On the Rooftop
Sunset and Pyrrha sat on the rooftop with the wind caressing their features and licking at their hair, even as the sunlight gently kissed their faces.
Sunset leaned back, resting her head on her clasped hands, and closed her eyes.
It was the afternoon after their fight, and Sunset found that she could be around Pyrrha without raging outwardly or even inwardly at all her flaws. While she wouldn't call her a friend, being up here with her was, well, it was almost pleasant. Comfortable.
Whether that comfort would survive contact with all of Pyrrha's fans downstairs in the school was a matter for some discussion, but right now, Sunset was feeling pretty good.
Even if she had lost the fight, she had gained the respect of Beacon in the process; it was like one of those sports movies about going the distance with the champ.
Of course, that wasn't to say that Sunset didn't still kind of hope to be the champ one day.
"Your semblance is very impressive," Pyrrha said. "One of the most versatile semblances I've seen."
Sunset opened her eyes. That would certainly be true if magic was her semblance, which was part of the reason she hadn't previously gone so over the top with it. But, as much as Pyrrha was a smart girl, Sunset had faith in the power of frame of reference. If she, in her studies at Canterlot under Celestial, had been confronted with a form of power like aura or semblances, then she would not, without any details, have assumed them to be hitherto unknown forms of power, rather branches of the magic she was familiar with. So far, it had worked just the same in Remnant.
"Yeah," she said. "It is pretty cool."
"You must have spent a long time training to use it."
Sunset looked up at the blue sky overhead. "When did you start training to fight?"
"My training began in earnest when I was five."
"That's about when my training began."
"It sounds like an… interesting training regimen that focussed so heavily upon the use of your semblance, rather than combat skills or weapons handling."
Sunset was silent for a moment, considering her response. "I had… you might say that she was an unusual teacher. She wasn't training a warrior; rather… I'm not sure I can explain what she was training. I'm not even sure that I know anymore." The closest she could think to come to a frame of reference that Pyrrha would understand would be to use Pyrrha's own words: a paragon of virtue and glory. But that would sound unbearably pretentious once it was actually put into words. "She's probably very disappointed in me right now."
"'Disappointed'?" Pyrrha repeated, with astonishment evident in her voice. "I would say that your abilities do credit to your master."
Sunset snorted. "My teacher wouldn't have wanted me to become a huntress, a killer. Hey, Pyrrha?"
"Yes?"
"Do you believe in destiny?"
Now it was Pyrrha's turn to fall silent. "Yes," she said. "Although not as some might conceive of it. There is no inescapable fate to which we are condemned from birth. Rather, I believe that our destiny is the goal to which we have committed ourselves and to which we progress through determined effort."
Sunset sat up, a frown creasing her forehead. "No offence, but how is that destiny? If we can choose our fate, then surely it is no fate at all."
Pyrrha asked, "Do you believe in inescapable fate?"
"I'd like to," Sunset said. "I certainly used to when I thought my fate was something grand and glorious. But I think destiny must be preordained, or it is nothing."
"'Look at me; I am the daughter of a great woman,'" Pyrrha murmured. "'A god was my father, but death and inexorable destiny are waiting for me.'"
"A quote?"
"I'm a little surprised someone as knowledgeable as you hasn't read the Mistraliad."
"I know the stories, mostly," Sunset replied with a touch of defensiveness.
"Yes, but until you have read the poem… I was named for the Pyrrha who fought at Mistral, the finest of the warriors who fought there. When the war began, that Pyrrha chose a brief but glorious existence over a long and ordinary life, and when her lover was killed, Pyrrha chose to have her revenge, though she knew that her own death would follow hard upon. That became her destiny, inexorable… but only because she chose it."
Sunset nodded. She understood a little better now where Pyrrha was coming from. "Among my people," she said, "we don't really trouble to define what we mean by 'destiny.' We think of it mostly in terms of a fixed thread, but now that you have explained it, I think that we sometimes slip into the second meaning." It would explain the lies of Celestia: in the mistaken view of her old teacher, she had strayed off the path that led to her royal destiny and thus forfeited it. She had been quite wrong, of course, and understanding her thinking in no way lessened the sting of her betrayal of Sunset, but… she understood a little better now what Celestia had been trying to say. “Amongst my people,” she continued, “we believe that everyone is born blessed with one supreme talent, a great gift within themselves. It is reflected in the… in the symbols that we choose for ourselves, which are all representations of that talent. But this gift, although it lies within us, is not for us but rather, it is for the world around us. Though a… though we may have many skills, the discovery of our true gift is a matter not simply of finding something at which we are skilled, or even that thing at which we are most skilled, but of discovering how we can enrich the world around us and leave it a better place than it was left behind.”
“So, in a sense, you do believe in a destiny that lies within your choosing,” Pyrrha replied.
“To an extent,” Sunset conceded. “Although… you can be blind to your gift, to your destiny, for many years, but you will not be given another. You will wander… blank, as we call it, until you see the truth about yourself and embrace it.”
Pyrrha nodded thoughtfully. “I confess, I have never heard this before; is it a common belief in Atlas?”
Sunset made a sound that was halfway between a chuckle and a gasp. “Aha, no. I, um… I was schooled in Atlas, but I grew up outside the kingdoms. That is where these beliefs originate.”
“That makes a little more sense,” Pyrrha said softly, “and you left your home and set out for Atlas… for fame?”
“For my destiny,” Sunset corrected her. “It was clear to me that it lay elsewhere than the place where I grew up.”
“Is not your mark a signifier of your destiny?”
Sunset looked down at the sun on her tunic. “Not exactly,” she explained. “The mark… I used to think that I knew what this meant, but now, I… am not so sure.” She had thought that the blazing sun symbolised her destiny to replace Celestia, but now… what did it mean? “I suppose I hope to find the meaning here, also. Pyrrha,” she added, in an attempt to change the subject, “may I ask you something?”
“If you wish.”
"Can I ask, if you believe we choose our destiny, then why did you choose a destiny you don't want?"
Pyrrha shook her head sadly. "I've always believed that my destiny is so much more than to win trophies. My destiny, the destiny I choose, the destiny I came here searching for… is to protect the world."
Sunset chuckled. "And I thought I was the one with grand ambitions."
"For what other reason do huntresses exist?"
"Well, yes, but when you say it out loud..." Sunset trailed off. There was a reason she kept her own ambitions to herself: to speak them out loud was to expose them to the mockery and derision of small minds and smaller spirits incapable of risking all with a leap into the unknown. And besides, if you told a wish, it wouldn't come true, and ambitions had always seemed very close to wishes to Sunset's way of thinking.
"Our world is under siege and in grave peril," Pyrrha declared solemnly. "We cannot simply try to hold ground or minimise our losses."
"You're talking about retaking the world from the grimm?"
"I suppose I am," Pyrrha said. "I believe that that is where our destiny, humanity's destiny, must lie, and I believe that I can play some part in that. And so could you."
Sunset's eyebrows rose. "What are you saying?"
Pyrrha smiled. "I'm saying that it was an honour to fight against you, but it would be a greater honour to fight by your side."
A smile blossomed across Sunset's face. She held out a balled fist, which Pyrrha regarded suspiciously.
"You bump it with your knuckles," Sunset explained.
"Oh," Pyrrha replied. "Oh, I see."
They bumped fists.
"Hoof bump," Sunset murmured.
"I'm sorry?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing at all."
And that's how I learned that fighting was the way to solve all my problems.
Well I'm glad that things are better between you and Pyrrha, obviously, but I can't help but think that this could have been resolved without a fight.
If we hadn't fought, we wouldn't have been able to appreciate one another's skills first hand.
There was a pause at the other end of the journal. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that you might be right.
Sunset sniggered. Am I making the Princess of Friendship uncomfortable?
The fact that you live in a world of violence disturbs me, I will admit. You make it sound almost dystopian.
Atlas could have stepped out of a trilogy of novels if you added a love triangle, but I haven’t seen enough of Vale yet to be able to comment. Twilight Sparkle?
You can just call me Twilight, if you want.
We're not friends. But Sunset's hand trembled. She felt as though she were on the threshold of a door that she must cross, and yet, she feared to do so. Do you think Princess Celestia is ashamed that I took what she taught me and I use it take life?
I haven't actually told her too much; your situation sounds incredibly dangerous, and I wasn't sure if you'd want her to worry.
No. I don't want her to worry. And I don't want her to judge. There, she had set it down, her fear, and now, it could not be erased. It grinned up at her, mocking and sardonic, taunting her with her own weakness.
From what you've told me, there is nothing to judge. Assuming you're not lying, then you're protecting people from terrible monsters. I pity that you have to live such a life, but I don't judge you for it.
Sunset nearly wrote back that she didn't need the pity of a usurper, but what would have been the point? She was irritated, but not so irritated that she wanted to either end the conversation or get it bogged down in whether Twilight Sparkle had or had not meant to be patronising.
She thought about Pyrrha's dream, her destiny to which she was willing to commit body and soul to work towards. Could it be done, the grimm defeated once and for all? The history of places like Mountain Glenn or the Crimson Offensive suggested otherwise, but Sunset was no seer. Not even Celestia could see the future. Perhaps Pyrrha could do it, and if Sunset were a part of it then...
Princess, do you believe in destiny?
Bon Bon, a name to which she was becoming far more accustomed than Sweetie Drops, lurked in the dark recesses of the library as she got out her scroll and called the individual identified in her directory only as Black Queen.
The reply was not too long in coming. That lugubrious, oozing voice dripped out of her scroll. "Sweetie," she said, "I wasn't expecting you to be in touch so soon."
"I have a name for you," Bon Bon replied. "Sunset Shimmer."
"I've never heard that name before."
"You wouldn't have," Bon Bon acknowledged. "She went to Canterlot Combat School with Lyra and I. She had talent – more than I showed, and more than Lyra has – but nothing remarkable."
"Do you want me to murder one of your old school rivals so that you can feel some sense of payback?" asked the voice on the other end of the scroll. "Because that's so deliciously petty I might actually consider it."
"This isn't about that," Bon Bon said sharply. "I'm sending you a video that I took this afternoon." Nobody had questioned that she was filming the duel between Pyrrha and Sunset, or rather, that she had started filming shortly after the duel started. It had, after all, turned out to be an impressive fight, and she hadn't been the only one taking video. Bon Bon had seen Weiss Schnee recording the match as well; she was probably going to study it to plan counterstrategies. She kept the call running in one tab as, in another window, she found the video in question and sent it across the world. "It doesn't have the beginning of the fight, but you can see enough."
From the other side of the scroll, Bon Bon could hear the sounds of fighting and guessed that the Black Queen was watching. "Impressive," she conceded. "Very impressive. This doesn't look like nothing remarkable."
"She must have been holding back all this time," Bon Bon said.
"And yet she chose now to cut loose. Why? What was this fight against Pyrrha? Not just another sparring match, I'll wager."
"No," Bon Bon agreed. "It was a duel between the two of them. Apparently, they were on the outs, but they seemed to have made up by the end of the fight."
"So she held back to avoid people knowing how strong she was… right up until the moment when her pride was on the line," came the reply. "I like her already. Find out more about her. Oh, and Sweetie Drops?"
"Yes?"
"This is just what I sent you to Beacon for. Keep it up."
I am really enjoying this. Sunset and Pyrrha have come to an understanding, and while Sunset still doesn't want to open herself up to being a friend to Pyrrha or frankly anyone, she has gained a better understanding of the champ and shown that despite her lack of interest in the fame she has accumulated, the effort to get to that point was hard fought for.
I feel as though Twilight is trying things from the wrong angle in attempting to get befriend Sunset, and I suspect sooner or later she's going to say the wrong thing or voice the wrong opinion and its going to anger Sunset fiercely. Its difficult to say how that relationship will progress in the future, but I can definitely see some turmoil ahead if Twilight keeps trying to use her usual methods of befriending with Sunset.
It will be interesting to see how things develop with Jaune and Pyrrha in this version of RWBY. In the canon, there was a great deal of unrequited affection from Jaune to Weiss, but without her being tempered by being a subordinate to Ruby in this continuity, it might alter Jaune's interest. Not to mention that with someone as direct and focused as Sunset, Pyrrha's affections might not be as unnoticed as the canon either.
I'm really interested in the Flash Sentry character, as his relationship with Sunset is definitely getting more focus then the bad set up the Equestria Girls Movie gave the two of them.
Over all this has some pretty great potential and I can't wait to see how it progresses. The only concern I have is that RWBY hasn't finished yet and still has a lot of unanswered questions to be revealed. Do you intend to create your own story if/when you reach the current canon time or do you intend a hiatus as the seasons progress?
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Well, to start with I'm a long way off from catching up with the show yet, and my current plan is that this story will cover until canon volume 3, and then canon vol 4-onwards will be a sequel written after a break (not least because I haven't entirely decided how this story's volume 3 is going to wrap up and the fates of characters will influence the future direction.
That said, I am almost confident enough to put money on the fact that RWBY will end back at Beacon, where it began, with a final confrontation between Team RWBY and Salem at the end of which the good guys will use the four relics to wipe out the grimm and eliminate the threat of evil forever. I'd be very surprised if that didn't happen. There are things that I'd like to see happen (like the resurrection of Pyrrha) that I think probably won't so that predition isn't just wishful thinking on my part. You can kind of see from Pyrrha's ambition that that is the ending I'm working towards, but it's so vague that I could easily change it if something else happened in the meantime.
On the third hand, there are certain things that I wouldn't change even if canon contradicted it; for example I've written it that Summer Rose was a part of Ozpin's organisation, that she died in his service. If that was explicitly contradicted in volume 6 then I would both ignore it in the context of this story and be somewhat disappointed in Miles and Kerry too.
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I see you've thought this out well. I'm excited to see how things go from here
Glad to see Sunny is starting to see that losing her future alicornhood was mostly her own doing. Given the dangerous nature of this world, as compared to the canon EQG world, it's likely that Sunny will never lose that temper of hers given how useful aggression can be in fights.
A crossover of one bad show with another.
I'll be damned if writing is good.
I'm still bet that Sunset's semblance will either empower her magics, or give her overall empowering.
But she still need to learn to battle-heal self.
Feel the fire of your fury, feed the hearth and throw the power to sustain your body, mind and soul.
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Improving her magic is one way it could go... But then there's also the idea of the Phoenix... To have her rise again and again could be her semblance o.o To grow stronger each time she falls... It might work for Sunset since the only way she's be able to appreciate such a semblance is if she starts to reform XD
Then there's also the idea of simply giving her the everfree geode's power of empathy or whatever you want to call the ability to see her opponents past and maybe even feelings and intentions as a semblance? =P Though that would make Ren her natural counter due to his semblance XD
9188732
Who is that beautiful creature on your avatar image?
This story is really good so far and you're making me think about stuff in both of the original shows that I have never really noticed before
Since we are getting on with team Racist next, will we see other arcs involving team Iron and team background characters? Will you also show character development for WBY because I am interested to see your take on how WBY would change/act with the burdens of leadership.
9188916
Yes.
Ooooo!!! I can't wait!!
I'm happy with this resolution. Apart from other factors, I find it heartbreaking to watch a driven, ambitious character self-sabotage so thoroughly as Sunset did.
Speaking of self-sabotage, I watch with interest what Sunset does with Jaune. If she really wants to be great, her greatness is tied to that of her team, so she needs to help Jaune improve even though he's done nothing to deserve it. I see that as one of the next big tests of Sunset's strengthening self-actualization.
With this setup, Sunset's ongoing relationship with Pyrrha will be very interesting. For some reason I thought of Celestia and Luna. Possibly due to the image of kinship between two potentially powerful individuals of such contrasting character. Certainly Sunset didn't change as much as she might have, in that she accepts Pyrrha while still fervently disagreeing with her perspective. Here's a Wild Mass Guess for later: Alicorn Pyrrha, plus or minus Alicorn Sunset.
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alright this was a great end to this arc. looking forward to how sunset will try to resolve the Jaundice arc.
So... I have to ask... Why did you decide to change Ruby's knowledge of their family history? It just feels like you're trying to create a potential hole for Sunset to drive a wedge into :/
Though I dunno... I guess it's just bothering me since Ruby's supposed to be very much aware that she and Yang are only Half sisters xD
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I would dispute that actually. I think you could watch volumes 1-4 and draw the opposite conclusion, to the point that Jaune's sudden knowledge that Raven is 'Yang's Mom' comes really out of nowhere. I think if you watch Burning the Candle and Yang's story to Blake then it feels like this is something that is both new to Blake and something that Yang doesn't share very often.
I also prefer the idea from that volume that, although Yang wants answers, she still considers Summer Rose to be her Mom; the way that she's calling Raven Mom every few minutes in volume 5 doesn't sit so well with me.
The Nanoha approach to friendship!
I believe it's something we make every day. Something we make with every choice. Something that can't be made for us.
You're semblance is very impressive
you're situation sounds incredibly dangerous
1. Your.
2. Your.
9188732
Now you're just talking about zenkai boosts.
I swear it's gonna turn into a God damn supe-. Alicorn bargain sale.
The people of Remnant don't really consider the Grimm to be alive. They think that even animals have more of a soul inside themselves. Does Sunset have a different viewpoint on the nature of life, because of all the more alien magical phenomena in Equestria? (For example, the rules of biology don't really explain things like the Ursa Minor, timber wolves, parasprites, or the changelings' diet) Or is it just the fact that ponies are so adverse to any kind of violence?
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9229160
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I still feel like her character is really off in this story don't get me wrong I know that she was a Fame Seeker but God this is getting annoying it doesn't seem like she's really connecting with anyone it just seems like she's here and she's just doing things like I don't know it doesn't feel like there's really any plot going on other than her being an asshole to everybody else so if somebody's reading back through the story or if the author's sees this then please let me know does this story get any better other than her just being an ass the whole time and does she actually start connecting with her team and does she ever quit with the destiny crap cuz that's another thing it's pretty much her just keep going on about it's my destiny this it's my destiny that man I really want to get into this story a chance but there's just so many negative points up to this point I don't know if I should continue reading or not.
I'm glad to see that Sunset is becoming a little more likable now. it's nice to see a much more organic and gradual reformation that takes baby steps even if i've just gotten so used to the nice sunset that this version's behavior feels a bit jarring.
regardless, i'm enjoying the story so far and look forward to read more.
9562910
she does get better after forever fall
and the story does have plot
9562910
You would do well to not only learn how punctuation and run-on sentences work, but how a good story with a flawed character functions. If she was perfect from the get-go, what would be the point?
Good wind-down from last chapter of tension, lets things settle, lets the story breathe. I'd actually moved right on to the next chapter before remembering I hadn't commented here. Just a solid little conclusion with some future points that can be built on and add character.
And making Twilight Sparkle uncomfortable by using violence to solve friendship problems.
Has anyone just got up and sat on your roof? I've done it a couple times. It's actually really nifty if you don't go up there often, it provides a unique perspective to surroundings you're otherwise intimately familiar with. Be safe if you do decide to try it though.
Did you know she was actually named for Pyrrhus, who led successful wars that were so costly that they were often called defeats just by the nature of the losses of his own soldiers lives. Giving way to the name, Pyrric Victory. This is probably why Pyrrha doesn't lead her own team, or an army.
Well that end bit isn't menacing at all...
It looks like Salem is taking a MUCH closer intrest in Sunset this time around.
10361284
That is Cinder talking and showing interest, not Salem, FYI.
Bon Bon is way too low in the totem pole to talk with Salem, if she even knows who she is.
Comments on Rewritten:
Welp those were some good adjustments. The talk about Cutie Marks was good, the call to the mysterious 'Black Queen' was good, and you kept the best quote of the chapter, And that's how I learned that fighting was the way to solve all my problems.
See? Sunset really was in dire need of a boot to the head. Or shield, rather.
I dislike Bon Bon. Will she be Emerald's replacement, or a new member to Salem's ensemble?
RIP Twilight sparkle, who died of an epileptic seizure in her library.
This is absolute perfection.
Also, I really liked the chat about destiny, culture, and such.
Finally, some character development for Sunset and surprisingly Pyrrha and that is well received
It's not like Twilight solved a single important villain by talking to them. Starlight didn't count, she wasn't really a villain.