-Party Load Out and Materia-

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

Rarity: Unicorn
Silken Dream- Restore, Esuna, Ice ---- Shinra Beta (Bangle)- Barrier, Lightning
Other: An undecided rotation of outfits (current), Earrings

Pinkie Sith: Pony?
Sparkly Megaphone- Lightning, Earth, Fire --- Silver Armlet- Transform, Manipulate, Time
Other: Red Cape, "Moggy"

Spike: Sapient Dragon
Claws and Teeth, Materia Band- Water, ATK up --- Carbon Bangle: Sense, Restore
Other: Natural Fire Magic, Hardened Scales

Fluttershy: Altered Pegasus
Bigg Handgun- Deathblow --- Carbon Bangle- Aero, Poison
Other: Enhanced physique, Improved healing, “Unnatural Abilities” Trooper Machine Gun

AppleJack: Earthie
Gatling Gun Arm- Earth, Barrier --- Silver Armlet- Defense Up, Magic Def. Up, Cover
Other: Robotic Hand, Tough Ring, Lasso, Lucky Hat

Tifa sat and stared at the fire with Kiwi snuggled up against her side as he dozed. She scritched at his feathers, earning a muted murmuring that mixed with the crackle of the fire echoing off the cavern walls. She smiled as it reminded her of some of the noises her family’s pet birds used to make.

It had been three days since they managed to escape Ponyville thanks to Rarity’s timely arrival with the mount. With having to dodge the search parties and avoid being spotted by the aerial patrols, it was a tense few days to say the least. Doing it with such a large party and a big yellow bird in a half-dead mountain range didn’t help either. Still, they wouldn’t have made it out without the swift avian curled up next to her, taking a much needed rest. It was a much needed rest for all of them. They could finally take a real break and breathe now that they were deep enough into the range that they no longer had to worry.

The party’s four original members sat in a peaceful silence, just watching the flames. Applejack had gone outside to try to find a signal, knowing the mountains' maze of tunnels far better than any of the rest of them. She told them they had mapped them all out in case they needed a way out of town if everything went “cockeyed”. While perhaps not with the people she had expected to be with in that event, she never lost confidence of just where they were most of the time. As for the last member of their party...

The brunette looked over to Fluttershy laying in her bedroll, still unconscious from the fight. They’d managed to heal her fairly well but she was still hurt pretty bad. Both Rarity and Applejack said she should recover just fine, that it would just take time. She wouldn’t even have much scarring.

‘Much more scarring at least…’ Tifa’s expression fell as she thought of what was revealed beneath the leather and cloak they had to remove. Cuts, tears, punctures, bullet wounds, burns… Scars of all kinds covered her skin. It wasn’t quite head to toe, there were still places of relatively untouched skin, but you couldn’t follow it far before a marred or twisted mark disturbed the peace. Several also looked like they were never properly treated and just left to heal on their own. Not all of them were old either, some fresher than the faded ones beneath, signalling they must have come after her time with Hojo. ‘Possibly even while she’s been with us… She has always seemed pretty paranoid whenever we get the chance to bathe...’

“I’m sorry.” Rarity spoke up from the other side of the fire where she was darning Fluttershy’s clothes “I know I should have said something earlier but between all the running and hiding and you three not bringing it up in front of Applejack, I thought I wouldn’t waste your-”

The former Turked paused before a tired chuckle escaped her.

“Your generosity in not divulging my failings to our newest ally” she continued “You were right Darling, I’ve been selfish. While I’ve been content to fool myself with a giving attitude in the day to day affairs, when it comes to something important, when real decisions have needed to be made? I’ve fallen into the very thinking that destroyed my dream. And I’m sorry for that.”

“Eh, it’s not like you’ve been stingy.” Tifa offered awkwardly “I mean it been you funding us most this time and you’ve always been good to us. I was maybe being a little too harsh-”

“No Darling, you were precisely as harsh as I needed you to be” the horned woman cut back in, before her face dropped in shame “I have thought of leaving you behind, of breaking off from the group to protect myself. And unlike the woman who accidentally burned my home in spite, I would have made my decision knowingly and… and I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to be only superficially generous, afraid everyone is only helping me to take advantage of me later. I want…”

She hesitated and looked to the cavern ceiling, eyes distant as she let go an almost swooning sigh.

“As hopelessly romantic or ‘corny’ as it may sound… I want to be someone worthy of bearing an Element. Not just because I happen to align with that flow of the Stream but because I actually deserve to be chosen, just as in the old stories.”

“I don’t think it’s corny” Pinkie spoke with a sympathetic smile.

“I do” Spike added, then gave a relenting shrug “But it’s also kind of cool, y’know... in a fairy tale kind of way.”

The unicorn smiled warmly at them before looking to Tifa with resolve.

“I’m going to do better, I promise.”

“Oh, um… I uh” the martial artist fumbled “Cool… yeah.”

“Good news y’all!” AJ’s voice called out as the cowgirl came jogging down the tunnel, saving Tifa from any further bumbling. For her part, Rarity merely gave her an affectionate wink before turning her attention to the apple farmer “Ah managed ta get a call out. Got cut off after ten minutes but Ah got us an update and at least the beginnings of a plan.”

“My sister?” the somehow still well-coiffed unicorn asked anxiously.

“The girls are jus’ fine Sugarcube. Sweetie’s a little miffed ya had to disappear again but Ah’m sure she’s jus’ worried about ya.” the apple farmer assuaged her. Rarity visibly slumped, letting go of a held breath with a hand to her chest “Damage to the town wasn’t as bad as Ah thought neither. Don’t get me wrong, there’s gonna be some double bunk’n fer a while but a lot fewer people were hurt than I feared.”

“What about Lily?” Pinkie’s worried voice interjected. Applejack’s grin faded.

“She... she got hit pretty bad. Still laid up in the hospital but alive...” the cowgirl hesitated “They had ta take her leg though… and they don’t know if she’ll keep her arm.”

The team sagged at the news.

“Now don’t y’all go blame’n yourselves. Lily’s AVALANCHE and part o’ the militia besides; she knew the risk of things when she signed up. And she’s still alive. AVALANCHE may not be able ta get parts fer the prettiest or most comfortable replacements but Moon’ll get her set up with whatever she needs” AJ got ahead of the sorrow, emphasizing her point with gestures from her own prosthetic “So bring them smiles back before I start crack’n jokes; with Pa gone I had ta pick up the slack in the groaners.”

The smiles did return with a smattering of giggles.

“I like dad jokes” Tifa added, earning a grin from the farmer herself. The brief merriment was interrupted by the sounds of stirring behind them. They turned to see the party’s pegasus twitching beneath her blanket, angrily tossing before her eyes snapped open and she leapt to her feet “Whoa, you should really stay in bed!”

If she even heard the suggestion, the thestral woman ignored it. Eyes wide and confused, her head swiveled about erratically, searching her surroundings. As she realized where she was, her expression grew furious. Yellow wings gradually spread with feathers ruffled up and pulsing in tune with the woman's now heaving growls. She hunched as her muscles tightened and teeth bared. It was just like at the beach.

Only this time, the pegasus didn’t hold back.

They all flinched back as the anguished, wailing scream ripped through the cavern like a banshee. Kiwi awoke with a wark and leapt behind Applejack now covering her ears, and not very effectively with her prosthetic unfortunately. After what was actually an impressively decent wait, the pegasus woman’s cry petered out. Ears still ringing, Tifa cracked open an eye to see the nearly naked woman still hunched.

“Dang girl, got some lungs on you” Applejack probed an ear with a cringe. With a light huff she regarded the screamer with a hand on her hip “Look Darl’n, ya missed yer shot sure, but then managed ta survive to take another. Ya had a second and first class SOLDIER between you two and still managed ta put the fear of Minerva in her. There ain’t nothin’ ta be ashamed about in that.”

“LIKE YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT REAL SHAME!” Fluttershy snapped and began stalking towards the farmgirl.

“Easy ‘Shy!” Tifa jumped in front of the enraged gunner. Thankfully, said guns were out of reach.

“Shy?!” she growled, her infuriated gaze locking onto the new obstacle.

“Uhhh-”

“Why…” she breathed, the pugilist’s face winkling in confusion. Fluttershy’s voice rose “Why are you always trying to be so… Nice to me?! What reason could I have possibly given you!?”

“Oh, uh… I-I don’t know” Tifa stuttered, more than just a little afraid at the moment “I guess I just haven’t seen the point in being nasty back… You’ve clearly been through a lot and I figured it couldn’t hurt to just be… well, nice. I mean, I get it.”

Whatever response the brunette was expecting, it wasn’t the markswoman’s face to fall blank. Then to an incredulous mockery.

“You get it?” she asked in barely above a whisper. Then, somehow, her face twisted into something even more enraged than before “YOU GET IT?!”

Tifa stepped back as the woman advanced on her, eyes burning in contempt.

“Do you have even the smallest clue what it is to lose EVERYTHING?!” Fluttershy stopped inches from her face “To have your home, your family, your friends, even your very Life torn away before your eyes!? To have the one that did it laugh as they twist all you’ve ever known to their uncaring whims!? To literally feel the cold oblivion of death to only wake back up in a world you no longer know and in a body you can barely even recognize!?”

“DO YOU GET. THAT!?”

…

“YES!”

The pegasus was literally taken aback as the brunette snapped back, retreating a few steps in shock.

“I know you were late to the party Fluttershy but you may have picked up that I’m-not-from-here!” the buxom fighter shouted back at the completely disarmed thestral “I wasn’t born on Gaia or with this body! I woke up here barely a year ago after some twisted fuck turned my friend into an actual zombie and let her rip my god damned throat out! I had to helplessly watch her dissolve before my eyes as I lay bleeding out on the floor. I died, all that I was slipped away as this prick rambled on about his experiments! Then I woke up at some random Inn in the slums with half my memories missing, a foriegn body and all alone, having no idea what I was supposed to do or why I was even here! And then, THEN as soon as I think I’ve got shit figured out, Shinra swoops into my new life to fuck it up all over again!”

At this point there were tears streaming down her face as her rant came in broken gasps.

“So yes, Fluttershy, I can say with some confidence that I, at least to some degree, get it…”

Without another word, the brunette turned away and fell back into her earlier seat, head in her hands as she tried to overcome the tears. The other three constants of the party gathered around her. Rarity placed a hand on the crying girl’s shoulder and Pinkie wrapped her hooves around as much as she could while Spike laid his head in her lap. They all felt a heavy weight jostle them as Kiwi nestled into the pugilist’s back, his head draped across the lot of them.

Applejack stood back, respectfully silent while her new companions, far more familiar with each other, tried to comfort the girl. Fluttershy just stood there unmoving. Her face was to the floor and hidden behind her hair. After a while Applejack let out a small sigh, gingerly stepped past the huddled group and gently led the pegasus back to her bedroll. The still injured woman didn’t fight it, shuffling unevenly to the mat and sitting down. She wrapped her arms around the knees she had brought to her chest and dropped her head into their protective depths.

Rarity lightly wiped a stray hair from the prone martial artist’s face, glad the exhausted girl had managed to fall fast asleep after they guided her to her sleeping bag. She stood and looked over to Fluttershy, who at some point slipped back into her own bag and seemed to be sleeping again as well. It was a bit hard to tell with her turned away. She made her way back to the quiet group around the fire.

“I did offer her a hug when she first told us” the party’s hooved member said sadly as the former Turk took the spot next to her.

“I know Pinkie” Rarity ran a hand down the pony’s back “You know how closed off she can be sometimes.”

“Sooo,” Applejack began hesitantly “She’s... what? Like an alien?”

“The best we can guess is that she might be a permanent summon” the horned woman answered with a sigh “Though honestly that’s simply from the lack of a better explanation.”

“Huh” the farmgirl hummed thoughtfully and gave a shrug “Well I guess consider’n the rest of y’all, it ain’t that strange.”

“I suppose we are quite the motley crew, aren’t we?” Rarity admitted with a tired smile. She took a deep breath and gazed at the fire “So where do we go from here?”

“Cosmo Canyon isn’t too far,” Spike offered.

“Nah, we don’t need to go bother’n them” AJ returned “We’ll make our way down ta the river and catch one of the skimmer ferries headed north.”

“Doesn’t the river have a bunch of waterfalls?” Spike asked.

“The skimmers glide just above the water Darling” the group’s unicorn explained “They can rise high enough into the air to clear the falls… How do you know so much about the area?”

“Oh um,” Spike muttered with a small blush creeping into his scales “I was actually caught around here…”

“After we pass the range we’ll off load and make our way to Crater Town,” Applejack continued to save the drake further embarrassment “Moon said she’ll work on getting us a ride from there.”

“A ride to where though?” Rarity proposed.

“Ah was think’n Wutai. If she can, Moon’ll meet us with whatever she arranges and the materia y’all brought us,” AJ elaborated, leaning back with her hands behind her head “and get it ta the resistance HQ. We figure they’ll be able ta keep it the safest. Hopefully they can also point us in the right direction from there.”

“Resistance?” The former Turk raised an eyebrow at the apple farmer “The Wutai resistance is gone Darling.”

“Yeah, that’s jus’ wut we wanted y’all ta think” Applejack shot back with a smirk “Grant’d, Shinra left ‘em with a heck of a shiner, but how d’ya think AVALANCHE got off the ground so quickly afterward?”

“We figured there had to be remnants of the organization in your ranks but are you saying AVALANCHE was just a…” Rarity searched for the right word “Rebranding?”

“I would’n put it quite like that” the cowgirl answered with an amused chuckle “It’s a bit more complicated than that but yeah, I guess sorta. AVALANCHE grew from the Resistance’s changing in tactics.”

“Shinra knows a lot less than we thought we did apparently” Rarity returned with an impressed admiration. Applejack smiled smugly.

“That is kinda the idea.”

It took a couple more days but Applejack led the steadily growing group out of the tunnels and down to the river. They managed to flag down the second skimmer that passed by after the first ignored them. With a bit of convincing (and a small bribe), the captain agreed to take them as far as his route went. They also got lucky in that he was a cargo ferry and not a passenger one, meaning they wouldn’t have to worry about being recognized. Other than Pinkie losing her crown to a particularly strong gust of wind while hanging her head out the window, it was a rather pleasant trip.

After off loading past the range as Applejack said, they set off across the open plain toward the northwest. As much as the party would have liked to have had as quiet a trek as they had from Corel to Ponyville, they found themselves running into unusually frequent encounters. With the size of the party had grown, each wasn’t too threatening but as a whole it was growing rather draining. Both on them and their supplies. Fluttershy still being injured wasn’t making it any easier either. It was little over a week until they could finally see their destination in the distance as anything more than a smudge.

As welcome as the sight was, Tifa didn’t fail to notice the dots of airships coming and going over the day.

“This place some sort of trading hub?” she asked as the town grew bigger.

“Sorta” Applejack gave simply “More of a fill-up station than anythin’ else.”

“I’d say it’s a bit more than that. It’s where Cloudsdale launched from.” Rarity elaborated “The ‘crater’ is actually the hole left by the city's removal. With all the equipment and docks left behind after the launch though, and given its location, it became a natural shipyard. Most any airship passing through even near to here will usually stop to do maintenance and yes, refuel.”

“It’s what’s kept what was left from goin’ under too” AJ added. As if to compliment the topic, a small gust washed over them as an airship passed overhead. Tifa squinted as she followed its course to the town, noting its design’s clear deviation from the norm and marking its Spira origins. She looked quizzically at the ugly, boxey part jutting out of the top of it though.

“They must do a lot of business in Equestria” Pinkie spoke up “I’m pretty sure that’s a Mako converter.”

“Spira airships don’t use Mako?” Tifa queried “What do they use then?”

“Either more traditional fuels or, uh… hmmm,” She rubbed a hoof on her chin “I know what they are but can’t remember what they’re called.”

“Aeon Recycling Spheres” the answer came unexpectedly from the pegasus riding Kiwi. It was one of the very few things she had said at since their exchange in the caves. She’d been mostly acting like she had been just after seeing Scootaloo: unnaturally passive. She hadn’t even been glaring at them when they tried to talk to her. In fact, she seemed to be actively avoiding eye contact, even more than usual.

“That’s it!” Pinkie cheered “Funny enough they’re actually a lot more efficient than Equestrian engine designs.”

“Then why don’t we use them more?” Tifa asked curiously.

“Because they’re a bitch to build and maintain” the answer again came from Fluttershy “And the spheres are expensive to replace.”

“Pretty much. Plus they’re a heck of a lot harder to find parts for here” Pinkie agreed and looked up to the mounted woman “How do you know so much about this stuff?”

The gunner’s gaze fell, the answer never coming.

‘And I guess she’s done talking’ Tifa internalized. She wasn’t really sure what to make of the sudo-thestral’s recent behavior. She knew it couldn’t be a coincidence that it started after she had snapped back at her, but didn’t know what it could mean. Pinkie, for her part, simply shrugged it off and continued watching the ships. Tifa decided to follow her lead.

They managed to make it to town as the sun started to set, so it wasn’t too late for them to make arrangements for the night. They split up, Rarity taking the more noticeable members of the team to find an Inn while Tifa went with Applejack to shop for supplies. The apple farmer took them to a market district bordering the edge of the eponymous crater, letting her see it was actually almost full of water.

“Oh, it’s a crater Lake, not just a crater” she spoke the observation aloud.

“Huh? Oh yeah. When the city took off it unplugged the reservoir... or aquifer or whatever it’s called. Mixed with the rain, she filled right up” AJ broke down “Still don’t know where the heck the fish came from though…”

‘At least it’s warmer here than the one I visited’ she remembered back to the trip she took with her family. A pang tugged at her heart, her expression falling. It was a nice trip, one she could actually remember and here she was thinking about how cold it was. She let out a sigh and jogged to catch up with AJ walking into a gun store ‘I guess her arm does use quite a bit of ammo. I wonder where she keeps it all…’

She didn’t ask right away. She instead used her musings on the question to pull her thoughts away from the home she involuntarily left behind. She had found distraction was usually her best chance not to dwell. She did eventually ask though. The cowgirl converted her hand to the weapon and pointed to a small summon materia not unlike the one Rarity used for her trunk. She explained that while she still had to change the drum mag, she could keep the lot of them in the materia. Up to a limit at least, hence why she had to restock whenever they got the chance like this.

Before long they were laden with bags and the street lamps were already on. They followed Rarity’s directions to a small Inn with a stable behind it. They took a moment to check on Kiwi, making sure he was taken care of and given some affectionate scritches before they joined the others in the room.

“Oh thank you Darling! I know it was a bit of an odd request” Rarity gave as Tifa handed her the small cut of fabric she texted them to get. She unfolded the piece and admired the crimson cloth with a coo “Ooooo, I knew I could trust your eye on this.”

“I did use to make costumes,” the brunette returned with a shrug as the unicorn went to dig through her trunk. She then moved to a table of take-out they had apparently ordered, sitting next to Spike already digging in. Applejack joined them while Rarity began working on something with the cloth at her bed. Fluttershy sat eating by the window, staring out at the water. Tifa was halfway through her portion when the absence dawned on her “Where’s Pinkie?”

“Oh, I’m right here” the pony’s head popped down from the top of the window frame.

“Pinkie come in dear, I have something for you” Rarity told the equine.

“Kay. Help me down Moggy” the white mit stretched down to let the mare hop back into the room before disappearing back into its new materia now fastened to her cape’s collar (The robotic mog had thankfully been summoned when she lost her crown). She hopped up to join Rarity on her bed “You got me something?”

‘Why’d she have Moggy out on the roof?’
‘Maybe she was having him toss her up to look at the ships’

It didn’t seem unreasonable, especially for Pinkie. She shrugged it off and returned to her food.

“I made you something” Rarity corrected and held out a small, and rather exceptionally done queen style crown made of gold wire and the cloth Tifa brought “I know it’s a bit different than the one you lost but it’s the best I could come up with on short notice.”

“Oh wow Rarity, it’s Great!” the pony beamed and plopped the gift atop her poof “It even has little prongs to keep it in my hair! Thank You!”

“Not at all Darling” she smiled at the mare. The pair rose and joined the rest at the table. Tifa noticed Fluttershy shift at the window out the corner of her eye. She was fiddling with a fold of her cloak, inspecting a fresh seam from Rarity’s repairs. A thought came to her, though she didn’t hold much hope of success.

“Would you like to join us?” she asked with a neutral tone.

“No.” Fluttershy returned with no particular inflection. Tifa shrugged and let it go. That was about what she expected. What was unexpected though, was what came next “...I used to live out there.”

‘Wait, what?’ the whole party turned to the pegasus still staring passively out to the lake. ‘Is… is Fluttershy… Sharing?’

“You lived in Cloudsdale?” Rarity asked after a moment. The cloaked woman nodded slightly.

“Since I was born. I tried to stay by making the proposition to-” she paused briefly before sighing and shaking her head “By expanding a stupid hobby of mine. They turned me down, of course. But my friend managed to get them to let me stay by making me part of her maintenance team… She was always looking out for me...”

“Rainbow Dash” Applejack spoke up. The pegasus turned slowly to look at the Apple, her expression… difficult to read “You do know Scootaloo.”

“Yes,” she closed her eyes and sighed again before turning back to the window “I knew her. She was practically a little sister to Rainbow.”

The winged woman’s gaze turned to the sky.

“Rainbow was practically a sister to me. She was more of a sibling to me than my own brother...” she gave with a touch of sadness “Minerva did she love flying. So much that she loved anything just related to flying, even if it wasn’t with her own wings. Airships, planes, helicopters; If it could stay in the air then she knew all about it. So of course she did everything she could to be part of the Cloudsdale experiment. And then she taught me how to maintain such things, so my family and I didn’t have to leave our home.”

“That’s how you know so much about airships, how you knew how to fix the helicopter,” Pinkie concluded. Fluttershy nodded again.

“It was so exciting at first; Seeing the clouds drift by without leaving the porch, seeing weather teams out to ward off turbulence by manipulating the weather like our ancestors used to…” Fluttershy gave with a slight wistfulness. She seemed almost happy for a moment. Tifa frowned as the moment proved fleeting and the pegasus’s expression turned to a scowl “But then She showed up…”

“Um, excuse me” Fluttershy mumbled to the grey woman with her back to her. She had gotten lost on her way to one of the secondary pylons and somehow ended up in the main housing chamber of the huge gravity materia keeping the city afloat. “I um, I don’t think… I don’t think you should be doing that.”

The changeling didn’t seem to hear her as she continued to circle around the engine and interact with the varying terminals. Fluttershy could see the containment fields being recalibrated at the woman’s actions. She looked around for the guards but couldn’t seem to find any. It would explain how she managed to stumble in there uncontested but not where they could be. She winced and regarded the jagged horned woman again.

“E-Excuse me!” She repeated a bit louder, voice cracking slightly. The lab-coated female heard her that time. She turned to her with a mix of surprise and annoyance “I th-think you should leave!”

“You think I should leave? Little girl, do you have any idea who you’re speaking to?!” the changeling stormed up to the trembling girl “Professor Chrysalis Hojo! Future Head of Shinra’s entire Science Division! This stupid rock would have never made it off the ground without my help!”

“B-but then w-why are you changing the fields?” Fluttershy shrank away from the scientist “We just calibrated them this m-morning.”

“And an awful job you did of it too” Chrysalis sneered “It’s a miracle the whole thing didn’t explode.”

“B-but Rainbow did the third pass herself” the pegasus argued “She knows the fields almost as well as-”

“I think you should leave.” Hojo delivered menacingly, her face dangerously close to Fluttershy’s as she leaned in “And I’d suggest if you don’t want your little friend to be fired, you’ll let her save face by keeping this embarrassment of hers that I had to fix to yourself.”

Fluttershy stayed, transfixed and too terrified to move.

“GO!”

“Eep!” she scrambled back and ran from the room, leaving the changeling alone once more.

“Hojo had dismissed the guards, hacked into the engines and left that night. The next day the nexus overloaded and caused a massive demi spell to engulf the city and drag it, and everything on and near it, plummeting to the ground.”

She flapped as hard as she could, harder than she ever had in entire her life, trying to escape the crushing pressure dragging her down. A desperate glimmer of hope filled her as she managed to slowly rise away from the ground. Then the darkness expanded and the pressure increased tenfold, stealing her consciousness.

The sensation of feeling slowly returned to her, the pressure was gone. Everything hurt as she opened her eyes. She couldn’t move, it hurt too much to even try turning her head. After what seemed like an eternity, a blurry shadow crossed into her view of the sky. She squinted and the figure came into focus.

“Hello little girl…”

“I don’t know how I survived, how anyone could have survived. She found me in the wreckage. I nearly passed out from the pain when her robots moved me, but I saw others collecting more bodies.” Fluttershy’s tone grew more angry, her hands clenched into fists as she began to shake “She needed Test Subjects. She dragged a city from the sky, killed countless people, destroyed my home!- ...because she wanted more guinea pigs for her experiments without anyone questioning where they went.”

The party sat aghast. Stunned into literal silence, they could only stare at the woman shaking with rage. Honestly Tifa was impressed Fluttershy was controlling herself as well as she was. Although she was still kind of reeling from the fact she was opening up at all.

“Gods…” Rarity gasped, almost uncomprehending “I knew Hojo was a monster, but to go so far. It’s... unthinkable.”

“Is there any chance Rainbow ended up like you?” Applejack offered “That she may still be out there somewhere?”

“No.” the gunner returned quietly “When I was finally able to escape, I ran across a terminal with some of Hojo’s files on it in the process. She had a list of everyone she took, to make sure their names were on the list of people who died. Dash’s name wasn’t on that list. It was on the memorial. She’s Dead. There’s no one left.”

“There’s Scootaloo, Damnit!” the cowgirl pounded the table as she rose, glaring at the woman “We just gotta tell her you’re not dead an-”

“The Fluttershy she knew is dead!” the thestral snapped back “She was stupid little girl too stubbon and naivie to accept just how cruel the world really is! Who let her home die because she was too afraid to stop or even report a madwoman! Telling her that girl’s corpse was turned into...” Flutteyshy looked over herself with disgust “THIS, wouldn’t be doing her any favors! She’s better off not knowing.”

Fluttershy turned back to the window, ignoring the woman still glaring daggers at her. The fists bracing the farmer on the table tightened, her scowl deeping.

“So uh, I found out I’m really good at pachinko!” Pinkie piped in suddenly, drawing befuddled looks all around “I could always get the balls to fall right where I wanted them to!”

“Um, cool?” Tifa offered before the pony frowned angrily at her. Her eyes darted to the farmer before shooting the brunette a very meaningful look. The purpose wasn’t lost on her a second time “So really? Always?”

“I know right? I didn’t understand it either!” the mare responded enthusiastically “But I used the GP I won to exchange for the spare materia for Moggy and the Time materia I used to help Spike keep up with-”

“Girls” Rarity interrupted softly, giving them a sympathetic smile “I sure everyone appreciates it, but… stop.”

The pair slummed dejectedly, ceasing their little act. Applejack was giving them a thoroughly unamused look while Fluttershy was still just staring out at the lake. Eventually though, a buzzing demanded the cowgirl’s attention. She finally tore her gaze away from the pair and fished out her phone.

“Moon got us a ride. Looks like the materia’s staying in Ponyville for a while though,” she said with a sigh “We should get ta bed. We got an early start tomorrow.”

Spike shot the two a shrug as they got up. At least it was worth a shot. And it did still sort of defuse the situation, even if it was more obvious than intended. And took an additional distraction to get all the way there...

‘Whatever works... right?’

Applejack hadn’t been kidding when she said they had an early start; the sun hadn’t even risen when she woke them up to catch their ride. Apparently they were being smuggled onto an airship and only had so much of a window while it refueled. Not that it meant they had to rush, as their somewhat casual pace through the dim streets signaled. They also couldn’t exactly dawdle much either though.

As they walked, Tifa kept glancing back to the pegasus once again trailing her usual distance behind the group. She insisted she was healed enough to not have to ride Kiwi anymore and seemed to be keeping pace, and distance, well enough to prove it. Despite her unprompted sharing the night before, and complete lack of concern for AJ’s irritation with her, she still seemed to not be eager to socialize. Tifa sucked the inside of her cheek before deciding to lag a bit herself.

“What?” Fluttershy grumbled as the buxom woman matched pace beside her.

“Well, it’s just… It’s really not that bad you know?” she started, earning an arched brow from the gunner “Your new... um, you that is. It’s just the way you looked at and talked about yourself last night, like you were disgusted… you shouldn’t be. I mean, actually you’re uh… still well, rather pretty... actually.”

The woman looked at her like she was out of her mind. However then a thought seemed to occur to her and her features twisted into a scowl.

“You don’t have to patronize me,” she growled.

“I’m not!” the martial artist cried. The altered pegasus huffed and rolled her eyes before stepping further away “Really, I’m not!”

Fluttershy ignored her, glaring ahead stubbornly. Tifa sighed and quickened her pace to rejoin the others, feeling the angry stare on her back.

“You tried, Darling” Rarity offered softly as she reached them. Tifa returned an appreciative, if defeated smile before hanging her head. She almost bumped into Applejack when the group stopped, forcing her to look back up to see them before a freight elevator. As AJ began talking to the man operating it, she looked up to see the bottom of an airship cast in the shadow of another above that she couldn’t see.

The gate to the lift opened, the man hurried them onboard and hit the switch to send them up.

“I don’t think she saw it” Pinkie beamed mischievously.

“No, her head was down” Rarity answered with a smirk of her own. She then looked sideways to the Apple farmer “You didn’t tell her, right?”

“And ruin the surprise? Nuh-uh” the cowgirl returned smuggly.

“What are you guys talking about?” Tifa felt thoroughly left out all of a sudden.

“Oh you’ll see soon enough Darling” the former seamstress teased while Pinkie and Spike snickered. The brunette frowned, she couldn’t see much at the moment; The steel girders and sheet metal of the lift blocked their view to the outside. Though given how high they were going that may be intentional. The lift stopped and opened to an enclosed bridge that reminded her of an airport ramp. A woman waited for them at the other end.

“About time!” the woman gave sourly then brightened with a smirk “How you been Orchard?”

“Hang’n in there. Don’t think we need the code names though” the farmer returned with a chuckle. The woman shrugged and stepped aside to let them through the loading bay doors, waggling her eyebrows at the brunette as she passed. Tifa frowned; she was familiar but she couldn’t place from where. She looked around quizzically for any clue. She unfortunately only found stacks of crates surrounding them, though she supposed she should have expected that from a loading bay.

“Oh and who are you?” the familiar woman cooed as Kiwi was led on board, meeting the bird with affectionate glee “Oh we’ll have to make sure you get set up nice and comfy in the stables.”

“You have stables on board?” the brunette asked surprised.

“Well, duh. We’re the best team in Equestria.” she stated like it stupid just to ask. Then again, she shifted back to friendly “The Mako Sharks don’t travel cheap.”

“Wait What?!” she exclaimed before the sound of running steps closing in rapidly prompted her to turn just in time to be tackled by a blur of pink. She hit the ground with a thud and the sound of laughter and music too loud for their head phones reached past the mane of bright green hair filling her vision.

“ZEST?!” the giggling body on top of her pushed itself up, flipping its hair out of the way to reveal the grinning face of her best friend.

“Hey girl” Lemon smirked.

“HOLY SHIT!” Tifa cried and snatched the girl in a hug. She heard the athlete laugh again as she returned the embrace and squeezed a little tighter, trying to blink away the sudden wetness in her eyes “Holy shit…”

“I missed you too Tif” Zest gave before extracting herself from the hug and helping her friend to her feet. She waited with a smile while the brunette wiped her eyes… before promptly giving her a solid punch in the arm.

“OWww!” Tifa whined and rubbed the appendage. That hurt, even with her bangel that actually hurt a decent bit “What was that for?!”

“You said you’d stay safe!” Lemon scolded with a stern scowl.

“I have!”

“Oh yeah; getting caught at Condor, Picking a fight with the Turks in the middle of Junon, falling into Corel Prison?” the blitzball player listed off “~Soooooo safe!”

“Well it hasn’t been for lack of trying Zest...” the martial artist defended. The music lover held her stare, though it soon started to break under the stress of a grin. The sound of someone clearing their throat cut in, drawing Tifa from the moment and back to the group waiting right there “Oh! Uh yeah, sorry. I guess I should introduce you to the group, yeah? You remember Rarity right?”

“Lovely you see you again Darling”

“You too,” Zest nodded.

“And that’s Pinkie and Spike,”

“Hiya!”
“Hey.”

“They talk!” the green haired girl blinked in surprise.

“We do,” Spike smirked.

“Cool!”

“This is Applejack,”

“Ah, the fabled Orchard unit leader” Zest gave, shaking the farmer’s hand.

“Don’t know ‘bout ‘fabled’, but we do alright” AJ shrugged “Nice ta meet’cha.”

“And this is Fluttershy.”

“Hey,” Lemon held out her hand. The pegasus looked down at the offered appendage, then to the brunette before finally up to the owner.

“...Hi.” she gave plainly before walking away. The music lover pressed her lips together, retracting the limb into an awkward thumbs up.

“I’m guessing she’s the broody type?” she turned to her friend.

“She’s... been through a lot. Don’t worry about it” the pugilist ran a hand through her once more blonde hair.

“Those colors gonna hold up for a bit?” Zest asked, gesturing to the disguise.

“They should,” the buxom fighter answered “For the next few hours at least.”

“Well, with the rest of the team still asleep and most of the crew already in the group, I’d say it’d be safe to take at least you up for a bit” she smiled at the blonde “Want a tour?”

“Oh um,” Tifa looked to the party.

“Oh don’t worry about us dear!” Rarity shooed her gently “You go catch up. We’re not going anywhere.”

“Well then, lead the way” Tifa gave just before a mass of feathers connected to a cracked beak filled her face with nuzzles “Oh... yes, how could I forget? This is Kiwi.”

“Come on ya big lug” AJ took the chocobo’s harness and pulled the bird from the retreating pair “Ah know ya taken a shine to her, but she’ll be back.”

“You did say you wanted to meet a Chocobo properly” Zest chuckled as they reached the stairs “Surprised it took so long.”

“Well I have only been here a-OH! Oh yeah, you don’t-” the pugilist realized “Yeah, I uh… I guess I got some stuff to tell you huh?”

The group watched the pair ascend the stairs and out of sight.

“Well that was Heartwarming” the other player gave “Name’s Sour Sweet by the way. Come on, the stables and break room are back this way.”

“Any updates ya can give us Sweets?” Applejack asked as the athlete led them through the bowels of the airship.

“Depends how much you’re caught up on” Sour returned “You know about the moles right?”

“Y’all know that ain’t our area down there” AJ countered “Someone get outed?”

“Shit you are out of the loop” the freckled player sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose “No, nearly all our high ranked moles on the plate have gone dark.”

Applejack stopped in her tracks, staring at her comrade in shock

“ALL of them?!”

“Almost” Sweet frowned “Don’t know if they’re dead, outed or just laying low. The few left and the lower placed don’t have any answers either. What they Have told us though is that there’s more than a few rumors that something big’s going on; That the board’s been making a lot of moves behind the president’s back.”

“Such as?” Rarity posed. The blitzballer shrugged.

“That would have been info from the ones that went dark. They’re up to something though, and if it’s intentionally without the President’s consent, then it’s not any kind of good.”

“No” AJ lamented “No, it ain’t…”

“Thaaaat… does answer some questions” Zest gave slowly “And brought up a whole lot more.”

“Too weird?” Tifa asked dejectedly. Lemon scoffed.

“Tif you passed ‘Too Weird’ a long time ago” she shot her friend reassuring a grin “And I’m sure there’s still plenty of even crazier shit in this world than you.”

“Thanks Zest…” the martial artist returned quietly. She really meant it too. The player’s arm landed across her shoulders.

“Got nothing to worry about with me, girl. I’m in too deep for something like that to make me bail on ya now” Lemon gave the current blonde a squeeze before giving her a more scrutinizing glance “You’ve mellowed a bit, huh?”

“Have I?”

“Yeah. Back in Midgar you were a little more feisty but also pretty tightly wound without letting any of it slack. Like you were just angry inside. This is better” the music lover analized “I do miss your hint of cockyness though.”

“I guess having a Second Class SOLDIER beat the ever living crap out of me without even trying really drove home the fact that I’m not as tough as I thought I was…” Tifa mumbled with a frown.

“Hey, you’ve made all this way and are still standing. You’ve crossed a damn continent, by land! You gotta be pretty tough to do that” Zest countered and then gave a winning smirk “Why you may even be tough enough to be a Blitzer!”

“Not really the strongest swimmer” Tifa quipped back, smile finally returning “Almost drowned from that sewer asshole’s attack even.”

“You didn’t tell me that…” Zest’s expression fell to genuine concern.

“I didn’t want you to worry” the martial artist tried to shrug off “I mean, I still made it out.”

“Not the most blessed ignorance to leave me with Tif. Well… shit, here” the athlete took her arm away to fuss with her own bangle, popping out a purple materia and pressing it into a spare slot in Tifa’s own “Underwater Materia: Protection from horrible drowning guaranteed!”

“Zest you don’t have to do that. Besides, aren’t these kind of expensive?”

“Pfft!” Lemon immediately waved off “You any idea how often those split for us playing this game? I got a damn shoebox full of the things from just my highschool days somewhere, so don’t worry about me missing one to keep my friend safer.”

“Thanks” Tifa repeated “Sorry.”

“Still too hard on yourself though I see” Lemon sighed before pulling the woman into a side hug “Don’t worry though, we’ll get some of that confidence of yours back yet!”

“Maybe” the still blonde relented “So you’re offically AVALANCHE now?”

“I don’t know how official AVALANCHE gets but yeah, as much as you are I guess” Zest shrugged “Sour caught me bean balling that trooper looking to ambush you guys in Junon and-”

“That was You?!” the pugilist interrupted, Zest puffing her chest out in response.

“Yep! Nailed him right in the head too!”

“Honestly in the state I was in I wasn’t even sure that it was real” Tifa marveled “Weren’t you like, way above the city by then?”

“I’m very good at this Tif” she stated matter-of-factly. A beat passed when her head snapped to the other girl’s with a frown “Have you not seen any of my games?!”

“Oh! Uh, well… No, actually. I haven’t exactly gotten the chance...” the martial artist gave timidly, scratching at her cheek. The athlete’s eyes narrowed at her dangerously.

“You know I’d be pissed if I didn’t know that was true” she gave sternly before brightening again “Guess I’ll just have to make sure you see us in Wutai.”

“Speaking of, how do you know?” Tifa asked, brow furrowed at her friend “Even Applejack didn’t know about the prison.”

“It’s what we do in this cell: we gather intel from the other groups, or sometimes on our own, and then pass it on where it needs to go. Us bouncing from place to place for games gives us the perfect cover for it.” The green hair girl explained “Though admittedly we didn’t put the whole coral prison and you stealing Dio’s safe together till after you brought Orchard the materia.”

“So I don’t have to worry about you going on raids or the like?” Tifa asked hopefully.

“Not unless something massive goes down, which you’d almost certainly be there for too” Zest concluded “So no, you don’t have to worry about me nearly as much as I worry about you.”

“Eh, I’ll be fine.”

“See?” Lemon smirked and gave her friend a wink “Told you we’d get some of that confidence back.”

It took less than a day for the airship to cross the small sea to the Wutai islands. It was too bad the Sharks couldn’t take them all the way to the city but with them having a game it would have been too risky to try smuggling them off the ship with the certainty of the press presence. Instead they were being dropped off a little ways south of the main city and would rendezvous away from the cameras.

“You sure Kiwi staying won’t raise too many questions?” Pinkie asked as the hatch began to open.

“Nah,” Sour answered, dismissing the concern with a wave “Everyone’s used to me making big impulse buys, they won’t even blink at the idea that I bought a Chocobo.”

“Don’t take too long” Zest gave Tifa a bump “We’re finally gonna get a chance to see how that Wutai place you liked stands up to the real deal and it’ll be more fun together.”

“We’ll try not to keep you waiting” they shared one last hug before the party descended the ramp to the edge of a forest. They watched the ship rise into the night sky and disappear past the leaves. An air of melancholy descended onto some of them, but they pushed on into the trees and to set up camp for the night.

It had been uneventful, allowing them a decent night's sleep, even if not as comfortable as the one the day before. They were a few hours into the forest when they figured they were almost through based on what they saw from the air. They didn’t even have to fight too many monsters; just a couple bizarre bugs and a few living weeds. They got a little nervous when a large Adamantaimai lumbered up to them but it just walked past on its way back to the beach, not caring about their presence. All things considered, it was a nice change of pace.

So of course that’s right when a smoke bomb erupted in their midst.

The blur of a brown cloaked figure darted into the haze and around the disoriented party. A few shouted at it though their coughs but could only stumble after. Tifa felt a light brush against her arm followed by a hard tug on her wrist, nearly pulling her off balance and to the edges of the cloud. A faint memory sparked and she quickly looked to where her materia should be… all she had left were time and ice.

‘Oh they did not just steal the materia Zest gave me!’ the brunette burst from the cloud, watering eyes darting about. She caught the briefest glimpse of the thief’s cloak flutter into the branches and took off in pursuit. She snapped off a quick casting, covering the hooded figure’s next branch in ice. A huge, 4-pointed shuriken flipped out from beneath the cloak and caught another branch, letting them swing right over the obstacle and keep going. The brief sweeping of the moggle themed cloak flared and revealed a lithe, female form beneath.

‘Whoever this chick is, she fast’ Tifa noted as she was quickly falling behind.

‘Too bad she didn’t take our first materia then, huh?’

With another flash the pugilist was covered in the golden sheen of haste and stormed ahead, quickly regaining the distance. The nibble pickpocket yelped as a flurry of needles and ice spells exploded all around her, yet managed to avoid them all the same. The edge of the tree line came into view and the thief shifted her direction.

Or tried to before a booming shot rang out and the branch beneath her exploded. She landed on her feet but was quickly set upon by the red smear rushing towards her. With her other escape blocked by the angry martial artist, she was forced to flee into the open. She didn’t get far before another shot grazed the hem of her hood.

“OKAY! OKAY! I’M SORRY!” the girl stopped and cowered in a crouch, shouting in a muffled yet shockingly familiar voice. With her hands still over her head, she tossed out the sack of materia as the pair approached “Here, that’s all of it! Wowie-zowie you guys are quick…”

‘Wowie-Zo… What in the hell?!’ Tifa slowed her pace as they neared. The girl’s moogle themed cloak hid her whole upper half from view but the voice left the brunette confused. Fluttershy scooped up the bag as the others caught up.

“So um…” the girl rose cautiously “I know it’s maybe not my place after robbing you and all, but I GOTTA ask…”

She pulled down her hood, releasing a wild mane of poofy pink curls over a pair of bright blue eyes staring at them perplexed.

“...What’s with the tiny horse version of me?”

With slack jaws and utter befuddlement, the party slowly turned to the Equine still perched on Spike’s back.

“Oh my, heh heh… well, heh... this is awkward...” the pony scratched a hoof on the back of her head. A shaky smile accompanied the nervous laughter as beads of sweat formed on the small quadruped’s forehead. Her eyes darted worrying between the rest…

Before she promptly leapt off and darted back into the forest.

Author's Note

Come on now, who saw THAT coming?

But alas, we now reach the end of the pre-written chapters so the they'll be a bit slower to release now. Like I said before, I'll be Aiming for at least one chapter every couple weeks, though I've learned better than to make promises. Still, I do fully intent to try. Who knows? Maybe I'll manage even more. Though I do also want to write more for my other planned story, Parasite Eve: Fuse, so all those chapters may not be for Locked Heart. (Sorry Maze fans, afraid I've still haven't overcome the wall I ran into in Equestria Gear yet... ).

Until the next one though, as always: Thanks for reading, and Have a good one!