying the yellow woman emitting a pink radiance in her pod.

“No ma’am. Without her here to test, I’m afraid not” the head Turk replied.

“Um, actually…” Twilight spoke up “I think it’s reasonable to assume she’s attuned to the ‘Kindness’ currents… er, ma’am.”

“Oh? Do explain Twilight” Celestia smiled, repressing a chuckle at the subdued air quotes used with the currents’ less scientific moniker.

“Well, it’s only a theory but the preliminary findings suggest that the recovered huge materia may serve as a potential suitable for the Element of Kindness, as it’s had the most positive reactions to those currents. Given what was most likely a long term exposure to the materia and the open mako flux flowing beneath it with her showing little to no adverse effects, I believe it’s reasonable to assume she’s attuned to those currents as well.” Twilight hypothesized and the group could literally see as a few more of the figurative gears clicking into place as she spoke “In fact, given her near endless stamina during the encounter, she may have actually been strengthened by the close proximity to them.”

“We can't treat it as a solid conclusion but that is a reasonable assumption we can work with. Your passive strengthening theory is also warrants consideration. Raven, make a note of it.” Celestia agreed before turning her attention to the final image: the woman covered in glowing cracks all across her from “Now this most certainly isn’t harmony attunement. If anything it’d say it looks like a mana rupture, but there doesn’t seem to be any physical injuries… and you say they faded away without leaving any mana burn or lacerations?”

“Yeah” Rina piped in “Same as how Priss stopped glowing a little ways into the trip back to the city, the cracks just faded off Lock' without a trace; like they were never there to begin with.”

“Perhaps it’s time to start the footage” Sweetie Drops suggested and, with a nod from the CEO, clicked the remote. The angles were limited, though that was not surprising given that they rarely needed to watch their employees on break. The hallway and elevator cameras offered a decent enough view of the scene however.

They watched as the fugitive group rushed out the elevator, most giving rather befuddled looks at the tiny pink creature riding atop the dragon’s back. The image seemed to freeze until Tifa started moving again, the illusion caused by her frozen associates. The footage cut to a wider angle of the hall to show the 2nd class SOLDIER stepping into view and the incredibly one sided bout that followed.

“Are we certain it was Miss Lockhart who defeated Canyon?” the president asked quizzically.

“Yeah, seems like this ass kicking should be reversed with how Crusher ended up” Agent Zap snarked.

“You’ll see in a moment” was all the director said, ignoring her subordinate’s comment. The group remained silent until the shimmer washed over the brunette.

“What the fuck?” Rina muttered, a sentiment shared by most in the room.

Celestia however was far more concerned with what she saw afterwards, the impossible jump in skill the boxum martial artist seemed to pull from thin air. They watched as the elite was caught completely off guard and began to falter against the renewed assault. Then a gasp hissed through the room as the final hit connected.

“No way!” Sunny exclaimed.

“Was… was that a forced limit?” Sugarcoat’s passive facade gave way to confused skepticism.

“A forced partial limit to be exact” Sweetie Drops clarified.

“Even most of SOLDIER can’t pull that off!” Rina added “Lock is nowhere near that good! Hell, she could barely hold her own against me and Rude when we were holding back! Priss said she’s never managed to use her normal limit, how could she have pulled that off?!”

“Show it again” Celestia’s calm voice cut through the exchange, her eyes remained on the footage and watching intently “No, no the whole thing, after the shift…”

The group fell quiet again as the leader studied the fight.

“Again.”

The footage repeated as Celestia processed what she was seeing, going so far as swishing her fingers around to better followed the brunette’s movement.

“I knew there was something familiar about the way she fought,” she finally concluded, the polished execution making it more clear “That’s the Zangan style.”

“Zangan?” Rude repeated surprised, the reaction from the normally stoic man draw some curious, and concerned, gazes.

“Not merely that but this final attack, even if in this partial state,” the president gestured to the screen “is one of the pinnacle techniques of the style; something that only someone nearing a mastery of the art can accomplish.”

“But…” Rude countered, confusion clear in his eyes despite his shades “That’s not possible.”

“Okay now, what is it the rest of us are missing here?” Sunny cut in, earning a sigh from the bald Turk as he pushed his glasses back up.

“Zangan Style was a exceptionally versatile and flexible martial art, capable of combating most any threat; humanoid or monster, big or small, unarmed or armed. It was notably one of the first unarmed styles with somewhat effective methods to counter firearm wielding opponents. Like any style it’s not without its flaws but focusing on speed and power, it wasn’t an art to be taken lightly when used correctly.” the others gawked at their teammate saying more in one sitting than they’d usually hear in an entire day. Rude continued with a far more serious note underlying his words “And it’s gone. All that’s left of it is a smattering of what are, at best, intermediate maneuvers adopted by other styles.”

“Agent Rude is right” Celestia affirmed “Even a few techniques of the basic defense methods we teach to our troops were adapted from Zangan’s teachings. But the full style isn’t taught anymore.”

“Well evidently someone is teaching it, considering Miss Lockhart knows it” Raven concluded, earning a shake of the head from the president.

“It’s not simply that it isn’t taught, it's that it can't be. No one who knew it well enough to pass the art along has survived to the modern age. You see the last student of Zangan, the last person to reach anywhere close to this level…” Celestia gestured again to the paused image of the long-haired woman with her fist glowing

“Died over two hundred years ago...”

Tifa stared warily at the cooked crustaceans at the buffet of the “restaurant” they stopped at. It was really just a cooking station under an old wedding tent, but you couldn’t really expect much from a place called “The Undercity”. It didn’t take a genius to figure out they were the same kind of creature that attacked her on her first mission after they fell into Corneo’s trap.

Now, it was actually pretty common for the people of Equestria to eat monsters. They were plentiful and repopulated quickly enough to be mostly sustainable with little impact on the environment. Other than the whole dangerous to hunt and keep around thing, it was actually a pretty good solution to the monsters themselves limiting the continent's usable land for ranching and farming.

A lot of them tasted pretty good too. She personally liked this kind quite a bit in fact; they tasted like snow crab with a little kick of spice to them. So no, it wasn’t the fact they were monsters that was bothering Tifa.

“These came from the caves, right?” she asked the cook behind the table, wresting a laugh from the scruffy man.

“Ah, I see y’all are new down here. Hope yer just passing through or else yer palates are gonna need to become a lot more flexible!” he teased but then gave the brunette an friendly grin “But yeah, don’t worry yourself none there beautiful; these didn’t come from the sewers. Trust me, you’d smell it.”

Worries somewhat assuaged, the martial artist loaded some of the oversized legs onto her plate and moved back to the table with the others.

“So you really think AVALANCHE is our best bet?” Tifa asked “They didn’t seem like the most open people when they attacked the tower, considering they almost killed Twilight and I... twice”

“Even so, I don’t see that we have much of a choice. They’re pretty much the one viable option left to keep us off Shinra’s radar, what with the Wutai Resistance long gone.” the well coiffed woman replied, adjusting what Tifa was sure was just the first of many outfits to come “Shinra will sniff us out sooner or later if we stay anywhere too long without support, even here in the Undercity. Not that we’d want to stay down here anyway, what with the health risks alone.”

It was true, while they so far appeared unaffected by the lingering mako in the air they couldn’t miss that at least half the area’s population was ill. The extent of the mako poisoning ranged from some looking merely tired to others that didn’t look too far from death’s door. For as much or little good the president may have been trying to accomplish, Tifa was starting to learn just how much of it was out of her control, or at least her awareness.

“Are you certain this Applejack will listen?” Spike asked “As far as she’s concerned, you two are still with Shinra. She’ll undoubtedly suspect we’re spies or worse.”

“While I’ll admit our relationship never blossomed past friendly acquaintances, Applejack was alway a very open woman with an honest integrity. So I think she’ll at the very least not have us shot on sight. She’s also the only member I know, so it’s her or nothing. We have to at least try.” the former Turk reasoned “Though I suppose all that only matters if we can actually get to Ponyville...”

Ponyville was on the other side of the divide, the long, narrow and apparently rather deep sea separating the two primary halves of the Equestria continent.

“Well we can’t go to Junon” Tifa pointed out the obvious.

“What about Baltimare?” Pinkie offered “Or Fillydelphia should be able to get us on a boat too!”

“That would be a pretty long trip, having to go around the entire land mass like that.” Spike retorted. Rarity shook her head at the ideas as well.

“That and we’ll be on the wrong side of the marsh if we’re still planning on taking the tunnels all the way to the Mythril Mine. Without proper transport or at least a couple of chocobos, we’d never make it past the Zoloms.” she explained. She sighed heavily as she continued “I think Fort Condor may be our best bet… unfortunately.”

“Fort Condor is part of AVALANCHE?” the brunette cocked an eye brow.

“Not according to the latest intelligence, no. But they’ve no love for Shinra” she answered, a clear note of dread in her voice “They’re more of the… ‘righteous word of Minerva demands an end to the corporate corruption of freedom’ types.”

“Ah, so a basket case militia in some backwoods compound then” Tifa said dryly “Wonderful.”

“Yes, exception being that backwoods compound is an actual fort with a greater condor perched on top.” Rarity countered with Spike speaking up next.

“If they’re such a threat why hasn’t Shinra dealt with them?” the dragon quired “Surely they could take the fort.”

“Oh I never said they were a threat darling.” the former Turk quipped “As a matter of fact they’ve yet to take any violent action against the company directly. All they do it slowly stockpile dated equipment and spout propaganda over the radio. Until they become an actual threat, which is pretty unlikely, they’re simply not worth the resources to deal with. Shinra will do something eventually but for the time being they’re perfectly happy to just let them stay out there playing with their toys.”

“Yeah, except now we have to go ask to borrow some of those toys” the martial artist pointed out “Assuming they have anything to get us across the divide in the first place.”

“Well they can’t be THAT bad can they?” Pinkie asked,

Rarity merely looked away anxiously without a response...

After the meal, the party restocked their supplies as best they could from the limited options and continued on their journey, pushing further into the tunnels. Thankfully, the paths had been used enough by those hoping to sneak into the city to be marked and they weren’t far enough yet to have to worry about monsters or the like.

Unfortunately for Tifa, this quiet moment allowed the conversation to turn back to her as well.

“So truthfully now Tifa dear, where are you from?” the well coiffed unicorn asked “I think it’s safe to tell us now.”

“I did tell you. I’m from Nibelheim” she lied.

“Dear, I’ve been to Nibelheim; it’s a few days walk from Ponyville. You’re not from there.” Rarity called her bluff.

“So? You couldn’t have known everyone in town.” the brunette argued.

“I can because there isn’t an ‘everyone’ to know, the town’s nothing but an old ruin.”

‘FUCK!!’ immediately screamed through Tifa’s mind.

“It’s a glorified tourists trap.” the unicorn woman went on. Pinkie however seemed to give Tifa the benefit of the doubt.

“Tourists traps do still have people who live there to run them.” the tiny horse offered, to which Rarity smiled back.

“But of course! In this case, Cranky and Matilda Doodle. Lovely couple. They would come into town once or twice a week to shop and socialize” she explained before turning back to Tifa and very bluntly stating, “And neither of them are you.”

‘Think think think think think think, come ooooon...’

‘...’

“You wouldn’t believe me” the pugilist finally returned “You’ll think I’m insane.”

“You are talking to a sapient dragon and a miniture pink horse perched on his head” Spike smirked back “Try us.”

“I’d think we’d believe it more than you being from a dead town” Rarity added.

“FINE!” Tifa suddenly snapped, startling the trio “You wanna know?! I'm from another goddamn world! I was attending a convention with my best friend to advertise our workshop with some new costumes we’d made when we ran into this really creepy vendor that we told to fuck off! But then he popped back up later and bowled the two us over, somehow turning Liv into an actual zombie who then ripped my fucking throat out! Then time literally fucking stopped and the vendor strutted back, now bald and with a thick German accent. He started blathering about experiments and made Liv dissolve into what looked like the life stream and then started getting excited when the copious amount of blood gushing from my neck started glowing just before what I’m fairly positive was my actual Death!”

She took a deep breath-

“But then I wake up in the slums all alone with an entirely new body, a new name, and half my memories missing!” she vented “And now after finally getting used to my lot in this new life I get pulled into all this shit and am once again scared shitless and have no idea what I’m doing! That’s where I’m from!”

The woman’s venting ended, shoulders heaving slightly as she scowled at the ground. The others just stood silently, throwing one another uneasy glances. Tifa scowl failed to a wide eyed stare as she realized all she had revealed in her rant.

The silence lasted a few beats longer until a smile creeped onto Rarity’s lips.

“You make Costumes?” she asked almost excitedly. Tifa’s head snapped up to the unicorn, a look of of pure bewilderment painted across her face.

“THAT’S what you take away from all that?” she gawked as the woman and pony giggled, Spike’s smirk came back as well.

“Tifa dear you’re talking to a woman who’s personally summoned an Ifrit, a Sheva and even an Alexander” she elaborated “So okay, admittedly yours is quite the unique set of circumstances but we summon beings from other realms all the time. Why the summoner's of- well it’s right there in the title! It’s hardly as insane as it sounds darling.”

The brunette deflated a bit at the rationale.

“I… I never thought about it like that” she mumbled when the group’s dragon nodded his head.

“It is strange you were changed so completely and are not a temporary summon” he mused “But I don’t see how this changes that much.”

“Except you're not all alone this time! Even if you are just crazy, we’re all in this together!” Pinkie informed the still distressed Tifa. She blinked a few times, not failing to notice it when her main fell just a little bit straighter “Still though... dying must have been a pretty terrifying... You want a hug?”

‘Yes’

“No, that’s alright Pinkie. I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

‘No’

“Yeah, thanks though.”

“Well okay... if you ever change your mind though.” she offered.

Not without a bit awkwardness, the group regathered themselves and carried on. It wasn’t long though before Rarity leaned back in to try and distract the displaced woman’s attention with a bright smile.

“So... what kind of costumes do you make?”

Zest trudged through her apartment door, trying not to look at the one across the hall covered in police tape. When she had gotten back from dropping off Tifa’s bug out bag she found a whole gaggle of Shinra troops emptying her friend’s home. Fortunately, her mother Citrus was also among them and waiting for her, quickly intercepting any unnecessary harassment or unlawful detainment.

She moved to click on her speakers so the music could flood the small space as it had countless times before. She sighed as it did little to improve her mood.

She had spent most the day at the tower, her mom with her every step of the way to make sure her colleagues didn’t entrap her in their legal double speak and get her to confess without even knowing it. Her mother really was great at her job and considering the lack of any evidence, they couldn’t just arrest her for association so long as she was around. Unfortunately it pushed said parent over the edge and she demanded Lemon move back out of the slums or they’d cut her off.

While Zest was confident that she could survive down here on her own, there now seemed like so little keeping her here. She frowned at the notion. She had only known Tifa about seven months by now and she of course had a life down here before the shapely girl had dropped into it.

‘Did I really though?’ she thought with uncertainty. She had a job with a couple friendly acquaintances sure, but was it a life that really meant anything to her? She’d mostly come down to experience something outside the deceitful veneer of ‘the higher class’. Not that she didn’t love her parents but that simply wasn’t the life for her.

She clicked the music off and sat in the silence, hunched over with her hands on her neck. After some long and heavy considerations, she eventually came to the conclusion her parents were probably right. She needed a change and had a decent one in mind, but it probably wasn't the one her parents did.

‘Sorry Mom and Dad. I love ya, but I won’t be moving back home yet’ she internalized as she pulled out her phone ‘And hey, who knows? Maybe I’ll run into Tif out there.’

For most it may have been too late to call but unless her friend got an entirely new personality, Zest knew she’d still be awake. Sure enough it only rang a couple times before a familiar voice piped through the line.

“Hey Sour… Yeah it’s me… Oh I guess I’m alright, you?” the small talk quickly petered out and Zest was forced moved to the reason she called “So listen, I know the season’s already a couple weeks in but uh…”

The conversation awkwardly paused as the pink woman hesitated. She shook her head and with a deep breath stuck to her guns.

“That offer for a tryout still open?”

She flinched away as an excited and rather loud squee erupted from the device.

‘I guess that’s a yes then’ she figured. A small smile found her as the new direction she chose started to grow on her ‘Well, there are definitely far worse things to be than a Blitzball player.

Author's Notes:

Okay, with all the more obvious hints in this chapter on top of the earlier ones, I'll be very disappointed if no one has figured out what the neighboring continent is now
For those of you that do though, don't worry about too much interference: it's not gonna come into play until act two if we ever get that far (in other words, the sequel )

But another chapter's now down and there's still more on the way. Sorry to any disappointed with the lack of action but I kind of want this one to be a little less over the top than my other story. And hey, sometimes you just need exposition

As always, thanks for reading and have a good one

Chapter 7: How Things Are

-Party Load Out and Materia-

Tifa: Human (Displaced)
Armored Knuckle- Fire, Ice, Gravity ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle) - Time + Added Effect
Other: Enemy Skill+Mime (Absorbed), Rude’s Sunglasses

Rarity: Unicorn
Silken Dream- Restore, Esuna, Ice ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle)- Barrier, Lightning
Other: An undecided rotation of outfits (currently), Earrings

Pinkie: Pony?
Sparkly Megaphone- Lightning, Earth, Fire --- Carbon Bangle- Transform, Manipulate
Other: Red Cape, "Moggy"

Spike: Sapient Dragon
Claws and Teeth (No Weapon Equipped) --- Mythril Armlet: Restore
Other: Natural Fire Magic, Hardened Scales

Tifa watched a the owlbear clear the hill and continue out of sight, the chimeric creature weaving about slightly in its stupor. With the increasingly familiar tingling of a new enemy skill still lingering in the back of her mind, she turned to the mog mounted pony with her materia aglow.

“You sure it won’t just turn around to find us when it breaks free?” the martial artist gave her a concerned frown, Pinkie smiled back brightly however.

“It may have taken a couple castings but that was a solid manipulate” Pinkie countered “He’ll still be wandering that way for a while and prolly not even know what direction we’re in when it wears off.”

“Yes, but now you know White Wind Darling! A very useful technique from what little I’ve seen of it” Rarity cut in prior to pursing her lips “Well, if you can drum up the mana to cover its cost that is… Still! More people able to heal the better, right?”

“Lucky we found one alone and on the way to the Fort. Hopefully we won’t need the skill once we’re there” Spike added. They had been closing in on their destination when the dragon caught the scent of the feathered beast and Pinkie excitedly declared they should track it to earn Tifa a new skill.

“Hopefully. Guess we’ll find out” Tifa shrugged and they started on their way again.

It had been about a week since they made it out of the caves, which took a few days to navigate on their own. After finding the light again, they first headed toward a small town their party’s pony member pointed out on the map to rest and restock. They didn’t stay more than a night though and spent the rest of the trip off the roads to avoid making it any easier for Shinra to track them down.

Once they were past the Divide they could risk more comfortable accommodations, but with them still being so close to Canterlot meant they were that much deeper in the search net. The brunette hoped the militia at the Fort wasn’t as abrasive as Rarity suggested; even if she was still stuck with her bedroll, it would be really nice to spend a night indoors again. She sighed however as she looked to the horizon and saw the sun beginning to set.

“We should probably start trying to find a spot for camp” Spike spoke up almost as soon as she had the thought, as if to confirm her dismay.

“You sure we can’t make there it tonight?” Tifa asked. They had been able to see the fort, if not its namesake bird, in the distance since the morning and they didn’t really seem that far if they kept moving. Rarity was the first to respond.

“We probably could actually, but it would be well after dark by the time we arrived and I doubt that would help our case very much” the former Turk clarified, making the brunette’s shoulders slump. She still wasn’t used to so many nights in a tent.

They soon found a decent spot among a small crop of trees, and started setting up under a fallen trunk leaning against one of the area’s more rocky outcroppings. It should hide them from sight for the most part.

“I wonder where the birdie’s been,” Pinkie pondered “With what I’ve heard, it should be so big we can't of missed it.”

“No, we certainly couldn’t have. It’s probably been out hunting” Rarity offered and started setting up the tent. With that settled, Spike took up watch while Tifa and Pinkie set off to gather wood; It had become her unspoken regular duty as her strength came the most in handy for breaking apart anything too big to use when there was nothing smaller. They quickly found a hollowed log that would last the night and headed back to find Rarity almost done with the tent already.

“Wowie, do you do that fast!” Pinkie marveled for not the first time. The unicorn had an exceptional efficiency at the task, as well as a knack for making sleeping on the ground a lot less… well, like sleeping on the ground.

“Where’d you learn how to do all this so fast? I wouldn’t think you camped that much as a Turk and you really don’t seem like the ‘rough’n it’ type” Tifa asked, then hastily added “No offense.”

Rarity let out a small chuckle.

“None taken dear. But no, and it’s for that very reason Why I learned all these little tricks; to insure that those times all that more bearable when it was required. And as for the speed? Well, fabrics’ fabric darlings, no matter how fashionable… or unfashionable.” she finished with a bright smile, before it was stifled by a wince. She instinctively reached up to her eye, bringing attention to a well hidden bruising that laid beneath the make-up.

“Sorry...” Tifa’s gaze fell.

“Darling Stop!” Rarity laughed in response “It’s really not that bad and is hardly the first black eye I’ve had; I was a Turk after all.”

After some considerable thought on her fight with Canyon Crusher, Tifa had decided she didn’t want to have to rely on another ‘episode’ to save her again. So shortly after the group left the Undercity she asked Rarity, being far more experienced, if she had any advice on how to shore up her abilities. She had surprised Tifa by offering to spar. Perhaps more unexpected was her asking Spike to help as well, so that Tifa could learn how to better fight non-humanoids.

So while the unicorn had more than once pointed out that real experience was better since it was, well Real, Tifa was at least feeling like she was learning. Particularly with how Rarity was far more range based and how fighting Spike was just plain different. And thanks some clever use of her barrier, the former Turk allowed them a means to fight without much risk of seriously hurting each other.

Seriously being the main word.

They’ve still ended with some scuffs and some sunburn level skin at the end of their few sessions. And unfortunately during their last spar, Tifa caught the well coiffed unicorn off balance and lost track of her strength; punching right through the protective castings and flooring the woman. While the healing spells fixed the worst of it, she was still left with a pretty good shiner that even her expert make-up work couldn’t completely cover.

“Besides,” Rarity continued “We all had had to politely ignore the leftovers of your fight with Canyon, so now it’s simply my turn I suppose. Think of it as a reminder that you’re getting better.”

The martial artist gained at least half a smile with that. However, whatever response she had was suddenly cut off by a massive gust of wind whipping through the camp as a shadow briefly blocked out the sky. A deep, screeching cry echoed back at them with its passing. As the girls recovered, Spike merely looked skyward with a mildly amused look.

“I guess we found our fort’s Condor” he continued to search the expanse above them.

“Wow-wee! That must be one big bird!” Pinkie exclaimed as she pulled herself back onto her Mog’s back.

“Yes well, I suppose we’ll see that for ourselves tomorrow.” Rarity added “But I suggest we get some rest for now, it’s still a bit of a walk from here.”

The pony and dragon agreed and moved to finish their earlier the preparations while also fixing the mess the gust caused. Tifa however stayed silent, shooting a worried glance in the direction of the avian’s call.

‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this…’

‘...’

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day came swiftly it and the party found themselves at the base of the fort’s hill by midday. They stood starting up the incline at the fortified structure… or the half fortified structure rather.

The base of the fort seemed to be carved out of a natural stone spire covered in vegetation and leaning somewhat cockeyed out of the top of the hill. The other half however, cradling its side until the two halves split near the top into a Y, was completely man-made. Nestled right in the nook of the split was a massive egg and its yet more massive parent. The eponymous condor of the fort was currently eating something they couldn’t see off the top of natural half of the fort.

“Well you were right Pinkie” Tifa gulped “That is one damn big bird…”

“I don’t remember saying damn” the crowned pinkness rubbed a hoof on her chin. She then shrugged and continued “Soooo... do we just walk up and knock?”

“I’m… not sure” the most well coiffed among them hesitated “I would have thought we’d run into a sentry or something by now.”

“We could try calling out” Spike proposed. Rarity and Tifa glanced at each other but before either could act, the mog mounted pony was shouting through her megaphone.

“IS ANYPONY THERE!? WE NEED A WAY ACROSS THE DIVIDE!”

“FIRE!” was all Tifa heard shouted back before her vision was filled with orange.

----------------------------

‘Ugh, what happened?’

‘You got knocked out by a pumpkin.’

‘Well that’s embarrass-HEY!’

‘What?’

‘You’re back!’

‘Oh, um… yeah’

‘What the hell?! Where have you been?! Was that you against Crusher?! Why can I only tell us ap-?!’

‘Woah! Easy now. I know there’s some question but there’s also some... obstacles’

‘Like what?!”

‘Well for one, it’s time to wake up Tiffy’

‘...Tiffy?’

‘I said-’

--------------------------------

“Come on Tif-Tif, wake up!” the world blurred back slowly, a pair of blue blobs floating within a white expanse dominating her vision. A flash of pink kept repeating until the image focused into a set of concerned, bright blue eyes blinking at her sideways from a square shadow “There she is!”

Pinkie beamed as she became clearer, allowing the prone brunette to see the pony was currently locked in some kind of pet carrier. As she sat up could also see they were no longer outside. What looked like natural caves to stretched to her left while structured wood and stone stood to her right, except everything had weird orange strings hanging every-

‘Oh, I’m covered in pumpkin guts’ she realized as she pulled a large clump from her hair, finding her hands were also bound in the process.

‘Better than the real kind, right?’

Well, at least her thoughts were finishing themselves again. Though she could barely hear them over the sound of an older man and woman yelling at each other among several people with guns. Glancing at the pair, then to her bound hands and then the rest of her restrained companions, she leaned over towards the dragon seated next to her.

“I’m guessing this isn’t good.”

“I say we send ‘em back tuh Shinra in body bags as a message!”

“Well AH say we feed ‘em to the bird and be done wit' it!”

“Her name’s Courtney!”

“Nope” Spike answered simply.

“We’re not with Shinra!” Tifa shouted, earning the butt of a rifle to the back of the head. Squinting as she tried to shake away the pain, she grumbled “...I’d really wish people would stop trying to knock me out.”

“Ah, so the big one’s awake” the stout male announced, ignoring the scowl of the woman he was fighting with “So what, you another Turk like this one?!”

Tifa looked over to a disgruntled Rarity currently leveling a flat look to their captor. She returned a small glance to the confused martial artist.

“Sorry Darling, seems they’re better informed than I expected” she said quietly. She redirected her attention back to the pair “I’m not a Turk anymore, I left Shinra’s service weeks ago.”

“Oh how con-vee-ne-ent” the buck toothed woman sauntered up, a mocking sarcasm dripping from her accented words “A couple weeks is jus’ enough time to prove tuh us you ain’t no spies ain’t it?!”

“We ain’t fall’n fer it missy” the male growled.

“We’re not spies!” Tifa cut in “They experimented on us! Why would we help a company that violated us!?”

“Why would they ‘speariment on ya?” the male sneered at them.

“Because they’re Shinra” Spike pointed out bluntly. Their captors narrowed their eyes at the dragon, then at the pink pony.

“They are kinda weird” the male leaned toward his counterpart and muttered not at all subtly “Never heard of a talk’n dragon, let alone any work’n fer Shinra.”

“And ah don’t even know what the little pink thing is…” the woman returned, earning a slight, disgruntled grimace from the pony “course they could have ‘em to throw us off their scheme...”

An exasperated sigh escaped the bound unicorn woman.

“We don't have a scheme. We're only trying to find a way across the Divide.”

“Yeah? What fer?”

“We’re looking to speak with AVALANCHE” the answer was immediately met with scoffs and raspberry blowing.

“Those amateurs?! Pah!” the male spat, nearly being cut off by the female next.

“Yeah, but even then we ain’t about to let ya cross now! They may be doin’ it for the wrong reasons but at least they’re against Shinra! Against you!”

Rarity looked like she was about to protest when the same screech from the previous night filled the fort.

“Oh well looky there, it wasn’t enough, if only someone had said so earlier” the male drooled out, his words once again saturated with sarcasm and earning a death glare from his counterpart “Go take care of the bird.”

“‘Her name’s Courtney!”

“An’ the more reliable of y’all,” he continued unfazed, looking to those clearly on his side of things “take ‘em to the cells.”

Tifa and Spike tensed, looking over the purple haired woman. She returned the slightest shake of her head before the militia forced them to their feet and marched them deeper into the constructed half of the fort. Tifa tried to keep in mind the turns and stairs but realized while very sturdy, it was all laid out pretty simply. When they wanted to escape, they just had to go down.

‘Where from there though…’ she thought to herself until a guard shoved her for lagging. It wasn't much longer until they were entering a thick bared cell with a single window to the outside, showing an exceptionally high and steep drop.

“Too bad none of us can fly” Spike commented.

“We may still be able to get through to them” Rarity countered, then lowered her voice to avoid the guard overhearing “And even if we can’t, starting a fight against an entire militia in their own fort isn’t one we can win.”

“Not with only the four of us at least. And I think they’d notice if I disappeared into the vents to find our gear here…” Pinkie finished as Tifa fiddled with the lock on the carrier “Can’t you just rip it off?”

“Oh… yeah.” The martial artist paused, wondering why she didn't just start with that. She clutched the grating and-

“HEY! Leave it!” one of the guards shouted, their rifles leveled at the brunette “That ain’t yours to break!”

“Sorry Pinks” Tifa offered as she slowly pulled her hand away before the door to the cell block opened, cutting off any further conversation. Tifa expected one of the leaders but instead found herself looking at another militia member, their loose fitting gear resting awkwardly on their slim, winged form. She snapped a salute off to the guards, hand knocking askew a thick pair of goggles over her balaclava.

“Reporting for guard duty! You can return to your posts!” an eager and rather young sounding voice emerged from beneath the mask.

“Our post is here, Muff” one countered with a flat look.

“You were told to bring them here, not stand guard” the woman cocked her head to the side “That’s my job!”

He looked like he was about to argue when another nudged him with an elbow.

“Just let her, it’s the only thing she’s good at” he whispered. The first let out an irritated grunt but waved the others out of the room all the same. He did pause and turn back however, with a finger pointing threateningly at Tifa “An’ don’t let ‘em break Carrot’s carrier!”

“Yes sir!” she chirped back, saluting again. She stood like that a moment longer after the door closed and then, after a quick glance to the prisoners, stealthily crept to the door. Still on her tippy toes, she pressed an ear to the door and waited with a finger raised toward them for silence. Confused looks passed between the group until the girl finally broke away.

“Okay! They’re gone” the woman announced in a hushed tone and scampered up to the bars… before tripping and landing flat on her face. She sprung back up no worse for wear though, giving a quick “IMOKAY! ...Sorry I couldn’t help earlier Agent Rarity, but it could’ve compromised my cover.”

The girl pulled off the goggles and cowl, showing a pair of bright golden eyes sparkling at the unicorn from under blonde locks. ...Or one of the pair was. The other was looking at the ceiling over Spike.

“OH!” Rarity exclaimed before covering her mouth and dropping her tone “I mean, not at all Darling. You were one of the initiates in Sunny and Sugarcoat’s group, yes? Miss… Hooves, was it?”

The brightness of girl’s smile could rival Pinkie’s, her headed nodding fervently with joy at the recognition.

“Initiate Derpy Hooves at your service ma’am!” she saluted again with proud determination “I may not have made the last cut but I assure you ma’am, I can still help you out of this jam. Through… why are you here in the first place ma’am? I wouldn’t think my recent reports would have caused someone to check the situation here at the fort, especially a Turk!”

“Oh, um no. I’m afraid we’re here… on a mission. We felt the fort may be our best means across the Divide” Rarity responded.

“Why not go to Junon? Or take a copter straight from the plates?” Derpy cocked an eyebrow, further exaggerating her quirk. Tifa learned to the two non-humanoids of the party,

“Is it just me or is she totally adorable?” she whispered.

“Like a kitten in a slipper” Spike quipped and earned a suppressed giggle from the plastic crate next to him.

“I’m afraid our mission is rather covert in its nature, dear. We have to appear as independent of the company as possible” Rarity twisted the facts with practiced ease.

“Is this about the AVALANCHE thing?” the former Turk grimaced at the girls question but continued.

“Uh, yes darling. It’s… complicated, and also quite classified I'm afraid” she quickly added.

“Not to worry ma’am, I’m well versed in keeping secrets. After all, I still haven’t been found out here” the pegasus gestured a zipper and lock motion over her lips “but if you do need a way across the Divide, I’m not sure the fort was the best choice. Big Dad McColt and his band may be darn good builders but they still haven’t gotten anything up and running that would make it across.”

“Nothing?” Rarity pushed.

“They have some motorboats and an old seaplane that doesn’t float” the wall-eyed woman frowned “But nothing I’d trust to make it across the Divide though.”

Four pairs of shoulders slumped at the news. Yet Rarity’s gaze darted about the floor, distant as her thoughts organized. She looked back up to the others and simply asked.

“I don’t suppose any of you know how to fly a plane?”

“Only if they’re made of paper” Pinkie chirped “Maybe we can convince the militia to lend us a pilot?”

“Yeeeeaahhh…” Derpy scratched the back of her head “I really don’t think they’re gonna listen. They tend to drag things out, even when they DO want to do something.”

“So we are going to have to escape” Tifa concluded. Derpy returned a lopsided smile and shrug.

“Yeah, but don’t worry; you won’t be the first I’ve helped with that. Though if you’re still planning on taking a vehicle… that’ll be harder.” the pegasus’s smile faltered a bit. Rarity brought a thoughtful hand up to her chin, eyes narrowing.

“Do you have a panic button Initiate Hooves?” the misaligned eyes shot wide.

“I, um yeah but-” the girl fumbled before the unicorn cut her off.

“Trigger it”

“Agent Rarity I’m only supposed to do that if they’re planning an imminent attack or something! If I call one when it’s not needed-”

“I’m afraid our mission is of the utmost priority. Besides,” Rarity gave a consoling smile “You can finally be yourself again.”

“I guess. It’s just...” she hesitated “There’s not a lot a great condors left, and Courtney is actually pretty sweet. And honestly I think Big Dad and Ma Hoofield seem happy to stay here yelling for quite a while yet. Do we really need to call that down yet?”

“I’m afraid so Darling. If it makes it any easier, it's an order: Call in the troops. I’ll take full responsibility.” it was Derpy’s turn to have her shoulders sag. She let her held breath go and relented.

“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll go send the signal and try to secure your gear” she returned, failing to hide the apprehension in her voice. She turned and hurried out the door, leaving them alone. Tifa wondered if she was really gone until a distant crash sounded beyond the door “IMOKAY!”

“We sure we can count on her?” Spike asked skeptically.

“She may not have made it through the program her first time around but it wasn’t for lack of competence. She’s deceptively competent actually, just a little too… open with information. She also tended to be over eager and sympathetic and was, frankly, rather scatterbrained” Rarity explained “But yes dear, I believe we can rely on her.”

“At least until she finds out you really aren't a Turk anymore...” Spike said with a shrug. A concerned hum came from the pet carrier.

“You think the bird will be okay?” Pinkie asked solemnly “You've called down a heck of a party on its nest.”

“One of the reasons Shinra hasn’t dealt with the fort yet is precisely because of the condor Miss Sith. So hopefully they’ll do what they can to avoid hurting it or its nest” the well coiffed woman tried to assuage her. She saw the crated pony‘s frown deepen and didn’t fail to notice her brunette companion also looking particularly unhappy as well, if her scowling at the floor was any indication “Tifa?”

“I’m guessing from how everyone’s talking the ‘panic button’ isn’t simply some emergency extraction but a full fledged assault, yeah?” the pugilist looked to her, receiving an affirmative nod “So basically we’re screwing the people we came to ask for help? And maybe an endangered species? And using that naive girl on top of it? All so we can keep going? Less than warm welcome or not Rare, we’ve barely even talked with them.”

“Yes I know it’s not exactly the most respectable thing dear, but unless you trust these extremists to come through for us...” the Turk left hanging, matching the martial artists gaze until the latter turned away “I’m sorry dear, sometimes that’s just how things are.”

Tifa didn’t like it, but understood and let it go.

‘Still feels shitty’

‘Because it is…’

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The dimming light filtering through to window shined off the 10 of Spades as it bounced off the pet carrier, narrowly missing the indent for the handle.

“Hey, that sounded close!” the crate’s captive cheered before snaking her, what the group recently discovered, prehensile hair through the gate and taking her turn. Tifa had thought the position would put her at a massive disadvantage despite being technically closer. The pile of hearts in the nook proved she had thought wrong.

“So you’ve never had a limit break?” Spike asked, flicking the 2 of clubs in one of his also surprisingly dexterous claws.

“Nope” Tifa answered, watching the queen of diamonds land short and wrest a frustrated snap from the horned woman next to her “Gotta remember, I haven’t been here that long. I haven’t had much time to have been pushed that far… damn.”

“Close” Spike shot her a grin “And if it makes you feel any better, I’ve only done it once myself.”

“Ooooooooh!” Pinkie cooed “What does a dragon’s limit look like!? I bet it’s really scary!”

“I got bigger” the dragon answered simply.

“That’s it?”

“Thaaaat’s it” Spike repeated back.

“Oh, well that’s still pretty neat!” the pony earned some chuckles. It died down when a low drone distracted them. A drone that steady grew to the beat of distant helicopters. The guard that had eventually came to replace the absent Derpy stood at the sound when the cell block’s door burst open and a bolt of lightning propelled him into the opposite wall, knocking him unconscious before the caster even entered the room.

“They’re here” the wall-eyed pegasus delivered sharply, dropping a bag in front of the cell and moving to the fallen guard. She fished a ring of keys from his pockets and started trying keys until she was rewarded with a solid click “We’ve got ten levels to get down, but hopefully my soon to be former friends will be too busy with our coworkers outside.”

An explosion from below sent a slight vibration through their feet and triggered a loud shriek from above. Tifa jumped as a squishy softness landed on her shoulder. She gave the pony a surprised look, double taking between her and the carrier.

“Oh I picked the lock hours ago” Pinkie waved off until another, stronger tremor shook some dust down upon them “But let’s not be late to the party!”

Quickly re-equipping, the group followed the winged woman through the halls. As the hopeful Turk initiate said, most of the rebels hadn't even realized they were among them until they were already past. At least they didn’t until they had to pass the main cannons.

“Muffins?” Ma Hooffield gasped with a start as the group ran right into her squad.

“Sorry Ma” Derpy apologized before her heel connected with the elder earth pony’s jaw. The others were quick to react to their leader’s fall, leveling their weapons. They hesitated however when the party’s unicorn woman snatched the matron Hooffield from the floor, gunbarrel under her chin.

“Muffins you betrayed us to these Shinra scum!?” the hostage spat as she was dragged by the group circling around to the opposite end of the room.

“Actually Ma,” Derpy corrected as group rushed through the door behind Rarity “I worked for them all along… sorry. I’d suggest you not fight back, for Courtney’s sake.”

“Don’t you bring her into this-AH!” Hooffield cried as she was shoved back into the room and a chill crawled up her spine as she hit the ground. Spinning around the matron discovered the door completely frozen over in ice “MUFFINS!”

“This way!” the outed spy continued on, ignoring the rage filled scream with little more than a wince. A few more levels and the group nearly bowled the pegasus over as she abruptly stoped at the entrance to a notably large open cavern “Here we are…”

The whole area was swarming with militia, prepping and climbing into vehicles to counter the assault. A roaring buzz filled the hall as a seaplane jury-rigged into a fighter streaked past their doorway.

“Guess we’re grabbing a boat” Tifa muttered.

“They’re on the other side, we should move along the back wall” the wall-eyed woman responded and lead the party sprinting from vehicle to vehicle. Most of the militia seemed too preoccupied with their own tasks to notice them and with the watercraft of little use in this situation, they were alone by the time they reached the lineup of boats. At least they were until another, deep call sounded over all the noise.

“MUFFINS!” the rumbling boom of Big Daddy McColt echoed throughout the hanger. The Patron stood with his swollen jawed counterpart at the other end of the cavern “Get ‘Er!”

The rebels opened fire all around them, heedless of own equipment becoming collateral. The rapid pings and pops of incoming fire were quickly replaced by the constant chimes of magic, a line of barriers appearing between the party and the barrage.

“Tifa!” Rarity shouted from in front of a large pick before returning fire, face strained as small cracks already began to form in the shields “Hook something up!”

The brunette scrambled behind the closest boats looking for any without a new set of speed-holes. An explosion of green flame went off behind her, prompting her to snatch the trailer of the first smooth hull she spotted and drag it back over to the unicorn. One of the barriers shattered as she lined up the hitch, quickly replaced by a pillar of earth.

“Got it Tiffy!?” Pinkie called from her furry mount, more green fire and lighting flashing behind her.

“Just a sec!” She called back, pushing the connection down and securing it “Got it!”

“Then it’s time to go!” the unicorn shouted climbing into the driver’s seat as the others climbed into the bed “Pinkie give us a wall! Hooves, a Flash!”

The truck rumbled to life as several more pillars of earth shoot up behind it. Tifa couldn’t take in the sight for long when a ball of hollow plasma streaked above them, bursting into blinding light not a second later. By the time the spots faded, the brunette found herself looking into a night sky filled with circling helicopters. The condor’s screeches filled the air as it stooped over its nest, its wings draped protectively over the egg as it took quick snaps at any copter that strayed too close.

“Well…” She heard Derpy grumble while handing a panting Pinkie to the martial artist and drawing her sidearm “At least they’re keeping their aim low.”

The quartet in the trailer pitched back with the sudden screeching of tires. The small window slid open with the driver rounding at them, hand ablaze in sparking electricity.

“Sorry Darling” she gave solemnly before the shocked pegasus was ripped from the truck bed by the bolt. As soon as she hit the dirt the rest pitched foward as the former Turk put the pedal down again.

“Rares what the hell?!” Tifa shouted at the window.

“She’s a pegasus! They’re practically immune to lightning! She’ll be fine!”

“NOT MY POINT!”

“It was either now or later! This way she can’t tell them where we’ve gone!” she yelled back, attention forward as she weaved down the hill.

“SHIT!” metal dented as the brunettes fist pounded on the frame of the bed. Bursts of machine gun fire flared where they had left the Turk hopeful. Smaller pops of a pistol lead in the opposite direction, showing the pursuers were not only keeping her grounded but driving her into a corner. And with none of the copters even landed yet, she wouldn’t be getting support soon enough. The pugilist shared a glance with the drake and pony with her, their expressions mirroring her own loss for an answer.

‘SHIT!’ she repeated internally. Screwing over the rebels was one thing but that girl had only helped them. Even if she was with Shinra... ‘SHIT! SHIT-SHIT-SHIT-SHIT-SHIT, SHIT… shit… shit.’

‘There you go...’

-------------------

“AGH!” the grey pegasus yelped as a round grazed her wing. She cursed herself internally for not tucking behind the cover properly. She returned a couple shots before retreating further, still reeling from her superior's sudden betrayal. Did she do something wrong? Sure Rarity said her mission was classified but she didn’t have to leave her HERE! And she really didn’t have to zap her!

The wall-eyed woman slid into a nook, already knowing she didn’t stand much chance of escaping if they wouldn’t let her fly. Chunks of her cover powdered the air, prompting her to return fire. The slide locked back with the last round and she fished for another mag, only to come up short.

“That’s not good…” she muttered, staring dejectedly at the empty weapon. With a hard swallow she charged her materia; her reserves didn’t have much left after that flash but she couldn’t close against these numbers. It was the only thing left. She closed her eyes and steadied herself, taking a deep breath…

And then immediately regretted it, gagging on an suddenly overwhelming stench on the wind.

“What?!” she exclaimed when a thunderous crash drew her attention to the fort and to the massive tidal wave of unspeakable ick slamming into its side “Oh.”

Then both eyes snapped into alignment, pupils shrinking to dots as the wave continued unimpeded.

“Oh poop…”

-------------------------------------

Tifa scowled in her sleep. She could feel a weight pressing down on her, accentuating a cold hardness on her back. She squirmed and cracked open an eye.

“Tiffy!” a loud pink blob floated in front of her again. After a few blinks the pony standing on her chest came into focus, framed by dark strands of hair and the back of the truck bed “You okay?”

“Did I get hit by another pumpkin?” the martial artist quipped, the scowl melting away. The pony giggled and hopped off, allowing the woman to sit up.

“No, you made your tsunami too big silly!”

“You passed out from the mana cost” Spike’s voice sounded from the bow of the boat “That’s actually kind of dangerous. So y’know, for future reference and all…”

Tifa nodded her understanding and took stock, noting that it was still night but the moon was notably higher in the sky. Looking around she found them parked in another lightly wooded area, the fort nowhere in sight. For all she knew they were back where they were the night before.

“I see we got away.”

“Yes dear, your putrid wave proved quite the effective distraction for our pursuers” the party’s former Turk answered from the lit up cabin, eyes scanning a large map before her “Though I’m not sure if I approve of the risk, considering it could have just as easily been summoned in front of us.”

“Yeah well, I didn’t really do it for us” Tifa’s tone shifted drastically, a subtle glare shot back through the small window. The driver sighed, looking back through the rearview for her response.

“Like I said before; if we didn’t get rid of her when we did, she could have told Shrina which direction we were going. It's bad enough that she'll be telling them we're looking for AVALANCHE.”

“So we just leave her to die?”

“Despite the impression she makes, Miss Hooves is competent enough to be in the Turk’s reserve. She would have been able to hold out until her support arrived” Rarity reasoned, already returning her attention to the map.

“We barely even talked to the rebels! We may not of had to take that risk!” Tifa countered.

“While I may admit to not be as weathered as the others, my decent tenure with the Turks taught me how things are out here, to see how those pieces were dropping. They weren’t going to help us.” the unicorn stated resolutely and scowled at the map “I did what I thought was best. Even if I was wrong, we can’t change the past. Besides, it all worked out in the end didn’t it?”

‘Not for the rebels.’

‘Or the bird.’

“Guess we’ll see…” Tifa grumbled. Another exhausted breath escaped Rarity, the horned woman taking another glance through the mirror before clicking off the light and finally turned to face them.

“I know that wasn’t the smoothest operation dears, but we’re alive and we managed to get away with not one but two vehicles. We at least somewhat accomplished our goal” she left hanging for a moment, seeing the others relent. Even Tifa looked to came around to a degree “So let’s get some rest and hope things get better from here.”

“I suppose that’s all we can do” Spike agreed and volunteered for first watch, explaining that he wasn’t as spent since his natural fire magic didn’t take as much out of him as actual matria use. It reminded Tifa that the drake was still stuck using their left over equipment, leaving him more limited than the rest of them. She made a mental note to keep an eye out for opportunities to properly equip the dragon.

‘If we make it that far at this rate…’

‘Tsuru, Tsuru, Tsuru, Tsuru-’

“Yeah, yeah I get it. Dilly Dally, Shilly Shally...” she muttered quietly to herself, brushing the hair out of her face and helping the others figure out how if they could set up the tent around the truck.

-----------------------------------

Mist sprayed the martial artist and the pony in her arms as the boat bounced harshly off another wave. They were a decent ways out from the mainland now and trying their luck at skirting the southern islands. So far they hadn’t run into any serious problems but Tifa couldn’t help clutch the pony tighter at the bump.

“I’m not gonna fall off again Tif!” the small quadraped smiled up at her. With the first bump they hit, they learned the pony was a little too light to hold herself down on her own.

“It’s not you I’m worried about!” the brunette returned over the engine and rushing water.

“It’ll hold Tif! Don’t worry! That stuff can repair alotta damage!” Pinkie assured her. They had somehow managed to escape the fort without a single bullet in the speedboat’s hull only for some random asshole riding a dinosaur to ambush them and bash a hole in it with his hammer.

‘This world’s weird...’

‘Still, he won’t be doing that again.’

True to the pony’s words, the tape they found in the boat’s storage was indeed still holding up when the last island was just disappearing from view behind them. Noticing this herself, Rarity eased up on the throttle, eventually cutting the engine altogether and letting them drift to a relative stop before hanging her head.

“Well, it was worth a shot I guess” she stood with a hand shielding her eyes, looking to the horizons “We’re already almost halfway out of fuel. Even if we had started with a full tank, we wouldn’t make it a quarter the way there before we ran dry. And that’s assuming we’re not attacked by whatever nasties live in these waters. And now with no landmarks to mark our passage… Sorry Darlings, but this is as far as we go.”

Tifa and Pinkie drooped in the seat. They knew it’d be a long shot, especially given the boat’s engine didn’t run on mako. Seems the Fort Condor rebels really did believe their own hype about it hurting the planet. Both the truck and boat ran off liquid fuel, which was a lot rarer these days. Not that it made much difference, even with a mako engine one didn’t cross an ocean with a speedboat.

“Hang on a second…” Spike placed a claw on Rarity’s hand as she moved to restart the engine “I smell smoke. I thought it may have been the exhaust but no, something was definitely burnt somewhere along our path.”

“What, like a fire?” Tifa asked, the dragon shaking his head as he propped himself on the boats lip, sniffing the air intently.

“No… it’s more acrid than that, like plastic or electronics...” he elaborated “and its tinged with processed mako. If I had to guess something broke down or crashed.”

“You can tell all that?” Tifa looked on impressed, if also a bit skeptical.

“Trust me, I’m a dragon. I know my smoke” he smirked “It could be something we can use… or it could be some islander's tractor caught on fire. Either way, couldn’t hurt to take a look now.”

“You sure it’s behind us?” Rarity asked, giving a worried glance to the fuel gauge. They had pretty much sailed right past the islands themselves earlier, given they had no intention of exploring them.

“I was able to catch of whiff of it despite the exhaust earlier, so I’m pretty sure.”

The former Turk gave a shrug and they started following the dragon’s nose. They found themselves on the beach one of the larger islands, a dense tree line standing not far in.

“Okay, now I can smell it” Tifa said as they entered the islands small forest. Those were definitely the fumes of melted plastic. Though while they could smell the smoke they had yet to see any, giving the impression that while something had definitely been burnt, if there was an actual fire it was probably out by now.

“There’s a clearing up ahead” Spike called over his shoulder from the front. Sure enough they found a thinning of the trees and a decent size patch open to the sky.

An air of tension descended on the group, as there in the middle stood a Shinra helicopter.

Rarity gave a few silent hand signals. A trio of nods were returned and the group spread out, cautiously circling the lone craft. Tifa noticed that one of the copter’s landing rails was bent, giving the decent sized craft a slight tilt. The rest of the craft however seemed to be fairly intact, if a bit roughed up. Both of the craft's side doors were open too, revealing an empty cabin.

“Come on Moggy; Hup-hup!” the groups smaller quadruped shot into the air, tossed high above by her robotic mount. Head darting around when hitting the apex, the pony fell back to Gaia and into the mogs waiting mitts “I don’t see anypony!”

“Yes, it would seem we’re alone for the moment” Rarity concurred, holstering her weapon and moving in on the craft “Well, let us see what we’re dealing with shall we?”

The group moved closer, the former Turk climbing into the cabin with Pinkie while Tifa and Spike lingered outside. The dragon began circling to the otherside as Tifa took in the supplies scattered about the ground, her brow furrowing. Some of it was strewn about randomly, like it was thrown out haphazardly. Yet the rest seemed more organized, stacked and gathered together. A quick glance inside showed the same thing.

“The transponder has been ripped out” Rarity’s voice called from inside “That would explain why it’s still here.”

“A lot of the electronics are burnt out, but it looks like somepony’s been trying to make repairs.” Pinkie added, crawling about atop the controls.

As the pair continued their inspection, something peculiar caught Tifa’s eye. She stepped away from the craft and towards the rear propeller.

“This thing’s pretty big though” Pinkie continued “You’d think it’d have at least enough crew to not have to leave it alone like this.”

Spike’s front claws landed in the cabin, the dragon propping himself up.

“I smell blood.” he delivered sharply “Blood and gunpowder.”

Tifa glanced back, worry twisting her expression before turning back to her discovery. It was some kind of storage container. Except it was shaped like a giant capsule, big enough that it would’ve taken up most of the cabin. The top lid had been ripped part way off its hinges.

“You think they were driven off?” Rarity queried.

“Or hijacked” Pinkie offered, hoof running against a series of holes along the cabin wall. Tifa meanwhile bent down and pushed aside the broken lid. She found nothing inside but immediately noticed the padded bottom.

And spatters of dried blood.

“Hijacked? As in while in the air? By who?”

*kr-CHK*

‘Aw shit’

Tifa slowly raised her head to find the barrel of a Shinra assault rifle and inch from her face, held like it was no heavier than a pistol.

“I think I found them” she brought her hands up carefully as she stood, looking beyond the gun and past the figure's billowing red cape and matted pink hair...

And straight into the crimson eyes of a very pissed off pegasus.

Author's Notes:

Yaaayy, new chapter. Promises of doing better and faster- blah blah blah...

I am trying to do better readers, and I am very sorry for the long waits. I'm gonna do my best to keep with it this time. I just hope you're willing to bear

Thanks to everyone that done that so far

But now, to stop being depressing, as always: Thanks for reading and have a good one

Chapter 8: Break

-Party Load Out and Materia-

Tifa: Human (Displaced)
Armored Knuckle- Fire, Ice, Gravity ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle) - Time + Added Effect
Other: Enemy Skill+Mime (Absorbed), Rude’s Sunglasses

Rarity: Unicorn
Silken Dream- Restore, Esuna, Ice ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle)- Barrier, Lightning
Other: An undecided rotation of outfits (currently), Earrings

Pinkie: Pony?
Sparkly Megaphone- Lightning, Earth, Fire --- Carbon Bangle- Transform, Manipulate
Other: Red Cape, "Moggy"

Spike: Sapient Dragon
Claws and Teeth (No Weapon Equipped) --- Mythril Armlet: Restore
Other: Natural Fire Magic, Hardened Scales

The rest of the party burst from opposite sides of the downed copter, weapons and magics at the ready. The woman’s anger flared, eyes flying wide as her pupils shrunk to dots at the move.

The gun steadied and her finger stiffened on the trigger.

“We’re not taking you back!”

The others froze and hesitation struck the thestral-like woman with Tifa’s shout. Her eyes locked back onto the brunette’s, a sneer forming on her lips.

“You’re with Shinra” she growled.

“No-”

“I SAW YOU!” the shout echoed through the clearing as the barrel thrust closer “YOU WERE WITH THEM AT THE TEMPLE!”

“We were with Shinra! But we left!”

“YOU’RE LYING!” she screamed, fury raising further.

“THEY EXPERIMENTED ON US!” the pegasus paused as Tifa shouted back. Her head turned as she studied the brunette's face for deception with narrowed eyes.

“Why?” she growled again before her eyes snapped at the movement over Tifa’s shoulder “I’LL KILL HER!”

“GUYS!” Tifa shouted, shooting her own glare back as she growled through a clenched grimace of a smile “Not. Helping.”

The others exchanged looks and backed their way to the copter again. Tifa released the held breath and turned back to the enraged gunwoman. She would definitely get her shots off before any of them could stop it and even with her bangle’s defensive charm and resilient new body, the martial artist very much doubted that she could tank a machine gun point blank to the face.

“How’d you find me?” the thestral like woman snarled.

“We were trying to skirt the lower islands when Spike noticed the smoke.” Tifa answered as evenly as she could manage. Red eyes snapped to search above the copter, confusion mixing with the anger.

“I smelled it” the dragon headed off the next issue, sitting patiently if ready. Then Tifa witnessed the first glimpse of something other than anger and suspicion on the woman’s face after the fiery reptile spoke; Surprise. Surprise and just the smallest hint of wonder. As quickly as it appeared though, it was shaken away and the girl was glaring at her again.

“We didn’t even know you were here” Tifa continued and sighed “Look we have no intention of letting Shinra find Us, let alone you. You think we can put the gun down and talk? …maybe we can help each other.”

The cloaked woman set her jaw, glancing at the others. The fingers on the rifle’s grip drummed as she visibly processed. A huff ruffled the cloak when its wearer stepped back, the gun’s barrel finally falling toward the ground. The brunette couldn’t help notice her finger remained resting on the trigger though.

“What do you want?” she snapped. Tifa looked back to Rarity, who cocked an eyebrow back.

“This is your show Darling” she gestured for her to take the lead. The brunette rolled her eyes and turned back.

“We need a way across the Divide” the martial artist began “We saw that you been repairing the copter-”

“It’s broken, won’t fly” she cut her off “Parts can’t be bypassed… not by me at least…”

The group slumped at the news. The pegasus shuffled in place, face buried in her cloak and hidden behind her hair. She clearly didn’t enjoy the attention, the angry rambling under her breath only compounding the observation. The lone pony not caught in the funk gave a thoughtful hum as she rubbed a hoof on her chin.

“What if we could get replacements parts?” Pinkie proposed. Spike was the first to respond.

“Where would we get them?” he looked skeptical and turned to the pegasus “Can it even be repaired if we do?”

The girl jumped slightly as the question brought her out of her grumbling trance, her one still visible eye snapping to the drake.

“Oh , um…” the eyes darted about unfocused until the gun clattered against her side as she shifted her weight and shrugged “With the right parts, I could… probably get it working… long enough.”

“Still leaves the problem of where we can find them” Tifa repeated.

“Well…” Pinkie looked away to look sideways with a shrug and a lopsided smile “There’s probably alotta spare parts at Junon.”

The suggestion set the cloaked woman pacing with more fevered muttering, very clearly with no intent on getting anywhere near a Shinra port. The other three simply returned flat looks.

“Junon?” Rarity droned to the small quadruped, less than amused. Her jaw then however sagged when the pony returned a sheepish grin “Oh goodness, you’re actually serious. Miss Sith, the whole reason we came this way was to avoid Junon.”

“Yeah but unless we plan on heading back to the plates, it’s kinda our only option isn’t it?” Pinkie countered and pressed her lips together. The former Turk sighed and looked the the other two. Tifa had her head in her hand and Spike shook his head.

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t even know Junon was a thing before I was caught, let alone where else to find helicopter parts.”

“We’re wanted by the authorities,” Tifa reminded them solemnly “And unlike a lot of AVALANCHE, they know what we look like. We wouldn’t make two steps before someone recognized us.”

A loud thud startled the group as a something heavy dropped in their midst. A pair of dead Shinra troopers now lay at their feet, several holes surrounded by dried blood adorning their uniforms.

“What is this?” Rarity gasped and looked wearily to the pegasus on the opposite side of the corpses, hand hovering over her holster.

“Your disguises” the gunwoman answered simply “There’s a few more if these don’t fit. There was also a unicorn, so you won’t have to shave that horn to wear the helmet.”

“You killed them” the unicorn delivered in a low, serious tone.

“Seriously? You broke into my home, attacked me, abducted me and then tried to drag me back to THE LAST PLACE I EVER WANTED TO SEE! APPARENTLY TO BE EXPERIMENTED ON AGAIN! SO YES! I KILLED THEM!!” she screamed before dropping back to low growl “And they were Shinra… That’s all the reason I need.”

She turned away and moved to the tree line, leaving the uneasy group behind. She returned a moment later with another pair of bodies and dropped them with the others. A small voice emerged from the silent party, prompting the imposing pegasus to turn a pony with deflated hair.

“...There are still good people in Shinra.”

“Who stand by and do nothing. They’re all guilty” she declared and left to retrieve another corpse. She returned with a former medic draped on her shoulder “also...”

The girl fixed them with a furious Stare, sending a deathly chill down four spines at once.

“If you’re lying… if you bring them back here...”

She threw the corpse down on top of the rest, eyes never wavering from her frozen new ‘allies’. Tifa gave a hard swallow.

“Got it…”

“You really think it was safe to leave Spike with her?” Tifa asked the woman fixing the uniform next her, who gave an irritated grunt as the truck hit a bump.

“He seemed to be the one she had the least disgust for, and she doesn’t have a reason to kill him. He may very well be safer than we’re going to be” she offered, snipping her thread and moving to the next hole “Despite evidence to the contrary... Plus a dragon isn’t the most inconspicuous of companions.”

“How’d you get all the blood and smell out?” the pony asked as she bounced in the vibrating back seat.

“That was the easy part, all it needed was a quick prestidigitation. The tricky part is that some of those trooper sergeants are very attentive to details, so I have to patch the holes and make the…” she glanced at the driver, or more accurately a bit below her collar bone “Fitting adjustments without leaving a trace.”

“Really?” the buxom fighter shot her a flat look. The former Turk simply smiled back innocently as a poorly stifled snort escaped the back seat.

“This is a lot more troops, a lot sooner than I was expecting” the now disguised Tifa commented anxiously as she followed the former Turk through the small fishing town. With the truck it had taken them a couple days to reach their destination, only to find it overrun with Shinra forces. There was at least a platoon’s worth of soldiers and mechanics transporting crates and guiding an notably high number of mechanical troops through the little hamlet nestled beneath the city “They expecting some kind of attack?”

“Maybe they’re having a parade” a muffled voice come from the large duffel hanging from the brunette’s shoulder.

“Don’t remember anything being planned…” Rarity commented “Then again, I suppose it has been nearly a month since we left.”

They weaved their way through the unexpected crowd toward the large freight lift looming over the area. Tifa readjusted the helmet, thankful that it hid her face but it also worried her with its slightly altered perspective. Still, it was surprisingly advanced for a mass produced, standard issue piece of equipment. The HUD identified they were surrounded by friendlies, including the woman walking next to her.

‘At least that won’t give us away’

If anything the multitude of soldiers provided excellent cover; the guards manning the gate of the lift didn’t even flinch at them waltzing right on. They took up a spot toward the back and waited for the troops to finish the last load. The pair let out relieved sighs as gates closed and a loud humming filled the enclosed space, relaxed until another pair of troopers took notice of them and marched over.

“You’re not part of the unit” the first said as he approached. Tifa froze until a very strange sounding yet familiar voice answered back.

“Nah, just got in.” Rarity spoke without her typical accent, instead sounding like some kind of Chicago mixed with Canadian “Came in from Condor.”

‘This is weird.’

“I don’t like it.’

“That shitshow?” the other trooper quipped, earning a snicker from the first “That must’ve been fun.”

“You part of the show then or you actually lucky enough to be on leave for the game?” the first asked

“Security” the unicorn returned simply.

“Seriously? You help with the whole excuse for this shindig and you don’t even get to walk?” he asked and the disguised women shrugged in return “Bummer” he gave before the lift jolted to a stop, the gates opening up to a large hanger “Well, good luck with that. Hopefully you get assigned a milk run.”

“Thanks, you take care there now” Rarity drawls out and quickly hurries along with Tifa. They quickly made their way to a side passage.

“What was that!?” Tifa and the pony popping her her out of her bag asked simultaneously as soon as they were alone , both caught somewhere between confusion and amusement.

“It‘s how my parents talk” the unicorn answered in her normal posh “Something my sister and I didn’t pick up naturally somehow but are pretty adept at mimicking. Enough of that though, we need to keep moving.”

The pony retreated back into the bag and the pair exited to a city of dancing lights and banners. Lose confetti littered the ground about the floats, warmachines and troops in dress uniform surrounding them. Even the city’s landmark, the gigantic cannon, had countless lights spiraled around it. Tifa continued following the former Turk past the waiting forces, quiet until they reached an alley.

“Well, you called it Pinkie” the brunette gave before regarding the disguised unicorn “So does this help or hurt?”

“Both…” Rarity brought a contemplative hand to her chin “It’s excellent cover considering how complicated organizing these big events can get. I doubt our presence will be at all questioned. However security will be heightened and it’ll be harder getting into the restricted areas. Either way we should try to get past all this before they begin blocking the streets.”

Tifa nodded as they continued through to the other end of the alley, emerging to a far less crowded venue. She took the moment to finally examine the signs and banners hung amongst the decorations, seeing the parade was indeed to celebrate the recent taking of the “hostile” fort. It also seemed to coincide with a big exhibition game between the Shinra “Mako Sharks” and the recent champions of the Spira league. She vaguely remembered Zest saying something now that she thought about it.

They passed through a tunnel and came out to a section of the layered city open to the sea, giving a great view of the water and the numerous ships and airships docked at the various levels. One stood out in contrast to the others, its radically different design marking it as the Spira team’s. Another with the Mako Sharks emblem emblazoned on its side rumbled overhead, passing over the massive cannon and settling above the buildings a level up.

“I don’t see the president’s airship...” Rarity brought Tifa’s attention back to the matter at hand “At least we don’t have to deal with that extra layer of security. It also means whoever they have overseeing all this probably took copters so there should be enough maintenance orders to-”

The horned woman gasped as she was wrenched forward against the rail and held facing toward the water. Her confused if hidden gaze moved from the arm holding her in place to the set jaw of the brunette, question bubbling up to her lips until a familiar voice from behind her killed it in her throat.

“So what do you think of the newbie?” Rina’s voice asked behind her. The bald man walking past next to her simply grunted “Yeah, not sure if she’ll cut it. Gonna make intimidating anyone a bitch, I mean she’s like a puppy... even without her… y’know, condition.”

“She can fight” the suited male mumbled.

“Yeah I guess…” the unkempt Turk’s voice trailed off and Tifa finally released the unicorn’s arm, as well as the breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. Rarity sighed herself and stepped back, rubbing at the appendage with a wince.

“Oh, sorry” the martial artist frowned “I know we’re in disguise but when I saw them-”

“No no, I understand Darling” she returned and glanced after her former co-workers “They may still have recognized me even under the helmet. We did work together for a few years now after all. Let us move over a street to be safe.”

“Hold up, let’s head in there” the brunette pointed toward a neon sign above a stairwell.

“Tifa dear we already have equipment” Rarity pointed out.

“Yeah we do, but Spike’s still using our left overs…” Tifa countered “And if Shinra took our pegasus friend’s gun then they probably took the rest of her gear too. If she had any that is.”

“That’s not our problem dear” the former Turk frowned “Fair enough about Spike though, they may also have upgrades for us.”

“I wonder how he’s doing with our would-be pilot...”

“So, um…” the dragon jumped at the unexpected voice. For two whole days and a dozen attempts at conversation, Spike hadn’t gotten a word out of the girl and now she was talking to him? He turned to see the woman glancing back over her shoulder at him “Are… are you like, an actual dragon?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Not sapient because of... some experiment?” he tilted his head at the question. He couldn’t tell behind the cloak and hair but the tone did not match the avatar of fury they’d been dealing with. She almost seemed embarrassed or even scared to ask.

“Nope. Well, I mean there were experiments but I was like this before them” he answered truthfully “I’m the real deal.”

“Hm” the girl hummed gently and simply turned back to her preparations. Spike waited tentatively but it seemed like that was all he was going to get.

“Good talk…”

The pair made their way down into the multi-leveled shop, hitting the item store for more supplies and an upgraded bangle of Spike. Then after a bit of cajoling from Tifa and Pinkie, another for their trigger happy ally. A floor below they found what was unmistakably the weapon shop. Rarity’s weapon was already custom made so it’d be hard to find anything better but Tifa did find a sturdier glove for under the armored knuckles she got from Shinra. What else to get left the pair at a loss however.

“So uh… this might sound weird but you guys got anything for a quadruped? Like that doesn’t need hands?” the martial artist asked awkwardly.

“You mean like a guard hound?” the shopkeeper queried, earning rapid nods back “We got some materia collars… Not really a weapon and none of ours are enchanted. Having said that, you could always slot a strength or attack up materia or something to give them a little more punch. Think they have them down stairs.”

“That’s better than nothing” they shrugged and headed downstairs after the purchase. The unicorn behind the counter shot them a smile before returning to her current customer at the other end of the store. Rarity browsed as they waited and Tifa glanced to a TV mounted in the corner above her, seeing footage of the one blitzball teams doing interviews. She shrugged it off until a familiar green mane made her give a double take.

“Oh no way!” she exclaimed, a goofy smile forming under her helm “That’s Zest!”

“Oh so it is, and after the season already started too” Rarity mused “I guess Rina was right about her being good enough to get on a team.”

“Can’t say, never actually seen her play” Tifa tilted her head, brow slightly furrowed “I guess with everything that happened she finally decided to get out of the slums.”

“Or maybe she felt something was suddenly missing and needed the the distraction” even under the helmet the unicorn’s coy smile left little doubt in the displaced woman’s mind that the rest of her face matched.

“It wasn’t like that. We’re just friends.”

“Sure Darling, whatever you say” Rarity teased and a giggle escaped the duffel, followed by a quick ‘eep’ as the brunette bounced it higher up her shoulder.

“TROOPERS!” both jumped at the shout behind them, stiffening as they rounded to a fiery haired woman with notably large wings stalking toward them from the door. She wore a pristine dress uniform and large aviators that failed to hide the stern scowl she leveled at them “This in not standard issue equipment.”

“Ma’am!” Rarity spoke up, back straight and eyes straight ahead “We’re using our own funds Ma’am, not-”

“I’m not talking about the materia Corporal!” she snapped and leaned forward, somehow looming over Tifa despite little height difference “Your uniforms have been altered. By who?!”

“Uhh…” Tifa fumbled and triggered the woman’s wings to ruffle up slightly, making her look bigger than she was. The glimmer of her insignia pin caught the brunette’s attention, shock rearing as she recognized it from the numerous reports and shows.

‘Holy shit this chick’s a Wonderbolt!’

“SPEAK UP PRIVATE!”

“UH- A tailor from Canterlot! Uh, Ma’am!”

“DETAILS PRIVATE! NAME, NUMBER, LOCATION!”

“I- Uh-um, I don’t have it on me Ma’am” she stuttered again, the officer’s eyes narrowing dangerously in response. She opened her mouth again when muffled music blaring outside reached them, forcing the officer to straighten suddenly… straining her blouse enough to pop open a button. She glanced down to the small opening in front of her now obviously ample assets before glaring dangerously at the pair, as if daring either to speak “I… could send you the info when I get home?”

She studied the disguised human for a moment, a very slight blush on her cheeks. She quickly pulled a notebook from her pocket, scrawling something rapidly and sharply tearing the paper free.

“You do that private” she growled, snapping her head to the side in an instant “WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT CORPORAL!?”

“Nothing Ma’am!”

“Then get back to you posts!”

“Yes Ma’am!” the both snapped off as she abruptly about faced, wings ruffling and hands moving to fix her top as she strode from the room. They were still standing straight for a moment after she left, the store's only other customer rushed out while avoiding eye contact. Finally relaxing, the buxom ‘trooper’ turned and offered the slip to Rarity “Well, you got your first customer for if you ever reopen your shop”

“Ha ha Darling” she gave flatly, snatching the paper… and tucked it away when the martial artist turned. The pair quickly purchased their materia and made their way back to the street to see the barricades had begun going up. “We should hurry up dear, we’ve only got the preamble music here and probably a speech now.”

The pair made their way through the growing crowds as best they could. While they received some curious or irritated looks from some of the Shinra personnel along the way, they were either too busy or didn’t care enough to ask questions. Rarity informed the pair they were almost halfway to the warehouse when the music quieted and a voice boomed over the speakers. They looked up to one of the many screens dotted throughout the city as they walked to see a heliotrope unicorn woman dominating the screen, standing behind a podium atop a raised stage with several other Shinra representatives and aids behind her.

“Ah, the head of RnD, that would explain all the robotic troops.” the former Turk muttered then looked over her shoulder “Well that seals it. If the president was here, she’d be making the speech and security would be even tighter.”

Tifa noted the information and kept following, left with little option other than to listen as they continued on.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Both local and visiting, I am very proud to be the one addressing you today! As many of you have undoubtedly heard, our celebrations today are no longer simply the wondrous show of goodwill with our neighbors with what will undoubtedly be a thrilling game, but also now the successful reclamation of the rebel Fort Condor!” she beamed as delivered the news, though Tifa couldn’t help feel that there was something… off about the smile “Yes thanks to our brave men and women of the Shinra forces, the dissidents of the Hooffield and Mccolt families will plague these plains no more! And on top of all that, it also proved the first successful field test of Shinra’s newest development in securing the safety of its citizens.”

Rarity’s pace slowed a moment as she turned toward the screens, slight concern creasing her expression. The camera panned out to reveal a pair SOLDIER walking to stand in front of the raised podium, something strange about their movements. It took the pair another moment to realize it was too precise, and that under the signature helmet there was only more metal.

“But, their AI wasn’t close to being ready. They can’t differentiate between lethal and non-lethal force reliably yet...” the unicorn muttered before the one on screen continued.

“It is my pleasure to reveal, Synthetic SOLDIER!” the twin robots responded to the declaration by simultaneously drawing their swords with a flourish ahead of holding them point first to the ground, giving the impression of the knights of old “While still in the early stages, they are an amazing step forward in the mission for peace. With the support of mechanical fighters like these and many already aiding our Troopers, and your friends and loved ones among them, they will be at less risk and better supported…”

She paused and looked over the crowd, the fire of a zealous belief in her eyes.

“There was a time in this world where the only thing that mattered was strength… an imbalance caused by all the intrinsic gifts of the different people of this land, but no longer!” those behind her on the stage began to exchange confused looks, alternating between glances to the department head and looking around unsure “The old woman no longer needs to fear the large hoodlums on her way home, not with the surprise waiting in her purse. The rest of the species no longer have to worry that a minority controls all the magic, not with materia! The infantryman no longer has to risk certain death being the first to charge in, not when there are tools like the SS’s standing in front us to do it instead!”

“She always goes off script with these things” the disguised unicorn informed bluntly “They really should know better by now…”

“Firearms! Materia! Machines!” the horned woman shouted “These are the great Equalizers of our time! All brought to you by Shrina! And on that note, without further ado…

“Let the celebrations begin!”

The music blared back to life as the crowds cheered and closed on the barricades, awaiting the arrival of the first floats. There was little point in trying to converse, even right next to each other their shouts were drowned out by the noise. After a now much slower slog through the crowds, Rarity eventually led the uniformed martial artist into nook nestled by the mouth of the next tunnel. A heavy metal door stood ahead of them, the former Turk looking around before her horn began to glow. After a moment of concentration and a few failed attempts, the handle turned and allowed them to rush inside. A loud clang echoed with the door slamming shut behind them, muffling the overbearing din to a more tolerable level.

“FINALLY!” a poof of pink hair erupted from the duffel, its owner taking a deep breath “I’m all for cozy spaces, but that was a doozy!”

“Sorry Darling, as we agreed though, you’re not exactly hard to miss” Rarity offered, the cat-sized pony just giggling back before fishing out a small grip of papers “You sure these’ll work?”

“Assuming they use the same requisition forms they use at the tower, which I’m pretty sure they do. All I had to do was change the name of the city…” Sith hesitated as a uncertain look crossed her face “The only snag might be if they look too closely for the actual name of the warehouse. I didn’t know that.”

Rarity took the papers and shrugged, leading the way up the stairway. The music met them again once they reached the next level of the city, only slightly more muffled compared to earlier. Thankfully much later in the parade route, they could still use the streets here and quickly reached their destination. Walking through the door and into a small entry room, a single guard sat in the small booth with his back to the entrance while watching the parade on a small screen.

“Ahem” Rarity lightly cleared her throat, the guard startled at the sound. He rounded on them surprised and then confused as he rose from the chair.

“Oh, um… How can I help you Corporal?” he stuttered.

“Simple part pick up, they’re a little busy on the docks so the lieutenant sent us” the disguised unicorn handed over the forged paperwork. The troop scratched his head looking at the sheets.

“Uh sure I guess, though you’ll have to find them yourselves. I’m the only on here and y’know, can’t leave my post and all.”

“We’ll be fine” she smiled at the guard lazily tossing the forms in a small ‘In’ pile. He buzzed them through and went back to his tv without a second thought.

“Well this is a lot easier than I thought it’d be” Tifa quipped.

“Yes, I was predicting a lot more resistance” Rarity returned pensive “I suppose they’re more stressed for manpower here than I thought. Either way, quite the boon for us yes?”

“Yeppers! And you did say this was one of the smaller storages” The pony popped out of the bag again, the threstral-like woman’s list of the broken components’ part numbers in her hoof. Tifa was pretty sure the angry woman only knew them from the labels on what she ripped out of the copter, which didn’t exactly inspire a lot of faith in the pegasus’s ability to repair it. That being said, they didn’t really have a whole lot of options so she'd give her the benefit of the doubt.

It took awhile but following the numbers and letters on the aisles they eventually found all the parts they needed, storing them in Pinkie’s mog. Apparently as long as they weren’t materia or mako, they could be stored in her summoning materia all the same. The one thing they had to carry the old fashion way was the last thing they needed; the fuel. Coming to the the back wall they found shelves upon shelves of the smooth translucent orbs of wildly varying sizes. Pinkie pointed out one of the larger spheres, the martial artist grunting slightly as she picked it up.

“Here,” Rarity reached out a hand “I’ll take Pinkie’s duffel.”

“Oh sure, leave me the heavy stuff” she shot back with a small smirk.

“I’m not the one that can lift a behemoth Darling” she pointed out prior to Pinkie dismissing her mog and jumping back into the duffel “My, you’re surprisingly light!”

“Thanks!” she beamed with the simple reply. Feeling light and relaxed with how smoothly this was all going, they made their way back to the entrance. Waving to the guard as they left they emerged back into a crowd far denser now that the parade had made its way to their level.

The roar of an airship from above drew the crowd's attention skyward, the Mako Shark’s transport blowing a horn and prompting the masses to throw their hands up in response. More than a few people caught errant arms in the face and Tifa was no exception. Moving to fix her askew helmet she heard another roar from the closest float, an actual Ronzo countering the ship’s rumble with his own. The mob responded again, rushing forward to strain against the barriers and knocking the off balance brunette to the ground.

Tifa landed with her upper half hanging over the curb, her helmet flying off and bouncing into the middle of the street. She watched as the next float passed over the protective headgear before glancing up to its passengers...

And going pale as she locked eyes with a messy haired Turk, time seeming to slow as she mirrored her shocked expression.

‘There is no way I’m that unlucky’

‘And things were going so smoothly’

*BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG*

Rina flew backwards as the shots boomed over the music, sending the crowds into a panic as they ran and flooded over the blockades. Tifa felt a hand help her up, her still disguised ally shouting over the screams as she led them into the fleeing masses.

“We have to lose them in the confusion, they won’t fire into the crowd!”

“But we will apparently!” Tifa called back indignantly while fighting the chaotic, conflicting tides of bodies.

“It was above their heads and besides, they all hit Rina!” Rarity woman countered.

“And so we incenite a panic to get away?!”

“If we have to! We have to protect ourselves firs-”

*CRACK*

A lightning coated fist crashed against the disguised unicorn’s helmet, sending her flying back and parting the crowds. Before Tifa could react another fist was closing on her, forcing her to leap back to her downed comrade.

“Sorry Darling!” a mocking tone rang out in a voice it didn’t quite fit. A furious, wall-eyed glare above a crisp new suit met the rising Rarity.

“I see someone got a promotion” the well coiffed woman grumbled and regained her footing, tossing away the compromised helm. The new Turk sneered back.

“Yeah, there was an opening cause it turns out they had a traitor-GAH!” a blinding flash erupted between the fugitives and their hunters. Tifa stumbled back currently bereft of her usual protection, that protection's former owner didn’t have that problem however. He rushed at the helpless martial artist, fists raised.

“SURPRIZE!” a jubilant shout echoed as a pink mare shot out of the duffel, landing on the brunette’s shoulder with matria aglow. Rude blinked behind his glasses, all the hesitation needed before a pillar of earth shot up from beneath him. Another flash of light that preceded a wave of freezing air came from their side and a hand grabbed the martial artist’s arm again.

“KEEP MOVING!” Rarity shouted, urging them forward again. They passed the pegasus trying to free her foot from a mass of ice but unfortunately then ran right into a line of troopers spanning their only opening in the thinning crowds. Their rifles snapped up, all aimed unflinchingly at the trio.

“WE NEED THEM ALIVE!” Derpy called out, giving the troopers pause. They instead charged and dogpiled on the fleeing trio, only to find themselves launched into the air and back toward their comrades. Those that managed to avoid the falling troops quickly found themselves tossed aside by a barrier shoved ahead of an unstoppable, buxom force.

“Human cow catcher!” Pinkie laughed will glee as they forced their way past, sprinting down the street until they came to a stretch of spectator scaffolding before another tunnel. No sooner had they passed the first section when something leapt from the abandoned stands and crashed into the ground in front of them. The keen of metal sliced through the air, the barrier splitting cleanly into two as dust plumed skyward. “Uh-oh.”

A metallic figure rose from its kneeling strike within the cloud, an oversized SOLDIER blade quickly readied against them. The trio cautiously inched back until Rina’s voice reached them.

“Those were some pretty cheap shots there Priss…” the ruffled turk called as she approached with Rude, Derpy and the second mechanical SOLDIER in tow. The three ragged holes in her suit and the small gash across her temple didn't seem to have left her any worse for wear as she strutted toward them. More troopers caught up and waited as the Woman stopped, tapping her baton on her shoulder “...Stay back. You’ll only get in the way.”

Without another word the Turks and robotic SOLDIER rushed at the pincered party. The closet automaton lunged at the pugilist before a boulder of white fur slammed into it.

“GET ‘EM MOGGY! SHOW ‘EM WHO’S THE BETTER PARTY MACHINE!” the excitable pony cheered from atop her fluffy mount. Tifa spun, her suspicion of the fleeting reprieve proven by Rude’s punch colliding with her crossed gauntlets. She kicked away yet the bald agent denied the bid for space as he leapt after her, a follow up attack already in motion. Even with her recent training she just couldn’t keep up, for every blow she managed to land she received three in return. This was different than when they fought in her apartment so many months ago. He wasn’t holding back anymore.

Rarity grunted as twin bolts rebounded off her Shell spell, followed by a gasp as the two suited casters rushed forward. They were too fast for her to shift the spell, passing through the magic only defense with synchronized attacks. She managed to divert the sparking end of Rina’s stun rod yet took Derpy’s straight right to the jaw. A wall of ice solidified between them, allowing a single breath before a blur of armor streaked past.

“TIFA LOOK OUT!” The martial artist stumbled back from an elbow in her face as the warning reached her too late, the artificial warrior's sword already past her defenses. Rarity watched the brunette’s protective enchants shimmer and fail. A splash of red misted the air when a gash appeared across her collarbone and a scream echoed off the buildings.

“Priorities Priss!” the distracted former Turk heard before catching Rina’s baton to her temple. A reflexive arc of lightning flew from her horn to drive the agent back before she hit the pavement and had to quickly roll away from the grey pegasus’s heel drop. She refocused with a grimace, resigning herself to simply hope the human would be okay. She couldn’t help her right now.

As soon of the Tifa’s blood hit the ground a blur of Pink launched past her, latching onto the Synthetic SOLDIER’s face. She managed to redirect Rude’s latest punch and catch him with a knee to the gut. Grunting with his suit’s reinforcement doing little against his opponent’s strength, he shifted back and gathered a ball of flame in his grip. A surprised cry escaped his target as the spell exploded against her, sending her flying into the lowest level of the scaffolding.

Tifa groaned as she shoved the debris away and sat up, rubbing at her head until what sounded like whirling boomerang closed on her. She watched helplessly as a glowing crescent spun in a curving arc in the stands and right through the main supports. Her heart skipped a beat as several rickety creaks followed, then a brief silence.

“Aw shit.”

“TIFFY!” Sith cried at the sight of three stories of scaffolding and seating falling on the human. Ripped her off the imitation SOLDIER’s blank visage not a moment later, she bounced along the ground until she came to a stop against a prone mechanical mog. Fur and circuits hung lose off its unmoving form and one of its arms lay a few feet away. She rolled to her hooves but too fast for her to react, there was a shadow looming over her. A glint of steel shined as it raced toward downward.

The blade suddenly veered however, cutting into the asphalt when a shower of sparks erupted against the machine’s head.

“Stupid toaster!” Agent Zap shouted, her baton now pointing at the collapsed stands “What part of ‘we need them alive’ don’t you understand?!”

The pony looked past the altercation to see Rarity also flat against the black top, struggling against the suited pegasus pinning her down. She gave frightened glance up to the red-headed Turk pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Get me some cuffs” Rina called to the troops were hanging back and then to her partner “Rude go check on Lock, see if she’s still alive.”

She looked down to the pony who simply slumped. They lost, there was no point in fighting anymore.

...

‘I didn’t ask for this’

‘...You didn’t’

‘I didn’t want any of this’

‘Nope’

‘All wanted was to go to a damn con with my best friend!’

‘That seems like fun’

‘But then she gets turned into a zombie and rips my fucking throat out!’

‘And then you get sent here’

‘And even THEN I wasn’t allowed to just live my life!’

‘With a new best friend that you can’t see anymore either’

‘NO! I get forced into a grand fucking adventure because reasons!’

‘To ‘save the world!’’

‘BULLSHIT! I’m tired of having this shit FORCED on me!’

‘and?’

‘AND I’M TIRED OF FUCKING RUNNING!”

‘Aaand?’

‘AND I AM REALLY FUCKING TIRED OF GETTING MY ASS KICKED!!!’

The gathered forces all paused at what sounded like a dozen bamboo poles being snapped all at once. A low rumble brought their attention to the pile of twisted metal and chairs, Rude stopping his advance as he tentatively watched the mound begin to tremble. The next thing any of them knew the debris erupted into the sky, revealing an extremely pissed off Tifa covered in translucent blue flames standing among the raining scrap.

“WE GOT A LIMIT!” Rina called out and braced before an unearthly, flanged screamed escaped the displaced woman and countless blazing cracks erupted all across her form “I... I think?”

Faster than any could blink Tifa exploded toward the closest target, Rude’s eyes bulging behind his glasses as she was on him in an instant. The pummeling rush pounded through his defenses, even what he managed to block still hitting him like a freight train. He raised his arms in a cross against the final strike, another loud snap ringing out and he was launched straight past the others and over the street’s edge to the level below.

Incapable of concern, one of the synthetic SOLDIER charged the fractured brunette as soon as the Turk was out of the way. It didn’t even get the chance to raise its sword before her feet where planted on its chest. The others flinched as the top half of the reinforced warrior SHATTERED under the force of the subsequent somersault.

“SHE’S A COMBOER!” Rina called out again and gasped when Tifa was just suddenly there with her foot already flying at the Turk’s face. The kick contacted with the agent’s hastily raised baton, bearly stopping the momentum while the metal rod nearly snapped.

‘This is reinforced mythril!’ Rina’s mind screamed before the sharp sting of freezing water bit into her arms “What the-!?”

A geyser force torrent of cold slammed into her and drove her right into a streetlight. She grumbled a series of curses, trying to step away only to find herself stuck. She looked down to find nearly her whole body encased in ice, pinning her to the pole.

“HYA!” a young voice cried out, drawing the Turk’s attention the rookie’s attempt to counter. The flying kick struck across the buxom woman’s face earning a victorious cheer from the novice Turk. An exclamation that abruptly turned into a startled yelp as a death grip looped around her middle like a vice. She felt herself whipped in the opposite direction as her captor bent backward “NONONONONONONO-”

The protests were cut off as she met not only the asphalt but the foundation beneath it. With the bottom half of the pegasus sticking out the ground like a daisy, a shaky hand flailed up slightly.

“Iahm okayeeee…” echoed up muffled before the limbs fell slack and the enraged fighter rounded on her next target. The mechanical SOLDIER’s blade swung in a perfect arc before shattering against the the back of its target’s metal knuckles. It’s programming stuttered with the unpredicted outcome, further stressed by an uppercut sending it into the air.

“YOUR METAL DICK IS MINE MOTHER FUCKER!”

A huge splash of water surged from beneath the android, a large finned body riding it up to its prey. Rows of razor sharp teeth snapped closed as they met.

‘Wait.’

‘What.’

The blood thirsty fish landed back in the wet crater, viciously thrashing the bot back and forth before finally dragging it to whatever depths the apex predator was summoned from. Tifa stood rooted at the spot with an arm still raised, staring transfixed at the now empty space as some of the scattered oil dripped down her face.

“Thaaaaaat… wasn’t a dolphin” was all she could process as the glowing cracks faded from her body.

‘No, that was not a dolphin…’

“Don’t just stand there!” one of the ranking troopers shouted “It’s over! Get her!”

Tifa wavered when she turned to retreat, stumbling and growing dizzy as the pain of her injuries came roaring back. A deafening report of machine gun fire blared behind her followed by the rapid ping of a barrier. The freed unicorn woman rushed to the martial artist’s side, draping Tifa's arm over her shoulders to help the human along. Fractures spread across the protection until more pillars of earth rose to shield them. Pinkie dashed up and leapt atop the pair, snagging a certain material along the way.

“Switch to piggyback Rares!” the pony instructed and channeled mana to the small orb. With the now considerably lighter Tifa draped across her back and all but the troops pegasi and griffons cut off, Rarity sprinted into the tunnel with all she had “Hang in there guys! If can we can lose them and make it back to the FOREST, they’ll never find us!”

‘Forest? What?’ Tifa’s tired mind floundered at the mare practically screaming the statement, but couldn’t voice the concern.

With the occasional pot shot at the flyers behind her, mixed with Pinkie’s rapidly diminishing spells, Rarity managed to outpace the aerial troopers in the enclosed space and close on the end of the tunnel. She had no idea how they were going to get back down to the village but knew that if they managed to stay out of sight long enough, they could get lost in the mass of troops again.

With great effort Tifa raised her head as Rarity gave a relieved laugh, seeing them almost at the end of the tunnel and the redirected crowds ahead. Only a few more moments from reaching the opening, a distinct *THUMP* reached them followed by a very familiar ringing as a trooper fell out from the edge of the tunnel with a yell. Rarity skidded to a stop before a whole squad rushed out after the fallen ambusher.

“LEFT!” she heard Pinkie call and point out a door, following as she barely registered the brief flash of magic from above her. Barreling through, Rarity bolted down the corridors and numerous turns as an exhausted Pinkie called them out.

Tifa however, while hoping they could stop to heal her soon, was left wondering why that trooper fell and why that sound was so familiar. The sudden flash of a memory hit her, of when she was in gym class back in high school. More particularly, when she was hit square in the face by a speeding soccer ball.

‘Huh…’

Meanwhile the leader of the pursuing squad ran up and kicked at the tunnel’s maintenance door, failing to receive even a shudder. They kicked again and again, finally getting a small amount of give only to see a light trickle of dirt fall from the edges.

“What’s going on?!” the troops straightened as Rina caught up “Where are they?”

“They escaped into the maintenance tunnels ma’am” the squad leader reported, before shifting uneasily “We tried to pursue but they seem to have, uh… well, buried the entrance ma’am.”

“Buried?” she parroted before rolling her eyes “Get back.”

The forces retreated and Rina rose a hand to the door, a blast of red and black flame rocketing into the thin metal. As the smoke cleared she stared at the jagged, melted hole to see nothing but a stream of dirt pouring through. The Turk ran a hand down her face with an aggravated sigh.

“Fucking earth materia… Well what are you waiting for?! Get to the other entrances! Get a sweep going! MOVE!”

“Yes ma’am” Rina watched the infantry scatter and radio in support. She looked to the dirt filled hole again, shoulders slumping. The maintenance tunnels made using the radio a bitch, meaning even if they did find them they may not be able to call it in before they were taken down.

‘Not that we’ll fucking find them’ she thought bitterly. The city’s tunnels were a virtual maze, almost as bad as the plates’. They were gone.

“Shit.” she spat before pulling out a cigarette, lighting it with a small flame on her finger tips. She should go check on the rookie and Rude, they’d be fine but she should still check. She gave another sigh but couldn’t help the smallest of smiles as she looked back to the door “Catch ya’ next time Priss.”

The green haired woman in a vibrant wet-suit braced against the airship's railing, her binoculars locked on the commotion below. With a beaming smile on her face, she watched her old friend finish and flick away the butt. It may have been awhile since they hung out but she did remember that ‘Indigo’ only smoked when she lost at something. She finally pulled the vision enhancers away and drummed her hands excitedly on the rail.

“YEAH!” she threw her hands up, victorious and ecstatic in equal measure.

“That was a hell of a throw” Zest’s cheered turned ‘eep’ at the vocie, spinning to see her old classmate and new teammate standing there with a smirk. She strutted up to the rail next to the anxious girl to peer over and admire the scene.

“W-what do mean? It… fell off the rack?” a forced, nervous smile spread across the pink woman’s face. Sour simply stayed silent, returning the uneasy girl a blunt look. Her smirk returned after a moment though.

“Yeah totally, they really need to replace those latches” the freckled female played along, turning to lean back against the railing “So that was the fabled Tifa huh? Fucking scary ass limit she’s got there.”

“Yeah...” Zest’s face grew concerned in an entirely different way, a hand rubbing absently on her bicep “Actually never seen anything like that from her before.”

Sour inhaled to respond but was cut off by the ship's horn. A slight tilt of the deck and sudden breeze signalling their return to the ground.

“Well that’s that, gotta shift that mind into game mode” the freckled woman smiled and pressed a finger to the pink girl's forehead “Can’t have you so distracted you flub up your first game.”

“Oh, uh yeah” Zest didn’t look any less worried.

“Hey she’ll be fine, you just helped see to that. She wouldn’t want you freaking out right?”

“Right…” the green haired girl relented and turned to make her way to the hatch. She paused after a couple steps to look back to her stationary teammate “You coming?”

“I’ll be right there, gotta return a couple texts first” Sour held up her phone “But after the game though... we should talk.”

Lemon frowned at the odd delivery but nodded and continued with Sour sweetly smiling at her back. As soon as her friend was through the door her expression lost some of it’s humor. Selecting the contact, she lost no time getting typing.

-Tell Orchard to keep an eye on the news. That Turk she was looking into just made a biiiig mess in Junon....-

No sooner had she stowed the phone when something crashed into the deck only a couple yards away, making her nearly jump out of her skin. After her heart rate returned to normal, she carefully approached the new crater in the walkway. She blinked in surprise, looking to the sky and then down to the street before finally rounding back on the hunk of crumpled metal that was once the head of a synthetic SOLDIER.

“Holy shit…”

Tifa laid sleeping in the backseat of the truck that was somehow still where they left it. A small bump made her grumble and stir. A much bigger one bounced her up and smacked her head on the side panel. She groaned and rose to a sit, making sure to hold onto the fuzzy mare passed out on her chest so she didn’t tumble. The poor pony been out since they left the maintenance tunnels.

“Sorry Darling, spotted a checkpoint and had to go off the road” the unicorn driver said to the rearview.

“It’s okay” Tifa mumbled back while rubbing her head. She saw them moving down a slight incline before noticing the sun beginning to rise “You want me to drive again?”

“No, I’ll be okay for a while yet” she answered. A soft grumbling came between them, followed by a tired sigh “There she is.”

“You alright there Pinkie?” Tifa looked down to the pony slowly opening her eyes to a squint.

“Yeah… that was just… Alotta spells at the end there… Just need some time to... recharge” she delivered between breaths “…Do we have an ether?”

“A few broke during the fight but most of them made it” Tifa answered, digging through the duffel for one of the small bottles. Pulling out a handful, she seperated one of the green from the blue and handed it to the pony. Despite the small amount, she gradually tilted it in her hooves to take her time drinking it.

Back home, when she was still Tiffany, the displaced woman would sometimes wonder about the logistics of drinking a whole potion in the middle of a fight. She quickly learned after arriving though that they were barely more than the average shot, taking all of a second to down at best.

“Sorry about your mog” the brunette offered.

“Oh don’t worry” he mare returned after she finished the bottle, looking much better “I may not be much help with the helicopter but I’ll be able to fix Moggy up good as new.”

“You think any the parts were damaged?” the driver inquired.

“They should be okay. A little scuffed maybe but Moggy’s storage compartments are pretty tough.”

“Well at least that's something” Tifa gave somberly “Too bad we can’t say the same about the fuel…”

“It’s cracked” the sudo-thestral gave in a low tone.

“Yeah, a building fell on me” Tifa returned slightly disgruntled. She shook it off though with a apologetic shrug “It’ll still work right? It’ll run out faster but it should be enough to get us across yeah?”

“If it doesn’t explode…” the altered pegasus examined the damage. The surface was relatively unmared, the crack instead spreading inward toward the core. It’d have been pretty if it didn’t risk the whole endeavor. “Whatever… not like I’ve got anything to lose anymore...”

Tifa frowned as she couldn’t quite catch the last bit but knew better than to push it as the flyer walked back to the pile of parts, grumbling the whole time. The pugilist sighed and made her way to the others gathered around Pinkie fixing her furry mount.

“She's been doing that a lot I presume?” she asked the dragon.

“Actually she’s barely made a peep since you three left. If it weren’t for the occasional sound of her tools, I’d of thought she bailed” Spike corrected before a playful smile crossed his lips “So yeah, I’d really appreciate if we got me a phone or something if I’m left behind again. Even my cage at Shinra wasn’t that dull… though that may have just been because of Pinkie.”

“Well speaking of buying things dear...” Rarity fished for the bundle in her bag while the pony responded to the compliment with a smile “We can’t have our fine gentledrake always stuck with our leftovers now can we?”

“Oh cool, Thanks!” Spike gave as the well-coifed unicorn showed him the gear.

“Not at all dear” she bent down to help him equip it all. Spike’s foreclaws where actually pretty dexterous but he appreciated the help with more delicate things, like buckles. They hit a snag when it came to the collar and his spines (not to mention his aversion to being collared after his time at Shinra), but they eventually settled on just wrapping it around his arm. Meanwhile, Tifa had made her way back to their soon to be pilot.

“Here” the brunette held out another wrapped bundle “We got you a few things too.”

“...Why?” the pegasus eyed her suspiciously, to which Tifa just shrugged.

“Well we noticed they took that scary gun of yours and figured they took the rest. And since most of a trooper's stuff is built into their gear and uniform, I also figured you hadn’t managed to salvage much.” Tifa explained “It’s just some basics but Rarity said Pegasi are good with weather elements, so we tried to grab stuff like that.”

“I don’t need your charity” she snapped back.

“Well then consider it an investment in you not shooting us in the back later” the martial artist offered again with a glint of humor, to which the pegasus just rolled her eyes and returned to her repairs. Tifa sighed and set the bundle in the cabin before walking back to the others.

“Well, you tried Darling” Rarity consoled her “Sometimes generosity just doesn’t pay off though… learned that the hard way… more than once...”

Tifa frowned but again, didn’t push. She knew Rarity had some kind of design business prior to ending up at Shinra but then something happened. She'd been saving up to maybe reopen in Canterlot someday but the former Turk still didn’t like talking about it. It definitely seemed to Tifa that there had to have been a lot more than simply going out of business though.

The repairs went by slowly, and the fact it that they arrived just before dark it didn’t help much either. Other than trying to help Pinkie with her mog or watching Spike testing his new gear and materia, there wasn’t much to pass the time. There was however one thing that raised Tifa’s spirit when they finished preparing breakfast: the wrapping for gear she had left had been sitting empty when she brought the pegasus some food.

‘Small victories I guess…’

‘Hey, those still count.’

Eventually however, after the sun had already crossed its apex, the still nameless pegasus appeared next to them.

“It’s ready. Go do whatever you need to. We’ll be in the air for a while.” she gave simply and returned to the aircraft. With the essentials taken care of, they warily buckled themselves into the seats of the jury-rigged flying machine slowly whirring to life. After a bit of a shaky lift-off, they soon found themselves above the trees and heading out over the water. All but the pilot were bereft of the headsets Tifa and Rarity had on their more recent ride together, meaning conversation was all but impossible over the noise of the craft. Supposedly Shinra had a model that was quiet enough to actually hear someone shouting from the ground, let alone other passengers.

This was not one of those models.

To say it was an uncomfortable ride would be like saying Tifa was an a-cup. On top of the noise, there was the constant vibrations and frequent turbulence further highlighting the general rattling all around them. Several worried looks were shared whenever something clanged or popped loud enough to be heard. And true to the the yellow woman’s word, the sun was already setting by the time they saw the shore line.

A collectively held breath was finally released when the pegasus called back that they had started their decent. The exchanged smiles were quickly extinguished when a huge jolt rocked the copter and a gout of flame flashed along the side.

“Well, that’d be the fuel” the sudo-threstral said with disturbing calm despite her obvious struggle with the controls. Another jolt rocked them in their harnesses and the craft fell into a spin.

The last thing any of them saw was the crash of water and a wall of sand before everything went dark...

Author's Notes:

If this had been my other displaced story, -THIS- is the song that would have played during Tifa's limit break. Not only did it partially inspire the scene, but it also serves as a pretty good reflection of her mental state during. Particularly the chorus.

But wow, long chapter is long! (And old meme is Old! ) This is actually the longest chapter I've written for FIMfiction. Yeah maybe by only a hundred or so words but still. But hey, content right? Figured I'd make it a little longer seeing as it took a little longer to finish then I planned, hopefully it didn't drag too much for you guys

As always: Thanks for reading and have a good one

Chapter 9: Hunted

-Party Load Out and Materia-

Tifa: Human (Displaced)
Armored Grand Glove- Fire, Ice, Gravity ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle) - Time + Added Effect
Other: Enemy Skill+Mime (Absorbed), Rude’s Sunglasses

Rarity: Unicorn
Silken Dream- Restore, Esuna, Ice ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle)- Barrier, Lightning
Other: An undecided rotation of outfits (--New--), Earrings

Pinkie: Pony?
Sparkly Megaphone- Lightning, Earth, Fire --- Carbon Bangle- Transform, Manipulate
Other: Red Cape, "Moggy"

Spike: Sapient Dragon
Claws and Teeth, Materia Band- Water, ATK up --- Carbon Bangle: Sense, Restore
Other: Natural Fire Magic, Hardened Scales

Fluttershy: Altered Pegasus
Trooper Machine Gun- Deathblow --- Carbon Bangle- Aero, Poison
Other: Enhanced physique, Improved healing, “Unnatural Abilities”

“And here I thought not being there for the Game was going to look bad.”

The alicorn sighed from behind her desk, head propped up in her hand. She watched the feed of her former employee opening fire over the heads of her citizens. She watched as the perspectives shifted to follow the chase and split to cover several angles of the ensuing fight and then finally shudder at the moment of Miss Lockhart’s break.

“There are those cracks again…” she muttered absently. The fight had seemed all but won when the woman triggered what was apparently her first ever limit break. All the detail of the report made it seem like it was quite the show but in reality it had only lasted a few moments and then some of her best agents were down. They also hadn’t be able to find the head of the first Synthetic SOLDIER yet, and the latter was still missing entirely.

“Collateral?” she asked the Turk director standing to her side.

“There are countless minor injuries and some notable property damage caused by the panicked crowds. Some were unfortunately left in more severe condition from being trampled as well. Though nothing worse yet thankfully” Sweetie Drops reported.

“And our forces?” she turned to the goggled woman on the other screen.

“None of the troopers were seriously hurt. Rude should be out of his sling pretty quick and while Derp’ll probably be… dazed for a few more days, she’ll make it through” Rina delivered “ She actually did pretty good. She was the only one that managed to land a hit on Lock after she started her limit. Guess it it wasn't such a bad call after all boss.”

The Turk director rolled her eyes as the messily dressed woman smirked. Celestia however, was thankful for the brief moment of levity and gave a very slight chuckle.

“Though Lyra was right,” Rina added with a scowl “Those stupid toasters aren’t ready for the field. They nearly killed Lock and that little pink thing they got with them.”

“Pony” Celestia corrected, earning confused looks from the two agents “Not a pony like me, but as in a small horse.”

“I uh… still don’t know what that is Ma’am” Rina gave with a frown.

“Sorry, it’s not important” the president rubbed her forehead under her horn and let out another sigh before regarding the dark haired woman on her other side. “Recall any other synthetic SOLDIER we have in the field. Have R&D make it priority to fix their programming before they’re sent back out.”

“Ms. Glimmer’s not going to be happy about that” Raven pointed out as she jotted down the orders on her pad.

“She’ll cope” she gave bluntly and returned her focus to the more pressing matter “Is there any footage of them leaked we’ll have to get on top of?”

“Not anything of substance ma’am” the assistant answered “The troops did a good job keeping the citizenry away from the actual altercation. There is some circulating the news of the initial panic and the fleeing pair, though it may actually work in our favor; the more people that see them, the more likely someone will recognize them going forward.”

A frown creased the president’s features at the conclusion. She was right of course, but it felt wrong. They shouldn’t be labeling their own people as criminals, especially when they were the ones that drove them to it. Unfortunately they didn’t have a choice after something like this. She almost wished they had just gotten away with whatever they were planning.

“Do we have any idea why they were there in the first place yet?” Celestia pushed on, with Agent Drops speaking up again.

"At first we thought they were trying to stow away on a ship, based on what Agent Hooves learned at the fort. However it seems they were actually after something from one of our warehouses” the director next to her answered, the other Turk on the screen elaborating after.

“The forged paperwork was full of bull and while they haven’t finished the inventory, they did notice a Size 35 concentrated fuel core missing” Celestia’s head tilted at the news, eyes widening with surprise.

“Size 35? That’s pretty heavy. And concentrated..." Her brow furrowed as she looked to her assistant "That’s for aircraft yes?”

“It’s also used in some of our larger vehicles and certain mechanical troops but yes, it’s most often used in smaller aircraft” she built up “Those sizes in particular are used in most of our helicopters.”

“So we’re thinking they found a helicopter?”

“That or a big boat” Rina quipped before looking off screen and shouting “Hey! You find anything else missing?!”

“A few things Ma’am” a voice confirmed, handing her a sheet of paper.

“What the fuck am I looking at? I don’t know what any of this shit is” she scolded the unseen clerk. An exacerbated huff escaped Sweetie Drops as she bowed her head and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I’m sorry Ma’am” she breathed out. The president merely returned an amused smile.

“I care far more about her competence than her demeanor Agent Drops” she assuaged the director “And if she wasn’t competent you wouldn’t have made her your second in command. ”

“So they’re helicopter parts, why didn’t you just fucking say that?” the red head finished, dismissing the clerk before turning back to the feed “Yeah, they probably got a copter.”

“But where could they have found it?” the president mused “And who would fly it? I don’t believe Agent Belle was trained as a pilot.”

“Nah, Priss doesn’t know how to fly a copter. Decent driver but nothing in the air.” Rina confirmed “Really doubt Lock can fly one either.”

“Nevertheless we can't discount the possibility" the alicorn concluded "Tell the forces there to monitor the skies and send a message to have any of our posts along the west coast to do the same.”

“That’s alotta sky to cover ma’am” Rina pointed out.

“Yes I know, but we still have to try” she conceded “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“Roger that” the googled Turk shrugged “I’ll keep you posted. Have a good night ma’am, boss.”

“Agent Zap” Celestia nodded before the feed cut off. The Turk director shifted in place next to her, a pensive frown crossing her features.

“Things are not moving as smoothly as we hoped ma’am. We still don’t know how much time we have left either. We need more bodies working on this.”

“Yes I know” Celestia answered solemnly. She turned to her assistant, seeing the girl confused and not a little a little worried. She wasn’t privy to the full truth of the mission but had quickly picked up on the fact it was far more serious than they let others know. Still, she remained by the president’s side without so much as a complaint, for which Celestia was very grateful “Raven set up a call with General Sombra…”

“We’re going to have to start getting SOLDIER more directly involved.”

A weak but shrill beeping slowly dragged Tifa back to the waking world, drilling into her skull worse than the acrid smell of burnt circuitry. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, showing herself to be hanging almost completely upside down within her harness. She looked around to the hanging wires and loose debris to see a wall of sand that had poured in to craft through the broken windows. Thankfully, it wasn’t enough to fill it. She also saw no one else in the copter had recovered yet.

‘Hey, I’m actually the one that’s conscious for once’

‘Less celebrating, more friend saving’

Right. She fumbled with the buckle of her restraints, falling hard into the ceiling of the craft as it released. With a groan she pushed herself up and climbed over to the others. Draping Rarity over her shoulder and hoisting Pinkie under an arm, she kicked at the hatch. After a few blows the sliding door broke free and a cold ocean breeze flooded into the crumpled space. She dropped the pair a few paces from the craft and stumbled back to grab the dragon. She came upon the drake tangled in the straps. After of moment of wrestling with the bands she quickly settled on just tearing them from the wall.

With Spike free she looked to the cockpit next but found a pair of the rotor blades thrust through the hull, separating the front from the cabin. Dropping the reptile off next to the others she ran to the front, finding it mostly buried in sand. She gripped the edge of the one still exposed door and began peeling it away. The jagged metal bit into her hands and more loose sand poured into the copter, but the hinges finally snapped free and gave her access to the unconscious woman. A trickle of red flowed from a notable gash across her head, which Tifa found matched a flow down, or right now up her leg.

With the party free of the wrecked craft, Tifa fell to her knees in front of their prone forms under the not quite full moon.

‘So phoenix downs? Do we have enough? Is this bad enough for phoenix downs? Will potions work? How do you get someone to drink a potion while unconscious?’ her mind started racing until a gust of wind blew a mist of salt water and sand over her “...oh yeah.”

The brunette closed her eyes and searched for that familiar but foreign knowledge in the back of her mind. Another breeze picked up around them, only now with wisps of misty white ribbons texturing the air. No sand or moisture was disturbed as the gale swirled about her and her allies, their cuts and bruises beginning to wash away. A gasp rang out as the martial artist fell forward, the wind immediately dissipated and a heavy sweat drenched her brow.

“Holy crap does that cost a lot. Why do I keep picking up such high mana spells?” she panted. She worried the incomplete spell didn’t work; she herself felt better but not as much as she should, even accounting for the mana drain. Her fears fell away however, as the quartet began to stir. She crawled over to see that true enough while the spell hadn’t quite healed everything, they started to come around all the same.

“Wowie Zowie...” the pony slowly pushed herself up and shook the sand out of her coat “That was a heck of a powie!”

“Yes, I quite agree… I think” the not as well coiffed as usual woman added with a hand on her head. She smiled at the brunette “Thank you darling, I dare say you may have saved the day.”

“Eh, you guys weren’t that bad off” Tifa shrugged bashfully “I was just the first one that woke up is all. I mean it’s not like the copter is on fire or anything. Hell, our gear is probably just fin-”

“Ah-ah-ah dear, none of that!” Rarity wagged a finger with a smile “One of us may have got us all to safety true, but you did.”

“Yeah, thanks for that” Spike added, pulling off the last tangled strap “I’ll go see about that gear. I think we could still use a couple potions.”

Tifa just shrugged, avoiding eye contact. Looking away let her notice the yellow pegasus sitting up, scowling at the sand until she noticed her gaze and locked eyes. A brief moment of uncertainty crossed her face until the scowl deepened an she broke the contact herself.

“OO! OO OO OO!” the pony exclaimed excitedly and sped toward the water without explanation. Rarity stood and helped Tifa to her feet in the meanwhile.

“Thanks, just learned that white wind takes more mana then I’ve got.”

“Then we’ll be sure to get you an ether. And not to worry dear, you were probably just drained from the crash” Rarity offered, earning a half smile from Tifa. “Though for future reference you could have just borrowed one of our cure materia.”

“Oh…” Tifa blinked “Hehe… right.”

A titter escaped the unicorn as the martial artist looked away with a blush. Before her embarrassment could grow further however, the pink pony had zipped back in front of her.

“HERE!” Pinkie shoved a salty, spiral shell the size of a basketball into the brunette’s hands. Curious tentacles emerged, followed by the rest of a small sudo-squid that was admittedly rather cute. Tifa cocked an eyebrow at the the pony before her mog appeared in a flash.

“BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!” the mare yelled as the machine closed menacingly on the squid-snail.

Tifa winced with sympathy as the creature let out a heartbreaking squeal and retreated into its protective home. Before the martial artist could ask why, the shell shimmered and a triple layer of magical defenses covered the scared cephalopod and, by extension, the human holding it. Once more the tell-tale tingling signaled the gain of a new enemy skill.

“Was that really necessary?!” an angry voice snarled, drawing attention to the pegasus glaring daggers at the pony “It’s just a baby!”

“Oh um, well… I mean if I grabbed one of the big ones it’d probably try to eat us” Pinkie fumbled, fidgeting under the angry gaze. She continued though, tapping her hooves together timidly “Tif’s got enemy skill and see, um well, Big Guard’s one of the best and this just seemed... more... efficient.”

“It’s not like she actually hurt it” Rarity cut in, earning a scowl leveled her way as well. Unlike the pony however, the unicorn stood her ground. Tifa meanwhile had stepped away from the staring contest toward the lapping tides.

“Sorry little guy” she apologized, the shelled infant bolting into the water as soon as she set it down. The stalemate behind between the two women broke as the sudo-threstral watched the release. She glanced back and forth between the human and former Turk a few more times before eventually giving a huff.

“Whatever” she muttered and began limping away, one of her wings hanging a bit listless.

“Where are you going?” the pony regained her composure.

“Away.”

“What do you mean?” the quadruped pressed, the cloak wearer not even looking back as she answered.

“The deal was you get the parts and I get us across. I did that, now I’m leaving.”

“You can’t!”

“Watch me.”

“It’s not worth it Darling, just let her go”

“Shinra’s going to be hunting you!” Pinkie pressed on undeterred “YOU’RE AN ELEMENT BEARER!”

A wave a realization passed over the group with Pinkie’s shout. Rarity in particular had the strongest reaction; rubbing her forehead and letting out a long, frustrated sigh before cursing under her breath. The pegasus did finally pause and turn back though, expression perplexed.

“A what?”

“As in the Elements of Harmony” Rarity explained with clear exasperation in her tone “Shinra’s looking for materia attuned to their currents and people that can use it.”

“As in that old fairy tale? You really think I’m going to fall for something like that?” the pegasus returned flatly.

“It’s true” the unicorn insisted “I was confirmed as one after what happened at the temple. And since you had the same reaction to the Harmony Stream as I did, there’s rather little doubt you’re one as well.”

“And even if it’s not true” Spike offered a more logical approach “It doesn’t change the fact that Shinra believes it, and has dropped you on the top of the most wanted list because of it.”

“All the more reason I’d be better off on my own” she sneered an continued her slow hobble away from them.

“We’ll be safer together! All of us!” Tifa tried herself. They were outnumbered and outmatched in the last fight and she knew they had gotten lucky with more than just her limit. Unpleasant company or not, the woman could help them. Nevertheless, she continued to limp along ignoring them.

“Is tolerating us really worse than the risk of ending up in Hojo’s lab?!”

The woman froze mid-step at Tifa's shout, slowly rounding to the brunette with wide eyes.

“...H-Hojo?” she repeated menacingly. A flurry of motion burst to life as a blurred ribbon of red closed the distance between them in an instant. Tifa found herself nearly wrenched off the ground when a death grip latched onto her suspenders and the cloak reformed to reveal a whole new level of fury burning in the pegasus’s eyes “CHRYSALIS HOJO?!”

“Y-yeah” Tifa pushed through the sudden fear and was promptly dropped to the sand. She looked up to catch the girl’s eyes grow distant, no longer seeing the brunette as she began to literally tremble with rage. Not even taking the time to stand, Tifa scrambled backwards to the rest of the party.

Yellow wings gradually spread with feathers ruffled up and pulsing in tune with the woman's now heaving growls. She hunched as her muscles tightened and finally allowed an unimpeded view of her surprisingly attractive face, even with her eyes wild and teeth bared. Teeth with unusually sharp canines they also couldn’t help but notice. They wearly watched this unfold, anxiously stepping away as it seemed the pegasus was about to explode. The party braced as she took a sharp breath, a scream clearly bubbling up the pegasus’s throat.

But then it hitched, held back as the woman coiled into herself, stooped forward with arms held close. Rough, heavy breaths racked her, eyes held shut as she began to be trying to regain herself.

“Keep it inside, save it for her, keep it inside, save it for her...” the pegasus chanted under her breath, still coiled but starting to breathe more steadily. When she spoke next the words were directed at the group “These terrorist you’re looking for... Landslide?”

“AVALANCHE” Tifa corrected as she stood.

“They’re against Shinra?” the pegasus raised her head and locked eyes with the rest, her voice taking on a deathly calm “against Her?”

“Yeah” the woman took a deep breath at the answer, standing back up straight and rolling her neck after a few more calming breaths.

“Fine” she stated simply. Spike arched a scaled brow.

“Fine?”

“We’ll travel together... for now” she explained “But if we come across that changeling bitch... She. Is. MINE.”

“Sure.”
“Okie-dokie!”
“Go for it.”
“As long as you make it hurt Darling.”

The girl blinked, disarmed by the easy response.

“Um… well good” she gave awkwardly and shuffled in place. A single beat of silence passed before the smallest member of the steadily growing group was abruptly in her face.

“Well GREAT! Welcome to the party! I’m sure you already picked our names up but I’m Pinke Sith! The unicorn is Rarity, that’s Spike and the crazy strong bouncy one is Tifa!” the mounted pony introduced, beaming as if nothing happened. Her smile faltered however as the moment stretched a bit too long, the woman simply staring back with her typical scowl “So uh… can we get your name?”

The pegasus looked uncertain, her gaze dropping as she seemed to consider her answer. So long as it was something though, at least Tifa would be satisfied. Referring to her as simply ‘her’ and the like was getting a bit old.

“...Fluttershy” she eventually mumbled.

“Oh! Not what I was expecting from someone so scary, but that’s really pretty!” Pinkie spouted, promoting the return of Fluttershy’s scowl. She looked past the pony to the remaining trio.

“Where we going?” grumbled out, Rarity speaking up.

“Well, the plan was to just get across the divide. Now though?” she tilted her head pensively “I would say Costa del Sol.”

“The resort?” Tifa questioned “Doesn’t that have the same problem as Junon?”

“Contrary to popular belief, Shinra doesn’t own Everything” the unicorn pointed out “There’s actually a lot of places where they have very little presence. Influence certainly, but all they own in Costa is part of the docks. The resort, beach and villa are all technically independent.”

“Technically?” Spike repeated.

“I'm afraid that’s the best we’re typically going get Darling” she gave soberly “But if we stick to the edges we should be fine. We can resupply, maybe grab some actual food and who knows? Perhaps even enjoy a few moments at the beach.”

“We’re on a beach” the dragon retorted.

“Oh um, why yes... I suppose we are!” the unicorn chuckled. With no other objections voiced, they began their way north.

“So what’s with that Derpy girl becoming a Turk so fast?” a currently blonde Tifa asked the well coiffed, black haired woman across from her. They sat at a small table tucked behind a restaurant along the edge of town, their dragon accomplice draped under a simple cloak while their pony companion was actually in full-fledged moogle costume. Fluttershy had declined join them, refusing to enter the town entirely and simply saying they’d meet up on the road when they were done.

“Oh I’m sure it was almost purely for the optics” Rarity answered “Not to say Miss Hooves isn’t competent but with her being the only operative at the Fort it looked even better for them to promote her to a more visible position. Plus the fact that she’s a survivor of the Cloudsdale disaster certainly doesn’t hurt with the sympathy angle, even if it was only by the virtue of her not being there at the time.”

“Cloudsdale?” Tifa and Spike asked simultaneously. Rarity returned a perplexed look as the stuffed moogle's head tilted.

“How do you not know what- oh! Right...” Pinkie exclaimed before a covered hoof rubbed the mask’s chin “I guess you wouldn’t.”

“Cloudsdale was ‘The first floating city since the great cloud cities of the ancient pegasi! A grand experiment’” the former Turk quoted with a faux drama

“It was made of Clouds?” Spike asked.

“No, it was a floating landmass” Pinkie answered this time, a sad tone to her voice “That way more than just Pegasi and Griffons could live there. And it worked! The experiment was a success! At least… until it wasn’t...”

An uncomfortable silence hung after the statement. The implication of a floating city and the word ‘Disaster’ didn’t leave much to figure out. Tifa redirected her attention to the burger in her hands, hoping the awkwardness would just pass. Taking a bite she had to resist the urge to give a moan of pleasure. It may have only been barely a step above fast food, but it was the first thing they’d had in weeks without the word ‘Ration’ attached to it. Her expression still caught a few eyes nonetheless.

“So North Corel was it?” Spike broke the silence.

“Yes, it’s a former coal mining town turned quarry. They’ve also a series of cable cars to nearly all the surrounding areas.” Rarity explained “We’ll make our way to Mt. Corel, take the train to the town and then a ropeway over the next range. After that it’s only a few days walk to Ponyville.”

“Too bad we can’t pay a visit to the saucer” Pinkie lamented “We probably wouldn’t even stand out there!”

“Even so, I think it’d be best to not to indulge that distraction. Besides… I doubt our funds would last the trip.”

With their food done and most of their supplies already secured, they stood and began their way back to the small suburb where most of the resort’s permanent residents lived. Tifa suddenly felt a pair of eyes on her back. She glanced over to the small dining area but didn’t spot anyone looking. She shook off the feeling and caught up to the others, hoping it was just her nerves.

“Here” the martial artist held out a bag to the team's newest member. They were already a good way down the road when they came upon the pegasus, further than Tifa felt was necessary but at least she didn’t ditch them. She slowly took the sack before looking within “It’s just a couple burgers and some fries but we figured you’d also appreciate something cooked in an actual kitchen.”

Fluttershy stared into the bag, her expression difficult to read. The curtain of hair and her cloak didn’t make it any easier. She didn’t immediately reject it like most offerings but she still seemed a bit… sad.

“You’re not a vegetarian are you?”

“No, I’m not… not anymore.”

‘Again with the muttering’ Tifa sucked at her cheek slightly before just letting it go. The cloaked woman fell to the back as she ate, a few more mumbles and whispers among the reserved chewing. However they then heard what may have been a muffled sniff. Looking back with the unexpected sound, they were quickly distracted by the sight of a growing dust cloud from back down the road. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this’

A heavy military-esq vehicle sped ahead of the growing viel, rapidly closing on their position. The party split and moved to either side of the road to let them pass, hoping they were just in a hurry.

A hope immediately dashed as they veered straight toward Tifa and Fluttershy. The brunette leap to the side while the pegasus sprung straight into the the air, flipping over the vehicle and opening fire down upon the roof. Swerving under the retaliation, it came to a skidding stop and a quartet of thugs jumped out ready to fight. They immediately came under fire by the rest of the group and returned it in kind.

Tifa had just regained her footing when a pair of horns blared from the dust behind her. Two pickup trucks burst from the cloud, a machine gun mounted on the back of each. One turned to speed right at her and unfortunately, she wasn’t prepared nor had the time for another leap.

“Screw it!” she shouted and punched out. Her boots dug through the gravel as she slid back but the vehicle stopped dead after a few feet, pitching forward and launching the gunner into the air.

‘Holy crap it worked!’

The thug landed hard but was quick to stumble up to his feet. Spouting curses, he furiously snapped his rifle up to back where he flew from. That fury swiftly fizzled as he saw the trucks front bumper soaring right at his face.

“Bitch!” the other truck’s gunner shouted, swiveling the heavy barrel at the brunette. The stream of bullets sprayed wide when a streak of red slammed into him. He bent backward on the frame of the bed before a fountain of red erupted from his chest, the rapid fire of a rifle pounding through his bangles protection. The altered pegasus next swiveled the mounted guns aim to the back window. The passengers were helpless to avoid a similar end.

Distracted by the gruesome display, Tifa failed to notice a griffon woman from the crumpled truck dive bombing her until she was practically on top of her. With materia aglow the brunette thrust her hand out… and completely overshot her demi spell, her assailant not even noticing the dark sphere flaring into existence behind her. A hidden boon as the airborn attacker yelped, flailing as she was dragged back toward the new point of gravity.

‘Gonna have to remember that one’

Tifa seized the moment and redirected her mana to another materia. A layer of frost covered her opponent and dropped her to the ground. She began to raise shivering when a boot swept across her jaw, leaving her out cold in more ways than one.

The martial artist redirected her attention to the first vehicle, only to see the others had the rest of the situation well in hand. Two of the original quartet laid prone on the side of the road, a light smoke wafting off one. The third seemed to have been turned into a chicken, no doubt by the pink mare’s transform materia. It took a moment to find the last one until she caught the distant sight of him sprinting away through the fields as fast as he could.

“These guys don’t look like Shinra.” the reptilian party member pointed out.

“They’re most certainly not. Highwaymen maybe?” Rarity mused as she moved to inspect the largest vehicle. A wet splat drew their attention back to the remaining pickup. Fluttershy was bent over the driver's… 'remains', stripping him of his gear. She didn’t fail to notice Tifa’s gaze.

“What? They might have something useful” she gave before pulling out the thugs wallet and emptying it of gil “If nothing else we can sell it.”

“And what about the ones that are still alive?” the brunette asked looking down to the dark skinned woman at her side.

“Take their gear as well” the former Turk answered and pulled a ring of keys from one’s pocket. She also found a handful of zip ties and tossed some to the human “We’ll leave them here. Someone will find them or maybe their friend will come back. Either way we’ll be long gone by the time they come to.”

Tifa frowned and quickly moved to remove anything of value from her own assailants, binding their wrists and dragging them to the roadside. She pointedly kept her gaze away from the visceral mess their newest ally caused. She understood defending themselves, but she’d be lying if she wasn’t having second thoughts about convincing the pegasus to stay with them.

And held not a little fear that if things kept going like this, she may end up killing someone herself.

Tifa shook the thought away and quickly joined Rarity and Spike, finding them looking down at the stack of papers Pinkie found in the hummer. She blinked with surprise as her own face looked back at her. It was a picture she had taken just recently, when she needed an ID for Shinra tower. More disturbing was the fact it was placed above the word WANTED and a significant amount of gil.

“I always hated this picture" Rarity sighed as picked up another poster of her own, Tifa noticing that the former Turk’s reward was even higher than hers "My hair looks so flat.”

“Geez even I have one” Spike tilted his head that the specimen file photo on his. Pinkie also had one, though it was primarily a sketch with a blurry security camera capture in the corner “Should we be insulted that ours are so much lower than theirs?”

“At least they all say ‘Wanted ALIVE’.” Pinkie giggled back with a smile.

“Not really a joking matter guys” Tifa pointed out.

“It’s not like this wasn’t inevitable Darling” Rarity countered, picking up the last poster and holding it out the the approaching pegasus “Do you believe us now?”

Fluttershy stared down at the picture. Like Pinkie’s, it was a sketch accompanied by a grainy helmet cam shot. While her's lacked a name the reward was the same as Rarity’s; more than enough prove Shinra’s intent. If she concerned though, she didn’t show it. Instead she simply continued to the back of the vehicle and tossed in a bloodstained bag.

“So we taking this though the mountain then or still taking the train?” she asked passively, the former Turk shaking her head.

“We’re not going through the mountain” Rarity stated “They may have set up more resistance further on and with a reward this high they’re probably not working alone. It’ll be too easy to corner us in the range. We’ll go south, cross the river and skirt the desert to approach the city that way.”

“Still leaves the problem of when we get there” Spike call attention to, to which Rarity just smiled.

“The average citizen won’t recognize us, or else the authorities would have been called while we were at ‘Sol. Trust me, the only people that care about the most wanted list are law enforcement and bounty hunters” the well coiffed woman explained.

“And we already avoid those!” Pinkie beamed before the trucked rocked with the closing of a door. They looked in to see the yellow pegasus settling in behind the backseat “Yeah, we should probably mosey.”

They loaded the rest of the claimed gear and climbed in, a steady rumble finding them as Rarity almost immediately took them off road.

“We should have just killed them” Tifa heard grumbled from the back. She frowned and stared out the front window at the thought. She knew that they were already being hunted, but having it extended beyond Shina, to extend to random ambushes from bounty hunters…

The sound of a wet splat filled her thoughts.

The next day the party found themselves ending it they same way they started the one before, skirting along a shoreline in the dark. At least they had a vehicle this time though, and more than just an endless view of the water. Instead they had a wide river with a small brilliance floating in the distance beyond. Pinkie and Rarity had both assured the rest that there were a number of bridges across, though not all were actively maintained.

Tifa looked out to the distant cluster of dancing lights atop a great pole, the amusement park known as the Gold Saucer towering over a currently unseen wasteland. Even under the full moon the tree shaped structure shone like a beacon, bright enough to leave trails in her vision.

“Like a world tree with its leaves shimmering out across the dark, guiding all who witness its glory along the path to excess” Rarity, once more driving, waxed poetically “Something I read in a travel magazine a while back. Still... it’s quite the sight, no?”

“You ever been?” Tifa asked.

“A few times, but only twice that weren’t on business. First when our parents took us when we were little and again a couple years ago when I arranged a trip for just Sweetie and I” a look of melancholy crossed the unicorn woman’s features “I sincerely hope she’s okay.”

“I’m sure she’s fine, Rina told you they’d take care of her!” Pinkie offered, though Rarity seemed only mildly assaged.

“I see a bridge!” Spike’s voice called in from out the window, distorted by the passing air. It was overgrown with vegetation and the stone work had began to crumble in a few places. He pulled his head back inside before continuing “It’s a little worn down but at least there won’t be a checkpoint.”

The well coiffed driver slowed as they hit the crossing, though not by too much. Apparently she was as anxious to get moving as any of the rest of them, if not even more irritated by the repeated detours and setbacks. A bump rocked the vehicle as they neared the opposite side of the river, a sense of relief filling the vehicle.

Until a ball of living flame sprung up from under the bridge, its wicked face giving a silent cackle before it abruptly grew three times in size.

Shattered glass filled the cabin as a deafening explosion silenced the world and launched them skidding along the opposite guard rail. More Bombs burst into sight and the clatter of rapid shots reverberated within the vehicle, the group’s altered pegasus firing at the fiery predators out the back hatch. Before Tifa could orient fully, a huge needle pierced right through the metal roof and missed her face by an inch.

A shrill screech sounded as their transport bounced back onto solid ground accompanying another blast. The long spike retracted and a few burning feathers fluttered into the cabin as Tifa caught sight of a flock of eagle sized birds with sharp, straight horns jutting from their heads that nearly as long as they were. Streams of green and red flames shot from the back seat to drive the flock off. Tifa readily followed their example but was forced to double take as she noticed the a subtle green glow in all their assailants' eyes. Before she could consider the implication, a new threat demanded their attention.

The blurred silhouette of a figure sped past the car, distorted after images left in their wake. It stopped a ways ahead and spun in the air to face them, revealing a skull masked jester levitating in a ring of over-sized, ghostly playing cards. A barrage of the cards flew at the car, unimpeded by either the flames or the vehicle's frame itself. Tifa felt a sudden dizziness when one of the cards passed through her and her vision tinted green.

‘Don’t close your eyes! Focus on the enemy!’

She shook away the disorientation and glared at the jester. He readied a grip full of needles until a boulder of ice knocked him off balance, followed by the report of a machine gun. A fountain of red burst from his arm and drove him speeding into the night.

A sigh escaped the brunette as the monsters retreated with him, one that cut off when the shooter crawled back into the cabin and screamed at the front.

“TURN!” Tifa looked forward to see rapidly approaching drop down a very steep slope. Her head snapped to the still panicked driver.

“Rare snap out of it!” the martial artist tried to steady the unicorn, the former Turk shaking off the hand on her shoulder.

“We need to get away!” she snapped back, her glazed eyes darting about wildly with a subtle green glow.

“HIT HER!” Pinkie called out, a loud crack echoing as a palm met the former Turk’s cheek. Rarity blinked several times and worked her jaw, the glow of the enchantment dissipating. Her eyes flew wide with a scream and she wrenched the wheel to the side. It was moment to late however as they hit the slope “TIFFY DEMI! YOU NEED TO KEEP US FROM ROLLING!”

She followed the direction as soon as she understood, dumping the rest of her mana into the marteria and slamming the gravity spell down on the car. She fought off the urge to pass out as, even with their wheels still on the nearly vertical ground, they were still sent spinning down the sandy wall. A strong gust of wind came from ahead of them and sandy mud was whipped up in their wake, the other party members’ materia shining with their own efforts to slow them down.

After what seemed like an eternity they finally slid to a stop, the vehicle left half buried in in the sand. Catching their breath, the group slowly crawled out to find they landed at the edge of a seemingly endless stretch of desert. It was cold, but unlike when they found themselves among the sands of the beach, the air here was stiflingly dry with a breezeless chill.

“Where are we?” Spike's voice cut through the still silence.

“Corel Prison” Rarity answered gravely, shoulders slumping without further comment. They looked back up to the steep barrier of shifting sand, seeing no way they could get back up. To make matters worse, they began to lose sight of the very distant ridge as a sandstorm began brewing above their heads. Even the moon grew steadily darker behind the thickening veil.

High above the growing winds, atop the highest peak bathed in the glow of the grand silver orb of the sky, a cluster of shadows shifted. Gowned in form fitting black leather, a trio of winged figures emerged into the gentle light. A shimmer glinted off their goggles and the small accented symbol of a winged skull on the hem of their long coats. The more slender of the two males stepped forward to the cliff edge and peered down to the obscuring clouds of dirt below.

“Well now, seems like our prey went and took care of themselves” a smooth voice spoke with a smug softness. He swept back his silver blue hair and turned back to the others “And here I was hoping we’d be in for a bit of fun.”

The taller, more solidly built male chuckled darkly as the trio’s lone female shrugged.

“It’s not like we don’t have more to take care of” she smirked and jerked her head, signalling them to keep moving “Come, there’s still work to be done.”

Dust scattered as the three spread their wings and launched into the sky.

“Let’s make Mother proud...”

Author's Notes:

There's more than a very good chance that I'll be updating the cover image if Tifa is revealed in the Remake news that's (almost certainly) coming with E3. Especially if they make her anywhere near as GORGEOUS as they made Aerith (Here's more hoping she's even more so ). I know her appearance is a bit controversial in Japan at the moment but I think she looks great.

I've already updated the pic for Aps back in chapter 2 and will be updating what I can as it comes out. There was actually a good bit of indecision on which Bomb version I should use here; XV's version is pretty cool but I failed to find any good images. So I just settled on Crisis Core's as it's still in the FF7 anthology.

ANYWAY- not a lot of other details to share on this chapter. It was meant to be out earlier but I finally got the chance to play Breath of the Wild and... yeah... pretty big time sink that

But for now, as always: Thanks for reading and have a good one