Fillies and Monsters

by Solaris Vult

First published 28th of October, 2019

After overhearing the CMC wanting to hunt monsters, Discord gives them and Diamond Tiara a chance in the world of Remnant

One day five fillies are wandering through the forest and slaughter a pack of timberwolves, impressed, the god of chaos offers them a chance to go to a monster-hunting school, little do these fillies know that they are about to enter a world of bloody evolution.

Faced with discrimination, criminals, terrorists, and unending hordes of abominations led by a wicked witch, how will four foals survive? And how will this new team change the world of Remnant?

[Note: I've decided that every 50 likes, I'll release another chapter in a row, instead of following the usual schedule. PS, New chapters every Monday and Friday, since, with how chaotic my current situation is IRL, those are the only times I can upload.]

(Hey! It got featured!)

Chapter 1: Discordant Beginnings

The timberwolf’s growling was cut short with a sharp kick to the snout, the sheer power behind the strike sending the creature flying backwards, shattering against the trunk of a tree. The second one was pulled apart by the rapid application of pale green telekinesis. The last of the three would have run had it known what happened to the rest of the pack, but it was too busy chasing the little orange pony who was somehow outrunning one of the apex predators of the Everfree, it remained oblivious as furious hooves and wild magic tore it too asunder. All of them didn’t notice the creature that loomed above, like a great serpent, rendered invisible by his powerful magic.

Scootaloo ran up the side of a tree as another timberwolf seemingly emerged from the bush, chasing the filly, the wolf laid itself against the tree’s trunk, Scootaloo kicked out and lept from the tree and glided to the ground as Apple Bloom ran forward and struck the wolf with all her strength, splitting the creature in half and knocking the tree to the ground.

While the two performed this display, yet another wolf lept from the darkness. Sweetie Belle had spent years assisting her sister in their art, and one of the first things she learned was how to use magic to cut fabric into strips. The wolf was bathed in a series of magical pulses that cut through its body, rendering raw wood into cut timbers, and all Sweetie had to do was move to avoid the splinters that scattered across the ground.

Another two timberwolves lept from the darkness… How many were in this pack? And they were running toward the fillies cowering in the center of the destruction. In the comfort of her own mind, Apple Bloom swore as she realized her hoof was firmly stuck into the tree she had knocked over, “Silver, Diamond!”

There was a flash of minty-green light, a dome of energy appeared over the two fillies, one of the wolves rammed itself into the barrier, which suddenly flashed again and collapsed. In a blur, the pegasus of the group lept from another tree and landed on the wolf who had just rammed itself against Sweetie’s barrier, she fell atop the timberwolf’s back and jabbed her hooves against the back of the monster’s neck, while she certainly didn’t have earth pony strength, she could still be pretty scary on her own, particularly when pulling a wolf’s head off its wooden spine.

Sweetie collapsed from the magical exertion, sensing both weakness and a threat, the final timberwolf lept for the fallen unicorn, but a blur of pink caught it in the side and it flew apart. “Woah… Awesome!” Scootaloo shouted.

That was the last of them, any wolves still hiding in wait had realized the futility of their hunt, “We should go before they start reforming… Well, except for the one Sweetie got, I don’t think that one’s getting back up,” A grey and silver filly commented.

“A little help please?” Asked Apple Bloom, who had managed to get her hooves coated in tree sap and tangled in the tree she had barreled over. The others, with the exception of Diamond and Silver Spoon, had rushed to the aid of their friend, Silver was still in more than a little awe and fear, and when it became apparent that Sweetie and Scootaloo weren’t helping as much as they thought they were, Diamond scoffed and marched over to pull Apple Bloom free. Once she was free, she commented, “It’s weird seeing you actually helping for once.”

Diamond gave another scoff and turned to look at the sappy Apple Bloom, “You might be reckless, ignorant, crazy, blank-flanks, but I’m not going to leave you here to get eaten later by whatever other monsters are waiting in these forests.”

The rest smiled while Sweetie, suddenly angry, turned to Diamond and shouted, “Ignorant! I get better grades than you!”

“Sweetie… She just saved you, surely you can forgive an empty insult…” Silver commented.

It was Sweetie Belle’s turn to scoff, but she seemed to accept it. The five fillies started trotting back to town… Luckily, the things the five had gone into the forest to get had been unharmed in the fight. Apple Bloom’s bag full of herbs, spices, and other potion ingredients had suffered the worst, but a little sap wouldn’t hurt the plants. The potions Filthy Rich had ordered from Zecora sat unharmed in Silver Spoon’s bags. And with a little application of Sweetie’s magic to sever the connection from the head to the rest of the wooden body, Scootaloo was now proudly carrying the wooden head of a timberwolf.

The others cringed a bit at the rather grim trophy, but her decapitation of the monster the others had to admit was pretty cool. “That was really cool and awesome!” Scootaloo said, trotting beside Diamond Tiara, “Taking out that timberwolf like you did… I really didn’t think you had it in you to beat up a beast like that.”

Diamond was silent for a second, not really knowing how to take a compliment from these blank-flanks. Silver Spoon cut in, “Of course she can, she’s an earth pony! She can knock down a tree, like you,” She stared at the still sticky Apple Bloom, “if she tried!”

The five continued walking, “Honestly,” Diamond started, “It was kind of… Fun… Hanging out with you girls…” She gave a little chuckle, “I almost wish there were more of them back there.”

“It’s weird seeing you so… Nice,” Said Apple Bloom.

Silver Spoon leaned toward Apple Bloom, “I think she’s just scared of you now,” She said in a loud whisper, smirking.

Diamond turned red and growled at her friend, who only continued smirking. Scootaloo grinned, “we could come back here tomorrow! We can fight more monsters! And” She paused, looking at the wolf head she had on her back, “I can get more trophies to show my parents... Whenever they get back.”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle smirked at each other and raised their hooves, turning their head to Diamond Tiara, “You gonna join?” Scootaloo said, raising her hoof with the others. Diamond simply scoffed and turned to trot on, but a look and tap on the flank from Silver Spoon made Diamond sigh and move to raise her hoof with the others… She wouldn’t be shouting “Cutie Mark Crusader: Monster Hunters!”, but she could at least humour the other blank-flank’s antics.

Above, the serpentine creature continued to observe multiple realities at once, but had started to pay attention to his favourite universe, sensing the opportunity for chaos. Sweetie spoke up first, “Unfortunately, tomorrow is a school-day, and I don’t think I’ll have the time to go monster hunting with you.”

Scootaloo sighed, “It would be cool if there was a school for this kind of thing… Imagine going to a school for potion-making, or weapon-making, or monster-hunting!”

Apple Bloom cringed a bit at Scootaloo’s mentioning of their Weapon-Making attempts… Somehow, when trying to make a dagger, she remembered Scootaloo burning down one of the sheds near the barn, and taking a small chunk of the orchard with it… At least Sweetie had made a pretty good halberd.

The time for chaos was now. Behind the fillies came the silky voice of Discord, “A school for monster hunting?”

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon gave startled yelps, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked sceptical, but Scootaloo suddenly looked even more excited, “Discord!” They all shouted, in voices ranging from horror to hope.

“My favourite little foals…” Discord greeted.

“Is there really a school for monster hunting!” Scootaloo nearly shouted.

“Many… But there’s one, in particular, I think you would enjoy…” Discord smirked… Part of him wished that they had asked for a magic school, that world was in desperate need of chaos, and the world he had in mind was already chaotic… But the chaos his next actions would cause in Equestria was too much to resist, and injecting more chaos into an already chaotic world, as he had learned from long experience, usually started spiralling out of control into something truly glorious.

“Can we go! Can we go! Can we go!” Scootaloo bounced in place.

“Now hold on, you know as well as I do how untrustworthy Discord is,” Apple Bloom cut in, “What’s the catch.”

“Well,” Discord scoffed, “It’s a very dangerous school, full of excitement and adventure, at least in comparison to this place…”

“Danger! Adventure!” Scootaloo started panting.

Sweetie Belle looked deep in thought, “Can I learn magic there,”

Discord mirrored the look of being deep in thought, “Well, yes, for certain definitions of magic, it goes by a different name there, but it is none the less magic… And, it’s a type of magic all four of you can use, not just your horned companion.”

Scootaloo was just bouncing in place, Sweetie Belle started grinning at the idea of learning a new kind of magic, Apple Bloom was less than convinced. “Four?” She said, raising her eyebrow.

“Well, of course, four of you will need to go, that’s just how it works.”

The three fillies turned to look at Diamond, “No, no way,” She said, “This is your kind of craziness… And mom will throw a fit.”

The fillies looked a little disappointed, and turned to Silver Spoon, “No… I’m not some crazy blank-flank monster fighter, I can bearly fight an insect.”

“Oh my little diamond,” Discord purred as he slithered from nowhere to appear behind Diamond Tiara. “But deep down I know how much you hate your mother… I know that this is exactly the kind of chaos a certain little blank-flanked foal wanted in her youth. Before she became shackled to a mark that she didn’t understand.”

Diamond looked flustered and started sputtering for a response. “You destroyed a timberwolf and savoured the feeling of the timbers shattering under your earth-pony strength, a strength you so rarely get to unleash, always keeping your rage at your mother and yourself locked away inside… I can only imagine how good it felt to unleash that rage at a beast such as that wolf. Imagine doing that every day.”

Apple Bloom turned to her friends, “Well if you two are going, I’m coming to… But I’ll need to talk to Applejack first, and you two need to speak with your sisters too.”

“Let me handle that… You’ll be needing these too” The serpentine pseudo-deity said, snapping his fingers and conjuring four boxes and four bags. “You’re a few years too young, even Sweetie, but that can be rectified.”

Scootaloo moved to throw open the box and bag with her name on it, surprised to see the contents of the containers. “Metal bits?” She asked, staring at the box filled with little metal parts, some looked like the blades of knives, and others looked more like clockwork parts, but none of them she recognized asides from the screws and cogs… There were even a few obviously magical gemstones inside the box of parts. Scootaloo noticed that the boxes the others got were far bigger, with Sweetie’s box nearly being her size.

Looking into the bags, they found piles of fabric with the occasional metal plate. “What’s all this,” Diamond said, looking at the strange pink and white armoured dress that looked more like something a diamond dog or abyssinian would wear.

“Looks like you’re all ready… Remember, find a weapons shop or tinkerer to help you with those parts, and cause as much chaos as possible in your glorious quest to become monster hunters!” Discord said, proudly, before snapping his fingers and the four, plus their boxes and bags, all vanished in a blink of light… Leaving behind a dumbfounded Silver Spoon and smug magic snake.

It was night, the dark sky clearly showed that. Sweetie was the first to wake up, still a little dazed from the teleportation. Her body felt weird and she raised her forehoof to the sky in an effort to roll over and get her balance. She felt the grass prick at her body, an odd, somewhat painful, but mostly ticklish sensation, and saw her foreleg, long and pale, but a little more tawny than her normally white coat, and… “What in Celestia’s name!” She shouted, looking at the strange claw-like appendage at the end of her leg.

Scootaloo started to flail around, naked on the grass, and slowly the others came to consciousness. “Discord!” Came the voice of an enraged Apple Bloom. Carefully, Sweetie started to move her body in ways she didn’t think she could before and started to twist around in strange motions that found her sitting, plot firmly on the grassy ground, legs outstretched in front of her, and torso sitting straight up.

Apple Bloom had gotten into a strange position that would have looked normal were she a pony, she stood on both her claw-like forehooves and paw-like hind hooves with an arched back and flank firmly in the air, she stumbled and fell over again. “Bloom!” Sweetie called out, “Remember those pictures I showed you of the Abyssinians and Diamond Dogs, I think we should try to walk like them.”

“Why?” Asked Scootaloo who had managed to get into a similar position.

“Just look at ourselves, whatever Discord turned us into, we’re clearly not supposed to be walking on all four of our legs, think about how Spike walks.”

“That damn dragon-snake!” Apple Bloom muttered as she started to get unsteadily to her pawed hind-hooves.

“Bloom, language.”

“I couldn’t care less about what I say right now, I’ve been turned into a hairless monkey thing.”

Sweetie rolled her eyes but knew exactly how Apple Bloom was feeling right now. Scootaloo had managed to get up by now, and was starting to help Diamond to her hind-hooves, who was muttering something to herself, probably a litany of insults toward “Dumb blank-flanks getting me wrapped up in some strange Discord magic thing, turning me into an abomination and sending me Celestia knows where.”

Now that they had gotten their bearings, Apple Bloom took the chance to analyze their new forms. Sweetie was still the tallest of the group, with pale skin, but still had the same mane and eye colors, her mane extending down to her waist, and she still had her pony ears, sticking up from her head, odd, as to the side of her head was a pair of fleshy growths that also looked vaguely like ears. The fleshy lumps growing from her chest looked almost like the utters of a cow, and she had much longer legs than an abyssinian, but shorter arms than any diamond dog she had ever seen.

Scootaloo was much the same, the shortest of the group certainly, with the shortest mane too, and the fleshy lumps on her chest were nearly non-existent… She didn’t have her pony ears, so it was unclear just how she was hearing the others, her skin was a little more tan, but she still had orange-feathered wings extending from her back, much larger and more like those of a griffon than when she was a pony.

Diamond had a mane that extended past her shoulders but didn’t hold a candle to Sweetie’s grand mass of hair, she too had pony ears. The oddest part was her skin colour, almost stark white, about as white as Sweetie’s pony fur.

Apple Bloom took a look at herself and discovered that she didn’t have her pony ears either, but after patting down her head she discovered the fleshy growths to either side of her head acted as ears, and she still at least had her bow. Her utters were the biggest of the group and played havoc with her balance as she attempted not to stumble forward in this strange body. That was when she discovered two things… First, without hooves, the ground hurt, as her hind-hooves trampled grass, pebbles, and other little debris on the ground. Second, she still had her tail, which she used to help keep her balance.

“What the hell am I!” Yelled Diamond Tiara, “What did you idiotic blank-flanks do to me!”

“This, whatever this is, is Discord’s fault!” Bloom spoke up.

“You were the ones who dragged me into this mess!”

“Girls!” Shouted Sweetie. “We can argue later… First, we need to get somewhere safe, preferably with other ponies… Or whatever lives here, so long as it’s friendly.”

Scootaloo nodded, “We should probably get those things on,” Scootaloo said, pointing to the bags… “They might have ponyshooes in there, and this place hurts my hooves… Plus it’s cold.”

Sweetie was looking around when something in the sky caught her attention. Diamond Tiara ignored her, shouting, “Well… Where in Equestria are we!”

“Uhh… Girls,” Said Sweetie Belle, looking and pointing up. “I don’t think we’re in Equestria anymore.”

The fillies stared upward toward a bright silvery source of light and saw the moon… It was massive, bigger than Luna’s moon, and… Broken… It looked like a shattered glass orb, with little broken chunks floating around. And for what felt like hours, the girls looked up into that massive, broken, terrifying moon. Awe and fear mixing in equal measure at the sight of the slowly drifting fragments.

Author's Notes:

So, this is a little side-fic I cooked up for whenever I got bored with writing Mare in the Metal Box. I hope you enjoy. If any of you have read the fic, then it should be obvious that I was taking some inspiration from Magic School Days, referencing it directly when Discord lamented them not being sent to magic school.

Chapter 2: Welcome to Remnant

Diamond had a short but elegant dress coloured white and pink, with some heavy looking high-heeled ponyshooes that were plated in metal, her dress featured a silver breastplate with her cutie mark engraved upon it, one that could be removed and attached with little effort, meaning that she didn’t need to be wearing the armour all the time, and she could simply wear the outfit as a nice dress. She also had a little silver tiara that matched the one she wore in Ponyville, with the exception of being a little flatter and more like a circlet to better fit the head of whatever she was now. Luckily the outfit also came with a silver and blue scarf, a gift from Celestia, or rather Discord, given the chilly air.

Sweetie had a longer, heavier, white coat that was clearly padded, with a fur collar and fur cloak, while the air was chilly, the cloak was a little much and so she left it in her bag, but the dress was nice. Her mane colours trimmed the outfit and a little patch in the shape of a star with a music note in the middle decorated her chest. It almost reminded her of those griffon military uniforms they wore in winter.

Scootaloo had an orange shirt and a thick black short-sleeved jacket with metal plates sewn inside and holes for her wings. She also had some heavy pants with metal plates sewn on and another pair of heavy ponyshooes, around her waist was a spiked belt with a light purple skirt with the symbol of a wing and lightning bolt sewn on. She almost gave off an aura of menace in that jacket and pants, like she was somepony out to beat up someone and rob them, but the cute little skirt nearly ruined the effect.

Apple Bloom had the simplest of their clothing, a sweater with some kind of vest that also felt metal-plated, although unlike Diamond’s gleaming, royal-guard style, breastplate or Scootaloo’s rugged pants, these plates were clearly inside the vest, hidden by the brown cloth. With a simple pair of pants and a hat exactly like her sisters save for the metal emblem of an apple and a heart adorning it like a sheriff’s medal. The most obvious pieces of armour were a pair of bronze ponyshooes for both her sets of legs, hind and fore.

Sweetie Belle was really the only one of them used to wearing clothing, but Discord provided them, they were decent armour, and they got them out of the Celestia damned cold. The thought that Discord had provided them armour was both relieving and at the same time more chilling than the cold air… Equestria had plenty of monsters, but for the most part, the guard could handle them, why would this place have a school dedicated to teaching monster-killing… Couldn’t their own guards handle it? And now they had just been given armour as if Discord was expecting them to be attacked right as they awoke… And the most annoying part, sure, the fillies liked their new armour, but why did Diamond get the best protection!

They took the time getting dressed to inspect the field around them, it was a clearing in the woods not too far from a hill, there was a glow emanating from just beyond. “What do you think, should we head that way?” Asked Sweetie, pointing toward the dim light from just beyond the hill and woods.

“Well, where there’s light, there has to be something producing light, it doesn’t have the orange hue of a fire, so I’m guessing it’s a town or city,” Said Diamond.

“I’d guess the same.”

“It doesn’t matter what’s over there, so long as I find some food,” Apple Bloom muttered.

“I don’t care where we go, so long as it’s not as boring as this place,” Scootaloo said.

“I guess that means we’re in agreement… Come on, we should get moving,” Said Diamond.

“What about those boxes…” Said Apple Bloom, pointing toward the cardboard boxes discord had given them, “I took a peek inside and found all kinds of metal bits, screws, pipes, all that kind of thing, including some papers that looked important.”

Diamond sighed, “All they are is some metal junk… I don’t know why Discord gave them to us, but I don’t want to haul those to… Wherever we’re going.”

Apple Bloom replied, “Discord gave them to us, we can’t just leave it, they’re probably important!”

Diamond replied in turn, “Do you want to carry all that metal for who knows how far.”

Sweetie cut in, “I’ll take a box if that helps, I’ve carried Rarity’s luggage enough that I’ve gotten plenty of practice in hauling boxes,” She moved to the box with her name on it, the largest of the bunch… Back when they were in Equestria, as ponies, the box was nearly the size of a thirteen-year-old filly, and that wasn’t counting its length, it was nearly twice as long as even a fully grown pony. The box was still pretty big but if she set the box on her shoulder and held it with her claws, it wouldn’t be too hard to carry.

Scootaloo nodded and moved to her box, the smallest of the bunch, being just big enough that she could comfortably carry it in her claws. Apple Bloom went to pick up hers and discovered, rather surprisingly, that while being nowhere near as big as Sweetie’s box, hers was somehow the heaviest.

Diamond scoffed, and when they realized that she wasn’t going to be taking her box with her, Scootaloo grabbed it and again was surprised that while easily being three times the size of her package, Diamond’s was somehow the lightest.

Soon they had scaled the hill and saw the source of the glow. “Woah!” Exclaimed Scoots, Apple Bloom looked rather impressed, and Sweetie stared mouth agape. Diamond merely stared, not showing much of a reaction. The city was massive, bigger than Canterlot, bigger than Manehattan even, it stretched all the way from the coast on one side to the mountain on the other, behind that mountain, in the shadows, they could vaguely see what looked like more of the city, but no lights came from over there. At the other end of the city from where they were now, they could see a huge spire overlooking a cliff-face. There was the occasional airship patrolling the skies, not nearly as many as in Cloudsdale or Rainbow Falls, and certainly not as many as Las Pegasus, but they were there, too far away to make out any details about them though.

“Looks like a three or four hour trot… Let’s stop gawking and get there as soon as possible,” Apple Bloom said, breaking the spell the fillies had been under. And so they began their trek, the forest proved sparse enough to easily traverse.

News travels fast in Ponyville, it wasn’t long before everypony in town knew what Silver Spoon had heard and seen, four fillies, the notorious Crusaders and the equally infamous Diamond Tiara, going to a school to hunt monsters, seemingly teleported away by Discord.

School that day was rather quiet. Cheerilee stepped in, “So, apparently Discord,” She said, her voice an amalgamation of all kinds of emotions: Exasperation, relief, disdain, confusion, and worry. “Has decided to send off four certain foals to some other school… One about, ‘fighting monsters’.”

“We know,” Almost the entire class said at once.

“Silver Spoon wouldn’t shut up about it,” A monochromatic grey and dark grey colt said.

“I kinda wish Sweetie didn’t leave,” A brown and rust-coloured colt continued.

“At least we won’t have to deal with Diamond’s brattiness…” A shy platinum and blonde filly continued.

“I kinda feel the same, but Scootaloo was a friend, I don’t like to see her go,” The first colt finished.

Throughout the day, half of the school was happy, the other half sombre, happy to be rid of four forces of destruction and annoyance who had terrorized the school and Ponyville as a whole… But at the same time, those four were good friends to some, and had disappeared without a trace.

In the corner of the playground, a lonely filly sat… Diamond Tiara was her only friend, she was one of the few ponies in the entire world who she could trust… And now she was gone. Silver Spoon wanted to yell out for Discord’s name, wanted to demand that he bring her to Diamond, but she was also scared… Not just about the potential dangers that exist wherever they had been sent, but also Discord’s unpredictability. She wasn’t going to go, she didn’t have the strength or courage to find her one and only friend… Silver started to let tears collect under closed eyes as she heard the other foals play.

“Silver…” Came a voice, that of a colt.

“We know how much Diamond meant to you” Came the sweet and quiet voice of a filly.

“And the crusaders were our friends too,” Another colt spoke up, his voice a little higher-pitched and more energetic.

“So, we’re going to go have a talk with Discord… And we want you to come with us,” The first colt finished.

Silver Spoon opened her eyes and stared, still wet with tears, at the three… None of them were ponies she knew well, one of them she was sure was a filly Diamond and herself had teased and insulted numerous times, but these ponies were willing to help…

We were almost there… We had been walking for a few hours now. The team’s legs were sore, arms heavy from the metal-filled boxes they carried with them, but the glow of the city lights were growing steadily closer. A familiar sound graced the four ears of Sweetie, who immediately recognized the danger… Timberwolf.

She raised her hand to stop, Diamond heard it too and did the same, soon they were sitting there, confused. “Timberwolf,” Sweetie whispered, “I heard its growling, be careful.” A few tense moments passed, and Diamond gasped when she saw a pair of glowing crimson eyes coming from the darkness between the trees.

Sweetie may not have been a pony anymore, she might not have had a horn, but she still had her magic, she could still feel the energies running through her body, and so she reached out with her claws and focused for all her might, and behold, a green barrier flashed into existence around Diamond as the wolf charged…

This was when they realized they were mistaken about what exactly this creature was… This creature wasn’t a timberwolf, this wasn’t a normal wolf, this was some other canine creature. Its stature reminded Sweetie of the Diamond Dogs, this thing bore the torso of an ape, with massive claws, and she could tell from their razor-like talons that these were claws meant for killing, not digging, and it’s head, while undeniably canine, reminding her a bit of Winona, bore a mask of bone engraved with glowing red marks that oozed with malignant magical energies, energies that every pony here could feel in their bones.

The creature’s claws slammed into the barrier and Sweetie felt her magic collapse in on itself with a painful implosion in her mind, it would be a minute or two before she could pull off magic like that again. She fell to the ground, letting out a scream of pain as the spell’s violent assault reacted with the nerves in her skull.

Apple Bloom wasted no time and rushed forward. Leaping, she rammed her forehoof, claw curled into a ball, right into the chest of the wolf-monster. With all her force, her fear, her rage, and the screams of Sweetie Belle backing her fist, it didn’t send the monster flying, it cut through its rather frail flesh and burst out the other side, bronze shoe coated in black and red ichor that started to turn to an acrid black smoke. A little sickened at herself, realizing that she struck with much more force than she had intended, she stared, disgusted at the sludge leaking from the monster’s body.

The wolf wore an expression of astonishment, or at least as astonished as a mindless beast could be, as it went limp and started to dissolve. Apple Bloom ripped her claw from the creature’s chest and turned to see if there were any others approaching. Of course, there were.

“Diamond, watch out!” Called Scootaloo as she tried her usual tactic of running around and harassing the foe, only to trip on nothing, still not used to this strange body, not enough to attempt a wild dash through uneven ground.

Diamond lept to the side as another of these wolf-monsters came charging, she narrowly avoided it’s scything claws, and the monster impacted the ground with a thud, but was quick to recover. Not quick enough it seemed, as Diamond got to her hooves first and stomped over to the creature, a sharp buck to the side keeping it down as she rammed her shooed hind leg over and over again into the creature with her earth-pony strength, horrible snapping and cracking and popping noises came from the beast as Diamond pummeled it’s head into the ground until it started to dissolve into an ebony sludge and noxious fume…

Diamond felt sick for a moment, realizing that she had killed the wolf… She had beaten ponies before, she had hurt, she always felt bad about it afterwards, but she had never truly injured someone, not even broken a bone… Now she had actually killed… But this wasn’t a pony, any creature with a trace of magic in their blood could feel the dark energies flowing off this thing, even as it lay there, dying, boiling into goo and finally into smoke before it dissolved further, back into the magical energies that it had been originally. This creature in truth never actually existed, but was rather an entity of magic… This was something she could kill without regret. Or at least she tried to convince herself of that, but the guilt gnawed at her mind, thus she stood there, staring at the dissolving monster, not knowing what to think.

Another two lept from the shadows, clearly, they were not as cowardly as Timberwolves. Scootaloo was right in their path and had just managed to recover her hoofing. From experience in the Everfree, she knew exactly what to do, she leapt into the air, the air seeming to flow around her and give her that boost she needed, guided by the magic of a pegasus. She considered for a moment trying an old trick Rainbow had once shown her, but this wasn’t the time for experimentation, she could practice that later. The air current reversed and with gravity’s help, she plunged down on to the wolf’s back.

Even in this new body, she didn’t have the weight to hurt the creature just from falling, pegasi were nearly a quarter the weight of any normal pony, even when not using their magic, but she did grab a tight hold on the wolf’s back with her new claws. Brandishing a broken stick she had grabbed from the forest floor, she plunged the wooden stake deep into the monster’s back, drawing black goo from the wound and seeing its glowing red flesh.

Scootaloo savoured the adrenaline as she struck down again and again with her makeshift stake. Scootaloo questioned for a moment her sanity, enjoying the pain she was causing, but she soon remembered that this creature wanted to cause pain and death to her friends, and nothing was going to touch them as long as she had something to say about it. With one final strike, the stake went through the wolf’s neck and it stopped struggling.

Sweetie had gotten back to her hooves, and felt the aching in her head subside, but she still found it hard to concentrate… Scootaloo was busy stabbing one of the malignant wolf-creatures, the others looked paralysed, not moving, staring at the rapidly dissolving bodies of the monsters. There came another growl from the woods, and it lunged at the still form of Diamond.

Sweetie didn’t have much magic left in her for now, that barrier took all she had, and she hadn’t recovered much in the past dozen or so seconds. But she had to do something, so she closed her eyes, raised her arms, and let the power she had in her reach out with the intent to cut. There was a single pulse of green around the wolf’s center torso, and just like that it was bisected, legs and upper torso impacting the ground separately, rolling, and coming to a stop right before the still shocked Diamond.

Everyone stood still for a moment, a little on edge, expecting one or two more to come jumping out from the bush… But nothing happened… Everything was still. Sweetie Belle allowed herself to collapse in exhaustion, a stunned Apple Bloom just sat on the ground, Diamond stared down to where there had once been a monster, and now just pulverized dirt, and Scootaloo fell to her back, panting, and wincing a bit at the pain in her wings as she fell on them.

Everypony sat there for what felt like hours, but in all likelihood, it was merely a few minutes, when there came a noise. A loud whirring, a screech like a demented train engine kicked up to a million, or like a cross between a whistling teapot and yelling griffon. All the ponies got to their hooves, and frantically looked around for the source of the noise, Scootaloo holding her newfound weapon at the ready.

Suddenly, an airship, a rather small one, made from what looked like metal, and somehow flying on the magical energy emitted from the two massive horn-like protrusions on either wing, descended from the sky, looking like a metal oval with a three-finned tail, like a flying fish. A door opened on the side and inside were two bipedal creatures in some kind of armour, one in some metal plate armour not too unlike what the royal guards would wear, except that it seemed made from a grey metal rather than gold, and the other wearing a heavy trenchcoat, looking down at the ponies.

One of the two bipeds gestured to someone out of sight and the craft descended, the conical protrusions, emanating with enough magic for the equestrians to feel, started to decrease in power and rotate, allowing the ship to land smoothly on the ground as a ramp extended from the vessel’s open doorframe, allowing the two bipeds to march out to the ground.

“We saw the smoke and flashes of light from the walls, thought a grimm attack was heading our way…” One said, a stallion, judging from his voice.

“What’s four faunus girls doing out here? Are you with Beacon or one of the combat schools?” The other one, again another male, at least from voice, continued.

“No…” Sweetie spoke up, voice dripping with exhaustion, “We saw the city’s lights and made our way here…”

“Probably survivors from an unmapped settlement…”

Diamond simply nodded, it was clearly the answer they expected, she was hesitant to say anything more, at least until they got a greater understanding of where exactly they were… Faunus, so that’s what these creatures were called.

“Well…” The stallion’s voice spoke of deep regret and pitty, “I’m glad we found you when we did then… We’ll take you into Vale, along with anything you might be carrying, but once you get inside the city, I’m afraid you’ll be on your own.”

“We’ll manage,” Apple Bloom said, getting to her hind-hooves and started lifting the boxes of parts on to the ship, one of the two alien stallions rushing to her aid.

“I can’t believe that you four managed to take out all these grimm yourself, without any weapons no less…” The one in the trenchcoat said before helping Sweetie to her hooves and into the ship.

Discord heard his name spoken, as he always did, but this wasn’t someone using his name in fear, gossip, or ignorance… This was someone calling to him with intent, someone wanted to see him, how interesting… But this was expected. He answered, appearing from his realm of non-reality to greet the pony who had called him. And so he appeared within a shack on the Apple Family’s farm.

A grey filly with a silver mane stood, a look of defiance and courage on her face… Loyalty ran deep in this young mare’s veins, and part of Discord wanted to go back in time and make her the bearer of the Element of Loyalty instead… Perhaps an experiment for another time and another reality. Discord was a little surprised at the three other foals with her, two colts and a filly… Then, a wonderfully chaotic idea ran through his cosmic mind.

Silver Spoon took a step forward, “Discord,” She said, doing an impressive job at hiding the trepidation in her tone, “I-” She paused, “We want to go to Monster-Hunting School…” The other young ponies nodded and gave their affirmations.

Discord couldn’t help a smirk from crossing his features. “It’s a dangerous world out there, I’m positive Diamond and the Crusaders have figured that out first-hoof by now… I’m simply giving you this warning, once.”

Silver Spoon was scared, but nodded her head… Loyalty was very strong in this one indeed… “Very Well,” And with a snap of his fingers four boxes and four bags appeared, and with another finger snap, the four foals and their gifts vanished from this planet.

Author's Notes:

So, I was a little unsure how the fillies would first react to encountering the Grimm, sure they fought monsters before... But a Timberwolf and a Beowolf are drastically different creatures. Of course, Diamond, while certainly a bully, keeps her insults to the verbal and hasn't properly hurt a pony before, at least not to my knowledge, and not having fought monsters before like the others would be affected the most by killing, even if it's killing something as vile as a Grimm.

Scootaloo is an adrenaline addict and I dialled that up to eleven in this story, letting her go just a little bit psycho during combat, but she's still a nice pony, so she certainly won't be turning into a Tyrian any time soon.

Sweetie Belle, being the bookhorse of this team, would act logically, and being as connected to magic as she is, being a unicorn after all, would see the Grimm as little more than evil energy, and really wouldn't show much much emotion when fighting them, but I have a feeling she really won't like it when it comes time to fight other people, human and faunus.

Apple Bloom... Since she's always been my least favourite of the Crusaders, (no offence, but I don't find her as interesting as the others), I really don't know how to write her as well as the others, so I mostly wrote her like I would Applejack (with a little bit of Yang thrown in), and while I doubt Applejack would be particularly happy with killing, would at least understand the necessity of kill or be killed, but again, I doubt she'll be willing to fight other humans and faunus unless there's no other choice.

Meanwhile, we have ourselves another team entering the fray, but we won't be seeing much of them for a while... Next, I need to figure out how the Mane Six will react to this whole "Discord teleporting fillies into a dangerous monster-filled world" thing.

PS. As for that comment early on in the chapter about DT getting the best armour, I'm sure Discord is smart enough to realize that Diamond would practically be a bonfire of negativity to the grimm, and would thus give her the best protection. And to clear up any confusion... The ponies don't understand what a human is or what human anatomy is, so they will continue to refer to their feet as their hind-hooves, hands as claws, and arms as forelegs, at least until someone corrects them.

Chapter 3: Home and Hotel

“So… Discord,” Twilight said, glaring angrily, “You just sent these four fillies off to some school in another world, for monster-hunting.”

“Well, yes, that’s exactly what I was saying… Well, almost, it’s another planet, not another world, they’re still in the same universe, same galaxy even… Don’t worry, they’ll be fine.”

Six mares simply glared at the draconequus, except for Rainbow Dash who seemed oddly proud. When he found himself summoned into the newly ascended princess’s library, he felt a weight descend upon him, though in all likelihood that was the binding spell that was keeping him bound in a physical form.

“I ain’t worried, Scoot’s a tough little filly,” Said Rainbow.

“What’s all this ‘monster-hunting’ business…” Applejack said incredulously.

“My little Sweetie is all lost in some alien world, how is any of this ok!” Yelled Rarity.

Discord rolled his eyes, “They still have their magic, that’s more than can be said for the rest of that world’s inhabitants…” Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. “Just an idiotic move by two of my idiot cousins…” Discord clarified. Floating up to Twilight and whispering into her ear, “You should have seen the looks on their non-faces when I took some of their power and gave it to a certain pair of mares, about five-thousand eight-hundred years ago now.”

“Still, you shouldn’t have done that,” Fluttershy said, a bit louder than normal, “Discord.”

“It’s not like I did it against their will, they wanted to go to school.”

“I like that Bloom’s getting herself an education, but seriously, what’s all this monster-hunting business,” Applejack continued.

“Just some semi-corporal entities, kinda like ursas, or tantibusi.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide, and Discord realized his mistake, “T-They’re not as dangerous as those examples, they were just the first examples I thought of… See for yourself!” He said, snapping his fingers. In the middle of the library appeared, in a flash of light, a very confused wolf, eyes glowing red and face adorned with a bone-like mask.

Meanwhile, on a distant planet, Professor Port stared, confused, at one of the cages. He was collecting some weaker grimm for the first-year students starting next month, when suddenly one of his Beowolves vanished. Perhaps he should just get a Boarbatusk instead.

Back in Equestria, the wolf stared at the creatures surrounding it, curling up into itself in fear of the magical power these entities radiated, particularly the purple one… And equally confused at the lack of hate in the place it found itself. Rarity fainted at the sight of the beast.

“Discord!” Fluttershy shouted, “You scared the poor thing,” Fluttershy took flight and moved to the massive wolf-creature towering twice the height of the ponies, and started petting it’s black, almost ethereal, fur. The sensation reminding the pegasus of when she had touched Luna’s mane. Twilight’s eyes somehow got wider as she inspected the creature, no doubt sensing the magical energies that comprised it.

“Discord…” Said an annoyed and exasperated Twilight, “Are you sure the foals are ok…”

“Yes, I’m keeping an eye on them, even now…”

Twilight’s horn glowed and she drew a book from a stand, “Give this to Sweetie next chance you get, it’s a list of spells, I was going to teach it to her someday… After all, we won’t be around forever to protect Equestria, and these spells are all ones that I found particularly useful during my friendship quests.” Discord snapped his fingers and the book disappeared.

Fluttershy and Applejack turned to each other, nodded, then turned to Discord, "The girls and I are going to be doing a bit of talking, alone... But later, you'll be needing a serious talking to, Discord," Applejack said.

He was about to leave when he looked out the window and froze. Outside were four ponies. He turned to Twilight, “Can you please dispell that binding spell now.”

The airship passed over the forest on approach to the city. Below, the fillies saw a massive concrete wall, dotted with towers, and occasionally illuminated with bursts of coloured light. “What’s all that?” Asked Apple Bloom.

The stallion in the trenchcoat looked confused for a second then said, “Oh, you mean the Kingdom’s wall, that’s there to keep the grimm at bay, the wall is dotted with machine-gun nests, flamethrowers, and cannon turrets, plus it’s manned by huntsmen and kingdom police at all times… No need to worry about the monsters getting inside the city.”

Apple Bloom nodded. A dozen minutes later, a massive black bird with glowing eyes could be seen approaching the city, there was a flash of light below, and a few moments later the bird exploded in a dozen places at once. Diamond and Bloom stared, shocked, while Scootaloo was clapping, and Sweetie was simply impressed. “Got’em!” The stallion said, “That was the flak-cannons at work.”

The airship started flying lower once it passed over the walls and the fillies got their first true look at the city. “Welcome to Vale,” The stallion in plate armour said. The city was made from huge brick buildings, all of them three to six storeys, like a forest, all of them taller than even the tallest building in Ponyville. The shortest of the structures was even as tall as the town hall. Between the buildings were roads made from some black stone that the fillies couldn’t identify, and ponyless carriages and chariots raced through the streets.

Sweetie was confused at the magical energies she sensed… Back in Equestria, there was so much background magic that everypony was just a blur in the general glow… Only ponies like the Princesses or Twilight really distinguished themselves against the general background. Here, there was very little background magic, and she could make out individual points of magic more clearly. The carriages ran on magic, and there was plenty of magical energy throughout the city, but it was all very dim and felt rather one-dimensional as if the magic being used was only capable of a single basic purpose… She felt some magic from the creatures, the two stallions had very weak fields around their bodies, but she didn’t sense any internal power, they probably couldn’t even use telekinesis.

The airship came to hover over a marked landing pad and set down, the ramp extended and the fillies marched out. “I thank you for coming to the aid of myself and my…” Diamond paused, allowing just a hint of disdain in her voice, “Companions.”

“We’re huntsmen, it’s our job to help people, even if you are faunus.” The trenchcoat-wearing stallion said, “The name’s Night Lark,” He extended his foreleg. Diamond didn’t understand the gesture but knew that it was a symbol of greeting or gratitude, and so extended her foreleg in turn, at which point the stallion grabbed it in his claw and started shaking. An odd feeling Diamond had to admit.

“And you?” She asked, extending her foreleg at the one in plate-armour.

“Aquilla Winchester,” He said, but didn't shake her claw in return... Diamond felt that this was somehow rude, but couldn't really understand why she felt that way.

The other fillies were enraptured by the city, staring and waving their arms through the streetlamps and street-signs that seemed made from light. And staring up in awe of the large buildings, while being somewhat terrified of the carriages that drove by. Diamond went to round up the others before they got into trouble or broke some law that they had no knowledge of.

Back on the ship, Aquilla said, “For faunus, those girls aren’t half bad. Certainly weren’t White-Fang”

Night agreed before continuing, “They were some of the nicest I’ve met… I wonder what village they came from.”

“It doesn’t matter now I suppose,”

The other nodded before the door closed and the ship took off again back to patrolling the borders of the kingdom.

In the void between existence, Discord roamed, in this place his body seemed to glow with a field of rainbow energy, to the point where one would be unable to make out his physical features and would simply see a dragonesque rainbow-coloured snake. He carried the book that Twilight had given him, and with a simple application of his power, he duplicated it, and returned to the physical universe with his two tomes in claw and paw.

Before he gave them to his two favourite unicorns, Discord had tea with Fluttershy scheduled, and he certainly could wait in giving the fillies their gifts… It was, after all, night on Remnant, and they could sleep while Discord relaxed.

When he reappeared, discord was surprised by several things, the least of which being the two other mares present in the cottage. No, the most surprising by far was the beowolf sitting in the corner. “Lusus has been a bit agitated since you brought him here, so I’ll be taking care of him for the time being… It’s a bit strange that he doesn’t seem interested in any of the food I’ve been giving him, but nothing else seems wrong... Although he did seem interested in Angel for some reason,” Fluttershy said.

“You should have seen it when they first met, Lusus kept following Angel around, I was a little worried about him trying to eat the bunny, but he just kept stalking him,” Rainbow cut in.

“I don’t like that beast, it just doesn’t feel right, being around it,” Applejack said.

“Lusus?” Discord asked.

“That’s what Angel called him,” Fluttershy returned, then suddenly looked sad, “I have no idea how to talk to him, normally wolves and dogs are easy to understand, but his speech makes no sense, so I couldn’t ask him his name like I normally do… But I’ll get it in time.”

Applejack and Fluttershy then both rounded on Discord, "So, let's talk about fillies and why it's a bad idea to screw with them... Particularly ours," Said Applejack, stomping a hoof down in emphasis.

“Listen,” Diamond Tiara spoke up once she had gathered the fillies, “We need to find a hotel or inn.”

“Why, I can just sleep right here if I wanted,” Scootaloo offered, sliding on a bench on the side of the road.

“Seriously Scoots,” Apple Bloom replied, “You want to sleep on some street-side bench.”

“Well, it’s not like we have any money,” Sweetie Belle replied.

"And it's not like I haven't done it before," Scootaloo returned.

“I will not spend a single night on some filthy bench!” Diamond shouted, “Blank flanks,” she muttered.

The fillies rolled their eyes as they piled on to the bench, Diamond scoffed, crossed her forelegs, and sat on the concrete ground. They spent a few minutes there, Scootaloo already having fallen asleep, when someone approached. A large stallion, no ears or tail or wings to the fillies surprise, wearing a simple shirt and pants. “What’s a bunch of faunus girls doing out here in the cold?” He asked.

“We don’t exactly have a home or money…” Sweetie answered.

“I see…” He nodded, then pulled something from a pocket on his pants, drawing a few smooth and solid cards painted with different colours, patterns, and numbers, “This should be enough for a day or two.”

Diamond was sceptical, “You have no reason to help us? Why?”

“Diamond!” Sweetie shouted, “Don’t be rude to him.”

The stallion simply sighed, “Faunus have it bad enough, I’m not going to let some girls sleep out here if I can help it.”

Diamond felt the sincerity in the stallion’s voice and accepted the gift. She assumed it was some kind of currency… But cards? Who in the world uses cards for money? “Thank you very much, sir… Umm,”

“Tukson,” He said, “Tukson Gray.”

“Thank you very much Tukson,” She said, shaking the stallion’s claws in what she hoped was a gesture of gratitude… It seemed to have the intended effect as the stallion walked off.

Apple Bloom hopped to her hooves and pulled Scoots with her, “Come on, let’s go find somewhere to sleep, and eat.” The others nodded and began to walk down the sidewalk, looking for a place to stay for the night. They passed numerous unmarked buildings and found the occasional faunus walking down the streets, but the night’s darkness made them seem like shadows against the walls despite the brilliant moonlight.

Soon they saw a sign above the door to a five-storey building, proclaiming “Ember Inn” It was across the street from some building called "From Dust to Dawn", that Sweetie could see was absolutely filled with strange one-dimensional magic she had felt around the city. They steered their way toward the building, and passed through the door, not noticing the “No Faunus” sign on the window.

The innkeeper, an older red-haired mare in a form-fitting red dress, just stared at the girls as they trotted in, sighing before shouting, “No Faunus! Get out!” Each of the girls just stared stunned.

“But you’re-” Sweetie Started

“Get out! I won’t be having White Fang or any of their sympathizers in my town!”

The girls looked at each other, confused. “I don’t really understand, we simply need a place to stay the night,” Diamond began.

“I’m not letting any animals into my inn! For the last time, go!”

“Animals!” Diamond shouted back, marching forward a few steps, “I- Aagh!” Apple Bloom grabbed Diamond by the foreleg and mane and began to pull her back.

“Diamond, we don’t want to get into trouble here, you said that yourself,” Bloom said, as she started to pull diamond away. Scootaloo, who had looked ready to start beating the pulp out of the innkeeper, found herself being dragged away too, Sweetie Belle’s firm grip on her arm not wavering in the least as Scoots lashed out with her wings.

“Let go of me you dirty blank-flanks!”

“Keep those ‘friends’ of yours on a short leash,” The innkeeper said bitterly as the fillies pulled themselves out of the building.

Once they had gotten Diamond and Scootaloo cooled down, a difficult feat for an adult, let alone two fillies, they marched down the street, more than a little angry. “I don’t get it,” Said Apple Bloom, “Wasn’t that mare a faunus too? I mean, she looked just like us… Well, not just like us, but about the same.”

Scootaloo and Sweetie shrugged as they marched on in search of another hotel. Diamond replied, “I couldn’t give a flying feather about that, she called me an animal! Me!”

“Woah, Diamond, language,” Apple Bloom muttered, half-heartedly, as she certainly shared the sentiment. Diamond just growled in response. Somehow, Bloom had ended up being the one to carry all the boxes, and while she could do it with ease, she couldn’t help feeling a bit miffed with the other ponies.

A dozen or so minutes later they saw another place, “The Nightwatch Hotel” it advertised, and the fillies hesitated as they looked for any signs that might deter faunus, but found nothing, and so they stepped inside and found no one at the desk.

“Uhh, hello?” Scootaloo asked to the empty room. It was a pleasant room, it reminded them of the time they spent in a hotel in Canterlot, with the tile floor and stone columns holding up a wooden-reinforced stone ceiling, not quite as polished or resplendent than a Canterlot building, but the carpet was nice.

“Be right there in a moment,” Came a stallion’s voice from a room behind the counter. Soon, the door opened and out stepped someone in a heavy coat over a sweater and jeans. “It’s a bit late for four girls to be wandering the streets… I was about to close up for the night… Can I help you?” He asked.

“Yes,” Said Diamond, burying her anger at the previous innkeeper under a layer of professionalism. “My companions and I need a room for the night. How much will that cost us?”

The stallion nodded and pawed at the scruffy hair around his mouth and chin, “I assume you’ll all be sharing a room?” He asked. The fillies nodded, “Ok,” He continued, “A room costs ten, we also charge extra for each person, another ten per faunus, five per human… So that’ll be about fifty lien for you.”

“What’s with the extra cost for faunus?” Asked Scootaloo.

The stallion shrugged, “I’m not the one who makes the rules, I’m just the cashier and here to take notes on the customers... Just be thankful you aren’t in Atlas.” Diamond nodded, counting the numbers listed on the cards as she pulled them from her pocket, soon she had given over half the stack to the stallion. “Ok, room eighteen is yours for tonight and tomorrow,” He had finished. And with that, the ponies made their way up the stairs and into their room.

Author's Notes:

Not much to say regarding this chapter, we meet the fathers of two of our least favourite bullies, the girls face their first bit of discrimination when trying to find a hotel, as of yet not realizing the differences between Humans and Faunus, and we get to see how the Mane Six react to the girl's disappearance. Unfortunately, the parents/siblings of Team Sunbird won't be as forgiving.

(And of course, I just had to give Fluttershy a pet grimm)

Chapter 4: The Gun Girl

Morning light filtered in through the hotel’s window as the sun rose over Vale. Diamond Tiara was first to wake, and started to move the covers off, she didn’t recognize the strange sensations of her claws grasping at the sheets for a moment, and startled herself for a second as she stared at her new faunus body. The events of the previous day flooded Tiara’s mind and it started to sink in that they were in a completely different world… She wouldn’t see her dad… She wouldn’t see Silver.

She gave a weary sigh, and stopped herself from feeling regret, that, from long experience, only led to bad things. She had slept in her own bed, meanwhile, the moment they got out of their armour, the Crusaders all piled together with copious amounts of blankets and pillows in a giant pile… The pony… No, the person who would be taking care of the room would not be happy, that was for sure. The Crusaders had seemingly stripped the other two beds in the room of their blankets, sheets, and pillows.

All their clothing was lying in a pile off to one side, while Diamond’s dress and armour was neatly folded atop her box of parts… She still didn’t understand why Discord had given them a few boxes of spare parts, but now that she was starting to recover from the litany of shocks the last night had given her, she could now start to think on the matter. As dawn crept over the city, Diamond spent her time looking out the window, studying the world and its people as she did so.

It wasn’t long before the Crusaders woke up, digging themselves from out their mass of pillows and blankets. “Ahh, look at this place!” Scootaloo said, nearly throwing herself over to the window… Luckily the glass had prevented her from throwing herself out the window. Now that it was day, they could make out the city of Vale much more clearly now, and it was nearly as impressive as it had been when they flew out over it aboard the airship. In the distance was that giant spire, and now, with the early morning light shining upon it, they could see the tower had a bunch of smaller spires extending from the top.

Sweetie looked deep in thought as she turned to the others, “We should check out that one shop, From Dust till Dawn… I felt a ton of magic in that place.”

“Yeah! I want to go to that big tower, it looks so awesome from over here!” Scootaloo yelled, pointing at the distant spire.

“I want to learn more about this monster-hunting school… That’s why we’re here after all,” Apple Bloom replied.

The three fillies all clapped their claws and yelled, “Cutie Mark Crusaders: Alien World Explorers!”

Diamond knew what was going to happen next and moved between the fillies and the door, rolling her eyes at the fillies antics. With a raised claw and a scoff, she said, “Stop!”

“What is it now… Diamond Tiara,” Apple Bloom said with disdain.

She gave an exasperated, and a little exaggerated, sigh. “For going on so many adventures into danger, you really aren’t observant, are you… Dumb blank flanks,” The fillies just wore expressions of cluelessness, “Look out that window and tell me what you see, particularly regarding the creatures in this world.”

The fillies did so and Apple Bloom said, “They’re all walking around on two paws?”

Scootaloo continued, “They mostly have drab hair colour?”

Sweetie Belle, for her credit, gave a look of realization and understood what Diamond was getting at. She moved to collect her armour off the floor as Diamond filled in the others, “They’re all wearing clothing… Dad says that, if you want to get ahead in life, you need to understand the place you’re in and how the ponies live. Same goes for this place, if we want to fit in, you should all get into your clothing. We can leave the armoured pieces here, they’ll only slow us down and be uncomfortable, but at least get a shirt and pants on... I’ve not seen anyone else without them.”

The others rolled their eyes and, with a little coercing from Sweetie Belle, they got into their clothing. Diamond didn’t bother with the breastplate, and Apple Bloom left her claw-armour, but Scootaloo kept her jacket and plated pants. Other than what money they still had, they left their stuff in the room, Diamond being the only one to bother to lock the door after they left.

Soon they were walking down the streets of Vale, most people there didn’t so much as look at them, instead being too busy in their own actions. Some gave curious looks, some gave awed looks, and Diamond strained her ears to hear what they were saying about them, mostly they seemed to think that, based on how we were dressed, that we were student huntresses… There were a few that muttered something, generally negative, about faunus, but those whispers were few and far between, and sometimes not even directed at them, but at other people in the morning crowd.

The fillies stared at a stallion who passed, a pair of wolf-like ears extending from his head, and not too long later, noticed a mare with a scaled tail dangling from her plot. Most of the people they saw had nothing like that though, mostly possessing those little flaps of skin to the sides of their faces that acted as ears, and possessing no tails, wings, or extra appendages or growths of any kind… There was a particularly harry mare, but they couldn’t tell if she was one of these animal-people or not. The fillies suddenly became acutely aware of their pony parts, Sweetie’s and Diamond’s ears folding to their skulls, Bloom’s tail tucking between her legs, and Scoot’s wings flaring a bit.

As they walked, Sweetie whispered to Diamond, “So… Are these animal people with their tails and ears and such, the Faunus… What do you suppose the ones who don’t have those things are?”

“If you remember, back in the hotel, the stallion said that there also existed a creature called a Human, I think those other ones are called Humans,” Diamond whispered back.

Soon they had found themselves in front of the store Sweetie had wanted to visit, the sign proudly proclaiming: “From Dust till Dawn” A little, single-storey building extending from the face of a much larger building recessed into the line of structures. The windows had the words “Tools - Cartridges - Scales” on one and “Dust - Crystals - Books” on the other. The top of the building seemed a balcony for the building behind… Apple Bloom, having helped her sister build a barn on numerous occasions, couldn’t help but marvel at the architecture. It looked like somepony had seamlessly crossed the architectural styles of Canterlot and Manehattan. In truth, the entire city gave off that feel.

This close, the feeling of magical energy was not lost on the ponies, and they felt the energy flow through their veins as they got closer. Entering the store, the first thing to catch the ponies attention were the crystals on display, each a different size, shape, and colour. “Ah, you’re a little early, Ru-” There was a pause as the elderly stallion behind the display saw the fillies who entered his shop… “Oh, you weren’t the person I was expecting… None the less, welcome to From Dust till Dawn. Take a moment to browse, I’m sure I have the type, cut, quality, and mass of dust you’ll be needing,” He paused again, “From your clothing, you look perhaps like students, here for Beacon I presume?”

The fillies simply nodded, not really paying attention to the human’s speech, instead, they found themselves enraptured by the magic they felt coming from those simple crystals… Scootaloo found herself staring at the large cylinders filled with powder, it looked, and felt, a lot like Liquid Rainbow… She had only visited the rainbow processing plant once, but the feeling this material gave off was remarkably the same.

Off in a corner, too quietly for anyone else to hear, Sweetie muttered to herself, holding a red crystal in her grasp. “Hmm… Pure magical energy, not linked to a specific creature, tuned to fire, then crystallized, in a similar process to how gems are grown on rock farms, but those do not contain nearly the same concentrations of power… How exactly did they make this?”

Apple Bloom stared at pre-packaged bags of dust, vials of dust, and jars of dust… “I wonder if I could get some of this back to Equestria, I know Zecora and Twilight would just love to get their hooves on some of this…” Apple Bloom quietly said to herself, then her eyes were drawn to the tools section.

Diamond found herself staring at a wall, behind a pane of glass, of strange metal… Things. They proudly proclaimed themselves as dust rounds and came in a variety of sizes from five-millimetre pellets to the heavy looking forty-five-millimetre canisters, and all sizes in between. They were, for the most part, long cylinders, with glass windows that show them to be full of glowing crystalline dust, their ends tapered into cone-like shapes.

The fillies must have spent an hour or so just staring at the magical crystals and their various displays, not even bothering to pick up a magazine, attempt a purchase, or even put something into a bag. The shopkeeper seemed a little perturbed by their behaviour of simply looking at the dust and nothing else, but certainly wasn’t going to interrupt a shopper.

There came the ringing of a bell and the door opened. The shopkeeper turned and the ponies were startled from their revelry by a young mare in a red and black dress and cloak entering the store. “Ah, Ruby, I was wondering when you would be showing up.”

“Hey, Mister White, who’re the others, I’m not used to seeing other customers this early?”

“Just four faunus girls who wandered in here a while ago… I think they’re new students here for Beacon,” He paused, and leaned forward to whisper, “If I’m being honest, they’re creeping me out, all they’ve been doing is staring at the dust and talking to themselves.”

Ruby nodded, looking at Scootaloo who was now licking one of the sample crystals, electricity dust Ruby noted. Scootaloo started to nibble on the end and subsequently dropped the crystal when her body spasmed, her eyes flashing pure white for a second, and lightning sparking from her mouth before the power subsided… Ruby was a little dumbfounded, did she just fuse the dust with her body? The look on the faunus’s face was one of shock, somewhat literally, and a little surprise and awe.

Ruby found herself standing next to the winged girl as she placed the crystal, a little bite taken out of the end, back on its stand. She turned to look at the red-hooded girl. “Uhh,” Ruby began, “Hi-”

“Hey, I’m Scootaloo, and this place is amazing! I’ve never felt so much power in one place before!”

“H-Hey, I’m Ruby, and, yeah, it is one of my favourite stores in town… I make sure to come by often-”

“I can see why, look at all this dust stuff!”

Ruby gave a little chuckle, “It's like you've if you’ve never seen dust before…”

“I haven’t, at least not until today.”

Ruby let surprise show on her face, how had someone never heard of dust? “Wow, where are you from then? I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who didn’t know what dust was.”

“Oh, Ponyville.”

“Never heard of it, I presume it’s some town outside the kingdoms.”

“Yeah… I guess you could say that.”

“Hmm… You almost look like you come from Vacuo” She simply replied. “Sooooo, what’cha doing here?”

“Oh, just looking around, this is our first day in Vale.”

“Our? You mean your friends over there?”

“Yeah, you should talk to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom… Don’t mind Diamond though, she can be a bit bossy and mean.”

“You girls have kinda funny names, I like it though… I’m just here to get some rounds for Crescent Rose, and checking the newest editions of my magazines…”

“Cool… I’d get a few things myself, but we don’t exactly have much money… Paying for the hotel took half of what we had, and I don’t know how we’ll make any more.”

Ruby’s eyes went wide… “Come with me then, I’m sure Tai, my dad, won’t mind some guests.”

“T-That’s rather nice of you, but we can manage.”

“I can’t just leave you like that, I want to help people, why not start by getting you somewhere to rest for a while.”

“W-Well, you’ll need to talk to the others first.”

Ruby nodded… “So, is it true that you’re going to Beacon?”

“Beacon, that’s the monster-hunting school, right?”

“Obviously!”

“Well, duh! Becoming a monster-hunter sounds awesome! We don’t really know how to apply, but I’m sure we’ll find out.”

“Normally people spend years in one of the combat schools, like Signal… I’m going to Signal right now, and I’ll eventually be going to Beacon in two years… Once you graduate, they give you some transcripts that allow you to bypass the entrance exam… Otherwise, you show up, and you have to go through a long and hard series of challenges to prove that you’re strong enough to join, and if you succeed, then you can join without a transcript. I’ve heard though that, while much, much quicker, those exams are hell compared to going to combat school, so most people just spend the time at a combat school... The normal age people get accepted into Signal is fourteen, and the normal age people get accepted into Beacon is seventeen, not that there haven’t been students accepted both younger and older, but usually not by more than a year,” Ruby blurted out.

“Wow… You know a lot about the schools.”

“Well,” Ruby blushed, pausing for a moment, “Well, it has been a dream of mine to become a professional huntress since I was three, of course I’d do some research on the subject.”

Scootaloo had gathered the fillies in the dust rounds isle while Ruby slotted lien cards into a slot in the wall next to the 15mm rounds display, dispensing dozens of the large capsules that she handily deposited into a pocket. Soon Ruby found herself the center of attention by the four faunus girls, a situation she was not prepared for in the least.

One was wearing a big, heavy, furry coat that looked like something an Atlasian general would wear in winter, she was introduced as Sweetie Belle. The girl in the pink dress reminded Ruby of pictures she had seen of the Schnees, if she bleached her hair and dress, she would fit in perfectly, she introduced herself as Diamond Tiara, in a tone that Ruby found a little rude. Finally, the red-head wore a classic sheriffs hat that Ruby found somewhat charming, over an orange sweater she wore a brown kevlar vest that reminded her of the kind the kingdom police would sometimes wear, and was called Apple Bloom.

“Hey girls! This is Ruby, she’s super cool and nice and wants to go to monster-hunting school, just like us!”

“Uhh, hi,” she said, a little more timid than normal in the presence of so many.

“Ruby, you probably know all the great places in this city, you mind if you show us around?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Umm, sure… Why not,” Ruby gave her best dorky smile. The others looked happy or eager, Diamond rolled her eyes and gave a dismissive scoff, muttering something under her breath that no one caught. With that, they left the store and Ruby started guiding them in the direction of the city square, but first taking a quick detour in the direction of “A Simple Wok” closer to the industrial district, Ruby found that she could really use some noodles right now.

As he sat in Fluttershy's cottage, Discord was pleased… It seemed his little ponies found Little Red Riding Hood a little ahead of schedule… He could put off the filly’s gifts for another day or so, although the copy of the spellbook had already been given to it’s chosen recipient. Applejack had given him a small bag of bits, a little application of magic had transformed them into the chosen currency of Remnant, those silly plastic cards called Lien… Apple Bloom’s gift was a little too material, and silly seeing as they wouldn’t be needing much money now that Red had found them, but some pocket change never hurt anyone.

Speaking of chaos, in the background Angel and Lusus continued their game of hide-and-seek… In hindsight, putting a creature that saught out negativity into the same room as the little rabbit was quite a chaotic mixture, and Discord was very ashamed of himself for not doing it on purpose. The beowolf was now happily, or at least as happily as an entity of pure dark magic could be, chasing the little bunny around. Earlier it had wearily attempted to bite the rabbit, but, being a creature of magic, was more susceptible to magical influence, and watching little Flutters use the stare on the grimm was quite an entertaining show, seeing the fearsome beast of Remnant reduced to a quivering mass of fear and shame.

Still, his plans were moving along nicely, and his other little team of foals were doing quite well too where they had landed. Yes… The coming chaos was going to be far, far more entertaining now. And Discord had taken the first step in showing up those arrogant cousins of his.

Twilight entered the cottage a moment later, saying, "Excuse me, Fluttershy, I'd like to borrow Lusus for a few magical experiments and might need your help, trust me, I don't intend to harm him."

The noodle shop proved Apple Bloom's favourite part of the trip as she downed three whole bowls of the slimy little things in rapid succession, the food was more than a little disgusting to Diamond and Sweetie, but they had still ate, not wanting to insult their new friend by wasting her money on food that was not to be consumed. When voicing their concerns to Ruby, she simply stated, "Don't worry about it, dad makes plenty of money, a little bit of food isn't all that much."

When they were walking down the street after just leaving the City Square, Sweetie asked, “So, Ruby, what do you use all this dust stuff for?”

“Oh, we power our cars, power our buildings, use it to heat and cool our homes, make weapons… Ooh, I have the perfect example right here!” She said, pulling a little white slab with a yellow diamond-shaped button on the center from a pocket on her skirt.

“What’s that thing?” Diamond asked.

She smirked and pressed the button, at which point the device popped open. While it was too weak for the others to feel, Sweetie could feel the magic emanating from the device as it activated, there was a brief flash, and, from the empty space between the two ends of the device, a soft glow of magical energies became a solid screen. “This is my scroll, it has a ton of uses… I can talk to my sis or dad from anywhere in the world, provided they have one of their own, which they do, and I can play games on it, and I can access almost anything on the CCTS network!”

Diamond and Sweetie were studying the device intently, Scootaloo was less than interested, that was until Ruby showed her something she called ‘Kung Fu Ninja Ultimate Slayer Death Battle 2’ when Scootaloo started staring at the screen, yelling at the little figures that danced across the digital battlefield and cheering when one of them had won. Apple Bloom was still looking around at the city but looked a little interested when she said that she could call her sister with it, unfortunately, no answer came from Ruby’s call, a little odd, but nothing Ruby was worried about.

The day passed rather quickly, and night had just recently fallen, and the fillies, still fiddling with Ruby's little device, trying to figure out all the functions, had found themselves trotting down a road in what Ruby had called the “Lower Commercial District”, apparently a place rather close to the industrial district and the river Ozma that cut through the city.

This place gave the fillies the creeps… It didn’t have the nice aesthetic they had come to see from the rest of the city, of stone brick facades and holographic lamps, but rather made from bare concrete and metal pylons, exposed cables running from building to building, delivering magical power, and all reminding the fillies of pictures they had seen of Fillydelphia. With a dark, industrial, and utilitarian feel to it.

They were wandering back to the upper commercial district, back to the dust shop, after spending their second trip to that amazing noodle shop, the memory of which made Apple Bloom drool.

There was a loud boom from somewhere up ahead and a little to the side, punctuated by a brilliant flash of yellow light coming from the windows of one of the buildings, and, following Ruby’s lead, the fillies ran toward the disturbance. They came near a large structure, outside was parked a yellow vehicle of some kind, looking like a very small carriage with no top, just a seat mounted to two wheels. Ruby seemed to recognize the machine and turned her attention to the building’s second-floor windows, where there came another boom, flash of yellow light, and the sound of glass shattering as the windows broke apart and scattered across the street.

Out came flying a man in a suit, a broken weapon of some kind in his grasp, quickly followed by a girl with long yellow hair, about as long as Sweetie’s, wearing a dark tawny jacket with puffy sleeves, a golden-yellow undershirt, and scarf. A belt around her very short black pants seemed the only form of proper armour on her body asides from a pair of big, bulky, gilded bracelets on each arm.

She came crashing down from the second storey into the ground with a mighty thump as boots impacted the street. There was a pause as the fillies stared on in shock, Ruby simply smiled and said, “Yang? Is that you?”

The young woman replied, “Oh, hey, sis!”

“What are you doing here!” Ruby replied, excitedly.

The young woman gave a short sigh, “It’s a long story… Anyway, who’re the others

Neptune Vasilias sat alone in his study… The room was rather dark, with only his workbench providing illumination, where the boy sat with a variety of tools and his half-disassembled weapon. He had just last month graduated from Sanctum, and would be needing his Tri-Hard at peak condition. He had already replaced all the dust crystals and was now working on recalibrating the auto-targeting devices when there came a knock on his door.

With a groan, he got up from his desk, “What does Scarlet want now?” He grumbled, half-heartedly, he liked his friend, he was simply a bit needy and overbearing. He opened the door and was rather surprised at the person on the other side. A faunus judging from her silvery tail that matched her shiny grey braided hair perfectly, a pair of glasses adorning her face. “Hello? Who-”

“You are Neptune Vasilias, correct?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Good,” She smiled, “I’ve heard you’re a master of weapon design and assembly… I have a few schematics and parts I’d like assembled please.”

Author's Notes:

So, the fillies finally meet Ruby and Yang. This chapter was originally going to be much, much longer, with the girls visiting every shop I could think of in the city, but I decided the shopping spree could wait until they actually have some money to spend themselves and aren't taking all of Ruby's money. Looks like team Sunbird beat Dash to the whole "getting your weapons put together" scene.

When trying to figure out how the girls will survive the time until they go to Beacon, I figured Ruby, wanting to be the hero, would see four nice homeless faunus girls and want to give them a place to stay, now we just need to see how Tai is going to take this.

Chapter 5: The Golden Girl

“Hello, I am Diamond Tiara Rich, and these are my companions, Sweetie Crumbles Belle, Apple Bloom Macintosh, and Scootaloo Holiday Allgood.” Diamond said, pointing to each pony in turn, the Crusaders each took poses that they no doubt thought was cool, but were simply silly, as their names were called. Diamond scoffed, “Can you three please take this seriously, introductions are important!”

The yellow-haired girl gave a single chuckle and said, “Yang Xiao Long… You all got funny names? Where are you from?”

Ruby cut in, “They’re from some village outside of the kingdoms, they’re here to join Beacon.”

“Sweet, I hope you get in,” She said, shaking Diamond’s hand.

“So, what was that big boom and guy flying out of the window?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Oh, just some wannabe gangsters getting their butts kicked…” Yang replied, “Too bad I didn’t get what I came here for though.”

“Will he be ok?” Asked Sweetie, moving a little closer to the unconscious suited man on the ground, “That looks like a pretty rough hit.”

“He still has his aura, I doubt he’ll even be bruised come morning, but that should at least teach him not to mess with me again…”

Diamond spoke up, “We’re heading back to our hotel to gather our stuff, we only had enough lien to pay for the day, and I will not have anything of mine left behind.”

“Oh, right, that reminds me,” Ruby began, “I was thinking they could spend some time with us and dad, at least until they go off to Beacon… It’s been forever since we last had guests.”

“That’s nice of you Ruby, but I’m sure we can manage on our own,” Apple Bloom said.

“This wouldn’t be the first time we got stuck in a town we bearly know without any money,” Sweetie continued.

“Any friend of Ruby is a friend of mine,” Yang replied, “And it sounds like you girls don’t have anywhere else to stay, so it’s alright with me.”

“Discord!” Rarity shouted, her largest sewing needles all aimed at the chaos god, “You bring my sister right back here this instant!”

Rarity had, at last, reawoke from her faint, and had quickly gathered every needle she owned, even the recently broken ones, and had summoned the chaos god into her home. “As I said before, I’m afraid I can’t do that,” He replied.

With an anguished yell, the unicorn flung all the needles at the deity with as much power as she could muster, they all proceded to pass clean through the creature as if he were a hologram. “You clearly don’t grasp the concept of incorporeality…” The snake said.

With a shout, the unicorn began, “You will bring Sweetie Belle back, you hear me!”

“Please… I’ve already had enough of this from Applejack and Fluttershy… I won’t be sending any more fillies to Remnant, yes, yes, yes. But she’s going to school there, and-”

“I saw that beastly beast you brought in to the library, I won’t have my sister fighting more of those ghastly things!”

“Come on, that thing was a weak one, not even an alpha, it was practically a baby!”

“That was a baby!” Rarity nearly fainted again. Then, with even more rage than before, she grabbed a mirror and levitated it over her head like a bat ready to be swung.

“If it makes you feel any better, here… Now if you excuse me, I believe it’s time for me to get this talk from Rainbow Dash now… Auf Wiedersehen!” With that, Discord vanished in a flash of light, leaving behind a little white device with a diamond-shaped button on the center, painted to look like Rarity’s cutie mark. Enraged, the mare flung the mirror with all her force toward the nearest window.

Soon the two human girls and the fillies found themselves back at the hotel room, the man at the desk helpfully reminding them that their time was almost up. Entering the room, the two humans took notice of the girls’ armour which they quickly began equipping, it was certainly easier than carrying it around. “What’s in those boxes?” Yang asked.

“Oh, just some metal bits, screws, nuts, pipes, and all kinds of metal plates.”

Looking around the room, Ruby turned to the ponies and asked, “Where’re your weapons?”

“Weapons?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah, weapons, any good huntsman or huntress has awesome weapons!”

“We really don’t have any weapons,” Sweetie Belle said.

“I have this stick,” Scootaloo said, drawing the same wooden stick she had used back in the forest from a pocket inside her jacket.

“You kept that?” Apple Bloom said, supprised.

“Wait… Really? You don’t have any weapons?” Ruby asked, shocked.

“We really didn’t need any when we got jumped by those black wolf things,” Apple Bloom replied.

“You fought off beowolves without any weapons?” Yang asked, disbelief and astonishment mixing in equal measure in her voice.

“A few days ago I got jumped by an ursa while training and Yang could bearly take it out, even with Ember Celica!” Ruby said.

“Ember Celica?” Apple Bloom asked, confused.

“Ursa!” Sweetie shouted.

Smirking, Yang rolled her hands into fists and her massive golden bracelets extended outward and backwards, revealing a series of red cylinders around her wrist, and a metal tube extending from the front. Meanwhile, yellow armoured plates extended backwards over her arm.

“Woah!” Scootaloo said.

“By Celestia, that’s cool,” Apple Bloom remarked.

Diamond looked closely, intrigued. While Sweetie stared intently at the red cylinders, feeling the magic coming off them.

Yang’s smirk turned into a face-wide grin as she raised her arm and punched the air, eliciting a loud bang, a flash of orange light, and a concussive shockwave that rippled through the room, ruffling the fillies hair. They all jumped back, startled by the sudden burst. As Yang’s arm recoiled, an empty glass shell was ejected from the bracelet’s side, clattering to the ground, the dust inside expended.

“I can’t imagine getting hit with that, think what the blast would do to a person…” Diamond muttered.

Scootaloo yelled, “AWESOME!” She paused, gathering her breath, “Where can I get something like that! That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, I bet it feels awesome to hit something with that, it’s soooooo cool!”

“How are you allowed to carry something like that around? Isn’t it dangerous?” Apple Bloom muttered.

Yang laughed, “Yeah, my little Ember is awesome ain’t she… As for Bloom’s question, normally you need a license to make, sell, or own weapons, but you get one as part of joining a combat school… At least that’s how it is here in Vale, don’t know what the law’s like in Mistral or Vacuo, but I do know that Atlas is a bit harsher about stuff like that.”

“Do you have something cool like that!” Scootaloo turned to Ruby, who was blushing.

“Well, I kinda don’t have Crescent Rose with me right now… It needs one of the rotors replaced, so it’s currently lying in a bunch of pieces back at home.”

“Aww…” Scootaloo sighed.

“Well,” Diamond began, “Sounds like if we want to go to Beacon we better get some weapons of our own… Do you know where we might be able to buy some, and how much they cost?”

Ruby burst out laughing, Yang just chuckled a bit, “If you want the boring stuff!” Ruby replied.

“Sure, pistols and knives and swords you can get at any dusty old weapons shop, but you won’t be wanting any of that,” Yang replied.

“All students at Signal forge their own weapons, the school has an entire wing dedicated to blacksmithing and machining…”

“Yeah, it took a while, but a few weeks of work and I made Celica, and you should see the over-engineered monster, Crescent Rose.”

“When we get back home, I’ll take you out to the shed and we can start working on weapons for you… It looks like you already have plenty of parts,” Ruby finished, gesturing toward the boxes.

A great cyclone of wind disturbed the trees and sparks of electricity filled the sky. From a tree sat a lone blackbird, the crow’s crimson eyes staring out over the plains… In the distance, the mountains of south-east Sanus could be seen looming in the background, along with a winding dirt road that led from Vacuo to Vale. Carried on the wind, the crow heard the sounds of thunder in the distance, and saw the golden bolts of energy striking downward from the rolling clouds… This was no natural phenomenon, as the bolts, three or four, all struck the same place, over and over, followed by the distant crack of gunshots, and a powerful gust of wind that disturbed the leaves, howling like a hoard of apathy.

The crow took flight, realizing something was wrong and flew toward the source of the disturbance. In the distance could be seen a fight that any normal huntsman would awe at. A woman floated in the air, lifted by a column of wind that kicked up dirt and dust, firing a swarm of frozen leaves toward a pair of attackers. As the crow flew with all its might toward the battle, it saw the woman unleash a bolt of fire at another assailant, only to have the attack be thrown back in the form of dozens of shards of glass.

Thrown to the ground, the woman staggered as her foes ran forward, soon engaging in a fast and violent melee. One of the attackers drew a bow and fired a volley of ornate arrows at the brown and white clad woman, each impacted the ground and unleashed a fiery explosion that sent the woman stumbling to the ground, screaming.

The crow flew low to the ground, diving to increase its speed. Another burst of wind scattered the woman’s attackers, followed by bolts of lightning and fire, and the woman retrieved her dropped staff, stumbling to the green-haired girl, who she perceived as the primary threat.

As the crow passed above the ground, it transformed, beak shortening, wings growing longer and losing their feathers, legs turning from scaled bone to human flesh, and torso becoming more like that of a human man as his tail-feathers disappeared into his body.

The woman raised her staff, preparing to impale, but she herself was impaled as an arrow shot through her back, shattering spine and protruding from out the other end with a gout of blood. Still alive and biting back the pain, she lay there, paralyzed, as her assailants drew closer. One equipped a white glove adorned with arcane symbols like those seen on the bone-masks of grimm. And as the gasping woman was held in the arms of her other two foes, the woman in her red dress launched a stream of black ichor from her glove.

The crow-turned-man drew a sword, easily as long as the man was tall, from his back, and charged. Meanwhile, the woman still held captive, face coated in spidery webs of black sludge, screamed in pain. He lept and slashed, cutting the black inky tethers that linked the two women.

Once everything was packed, Ruby and Yang, followed by the ponies, packed themselves on the boat heading to the island of Patch, a sizable landmass not too far from Vale’s shoreline, according to the human sisters. The ship was a little smaller than expected, not much bigger than the schooners vanhoover fishermares used. They loaded their boxes into the cargo bay aboard the little dust-powered paddle-steamer. The front of the vessel had a rotating metal box with big metal tubes sticking out the end, Ruby said that they were there to keep any oceanic grimm at bay.

There were dozens of similar ships entering and leaving port, and the fillies found themselves rather impressed by the size of some. Thus, leading to their disappointment when they found the ship taking them to Patch. With the ear-splitting sound of the ship’s horn, it departed, dust-powered paddles churning the water as it left the Valsian docks, and the city behind. Way off in the distance was the big tower overlooking the city from its position atop the cliff, looming.

As Diamond watched the city go, she couldn’t help but feel that something was watching them from that tower, although she wasn’t sure whether that feeling was good or bad.