Sunset in Splendour (Rewritten)
Sunset in Splendour
Pyrrha was waiting in the dorm room as Sunset strode in, back straight and head held high, with an expression on her face as proud as a queen.
Pyrrha got slowly to her feet. The dorm was empty apart from the two of them, which was for the best as far as Pyrrha was concerned. She had overreacted, she could see that now; she had allowed her unfamiliarity with the way that… more ordinary people did things to lead her astray. Sunset was not blameless, but after what Nora had helped her to realise and in light of the way that the situation had been allowed to escalate… Pyrrha had decided that it would be best to be the bigger person and apologise. If they could only put this business behind them, then perhaps they could go back to how things had been before, to the way they had almost been pleasant immediately after being put on the same team together.
“Sunset-“ she began.
Sunset held up one hand for quiet.
Pyrrha hesitated, unsure of where this was going. What did Sunset intend to say to her in turn? Had she some fresh invective to pour on Pyrrha’s head. How much would she have to endure?
Sunset took pause awhile, and in her pause, her regal pride seemed to crack and crumble. She folded her arms, and her chin descended, and she looked less self-assured, with more surliness in her expression than anything else.
She snorted out of her nose like a bull, and for a few moments longer, she said nothing.
“I don’t know why you came here, to Beacon,” Sunset said. “Not surprising, we haven’t talked much.”
It took Pyrrha a moment to realise that Sunset was asking the question in expectation of an answer from her. “I… I came here to learn how to protect the world.”
Sunset snorted, sounding very much like a horse as she did so. “I came here for fame.”
“I see,” Pyrrha murmured.
Sunset stared at her for a moment, before a smirk crossed her lips. “It’s kind of funny when you think about it: I’d love to be you, and you probably wouldn’t mind being me… actually, maybe not. I suppose…”
Pyrrha took a deep breath. “Sunset, I-“
“No.”
Pyrrha blinked. “No?”
“No, I’m not going to mouth some apology, kiss and make up, and pretend that everything’s okay, and neither are you; that doesn’t…” Sunset trailed off again. Her jaw tightened, and her head rose as she pointed at Pyrrha. “Pyrrha Nikos, I challenge you to a duel.”
Pyrrha’s eyebrows rose. “'A duel'?”
Sunset smirked. “Why so surprised? It’s still legal in Mistral, right?”
“Yes, it is, but… as you reminded me, we’re not in Mistral.”
“It’s in the school rules too; I checked,” Sunset insisted. “I have the right to challenge you to answer my grievance in the ring of honour. I need to get this out of my system, and so do you.”
Pyrrha was not so sure of that, although she had to admit that there was a certain appeal to it. As she had told Ruby, she only ever really felt herself when she was in combat, and she had always spoken better with Miló than she had with her tongue. And Sunset was right, it was the Mistralian way of settling these things. But Sunset was not Mistralian, and there was no guarantee that she would feel, as any true Mistralian would, like walking away at the end of the fight content that honour had been satisfied, whatever the results. That cut to the heart of Pyrrha’s great concern: that if she and Sunset fought, then there was absolutely no way that Sunset could win. She was not bad, but she was nowhere near Pyrrha’s own level of prowess. What did she hope to gain, then, by this? Would this not serve simply to make her resent Pyrrha all the more?
“I’m not sure that-“
“Hey!” Sunset snapped. “Don’t pity me and don’t take me lightly. I’ll give you a good run for it, I swear. There’s a lot of me you haven’t seen yet.”
Pyrrha’s eyes narrowed. She could believe that, if only because there was a lot of Pyrrha that the world hadn’t seen yet either. Was Sunset, like her, hiding a particularly powerful semblance? Was she holding back in Professor Goodwitch’s class in order to surprise her opponents at the Vytal Festival?
Of course, there was also the possibility that Sunset was lying about this, but Pyrrha doubted it. It wouldn’t avail her anything to make herself out to be more powerful than she was when the proof of it would be easy to see in the arena. If she really was hiding something, then Pyrrha had to confess that a part of her, the part of her that had once thrilled to the feeling of stepping into the arena, that had considered it a world entire and to itself, was intrigued at the possibility. Perhaps Sunset was hiding gifts so great that she might actually challenge Pyrrha.
Certainly, there was a look in Sunset’s eyes, a warrior look, a look that was proud but not boastful, confident but for good reason. It was the look of someone who honestly expected that they could win.
A look that Pyrrha hadn’t seen in the eyes of her opponents for some time. Even in Arslan’s eyes, that look was beginning to fade away. Pyrrha didn’t realise how much she’d missed that look until she saw it in the eyes of Sunset Shimmer.
That would be something to look forward to. No one had seriously challenged her in quite some time.
She smiled. “Very well. I accept your challenge, Sunset Shimmer. I look forward to meeting you in more straightforward circumstances.”
Sunset’s smirk broadened. “Oh, it’s going to be great, I promise.”
Pyrrha finished strapping on her greaves, the last piece of her armour to be applied. She was armed now, and well prepared for anything that Sunset might throw at her. The weight of armour and weapons alike was reassuring. She didn’t have to worry about her lack of skill with words or her lack of understanding of so many things that others took for granted. Here, she could speak with Miló and listen with Akoúo̱ and be well understood by all who witnessed it.
She stood up. It seemed to her that passing from the locker room into the arena was like being born: you began in darkness, alone, unknown, unnoticed, and then you walked out of the dark corridor and into the light, where a whole world was waiting to receive you and acclaim you.
As Pyrrha walked through the dark corridor, she thought to herself that she would rather have been ‘born’ alone and unnoticed. She would have liked for this contest between Sunset and herself to have remained a private matter, watched only by Ruby and Jaune. But that was impossible, not least because they needed to get permission from a professor to use the hall outside of class time, and they also needed a professor – or at least a qualified referee – to supervise the fight.
That role was generously being filled by Professor Goodwitch, who was not given to gossip, but nevertheless, the fact that they had booked the hall was not a secret, and word had gotten around. Word about a Pyrrha Nikos fight always seemed to get around; Pyrrha was sure that she could have gone to an illicit fighting den in Vale’s seediest district, and there would have been a reporter waiting for her when she got there. And so, as Pyrrha walked out of the dark corridor and into the light, as she was figuratively born clad in armour and armed for war, she was greeted by a great cheer from people watching from the bleachers, waves of upon waves of applause descending upon her head.
When she was young – when she was younger than she was now – that acclaim had delighted her. She had revelled in it, and in the revelling known herself to be almost as alive as when she fought.
It did not delight her now. It felt like a long time since she had truly earned it. So many effortless victories, so many opponents who could barely touch her even without the use of her semblance. If Sunset had something up her sleeve… Pyrrha found that she hoped the other girl did.
She hoped - a vain hope perhaps, but nonetheless – that this bout might give her cause to recall why she had once loved this.
Sunset had changed in her dorm room and then waited back in the first-year locker room for the time to come. She was not alone. Ruby was with her, fidgeting with her hands and looking wildly this way and that as Sunset got dressed.
Sunset pulled on her jacket. “Do you have something to say to me, Ruby?”
“I just… I’m sorry about the fight,” Ruby murmured, “but Jaune was in trouble, and I couldn’t just leave him there.” She smiled, or tried to. “I know how tough Yang can be, and I know how she never lets up.”
“Your sister…” Sunset trailed off, because the truth was that Yang scared her a little bit, but she wasn’t willing to admit that. Not least because it would probably get back to Yang, and Sunset wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction. “I didn’t get the chance to explain my plan, but I was going to sacrifice Jaune just to keep Yang busy for a bit.”
“Really?” Ruby exclaimed. “But that’s terrible. I know he’s not that strong, but he’s still a member of our team.”
“Sometimes a pawn has to be sacrificed to win the game.”
“But Jaune’s not a fish; he’s a person!”
It took Sunset a moment to work out what Ruby meant. “I said pawn, not prawn.”
“Oh, you mean like those magazines Yang thinks I don’t know about? But what does-?“
“No, not that either!” Sunset said. “Just forget it.”
“Okay,” Ruby said quietly. “I just… I’m sorry about all this. It’s my fault that everyone found out about what was going on between you and Pyrrha. It’s just that I tell Yang everything, and I didn’t think that anybody would-“
“It doesn’t matter,” Sunset said. She grinned at her young partner. “If you’ve been beating yourself up about it these last few days, you can stop. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“Really?” Ruby exclaimed. “But… everyone hates you!”
“So?” Sunset responded. “They probably hated me anyway, and it’s not like I need their good opinion for anything.”
Ruby frowned. “Why do you always act like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like… it’s not even that you don’t have any friends; it’s like you don’t want any.”
Sunset smirked. “I don’t need them,” she said. “I drink milk.”
Ruby flushed as red as her name. “You… you heard that?”
“Yup.”
“Well, what I meant was that I… that doesn’t mean that I don’t want any friends,” Ruby protested. “I just meant that I… I don’t even know what I meant. Why are you doing this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… no offence, you were good when we fought Torchwick, but… it’s Pyrrha.”
“Yeah, and I’m Sunset Shimmer,” Sunset replied. “It’s time the world realised what that meant.” She turned to go.
“Wait, what about your gun?” Ruby asked, pointing to Sol Invictus propped up against the wall.
Sunset glanced over her shoulder, first at the weapon and then at Ruby. “I don’t need it.” Or rather, it wouldn’t do her any good to take it with her anyway. She couldn’t beat Pyrrha Nikos with Pyrrha’s own weapons, the weapons of a warrior in which the Princess Without a Crown had been training her entire life. In order to win, she would need to use the weapons of Sunset Shimmer, mind and magic in which she had trained for her whole life. It would mean revealing a lot more of her power than she had thus far, but Sunset judged the risk well worth the prize. She had to do something to prove that she was not a thing to be taken lightly, and she had to do something to start impressing people in a way she just wasn’t going to manage with her above-average huntress skills in a year that had people like Pyrrha and Ruby in it.
She was not - probably would never be - a truly great huntress using simply her weapons and her aura. Even if she discovered her semblance, unless it turned out to be something particularly badass, it probably wouldn’t be enough to put her in the top tier.
But she was a unicorn archmage, and if she wasn’t quite able to complete one of Starswirl’s unfinished spells, then she was still one of the most gifted unicorns to pass through Celestia’s tutelage.
You have to own what you got, that was what she’d said to Twilight. Well, what Sunset had more than anything else was magic, and it was about time that she owned that, even in Remnant.
This was not a world to hide virtues in. The world to hide virtues in did not exist.
Thus, Sunset strutted out of the locker room and onto the stage.
Pyrrha stood on the other side, armed and armoured, unaffected by the cheers of the crowd.
Professor Goodwitch coughed. “Miss Shimmer, you seem to have forgotten something.”
“I’ve decided to fight without a weapon, professor,” Sunset replied. “I have that right.”
Professor Goodwitch’s eyebrows rose. “This is very unusual, Miss Shimmer-“
“But not wholly unprecedented,” Professor Ozpin declared, suddenly appearing by the side of Professor Goodwitch. He sipped from his mug of cocoa. “As you say, you have the option. But are you sure that this is the wisest choice, Miss Shimmer?”
His words hung pregnant in the air between them for a moment as the headmaster’s eyes bored into her, ferreting out the heart of her mystery even as his words conveyed more than they said.
He wanted her to be careful. He wanted her to reconsider, though Sunset did not know why. But she was beyond all care and caution. This was her moment; she could not throw it away by languishing in half-measures.
She looked away. “I’m quite sure, Professor.”
“Very well then. So be it.”
Pyrrha’s expression was inscrutable at this distance. It was impossible to tell what she thought about it.
Just so long as you don’t hold back.
“Are both combatants ready?”
“One moment, please, Professor,” Pyrrha said, and she straightened up and bowed to Sunset.
For a moment, Sunset was puzzled; she never seen that during combat class. But of course, this wasn’t just a sparring match, was it? This was a duel, fought under the code of honour.
Sunset smiled, and it was almost genuine, as she bowed to Pyrrha in return.
Pyrrha nodded approvingly as she straightened her back. Then, like water, she flowed into a combat stance, legs bent and poised to pounce like a big cat, shield held before her. “I’m ready,” Pyrrha declared.
Sunset turned her collar up, and spaced her legs more evenly apart. “I’m ready, Professor.”
Professor Goodwitch’s voice rang out across the hall. “Begin!”
Pyrrha charged, her burnished shield before her as her swift feet carried her across the stage to the cheers of the onlookers.
Sunset crossed her arms before her and conjured a glowing green shield around her.
Pyrrha’s face showed nothing but concentration on the battle as, without a word or sound, not even a shout, she pushed outwards with her shield and slashed wildly with her sword at Sunset’s shield.
The blade skittered harmlessly off the magical barrier. Pyrrha’s eyes gleamed as she switched her weapon into spear form and reversed her grip for a thrust.
Sunset grinned as he flung her hands outwards. Instantly, the shield erupted, the energy of the barrier exploding like a shockwave which tossed Pyrrha backwards across the stage like a rag doll thrown aside by a spoiled brat. The crowd gasped as the Champion of Mistral hit the floor and skidded backwards a few feet until she leapt in a fluid flip back to her feet. Pyrrha’s spear changed into a rifle with which she fired three quick shots at Sunset.
Sunset teleported out of the way, moving herself a few feet to the left with her hands flung outwards. Power was gathered at her fingertips; she’d practiced this until it was almost as easy as it would have been with a horn. From all ten fingers, she fired off bursts of green energy at Pyrrha. Pyrrha rolled aside, deflecting some of the blasts with her shield even as she used said shield as a rest for her rifle. She fired again. This time, Sunset wasn’t fast enough to teleport away, and the shot struck her in the shoulder, bearing her to the ground. She winced once as she was hit - it felt like being hit by an ursa’s paw - and a second time as she hit the ground beneath her.
The instant she hit the ground, Pyrrha was on her, her spear descending straight for Sunset’s heart. Sunset rolled and teleported again, this time just above and behind Pyrrha. She fired a burst of energy from her open palm. Pyrrha rolled to avoid it, and so nimble was she and so swift that she nearly dodged it despite the point-blank nature of the distance. Part of the stage floor exploded as Pyrrha, struck in the side, was turned around like a spinning top, but as she turned, she had the presence to extend her shield arm and raised her shield to strike Sunset, in turn, a glancing blow upon the face.
Sunset hit the floor face first and scrambled to her feet. She was breathing heavily now, sweat was coating her brow and running down her back, making her top stick to her skin. She had to get up before Pyrrha could recover or-
Of course, who am I dealing with here? The thought, rather unhelpful, ran through Sunset’s mind as Pyrrha was on her. She kicked Sunset up and then struck with her shield, so hard that Sunset not only hit the ground but shattered it beneath her. Sunset grabbed hold of the pieces of broken floor with telekinesis, hurling them upwards above her. She was rewarded by the sound of them hitting what could only be her tenacious opponent.
She teleported again - I can’t keep doing this – and added a touch of the reverse gravity spell to keep her hovering overhead, suspended twenty feet above the stage near the ceiling. In spite of the pounding in her heart, in spite of the sweat, in spite of the shaking weariness in her limbs, Sunset did her best to keep a calm, serene look on her face. She didn’t dare let Pyrrha know how close she was to losing. She didn’t dare take her eyes off Pyrrha long enough to check their aura levels.
Pyrrha stood, waiting expectantly. It almost looked as though she was smiling.
Sunset grinned right back. And for my next trick. She spread her arms out wide on either side of her and conjured up a score and more bolts of green energy all around her like vorpal spears, hovering in the air. This kind of indirect casting was a drain even more than teleportation, but damn if it didn’t look impressive to bystanders.
She held them in the air for a moment longer, and then, like a god casting down thunderbolts from his mountain throne, she hurled down her spears on Pyrrha Nikos.
Pyrrha ran. She darted this way and that as the spears fell down around her, destroying the stage beneath her feet, running and dodging like a field mouse in the thicket trying to escape the eagle’s claws. As she ran, Sunset lifted up the fragments of stage beneath her feet, trying to unbalance her. But Pyrrha was not only swift but graceful; she leapt from fragment to fragment, and though some of Sunset’s spears hit home, she didn’t allow them to slow her for more than a second. Even when she lost her footing, she recovered it again a moment later. The spears from heaven fell, and Pyrrha dived through them and leapt upwards, shield held before her and blade reversed for a downward stabbing stroke.
And Sunset did the most unexpected thing that she could think of and rushed to meet her. Magic propelled her forwards and downward through the air like a superhero, leather jacket flying behind her as she collided with Pyrrha with all the force of a bullet, reversing her momentum as they both plummeted downwards into the ground to wreck what remained of the Beacon stage.
You gotta be close to the end now, surely. Sunset raised her fist, but Pyrrha was faster and hit her in the face with her shield so hard that Sunset’s head was knocked backwards. She groaned in pain, and while she was distracted, Pyrrha hurled Sunset back into the air and slashed at her repeatedly with her sword.
Sunset teleported away. She was visibly gasping for breath now; she didn’t have another teleportation in her. She hadn’t done so much magic at once in quite a while, and her reserves were starting to run low. Have to make it count.
Pyrrha charged towards her.
Sunset felt a great wind blowing around, billowing her hair and jacket as though destiny itself swirled about her. She gripped her right arm with her left, to keep it from shaking, and pointed her index finger at Pyrrha like a gun.
“Bang.”
A beam of energy erupted from Sunset’s finger. Pyrrha didn’t have time to dodge this time; it was moving too fast, and so was she. She was caught in mid-stride, and though she took the beam upon her shield, she was borne backwards by its force and dumped in a heap on the edge of the broken stage.
Sunset panted. That was it. That had to be it. That was all that she had left in her; surely, there was no way that Pyrrha could-
She glanced at the board. Pyrrha’s aura was still in the yellow. It was only just, it was a sliver away from being in the red, but it was still in the yellow.
And Pyrrha was getting up again.
She took a few steps forward, pirouetted on her toes like a dancer, and threw her shield like a discus.
Sunset saw it coming, but she didn’t have the energy to raise a shield, she didn’t have the energy to teleport, she didn’t have the energy for anything but to watch as the shield hit her in the face and knocked her onto her back.
The klaxon sounded.
“Congratulations, Miss Nikos,” Professor Goodwitch said. “You are the winner.”
Sunset cursed mentally. She thought it through, she’d gone to her limits, she’d fought the fight upon her terms, fought her way, with her gifts. Was she really that inferior? Couldn’t she beat Pyrrha even in her own chosen discipline?
Was she really just… mediocre?
There was no other sound in the hall but Pyrrha’s footsteps traversing the shattered, treacherous stage before she appeared above Sunset.
She was smiling, but it was not a cruel smile, not a smirk of victory to lord over a defeated foe. It was… it was something else. It almost seemed kind.
“Thank you,” Pyrrha said.
“Huh?” was all Sunset could murmur in reply as she lay on the ground, prostrate and defeated.
Pyrrha held out a hand to help her up. “That was the most enjoyable fight I have had in quite some time. That semblance… it’s quite the talent you’ve been hiding.”
“You’re not so bad yourself,” Sunset said, as she allowed Pyrrha to help her to her feet. She might not have won – let’s be honest; she hadn’t won – but she understood Pyrrha better now than she had before. Just reading about her record and her accomplishments wasn’t the same. Sunset now recognised that, though they were completely different in so many ways and attitudes, they were at their core the same: they were both people who had worked their backsides off to be the best in their chosen field – Pyrrha in arms, Sunset in magic – and although Sunset didn’t understand why Pyrrha wanted to be the best when she didn’t seem to enjoy all the accolades that came with it, Sunset could nevertheless recognise the skills. From one prodigy to another.
For a moment, the two of them stood amidst the wreckage they had wrought in silence. No voice from the hall was raised to interrupt them. They stared into one another’s eyes, both green, and though Sunset was loath to admit it, there was a nagging part of her that thought Pyrrha’s orbs were probably brighter and more beautiful. Sunset fancied that, just as she understood Pyrrha better now for having spoken with blows than she had when they were speaking with words, so too did Pyrrha understand her a little better also.
“Miss Shimmer,” Professor Goodwitch said. “An impressive display, although I will note that had you not left your weapon in the locker room, you might have had some options once you had exhausted your semblance.”
Sunset sighed. “Yes, Professor.”
“Although, with such a powerful semblance, one can hardly blame you for a slight degree of overconfidence,” Professor Ozpin murmured.
“Miss Nikos,” Professor Goodwitch said. “A formidable display, as always. You did excellently, both of you. I hope that the experience has taught you something.”
“Yes, Professor,” Pyrrha said, with a glance at Sunset. “I think it has.”
“Go Pyrrha!” Ruby shouted. “Go Sunset!” She started to applaud, and it became clear from the way her eyes went from one to the other that she was applauding for both of them. Jaune was the next to take up the clap, and soon, the applause had spread throughout the hall until all the spectators, save only for the two professors, were applauding.
Sunset couldn’t be sure, she could not know for certain, but she dared to hope that they were all applauding for both of them.
She let it wash over her for a moment, eyes closed as that nectar and ambrosia which she had long sought and for so long been denied flowed into her ears and balmed her soul. This was it. This was what it was all for. She didn’t need friends, Pyrrha didn’t need friends… all that they needed was this, to be loved by the masses, acclaimed by them, acknowledged by them as something superior. Applause that was for you sounded different than applause for other people, as you learned if you listened closely enough; you could feel the difference in your soul. Sunset hadn’t heard the sound of applause intended for herself since she had demonstrated her prodigious magic before the nobles of Canterlot at the symposia that Celestia would hold for the great and good. She had felt then as though she were on track for something great and glorious. She was starting to feel that way again.
She glanced at Pyrrha, wordlessly enquiring as to the etiquette of these situations.
Pyrrha nodded, wordlessly answering.
As one, still hand in hand, they bowed.
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...they are gonna lose their shit when they realize Sunset doesn't even have her semblance yet.
9181279
Better question, when Sunset get's her Semblance, will it be as strangely combat neutral as her touch based memory viewing in EQG or something more impressive like those one-off phoenix fire wings?
Spirit Detective Sunset Shimmer.
9181292
I'm thinking...Daydream.
*Reads description*
How do you pronounce that team name?
Sapper?
Sapphire?
9181326 Sapphire as per the color naming rule.
9181326
i'd say sapphire.
9181279
Honestly sunset can easily say she was using dust cinder used dust for all her feats she didn't use maiden powers until she fought ozpin , which really shows how scary cinder actually is she was doing all of that without maiden powers
9181456
...Sunset was using her actual magic. From Equestria. She specifically states it's magic multiple times. Cinder had dust-infused clothes that let her do that stuff with the fire, or that might have been her semblance.
And Ozpin and the rest know she's using magic. I don't think Sunset has hid that she can use magic from anyone.
Good chapter, really liked the fight. It's good to know that Sunset and Pyrrha have some closure for now.
On a separate note, I feel like that Ruby is going to get a rude awakening from her optimism, or naivete depending on how you look at it. It's all well and good to want to save everyone, but to firmly believe that it's always possible is a dangerous mindset
9181462
Does she know ozpin does she knows that he is aware of magic no and i fucking know she was using magic no shit my point was that if she wants to cover up her powers by saying it was dust, she can but to be honest i doubt the teleport could be blamed on dust . My point with cinder was to point out what can be done with dust if she wanted to hide her magic frankly i don't think she could unless she says she was using dust injection like hazel . And you are right she isn't hiding her magic but she lets others make There own conclusion she never corrects any one on it .
Wow, I checked all the comment for this story here on Fimfic and compared to those on Spacebattle and it couldn't be more contrasting. It's interesting how two site will give you such a different view on the same story.
9181292
The phoenix fire wing and horn was more of a symbological thing in the movie but I think it would be best to keep those for when (and if) she assend to Alicorn-hood. Maybe not like Twilight but maybe she could do it like Cadence, however she did it.
For her semblance, I say go with the touch based memory viewing power, Daydream Shimmer.
9181456
Actually, I think the fire power she show are all from the Maiden power. I dont think she have shown any when she attacted Amber, only afterwards.
9181462
She didn't hide her magic, she made it pass as her semblance. She never said to anyone that it was magic, only in the privacy of her own mind.
9181497
I am certain that she don't know Ozpin know. She probably believe that she is the only magic user in Remnant.
Few people understand, let alone agree with, that some people need to fight each other to reach an understanding. There are more languages, than just words alone.
I'm beginning to wonder if Sunset can even possess a semblance, and her magic simply takes its place. After all, the mirror may have made her look like a native, but she's really not. But only the author knows for sure. That aside, you mentioned previously that Sunny has 4 ears. That's gotta make loud noises especially painful, wouldn't it?
9181526
I wouldn't be surprised if sunset does think she is the only magic user, as for cinder no she was using dust until volume 3, when she fought ozpin. And cinder did use fire in her fight against amber if you go back and watch when cinder kicks up the dirt you see her dress light up gold she used fire dust to burn the dirt into glass and then shoot it cinder only used dust in volume 1 and 2 every thing she did was pure dust manipulation cinder had just gotten better at using that talent by the time of volume 1. Also rwby rewind confirms maidens didn't exist until volume 3 everything before that was all cinder just using dust . It really shows dangerous she actually is .
9181528
I go with the rule of tumbs that if she have an aura, she have a semblance.
In RWBY, if somebody become a Maiden, she gain magic on top of her semblance. The best example is Raven, she had a semblance that allowed her to cut portal open to people she is close too, like Crow and Yang. We see her use that ability even when we now know that she is a maiden. In Remnant, Magic and Semblance are both distinc things.
And there are plenty of Faunus with four ears, like Blake so she is not alone in that. And depending how sensible her pony ears are, she doesn't hear louder because she have more ears, its the same level of sound for all four since its from the same origin. She just hear stuff from two more point on the top of her head rather than just two on the side.
It has advantage and disadvantage of course.. On the negative there is when she need to cover them from a loud noise, she only have two hands. shoping for hats must be horrible and the movement her pony ears make sometime betray her emotional state. On the positive, her pony ear are can be orriented to ear better in different dirrections. And since she have 4 ears, that mean she have four inner-ear, which are responsible for ballance, so on top of or more sound catcher, she have an extra sense of balance to rely upon.
Damn I love this story. The mix of RWBY and MLP is awesome
I kind of see Jaune being trained by both Pyrrha and Sunset. Sunset not wanting to help Jaune at all but then Either Jaune or Pyrrha make a comment saying "She wouldn't be a good teacher anyways." That would tick off Sunset and she helps out Jaune out the 'kindness of her heart'
Good story so far. Though I have to wonder why sunset doesn’t try using dust. With her magic tranig it would be easy to master.
Splendid fight. A dialogue between two warriors... It reminds of the "muscle bonding" between Sig Curtis and Major Armstrong... Only less muscles but more elegance.
And damn Sunset is just tinny bit close to winning against Pyrrha. Just shows her own skills without a weapon while Pyrrha was in full loadout. Hope this also sends a message to anyone who would harass that she's more than capable of kicking their backsides and not on her level. Nor does she need any weapon on hand to do so.
So how do the other students understand this? It sounds like it visibly wasn't an angry combat. Something along the lines of "Oh, they were being super passive-aggressive at each other for a while, then they had a make-up duel and got along better after that"? Because if it wasn't so easy to see what was going on, problematic misunderstandings are possible.
That was a very cool fight. I appreciate that it served character development, rather than be for some flashy scenes.
The grabbing of her arm made me have to ask Cowboy Bebop?
grins like a mad man after reading this chapter I will continue to read this by the way you managed to capture the Spirit of R.W.B.Y. with this chapter
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Seems more like Yu Yu Hakusho
Why not just grab her directly with telekinesis?
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Aura interferes with magic.
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That was actually going to be my question too. Since the fighting styles in Remnant mostly focus on movement and keeping out of the way, rather than tanking the blows, it seemed like an easy way to win would be to simply apply small pushes to the legs at certain points to trip them up. If aura interferes, however, then small pushes wouldn't work, and larger ones would be too telegraphed to keep it up for long. Still, a good fight.
>Laughs in "Defined by Choice"
I wonder. While it's perhaps understandable, if not evident, that as Sunset's been through a lot of this with Celestia presumably, does Ozpin know that Sunset understands him when he's low-key like this? Would he do this to/for any student, or only those that would pick up on it? Not that I expect an answer, but an idea to chew on.
The first hit goes to Sunset. While I'm sure plenty are surprised she gets a hit in at all, that she gets the first one of the duel is an important little victory (though not unreasonable when considering she's showing off just what she can do with her "semblance" for the first time).
This is one of the chapters I always look forward to rereading, and it is certainly one of my favorites. Occasionally, I'll come back and read it on its own. I love this fight, and the dynamic between the two. Sometimes I even try and play out how it might have transpired if Sunset had, in fact, won. It'd be quite the disruption, and probably would have more negative than positive, but even still. A What if in a crossover (being fair, the first of several, as might be inevitable in a million word march).
Additionally, I don't always read the fine details of a fight. This is one that I do read in its entirety. Well put together, and an enjoyable read... And to think, this is only chapter 11! I didn't realize it was that early in the story, wow. And to think I was afraid you'd stop not long after this when this was first going up.
I was expecting Sunset to summon a sword made of magical fire, but this is cool too
This, was a great fight.
I wonder about Sunset's semblante, and how she will try to explain she appears to have TWO. Some effects could be explained as an evolution of what she had (Like Pyrrha's own Polarity).
This is one of my favourite bits in RWBY and I wish more fanfics did this.
That was a pretty cool fight and you gotta give Sunset props for actually almost beating Pyrrha. It’s also a nice way for the 2 to come to a better understanding of each other. Not exactly friends, but they come from it better than they did before.
Come on man, give Sunset something already. Her character development is shit, and i get that it takes time for someone to change, but god damn she just keep saying the same things over and over. After the fight i thought she would at least realize why Pyrrha dislikes the attention and realizes that maybe she wa ts something more then attention or something about frendship, but nope, all she said was "I doNt NeED FriEnDS". Even Wheiss had more character development in the show at at this point in the timeline. I keep waiting for that sweet sweet character development, but it never came, and by the looks of it, it would be a LONG time before it comes. Give her something already.
I honestly don't understand what exactly did either of them learn in that fight to resolve their issues.
Other that letting out some emotions.