An Invitation to Somewhere (Rewritten)
An Invitation to Somewhere
“I can’t believe that you went on a dangerous mission to save the day, and you didn’t tell me about it!” Penny said, pouting somewhat.
After leaving Cadance and saying farewell to Weiss, Blake and Rainbow Dash had repaired to Atlas Academy — along with Twilight — and Penny. Penny sat on one of the bottom bunks, her legs crossed and her hands resting upon the mattress in front of her, while Rainbow sat the wrong way on a chair opposite her, leaning upon the back of said chair with her elbows. Twilight sat on one of the top bunks, her legs dangling down, kicking slightly back and forth, while Blake leaned against the wall of the room.
Rainbow was quiet for a moment. “Now, I’m not saying this to be mean, so don’t get upset,” she said, thereby — to Blake’s mind, at least — giving away that whatever came out of her mouth next had at least the potential to be somewhat insensitive, “but why would I tell you about it?”
Penny made a noise of wordless anger. “Because I’m your teammate!” she cried. “For now, anyway—”
“'For now'?” Blake repeated.
“Never mind that at the moment,” Rainbow said quickly.
“And you told Blake!” Penny declared. “You told Blake about this, but you didn’t tell me! I would have gone and backed you up if you’d asked!”
“I’m sure you would,” Rainbow acknowledged.
“Then why didn’t you ask me?” Penny demanded. “Blake’s supposed to be here on a break, but I’m combat ready!”
“It’s not that big a deal, Penny—”
“Yes, it is,” Penny insisted. “It is for me! Did you … did you not take me because you didn’t think I was up to it? Because Blake is more capable than me?”
“I’m not—” Blake began.
“Yes,” Penny said. “Yes, you are. You’re so fast, and the way that you move is so graceful; you’re almost as fast and as graceful as Pyrrha is, and with your semblance, I think you’d stand a better chance against her than anyone else she’s ever gone up against. I’m… watching you is like watching the wind fight. It makes me feel like a rock.”
“'No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it,'” Twilight murmured.
Penny looked up, even though she couldn’t see Twilight because of the bed set-up. “What does that mean?”
“It’s an old Mistralian proverb,” Twilight explained. “It means that there are advantages to being rock steady, able to endure the fury around you.”
“You mean … like Jaune, with all his aura?” Penny asked. “But that’s not me either.”
“But you are the big gun on Team Rosepetal,” Blake pointed out. “Right, Rainbow Dash?”
“Uh huh,” Rainbow agreed. “Blake may have moves, but she can’t bust out a massive laser. Your combat capabilities are immense, and the fact that you had one bad match-up under Mountain Glenn doesn’t change that. Nor does the fact that Blake and I work very well together.”
“So you would rather have Blake backing you up than me,” Penny declared sulkily.
“Penny, I spent pretty much the whole of last semester focussing on Blake instead of you,” Rainbow said. “I spent more time being Blake’s friend than being your team leader. That’s on me, not you; it’s not a reflection on you in any way; it just means that I’m at a point where I’m more comfortable working with Blake. It doesn’t mean that Blake is better than you; it doesn’t mean that you’re objectively bad. Like I told you, you’re incredibly powerful. But at the time, I didn’t know that I was going into battle; I thought that we would be looking into disappearances, and so, even though I wanted someone watching my back, I thought that Blake would be better at moving through a faunus community asking questions. Plus, your father wouldn’t have approved of me bringing you to Low Town; plus, this wasn’t an official Atlas mission; plus, you deserve to rest every bit as much as Blake does; plus, this might have been a White Fang trap even though I was pretty sure it wasn’t; all of which being said,” Rainbow took a deep breath, “I am kind of sorry you weren’t there; we could have used your help fighting those robots.”
“Hmph,” Penny said. She paused for a moment. “Still, I suppose the most important thing is that it all worked out okay in the end. You saved everyone and stopped the bad guys.”
“Everyone that we could save,” Blake murmured.
“Take the win, Blake,” Rainbow said. “Like I told you, they don’t come around too often.”
“All the same,” Penny added. “I wish you’d taken me with you.”
“Well, if I’d known that Weiss Schnee was going to take herself down to Low Town, I might have considered it,” Rainbow admitted. “Keeping you out of Low Town doesn’t seem so urgent when the heiress to the SDC was walking around there without a care in the world. Although I didn’t think it would bother you this much.”
Now it was Penny’s turn to hesitate. “I’ve been … a little bit bored,” she said. “I would have liked to have had a chance to get out and do something.”
Rainbow chuckled. “Is that so?”
Penny nodded. “I kind of miss having Ciel around to tell me what to do.”
“It would be nicer to say that you miss having Ciel around to … to fill up your time,” Twilight suggested. “Or to give you someone to talk to.”
“She did that too,” Penny replied. “But she also told me what to do. And I miss that. I’m bored.”
“That’s life, Penny; get used to it,” Rainbow said flatly.
“Rainbow,” Twilight said, in a tone of mild reproach.
“What?” Rainbow asked. “It’s true. Penny, when you go to Beacon—”
“Wait, Penny’s going to Beacon?” Blake asked.
Penny nodded excitedly. “Rainbow and Ciel are going to help me transfer.”
Blake blinked rapidly. “Ciel … and Rainbow are going to help you leave Atlas?”
“I love how you’re more shocked by me being involved in this but not Ciel,” Rainbow muttered.
“Ciel hasn’t spent an enormous amount of her time since I met her trying to get me to come here to Atlas,” Blake pointed out.
“Because I think that Atlas would be good for you, and you’d be good for Atlas,” Rainbow said. “And you agree with me on both of those, or you wouldn’t still be here. Penny, on the other hand … doesn’t want to be here.”
“No?” Blake asked. “I … I can’t say that I’ve noticed that you were unhappy. Perhaps I just wasn’t paying enough attention.”
Penny smiled. “It’s alright,” she said. “You had your own problems to deal with. I want … I want to go to Beacon so that I can be Penny, and not a weapon or a science project or a tool. I want to be myself. I want to find out who that is.”
Blake felt a smile prick at the corners of her mouth. “That … that sounds wonderful,” she admitted. “And of course you’ll be allowed to leave, because Atlas would never keep someone in their service against their will, would they?”
“No,” Rainbow said firmly. “Atlas wouldn’t. At least … the Atlas I know wouldn’t, the Atlas that we’re working for, the Atlas that Cadance believes in. I’ve already talked to Cadance about it, and she’s on our side, and I’m sure that the General will be on our side as well. On Penny’s side, I mean.”
“Since you’re helping me, it can be your side as well,” Penny said.
“Thanks, Penny, but I’m not running any risks,” Rainbow said.
Twilight looked a little sceptical at that, but said nothing.
“This is all going to work out splendidly,” Penny declared. “Blake’s coming here to Atlas, and I’m going to Beacon. It’s like a trade.” She paused for a moment. “It even excuses the fact that you ditched me and took Blake with you to Low Town: you were practising for life without me when you have Blake instead.”
Rainbow grinned. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves; we don’t know what’s going to become of us next year. Don’t get me wrong; I’d love to have you on my team, Blake. You, me, Applejack … we need a fourth person. Ciel will be free too, I suppose, but she might have had enough of me. Hmm. Anyway, the point is that we don’t know what’s going to happen next year.”
“Not least because I haven’t actually submitted my transfer papers yet,” Blake pointed out.
“But you’re going to, right?” Rainbow asked.
“Yes,” Blake said, the word tripping lightly out of her mouth; tripping so lightly, in fact, that it made her stop dead.
“Blake?” Twilight asked. “Is everything okay?”
“I…” Blake let out a little laugh. “I was just taken by surprise by how … anticlimactic that was. I thought … I guess I thought that making a decision like this, a decision with enormous implications and ramifications for my future … I suppose I thought that it would feel like a big deal, you know? A dramatic moment. Instead … yes. One word. An answer to a question. An answer to a question, admitting what’s been true for a while now; I suppose that’s why it feels so … easy.”
And it was easy. It had been easy; that was what had been so surprising about it. Blake had expected it to be dramatic because she’d thought it would be hard, but the truth was … the truth was that this was always where she had been going, since she got here in Atlas, since she had started working with the Rosepetals … this had been the road she was on.
There was a strand of thought, a particularly Mistralian thought, that framed destiny as choice. Destiny was not an inescapable fate but a final goal to which you worked and dedicated yourself. Of course, there was a strand of thought across the whole of Remnant which viewed destiny as, well, as an inescapable fate which one could not escape.
Blake … Blake almost felt as though her journey to Atlas, towards this quiet moment, in a quiet room, this admission to a handful of people, had fallen between those stools. She had chosen to walk this road. She had chosen to set off here … well, for a given value of ‘chosen’ which admitted that her alternative had been to go to prison, but even so, it couldn’t be denied that, once she had made her bargain, she had thrown herself into it wholeheartedly. She had taken the road, but at the same time, she had been in denial of where that road led. She didn’t have to make a choice just yet, she hadn’t committed to anything, she had options, she wasn’t signed up, she could walk it back if she wanted to.
Until she looked up and found that fate had drawn her here, inexorably, towards this choice.
Her final goal: to serve the Shining Kingdom and, in its service, to rise high and to learn to wield its power for the good of Remnant and the betterment of the lot of all faunuskind.
Atlas was not perfect. Atlas was flawed, as flawed as any kingdom in Remnant. But Atlas was full of good people: upright, righteous, honourable, and all of them committed to bettering not only themselves but also their kingdom too. Atlas was not perfect, but as long as its people continued to strive to make it so, it would be perfect one day.
And Blake would play a part in that. She would be honoured to play a part in that. She would become a part of this great engine and drive it forwards to greater, kinder, and fairer heights.
“What’s there to be dramatic about?” Rainbow asked. “I knew this was coming.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it was obvious.”
Blake smiled. “No doubts.”
Rainbow shook her head, the grin on her face verging upon smugness. “No doubts at all.”
“You know what would make it dramatic?” Twilight asked.
Blake’s eyebrows rose. “No.”
“Oh, I like the way you think,” Rainbow said. “Provided you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking.”
“What are you thinking?” inquired Penny.
“A party,” Twilight said.
“What, really?” Blake asked.
“Yes!” Twilight cried. “Come on, you just confirmed that you’ve made your decision to come to Atlas; we can’t just let that pass without comment. We’ll get everyone together; I’ll call Pinkie—”
“We can’t just impose on Pinkie Pie,” Blake said.
“It’s never an imposition on Pinkie where a party is concerned,” Rainbow assured her.
“How can you have the energy for a party after everything that’s happened?” asked Blake. “We haven’t slept all night.”
“We can crash out after the party.”
“Stop saying … I’m not going to get away without something, am I?”
“I mean, do you really not want a party?” Twilight asked. “Isn’t this something worth celebrating?”
“Yes,” Blake said. “Yes, it is. But I’m afraid that doesn’t change the fact that, at the moment, all I want to celebrate is my head hitting the pillow in Fluttershy’s guest bedroom.”
Twilight smiled. “Okay then. We can hold the party later. That way it’ll be a surprise.”
Blake snorted. “I’ll look forward to it. Penny … this is very premature, and we’ll have plenty of other chances to say this, and to say goodbye, but … I wish you the very best of luck.”
“Thank you,” Penny said, “and you too. I know you’ll be very happy here.”
Blake nodded. “I know I will too.”
“Do you need me to walk you out?” Rainbow offered.
“No,” Blake assured her. “I’ll be fine.” She turned to go and was about to approach the door when her scroll went off.
Blake took a deep breath, and answered it.
The face of Sunset Shimmer appeared on her screen.
“Hey, Blake,” she said. “How’s it going?”
“I’m well, thank you, if a little bit tired right now,” Blake replied. “How are you doing? How’s the team? How’s Vale? How’s Beacon?”
“Beacon is emptier than it was in the semester; Vale is … jittery and on edge, but slowly calming down a little bit; the team is great, Pyrrha and Jaune get more in love every day; and I … I am actually feeling a lot better. So, why are you tired? Are you not sleeping well?”
“I’m sleeping fine,” Blake said. “We just had a very active night last night.”
“'We'?” Sunset said. “Rainbow is keeping you up?”
Blake rolled her eyes. “I make my own choices, Mom.”
“Sorry,” Sunset said, with a touch of amusement entering her voice. She paused for a moment. “So … how are you finding it?”
“Imperfect,” Blake said. “But with the capacity for greatness in it.”
Sunset smiled. “You’re liking it, then?”
“Yes,” Blake told her. “I’m liking it a great deal.”
“You’ve chosen, then?”
“Yes,” Blake repeated. “In the end … I was surprised by just how easy it was.”
“It’s a sign that you belong there,” Sunset admitted. “Even if they don’t deserve you.” Once more, she took pause. “Still … so long as you’re happy, right? That’s what matters.”
“What matters is where I can be of service,” Blake corrected.
“Come on, you’re not just going to Atlas because you can be of service there; you’re going because you enjoy it,” Sunset informed her. “And that matters. Even if you are committed to … to being of service, even if you do want to put duty above all else … you’ll be happy there too.”
“Yes,” Blake admitted. “Yes, I think I will.”
Sunset nodded. “Good. That’s … that’s good. That’s great news, even as it is also terrible news. They don’t deserve you, not at all, but you'll do very well there nonetheless. But if you ever want to come crawling back, I’m sure that you’ll find a spot waiting for you somewhere.”
Blake chuckled. “I’ll miss you too, Sunset,” she said.
“You’re not leaving yet,” Sunset pointed out. “You still have to fight as part of Team Iron in the Vytal Festival.”
“I know, I know,” Blake acknowledged. “I’ve … gotten into the habit of premature goodbyes.”
“I see,” Sunset said. “Actually, I don’t, but … premature as it is, I’ll miss you too.” She sighed. “Can I … where are you, is there anyone around?”
“I’m in the Rosepetal dorm room with Rainbow, Penny, and Twilight,” Blake said.
“Hello, Sunset!” Penny called out.
“Hi, Penny,” Sunset replied, raising her voice a little, for just a moment. “Actually, that works out really well. I can just tell you all at once.”
“Tell us what?”
Sunset took a deep breath. “Blake,” she said, “how would you like to visit my homeland?”
Penny gasped. She jumped off the bed and rushed to Blake’s side. “Is it time?” she asked. “Is it ready?”
“I just heard from Princess Twilight—”
“'Princess Twilight'?” Blake repeated.
“Right, I didn’t mention that bit to you, did I?” Sunset asked. “So, in Equestria, where I come from, everyone who lives there is a kind of … alternate version of a person who exists here in Remnant.”
Blake frowned. “I thought that the people who lived in your world … that you were … aren’t you all … ponies?”
“Multi-coloured ponies, yes,” Sunset confirmed. “But one of those colourful ponies is named Twilight Sparkle, and another is called Rainbow Dash. And there’s probably one called Blake Belladonna as well, although I can’t confirm that for certain. Still, I think there ought to be, going by the principle of the thing.”
Blake’s frown only deepened. “So … for every person in Remnant, there is a pony in Equestria?”
“So it would seem,” Sunset replied.
“Then why isn’t there a Sunset Shimmer here already?” Blake asked. “A Sunset native to this world, to Remnant.”
Sunset paused. “You know, that is a very good question, to which I do not have the answer.” She grinned. “My uniqueness is so very unique that it transcends universes.”
“I didn’t ask the question to feed your ego,” Blake murmured. “So, let me get this straight … you want me to go to your world? The magical world, filled with ponies?”
“Yes,” Sunset said.
“Okay,” Blake said. “Why?”
“Because Penny’s going, and she could use a chaperone?” Sunset suggested. “Or, more seriously, because I think that you’d enjoy it. Or at least I think that you’d get something out of it.”
“It sounds wonderful,” Penny said. “Don’t you think? A world with all kinds of magic and extraordinary things and … extraordinary creatures.”
“A world without hatred,” Sunset added. “Without prejudice or discrimination. It might even give you some ideas. Obviously, I can’t make you go, but the invitation is open, and I know that Penny will love it, and I really think … I just think you might like it too.”
“Are you coming?”
“No.”
“'No'?” Blake repeated. “You’re sending us to visit your own home, but you’re not coming yourself?”
“No,” Sunset repeated, seeming reluctant to offer any details on why that might be.
If Sunset doesn’t want to talk about it then it must be something … a big deal, at least, whatever it is, Blake thought, deciding that she wouldn’t pry further into the matter.
“So,” Sunset went on, “what do you say, are you going?”
It was all very sudden. As sudden — more — than the party that had almost been sprung upon her moments earlier. More, because of course this was so much more than a party.
Sudden and unexpected, but tempting at the same time.
She was, after all, being offered the chance to visit another world. Another world. If she accepted, she would get the chance to walk beneath alien skies, to feel alien ground beneath her feet, to speak with alien creatures.
Sunset’s people. She would get to see the world that had made Sunset, perhaps even meet her teacher whom she held in such high esteem.
How many people in all of Remnant got offered an opportunity like that? When would she ever get this chance again, if she refused it?
She was being offered the chance to go where no one — or very few, at least — had gone before.
And it was a better world. A world that had realised all the promise that Blake and her new friends sought to realise here in Atlas, in Remnant.
She did want to see that. She wanted to see for itself that it could be done.
She might not live to see true justice and equality in Remnant. She might spend her life working towards it, only to die, like General Colton, with her work unfulfilled, forced to trust the realisation of it to those who came after.
If it were so, it would be no bad thing to have in her mind an image of what she would be working towards, a dream to hold onto, a vision of what the future might be, however far off that future seemed.
“Yes, I’ll go,” Blake said. “I’ll visit your home, and gladly, although I’ve no idea how.”
“Great!” Sunset cried. “Don’t worry about that; I’ve got it all taken care of already.”
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Woah-woah-woah-woah-WOAH!
Is Sunset offering to- to-
*gulp*
BRING BLAKE TO EQUESTRIA?!?
...
...
HYPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good god, Sunset wants to bring Blake to Equestria in order to show her a place where a peaceful co-existence is more than a dream, but reality? That is seriously one of the greatest gifts Sunset could give her, and it shows that she puts a massive amount of trust into Blake for revealing herself like that.
I wonder if Blake will turn into a pony or some other hybrid species if/when she crosses over into Equestria. Ten bits says she becomes a griffon. One hundred bits says she becomes a hippogriff. (Or whatever the mystical combination of pony/cat happens to be.)
Oooh, a possible excursion to Equestria?? This will be quite interesting!! Wonder if Sunset will have a reunion with Celestia?
Holy shit, I did not see that coming...
Welp Princess Twilight, get to building your portal gizmo.
Blake visiting doesn't worry me.
Someone following them, especially Grimm, would.
Now look who's thinking with portals.
She'll be an Abyssinian. (Capper from the movie)
Today, I have first-class tickets to see Avengers: Endgame. This day can't possibly get any better!
Wait, Blake's going to Equestria?
Today just got 20% cooler.
9595062
Sunset already revealed herself in Mountain Glenn after Salem name-dropped Equestria and Celestia. Blake was with SAPR and Prof. Goodwitch at the time, and the latter confirmed what Sunset explained. Chapter 87 "Everything We Need".
9595174
I actually had that thought since she's a cat Faunus but we already know of some humans who have pony counterparts and ponies with Human counterparts so I won't hold the author to making a Faunus transform into their animal equivalent.
9595170
Nothing a Rainbow Laser of Friendship to the face can't fix.
9595274
To be fair, it's possible her friends don't quite understand or believe her; or the full implications of it haven't quite hit them. A trip to pastel-colored-ponyland would show that Sunset indeed is an adorable little pony.
9595387
Not really sure what you mean there. Her friends wouldn't have a reason to not believe her in the first place, but Goodwitch confirmed everything Sunset said anyway. As for understanding...I'm not sure what part they wouldn't understand. Yeah, I guess Sunset didn't exactly talk about the culture or anything, but her friends should understand the basics of "Sunset is a magical unicorn from the land of Equestria who went through a magic mirror that transformed her into a faunus", yeah?
9595401
Yeah I had kinda forgotten about Goodwytch mostly confirming her story.
And here we go! So is Blake going to end up like Capper or...?
9595368
True, very true. Well, this guessing game is good fun, but we could all be wrong.
Maybe she'll into an actual kitten, ala Spike, or a rock.
Suddenly, I have another few thoughts: How is Blake going to react to meeting the Equestrian counterparts of her friends? What if she meets Adam's counterpart (provided he has one)? When all of the shenanigans in Equestria are over, is anyone going to follow her and Sunset back to Remnant?
Blake really should meet Luna if she get to Equestria. I have a feeling she could help the faunus with regret and loss.
The real question is, will Sunset actually be present for going through the portal?
9595024
Taking the girlfriend home to meet her mother, of course.
9595174
Man I hope so.
I do wonder something. in Cannon RWBY its implied that Faunus just sort of showed up at some point. They weren't created by the gods (as they had left before they appeared), and Ozma was clearly perplexed as to their existence when he showed up. while cannon may have an answer for it eventually (like maybe one of the brothers after they wiped out humanity tried to make more out of animals, and not all went fully human?)
but here we might have a simple answer that also explains how Ozpin and Salem know about Equestria, and that's that people coming over from equestrian don't quite make a full conversion to human, and that's where the Faunus come from. Perhaps there was a lot of people fleeing equestrian in the past. given Discord, the widegos and Grogar and his monster hordes (as well as the reveal that there are naturally occurring portals between the worlds as seen in the spring break special) maybe some creatures found one and there was a mass exodus to escape one of the many horrors that existed back then... or you know Remnant is Equestria's Australia and ancient equestrian cultures used these old portals to dump or sacrifice people they didn't want around any more.
9595552
How about when Blake looks up at the Equestrian sky and....
"Your moon is fully intact! Do you ever get used to that?"
9595950
Not an implausible theory.
Penny goes with. Turns into Sweetie Belle.
9595274
I know that. What I mean is that Sunset wants to invite Blake to Equestria. If I didn’t miss something, such an offer wasn’t even on her mind when it comes to her own team.
9595068
I say Thestral (Batpony), because of her cat-eyes.
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes YES! I never knew I wanted to see this until just now, but I really want this to happen!
9596195
Dont you mean Sweeti BOT.
9596486
That's what I was insinuating.
9596322
"You may have seen a house fly, you may have even seen a supah fly, but i bet you ain't ever seen a cat girl fly!"
9595950
Well, by the sounds of it Starswirl DID exile the Sirens here like in the show.
Ironic that The Faunes live in the Australia of Equestrias Australia...
I absolutely loved the visit to Equestria three years ago, and I can’t wait to see the rewritten one! With Blake’s new thoughts and Penny of all people no less! I can only imagine what Penny will look like when crossing over, but I’m especially looking forward to whatever you’ve long had in mind for how this will affect Penny. This is going to be amazing!!!
Nice Mulan reference.
Sunset as a mom or motherly figure is a amusing idea.
Finally ! I can't wait to see that happening !
So, there's a number of things here that Sunset hasn't mentioned to Rainbow, or Twilight, so I'm kind of surprised neither of them in the room made any comments about what's going on.
When Rainbow asked Sunset about "not being human," Sunset quite directly told her that she wasn't going to say where she was from. And while Twilight was in the room when Sunset told Penny about her being a magical unicorn from another world, there was no mention of alternate selves in this other world, so surely Twilight would have some thoughts about hearing a "Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Are we going to see the two of them react to any of this, maybe in the next chapter? or are we just going to assume they'll have their freakout session (mostly Twilight) off camera?
Amusingly wind is almost the only thing that make mountains smaller.
Seriously, Sunset, does Princess Celestia have to grovel and beg you to come home and visit?
oooooo, i want to see it so much. Penny and Blake in pony forms. However, i believe that won't be happening for some time