SAPR

by Scipio Smith

'Cause You're Losing That Bet (New)

'Cause You’re Losing That Bet

Terri-Belle sighed as she and Swift Foot watched Yang Xiao Long and Nora Valkyrie acknowledge the acclaim of the crowd.

“Such a pity that we can’t claim them for Mistral,” she murmured. “But one of them is definitely not a Mistralian, and the other…”

The other would not be borne by anyone who matters.

“I thought that the children of Andronicus didn’t disgrace themselves,” Swift Foot ventured. “Lavinia in particular was quite impressive.”

“Indeed,” Terri-Belle agreed. “In terms of raw skill, I would say that there was precious little between her and Yang. Nora was a little more talented than Lucius Andronicus, and the two of them … they were more coordinated, I think. They had a sense of how the battle should go, what should happen next. A rare skill—”

“Like seeing the moves in chess?” Swift Foot asked.

“To an extent, but this skill is rarer,” Terri-Belle said. “It will stand Yang Xiao Long in good stead, I think.” She paused. “But, yes, you’re right, Lavinia Andronicus has nothing to be ashamed of. I shall definitely try and get them for the Imperial Guard once they graduate. In fact, I might offer to make them huntsmen early so I can get her now.”

Swift Foot looked across the room at her. “You think she’s ready? You think they’re both ready?”

“I fear that if I offered advancement only to Lavinia, then she might refuse on behalf of her insulted brother,” Terri-Belle replied. “And frankly, I need all the help I can get.”

“But if they’re not ready, then…” Swift Foot trailed off for a moment. “Aren’t you just setting them up to … to…”

“To die?”

Swift Foot nodded. “As their brothers did,” she said.

“And what is 'ready'?” Terri-Belle asked. “Who is ready? What is it about this arbitrary line, the end of four arbitrary years, that separates the ready from the not?”

“Four years is the end of the curriculum,” Swift Foot pointed out. “Are you saying that’s arbitrary?”

“I’m saying that I’ve known very few huntsmen or huntresses who were genuinely so much improved at the end of four years at Haven that I couldn’t imagine them becoming huntsmen or huntresses sooner,” Terri-Belle said. “Some are ready ere they set foot in one of the four academies. And even those who did some growing … four years of growing?”

“What about you?” Swift Foot asked. “When were you ready?”

Terri-Belle considered that for a moment, trying to cast her mind back and create an honest evaluation of herself: who she had been and who she had become.

“By second year,” she said. “First year, I was, quite frankly, a mess, but Professor Lionheart soon set me straight. I’m not sure how much more I learned in the last two years.”

“That might say more about you than it does about Haven or the curriculum,” Swift Foot said softly.

Terri-Belle stared at her, eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

Swift Foot held up her hands, even as a slight smile turned up the corner of her mouth. “A jest. A jest, that is all.”

“Hmm,” Terri-Belle muttered. “Would you wait?”

“What?”

“If I were to offer to make you a huntress, right now,” Terri-Belle said. “If I, or someone else, were to bid you take up your sword and defend Mistral, would you do it? Or would you say ‘no sister, no father, no sir, I am but a girl of sixteen and have my four years schooling to get through first’?”

Swift Foot was quiet for a moment, turning her head a little bit so that it was hard to see her face beyond her mass of wavy turquoise hair that fell down so long all around her.

“I … would accept,” she said softly. “And I would welcome your trust in me.” She looked at Terri-Belle. “Are you offering to make me a huntress?”

“No,” said Terri-Belle. “You are not ready yet.”

Swift Foot folded her arms across her chest. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, really,” Terri-Belle told her. “And in any case, Father would not think you ready; at least, I do not think he would. But Lavinia … to be frank, I think that all three huntresses that we just watched are ready. I see very little that any of them will gain from two or three more years of schooling.”

Swift Foot frowned, but in the event, she chose not to press the point but instead returned her attention to the television. “So,” she said, with a bit of a huff in her breath as she said it, “Beacon will send three fighters through to the one-on-one round. Shade only one. Haven has lost its chance to send more huntsmen through than any other school. If Cicero Ward the Young and Lily Cornelia win this next match, then we, too, will send three fighters through, as many as Beacon, and more than Atlas which will send only one.”

“While if they are defeated, then we and Atlas both will send two huntsmen through to the final round tomorrow,” Terri-Belle said. “That is … not so bad. It is better than some hoped for at the start of the tournament, though none will admit it now. Rather, all will say that they always believe we could do it … right up until the moment where we do not do it, and then, everyone will recall sagely how they knew it was foolish to get our hopes up.” It had been exactly the same in her year, during her run at the title. Everyone had believed she could do it, right up until they had, with the cosy benefit of hindsight, never believed that she could do it.

She didn’t mind that they had not believed — to be a fan of Haven was to grow accustomed to disappointments — but it did irk her a little bit that everyone felt the need to pretend otherwise — or to lie, to put it another way.

“Do you think that Cicero and Cornelia will win?” Swift Foot asked. “I mean, their opponents are two from the team who defeated Team Jasmine yesterday.”

“Yes, it’s an unfortunate match-up,” Terri-Belle agreed. “But we can hope. I’m sure that, inspired by the words of our good Councillor Ward, the Haven students will fight bravely, at the least. ‘Live as brave men, and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.’ Whatever else may be said of the Councillor, he does know how to turn a phrase.”

“But not, perhaps, to live up to one,” Swift Foot murmured. “When was the last time he did anything brave?”

“Some might say that it takes courage to face some of the men he has prosecuted in court,” Terri-Belle pointed out. “Or to face those who are prosecuting the men he has defended. There are more kinds of courage than can be found upon the battlefield.”

“I know,” Swift Foot said, but quietly and with a touch of contrition in her voice. The contrition did not survive the cheeky grin that spread across her face. “Hey,” she said, “if Cicero the younger is defeated, do you think that his father will publish a letter on how to bear up after defeat, or will he publish the letter about how to respond to triumph that he would have sent his son if he had won?”

“I feel as though there is an unkind jest there,” Terri-Belle murmured. “Councillor Ward is a Councillor of Mistral—”

“He’s also a bit of a blowhard,” Swift Foot said. “Yes, he writes well, but gods, he likes the sound of his own voice. Or he likes to see his own words set down in print, anyway, whether he spoke them or not. This is a man who published a courtroom speech he didn’t give in defence of a man who was convicted.”

“But a Councillor of Mistral, nonetheless, and one who deserves better than to be mocked by a mere girl,” Terri-Belle said.

Swift Foot bowed her head. “As you say, Captain.” She paused for a moment. “In any case, his son was skilled enough yesterday.”

Terri-Belle nodded. “I have heard,” she said, “that he is not the best student at Haven—”

“But that doesn’t matter, according to you.”

“Nobody likes a sophist,” Terri-Belle instructed her. “My point is, or was going to be, that although, as I have heard, he is not the best student, he and his team have already triumphed once, so who is to say that they cannot do so again?”

---

“And so, we began the day with Canterlot Alumni, and we end the day with Canterlot Alumni,” Vice Principal Luna declared. “At least we are unambiguously clear on who to root for this time.”

Principal Celestia chuckled. “Indeed. Indeed. I have every confidence in Rainbow Dash. From what we saw of these Haven students yesterday, I don’t think they’re a match for her.”

“Hmm,” Luna murmured.

“You doubt it?” Celestia asked. “You doubt Rainbow Dash?”

“I think she has made a mistake, bringing Soleil into the round with her,” Luna said. “I would have preferred to see more of that Polendina girl.”

“She did seem to possess quite a talent,” Celestia allowed. “But I’m sure that Rainbow Dash had her reasons.”

“I hope so,” Luna replied, “for her sake, at the very least.”

---

“Leaf!” Veil yelled. “They’re about to start!”

Leaf, loitering outside the open door to the apartment, hastily stubbed out the cigarette that she’d been smoking and rushed inside. The door slid shut behind her.

“You know you really shouldn’t litter the tunnel like that,” Veil told her.

“Won’t a robot come along and clean it up?” asked Leaf.

“That’s not the point,” Veil said. “It’s about having some civic pride in where we live.”

“Okay, I’ll go and pick it up,” Leaf said. “But after this match, because I don’t want to miss any of Rainbow kicking ass.”

---

“I imagine they’ll be starting soon, sir,” Winter said quietly.

“Yes, Schnee, I imagine they will,” Ironwood replied.

For a moment, there was quiet in the CIC. Not silence, of course, but the ambient, calm, orderly quiet of professionals who knew what they were doing getting on with their assigned tasks in an orderly manner, devoid of fuss. The quiet of footsteps on the deck, of questions asked and answered, orders given and acknowledged, the quiet of a lack of alarm or panic.

The quiet of good order.

Winter said, “You know, sir, we can afford for you to step away for a short period, if you wish. The grimm haven’t advanced, it doesn’t appear as though anything is going to happen, and either I or Major Fitzjames can alert you immediately if it does.”

“I can, sir,” Fitzjames said. “Since the Valish have put a leash on us and won’t take it off, we’re all rather … marking time at the moment, in limbo. There’s nothing happening that requires the commanding general’s presence.”

“Am I cramping your style, Fitzjames?” Ironwood asked, with a touch of amusement in his voice.

“No, sir,” Fitzjames said immediately. “But we all know that you … if you wanted to observe—”

“No, thank you,” Ironwood said. “I appreciate your concern, both of you, but it’s quite unnecessary.”

“Sir,” Winter said. “You allowed me to—”

“Yes, Schnee I did,” Ironwood said, before she could finish. “But you aren’t the commanding officer. Not yet, anyway.”

“No, sir,” Winter murmured.

“In any case,” Ironwood said, “I have my yeoman recording the match for me.”

Fitzjames chuckled.

“I’m sure they’ll give good account of themselves, sir,” Winter said.

“I agree,” Ironwood said. There was a part of him that mildly regretted that fact that he wouldn’t get the chance to see Penny in action, but there was another part of him that was glad that Soleil was getting this opportunity, and that part of him was possibly a little larger.

“Gods know that we could do with the win,” Fitzjames muttered. “Three matches and only a single victory out of them, and a most improbable victory at that.”

“'Improbable'?” Ironwood asked.

Fitzjames shuffled a little in his seat. “I must confess, sir, I didn’t have much hope of the fellow with the trumpet. I must confess I find some of the gimmicks of your students a little … too out there.”

“I admit I’ve thought so too, at times,” Ironwood admitted. “But it seems to work out for them. Coal is better than his weapon might suggest, although I think it was Katt who we have to credit for the victory in their case; she’s the strength at the heart of Team Funky.”

“If you say so, sir,” Fitzjames said. “In any case, we’ve had damnable bad luck today.”

“Our students have faced damnable good opponents,” Winter corrected him.

“Believe me, Major Schnee, I didn’t mean to disparage your sister at all,” Fitzjames said, “but being pitted against good opponents could, in itself, be called bad luck, no?”

“Is there such a thing as a poor opponent at this stage in the competition?”

“I hope so,” Fitzjames said, “and that the Team Rosepetal duo are up against them. We could do with an easy ride to draw level with Haven in the honours.”

The doors to the bridge opened, and Colonel Skybeak walked in. Ironwood turned to face him as he did so. The Valish Colonel came to a halt level with Schnee and offered Ironwood a salute which Ironwood returned.

“General Ironwood,” he said, “I’ve just been speaking to the commanding officers of the Valish units on the Green Line: the Patch Light Infantry and the Green Lancers. They’ve been observing the grimm from a distance, but like you, General Blackthorn has ordered them not to engage. They don’t understand it either, and I still don’t, but I suppose it shows that it’s nothing personal against you or Atlas.”

“I suppose it does,” Ironwood conceded. “Although I’m not sure how much comfort that is.”

“I’ve known General Blackthorn most of my career, General,” Sky Beak said. “And though I don’t understand what’s driving him at the moment, I’ve never before known him to be an insensible man. I hope there is some method in his actions, and I would like to believe that I’m just not seeing his plan.”

---

“Blake!” Mom cried. “How wonderful to see you again!”

Blake stopped. She had just walked into Cadance’s private box, accompanied by Sun, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. Now, as the rest of Rainbow’s friends crowded in around her, she put one hand upon her hip. “Again? You saw me yesterday, Mom.”

“Yes, but that was a day ago, dear,” Mom replied.

Blake rolled her eyes. “Hello, Mom.” She bowed her head to Cadance. “Good afternoon Councillor, Captain Armor.”

“Blake, please,” Cadance said. “This isn’t official business, after all.” She smiled. “Twilight, girls.”

Twilight beamed. “Hey, Cadance. Hey, Shining Armor.”

“Twily.”

“Woof,” said Spike, who was cradled in Twilight’s arms.

Shining Armor frowned. “What did he say?”

“He … barked,” Twilight said, her eyes widening just a little bit behind her spectacles. “That’s what dogs do, after all.”

“He didn’t sound as though he was barking,” Shining Armor replied. “He sounded like he was saying ‘woof.’”

“Have you by any chance been working too hard, Captain?” Rarity asked. “I mean whoever heard of a dog saying ‘woof.’ It sounds to me as though the long hours of lonely sentry duty might be getting to you. Cadance, darling, perhaps you should consider giving your dashing husband a bit of a break.”

Cadance laughed. “Is that right, Shining, am I working you too hard?”

“No, not at all,” Shining Armor assured her. “I just … never mind; I misheard the little guy, obviously.” He reached out and patted Spike on top of the head.

Spike looked rather smug, thought Blake, considering that it was only thanks to Rarity that he had gotten away with it.

Can he bark normally now?

“Well, let me know if you do need a break,” Cadance instructed him. “But anyway, how are you girls?”

“We’re doing all right, thanks for askin’,” Applejack replied. “We’re doin’ a mite better than Atlas has been doin’ today, I have to say.”

“Yes, it hasn’t our best day so far, has it?” Cadance admitted.

“Only because we’ve saved the best for last!” Pinkie declared.

Cadance chuckled. “Yes, I’m sure that will turn out to be the case. Please, all of you, sit down, make yourselves comfortable, and you can order concessions through the pad on the right armrest.”

“Ooh, free concessions?” Pinkie asked.

“Don’t gorge yourself, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity told her.

“I will!”

“Thank you for inviting us up here,” Twilight said as she led the way towards the vacant seats. “You didn’t have to.”

“No, but I thought it might be fun,” Cadance said. To the younger girls, she said, “And how about you, children? How have you been enjoying the tournament so far?”

“It’s been awesome!” Scootaloo declared.

“And the fair grounds have been a lot of fun too,” Apple Bloom added.

“There does seem to be a lot of effort to keep everyone entertained outside of the matches, doesn’t there?” Mom asked. She smiled. “Forgive me, I’m Kali Belladonna, Blake’s mother.”

“Pleased to meetcha, ma’am!” Apple Bloom said cheerily. “Ah’m Apple Bloom, Applejack’s little sister.”

“And I’m Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s little sister.”

“And my name’s Scootaloo, I’m Rainbow Dash’s … honorary little sister.”

“Don’t say it like that,” Apple Bloom told her. “You make it sound like it’s less or somethin’.”

“So did you come to watch Blake in the Vytal Tournament, ma’am?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“No, that was more of a happy coincidence,” Mom said. She glanced at Blake, who hadn’t yet made a move to sit down. “You see, I haven’t seen Blake in quite some time, so when I had the chance to come to Beacon and see her, I jumped at the opportunity. The Vytal Tournament happening at the same time was just a bonus.”

“Why has it been so long?” Scootaloo asked. Her voice took on a slightly accusatory tone. “Do you travel a lot for your ‘work’?”

“No, it’s not that,” Blake said quickly. “It’s … it’s my fault, I—”

“Why don’t we save that story for another time?” Twilight suggested. “We don’t want to spoil the mood ahead of the match.”

Everyone started to sit down. Everyone except for Blake, and Blake did not because she noticed that Sun wasn’t making any move to sit down either. He was loitering in the entranceway into the box, with Shining Armor and the rest of Cadance’s security occasionally glancing his way, as though they, too, were wondering why he didn’t just get inside already.

“Sun?” Blake murmured, reaching out for him a little.

Sun squirmed. “Sorry,” he said, “I just don’t—”

“Ah, you must be Sun Wukong,” Cadance said. “Kali has told me so much about you.”

“She has?” Sun asked.

“You have?” demanded Blake.

“Why are you glaring at me as though I’ve done something wrong?” Mom asked innocently; Blake couldn’t tell whether she actually believed she was innocent or not.

“Please,” Cadance said, gesturing in front of her. “Come.”

Sun hesitated.

Blake reached out and took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “It’ll be okay,” she assured him.

“I don’t bite,” Cadance said.

Still, Sun’s steps forward were cautious, wary, like an animal that might bolt at any moment if he were startled.

Cadance and Kali both seemed rather amused by it.

Blake, following behind Sun, put a hand on his shoulder.

“So,” Cadance said softly, “Kali tells me that you plan to drop out of school and move to Mantle.”

“You told her that?” Blake demanded as her feline ears pressed down into the midst of her wild black hair.

“I thought she could help,” Mom replied.

“Uh … yes?” Sun said. “Yes, I am, ma’am.”

“Cadance,” Cadance told him. “I insist.” She paused. “I have to say that a school drop-out isn’t the kind of boy I’d want my daughter dating, but on the other hand, you might say that Mantle has enough freelance Atlas graduates running around its streets. And, in any case, Blake isn’t my daughter, and Kali has asked me to help you.”

“Help … help me how, ma'a—, I mean, help me how?” asked Sun.

“Yes, Mom,” Blake said through gritted teeth. “Help him how?”

Cadance was quiet for a moment. “I take it that you don’t want to go to school in Atlas?” she said.

“No,” Sun said at once. “No, I don’t.”

“Because…?”

“Because I don’t need it,” Sun said. “I haven’t learnt much while I’ve been at school, and I don’t think I’ll learn much more in the next three years. And anyway, the world isn’t going to wait for me to sit in a classroom bored out of my mind; things are happening now, people need help right now, and I want to help them, right now.”

“Even if it means stepping outside the law?” Shining Armor asked. “Becoming a vigilante?”

Sun’s nervousness seemed to slough off him like dirt being washed off in the shower. “If doing the right thing is a crime, then that says more about the people who make the laws then about those who break them.”

Cadance’s eyebrows rose.

“You’re becoming more like Blake, I see,” Mom observed.

Sun laughed nervously. “Not really,” he said, “but … if I had to learn from someone, if I had to pick someone to be my … my guiding light, I could think of a lot worse people to follow than someone who always knows the right thing and who never gives up.”

Blake felt her cheeks start heating up. She looked away, murmuring, “We all have a better guide in ourselves.”

“I’m not sure that’s always true,” Twilight said. “Although it does sound a lot better than blaming yourself for the failures of others.”

“Sun, your passion is admirable,” Mom said, “but I hope you can understand that I don’t particularly want Blake’s boyfriend to go to prison. Hopefully, you can both forgive me for asking my new friend Cadance here to do what she could.”

“And … what is it that you can do?” Blake asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

Cadance was silent for a moment. She folded her arms, creasing the sleeves of her pink trouser suit. “This would be easier if you weren’t a young man in a hurry,” she said. “But … what if I could get you licensed? Or does the vigilantism aspect appeal to you, the thrill of sneaking around, dodging the police, hiding yourself and your actions?”

“There’ll be some of that anyway,” Shining Armor said flatly. “The only thing a licence protects you from is a charge of illegal use of weapons; it doesn’t protect you from the consequences of your weapon usage.”

“True,” Cadance said. “But it does grant just a little more freedom of movement and action.”

Blake was silent. Licensed? Just like that? Was that possible?

“Licensed?” Sun stammered, seeming to have much the same thoughts as Blake herself. “You mean … like a huntsman?”

“Exactly like a huntsman,” Cadance said. “I could ask Shining Armor to do it right now, if you like. Any huntsman can make a huntsman, isn’t that right, Shining Armor?”

“In theory,” Shining Armor said, sounding reluctant to admit it. “But just because any huntsman can make a huntsman doesn’t mean that any other huntsman is obliged to recognise the fact, let alone the state. That’s why the academies exist, as an organised channel through which recognised licences can be issued that everyone can trust to be legitimate.”

“But surely the licence is the important part, as far as protecting Sun from the law is concerned,” Mom pointed out.

“Yes, but I can take care of that,” Cadance assured her. “I can make sure that Sun is licensed, if Shining Armor tells me that he’s ready for it. If that’s what you want, Sun Wukong, if you don’t want the allure of being a romantic outlaw.”

“It kind of sounds like I’ll be a bit of an outlaw anyway,” Sun pointed out.

Cadance chuckled. “Well,” she said, “that really depends on what exactly you plan to do in Mantle, doesn’t it?”

“I want to help,” Sun said. “I want to protect the people?”

“But protect the people from who?” Cadance asked. “That’s a rhetorical question, I’m not expecting an answer out of you; have you even been to Mantle?”

“Um … no,” Sun admitted. “No, I haven’t; I only know what I’ve heard on the news.”

“And yet, driven by … devotion, you’re going anyway,” Cadance said with a glance at Blake. “What you find when you get there, what you decide to do with what you find, that will determine whether you become an outlaw or not … unless you’re not licensed; then you’ll be an outlaw no matter what you do.”

“If it’s so easy,” Blake said. “If you can make Sun a huntsman with a snap of your fingers, then why haven’t you done it for Rainbow Dash?”

“Because a huntsman licence is not a commission, and that’s what Rainbow really wants,” Cadance replied. “And that can only be earned through graduating from Atlas.”

“Of course,” Blake murmured. “All the same, you’re being very generous, considering you don’t know Sun at all.”

“I’m doing a favour to a new friend, as a token of what I hope will be a beneficial friendship between Atlas and Menagerie,” Cadance said.

“Hmm,” Blake murmured. That was … that was an answer. It was an answer that she couldn’t say whether it was good or bad; it sounded like it would be good for Sun, and that was a good thing, whatever Cadance’s motives for it.

If it was what Sun wanted.

“Sun?” she asked softly.

Sun shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

Blake almost laughed. Of course Sun would cut right through it all.

The corners of Cadance’s lips twitched upwards. “All right then,” she said. “I’ll let Shining make the arrangements for your final exam, but right now … we should probably all settle down before the match begins, shouldn’t we?”

---

“Hey, hey, hey!” Neon called out as she walked down the corridor, hips swaying to such an exaggerated degree that it could only be by intent, not accident. “Wassup, how are we feeling?”

“Oh, you know,” Rainbow said. “Pretty good, but not overconfident.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure you’re hitting the balance perfectly,” Neon replied. As she drew near to Ciel and Rainbow Dash, she reached out and put her arms around their necks, drawing them in closer to her — and bending Rainbow’s back to force her head down at more like Neon’s level. “You guys know what is at stake here, right?”

“If we are defeated, Atlas will have fallen behind Haven,” Ciel muttered.

“Well, yes,” Neon said. “But more importantly, I will laugh at you. And I will never stop. Ever.” She grinned. “And you don’t want that, do you?”

“The thought itself is torment,” Ciel muttered dryly.

Neon sniggered. “Well, then you’d better get out there and win, hadn’t you?” She released them both. “Do you know who you’re up against out there?”

“Cicero Ward—”

“The Younger,” Rainbow said. “Apparently, we can’t forget that part.”

Ciel continued on, “—is the son of a Mistralian Councillor.”

“So he’s coasting on Daddy’s influence?” Neon guessed.

Rainbow shook her head. “It’s not like that. I mean, if you wanted to do that, you’d probably choose something less dangerous, but Ciel, tell her all the competitions he’s been in.”

“Oh, you actually decided to do some research for this round, huh?” Neon asked, a grin on her face that verged on the unpleasant.

Ciel gazed at her in turn with a look that verged upon a glare.

“Don’t look at me that way,” Neon said, pointing at Neon’s eyes. “I love you, but you know you were caught out in your last match. You hadn’t done the prep-work—”

“We had been rather pre-occupied,” Ciel pointed out.

“I know, I know,” Neon said. “But you know that you walked on the wild side for that round; otherwise, you wouldn’t have looked into this pair.”

“You know that one-on-one rounds are fought blind, right?” Rainbow asked. “Everyone is in the arena, and they just draw the first match and off you go. Your name gets called, you get out there. No prep, no planning. It’s not until the second to last match gets called that you know, if you’re one of the last pair, who you’ll be facing ahead of time.”

Neon nodded. “Yeah, I know the way it works. I watched the tournament when I was a kid too.”

“And you know why it’s all done blind, right?” Rainbow asked. “Because when you go out there on the battlefield, you don’t know what you’ll be up against ahead of time, what you’ll be facing and what they can do.”

Neon’s eyes narrowed. “So you’re telling me that your lack of preparation was a deliberate choice on your part to wing it? For realism?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Rainbow said, with a nod of her head. “I’d rather show that I can put something together on the wing, even if I am taken by surprise. Sure, I could have come up with a detailed plan, that has its place, but so does the ability to adapt and overcome when you’re taken by surprise.”

“So why are you making a plan now?” Neon asked bluntly.

“For my sake,” Ciel said.

“It’s Ciel’s plan,” Rainbow said. “Her show. Tell her what you told me about the two we’re up against.”

“Mister Ward has won some acclaim in the Mistralian tournament circuit,” Ciel declared, after clearing her throat. “Fourth place in last year's Eleusinian Games, sixth place in last year’s Mistralian Regional Tournament, third place in the Synoikia—”

“Fourth, sixth, third, has he ever actually won anything?” Neon asked.

“He won the games held in honour of his father’s wedding,” Ciel said. “Obviously his second marriage.” She could not help a note of disapproval entering her voice. “To a much younger woman.”

“Maybe that was why his son was mad enough to win the tournament that time,” Neon muttered.

“That might be a point in his favour, if so,” Ciel replied.

“Times like these remind me that you’re both religious,” Rainbow said.

“It’s not about religion; it’s about … you don’t think there’s something kind of … icky about an age gap?” Neon asked.

Rainbow shrugged. “Love is love.”

“And he’s a powerful guy; what makes you think love has anything to do with it?” asked Neon.

“A bit cynical, don’t you think?”

“I prefer to call it ‘having eyes,’ Dashie.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, anyway—”

“Anyway, it doesn’t sound like you have too much to worry about with him. He’s not that good by the sounds of it.”

“He is not so terrible that we should blithely underestimate him,” Ciel replied. “His teammate, Lily Cornelia, comes from Eleusinoi, a moderately sized town just beyond Mistral proper. She has not competed in tournaments, at least not as far as I could discover. But she is reasonably well-regarded as a student. They are both close range fighters, so we have the advantage in that regard.”

Neon grinned. “Let me guess: Rainbow is going to cover you while you snipe them.”

“Not quite,” Ciel replied. “Cicero Ward—”

“The Younger.”

“He has a semblance that allows him to launch a powerful sonic attack with his voice, giving them some ranged capability. Therefore, my plan calls for Rainbow Dash to fly upwards and engage from a distance similarly to myself, only closing the distance if absolutely necessary.”

Neon cocked her head to one side. “Then who’ll cover you? With Dash up in the air, you—”

“I shall have to defend myself, if possible by movement and concealment,” Ciel said. “If not, by defending myself.”

Neon frowned. “No offence, Ciel, but you’re not the best up close.”

“I am a soldier of Atlas,” Ciel replied. “I am not helpless.”

“I didn’t say you were, but…” Neon trailed off. “I’m not sure I like this.”

“Then I hope that you will change your mind when you see it — and me — in action,” Ciel said softly.

“Hey, don’t say it like … it sounds like I don’t have any faith in you,” Neon protested. “I have faith, I have…” She peeled herself off the wall, and reached out to take Ciel’s shoulders in her hands. “It’s going to be great,” she said. “You’re going to be great, and I am sure that I will love every minute of it. Unless I don’t get a seat because I’m standing around here. Knock ‘em dead! But not literally, or you’ll get in trouble! Good luck!” She sped away, the rainbow that she left behind illuminating her passage even after Neon herself had disappeared out of sight.

Rainbow looked after her for a moment, then turned her attention back to Ciel.

“So,” she said, “how are you feeling?”

Ciel smiled. “I am always left feeling better for Neon’s presence, even once that presence has departed. And in any case … I am confident.”

“You should be,” Rainbow said. “Not overconfident, maybe, but the only thing that we don’t know is Lily Cornelia’s semblance, and that … I’m sure we can deal with that, whatever it turns out to be. She might not even have one.”

“Or she is hiding it,” Ciel responded.

“Well, if she is, I’m sure Doctor Oobleck will spill the beans for us the first time she uses it,” Rainbow said.

Ciel let out the slightest laugh in response to that. “He is rather … indiscreet.”

“I suppose it is his job,” Rainbow said.

“I would prefer that it were not his job to make our lives harder once this tournament is over,” Ciel said. “But it is what it is. Thank you for allowing me to give some consideration to our opponents on this occasion.”

“In the first match, we showed that we’re strong enough to overcome surprises,” Rainbow said. “In this match, we show that we can think. The audience is getting the full spectrum of us in this tournament.” She paused. “Although, I can’t help but think that Neon has a point; are you sure that you’re going to be alright, on your own, with no one standing between you and the opposition?”

“As I told Neon,” Ciel said, “if the situation does come to it, I will be fine.”

“Okay then, if you’re sure,” Rainbow said. “Are you ready to strut our stuff?”

“Strutting is not something with which I have great experience,” Ciel replied. “But I am ready to go.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Rainbow asked.

They turned, and side by side, they walked out together, into the light of the arena.

The crowd cheered for them, or else they cheered for their Haven opponents who were making their way out from the opposite side of the arena, the cheering intermingling in a whirlwind of noise in which all voices, all particular sounds, were lost in a mere mass of sound, like bad music inattentively listened to, audible wallpaper for the senses as they were distracted by some other, more important task.

Like focussing upon their opponents, who came into view as the two sides closed with one another, approaching from opposite sides to meet in the middle.

Team VLCA was a second-year team, and each of its members, by this point of the year, passed their nineteenth birthday, but nevertheless, Lily Cornelia looked younger than her nineteen years, courtesy of her very clear blue eyes and the way that she wore her blonde hair in pigtails, tied off at the ends with green ribbons, which combined to take at least a year off her actual age. She was of average height and willowy in build, with a beauty spot under her right eye. She wore a lava red tunic on top of a rocky grey skirt, with a slit up one side that revealed her leg and the riding boot that enclosed it. A lily white kerchief was tied around her neck, while a simple bronze pectoral was strapped across her chest. Her arms were bare, save for the bronze band that she wore above her left elbow, but her hands and wrists were both concealed beneath sturdy-looking riding gloves. A broad-brimmed straw hat sat on her head, casting a shadow over her face. She held a metal staff in one hand, the tip resting upon the ground.

Cicero Ward the Younger was taller than his teammate, but only by a little, with dark eyes and dark hair. His face was handsome enough, Ciel supposed, with rather chiselled features and fine cheekbones, helped by the tidy manner in which he arranged his hair, slickly combed across his head to the left with plenty of oil to hold it in place, but all of it marred somewhat by the prominent mole on his right cheek. He wore robes of chickpea yellow that flowed out behind him while exposing the fiery orange tunic that he had on underneath. His trousers were black, but red lines rippled up and down the legs so that they almost looked like blood vessels. He wore no armour across his chest, but he did wear a set of black leather pteruges around his waist, covering his hips, and strips of purple linen bound around his hands and arms up to his elbows. Above his left elbow, like so many Mistralians, he wore a band of gold, with a yellow topaz set in it.

In his right hand, he held a whip, fashioned out of metallic segments with flexible joints connecting them, with a phial of lightning dust set in the handle; in his left hand, he held a short sword with a phial of fire dust in the hilt.

The two sides faced each other in the centre of the battlefield.

“My father may want to write about this,” Cicero said. “So if we could all make it somehow worth writing about, that would be for the best.”

“Write about it how?” Rainbow asked. “I thought your father was a Councillor.”

“Do you imagine that Councillors don’t write?” asked Lily.

“I know they can write; I’m not just not sure why one would want to write about a tournament match,” Rainbow replied.

“He’ll probably write about courage,” Cicero explained. “Or martial training. Or … to be quite honest, my father could write an essay about the scrambled eggs on toast he had for breakfast, and he’d publish it in the expectation that people would be interested in his views.” He paused. “While we’re on the subject, I don’t suppose that you could let me win so that I can avoid a sternly worded letter on how I’ve let him down.”

“You have my sympathies, but I fear we must decline,” Ciel murmured.

“I mean, it’s not like we don’t have people of our own who we don’t want to let down,” Rainbow added.

“I thought as much,” Cicero said with a sigh. “But I thought it couldn’t hurt to try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that. We’ll just have to beat you fair and square, I suppose.”

Rainbow snorted. “You can give it a go, sure.”

The chime sounded as the images of the various biomes appeared on the edges of the four quadrants of the battlefield and began to whirl around and around.

“Rainbow Dash and Ciel Soleil of Atlas!” Professor Port announced, prompting renewed cheering from certain sections of the crowd.

“Lily Cornelia and Cicero Ward of Haven!”

“The Younger, Cicero Ward the Younger,” Cicero muttered. “Would it have been so hard to remember?”

One by one, the biomes were chosen, the rotating images each settling upon one single image, and that image in turn prompting the terrain itself to rise from the depths like a grimm of the deeps emerging to devour a ship at sea: behind Ciel, the coast and the shipwreck; behind Rainbow Dash, the forest; behind Cicero Ward the Younger, the gravity platforms; behind Lily Cornelia, the savannah.

“Three!” Doctor Oobleck called.

Distant Thunder expanded in Ciel’s hands as she pulled it over her shoulder, feeling the satisfying weight of it against her gloved palms.

“Two!” Professor Port’s voice boomed out.

Rainbow Dash’s Wings of Harmony unfurled with a series of mechanical clanks and clatters, giving a clue as to what Rainbow meant to do once the battle started.

“One!” Doctor Oobleck shouted.

Lily and Cicero both settled into fighting stances, ready to go.

“Begin!” cried Professor Port.

Rainbow Dash leapt upwards, taking to the skies. Lily began to retreat backwards towards the long grass of the savannah. Ciel raised Distant Thunder to her shoulder, but before she could even take aim at Lily, a crack of Cicero’s whip in her direction forced her to leap aside.

The sound of Rainbow’s pistols were soft, quiet snapping sounds like well-behaved dogs as she opened fire upon Cicero, who tried to deflect the fire with his short sword, to only mixed success.

With Cicero thus engaged, and with Lily having disappeared into the long grass, Ciel decided to take up a better position than exposed in the centre of the field. Two options lay behind her: the mast of the ship and one of the trees of the forest. Both offered a high, commanding view of the battlefield — although the gravity platforms might have offered a better one, if they had not brought her so close by Cicero and potentially so close to Lily — but the mast was the more exposed, and so Ciel chose to follow the lead of May Zedong by taking cover in the trees.

Fortunately, Cicero was not so well-equipped to respond to that as Blake had been.

Ciel retreated, her footsteps pattering lightly upon the grey metallic surface of the central hexagon, brushing briefly over the sandy shore of the shipwreck coast, and then passing — steering clear of Rainbow’s battle with Cicero — into the shadowy eaves of the forest, where sunlight dappled through the trees.

Jumping with Distant Thunder was a little tricky due to its weight, but without any enemies close by, Ciel was free to concentrate her aura into her legs to give her extra power for a jump which carried her up into the high branches. There, at the edge of the forest, she crouched, balanced upon a sturdy-seeming outgrowth of the tree.

She raised Distant Thunder to her shoulder, her world shrinking to what she could see through the scope.

What she could see was Cicero Ward the Younger making somewhat flailing efforts to hit Rainbow Dash with his whip. The whip extended outwards, elongating itself, but it did not extend enough to be able to catch Rainbow Dash, who sometimes soared so high that she nearly touched the shield that formed the ceiling of the arena before swooping down again to increase the accuracy of her pistols, only to turn back and soar up once again beyond the range of Cicero’s retaliation.

Cicero shouted, unleashing a sonic attack with his semblance, powerful soundwaves erupting out of his mouth, so powerful that Ciel could see them like rings of smoke expanding outwards, but Rainbow Dash was too good a flyer to be struck by them; she turned away, rolling and angling herself and her wings to so that the sonic waves passed by her, without touching her or harming her.

Then she resumed firing upon Cicero, who was able to deflect some but not all of Rainbow’s rounds.

Ciel sighted him. With the damage that his aura had already taken, it might be that … no, it would take more than a single shot from Distant Thunder to eliminate him from the fight.

But it would do much to bring him to that point.

Ciel’s finger began to squeeze the trigger.

Ciel felt something, a disturbance in her aura caused by someone nearby, someone in very close proximity. She started to look up, but even as she did so, she felt something solid strike her very hard in the gut. Ciel winced, firing Distant Thunder as the barrel jerked downwards, blowing a hole in the floor.

Ciel looked around. She could see nothing, there was nobody there, but then—

She was struck again, this time on the side of the head, a blow which knocked her sideways off the branch on which she had been standing. Ciel struggled to keep hold of her rifle as she fell to the ground, tumbling around and around in circles before landing on her back with a heavy thud.

She could see nothing but trees above her, but nevertheless, she rolled to one side to avoid an expected blow. If she could get back on her feet, then—

She was knocked down again, her legs cut out from under her, then another blow to her back forced her right down onto the ground, head pressed against the artificial grass and soil that littered the forest floor.

Lily’s semblance. She must have the ability to… conceal herself, or turn invisible. She retreated into the long grass, concealed herself, then emerged out of the long grass and crossed the arena into the forest without anyone realising it.

She has done very well to conceal her semblance all this time — no pun intended.

As the invisible Lily kicked Ciel in the side, Ciel found herself wishing that her opponent had not done quite so well.

If I use my semblance, I will be able to see where the blows are going to land.

But will that help me to hit back?

Have I any other options?

The soft spitting sounds of Rainbow’s pistols sounded much closer now, as Rainbow Dash stood in the eaves of the forest, firing Brutal Honesty and Plain Awesome at the Lily whom Ciel could not see.

But Rainbow Dash could, thanks to the goggles covering her eyes.

Ciel couldn’t see her opponent, but she could see Rainbow’s bullets hitting something, bullets thudding into something invisible.

Unfortunately, by the time that Ciel was in a position to fire herself, Rainbow had ceased shooting.

Rainbow strode towards her, head turning this way and that, guns pointing this way and that. “Are you okay?”

“I have been better, but I am still in the fight,” Ciel muttered as she regained her feet. She worked the breach of Distant Thunder, ejecting the cartridge that she had misfired; it landed with a thump on the ground beside her.

“Then we should take cover for a second,” Rainbow growled, taking Ciel by the shoulder and giving her somewhat of a nudge, although Ciel hardly needed it. She and Rainbow retreated deeper into the woods, taking cover behind a pair of stout trees with long branches, putting the thick wood between them and Cicero as he unleashed a sonic attack into the forest biome, a high-pitched shriek that blew away an expanding cone of forest, shattering trunks, turning wood to chips and kindling, littering the forest floor — the floor of what had been a forest — with sawdust and letting the late afternoon sunlight shine down upon the ground. But the cone of destruction stopped before it reached them, though Ciel felt the dying soundwaves grasp at her black hair, lifting the tips of them up before they fell against her cheek, but it didn’t damage her aura.

“How did you know?” Ciel asked, glancing at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow grinned out of one side of her mouth. “One advantage of flying so high, I was level with the big screens; they showed you … in a bit of trouble.”

“I am … obliged to you,” Ciel said. “You saw her with your infrared vision?”

Rainbow nodded. “Only I’ve lost her now; she’s gone into the trees, and I can’t see her. She could have dropped her semblance for a little while, and I still wouldn’t see her.”

“On the other hand, that is probably why Cicero—”

“The Younger.”

“—is not destroying more of the forest,” Ciel said. “Speaking of whom.” She braced Distant Thunder against her shoulder before turning and leaning out from behind the cover of her tree.

Cicero growled low at her, and the bass rumble seemed to be more controlled than the high shriek, because it didn’t tear up the forest but, rather, flew toward Ciel in a single focussed beam.

Ciel fired, Distant Thunder roaring, but Cicero’s shout turned the shot right back at her, and she would have been struck by round and sound if she hadn’t scrambled back into cover — and to new cover, as Cicero changed the direction of his shout enough to destroy her tree.

“Okay,” Rainbow said. “Here’s what we do: I’ll close the distance with my speed before he can react and punch his aura out; you stay close, then I’ll find Lily.”

“And I shall look helpless while all the glories of the victory accrue to you?” Ciel demanded. “No, not in this instance. In any other battle, yes, but not when there is nothing more at stake than our reputations.”

“All right, do you have a better plan?”

Ciel thought for a moment. “Can you keep me covered while I relocate to the shipwreck biome? Once I am upon the ship’s mast, then you take to the skies once more and resume your engagement with Cicero.”

“And what about you?”

“I will be fine.”

“Against an enemy you can’t see?” Rainbow asked incredulously.

“I will be fine,” Ciel repeated. “Trust me.”

“Okay,” Rainbow said. “If you think you can make it work, then let’s make it work.” She took a breath. “On three: one, two, go!”

Ciel ran, Distant Thunder rising and falling as she cradled it in her arms, darting between the trees, Rainbow Dash following with his back to Ciel, eyes peeled for any sign of Lily Cornelia.

There was no sign of her. She did not prevent Ciel from reaching the edge of the forest and out of it into the other biome. Rainbow halted there, on the edge of the woods, her wings, which had folded to allow her to move in the forest, unfurling once again.

Ciel splashed across the shallow water, getting the hem of her skirt a little wet as she reached the shipwrecked wooden sailing ship, a simple one-masted vessel of wooden planks that seemed to be built to evoke a much larger craft, one of the great Mantle galleons that had plied the seas between Solitas and Vacuo in days of old.

The ship was broken, a hole in its hull, the craft leaning at an angle, water filling it up and lapping at the deck; even the mast was at an angle, but it would serve nevertheless.

Ciel climbed up out of the water and onto the deck, and from there — concentrating her aura to her legs once again — leapt up onto the spar of the mast, where she retreated to the highest point on the spar, with the water beneath her and only a single avenue of approach.

She gave Rainbow Dash a thumbs up. Rainbow returned the gesture, with a grin for interest, and then took to the skies, ready to resume the contest with Cicero.

Who had, unfortunately, gained height himself by retreating to the gravity platforms.

But Ciel was sure that Rainbow could handle it. Her focus was on Lily.

Precognition on!

Ciel’s semblance would not help her to spot Lily; it wouldn’t make the invisible visible to her future sight. In that sense, it might not seem as though it was of much use to her.

But it did mean that Ciel spotted the ripples in the water caused by an invisible girl wading through the ocean to get to her before they happened, so when she aimed at where those rippled had been and pulled the trigger—

BANG!

The shot roared out of Distant Thunder and hit Lily as she was crossing the water. Ciel saw the splash as Lily, still invisible, was blown off her feet and into the water. She worked the breech — the cartridge dropping down to hit the wooden deck below — and fired again.

BANG!

She ejected the cartridge, hearing it strike the wooden boards beneath, even as her eyes swept the waters around her. She couldn’t see any sign of Lily emerging from the water again.

Having been betrayed by the water, she will stay under it, but she must emerge at some point.

Somewhere concealed, where I will not notice it so easily.

Using the hull as cover.

Ciel looked to the prow, and then to the stern, where she saw the future echo of water dripping off an invisible form, falling across the wooden deck as though there was a raincloud being blown hard across the ship towards the mast.

BANG!

Ciel fired again, and a section of the deck collapsed as Lily was blasted down through the wooden planks into the recesses of the flooded ship.

“Lily Cornelia’s aura has dropped below the limit!” Doctor Oobleck shouted. “She has been eliminated!”

Ciel closed her eyes, deactivating her semblance as the crowd — or parts of it, at least — went wild around her.

She opened her eyes again to see that, despite having gained height, Cicero was still faring poorly against Rainbow Dash, who was now keeping distance where height alone would not have sufficed. She was chipping away at Cicero’s aura with the fire from her machine pistols, darting this way and that, out of range of his whip, avoiding his sonic attacks, soaring gracefully here and there and firing all the while as she did so.

Ciel was not sure what Cicero could yet do.

What he could do, as it turned out, was leap off the highest gravity platform, twisting in the air, and then unleash a low, deep sonic roar behind him, a focussed blast which bore him backwards, through the air, towards Rainbow Dash.

Of course, Rainbow could have avoided him. She could have flown out of the way and let Cicero fly right past her — although he could have tried to redirect.

But if she had done that, she would not really have been Rainbow Dash, and so, being Rainbow Dash, as Cicero rocketed himself towards her, she flew towards him.

She holstered her guns as she did so.

Cicero twisted in the air so that he was facing her. He lashed out with his whip.

Rainbow rolled, the whip flying out past her face without touching her.

She drew back her fist.

The boom as she hit Cicero in the face with a substantial chunk of her aura echoed across the arena.

Cicero was hurled backwards, his aura dropping rapidly as she flew past the gravity platforms and past the edge of the arena to hit the outer barrier that protected the spectators. He hung there for a moment, splayed out like a swatted fly, before he fell down towards the surface below.

“Cicero Ward the Younger has been ejected from the arena and is eliminated!” Doctor Oobleck shouted. “Rainbow Dash and Ciel Soleil win this match!”

Comments

[Kiue Jin]

Got to love all the additional characters inspired by greek mythology. Really gives Mistral some flavor beyond just Pyrrha.

[Mastermind4892]

Well done, Team Rosepetal!

[Snowdrifter]

Cicero was hurled backwards, his aura dropping rapidly as she flew past the gravity platforms and past the edge of the arena to hit the outer barrier that protected the spectators. He hung there for a moment, splayed out like a swatted fly, before he fell down towards the surface below.

Did Dash hit Cicero hard enough to alter his gender here?

[Stet709]

And that's a wrap for for the second round.
Interesting thing about a huntsman making another a huntsman. I guess that explains how Taiyang was able to make Ruby a huntress before she became queen near the end of the Freeport arc, though I'm not sure if he could give her her license

[Mastermind4892]

I’m really surprised by Winter just being her normal self like any other day. No reaction or somber disposition to what her sister was just subjected to. Even if she has no words for Ironwood, I’m astounded she apparently isn’t even reaching out to Weiss to help her through this. Is she not even going to give her sister a phone call?

[Adser]

11705335
I'm assuming that Winter is of the same opinion as Weiss, that the insults are something to ignore as beneath them because showing a reaction is a weakness, and the Schnee's have no weaknesses.

We don't know if she is aware that Ironwood just let them get fucked over or if that would affect her response, but being stoic is something that can be expected of her. Honestly, I think that Weiss herself would prefer if she got a "good fight, excellent showcase of your ability" from Winter than a "are you ok? that was horrible of them".