• Published 31st Aug 2018
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SAPR - Scipio Smith



Sunset, Jaune, Pyrrha and Ruby are Team SAPR, and together they fight to defeat the malice of Salem, uncover the truth about Ruby's past and fill the emptiness within their souls.

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Looking Forward to Some Fun (Hoping All Our Friends Will Come) (Rewritten)

Looking Forward to Some Fun (Hoping All Our Friends Will Come)

“So,” Yang said, “is everyone looking forward to the dance this weekend?”

The long table was packed out that breakfast, with teams SAPR, YRBN, RSPT, SSSN, and WWSR all crammed in together, side by side or facing one another across the wooden surface. Nevertheless, in spite of the number of people present, there was no immediate response forthcoming.

Yang rolled her eyes. “Well, don’t everyone speak up at once.”

Pyrrha swallowed the bite of sausage upon which she had been chewing. “I’m looking forward to it, Yang; I’m sure that you and Sunset have done a wonderful job.”

Sunset snorted. “Of course you’re looking forward to the dance, you’re…” Sunset paused for a moment, looking up and down the table. “Are you and Jaune the only two people at this table with dates?”

Pyrrha’s cheeks flushed a rosy red. “Well, um...”

Jaune put his hand on top of hers. “That’s not really our fault, is it?”

“No, and I’m not saying it is your fault, although don’t think that I don’t notice that very subtle choice to emphasise how much more fortunate you are than the rest of us just now, Jaune Arc,” Sunset said sharply. “I’m just saying, it’s not surprising that you two are looking forward to this when you two are-”

“Don’t forget about Blake,” Sun reminded her.

“Blake has a date?” Sunset asked, in a tone that suggested that she had only pretended to forget instead of actually forgetting.

“Sunset,” Blake murmured, in a warning tone.

“Okay, okay,” Sunset said apologetically. “Although I actually did forget about the two of you. I feel like we don’t see you around much.”

“That’s because you only see me when I want you to see me,” Blake declared. “And I don’t want you to see us together.”

Sunset blinked.

Blake stared at her across the table, unblinking and unflinching.

“I… have no idea if you are being serious or not,” Sunset muttered.

Blake raised one eyebrow. The faintest shadow of a smile played across her lips.

“Sometimes,” Sunset said, “I think I liked you better when you were dour and miserable all the time.”

“I’ve got a date too,” Nora pointed out.

Sunset’s eyebrows rose. “Really?” she murmured. “Who is it?” she asked, not because she didn’t know – or couldn’t guess – the answer but because she thought it might be more fun to ask regardless.

“Ren,” Nora declared, as though that should have been obvious. Ren nodded silently.

Sunset leaned back a little, folding her arms. “I thought you two weren’t-”

“We’re not!” Nora squawked swiftly, before Sunset could finish. “We’re going to the dance together as friends.”

Once again, Ren nodded silently.

It was all Sunset could do not to roll her eyes. For Celestia’s sake, just admit it already. Everybody knows, and you’ll regret all of this playing coy when he sets his eyes on a girl who’s willing to give him what he needs with no messing around.

Yep, you’ll regret it for a long time to come.

Not that she cared about Nora, in the ordinary course of events, but if she really loved him, then she ought to show him somehow. Love… love was not the kind of thing that ought to be kept hidden away, locked in darkness. It deserved to bloom in sunlight, as all flowers did.

“So let me get this straight,” Weiss said. “You two-” – she pointed at Sunset and at Yang in quick succession – “-organised the dance?”

“Yep,” Yang replied. “Since Team Coffee were away longer than expected, we were asked to step in.”

“I hope they’re okay,” Blake murmured.

“Everyone knows they’re the best team in the sophomore year,” Jaune said. “I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

“If that’s so, then why aren’t they back yet?” Blake asked.

“Some missions turn out to be tougher than the intel made out,” Rainbow answered. “It doesn’t mean they won’t come out on top, especially if they really are Beacon’s best.”

“Are they, though?” Cardin asked.

Sunset’s eyes narrowed. “Is this somewhere you really want to go, Cardin?”

Cardin held up his hands. “I’m just saying, she couldn’t even-”

“Just drop it, okay?” Sunset advised him.

“There’s a difference between fighting grimm and standing up for yourself against a bully,” Blake said, adding a touch of extra venom to the last word. She glanced down the table at Rainbow Dash. “A lot of faunus think they have to mind their manners, don’t they?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, the word expelled quickly and sharply out of her mouth. “It’s… it’s the way to get by and not get labelled a troublemaker.”

“Well, in any case,” Weiss said, with the air of someone who is deliberately trying to change the subject, “I have a hard time imagining what something that you two organised together is going to look like.”

“It will either look like a masterfully blended fusion of traditional and modern, highbrow and… populist,” Sunset said. “Or it will be an incoherent mess; you’ll have to see for yourself which one it turns out to be.”

“Either one should be a lot of fun,” Yang assured them all. “Rainbow Dash, Sunset tells me the DJ went to Canterlot.”

“You got Vinyl Scratch?!” Rainbow demanded. “I didn’t even know she was here in Vale!”

“Well, she is, and she’s going to be here this weekend,” Yang announced. “One question, why did she want to know if she could get her car into the ballroom?”

“Because the car transforms into a sound system,” Twilight explained.

Yang stared at her. “You’re kidding.”

Twilight shook her head.

“Oh my god, you’re not even kidding,” Yang said. “Is that like mechashift technology?”

Twilight nodded. “About ten years ago, Atlesian scientists began to look at the idea of expanding the principles used in many weapons to other areas of life, with vehicles and even household appliances that transformed into completely different objects. The project never really got off the ground – in the end, nobody could really see the point of it – but it’s perfectly possible, and the concept is still practiced occasionally.”

“It may sound weird,” Rainbow conceded, “but trust us, Vinyl’s one of the best at what she does.”

“Popular music,” Ciel sighed.

“There’s also a string quartet; you’re welcome,” Sunset said.

“Ah,” Ciel said. “Much better.”

“Something for everyone,” Yang proclaimed brightly.

“You didn’t want a string quartet,” Sunset reminded her.

Yang shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I can’t take credit for the fact that we’ve got one.”

Sunset sighed.

“I think it’ll be great,” Flash said. “I can hardly wait.”

“I’ll bet you can’t,” Sunset chuntered under her breath, unable to resist because look at him, look at Weiss, look at the pair of them… sitting next to one another!

She recognised the way Flash looked at Weiss. He looked at Weiss the way that he’d once looked at Twilight, and what were the odds that Weiss would react the same way that Twilight had? Why wouldn’t she respond when Flash was so handsome and strong and kind and…?

Sunset felt her hand clench into a fist and had to consciously unclench it again and hope that no one noticed.

“Did you say something?” Weiss asked.

“No,” Sunset said quickly. “I didn’t say anything at all.”

“Personally, I’m excited to see what you girls look like all dressed up,” Neptune announced, flashing his teeth in a suspiciously sparkly grin.

Jaune looked at him suspiciously.

“Well, you won’t be seeing me,” Sunset announced, her decision catalysed by very recent events. “Because I’m not going.”

“'Not going'?” Yang repeated. “What do you mean you’re not going? It’s our party!”

“It’s not our party; it’s just a party that we organised,” Sunset replied. “It’s not like it’s my birthday or anything. Besides, party planners don’t usually attend the parties that they plan.”

Rainbow coughed. “Well, actually-”

“Pinkie Pie doesn’t count,” Sunset declared, cutting her off before she could make the inevitable objection.

“Why doesn’t Pinkie count?” Rainbow demanded.

“Because she’s not a real party planner!”

Rainbow scoffed. “In what world is Pinkie not a real party planner?”

“In this world where she doesn’t get paid for it,” Sunset said.

“Did you get paid to plan the Beacon dance?” Penny asked innocently.

“N- that is not the point!” Sunset snapped.

Penny cocked her head to one side. “Then what is the point?”

“The point is that I’m not going!” Sunset yelled, with more force than she had intended.

“But why not?” Ruby asked plaintively. “You have to go.”

“No,” Sunset said. “I don’t, actually.”

“It doesn’t say much for the quality of your party if even you don’t want to go to it,” Neptune observed.

“There is nothing wrong with our dance preparations,” Sunset insisted.

“Then why don’t you want to go?” inquired Blake.

“Because I… have better things to do than to be harangued about this, if you’ll excuse me,” Sunset said, picking up her tray and getting to her feet. “I will leave you to your anticipation in peace.” She started to walk away, her boots tapping up the cafeteria floor.

“But I made you a dress!” Ruby cried.

Sunset halted, wincing uneasily at the upset in Ruby’s voice. She didn’t want to offend Ruby, not in any way and certainly not by this boorish casting aside of her generosity, but… but she couldn’t watch them together. She couldn’t watch him with someone else.

And she knew that if she were there, then she wouldn’t be able to take her eyes off him.

“Then I’m sorry I wasted your time,” Sunset murmured, her tail curling upwards in embarrassment as she resumed her exit.


Ruby slumped down on the table, resting her chin upon one arm. “She really doesn’t want to go?”

“It’ll be alright, Ruby,” Penny said. “I’m sure that Sunset can wear your dress some other time.”

Ruby groaned. “That’s not really the point. I don’t understand! What’s gotten into her all of a sudden?”

Jaune thought that he had some idea, and it was all that he could do not to glower at Flash about it, but he didn’t want to say anything in front of so many people – he had an inkling that Sunset wouldn’t appreciate it if he did. “Sunset… is complicated,” he said. “You know that.”

“There’s still time for her to come around,” Pyrrha said.

“I guess,” Ruby murmured. “She can be pretty stubborn, though.”

“Don’t worry,” Yang said. “She will come around.” She got up. “I guarantee it.”

Ruby looked up at her elder sister nervously. “What are you going to do?”

“Nothing,” Yang replied. “I’m just going to give her a sympathetic ear.”

“Ear?” Blake repeated. “Or earful?”

Yang sniggered. “Whichever she needs more.”


Sunset blinked rapidly as she walked towards the dorm. That… might have been a mistake. Not deciding not to go to the dance, that had absolutely, one hundred percent, been the correct decision; no, she had no reservations about that… except for the fact that Ruby had seemed very disappointed about it, but even so…

No, what had been a mistake – probably – was storming off from breakfast like that. It almost guaranteed that people were going to keep on at her about it all day.

Plus… she was hungry.

Sunset blinked some more, wiping at her eyes with one hand. She wasn’t crying. She had not been reduced to watery eyes by the mere thought of Flash with someone else. She was not that pathetic.

Maybe she should go and find Cinder, the one person who probably wouldn’t tell her that she ought to go to the dance for spurious reasons.

“Sunset!”

Sunset sighed. Speaking of people telling me that I ought to go to the dance. She turned around to see Yang walking rapidly towards her, staying on just the right side of running.

Sunset sighed. “Yang-”

“You left Ruby feeling pretty down in the dumps back there,” Yang pointed out.

Sunset bit her lip. “That’s a bit of a below the belt opening, don’t you think?”

“Not if it’s true,” Yang said.

“Even if it is true, that doesn’t make it my fault,” Sunset said sharply. “Though… I’m sorry if she is upset; that wasn’t my intent. I don’t see why it’s a big deal to her, anyway. If it’s about the dress, then-”

“It’s not about the dress, although it is kind of a dick move to spring this on her after she finished it,” Yang pointed out.

“Then what is it about?”

Yang rolled her eyes. “It’s about the fact that you’re her friend and you being unhappy makes her unhappy!”

“Is she an empath?”

Yang snorted. “I’ve sometimes wondered that myself,” she admitted. She paused. “So why don’t you want to go to the dance?”

“In the first place, I don’t have to explain myself to you, and I will not,” Sunset declared. “And in the second place, as much as you have very common tastes, I don’t think you’re an idiot. You don’t need me to spell it out for you.”

“You do realise they’re not even dating, right?”

“He wants her,” Sunset insisted. “I know what it looks like when my boyfriend-”

“You do realise that he’s not your boyfriend anymore too, right?”

“I know what it looks like when he’s into someone else,” Sunset stated, rolling over Yang’s objection. “I’ve seen that look before; I know what it means. He’s into her, and… and why wouldn’t he be?” She walked away from Yang, just a few steps, and sat down at the edge of the fountain. “She’s rich and beautiful and popular-”

“Yeah, because you’re such a lonely outcast,” Yang muttered.

Sunset looked up at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you’re probably more popular than Weiss is, and I can’t believe that you still don’t get that,” Yang snapped. “Seriously, you’re almost as bad as Blake; no, strike that, you’re worse than Blake.”

“How am I worse than Blake?”

“Because Blake has good reasons for thinking like she does; what’s your excuse?” Yang demanded.

Sunset didn’t dignify that with a reply. She simply said, “I don’t want to see him with her. I will not suffer it.”

“So instead you’re going to… what?” Yang asked, as she sat down beside her. “Stay in the dorm room all night? Read in the library? Brood about the fact that you’re alone and imagine the two of them together instead of seeing it?”

Sunset was silent for a moment. “Probably that last one,” she admitted.

“Have you ever considered that maybe Weiss doesn’t want to date him?” Yang suggested.

“She’d be a fool not to,” Sunset muttered.

Yang whistled. “You had it bad, didn’t you? Don’t you?”

Sunset bowed her head, her ears drooping into her hair.

She felt a hand, Yang’s hand, upon her shoulder. “Listen… I don’t know what you and he were like. I didn’t know you back then… I’m not going to pretend I really know you now, and I don’t know him at all. Maybe he does like Weiss, maybe she even likes him. But what I do know is that there’s nothing you can do about any of that. You can’t stop him from moving on; you can’t stop him from being happy. If he wants to date Weiss, if he wants to take her to the dance, then there’s nothing you can do about that. All you can do… the only person you can choose for is yourself. You can’t stop Flash being happy, but you can stop yourself being happy. Or you can choose to be happy.”

Sunset snorted. “As if it were that easy.”

“No, it isn’t always easy, but it's possible,” Yang declared. “I do it.”

Sunset looked at her.

“Yeah, that’s right; you think this smile gets here naturally all the time?” Yang asked. “I work at this. I choose this. I choose this instead of…”

Sunset waited for a moment. “Instead of what?”

Yang grinned. “No offence, Baconhair, but we don’t know each other well enough for that.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Sunset admitted. “If we were, you wouldn’t still be calling me that atrocious nickname.”

Yang laughed. “The point is that it’s a choice. You can let what other people did to you, the way they’ve hurt you, you can let all of that push you down into the dirt, you can let it take you over, you can… you can let them win. Or you can move forward and find something better.

“You are so lucky, Sunset Shimmer,” Yang went on. “I’m Blake’s team leader now, but you and she share a bond I’m not sure that I’ll ever have, especially not if she goes to Atlas at the end of this year. You’ve got four friends who would die for you – and yes, that includes Blake. I see the way that Ruby looks at you, and I… the point is that you have so much to be grateful for, to be happy about. You don’t need this guy! Come to the dance, show him that he can’t keep hurting you.”

Sunset smiled wryly. “And make Ruby happy?”

“Well, yeah,” Yang admitted. “That too.”

Sunset looked away. Yang… Yang was right. She couldn’t stop Flash from getting together with Weiss, any more than she could have stopped him getting together with Twilight. She couldn’t control him any more; she couldn’t dictate how he lived or what happened to him. The only person Sunset was hurting was herself. As painful as that, in itself, was to admit.

Maybe Flash would notice that she was there, maybe it would prove something to him, or maybe he wouldn’t give a damn. But it might matter to Sunset herself, and that… maybe that would… it might help.

And… and it would make Ruby happy. And wasn’t that the important thing, in the end? Ruby had looked forward to this, she had slaved over this making dresses for Sunset and everyone else, what right did Sunset have to rain on that by being miserable? What right did she have to be a black cloud over Jaune and Pyrrha’s evening?

What right did she have to spread her unhappiness around?

None at all.

It would make Ruby happy; then so be it.

“Okay,” she said. “I will go to the dance.”

Yang nodded approvingly. “You won’t regret it,” she said. “I promise.”


Lyra leaned forwards across the table, glancing sideways to where the various members of the cool kids’ table got up from where they’d been sitting.

The presence of Rainbow Dash and Twilight meant that Lyra couldn’t help but be reminded of Canterlot. There had been a cool kids’ table there, as well: centred on Rainbow and Twilight and their friends.

She could picture it clearly in her mind’s eye: Rarity in her improbable outfits, Applejack with her countryisms, the way that Pinkie would so often have new cakes she was eager for everyone to try.

The difference between then and now… well, there were two differences between then and now, to Lyra’s mind: the first of which was the cool kids of Beacon were, on balance, a lot less fun than they had been in Canterlot. The other was that Sunset Shimmer would never have gotten within a mile of the cool table at Canterlot, but now, she was the queen of it, even more than Rainbow or Twilight. Those two had ruled Canterlot, without seeming to realise it half the time, but now, they orbited about Blake, who was joint consort with Sunset, the twin suns around whom all others revolved.

Blake, Lyra was almost certain, didn’t realise that fact; Lyra would be astonished if Sunset hadn’t noticed yet.

Of course, back in those days of Canterlot, they – her and Bon Bon – had gotten close to the cool table upon occasion. No chance of that now. Not after the way they’d treated Blake.

And, to be honest, after the way that Sunset had treated her too; even if Blake’s friends were willing to bury the hatchet, Lyra wondered if Bon Bon would be willing to do the same.

All of this might make it sound as though Lyra was watching them all enviously. Nothing could have been further from the truth. She was watching them, solely to see what would be the best chance for catching Ciel Soleil alone.

“Now,” she urged. “Go now!”

“She’s not alone now,” Dove protested.

“She’s as alone as she’s going to get,” Lyra insisted, looking around at her teammate and her friend, sat across the table from her. “Sunset’s gone, Yang’s gone, Twilight’s going to talk to Neptune, and Rainbow is following her; the rest of Team Iron and Team Sun are pulling away. Seriously, now is your best chance.”

Dove sighed. “This isn’t a very good idea.”

“It was your idea!” Bon Bon cried from where she sat next to him.

“No, it wasn’t!” Dove hissed.

“You said that you’d go out with her!” Lyra reminded him.

“You wouldn’t let up until I I picked someone that I might like to go to the dance with,” Dove reminded them.

“If we had let up, you wouldn’t have chosen,” Lyra pointed out.

“Because I didn’t want to choose!” Dove whispered sharply. He looked down at the table. “I just… will you please just leave it be? You don’t… it’s not like it’s compulsory to have a date for the dance.”

Lyra sighed. “It’s not about the dance, Dove. It’s about you.”

Bon Bon placed one hand on his shoulder. “I know – we both know – that Amber meant a lot to you, but she’s not here, and nobody knows where she is.”

“Not the professors, not any of the students,” Lyra added. “We put up those fliers in Vale, and nobody responded. Amber… she’s gone, Dove.” She would never say so, because it would seem cruel to compare Dove’s plight to a song, but it put Lyra in mind of the tale of the Mid-Winter Bride, a popular traditional song for the holidays, about the bride who disappeared on her wedding night and was never seen again.

‘Wherever he went, the children cried,

“The old man weeps for his fairy bride!”’

Lyra didn’t want that for Dove, and after talking it over with Bon Bon, her friend didn’t want that for Dove either. He was… he was one of the good ones, better than either of them really deserved, and he certainly deserved better than to grow old waiting for some girl who would never show; or worse, become so stricken with grief that he would throw himself headfirst into the battle and die, as the heartbroken groom did in some versions of the tale – Lyra had done some research into the truth behind the legend, and she was convinced to her own satisfaction that the true bride had been a Mistralian lady of high rank and that her husband had indeed gone to his death in battle not long after.

She didn’t want that for Dove. They didn’t want that for Dove. He deserved better than that.

Hence the dance, which had seemed the perfect time to ease Dove into the idea of seeing other people and moving on.

She had to admit, she wasn’t sure why he had, under duress, chosen Ciel Soleil; she seemed rather stiff and awkward to Lyra, but then, she had to admit that Dove could be pretty stiff and awkward himself sometimes. It was part of his charm.

“You can’t wait forever,” Bon Bon said.

“It’s only been a few months.”

“She’s gone, Dove,” Lyra insisted. “And if she cared about you at all, then she wouldn’t want you to waste your time pining away for her. And it’s not like we’re proposing that you, well, propose to Ciel. Just ask her to the dance. One night of fun. That’s all it is.” Although, hopefully, he would get a taste for it which would lead to more.

“And if you’re going to do it, do it quickly,” Bon Bon said.

Dove glanced at Ciel as she and her cohorts left the room. “She is… if I hadn’t… she is-”

“Hot?” Sky suggested.

Lyra and Bon Bon both gave him what Lyra’s grandmother would have called an old-fashioned look, while Dove said, “Don’t be vulgar, please. She is… a very gentle person. But she must have a partner for the dance already.”

“Nope,” Lyra said. “I asked around.” Thankfully, for all that she thought Lyra was odd and Bon Bon was a racist, Yang was sufficiently fond of Dove to tell Lyra what she needed to know about the state of play amongst the in-crowd. It was amazing how few of them had dates.

Bon Bon leaned forwards. “It would be such a shame for someone like that to have to go to the dance alone, don’t you think?”

Dove’s back straightened. It was almost sad how easily he could be manipulated by so simple a play upon his chivalry, but it was in his own best interests, and it wasn’t as if Bon Bon would ever use that to get to him to do anything damaging.

“Yes,” he declared. “Yes, it would.” He took a deep breath. “Very well,” he said. “I will… I will ask her. Excuse me, ladies, Sky.”

He got up from the table and began to march with certain tread and resolute purpose across the dining hall in Ciel’s footsteps.

Lyra and Bon Bon high-fived across the table as they watched him go.

“I don’t see you two offering to help me get a date,” Sky grumbled.

“You don’t need the help,” Lyra told him.

“Obviously, I do, since I haven’t got a date,” Sky replied.

“Okay, maybe you need help, but you don’t need it,” Lyra replied. “Dove… it’s important that he starts moving on.”

“Important for who?” Sky asked.

“Important for Dove!” Lyra answered.

“My love life is important to me!” Sky protested.

“Hush, you,” Bon Bon snapped. “You know what we mean. It isn’t healthy for him to keep brooding on Amber. He needs to keep moving forward.”

Lyra nodded. “There’s one thing I don’t get, though,” she said.

“What?” Bon Bon asked.

“How Amber could just break his heart like that,” Lyra murmured. “I mean, he’s such a great guy. How could she take his heart and step on it that way?”

Bon Bon was quiet, silent even, at least for a while. “I… I don’t know,” she admitted. “Sometimes… life… stuff happens, and it isn’t always good, and it isn’t always stuff we can control. Sometimes, things happen, and our lives change in ways we never could have imagined.”


Rainbow looked down at her scroll as she leaned against the wall, her left foot raised to tap lightly upon the stonework behind her.

“So, is it really unusual for the girl to ask the guy to the dance?” she asked.

“It’s certainly not unheard of, in these progressive and enlightened times,” Rarity replied from out of the scroll, “but it certainly isn’t traditional. But then, Twilight has never been an entirely traditional girl, has she?”

“She isn’t you, if that’s what you mean,” Rainbow replied. Sometimes, she thought that Twi and Rarity might have been switched at birth, what with how Canterlot-born Rarity acted like some high class Atlas girl and Twilight – an actual high class Atlas girl – acted like a normal person who happened to be very smart.

“Traditional ladies didn’t work, darling,” Rarity informed her dryly. “They had rich husbands.”

Rainbow grinned. “Thought about that yourself?”

Rarity smiled. “I am determined that nothing but the very deepest love shall induce me into matrimony, and by the time that such arrives, I intend to have money enough for both of us. Or I shall end an old maid and teach Twilight’s children to embroider bows and flowers onto collars and bodices and enunciate their words with perfect diction.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Speaking of work, I’m not keeping you, am I?”

“I should tell you if you were, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity informed her. “No, I’m on break at the moment.” She paused. “So, what’s he like?”

“Who?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Neptune Vasilias! Twilight’s beau! Darling, you must give me details!”

Rainbow hesitated, struggling to come up with words to sum up Neptune Vasilias. “He’s… he looks surprisingly like Flash.”

“Really?” Rarity replied, one eyebrow arching. “Perhaps Twilight had more interest in him than she admitted at the time.”

Rainbow frowned. “Then why didn’t she just go for it?”

“Perhaps she didn’t want to upset Sunset?” Rarity suggested. “Perhaps she felt that Flash’s interest was not coming from a true or healthy place, what with his recent breakup and all. Or perhaps it’s simply a coincidence. Is he a good man?”

“Flash or Neptune?”

“I’m beginning to suspect that you’re being deliberately obtuse, darling.”

“He’s… okay, I guess.” Rainbow murmured. “He thinks he’s cooler than he is, which isn’t hard, because he’s not at all cool, even if he can do that flashy ping thing with his teeth.”

“Well, not everyone can be as awesome as you, darling.”

“I know that, but he’s not even close,” Rainbow replied.

“Is he perhaps self-aware?”

“Huh?”

“Nothing, darling, nothing at all,” Rarity said airily.

“I guess he’s a nice guy, and I don’t think he’ll hurt her or anything,” Rainbow admitted. “I just… I don’t see what she sees. I don’t see that there’s anything there.”

“Hmm,” Rarity murmured. “Obviously, I’m not there to judge for myself, but… you don’t think it will last, then?”

“No,” Rainbow said. “Should it?”

“Probably not, at our age,” Rarity admitted. “Although, didn’t you tell me that your new friends at Beacon seem rather serious?”

Rainbow nodded. “Jaune and Pyrrha,” she said. “They-” Twilight walked past, alone, her shoulders slumped and her head bowed, her hands clasped together in front of her. Her steps were slow, and the toes of her shoes scuffed the ground as she walked, as if her feet were a little too heavy for her to pick up properly.

“Rainbow Dash?” Rarity called. “Is something wrong?”

“Maybe,” Rainbow said. “I’m going to have to call you back, ok?”

“Of course, darling,” Rarity agreed. “Speak to you soon!”

“Later,” Rainbow said, as she hung up and tucked her scroll away, walking towards Twilight as she did so. With Twilight moving the way she was, it didn’t take Rainbow long at all to catch up with her. “Twi?” she asked anxiously. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Twilight murmured disconsolately.

“Yeah, right,” Rainbow replied. “Come on, Twi, what’s up all of a sudden?”

Twilight mumbled something inaudible.

Rainbow leaned closer to her. “What?”

“He said no,” Twilight repeated, loud enough for Rainbow to hear this time.

“WHAT?” Rainbow yelled, loud enough to turn several heads. She winced and started whispering. “What do you mean 'he said no'?”

Twilight looked at her. “It’s just what it sounds like. Neptune… he didn’t want to go to the dance with me.”

“Seriously?” Rainbow said. She didn’t ask why, or if Neptune had given any reason, because none of that mattered. All that mattered was that he was a jerk and that Twilight was upset. She reached out, wrapping one arm around Twilight’s shoulders and pulling her into a warm embrace. “I’m sorry, Twi.” She paused. “You want me to kick his ass?”

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight replied reproachfully. “It’s not his fault.”

“Yeah, it is,” Rainbow declared. She bent her head and kissed Twilight on top of her head. “Any guy who cannot see how great you are-”

“I’m sure he had his reasons,” Twilight interrupted.

Rainbow snorted. “This is why you’re so special, Twi; the guy broke your heart, and now, you’re defending him.”

“He did not break my heart,” Twilight insisted. “It wasn’t like we were serious or anything.” She paused. “In fact… this is probably a good thing.”

“Twilight,” Rainbow said. “You don’t have to-”

“I’m serious,” Twilight insisted. “With everybody at the dance and the CCT closed, I bet if I talk to the General, I can get permission to work there while it’s empty. Using the processing power of the tower’s mainframe, I might finally be able to trace whoever released that video of Blake.”

“Oh, yeah, that,” Rainbow said. The truth was that she had almost forgotten about that, but it would be useful information to have, especially since their other leads into the White Fang had all run into dead ends. Plus, if Twilight wanted to bury herself in work after the embarrassment of getting turned down, then who was Rainbow to argue with that? It would save her bumping into Neptune. “Yeah, I’m sure the General would be fine with that, if you’re okay with missing the dance?”

“Missing what?” Twilight asked. “Standing around awkwardly on the edge of the room?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Rainbow murmured. “I kind of have to show my face on account of being the team leader and all, but how about I slip away early and come join you in the tower? With no one looking, we can do that dorky dance of yours.”

Twilight looked up at her. “Really? You hate that.”

“I pretend to, where people can see me,” Rainbow corrected her. “It’s… actually kind of fun.”

Twilight giggled. “Okay then, I’ll talk to the General; with luck, we can have a little fun and get some good news for Blake.”

“Okay,” Rainbow said. “Listen, Twilight, I’m still-”

“It’s fine,” Twilight insisted. “There are more important things. Honestly? If I can finally trace that message and find who wanted Blake out of the way, then Neptune turning me down might just turn out to be a blessing in disguise.”


"You will note," Sunset said, as she and Cinder sat in the front row of the upper gallery of the amphitheatre, watching Pyrrha spar against Mercury Black. A smirk played across her face, and the leather of her jacket sleeves squeaked a little as she folded her arms. "That there are any number of snide comments that I could be making about your teammate right now, but that I am not making any of them because I am a classy lady who respects the team leader code."

Cinder matched Sunset's smirk with one of her own. Her words were preceded out of her throat by a deep, rich chuckle. "Is that so? You think there's some fault to be found with Mercury's performance?"

"You don't?" Sunset asked, mildly incredulous. "Pyrrha's kicking his ass."

"True," Cinder allowed. "But he is fighting the Invincible Girl, so I can't hold that against him."

Sunset shrugged; Cinder had just let her know that she, Sunset, wouldn't be allowed to hold it against him either any more than Sunset permitted any derogatory remarks about Jaune. And it wasn't as though there wasn't a point there: Pyrrha had a habit of making her opponents look like chumps by comparison. The fact that Mercury struggled to land so much as a hit on her didn't make him any different from any of her other opponents.

If she'd been feeling generous, she might even have been willing to concede that he was doing better than some.

"So," Cinder murmured, "are you looking forward to the dance this weekend?"

"I..." Sunset hesitated. She decided not to admit that she had very nearly not gone over fears she would have to watch her ex being happy with someone else. "It'll be alright, I suppose."

"Hmm, it's good that you're not getting your hopes up too high," Cinder said. "Nights like these... they're never as good as you think that they're going to be. As the moment creeps closer, your expectations build up and up, climbing higher than the clouds, higher than the tallest tower in Mistral; you imagine all the wonders that are waiting for you, all the delights that you'll sample, all of the attention you'll receive... all the happiness that you'll experience. You convince yourself that all your dreams are about to come true, and you'll be... and then the moment comes, and your fantasies make contact with reality: mundane, banal... and invariably disappointing. Don't get your hopes up, Sunset; it's the only way to avoid crashing down into despair."

Sunset stared at the other team leader in silence for a moment. "We're not still talking about the school dance, are we?"

"We're talking about absolutely everything," Cinder said. "Nothing you can ever do, nowhere you can ever go, is ever quite as wonderful as you dreamed it would be; it might be pleasant, you might even like it, but it will never wholly match the thing you built in your heart while you waited for it, planned for it, worked for it. And besides, it's the moment when all your hopes and dreams have been raised to their highest...that they are most vulnerable to being shattered, and your heart with them."

Sunset's eyebrows rose. "So...you're not looking forward to the dance, I take it?"

"Did I say that?" Cinder asked.

"...Pretty much, yeah."

"I’m sure you’ve done your best,” Cinder allowed. “You and, um… Bang?”

“Yang.”

“If you say so,” Cinder murmured. “Yes, as I was saying, I’m sure that you’ve produced something… well, you know I probably shouldn’t say this, but I have some hope that by the end of the night, we’ll have had some real fun.”

“What happened to not getting your hopes up?”

“It seems I’m an incurable optimist,” Cinder confessed. “One who can’t escape the feeling that, somehow, things are about to start going my way.”

Author's Note:

Rewrite Notes: This chapter has been almost completely rewritten, because so much of what was in it originally (the conflict between Pyrrha and her mother, for instance) has been covered off earlier. Only the ending conversation between Cinder and Sunset remains consistent, with only minor edits.

Instead we continue to ramp up towards next chapter's dance, and put the pieces in place for what is to come.

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