Prologue: The Spell that Shattered the Moon
It had been three years since Twilight Sparkle had become the first pony to truly pass the entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and subsequently been hoof-picked by the princess herself to be her personal protege. In that time, Twilight's knowledge of spells had easily doubled from what she'd known prior, and the purple unicorn kept learning more and more each day, soaking up books of theory, magic, and science like a pony-shaped black hole.
That particular day, however, Twilight wasn't squirreled away in the castle archives, or with the beloved solar princess, but rather in her own bedchambers, a book of advanced spellcraft open before her. Twilight had seen how the unicorn guards would teleport between the barracks and their stations, and had decided that she wanted to teleport as well. Goal in mind, she had snagged a copy of Snow Lily's Advanced Compendium of Sorcery from the archives, and holed herself in her chambers, only taking breaks to relieve herself.
'Alright. According to the book, the three steps to teleportation are Destination, Determination, and Deliberation. One must move without haste, but with deliberation. So, focus on the pillows, and aim for there.'
With that in mind, Twilight began channeling magic through her horn, the image of the moon-embroidered pillow case firmly entrenched in her mind. With deliberate will, she began to ride the magic to her destination, slowly disappearing in a soft light.
However, right before she could fully warp, Twilight's concentration was broken by a dust-fueled sneeze, the moon in her mind's eye shattering. Before she could cancel the spell, the magic flared one final time.
With a soft crack and a violet flash, Twilight Sparkle vanished.
Qrow Branwen had long since taken up the bottle, hoping to drink away the pain of bad memories that refused to leave him be unless he was too drunk to see. It was merely a fact of life by this point. The Sun rose, Grimm were evil, and Qrow drank to forget. Contrary to what some might say, though, he was not a bad uncle to Yang Xiao-Long and Ruby Rose. An alcoholic he may be, but the only time he'd ever hit either of his beloved nieces was during their combat training to prepare them for Signal Academy, and they were fully allowed to hit him back (which Qrow regretted upon Yang unlocking her semblance. Whomever thought giving a brawler the ability to tank hits and then use those hits to fuel her own was an asshole the likes of which the grizzled old hunter would never forgive).
However, Qrow knew he'd never drank enough to hallucinate what happened next.
For a brief moment that could have lasted aeons, the scenery before him twisted, like a picture seen through a funhouse mirror, and a light humming filled the previously quiet air with a sense of awe, like some elder god was slowly coming upon the earth. As the humming began to grow with intensity, Qrow half-amusedly wondered if his drunken pondering had accidentally been the harbringer of the end of days, and bore witness to a crack forming in reality, spreading and releasing a violet light. Finally, with a sound similar to the breaking of bone, the crack widened enough to let through whatever had opened the portal, and through it fell what appeared to be a young girl, somewhere between Yang's age and Ruby's, with indigo hair interuppted by twin streaks of pink and purple, two vulpine ears twitching every so often.
The girl was dressed in a simple wrapped green shirt with black trim and frayed jeans, from the back of which sat an indigo fox tail with a white tail-tuft at the end. Beside her lay the charred remains of a book that appeared to be bound in leather and made from papyrus. Qrow blinked twice in shock, and then carefully stepped forward, not wanting to scare the Faunus girl in case she awoke. Gently, far more so than he seemed capable of, he picked up the unconscious newcomer and began to carry her towards the house he shared with his family.
As he walked, he wondered how things would go with his nieces. Yang, he figured, would take it in stride, another little sister to protect and love. Ruby, though, could go one of two ways. The black-and-crimson haired wolf Faunus would either accept the fox girl into her pack, and protect her with all she had, or become territorial at the idea of some interloping fox intruding on her territory.
An hour later and Qrow wondered why he had ever worried about how Ruby would react. The moment she had opened the door and seen the unconscious fox Faunus in his arms, she quickly grabbed the girl and laid her on the couch, ordering him to grab the medkit from the cabinet. He obeyed, knowing that despite the fact that unnamed girl was slightly older than Ruby, the maternal instincts of an Alpha had already claimed the girl as her pack-daughter, just as it had for Yang. Qrow returned with the kit, and Ruby promptly tore it from his hands, and began to check the unconscious girl for any injuries. Finding none, she turned to Qrow and asked "Where did you find her. I need the full story."
As Qrow began to recount the events that occured, Yang walked in with her father, and both stood in silence, not wanting an instinct-driven Ruby to attack Taiyang again, not after Ruby had witnessed Yang get injured in a sparring match with Taiyang. Yang briefly wondered if Ruby understood that, despite what the wolf might tell her, she wasn't the older sibling. That thought was swiftly discarded when she remembered how Ruby would often check on her, making sure that her pack , small as it was, was alright.
'And now it looks like the pack has a new member. Gotta say, I'm digging the tail and ears. They look like they'd be perfect for snuggling up on a rainy day.' Yang thought to herself. Yang had long resigned herself to being a pack-daughter for Ruby, knowing that a wolf's instincts are best left uncontested.
Qrow finished his story, and Ruby promptly hoisted up her newest 'daughter' and began carrying her up to the guest bedroom, turning briefly to Yang and nodding, a signal for the blonde brawler to follow. Taiyang stepped back, wary, and turned to Qrow.
"When did it become that Ruby was the parent? Doesn't she understand that she's only thirteen?" Taiyang asked, eyebrow cocked in an expression of confusion.
"It changed when her instincts kicked in and saw you sparring with Yang. Best just let the Alpha do her thing and don't piss her off. There's a reason I take her away from the training field when teaching her." Qrow responded, chuckling slightly. The two men followed the girls upstairs, intent on ensuring that, if nothing else, they'd be on-hand to assist however necessary.
A small murmur brought their concentration back to the purple fox, who had begun to slowly awaken, ears twitching slightly at every noise. Ruby planted herself beside the girl, and waited as amethyst eyes opened and gazed at first tiredly, then increasingly alert as the girl realized she didn't know where she was. As the girl was about to open her mouth to speak (or scream, considering the circumstances) Ruby interrupted and calmly said "My Uncle Qrow found you unconscious in the forest after some kind of rift opened up, and he brought you here so I could patch you up. My name is Ruby Rose. What's your name?"
"T-Twilight. Twilight Sparkle." Twilight answered, her voice quiet, timidity at the situation clear in her words. Ruby nodded.
"So, got any idea what the rift was, or did you merely stumble into it by sheer bad luck?"
"I-I don't remember."
