Half an hour after Sebaste had returned home the group had just remained in the open clearing as Steven had once again climbed back up to the top of one of the remaining buildings coming back down periodically to talk with the others.

It had became clear to him that in moments like this he almost regretted not having a companion like Trent had with Church and it hadn’t helped that seemingly nobody had seemed to bother coming up to him or least ask why he kept returning to the same building.

Steven could just only sigh at this thought as he looked down to the group below him before back to the sky to see that they were still clear with no Grimm appearing nearby them.

It was then he lowered his rifle before he muttered, “My god this is boring.”

“Well what do you expect, being here all alone?” a voice said from behind him as Steven turned around to see Pinkie standing behind him.

“Well considering they all decided to remain outside when we are currently unsure whether this place is secure, kind of means someone needs to be aware if any Grimm approach… in fact what are you even doing here?”

“I came up here to see what you was doing.”

“I meant here, as in the base. I’m pretty sure you didn’t come here with the others.”

“Ohhh. I came to see who came here from that other world. Also plot convenience,” Pinkie admitted with a chuckle.

“Wait what?”

“So anyway, where are they?” She asked, looking around the base.

“You didn’t…you know what, I’m not going to question this,” Steven sighed. “They both went back already. You missed them.”

Pinkie then looked down seeming upset as her hair seemed to flatten a little for a second as she said, “Awe… I wanted to throw them a welcome party.”

Steven simply rolled his eyes before he said to her, “They’ll probably come back again sometime.” After thinking for a moment, he said, “How about whenever someone comes around next time, Trent and I can let you know?”

Her hair then seemed to suddenly bounce back up to normal as she smiled as she said “So, what exactly did they tell you?”

Steven then looked to her before he recounted some of the information that he had been told a few minutes before by Trent.

Pinkie then looked at Steven clearly understanding him before she asked, “What do you think about all this? What are you calling this place? What's your favorite cake flavor? What can you even do apart from swinging those things around? Is it possible for me to do those things?”

Steven then sighed before he said, “Sorry, but you need to slow down.”

“Huh?” Pinkie replied in confusion before she realised what Steven meant as she said before she said, “So it would be better if I asked each question one at a time wouldn’t it?”

“Most likely,” Steven agreed with a smile.

“Okay. What do you think about all this?”

“If you mean being appearing here when we did… pretty awkwards timing. If you mean the whole Displaced thing… very, very confusing.”

“I think you may have a point. This place can be crazy at times, and it's gonna get crazier now...”

“I don’t doubt that fact,” Steven agreed with a chuckle before adding “Next question.”

“What are you calling this place?”

“...Actually, I don’t think we came up with a name yet. I think we need to work that one out.”

“Seriously? Do those two really lack the imagination to figure out the name of the place their main characters are gonna stay?”

“Wait, what?”

“Don’t worry about it. Next question. What's your favorite cake flavor?”

“Wait, sorry?”

“I said what's your favorite cake flavor?

“Why would you need to know that?”

“I want to bake you a cake obviously,” Pinkie replied with a smile. “I wanted to know what you prefered being we barely know each other.”

Steven just smiled as he said, “I used to be a fan of chocolate cakes. But my mother used to enjoy putting different things inside, there was one time she put lemon curd and pieces of meringue instead of the icing. It was different but tasted quite nice as well.”

“Interesting,” Pinkie replied as she seemed to place something into her hair. “Next question, What can you even do apart from swinging those things around?”

“What things? My weapons?”

“Yeah, those things you used when those Grimm attacked before?”

“Oh my swords… well I have my Semblance.”

“Oh right, you mentioned that at the Castle. A power unique to everypony, right?”

“Ah yes, that is correct,” Steven replied with a nod of his head.

“Trent said yours has to do with light. What exactly can it do?”

Steven stood silent for a moment before saying, “I...don’t really know. What I do know is that after I was knocked from the castle earlier I was on the brink of death until the princess was above me and I was enveloped in light before my body healed at an abnormally fast rate, as far as I know that could just be my Aura and I haven’t even found what my Semblance actually is yet.”

“Ooo, is it possible for me to get one of these Semblance things?” She asked with a bounce.

“It’s highly possibly you could, to my knowledge anything with a soul could eventually find their own Semblance. But before I could even help others unlock their own I need to understand it myself.”

“Okay. Can you promise you’ll help me with mine as soon as you learn how.”

“You want a lot in terms of promises from me, I’d say you owe me,but I’m already in debt to you for before.”

“Oh yeah you are,” she said, rubbing her chin. “I think I’ll hold up on using that for now though.”

“Sure, you do that,” Steven sighed in agreement.

They both then remained quiet for a bit before Pinkie asked, “So… what are your thoughts on that Dark person?”

“Frankly, I have no idea until I meet him. I try not to cast judgement on people from others opinions. I prefer to make that choice myself. Why?”

“Hmm,” Pinkie hummed. “Just checking, since Trent thinks Seb was lying about him.” She then looked towards Ponyville. “And I know a few people can't wait for you two can meet him and Cece.”

“Really? Who exactly?”

She shook her head. “No one you need to worry about. Now let's stop talking about Dark before people start thinking we're promoting that story. Maybe the others have something to talk about that.” With that said, she hopped off the building and landed perfectly fine before skipping to where the others were.

At this Steven just shook his head before he muttered to himself, “I swear she’s crazy.” as he looked around the base one last time before joining her.

When they reached the group, they saw the 3 ponies and Church looking at Trent while he was slamming his head on a nearby wall.

Steven then looked to them in confusion before he asked, “why is he doing that?”

“We just learned some more bullshit monsters we might have to deal with here,” Church told him.

“And that is?”

Sunset started listing things with her hands. “Manticores, hydras, timberwolves, Ursas, cockatrices, cragodiles, that sort of thing.”

“And that's just in that forest that castle is in,” Church added.

“That's not entirely true,” Twilight said. “Hydras never been seen in the Everfree.”

“Wow. One thing in that list that isn't in that forest. How reassuring,” Church said in a dry tone.

“I’m sure you're exaggerating it. It’s not like we’ll need to go back in there anytime soon,” Steven replied calmly.

“I wouldn't count on it…” Pinkie muttered, with nopony hearing her.

“Okay then…” Steven said, shaking his head. “Seeing that I feel like they are both about to have a breakdown, I think we need to change the subject,” Steven admitted calmly.

“Any ideas?” Twilight asked.

Steven then looked to Pinkie as he remembered what she had done for them before he said calmly, “Well we need to work out how we will fund ourselves here.”

Church nodded. “That's a good thing to discuss.” He then looked back at Trent, who hasn't stopped. “Should I get him?”

“Do you want to let him get brain damage?” Steven asked. “Well, more than he already has.”

“Sounds very tempting.”

“Just get him,” Sunset said.

“Fine.” Church then disappeared before reappearing next to Trent, with the Displaced momentarily stopping to face the AI. All the group were able to see were their heads bobbing up and down, the only way of knowing that they were talking. A few moments later, Trent turned to the group and approached them.

When he reached them, he said, “So, talking about our money problems now?”

“Well, it’s one thing we need to consider if we intend for this place to be restored and ran efficiently. Nobody would help fix or even work for us if they aren’t repaid for their services,” Steven pointed out.

“Well some might,” Trent commented. “But it'll certainly just be a shitty job done.”

“Along with that we’ll need someone to deal with our finances. And I’m pretty sure you would find some way to screw it up.”

Trent shrugged. “Probably. Wasn't the best at math…” he muttered. “But first, we need to figure out how to get money, before figuring out how to properly spend it.”

“Well… do you have any ideas how you’d do it?” Steven asked.

Trent and Church stood silent, looking at each other, before shrugging.

It was then Steven looked around before he said, “Not to worry you, but where is Celestia?”

“Oh, she went that way a little while ago to try to open the vault she mentioned,” Church said, pointing to one of the more ruined buildings in the base.

“Yeah, she went there before Sebaste left,” Sunset added. “You only just noticed?”

“Frankly, I had my eyes to the sky or the forest most of the time. So no I was unaware of that fact,” Steven replied.

“Well you were here for a few minutes before that, so what's your excuse for not noticing then?”

“When she left I had already gone and I just assumed she left,” Steven admitted.

“And you ask where she is now, even though you already thought she was gone?” Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow. “I swear, it's almost like you aren't paying attention to what you're saying.”

After a moment of silence, Church simply turned to Trent and said simply, “I like her.”

“Of course you do,” Steven groaned before looking back to Sunset as he added, “and no offense, but I was more focused on making sure there was no Grimm around.”

Pinkie groaned before facepalming. “Please don't make saying that a habit,” she muttered, nobody really hearing her.

“I highly doubt you need to check every few minutes dude,” Trent said. “Besides, so long as there isn't a strong amount of negative emotions, they shouldn't be interested in this place, right?”

“Right now we barely know what’s in the forests that surround us, and it’s not like the base is secure to not have anything able to get in.”

“Well with that mentality, good luck going to sleep tonight.” A few seconds later, Trent looked up at the sky. “Well, when it actually reaches nighttime. Sheesh this has been a long day...”

“Has it really, I never noticed,” Steven replied sarcastically.

“Again, you're not really very good at your comebacks,” Sunset said.

“She's definitely right this time,” Twilight commented.

“You know what… I’m really not going to bother,” Steven sighed.

“That's good,” Trent said. A few moments of silence later, he turned to Church. “So you guys just do this all the time? Just stand around and talk?”

The AI simply shrugged. “Meh, didn't really do that so much after getting out of that memory unit. Kinda feels weird doing it again after everything with the Director, and Chorus…”

“Understandable,” Trent said with a nod. He then turned to Steven. “Hey, you wanna see what's taking her so long?” He asked before walking to where the Solar Diarch was.

“Probably a good idea,” Steven replied, following him.

“I'm not so sure we should disturb the Princess,” Twilight said.

“Too bad, I'm already halfway there,” Trent said, Church having disappeared.

Twilight sighed before she followed the Displaced, with the other 3 ponies deciding to come along to see how things will go.

As the group made their way toward the building Church had gestured to earlier, they found that the most of the building had crumbled leaving only a small doorway that seemed to be open. It was then Steven looked to the group before he asked them, “Do you think she’s down there?”

“Nowhere else she could've gone unless she felt like teleporting back to Canterlot,” Sunset replied with a shrug.

“Would she have left you all here?” Steven asked curiously.

“Well Twilight and I can just teleport back to Ponyville if we needed to. But the princess would at least let us know she's leaving, instead of just go without saying goodbye.”

“I see, so being you haven’t been told that, this would be our best option,” Steven admitted as he made his way towards the door and down the old staircase.

“Looks like it,” Trent said as he followed Steven being followed shortly after by the rest of the group.

As the group made their way down an old, ruined, crumbling corridor they found that only one narrow corridor was walkable with the remaining corridors being blocked by rubble which made it clear that someone had been clearing a single path to a location.

“Well… who wants to bet Celestia cleared this path?” Steven asked the group.

“I prefer making bets on stuff that aren't insultingly obvious, Steve,” Trent commented.

“Man, you really need to relax,” Steven replied before adding, “none of you would happen to have a light?”

“I can see just fine,” Nyx said with a shrug.

Sunset simply lifted her right hand and both it and her horn glowed for a moment before a small ball of light came to existence from her hand, lighting the way as it floated beside her. “There. That should help the rest of us see.”

“Where you learn that?” Trent asked.

Sunset shrugged. “You live in that castle and spend your free time in the library, you learn a few things,” she said simply.

“If only we could all be so lucky to have that chance,” Steven remarked.

“We can't do magic, so it doesn't matter,” Trent said as they continued walking.

“I was more referring to living in a castle.”

Trent shrugged. “Personally, I'm okay with living like a normal person.” After a moment of silence, Trent said, “How have we not reached her yet?”

“No idea, maybe it’s just a really long tunnel,” Steven suggested.

“Oh really?” Trent said with a sarcastic tone. “I just thought we've been on a treadmill this whole time and that's why we haven't got to her yet.”

“I guess that's why I feel so tired out all of a sudden?” Pinkie replied seeming to lag behind a bit.

Sunset turned to Pinkie with an amused look. “Huh. Until now, I didn't think you can get tired.”

“I’d say everyone would get tired, it is more likely she’s got an unbelievable amount of stamina,” Steven suggested.

“Judging by all the sugar she seems consumes, she's probably in a constant sugar rush,” Twilight said with a shrug.

“That seems like a likely outcome,” Steven added with a nod of his head.
“So, are we just gonna ignore the fact that she thought I was serious about the treadmill thing?” Trent asked.

“Frankly… are you gonna question logic here?” Steven asked.

“Well what else can we do instead of walk in silence?”

“I know,” Church asked, appearing on Trent's shoulder. He then looked at the ponies. “I've been wondering this for a little while and just forgot to ask among all the other questions. How is it that you ponies, who can fly and use “magic”, have been having so much trouble with Grimm, when these two guys, who've no doubt never heard a gun before today, was able to kill nearly a dozen of them on their own?”

“He's right you know,” Trent commented. “Even with everything else I've seen today, that doesn't really make sense. And not one word about the world we're now in, Steven.” The armored Displaced said in an annoyed tone.

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Steven retorted.

“Considering the rest of the day, I'm not taking any chances…” Trent muttered.

“I guess that's fair,” Steven replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Twilight and Sunset both let out a sigh. “From what we can figure out, they're highly resistant to magic,” Twilight explained. “Nothing short of alicorn magic can affect them.”

“And we're not exactly a race who enjoys making weapons besides the older stuff like crossbows and swords or spears,” Sunset continued.

“Need I point out that my swords were effective… could it just be those who fought them were inadequately trained to face them effectively?” Steven asked.

“Well…” Twilight said, rubbing her arm.

Sunset just sighed. “When you have a millennia of peace, you may end up getting soft. Literally 99 percent of the Royal Guard are very incompetent. They couldn't even watch a foal without needing a lot of help.”

“And Celestia has them tasked with protecting her… seriously?” Steven replied in both shock and embarrassment for the ponies around him.

Sunset shrugged. “She's the most powerful pony in Equestria. Personally, I believe she can take care of herself just fine. If anything, it's probably to keep an image or something. Your guess is as good as ours.”

“Frankly I’d rather have one hundred competent guards than thousands of useless ones.”

“There aren't that many guards. Just about a hundred. Three hundred at most.”

“It was an analogy, I didn’t know just how many she had, I just picked two random numbers.”

Twilight then looked like she was about to respond but never did as the ground saw a dim flickering light ahead of them father down the tunnel.

“Finally…” Trent muttered. “I swear, we walked halfway back to town by this tunnel…”

At this Steven walked slowly in thought at the prospect of what Trent had suggested before the group got closer to where they had saw the light ahead of them before the group made their way towards it quicker than before.

As the group reached Celestia she turned back to them slightly as the group saw she was standing in front of a large rusted vault door which looked to have the faded number ‘09’ on the front. The door itself had what looked to be multiple keyholes along it majority having keys inside of them along with a few damaged combination locks above them, one on each side of the door that was resting on two large damaged locks, one of which had fallen to the ground.

“Wow, this place has definitely seen better days,” Sunset commented.

“What's with the number on the top?” Trent asked to no one in particular.

Celestia looked at the door before she said, “Yes it has. To be fair I should have expected as much when the whole pathway was covered in rubble. I fear what states the others will be in.”

“Others?” Trent asked in confusion.

“I’ll explain once I get this door open,” Celestia responded before adding, “If only this one wasn’t broken this would be so much easier.”

“No shit,” Trent and Church said in unison.

Celestia seemed to ignore the two of them as she once again tried to get the broken lock to work before she muttered in annoyance, “I really should have kept the instruction manual for these things.”

“Ya think?” Church asked.

“You think you could do any better?” Celestia asked in frustration.

“I said if it was it was digital lock, I could. Otherwise, I can't do anything. But from what I can tell, I have a better memory then you, if you can't remember to actual combinations and codes.”

Celestia then stopped in thought as she said, “The broken lock wires are linked into a central console near the centre of the vault door. It's why I can’t get in and need to resort to attempting to hotwire the lock using the exposed wires.”

“Wait, how and why do you know how to hotwire something?” Sunset asked in shocked surprise.

“You really think i haven’t needed to know how to do things like this before? I was well aware by the time vaults like this one would be needed there would have been some, complications so I learned how to work some things like this uncase I ever needed get access to one.”

Sunset and Twilight just stared at her in surprise while Trent just chuckled with his arms crossed. “Can't argue you with that.”

“Can't you just blast it open with your lasers?” Church asked.

“Need I point out how unstable the tunnel is? If I do that it could collapse again,” Celestia retorted.

Church and Trent looked around before Church said, “Point taken.”

“Of course, if I am right, we had power here so you could hack the electrical components of this and open it even with the damage it has sustained throughout the years.”

Church looked to the locks for a moment, before saying, “Okay, be back in a bit.” With that, he appeared to run to the locks and disappeared into them.

Trent then looked to Celestia. “So what exactly did you mean by “others”?”

Celesia simply sighed at this before she said, “The other vaults we stored our experimental equipment inside. This one was vault number 9, the one I hoped would have been easiest to access. But as you can see, it wasn’t.”

“Well being abandoned for a few decades can do that.”

“I was well aware of that fact, the other reasons being that…” Celestia said before muttering the rest under her breath.

“I'm sorry, what?” Trent asked.

“We don’t know the locations of 96 of the vaults anymore.”

“What?” Sunset, Trent, and Twilight said in unison.

“You heard me, we no longer know the locations of 96 of the 99 vaults we had made, this one and two others were the only ones we could find the records for the rest,” Celestia admitted.

“So, you're telling me there are 99 of these things all over your country, and you only know about 3?” Trent asked. “And how do you expect us to find the other?”

“Hopefully the rest of the records on their locations will be found within due course, but it appears some of the records were missing when we searched for them.”

“Why do you care?” Church asked Trent after reappearing on his shoulder. “Not like it's our problem. Just this one, since it's connected to our base.”

“Any weapon is useful if it means it can help us fight Grimm,” Trent explained. “And if these vaults have weapons or other equipment, even experimental, they can do us some good.”

“Besides, it’s better we find them before someone who doesn’t know what they are getting into finds it and risks unleashing something beyond their comprehension,” Steven added.

“Yeah, that too.”

“So I take it you're done?” Sunset asked Church.

The AI nodded. “Yeah, but it's very rusted. It's unlocked now, but you guys are gonna have to open it manually if you want anything.”

“Great…” Trent said sarcastically.

“It could be worse, the door could have not have been possible to open atall,” Steven pointed out.

“At least, not without bringing the whole tunnel down on top of us,” Trent said with a shrug.

“So, how do we get this open?” Steven asked calmly.

“I believe I can help with that,” Celestia interrupted before adding “just be ready to help move the door once it begins to open.”

“Yeah, I can totally do that,” Trent said with sarcasm in his voice. “I'm just a regular guy in a suit of armor, I can actually help open a door that huge and heavy.” He then said in a serious tone, “Though if I had a strength enhancement, that'd be true, but I don't.”

“As long as we can move it enough to walk through it will be enough for the time being,” Celesia admitted as her horn ignited as a golden glow wrapped around the vault door before it slowly began to move forwards.

Trent sighed. “Fine.” He then turned to Steven. “Come on.”

“You make it sound like this is a chore,” Steven replied as they both walked towards the door as they began to assist Celestia in slowly inching the door open further. It was then Steven looked towards Twilight and Sunset as he asked them, “Are you two going to help or what?”

Sunset shrugged when Twilight looked guilty before their horns and right hands started to glow and they began helping with their magic as the door continued inching it open even further till each of the group could pass through into the vault.

Once the group got inside, they looked around them to see that the inside of the vault looked to have multiple chambers. One looking to hold multiple guns of several different shapes and sizes, another one seeming to look like some kind of control room that looked like it may be connected to something else. The next seemed to have what looked to be a few gold bars which seemed to have been left behind and the last was a long wall covered with security boxes that looked to be behind a alarmed laser wall.

“Is this a vault, or an armory?” Trent asked in shock.

“Are we not sure it’s both?” Steven asked.

“Probably,” Church said with a shrug.

“Although will this stuff even work after this long? Won’t any weapons down here be rusted by now?” Steven asked.

“Or busted?” Sunset added.

“That as well,” Steven agreed with a shrug of his shoulders.

It was then the group saw a long rectangular table ahead of them resting against one of the walls. The table itself was empty of almost anything apart from what looked to be a few cylindrical objects resting next to them on the table with a small sealed letter in front of them.

“Huh. Wonder what this is,” Trent said, picking up the letter.

“Looks pretty clean for something that's been down here for a few decades,” Church commented.

Trent shrugged before opening the envelope and reading the letter inside. “What the…”

“What's wrong?” Steven asked as he walked over to the side of Trent.

“Take a look at this,” the Freelancer told his friend before handing over the letter.

It was then Steven looked at the letter as he began to read the letter to himself to find the letter read.

Hello Steven and Trent,

If you are reading this letter, congratulations on finding the first of many of this worlds lost vaults, I say lost being as it seems that the ones who should have montiered them have in many circumstances failed to do so.

Located in this vault are a few blueprints to help you get started on your new job, these being only the firsts. The rest, as of now, are hidden away from prying eyes. A large majority of these blueprints are hidden in the other lost vaults and some with many civilians I have bestowed the information onto. With any luck those individuals will come to you in due course.

Beyond this, till a time when you need my assistance again you shall have little direct support from me. Your path till then is your own to forge, but I would recommend you make finding the larger vaults a priority. You never know what or who may be contained inside of them.

All I have said is up to your interpretation and if you search these places out is done at your discretion.

Hopefully I will never require your assistance in any personal matters but on the off chance something comes up, I look forwards to seeing you again.

Sincerely,
The soon to bane of your existence Andrew.

P.S. I’m not being serious on the ‘Bane of your existence’ thing I swear.

Steven then read the letter in his head once again before he looked at Trent and said, “I doubt he’ll ever require our assistance, I can’t see how we’d be able to do anything to benefit him, also told you we’d need to find those vaults.”

“Maybe, but how the hell did he put that here when the place was sealed shut,” Trent asked.

“And who are these “others” that have more blueprints?” Church added.

“Do I look like I know the answer to that?” Steven responded as he looked to Celestia.

“What does the letter say?” Twilight asked.

Trent grabbed the letter out of Steven's hands and handed it to Twilight, allowing the two unicorns and the earth pony to read it.

“Well, that's...interesting…” Twilight said as she gave the letter to Celestia who also read the letter before muttering something to herself.

She then looked to both Trent and Steven before she said, “This creature couldn’t have given us the location of the others, could they?”

“Guess not,” Trent said with a shrug.

“So we basically have to go on some scavenger hunt?” Church asked.

“Well we could get you a body and send you out alone to do that,” Steven responded with a smirk.

“No thanks. I'm fine with you two doing all the work.”

“You sure?” Steven asked before walking over to the table before opening one of the cylindrical objects before he laid one of the blueprints that were contained inside out on the table before he said through a chuckle, “Oh you’ll love this one Trent.”

Sunset approached the table and looked at the blueprint. “What is this anyway? Looks like some weird car?”

“Wait, what?” Trent asked. He approached the blueprint and looked at it. When he saw it, he blinked inside his helmet.

“You can't be serious…” Church said.

“What?” Sunset asked.

“It's a Warthog,” Trent said before grabbing the blueprint and looking at the details.

“Um, looks more like a manticore to me.”

“I see it as a puma,” Church said.

Trent shook his head. “Whatever. I'm not the one who named it that. It's called a Warthog and I'm sticking to that. And trust me, this thing will be very useful for us.”

“How?” Nyx asked.

“Simple. It has a mounted turret and is a car. In other words, we can drive and shoot at the same time. And apparently you can drive it across an ocean just fine…” Trent muttered, recalling a random RvB scene.

Twilight frowned in confusion. “You mean it can float?”

“Nope. You can drive it on an ocean floor.”

Twilight blinked. “What?”

“You heard him,” Steven replied, “And yes it makes no sense.”

“I stopped caring about that a long time ago,” Church muttered.

“You would stop caring after being around the reds and the other blues for so long,” Steven responded under his breath.

“Eeyup.”

It was then Celestia walked over to the group looking over them at the Warthog blueprint before she asked the group, “How do you intend to make this ‘Warthog’ exactly?”

The Displaced paused and looked at each other before they turned to the Princess and shrugging.

“Best we got is getting parts with our future funds and follow the instructions,” Trent said.

“I see,” Celestia responded seeming to be lost in thought before she said, “With your permission I would like to borrow the blueprint for a while.”

Church looked at the blueprint for a couple of seconds before saying, “Go ahead. Got it memorized now.” As if to prove his point, he pulled up a small holographic replica of the blueprint for a few seconds then let it disappear.

“Well in that case, here,” Trent said as he rolled up the blueprint and gave it to the Celestia.

As soon as Celestia was given the blueprint she smiled at the group before she said, “Thank you, I can assure you that you will look forwards to what we will do with this.”

“Um...why?” Sunset asked.

“You’ll just have to wait and find out,” Celestia responded with a smile.

“Yippee,” Trent said sarcastically.

“So let's recap,” Church said. “A vault that has several weapons and a control room, plus gold, a country wide scavenger hunt, and a way of getting a ride I'm actually familiar with. Is there anything else that I've missed that's come to our attention in the last hour?”

“Well there is the fact that the Grimm are magic-proof but apart from that I think you got everything,” Pinkie responded.

“Right…”

“We've been doing way too many recaps today…” Trent muttered.

“Well if that's everything, how about we just head back to the surface,” Sunset suggested.

“Let me handle that,” Celestia responded before anyone could argue as she teleported the group back above ground.

Trent stumbled a bit before taking a knee. “That is seriously disorienting…”

“You get used to it,” Sunset said with a shrug.

“We’ll take your word on that,” Steven replied as he covered his mouth with the back of his hand.

Trent looked at the sky and saw the sun still pretty high. “This is a really long day. What time is it?”

“About three in the afternoon,” Church said.

“Sheesh…”

“What time does the sun even set here anyway?” Steven asked curiously.

“Six PM, of course,” Twilight said. “Why?”

“Oh you know, I’m just not sure how the daylight saving times work here, or which season we’re in or even what the natural times for sunrise or sunset are at right now,” Steven explained.

“No idea what that is, first day of summer, and six AM and PM respectively,” Twilight said casually.

“Wait, if dawn is that early, why did it happen over two hours late today?” Trent asked.

“Well after Nightmare Moon defeated me, she decided to repeat what I did to her and imprisoned me in the sun. However once she was defeated the spell she used dissipated and allowed me to return,” Celestia explained.

The three non-ponies looked at her in confusion and blinked. “What?” Church asked, tilting his head.

Celestia simply shook her head before she said, “Nightmare Moon trapped me on the sun, which was the opposite to what I did to her. Then once she was defeated the spell she used was broken which allowed me to return to Equestria.”

The three continued staring at her until Trent said “WHAT?!”

“What is it you don’t understand?” Celestia asked.

“You were in the SUN? And not only that, but you didn't get burn to an utter crisp when you got so much as 100 miles near it? And you were able to get from there to here in less than a year? How the fuck is that possible and don't say anything about magic, Steven,” Trent said, pointing a finger at his friend.

“I wasn’t going to,” Steven responded.

“I don't know what's I find more as bullshit,” Church said. “What you just said or what Celestia said. They're both very unbelievable.”

“How is what Celestia said unbelievable?” Nyx asked.

“I think I understand,” Twilight said before looking at Trent. “Who controls the sun where you're from?”

Trent blinked and looked at her as if she was crazy, though nobody was able to tell because of the helmet. “I'm sorry, what?”

“The sun. Who controls it in your universe?”

“No one,” Trent said as if he was stating a fact even babies would know. “Nobody controls the sun.”

“Then who changes it from day to night so the world doesn't die from heat or cold?”

“No one. The planet does that on its own by spinning around the thing. Nobody can control the sun. And nobody can control the time of day. It just works on its own.”

“Wow. Your world is really different from ours…”

“What, you're saying someone actually CAN control that stuff here?” Church asked. As if to answer that, all the ponies looked at Celestia. After a moment of silence, Church said, “You're kidding.”

“Maybe I should have said magic,” Steven responded with a chuckle.

“Shut up,” Church and Trent told him in unison.

At this Celestia just rolled her eyes before she responded by saying, “To make a long story short, both me and Luna are in charge of the sun and moon respectively. I control the times of the day, while she controlled the night. This came to head when my sister became Nightmare Moon due to everypony sleeping through the night she worked so hard to make beautiful while they played and enjoyed themselves during the day.”

Trent looked at Celestia before he just looked at the sky and sighed. “Fine. Sure. Whatever.” He then shook his head and began walking away from the group.

“I don’t think he took that fact very well,” Steven responded as he rubbed the back of his head.

“To be honest, it looks like he just completely gave up on figuring out how we work compared to you,” Sunset said as she saw him banging his head on a wall several yards away.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Nyx asked.

“Most likely,” Steven replied. “If not, I’m sure Epsilon will look after him.”

“I wonder how he's taking this,” Sunset commented. “I mean, aren't AIs something that work on logic and science, and he's from a world where what Celestia does is impossible? Wouldn't this drive him insane to find out?”

“Trust me, this is more sane than he’s used to. He’ll be fine.”

“Besides, Delta’s the logic guy,” Church said, appearing near them. “He'll be the one who finds it crazy. As for what you just said Steven, that's bullshit. I may be used to a lot of crazy shit, but this isn't sane compared to all that. I've just seen and gone through enough to not bothering questioning anything anymore.”

“True… I guess,” Steven responded before looking at the others as he asked them, “Do you have anything else you require to ask us?”

They looked at each other and shrugged.

“I suppose I’d better also ask how you’re planning to get yourselves home, I’d assume teleportation for most of you,” Steven admitted.

Sunset shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much.

“I see, I guess the only one who can’t leave that way is Pink…” Steven then stopped as he realised that Pinkie had already disappeared where she was moments ago dust settling from where she was. “How does she even do that?”

Sunset and Twilight shrugged. “We've only met her yesterday,” Twilight said. “She's...rather strange.”

“You don’t need to tell me that twice,” Steven agreed with a smile.

“Well then, with that we will take our leave, if you're ready that is?” Celestia asked the reminding ponies.

The 3 ponies nodded. Sunset then looked at Steven and Church. “Well, see ya guys later. And…” she looked at Trent still banging his head before sighing. “Send him my regards.”

“No worries, we’ll make sure to do so,” Steven responded.

At this Celestia nodded her head to both Steven and Church before igniting her horn in a golden light and the three of them disappeared in a flash of light.

Steven then stood still for a few seconds before he turned to Church before asking him, “So… How long should we wait before we stop Trent from causing himself permanent brain damage?”

“I don't think there's enough in there in the moment to cause any notable differences any time soon,” Church replied. “I'd say give him another few minutes. Ten tops.”

Steven then looked back to Trent then back to Epsilon before he said calmly with a smirk, “I hate to say it, but I agree with you on that.”

After Celestia had returned both Nyx and Twilight to the Library in Ponyville, the remaining two ponies teleported to Canterlot.

Upon appearing in the throne room in Canterlot, Celestia looked to Sunset before she said to her calmly, “Well, all in all I think today has been a very eventful day.”

Sunset chuckled. “You think? Nightmare Moon returned, you got imprisoned, Twilight and the others found the Elements of Harmony, they freed your sister, those 3 and Nyx showed up, we find out they're from another world, you gave them that job, we got to Ponyville, we got to the base, met more like them, found out about Displaced, opened that vault, found out about that scavenger hunt, and learned their world didn't need somepony to control the sun or moon.”

“We really have been recapping things a lot today haven’t we,” Celestia chuckled.

Sunset blushed and chuckled sheepishly. “Sorry. But yeah, that's all happened and it's only about four in the afternoon. So calling it eventful is quite an understatement.”

“Yes. Though I'm not so sure those three are not going to be the most reliable for the time being.”

Sunset shrugged. “They may not be the brightest. I mean, Trent threatening to shoot Luna was very stupid. But they seem nice enough. And they agreed to help us with our Grimm problem when the griffons refused. So that's a plus.”

“As always you just keeping looking at the surface and not seeing what they hide, you seem to be underestimating just how important Steven could be to our cause.”

Sunset frowned. “How so? Seems to be an average guy with impressive weapons and a neat way to heal thanks to light. Not to mention he states the obvious a few too many times. Really the best thing I've seen about him is that he seems to help keep Trent's head on straight and is the smart one of the two.”

“Again, you only see what’s in front of you. There’s more to that man than meets the eye, but as to what depth that is I can’t understand.”

Sunset shrugged. “Whatever you say princess.”

“But that still doesn’t solve the problem for them being unreliable. They are too far out to be useful and aren't very easily contactable. We need a way to fix that problem.”

Sunset thought about it for a few moments before a thought came to her head. “You know, I have an idea to make it easy to contact them, and to have someone keep an eye on them when Twilight can't.”

“And just who are you thinking could do that,” Celestia asked with a knowing smile.

Sunset smirked. “Let me get something before I tell you,” Sunset said before walking out of the throne room.

Author's Notes:

And this is done. Sorry for the wait. And sorry if it isn't that good. The highlights I can see is it being revealed Grimm are magic-resistant, the vault opening, the blueprint, and the little hunt Trent and Steven has to do. Yeah, so they're going to have find all the other vaults in order to find blueprints to help them with their job. And they learned about Celestia controlling the sun, with Trent not taking it very well. Nothing much to say about that. The next chapter will finally be the last chapter of that day. Like the characters, I'm surprised all that has happened in less than 10 hours. As for Pinkie being...different, our best explanation is we're still getting used to writing her and figuring out how she should be in this story, since we'll have a few differences with some characters. As for what Celestia said about Steven, Brony talked to me about it when I questioned it. Apparently it's related to a plan he has for Steven. Don't worry, no Gary Stu stuff. At least, not that I know of. Now, it may be a while until the next chapter. Brony and I actually need to discuss what will happen in it before we write it. That way there shouldn't be as many delays. Until next time.
-Dark