One who Burns Gold [Cancelled]

Chapters

Prologue Part 1
Prologue Part 2
Chapter 1
Chapter 2

Prologue Part 1

Standing in front of a window in a white castle built onto the side of a mountain was the Princess of the Sun, Celestia. She is six feet tall and her her coat is as white as a cloud while her mane and tail are reminiscent of a pale rainbow in the summer and seemed to blow in an ethereal wind. She also had large white wings on her back and a long horn on her forehead. On Celestia flanks was a symbol that looked like the sun. She was waiting for her sister Princess Luna who was bringing their friends and the greatest defenders of the realm, Celestia’s apprentice Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

Slowly the doors at the end of the hall opened and the ponies she had been waiting for walked the hall. “You called for us Princess?” Twilight asked. Twilight was smaller than Celestia only coming up to her shoulder. Twilight was a lavender colored Unicorn with the symbol of five small stars around one bigger star on her flank. Twilight’s friends are Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.

Applejack has an orange coat with a straw-yellow mane and tail and always wore a Stetson cowboy hat, her symbol is three red apples. Rainbow Dash is a sky-blue coat pegasus, and a rainbow-colored mane and tail, her symbol is a dark grey cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt. Rarity is a snow-white unicorn with a purple mane and tail her symbol is three diamonds.

Fluttershy is a soft yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail, her symbol is three blue butterflies with blue wings. Pinkie Pie is bright pink with a slightly darker pink main and tail her symbol is two blue balloons and one yellow balloon. “Yes, I did, thank you all for coming so quickly, and thank you for bringing them Luna.” Celestia said.

“It’s not a problem Sister.” Luna said as she walked over to stand next to Celestia. Princess Luna was slightly shorter then Princess Celestia, she was a dark blue coat and her mane and tail are reminiscent of the night sky, and her symbol was a crescent moon against the black sky.

“The reason I called for all of you is I sensed a small disturbance near the Tree of Harmony a few days ago. I don’t know exactly it is but I feel that we should all go just in case. I would have called you all sooner but Luna and I were dealing with a very delicate situation with the Sphinx Kingdom.” Celestia said. “If you we are all, ready I will teleport us to Luna’s and my old castle.” When everyone nodded signaling they were ready Celestia’s horn lit up and in a flash the eight of them disappeared. They reappeared in the main hall of the ruined castle. When they walked outside they saw a creature they had never seen before strumming a guitar as they sat on the edge of the ravine next to the old rope bridge.

They couldn’t see what exactly what the person was wearing apart from a red hooded cape. Before Celestia and her companions could approach the stranger, they began playing a song that pulled at the groups hearts. While it didn't have any lyrics it spoke volumes of what the person had lost, family, friends, and everything they knew and loved. As they played the image of a woman sitting with her back against his appeared in a flurry of rose petals. She’s shorter that the man and has fair skin, short raven-black hair and when she opened her eyes they could see she has silver eyes, she also had wolf like ears on the top of her head. She wore white high-neck blouse covered by a black corset and a red and black skirt. She was also wearing a belt with strange metal containers and black boots that went half way to her knees. One thing that confused them was she appeared to be wearing the same hooded cape the man had on, and had a metal rose attached on the left side. As they tried to understand what they saw the image of the woman began to hum finding a perfect harmony music.

Tears flowed freely form Celestia’s eyes. As she looked at her sister and her friends she found that she wasn’t the only one crying. As the song finished a gust of wind blew past and more rose petals enveloped the image of the woman as she said. "Yang, I know we've had a hard life but you shouldn't let my what happened stop you from being who are. Remember that your family is always with you." As soon as she finished the petals scattered and she was gone.

As the music died down the person playing the guitar noticed the presence of those behind them and asked in a young and obviously male voice. “Who are you?” Hearing his voice Celestia guess he was around twenty one years old.

Luna stepped forwards, even though there still tears in her eyes her voice was steady as she said. “I am Luna, Princess of the Moon and this is my sister Celestia, Princess of the Sun. We are the rulers of Equestria. With us are our friends Twilight Sparkle who is Celestia’s apprentice. The others are Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie pie. Who are you and who was that we just saw singing with you?”

After Luna spoke the man sighed and got to his feet, “I thought that I was just hearing things, but if you saw my her then this world is stranger than I thought. That was my sister Ruby Rose, I am Yang Xiao Long although I’m thinking of changing my first name to Ruby or adding it to my name in some way, in honor of my sister.”

“What do you mean ‘this world’?” Twilight asked.

“Ruby and I are from a world called Remnant.” Yang said.

“The first part of your song mentioned the colors red, white, black and yellow. Judging from Ruby’s outfit it’s easy to guess, red represented her in the first part but who do the others represent?” Rarity asked.

“White and black represented our teammates when Ruby and I went to Beacon Academy, Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna. Yellow represents me. Although I have no idea where I learned that song, not that it really matters where I learned it I guess.” Yang said.

“Did your team have some kind of super cool code name?” Pinkie asked.

“We were team RWBY.” Yang replied.

“Team Ruby? Isn’t it a bit odd that it was named after your sister?” Rainbow asked.

“I guess but it was spelled, R, W, B, Y. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang. It’s been a long-standing tradition that the team name for Hunters was an acronym using the first letter of each person’s name and the team name represents a color. Much like everybody’s name on Remnant” Yang explained.

“What happened to Weiss and Blake?” Celestia asked.

“Ruby I got separated from them almost three years ago thanks to that bitch Cinder and her forces attacking Beacon Academy. After we recovered Ruby and I searched for them but found no trace of them. For all I know they could be dead, but I doubt that they are.” Yang said as his voice went from having hints of anger when he mentioned Cinder to practically being emotionless.

“How could a female dog have done that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Where I’m from the term ‘bitch’ can be used as an insult or a term for a female dog, no idea how that happened.” Yang explained his voice still void of almost all emotion.

“Oh,” Fluttershy said.

“Umm… wow there is no good way to say this, but what happened to Ruby?” Applejack asked not looking at Yang.

“Two months ago, Ruby and I got separated after a tunnel we were in caved in, we were escorting civilians away from their village which was attack by Grimm but got ambushed by more Grimm. When there was a cave in Ruby stayed behind to give me time to get the civilians to safety. I’ve been looking for her since then and when Cinder sent me here after I had been fighting Grimm for an entire day…and for some reason she also threw in this guitar. When I got here I arrived in a cave at the bottom of this ravine.” Yang explained. “To my surprise, I found Ruby heavily injured and on death's door. Two months of searching only to have her die in my arms right after I find her, moments after she died the tree glowed and her body dispersed as rose petals. When the tree’s glow died down nothing was left save her weapon, cape, and belt. That was three days ago.”

“Do you have any other family?” Twilight asked barely holding back the sorrow from her voice.

“That's a somewhat complicated question, ten months after Beacon fell, we lost our farther and our uncle was always busy with missions even before Beacon fell. He did drop by occasionally but I haven’t seen him since Beacon fell, and to me Ruby’s mom Summer IS my mom, she died almost four years ago, one day she left on a mission and never returned. My birth mother on the other hand… according to uncle Qrow, she has a survival of the fittest mentality. While I do agree that being strong is important I don’t agree that only the strong should survive.” Yang said and what little emotion was left in his voice had disappeared by the time he finished.

Celestia felt new tears form in her eyes. Yang was clearly a young adult but he had already lost so much. “How do you know this and where did you learn to fight?” Celestia asked.

“Dad taught me when I went to Signal Academy since he was a teacher there, he was a master of hand to hand combat, our uncle Qrow used to teach there as well and taught Ruby how to use her weapon since they use the same kind but at one point he got really busy with missions and had to stop teaching. The last time I saw him was... not the happiest occasion, at the beginning at least but it did get better. As for my birth mother… that’s not something I want to go into right now.” Yang said.

“What exactly kind of place, was Beacon Academy like?” Luna asked trying to change the subject.

“It was a school where people learned how to become a Hunter or Huntress. Hunters and Huntresses are people who learn how to fight and kill Grimm. Anyone who is at least seventeen can send an application to join Beacon if they’ve gone to one of the combat schools, Signal for example. Think of Beacon like high school and you get the idea for why there’s and age restriction. Normally sis wouldn’t have been able to enroll so early since she was fifteen but when Ruby stopped a robbery, the headmaster of Beacon, Professor Ozpin decide to enroll her in Beacon.” Yang explained. “While at beacon or any or the schools like it teams who are advanced enough can be assigned missions to travel to different locations to exterminate Grimm or investigate disturbances and criminal organizations. Because of this being a Huntsmen can be extremely dangerous, and difficult because negative emotions attract Grimm. It draws them like a moth to a flame.”

Everyone paused not sure about how to feel about this. On one hoof, everyone who join Beacon volunteered to fight but on the other hoof many young adults were being sent off to fight dangerous monsters. “Your Sister said the two of lived a 'hard life', can you let us know what that means?” Twilight asked.

Yang was silent for a while before he said, “Ruby and I are Faunus, Humans with animal like characteristics, Ruby’s a Wolf Faunus and has wolf like ears while I’m a Dragon Faunus and have slightly pointed ears with scales around them plus I gain more scales when I activate my Semblance along with a boost to my physical strength. Faunus’s like us have been discriminated against for all of recorded history.”

Before anyone could ask was a Semblance was a growling could be heard. Walking out of the forest on the other side of the ravine came a large black bear with bone like spikes coming out of its back and a bone like mask with red markings. “An Ursa Minor? Weird, I was expecting the Grimm to turn up sooner. Say what you want though, fighting Grimm is always one of my favorite ways to relieve stress.” Yang said as a cracking sound could be heard before he got into a combat stance after placing his guitar on the ground. When the Grimm put a paw on the rope bridge the old weathered ropes snapped and the bridge collapsed.

“I told y'all we should have fixed that bridge. Guess there’s no way across now.” Applejack said, before her jaw dropped as Yang easily jumped across the ravine and landed on the Grimm. The Ursa roared and three more charged through the forest edge. Everyone watched in awe as Yang was easily handling the four monstrous bears using nothing but punches and kicks. However, a fifth Ursa came into view this one much larger and had more bony spikes than the others. The new Ursa managed to hit Yang who had been dodging most of the other Ursa’s attacks and launched him over the ravine and past the watchers.

“Wasn’t expecting an Ursa Major to join in, but then again I didn’t think fighting Grimm without my weapon would take so long. Oh well, guess it’s time for me to stop playing around and get serious.” Yang said before he smiled, “This is going to be fun!” Then the bracelets on Yang’s arms transformed into golden gauntlets.

“What the?” Celestia gasped.

“These are my weapon, The Ember Celica. Now let’s see if the five of you can keep up with me!” Yang said as he slammed his fists together. When he did, his hair flared up and the ends seemed to catch on fire as dark yellow scales appeared on his face and the rest of his bare skin. Yang charged and jumped over the ravine but instead of landing on one of the Ursa’s this time he punched one and sent it crashing into the Ursa Major. One thing that puzzled the onlookers is, when Yang punched the Ursa there was a small explosion.

“Where are all of those explosions coming from?” Luna asked.

“I don’t know sister but they only happens when Yang punches so they must have something to do with his weapon.” Celestia said as she watched Yang punch one of the smaller Ursa’s arm clean off before using it like a club on one of the other Grimm.

“Is it just me or does he seem to be getting stronger every time one of the Grimm manages to hit him?” Pinkie asked still crying after hearing Yang’s song and story, while one of the Ursa Minors brought its two front paws down onto Yang who blocked by crossing his arms but got sent flying into a tree as another one hit him.

“As much as I want to say that’s impossible, I think your right Pinkie.” Twilight gasped unable to fully understand what she was watching. Yang had made quick work of the four original Ursa’s leaving only the Ursa Major.

“Oh, come on, I thought Ursa’s were supposed to be tough, I was more worried last time I fought a Boarbatusk then I am fighting you.” Yang taunted, and for the first time since they’ve known him they could him laugh. In contrast the Ursa Major roared in fury, before charging at Yang who jumped over the Ursa and kicked it in the back of its head causing it stumble and fall into the ravine. “Have a nice trip and I’ll see you never.” Yang said giving the falling Ursa a mock salute before he started to laugh. “I feel much better after beating some my stress and sorrow into those Grimm! There is nothing quite like beating some Grimm to make a Hunter feel like himself again.”

“…If that’s how he’s normally like, he bounced back to normal almost as fast as Pinkie can.” Rainbow muttered.

“HEY! I represent that remark!” Pinkie said as she went from crying with here mane completely strait and her coat was a darker tone of pink to looking like her normal self with here mane puffing up again in a split second. When they looked towards Yang again they saw the corpses of the Ursa Minor’s disintegrating into red and yellow rose petals.

“Are they disintegrating?” Luna asked.

“Grimm corpses always do that. No one knows why though, it’s just another question about these soulless monsters.” Yang said after he jumped over the ravine again not even bothering to look at the Grimm. He paused for a moment before he picked up the guitar. “Might as well keep this since it’s not like I can return it to its original owner.” Now that he was closer they could see Yang vibrant purple eyes had changed to bright red before they changed back to purple and the scales seemed to melt back into his skin.

When Yang looked at everyone he asked. “I don’t mean to be rude but what kind of people are you? I’ve never seen anyone like you on Remnant.”

“We are Ponies. My sister and I are Alicorns, Twilight and Rarity are Unicorns, Fluttershy and Rainbow are Pegusai while Pinkie and Applejack are Earth Ponies. Unicorns can use magic, Pegusai can fly and manipulate the weather, Earth Ponies are physically strongest of the three races and have the closest ties with the earth, while Alicorns have the best aspects of Pegusai, Unicorns and Earth Ponies.” Luna explained.

Author's Note

The scene of Yang playing the guitar was inspired by Red Like Roses part one and two.

Prologue Part 2

“Now what do you mean soulless? Every living being has a soul.” Rarity said.

“True but the Grimm are different.” Yang said shaking his head. “Every being with a soul has an Aura. Humans, animals, Faunus, even plants and insects. It's impossible for a Grimm to use Aura and therefore no souls.”

“What’s an Aura and how do you know so much about it?” Rainbow asked.

“In order for one to become a Huntsmen you must learn how to use your Aura so obviously, we need to know what an Aura is.” Yang said as he crossed his arms.

"You kinda just avoided the question, can you please tell us what Aura is?” Fluttershy asked.

“Sorry about that. Aura is a manifestation of the soul and can be used a few different ways. One way is helping to defend from attacks, a second way is to boost a person’s strength and, next if someone has a strong enough Aura it can help heal injuries and finally the Semblance… Wow I feel like I’m a teacher at Beacon or Signal explaining all of this.” Yang said before laughing.

“Well at least you’re in a better mood.” Twilight said smiling.

“I must say that outfit really suits you, although I am a little curious about your hair.” Rarity said.

“What about my hair?” Yang asked.

“I mean how it goes from raven black like you're sisters to a beautiful golden color. Is that natural?” Rarity asked.

“What the heck are you talking about? My hair is dark gold that become a paler gold when it goes past my shoulders.” Yang said confused.

“Why don’t we go to Ponyville? You’ll have a chance to see what she means there.” Celestia suggested.

“Sure, it’ll be good to get out of this forest. Didn’t really want to do much until now.” Yang said shrugging his shoulders

“That’s understandable given you loss.” Luna said.

“Speaking of which, are you sure you’re feeling better? I mean you spent so much time looking for Ruby but only to find her… well.” Rainbow asked.

“No, I’m not better but I’ve got to try to look towards the future and never forget her or my parents.” Yang said as he looked at the sky. “Besides Weiss and Blake are still out there, I know it. So, let’s stop all this depressing talk and get out of this forest.”

Celestia’s horn lit up and they teleported leaving behind the forest and reappeared in the middle of a bustling little town, however much to everyone’s surprise the town was being attacked by Grimm. The Grimm looked like wolf like creatures that stood on their hind legs long arms with bony spikes coming out of their arms and spine, and like the Ursa’s had bone like masks with red markings. “More Grimm? Where did they come from?” Celestia asked.

“No idea but welcome to the daily life of a Huntsmen, now if you excuse me it’s time for me to get to work.” Yang said as he grabbed something from underneath the cape. Yang jumped forwards as whatever it was changed into a red scythe with black highlights. Yang brought the back of the scythe down one of the Grimm who was leaping at one of the solders causing it to be slam down creating cracks in the ground. “While Sis always did like fighting you Beowulfs, I personally find you guys annoying more than anything else.” Yang said as he decapitated the Grimm.

As if sensing that Yang was the biggest threat, all the Grimm turned to him and charged. Yang smirked and began to swing his scythe to both defend himself and attack the Grimm. To the on lookers Yang seemed to be doing an impressive if somewhat awkward dance until his scythe flew out his hands and flew high into the air. “Tch, I still have no idea how Sis made it look so easy.” Yang said before he used one of the Beowulfs as a spring board to jump high into the air and grabbed the scythe.

Looking below him Yang saw that some of the Beowulfs were leaping up at him. Yang tilted the scythe and pressed a small trigger. A bang was heard as a black flash was seen near the head of the weapon and Yang began to spin slicing the Grimm who had leaped up to get to him. “Princesses we are glad the two of you are alright. Captain Armor sent us here in case you needed some help. What are your orders?” One of the solders said as they approached Celestia.

“Are the residents of Ponyville safe?” Celestia asked.

“Yes ma’am. Most our battalion are tasked with their protection. The rest of us corralled the beasts here since we couldn't get them out of town.” The solder said saluting.

Celestia looked at Luna and Luna nodded, “I want you and the rest of the solders to make sure that none of these beasts get away from our friend who’s handling the situation.” Celestia said.

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem Ma’am.” he said before pointing at Yang and the last two Beowulfs.

“What’s wrong little Beowulfs? Are you scared of a single fighter who’s using a weapon he’s not fully used to? GOOD!” Yang yelled before he caught one of the Beowulfs with the blade. The Beowulf slowly turned to look at him and began to raise one of its claws as another grim jumped at Yang from behind. Yang jumped and used the Beowulf behind him as leverage to jump forwards and slice the two Grimm in half. Looking around he saw they were the last of the Grimm and the Grimm were disintegrating in to red and Yellow rose petals. Yang looked confused for a moment before he shrugged and returned the weapon to his belt.

Silence filled the area until one of the guards asked, “Who are you?”

Yang looked at the sky for a moment before nodding. “I am Yang Ruby Xiao Long, A Hunter.”

“I’m sorry that Luna and I can’t stay to talk any longer but we have to get back to Canterlot. We still have a lot of work to do.” Celestia said before she and Luna teleported away.

“So, what do want to do now Yang?” Twilight asked.

“Simple, take a shower. Last time I had a real shower was a week ago.” Yang said smiling before everyone stared at him.

“How… I mean…” Rarity started.

Yang smiled before saying. “A Hunter needs to know how to survive in the wild and that includes how to stay clean. Even when I didn’t do much the past few days I never forgot my hygiene.”

“But you obviously forgot your hair.” Rarity muttered under her breath.

“You can use the one at the Sugarcube Corner I’m sure the Cakes won’t mind.” Pinkie said.

Yang smiled and said. “Sounds good to me.”

Pinkie then grabbed Yang’s arm with her tail and began to run with Yang doing everything he could not to fall, they quickly reached a house made to look like it was made of Gingerbread. “Hi-Mr.-and-Mrs.-Cake-just taking-my-new-friend-up-stairs-so-he-can-shower-be back-in-a-moment!” Pinky said so quickly that Yang had a hard time understanding what she said before he got dragged upstairs. “Here’s the bathroom. Just put your clothes in that basket and I’ll make sure they’re clean before you get out. Oh, and don’t forget to wash your hair!” Pinkie said before vanishing in a puff of Pinkie shaped smoke.

Yang blinked for a moment before he thought. ‘How the heck did she move and talk that quickly? I know Ruby’s Semblance gave her super speed but Pinkie moved even faster. Does Pinkie have a Semblance? And why the heck did she bring up my hair?’ Yang then shook his head; these thoughts could wait, but when he turned and saw his reflection in the mirror. “My…my hair.” He placed his hand on the mirror as a tear slid down his face. “Sis… it looks like that tree gave me something else to remember you by.” Yang then placed his cloths in the basket he leaned his Ember Celica and Crescent Rose against the wall. After Yang got into the shower he carefully picked all the rocks and twigs out before washing his hair, when he opened the container he noticed that the shampoo smelled like sunflowers.

When he was done with his shower he noticed that his clothes were now clean and neatly folded and sitting next to the sink. “How did she… you know what never mind.” Yang said to himself before he dried himself off and put on his clothes. After he was dressed he did a quick check on how much ammo he had and was discouraged when he found he only had three clips for his Ember Celica and two clips of for the Crescent Rose, one of fire ammo and one of ice. “Great just great! How am I going to restock now? URG I should have checked how much ammo I had earlier! I completely emptied both clips I had equipped in my Ember Celica when I was fighting the Ursa’s and the last of the gravity clip that was in Crescent Rose against those Beowulfs. At least I still have clips for fire and ice bullets but that’s still just a total of eighty-four bullets.” Yang groaned and face palmed. “I really hope this place has access to Dust otherwise I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Yang was still grumbling as he walked down stairs only to slip and fall when he heard, “SURPRISE!” looking up he saw that the room was full of ponies all with smiles on their faces and the room was decked out for a party.

“How did all this… forget it. LET’S PARTY!” Yang yelled as he got to his feet and joined the party a giant grin on his face.

“How do you like your ‘Welcome to Ponyville/ Thanks for Saving the Town’ party!” Pinkie asked as she walked up and gave Yang a cup of punch that she was holding with her hair.

“It’s great!” Yang said before a small sad smile appeared on his face. “I just wish that sis and the rest of my team was here. The last celebration I was at was the Vytal Festival and that ended with Beacon being destroyed. I hope Weiss and Blake are fine.”

“I’m sure you’ll find them, now come on! You’ve got a party to enjoy!” Pinkie said.

“Your right. Come on I bet I can eat more of those cupcakes then you!” Yang said making his way over to one of the food tables.

“You’re on!” Pinkie exclaimed joining him at the table.

As Yang bit into the first cupcake he found something hard inside. “Ow what is… Pinkie why is there a gem in the food?”

“Oh-when-you-said-you-were-a-dragon-I-thought-‘well-dragons-like-to-eat-gems-so-maybe-I-should-make-some-food-with-gems’-but-i-was-wonder-what-kinds-of-gems-you-would-like.-So-when-I-couldn’t-decide-i-made-some-with-rubys-some-with-sapphires-and-some-with-emeralds.” Pinkie said once again in one breath and incredibly quickly.

“The only bit of that I got was there are dragons here and they can eat gems.” Yang said before he shook his head as if trying to rid himself of his current train of thought. “So where are the ones without any gems?

Hours later when the party died down Yang was sitting next to a window with a thoughtful expression on his face. “You okay Yang?” Rarity asked as she joined Yang at the table.

“Yeah, just remembering my time at Beacon. Sometimes I wish I could go back to just being a normal Faunus who’s learning to become a hero. You know?” Yang said.

“We all have times where we wish for things to return to the way it once was Yang.” Twilight said as she sat across from Yang.

“Hey Yang what were you grumbling about when you came down stairs?” Rainbow asked hovered over the table.

“After my shower, I checked to see how much ammo I have left for my weapons and wasn’t happy with how much I have.” Yang said. “Have any of you heard of Dust?”

“Why are you worried about dust? Isn’t it everywhere?” Rarity asked.

“And there is the answer to my question.” Yang groaned as he placed his head on the table. “Now what am I going to do?”

“What kind of dust are you talking about Yang?” Twilight asked.

“Crystals with different kinds of energy. There are four main kinds, fire, earth, wind, and water. Depending on how you mix them you can get many more kinds of effects,
like water and fire to get steam for example. The last time I had a chance to get more ammo was three weeks ago.” Yang said as he pulled up his sleeve to scratch his arm showing everyone a large and rather sinister looking scar.

“WHAT ON EQUS!” everyone screeched.

“Huh? Oh this.” Yang said and looked out the window again. “I got this the day Beacon fell. Almost lost my arm that day, but I got lucky thanks to the scales I get with my Semblance. That member of the White Fang’s sword didn’t cut deep enough.”

“What’s the White Fang?” Fluttershy asked.

“A group of Faunus’s that use work peacefully to try and improve relations between Humans and Faunus, but they changed more than eight years ago.” Yang said before sighing. “I don’t really want to talk about this right now, even with the party and using the Grimm to get rid of some stress, my emotions are still a mess.” Before anyone could say anything, Yang got out of his seat and began walking towards the door. “I’m going outside, with the way I’m feeling I wouldn’t be surprised if more Grimm turned up and if they do I want to be ready.”

After Yang left everyone looked at each other. “I think that’s the first time anyone’s ever been to a Pinkie party and still felt sad.” Applejack said with Pinkie nodding in agreement.

“Well I can’t say I blame him, he’s been through a lot. More than most have in their entire lives.” Rarity said solemnly.

“Well we got to do something!” Rainbow said. “I can’t stand not being to help one of my friends.”

“I agree Rainbow but what can we do?” Fluttershy said. “He has very deep emotional wounds, the kind that doesn’t heal easily. He lost his team, and his family. All within the span of a few years. That’s bound to be hard on anypony.”

“I agree with Fluttershy and Rainbow.” Pinkie said as her mane seemed to have deflated a bit. “I just don’t know what we can do.”

“I just thought of something. Could his teammates have been sent here and that’s the reason he and his sister couldn’t find them?” Rarity guessed.

“Celestia thought that same thing. Spike and I got a letter from her just before the party, she’s told the guards to spread the word to keep an eye out for anyone named Weiss Schnee or Blake Belladonna and don’t seem to be from Equestria. Hopefully we’ll get some news quickly.” Twilight said as she looked out the window. “In the meantime, we’ll just have to help him in any way we can.”

*Meanwhile with Yang *

Yang left Sugercube Corner as the sun began setting and began walking around Ponyville before he came across the town library that was built into a hollowed out oak tree that was taller than almost every other building in town. Yang quickly made his way to some of the highest branches and made himself comfortable sitting against the tree’s trunk. From his spot, he could see over the entire town. “Weiss. Blake. Where are you? I don’t know what to do and need your help. No matter what happens my thoughts always return to the two of you, Mom, Dad, Beacon… Sis. I just… hope the two of you are safe.” Yang said before closing his eyes and falling into an uneasy sleep.

Author's Note

Here's the last part of the prologue, I based Yang's depression on my personal experience where i had times where it seemed to disappear but would return in full force later that day. Please let me know what you think of the story so far and once again i hope you enjoy the story. Yang's outfit is based on her Hunter outfit and Ruby's is the one she has in volume 4 but as far as this story is concerned volume 4 never happened. and if someone know's a good name for the Sphinx Kingdom please let me know, i promise you'll get full credit for the name.

Chapter 1

It's been a few weeks since Yang arrived in Equestria and everything had been relatively quiet. The day after the party Rainbow and Pinkie had zoomed around Ponyville looking for Yang but couldn’t find him until he called out to Rainbow. Since then whenever he disappeared the first place they looked was his spot on the library’s branches. The day after the party Yang was introduced to Twilight’s assistant Spike. Everyone could tell Yang was feeling a little on edge but no one wanted to ask why, as time went by Yang seemed to get use to Spike and relax a little, but there were still times when he left the room with no explanations. A few days after Yang's arrival Twilight noticed small bags under his eyes as if he wasn’t getting much sleep but when she asked about it he just waved it off as if it was nothing but as time went on everyone could see that whenever Yang smiled it never reached his eyes and he had begun to draw into himself.

Currently Yang and the others were sitting in Twilight's privet study after Yang finally agreed to tell them more about Remnant. “When we first met, you mentioned something called a Semblance but what exactly is it?” Twilight asked.

“As you know every person has an Aura. A Semblance is another form of Aura but what it does differs from person to person and for some reason my Aura’s felt a little different since I got here. Maybe it’s just because this place is very different than Remnant.” Yang said with a small shrug, “My sister’s Semblance was a massive increase to her speed. Weiss’s was a little different since every member of who family is born with the same one, it’s called Glyphs. With her Glyphs and the right kind of Dust, she could make a shield, allow someone to run up a wall, and something called ‘Time Dilation’ which helps one move and react faster. Blake has one called Shadow. She can make clones that can take a hit giving her time to counter-attack or distract an opponent, but depending on the kind of Dust she loaded into her weapon she could change the elemental properties of her clones.”

“Fire for example made her clones explode on impact while Earth Dust makes her clones be made of solid rock. My Semblance makes it that I absorb the kinetic energy from the damage I take, and a side effect is I get more scales and my eyes turn red. Now this doesn’t mean I’m invincible, far from it. I feel all the damage I take and if I’m knocked out or fall asleep at the end of the day, all the energy I absorbed disappears. My dad once compared my Semblance to a temper tantrum,” Yang explained before chuckling at the end.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking this but what were your teammates like?” Rainbow asked as Twilight wrote down everything Yang said about Aura and Semblances.

“I don’t mind but you need to understand that what I’m about to say doesn’t even begin to fully describe them.” Yang said as everyone nodded. “At the beginning, Weiss was… a little difficult. She’s the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company which is one of the biggest Dust mining companies on Remnant and the only human member of team RWBY. She could be bossy, a bit of a know-it-all, a little high strung and didn’t have the best opinion of us Faunus in the beginning but despite all her faults she is still one of the best friends I ever had. Blake’s a cat Faunas but we didn’t learn that until she and Weiss had a… small argument. She can be kinda quiet and reserved at times, loves to read, can be a little too serious but that doesn’t mean she didn't have a sense of humor it just showed through her dry wit and sarcasm and once again is one of the best friends I ever had.”

“Sis well, she was a dork… actually now that I think about it most of our friends could be considered dorks to some degree. Anyway, Sis loved seeing other people weapons I remember she kept getting so exited seeing everyone’s weapon when we first got to Beacon.” As Yang spoke he got a far-away in his eyes as he remembered his team. “Even when we found out she had stopped one of the biggest crime lords on Remnant, Roman Torchwick from robbing a Dust store she never wanted to stand out. I was so proud of her when Professor Ozpin chose her to be the team’s captain. Sis was a very friendly person, always willing to help a friend and never one to back down from a fight.”

“Did you have any pets?” Fluttershy asked.

“Only the best dog ever!” Yang exclaimed. “Zwei always knew how to cheer Sis and I up. I can’t even remember the last time he was sad. Zwei's always cheerful and loved to play with others. When he first met Blake, he didn’t care she’s a cat Faunas and just wanted to be her friend. He’s smart too the little guy even knew how to work a can opener! Just leave some canned food and an opener where he can reach them and he would be fine. Not only that but Sis told me he once helped our history teacher Doctor Oobleck take on members of the White Fang when they were using stolen mech suits! Little guy never even got a scratch! I even saw the little guy even take down a Beowolf with one headbutt!”

“That does sound like a very impressive dog. What kind was he?” Applejack asked.

“A Pembroke Welsh Corgi.” Yang said.

“How many kinds of Grimm are there?” Rarity asked.

“I only know of twelve, but there’s probably many more different kinds. I might be able to draw what the ones you haven’t seen look like.” Yang offered.

“That would be a great help! Do you prefer pens or quills?” Twilight asked.

“Pens please, never had to use a quill before.” Yang said.

Twilight nodded and used her magic to summon a stack of paper, a few pencils and a couple of pens. “Sorry about not having many pens, I tend to prefer quills so I don’t get many pencils or pens, and can you include the ones we’ve seen before? I want to send copies to the Princesses.”

“No problem.” Yang said before he got to work. “Sorry if they’re not the best. Last time I had to do this was for a homework assignment for Professor Port.” After almost two hours of silence Yang had finished and had all the drawings laid out before him he even wrote the name of each kind of Grimm on the bottom of the page and what they could do on the back.

“What’s that one?” Spike asked pointing at one of the pictures that depicted a creature that stood on its hind legs, bat like wings where the arms should be, a long tail and had six eyes.

“That’s…the Dragon. I don’t know if that’s it’s official name but it’s one of the main reasons Beacon fell because it has the power to make more Grimm. Sis was the one who told me it had six eyes, she managed to get a good look before Cinder killed one of our friends.” Yang said while looking at the ceiling so he didn’t have to see anyone’s expression. “but why do you ask? I wrote the name of each Grimm at the bottom of the page.”

“I saw. I just… didn’t want to believe it. While I did meet some dragons, who were jerks when I went on the dragon migration. I… I’m sorry if I…” Spike began before Yang interrupted him.

“Spike listen to me. The Dragon that attacked Beacon was a Grimm! A soulless monster! You never need to apologies for who you are! If anything, I should be the one apologizing! I KNOW your different that the Grimm but part of me can’t help but remember that Grimm whenever anyone brings up dragons. Sometimes I remember it when I look in the mirror and see my scales. That’s something I need to work through. Did I ever ask you to leave if things got to uncomfortable? No I was the one who left but I kept trying!” Yang said as he looked directly at Spike. “and I won’t stop trying. If I did stop, I’d be as bad as the humans who hate Faunus just because they are Faunus.” Yang then slowly opened his arms offering Spike a hug only to have everyone in the room jumped onto him joining the hug.

“To… much… hugging.” Yang groaned before something came through the open window.

“What’s that?” Twilight said before she picked up a small brown cylinder with her magic. When she opened, it she turned it over and a grey thing fell out of the cylinder and landed on the table.

“What the heck?” Twilight asked before the grey thing uncurled to reveal it was a dog who wagged his tail.

“Zwei!” Yang exclaimed as he ran over and pick up Zwei “How on Remnant did you get here? Oh, who cares! I’m so happy to see you again!”

“But how did?” Twilight started.

“Didn’t I just say I don’t care how he’s here? Besides Dad did the same thing when I was at Beacon. Zwei I’m so glad you’re here!” Yang said before he sat down on a couch placed Zwei next to him. “If only Sis was here. She would have loved to see you again.” Zwei let out a few sad barks and leaned his head, on Yang’s leg. “Me too Zwei. Me too.”

Twilight was still a little confused about how Zwei was still alive after being in the tube so she looked inside. “There’s still something inside.” At this everyone looked at her as she turned the tube upside-down and began to shake it only to have a small pile of caned dog food and a can opener to fall out.

Yang looked up. “What is this a complete repeat of when Dad sent Zwei to me and Sis when we were at Beacon? If there is a note from my dad in there I am going to get a massive headache.”

“There is something else inside.” Twilight said she brought out a rolled-up piece of paper with her magic. “But it’s not a note. It’s a picture.” The photo showed Yang, and Ruby with two other people one with white hair tied into a pony tail on the left side of her head, and the other had two cat ears and long black hair. The four of them in school uniforms all four had smiling faces. “Are those…”

“Yeah my teammates. The one with the white hair is Weiss and the others Blake. We took this about a week before the Vytal Festival which is when everything went to hell.” Yang said as he looked at the photo. “This was the day after we completed our first real mission as Huntsmen.”

“What was the mission?” Spike asked.

“We had to shadow Doctor Oobleck as he went to the ruins of a city called Mountain Glenn to exterminate Grimm, even though we did most of the work while he just watched and asked us why we wanted to be Huntsmen. While we were there we learned that Roman and the White Fang were using the underground tunnels and train system. Turns out they had put bombs in a few of the cars to open tunnels so Grimm could get into Vale and invade. On the train, I lost against one of Romans minions, a woman named Neo.” Yang said.

“You lost a fight?” Rainbow asked. “You can take out soulless monsters and you lost to some flunky?”

Yang looked at Rainbow. “Yes Rainbow I lost and I have no shame when I say Neo was a better fighter then me plus I had been fighting Grimm the day before for hours and didn’t get much sleep beforehand. Anyways Neo knocked me for a moment and when I came two Neo was gone but in her place, I saw… my mother. Raven. Standing in front of an ominous red portal. Later uncle Qrow told me a message Raven had told him to pass on, he said that she saved me once but not to expect that kindness again…” Yang paused looking away before continuing, “And if I wasn’t strong enough to live without the help of others I wasn’t worth her time.”

No one knew how to reply to that, how could anyone let alone someone’s mother say that. “I had been looking for her ever since I was a kid wanting to know why she left, only to have her say that. After the train crashed creating a way to the surface we fought the Grimm as best we could until team JNPR, team CFVY, Doctor Oobleck, Prof. Port, Prof. Goodwitch and the Atlas robotic army came and helped wipe out the rest of the Grimm. I think team CRDL was there but I really don’t like them.”

“Who’s on team Juniper and team Coffee, and why don’t you like team Cardinal?” Pinky asked.

“To summaries team CRDL in one word, bullies and that's putting it nicely. As for our friend’s team JNPR and CFVY. Team JNPR consists of Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos who is no longer with us because of Cinder,” Yang clenched his fists when he said Cinder’s name before taking a breath to calm down. “And Lie Ren. Jaune wasn’t the best fighter when we started at Beacon but Pyrrha helped him get better but what he lacked in fighting skills he made up for with his strategies and quick thinking. Nora’s a blast to be around, imagine Pinkie but with less parties and more hitting people with a two-handed hammer that became a grenade launcher.” Everyone but Pinkie shivered at this thought, and even though they didn't know what a grenade launcher was it still sounded like something that Pinkie should never have. “Ren is Nora’s best friend, but in terms of personality he’s almost her polar opposite.”

“Where Nora’s energetic, Ren’s calm and collected, Nora’s loud and rash, where Ren’s quieter and patient. Pyrrha was the most mature out of the group and was definitely the best fighter of the team but she didn’t let it go to her head. Pyrrha was always a team player and while her main weapon was a spear that became a sword or rifle and a shield. She was still able to give us pointers on how to improve when we spared in our spare time. I really miss talking with them.” Yang said as he pet Zwei who had moved to lie on his lap.

“What about team Coffee? Rarity asked.

“Coco Adel, Fox Alistair, Velvet Scarlatina and Yatsuhashi Daichi. Before Beacon fell they were our upperclassmen. I first met Velvet after team CRDL bullied her, I was ready to smash them into the ground but Ruby, Weiss, and Blake convinced me not to so I went to talk to Velvet instead. Apart from Sis, Blake, and I, she was one of the few other Faunus’s at Beacon and out of the members of team CFVY she’s the one we were closets to but I still consider her team my friends. Coco’s very confident in her skills and likes fashion. When she saw, the Grimm destroyed her favorite clothing store she kicked one in the crotch before smashing it into the ground with her handbag before it transformed into a gatling gun and tear though a horde of Grimm. She even took down three Nevermore without even trying when it took a combination attack from my team to take town one. She always looks after her friends and Is not someone I want to piss off. I don’t really know what Fox’s personality is like since he didn’t speak that often but I always enjoy sparing with him because our fighting style is similar since we both focus on hand to hand combat.”

“Velvet’s an incredibly kind person, and always willing to lend an ear if someone needs to talk. She’s also a very capable fighter and can take down Grimm without her weapon. Yatsuhashi’s a gentle giant but will defend his friend with frightening force. Willing to stand in the way of an attack and he’ll likely brush it off like nothing happened. I often saw him meditating in our free time. I have photos of them if you want to see.” Yang said as he pulled out a white device with a yellow diamond on it.

“What’s that?” Applejack asked.

“My Scroll, it’s a common piece of tech on Remnant. You can use it to call friends, play games, take pictures and in battle it can display how much Aura someone has so you can check on how you’re doing in battle and if you need to change your strategy. I didn’t use before, because I want to save power until I find a way to get more Dust.” Yang explained as he scrolled through some files. “Here’s team CFVY, I took this after we got rid of the Grimm that came out of the train tunnel and here’s team JNPR, Sis took that just before heading out on the mission.” Yang showed everyone the two photos and pointed out who was who.

“I can see why you compared Nora to Pinkie, I can almost feel the compressed energy just waiting to be released.” Spike said. “Do you have a pic of the rest of your family?”

“Yeah one moment.” Yang said searching through more files. “Here we go team STRQ. The one with the white hood is Mom, the blond guy is Dad, the one with the red outfit's… Raven, and the last guy’s uncle Qrow. This was taken long before I was born, when they were at Beacon.”

“I thought you said Qrow and Ruby used the same kind of weapon. How come Qrow has a sword?” Pinkie asked.

“It can become a scythe.” Yang deadpanned.

“What kind of weapon did you mom and dad use?” Fluttershy asked.

“I completely forgot, every time Dad and I spared it was hand to hand, and I don’t even remember the last time I saw Mom’s weapon.” Yang said shrugging as he turned off the Scroll as Zwei walked over to the window and barked. “What’s wrong Zwei?” When Yang looked outside he saw three tall figures with wings and tails walking through town’s shopping district as if they owned the place, when the one in the center used their breath to set a fruit stand on fire, Yang got a serious look on his face.

When Twilight looked out she gasped, “What’s Garble and his two cronies doing here?”

“They the jerks you met before?” Yang asked.

“Yes, but what do you plan to do?” Spike asked.

“Teach them a lesson, and don’t worry I don’t plan on killing them, just knocking them down a few pegs. Zwei stay here.” Yang said before jumping out the window.

“Did he just…?” Rarity asked.

“Yup. Spike can you let the princesses know that Garble and his friends are going to need some really good doctors?” Twilight asked.

“If I have to.” Spike sighed before writing the letter.

*With Yang*

After Yang jumped out of the window he quickly made his way to the shopping center and said. “I hear that the three of you picked on my friend Spike. Tell you what, since I’m a fair guy I’ll give you the first shot just make it...” Yang said before the red dragon in the middle hit Yang with his tail sending Yang through the wall of a nearby house. The three dragons laughed thinking the fight was already over until Yang walked out of the house dusting himself off and said. “Count.”

“What the? Who are you?” The one on the right asked, he was shorter than his companions had black scales, and blue horns.

“Names Yang, which one of you is Garble?” Yang asked.

The tall dragon in the center with red scales took a step forward. “I’m Garble. What, Spike can’t fight his own battles so he sent you?”

“Let me put it this way, I…hate...bullies!” Yang said as he moved forwards and kicked Garble into the third dragon who was slightly taller and lankier than his friends and had blond hair like spines that covered his eyes. Yang then snapped his fingers with a bored look on his face before it changed to surprise as music began to play. “Well what do you know. I guess I know why my Aura feels different now.” Yang said before a small grin appeared on his face. “Let’s see just how strong you are.”

*twenty minutes later*

Celestia watched as the paramedics carried Garble and his friends away on stretchers. The three unconscious dragons were covered head to two in bandages. “Are you sure this was necessary Yang?”

“They’re not dead, besides I’m sure they’ll think twice before picking on people from now on.” Yang said shrugging. “And it’s not like I permanently injured them, they just have a few broken bones, lots of bruises and they might see me in their nightmares from now on.”

Celestia sighed, “True but that’s not what I was talking about.” As Yang looked around he saw that a lot of the food stalls had been smashed in the fight and most of the produce wasn’t scattered was smashed and littered around the area.

“Celestia, no matter how hard we Hunters try there will always be collateral damage. Believe me this is TAME compared to some of the fights I’ve been in, including the food fight that was between team RWBY and team JNPR, that got crazy but man was it fun!” Yang said before he noticed something shining in the grass. “What’s that?” Yang walked over and picked up a small silver necklace.

“Is something wrong Yang?” Rarity asked as she walked up to stand next to him.

“This… This belongs to Weiss.” Yang said slowly causing everyone to gasp.

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked.

“Positive, Weiss always wore this. It even has her initials.” Yang said as he pointed to the back.

“Then we know that she’s somewhere in Equestria!” Pinkie said happily. “Which means that Blake might be with her.”

“I hope your right Pinkie, and if they’re in trouble then whoever is messing with them is going to wish they never did.” Yang said as he put on the necklace. “After all. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!”

Chapter 2

Yang stood in a dark void, no matter where he looked he couldn’t see anything. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

Suddenly a voice echoed out the darkness “Yang! Where are you?”

“Ruby?! Ruby don’t worry I’m coming!” Yang yelled before he began to run.

“Yang help!” a different voice this time but still one he recognized.

“Weiss! Where are you?!” Yang yelled as he pushed himself to run faster.

“Yang, Ruby, Weiss SOMEONE HELP!”

“BLAKE! DON’T WORRY I’LL FIND YOU! I’LL FIND ALL OF YOU!” Yang kept running and as he did the darkness began to fade away revealing he was running through the ruins of Beacon. Yang slowed to a stop, panting he looked around. “I’m at Beacon? No! This… this can’t be happening!” Yang said before something roared above him. Looking up he saw the Dragon Grimm hovering and staring at him before it began to circle him and set everything on fire. Yang took an involuntary step back. “No… Not you!”

“Hello Blondie. Do you like what we’ve done with the place?” When Yang looked, he saw Roman Torchwick, casually walking towards him. Roman was wearing his normal white suite and black hat over his orange hair and twirling his cane as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

“You? How! Ruby said you were eaten by a Grimm!” Yang exclaimed.

“What can I say Blondie? It’s not easy keeping me down. Too bad I can’t say the same about your team.” Roman said with a smirk.

“YOU BASTERD!” Yang roared as he charged only to get knocked back by a woman in a white jacket with pink cuffs, under the jacket is a brown corset. The woman also wore black pants and white boots that almost went up to her knees. The woman’s hair is half black, and half pink with a white streak and one eye is a bright green while the other was a dark purple in her left hand is an umbrella that looked like it was made from pink lace.

“You see Blondie? This is how a teammate should be. I can always trust that Neo has my back just like I have hers. It’s too bad you can’t say the same.” Roman said as he stood next to Neo.

“You take that back! I’ll always be there to help my team!” Yang said as he got up. Yang quickly looked around and saw that the Dragon had disappeared but the fire had not and now it felt like there were eyes watching them from within the flames.

“Really? Then tell me where they are. I’m all ears.” Roman said leaning on his cane. “OH WAIT! Apart from your dead sister you don’t know! So how can you help them if you don’t know where they are? Perhaps we can ask Cinder.”

“Oh, stop teasing the weakling Roman. We all know where they are.” Yang quickly turned to looked behind him and saw Cinder sitting on a chair. She had on her red dress with yellow designs down the arms and her long black hair covering her right eye. Next to her were her two underlings Emerald and Mercury, both had large and evil looking smirks as they look at Yang. “They’re dead, so why don’t you join them? Think about it you can see your team and family again.” As Cinder said this Yang felt cold metal on his throat and something on the back of his head, but before anything could happen someone yelled.

“THIS HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH! YANG SNAP OUT OF IT! YOUR DREAMING!” After Yang heard this everything disappeared only to be replaced by a large two story log cabin surrounded by trees and green grass.

“I’m dreaming? That's right, that’s the same nightmare I’ve had every day since Ruby died.” Yang said as he sat down. “Thanks for snapping me out of it.”

“You’re welcome Yang. I would have come sooner but you had some barriers around your mind that were difficult to get through.” Luna said as she landed next to Yang. “Any ideas where they came from or where we are?”

“Maybe the barriers were there because everyone who wants to be a Huntsmen is taught ways to help control their emotions so they’re harder to beat in battle. I always had a harder time doing keeping them up because I can get angry and frustrated quickly if a fight doesn’t go my way. As for where we are this is where Ruby and I grew up.” Yang said before he laid back and stared at the blue sky. “I’ve always been one to punch first think later, one reason Cinder had one of her cronies manipulate me by making an illusion of her underling Mercury attacking me after our match in the Vytal Tournament. I reacted by blasting his leg but since I was the only one who saw that everyone thought I attacked him for no reason after I won.”

“I was honestly considering quitting and leaving Beacon afterword’s.” As Yang spoke the area changed, to what Luna assumed was team RWBY’s dorm room. “Only my friends believed me when I told them that Mercury attacked first and I only reacted, but Blake…” Luna watched as the scene began to play.

Yang and Ruby were sitting on one bed and on the across from it were the two people Twilight had described, his team mates Weiss and Blake. As Luna took in the scene she couldn’t help but think that the way the makeshift bunk beds looked incredibly dangerous. Weiss said she believed Yang but Blake was silent before saying. “I want to believe you.” Luna was shocked and looked at the Yang in the memory who had tears in his eyes. “I had someone very dear to me change. It wasn’t in an instant, it was gradual – little choices that began to pile up. he told me not to worry. At first they were accidents, then it was self-defense. Before long, even I began to think he was right. This is all just… very familiar. But you’re not him. and you’ve never done anything like this before. So… I want to trust you. I will trust you. But first, I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that he attacked you. I need to you promise me that you regret having to do what you did.”

The Yang in the memory wiped the tears from his eyes and look at Blake before saying. “I promise.”

When Luna looked back at the real Yang he said, “Those words tore at my heart, I would do ANYTHING to keep my friends and family safe. I thought I had proven that when I learned she was once part of the White Fang and still promised to stick by her and that what I thought about her hadn’t changed. It was only a few hours later when something happened which caused our friend Pyrrha to kill Ruby’s friend Penny, but one thing that shocked me was learning that Penny was a robot with soul. Right after it happened Cinder took control of the broadcast and said stuff that spread confusion and fear which brought an army of Grimm to Beacon.”

“Cinder was the woman in the red dress correct?” Luna asked and Yang nodded in acknowledgment. “Who were the other’s I saw?”

“The man was Roman Torchwick, and the woman next to him was his associate Neo. The young man next to Cinder is Mercury the others Emerald. ” Yang replied as he stared at the ceiling.

“Did they cast that illusion?” Luna asked.

“I’m pretty sure it was Emerald who did, because Coco saw an illusion of her teammate Yatsuhashi when they fought in the tournament.” Yang replied as the image of a dark-skinned woman with mint-green hair, red eyes, a white top with an olive-green undershirt. Purple bands around her left arm, fingerless gloves the same color as her undershirt. White shorts, brown chaps and high heeled shoes reappeared, this time Luna noticed two jungle-green handles poking out of brown casings on attached to back of the belt. Next to Emerald was the image of a man a little taller than Yang appeared. He has grey hair, a slate grey jacket with black highlights, he’s also wearing metallic upper and lower arm-guards. Long black pants and black boots with metal protecting his lower legs.

“So, then part of the reason Beacon fell…” Luna began before stopping mid-sentence and looking at Yang who had tears flowing freely from his eyes.

“Is because I was tricked, making it partly my fault!” Yang said before turning to the side and curling up in to a ball. “If only I had thought a little before attacking Mercury! Then maybe...”

“Yang from everything you’ve told me Cinder had been planning her attack for a very long time. She even went undercover in Beacon to make one hundred present sure her plan would succeed. She knew exactly what to do, to spread fear and panic.” Luna said as she sat next to Yang and covered him with one of her wings. “You are not to blame for what happened at Beacon in any sense of the word. If they didn’t manipulate you, it would have been someone else.”

“But...” Yang started

“No ‘buts’ Yang. While this may be a bit cruel, it needs to be said, there was nothing you could have done which would have changed the outcome, and you’ve been doing everything you can to find your friends. Now ask yourself this, when you find them do you want to do it with all this unnecessary guilt and a false smile? Or with a grin and joy that could rival Pinkie Pie?” Luna asked.

Yang didn’t save a word but he did begin to uncurl himself slowly. Eventually he said, “You’re… you’re really good at this.”

“Thank you. It’s always nice to get complements when one does a job they enjoy. I’ll see you later Yang, you’re not the only one having trouble with nightmares or their inner demons tonight.” Luna said before taking to the sky’s and the enticement changed back to the two-storied house.

*At breakfast.*

Yang walked in and sat down next to Twilight. “Morning everyone!”

“You seem to be in a good mood today. What brought this on?” Twilight asked.

“Princess Luna helped me with a nightmare I’ve had ever since Sis died, and helped me get my head on straight. I was holding on to a LOT of unnecessary guilt about what happened at Beacon. It was like she knew exactly what to say to get rid of most of it.” Yang explained before digging into the pancakes Spike had placed in front of him.

“I’m not surprised, she’s been helping ponies with nightmares for years, but why didn’t you say anything about the nightmares?” Twilight asked.

“I didn’t want to bother you with something I didn’t think was a big deal.” Yang said. Twilight could only shake her head and sigh before she two began to eat breakfast.

“Is there anything planed today or do I need to go find something to do?” Yang asked.

“You’re going to find to find something to do because for us It’s re-shelving day!” Twilight said excitedly causing Spike to groan.

“Well that’s the sign for me to leave. See the two of you later. Come on Zwei!” Yang said and made his way to the door with Zwei walking besides him before he stopped and asked. “Hey Twilight where’s my guitar? I haven’t seen it in the last four days.”

“Look in your right pocket.” Twilight replied, when Yang did he found a small wooden guitar that looked exactly like his. “I cast a few spells on it so you can carry it around easier, now it will shrink to that size or grow to its normal size just by concentrating on it.”

“Thanks Twilight.” Yang said before putting the guitar back in his pocket and left. As Yang walked around town with a large smile on his everyone he past shot a quick glance at him wondering what had changed but immediately pushed those thoughts to the side and greeted him. Yang waved back and made his way to a small lake that’s about a mile outside of town. Once there he brought out his guitar as Zwei ran to play in the water, and once he was sure it was tuned correctly he began to sing.

As Yang finished he didn't notice that Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie were standing behind him listing to his song. A few seconds after Yang finished Rainbow spoke causing Yang to jerk in surprise, “That was the most awesome song I think I’ve ever heard! Where did you learn that?!”

Yang turned to look at his friends a huge smile on his face as he said. “That’s twice now you’ve snuck up on me! I must be losing my touch if you can do that twice. As for the song I have no idea, the words just came to me, just like the last time I sang.”

“NOW THAT’S JOY FILLED SMILE! Every time you smiled before there was always something missing from it!” Pinkie said a grin even bigger than Yang’s appearing on her face.

“Mind telling us what changed?” Applejack asked.

“Princess Luna help me out in my dreams last night.” Yang said with a small shrug.

“That makes sense. She’s not only in charge of the night sky but also helping people from within their dreams.” Applejack said.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Rainbow asked.

“I was thinking about figuring out a small schedule for which exercises I do each day, I’ve gone a few weeks without doing any so I need to make up for lost time. Other than that, I’m not sure.” Yang said as he returned his guitar to his pocket. “Maybe wander around the Everfree to see if I can find any Dust. I doubt I’ll find any but you never know.”

“Can’t making the schedule wait? I mean it’s only 8:00.” Rainbow said. “It’s too early to be worrying about small stuff like that.”

“Perhaps, but that brings up the question of what the three of you are doing here. Shouldn’t you be working on the weather Rainbow and Applejack on her farm? And how the heck did you know something as missing from my smiles Pinkie?” Yang asked.

“I’ve always been good at knowing when someone’s smile was fake.” Pinkie said with a shrug. “It’s just one of the many reasons I’m good at making the right party for the right person.”

“Pinkie are you sure you don’t have a Semblance? At times your faster than Ruby, you can get a party set up in less than fifteen minutes and now this?” Yang asked as Zwei walked up and shook the water off him an onto everyone else.

“Zwei!” Yang said trying to stifle a laugh. “This is the only set of cloths I have.”

“How have you been keeping them clean then?” Applejack asked after shooting a slightly annoyed look at Zwei.

“I think Pinkie has something to do with it because every time I got shower they’re always clean and neatly folded when I leave, which is one more reason I think Pinkie has a Semblance.” Yang said before looking at Pinkie who was doing the ‘I’m innocent and have no idea what you’re talking about’ whistle.

Yang, Rainbow, and Applejack just shook their heads before Applejack said. “Well if it’s clothes you need I’m sure Rarity would be delighted to help.”

“I was thinking that same thing AJ. I’ll figure out my training regimen while she’s make me some new cloths.” Yang said.

“You are dead set on making that, aren’t you?” Rainbow asked as she raised an eye brow.

“Yup,” Yang said with a small smirk, “When we find Weiss and Blake I want to be at my best. Can’t let them know I’ve been slaking, Weiss won’t stop pestering me and Blake would never let me forget. I’m going to head to Rarity’s see the three of you later.” Yang said as he and Zwei jogged back to town. When Yang reached the Carousel Boutique Yang knocked on the door.

“Just a minute!” Rarity called, after a few moments Rarity opened the door. “Yang it’s good to see you. What can I do for you today?”

“I was at the lake earlier and Zwei got me, Rainbow, AJ, and Pinkie wet and this is the only outfit I got. So, AJ suggested I come to you for help on getting more. Think you’re up for a challenge?” Yang asked. Rarity looked at Zwei who let out a couple happy barks and waged his tail.

“This does sound like a challenge, and as long as he doesn’t chase my cat Opal or make a mess, Zwei can come inside. Otherwise he’ll have to wait out here.” Rarity said as she led Yang and Zwei to her work area. “Now what kinds of clothes are you looking for?”

“Well, first I need some sleep ware, nothing to complicated just an orange tank-top with my emblem on it and black shorts. Other than that, I’d like an orange scarf, yellow shirt that has my emblem right over my heart, and brown coat that shows my midriff, black shorts and, knee high brown boots. If you can’t make the boots can you point me in the direction of one who can?”

“That sounds simple enough, and I’m afraid I don’t know anyone who make the kind of boots your talking about so I’ll see what I can do before asking some of my friends in the fashion business if they know someone who can help, but I have two questions, what’s your emblem and why do you want your midriff exposed?” Rarity asked.

“I can show you what my emblem looks like and as for the midriff thing, it’s just personnel preference for this outfit. In fact, it’s the same one I wore at Beacon. I should have a picture if you need to see what it looks like” Yang said before Rarity passed him a pencil and sheet of paper. Yang quickly drew what looked like a heart made of flames.

“That will help immensely and does anyone else have an emblem?” Rarity asked.

“Almost every Huntsmen does, Ruby’s is a rose just like the one our mom used.” Yang said pointing at the metal Rose that’s clipped to the cape. “Weiss’s is based on her Glyphs and Blake’s… you know I never asked what it really is but I think it’s supposed to be a flower made of shadows.” Yang said as he drew what they looked like.

“First I need to get some measurements but I don’t think it’ll take that long on making the outfits. What color do you want your emblem to be on the outfits?” Rarity said as she used her magic to grab a measuring tape.

“Red on the pajamas and black on the shirt, and do you need me to do anything for the measurements?” Yang said.

“Please strip to any undergarments you have and stretch your arms to the side, and I think the colors you chose will work perfectly. You can hang your clothes on that bar. I hope you don’t mind if I make a few new designs along with your order. Sometimes when I work on a new project I get a little carried away.” Rarity said pointing to a bar next to a changing room stall in the corner of the room.

Yang nodded and walked into the stall before he said. “I don’t mind, in fact I’m slightly curious what kind of designs you’re going to make, but considering I don’t have any money from this world is there anything can do to help around the place from time to time when I’m not training, fighting Grimm, or doing something else?”

“You don’t have to but since you offered I’m sure I can find ways you can help. In fact, something came up a few days ago so the girls and I need to go to Canterlot for a few days, but Sweetie Bell and her friends have a sleep over planned this weekend and have been look forward to it for a few weeks, do you think you can watch over them?” Rarity asked.

“No problem. Sweetie's the white unicorn filly I met at the party Pinkie threw for me, right?” Yang asked as he walked out of the stall in his boxers and hung the rest of his clothes on the bar.

“Correct, her friends are Applejack’s sister Apple Bloom and the young pegasus Scootaloo who were with her. Small warning though the three of them can get a little… rambunctious.” Rarity said as she began to get the measurements.

“How bad are we talking about here? Three kids on a sugar high bad or Nora/Pinkie on caffeine bad?” Yang asked shuddering at the memory. “Because I’ve seen Nora have coffee once and I never want to see THAT amount of energy again.”

“It’s more like they keep trying different things to get their Cutie Marks and often come home covered in dirt or with minor scrapes. The three of them started a club together some time ago, called the Cutie Mark Crusaders or CMC.” Rarity explained.

Author's Note

Once i'm taking this from my own experience with depression where someone said just the right thing to help me quickly recover, but that doesn't mean I was free from all the negative thoughts. They were still there, but they didn't hold nearly as much power as before.