Ruby woke up with a gasp. She was inside a white room with white sheets surrounding her. She squirmed before a happy Yang got out of her seat and glomped her, much to the consternation of Weiss and Blake.
“Thank goodness you’re awake, Rubes!”
“Yang! Air!” Ruby gasped out.
“You did good, sis. Even if you were terrible at hand-to-hand at the end,” Yang said, “At least your opponent was just as bad.”
“Really?” Ruby frowned, “But I lost.”
“Yeah,” Yang shrugged, “So what? We’ve got another Vytal Tournament in two years. Of course in that time,” she grinned, “We have time to practice your melee.”
Ruby paled.
“Um, hello?” the two sisters turned their heads to the quiet voice. It belonged to a pink-haired girl.
“Well um, my friends would, um, like to say, that is,” she swallowed her saliva.
“What she means,” a think drawl could be heard, as the tall blonde fighter from Team Spark stepped in, “is that we had a good fight, and we’d like to hang out with y’all later. What d’ya say?”
The four girls looked at each other and shrugged, “Okay,” Yang replied.
“So we didn’t get to finish our race,” Rainbow Dash said, “I want a rematch.”
“Sounds fun. Where to?” Ruby asked.
“From here to the bay, pass the streets and all,” the rainbow-haired woman smirked, “I’m gonna win.”
“I dunno, I know Vale pretty well. All the shortcuts and everything,” Ruby began stretching.
“Well, let’s just say I have an advantage,” with a smirk, a pair of blue feathered wings unfurled from underneath Rainbow Dash’s back, stretching out with several feet wingspan.
Ruby just gaped. Rainbow flapped her wings a few times. Eventually, Ruby closed her mouth and asked, “You have wings!?”
“Yep. Like I said, the sky’s my turf.”
“You had a jetpack.”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“Jetpacks are cool.”
“Isn’t that redundant?”
“Twilight said that too. You’re like a kid version of her!”
Ruby pouted, “I’m not a kid! I drink milk.”
“Uh huh, sure. Let’s put that to the test, shall we?” Rainbow gestured towards the ocean.
The red huntress steeled her gaze, “Here to the bay, no hurting anyone, don’t break stuff, and stay below the rooftops.”
Rainbow Dash looked up at the Atlesian battleships in the air, “No complaints from me.”
Ruby put her right foot forward and held her hands to her side. Rainbow put her hands to the ground and crouched slightly, her wings twitching.
“On your marks, get set, go!”
Suffice to say, the sound barrier was broken twice in the next couple minutes. Many windows were broken and several ear drums were shattered. Rainbow Dash won by a few seconds, but even she recognized it was because of her aerial advantage. And Ruby was still tired from the match, while Rainbow’s wings were well rested and itching to move.
Maybe the two of them could have another rematch after the Vytal Tournament.
Applejack and Yang sat in a bar. The looked at each other for a moment before Yang spoke, “Redheaded little sisters, am I right?”
The faunus smirked, “Eeyup,” they clinked their glasses together and drank.
Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Blake stared at each other. Pinkie was slightly bouncing as she handed each of them a Ninjas of Love book.
The pink-haired girl grinned, “Sooooooooooooooo?”
They much quieter girls just looked at Pinkie, before looking at their books, then at each other. Twilight spoke first, “I think it’s a good series.”
Blake nodded, “Same.”
“Yippee! New friends!” confetti popped out of Pinkie’s hands.
Weiss and Pyrrha stood still with their arms held out as Rarity took their measurements. A moment passed, and Rarity told them, “Done. I have so many ideas right now! Give me a day or two, and I’ll have some fashionable casual designs for you two to wear during the rest of the festival!”
Fluttershy sheepishly looked at everything in the room, while Jaune carried about a dozen pieces of fabric and sewing equipment, utterly bored out of his mind.
“When Salem destroyed the elements of Honesty and Loyalty, she corrupted the remaining four and turned them into weapons.”
Celestia frowned, “I know this, Ozpin.”
He sighed and leaned back into his chair, “The Tree of Harmony is dead, Celestia. But the ideals of harmony live on. I know you’ve been gathering element bearers. I can see a bit of each inside your students. But what I’m trying to say is, the elements themselves, I’ve already transferred the ideals out of objects and into people.”
The faunus’ eyes widened, “You don’t mean…”
Ozpin nodded, “After I failed the first time, I spent decades in isolation, angry at myself and saddened at what was coming. The world had ended, and all we had left was but a remnant. Despite that, four young women taught what I had forgotten, all those years ago.”
“Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, and Friendship. With the curse you two laid upon me, I granted them elemental powers, in every sense of the word.”
Celestia shook her head, “I should have known. Four maidens, four relics, four remaining elements. A legacy, passed down the centuries.”
“The Fall Maiden represented Laughter, by the way. But there were six elements, and they needed replacements,” Ozpin sipped his coffee, “So I did.”
“You did what?”
“I replaced them.”
“You… replaced Honesty and Loyalty,” Celestia frowned, “How?”
“Well, I couldn’t make new elemental objects since the tree is gone, but I figured it was time for the mantles to be passed on, so I…”
“Chose new element bearers and imbued them with your magic,” Celestia’s eyes widened, “And you mentioned giving magic to…”
“The Branwen twins,” Ozpin blinked, “I decided that Qrow would be Loyalty, and Raven Honesty… is something the matter?”
He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Celestia, who facepalmed, “My word, you chose them of all people?” she groaned, “You really are an old fool.”
“I don’t follow. Raven Branwen has her faults, but she truly is honest to a fault.”
“She killed the last Spring Maiden, Ozpin.”
“... That is unfortunate,” Ozpin sighed, groaned, and put his palm to his face.
“Let me be the first to say ‘I told you so’,” Celestia said as she patted him on the shoulder.
“Sunset Shimmer,” Ozpin retorted.
“At least my mistake didn’t result in the loss of a maiden.”
“Even so, we have to prepare for this. James and Qrow should know about this as soon as possible, and we must make plans for what is to come,” Ozpin took out his scroll and began calling.
A single orange flame lit up the dark room. Nothing could be seen except for the faintest outline of a black-haired woman. Another flame flickered into existence, growing brighter and larger than the first, colored a blazing emerald. Moments passed, and the emerald flame revealed a tall woman with dark green hair that cascaded down to her legs.
She gave a toothy grin and spoke out, “Sunset Shimmer, we meet at last.”
The black-haired woman snarled, “That is not my name.”
“To turn your back on the name your adoptive mother gave you, tut tut. You humans really are such a deceitful race,” the tall woman smirked, revealing her fangs, “Very well, Cinder Fall. Continue with your plans. I’ll be watching and aiding you when you fail.”
“And what is in it for you, Chrysalis?” Cinder tapped her foot.
“Let’s just say your mistress gave me quite the reward for lending a hand.”
“Very well. I look forward to working with you, oh great queen,” Cinder mocked.
“She warned me about your mouth, and compensated me already for your first insult,” Chrysalis snarled, “Your next quip will earn you your death.”
“My, this is going to be a very interesting relationship.”
Chrysalis snorted and walked away, the flames around her consuming her until she vanished. Cinder Fall looked around the empty room and left it as well, beginning the next phase in her plan.
Twilight Sparkle took out her scroll and began typing to her teacher. Usually, Spike would have done it for her, since her was much better at writing, but he was unable to come to Vale.
She looked to her five friends from home, all tired and mostly napping after a long day and fight. She then looked at the students of Beacon she came to know a little bit about over the past day. They were fun and interesting, to say the least.
Applejack and Yang were passed out on a table, with a small amount of drinks nearby. They were likely more exhausted from their fight than anything else. Ruby, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were nearby, after the first three entered a contest to see who could eat the most cookie-flavored cupcakes. Fluttershy was supposed to be the judge. She passed out when Ruby ate a cookie through her nose and Rainbow copied. Or maybe it was when Pinkie sniffed up an entire plate through her nostrils?
Jaune collapsed after being a human mannequin for several hours. Weiss, Blake, and Rarity went out for dinner. Twilight smiled when she realized that Rarity probably figured it out as well, and that no doubt would try to gossip or mingle with the Chieftain of Menagerie’s daughter. Judging by Weiss’ interactions, she no doubt was oblivious to the fact.
“Dear Headmistress Celestia, today I learned about making friends through similarities beyond our differences, and…”
She finished her message and sent it. The headmistress probably wouldn’t read it until tomorrow. Then, her scroll rang. Twilight looked at it, and saw that Headmistress Celestia wants her for some reason… in Headmaster Ozpin’s office!
A deep breath taken, and Twilight Sparkle, leader of Team SPAR, walked towards the tower. When she entered the elevator, she saw Pyrrha there as well.
“You too?” Pyrrha held up her scroll. Twilight nodded when she saw a similar message from Ozpin.
When the elevator opened, and the two of them walked into the headmaster’s office, their world would change forever.