//------------------------------// // Hunters, Searchers, Runaways (New) // Story: SAPR // by Scipio Smith //------------------------------// Hunters, Searchers, Runaways “Twilight! No!” “Applejack, get the door!” “What are we going to do?” “Rarity, put some pressure on that wound.” “Twilight, we need comms back online asap!” “I’m trying my best!” “I’m scared, Rainbow Dash.” “I promise you won’t die.” Rainbow Dash scowled, and her hands clenched into fists as the elevator climbed up to the top of the tower. She didn’t want these memories, she didn’t want to think back to that day. But after what had happened with Blake, after finding out what Blake Belladonna really was, she just couldn’t get it out of her head. She didn’t want these memories because she didn’t want to remember what had really happened that day. When she wasn’t really thinking about it she could play the whole thing off, play it cool, talk about how awesome she’d been and how she – with a little help from Twilight and their friends – had totally saved Cadance and Shining Armour from the White Fang. When she wasn’t really thinking about it she could act like she’d kicked butt, and wonder to herself why she hadn’t gotten the chance to go to the Academy two years early when she’d done something much more awesome than Ruby with her stopping three guys from robbing a dust shop. But when Rainbow actually thought about it, as she was forced to think about it now, when she actually stopped to remember what it had really been like at ground zero of what they called the Canterlot Wedding, what Rainbow remembered wasn’t how awesome she or anyone else had been. What she remembered was the fear. The fear in the eyes of Scootaloo as she confessed that she was afraid to die at the hands of those who called themselves her liberators. The fear as Vice-Principal Luna kept on bleeding out in spite of everything that Fluttershy or Rarity could do to stop it. The fear of everyone she cared about, dressed in their tattered, blood-stained wedding finery, all crammed into a side room in the registrar’s office as the White Fang tried to break down the door and Twilight tried to rebuild a radio into a transmitter so they could get a distress signal out. The fear of knowing that if Twilight hadn’t managed to pull off a technological miracle and call in the cavalry then all the people she loved in the world would have died and there was nothing that Rainbow could have done to stop it… nothing except die with them. “So, you had your first taste of action earlier than I would have liked,” General Ironwood said, as he stood with his back to Rainbow Dash, looking out of the window as the White Fang captives were loaded up onto transports to take them to processing. His hands were clasped behind his back. “How was it?” Rainbow sniffed. She wished that the General hadn’t wanted to talk to her right now, she didn’t really want him to see her like this. And yet, at the same time, she couldn’t lie. Not to the general, not after all he’d done for her. Even if he thought that he’d made a mistake in backing a coward like her, he deserved to know the truth. “I… I was scared, sir,” she admitted, in a very quiet voice. General Ironwood was silent for a moment. Rainbow could only imagine how disappointed he must be in her. “Scared of dying?” “Scared of losing everything that matters, sir,” Rainbow replied. “I… I don’t know if I’m cut out for this after all, General.” “Because you have something to lose?” General Ironwood asked. He paused. “Tell me something, Rainbow Dash? If only those with nothing to lose went out to fight, what would they be fighting for?” Rainbow blinked. “For the glory of Atlas, sir?” General Ironwood sighed. “Glory is all very well, but it won’t hold a man when the fear sets in, the fear like you felt today. Everyone has something lose, Rainbow Dash; it’s just another way of saying you have something to protect.” “But… but I was scared, sir,” Rainbow repeated. “You don’t need a soldier who gets scared when the fighting starts.” General Ironwood turned around, and Rainbow Dash could see his face. It wasn’t stern, as he’d imagined. Rather, as the General advanced upon her, casting a shadow over her, Rainbow almost thought that he looked sad. She gasped as he wrapped his arms around her and clasped her to him, her head resting on his chest. “The lives of your family were in danger today,” General Ironwood said, his voice soft and tender. “I don’t know a single man in this army who wouldn’t be scared in a situation like that. But you kept your head, kept everyone alive in spite of your fear, even Luna. You’re just a child, but you fought an adult’s fight today; you should be proud of that, and tell your friends that they should be proud too.” “Y-yes, sir,” Rainbow murmured. “Thank you, sir.” “There’s no shame in being scared, Rainbow Dash,” General Ironwood declared. “Only in letting the fear rule you.” General Ironwood had been kind about it at the time, but Rainbow thought that that was probably the reason why the General had kept Rainbow in combat school those extra two years instead of letting her in early like Professor Ozpin had done with Ruby. Rainbow had needed those two years to grow out of being scared, to arrive in Atlas purged of her weaknesses. She wasn’t scared now. She was angry. The White Fang, here in Beacon! Right under Professor Ozpin’s nose! Who knew what damage Blake had already done, how much poison she’d spread. There was no telling how many of the students she had already begun to radicalise. “What are all these pamphlets, G?” “They’re the truth, Dash.” “The truth about what?” “The truth about who is really running the world and how they’re keeping us down. The truth about what we have to do to stop it! Open your eyes, Dash, we need to stand up and fight!” Yeah, that stuff could be pretty enticing to the right sort of people. And the rot had had six weeks to spread. That was why, having left her team downstairs in the CCT lobby, where the White Fang would have to be insane to try anything, she was on her way up to see Professor Ozpin. Not the person she would have liked to be talking to at a time like this, but the person that she had to talk to. Hopefully once she started to talk she could push a few of these memories to the back of her mind. The doors to the elevator opened, and Rainbow Dash stepped out into the Headmaster’s office. It was about the same size as General Ironwood’s office back home in Atlas, maybe just a little smaller; like the General’s office it offered a grand view of the campus down below and the city beyond, and like General Ironwood’s office it was mostly empty. All of this space and it was going unused except for the desk. Rainbow wondered if there was some kind of rule that said that headmasters weren’t allowed any possessions. When I become Headmaster of Atlas, I’m going to put posters up on the walls, and a picture of my friends on my desk. And I’m going to have plants and I’m going to make the students water them for me. Actually, that last one might be a security risk. Rainbow put those thoughts aside as she advanced towards Professor Ozpin where he sat at his desk. She wished that she were back in Atlas for this. She would have known how to talk to General Ironwood, and more importantly she would have known that General Ironwood would listen to her, and take her seriously. She didn’t know Professor Ozpin, and she wasn’t sure what he’d do. She stopped in front of his desk, hands clasped behind her back. Professor Ozpin looked up from his work, and affected to seem as though he had only just noticed her. “Ah, Miss Dash, yes. Now, what can I do for you?” “Sir,” Rainbow said. “I have reason to believe that Blake Belladonna is a White Fang agent.” “’Agent’ implies that she has some ongoing relationship with the group, Miss Dash, my understanding is that she has left their ranks,” Professor Ozpin replied. Rainbow stared, stunned into silence. She couldn’t have been more surprised if Pinkie had suddenly appeared in the headmaster’s office to throw a party – and that would have been a welcome surprise, unlike what Rainbow was feeling right now. “You… you knew?” “There is little that goes on at Beacon that escapes my notice, Miss Dash,” Professor Ozpin replied blithely. “I am aware of many things, not all of which I choose to disclose to the students.” “You knew that she was White Fang and you let her in anyway?” Rainbow demanded. “’Was’, Miss Dash,” Professor Ozpin said pointedly. “With all due respect, sir-“ “When someone begins ‘with all due respect’ it is usually a sign they are about to be rather disrespectful,” Ozpin observed wryly, a smile playing upon his features. “You’ve been letting a terrorist stay in your school, sir,” Rainbow snapped. “In the same school where my friend is!” “Please do not suggest that I don’t take the safety of every student at Beacon very seriously, Miss Dash,” Professor Ozpin said, his voice acquiring a touch of steel to it. “There is nothing more important to me.” Rainbow swallowed. “You have a funny way of showing it, sir.” “Tell me, Miss Dash, what makes you think that Miss Belladonna is an active member of the White Fang?” “She’s defended their actions.” “Surely an infiltrator would be smarter than to give herself away so easily, dare I say childishly?” Professor Ozpin asked. “People make mistakes, sir.” “Indeed they do,” Professor Ozpin allowed. “Like so frightening people that they flee rather than defend themselves.” “I don’t regret what I did when confronted with a terrorist, sir,” Rainbow said staunchly. “Even if she only used to be a member of the White Fang, it’s still bad enough. How could you let someone like that into Beacon?” Professor Ozpin picked up a scroll of his desk and began to read from it. “Vandalism, shoplifting-“ “I was a kid, sir, the White Fang were still a peaceful protest group when I last broke the law,” Rainbow said. “And I was never a terrorist.” “No, but the point remains the same,” Professor Ozpin said. “I believe in the power of second chances, just as General Ironwood does.” “So you’re going to do nothing?” Rainbow demanded, as she contemplated whether she could zoom around the headmaster’s desk and hit him. Probably not, you didn’t get made headmaster of a combat academy for nothing. “If Miss Belladonna does not return for class on Monday morning then I shall be forced to do something,” Professor Ozpin said, without explaining what that something might be. “Until then I do not see that there is anything I can, or should, do. Was there anything else you wished to discuss, Miss Dash?” Rainbow scowled. “No sir.” Penny had been with Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune when Ciel and Twilight had come to get her, so they too were waiting in the lobby of the CCT with Sunset, the remaining members of Team Rospetal, Yang and Weiss. They were drawing some attention, such a large gathering of students clustered together on the ground floor of the tower, not doing anything; but there was no rule forbidding them to be here, and so no one questioned them or told them to move on as they waited beside one of the green pools that lined the edges of the room. Ruby glanced towards the elevators. “What do you think she’s saying to Professor Ozpin?” “I imagine she’s telling him everything,” Twilight replied. “Everything that she suspects,” Yang said pointedly. “If it isn’t true then why did Blake run?” Weiss asked. “If there was another explanation then why didn’t she give it? Unfortunately, being a member of the White Fang… it makes perfect sense given Blake’s pattern of behaviour since the Atlesians arrived.” “Once the Atlesian military arrived,” Sunset corrected. “She was fine around you, and… okay, she didn’t spend much time with Lyra and Bon Bon but they didn’t really want to spend much time with her, either. I don’t believe that she’s some kind of spy in our midst.” Weiss frowned. “Why not?” “Because she was really bad at it, if she was one,” Sunset answered. “What kind of spy would be so obnoxious to the person she was supposed to be spying on. Maybe there is some connection between Blake and the White Fang but I don’t think that she has a mask under her pillow.” “I don’t know much about the White Fang,” Jaune admitted. “But would it be so bad if-“ “Yes,” Weiss cut him off stonily. “Yes, it would. If you don’t know much about the White Fang then allow me to fill you in: the White Fang has robbed SDC cargo trains, sabotaged SDC facilities, kidnapped and murdered members of the board of my father’s company. The war waged by the White Fang against my father has not improved his temperament these last five years.” She shivered involuntarily, and turned away from the rest of them. Ruby approached her, her footsteps light upon the floor of the lobby, and put one hand upon Weiss’ shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’re safe here.” “Am I?” Weiss asked. “I trusted her.” “Maybe…” Ruby hesitated. “Maybe you were right?” Weiss looked at her. “Excuse me?” “I’m sure that the White Fang have done terrible things to you and your family,” Ruby said, her voice gentle. “But that doesn’t mean that Blake has done any of those things, and it doesn’t mean that she deserves to be punished for her past. I don’t know Blake very well, but I know that she’s a huntsman of Beacon just like the rest of us. Doesn’t that mean that we should give her the benefit of the doubt, at least listen to what she has to say?” “Generously spoken,” Pyrrha murmured. “Unfortunately the law is unlikely to display such nobility of spirit.” “Do we have to get the police involved?” Ruby asked. “Do we have to tell anyone?” “Rainbow’s up there right now, telling Professor Ozpin everything,” Sunset reminded. “Does she have to?” Penny asked. “Yes,” Ciel declared at once. “The White Fang are a proscribed organisation, banned in every kingdom, an organisation that aims at nothing less than the destruction of human society-“ “Do they?” Yang asked. “Or do they just want to be equal members of that society?” “Weren’t you listening to Weiss?” Twilight demanded. “The White Fang kill people, they kidnap people, and they don’t care who they hurt in their struggle for ‘justice’.” Yang pursed her lips. “You too, huh?” Twilight inhaled through her nose. “Three years ago… my brother, Lieutenant Shining Armour, married newly-elected Councillor Cadenza. Only… it almost didn’t turn out that way. A White Fang agent, with a very powerful semblance allowing her to take the form of another person, kidnapped Cadance and attempted to replace her, even going through with the wedding to my brother. If I hadn’t noticed that something was off about her then the White Fang would have had an agent on the Council, able to dictate the policy of our kingdom.” Twilight trembled, and Penny looked unusually solemn as she put her arms around the other girl. “And when I exposed her… they switched to Plan B: kill everyone, including my friends’ little sisters who were there as flower girls. “We weren’t there to fight. We hadn’t activated our auras, and before we could… they’d already wounded Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna. We had no weapons but what we could seize from the White Fang attacking us. We ended up barricaded in a room barely big enough to fit us all, trying to get word out so that we could be rescued before… before they killed us all. No matter what the rest of you have gone through I don’t think any of you have ever experienced anything like that before. No matter what the White Fang says about itself that is what the White Fang does. And that’s why they have to be stopped.” Twilight pinched her brow, as she pushed her glasses up her nose. “That being said… I am reluctant to condemn anyone without giving them a chance to defend themselves.” The elevator door opened, and Rainbow Dash stomped out, her footsteps like peals of thunder. She was wearing her wings across her back, with her autopistols at her hips and her shotgun slung across her back, and her magenta eyes were as hard as diamonds. A scowl had settled upon her face as she reached the group. “What’s Professor Ozpin going to do?” Twilight asked. “Nothing,” Rainbow spat. Twilight’s eyes widened. “Nothing?” “He knew,” Rainbow declared. “He’s know all along and he’s not going to do anything about it because he believes in second chances.” “Maybe,” Ruby ventured. “Maybe he has a point?” Rainbow huffed, and seemed to pretend that she hadn’t heard that. “Of course he knew. I should have known. Belladonna, she didn’t even change her name!” “So?” Yang asked. “It’s just a name.” “Kali Belladonna is the wife of the Chieftain of Menagerie and former leader of the White Fang,” Rainbow explained. “Every month or two she runs a lottery to help faunus from Atlas or Mistral move to Menagerie, all expenses paid. A couple of old friends of my parents won last year. I’m such a moron!” “We should contact General Ironwood,” Ciel said. “No, we’re not contacting the general,” Rainbow replied. Ciel frowned. “Is there a reason for not informing him of this?” Rainbow licked her lips. “Because I’d rather ask forgiveness than permission.” “What do you mean, Rainbow Dash?” Penny asked. “I mean we’re going to find Blake Belladonna and bring her in,” Rainbow declared. “One way, or another.” “For crying out loud,” Sunset exclaimed. “You can’t just-“ “That depends on her,” Rainbow cut her off. “And what she does when we find her.” Sunset shook her head. “You won the wedding, in case you’ve forgotten. You don’t need to fight that battle all over again.” Rainbow stared into Sunset’s eyes. Her own eyes seemed devoid of compassion. “Penny, Ciel, you’re with me,” she said. “Twilight, you’ll provide support with your drones from the dorm room. Weiss, I need to borrow Flash.” “Why?” Weiss asked cautiously. “I need somebody I can trust to watch over Twilight, but I need Ciel and Penny at my side,” Rainbow explained. “I know Flash, and I know I can rely on him.” “Weiss,” Ruby murmured. Weiss glanced at Ruby, before she nodded. “Very well. I’ll call him.” “Rainbow Dash,” Penny said softly. “Are you sure about this? It doesn’t seem very-“ “I’m your team leader, Penny, and I’m giving you an order,” Rainbow declared, not looking at her. “Are you going to obey that order?” Penny hesitated, but stood to attention. “I’m ready to serve, as commanded.” The true face of Atlas, Sunset thought. She stepped forward, and took Rainbow by the arm. “Don’t do this,” she implored. Rainbow glared at her for a moment, before she shook her arm free. “I’ll do what I have to do,” she insisted. The Atlesians departed, including Weiss; Rainbow’s heavy footsteps drowned out the lighter tread of those around them. “They’re not serious, right?” Yang asked, and it took Sunset a moment to realise that she was looking to Sunset for reassurance. “She’s not really going to…” Sunset didn’t reply. “Ruby, Pyrrha, Jaune, gear up and follow me.” “Where are we going?” Pyrrha asked. “We’re going to find Blake before the Atlesians do,” Sunset informed them. “And then we’re… we’re going to figure out the next step as we go.” “Do you know where to look?” demanded Jaune. “No,” Sunset admitted. “But neither do they, so we’re evenly matched in that.” She paused. “I’m not going to make you come, even if I could; but Ruby’s right, Blake is a Beacon huntress. And so I don’t like the idea of just standing by and letting Atlas have her way with her. Because… because Professor Ozpin’s right about second chances.” See how well I’m learning, Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight? I’m almost a good person now. “I’m in,” Ruby said. “I mean… you are taking my suggestion, I can’t really not go.” “I don’t like the idea of abandoning a comrade,” Pyrrha murmured. “And if we can spare Penny from having to do something she’ll regret, that will also be welcome.” “I’m in to,” Jaune added. He grinned. “I mean, I can’t really step back now, can I? What am I going to do, sit in my room while you three search?” He paused. “Do you think… if we do find Blake… Rainbow seems pretty… obsessed. Do you think she-“ “I’m sure she wouldn’t go so far,” Pyrrha assured. “And… certainly Penny and Ciel would not.” “I’ll search on Bumblebee,” Yang said. “I can cover more ground that way than you guys can on foot.” “Are you going to be okay on your own?” Ruby asked, a little anxiously. Yang grinned. “Give me some credit, sis, I’ll be fine.” Her tone became a little more serious as she said, “Good luck out there.” “Good luck to us,” Sunset replied. “Not such good luck to them.” Flash stared at Rainbow in disbelief. “I… Blake is a member of the White Fang… I didn’t know her but still… the fact that she could sit there, eating with us, and all the while… it’s hard to believe.” “You’d better believe it, because I sure do,” Rainbow said. “I’m going out to get her, with Ciel and Penny, I need you to stay here with Twilight while she provides back-up from here. I don’t think Blake will come back here, but… I don’t want to take any chances with Twi’s safety, you understand?” Flash nodded. He was already armed and armoured for battle, resplendent in his gleaming armour, with Caliburn at his waist and his shield slung across his back. “I understand. Especially after what happened.” After what happened. Rainbow clenched her hands into fists as she fought to push those memories away. Chrysalis had sworn revenge on Twilight as they were dragging her away, and although Atlas had locked her in a hole and then thrown away the key that didn’t mean that she didn’t have friends on the outside who wouldn’t try to take revenge for her. Rainbow wished that Applejack were here; she would have taken Rarity at this point, for all that she recognised that Flash was an objectively better fighter than Rarity. But Rarity wasn’t here, and neither was Applejack, and that meant that Rainbow would have to trust Flash. He’s from Canterlot, he’s made of the right stuff. “So, will you do it?” Rainbow asked. Flash glanced away for a moment. “For a long time, all through Canterlot, I felt as though you were so far above me. You and Applejack in skills, Twilight in brains… I mean you are so far above. You were the ace of the whole school, and I was just… well, let’s just say that General Ironwood was never going to give me one on one tuition.” He grinned, if only for a moment. “But if there’s more I can do than just cheer you on, if there’s anything that I can do to help, then I’ll do it. You can rely on me.” As flakes of snow began to gently fall, Blake drifted through the streets of Vale. Alone. Uncertain. She should have known this day would come and yet she had not prepared for it. Not prepared for what she would do if her secret came out. She had focussed her mind and her ambitions upon becoming a huntress, as though a black bow would be enough to keep her secret for four years. And now… now what? Where would she go? What would she do? What could she do? Who was she now? Why couldn’t I have just kept my mouth shut? “Hey there.” Blake looked up, startled. It was the boy from earlier, the… the rather cute boy from the boat. He was standing in front of her, holding a red umbrella over her head to shield her from the lightly falling snow, looking at her with concern. “It… it’s you,” Blake murmured. He smiled. “A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be left alone, with no place to go,” he said. “Is there anything I can do to help?” “I… I really don’t know,” Blake admitted. “I don’t really know if there’s anything that anyone can do to help.” The boy’s tail swished back and forth. “Will you at least let me try?” Blake hesitated. She shouldn’t involve him in her problems, she shouldn’t drag anyone into affairs that could be trouble or even dangerous for him. But at the same time… at the same time she was tired of being alone. “I… I’d like that,” she said. “I mean… I’d like if you… stayed with me, if that’s okay.” He smiled. He had a very kind smile, open and honest. He had kind eyes too; they were blue, like Adam’s eyes, but these eyes were kind, without a hint of cruelty or of cunning in them. “That’s fine by me.” He held out his hand. “I’m Sun.” “Blake,” Blake said, and took his hand in hers.