No Peace for the Wicked (New)
No Peace for the Wicked
Jaune and Pyrrha were training, and Ruby was in the dorm room still working on her coursework with Rainbow Dash. Supposedly, anyway; that was what they said she was doing, but as Penny had been with Rainbow Dash coming in as Sunset had been going out, she thought that there might be something more informal planned.
But, if Ruby wanted to have some fun, play some video games, or watch a show or something with her friend, then Sunset wasn’t going to object. In any case, in anticipation of Ruby using the dorm room, Sunset had taken herself down to the library where she could work in peace.
It was dark. Mister Tukson – fancy him being here, the Beacon librarian – had retired to… wherever he went – Sunset presumed that he had some sort of grace and favour apartment somewhere on the campus – and there were no other students in the library this late. Most of the lights, which worked on motion sensors, had been turned off, and Sunset sat at a table in one of the rare patches of illuminated space, with darkness pressing in all around her.
It was quite cosy, really. It reminded Sunset of when she was a filly, studying magic by the light of her horn, sneaking into the palace library after hours, with only the guards on night patrol for company.
Funnily enough, studying magic was exactly what she was doing right now.
She had her books with her – the books on myth and legend that Twilight had given her – but they were not opened. Sunset would check details if she had to, but she trusted herself to remember most of the salient details.
Which was good, because the other piece to this puzzle was something that she didn’t have written down.
It was written down, but not in a place that she had immediate access too.
Sunset hadn’t spoken to her teammates about the things that she’d read about: the prophets or the Red Queens or whatever else you wanted to call them. She hadn’t really seen the point; it didn’t affect them, and there was little purpose in bringing up mysteries to which she had no answers and which had no relevance to the issues at hand. The pursuit of magic was Twilight’s interest, and she knew all of this already and – presumably, Sunset hadn’t talked to her about it – had all of the same questions and the same lack of answers that Sunset did. In any case, Ruby’s only interest in magic was with her silver eyes, of which Sunset had no more information, and Jaune and Pyrrha had no interest in it at all.
So Sunset had kept her findings to herself; she was fortunate that Ruby was not so close-mouthed.
But then, everyone in the team was interested in Summer Rose and her magical eyes.
And what a story Ruby had had for them, about the latest entries in her mother’s diary.
“Fire, wind, lightning, and ice?” Jaune said. “So, she wasn’t using dust?”
“I don’t think so,” Ruby replied. “I mean, I guess she might have been, but that doesn’t explain why my Mom sounded so impressed by what she did. I mean, Mom wasn’t some ignorant yokel from the middle of nowhere… or at least, I don’t think she was. Dad doesn’t really talk about where Mom came from. He doesn’t really talk about her at all.” She bowed her head, momentarily falling silent.
Sunset and Pyrrha each reached out from where they sat on either side of Ruby to place a hand upon her shoulder. Pyrrha said, “From what you’ve told us, your mother seems to imply that she came from outside the kingdoms.”
“I guess,” Ruby said. “But even outside the kingdoms, they have dust, right? It might not be SDC dust, but they know what it is? I don’t think that Mom would be gushing about something that’s so… normal, you know? Plus, it doesn’t say anything about her using a weapon to channel dust, just that she created fire and all the rest. And how would you use ice dust to freeze leaves? No, I don’t think that’s it, I don’t see how it can be.”
“It might be a semblance,” Pyrrha suggested.
“A very versatile semblance, if so,” Sunset said.
“Versatile semblances exist,” Pyrrha countered. “The hereditary Schnee semblance, for one.”
“Sure, but the Schnee semblance stands out because it’s so ridiculous it isn’t fair,” Sunset said. “Most people aren’t that lucky; that’s the point.”
“You… are not wrong,” Pyrrha murmured.
“It’s a pity that your mother didn’t get the chance to ask this Auburn how she did it,” Sunset said.
“Uncle Qrow needed help,” Ruby replied, a touch defensively.
“I know,” Sunset assured her. “But… all the same, it is a pity.”
Jaune licked his lips. “Well… since somebody has to bring up the goliath in the room… could it be magic?”
Sunset blinked. “I can’t say,” she said, and she wasn’t lying because she really couldn’t say for sure, having no proof or firsthand experiences and nothing but myths to go on. At the same time, she could have said a lot more than she did say; she could have told them about the prophets and about how Auburn’s abilities matched with the fantastical feats that were recorded of those chosen by God or the gods; she could have told them what she had surmised about the way the powers were passed on, based on all the stories taken together. She could have told them a great deal.
But she didn’t, because she wanted to get it all straight in her own head first.
All she said was, “Certainly, you could produce a lot of the effects described using… my kind of magic. But I don’t think that’s what we’re looking at here.”
“Why not?” Ruby asked. “How do we know that Auburn wasn’t… someone like you?”
One of these days, I’ll have to tell you what I really am, and then you’ll get it. “Because, amongst… amongst my people, powers are separated in ways that wouldn’t allow for one person to do all of this.” The wind was a pegasus power, as was the lightning, depending on exactly how it was conjured, while pyromancy was a unicorn technique. The only way one pony could deploy both was if Auburn had been an alicorn, and Sunset highly doubted that; she had never heard of any alicorn named Auburn, nor or any alicorn going missing. There hadn’t been any alicorns bar Celestia in two lifetimes before Cadance’s ascension; Sunset knew that for a fact. She had spent quite a lot of time researching the subject. “But it does sound similar to Twilight’s story of her and her family being saved on the road by a mysterious woman wielding the power of the elements.”
“Huh,” Ruby said. “Do you think I should go and talk to Twilight about this then?”
“I… I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Sunset said, remembering how Twilight had been quite dispirited about the whole business the last time they had spoken about it. “Leave it with me for a little bit, okay? I want to see if I can find a little more to go on.”
Perhaps she ought to have told them that she already had more to go on. Perhaps that would have been the right thing to do? But why did they need to know? It wasn’t as if any of them were particularly interested. If it had been Silver Eyes, then it might have been different; that was something that Ruby was interested in and that the others were interested in because it involved Ruby; if Sunset had more knowledge about that, then she would have told them all at once. Sadly, the books that she had found so far made no mention of them.
Knowledge of their existence had faded far more completely than knowledge of what, for want of a better word, Sunset was calling prophets; it sounded better than Red Queens.
If there was one thing that might make Sunset doubt her certainty that Professor Ozpin was at the sinister web of intrigue and malevolence, it was the fact that he had failed to make knowledge of prophets disappear to the same extent as the knowledge of Silver Eyes. Surely, a true spider could have done both?
But there were so many other things to make her suspicious of the man that this one thing hardly counted.
That was another reason why she had kept all of this to herself: her friends had made it clear that they found her suspicion of the headmaster to be risible, and she wasn’t inclined to have another argument with them about it. She would just go her own way, following where the evidence led, until she reached the point where her proof became so incontrovertible that they had to believe her.
She felt as though she might be getting closer to that now.
When Sunset had finished reading through the mythology surrounding the prophets, their replacement by the Red Queens, and those queens’ own fall, she had been left with the question of what had happened to their powers. The wizard and his five familiar-sounding companions had hunted down the tyrants who had, between them, held too much of Remnant under subjugation, and then after that… nothing. Magic had, to all appearances, gone out of the world. The Age of Magic had ended, and in its place, the Age of Heroes had begun, the age – if Sunset had understood the chronology that she was piecing together out of myths and legends and fairy tales – of the Mistraliad and The Song of Olivia, the age of great deeds and mighty warriors, when warring kingdoms rose and fell with dizzying speed, and when Vale established itself as the third great realm of Remnant. It was a world not yet dominated by dust-fuelled technology – that would come later, and the rise of Mantle would come with it – but a world in which kings and warrior princes dominated the battlefield and the political landscape, ruling unchallenged, doing as they wished with those over whom they ruled. Some were good and some were bad and some were ineffectual, but there were no old men to counsel them, no prophets to challenge them, no alternate sources of power and authority whom the people might look to. Magic was gone, and none now wielded it.
Except that was not so, was it? First, there was Twilight’s account of her mysterious rescuer on the road, and then there was the account of Summer Rose, which was much more substantive, first in that it was not the fragmented memory of a child who had just taken a bump on the head, and second in that it put a name to one of these latter day prophets: Auburn, an old friend of Professor Ozpin.
The name Merida might also be relevant.
Sunset had already gone through the online yearbook of past Beacon students; there were a few too many Auburns, but only one Merida: Merida Heathermoor, who had dropped out of Beacon in her third year – a couple of years ahead of Team STRQ, which fit with Summer Rose’s impression of her age – for reasons that went unstated; Sunset was not wholly unwilling to break into the archives to find out what those reasons were, but right now, she wasn’t sure of their relevance. She was willing to hypothesise that Professor Ozpin had not held her quitting against her and had kept an eye on her nonetheless. An eye that was in some way connected to Auburn, one of the prophets.
Because magic wasn’t gone; someone just wanted everyone to think that it was, to cast it into the realm of fairy tales and legends, to dismiss it as a childish fantasy.
And the worst part was that Sunset could see why.
Let’s work this forward from the beginning. Four… let’s call them four sets of wings – although we might equally call them four horns, but let’s go with what I wanted to make myself an alicorn, not what Cadance got – to go around at any one time. The means of acquiring these wings, of ascending to power, has nothing on real ascension as far as a means of judging whether or not you deserve it, because… well, because there is no way to judge whether you deserve it. As far as I can tell, there’s no attempt at that even made. The only criteria is that you need to be a young woman when you ascend, although the powers don’t appear to fade with age.
You get your wings either by being closest to the person who had them last when they die, or you get them completely at random, or you kill the person who had them last.
And it’s once people figure that out that the system breaks down and the prophets make way for the Red Queens, who acquire their powers through murder.
Seeing this, the old man – or the wizard – decides that the only way to get things back under control is to take back the magic through murder, the same way that it fell into the hands of the unworthy.
Although the extent to which any of these people could be said to be worthy is very much up for debate.
Anyway, he assembles a company of heroes, and together they hunt down and kill the Red Queens. At which point, so the stories go, the magic disappears.
Except not. Since four of the five heroes mentioned were female, it’s a pretty good bet that they ended up with the magic after killing the Red Queens. Hurrah. Happy days are here again.
Until they die, of course, or are killed for the powers by more murderous opportunists.
Even the mightiest warrior may be felled by a single arrow, as Lady Nikos reminded me, and the fate of the prophets and the queens alike are proof that having this magic does not make you invulnerable.
So, what to do?
Apparently, the magic cannot be gotten rid of, however much you might want to; it’s… it’s like energy; it can’t be created or destroyed, there will always be four prophets, four saints, four people empowered beyond the run of common men. That being the case, how do you stop the era of bloodshed from returning the moment the power passes to someone, for want of a better word, unworthy to possess it?
You convince the people who have the power now to lay low, you rules lawyer the succession criteria to ensure that the powers pass only to those you can trust to use them wisely – which is to say, not using them at all – and you hope that everyone forgets that this was ever anything more than a fairytale.
And the system has endured to this very day.
This, by the way, also had the advantage of answering the question that Rainbow Dash had posed at the Skydock when they had discussed the matter: if there were individuals with power, with magic, then where were they? Why didn’t they show themselves and join the fight to protect humanity? Well, if Sunset’s hypothesis was correct – and it seemed to fit the facts, to her mind – the answer was: because they were under strict instruction not to use them and had been selected, in fact, for their ability to resist the temptation.
Sunset had to admit that she could see the reasoning behind this course, but at the same time, as a unicorn, she could not help but be saddened by it. She knew what it was like to have to hide your magic away, to conceal a fundamental part of yourself, to be ruled by the fear of what would happen to you if your true potential, your true self, were discovered. However irrational it had turned out to be, Sunset had lived with that fear all through Canterlot and, with it, borne the resentment of having to pretend to be so much less than she was, to be so much less than those she knew full well that she was better than. She thanked Celestia that here at Beacon, she could be open about her abilities, that in her teammates, she had found friends who would accept her gift for the wonder it was, with whom she could be honest. She couldn’t imagine having to hide for her entire life the way it seemed these prophets had to. It must have been – must be – unbearable suffering for them.
Surely, another way could have been found that didn’t involve such complete denial of self? That didn’t involve denying the world of a gift intended to make it better? Sunset had read the stories; yes, the deeds of the Red Queens were cruel and terrible, but it wasn’t as if mankind had suddenly become much kinder and more compassionate in their absence. Men were just as brutal, treacherous, warlike after as they had been at the time, and as they had been before… but the prophets, so it went, had exercised a counter to that: they had been a light of hope and gentleness in an often savage and unforgiving world, and they had done much to bring people together, to spread… harmony amongst peoples and kingdoms.
In that, they came closest to resembling alicorns in Sunset’s mind, and if they had not proved themselves worthy of the wings before they came to power, Sunset was willing to concede that many of them – those most remembered, at least – had proven by their deeds that they had not been poorly chosen.
All of that was gone now, and Sunset could not but find it a pity. Society moved forward, technology advanced, but some things – some fundamental parts of the souls of creatures and of the needs they felt – could not be changed. Equestria would be a poorer place if Celestia and Luna – and Twilight, if what Twilight said of herself was true, and, yes, okay, Cadance as well – were to disappear, still moreso if nopony else arose to take their place.
In just such a state lay the world of Remnant, devoid of anyone to show the way.
Devoid, at least, of anyone who was willing to do so.
But it had stopped magic from falling into the hands of evildoers, and Sunset supposed that might be enough for some people.
Of course, if it had been hidden completely, then Sunset would never have gotten wind of its continued existence in the here and now. Auburn, she could explain, or thought she could; by looking at the ages, she was convinced that the Auburn in question was Auburn Perry, who had had… an unhappy life, to put it mildly. She had been the only member of her team to survive to graduate from Beacon, and she died around the end of Team STRQ’s first year – or the beginning of their second – of stomach cancer. She might have known she was ill when she set out on her mission with Team STRQ. If she did, it would explain everything: Auburn had been chosen by Professor Ozpin to hold one of the four magical powers, but she found out that she was dying, so they arranged to have her meet with Merida Heathermoor, whom Professor Ozpin regarded highly, so that she would be the one to inherit the powers when Auburn passed away.
And then Merida did nothing at all of note with them, Sunset thought. After all, there had been no magical warrior leading the defence of Vale at Ozpin’s Stand, just huntsmen and huntresses and the headmaster himself.
It always comes back to Professor Ozpin, doesn't it?
Sunset's ears pricked up, literally in the case of the equine ears atop her head; she could hear footsteps in the hitherto silent library.
She twisted around in her seat and saw the lights begin to flicker on, triggered by the motion sensors as the owner of the heavy footsteps made their way through the stacks in her direction.
Sunset pushed back her chair and climbed to her feet – the lights directly above her, which had turned off during her period of nearly stationary thought, stirred to life once again – wondering who else was feeling the need to use the library at this hour and why they felt the need to disturb her.
It turned out to be Cardin Winchester, dressed in an old T-shirt and a pair of well-worn blue jeans that looked as though they were about to be worn through at the knees. Sunset, who had never seen him dressed in anything quite like that before, could only raise a single curious eyebrow.
He didn't get too close to her, keeping about six feet of distance – maybe a little more – between the two of them. He looked uncertain, and yet, at the same time, he managed to spit out, "Great, I found you."
Sunset's other eyebrow rose to join the first. That could mean a great many things, and yet, Sunset was not too concerned; it was only Cardin after all, and she had never found him intimidating. "What do you want, Cardin? Have you come to tell me that you're a disgusting racist, because I figured that out already." She smirked. "You might not know this, but I think most people have figured it out by now."
Cardin grimaced. "You're having so much fun with this, aren't you?"
"Am I enjoying your humiliation? Yes," Sunset replied. "You've had this coming for a long time, quite frankly, and I don't see why I should pretend otherwise."
Cardin was silent for a moment. "It was you, wasn't it? You were hiding somewhere, and you made that recording, and you sent it to that zine."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sunset lied. She wasn't about to admit what she'd done, however low the chances that anyone would judge her for it. "And, quite frankly, I think that the question of who took that recording and who distributed it is a little beside the point. You said those things, you and Bon Bon, and now, you have to live the consequences of that. Forgive me if I'm not overflowing with sympathy."
Cardin stared at her. "How is it that you have so many people thinking that you're such a good person?" he asked.
"I am a good person, to them," Sunset declared. "Good to my friends and fierce to my enemies."
"And what about the people in between?"
"What about them?" Sunset replied. "What do you want, Cardin? I'm a little busy, and I don't want to spend my night bandying words with you."
Cardin was silent. He looked down at his feet. As he stood, quiet and averting his gaze, something seemed to snap inside of him; his shoulders buckled as though beneath a great weight, and he slumped forwards a little. "I give up," he said.
Sunset's eyes narrowed. "You give up?"
"Yes!" Cardin snapped. "Skystar broke up with me, my father and grandfather's careers are at risk, people are starting to shun my mother, Silverstream and Terramar think I want to murder them, everyone thinks that I'm a monster… I surrender. You win. However you want to say it, I'll even get down on my knees if you want, but… just let me be. I won't do anything to you or Blake or Jaune or anyone else. You've beaten me, just… just please be magnanimous in that."
Sunset stared at him. He might not have physically dropped to his knees yet, but he had already done so metaphorically. He was, indeed, defeated; helpless and humbled before her as much as the sovereigns of Mantle and Mistral had been when they had descended into the dirt and laid their crowns at the feet of the Last King. A part of her, a very substantial part, felt jubilant at that. A part of her wanted to jump up and down in triumphant joy, punching the air. A part of her exulted in the fact that she had won! She had won!
Another part of her felt incredibly guilty. Another part of her focussed upon the first words that he had said. "Skystar broke up with you?"
"She loves her cousins like they were her own brother and sister," Cardin said. "Did you expect that she wouldn't break up with me? Isn't that part of the reason you did this?"
It had, in fact. Every word that he had said in that regard was true. She had hoped to break up his happy relationship, to show Skystar what kind of a man her beloved Cardy really was. But, now that it had happened… she was filled with a deep sorrow.
"Please, Flash, wait! Please don't leave me. I know that things haven't been perfect, but I can change, I swear! If you tell me what's wrong, then I can fix it! You… you're all I have."
"That's your problem, Sunset, not mine."
And he had turned away, leaving her outside in the rain, soaked through with no place to go and no one to turn to. It took a lot of self control not to shudder at the memory and to suppress the spike of anger that ran through her at what Flash had done.
She had brought that same grim fate on Cardin, and now… now, she regretted it. She regretted it so much that, for a moment, she came very close, within a whisker, of apologising to him, of telling him how sorry she was and promising to make it up to him.
But she didn't. She didn't quite have the weakness, or the strength. All she said was, "I didn't ruin your life, Cardin; you did this to yourself."
Cardin scowled, but nodded. "Yeah, I did," he admitted. "And I know that I don't have much left to lose at this point, but… please, I won't give you any trouble, and I… I don't want any more trouble either."
Sunset's expression was impassive. She had won, and yet, he wasn't making it very easy for her to enjoy her victory. The longer this went on, the more her glee was replaced with squirming guilt and a pervasive feeling of embarrassment. "I… haven't done anything to you," Sunset lied, "but… if I had done, it would stop, if your actions cease. I bear you no malice, Cardin, except that you went after my friends."
"I already admitted that I brought this on myself; isn't that enough?" Cardin snapped. He took a deep breath. "Did you mean what you said in the Forever Fall that day?"
Sunset blinked. "You mean-"
"You said that we could change," Cardin reminded her. "That we could become better than we were. Did you mean it?"
"Of course I meant it," Sunset murmured. "I still believe it." She didn't like seeing herself reflected in Cardin Winchester at the best of times, still less right now, when he had hit rock bottom and lost everything: his love, the respect of those around him, any good opinions that anyone might have had of him. It cut too close to home, reminded her too much of what it had been like for her at Canterlot, when even Flash had abandoned her to face the derision of the mob. But she had risen and enjoyed a sea-change in her fortunes and a lesser change in her attitudes. Perhaps Cardin could do – and enjoy – the same.
"Good," Cardin whispered. "I hope you're right." He paused for a second or two. "How… how do you make them like you so much? We're both jackasses, but you… what makes you better than me?"
Sunset wondered if perhaps he'd like the list alphabetically, but didn't say so because she knew what he meant, and honestly, she didn't have a good answer. What had she done to deserve the love of such excellent and virtuous people as Pyrrha, Ruby, Jaune, or even Blake? It wasn't as though she could blithely say that somewhere in her youth or childhood she must have done something good, because she'd lived through her youth and childhood, and there was nothing approaching goodness in it.
The question was not what made her better than Cardin but, rather, what made her more worthy to be loved than Cardin.
To which there was, really, no good answer at all. "I got lucky," Sunset said, because that was really all there was to it. She had gotten lucky that the three kindest people in the year had embraced her as their own, for all her faults.
"Lucky, right," Cardin muttered. He scratched the back of his head with one hand. "Well, I… I mean, I'll… uh, that is-"
"Off you go, Cardin," Sunset dismissed him, offering him a way out of a conversation that no longer had any road left in it.
Cardin looked for a moment as though he wanted to, or felt he ought to, say more, but in the end he did not; he simply turned away and walked away, his steps a little shuffling.
And with luck, I won't need to have anything more to do with him, Sunset thought.
She stood a moment, torn between her desire to jump up in the air in triumph and her feeling that she had done something wrong.
He deserved it.
But that doesn't mean that I should have done it.
I've beaten him at last; all my friends are safe.
Let's not pretend that any of this was necessary. Are you going to write to Princess Twilight about this? Or Princess Celestia?
…No.
Well, that says a great deal, doesn't it?
Shut up, I won. Get over it.
If only I could.
Sunset frowned and turned away, sitting down back at her desk. She didn't want to think about this any more. Now, where was she?
Ah, yes, Professor Ozpin.
That Professor Ozpin was deeply involved in this business was something that Sunset accepted without question. She did not for a moment consider the possibility that he might be a pawn of Auburn herself, facilitating without understanding. Frankly, whatever one thought of him, the headmaster had shown himself to be too canny for that, and that he should have intimate knowledge that he was keeping to himself made perfect sense when one considered that he was keeping what he knew of Silver Eyes confidential in the exact same way.
No, he knew the truth about these prophets, and he was keeping it from the general public; the question was why. Or rather, the question was whether there was malice in it.
Sunset was inclined to say that there was, but as she sat here in the library, as the light flickered off against because she was once more still and unmoving, Sunset had to wonder if that was true.
She could not deny that there were reasons to hide the existence of this magic from the rest of Remnant: look at what had happened when its existence had been widely known. It could be argued to be mere pragmatism, a decision made for the greater good; Professor Ozpin, like a father, knowing what was best for others better than they knew themselves.
Sunset had no ideological objection to such paternalist thinking; Equestria was built upon just such a maternalist attitude, after all: Princess Celestia sat on high, keeping her secrets, nudging Equestria and all the little ponies who dwelt in it towards their destinies in the name of harmony.
Sunset hadn't much liked that attitude when it applied to her, but time and distance had brought her to a point where she could admit that Princess Celestia meant no ill by it and only sought to do what was best by her subjects and by those she cared for.
Could she apply the same generosity to Professor Ozpin?
She found that harder to do, and not just because these lies and secrets affected her directly once again. Professor Ozpin had inherited knowledge of great light, and regardless of the intentions of those who had passed that knowledge down to him, it had been within this gift to open up the shutters and let the light shine out upon the world, as it had done in days of old. But he had not. He had continued with the old, long-standing policy, which was – to Sunset's mind – like asking Princess Twilight to bind up her wings and go about cloaked so that none might know that she was more than just a unicorn. Why? It was true that there were greater dangers here in Remnant – no one could ascend to become an alicorn themselves by killing another alicorn, and even if anypony could do so, such wicked crimes were just not committed amongst ponies – but there were other solutions to that: set true and valiant guards around them, range armies in their protection, lodge them in the hearts of mighty fortresses if you must, but do not hide them. None of the legends that Sunset had yet come across were clear on where, precisely, the magic had come from, but it had come from somewhere to be used for good. Sunset believed that too. She had to believe that. That was just how it worked: such gifts as were bestowed upon the one were gifted for the good of many; that was just the way of things. So it was in Equestria, at least – and Sunset's original sin had been to forget that – and she knew of no reason why it should not also be the case in Remnant. There were four gifts in the world that might have done much to bless the world, save that men had caused them to be hidden, and Professor Ozpin was the latest in a line of those who aided in that concealment.
That was malicious, in Sunset's view, especially when you took into consideration how much else he was hiding, like Silver Eyes and who knew what else.
And by what right?
Sunset's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of more footsteps approaching; it was not Cardin coming back; these footsteps were lighter, and faster too, a swift beat on the library floor like the rattle of a snare drum.
It turned out – as Sunset saw as she, once again, twisted around in her chair – to be Weiss Schnee. She was dressed in her silver-white huntress outfit, with a hint of red showing on the interior of her bolero as she advanced rapidly towards Sunset, taking a seat at the table next to her.
"Please," Sunset said, likewise returning to her seat, "have a seat."
Weiss did not respond to that remark; she simply said, "Ruby told me that I'd find you here."
"Ruby was correct," Sunset said softly, waiting for Weiss to get to the point. It was not that she objected to the company of the Schnee heiress in general – although they hadn't really spent much time together since… it must have been that trip into Vale when Blake got found out, unless you counted the battle at the docks. Anyway, the point was not that she didn't like Weiss – she could take her or leave her alone – but that she didn't really want to be disturbed. She had a lot of thinking to do.
Weiss clasped her hands together upon her lap. "Not many people use the library this late," she said. "Although I can't say that I blame you for wanting somewhere quiet to study, especially with what's going on in your dorm room."
I knew they weren't going to study. "What's going on in my dorm room?"
"Ruby, Penny, and Rainbow Dash are playing videogames with some girl over the CCT," Weiss explained. "I could hear her voice on the other end of their scrolls. I didn't recognise the game, but it seemed to involve ships shooting at one another."
"Hmm, that might be Juturna," Sunset murmured. "Juturna Rutulus, that is, some Mistralian socialite; she and Ruby hit it off over the vacation."
Weiss' eyebrows rose. "Ruby Rose hit it off with a socialite?"
"She's not entirely what the term suggests, but yes, it is a little surprising," Sunset conceded. "But it happened."
"I see," Weiss said quietly. Her snowy brow furrowed. "Rutulus… I could swear that I've heard that name before, but I can't quite recall… never mind; I'm sure that it's not important. Anyway, as I was saying, I understand that you might want some peace and quiet in here. Flash and I have been here this late studying some times."
I'll bet you have. "Studying," Sunset said through gritted teeth. "Sure."
Weiss' blue eyes narrowed. "Despite what you may think, there's nothing going on between us, not that it would be any of your business if there were."
Sunset ignored that last bit. "What, is he not good enough for you?"
"I'm sorry, do you want me to date your ex?"
"No!" Sunset cried. "But I won't have you saying he isn't eminently… dateable. It… would be… a slur on my excellent taste."
"Hmm," Weiss mused sceptically. "As a matter of fact… I don't disagree with you on that. Flash is, as you put it, eminently dateable. He is the kind of boyfriend that I would look for, if I were looking for a boyfriend." A soft smile played upon her features for a moment, and Sunset was forcibly reminded that Weiss Schnee was really quite astonishingly pretty. Lovely might be a better word for it. Small wonder Jaune had been besotted with her when the year began.
That all seemed so long ago now.
The lights went off, dimming due to a lack of motion beneath, but that hardly mattered because Weiss Schnee was light, a shimmering figure like the moon in human form descended amongst the mortals.
"However," she went on, "for the time being, I have no interest in such things. I'm here to become the best huntress I can, not to find a boyfriend."
"I see," Sunset said quietly, unsure if she believed Weiss or not.
Weiss drew in a breath. "Cardin was looking for you," she said.
"Cardin found me," Sunset replied. "But I can't believe that you were looking for me just to tell me that someone else was looking for me, especially not Cardin."
"Cardin and I are… starting over," Weiss informed her. "I'm going to be a better leader, and he is going to be a better teammate."
"That's… nice for you both," Sunset said. "I'm not sure what it has to do with me."
Weiss was silent a little while. "He thinks that you are the one who released that damaging audio."
"I do not admit that," Sunset said, leaning back in her chair a little. "But, as I told Cardin himself, if he hadn't said those things, then nobody could have released audio of him saying them."
"I'm not here to make excuses on Cardin's behalf," Weiss declared. "Whatever his motives, his words were absolutely reprehensible." She paused. "I'm not a bigot because my name is Schnee, and I resent that assumption and the assumption that I must agree with Cardin's professed sentiments because I am his team leader."
"That… is unfortunate," Sunset said. It had not been her intent to damage Weiss along with Cardin, although with hindsight, she could see how people might make assumptions.
"There's Flash, too," Weiss reminded her. "After what happened to his father and the way that it was seized upon by… some of the worst elements in Atlas… you can see how it looks."
Sunset winced. It certainly hadn't been her intent to get Flash involved in this. "That is… even more unfortunate," she said. "But I'm not sure what you expected me to do about it."
"That's not why I'm here," Weiss said briskly. "I have… spoken to my father. He assures me that SDC public relations will be taking care of such things."
"How fortunate for you," Sunset murmured. "I still don't see what this has to do with me."
Weiss stared at her. "I don't know exactly what Cardin wanted to speak to you about," she said, "but don't you think this feud between the two of you has gone on long enough?"
Sunset couldn't restrain a snort. "A feud, is that what you think this is?"
"Isn't it?"
"Can the jackal feud with the lion?" Sunset asked.
"You aren't a lion," Weiss reminded her. "Any more than Cardin is a jackal. You're both people, with exceedingly big egos. Although Cardin's seems to have deflated at the moment."
"I can't imagine why," Sunset muttered.
"Don't you think the time has come when you might deign to be magnanimous?" Weiss asked. "Cardin has been unpleasant, but in return you-"
"You really ought to have some proof before you accuse me of anything."
"In return, you have destroyed his life," Weiss continued. "It's gone far enough, don't you think?"
Sunset nodded. "As a matter of fact, I do," she agreed. "And I believe that Cardin feels the same way. But… none of this would have happened if he had left well enough alone."
"I'm aware of Cardin's faults, just as I think he is aware of them now and wishes to move beyond them," Weiss said. "But this is getting out of hand, and I want it done. I want what's best for my team-"
"So do I."
"And I think that we can get that without being at each other's throats. Don't we have enough enemies outside the school?"
"Probably," Sunset conceded. "As a matter of fact, Cardin already asked… for a ceasefire." She decided to spare his blushes in front of his team leader. "I believe that he has had enough of what you call our feud."
"And you?"
"As you say, I only ever wanted what was best for my team."
"I'm glad," Weiss said. "Then we are in agreement?"
Sunset nodded. "I never wanted to be your enemy," she said.
"Nor I," Weiss agreed. "I hope that circumstances do not force us into opposition." She paused, and for a moment, she seemed about to say something, but then thought better of it. "I'm glad we understand each other," she said, rising to her feet and, in the process, turning on the lights once more.
Sunset looked up at her. "I almost think we always did," she said.
Weiss considered that. "Perhaps," she allowed, before beginning to walk away. After but three steps, she stopped and looked back at Sunset. "May I ask you one more thing?"
"Why not?"
"How is it that you have taken to leadership so easily?" Weiss asked.
Sunset thought about it for a moment. What did make her a good leader? Was she a good leader? They had had a successful mission, that was something, but at the same time, there had been very little actual leadership involved. And yet, despite that, Sunset couldn't accept the idea that she was a bad leader; her team worked well together, fought well together; surely, she was entitled to a little credit for that? But to what did she owe it? Natural born talent? Her time studying at the feet of Princess Celestia? Or something… more prosaic?
"I got lucky," she said, just as she had told Cardin not too long before.
Weiss stared at her. "Yes," she agreed. "I suppose you did." She turned around and walked away. This time, she did not stop.
Sunset turned back to the table as soon as she was out of sight. What was I thinking of?
Ah, yes, Professor Ozpin. Always Professor Ozpin.
Professor Ozpin and his secrets.
By what right did he hoard knowledge like a dragon hoarding gold? By what right did he sit in his high tower, knowing so much and telling so little? Sunset had, with time and a great deal of distance, accommodated herself to the fact that Celestia had kept secrets from Sunset – and even more secrets from Twilight – for their own good and the good of Equestria. But Princess Celestia was an immortal alicorn, one who had ruled the realm wisely and well for more than a thousand years. She had seen the tides of history ebb and flow, she had seen society grow and bloom like a garden all around her, she had seen the ways in which ponies changed and the ways in which they did not. She understood, through long experience, the hearts of ponies of all kinds. What could Professor Ozpin boast of, to set against such wisdom and experience? In his whole life, he had made but a single move, and that the journey from his house to Beacon Academy, where he had remained for practically the rest of his adult life. If he knew anything about the world beyond the cloistered halls of Beacon, it would be a miracle. And yet, this man, a mere mortal and a mortal at that with no qualifications to be in such a lofty position, was the arbiter of all the world’s mysteries, the man with all the answers which he refused to supply.
By what right? It was intolerable… and intolerably sinister, what was more. It was impossible for Sunset to see anything good or noble in the actions of Professor Ozpin and his predecessors. The others thought that she was paranoid because she didn’t trust his silence over Silver Eyes; well, perhaps it could be argued that he kept silent because Ruby did. Maybe if she went up to the top of the tower and asked him the questions, then he would supply all the answers. Maybe, but Sunset doubted it. Because Silver Eyes were not the only secrets he was keeping; he was hiding much more than that, and much more important than that. Silver Eyes were a potent weapon, but magic… he was hiding hope as well, and that was harder to excuse, at least to Sunset’s mind. How could people better themselves without symbols to inspire them? Where were they supposed to look for exemplars of…
Sunset stopped. Her eyes widened. No. No, she didn’t want to believe that but… but now that the thought had occurred to her, she couldn’t dismiss it. It was all too, much too plausible.
A system in which magic was bestowed upon the worthy, not by ethereal, numinous recognition of their worth but by appreciation of it by Professor Ozpin, who gamed the system so that his choices ascended in accordance with his will; it stood to reason, therefore, that you could predict his choices by looking at those in whom he took a special interest: like Team STRQ, like Merida, like Auburn.
And Raven said that it would start with missions.
He’s going to grant these powers to Ruby, isn’t he?
And Sunset didn’t know how to feel about that. Well, no, that was not quite true; she felt a degree of jealousy at the idea that Ruby would be selected to ascend, but if she made the effort to look past her selfishness and think about it from the perspective of someone who wasn’t obsessed with her own aggrandisement, she could admit that Ruby would be a very good choice. A near-perfect choice, in fact, to encourage and inspire people.
But she wouldn’t get the chance, would she? Professor Ozpin would make her his prophet, and then he would lock her away or shove her into the shadows or whatever it was he did to keep them and their powers hidden, and Ruby… Ruby would be broken by it. Not immediately, but unable to help people, unable to pursue her dream of becoming a huntress, unable to be risked for fear that her powers would escape the grasp of Professor Ozpin, she would wither away like a rose starved of sunlight, her petals wilting until there was nothing left of them.
She couldn’t let that happen.
But how could she stop it?
“You.”
Sunset sighed and put her head in her hands for a moment. It’s like Canterlot Central Station in here.
She ran her hands through her hair and looked up into the face of Phoebe Kommenos, dressed in the uniform of an Atlas student, looming over her and looking down. Her look was cold, and her eyes were as sharp as talons.
Sunset pushed her chair back a few inches. I didn’t even hear her coming. It was... worrying, to say the least, that she could be snuck up on by someone like this. She did not like this girl. She wasn’t scared of her, but… there was something about her that Sunset didn’t like. Maybe it was just the fact that she had been able to so completely intimidate Cinder, but… Sunset didn’t like the fact that Phoebe had been able to get the drop on her.
I would rather Cardin be able to sneak up on me than her.
Hopefully, it was just the fact that I was lost in thought and not that she’s actually that stealthy.
Sunset hoped that she succeeded in keeping her surprise hidden behind a mask of calm. “Can I help you?” she asked softly.
An ugly smile crossed Phoebe’s face as she sat down upon the edge of Sunset’s desk. “You, help me?” She let out that grating, high-pitched laugh she had. “What an absurd idea. As if I need any help from a faunus, or from Pyrrha’s team leader!” She laughed again. “I give you fair warning that I intend to make sure that our paths cross in the Vytal Festival, and when they do, then I will trample Pyrrha Nikos beneath my feet and triumph over her. You may depend upon it.”
“It would be the first time, if so,” Sunset murmured.
Phoebe’s face flushed with anger. “Insolent-” She cut herself off and took a deep breath, visibly seeking to calm herself. “It’s true that Pyrrha has been very fortunate in all our previous encounters. But then, she’s a very lucky girl, isn’t she?”
“Pyrrha is very skilled.”
“Does her ghastly mother tell you to say that as a condition of her financial support?” Phoebe asked. She chuckled. “Yes, I know all about your little arrangement with the House of Nikos. Everyone knows that Lady Nikos has taken an interest in a little stray horse. I understand it makes for quite the amusing little anecdote at parties: the poor faunus, so desperate for acceptance that she mistakes a business transaction for acceptance.”
I’m a pony, not a horse. Sunset pushed her chair back a little more and got to her feet. “Forgive me, my lady,” she said, reaching for her courtly manners in order to show this woman that she was not an inferior just because she had ears and a tail, “but I am greatly preoccupied at present and have little time for the bandying of superfluous verbiage with you. If you will excuse me.”
Phoebe gave no sign of moving. “From what I understand, you are an ambitious sort. From what is said of you-”
“And what has my lady heard said of me, and from whom?” Sunset asked. “I did not see you in Mistral when I was there.”
“No,” Phoebe acknowledged. “I didn’t go home for the vacation. I prefer Atlas in the springtime: that crisp northern air. But I have friends amongst the other good families of our fairy city of Mistral: the Rutulus family, for one. From them, I heard that you had been… sponsored. What’s it like being the teammate of the great Pyrrha Nikos?”
“It is a privilege to be the team leader of the illustrious Pyrrha Nikos, the pride and glory of Mistral reborn,” Sunset declared. “She is well worthy of her reputation; in fact, she surpasses it.”
“More flattery,” Phoebe muttered. “One might almost think you were worried someone might hear you.”
“I am not beyond flattery, my lady, but when it comes to our princess of the battlefield, my tongue speaks only truth, albeit truth spoken in a fair and gentle fashion, fitting for a fair and gentle subject of my speech,” Sunset said. “Have you yourself not had opportunity often enough to taste of her skill upon the battlefield?”
Phoebe’s eyes were unblinking. Her gaze moved nowhere away from Sunset’s face. “I’m told that you are an ambitious girl, and yet I find before me a simpering toady. Is that what it does to you, to be too close to the Invincible Girl? Does it fill you with resentment, the way that she bestrides the world of our professions like a colossus, blotting out the sun to cast us all in shadow? Doesn’t it irk you that all the glories of this world, all the deeds your team has accomplished in the field, accrue to her, and you are forgotten?”
As a matter of fact, it did, at least as far as the bit about accomplishments went; Sunset would have had to be a far humbler person than she was not to be a little annoyed at the way that she – and the rest of the team, but herself especially – were pushed to one side so that Pyrrha could hog the limelight. Yes, she understood that Pyrrha didn’t mean to have that effect; it was an unfortunate side effect of being on the team with the Princess Without a Crown, and the many positives of being Pyrrha’s team leader, of being her friend, more than made up for it.
And yet, it still made her feel a twitch of irritation every now and then.
Not that she was going to admit that to the little stirrer sitting in front of her. “As I said, my lady, I have little time for idle chit-chat.”
“Then I suppose I’d better get to the point then, hadn’t I?” Phoebe replied. “There’s nothing that you can do for me, but I do want something from you: your sword, Soteria.”
Sunset blinked. “My lady jests.”
“Not on this occasion,” Phoebe said. “Do you know what that sword is?”
“I am aware of its heritage, my lady,” Sunset replied. “One might find it strange that Lady Nikos chose to bestow so venerable and esteemed a weapon upon a business transaction.”
Phoebe’s face was expressionless for a moment. “Well,” she said, her voice sounding a little less sure of herself now. “I may have underestimated your… in any case, she had no right to place that weapon in your hands.”
“Is it not Lady Nikos’ own property, to do with as she will?”
“That sword belonged to Achates Kommenos, bodyguard to the Emperor,” Phoebe declared. “It is true that he was sworn into the Emperor’s service, and it is true that that blade was bestowed upon him by the Emperor himself, and for those reasons, the House of Nikos kept the blade as a treasure of their own house when the war was done. But I am Achates’ descendant through his brother, Ilioneus; that blade is mine by rights. And yet, such is my generosity that I am prepared to buy it from you. Name your price.”
Sunset laughed. “Would my lady have me put a price upon my honour? Upon my reputation? This sword was gifted to me, by the Lady of the House of Victory, that I might wield it in battle beside the heiress to that ancient name. What kind of ingrate would I be to sell this mark of Lady Nikos’ esteem for mere lien? Think not, my lady, that simply because I am a faunus, or that because I am not Mistral-born, that I am some base creature, slave to ignoble sentiments; indeed, I will show you that a faunus from beyond the kingdoms may have as much gentleness about them as any noble in Mistral. Soteria is not for sale.”
Phoebe growled. “Soteria is-”
“If it were truly yours, it would be in your hand,” Sunset observed.
Phoebe leapt off the table on which she had been sitting. “Perhaps the Nikos family had the right to keep this blade for themselves,” she said, “but they certainly had no right to bestow it at will, and certainly not to a beast like you. That sword is mine, and I will have it.”
“I doubt that, my lady,” Sunset declared, for what could she do? Steal it? Perhaps, but Sunset would know exactly where it had gone, and she would have to leave Vale in order to escape; Sunset wasn’t sure exactly what being known as a thief – and a thief from the Nikos family at that – would do for her reputation back home in Mistral, but she trusted it would be nothing good. She could not get the blade unless Sunset relinquished it, and that she would not do.
Phoebe’s lips curled into a sneer. “We shall see,” she said, and thankfully, at this point, she decided to go, leaving Sunset alone once more. Except not completely, because she stopped and glanced back at Sunset over her shoulder. “You speak gently, it’s true, but you are not of the Nikos family. You are a hireling, nothing more, and little better than a slave. Think on that and upon the fate of my illustrious ancestor.” She snorted and disappeared into the darkness; the lights did not turn on for her, as though they could not sense her passing.
Sunset stared at her, brow furrowed. Lies. Lies and petty, empty words designed to wound her, the last shriek in retreat of someone who had failed to get their way.
And yet how many other Mistralians saw it so? They knew her not, they did not understand the terms of her arrangement with Lady Nikos… and yet, they judged her nonetheless.
It stuck in her craw.
Sunset shook her head. There were more important things to think of right now, by far: Professor Ozpin and his secrets and what plans he might have for Ruby.
Let’s be fair here; I don’t know for sure that he has any plans for Ruby.
He gave us a mission, sure, but he also gave a mission to Team YRDN, as was. Perhaps he means to ascend Yang or Nora.
That would be a mistake; Ruby’s worth ten of either of them… in every way other than fighting men, I suppose. Anyway, it would still be a mistake.
But that doesn’t mean that he won’t or isn’t making it.
If that was his plan, then Sunset was not so concerned; Ruby would probably find that a terrible thing to say, writing off her sister like that, but Yang… Yang didn’t seem driven to help others in the same way Ruby was; she might not find cloistered anonymity so wearing upon her spirit. The same could be said of Nora, with an added dash of Sunset not really caring a whit one way or another about Nora Valkyrie. She was genial company at lunch and dinner, to be sure, but Sunset felt no especial connection with her and no desire to protect her from the malice of their headmaster.
And yet, the fact that Professor Ozpin might be seriously considering her for ascension only served to reinforce Sunset’s view that this whole system was fundamentally broken. How could Nora deserve to ascend, or Yang for that matter? What had they done to prove themselves worthy of it?
I didn’t ask myself any of these questions before I demanded my ascension.
Shut up, me.
Sunset sighed and once more ran one hand through her hair. This was getting nowhere; she needed to get it out of her head, she needed… she needed to talk to Twilight about this, see what the magic obsessive thought about it all.
She needed to get some sleep.
Sunset gathered up her things and left the library, crossing the courtyard towards the dorms. She stopped for a moment, looking up at the tall tower that loomed above the rest of the school and the emerald lights that glimmered in the darkness.
What are you planning, old man?
What fate do you have in store for us?
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3 things. First I hope we get an alert or blog post when the old chapters that are getting added and rewritten are done. I love this story and plan to re-read it from the start when the rewrite is finished. Second I'm a bit surprised sunset didn't make the connection with the immortal man during this brainstorm. Wasn't that the story cinder wanted them to work on together? And third, the tranitions back to her thoughts were very swift and clean. That might have been done intentionally to show that the interruptions didn't really bother sunset but if they were meant to bother her, the conversations needed to stick around, possible as random interjections, or be hard to transition back to her flow of thought. Just some constructive critism. I really do love this story and want it to be the best it can.
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Rewrite and "old" new chapters are released the Monday, Wednesday and Saturday
The "new" new chapters are released the Thursday.
I didn't expected a chapter with Sunset so focus on the Lore research.
I think than depending of the situation, once the reveal about Ozpin is done, she would either understand and accept or be disgust and pissed off.
If i understand correctly, Sunset seem to think than Ruby would be one of the Four, I think than she would either see it like as bad or plain worse once she know than it's Pyrrha who is planned to be the Fall Maiden.
It's seem Weiss really don't know of the previous deal between Sunset and Cardin after the forest incident.
Honestly, I don't like this attitude of "Cardin is a racist, but..." of Weiss, I hope than she is the only one, the ones who pretend to give lessons of morals to those not morally worse annoy me, the apologists of the wicked disgust me, and the ones who are both are the worst of the two and make me furious, and while Weiss have (sort of) a reason to act like this, especially if Cardin hadn't talk of everything about the whole thing with Sunset, not only is she still in the wrong, but any others would be just awful.
However, Cardin had impress me, while Weiss was acting all high and mighty, he was simply honest and had admit his faults.
I never thought than i would like Cardin, and the idea liking it more than i like Weiss seem like a fantasy, but this chapter had proof me wrong, I don't know if i must be impress or be furious about what had been done with Weiss.
I think than i am both.
Bravo Scipio, this chapter was a surprising one, and more importantly, he was a good/great one.
The great thing is, I feel like if Sunset actually asked Ozpin what he was planning he would actually tell her... and there is a small part of Ozpin that is making bets on just how long Sunset is going to stew and seek out answers on her own before she just comes to him and asks.
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Well, except than it's Ozpin, so he would only said a part of the truth.
And let's be honest, Sunset had forgive Celestia for hiding things because the years in Remnant had affected her ego and also Celestia is her adoptive mother in all but name, and she miss her.
She is not going to trust Ozpin just because he would say a little part of the truth, she would need at least as much informations who were given to team RNJR to somewhat accept his version, and she would still be far from trusting.
Honestly not a fan of the last few rewrite chapters, why have Sunset release the audio to the news instead of just to Skystar? I assumed she wasn't mean or stupid enough not to realize the backlash Skystar would get from this, I mean her thoughts herself were letting Skystar know Cardins true self not humiliate her by having Skystar wake up to the press asking her why she is dating a racist.
Only thing I can think of is it was done for Weiss character development
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More to show that Cinder is having a malign influence on Sunset, making her meaner and more stupid.
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What is interesting is than Cinder had mostly say to Sunset to think of the consequences.
Cinder had never incite Sunset to talk to the press, it was Sunset choice when she was wondering alone if she should talk to Skystar.
This is also because of Blake unjust attitude, which make than Sunset didn't wanted to reveal herself, which talking to Skystar would had done
Edit : can people have guts and tell why they disagree with me instead of just leaving a dislike and say nothing ? It's really annoying.
I want to take this opportunity to give Scipio kudos for his writing on Sunset conflicting ideas, it is something that I don't see that frequently in stories and is always fun to read.
Sunset understands the logical reasons behind keeping the Maiden powers a secret, and is appalled of the brutality it can bring people to do, but as an Equestrian she is also against the idea of retracting a gift that can do so much good to the world. She resents someone keeping information from her thanks to her own experiences with Celestia, but she also loves Celestia dearly and is always willing to defend her actions. She wants glory to her and her friends, but she also wants safety.
So many ideas, each one justified but in conflict with each other, that has Sunset jump from one position to the other in her mind. And you can see this in many characters too, even if Sunset is the most obvious one. This is what makes chapters dedicated to the thought or conversations of characters so enjoyable in this story, and for me they are by far the best parts.
I for one am looking forward to seeing how Sunset deals with so much of Mistral’s upper class animosity towards her once she reunites with Pyrrha. She will be a changed person by then, but her sense of self-worth against injustice and elitist nobles will always remain.
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I will die on the hill that the one who leaked out the audio was dearest oldest Cinderp...
Very interesting to read what things Sunset is getting right and what wrong about Ozpin. Moreso, the fact that she did not consider Pyrrha or HERSELF a possible recipient. Her first thought was Ruby.
Phoebe here is making Cardin look like the parangon of virtue.
Say, how old do you envision Sunset to be? Canonically, there is a disparity between the ages of the characters on either side of the mirror. So was she here too a young adult in Equestria?
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She's 17 here and it's probably best if you don't really think about it too hard.
I love that Sunset degrades Ozpin for his arrogance in upholding a centuries old conspiracy solely on the merits that he's not immortal.
Also her defense of the idea of monarchy due to her only example of it being Celestia's reign. She can't accept the foibles of an inherited monarchy even if the history of Equestria gives her plenty of examples in such cases as Princess Platinum, Chancellor Puddinghead, Commander Hurricane and most notably Sombra, to say nothing of the innumerable examples Remnant has to offer that she might be less familiar with. Her ideal monarchy literally can't exist in the world she lives in outside of two cases, one of which already tried and failed, and the other of which is currently striving toward wiping out all life in a particularly grandiose suicide attempt.
Should be fun when Sunset finds out about Ozpin. I'm not sufficiently familiar enough with RWBY lore to know if anyone actually knows about Salem's endgame plans. I kind of doubt it's a well-known thing, since the rest of her inner circle doesn't seem particularly tired of life.
Anyway, back to summiting this mountain of a story, just had to pop out and chuckle at Sunset for a sec.
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Cardin, at least, has had the shock needed to get him thinking. Phoebe? Just imagine the dedicated breaking down and rebuilding it would take to straighten such a twisted soul...
You know, with how half of team Wisteria came to Sunset already, I would've expected Flash to show up next since the whole thing with Cardin and Skystar might reminded him of what happened between him and Sunset, and seeing as Sunset's changed, maybe he'd tried smoothing things over or restarting with her as friends.
Phoebe had the gall to demand (or try and buy) Soteria from Sunset? Not surprising, considering that girl is a stuck-up psycho...
Well, that all turned out better than expected.