Sunset Huntress: A New Beginning

Chapters

Prologue: Sunset's Betrayal
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Vale & Talking With Storm
Chapter 2: A Talk with Nitro
Chapter 3: Hanging out with Nova
Chapter 4: A Meeting of Fate
Chapter 5: A Team’s Formation & A Beginning Mission
Chapter 6: A Complication & A Mission's End
Chapter 7: A Mission Debriefing & A Meeting of Riders (Edited)
Side Story: Arms
Chapter 8: A Start to a School Year
Chapter 9: A Reunion of Allies
Chapter 10: Training & A Meeting of Equals (Part 1)
Interlude: A Dream of the Past and the Promise of Power.
Chapter 11: A Meeting of Equals (Part 2)

Prologue: Sunset's Betrayal

Year 1: Prologue - Somewhere New

“This is the biggest mistake you'll make in your entire life.” The enraged mare snarled, as the guards led her away from her former mentor. Celestia muttered something, glancing at an old mural, but Sunset Shimmer Didn't hear it. Or care. All she cared about right now was getting back at the princess she had looked up to, the mare that in her eyes had betrayed her.

She belonged here. She was smart enough, she was powerful enough, and that was how the world worked, didn't it? After all, Celestia was the only living pony strong enough to have achieved ascension, and she was Equestria's ruler. ...even if she had gotten 'soft'.

That's why this world needs a new ruler. Somepony who is still strong. That's what the mirror was showing me, and she knows it. She's afraid of me. The sorceress mentally grumbled, fuming. She was not going to take this disgrace lying down. Lowering her head as if ashamed as she walked, so that her mane hid her horn from the view of the two guards flanking her, she waited until they passed as close as they would get to the mirror. All the while the most potent flare spell she knew built.

Now. There was the mirror. Her prize. Her escape. Closing her eyes and letting loose the flare the room flashed bright white. She didn't waste a second, shifting her weight to her front hooves and lashing out with her rear ones. The satisfying clang of brass horseshoes against golden helmets rang out, followed by two thuds.

“Amateurs.” The grinning sorceress stated with a disappointed huff, before trotting casually over to the mirror and stepping through.

Emerging from a mirror set into the base of a statue, a tall building loomed before her. Stone columns showing ornate workmanship ahead of her. Above the entrance two words, strangely enough in what looked like modern equestrian: Signal Academy.

“Well, this is an interesting development...” Shimmer mused as she looked over her new form. She had known enough about the magic mirror to be aware the journey would change her, but not this much. Where once has been a a lovingly groomed beautiful golden coat was now a hairless tan hide. She had a biped build that reminded her somewhat of a minotaur... or maybe a monkey? It was hard to tell. Her amber streaked red mane remained but seemed longer with more of it coming from the top of her head instead of her neck and back, but at least her ears and tail were still where they belonged. Strangest of all, she had manifested the oddest of attire.

The clothing resembled a dress in burgundy and amber with black accents. The top had long sleeves that expanded slightly, hanging loose around her forearms where black bracers. The material of the bracers was black and felt like the hide of some creature. It was the same material as her boots. The symbol for her cutiemark stencilled onto the full length side of the dress against an amber background, only, changed slightly. That parts that should be red were red, but the parts that should be gold were absent save for a red outline, as if somepony had tried to render it with only a single colour.

Looking away from the mirror. Shimmer made for the door. “Very interesting. Now the real question... Just Where am I?”

reaching the door she gently and quietly slid it open just a crack to listen. It would do no good to be caught unaware in... wherever she was. On the other side were several bipeds like her, some of them crowded around a projected image that seemed to be speaking.

“...orphaned by yet another White Fang attack, is now in the custody of her grandfather...” The voice sounded like someone reading the news aloud. That would be the perfect way to learn about this place without drawing attention to herself. Wanting to stay up to date on the news surely wouldn't seem out of the ordinary.

Slipping into the small room and moving towards the voice, listening intently, she payed careful attention to the other bipeds around her, one in particular catching her eye. A dark haired girl who had on a black dress with red accents. She was scanning the crowd for someone, her gaze pausing on sunset for a moment, before moving past her to another girl, a blonde probably two or three years the girl's senior. As soon as she saw the blonde she rushed over while Shimmer watched unnoticed.

But that wasn't what had caught Shimmer's eye. It was the look the girl had... like, something important was missing. Perhaps it was the story playing about another girl loosing her father, but she couldn't help but wonder if this dark haired child had suffered a similar fate.

What if I misunderstood what the mirror was showing me? This place seems far worse off than home is... What if I'm meant to... no. Can't get distracted. She thought, shaking her head. Don't forget why you're here; hone your skills, recruit followers, return home and claim what's rightfully yours.

Her thoughts were interrupted a moment later by a pair of whispers from one of the others around her.

“I didn't know there were any of them going to this school.”

“It should go back to the forest...”

Her attention back on her surroundings Sunset realized too late that all eyes seemed to be on her, Some curious, some kind, some... decidedly less so. the others like her were... actually... these bipeds weren't like her. None of them had tails, none of them had the same kind of ears.

Oh no... the whole situation had alarm bells going off in her head. She needed to get out of here, now. Slowly backing away, she realized with alarm that a few of them were between her and the entrance as well...

“Hey there you are! About time you got here, come on.” A strange voice called as the blonde she had noticed earlier grabbed hold of her and pulled her away from the crowd to the relative safety of an unoccupied corridor. After a few random turns they stopped, and though Shimmer now felt a bit... lost. Looks like I'm stuck with these two for a while. Still, better than being in that crowd.

“Sorry to drag you away like that, but you looked like you were about to have a panic attack.” the blond commented with a laugh, “I didn't know there were any faunas' starting this year. That's pretty cool. I'm Yang.”

“Sunset Shimmer.” She stated, still a bit out of her element, but resigned to having to... tolerate Yang and, whoever the other girl is. “I take it you two have been here a while?”

“Nah. Ruby's still too young, she's just visiting. It's my first day here too.” Yang said with a silly grin, as the other girl simply nodded.

Wonderful...

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Vale & Talking With Storm

Year 1 - Under New Stars

Hectic. Yes, that was definitely the right word. Hectic would be the best way to describe my first month at Signal. Shimmer thought to herself as she flopped down on the bed. She stared up at the ceiling blankly, letting her hands fall over the edges of the bed and just laying there, not really resting but not doing anything either. The setting sun outside painting the otherwise white room in reds and oranges.

She was apparently something called a faunus, and it was causing no end of problems. The mirror’s magic may have made others think she belonged here, but that only went so far. Being the only one of her kind attending this school made her stand out more than a gryphon in a zebra village. She still wasn't even sure what Faunus were other than not quite human, and it's not as if she could ask. There was one advantage, at least, being a non-human had gotten her a a way into the school and a place to stay. Something about an exchange program with the other kingdoms, she hadn't really listened to the specifics. Still, is that worth being an outsider half the school seems to want gone?

“Ugh...” she groaned, burying her face in her pillow, “stupid bucking humans...”

Why is my appearance such a big deal? She wondered to herself. We're effectively two variations of the same thing. A pegasus in Canterlot wouldn't be treated like this... why are they like this?

Thus far her plan was in shambles. The school was a combat academy, so honing the skills she would need to take her rightful throne back home should have been easy... except that something was wrong with her magic. She could feel it was there, and she could visualize the spell matrices as easily as always, but she couldn't do anything with them. If they activated at all, they did so on their own and usually just to patch her up well after the fact... For lack of a better term her abilities seemed, “locked”, somehow. And she was having a hell of a time finding the proverbial “key”. On top of that, recruiting followers was looking to be borderline impossible. She had one ally so far in Yang, but half the school seemed to either hate or distrust her, those that didn't either ignored her or pitied her. I don't need pity, I need allies. I need others who will follow me back to Equestria. I need others who respect me... she mentally grumbled. I had that once... Respect. Authority. The other students at Celestia's School *knew** I was better. Why did she have to take that away?*

Sluggishly climbing off her bed and tromping over to the desk across the room, she sat down in the chair and pulled out one of her books, deciding to put some time into the weekend's assignment, but even that felt like a waste. As always studying was unbelievably boring, but she'd never had any trouble just powering through it before. Of course, back then she was actually accomplishing something....

After an hour of reading and scratching down notes, she was interrupted by a knock at her door.

“Enter.” She stated flatly, turning to see a grinning blonde in her doorway. Not that it was much of a surprise. Given where she was staying, it really could only have been her anyway; the other students wouldn't have bothered knocking. Even if it wasn't a smile, the sight of her only real ally at least cleared the scowl off her face. “Hello Yang. Come to try and cheer me up again?”

“Aw, what gave me away?” She joked, grinning. Striding into the now rather dark room, and flicking on a light, Yang asked “How can you see with the lights off?”

“I just can, there's more than enough light coming in from outside.” Sunset stated with a shrug, glancing briefly out her window at the now moonlit cityscape. To her it seemed as clear as day; darker and more contrasting obviously, since it was night time, but just as visible. Maybe humans just have bad eyesight or something?

“Anyway, there's a an arcade down town. I figured we could head down there and try out some of the fighting games.” Yang suggested with a grin, changing the subject. Sunset just rolled her eyes and sighed, turning back to her book.

“Why would I want to do that?” Sunset questioned flatly, part of her scowl returning and her ears folding back against her hair. She stared at the open page of her textbook blankly, much as she tried to act like she could, she couldn't really focus on her studies right now.

“Because going in town is better than sitting in here alone? It works when Ruby's in a bad mood...” Her friend tried to answer, albeit sounding a bit surprised at Sunset's response.

“Ruby's twelve.” Sunset grumbled, part of her mildly annoyed at being compared to a girl close to three years her junior. Being only a few months younger, she would have expected Yang to see things more her way... Then again they were sisters, maybe that played a bigger part than she had considered.

“Why are you so grumpy lately?”

Because nothing is going according to plan, because I should be running this place by now. Was what she wanted to say, but thought better of it. She needed an excuse. The lack of other faunus IS really annoying... without meaning to, the idea of being alone brought to mind her family, and her friend Flash from back home. No. NO. Don't think about home. Frowning, looking at Yang, she quickly explained, “Because I'm alone here. You can just walk ten feet to find another human, but me? No one.”

“I... Sorry. I guess I didn't think that through.” Yang commented quietly, her usual grin fading, upset that she had apparently overlooked something that simple. Unsure what else to say, Yang opted to let her actions speak for her; pulling Sunset into a hug before leaving her to her books.

Alone in her room again, Sunset scowled. I don't miss Equestria. I don't! I can get by just as well here, I just need to work harder... She thought to herself, not entirely buying her own lie, as she reluctantly went back to her book.

Block. Block. Counter. Duck. Turn. Strike. Sunset repeated in her mind in time to the hand to hand techniques the Professor had them practicing. I just had to have this class first period didn't I? I never get out of here without bruises...

She would have preferred sparring with Yang right now. Her sparring partner, an armored jerk with a jet black... whatever that mane-style was, was starting to get on her nerves. The ones he hadn’t already bruised anyway. More often than not he would improvise his counters and strikes, or move out of turn. That would be fine were this an actual fight, but this was training, Sunset could barely throw a punch properly let alone deflect incoming kicks that came out of nowhere.

“Gah! Stop doing that!” She complained, catching a jab to the side as she tried to take a swing at her opponent. Dropping to her knees one hand clutched her side. You're hitting to hard you moron, it's just supposed to be practice... What is wrong with you? She wanted to say, but all that came out was a pained growl. Sunset didn't bother to get back to her feet.

“Aw... What's the matter? Cant keep up? I thought you freaks were supposed to be fast.” Her sparring partner taunted, drawing the teacher's attention away from the pair he was currently helping long enough for him to shake his head, sigh, and face-palm.

I'm a scholar, not an athlete, with out my spells... Sunset thought to herself angrily, shifting and shuffling away as best she could without fully getting up. Her abilities would kick in soon enough to heal her, but until they did, the less she had to move to put distance between them the better. Part of her very much wished she could just activate them herself the way the instructors did, but she still didn't know how that worked. Her mind wandered as she sat down on the bench, not noticing her sparring partner getting berated by the professor and the instructors behind her. That didn't matter in her mind. What am I without my spells? I can't defend myself, I'm not getting anywhere on anything. No Magic, no talent, no purpose...

A minute or two later, a slight shift in the bench and a hand on her shoulder, indicating someone had sat down next to her, drew her attention back to reality. Looking up she noticed Yang beside her.

“Hey, You okay?” Yang asked, glancing at Sunset's ribs. It didn't take a genius to tell what was going through her mind.

“It'll heal.” Came her answer from a clearly distracted Sunset. She didn't even bother asking where Yang's partner was. Her mind was on other things.

“You shouldn't listen to him. You just need more practice that's all.” Yang stated not a hint of doubt in her voice, “You're doing fine.”

“I don't feel fine...” Sunset grumbled. Her, now signature, scowl back in full force as she stared at the training room floor. The feeling of her abilities finally getting around to healing her doing nothing to lift her mood. “I hate being this weak. I should be able to do better, I used to do better. I had a dozen ways of controlling light but since I got here I haven't been able to do one.”

“Huh?” Yang asked, confused. Staring at sunset as if she had suddenly sprouted a second head. “How can you forget how that stuff works? I thought once you learn to control it, that's it.”

“It's... Complicated. How do you know, anyway?” Sunset asked, wincing at her screw up. She hadn't once mentioned her lost spells, or her other life before now... Still, Yang had implied it could be done... She hadn't found any reference to spells in the library that didn't point her to that Dust stuff, but maybe she'd been looking in the wrong place?

“Mom explained how this trick she can do works, once.” Yang explained, sounding as if that somehow made her an expert on the subject, that stupid grin still plastered on her face. Sunset at least had to admit that Yang certainly didn't lack in confidence.

Feeling a bit more confident now that she at least knew where to look, Sunset got up from the bench, and asked. “We should probably get back to... hey, wait a minute. Where's your partner?”

“He messed up my hair...” Yang stated, her turn to be grumpy. She didn't say anything else. Apparently expecting that statement to somehow be enough to explain her sparring partner's absence.

"Well, mine I think got kicked out of class, since I don't see him anywhere. So I guess that means it's you and me."

Chapter 2: A Talk with Nitro

Never Easy

Why does a combat school even *need** mathematics based classes?* Sunset wondered, not for the first time, as she sat in the back row, bored out of her mind. The subject material couldn't have held her interest if it wanted to, which was unlikely to happen being an inanimate collection of numbers.

Just one more class and I'm out of here. She reminded herself as the droning voice of the teacher threatened to put her to sleep. From where she sat she could see several of her classmates were well ahead of her in that regard. Like every other time, the teacher caught one of them, and began his usual long winded speech about 'specializing in combat does not mean neglecting academics', and 'smarter warriors are more effective', blah, blah, blah...

Say what you mean old man, you don't expect most of us to cut it on the field. Sunset thought to herself as she watched the redundant speech being delivered to a student who clearly wasn't even listening. This has nothing to do with combat, and even if it did, I've memorized spell matrices more complex than this.

“It's days like this that make me question why I chose to come here...” Sunset grumbled under her breath.

Yang just grinned at her from two seats down and whispered, “It'll be over soon enough.”

For one rare moment, Sunset smiled. There was something about sitting up here, watching her namesake sink below the waves of the harbour. For a brief time, as the last rays of light cast reds and golds across the buildings of the city between her and the water, She wasn't on the roof of a watch tower, in a land where she didn't belong; She was back home on her balcony, in Canterlot. She could just picture the forest beneath her as the carefully maintained trees and shrubs that decorated the family estate.

“There you are, about time I found you.” A voice behind Sunset commented as a familiar figure crested the peak of the roof. Sitting down next to her, Yang looked over flashing her signature smile. “What are you doing all the way out here?”

Sunset sighed, she should have known her quiet moment wouldn't last. She didn't even bother coming up with a lie this time. “This city is nice and all, but it's not home. Sometimes I need to get away from it.”

“You're always in such a bad mood...”

“I already told you why that is, Yang.” Sunset grumbled, annoyed.

“Yeah, that you're the only Faunus in any of our classes, probably our whole grade.” Yang stated rolling her eyes. Knowing that the answer wasn't the whole story. “But it's more than that. I get the feeling you're angry at someone, did something happen?”

Sunset had to think for a moment, she couldn't exactly tell Yang the whole story. Even if Yang did believe her, which was unlikely, it kind of contradicted the whole 'exchange student from Menagerie' thing. Still it wasn't hard to change a few details.

“I was sent here because my mentor thought I wasn't ready...” Sunset grumbled, reworking a few of the details. “It was plain as day what she was training me for. She's ancient, and we both wear sun emblems for a reason. But every time I tried to reach for the obvious goal of my training, she would hold me back. I never understood why, I still don't understand why.”

The sun had dipped below the horizon by this point, and it was starting to get dark, turning the red leaved forest below into more of a dull grey-black. Sunset paid it no mind continued on regardless. There was something, calming, about finally getting to talk to someone about this, even if it wasn't the whole tale. “Now I'm stuck here, alone, with abilities that don't work, and any hope I have of getting back what was rightfully mine or seeing the mountains back home again gets further away every day.”

Both girls were quiet for a while before the tolling of a clock tower in the distance brought Yang's attention to the time. Her attention shifting back to their current situation, yang commented “Everyone knows it's a bad idea to be out past the city wall after dark. Come on we need to go.” sounding a fair bit less confident than was normal for her.

Everyone knows... Sunset repeated in her mind, as she stood and turned to follow Yang. I did it again. I screwed up... but what could be out here that would rattle Yang? Thoughts drifted through her mind as the two quickly made it to the bottom of the tower. Reaching the ground, another problem presented itself. The trees blocked out what little light the moon and stars provided. Sunset could still see, but if past experience was anything to go by, Yang would be completely blind in these conditions.

“Oh man... Which way...” the voice came from her left, something was off about Yang's speech now that they were at ground level. She seemed nervous, a definite rarity for her. Turning, Sunset grabbed Yang's shoulder. She was about to say something reassuring when she picked up a faint growl and other familiar sounds. Had she not already been on edge she likely would have missed them.

Sounds like paws against leaves, back are flat, front are dragging, heavier than us... Probably a manticore or something similar. Easy enough, they don't pursue unless hunting and it wouldn't have growled if that was the case. Just need to stun it and get out of range. She had to think quickly, from her friend's reaction she heard it as well, or at least the growl. “Yang, do you trust me?”

“I... What?” yang responded, slightly delayed.

Why did she hesitate?

“I can see just fine, but I don't know what's out here, and you're the better fighter. We need to work together.” Sunset explained. Much like the incident in the gym, Yang had that look on her face, as if questioning what was wrong with her friend; still the idea of not being blind seemed to get her back to normal. So that's what was bothering you. You don't like not being able to fight back.

“I... yeah. I trust you. Heh, bet you we'll be the youngest in the school to nail a beowolf.” Yang said, dropping into a fighting stance. There was still a trace of uncertainty in her voice, but Yang wasn't the type to let that stop her.

Sunset on the other hand only caught the word 'wolf' her body locking up as her mind immediately threw out the plan she had been working on. Wolves chase if you run...

...and always fight in packs...

oh crap.

A quartet of howls from all around them brought Sunset's attention back to the present. She considered trying to guide Yang out of the woods, but the chances of being able to do that and avoid their pursuers were negligible. Like it or not they were committed now. We're going to die here... she grumbled to herself mentally, trying to keep her imagination from drawing up random images of the unseen foe, forcing herself to remain calm. Yang on the other hand seemed to be grinning even wider.

“Right side, Duck.” Sunset called as the first beowolf breached the bushes around them, leaping at yang only to sail over her and get an uppercut to the gut for it's trouble. The path leading to the tower wasn't exactly wide, so she couldn't give much warning. Already her heart was racing and every instinct she had was screaming to run.

“Hah! Eat it, Fuzzy!” Yang called feeling her strike connect. Yang's timing was off, the strike doing far less damage than it could have, and the lack of weapons meant she was dealing bruises at best, but still not bad given her limited vision. Tipped off balance it landed face first and skidded to a halt. Flipping onto it's back from the drag against the ground.

Oh dear Celestia, she's actually enjoying this isn't she? Sunset's flight instinct was getting harder to fight now, but she couldn't leave Yang behind... These thing's claws are as big as my head, and Yang can't land good hits by sound alone... This is hopeless... The thoughts ran through her head in a fraction of a second as a flicker of movement caught her eye, this time coming for her. “Back right, Low!” she shouted as she jumped to the side to avoid it's pounce. The beowolf landed behind her, where Yang had just jumped from only to have the blonde land boots first on it's neck by sheer luck.

Yang's taunt to the other creatures was lost to her as she spotted another one already charging. Not getting up from her prone position, Sunset instead shifted her weight to her hands and swung both feet around into a double kick to the face. The blow sent the creature careening off course and dropped her onto her hands and knees. The move was a lot more awkward in this body, but Tartarus, did it feel worlds more natural than the way the instructors had been trying to teach her to fight.

“That sounded painful.” Yang joked, hearing the yelp from the one Sunset had just struck. Looking her way, Sunset didn’t have time to answer. Seeing one creature getting back up, another already in mid leap. By the time she called a warning it would be too late to dodge, so instead she just acted. Tackling Yang to the ground as claws raked against her back.

“Sunset!” Yang yelled, alarmed, thrown off both by the strike and by the unmistakable sound of cloth tearing as her friend cried out in pain.

“I'm sorry...” Sunset whimpered. She tried to get up, but her shoulders wouldn't work corectly, any attempt to move them just sent what felt like bolts of fire through her back. Yang pushed her off, propping her against the base of the watch tower, standing protectively over her. We're going to die here... it's my fault... More howls nearby, too distant to be the three remaining here, but too close to escape from. As if that was even an option.

“We can still do this; Just tell me where they are.”

The wolves charged again, but before an answer could be given, shots rang out, each followed by yowls and yelps. A pair of humanoid blurs bursting into view, bringing light with them.

“Qrow, get them back to the wall. I'll take it from here.” The one in the lead ordered, voice as sharp as the blade in her hand. Sunset couldn't see anything beneath the stranger's white, rose clasped cloak, but Yang certainly seemed to recognize her. The other figure Sunset recognized as one of their professors, though the massive black scythe he had was something entirely new to her.

Between the pain and the now fading adrenaline, the rest was a blur.

As the nightmare faded, and lingering howls disappeared from Sunset's ears, her slowly waking mind noticed a few things off. The sun was too bright. That didn't make sense, her window faced the wrong way for a sunrise. Her bed felt different, her pyjamas felt different, and everything hurt. Squeezing her eyes shut, sunset tried not to move too much, groaning in discomfort.

“Hey, you're awake...” A relieved voice said, nearby, somewhere. Probably Yang by the sound of it. Sunset turned her head in the direction of the voice and opened her eyes just slightly, enough to confirm it really was her.

“What are you...” She began, before cutting herself off. Her vision drifting from Yang to focus on something else. Next to yang, on the chair was her usual outfit and a familiar black jacket, now with three red stained gouges running through the fabric right between the shoulder blades, the sight of which brought back memories of the night before. The way events had actually gone, not the endless nightmarish chase her sleeping mind had made of them. “...doing in... my... Oh. Not a nightmare.”

“Nope.” Yang agreed, one hand behind her head, and glancing anywhere in, what sunset now realized was the inside of the school's infirmary, but not at sunset. Pink tinged bandages were visible around a portion of her right arm. “You heal fast, but the doctor said you'll be in here at least a week.”

It dawned on Sunset that this kind of mess was probably why the school had an infirmary this large, given it's proximity to the wall. It felt more like part of a hospital than part of a school.

“Yang I-...” She began, hesitating, and getting cut off before she could get very far.

“I'm sorry.”

“For what?” Sunset asked, confused. If anyone should be apologizing she should, as much as she despised the idea of even thinking that. “You did most of the work, all I managed to do was get both of us hurt.”

“You might have out run them if you hadn't been stuck spotting for me...”

“No, more likely I would have gotten jumped... and killed. I was serous when I said I didn't know what was out there...” Sunset answered, barely above a whisper. The weight of what had happened finally beginning to process. I thought it was like the everfree, but those things... And the wall's size is overkill if it's just for keeping those out. What else is out there?...Do I even want to know?

“Guess you lived a sheltered life, up in the mountains huh.” Yang commented, though her tone and expression seemed off, like she expected something from the answer.

“...well... yeah...”

“Except there are no mountains anywhere near Menagerie's capitol.” Yang stated flatly, her eyes flickering red for a moment, as she glared at Sunset. “And did you come here or did your mentor send you here? If you're going to lie to me at least get your stories straight.”

“Yang, I...” It wasn't her words or her tone that bothered Sunset though, nor being caught in her lie. It was the hurt expression Yang wore. The rational part of her mind was trying to tell her that she needed Yang as an ally now, more than ever, the other part, was still recovering from being terrified of giant wolf things. “...Alright... You probably won't believe me though...”

Chapter 3: Hanging out with Nova

Strange Pink Girl

“Talking... Ponies... Just how hard did you hit your head last night?” Yang asked in a rather confused and annoyed tone. Arms crossed in front of her and staring at Sunset with her now familiar questioning look.

“I'm serious Yang, it's a real place.” Sunset said, though in her mind she was grumbling to herself. I knew she wouldn't believe me.

“Riiiiight. You know what, Forget it. I'm sorry I asked.” The blonde grumbled, getting up to leave, “When you're done making up stories, you know where to find me.”

“Yang, wait...”

Her only answer was a door clicking shut.

Left alone with her thoughts, Sunset couldn't help but dwell on her mistakes. She had gone from being the best of the best to little more than average. That hurt, a lot. I never should have come here. What had once been her greatest ability was stripped from her, replaced with some sort of force she could barely feel and couldn't control at all. This was a mistake. Instead of the self reliant young mare who didn't need anypony, she was weak, trapped by the need to rely on others. Why does being alone here hurt? It wasn't like this in Canterlot...

Turning to look out the window, the wall caught her eye. It's size strangely reassuring. No. I can’t lie here feeling sorry for myself, those monsters aren't just going to go away because I don't want to deal with them. I need to get back out there. I need to get better. ...If yang's no longer an option, I'll need to find others.

Forcing herself out of bed, despite the pain of her protesting back, Sunset was thankful there weren't any machines hooked up to her. That would have made this so much harder. Soon enough she made her way over to the chair with her clothes and changed out of generic blue outfit whoever had treated her injuries had put her in, being careful of the bandages wrapping her torso. No doubt they were for her still tender back.

Almost any arm movement stung, and it felt like something in her back was pulling painfully tight if she moved certain ways. With this many bandages she probably had something stitched up back there and would have to be careful not to tear it. I'm probably going to have a pretty bad scar too...

Yang had left her a new shirt, in place of the ruined one, but Sunset didn't exactly own a spare jacket. I'll need to fix that... October is getting cold, and it's almost over. It's only going to get colder from here. ...Still don't know how they regulate that without pegasi. She thought to herself, finally getting her shirt on after several moments of struggling not only against it, but her own slowed limited movement.

Sneaking away, she slipped out of the room, trying to avoid any of the school's staff. Anyone who knew about her injuries would probably just send her back. Once out the front doors of the school she headed for a street nearby where there was a small miscellaneous goods shop she liked. The merchandise was moderately cheap, which was handy given her limited funds.

Stepping inside she started browsing around looking for sewing supplies. Sunset was terrible at that sort of thing, but there weren't exactly many other options for fixing her jacket. And buying a new one was out of the question. Starting at the shelf nearest the door, she began browsing the items.

No, no, no, wait, is that from a suit of armour? that might be useful, if it was sewn in under the cloth. Might come back for that. Lets see, no... no... no, no, is that a bowling ball? Guess that's what I get for shopping at an odds an ends place... Hey wait, what are these? Sunset wondered, picking up the small box. There was a manufacturer's logo on it resembling a weird snowflake and '8ga Volt', next to it two similar boxes marked with the same numbers followed by 'Frost' and 'Burn'. Opening it up it was full of orange plastic tubes with copper bases. Wonder what this is... Sunset thought to herself, before closing it and flipping it over, reading a marketing blurb on the back. Some kind of... ammunition? what's a 'Shot gun'...

A shelf or two later she had found what she needed, and wasted no time in paying for it and heading out of the small shop. The dorms would be the best place to work on fixing her jacket, but they would also be the first place anyone at the school would look. She didn't want to go back to the infirmary, just yet...

Where else can I go? Sunset thought to herself while wandering around town. After perhaps an hour of picking streets at random, she noticed a gathering in a park a short ways away. Getting closer it appeared to be some kind of competition in progress. A short ways away from it was a mostly unoccupied gazebo. I suppose that will work.

Heading over, her movements still quite sluggish and a bit painful because of her back, she picked out a spot where she could see the event, but still work, and sat down. Laying the jacket and materials out in front of her she did what she could to struggle through stitching the first rip, but even the slow pace she was going was starting to get more than a bit uncomfortable.

Pausing to watch the competition for a bit, in the hopes the break would make her back stop bugging her, she watched as a new fighter stepped onto the field. His back was to her, hiding his face but his stance spoke of calm confidence and the distinctive gold trimmed emerald and black tailcoat he was wearing was hard to miss. His opponent, the winner of the previous match, a dark skinned teen with a mane of messy black hair and a scar across one eye, was dressed in a somewhat more local looking tan coat and pants.

“Hey there, are you watching Ren's match?” A bubbly voice nearby asked. A cursory glance showed a red haired girl a within a year or so of herself or Yang wearing a white blouse and pink dress. Sunset though merely assumed whoever it was was talking to someone else, and got back to her work. The beowolf's claws had done a number on both the leather and the fabric underneath, and sunset wasn't exactly a master seamstress to begin with. "He's really good huh? you know we go to the same school? We've been friends for like forever.

"Hey what are you working on? What happened to your jacket? Did you get in a fight? Was it a big fight or a small fight? that almost looks like claws oh wow were you out hunting monsters? Do you have a weapon already too? I'm going to have one next year, I have this idea for a hammer-"

Oh gods, she's not talking to someone else, she's trying to talk to me... Sunset thought, trying to tune out the stranger's voice and focus on her stitching. The first of the three gouges was closed, but sloppily and the thread she was using was the wrong color, creating a diagonal maroon stripe across the middle of the jacket's back. I should have payed more attention to the thread I pick-... is she still talking? The words drifted through her mind as she realized she had missed a good dozen or so sentences while working on the first cut.

Pausing again because of her back, she put the jacket down and returned her focus to the fight. Mumbling 'yeah whatever' to a half heard question, in the hopes it would silence the increasingly annoying chatter temporarily. The green and black clad fighter was certainly agile and seemed to be relying on what looked like some kind of trained hoof to- hand to hand discipline, Like some pegasi guards were trained in. More interesting though, was his opponent's oddly familiar fighting style, staying low to the ground and swiping with his open hand, trying to grapple his opponent. Something seemed off about his hands though; his nails were too long, even for decorative extensions. ...no, not nails, claws. He had claws, like a cat. ...or a gryphon, that's where I've seen this before.

Could he be another Faunus?

Sunset would have remained there, entranced by the match, had not two things happened. Firstly, the green clad fighter managed to knock his opponent out of the ring, and secondly, the oddly silent pink girl had just shouted "All done!" in her ear. Turning back to the stranger, she was met by the sight of her repaired jacket in the girls arms. All three gouges in the material had been sewn shut, and even her shoddy stitch work on the top one had been cleaned up.

"How did... What..?" Sunset mumbled, shocked. She hadn't expected help from anyone, let alone a complete stranger.

"I told you, I had to patch things up a lot at home, so I'm really good at it." She explained. Grinning and handing the Sunset the jacket. Leaving the girl to wonder just how much of the stranger's life she had tune out ealier. A moment later the stranger was looking past Sunset at someone else. "Ren! Over here!"

Looking back, Sunset could now see the green clad fighter approaching the two of them, dusting off one of his sleeves as he walked. His apparent old friend bouncing over to him as he approached, and going right back into motor-mouth mode until cut off with a quick shout of "NORA. You do at least know your 'new friend's' name, right?"

"Um..." 'Nora' commented, looking a bit distracted momentarily. "Maybe?"

"It's Sunset." She answered for her, walking over to join them. She wasn't really sure why she was doing this, but in a way it seemed right. Nora had just fixed her jacket for her, and people she could actually get along with were in short supply lately, so she could hardly think of a reason not to. "Sunset Shimmer." She offered holding out a hand toward Ren.

"Lie Ren." He answered shaking the offered hand, and nodding in a partial bow.

"I haven't seen you two around town before." Sunset commented, not sure what to talk about, but sure she had to say something. "You're not from here are you?"

"No, I'm just here to compete in the tournament." He explained, before looking Sunset over momentarily. His expression shifting subtly. "Though I would have thought you would know that... Or are you not competing?"

"No... I'm Injured. I can't." She explained, gesturing to the marks on her jacket. Her gaze drifting a bit before she muttered under her breath. "Besides, I'm not good enough."

"Perhaps, or perhaps you just need training. In time, and with the right master, you-" Ren commented before the conversation was cut short by an announcer calling his name. Nora wishing him luck as he returned to the tournament area.

So, perhaps leaving without saying goodbye wasn't the most polite thing to do, but Sunset's mind was elsewhere.

Back on the school grounds, Sunset stalked through the library hunting for the bulletin board that she had seen there before. I'm a fool. Why didn't I consider a mentor before? She grumbled to herself in her mind, annoyed that a possible solution so obvious had been beyond her sight so long. She knew the answer of course. The face and source of her bitterness towards Equestria haunted her mind and wouldn’t let her forget the last mentor she had. The one that had betrayed her. But that doesn't matter. This time will be different.

There it was, the ad left by one of the older students for tutoring.

I'm in no shape to approach her now, but once I’ve healed...

Chapter 4: A Meeting of Fate

Encounters

Once again Sunset was in class barely staying awake through a lecture about the history of some kind of limbless crossbow thing the teacher was holding. Get on with it old man. I already know this part. She thought to herself, barely suppressing a yawn. At least her back had stopped bothering her a few days earlier. Hooray for small miracles.

A glance sideways at a familiar nearby desk was met with not but a brief glare in return. Yep. Still pissed off at me. Slumping forwards, still only barely hearing the teacher, Sunset couldn't help but wish her talent had granted her some measure of control over either sound time rather than light. Or even worked right now for that matter. Anything to be out of here. Why do schools always have a teacher who can make everything sound as dull as possible? He may as well be reading a post box directory.

When the bell rang she didn't loose a moment in getting out of the class, making a beeline for the area of the gym where the training weapons were stored. They had started using them the previous week, and there was one in particular sunset had found herself favoring. A simple polearm. They were little more than dull edged wooden mock ups, too weak and too light to do much more than bruise, but damage wasn't the point. The idea was to block as many strikes as possible while simultaneously trying to score a few of your own. Grabbing one of the replica glaives, she headed outside to the training field.

Where is she? Her boots crunched across the fallen leaves as she searched. Lin, a third-year student, the one she had planned to train with had said she would be out here, but other than that she didn't know much about her, and she certainly didn't see her anywhere. In fact all she saw was some guy in armour sitting under a tree meditating. Since there was no one else around Sunset started to head towards the stranger. The armour he was wearing was different from what she had seen so far; tiny scales arranged into sheets formed four bordered curved plates hanging off his shoulders and hips, while the chest plate was made from a set of horizontal bands of the same silvery metal, with amber trim around each of the five segments. In addition he wore a sash and headband of the same color, under that a slightly baggy dark green outfit. As Sunset got close he stood up, drawing an unusual steel longsword with an odd barbed tip and looking towards Sunset.

"I was wondering when you would arrive." The stranger stated flatly in a disinterested neutral tone. Sunset though, had to check if she was hearing things, as it took a moment for her mind to fit the surprisingly feminine voice and person in front of her together. I thought only the male students wore that much armour... She thought to herself, finally recognizing Lin, though the way her hair was pulled back and her armour masked certain features, it was certainly easy now to see how she had made that mistake.

"Shall we begin?" Lin asked, in the same disinterested calm tone. Rather than answer, Sunset dropped into a fighting stance and raised her weapon. Taking a quick step forward she found her intended action being immediately interrupted by the flat side of the longsword slamming into the side of her head. Immediately she was down clutching her now pounding skull. She wouldn't let a little headache stop her though. Getting to her feet she tried again only to have her training weapon knocked out of her hand and a boot print added to her shirt. Two more failures to enter striking distance and Lin spoke.

"You drop your guard too easily, and move as if you expect your centre of mass to be much lower than it is." She stated, offering a hand to her once again grounded opponent. Accepting the offer and getting back to her feet, she couldn't help but notice her headache was gone, replaced by an odd warm feeling. Looking over to ask Lin about it, her words fell apart before she couls speak them when she noticed the emerald green glow around the girl. The feeling and glow fading at the same time as she watched. "I suspect the biggest obstacle will be unlearning the habits you have learned."

Healing magic?! How?! I've been trying to figure out how this world's magic worked since I got here! Sunset's own mind screeched at her, but she couldn't find the words to ask, too many questions were coming too quickly to even get one out, leaving her mumbling to herself nonsensically.

"I take it that's the first time you've seen someone's Semblance in action?" She asked, a smile on her face and a much more cheery tone now.

Still struggling to come up with the right words, Sunset simply nodded dumbly.

"I don't get to use mine often, Restoration is mostly useless given what anyone with access to their aura can already do."

"...How?" was all she could manage to say.

"The instructors will show you when you're ready." Lin answered plainly, before walking a few steps away, then turning to face Sunset once more, sword in hand. the early afternoon sun glinting off the blade. "Shall we go again?"

Sunset didn't hear her question at first, not breaking out of her thoughts until Lin had called out to her three or four times. When I'm... ready... That's not soon enough. Her mind snapping back to the present, She took up a fighting stance. "Sorry. Yeah. Ready."

Today had certainly been an eventful day, and a step in the right direction as well. Aura... now I know what it's called at least. As the sun began to sink below the bay, her thoughts drifted back to the last time she had done this. It's not the same from up here. The crane's tall enough sure but I can hear the dock workers down below. I liked that watch tower... It was quiet.

"It's quite the view isn't it?" An unknown voice said behind her.

...aaand then there's this asshole. Sunset mentally grumbled, letting out an audible groan and turning to look behind her. She didn't have a clue how he'd gotten up here without making a sound, it was a long climb and the metal echoed a lot. Neither did she recognize the man behind her, though at least the black jumpsuit and white vest, had a style she could appreciate. Simple, practical, but without looking utilitarian or bland. "What do you want?"

"One of our members saw you at a tournament a few days ago. You looked injured despite not being a competitor. We wanted to make sure you were all right." The stranger explained calmly, making a subtle gesture to the stitching across the back of her jacket.

"Why do you care? I'm no one." she grumbled, annoyed. Wanting nothing more than to enjoy watching the sky alone.

"To the contrary, You're one of our kind, and you have potential." That, caught Sunset's attention. 'One of our kind' could only mean the stranger was a fellow faunas, as were the members of his group. Something about that tugged at her memory.

"And I bet you want me to do something with it? Something for you?" Sunset wondered aloud, her annoyance being replaced by suspicion.

"Nothing much, for the most part you would continue your training, and look out for any fellow faunas you meet at the school. Though, in time we may ask for your aid, and you would have ours in return if you needed it." He explained, Sunset couldn't help but notice he didn't say a word about what he might want help with.

"Hrrmh..." She grumbled out a non answer, not sure what this guy's deal was exactly, it was almost as if he already expected her to know who 'they' were...

“Just... Consider my offer. After all, we faunas need to protect our own kind.” He stated, waiting for her reply.

While the enigmatic nature of the request certainly bothered her, it was hard for Sunset to turn down the prospect of potential allies if she ever... When. WHEN she went back to Equestria.

Almost too good to be true... Maybe it's best to wait before deciding.

"I'll think about it."

"We will be watching."

When she looked back, he was gone.

Chapter 5: A Team’s Formation & A Beginning Mission

Training in the woods

The wind whistled, cut by the wooden blade as it came around again. The clack of wood against metal echoing across the school grounds as the autumn leaves fell. A subtle smile slipping onto Sunset's face as she charged. She would not give in, she would not surrender. I've got you this time. she thought to herself as she drove towards the opening she had spotted.

The sun rose and fell time and again, soon enough no leaves remained. Replaced by whipping winds and falling snow, and yet the fight continued. Day after day night after night. Weapons clashing as boots crunched through packed snow or slipped into drifts. The occasional bit of banter or advice passing between the pair as the matches came ans went. What time was not spent on the field was devoted to learning everything she could about aura.

The old semester now near it's end, the training, study, and classes making months blur together. New classes soon to take the place of the old. And yet, there was always a piece missing. Every secret she found brought her no closer to the key to unlocking how her aura worked, the manuals all assuming the reader already had achieved that feat.

Scowling at the book before her Sunset slammed it shut and tossed it aside. Still no answers. I'm close, I know it. The key is right in front of me, What am I missing? She mentally growled the words at the uncooperative text. Still, she had to admit really all she was doing was being impatient. All of the older students could use theirs, so training must be coming, it was only a matter of time.

Pacing back and forth, she let her gaze drift outside for a moment. Spotting a familiar blonde form. No. that's just a distraction. You don't need her. Besides, it's not like she'd listen, She still thinks you're crazy. She convinced herself, turning away. Yang at least wasn't being openly hostile any more, but the two still weren't speaking. Not ready to start trying to mend that particular headache, Sunset tried to find something else to focus on.

Not ready... Now they've got me thinking it. It was hard for Sunset not to laugh at the irony. Leaving the dorms she stopped at the gym to pick up a training weapon before heading outside, a new one since her old one had broken the previous week. Deliberately heading out the back way so as to avoid the courtyard... and the person in it.

Outside it was the same grey January morning she had expected it to be. As Sunset tromped through the snowdrifts she absently twirled the polearm she was carrying, letting go of it in just the right way that it would roll across the back of her hand only to be caught again on the other side. Errand thoughts slipping in and out of her mind. This one's better balanced than my old one... Hmmm... must have taken more chunks out of it than I thought.

There were a few other students outside, training or working on projects, including a second year who was fussing over a sword that by the looks of it was supposed to unfold into something. His apparent classmate or friend or whatever trying to console the distraught human. Why is he wasting so much time trying to fix that mess? It's clearly defective, he should just return it for a refund. She thought to herself confused. Her classes had only briefly touched on weapon maintenance, implying it would come up in more detail next semester, but the problem seemed obvious. Either the other student was too suborn to give up on the faulty device or didn't see the flaw. Deciding to intervene she walked over.

"That's not going to work." She stated calmly as she approached. As was often the case, the duo didn't give her more that a scowl and a cursory glance, going back to trying to fix the weapon, only to make the rod running up it's center pop out of place with an ear-scarring scrape. "I don't think you can fix that."

"Oh, and what would you know, freak?" The one holding the sword answered. Glaring at her again. His friend looked at her a moment, but said nothing.

"It wasn't manufactured correctly. The joints at the base of the blade are moulded backwards; They can't move." She answered, gesturing to the sword's guard, not letting any reaction to the insult show. She had more or less gotten used to such things.

"Bullshit, there's no way I would miss that."

"...No. She's right Card. No wonder it keeps snapping risers."

"What?! Seriously?"

Satisfied, Sunset headed off towards the training area. Chuckling slightly at hearing the more obnoxious of the two's frustrated complaining about being outdone by the 'dumb horse girl' behind her, and panicking about 'replacing them in time for finals', most likely referring to the defective parts. By Celestia I missed being able to do that. She thought to herself. An almost forgotten smirk crossing her face as she headed for the outdoor training areas. Perhaps Lin was around. If not there were always the training dummies. Even if they weren't good for much other than endurance.

It had been a while, she wasn't exactly sure how long. She had been paying more attention to how long she could maintain her speed in one stretch than how long it had been over all. Truth be told Sunset was starting to get tired of seeing how long she could maintain a rapid pace attacking the glorified leather mannequin. Taking a break again after her latest attempt and wandering over to a bench, she sat down and started blowing on her reddened hands, trying to get some feeling back. Need to buy better gloves. Whoever regulates the weather here sucks. Lack of fur doesn't help either. She mentally grumbled, though she had to admit, it could be worse. I could still be wearing a skirt... She was still thankful for the insulated pants Lin had generously given her the previous month, after she had overextended her funds adding an insulated liner and a few pieces of armour to her coat. Finding something for her hands was taking longer. All of the cheap gloves she found either weren't thick enough or messed with her grip on her weapon. Not to mention part of her still felt kind of guilty receiving a Hearths-... No, a Christmas Gift without being able to give anything in return.

Speaking of whom, a familiar shadow was now being cast over her from behind. "Hello Lin." She commented looking up. Lin looked different than usual, a fair amount of her metal armour had been traded for lighter materials, better insulated against the cold, giving the attire a slightly different shape. Strangely though she still had her headband on when trading it for a hat would probably have been more practical. It was odd, but then everyone had their quirks. Sunset probably wouldn't have paid as much attention to the outfit, but she was feeling kinda jealous; She didn't look cold at all.

There was a bit of a silent moment before Sunset Realized Lin had said something. "Sorry, I didn't catch that?"

"I asked if you wanted to join me out in the woods... today..." Lin repeated, her words slowing down when she noticed Sunset flinch at her question. "Is something wrong?"

"Last time I was out there I got torn up by a beowolf." Sunset admitted after a delay just long enough to be awkward. As much as she disliked admitting any weakness, the woods scared her.

"I... I'm sorry, I didn't know." Lin responded with a sigh, coming around the bench to sit next to Sunset, the silence compelling her to explain fully. "I was planning on practicing Whisper myself, I can't use here properly here."

That got Sunset's attention. Curiosity taking the proverbial drivers seat, though she was still hesitant to agree. "Properly? You can't do that here? It's a sword."

"Not quite." She stated, drawing the sword. Flicking a small switch marked 'release' just behind the guard, she pulled on the sword's tip. Immediately the barbed tip and center third of the blade slid out of place, accompanied by the soft whine of a cable winch extending it's line.

"This looks almost like a harpoon..." Sunset mused. Lin simply nodded as she put the weapon back together and sheathed it once more

"It's not something I can practice with properly against stationary targets, or fellow students..." she explained. "But it's not a good idea to head out there alone either, and I don't exactly get along with my classmates."

Moving targets, in the woods... she wanted to get into a fight with the creatures out there? It was risky. It was probably stupid as hell. Then again, she was a third year student, with an actual weapon and that healing spell. And Sunset would need people willing to follow her into, what for them was the unknown, when she went back... She couldn't exactly convince them to do that if they thought she was a coward.

"I'm probably going to regret this, but... alright. Lets go." She answered slowly, after thinking for a bit. Something that elicited a hug from Lin. "Just promise we'll stay within sprinting distance of the wall."

Letting go, and nodding her agreement with Sunset's condition, the two got up to go. Heading into town. As they weaved their way through the streets and side streets, It didn't take Sunset long to notice that they seemed to be taking a somewhat detoured route to the gate. Lin seeming apparently intent on stopping at a particular store.

"I know you haven't made a proper weapon yet," she began, leading Sunset into the arms merchant's store, before gesturing to a few of the weapons. "but I can't have you watching my back with just a wooden training blade." she explained before turning to the shopkeeper asking him a question that Sunset didn't entirely hear.

Sunset couldn't help but notice her choice of words. 'Made' rather than 'got'... She'd have to ask about that later. "Oh please. I can't even hit you. You won't need me to watch your back against dumb animals." Sunset joked, not really looking at the store's wares. Most of the weapons were either of the cheap mass produced variety, or of the never-meant-to-be-used wall ornament variety. She doubted there was anything here suited to her. It wasn't like she could afford anything here anyway; she was still trying to find the money for new gloves, forget any of these items.

"Fine, to watch your own back then. I doubt I can cover both of us." Lin said with a soft laugh, tossing Sunset a pole arm from the rack. Before starting to lead her out of the store.

"W-wait, I haven't paid for-!"

"It's already taken care of." Lin stated, guiding her out. Back on the street, Lin pulled her along quickly before she could offer further protest. Before they could reach the gate though, she wrenched her arm free of Lin's grip, and backpedalled towards a survival supply store about a block from the gate.

"Hang on, there's something I need." she explained before popping inside the store. A moment later she was on her way back out, in the process of popping a spherical fiery orange crystal into a small red, and rather disproportionate, pistol. Her only explanation being, "In case we need to call for help." as she tucked the weapon into a pocket.

The flare gun had chewed up the last of Sunset's funds, but there was no way in tartarus she was going out there without some way to signal that they needed help. Even then she was having a hard time staying calm. Relax Sunset, this won't be like last time. You have a weapon, you've got a flare gun, you've added a bit of armour to your gear since then. Her gaze drifted to the pieces of black painted metal on her jacket, blending in with the rest of the material. And you're heading out there with someone who's most of the way through her training this time. Everything's going to be fine.

Everything is NOT fine. Holy crap these things are fast! Sunset mentally yelled at herself, as she batted another claw away, only for the beowolf in question to back off and another one charge forward in it's place. There were twelve of the blasted things, and while Lin had managed to deal with about three so far, Sunset had been on the defensive the entire time, and it was pretty obvious that the wolves were smarter than she had given them credit for last time. They were using their numbers to their advantage, rotating out the attacking group every time one of them was pushed back or injured, while the rest kept circling. We're going to wear out way faster than they are if I can't take out a few of these.

Batting another claw away, and smacking it's owner in the head with the shaft of her glaive, Sunset didn't have much time to duck before another claw was swinging her way. Jamming her blade into the ground with the shaft pointed skyward, she leaned into it and brrought her feet up, then kicking out. Planting both boots in the face of her assailant, the heel from one crushing an eye socket, while her own momentum pulled her weapon free of the ground. She had to act quick, twisting in mid air to get her feet back under her before she landed. She managed it, barely, Swinging her weapon over her back on the way down, the hooked tip of her blade digging into the neck of one that had been trying to come up behind her. A shocked glance back at the unexpected source of resistance as her first kill of the fight was dropped to the accidental blow.

"Having fun yet?" Lin called from a few feet away, a quick glance showing, her fifth momentarily caught on the harpoon of her weapon and being yanked forward by the projectile ripping free from it's chest, toppling onto and pinning one of it's former packmates.

Sunset wanted to snap something about her friend being crazy in between dodges and parries, but couldn't. As stupid as it was, being roped into fighting these things, creatures that should scare her half to death after her last encounter, she was. There was something satisfying about holding her own against things that should have killed her already, even if it was only temporary. Her doubt about how the fight was going forgotten, Sunset decided against all reason to push her luck and go on the attack. The wolves hadn't expected that, and one was down missing a chunk of it's throat before they even realized they were on the defensive. Her push didn't last long though, her next foe digging it's claws into her right arm and receiving a deep slash through it's abdomen in return.

Biting back a scream as the pain hit her, and now fighting one handed, she was forced to back off and return to defending. Getting knocked around by the strikes she was blocking, as what was usually her good arm was held close against her chest staining her outfit a fair bit more red than usual. Fortunately, she only had two opponents left and Lin had run out of targets. They didn't last long.

More than ever she was thankful for Lin's so-called "useless" semblance as her friend patched her up. She'd need to repair her jacket, again, and those scars were annoying, but having full use of her arm back in minutes instead of weeks was nothing to complain about.

"Thanks. But we should probably get away from the bodies, before the smell attracts something else." She commented, looking around at the mess, as well as giving a disapproving glare at the stains on her own attire. Those were going to take a while to get out and she only had a few warm outfits...

"Relax, we can take them. You were doing pretty well for most of that."

"Pretty well? I was-..." Sunset's retort died in her throat as the two were interrupted by a quartet of roars. Rather large and decidedly non-canine sounding roars, that were immediately followed by bear-things crashing through snow covered branches as they came into sight.

"Why did I agree to come back out here..." Sunset whimpered. These things are huge...

Lin's first response was to try and spear one of them with Whisper's harpoon. Unfortunately, all it did was get stuck in one of the bear's paws, and promptly have it's cable snapped as the creature reared back, the force of the pull warping the winch housing and damaging the blade of the weapon's sword half.

"That's... not supposed to happen, is it?"

"No. No it's not." There was no hiding the fear in Lin's voice as she glanced back and forth between the approaching creatures and her damaged weapon. Even damaged, it would still work as a short sword but the idea of getting that close to one of those things, while her aura was drained from healing Sunset, was hardly appealing.

"Might want to make that bit detachable... maybe cary spares..." Sunset's weapon on the other hand at least still had some reach, for what little good it did in the hands of the weaker of the two girls.

"Liiiin... My blade's not doing anything. how do you kill these things?!" Sunset demanded, as the two girls backed into each other, the four ursa slowly advancing. The one in front of Sunset seemingly shrugging off the new red slash across it's abdomen, and swinging at her again. Snapping the blade off of her glaive's wooden shaft when she tried to parry. That's not good. Also, probably why everyone in the higher years have all-metal weapons...

"I don't know! I've never fought an ursa before." She snapped back hopping forward to take a swing at the nearest one with her broken sword, before retreating back to the centre again.

Crap. Okay, need to come up with a plan B. Not strong enough to hurt these things, Lin probably is but that ursa wrecked her sword, Too many trees to fire off the flare, no-... Wait. why do I have to fire the flare *up*?

"Lin, try not to make a sound, and when I say go, run for it."

"Run where?! We're surrounded!" The Ursa were close enough now that they were almost within arms reach of each other. There wasn't enough room to pass between them without getting charged.

"Trust me." She just said, pulling the flare gun out and squeezing the trigger. A little ball of dust fuelled fire shot out exploding not in the sky, but against the face of the ursa between them and the wall. Immediately the creature began howling in pain and flailing randomly, it's burning face and ruined vision driving it into a rage as it charged the nearest source of sound; one of the other ursa.

"Go!" Sunset shouted, Not willing to risk wasting this opening as she bolted as fast as she could. A heavier set of footsteps paired with the rhythmic clank of metal on metal keeping pace just behind her.

The two girls dashed through the gate skidding to a halt on the other side, the ursa far behind them too busy roaring at and fighting each other to follow. Hunched over, hands on her knees for balance, Sunset desperately tried to get her breathing and heart rate under control for a good few minutes, while her apparently less winded companion broke out laughing for seemingly no reason.

"Still having fun?" Sunset asked. Lin only response was a smile and punching her in the shoulder. Pulling back and cradling her hand when reality decided to remind her of the studded iron plates Sunset had recently added to the garment.

It had been two weeks since the woods. The final tests in her classes had been grueling. She had passed, but in some areas she wasn't certain exactly how she had made it through some of the classes, with how far being injured early in the year had set her back. As much as she didn't like to admit it, making it through basic armed combat and basic unarmed combat were probably more due to Lin than herself. She still had a lot to learn. Not even in the top 20 students... Pathetic. I need to do better.

All one hundred-some-odd students in here year were gathering in the gym as she read over her scores and scowled at the sheet of paper they were written on, as if her gaze alone could make the numbers change. Tossing the sheet out, she followed the others inside and took a spot near the back.

"Well, Now that you've got the basics down," Professor Qrow, the school's head combat instrucor began, introducing the new semester's first course. "before we move onto the intermediate techniques, there's something you all need to learn to use if you're going to get through fighting with real weaponry in one piece: Aura."

Maybe this wasn't such a bad day after all.

Chapter 6: A Complication & A Mission's End

Shining Bright (Slight edit due to Yang back story issue)

The first two weeks had been simple prep work, apparently unlocking an aura required a partner and the instructors wanted everyone to have a compatible one, or as close as they could get. So far her best match seemed to be a fellow student who's name Sunset had, for the moment, forgotten. There wasn't much to say about her, nothing really stood out appearance wise and Sunset had only known her a few days. Doing these tests... It makes sense I suppose... I just wish they'd get on with it. She complained internally, her mind on the end result alone and making her her impatient as she went through the exercise one more time, with yet another mismatched partner.

For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, Infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee. She mentally recited the prayer they had all been forced to memorize, as she felt a faint tug on her mind. Huh. Even Yang's not compatible? How is it there's only one person here 'similar in spirit', is it a faunus thing? She thought as she broke the connection and opened her eyes. Not that said connection actually did anything.

"Hey... Sunset?" Yang started asking, But Sunset's mind was elsewhere.

Without either having an unlocked aura they would need a dust crystal to jump-start things, just as the first huntsmen and huntresses had. Personally Sunset thought it was a goofy and pointless tradition. Especially considering she had found out that someone who's aura was already active could just unlock it for her, way easier and without the prep work. Just BAM, aura on.

"Every time you say you 'deserve' to get something without effort just proves to me you're not ready." The memory of Celestia's words on that night in Canterlot had her gritting her teeth in anger. Shut up. SHUT UP! I WAS working to earn that, even if you were too blind to see it. And I've earned this *now. I've spent **months preparing why do I still have to wait?!* Her mind raged against the memory, blurring the images of the professor and Celestia together. She tried calming herself down by reminding herself that the professor didn't have one student he had dozens, he wasn't holding her back the way Celestia was. Still the anger wouldn't completely fade.

"Helloooo, remnant to Sunset?"

"What?!" She shouted, much more harshly than she intended, noticing too late that for the first time since arriving, she had failed to mask the hatred that thoughts of her old mentor often brought up, and Yang had borne the brunt of it.

"Geez, meltdown much?" Yang commented flippantly before walking away.

Sunset just watched her go, unsure how to straighten out the problem her outburst had revived. While a part of her wanted to try and mend things, she simply pushed it from her mind as a distraction once more. Besides it's not like she knew how to fix it, she knew how to manipulate others, not be their friends... It's not like there was a book on-

Wait, is there? I never considered... Think about it later. I'm sidetracking myself. With that she set her mind back to the task the instructors had given them, finding potential partners.

About damn time. They had wasted the first month of the class preparing, now it was finally the day. Sunset couldn't help but smile, Soon she would have her magic back, soon her classmates would see what a true master of magic was capable of. No more being the barely average screw-up.

Standing across from one of her classmates, crystal in hand, she went through everything exactly as instructed. She had been told it might be disorienting, but as she continued through, it was... different. Unlike any past experience of hers. She knew her eyes were closed, yet somehow she could see herself and her partner standing alone in... somewhere. Nothing beyond the two of them was distinct. A burning orange glow coming from herself that felt warm like a sunny day, a soft brown from the other student that seemed to break off and drift like blowing sand, everything else blurred together by a smoky blackness. Despite neither speaking the words aloud she could hear both herself and her partner saying the prayer in unison. More than that she could feel something. A presence. Confidence, cunning, ambition. not coming from her, but... the other girl perhaps?

As the words ended she opened her eyes, the glow was still present, though fainter and more of just a generic luminescence.

Not even listening to the instructor's words she immediately began cycling through her spells. Levitate... not working? What in tartars? illuminate... yes. She thought to herself as she watched the ball of light floating above her palm. Not the best start, but one out of two wasn't too bad, as long as that trend could hold. She didn't even notice a few of her classmates staring at her. Sending flame... I need something combustible to cast that on. Find an oil lamp or something later. Messenger... 'hey yang your hair's on fire.' ...lack of shouting says no. Solar flare, Suddenly the ball of light she had made earlier exploded blinding everyone looking at it, including Sunset. Should have closed my eyes first. Ow. At least the spell that earned me my cutie mark still works. Next... Masterfull moustache maker, nope. Wind melody, nope. Mend, no, sleeve is still badly patched. Shield, sereously? That's not working? Compass, no. Find me, oh come on, foals can cast that! Teleport, no. Rodeo rope, rrgh, no. Shocking surprise... no... Calm down Sunset, you just tried to throw a lightning bolt in doors...

By this point her vision had returned somewhat. Armor... feels kinda weird... might be working. Tangle vines... no. Mare in the mirror... and now there was a second eerily silent sunset standing in front of her, only to dissipate when she waved her hand through the illusion. Somehow she was oblivious to the number of eyes on her, which now included the whole class. yes, that works... Starting to see a pattern here. Okay, skip ahead to dancing lights.

As the trio of coloured glowing globes bounced around randomly in front of her, reinforcing her growing suspicion that only spells that based on manipulating light were working, a voice behind her snapped her attention back to reality.

"How are you doing that?" they asked, causing Sunset to dispel the lights. Crap. What did the Yang call these powers? Think... Think... Um...

"I dunno, I just can." She answered with what she hoped was a natural seeming shrug, meanwhile still wracking her tired brain for the proper term to use.

"Well now." The professor's voice came from yet another direction, followed by a chuckle. Some of the students chattering in the background quieting down as he spoke. "It seems you're quite a natural at tapping into your semblance. Light, I would guess from the penchant for silent mirages. Still you should probably focus on-"

His advice was cut short by the ringing of the day's final bell. None of her classmates sticking around.

"Oh well, I guess the rest of the lesson can wait for tomorrow. May as well run along and join your friends my dear." The professor said as he turned to leave himself.

Friends...

It didn't take long to find a bookstore, it actually wasn't that far from Signal's campus. If there was any place to find a self help book, this might be a good start.

"Any book under the sun?" Sunset mused, reading the slogan on the window. "Wonder if it actually lives up to that?"

Stepping inside there didn't seem to be anyone there, so she started browsing. There were shelves and stacks of books everywhere. If their was a book on things like social interaction, it would probably be in with the self help books, though she was having a hard time finding a section for that. Browsing through one shelf all she found were a mixture of comics and related stories. The next shelf after that more fiction, mainly set in fantastical alternate pasts One novel in particular, titled 'The war of the roses' seemingly about a civil war in a fictional nation momentarily catching her eye. It was just a distraction, but it was also a book she hadn't read... no, a shelf full of books she hadn't read. And possibly more... It was hard to resist the temptation, but, maybe she could spare an hour or two to look through a few of them? She had all day...

"Looking for something?" a friendly voice asked, interrupting her brief diversion from the search, and drawing her gaze to the desk in front of the back room doors. She was about to put the novel back and ask about the books she had come for, before a brief flash of recognition struck her.

"Wait a minute..." Sunset commented, snapping the book shut and focusing intently on the owner. trying to picture him in the outfit she had seen that night and finding it actually quite easy. "I know that voice. You're the faunas from the crane."

"You're more perceptive than I thought, Sunset. Assuming that name is any more real than the rest of your history. That's right, that was me. Still waiting for your answer by the way, the offer still stands." he responded with a smile of his own.

"Of course it's my real-... Wait... How did you know about any of that?"

"The question shouldn't be how we know your past is fake, but rather, how everyone else doesn't. Your cover was, quite frankly, sloppy. But as I said, we look out for our own kind." He explained, shrugging, before starting on sorting a stack of books.

This was confusing to say the least. All this time she had assumed the lack of scrutiny into her origin was the result of the mirror... Why would complete strangers help her? What did they stand to gain? "Why? Why help me?"

"I told you last time, you're-"

"One of you, yes, I know. But why does that matter so much?"

"Why shouldn't it?"

Chapter 7: A Mission Debriefing & A Meeting of Riders (Edited)

Hidden secrets, Revealed answers.

Actually practicing skills that mattered to her rather than being force fed classes about subject matter she had already read felt so much better. Progress on one front, hardly meant progress on the other though. She still didn't have a solution to her ongoing lack of communication with Yang, and while the books had given her a few insights into how to be a better friend, Yang was back to avoiding her for some reason. Or maybe avoiding everyone? She had picked up the bad habit of causing things, and in one case people, to spontaneously ignite lately, which seemed to be tied to her aura and how many injuries it had 'soaked up' for her recently... maybe that was just it? She wanted to get that under control? it was hard to tell.

Shaking her head to clear her wandering thoughts, she looked back at the book she'd been reading the synopsis of; it was a play script about a man who had an oddly similar name to one of the Pegasus emperors of Roam in the days before Equestria. Beware the ides indeed... Ironic timing. She had hoped to pick something up today, homesickness for Canterlot hitting her harder than usual since she would normally have spent this weekend at home with her father opening gifts, but the middle of march was just another day for everyone here. fifteen... woo-hoo... she sarcastically commented in her head.

As she started walking back to the school grounds, a fresh layer of snow crunching beneath her boots, her mind drifted back to her studies again. From her classes Sunset knew she had to maintain line of sight with her illusions, and that she could manipulate them to mask anything visual, but no other sense. The question still remained though, how far could she go with those illusions? Sure her classmates were having a hard time touching her right now, but that was probably more to do with her already understanding her 'magic' and just needing to work out the eccentricities of it's new form, while they were starting from scratch. It was an unfair advantage.

Walking through signal's dorms, the hall was... oddly dark. Had someone covered all the windows? Giving her eyes a moment to get used to the dark she began heading to this floor's common room and the nearest light switch. Really glad the mirror didn't make me human right now, who covers the windows and turns off the lights in the middle of the day?

"Surpri-AUGH!" came the confused shout as the sudden jolt of fellow students jumping out at her startled Sunset into setting off a flare. Note to self; Never EVER use that while my eyes are adjusted to the dark. Ow.

As her vision started to clear, Sunset recognized the forms of Lin, Yang, and maybe four or five other students. She couldn't quite identify them yet. What stood out most though was a simple little cake on the table, her cutie- her emblem drawn on it in icing. How did... But... there was no way...

"Sunset? Hello? Crap, I got the day wrong didn't I?" came Yang's voice from the fuzzy predominantly yellow blob occupying the leftmost third of her vision, quickly resolving itself into a familiar human as her vision finally returned to normal.

"No... but, how did you know?" Sunset asked, baffled. her confusion apparently clear on her face if the others expressions were anything to go by. And why did you bother? I thought you didn't trust me...

"I looked it up, duh." She stated as if no other explanation was needed, and were it anyone but Sunset she were talking about, that might have worked, save for the fact that Sunset and Yang both knew full well she shouldn't exist nor should any records to 'look up'.

Even if small, Sunset had to admit the impromptu party was at least a bit fun, though the answers she wanted from yang would have to wait until after. Nearly an hour later, once the others save for Yang had gone, she approached the blonde again.

"How did you know, Really?" She asked, her tone a bit harsher than she intended.

Yang just sighed, pulling a few pieces of paper from her jacket's inside pocket.

"I told you, I looked it up. I know why you don't want to talk about your past, Safron." She answered quietly, but Sunset barely heard her, hardly noticed the incorrect name, her attention instead focused on the papers she had just been handed, particularly the one that looked like a news paper clipping titled Mystral Times and dated ten years ago.

Mountain Town Overrun by Grimm

Previously protected by a Schnee Corporation security force while their dust mines were still in operation, Local huntsmen have recently returned from the town of King's Watch, reporting that it had been overrun, only a single survivor found. Full story - 17

The picture below showing the Town's inhabitants, most if not all of them Faunus. Down in the far right corner, a little girl, no more than five, equine ears, two toned hair and a matching tail. It was black and white, but somthing told sunset that the two colors were red and gold. The same girl the other sheet was details about. Saffron Summer. That's me. But I've only been a faunus for six months. That's impossible.

"Sorry, I can be kinda stubborn about finding answers to things... But, I understand why you came up with that story. I'm sorry for how I acted. I wouldn't want to remember either." Yang explained, her voice uncharacteristically soft, one hand on Sunsets shoulder in a comforting gesture.

I had some kind of local counterpart, that's the only explanation. She still doesn't believe me. She probably never will now. Sunset's frustration must have shown on her face, because Yang's expression changed even before Sunset crumpled and shredded the papers walking out.

"I'm sorry..."

Maybe it's better this way. Sunset lied to herself once she was out of sight.

It was nice being able to talk to Yang again, even if it was based on a lie. That part hurt, but it had only been two days, maybe it would get easier. It was less that the lie bothered her, which it did, but rather part of her upset that she would feel that, another part alarmed that she was upset over having those feelings, and the whole mess just tied in knots. You just had to get soft, didn't you Sunset. This is why we kept ponies at a distance before.

Wandering the courtyard she spotted a few other students practicing with their auras trying to get the hang of the powers offered by their semblance. That's what I need. something to take my mind off this.

Heading off to see what Lin was up to, or if not her one of the few other students she got along with, it didn't take long to find someone. Huh... that was the first thought through Sunset's mind when she found Lin on one of the upper balconies left over from when the school had been a fort centuries earlier. A paintbrush was not something she had ever expected to see in her friend's hand. Deciding not to bother her just yet, Sunset stayed quiet and watched as her friend continued. She moved the brush as fluidly and as precisely as she did her blade.

After a while she finished. Walking over to her Sunset commenting. "Since when can you paint that well?"

Surprised at having an audience, Lin turned to see Sunset behind her. Blushing a bit at the compliment to her skills. "I... er... well mother wanted me to. I liked practising with the sword better, but, I never really forgot."

"I know the feeling, Mom wanted me to join the guard, like her." Sunset admitted, not sure why she felt like talking about such things. Normally she would have kept details of her real past quiet. Normally I don't feel guilty over using my made up identy either. This whole week feels wrong.

"She must be proud, knowing you're studying at a combat academy." Lin added with a smile while putting her supplies away.

Sunset didn't answer at first, annoyed with herself for not turning the conversation to a different topic sooner. "Yeah... maybe, if she were around..." She only managed to mumble, trailing off. That was one thing she and her counterpart shared she supposed. The conversation turning to awkward silence as unwanted memories of a familiar mare began intruding into her thoughts.

The next few minutes were a blur for Sunset. Most of her focus on banishing the thoughts. Somehow she had managed to convey her intentions and the two had made it to a mostly unoccupied park near the edge of the lake that separated the city proper from a large castle like structure atop the clifs.

The first round or two Sunset was distracted, sloppy, but it didn't take long for her to get her mind back on target. Getting smacked in the face with a weapon tended to draw one's attention. Even if your opponent was trying to avoid hitting hard enough to break through your aura, the hits still hurt.

By the fourth, Sunset was focused. Her mind back where it was meant to be. This time as she charged she displaced the image of herself sideways, out of sync with her own movements. Lin didn't fall for it though, she could see the footprints in the snow from where sunset really was. Thrown to the ground again, another attack parried, sunset glanced over only to see those same peints in the snow and cringe. such an obvious detail to miss. Getting up she got ready for another attack.

Lin had her eyes shut this time, knowing better than to trust that sense now that sunset had noticed her error, focusing on letting her other senses guide her instead. Swinging out her blade the air seemed to shatter like broken glass as she parried the incoming thrust from the suddenly rematerialized Sunset. Again her friend was knocked back, landing in the snowdrifts.

"How did you..."

"If you're going to force me to fight blind, try to be a bit quieter." Lin answered simply, cutting her off. Eyes still closed and a soft smile on her face.

Sunset grimaced at that, she could hide her bootprints easily enough, but the crunching sound the snow made? Magically muting her environment was no longer a part of her repertoire. She'd have to try and do that the hard way.

Masking the sound of her attack took much longer to figure out since she couldn't rely on her semblance to do the bulk of the work. The remainder of her charges that day continued to fail until her aura and stamina were too drained to let her continue, the next day's training session following suit, and the next seemed to as well at first...

It was a lucky strike. Sunset had finally gotten inside Lin's guard before she detected her. Her glaive clipping the headband Lin wore as she passed.

"Hah! Got you, finally!"

Lin was frozen stiff, eyes locked on the shred of cloth caught on Sunset's blade. her ears folding back now that they were free of their bindings. No. No this isn't happening. Even my own class can't hit me, there's no way she... Nononono... The thoughts raced through Lin's mind, but her now unrestricted hearing and the feel of the wind ruffling her fur said otherwise.

"Wait a minute, you're..."

The torn headband lazily drifted to the ground between them.

"...you're, part wolf?" Sunset asked, astonished. Lin was a Faunas, she had to be. But why was she cowering, why did she have her hands over her ears like that. Taking a few steps closer. "I didn't cut you did I?"

Lin didn't answer, so Sunset knelt down next to her, pushing her hand away gently to get a better look. There was no sign of any injury. Lin had since given up her attempts at keeping them covered.

"I can't go back looking like this... They'll know..." She stated. Her usual confidence gone. Then it made sense. Of course her ear wasn't hurt, It didn't need to be. It just had to be visible. She's afraid. Afraid of her self... Always the odd one out, always the freak. Sunset had gotten used to it, but Lin? With that headband of hers she could be "normal". Pass for human. She could hide in plain sight.

"Know what?" Sunset asked with a smirk plastered across her face, gesturing to Lin's reflection in the glassy surface of the frozen lake, almost having to force Lin to look. A reflection that looked completely human. Lin could only stare. "I don't see anything."

"How..."

"Haven't you learned by now? You can't trust your eyes around me." She explained deliberately messing with her own appearance for emphasis. The stripes in her hair changing to blue and white momentarily. "Light does what I tell it to."

Her only answer was a hug. After a short time Lin let go, before touching one ear causing the illusion of their absence to break. Only for them to fade away again a moment later. "Sometimes... Sometimes I wished I really looked like this. It would be so much easier. I wouldn't have to deal with the constant ache of having my ears pinned to the sides of my head."

"Why hide at all, why not just be you?" Sunset asked, confused, having come to hate pretending to be someone she wasn't. Logicaly she knew why hiding was practical, but the willingness in Lin's voice didn't sit right with her.

"I tried... It didn't work, I couldn't take it. That's why I'm here. I couldn't stay in Atlas." She explained sighing. "I'm not as strong as you are. How long can it last?"

"As far as I can tell? I have to stay in line of sight, but there doesn't seem to be a time limit. Getting back to the dorms shouldn't be a problem. I'm guessing you have spare headbands?" She followed the explanation with a shrug. Maybe she could find a way to maintain it without seeing her 'target' but she didn't really have a way to test that, and her aura still worked very differently than her horn used to. "Maybe this was supposed to happen. I've always felt fate has ways of telling us where we're meant to be." Hints like having a sun for a mark like Celestia, dreams of flying, the reflection in the magic mirror having wings and a crown. She thought to herself, part of her still clinging to the hope that that was right.

"This from the girl who wears her semblance like a mask?" Lin answered plainly, before the two headed back to the school. "maybe... But I don't think I'm ready yet."

...like, a mask?

"New recruits, keep to the right." a voice from inside called out.

A friend who's afraid to be what she was born to be. A friend worth protecting... Sunset thought, reminding herself why she had agreed to hear Tuckson out, why she was here. Another I have to lie to just to be myself. Who i'm always wearing a mask around. Donning the mask she was given she stepped through the doors. A thief living a life I stole to escape being denied my rightful fate. Taking up a spot among the other newcomers.

"...look out for any fellow faunas at the school..."

"...we faunas need to protect our own kind."

I'm making the right choice.

The banner with the grim head and three claw marks stood out most to Sunset. She could almost see them as the same three scars etched across her back, and the head of the beowolf that made them.

"...fate has ways of telling us where we're meant to be."

"...wears her semblance like a mask."

This is where I'm meant to be. An image of a biped surrounded by flames flickered across the mirror in her memories, replacing the alicorn princess it had just shown her. When she looked back at it now, she didn't see a face on the image, she saw a mask. Perhaps where I was always meant to be.

"Thank you all for coming, I see a few new faces joining us for the first time tonight."

Side Story: Arms

Identity

(Incomplete chapter)

After her third rally, Sunset had found herself spending time with several of the other faunus living in vale. Who knew there were so many? Most of them had tailored their apearance to hide their non-human traits, survival instinct aparently trumping ratial pride. Then again, perhaps that was part of the inner beast as well, after all the most cunning of animals developed camoflage and mimicry long before humans did. Carefully trimmed and polished claws could pass for painted nails, unusual eyes could hide behind tinted contacts, a silent nature could be a cover for fangs, baggy clothes or constricting headwear could cover extra apendages... Her people were everywhere, Sunset just hadn't seen it. She hadn't known what to look for.

Sitting on the wrong side of the balcony railing watching her namesake sink below the bay, she heard the footsteps of another slipping up behind her. The click of metal-tipped boots on stone gave away who it was. Few of the recruits had incorporated elements of their normal atire into the outfits they had been given, though he and Sunset were both among the exceptions. For somthing that was meant more as a symbol of solidarity than a uniform, way too many treated it as one.

She didn't like the tunic-vest thing, and prefered to wear the jacket open with the hood down, with a tshirt on underneath. She's modified it a little, incorporating collar studs, side guards, and shoulder plates similar to what she had added to her favorite leather jacket. The overall darker color was just more her. Ferran was much the same, only in the oposite direction, adding armor and more white with amber accents to contrast the blue in his hair, making it look more like a tabbard, than tunic.

"Tuckson said I'd find you up here." He said, a note of curiosity in his voice. "He mentioned always finding you in high places."

"I grew up in the mountains, the view reminds me of home." She stated plainly, Momentarily looking over her shoulder. Part of her was wondering why he cared. From what she'd seen, he tended to keep to himself. Other than a brief moment of mistaking him for an aquaintance from home, the two hadn't spoken at all. There was somthing familiar about those eyes...

"What was it like?" he asked, leaning on the rail next to her. Mask off and looking at her with an expression of honest interest.

"It's..." She hesitated. Memories of Yang's reaction to her story holding her tongue, Sunset was slow to answer. Deciding just to go with descriptions. "Home, was built atop a plateau, half way up a mountain. Most of the buildings made from the same stone and ores that used to come out of the mines underneath." She explained, picturing the marble and gold spires of canterlot in her mind, a faint smile forming on her lips as she spoke.

"It sounds like a nice place." He added when she paused a moment, prompting her to continue. Something odd about his tone, but Sunset didn't notice.

"Yeah. My favorite thing to do was head out to the wall and watch the sunset." She continued, she had always felt a special connection to her namesake. Glancing at her audience, his blue broken shield emblem catching in her eye, reminding her of the guardsponies of home. "When you saw the guard atop the wall, you felt-"

"Secure, like nothing could ever touch us." Ferran added, his tone turning sad for a moment.

"Yeah." Sunset nodded. City walls seemed to be comon here, so the sentiment didn't really surprise her. She hardly noticed her usual defenses lowering as she spoke. "Went all around save for a little gap near the waterfall. You knew nothing was ever getting in. I lived near the barracks, mom was a guard, so I didn't go over there much, but I would figure that much water running over a cliff had to be noisy.

"It was, but you got used to it. It took a long time before I could sleep without the sound of the waterfall in the background." Ferran commented, with a chuckle, as Sunset hopped back to the safe side of the railing.

"I know what you mean, I... wait..." Alarm bells finally went off in her mind, cutting her off from her comment about the sounds of the school vs. the castle. Realizing too late that she had said far more about Canterlot than she had intended, yet he'd gone along with all of it. He had even reminded her of details about home she had forgotten... "How..."

"I knew you had to be from Kings Watch. You called me Flash, no one's called me that since... that day. I though I was the only one who got out." Kings Watch... Saffron's home town. There it was again, like a ghost haunting her. She looked at Ferran, her gaze hardening into a glare. Again the flash of memory at seeing those familiar eyes in a strangers face. Maybe it wasn't a coincidence.

The cadet roughly threw her helmet at the ground before kicking it at the aproching form of her squadmate, trying to prevent his attempt at talking her out of leaving.

"Go back to playing soldier with the others, Sentry. I'm leaving. I'm not gonna be a guard." The shrill voice came in a screech. Her voice. The humiliation of being the only pony there with a blank flank, even at her age, rather than a battle-themed mark winning out over the mental image of mother's disapointed face.

"Actually, I just wanted say 'good luck', Sunny."

She remembered applying to celestia's school days later, creating her signature spell in a burst of inspiration during the exam, earning her half-sun. It had little to do with Flash, but in the two years since that day, those memories had become inseperably intertwined. And now she was staring at his double.

A part of her wanted to hit him, wanted to take out her anger at being forced into that damn lie again on him, at being trapped for the second time in her life trying to be something she wasn't because of someone else's expectations, but instead she stopped. Her gaze softening as she remembered somthing else. The town was wiped out... There was a sole survivor... Flash and I are both from canterlot, So why wouldn't Safron and Ferran be the same? He believed in me once, maybe a little hope isn't a bad thing, even if it is false.

"I... wasn't there. Things, went wrong for me back home, so I ran away. Within a few days it was too late to go back. Now I'm here." Sunset explained. Technically everything she had said was true, though omitting she had run away from Canterlot rather than Kings Watch, would no doubt twist their meaning. Still, having someone she could tell a part of her story to, talk about home to, and believe her, not just assume she was burying memories behind a fantasy, felt good. It was the same lie. She was still pretending to be Safron like she did with Yang. Yet, when she let go of that initial anger, it didn't feel like it at all.

Maybe being Safon doesn't have to be a bad thing...

"That's not home anymore Saff, this is." Ferran pointed out, gesturing at the city and the bay. Sunset's thoughts drifted to canterlot for a moment. She had spent her entire life there. Everypony she had grown up with was there... and so were the ponies who had cast her away, betrayed her. She had friends here. She had a purpose as a warrior in training. She might even have a future as one of those huntresses Yang's little sister loved to go on about, only time would tell.

Do I really need to go back? Do I want to?

"I guess you're right. Vale is home now."

"Well, Somebody's in a good mood." Yang commented as the wooden shaft of Sunset's training weapon clacked against her boxing glove/hockey pad/arm things. They were still an odd sight to Sunset. She'd been refusing to use the training weapons ever since they started catching on fire when her aura kicked in, but the instructors had insisted she have something to defend herself, so she'd improvised. It looked ridiculous, but credit where credit's due, it didn't catch fire, and Yang was getting better at blocking with them.

"It's just good to have things back to normal." Sunset stated, making one more thrust with the glaive, before backing off, and heading to the storage rack on one side of the gym to put it away, while Yang wandered off to put away her own gear. A dozen other students headed the same direction. Meeting back up with yang afterwards the two managed to make it down one hallways before a rather grumpy looking wall of a teen blocked their way. He looked vaguely familiar, but at first Sunset couldn't place it.

And there's the other horseshoe, am I not allowed to have a good day or something?

(Sunset VS Cardin Scene goes here, it's not clear why he hates her, but it is clear he does. It gets her thinking about how she used to be.)

(first half of final Scene goes here)

As much as it hurts to admit it... Celestia was right, I wasn't ready. I thought I had all the answers, that I knew what my fate was, that others were just tools to be used. The idea that I would need my friends support to succeed, or that friends were anything but a handicap would never have occurred to me. Images of Yang, Lin, and a dozen others played through her mind as she thought about that, bringing a smile to her face. I was an idiot.

This isn't about 'winning' any more. Trying to retake what was 'mine' instead of working on what I already had was holding me back. This is about me, about becoming a better pony. Sighing, and looking away from the now dark horizon, she got to her feet. Careful not to slip on the watchtower's tiled roof. Below her she could hear barks and howls as the denizens of the forest came out to hunt.

“I guess it's time.” She said, a smirk gracing her lips as she picked up the steel bladed glaive she had brought with her. Time to prove I can do this.

Chapter 8: A Start to a School Year