SAPR

by Scipio Smith

Amber's Choice (Rewritten)

Amber’s Choice

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked.

“What?” Rainbow asked, looking at her. “Yeah, I’m fine, of course I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be fine?”

“Because you just said you were fine three times,” Twilight pointed out. “And because you’re making fists.”

Rainbow looked down at her hands. She was, indeed, making fists. She hastily unclenched them both and let them hang down by her sides.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, in the teeth of the evidence.

Twilight gave her a Look.

Spike also gave her a look that suggested that he didn’t believe her either. It was weird.

“Twi, don’t look at me like that,” Rainbow said. “And you, especially, don’t look at me like that. A dog shouldn’t look so smart.”

Spike, who was being held in Twilight’s arms, didn’t speak, thankfully, but he did switch from looking sceptical to looking smug. That might have been even worse.

“What’s wrong?” asked Blake.

“She’s worried,” Twilight said. “Aren’t you?”

Rainbow, Twilight — and Spike — and Blake were standing on the edge of one of Beacon’s docking platforms. In the midst of an already crowded Valish sky, the Amity Colosseum was making its way above the city, moving so slowly that you might have almost thought that it was drifting, lazily moving inland towards Beacon, where it would stay until the tournament was over.

It was an impressive sight, but Rainbow’s eyes weren’t really on it, and her heart wasn’t really in appreciating it.

Because the reason why Rainbow, Twilight, and Blake — and Spike — were standing at the docks wasn’t to watch the Amity Colosseum arrive, but to wait for the Crystal Heart to come in from Atlas, with Councillor Cadance on board and Shining Armor and all the rest of their friends and little sisters.

And Rainbow … Twilight was right: Rainbow was worried.

She felt she had a right to be at least a little worried.

“Aren’t you a bit worried, too?” Rainbow asked. “With what’s been happening, with the feelings against Atlas that are coming out…”

“More police are being deployed into the tourist areas of Vale,” Twilight pointed out. “Our friends, the girls, Cadance, they’re not likely to go wandering off into the rough parts of town, are they?”

“No,” Rainbow admitted. “No, they’re not; they’re gonna stick to the nice parts of Vale — you’re right about that — but still … I’m not afraid they’re going to die or anything like that, but that doesn’t mean that I want their vacation to be ruined by some jackass yelling at them or insulting them or refusing to serve them or anything like that.”

“I can understand that,” Blake said, “but, considering that at the start of last semester a more valid concern would have been that if they came to visit for the Festival, then they might get caught up in a White Fang terrorist attack, I’d say that things have improved around here a lot.”

Rainbow glanced at her and smiled out of one corner of her mouth. “Well, okay, yeah, you’ve got a pretty good point about that. I guess some ingrates getting mad about Atlas does feel like small apples compared to what was going on not too long ago.”

Blake frowned. “Isn’t it 'small potatoes'?”

“Apples are generally bigger than potatoes,” Rainbow said, “and my worries aren’t that small.”

“Right,” Blake murmured. “In that case, I think they could be smaller. And more potato-sized. After all, as you said, it’s only the risk of being yelled at or refused service. That’s not even something that would ruin a whole vacation, let alone cause harm. It’s the sort of thing you get over ten minutes after it happened.”

“If it happens once,” Rainbow pointed out. “I just … I wish that things would calm down a little bit, you know? If there was absolutely no trouble at all, they wouldn’t be putting more police into the uptown areas, would they?”

“I suppose not,” Blake admitted. “But even so…”

“They’ll be fine,” Twilight insisted. “They’re going to go from the hotel, to the skydock, to Beacon, and then maybe some sightseeing, shopping. They’re not going on a mission to Mountain Glenn, they’re not going on a train through grimm-infested territory, they’re not fighting the White Fang. It’s Vale, not a warzone. For all its troubles, it’s still a kingdom, a safe-haven of humanity, and that means that it’s safe.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “Yeah, you’re right. I … I worry too much.”

“Sometimes,” Blake said, “you worry just enough.”

“And other times, yeah, you worry too much,” Twilight added. “But we appreciate it. Most of the time.”

Rainbow snorted. “I’m still going to tell Applejack about stuff so she can keep an eye on everyone.”

“Of course you are,” Twilight muttered.

“Hey, there’s no reason I can’t worry less and take precautions at the same time,” Rainbow insisted. “I … I promised Aunt Holliday and Auntie Lofty that Scootaloo was going to be okay here; they were worried after the Breach.”

“Who?” asked Blake.

“Scootaloo’s aunts; they take care of her,” Rainbow explained. “Because her parents—”

“Travel a lot,” Twilight said. “For work.”

“Oh, sure, they travel for work, and what work is that?” Rainbow demanded. “They’re deadbeats, Twi.”

“Sometimes,” Blake said, “parents don’t have any choice but to leave their children behind.”

Rainbow returned her attention to Blake. “That’s different. You wanted to … be left behind.”

“That doesn’t mean…” Blake trailed off. “Is it really your place to judge Scootaloo’s parents?”

“I wouldn’t,” Rainbow said, “if Scootaloo … maybe you’re right. It doesn’t matter. The point is that Scootaloo is looked after by her dad’s sister and her wife, and I promised them that Scootaloo was going to be safe in Vale.”

“And she will be,” Twilight insisted. “It’s all going to be fine. Vale is going to be fine. Obnoxiousness doesn’t equal danger, and the danger is over for now. You don’t need to fret. If you really thought that Vale was still dangerous, you would have told them not to come. You would have told Scootaloo’s aunts not to let her come. And you know that as well as I do. I think, sometimes, you just like worrying.”

“I don’t like worrying,” Rainbow insisted. “I just have a lot to worry about.”

“Mhmm,” Twilight murmured.

“I don’t!” Rainbow squawked. “Blake, back me up; do you think that I like worrying?”

Blake shrugged.

“Oh, great, thanks,” Rainbow said. “It’s great to know that I have a partner I can count on to have my back.”

“I have your back,” Blake said. “In battle. Outside of battle, if you need someone to tell you that you’re wrong or being stupid or ridiculous, I’m here for you for that too.”

Rainbow half-stared, half-glared at her for a second, before she huffed and crossed her arms across her chest.

Blake chuckled and put a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder, stroking it gently back and forth.

“They will be fine,” Blake assured her. “It’s all going to be fine.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow murmured. “Yeah, it’ll be fine, and we’ll go back to Atlas with some great memories.”

There was a moment of silence as the three of them watched the Amity Colosseum drift across Vale, getting larger and larger — slowly, but still — as it approached Beacon.

“I take it that this was an Atlesian idea,” Blake said. “The similarities with Atlas itself are … hard to miss.”

“I wish I could say that, but I think it was actually the Beacon Headmaster’s idea,” Rainbow said. “Not Professor Ozpin, some old Beacon Headmaster.”

“Professor Osfred,” Twilight supplied the name.

Rainbow frowned slightly. “Why do you think they’re all called Oz-something? Maybe it’s a rule; you have to change your name to get the job.”

Twilight chuckled. “They’re not all called Oz-something … just the ones who held the job longest and did the most. Anyway, he was the one who proposed a roaming arena. Before that, the fights were held inside the academies, until they found that there wasn’t room for the size of the crowds.”

“And then Mistral suggested that it should hold the festival permanently, since it had an arena large enough to accommodate the crowds,” Blake said. “That part, I remember. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t go down well with the other kingdoms.”

“Hence Amity,” Twilight agreed. “It’s quite a sight, isn’t it?”

It was, indeed, quite a sight. The Amity Colosseum was not the largest thing in the air — that was Atlas, by a long chalk — but it made the Atlesian cruisers in the sky around it look like minnows next to a whale by comparison, and even the carriers and those bulky Mistralian warships the Valish had bought looked small by comparison; just the docking bays on the arena looked so big that it almost looked as though you could park an Atlesian cruiser there and get the crew off. They probably weren’t quite that big, but they were still very big considering that only skybuses were going to be landing there.

The arena was absolutely massive. Rainbow hadn’t been able to believe how big it was when she got inside, but there were … well, she hadn’t done an exact count, but she reckoned that there were about a hundred rows of seats for the spectators, all rising up from the bottom to the top, and that was without counting the special boxes for the elite spectators who got special service. And that was without taking into account the lounges for those same high class spectators and the concession stands for everyone else; you couldn’t get a meal up there, but you could get popcorn or hotdogs; it was kind of like being at the movies except that there wasn’t much plot — or, considering how the tournament tended to shape out, it might be more true to say that you had to make your own plot with help from the fighters themselves, who was the hero, who was the villain, who was the underdog going to go the distance. Rainbow was aware that labelling someone ‘the villain’ was not exactly in the spirit of the Vytal Festival, but she imagined that Robyn Hill had been a villain to the Mistralians after she beat Terri-Belle Thrax and ended Haven’s best run for the title in years, just like she’d been a hero to Atlas for bringing it home in a year when Atlas had been hosting the tournament.

And then, of course, she’d thrown her hero status away by betraying the General and her uniform, but that hadn’t happened until later. For that tournament, and especially for those final rounds, she had been the hero to one kingdom and the villain to another. What was one kingdom’s triumphant story about rising to the top was another kingdom’s bittersweet story of falling at the last hurdle.

It was like that every couple of years. That was just how it went. The Vytal Festival didn’t have a plot like a movie did, but stories spun up around it nonetheless, just because of how important it was.

That was why there were so many sports stories about the tournament. Heck, they’d even been about to make a movie about Robyn Hill before she became an outlaw.

The Arena was shaped roughly like a cone, beginning with the large hunk of dust — it wasn’t real dust, which you could tell because gravity dust was purple, and this fake dust at the bottom was grey, but it looked cool enough — sticking out of the bottom, shards pointing down towards the ground; there was a grey metal base, rounded like a bowl, curving upwards; then there the docking bays, two whole layers of them, with enormous arches that you could see in through a little bit, even at this distance; and then above that, giant panes of glass that you see all the lights and the cameras up top; and then, finally, the grey metal ceiling curling in on itself.

It was something to see for sure.

But as Rainbow watched it come in, moving slowly and carefully, her mind was more on what kind of stories would be spun around this tournament. Who would be the hero, who would be the villain, who would be the underdog.

Pyrrha. Pyrrha is going to be the hero. That’s pretty much set in stone already.

Except for the people who still think she was working with Cinder; I guess to them, she’ll be the villain.

“Rainbow Dash,” Blake said, breaking into Rainbow’s thoughts, “I’ve heard that you’re thinking about going through to the one-on-one rounds of the tournament?”

“Did Twilight tell you that?” Rainbow asked, kind of amused.

“I didn’t think it was a secret,” Twilight said.

“It’s not,” Rainbow replied. “Not least because if I do it, then everyone will see me on TV.”

“I’m a little surprised,” Blake murmured.

“You weren’t the only one,” Twilight added.

“I…” Rainbow trailed off before she could say that she deserved this. “The only reason…” She searched for a way in which she could put this without sounding harsh, or down on Penny.

“Penny doesn’t want to be an Atlas student,” she said. “Penny doesn’t want to be a part of the kingdom of Atlas. That’s fine. That’s her right. She wants to go to Beacon and be a Beacon student, that’s also fine, and you both know that I helped her with that and I went to the General and I went to Cadance and I backed her up on that. But if she doesn’t want to be a part of Atlas or an Atlas student, then she can’t also turn around and say that she wants to represent Atlas in the tournament. Standing for your kingdom and your school in the limelight with all the world watching you is a privilege, not a right, and it’s a privilege that Penny forfeited when she decided that she wanted out. Atlas deserves better than to be represented by someone who is going to tear their uniform off the second the lights go out.” She paused. “That … that kind of got away from me a little bit; I’m afraid it sounded mean.”

“Harsh, more than mean,” Twilight ventured.

“A little … vindictive,” Blake murmured.

Rainbow scowled. “Robyn Hill,” she muttered.

“Pardon?” asked Blake.

“Robyn Hill, she…” Rainbow took a deep breath. “She told Penny that … that everyone would turn on her once she decided to walk away, because no one is allowed to walk away, but really … I’d like to say that she was as full of it as she is with everything else that she opens her mouth about, but … I get why Penny wants to leave, which is more than I can say for Robyn; I guess… the similarity, I don’t know. I know that Penny isn’t malicious, I know why she’s doing what she’s doing, and on the whole I support it. I’m not baffled by it, I don’t find it incredible, I’m not mad at her, but … but this stuff matters. This tournament matters. You can say that it doesn’t save lives, it doesn’t make any real difference, you can say it’s all play acting, it’s irrelevant … but it’s not. People watch this, and that’s really cool if you’re the one being watched, obviously, but the people who watch this are looking for heroes; kids are looking for someone to look up to. Like I was. I was eight years old sitting in a freezing cold house in Low Town with Gilda watching on a blurry old TV because all of the good TVs were for sale, not for us, and I watched this woman go all the way to the top, beating everyone who stood against her, Beacon students, Shade students, and in the end, she beat the great hope of Mistral and took the crown for Atlas. I watched a hero dominate the battlefield; she was smart, she was quick, she could adjust to changing conditions, she was a crack shot, and she could go close quarters against a close combat specialist and win. She had everything; she… she was Atlas, great and glorious.

“When I finally got to meet her in person, Robyn Hill, Colonel Hill, Vytal Champion Hill, I was … I was so honoured. So awed. Twilight, you remember when she came to Canterlot? I couldn’t string two words together.”

Twilight smiled and made an imitation of Rainbow’s wordless gushing sound, an incoherent string of vowels lacking any consonants to give coherence to them. Her smile faded a little bit. “But Penny’s not Robyn.”

“No,” Rainbow agreed. “No, she isn’t, but … I don’t want someone to look up to Penny and imagine that she represents the best of Atlas and then find out later that, no, Penny didn’t want anything to do with Atlas. The folks back home deserve better than that.”

“They deserve…” Blake began, but then trailed off.

“Don’t,” Rainbow urged. “Please don’t say it; I’m not … I guess that I can’t really say that I’m not doing it for myself, especially since that wouldn’t be entirely true, but … I’m not saying that I’m the hero that Atlas deserves, but at least I’m going to stick around for a few more years.”

“You didn’t say any of this to Penny,” Twilight pointed out.

“I didn’t want her to think I was getting at her for leaving,” Rainbow said. “I don’t want to make her feel guilty; I just want to take her spot in the tournament.”

“Midnight would have something to say about that,” Twilight murmured.

“Yeah, I know she would; your computer’s getting a real smart mouth,” Rainbow muttered. “I’m not saying that you need to wipe her short term memory, because that would be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that you told me that computers that don’t have regular memory wipes are at risk of developing personality quirks.”

“Yes, that is true,” Twilight admitted. “Although at least Midnight hasn’t started to swear yet.”

“What?” asked Blake.

“Hopefully, you’ll never have to find out,” Rainbow said. “But, back on the subject of heroes, have you thought about being put forward for the one-on-one rounds yourself?”

“No,” Blake said. “Because representing my school and my kingdom is a privilege, not a right, and I lost that privilege when I decided to walk away to Atlas.”

Rainbow blinked. “Okay, you’ve got me with that one.”

“I can’t be a hero to Atlas — not in the tournament, anyway — while I’m wearing a Beacon uniform,” Blake said, “and Beacon, Vale, deserves a hero who is going to stick around for a couple of years. That means that either Yang or Nora will go forward to the one on one round for Team Iron, for Beacon and for Vale, and honestly, they deserve it. It’ll probably be Yang, but either one of them will be great, and I’ll be glad to cheer for them from the sidelines. I don’t need to steal their spotlight.”

Rainbow held up her hands. “I get it, I promise; it was a stupid idea, and I shouldn’t have brought it up. You’re right. It’s kind of a pity, but you’re right.”

“There’s always two years’ time,” Blake said.

“With only eight teams getting selected for each tournament, it’s rare for any team to get two bites of the apple,” Rainbow cautioned.

“But I won’t have had my bite as part of Atlas,” Blake reminded her.

“That,” Rainbow said, “is a very good—”

“Rainbow, Blake!” Twilight cried. “Look, that’s them!”

All their eyes turned outwards, over Vale and out to watch the Crystal Heart swoop through the skies, cutting between the cruisers and the carriers, circling with nimble grace around the Amity Colosseum as she turned to head towards Vale.

The Crystal Heart was a sleek and elegant design, curving back from the sharp prow in beautiful curving lines so that there was barely an angle to be seen on the vessel. It was dwarfed by any of the warships in the skies, but at the same time, it was more than three times longer than a Skyray and able to travel long-distance without needing to stop for fuel or to pick up supplies for the passengers. It was luxurious too, more than most skyliners that Rainbow had travelled on, certainly more than any cruiser that Cadance might have travelled aboard. The yacht was painted a dazzling crystal blue so bright, it seemed to sparkle in the sunlight as it made its approach; eight fin-like wings upon the sides beat up and down as the Crystal Heart came in, so that she almost looked like an eel swimming through the sky.

As she flew in, Rainbow could see Pinkie’s face pressed up against the glass of one of the windows.

Despite the Crystal Heart’s size, there was still plenty of room to accommodate her on the docking pad as she banked sharply to the left, presenting her flank to the trio — and Spike — as she dropped down out of the sky and came to a stop atop the black tarmac surface.

The engines stopped, although they were so quiet to begin with that Rainbow barely noticed the difference. The wings ceased to beat.

There was a moment of stillness, where nothing happened; then, the door in the side of the ship, which had been invisible until now, slid backwards, into the rest of the airship’s hull.

Rainbow braced herself.

“What are you doing?” Blake asked.

Rainbow didn’t reply, since it would be obvious in just a second.

A set of steps began to descend down from airship to the docking pad, but before that—

“EVERYONE!”

Pinkie leapt out of the airship, eyes taking up more of her face than usual, arms outstretched as she flung herself through the air, bearing down on Twilight.

Rainbow shoved Twilight out of the way — gently, obviously, not like knocking her down or anything — and held out her own arms in turn, catching Pinkie as she fell.

And that, Blake, is why I braced, Rainbow thought, as she managed to withstand Pinkie’s impact without getting knocked flat on her backside on the docking pad; although she was pushed back a foot by the collision, her feet scraping across the tarmac, she kept her feet and was able to turn in place, spinning Pinkie around like a toy airship for a couple of seconds before setting her down on the docking pad.

“Hey, Pinkie,” Rainbow said. “You know, it hasn’t been that long since you saw us last.”

“I know,” Pinkie acknowledged. “But I always miss you girls. Anything exciting happen around here since you got back?”

“Nothing as exciting as you getting here,” Twilight said smoothly.

“Aww!” Pinkie cooed, reaching out to pull Twilight into a wrenching hug, which caused Spike to let out a yelp of protest.

“Oops, sorry Spike,” Pinkie apologised as she drew back.

“Pinkie Pie! There was absolutely no need to rush,” Rarity scolded mildly as she descended the steps, arms held out elegantly on either side of her. The sunlight glinted off the gold bracelets on her wrists, and a blue handbag hung from her elbow. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of very large sunglasses. “Twilight, darling.” She held out her arms, but rather than hugging Twilight, she took Twilight’s face in her hands and kissed her once on each cheek. She proceeded to do the same to Rainbow Dash — her lips were moist and felt soft — and Blake.

“Did I hear you right?” Rarity asked. “Nothing of import, nothing to report since we parted last?”

“Actually, yeah, there are a couple of things,” Rainbow said.

“Hold on, y’all,” Applejack declared as she and Fluttershy made their way down out of the Crystal Heart to join the others. “Wait for us, and you won’t have to repeat yourselves.”

“And we should maybe wait for the girls too,” Fluttershy said softly. “Hello again, Spike.”

“Hey,” Spike said. “I mean, uh, woof. Woof!”

“What was that about waiting for us?” Apple Bloom asked as she, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo started to run down the steps.

“Don’t run down the steps, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity commanded.

“What were you going to do without waiting for us?” Scootaloo asked. “Is the tournament going to start without us?”

“Ah told y’all, the tournament don’t get started for another few days,” Applejack insisted. “I don’t think they’ve even announced whose takin’ part yet, have they, Rainbow?”

Rainbow shook his head. “The Beacon students are only having their Last Shot today, and then after that, Professor Ozpin is going to make his mind up, and then everybody finds out together tomorrow.”

As Scootaloo reached the docking pad, Rainbow turned to her, bending down a little bit so that she was closer to Scootaloo’s level. “How are you doing, kid?”

“I’m so excited!” Scootaloo cried. “I know that we came to visit you here at Beacon a little while ago, but this is my first time really visiting another kingdom! And for the Vytal Festival too!”

Rainbow grinned. “It’s going to be awesome,” she promised, because Blake had convinced her that it would be, that it wouldn’t be ruined by a few Valish jackasses with chips on their shoulders, that everything … everything would be pretty much okay.

After all, they’d already beaten all the real dangers; what were a few bad tempers compared to that?

“Vale,” Rainbow went on, “isn’t Atlas, but it is a pretty nice place to see, and you have time for some sightseeing before the tournament starts.”

“Anywhere you’d recommend?” asked Cadance, as she walked down the steps, accompanied by Shining Armor and … Maud Pie?

“Maud?” Rainbow asked, before remembering herself and coming to attention, saluting Shining Armor.

“Stand easy, Dash; no need to stand on ceremony here,” Shining Armor assured him, reaching out to ruffle Twilight’s hair with one hand. “How’s it going, Twily?”

“I am glad this year is almost over,” Twilight admitted. “It feels as if it’s been exhausting. I’ll be glad to get back to the lab. But, yeah, Maud, we didn’t know you were coming.”

“It’s not just Rainbow Dash that’s going to be fighting in the tournament,” Maud pointed out, the words coming in that slow, considered manner out of her mouth. “It’s Trixie and Sunburst too. How could I miss it?”

“So what was this exciting news that you forgot to mention the first time?” Pinkie asked.

“Blake,” Rainbow said, putting one arm around Blake’s shoulders and drawing her in a little closer, “has filed for her transfer to Atlas.”

“It’s not that exciting to you guys,” Blake said, “Rainbow shouldn’t have—”

“'Not that exciting'?” Rarity exclaimed. “Darling, that’s tremendous news.”

“Not least because it means we’ll be seeing so much more of you from now on,” Pinkie added.

“Welcome to the club, sugarcube,” Applejack said with an approving nod.

“Does that mean you want to become an Atlas specialist?” asked Scootaloo.

Blake nodded. “Eventually, after I graduate, yes.”

“Wow,” Scootaloo said. “I wouldn’t have expected that from when we last met.”

Blake snorted, a smile playing across her face. “Thanks to Rainbow Dash, I … I’ve changed quite a bit since we last met.”

“We’ve changed each other,” Rainbow said. “And that isn’t Blake’s only piece of news either—”

“They don’t need to hear—”

“Blake’s mom arrived all the way from Menagerie to see her,” Rainbow said.

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy gasped. “That sounds like quite a trip.”

“Ain’t no trip too long for a mama to see her little girl again,” Applejack declared. “Ain’t nothin’ like a family, and nothin’ more important.”

“But, if I may, how did your mother know to find you here?” asked Rarity. “I thought you weren’t in contact.”

“We weren’t,” Blake said. “But someone—”

Rainbow chuckled nervously. “Hey, it all worked out for the best, didn’t it?”

“Someone decided to write to my mother without telling me,” Blake said.

“Tsk, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity said, shaking her head, making her hair bounce a little bit. “Really?!”

“Well I knew that Blake was never going to do anything on her own,” Rainbow said. “I had to take steps.”

“Even so, darling, it does sound rather … well, rather in-character for you, I must admit,” Rarity said.

“Uh … thanks?” Rainbow murmured. “Anyway, Blake, tell them that you’re actually happy with what I did.”

“No, because I still haven’t entirely forgiven you,” Blake said. “Yes, I … I’m glad that I had the chance to make things right with Mom, and I’m glad that she’s here, but at the same time … you girls understand, right? I can be okay with the outcome without excusing what Rainbow did to bring it about.”

“Makes sense to me,” Applejack said. “You should have told her, sugarcube; you should have told her what you were gonna do, or you should at least have told her after you’d done it.”

“Like you should have told me that you didn’t like my pies,” Pinkie added.

“Or you should have told me that—” Fluttershy began.

“Okay, okay, I get it, but I only lie to you when I’m trying to help.”

“But it don’t help,” Applejack replied. “Does it?”

“Actually, in this case, I think it did help Blake a lot,” Rainbow said.

Applejack’s green eyes narrowed.

“I’m still going to swap your guns out with the toys if and when they ever come out,” Blake informed her. “I’m going to beat Neon to the punch.”

“Oh, really?” Rainbow asked, folding her arms. “Well, now that you’ve told me, you won’t take me by surprise.”

“Won’t I?”

“No,” Rainbow said. “No, you won’t.”

“Your mother,” Cadance murmured. “That would be the Chieftainess of Menagerie?”

“High Chieftainess,” Blake corrected gently, “but, yes.”

“And she came all the way here, to Vale,” Cadance said. She smiled. “She must love you very much.”

Blake looked away, a flush of colour rising to her cheeks. “Perhaps a little … too much,” she murmured.

“I’m not sure that it’s possible to be loved too much, especially not by your parents,” Cadance said. “As much as I’d hate to get in the way of your mother-daughter time … I’d like to meet her, if I may?”

“Of course!” Blake said, her voice rising. “I’m sure that she’d be honoured to—”

“The honour,” Cadance said, cutting Blake off with a shake of her head, “would be all mine.”

---

The queue to get into the Beacon amphitheatre was so big that it extended outside the building and spilled into the courtyard beyond. It was somewhat disorganised, less of a true queue than a serpentine mass of people crammed together, like a great beast which, as one got closer, one could see was not a beast at all but a mighty host of little creatures that only appeared to form a single, greater whole. They spilled past the doors and out into the courtyard beyond, students of every year all pressed together, teams sticking together in lines or clumped together.

Professor Port strolled up and down one side of the line, offering encouragement to certain teams or students in between ineffectually exhorting the line as a whole to settle down.

As one of the taller students, Pyrrha was able to look over the heads of many of her fellows — especially when she rose up onto her tiptoes — and see that the doors were forming something a chokepoint; beyond that, she guessed that the corridors into the locker rooms were slowing down the movement of students into the building.

“We should have got down here sooner,” Sunset muttered.

“We’ll be fine,” Pyrrha assured her. “They aren’t going to begin until all of the students are ready.”

And it did seem as though all the students, or nearly all, wished to take part in this, the Last Shot before Professor Ozpin made his choices for the Vytal Tournament. Looking around, Pyrrha could see Yang’s bright yellow hair, she could see Cardin looming above the press — although Weiss was hidden amongst the crowd, too small to be picked out — she could not see anyone from Team BLBL, but they were the only team that Pyrrha knew were not and would not be here. They had no interest in the tournament, it not being possible for them to compete with only three members, and so they were keeping Amber company in Team SAPR’s absence.

With Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch needed to supervise Last Shot, Ruby’s uncle Qrow Branwen was handling Amber’s protection. Pyrrha hoped that he didn’t bring down the mood by his presence overmuch, although as an older man, he would probably be at least somewhat inhibiting.

Unless, of course, he chooses to keep a discrete distance.

“How much longer, do you think?” Ruby asked, unable to see anything over anyone’s head and, thus, completely at the mercy of reports from Pyrrha and Jaune.

“We’re moving,” Jaune said as the whole heaving mass shuffled forwards slightly.

“Slowly,” Ruby grumbled. “Sunset, can you teleport us into the locker rooms?”

“I’m not sure that would go down particularly well,” Pyrrha murmured.

In the meantime, the delays as the queue moved slowly forwards did provide ample opportunity to look up at the Amity Colosseum as it drifted over the cliffs and over the grounds of Beacon itself, as if the arena itself were coming to look down upon all these students who wished so much to compete upon the shifting surface of the arena; as if it was the Colosseum itself, and not Professor Ozpin, who would be choosing which of the eight teams would receive the coveted honour and compete to win the laurel crown of victory.

Jaune looked up at it as well. “I know that you mentioned that it was a flying arena before,” he muttered. “But even so … whoa.”

“First time seeing it?” Sunset asked.

Jaune nodded, without taking his eyes off the floating arena.

“Me too,” Sunset said.

“Really?” Jaune asked, jerking his head in Sunset’s direction, if only for a moment. “I thought you would have … I’m surprised.”

“First time seeing it with your own eyes, I could believe,” Pyrrha said, “but you didn’t watch the last tournament on television?”

“Why would I want to watch other people having more fun than me?” Sunset asked. “Why would I want to watch other people basking in the love of the crowd while I was … languishing in … while I was not basking in love and honour, let’s put it like that.”

Now it was Sunset’s turn to turn her eyes upwards towards the Amity Colosseum. “It’s an impressive sight, isn’t it?”

“I can’t see it very well from down here,” Ruby grumbled, “but I remember it was really cool inside.”

“It has been some time,” Pyrrha murmured. “But from my memories, I appreciate the effort to approach an authentic arena experience … although it does look a little odd in metal, rather than in stone; it makes it look … very modern.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Sunset pointed out.

“Not a bad thing, exactly,” Pyrrha replied. “Rather … the Amity Colosseum has many years of history behind it by now; it has many stories to tell, it has borne witness to many things … and yet it does not seem so, if that makes sense.

“When I wait in the tunnel of the Colosseum in Mistral, I can see where those gladiators who came before me, stretching back into ancient times, have carved their names into the stone. I can reach out and feel where their fingers have weathered the building blocks. Just outside the arena itself, there is a statue of Eulalia, loud of the war cry, whose foot, by tradition, ought be touched for luck by gladiators about to fight that day; her foot has been touched so often by so many that it has been worn down and looks deformed and misshapen. It is clearly the place of history that it is in fact; Amity Arena, for all its wonders, seems to have been finished only yesterday.” Pyrrha paused a moment. “It matters little in the grand scheme of things, I know, but…”

“It still looks really cool, though,” Jaune said.

Pyrrha chuckled. “Yes,” she agreed. “Yes, it does.”

“I didn’t think it would be so big,” Jaune went on. “Is it as big as it looks?”

“It’s huge when you get inside,” Ruby said. “The crowd all just kind of blurs together, you can’t make out more than the people nearest to you, it’s like … it’s like being in a city.”

“A city with all eyes upon us and our deeds,” Sunset said softly.

“No pressure, then,” Jaune muttered. He looked at Pyrrha. “Any tips?”

Pyrrha smiled at him as she placed a hand upon his shoulder. “You won’t notice,” she told him. “That may not sound plausible, it may sound as though I’m just saying something to make you feel better, but I’m not. Yes, you are aware when you go in, you see the crowd, and more importantly, you hear the crowd thundering in your ears—”

“That doesn’t sound like not noticing,” Jaune pointed out.

“—but once the battle starts,” Pyrrha went on, “once swords are drawn, once combat is joined, then there is nothing but your opponent, nothing but the struggle. Everything else … falls away: the crowd, the arena, the rest of the world itself beyond the battlefield. If it doesn’t … you aren’t taking the battle seriously.”

“There must have been times you didn’t take the fighting seriously,” Sunset pointed out. “There must have been times you knew you could win with one eye closed.”

“I always gave my opponents the honour of my full concentration,” Pyrrha said, which was not entirely an answer to Sunset’s question, although she did give more of an answer when she followed up with, “Not least because so many of my opponents would have punished me severely had I done anything less.”

Sunset didn’t say anything, but the look on her face, the faintest hint of a smirk, told Pyrrha that she had caught what Pyrrha had said — and what she had not said.

The queue had shuffled forward to the point that they could actually get into the amphitheatre, joining the flow of students moving through the outer corridors, past the doors leading directly into the main chamber, into the locker rooms. All of them were already dressed for battle, with no need to actually change clothes, but they all needed to get their weapons out of their lockers.

Sunset also had to gird her armour on, strapping her vambraces around her wrist and fastening her cuirass across her chest. She discreetly — but not so discreetly that Pyrrha didn’t notice — brushed her fingertips against the welded patch where Adam had run through her cuirass, as though she were touching the foot of Eulalia for luck.

All armed, and all armoured where armour was applicable, they proceeded out of the locker rooms and into the main amphitheatre. The lights were down, as though this was a movie theatre and they had arrived after the trailers had already started running, and the four of them had to fumble their way through the crowd somewhat looking for seats.

“I hope we don’t get drawn against Team Iron,” Ruby murmured.

“We could take them,” Sunset said. “We had them on the ropes before Amber freaked out.”

“I heard that,” Yang said cheerily. “Hey, Ruby, come over here.”

Ruby led the way as they scurried across the room to take the seats next to Team YRBN.

“You absolutely did not have us on the ropes,” Yang declared. “I was about to dump Jaune out of the arena—”

“Pyrrha would have stopped you before you could,” Sunset said. “Or I would, or Ruby would.”

“Only if you could have gotten past Nora and Blake,” Yang replied, her voice starting to rise a little. “If we go again, you’ll see that Pyrrha can’t be everywhere.”

“You can’t be everywhere either,” Sunset said. “Especially when you’re tied up with Jaune.”

“Quiet please, everyone,” Professor Goodwitch said, her voice carrying across the auditorium despite her lack of a microphone. She stood in the centre of the stage, the spotlight upon her, the only person or thing illuminated in the auditorium. “Professor Ozpin will say a few words before we begin.”

Professor Goodwitch stepped aside, and Professor Ozpin walked into the spotlight, coming to a stop more or less where Professor Goodwitch had been standing just a moment ago.

He leaned upon his cane and looked around the room in silence; his eyes seemed to be able to pierce the darkness, to see the huntsmen and huntresses sitting in the dark.

To see Pyrrha sitting there amongst her teammates.

Pyrrha could not help but wonder if he would not rather be somewhere else, with Amber perhaps, doing something other than watching students compete for a place in what might seem to him to be a rather irrelevant celebration. He had done a good job of concealing the fact that he found this whole business to be trivial and banal when Pyrrha and Arslan interviewed him, but she was certain that he could not take it as seriously as the rest of Remnant took it.

Professor Ozpin stood in silence for a few moments, moments which seemed to stretch out some little time, before he spoke. “It gladdens my heart to see so many eager young faces here today, keen to represent their school and kingdom. For those of you who don’t know, and must have wandered in here on the basis that everyone was headed this way—”

A soft chuckle ran around the auditorium.

Professor Ozpin smiled ever so slightly as he went on, “—the Vytal Festival that has been crawling towards us since the year began will be upon us very soon now, and even sooner, I must select those teams which will carry the honour of Beacon and of Vale into battle in this, the fortieth Vytal Festival tournament. The purpose of this tournament is not only to celebrate the continued blessings of peace that have prevailed in Remnant since the end of the Great War, but also to remind each and every one of you to always strive to better yourself, to reach for new heights, to never settle for mediocrity or even for second place.

“To that end, I will select just eight teams to compete against eight teams from each of your three fellow academies of Atlas, Haven, and Shade. I will select those teams which, in my judgement, best embody the Vytal ethos of constant striving for improvement, which best embody the values of this academy, who have demonstrated a constant commitment to their studies here, and, yes, those which display a superlative skill in combat. It is a little late, to say the least, for you to do much about my first three criteria, but today is a final opportunity, a ‘last shot’ if you will, to demonstrate the last.

“Please take note that this is not a tournament. Victory does not guarantee you a place in the chosen eight teams, nor does defeat doom all your hopes. All you can do today, all you need do today, is show me what you’re capable of.”

Professor Ozpin glanced outside of the spotlight. “Professor Goodwitch, when you are ready, please call the first match.”

With that, Professor Ozpin stepped back out of the spotlight and presumably — it was hard to make out in the darkness — made his way off the stage to find some spot from which he could observe the contests. The stage itself became fully lit up, so that the combatants in the battles about to begin could at least see one another, and revealed that Professor Ozpin was indeed doing just that, although as soon as he left the battlefield, he was lost to Pyrrha’s sight once more.

The lights also illuminated Professor Goodwitch, whose head was down a little to check the tablet — larger than a scroll — cradled in one arm. “The first match of the day will be—” — she pushed a button, and the images of the four members of Team WWSR appeared on the right hand side of the screen opposite four students that Pyrrha didn’t recognise — “Team Wisteria versus Team Onyx.”

“Go Flash!” Sunset yelled, pumping one fist as she half rose out of her seat.

People turned to look at her. Sunset didn’t look nearly as abashed about that as Pyrrha would have felt, as Pyrrha did feel just by being nearby.

“What?” Sunset said. “Are we not supposed to say anything?”

“There is no prohibition against cheering, Miss Shimmer; it’s just customary to wait until the two teams are actually in the ring,” Professor Ozpin said, mirth in the voice that emerged, unseen, from out of the darkness.

Team ONYX swaggered up onto the stage, looking for all the world as though they had already won the battle.

Pyrrha frowned at that, it was a kind of attitude she had seen more than once — though it hadn’t been directed against her in quite some time — and she never liked it when she saw it; no matter who your opponent was, you should do them the honour of taking them seriously.
Pyrrha herself tried never to take her victories for granted, and no matter how many times she fought Arslan, she never allowed herself to forget that this might be the day that her record of victories came to an end and Arslan paid her back for all her prior triumphs. That was the courteous thing to do, but it was also the pragmatic thing: there were few things a crowd liked better than to see a swaggering braggart taken down a peg or two by an underdog.

That was one of the reasons why Phoebe was not a favourite of the crowd.

In any case, Team WWSR took to the stage to face off against their older opponents. Aside from Sunset’s shout, nobody cheered for them; in fact, as they made their way up onto the stage — Pyrrha could see Weiss better than most others, dressed in white as she was she shone like a star, even in this darkness — it seemed as though the four members of the team were afflicted by a chill wind that blew around them, piercing their aura and biting them to the bone.

Weiss kept her chin up, but she moved with a sort of brittle grace, as though she might shatter if put under the wrong sort of pressure.

How many people think Weiss to be her father? How many of them cannot see her for who she is?

The embattled team mounted the stage and gathered together, where Weiss whispered something to them, her arm sweeping out across the battlefield in broad gestures.

Team ONYX, on the other hand, seemed to find strategy beneath them; they waited with a patience no better disguised than their contempt.

Perhaps it was Pyrrha’s hopeful imagination, but she half-thought she saw Professor Goodwitch glower at them slightly as she cleared the way for the ensuing battle.

“Begin!” she cried.

Team WWSR split into two pairs, Cardin and Russel on one hand, Weiss and Flash on the other, each taking one flank of the stage. At first blush, Pyrrha thought they meant to try and catch Team ONYX in a pincer, but as ONYX in turn split up by pairs, Pyrrha recognised that that had been the aim of Weiss’ plan: to split their opposition and force them to fight two on two.

It was a decision that was not altogether to the advantage of Cardin and Russel. The two of them did better than some might say they had a right to, their coordination and teamwork making up for the fact that, individually, they were neither of them the strongest fighters, but although they did better than, on their individual merits, they ought to have done, although they managed to whittle down the aura of the two students opposing them, eventually, they were both taken into the red, and eliminated.

But by that time, Weiss and Flash had demolished their opponents.

Cardin and Russel had worked together to be better than they were individually; the same was true of Weiss and Flash, but to a much greater extent. Weiss was as nimble as a fly on the wing, as a dragonfly dancing through the air, gliding and leaping on her glyphs of solemn black and gleaming silver-white, while Flash was like a rock, or a safe harbour from the storm, whom Weiss could retreat behind when she was hard-pressed by their opponents. Weiss would emerge from out behind Flash, zipping across the stage, striking with dust, holding one enemy in place with a glyph, cutting the two of them off from one another so that she could fence with one without fear of the other. And then she would retreat, taking cover behind Flash’s shield and his semblance while he lashed out with his long spear, holding their enemies at bay.

And in this way, they knocked out two of their opponents, and then turned on those who had just eliminated Cardin and Russel.

By this point, whatever the wrongs of the Schnee Dust Company, it wasn’t only Sunset cheering WWSR on as they eliminated another of their opponents. There was only a single member of Team ONYX left, Orlando Adrian by name, and he was sweating profusely as he backed away from the opponents who now outnumbered him just as surely as they had shown that they outclassed him.

Flash took a step backward. Weiss took a step forward. She raised her rapier in a gesture like a salute, as a glyph like the gears of a ghostly clock began to form beneath her feet.

Orlando charged at her, his axe drawn back to strike, but already, his movements seemed slow, sluggish, trapped in treacle.

Then Weiss charged. She was a white blur, dancing from glyph to glyph which appeared in the air all around Orlando, trapping him in a maze of white as Weiss leapt from one to rebound off the other, and with each pass, she dealt her opponent another blow.

When the buzzer rang to signal that Orlando’s aura was in the red, it looked as though Weiss could have kept going for twice as long.

“Team Wisteria stands victorious,” Professor Goodwitch said, and although she tried to keep her voice dispassionate, Pyrrha thought that she could detect a note of pride there. “Congratulations.”

Orlando got heavily to his feet. “This isn’t fair,” he grunted.

“And what, precisely, do you find objectionable, Mister Adrian?” Professor Goodwitch demanded, sounding rather more prickly than sympathetic.

“Atlas already has eight slots,” Orlando growled. “Why do they need to steal one of ours?”

Pyrrha gasped, scarcely able to believe that he had said such a thing; she thought that she heard others gasp as well. That was … completely contrary not only to the spirit of the Vytal Festival but also to the founding principles of the Academies themselves.

It was, with no offence intended to Rainbow Dash — or, indeed, to General Ironwood — the sort of attitude she would have expected to hear from an Atlas student rather than a huntsman of Beacon.

Professor Goodwitch was deathly silent as she pushed her spectacles back up her nose. “Miss Schnee and Mister Sentry are students at Beacon Academy, Mister Adrian; now, if you will please vacate—”

“They think that they can just take whatever they want like they—”

“Mister Adrian!” Professor Goodwitch snapped. “Another word from you, and you’ll be spending the Vytal Festival picking up litter around the fairgrounds. Clear the stage so that the next match can begin.”

And so it went. Teams were called up two by two, and in their pairs, those teams of four made their way onto the stage and fought until one was the winner and the other was not. Team YRBN won a hard-fought bout against second year Team CFVY, a battle so hard fought that, by the end of the combat, Ren and even Nora had both been eliminated, and the auras of Yang and Blake were only a feathers’ breadth away from entering the red.

Nevertheless, Team YRBN were the winners, and as she stood with her aura almost drained, Yang had an enormous smile upon her face, the biggest smile that Pyrrha had ever seen on a face that was never slow to smile.

Such was the power of the arena, a magic beyond the reach even of a Maiden.

And so it went, match after match, until the images of Team SAPR appeared on the right hand side of the screen.

“The next match,” Professor Goodwitch announced. “Is Team Sapphire versus Team Grey. Please make your way onto the stage.”

Pyrrha got up, studying the names of their opponents of Team GRAY as they were written beside their headshots: Gregory Douglas, with a beefy, bullet-shaped head; Rue Farran, with iron grey hair combed to fall entirely down the left hand side of her face; Aspidistra Glaucus, whose blue-grey eyes were large and stormy; Yarrow Lloyd, a deer faunus who had shaved his head down to stubble around his antlers.

She could see Sunset studying them as well, though less their pictures and more their opponents themselves as they got up onto the stage: Gregory was huge and carried an enormous zweihander with what looked like fire dust infused via the pommel much like Jaune’s blade; Rue carried a trident in one hand and a net in the other; Aspidistra looked to be armed with a fasces, the bundle of rods with an axe shoved into it that had once — the practice had fallen into disuse as magistrates lost the power of life and death over their fellow citizens — been carried in Mistral by attendants upon the Emperor and their legates; Yarrow had a staff, or at least it looked like a simple staff at the moment.

Sunset bent down to whisper in Ruby’s ear as they climbed up onto the stage. “Ruby, what do you think of that fasces?”

“The what?”

“The rods and the axe.”

“Oh. I think it’s a rotary cannon until it’s an axe. And I bet that net is infused with lightning dust.”

Sunset nodded. “Okay, we’re going to do a Lancaster straight serve to take out that cannon before she can fire, then Pyrrha, you’re going to go for the big guy; Jaune, go for Rue but then castle Queen and Rook at Jaune’s discretion; I’ll cover you and then help Ruby deal with the last guy if she needs it. Understood?”

“Yes,” Pyrrha said. It rather amazed her how Sunset had come up with that so quickly, and it all made sense too.

“Good luck, Team Sapphire!” called out the recognisable but, at the same time, surprising voice of Penny from out of the darkness.

Pyrrha wondered briefly how she had gotten in here, but then realised that the real question was whether anyone who noticed her coming in would have cared enough to stop her. After all, unlike the Mistralian qualifiers, winning or losing in these matches did not explicitly yield or cost a tournament slot. Nothing was being revealed here that demanded secrecy.

And it was nice to have another friend down in the pits.

“If both teams are ready,” Professor Goodwitch said as the two teams squared off against one another. Team GRAY did not, at least, look as though they were taking the threat of Team SAPR with anything less than complete seriousness; whether that was because the reputation of SAPR went before them or they were simply more sensible than ONYX had been, she could not say. The audience were completely silent, and Pyrrha could sense the anticipation rolling off of them like fog. “Begin!”

The fasces was a rotary cannon. No sooner had Professor Goodwitch given the word than Aspidistra lowered it to take aim as the axe began to retract and the rods began to reveal themselves as rotary barrels.

But even as that was going on, Ruby had leapt onto Jaune’s shield, angling her body straight towards Aspidistra Glaucus.

When Aspidistra’s barrels were still arranging themselves, Jaune’s semblance had spread around his shield and up Ruby’s legs.

When Aspidistra’s cannon was assembled and ready to fire, Ruby had already launched herself across the ring in a shower of rose petals. Her own weapon formed in her hands, Crescent Rose expanding, almost erupting, finishing its extension as it slammed, barrel first, into Aspidistra’s chest.

Ruby fired, Crescent Rose booming forth as the combined force of shot and impact combined to throw Aspidistra clean off the edge of the ring and into the auditorium, even as Ruby was blasted backwards by the counterforce. The klaxon blared as a red X defaced Aspidistra’s portrait, and even as the other members of Team GRAY were turning on Ruby, she had swung her scythe to cut Yarrow’s legs out from under him and knock him off his feet.

Pyrrha and Jaune were both in motion by now, and as she ran, Pyrrha converted Miló into rifle mode and fired a shot at the back of Gregory’s head in case he forgot that Ruby wasn’t his only opponent. Sunset fired too, a fire dust round exploding against his shoulder, but it was to Pyrrha that Gregory turned as she charged towards him, Miló forming a sword in her hands as she adjusted her hold upon it appropriately.

Sunset fired again, Sol Invictus cracking behind Pyrrha, and this time, she must have fired an ice-dust round, because the big huntsman’s leg was enveloped in ice, sticking him to the stage.

Pyrrha charged straight at him. He swung his enormous sword down at her, but Pyrrha skidded, sliding along the floor of the stage so swiftly that his blow and all the fire that exploded where it landed struck the point at which she had been a few crucial seconds too late as she skidded between his legs. She slashed with her sword at his unfrozen leg as she went, before driving the point of Miló into the stage floor to slow her movement to a halt.

Gregory freed his leg and began to turn towards her, but he was slow, so slow, and he turned only swiftly enough to see Pyrrha leaping through the air, Miló forming a spear in her hands as she flew like a swift arrow straight towards him. She drove Miló forward to strike him square on the chest, making his breastplate ring as he staggered backwards, then she hit him in the face with her shield and kicked him first with her left foot and then her right as she knocked him flat onto his back before she landed just beyond him, rolling to her feet as she heard Jaune’s voice.

“Pyrrha, switch with me!”

Pyrrha’s head snapped up. Jaune was in retreat, although his aura was still in the green. Rue was swiping with her net back and forth, trying to tangle up his legs with it even as she jabbed with her trident, and Jaune was not nimble enough to readily evade.

But Pyrrha was.

She charged, and even as she charged, Jaune broke off from his opponent and ran the other way towards Gregory as the big man tried to regain his feet. Rue’s eyes widened as she saw Pyrrha coming straight for her at full tilt, Akoúo̱ held in front and Miló drawn back to strike. She swept her net in front of her, aiming to tangle Pyrrha’s legs and impede her movement, but with a touch of her semblance to keep the metal net low to the ground, Pyrrha was able to jump clear over it and through Rue’s guard.

One blow with Miló to stagger her backwards.

One blow with Akoúo̱ to force the net out of her hand.

Pyrrha pirouetted, slashing with Miló. Her hair spun around her as she swept Rue’s legs out from under her and kicked her up into the air. She leapt up after her, adding a final blow to drive her straight back down into the ground again with enough force to drive her into the red with the blaring of the klaxon.

The klaxon blared again as another red X obscured the face of Yarrow Lloyd.

Pyrrha saw Jaune bring his sword down onto that of Gregory Douglas, who had not gotten up but had his sword in one hand and was trying to parry with it. Lightning erupted from the dust vial in the pommel of Crocea Mors to ripple up Jaune’s blade, down Gregory’s blade and up and down his entire armoured form. Sunset fired, and she must have used a lightning dust round too, because the amount of lightning snapping up and down that immense body increased before Pyrrha’s eyes even as aura ground down and down until it was in the red.

The klaxon sounded for the fourth and final time. “Team Sapphire stands victorious,” Professor Goodwitch announced dispassionately.

“Yes!” Sunset said, without much grace in victory. “Is that a new record?”

Pyrrha gave her a slightly reproachful look, but as she walked across the stage towards where Jaune stood and Gregory Douglas still lay on his hands and knees, she struggled to think of what to say that was more gracious. 'Well fought'? That might seem rather patronising, and Pyrrha had had it taken that way even by opponents who had fought far better than Team GRAY — the first time she had ever encountered Arslan in the arena, the latter had responded to Pyrrha telling her ‘well fought’ with a stream of invective that Pyrrha had been shocked a girl their age knew, ending with an instruction to ‘shove it, because you’ll see me again real soon’; Pyrrha was glad that they understood one another better now, after more such meetings — and yet she felt as though she ought to say something rather than let Sunset’s mild crowing be the last word from them.

As she approached, Gregory got to his feet, casting a shadow over both her and Jaune.

“Do I get a badge?” he asked.

Pyrrha blinked. “I … excuse me?”

“A badge,” Gregory repeated. “For joining the ‘Lost to Pyrrha Nikos’ club?”

Pyrrha chuckled. “You lost to Team Sapphire,” she reminded him, “not to me.”

“I suppose so,” Gregory muttered. “It happens sometimes. You did pretty well, all of you.”

“Yes,” Pyrrha said, looking away from him and across the rest of the team. “Yes, I rather think we did.”

---

The Amity Arena resembled, to Amber's eyes, a pudding bowl, a large tin pudding bowl floating across the sky like a balloon, coming to rest over Beacon as though a child had suddenly grabbed hold of its string.

Put like that, it seemed a little ridiculous — or else it would make her sound ridiculous, which was why she didn't say — but in spite of that, she couldn't take her eyes off it.

She was sitting under the shade of one of the trees that dotted the Beacon lawn, with Dove sitting next to her, his shoulder resting against hers, and Lyra and Bon Bon with them. Qrow, Ozpin's enforcer with the bad breath, was supposedly watching them, but Amber couldn't see him. Perhaps he wasn't watching at all, but more likely, he was being very discrete, and Amber wasn't wise enough to mark his hiding place. Lyra had her harp with her, and the sweet sound of the plucked strings had, if not filled the air, then at least filled Amber's ears with airs that gave delight and hurt not. But as a shadow had grown over them, as it had engulfed the trees, swallowed the grass on which they sat, as it had blotted out the sun and plunged them all halfway into darkness, it had become impossible to avoid the thing that was filling the sky above them, impossible to turn her eyes away from it.

And now that she had looked, neither she nor Dove could take their eyes off it.

"'Brave new world,'" Amber murmured, because as much as it might look like a gigantic bowl for mixing batter and cakes, a place for beating eggs into the flour and the milk, a place to whip meringue until you could turn the bowl upside down and wait to see if said meringue would fall upon your head or not, despite the ridiculousness of its appearance, there was, at the same time, something awe-inspiring about it too.

Someone had built this. Someone had built this. Someone had fashioned such an enormous structure out of metal and then they had made it fly amongst the clouds it dwarfed with its sheer size. It looked so big that Amber almost dreamed that you could fit the world within that flying place and float it out of danger, free from the perils of the grimm upon the ground forevermore. It was so large, a giant could scoop ground up in their hand and still not fill the arena up.

"When you said that it was a flying arena," Dove murmured, "I wasn't expecting … this."

Lyra giggled. "You two are such a pair of country mice, aren't you?" She plucked at the strings of her harp.

"As opposed to you, who are so terribly worldly and sophisticated?" Bon Bon asked archly.

"I know what the Amity Colosseum looks like," Lyra replied plaintively.

"How many people can fit up there?" asked Amber.

"Thousands," Lyra said. "It's got the biggest capacity of any stadium or the like anywhere in Remnant. I think."

"You think?" Bon Bon asked. "I would have thought that someone as experienced, as learned, as urbane and cultivated a city mouse as you would know for sure."

"Shut up," Lyra muttered. "I never said I knew everything."

Thousands of people. It was … it was incredible to think of, standing up there amongst the clouds, in front of thousands of people, all of them looking down at Pyrrha or Sunset or Penny or the others. It was incredible, and a little bit terrifying, not so much because of the crowds themselves — there had been a time when Amber had dreamed of singing in front of huge crowds, egged on by Ozpin, who told her that she had the talent for it — but because of what they would be doing up there to entertain the crowds: fighting.

Arslan said that it was perfectly safe, that it was all performance, but if Pyrrha's mother had been injured performing like that, then … then maybe someone could be worse than injured.

They would all be up there, all of them fighting. But fighting for sport, fighting for fun...

The memory of the sparring match, the fight she had had to run from, had to escape, rose unbidden to the forefront of Amber's mind. Yang on fire, Yang with her eyes ablaze, Yang with that cruel smirk upon her face, Yang about to kill Jaune—

Amber shook her head. No, no, that wasn't right, that wasn't Yang, that was Cinder.

But it was terrifying all the same.

"Amber?" Dove asked, with the same gentleness in his voice as in his grip as he took her by the hand. "Amber, what's wrong?"

He was looking at her now. At her, and not at the arena up above them.

"Nothing," Amber said quickly, tearing her own eyes away from the enormous structure above them, the arena at which she no longer wished to look. "I-I'm fine." She smiled at him. "I'm fine."

Lyra plucked at the strings of her harp. "So, Amber," she said, "how does it feel to be without a bodyguard looking over your shoulder for once?"

"Oh, I've still got one," Amber replied.

"Where?" Bon Bon asked, looking around.

"Um … I don't know," Amber admitted. "He's probably here, but … perhaps he's giving us some space."

"A lot of space," Lyra said, craning her neck a little as she looked around. "I can't see anyone who's paying the slightest bit of attention to us."

Amber chuckled softly. "That's not a bad thing, necessarily."

"No, I guess not," Lyra agreed. She grinned. "On that subject, are you and Dove going to come to the Losers' Party or are you going to take advantage of the place being nearly empty and—?"

"Don't be vulgar, Lyra," Bon Bon said.

"What makes you think I was going to be vulgar in any way, shape, or form?" demanded Lyra.

"Why else would they need to take advantage of the place being nearly empty?"

"I think you've got the dirty mind, not me," Lyra said. "Anyway, are you coming to the Losers' Party?"

"What's that?" asked Amber.

"It's a party for Losers."

"I don't think that helps explain very much," Dove said dryly. "Once the teams competing in the Vytal Festival are announced, the teams that made the cut go — or can go — to a celebration in Vale—"

"A boring celebration," Lyra said. "It's all leading civic dignitaries and corporate sponsors; it's a networking event, no fun at all."

"That's what people say who didn't get invited," said Bon Bon.

"The Losers' Party is held here at Beacon for everyone who wasn't fortunate enough to make the list," Dove added.

"Even if you didn't want to make the list?" Amber asked. "You didn't try and compete in this tournament."

"But it's open to all students," Lyra said. "Whether you failed or didn't try, we're all losers."

Amber laughed. "I'm not even a student, but … if you wouldn't mind, it might be fun."

Except that if Team SAPR were selected to the tournament, and Team RSPT too, and Blake, then who would watch her?

Who would watch me in the dorm room if they all go to the celebration in Vale? Qrow again?

If he's as discreet as he's being today, that might not be so bad. It's like he's not even here at all.

That might be true of Qrow Branwen, but it was not true of the girl who Amber now noticed watching her for a moderate distance away across the grass. Watching her, or … was she actually watching Bon Bon? It was a little hard to tell; the other girl was too far away to be sure who she was looking at, but she was definitely looking at one of them. Perhaps she was even looking at both of them.

Amber didn't recognise her; perhaps she had seen the other girl before, but she didn't recognise her, although she was quite recognisable, being as tall as Pyrrha — made even taller by the way her hair stuck straight up like a crest.

"Amber?" Dove asked.

"Who is that?" Amber murmured. "Do you know her?"

Bon Bon looked around, following Amber's gaze towards the tall girl. Her mouth twisted in distaste.

"That … that's a friend," she muttered. "Wait here; I'll take care of it."

---

From his perch on one of the high branches of a tree, Qrow watched Amber.

He couldn't hear what was being said between her and her friends. He didn't need to; if someone were to show up and start attacking her, then he'd know about it from seeing, without needing to hear about it as well.

And in the meantime, well, it might be okay for Ruby and her friends to hang out with Amber, but that didn't mean that she wanted some guy old enough to be her father cramping her style.

Oz wanted things to be as gentle for Amber as possible, for things to be as comfortable for her as possible. Maybe that was the guilt talking, but — notwithstanding the fact that Qrow had more to be guilty about than Ozpin did; he was the one who had been too late to track Amber down after she ran away — just because it was driven by guilt didn't mean that it wasn't also kind.

The alternative was to lock Amber in a box with air holes until the danger was passed, and that … that sounded in Qrow's head a little too close to Jimmy's way of doing things for Qrow to feel comfortable advocating.

Nah, he was fine where he was, and Amber was fine where she was, underneath his watchful eye.

So Qrow sat in the tree and watched as one of Amber's friends down on the ground below got up and started walking away. Qrow didn't pay much attention to where she was going.

His attention was on Amber. So long as he kept his eyes on her, everything would be fine.

---

Bon Bon seethed as she stalked across the grass towards where Tempest Shadow waited. How dare she? Did she think that Bon Bon was bluffing? Did she think that Bon Bon wouldn't expose herself to expose Tempest, if it meant protecting Dove and Amber? Did she think that she could come so close, and look like that, on a whim?

It did occur to Bon Bon that Tempest might have the answer that she had demanded from her, the surety that would prove that she could be trusted, that would allow Bon Bon to go to Amber and suggest that she betray Ozpin and the others and hand over the Relic to Tempest. It might be that, but even then, even if that were the case, why do it here? Why now, in such a manner; couldn't she be more discreet about it?

And so, a scowl settled upon Bon Bon's face as she approached Tempest. They were both under the shadow of the Amity Colosseum, and so, Tempest's face was harder to make out than it would have been in other circumstances, but nevertheless, as she got closer, Bon Bon could see that Tempest was scowling herself. She was wearing a pair of black jeans and a black hoodie with a white skull on it, and her hands were thrust into her pockets so that she looked less like a huntress and more like a bored delinquent waiting to be chased out of the mall by security.

"What are you doing here?" Bon Bon demanded.

"I've noticed that Amber is almost always accompanied by an entourage," Tempest said softly, "and for obvious reasons, it would be best not to say anything about my plan where any member of Team Sapphire could hear it. But today, Team Sapphire is at Last Shot, watched by Penny Polendina; Rainbow Dash and Blake Belladonna are meeting with their civilian friends; and Ciel Soleil is watching Amber through a sniper scope, which means that she can see perfectly, but can't hear anything. There will never be a better time than now."

"Except for the fact that you—"

"Yes, yes, I…" Tempest started, cutting Bon Bon off, then trailed away. The scowl on her face deepened. Her right shifted in her pocket. "I … I want you to know that I take no pleasure in this. I do it only under the greatest duress, because the mission demands it."

She removed her hand from her pocket, revealing that she was holding some kind of little remote control in her pocket, a small black square with two buttons on it, one red and one white.

She held it out towards Bon Bon, then pulled it back again. She hesitated, taking a deep breath, and held it out once more.

Bon Bon reached for it. Tempest pulled it back.

Bon Bon's eyebrows rose.

Tempest growled wordlessly. "Damn you," she muttered and thrust it out at Bon Bon.

Bon Bon took it, quickly, before Tempest could take it back again. "What is it?"

"It's a remote for my artificial arm," Tempest muttered. "Pressing the white button will completely disable it until you press the white button again. Pressing the red button…"

Bon Bon waited a second for her to finish. "Go on."

Tempest let out a seething breath. "Pressing the red button will reverse the flow of nervous signal," she said. "In essence, my own arm will deliver an electric shock to my system. The harder you press the button, the more extreme the shock." She glared at Bon Bon. "You asked for a weapon in case I turned on you and on Amber? Well, there it is!" She held up her prosthetic arm, the arm that she had just used to hand over the controller. "This arm is … I don't know if I can explain to you what this arm means; you wouldn't—"

"It makes you whole," Bon Bon murmured.

Tempest was silent for a second, her eyes widened a little.

"You're not the only one with metal in you," Bon Bon said softly.

Tempest did not reply to that. Instead, she said, "I can hide the metal," she said, "but I couldn't hide missing an arm. I couldn't hide not being able to do things that require two hands. And after so many years … it is a part of me now. I can scarcely remember what it was like not to have an arm that weighed down on my shoulder, to have an arm that it didn't hurt to sleep on, to not have itches that I could never scratch."

"No," Bon Bon agreed. "It … it goes away, doesn't it? At first, it's strange, and awkward, and uncomfortable. Then it's your new normal. Then … it's the only normal that you can recall." Her hand gently, ever so gently, pressed down upon the red button.

Tempest jerked, a wince of pain escaping from her lip as her arm seized up, the only part of her that did not convulse swiftly like an eel pulled out of the river. She glared at Bon Bon. "Was that necessary?"

"I had to see if it worked," Bon Bon replied.

Tempest bared her teeth. "I hate that I must give this to you," she said. "I hate it, and I … but it gives you what you want, doesn't it? If I betray you, then you can disable me, or hurt me. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Bon Bon took a step backwards, weighing the remote in her hand. It was a small thing, but it worked — she had just proven that — and she had asked for something to protect her from Tempest in the case of treachery.

It was very hard to argue that Tempest had not delivered in that regard.

"It isn't just Amber who needs to be safe," she said. "Dove, too."

"Who is Dove?" Tempest asked, with a shrug.

"He's—"

"It was a rhetorical question," Tempest added. "Yes, Dove can be spared, anyone can be spared provided that they don't actively get in the way. Even Team Sapphire; if they are prepared to walk away, then they can walk away. If they are prepared to stand aside, then they will be in no more danger from the grimm than anyone else. Amber can have her boyfriend. Amber can have anyone who's prepared to go along with her; they're not that important. The only person who cannot be spared is Ozpin."

"I don't think Amber would want to spare him anyway," Bon Bon replied.

Tempest snorted. "So … will she go for it?""

"I'm frightened, and I want to live."

"Yes," Bon Bon said. "Yes, I think she'll go for it."

"Then I'll leave you to it," Tempest said. "Let me know when she agrees, and then wait for my instructions."

"When—"

"I've just given you the power to make me disabled; you don't get everything all at once," Tempest snarled. She took a deep breath, and visibly got a grip on herself. "When you need to know," she said, "then you will know." She turned around and walked away.

Her arm swung lightly at her side.

Bon Bon pressed the white button.

Tempest's arm seized up. Tempest half-turned around, eyes blazing.

Bon Bon hastily pressed the button again. Tempest's prosthetic hand clenched into a fist, and she stared at Bon Bon as though she would like to drive that fist through her chest, before in the end turning away again and continuing to walk off.

So, that button works too.

Bon Bon looked down at it, the surety that she had wanted.

Now, it only remained to convince Amber to take the deal, the deal that would protect her, and Dove, better than Team SAPR or Professor Ozpin or the whole Atlesian fleet could do.

The deal that would protect them both forever.

As she walked back towards Amber and the others, Bon Bon had a spring in her step that hadn't been there since … since they'd lost Sky, at least.

Just watch, Sky; I'm about to make sure we won't lose anyone else.

---

"On a mountain, to the east of Vale, stands a lonesome pine," Lyra sang, her fingers strumming nimbly over the strings of her harp. "Just beyond, in a cabin there lives a little girl of mine."

"Her name is June and very, very soon, she'll belong to me," Bon Bon sang, a smile playing across her face as she rejoined them, her very tall friend having gone somewhere else. "For I know, she's waiting there for me, 'neath that lone pine tree."

Lyra beamed. "Iiiin the—"

Bon Bon held up one hand. "Another time, Lyra, maybe."

"Come on, Bon Bon," Amber urged. "That was the first time I've ever heard you sing, but you have a wonderful voice."

"Well, thank you," Bon Bon said, "but right now, I need to have a word with you." She looked at Lyra. "A private word."

Lyra frowned. "About what?"

"Just … give us a second, okay?" Bon Bon asked.

"Do you—?" Dove began.

"No," Bon Bon said. "You're fine."

Lyra pouted, but muttered, "Okay, if you say so." She got up and started to head back in the rough direction of the dorm rooms.

Amber frowned. "Bon Bon," she murmured, "what couldn't you say in front of Lyra?"

Bon Bon hesitated. The smile had faded from her face as she sat down in front of the two of them, close to the two of them.

"I…" she paused. "You need to stay calm," she said. "When you hear what I'm about to say next, you need to stay calm."

"That doesn't sound very calming," Amber whispered.

"Bon Bon, what is this?" Dove asked. "Why are you talking like you're about to say—?"

"I know," Bon Bon said abruptly, the words leaping out of her mouth. "Amber, I know the truth, I know that you are the Fall Maiden, I know about the Relic, I know everything. And I'm sorry, so sorry, for what has been done to you."

Amber gasped in shock. Bon Bon … Bon Bon knew? Dove's friend, Dove's team leader, someone he trusted and spoke highly of, and she knew? She knew everything?

"'Relic'?" Dove repeated. "What's a Relic, and how do you know?"

"Because there is a war being fought, and I'm on the other side," Bon Bon said, short and sharp, words hushed for all the force with which they were delivered.

She was quiet, and yet, she spoke like a hurricane. Amber shrank back, pressing herself against the rough back of the tree behind her. She could feel her heart pounding inside her chest; she could feel her stomach turn to ice as she gasped for breath. Bon Bon not only knew, she was … she was … she was an agent of Salem? She was working with Cinder? She was an enemy, and she had waited until Amber was alone, without Sunset or Pyrrha or anyone else to protect her, and now…

Now, she was going to kill her.

Fear rushed through Amber's veins, fear … and anger too, anger like the fire at her command, anger at Bon Bon's lies, for lying to her like Ozpin had lied to her.

That anger made her surge forward, to grab Bon Bon's hands and hold them fast before she could make any move to use them, to hold Bon Bon in place as flames began to flicker at her fingertips.

"Give me one reason," Amber snarled, her voice harder than it had ever been before, "give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you."

Bon Bon blinked rapidly, and it almost seemed as though there were tears in her eyes.

"You probably should," she admitted, "but I didn't tell you this because I wanted to hurt you. I'm telling you this because I want to offer you a way out."

"'A way out'?"

"You needn't be hunted," Bon Bon said quickly. "You needn't be afraid, you don't need to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, you can be free, you and Dove, to do what you like, live as you like. You can be free of all of it."

Amber shook her head. "That's not possible. My power—"

"Doesn't matter," Bon Bon said. "Except because it's needed to get the Relic, but if you give up the Relic, then the Fall Maiden power isn't needed anymore. And Cinder will be dead. They're going to kill her. She won't trouble you ever again. I swear."

"You swear?" Amber said. "Why should I believe you?"

"What other choice do you have?" Bon Bon asked. "To stand with Ozpin? You'll be hunted all your life, you know that. You can kill me, you can kill Cinder, but there are other agents in Beacon still, and there will always be someone else. You'll always have to watch your back. You'll always have to worry about Dove getting hurt."

Amber let out a wordless growl, as Bon Bon yelped at the sudden heat of her wrists.

She let out a ragged breath. "You know it's true," she said. "In this war … we put the people we care about in the path of danger. It's inevitable." She paused. "They can't protect you. Team Sapphire, Team Rosepetal, Ozpin, they can't keep you safe. And if they try…"

If they try, then they'll just die trying, Amber thought. She let go of Bon Bon's hands, leaning back away from her. With one hand, she lightly touched her face, her fingers brushing away the makeup that concealed her scars.

The scars that came from defying Salem. The scars that came from serving Ozpin. The scars that came from being a part of this dark struggle.

The scars that would never leave her.

Just as she would never stop being hunted for her power … unless she gave up the reason why her power was sought for.

The Relic.

Amber closed her eyes. Bon Bon was right. Amber knew she was right. She had the scars to prove that she was right.

"'Oh brave new world, that has such people in it,'" she whispered.

Brave people, kind people, wonderful people.

Dead people, if they tried to stand between her and darkness. She could see it all so clearly in her mind's eye: Pyrrha and Jaune fallen, reaching out for one another, blood staining their matching sashes, the light gone out of their eyes; Sunset screaming as she was torn apart; Ruby devoured; Penny weeping as Cinder cut her throat.

And Cinder, Cinder stalking amongst her nightmares, haunting her imagination, Cinder burning, Cinder with eyes blazing red as blood, Cinder cackling like a madwoman as she cut down all who sought to stand between Amber and danger.

Laughing as she smote Dove upon the crown and made an end of him.

She would kill them all, or someone would, someone sent by Salem would do for them all, and in the end, after all their sacrifice, there would be no one left but Amber.

Or she could give up the Relic, and Cinder would die, and everything would be fine, and everyone would be fine, and nobody would need to suffer at all.

Put like that, it seemed a very simple choice, didn't it?

"Amber?"

Amber opened her eyes. Dove was very close to her face, looking at her intently. He had such lovely blue eyes, such pretty eyes. She had to protect those eyes; she couldn't let the light go out of them.

"Amber," he said again, "what is she talking about?" He looked at Bon Bon. "And who are you?"

"I'm a failure," Bon Bon admitted. "And a fool. But I'm also your friend. I've always been your friend. You don't have to believe it, but it's true. I didn't know about Amber until after she woke up, and I didn't intend … I don't want you to get hurt, and I don't want you to suffer. I want you to be happy. That's why this is my gift to you, to both of you. I've done nothing worth doing in my life, but if I can set you free to live and love and be happy … it will be the best thing I've ever done. If you agree to do it."

"There is … the reason that I'm so important," Amber explained, "is that the Fall Maiden is the only one who can unlock a magical door, behind which lies a magical relic, a relic that is sought by … someone. Someone powerful, someone who sent Cinder to kill me and try and take my power. But I know where the Relic is, and I can give it to them, and then … then they won't need my magic anymore."

"And what are they going to do with this Relic?" asked Dove. "What even is it?"

"A crown," Amber said. "A magical crown. I don't know what it does or what they'll do to it. Does it matter?"

"It does … it does if it's being used to hurt people," Dove murmured.

"People will die trying to stop this," Amber said. "The enemy, the one who wants the Relic, who wants me, Salem … she can't be killed. She can't be stopped. She'll just keep sending more people after me, people like Cinder, and everyone who tries to protect me will die: you, Pyrrha, Sunset, everyone. I don't want that to happen. This … if this will give her what she wants, then she won't have any reason to attack Vale anymore. This … this will make everything better, don't you see? It will all stop. Nothing else will stop her, but this will."

She leaned forwards, resting her forehead against his. "I don't want to fight anymore, Dove. I don't … I can't. Not after … I can't. I want to surrender and walk away; I want to live. And I want, no, I need you by my side. There are so many reasons to do this, Dove, and every reason is a life spared. But I need you with me."

"I am with you," he whispered, putting his hands upon her shoulders. "I'm always with you, because I'm yours, as you are mine."

She kissed him, she kissed him full on the lips, leaning into him, her tongue touching his. She broke off, a sigh of relief passing her lips and a grateful smile upon her face. "I love you."

"I'll do whatever it takes, for you," Dove promised. "You're the one that matters."

Amber looked away from him, looked at Bon Bon: Bon Bon who had lied to her, and yet who, at the same time, had offered her hope.

"I'll do it," she said. "I'll give you the Relic, if that's what you want."

Author's Note:

Rewrite Notes: It's hard to say exactly how much of this chapter is preserved, or at least preserved in some form because I'm pretty sure that both Cadance's arrival at Beacon and Last Shot were both originally in different chapters to this one, but equally there are bits of both preserved here from their original usages. Meanwhile, Amber's choice itself, and everything surrounding it, is quite different. It gets to the same place in the end, but it gets there by a different route.

Comments

[Midnight Moon]

Goddamit, Amber...

[The Hunted]

I know that the introduction of all the Equestrian stuff was supposed to cause ripples and waves to the Remnant timeline, but this is turning into a damn tsunami. A most interesting one at that.

[JMP]

...the Relic of Choice isn't in Beacon's vault? The one that only the Fall Maiden can open? I though that's how it worked. That's how it was with Knowledge at Haven.

Amber....you've manipulated BLBL with your semblance and deluded yourself into thinking they're your friends.

But what’s the alternative? Do you think that she’s influencing them in some way?

Sunset shook her head even though Twilight couldn’t see it. No. No way, Amber isn’t a siren, and the magic of the Maidens doesn’t allow her to do that kind of thing.

This could just be readers' bias, but for someone so smart, I found it odd that Sunset didn't think about the possibility of Amber's semblance.

[Omega-82]

9793454
Well most Semblances are combat oriented and Amber is anything but a fighter

[HowMuchWood]

Oh God Amber what are you doing?!

Here's hoping Tempest gets fully Sonata-d and screws it up for Salem, too.

[DarthRevan]

I'm not really surprised but I am confident in Ambers death now lol

[RolkFlameraven]

Amber... Well I will admit that Tempest is probably good for her word. Salem's little band of people will not touch BLBL, grimm so powerful they can't possibly win? Cinder gone rogue? Either is more than likely.

You used your semblance to twist Oz into loving you and now you are paying the price for it. And you keep doing it, and digging yourself and those your twist deeper and deeper.

It's almost a shame, I can see the woman you were, but the child you are now? You are either going to die, and/or destroy all you now hold dear.

[Pinklestia]

If Amber is not a Siren, she definitely is as close to one as someone can get without being one.

[AnimeGamer13]

9793454
Sunset has shared a mindscape with Amber and has seen several memories that painted her as innocent but none of those memories had shown Amber's semblance in use or any negative consequences of it so Sunset can't be blamed for not considering the possibility of Amber having any capacity for the damages she is about to wrought to everyone

[JMP]

9793496
9793829
You guys raise some good points. I hadn't really considered either of those. Regardless, I'm sure when all is said and done, Sunset will be kicking herself for not considering everything.

[AlanSmithy]

9793496
Though on the other hand, Sunset's semblance is empathy so it's not a huge leap. She doesn't think of it often though, since it's not usually useful.

[Thebes]

For all that betrayal is a shocking and dramatic occurrence this sequence of events feels completely natural. Everything we know about Amber supports this- her selfish semblance, her fearful nature, her sheltered upbringing. Hell the last time she was 'up and about', so to speak, she literally fled from danger and responsibility. Now that that's proven unworkable she is simply fleeing in the opposite direction this time.

My hat is off to you for making this both terrible and reasonable at the same time.

[Boltstrike58]

Amber, I swear, if I could, I'd wring your neck like a shake weight!

[Mastermind4892]

Damn it, Amber! The only people she thinks she can trust are those made into fawning sycophants by her Semblance. An example of true love and true friendship was demonstrated in the Season 2 premiere when Twilight used a memory spell to help her friends remember genuine adventures, lessons and heartfelt memories that made the foundation of their Friendship that they built together. But Amber does the opposite, which is why it doesn't work on people who already have such foundations of love and friendship!

Using mental compulsion because you think it helps? Sorry, but Starlight Glimmer already tried that. Twice.

[HowMuchWood]

9794281 I think it means the Maidens' power is 'geographically' split. Like, wherever Winter emerges she's sent to Atlas to watch over her artifact, etc.

[BeardedRedMane]

Just a quick question for the author, when you devised Ambers character did you mean for her or expect her to get this much hate from your readers? I mean if we're being technical the deal she just made with Tempest is no different then when Sunset decided to not stop the train but everyone seems to hate Amber, myself included.

Hell, most readers love Cinder now and I still do despite her still wanting the maidens powers. At least Cinder is openly evil and not using what is basically mind control. Amber is reaping exactly what she sowed by using her semblence so flippantly. Sure she didn't know Ozpin was gonna give her powers but come one she was still screwing with his mind. And now with team BLBL, is she really doing this to protect them or just herself? And she does realize that Cinder will kill her eventually, right?

[everydaygamer]

9794701

I mean if we're being technical the deal she just made with Tempest is no different then when Sunset decided to not stop the train but everyone seems to hate Amber, myself included.

The difference is that Sunset wouldn't have compromised. As soon as Amber realized that she couldn't guarantee SAPR's protection she should have just walked away but she didn't because as long as she was able to save herself and those she could control she was happy.

Personally, I gotta think the way readers feel about her was intentional, no one can make a character this unlikable purely by accident. Yeah, I understand why she's this way but that doesn't stop me from eagerly awaiting her inevitable death.

[Mastermind4892]

"Tempest’s a soldier of Atlas,” Rainbow said sharply. “That means something. She’s taken an oath to the flag, the same as we have. That means something too. Atlesian huntsmen are loyal, to Atlas and to one another.”

Princess Twilight: "Why are you doing this, Tempest? You're a pony, just like me!"

[kyubbiman]

9794734
I actually enjoy Amber as a character seeing what she does and hoping that she'll make the right decision in the end, as to you eagerly awaiting her death that's really dark. Amber is a victim, she was raised away from the world and as such seems extremely selfish but really her only source of morals were fairy tales so she has a highly skewed moral compass, she had the Maiden mantle thrust upon her with no warning, no combat training of any sort and then she's forced into servitude of Ozpin and gets as close to being killed as possible only to find out her savior works for the man who she thinks betrayed her. To sum it up she has no knowledge of how to interact with others, an at best highly skewed moral compass, let's throw in massive trust issues, the fact she's got a target on her back for as long as she's alive, emotionally broken and completely traumatized, probably PTSD, and a host of other mental problems. What she needs is intense therapy but they're just leaving her to her own devices. This is totally in line for her character it doesn't justify what she's doing but she never asked for this life and in the end was never given a choice to begin with. What she wants is freedom and peace, something no one will ever give her, so she has to take it and unfortunately she has chosen this path. I hope to see better from her in the future but only the author will tell.

[everydaygamer]

9795105
The problem is the revelation that she has a semblance that allows her to manipulate others into loving her a power she freely used on Ozpin and her mother and is now openly using on BLBL because she can't stand to be around anyone whose loyalties aren't only to her. This goes a long way to make me sympathize with her less. I still get why she's this way but it doesn't make me like her and the reason I want her dead is because its inevitable and unless another option is pulled out of nowhere then either Cinder or Amber will have to die and at this point I'd definitely prefer Amber be the one to die in the end.

[Scipio Smith]

9794701

I mean if we're being technical the deal she just made with Tempest is no different then when Sunset decided to not stop the train but everyone seems to hate Amber, myself included.

Believe me, that isn't lost on me; I thought about pointing out that judging by the morality of this story Amber actually did her first genuinely heroic thing since waking up, but I decided against it.

Just a quick question for the author, when you devised Ambers character did you mean for her or expect her to get this much hate from your readers?

I'm a little surprised that all her sympathy and pity points ran out quite this fast, but not that surprised.

Personally, I gotta think the way readers feel about her was intentional, no one can make a character this unlikable purely by accident.

Beleive it or not this is actually the toned down version; my original plan for this arc had her be much more aggressive in putting the moves on Jaune, culminating in a sighting of a rare pissed-off Pyrrha.

9795105
Pretty much, yeah.

9794253
That's a great example because the thing that I've always kept in my head while thinking about Amber is that if Celestia had made Twilight a princess before the show started then Twi would have been terrible at it: aloof, pompous, closed off, impatient. She had to go to Ponyville and make those friendships and learn those lessons before she could fulfil her destiny; just like Sunset had to come to Remnant and make her friends have her adventures here before she could come good. Amber wasn't required to do any of that, she was just handed power without having to go through anything to show that she was worthy of it first and thus she never had to learn what really matters.

[Scipio Smith]

9793454
The relic is somewhere around Beacon, but it appears to be slightly better hidden than the one in Haven (in volume 4 Salem can't find it, and in volume 5 Ozcar is confident that it won't be found); that's why Amber's offer has power: only she and Cinder can reach the relic, and of the two of them only Amber knows where to go.

[kyubbiman]

9795126
Sunset's all about finding the third path, as for her semblance, semblances are reflections of the soul and manifestations of deep rooted desires. Sunset's empathy most likely comes from her desire to help people no matter their alignment or their past deeds. Amber's probably comes from something non-selfish considering she sees using her semblance on those who are void of attachment as helping them out and giving them purpose, she used it on Ozpin b/c she saw he was lonely, her mother was probably always nervous. Her semblance also affords her a level of emotional insight into the people she uses it on also see previous comment about a skewed sense of morality. I'm not defending her here controlling people and manipulating them is wrong. She knows what she's doing is wrong she even admits it to herself, but in her eyes she's surrounded by people working for Ozpin whom she can't trust b/c massive trust issues and all that so the only way for her to trust anyone is through the bonds of her semblance. Also you don't like her b/c she's using her semblance freely on others but is it b/c they re just people or b/c they are considered good guys. Flip the situation on it's head and if Amber was using it on a villain to escape or keep herself safe would you have a problem with it or would you call her clever and resourceful?

[everydaygamer]

9795185
I don't like her because of her selfish nature, the semblance just doesn't help because it feeds into that selfish nature. How she ended up that way dosen't help me like her it just helps me understand her. In order to like her she first has to do something likable which she has yet to do since waking up.

[Fregith]

9794281

Both the Maidens and the artifacts were assigned after the fact to their respective regions by Ozpin. It's a purely arbitrary placement.

And now that Amber's back on her feet of Cinder bites it the power would probably return to Amber. Assuming, of course, Amber survives her current determination to grab every death flag she can find.

[kyubbiman]

9795201
Fair enough

[Secundum]

9795127
I think Sunset herself mentioned that in a previous chapter, that Equestrias way was better, where you had to earn the power by doing good deeds, rather than Remnant where you get given the power and are then expected to follow up on it.

And I see this going one of several ways....

1) Ambers actions result in Cinders death, and the power instead goes to Sunset. Bonus points if Sunset tries to stop Amber.

2) Amber gets herself killer by Cinder. Story turns a little more towards canon.

3) Amber gets herself killed, and the power goes to Sunset. Not sure how that would come about, but I can think of several ways it could happen.

4) Ozpin realises Amber hates her job and moves to transfer the magic out of her, to either Phyrra or Sunset. Maybe with Celestias help?

[Mastermind4892]

9795127
Exactly! Remember how Celestia explained to Sunset that Twilight didn't know about what she was being groomed for until she had already achieved it? It's the same reason why Celestia didn't tell Twilight about the Elements during Nightmare Moon's return because Friendship has to occur naturally instead of forcing it

[artofwar77]

Her behavior is upsetting, yes, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see that Amber seems to be accepting of some responsibility towards BLBL.
It's no longer slavish, one-sided protectiveness if she now desires to protect them, in turn.
(Now it's only slavish, mutual protectiveness...)

Might end up being the thing that ignites some fire in her when the time comes for her to fight, no matter what she's declaring to herself at this particular moment.

[The Scarlett Mare]

Tempest Shadow. Amber didn’t believe in oaths and loyalty or a promise made to a flag. They were naïve ideas, as naïve as anything Pyrrha believed in; a promise to a flag could be broken as easily as a promise to a person, and there was nothing special about Atlas that made them better than anyone else. Tempest Shadow, yes, she was the one who would keep Amber’s friends safe.

......... Amber.

do I need to say anything or... Ugh

[Kiue Jin]

I have to admit, I am surprised that the Maiden isn't informed about what the actual relic they are protecting does. Then again, Amber ran pretty quickly after becoming the Fall Maiden and she actively has been avoiding Ozpin this whole time.

Also Tempest is lying a little in that the offer didn't cover Ozpin; Salem did say that if Amber requested that Ozpin be upon those spared, provided that he stayed out of her way, she would honor it. Then again, maybe Tempest was just making the leap of logic that 'Yeah, Ozpin isn't going to stand aside at all, even if the offer is made'.

This also goes to support what I have said before; The Maidens should be mixed up among the Kingdoms, not just made to remain tied to the one where their vault is located. It's a lot harder to get the maiden powers and open a vault with them if you don't know which maiden powers you're going after.

[Mastermind4892]

Mark well and listen, Amber! You are a fool, for you have merely traded your fear of evil for a fear of justice. You've changed nothing.

This rewrite has made Amber's plight more sympathetic, her semblance less sinister. But sympathy has limits, and her choice is no less damning than before. Nay, if anything, it is now worse. This time, the love and virtue was pure! It was genuine! She has now betrayed the loyalty and promises that Pyrrha, Ruby, Penny, Sunset, and even Ozpin gave her. Betrayed everything they love all for the sake of her own happiness. Amber may not care for the ideals of others, but what of promises broken? What greater betrayal is there than for someone to give you their heart and then watch as you rip it into a million pieces?

As Ozpin has explained many times, Choice is the greatest gift of all. One choice, one action, one decision may seem as harmless as dropping a pebble in a pond, but even the smallest of ripples can build into a tsunami. Amber is honest and self-aware enough to admit that she is a coward, living in fear because of her scars. And now she has chosen to empower the one responsible for her scars. To explain the consequences in a way her sheltered view will understand, her choice will subject countless others to the same life of terror that has haunted her. The burden of the Fall Maiden is nothing compared to the guilt that will follow her for all the days to come in her most private moments.

Amber fears and hates Cinder more than anything. But in handing over the Relic and thus bringing fire and ruin to Remnant, Amber will have succeeded where Cinder failed. Who is the greater monster now?

Of course, Amber's cowardice also gives her a noticeable habit of not taking responsibility for her actions. From this point on, I can no longer entertain any more of her empty arguments that Ozpin, Cinder, or even Salem drove her to this. I will not hear that she had no choice because there is always a choice.

In the words of Revan, "I am truly sorry that I started you on this path, old friend... but it was you who chose to continue down it."

[Scipio Smith]

11599510
Harsh, I think. Not necessarily wrong at any point, but definitely harsh.

Yes, the love and all the rest was real, and it was (is) reciprocated, that's part of why Amber is doing this: because all of these wonderful are willing to stand between her and danger - as they proved in the last chapter when they were all willing to go down into the vault and defend the relic in her stead - and it will kill them all and she doesn't want that to happen. And so she's cut a deal so that they don't have to fight anymore, a deal which protects them.

It may not be wise but it isn't completely selfish either.

[Mastermind4892]

11599520
I do apologize if I came off pretty strong. There is a reason why the deepest and blackest circles of Hell are reserved for Betrayal. And there's something about the type of betrayers who think they are aware of their actions, but remain selectively blind to the greater consequences, that strikes a nerve with me. My words are a way of trying to wake her up to it.

I am a devoted student of the teachings in Socrates. In particular, to the principle that no single rule can be universally applied to every situation, big or small; each must be taken as a unique position, and must be examined and approached as uniquely suited. To apply one rule or belief to every situation is to invite the risk of blind dogma (something that Ruby is starting to risk). Proper examination of a morally gray situation means sifting carefully through it until you can find the originating mix of black and white, and then determine whether it truly deserves mercy... or damnation.

As a comparison, Amber is another foil of Cinder Fall. Her origins as a victim do not give Amber the right to subject great harm to the world, no more than Cinder does for how unfair things were for her. Every time in the past or future that someone has given Cinder such a lecture can also be applied to Amber. The difference is that Cinder is at least fully aware of her actions, intentions, and consequences, whereas Amber remains blissfully, almost selectively, naive of them.

As I said, I sympathize deeply with Amber. She did not deserve what Cinder and Salem did to her, when she just wanted to live her life in peace. Not against Cinder who wanted power and to sow terror, or for Salem who wants global extinction. Amber's fear and trauma are true and her sympathy is well earned. But again, there are limits to that. There's a line, and Amber has intentionally crossed it. Everything that will result from her decision goes far beyond her own life and happiness. Sunset Shimmer makes the argument not to jeopardize or sacrifice your own life needlessly, but if Ruby's current mindset is absolutely correct about one thing (especially in this unique situation), it is that one person's happiness can never be placed above the lives and happiness of countless others. People who are just as entitled to a life of peace and happiness as Amber is, except her decision will deprive them of that for her own sake.

Amber never asked for the burden of becoming the Fall Maiden, but she will be forever responsible for surrendering the Relic. No amount of perspective or sympathy will change that. Giving Salem the Crown of Choice will change everything; it will indelibly alter the events of this entire story until the very end. Every desperate battle for survival that comes afterward will be a thousand times more difficult. And on top of all it... Ruby Rose, Penny Poleidinna, and especially Pyrrha Nikkos are perhaps the purest and most noble souls in the RWBY cast. They gave her their vows because they believed she was worthy of it. And she repaid it by selling out everything that is dear to them. And that is not easily forgiven or forgotten.

Even Sunset Shimmer, while not quite as pure, moved heaven and earth to bring Amber back. She gave Amber a second chance. And most importantly, Sunset would do almost anything to protect the ones she loves. She wants to put Pyrrha, Ruby and Jaune in a box to protect them forever, but she has promised never to do so because it would betray everything her friends believe in.

[Kiue Jin]

11599547

There is one thing that might undermine this argument a little. Just one.

We don't know what the Crown actually does.

From what we've seen of the canon Crown, it gives the wearer the ability to see the outcomes of future choices. We don't know to what extent, but considering the person who used it was almost completely paralyzed with indecision due to everything he was seeing, it seems to show the outcome for all choices in great detail.

Granted, that doesn't automatically mean that the Crown in this story has these abilities. It could do something else completely. Yes, it might be able to give Salem foresight but... I suspect it isn't as easy as that. Otherwise Ozpin would be making more use of it.

[Aemon Targaryen]

“Robyn Hill, she…” Rainbow took a deep breath. “She told Penny that … that everyone would turn on her once she decided to walk away, because no one is allowed to walk away, but really … I’d like to say that she was as full of it as she is with everything else that she opens her mouth about, but … I get why Penny wants to leave, which is more than I can say for Robyn; I guess… the similarity, I don’t know. I know that Penny isn’t malicious, I know why she’s doing what she’s doing, and on the whole I support it. I’m not baffled by it, I don’t find it incredible, I’m not mad at her, but … but this stuff matters. This tournament matters. You can say that it doesn’t save lives, it doesn’t make any real difference, you can say it’s all play acting, it’s irrelevant … but it’s not. People watch this, and that’s really cool if you’re the one being watched, obviously, but the people who watch this are looking for heroes; kids are looking for someone to look up to. Like I was. I was eight years old sitting in a freezing cold house in Low Town with Gilda watching on a blurry old TV because all of the good TVs were for sale, not for us, and I watched this woman go all the way to the top, beating everyone who stood against her, Beacon students, Shade students, and in the end, she beat the great hope of Mistral and took the crown for Atlas. I watched a hero dominate the battlefield; she was smart, she was quick, she could adjust to changing conditions, she was a crack shot, and she could go close quarters against a close combat specialist and win. She had everything; she… she was Atlas, great and glorious.

Honestly, if anything I respect Robyn more with that, she had the glory and all, but she couldn't stand Atlas' rot any longer, so she rejected it in favor of fighting for Mantle, and I doubt she didn't tried to get results as part of Atlas before turning against it's elites.

“No,” Rainbow agreed. “No, she isn’t, but … I don’t want someone to look up to Penny and imagine that she represents the best of Atlas and then find out later that, no, Penny didn’t want anything to do with Atlas. The folks back home deserve better than that.”

Maybe the folks back home deserve to see and finally realize that there's enough shits in their backyard that people are right to tell Atlas to fuck off.

"I am with you," he whispered, putting his hands upon her shoulders. "I'm always with you, because I'm yours, as you are mine."

Dove, I love you dude, I do, but I hope Bon Bon and you die screaming if you truly intend to help Amber in doing that.

With Amber I'm still torn even if negative due to what happened to her.

[Plotbuster]

Its times like these that I really wish Ozpin was more forthcoming about Salem's plans. I doubt Amber would be so ready to give up the relic if she knew. I doubt Tempest or Bon Bon would be working for them in any capacity. It's hard to justify working on behalf of someone whose end goal is 'murder the entire planet. This includes you'.

[AdverseFlower95]

11600949
To be fair to Dove I think that this is the result of the need to know basis of information shared to him. He doesn’t have context of Salem or the Relics so it’d be easy to manipulate him the way his friend Bon Bon did.

[Stet709]

“Atlas already has eight slots,” Orlando growled. “Why do they need to steal one of ours?”

Sounds like someone has been in listening range of Sonata. Anti-Atlas sentiment with Beacon itself? Perish the thought!

[Raul]

“A badge,” Gregory repeated. “For joining the ‘Lost to Pyrrha Nikos’ club?”

This is so much more graceful a loss then the previous version of this chapter. Gave a refreshing feeling!