-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