"Goodbye.....Weapon X."

Laura jolted up from her sleep with a vicious growl as she popped the claws in her right hand, ready to strike. She panted rapidly as she looked around, searching for the man responsible for most of her trauma.

With no sign of him and a scan of her surroundings, she recalled what had transpired the night before, allowing her to calm down. She retracted her claws and put a hand to her forehead, exhaling in frustration.

So many years and she was still haunted by a man she knew to be long dead.

After a few minutes, she caught a whiff of something, prompting her to sniff the air. She put a hand to her stomach as it growled, urging her to seek out what she had smelled.

Food.

Laura descended the short staircase and entered the dining area to see Vinyl and Octavia already seated and eating pancakes.

"Look who's awake."

"Oh. Good morning Laura" Octavia greeted their guest after Vinyl pointed her out. "I went to tell you breakfast was ready earlier, but you were still asleep and I thought you should get all the rest you needed."

"Thank you" Laura said with a nod.

"Well don't be shy. Come, sit and have breakfast. I'm sure you need it. Help yourself to as much as you like. Um, are pancakes okay?"

Laura gave another nod as she took a seat across from Vinyl.

"You sleep okay L?"

The dog tags, one of them partially cut, landed in her hand with a small clang as the helicopter flew off.

Laura nodded after a bit of hesitation.

"Not much of a talker, are ya?"

Laura shook her head in response as she proceeded to make herself a rather large stack of pancakes on the plate she had grabbed, which she covered almost entirely in syrup. She then used her utensils to cut large chunks of the fluffy discs and stuff them into her mouth. She washed it down with the glass of milk that had been set aside for her.

The two mares looked on in surprise, though Vinyl quickly put on a smile of approval.

"Right on, L."

Fantastic, as if one glutton in this house wasn't enough Octavia thought as she rolled her eyes at Vinyl's comment.

"Man, Lyra is gonna freak when she finds out we have human- er, mutant in our house."

"Are you mad?! We can't go spouting this off to Lyra of all ponies."

"Why not?" Vinyl asked, legitimately curious.

"With the way she is? In the kidnapping and experimenting/studying department, she'd most assuredly be worse than if the government got ahold of Laura."

"A.......yeah, you're probably right."

Octavia noticed that Laura was looking at them questioningly as she continued to eat.

"Oh, our friend Lyra has a bit of an obsession with humans. She's always ranting about their existence and how she'll take any opportunity to study one. Until recently, we assumed she was...how do I put this nicely?"

"We thought she was nuttier than squirrel shit."

Octavia shot her marefriend a nasty look as Laura suppressed a small snicker through her food filled mouth.

"That's one way of putting it" Octavia said, lacing her words with venom "but essentially, yes, that was our thought process."

The three delved into silence as they ate for a short while before Octavia spoke again.

"Laura" the mutant looked up at Octavia after her name was called "Would you mind if we asked you a few questions?"

Laura shook her head as she finished chewing her current wad of pancake.

"Well, I suppose the first thing to ask is if you know how you came to be here, in our world. You did appear to be unfamiliar with it, considering our original meeting."

Laura swallowed before tilting her head down to think. She took a full minute in searching through her memory, but still came up with nothing.

She shook her head with a disappointed look.

"Not yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever happened messed with my memory" she replied as she tapped the side of her head "Can't remember the last few days."

"Oh! I'm sure Princess Twilight could help with that as well. She's bound to know a memory spell or two."

"Good to know."

"My turn" Vinyl proclaimed somewhat eagerly "What's up with those claws of yours? You said you were a mutant. Are they your power?"

"Sort of. They're bone laced with adamantium."

"Adamantium?" Octavia said "I've never heard of such a metal."

"Guess you don't have it here then. It's indestructible. In most cases."

"But they come out of your hands" Vinyl noted "Doesn't it hurt?"

"Every time" Laura said casually with a nod "I'm used to it. Healing factor helps."

"Healing factor? What, you heal super fast?" Vinyl asked.

"Mmhm" Laura hummed as she chewed some more of her food before bringing a hand up and facing her knuckles towards the two mares. She popped her claws and retracted them, allowing them to see her healing factor at work.

"That's really cool."

"If a little.....unsettling. No offense."

The trio spent the rest of the meal talking further, with Laura answering further questions. Mostly they concerned her powers. She also revealed she was part of a crime fighting team, most of the time, and trained or hung out with friends in her off time.

As to her family situation, all she said was it was complicated.

The couple decided not to press the matter further based on the answer.

"Very well, we can be off now" Octavia said as she rose from the table "Are you ready Laura?"

The girl gave a nod as she got up and left her dishes in the sink.

"You're not gonna do your morning cello practice?" Vinyl asked.

"We have some more pressing matters at hoof, Vinyl. I can skip one practice session."

"I don't mind waiting." Octavia looked at Laura in surprise.

"Laura, that's kind of you, but I think we should go to Princess Twilight as soon as possible. You need to get back to your own world after all."

"It doesn't need me. And I....kind of want to hear you play."

Laura looked away, a tad bashful as she rubbed her arm, surprising Octavia even further. She turned to see Vinyl nodding enthusiastically at her.

"Well uh....I suppose there's no harm in it."

Laura followed Octavia to the living room, where she set up her music stand, sheet music, and took out her instrument. Laura sat down on the floor in front of her, waiting for her to begin. Octavia found the situation a bit odd, but proceeded anyway. She refrained from suggesting to Laura that she sit on the couch behind her after seeing a sense of anticipation in her eyes.

After making sure her cello was tuned, Octavia proceeded to play her practice tunes. She closed her eyes, as she had played the music in front of her so many times, she basically had it memorized. The sheets were more of a precaution if she were to slip up or needed a reminder.

Laura sat in front of the musician wordlessly as she absorbed the notes of the stringed instrument. She found it impressive how good Octavia was. She made no mistakes, her movements were smooth and focused, and the look on her face said she legitimately enjoyed playing. It wasn't something to do just for money, it was a passion.

It was something to be admired.

She found herself so engrossed that she decided the music might help her. She straightened herself and placed her hands on her knees before closing her eyes, going into meditation. Something recommended to her by her surrogate father.

As Laura immersed herself into her own mind, allowing the pleasant sound waves to wash over her, she could feel her frustration begin to fade away. The frustration of both her displacement situation and her nightmares from earlier.

Unfortunately, she still couldn't recover her lost memories. But it was a minor issue, since that problem would be solved very soon. So she allowed herself to just enjoy the music.

The tone of the music was slightly cheerful and evenly paced, like something one would hear for a calm, spring setting. It actually put a small smile on her face.

Laura found herself slightly disappointed when the music ended, but was glad to have heard it nonetheless. She opened her eyes to see Octavia smile back at her in an observatory kind of way.

Octavia righted herself when Laura came out of her trance or whatever it was.

"I liked it. You play very well."

Octavia tilted her head back a bit at the compliments. They were such simple statements, yet they carried such weight to them.

"Why thank you Laura."

"I found your vibrato impressive considering you have hooves" Laura added as Octavia put away her cello. The comment caught Octavia by surprise. She turned back with a curious look.

"I've studied a lot of things, including music" Laura explained.

"Oh."

As Octavia put away her things, Laura turned and was surprised when she looked at the clock to see that about twenty minutes had passed during Octavia's practice. She hadn't even noticed.

Octavia and Vinyl had insisted that Laura do something to conceal herself as they went to Twilight's castle.

They ran into some complications, one of which being that Vinyl wasn't skilled enough in magic to cast either a cloaking spell or disguise spell. The other was that Laura refused to wear any kind of concealing garment.

So it was with heavy reluctance, mostly from Octavia, that the trio ventured out with Laura, now in the clothes she had arrived with.

Naturally, there was gawking from the ponies going about their business. Most of the stares were of shock at seeing a being like Laura. A few zipped into hiding out of fear or caution.

Laura wasn't bothered by this in any way, so long as none attempted to attack her. Octavia meanwhile maintained a calm smile, and darting pinprick eyes that cancelled out any air of calm she attempted to put out.

"Babe, do you remember something I told you last night about being chill? And how you should do that? This is one of those times."

"I am."

"No, you're trying to be chill. Big difference."

Vinyl's point was emphasized when Octavia greeted a random mare and their child in the distance. The look of Octavia's eyes more than Laura's presence made the mare usher herself and her foal away.

"HUMAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

"Oh blast" Octavia muttered disappointedly.

"Here we go" Vinyl said.

The visual description Laura had been provided with proved accurate to the ecstatic looking unicorn making her way towards her. The speed at which she was moving made Laura think she could give Quicksilver a run for his money.

Laura had been warned that she would most likely meet Lyra. Since she apparently meant no harm and wasn't proficient in combat, Laura wasn't worried.

"I got her" Vinyl said right before Lyra leapt into the air with the intent of tackling Laura. She never made contact, as she was enveloped by Vinyl's magic before she could.

"I told you! I told you all they existed!" Lyra exclaimed, pointing to the surrounding townsponies and not paying any mind to her magical restriction "And I told you you'd rue the day I was proven right! Rue it my close minded little ponies! Rue iiiiit!"

"Lyra" Octavia said rather intensely.

"Yeah?" Lyra replied as if what was currently transpiring wasn't.

"She's not- Well, okay, technically she is a human, but she's a mutant."

"Mutant?"

"Yup" Vinyl affirmed "And a pretty awesome one."

Lyra turned back to Laura with a questioning look. Laura returned the look before raising a hand and popping her claws, making Lyra's eyes widen.

"That.....is even MORE interesting!" Octavia facehoofed while Laura retracted her claws and lowered her hand. "I have so many questions! and you have to answer them! Please?!" Laura regarded her for a moment before shaking her head, much to Lyra's disappointment. "Aw come on!"

"Can we go now?" Laura asked.

"Gladly" Octavia replied.

Vinyl released Lyra from her magic, causing the unicorn to fall to the ground with an oof. However, the anthropologically inclined mare was not so easily deterred.

Lyra chased after the trio as they continued for the castle. She begged Laura to answer at least a few questions, while also asking some of the two mares. She was paid no mind until near the end of the short trek.

"Okay look" Vinyl said as she pulled Lyra aside "If you keep this up, you might get to study Laura's claws up close and personal. So how's about you shut up, and we'll let you stay with us while we talk to Princess Twilight. No doubt she's gonna have some questions, so you could get some answers that way. Sound good?"

"It does sound preferable to facing an annoyed mutant. We got a deal."

"Um, I beg your pardon?" Octavia said as she pulled Vinyl in close.

"Why would you make a deal like that with her?" Octavia seethed through her teeth "We want her away from Laura."

"You know she's just gonna be sneaking around spying on us. This way we can at least keep an eye on her and make sure she behaves."

"I suppose the latter is preferable" Octavia muttered as she looked away in thought "Very well. She can stay."

"You guys know I can hear you right?" Lyra asked, merely an arm's length away.

"Yes."

"Uh...Twilight?"

Twilight looked up from her book to address her dragon assistant, who was standing in the doorway to the map room with an unsure expression.

"What is it Spike?"

"Octavia, Vinyl and Lyra are here to see you...."

"Really? I don't remember setting up any kind of meeting."

"If you did, I'm sure you'd remember it. They kind of came with a guest that.....I'm sure you'll wanna see."

"Who?"

"......It's better if you just see them."

"Okay then? Send them in."

Twilight immediately understood Spike's behavior when beholding the individual that accompanied the three ponies. While not the strangest of things she'd seen, it definitely had a top place on the list.

"A human?!"

"Aha!" Lyra exclaimed, pointing an accusatory hoof. She was quickly silenced by scowls from Octavia and Vinyl before she could launch into more questions. Twilight meanwhile put her book away and rose from her chair, approaching the group. But she looks much different from the ones I know from the mirror world.

"I apologize for our sudden visit, your highness, but we're in need of some help. Or rather, Laura is."

"If you need help, then it's no trouble at all. And please, Twilight is fine. Still not too used to the whole 'your highness' thing."

"Twilight!" Everypony turned around to see Twilight's friends racing down the hall to the map room with Rainbow in the lead. "We heard about the creature going through Ponyville headed to your castle. We came right awa-" Rainbow and the others froze in their run upon seeing Laura already there.

"Oh. Sooooo do we need to get rid of her?" Rainbow asked.

"No Rainbow, we don't" Twilight stated "She's here because she needs help. Though what, I don't know yet. She was just about to explain."

"Well if help is all she needs, then we'd happily oblige" Applejack said "Come on girls, let's have a seat and find out how we can help. But we should introduce ourselves first."

Applejack came up to Laura, extended a hoof and gave her name. Laura took it and gave hers. Soon, she was introduced to all six of Twilight's friends. She was slightly unsettled by Pinkie Pie, her hyperactive behavior and ability to appear from anywhere reminding her of a certain red and black clad mercenary.

Once they were all settled into their chairs, Octavia explained Laura's situation. How she came from another world with no recollection of how, and her need of help with both.

"Well your amnesia should be no problem. I can perform a pretty simple mind spell. Getting you back to your own world however will probably be a bit more difficult."

"Well isn't she from the mirror world?" Starlight asked, her words drawing Laura's curiosity "She looks like the humans you've described to us."

"I don't believe she is" Twilight said "I never saw any humans that looked like her."

"Different world probably" Laura said "Did it have mutants?"

"Mutants?" Rainbow said.

"Uh....not to my knowledge" Twilight replied confusedly "Why do you ask?"

"Just to be sure. Not my world, or even a version of it, if there are no mutants."

"From what she's told us, there are quite a few super powered individuals like her in her world" Octavia said.

"Like her?!" everypony exclaimed simultaneously.

Laura turned to look at Vinyl, who was nudging her with a small smile on her muzzle. "Show em, show em."

Laura looked back and raised her fists in front of her. Everypony reared back when her claws popped out, a few exclamations of surprise going around.

"What in tarnation?!"

"What in the world?!"

"Awesome."

"Ooh, shiny."

"This is...amazing!" Twilight exclaimed before teleporting in front of Laura, who leaned back slightly out of surprise. "You have claws made of metal coming out of your hands?! How?!"

"Coated. They're coated in metal" Vinyl corrected "They're made of bone. Pretty cool right?"

"But they pierced the skin! How are you not bleeding?" Twilight asked as she continued to examine the claws.

"She has a special healing power."

"Healing pow-....what are you?"

Laura knitted her eyebrows, shifting her eyes in Octavia's direction momentarily. "A mutant. Like Octavia said."

"You're definitely not from the mirror world. You have to tell me about your powers. Please!"

"Yeah!" Rainbow and Lyra exclaimed at the same time. Seeing no harm in it, Laura explained her powers like she had before, with Twilight fervently writing it all down with a quill and parchment she summoned. Her claws, her healing, her heightened senses, and her adamantium.

"Fascinating" Twilight muttered in awe.

"She's like one of the characters from my comics" Spike noted as he held up an issue of X-Ponies, which made Laura humph in slight amusement.

Looks like this world has one thing in common with mine.

"Can you help me now?"

"Of course. I'll start looking into dimensional travel-"

"Twilight wait" Starlight interjected "I'm not so sure we should help her. At least not yet."

"Why not?" Octavia and Vinyl asked rather indignantly.

"We don't know her."

"We know her" Octavia insisted "She saved me from a stallion who attempted to force himself on me." That certainly caught everypony's attention.

"Well...regardless" Starlight continued "We don't know her like you do. I don't think it's a good idea to just blindly trust her."

"I'm actually with Starlight on this" Rainbow stated a little hesitantly.

"She actually does make a good point" Twilight admitted "So on second thought, we need to know more about you Laura. Would you mind answering some questions?"

While Laura was starting to feel a bit impatient, she recognized the advantage in gaining some trust with those that could help her. "I don't mind."

"Good. Now I just need to cast a truth spell on you for good measure. May I?"

Laura nodded, prompting Twilight to charge her horn to perform the spell. Octavia looked on rather apprehensively until Vinyl placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. After a flash from her horn, Twilight retook her seat as Laura looked at herself curiously, not feeling any different.

"First a test question. What is your name?"

"Laura Kinney." Laura knit her eyebrows in confusion and shifted her eyes downward as if to look at her mouth. She hadn't intended to give her last name. She then realized when she had spoken, she felt as though she couldn't help but say it.

"Kinney?" Vinyl said with some amusement. "You never told us that."

"It's working" Laura said in a deadpan tone.

"What...is your quest?" Pinkie asked in a raspy tone, earning a snicker from Rainbow and a disapproving look from the others.

"To return to my own dimension." Everypony looked back in surprise.

"Oh" Twilight said.

"I know" Spike cut in "What's your story?"

Laura hesitated at that, looking to the side briefly. Octavia realized that was something she hadn't asked herself and was quite curious.

"I would prefer not to share it."

It wasn't a lie.

"Normally I wouldn't press further" Twilight said "But I'm afraid I have to know your background to have at least a modicum of trust. I'm sorry, but I must ask you to tell us."

".....I understand" Laura said "I have to warn you, it's not pretty."

"I subjugated a whole town and then nearly destroyed Equestria with time travel out of spite after I was stopped." Everyone looked at Starlight curiously. "I thought maybe knowing somepony here has a pretty bad backstory would help."

"....A little. Mine is different though."

Laura began by telling them about her "father" and some of his background, followed by how she came to be. A company's goal of recreating Weapon X, the woman who carried and gave birth to her, her intense physical and mental training, her forced mutation and adamantium bonding, being an assassin, gaining her freedom after killing her tormentor, unwillingly killing her mother.

Everypony was in shock, most of them with tears streaming down their face. She concluded with her finding Logan, and her involvement in the X-Men and X-Force, along with an explanation for what those teams were.

She even has a tragic backstory like some of the characters in my comics Spike thought to himself while he covered his mouth with a hand, tears coming from his eyes as well.

Octavia was the first to embrace Laura in a crushing hug, followed by Vinyl, then Pinkie, then everypony else. While Laura wasn't the most uncomfortable with large displays of affection like this, she couldn't deny how nice it felt.

"I'm so sorry Laura" Octavia said once everypony broke away "I never imagined-"

"It's fine" Laura assured her.

"Well, um-" Twilight said as she wiped away some stray tears "I think it's safe to say we don't have any reason to not trust Laura."

"Agreed" Starlight said with a light whimper. Everypony else gave similar agreements.

"I'm more than happy to help Laura" Twilight said.

"We all are" Rainbow stated confidently, which everypony else agreed with.

"First the memory spell" Twilight said as she got up and approached Laura "This won't hurt. If you would bow your head please."

Laura complied, bending over, allowing Twilight to place her horn on her head. Twilight charged her horn with a large purple spark and sent her magic into Laura's mind. With a flash, the spell was cast, and lost memories rushed back to the forefront of Laura's mind. She now remembered everything.

Everything.

The mission she had been called to, the mutant they were to rescue from Trask's machines, the teammates who accompanied her, the mutant waking up and opening portals uncontrollably, being sucked into one of the portals which displayed the land she was now in. But most importantly, she remembered seeing what went into the other portals that lead to Equestria.

Laura released a grunt of worry as she clutched her head because of what she had seen. "No" she said after opening her eyes.

"Laura! What's wrong?" Octavia asked worriedly as she rushed to her friend's side.

"They're here. They came through too."

"Who?" Twilight asked.

"Princess!" Everyone turned to see an earth pony mare galloping toward them with a frantic expression. She stumbled as she came to an abrupt halt, panting heavily. "You have to come quick! Some ponies have been kidnapped!

"What?!" everypony exclaimed.

"They went into the deep parts of the White Tail Woods to investigate something and didn't come back! We went looking for them and found an area destroyed. We think they were attacked."

"What were they investigating?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know. They said they saw something really big fall out of the sky when they were looking through their telescope."

"Take us there" Laura said rather intensely. Everyone turned to look at her, seeing that she now had a deep scowl. "I'm pretty sure I know what did this."

The pegasus stammered due to barely registering Laura and her appearance. "Uh, sure, yeah, of course. F-Follow me." Everyone ran after Laura as she ran behind the pegasus.

"Laura wait!" Octavia called as she and the others started catching up. "What do you mean? What did this?" Laura growled one word in response.

"Sentinels."

Author's Note

That "nuttier than squirrel shit" line. It's from something. Anyone know?