“Wake up lazy butt!” A yell woke Diamond from her strange, alien, dream. “It’s morning! It’s morning! It’s morning! It’s morning!’ A girl in a pink skirt started to dance around the ballroom. Diamond pulled herself up as people started to move to bathrooms or get dressed. Sweetie pulled herself up from her sleeping bag as Diamond said, “I had a really weird dream…” In a dreary half-asleep tone.
“Let me guess,” Sweetie began, “Dark castle in a misty void, the feeling of something powerful right in front of you but just out of sight…”
“How did you?” Diamond muttered.
“Same dream… I wish Luna was here, she might be able to tell us what’s going on… But there will be time to figure out all that later.”
“Yeah, let’s get dressed,” Apple Bloom replied.
“I can’t wait to see what happens next!’ Scootaloo was already pulling off her pyjamas and throwing on her armour, many of the other kids staring at the girl stripping right before them. The other ponies followed and soon were back into their combat gear, uncaring of everyone staring at them naked as they equipped their clothing and armour.
Once everyone had gotten dressed, used the toilet, and brushed their teeth, and eaten, they headed to the locker room to equip their weapons, all except for Scootaloo who had slept with her pistols under her sleeping bag.
The locker room was a large white hall with a thousand of the fancy-looking lockers, the kids were confused about why the roof had portholes in it above every locker. The walls were decorated by blue banners with the emblem of Vale, and some of the supporting columns had ornamental weapons and shields hung on them.
Ruby retrieved her scythe from her locker, Jaune wandered around looking for his locker, and Weiss drew her rapier from her locker. A few students stared at Apple Bloom as lifted Applebuck, the weapon could bearly fit in the locker, even in hammer form. When looking at the dumbfounded expressions of the others, a taller boy with combed back blue hair muttered, “It can’t be that heavy! Hey, faunus girl, let me try that hammer!”
Apple Bloom snickered, “Sure,” And handed Applebuck to him. The kid immediately regretted that decision when he fell forward to the floor trying to heft the weapon’s weight.
Two kids ran past, the loud energetic one that reminded Diamond of Pinkie Pie, and a black-haired kid in a green jacket and white pants. Diamond’s locker was between Weiss’s and the red-haired girl’s lockers, both of whom were looking at Diamond as she retrieved Silverglow. Weiss with a little bit of trepidation, and Pyrrha with interest. She pulled Silverglow’s trigger and loaded the dust cannon with ice dust, once the canister clicked into place, the blade closed back up.
Behind them, Scootaloo was trotting around in circles, “Ugh,” She intoned, “Can we please get ready already!” She already had her pistols mounted to her bandolier and dust canisters on her belt. Sweetie had her Lapis Luminatus in hand, it was too tall to fit into the locker, so last night Ruby promised to modify the shaft to extend and retract when needed, that way not only could she fit it into her locker, but it could also be carried around much easier.
Jaune, once he had retrieved his sword and mounted it to his belt, approached Weiss, “Hey there, Snow Angel, the name’s Jaune Arc.”
“You again?” Weiss replied.
“Nice to meet you, Jaune,” Pyrrha continued.
“So, I’ve been hearing that the teams are made of four students each, so I was thinking that with my amazing skill and you three lovely ladies, we would make a great one, what do you say?”
“Jaune, is it,” Weiss commented, “Do you have any idea who we are?”
“Not in the slightest, Snow Angel,” Jaune replied as Diamond rolled her eyes.
“I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of dust crystals and powder in the world… And Pyrrha Nikos, who graduated top of her class in Sanctum. I don’t know who the faunus girl is, but I can safely say that you are not in a position to ask either of us to be on your team.”
“I-I guess, not, sorry…”
Pyrrha walked up to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder, “Actually Jaune, I’d think you would make a great leader.”
“No, quite frankly, he wouldn’t…” Diamond commented, “Just look at him, his weapon is practically useless, and so far he hasn’t shown a shred of competence…”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with the faunus girl, his kind of behaviour should not be encouraged!”
“Sounds like Pyrrha’s on board for Team Jaune… Spots are filling up quick, but I could find a place for you,” Jaune turned to Diamond, leaning a bit to close for comfort, “After all, I don’t discriminate.”
Diamond backed up, “Get away from me!” She shouted as she pushed Jaune back, he fell and skidded across the floor.
From a wall-mounted speaker the voice of Glynda said, “Would all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff for initiation, again all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Pyrrha said as she pulled Jaune back to his feet.
“Likewise,” Jaune muttered.
Diamond motioned for the other fillies to follow. Scootaloo was already racing out the door, Sweetie following right behind at a brisk walk, Apple Bloom stuck her cannon to her back, loaded with gravity rounds, she wanted to see what they did. Ruby and Yang helped Jaune and together they all moved outward and toward the cliff.
Ozpin stood at the launchpads built into the cliff, he had spent the last hour fine-tuning the pneumatic mechanisms, providing just the right amount of randomness to thoroughly separate the students, but no so much that they may get lost and die without support… He remembered what happened to Gretchen Rainart a decade ago.
He had also made a few adjustments to specific pads, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie had arrived together, and he knew that these two had been friends most of their life… He wasn’t about to separate them, and so he would make sure they landed relatively near one another.
The four faunus girls had also arrived together, and they were all rather powerful, if a little unskilled and undertrained, but that could be fixed with time and extra training… Putting them four of them together was going to give him a particularly powerful weapon against darkness, as long as he ensured they survived and stayed together.
It wasn’t long after he finished his modifications that Glynda gave the order and students started arriving. Ozpin pointed them toward their respective pads as used his scroll to double-check the feeds camouflaged camera-drones that James had provided… They would make preventing accidents and observing the student’s actions an infinitely easier task.
Eventually, everyone had arrived. Ozpin and Glynda took their positions overlooking the cliff, and begun the same speech he had repeated for centuries… “For years you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest.”
In the back was Angel Pico… Koa Van… Cerule Quinn… Sky Lark… Joan Grey… Cardin Winchester... Dove Bronzewing… and so on. Closer to the front of the line Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie stood on their specially tuned pads. Behind them in the line was the esteemed Pyrrha Nikos, who Ozpin was already keeping an eye on, and in front of the two in the line was Weiss Schnee, another one who chose Beacon over Atlas, he was surprised how many students were flocking to Beacon this year… And this time she was a member of the Schnee family, a part of him hoped that he hadn’t just made another enemy, as he knew that both Winter and Weiss’s actions in becoming huntsmen were against their father’s wishes.
Past them was the young miss Rose and her sister, Yang Xiao Long, both of whom were descendants of STRQ, he hoped they would do just as well as their progenitors… Possibly better, since he couldn’t see either of them betraying him as Raven did… Not that she really held it against the woman, her reasons were valid.
The newcomer, Jaune Arc, stood past the others… His transcripts said that he had graduated from a lesser-known combat school called Tenna, down in the south. Ozpin had spoken to the headmaster of Tenna and confirmed that there was never a student called Jaune in that school… But, he knew the Arc family, and he had trained the boy’s grandfather and great grandfather, so there was no way he was an agent of evil, nor a hopeless boy who would get himself killed by the first grimm he came across, he had potential… So, regardless of his fake transcripts, he allowed the boy in, there was always a need for more huntsmen.
Finally, the last four platforms were taken up by the four mystery girls. They were the most intriguing of all… They had extremely strong auras, and very powerful semblances, enough to be mistaken for maidens, and they were all faunus, faunus didn’t have as strong auras humans generally did, but they were clearly the exception. Ozpin had yet to figure out what kind of creatures they were, they claimed to be horse faunus, and while their ears may resemble those of a horse, they were much too pointy, and one of them had wings, no horse he knew of had wings… Not to mention that their fur and tail colours were unlike any he had seen… But they most likely dyed them along with their hair.
Glynda spoke up, “Now, I’m sure many of you have heard rumours about the assignment of teams… Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion, each of you will be given teammates… Today.”
“These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon,” Ozpin continued, “So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.” Ozpin finished.
It wasn’t an ideal system, there were numerous pairs of people who normally didn’t get along, but the system was created to test those exact people… True huntsmen should be able to work with those who they don’t like or get along with. Not to mention that it was an easy system to rig, like he did here, and he wouldn’t be blamed if the pairings didn’t get along, after all, it’s hard to blame random chance… Or what to them seemed like random chance.
“What!” Ruby yelled. There came some general muttering from the students, and the fillies all nervously looked at one another.
“After you’ve partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way… Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics, each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff.”
Ozpin had placed the relics a few days ago, and had made sure that none were disturbed since… He missed the old castle down there before that abomination came and ruined it, luckily, it still attracted grimm to the region, making it the ideal testing ground.
“You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and we will grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?”
The Arc boy, as well as the faunus girls all raised their hands, “Headmaster-” Sweetie Belle began.
“Good! Now, take your positions,” He didn’t have time for questions, nor the patience, they would soon get answers to whatever questions they had.
“Uh, sir? I’ve got a question?” Jaune asked. As Glynda pressed the activation key on her scroll and the launch cycle began.
“So, how will we be getting down there exactly?” Apple Bloom asked. More pneumatic launchers set off in the background.
“You will be using your own landing strategy…” Ozpin absently commented. More children were flung into the air as he spoke.
“What’s a landing strategy?” Scootaloo questioned. Meanwhile, Weiss, Pyrrha, Lie, and Nora were all launched into the air.
“You’ll soon figure that out.” Ozpin continued. Yang and Ruby were next to be launched.
“Do you have any parachutes for-” Jaune’s voice suddenly turned into a scream as he was sent hurtling into the air.,
Diamond turned to see the student’s being thrown into the air and her eyes turned wide when she heard the click from right beneath her feet. Suddenly she found herself flying through the air.
A look of realization crossed Scootaloo’s face and she raised her wings as the pad beneath her clicked and sprung forward, sending her into the sky.
Apple Bloom looked as if she were about to jump off the pad, saying “Oh hell-” Before she too found herself in the air, the scream of “Noooooo-” Trailing off into the distance.
Sweetie just slapped herself in the face with her own hand as she was sent flying. As the last of the students trailed off into the air, Ozpin turned and took a sip of his morning coffee.