Team JNPR and Ruby looked quizzically at the two pastel colored.... ponies across from them, and then shifted their gazes upwards to Qrow who was standing behind them, arms crossed as he listened to their story.

“So let me get this straight” Qrow started, his ‘ I don’t believe a word you’re saying, but I’m a teacher so I have to at least act like I do’ voice going full tilt. “We’re in the land of Equestria, where the country is ruled by a winged unicorn named Princess Celestia that raises both the sun and moon, who rules over three different species of...ponies, Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasi…” He gave the Pegasus a look, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing, and wanted to blame it on his alcohol. “How am I doing so far?” He asked.

The Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, he remembered was her name smirked at him in an exact copy of his own smugness and replied, “Pretty spot on, but you forgot the part where Pegasi control the weather, Unicorns use magic, and Earth Ponies are great farmers, or just land workers in general.” She then put her nose in the air, “And I’m the fasted pegasus of them all!” Rainbow said arrogantly. All this accomplished was a raised eyebrow from Qrow, rolled eyes from Applejack, and after a very high pitched squeal, and a trail of rose petals that ended led to where she was now getting a crushing hug from Ruby. “W-What the Hay!? Get off me!” She said, struggling in her binds.

“Awww! She’s adorable!” Ruby said excitedly, squeezing the poor mare even tighter. “I mean look at her! She’s small, fast, and flies, and she’s just awesome!” Ruby’s voice sounded like it had gone beyond the range of human hearing as she talked faster as she held Rainbow out away from her, the mare kicking petulantly all the while, but she had her normal smirk back now.

“Yeah, I’m awesome, tell me something I don’t know.” Rainbow said before she cocked her head to the side, flared her wings and shot out of Ruby’s hands. She stuck her tongue out at her former captor and did lazy loops in the air. “Hah! Can’t keep me down!” Ruby was staring at the Pegasus in awe, her mouth slung open in amazement. She stood like this until she felt a small tug on her combat skirt, prompting her to look down at Applejack, who had a small smile on her face.

“Now don’t go inflatin’ Rainbow’s ego no more than it already is, Ruby, she’s already arrogant enough as it is.” Applejack warned her, Ruby sheepishly rubbed her neck as she realized what she’d been doing. Applejack smiled gently at her and came to a decision, so far these weren’t bad folk, sure, they were funny looking and all of them except Qrow and Ruby had mostly been staring at them, but they clearly weren’t monsters, so with the same small smile on her face, she looked at the rest of the humans in the clearing and announced to them, “Come on y’all follow us, I think we’ve all had enough of this here forest.” They all gave some form of agreement, except for Qrow, who’d vanished at some point in their previous conversation. “Uhh, where’d Qrow go?” Applejack asked, looking quizzically up at Ruby. She looked around the clearing before a small crow landed on her shoulder and nipped her ear. She pointed at it.

“He’s right here” Ruby replied, the crow seemingly sticking it’s tongue out at her. Ruby simply rolled her eyes at her Uncle’s antics. “Really Uncle Qrow, do you need to go as a bird?” Ruby asked exasperatedly, he only nodded. “Fine!” With that, she looked back down at Applejack, who was now taking her turn to look at them confused.

“Uhh, can all of y’all do that?” Applejack asked, her hoof pointed at Qrow. Ruby shook her head.

“Nah, we all have a different semblance than Uncle Qrow, he can change into a bird, I can run super fast, Jaune can make a shield of aura around him” she leaned down to Applejack’s ear, “he just can’t control it yet.” She winked at the pony and continued, “Nora can use electricity to make herself stronger, and Ren can use his aura better than anyone else I’ve ever met.” She smiled at the pony, “That clear it up for ya?” Applejack scratched her head.

“So, y’all Semblance whatsits are kinda like our cutie marks?” She pointed at the three apples on her flank. Ruby looked at it confusedly.

“You call that a cutie mark?” Jaune looked at it oddly. “I just thought they were tattoos.” He shrugged. Applejack looked at him with her head tilted to the side in bemusement.

“Tattoos? What are th-” she shook her head. “Nevermind, we get our cutie marks when we realize our special talent, mine’s runnin’ Sweet Apple Acres, best darn Apple orchard in all of Equestria.” She stood a little straighter in pride. Rainbow rolled her eyes at Applejack.

“Please, that’s nowhere near as cool as mine!” Rainbow said, pointing her hoof at her own cutie mark. “I got mine when I did a sonic rainboom as a filly!” She said happily, crossing her arms in pride, then noticed the blank stares she was getting. She rolled her eyes, “I was racing a couple of bullies who were messing with one of my friends, and I went so fast that I broke the sound barrier, and left a wake that looked like a rainbow!” At this Ruby’s eyes seemed to shine like stars before she wiped her knuckles on her shirt.

“Heh, you may think you’re fast in the air, but I bet you can’t beat me on the ground!” Ruby said smugly, smiling at the mare floating above her. Rainbow smirked at her.

“Hah! I like you Ruby, but that doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on ya, I’ll kick your flank in a race, land or sky!” A growl broke out through the clearing, causing the two ponies to jump, and three of the four humans to reach for their weapons. Ruby chuckled sheepishly as the Qrow on her shoulder seemed to give her a deadpan glare.

“Sounds good, but uh, could we get out of the creepy forest and maybe grab some food before we think about racing?” Ruby asked nervously. Rainbow and Applejack finally seemed to remember where they were as well, if the nervous glances they cast around the trees were any indication.

“T-that sounds like a darn good idea, Ponyville’s this way.” Applejack said as she started leading them out of the forest, perhaps a little faster than was necessary.

“Oh great” Jaune moaned as he began to chase after his team and the two ponies leading them out of the forest. “First we get our butts kicked, then we end up in pony world in a creepy forest, fight wooden wolves that become one giant wooden wolf when you kill them, and now we’ve got to run.” Jaune sighed. “Of course, can’t we jusy have a nice leisurely walk for once?” He continued grumbling to himself as he ran after them.

Fifteen minutes later, Rainbow and Applejack led their five new friends out of the forest and onto the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres. The two mares seemed overjoyed that they were finally out of the Everfree as Rainbow took to the clear skies and did lazy loops above their heads, and Applejack got a small smile upon seeing her home. “Here we are y’all! Sweet Apple Acres, home sweet home! Come on y’all, I’ll introduce ya to the family, then we’ll show ya ‘round Ponyville!” With that, she trotted off towards the farm, leaving the others standing there dazed.

“She...she wasn’t joking.” Jaune said faintly, he’d been hoping this had all been a joke, or some sort of fever dream, but upon seeing Sweet Apple Acres, that theory was thrown straight out the window. Remnant was far too hostile to have an orchard like this and have it last for longer than a few days without the Grimm destroying it. The fact that it existed and had clearly been here for a long while without any noticeable defenses brought the truth to all five of them.

They weren’t on Remnant anymore.

Sure they’d all been expecting it, but a simple Apple orchard was all it took to shatter any and all hopes that they were still in their world. Which caused Qrow to begrudgingly acknowledge that they’d quite possibly been right about just about everything.

Except the winged unicorn, alicorn, whatever, that apparently raised the sun and the moon, he was still calling bullshit on that. Purely for manly pride.

Nora however, was taking the revelation a lot better than the others (except possibly Ren, but it was always hard to tell with him), “Oh my gosh! It looks so colorful! And this means that they were right and we’re in an entire world of little ponies!” Nora squealed. “This is the most adorable adventure EVER!” Nora said excitedly as she punched the air in anticipation. Ren nodded in his own form of agreement, as it tended to be the best way to stop a Nora rant.

“Well” Rainbow Dash began, “I wouldn’t say adorable, at least not all of us…”Rainbow coughed as she pointed at herself. “Some of us are far too awesome to be adorable.” This caused Ruby, Nora, and Jaune to laugh quietly to themselves, and Qrow was making rather odd hacking noises that could be interpreted as a crow’s chuckle. Rainbow simply gave them the stink eye before flying back down towards Ruby as Applejack started talking about her family and the upcoming reunion.

“So Ruby, what was that weapon you were holding, it’s awesome!” She gushed as she flew next to her new friend. Ruby smiled widely as she pulled her weapon from her back, transforming it as she twirled it around, showing it off to Rainbow Dash, who was looking at it in muted awe.

“This baby is Crescent Rose, my weapon. It’s a high caliber sniper scythe, capable of slicing through metal and trees without a problem, she’s made of the highest grade metals, and can transform into a smaller form, where I can only fire the sniper.” Ruby rambled on as Rainbow continued to fly around it. She looked at Ruby with a raised eyebrow as she kept talking about her weapon.

“What?” She asked dumbly as she looked at her, debating whether or not to label her as an egghead. Ruby chuckled sheepishly as she rubbed her neck, having noticed her rambling. She instead coughed to regain a bit of her dignity and replied.

“It’s also a gun.” Rainbow nodded at this, that was better.

“Why didn’t you just say so in the first place?” The mare asked her.

“I was rambling, sorry” Ruby ducked her head, “I’m a bit of a dork when it comes to weapons, but otherwise, I’m not so bad!” Ruby smiled up at Rainbow, “That’s Weiss and Blake’s...job…” her smile disappeared, to be replaced by a small frown at the thought of her lost friends, however, Ruby being Ruby, shook her head and banished that thought for later when it was just her and Jaune to bond over their losses. Rainbow either chose to ignore her frown or didn’t notice it in the first place, opting to cock her head at her instead.

“Are all your names weird? I mean, yours is pretty normal, Berry Punch has a foal named Ruby, and one of the flower ponies are named Roseluck, so yours is at least somewhat normal, the rest of them are just so...odd!” Rainbow threw her hooves up in the air to emphasize just how odd their names were. Ruby shrugged the unintended insult aside, and instead looked at the mare with a raised eyebrow, not dignifying that question with an answer and instead asking Rainbow about herself and Ponyville.

“So Jaune, you got experience with farm work, eh?” Applejack asked the stal- man, she was walking next to. He nodded as he looked out at the orchard in a sense of nostalgia, skillfully ignoring Nora’s...enthusiastic ideas of what Ponyville would be like.

“A little, I mean, my grandparents own a farm, it’s not an orchard though, I helped them out when I was growing up, before I went to Beacon to become a Huntsman.” Applejack nodded, ignoring the shiver she got from the image of a Grimm she’d been shown from Jaunes’ scroll.
“Well hay! If y’all need a place to stay while you’re here in Ponyville, I’m sure Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Applebloom won’t care one whit if’n you wanna stay here in exchange for helping out around th’ farm.” Applejack suggested, Jaune seemed to think about it for a moment before smiling and nodding.

“Yeah, I think I might like that, Applejack, if it’s alright with your family. Some familiarity would do us all some good I think, and working on a farm would make me feel at least a little bit closer to home.” He sighed in sadness at the thought of home, how Beacon and Vale had been overrun with the Grimm, and his partner, who had been so horribly pulled away from him. He shook his head to get the ghost of a feeling of Pyrrha’s lips on his out of his head. He hadn’t been looking forward to telling Pyrrha’s parents of her demise, but with the CCT down, and the communications between Kingdoms being down due to it, someone would have had to tell her parents in person.

Applejack noticed his sadness and lightly bumped him. “Cheer up partner! A week from tomorrow, the Summer Sun Celebration will happen down in Ponyville, and the princess herself’ll be there, if she can’t help ya find a way home, ain’t no one in all of Equestria who could!” Jaune smiled slightly at her attempt to cheer him up, it did work, ever so slightly. The thought of home, and getting to do something at least somewhat familiar to him with some friendly peop- ponies, until he got back there. He nodded to himself, maybe this place could do him some good.

Jaune was knocked out of his reverie when Applejack called for him. He looked ahead at her, and saw her and everyone else standing in front of the gate into Sweet Apple Acres “Are you coming Jaune?” Ruby asked him, looking at him with her head tilted to the side. He shook his head and nodded, running to catch up with them as they walked towards the house.

Applebloom sat in her room with a small pout on her face. She’d gone to school, finished her chores, and had even done her homework, and now she had nothing to do. Applejack, Big Mac, and even Granny Smith had all been busy the last couple of days, what with both the upcoming family reunion and the Summer Sun Celebration. Her brother and sister had been out apple bucking and working around the farm more than usual, and she was either too young or too small to help them with either, and Granny Smith was very domineering when it came to her family reunion plans, that plus her helping Applejack with a menu for the Summer Sun Celebration, meant Applebloom was ushered to the living room, or her bedroom as soon as she finished her chores, as they just didn’t have time to keep an eye on her, and there wasn’t much she could do outside of her normal chores around the farm. So there she sat on her bed, wondering what could have possibly happened to cause Applejack to run off into the Everfree Forest with Rainbow Dash like she had done over an hour ago. She was beginning to get worried, she might have been a filly, and a very adventurous one at that, but even she knew that ponies weren’t supposed to go into the the Everfree Forest. Just as she was psyching herself into gathering the guts to enter that unnatural place alone to go find her sister however, she caught sight of Rainbow Dash and a few odd shapes being led towards the farmhouse by what looked like Applejack. Applebloom grinned and shot out of her room, only stopping for a moment to tell Granny Smith that Applejack was back and that she was going to run out to meet her. She galloped down the walkway and jumped towards her sister, the sudden weight forcing Applejack to fall forward, ending in the two of them tangled together in an ungraceful heap.

“Applejack! You’re back!” Applebloom said excitedly as she hugged her around the neck. Applejack smiled as she returned the hug, before looking at her quizzically.

“ ‘Course I am Sugarcube! Ain’t nothin that can keep me away from y’all!” She looked up at her little sister with a small scowl before asking, “Now would y’all mind gettin’ off of me?” Applebloom smiled sheepishly as she rolled off of her sister and stood up. She looked curiously at the four odd creatures and the crow on the shortest one’s shoulder before looking back at her sister.

“So, Applejack, who’re these critters?” She asked curiously, hearing an odd ‘squee!’ noise from one of the odd critters. Applejack rolled her eyes, clearly already getting used to the critter’s odd behaviour.

“Well Applebloom, they-” she paused for a moment before turning towards the shortest one, with a black mane that had red streaks in it. “I’ll let you explain sugarcube.” Applebloom’s lingering fears evaporated at that, Applejack only called friends and family sugarcube!

“Well…” the new critter trailed off, looking around as if she was trying to think of something. “I’m Ruby, and we’re uh...humans, from a place called Remnant…” Applejack led the six of them back to the house as Applebloom slowly but surely got enthralled in Ruby’s story of her home.

Author's Note

I'm back with a new chapter! I know things are going a little slow, but the pacing will pick up in the next few chapters. I'm just getting the RWBY crew established in Equestria before the events of FIM. I hope you enjoyed!