Initiation (Rewritten)
Initiation
Sunset lowered her gun as she looked down at the smaller girl who stood in front of her. Ruby Rose. Her new partner.
“I guess we are,” Sunset muttered, trying to keep her tail from moving and giving away exactly how she felt about the new partnership.
“I’m glad,” Ruby said, and it took Sunset a minute to understand that she was glad that Sunset was her partner. “I mean, I kind of would have liked to have been on the same team as my sister, if I knew where she was, but she doesn’t really want to be on the same team as me, so that’s probably for the best, and then when I thought about who else I could have partnered up with, well, Jaune seems pretty nice, but I’m not sure if he’d be any good in a fight, but then I thought about you, and can I say how grateful I am that you’re not Weiss because that would have been really awkward?
“What I’m trying to say – sorry, I’m not very good at this kind of thing – but what I’m trying to say is that I’m looking forward to our next four years together.”
She smiled. Sunset didn’t smile back. “Likewise,” she said, and tried not to sound as though she was saying it through gritted teeth.
I’m going to be stuck with the child prodigy for the next four years! How am I supposed to get out from under that?
She could see now exactly how it was going to go. Nothing that she could do would matter because everyone would be too busy cooing over Ruby Rose and how young she is and isn’t she a marvel to be such a talent at her age? Sunset would never escape - never have the opportunity to escape - that kind of shadow.
Breathe. Deep breaths. Twice as hard for half as much reward just means you have to work four times as hard. No, make that eight times. Ruby did not look like a prodigy; she honestly didn’t look as though she had much of anything about her at all, but it was clear to Sunset that that appearance was deceptive. Sunset had seen what she’d done that had so impressed Professor Ozpin. What was more intriguing was the fact that Ruby didn’t look particularly proud of her status as the youngest student to attend the academies since their foundations either. That was a complete mystery to Sunset. If she had been admitted to Beacon two years early on the strength of her awesome skills, she would have made sure that the whole school knew it.
She’d done exactly that when she was admitted to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns early on the strength of her magical prowess. She’d worn her youth like a badge of honour and told herself that all those who sniggered at her small stature were merely jealous of her power and potential.
Ruby didn’t seem inclined to do the same, and Sunset wasn’t yet sure why.
She considered for a moment that Ruby was putting on a self-effacing act to try and lower Sunset’s guard, but that wasn’t the read she was getting off the other girl. She appeared to be completely sincere…Sunset just didn’t get it yet.
Oh, well. It wasn’t really Sunset’s concern why Ruby was acting in a certain way. She didn’t have to understand the other girl; she just needed to fight alongside her. Sunset slung Sol Invictus over her shoulder and turned away. “We should find those ruins quickly. There’s no sense in dawdling around out in these woods.”
“Right,” Ruby said. “Find the ruins, get the relic, and get out.”
“Exactly,” Sunset said as she started to push through the bushes.
Ruby followed. “So, Sunset, you said you were from Atlas, right?”
Sunset frowned. “As I recall my exact words were ‘something like that.’”
“So…not from Atlas? Or are you from the Kingdom but not the city?”
Sunset halted but didn’t turn around to face Ruby. “Why does it matter where I’m from?”
“It doesn’t, I guess,” Ruby admitted. “I was just wondering why you didn’t go to Atlas Academy.”
“Because Beacon is the best of the four, and I didn’t want to be a workhorse of the Atlesian military,” Sunset muttered. And I certainly didn’t want to run into Rainbow Dash and the Canterlot crew again. She looked at Ruby over her shoulder. “Is there a point to all of these questions?”
“I suppose not,” Ruby said, her voice becoming smaller. “I just thought that maybe we could find out about one another. Don’t friends talk about stuff like that?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Sunset grunted. “I’ve never…I’m not here to make friends.”
“Well, no, we’re here to learn how to fight monsters and protect humanity,” Ruby cried as Sunset started walking again, “but there’s no rule saying that we can’t be friends, right? I mean we are teammates. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together over the next four years.”
“Lots of people spend lots of time together, but it doesn’t make them friends,” Sunset said as she continued to walk through the undergrowth. “Why don’t we keep our relationship professional? You can hang out with your other friends.”
Ruby mumbled something indistinct.
Sunset looked back over her shoulder. “What was that?”
Ruby looked down at her feet. She was playing with her hands. “I…I’m not sure if I have any friends. Jaune and Pyrrha were pretty nice, but…”
“You’re not missing out, trust me,” Sunset said. It was clear from the look on Ruby’s face that she didn’t find that response particularly helpful, and what was worse, her expression was making Sunset feel guilty about it. “What about at your combat school? I bet you were the one that everyone wanted to be associated with.”
Ruby frowned. “Why would you say that?”
“Because in just two years, you got to the point everyone else has to study four years for,” Sunset reminded her. “You must have been the star of the school, and everyone wants to suck up to the star of the school.” Even she, as little use as she had for friends, had not been free of the occasional flatterer who hoped to get close to her on account of her connection to Princess Celestia.
Her experience of Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle suggested it was no different here in Remnant: the perception of talent attracted mediocrity like barnacles attached to the hull of a ship.
“Me?” Ruby said. “No, I wasn’t…I suppose I’m not the easiest person to get along with.”
“And do you know why that is?” Sunset demanded. “It’s because you keep apologising for yourself. You got into Beacon two years early, for crying out loud, and you carry yourself like a trespasser.”
Ruby looked up at her, a frown disfiguring her features. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, have some self-respect!” Sunset snapped. “We don’t get treated the way we deserve in this world, or any other for that matter. We get treated the way we act like we deserve. So straighten your back, tilt up your chin, and remember: all of these people around you…are nothing but worms compared to you.”
Ruby took a step back. “That…doesn’t sound like a way to make friends.”
“Maybe not, but it’ll make you much more comfortable about the fact that you don’t have any,” Sunset said. It worked for me. Most of the time. Some of the time.
It sort of works. Upon occasion.
“Take my advice. Or don’t,” Sunset went on. “It makes no difference to me.”
Sunset continued to push through the bushes until her attention was drawn by the noise of something struggling and groaning up in one of the trees in front of her.
It turned out not to be a grimm but a boy with a mop of untidy blond hair. Someone had used a spear to pin him to the tree by his hoodie, and he was, in spite of his best efforts, unable to extricate himself from the predicament.
Once he noticed Sunset down below, he offered her a stupid grin and a wave of his hand.
Sunset folded her arms. The defenders of humanity.
I suppose things could be worse. I could be stuck with this loser for a partner.
“Jaune?” Ruby cried as she stumbled out of the bushes in Sunset’s wake.
“Ruby, hi,” the boy – Jaune – said unhappily. “I, uh, nice to see you again!”
“What are you doing up there?”
“Well, I-“
“Jaune?” Another girl emerged from out of the shadows of the trees. She was tall, and probably would have been so even if she weren’t wearing high heels, with rich red hair falling down past her waist in a ponytail that curved gently in a loose ringlet. She wore a corset of brown leather augmented with bronze, with greaves and cuisses likewise of bronze - or at least a bronze colour - protecting her legs above her boots. She wore a long red sash around her waist, dangling almost to the ground upon the right-hand side. Her shoulders were bare, but her arms were covered in a pair of brown opera gloves, with a bronze vambrace upon her left forearm. A gilded gorget protected her neck while a circlet glimmered about her brow.
The girl’s green eyes were on Jaune as she emerged into view, and only then did she notice Sunset and Ruby already at the foot of the tree. “Oh.” The disappointment in her voice was as palpable as it was inexplicable.
“Don’t worry; I’ve got mine already,” Sunset said, indicating Ruby with one hand before gesturing to Jaune. “He’s all yours.”
Professor Ozpin stood on the edge of Beacon Cliffs, monitoring the students via his scroll.
“Hmm, it looks like our last pair has assembled,” Glynda Goodwitch said, from a short distance away. “Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. Poor boy. I can’t imagine those two getting along.”
Professor Ozpin said nothing. He had a feeling that Glynda was completely wrong about that, certainly he was getting a decidedly contrary impression from watching the two of them. And from the fact that they had interviewed together, making it clear that an offer that was not extended to them both would not be accepted by either. But then, he did tend to keep details of the interviews to himself. He sipped his cocoa as he continued to watch the feeds.
“Although I daresay he’ll be better off than Miss Nikos,” Glinda continued. “I don’t care what his transcripts say; that Arc boy is not ready for this level of combat.”
Which of us is ever ready? Ozpin thought. He had been nine years old when he had been…called to serve. There were times when he couldn’t remember his parents' faces, and not because he was so old or so senile. Had he been ready? Probably not. In the end, none of them were ever ready for the moment when destiny came calling.
That was why he had decided to give Jaune Arc his chance. Perhaps he wasn’t ready, but since no one was ever really ready, it was surely better that he was at least willing to do his part.
That, and the fact that they were related, after a strange and rather esoteric fashion. And his father had been a capable enough huntsman, and his great-great grandfather had been an exceptional warrior, one of his most trusted captains in the war. Time would tell if the latest scion of the Arc line was made of the same stuff.
For the moment, however, he was more interested in the companions that young Mister Arc had acquired. Professor Ozpin’s scroll showed the four of them moving through the forest: Sunset Shimmer in the lead, then Ruby Rose, then Pyrrha Nikos just ahead of Mister Arc. How strange that the three of them should meet so early. What a coincidence that the three students he had been intending to keep an eye on more than any others should all come to the same place at the same time, where he could watch them all together.
Coincidence…or fate.
But if it is fate, then I hope that it is kind to them.
Kinder than it was to their predecessors.
He had intended to keep an eye on Miss Nikos from the moment he had received her surprising application to attend Beacon. He and Leonardo had both been preparing to receive her at Haven. Miss Nikos herself had other ideas, and that told him something about her nature. Not only a great warrior, not only driven by a deep sense of herself as the heir to a set of responsibilities passed down to her from her ancestors, but at the same time, humble, too. She could have trained to serve at the forefront of the battle just as easily at Haven, and at Haven, she would have been feted in ways that would make any adulation she might receive at Beacon seem trivial by comparison. Miss Nikos was the pride and glory of Mistral reborn, and yet, she had chosen to come to Vale, where the Invincible Girl might still be a celebrity, but the Princess Without a Crown was little known.
Miss Shimmer was interesting to him in her own right. Yet another visitor from Equestria come to make their home in Remnant. He still wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing here, although he was almost certain that she was not yet another monster or criminal banished by the inhabitants of that other world who used Remnant as a dumping ground for all their problems. Principal Celestia thought that she was lost, and Vice Principal Luna thought that she was dangerous; Professor Ozpin himself considered that they were both right, each in part. They each saw only part of Sunset Shimmer. With all due modesty, he fancied that he saw both; she could have been dangerous. She might still be dangerous; what the Enemy might have made of her anger and her pride, he almost dreaded to imagine. Nevertheless, he could also see what Celestia had seen in her: someone who could be so much more than she was, if only she was given the opportunity. Or rather, if she was willing to take the opportunity to become more than she was when it was offered to her.
And helping people discover who they were or could be was one of the purposes of Beacon Academy.
And then there was Miss Rose. Ruby. Summer’s daughter. So young, and yet, at the same time, so very gifted. In looks, she was her mother in miniature. It remained to be seen if she would take after Summer in character and personality as well.
Even if she does, she is not Summer.
Summer was not Summer, in the end; she was not what I thought she was, not able to bear all the hopes and expectations that I put on her.
I will not make the same mistake with Ruby, or with any of the rest of them.
Miss Nikos, Miss Rose, Miss Shimmer; each of them, in their own way, gifted. Miss Rose’s silver eyes, Miss Nikos’s strength and speed, Miss Shimmer’s magic; they were almost as gifted as Team STRQ had been a generation before them. And yet, he would not make haste to involve them in his affairs, as he had done with Ruby’s parents, her uncle, and her stepmother. It had done them no good, involving them so young; tutoring Summer in her silver eyes, dragging them so deeply into the mire of conspiracy and intrigue, and at what cost? Summer dead, Raven fled, Taiyang and Qrow both broken in their own ways.
He would not be so eager to subject any more children to that fate. He would not be so swift to pull back to the curtain for them, however talented they might appear to be.
Summer, Raven, Amber; is that not enough for now? Have I not led enough high hearts to ruin?
It was his curse, to nurture so many generations of young men and women, so talented and so brave, so virtuous and so eager…and then to watch them fall, either in the battle against the dark or the slow decay of years.
He would not hasten that inevitable end, not even for such talented students as passed through the doors of Beacon this year. He would not make the same mistakes as he had made before. He would step back from them and give them the chance to live and laugh and to be children for as long as the world allowed.
And as for the darkness gathering without, he would do what he could to make sure it did not disturb them.
This was his burden to bear.
As it had always been.
As she led the way through the woods, Sunset wondered if she could have possibly done something to offend some kind of deity of this world that had responded by cursing her with some absolutely rotten luck.
The champion and the prodigy, both at once. It was appalling.
Or at least, it had the potential to be.
Although…there was a part of Sunset that was starting to wonder if she might not be able to turn this to her advantage somehow.
It would be hard, it would be a narrow path for sure, but if she could pull it off, then she might well be golden.
The risks were obvious: surrounded by two such paragons, she was in grave danger of being outshone. But, since she was already stuck with one of them, then the risks were not so much greater with the other as well. And the prize: if she could lead these two, then a share of their successes and their honours would accrue to her by right as their leader. She would be credited as the guiding brain, the decisive mind that had shaped and conceived of all their triumphs. She would be the one who had guided them to the pinnacle of success. If Pyrrha won the Vytal Festival, then, well, she couldn’t have done it without the help of her team leader, Sunset Shimmer, and her brilliant strategies.
It would be tricky. She wouldn’t be able to just sit back and bask in their reflected glory; she would have to show that she was fit and deserving of a share in their light, but if she could do it…it was a far better path by far than standing in their shadow and raging impotently at the darkness that would consume her there.
It certainly helped that Pyrrha was so…"docile" was perhaps the best word that Sunset could come up with, for all that it made her seem like a farm animal. But Sunset had been surprised; she had expected Pyrrha to take the lead, or try to; her achievements fitted her for leadership. Instead, she seemed content to follow and without any way of knowing that Sunset was even better suited to lead than she was! She had said nothing when Sunset had taken control of the foursome by the simple process of acting like she had been put in charge, issuing instructions to the others without room for them to demur or question. Ruby hadn’t given her any trouble either.
If they both keep up this obedient attitude, then I might actually be able to swing this.
Jaune yelped in pain as the branch that Pyrrha had just pushed out of her way snapped back and smacked him in the face.
Which brought Sunset to the fourth member of their little group. To say that he wasn’t on the same level as the three of them appeared to be something of an understatement. She turned around to see that he was flat on his back. How someone like him intended to defend his world from the creatures of grimm, Sunset couldn’t even begin to fathom.
“Jaune! Are you alright?” Ruby asked.
“I’m sorry,” Pyrrha said apologetically.
Why do either of you care what happens to this guy? Sunset wondered, incredulous that these two should fawn over one who was an ant to them.
“It’s just a scratch,” Jaune said as he picked himself up off the ground. Literally, he had a scratch on his cheek just below his eye. Which was pretty weird, really. Why didn’t his aura-?
“Why didn’t you activate your aura?” Pyrrha asked, voicing what Sunset had been thinking.
“Huh?”
“Your aura?” she repeated.
“Gesundheit.”
Sunset’s eyes narrowed. Seriously?
“Jaune,” Pyrrha said, sounding as confused as Sunset felt about this, “you do know what aura is.”
Jaune scoffed. “Of course I do. Do you know what aura is?”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “How do you not know what aura is? Where did you go to Combat School?”
“I, uh, didn’t,” Jaune said. “I was…homeschooled…by my father. But I passed all the equivalency tests! And I have the transcripts to prove it.”
“Wow, you passed all of the graduation and entrance exams without aura!” Ruby gasped. “That’s amazing! You must be really, really strong!”
Yeah, really strong. Sunset managed to keep her scepticism off her face with a small degree of effort, but her eyes remained narrowed as Pyrrha explained to Jaune what aura was, albeit in a slightly more mystical and numinous way than Sunset would have tackled the same task. Honestly, Pyrrha might have seemed exasperatedly amused when Jaune declared that aura was like a forcefield, but it was probably a more useful descriptor than all her talk of light and darkness.
When Pyrrha offered to unlock Jaune’s aura with her own, Ruby threw up her hands in excitement. “Oh, this is going to be so great. When my Uncle Qrow unlocked my aura for me, I felt as though I could run all the way across Patch and back without stopping; you’re going to love this.”
Sunset was still trying to figure out exactly how Jaune had gotten this far without knowing about aura. This was first year combat school stuff, and the explanation that he hadn’t been to a combat school only answered so many questions. He would have still had to take the standardised tests in order to prove that he deserved a shot at Beacon. Sunset would never have gotten through the practical exams to graduate from Canterlot without her aura. So unless Jaune really was an absolute badass, he ought to have been unable to do so too, right?
How had he done it? Aura was…everything. Sunset probably could have replicated some of the effects with magic, but the drain of keeping a passive shield up would have been immense compared to using aura to accomplish the same thing. And without magic…without magic, she would have been terrified in a place like this.
I suppose I have to give him credit for bravery, if nothing else.
Pyrrha cupped Jaune’s cheek with one hand. “For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee.”
Ruby gasped in awe as Jaune began to glow like a blazing sun and then rushed over to help Pyrrha as she doubled over from the exertion of what she’d just done. Sunset stayed where she was, watching, pondering the words that Pyrrha had spoken. Ritualistic, as she might have expected. A little ominous. And wrong, too.
"In passing we achieve immortality"? No. The dead are dead, and none recall their names. And even if they did, even if you are one of those lucky few whose fame will outlast them, so what? What use has a dead man for glory? What good will it do me in the grave to be remembered, even to be spoken of in awe? Let me win far fame while I live and spread my legend as much by my own mouth as by my deeds.
Let me be forgotten when I am dead, so long as I am held in awe while I am living.
Bluntly put, you couldn’t ascend when you were dead.
Ruby patted Pyrrha on the back. “Are you okay?”
“Did I do something wrong?” Jaune demanded, sounding notably panicked at the protest. “Are you hurt?”
Pyrrha shook her head. “I spent some of my aura to unlock yours. It... took more out of me than I expected. You have a lot of aura.”
“Take a minute to rest,” Sunset said. “We’re not in that much of a hurry.” As much as Celestia had used, betrayed, and abandoned her, she had nevertheless taught Sunset a great many things. More things, perhaps, than she had intended to, teaching Sunset not only by her lessons but by her example. One of the things that Sunset had learned from said example was that, when you took leadership upon yourself, you not only shared in the successes of your minions but also in their failures. If Pyrrha was hurt under Sunset’s direction, whether it was because of her own foolishness or not, then the blame would accrue to Sunset’s leadership, especially when Pyrrha’s own reputation gleamed so brightly.
So there was really no need for the grateful looks that Jaune and Sunset gave her. She was simply practicing prudence.
Her ears twitched as she heard something rustling in the nearby bushes.
Of course, nothing says the enemy has to give us a minute.
“Guys,” Sunset called, pressing the stock of Sol Invictus to her shoulder even as, for the moment, she kept the barrel down. “Get ready. Back to back. Pyrrha, can you fight?”
“Yes.”
Sunset frowned. She didn’t sound that bad, but even, so there was no point taking chances. “Jaune, cover her anyway.”
“R-right,” Jaune said. He sounded nervous, but that was understandable. Sunset was pretty nervous herself, for all that she wouldn’t show it. That was something else Celestia had taught her: no matter how much ice there is in your stomach, no matter how your heart pounds, keep an expression of serenity on your face and don’t let them see you troubled.
They stood back to back in the modest clearing. The rustling sounds were coming from all around them now, getting closer and closer. It belatedly occurred to Sunset that she didn’t really know much about Jaune or Pyrrha’s weapons or their capabilities beyond the fact that Jaune had a lot of aura that he hadn’t even known existed until thirty seconds ago. But Pyrrha had a great reputation, as did Ruby, so it was probably safe to put a little trust in them.
As safe as it was to trust anybody in this selfish world.
Sunset could see a pair of red eyes in one of the bushes, then she could see another, and another, and by the looks of it, there were upwards of a dozen of them all around them.
Sunset rested her finger on the trigger.
A beowolf stuck its head out of the bush as it started to slink into view.
Sunset squeezed the trigger, and Sol Invictus erupted with a flash and a crack as her first shot took the beowolf’s head off. Its body remained standing for a moment, headless and disturbingly without blood, before it keeled over onto the ground and started to dissolve.
The grimm howled in anger. They howled in rage. They howled in bloodlust. The howl rose in an awful cacophony from all their throats filling the sky and echoing in all four of Sunset’s ears, jarring down her spine and making it shiver.
Vice Principal Luna had said that beowolves were the worst grimm; they weren’t the strongest or the fastest, but they were the meanest, and their howl…the vice principal had said that if anyone claimed to have heard the howling of a pack of beowolves and not been frightened, then they hadn’t actually heard it.
At that moment, at this place, Sunset believed her.
They charged out of the thicket in a black mass like tar with teeth, snarling and baring their fangs as they ran on four legs or two, claws ready and red eyes gleaming.
Sunset fired. She could hear other shots from behind her, shots coming from two different weapons; she guessed that one was Ruby with that ludicrous Crescent Rose of hers, and the other would have to be either Pyrrha or Jaune, unless some stranger had come to their aid.
I don’t need to be rescued on my first test.
Crack!
Sunset’s second shot hit a beowolf in the shoulder; it staggered but did not fall.
Crack!
That shot did for it; it hit the ground and started to dissolve.
Crack!
Another one down but they were all getting so close.
Crack!
Sunset turned and shot one that was trying to get at Pyrrha from the flank.
Crack!
Her shot caught a beowolf in mid-flight before it could leap on her. Its momentum carried the smoke and ashes right into her face. Sunset took aim at another beowolf.
Click.
And she’d had her six.
There was no time to use magic. She needed at least a little concentration for that, and that was hard to come by right now. The beowolves sensed weakness – Ruby and whoever else it was were still shooting – and came for her, roaring in their lust for blood.
An answering yell rose from Sunset’s throat. She bellowed angrily because she would not die, not here, not now, not before she had accomplished anything. She would not die, and she roared out her desire to live as she reversed her grip on the gun in her hand and swung wildly as though it were a bat, clubbing the closest beowolf across its bone mask with the heavy wooden stock. The grimm shuddered, the mask cracked, but it did not fall. Sunset hit it again and again, still shouting until the demon was dead, and then she twisted away just in time to avoid another beowolf charging for her. She impaled it on her bayonet.
She wasn’t quick enough to do anything about the beowolf that slammed into her, bearing her to the ground. She tried to fend it off with Sol Invictus, but its jaws snapped and snarled at her, barely an inch away from her face as its claws slashed at her aura, stripping it away piece by piece.
There was a flash of bronze, and the beowolf was hurled away as Pyrrha struck it with her shield so powerfully that it was thrown clean off of Sunset. With the second stroke of her shield, Pyrrha eviscerated the grimm, while with her spear, she impaled another.
And in the next few moments, Sunset began to see where her reputation came from. Gone was the quiet girl who had been content to follow where Sunset led; in her place was a warrior grim of face, an artist on the battlefield, her every movement both graceful and deadly. Grimm fell by her hand like leaves until she cut down the big alpha in a flurry of swift slashes of her sword, and the survivors fled, their howls of bloodlust turned to howls of panic and terror.
Sunset picked herself up quickly off the ground and hoped that Ruby and Jaune hadn’t noticed that she’d been knocked down. Thankfully, Pyrrha didn’t seem to want to be thanked, and as the grimm retreated, her face softened once more, as if something had been switched off in her head once the danger was passed.
Jaune had also been knocked onto his back; he looked chastened as he climbed to his feet. Ruby didn’t say anything but gave him a pat on the shoulder as though he needed to be reassured about something.
Sunset said nothing as she started to reload, breaking the gun in half to expose the back and ejecting the spent casings in the process. I need to get stronger. Clearly, I’m not up to their level yet.
I may never get there.
But I can get closer than I am now if I work at it.
But there’s no way that they’re going to accept my leadership now. I wouldn’t, if I was in their position.
“Which way would you suggest now?” Pyrrha asked.
“Whuh?” the sound fell out of Sunset’s mouth. “You’re asking me?”
Pyrrha shrugged. “You seem confident in your sense of direction.”
Sunset glanced at Ruby, who nodded.
Sunset’s pride felt a little less dented. My training in leadership shining through, I suppose.
She had just put the fourth round into the cylinder when she heard a tree falling in front of her.
And then another, and then a third after that.
“That…that sounds bigger than a beowolf,” Jaune said.
Sunset was inclined to agree, which was why she hurried up reloading. She had just – just – put the sixth round into the cylinder and snapped it closed when a deathstalker crashed through the forest, trampling trees and bushes beneath its legs.
It made no sound; it did not roar or howl, but it did snap its claws aggressively at them as it came on.
Ruby charged and swung her scythe in a wide arc that glanced off the deathstalker’s bleached white armour.
A single swipe of the deathstalker’s claw was enough to send Ruby flying backwards.
Sunset didn’t bother to fire. Instead, she teleported the distance between Ruby and herself and threw up a shield of blue green energy around the two of them.
The claws and stinger of the deathstalker beat fruitlessly against it. For now.
“Pyrrha!” Sunset yelled. “We need a distraction!”
“Understood,” Pyrrha answered, and she dashed forward with a swift, loping gait, culminating in a flying leap that carried her onto the deathstalker’s back. She drove her spear downwards but had no more luck penetrating its armoured carapace than Ruby had. Her spear turned into a rifle, and she fired to as little effect. She had gotten the grimm’s attention, though, and as Pyrrha leapt off its back, it turned all of its malicious attention on her. But, though Pyrrha could not harm the grimm for all that she leapt at it and slashed and thrust and fired, she was too swift-footed for the demonic scorpion to harm her either. It simply couldn’t keep up with her as she danced out of the way of its claws, closing and retreating, her red sash flying around her like a banner in the wind as she wove in and out of the grimm’s guard.
Sunset dropped her shield; keeping it up was a drain, and the plan that was starting to formulate in her mind would require every bit of magic she could lay her hands on. She pointed in the other direction from that in which Pyrrha was currently leading the deathstalker. “Ruby, get up one of those trees and catch that thing in a crossfire.”
“But his armour-“
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t hurt him; I just want him to notice,” Sunset said. “Believe me, this is going to work.”
Ruby hesitated for a moment before she nodded. “Okay.” She sped forward, firing her sniper rifle and using the recoil to carry her into the low branches of a nearby tree.
“What should I do?” Jaune asked as he jogged up to Sunset.
“You…you stay here,” Sunset said, “and wait for my instructions.”
Jaune didn’t look too happy about that, but Sunset didn’t have time to pay too much attention to him right now. Ruby had just started laying down fire on the deathstalker from above. The grimm stopped, half turning towards her. Pyrrha attacked again, her blade shining as she slashed furiously at the deathstalker’s carapace. For its part, the grimm appeared confused, torn between its two assailants. It turned first one way, and then the other. Its claws chittered furiously as it turned, never quite settling on an assailant. It spread its legs out and scuttled into just the right position.
And then Sunset teleported again. She emerged in a flash of green light underneath the deathstalker, flat on her back in the space between its legs and gathered the last of her magic in the palm of her hands in a blast upwards into the soft underbelly of the scorpion. The grimm shuddered in pain and then collapsed.
Right on top of Sunset. Fortunately, it dissolved a moment later.
Ruby cheered as she leapt down from the tree. “That was awesome!”
“You have quite a versatile semblance,” Pyrrha said.
“Semblance?” Jaune asked.
“She can explain later,” Sunset said. “For now, let’s just get our relics and get back to Beacon without any more trouble.”
They were back in the hall where they had started from the day before, the hall where Professor Ozpin had given them his "interesting" address. Now, in groups of four, they were called up onto the stage as their images appeared on the two giant screens that hung above the hall.
Sunset waited impatiently, her tail sweeping from side to side as four by four, all other students except her were called up onto the stage by the headmaster.
Currently on stage were Blake, the girl who had been reading about a girl with half a soul the night before; a tall boy with dark blue hair and grey armour; and a pair of Canterlot alumni whom Sunset recognised from her year: Lyra and Bon Bon. Although they had idolised Rainbow Dash and the other Rainbooms like everyone else in the year below them, they hadn’t given Sunset any particular trouble that she remembered, and so she was not particularly displeased to see them here.
Professor Ozpin announced their names. “Blake Belladonna, Sky Lark, Bonnie Bonaventure, and Lyra Heartstrings, the four of you retrieved the black knight pieces and will continue your studies as Team Bluebell, led by Blake Belladonna.”
Sunset joined in the polite applause as the initials BLBL flashed up under the pictures of the respective students. Blake Belladonna seemed more resigned than anything else as she led her new team off the stage.
“Weiss Schnee, Flash Sentry, Russell Thrush, Cardin Winchester,” Professor Ozpin called, waiting a moment for the four of them to join him on stage: a pale girl with hair as white as snow who might be even shorter than Ruby, the big guy with the bird on his armour who had mocked Sunset earlier, some punk with a sleeveless hoodie and a grey mohawk, and Flash. Sunset’s lip curled in contempt at the sight of Flash standing up there in that gaudy armour of his with his chest puffed out with pride. “You four retrieved the black bishop pieces. You will be known as Team Wisteria, led by Weiss Schnee.” The letters WWSR flashed up beneath their portraits.
Sunset didn’t join in the applause. Miss Schnee led the way off the stage, managing to look both proud and at the same time as though this was nothing unexpected. As he followed his new leader down, Flash glanced Sunset’s way. Sunset glared at him until he looked away again and made his way off the stage with the others.
“Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren, Dove Bronzewing, Nora Valkyrie.”
Ruby whistled, and Yang turned to give her a wink and a wave as she led the serious boy with the pink streak in his hair Sunset had noticed earlier, the redhead who had woken them both up, and a nondescript looking guy in tan armour up onto the stage.
“The four of you,” Ozpin said, “retrieved the white rook pieces. You will continue your studies here as Team Iron, led by Yang Xiao Long”
Ruby started cheering enthusiastically as the letters YRDN appeared beneath the portraits of the four members of the newly formed team. Yang gave her a thumbs up before she made her way off the stage with the others.
“Sunset Shimmer, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, and Ruby Rose.”
Sunset kept her expression pleasantly neutral as she led the other three out of the crowd and up onto the stage. The lights on them were bright, but Sunset didn’t mind the glare. She didn’t mind the eyes upon her. In fact, she positively enjoyed them both.
“The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces,” Professor Ozpin reminded the audience. “You will therefore be known as Team Sapphire, led…by Sunset Shimmer.”
Well of course, Sunset thought, and let the applause roll over her.
“It looks like things are shaping up to be an interesting year,” Professor Ozpin observed idly. He raised his voice. “Now, I’m sure that you are all tired after your exertions today and eager to find your beds. However, I would ask that all team leaders please remain for just a moment longer and join Miss Shimmer back up on stage. The rest of you are free to leave, secure in the knowledge that you have all passed the first test with honour.”
“See you later, Sunset,” Ruby whispered as her three new teammates made their way off the stage. Sunset remained stationary, facing the headmaster with her hands clasped behind her back, but from behind her, she could Ruby and Yang exchanging a few words as the other team leaders joined Sunset facing the headmaster. Weiss Schnee appeared to want to keep away from Sunset, who found herself in the centre of the line, with Weiss anchoring the left flank and Yang Xiao Long between the two of them.
Yang grinned at Sunset. “You’d better take good care of my sister, okay?”
“She’ll be fine; don’t worry,” Sunset said. “We’re going to do great things together, Ruby and I.”
Blake fell in on Sunset’s right, with the other team leaders filling in around them.
Professor Ozpin waited until they were all assembled back on stage, staring at them from over his small dark spectacles. His gaze did a great deal to chill the sense of excitement that Sunset had felt about her new position.
“Congratulations to all of you,” Professor Ozpin said. “You all showed during the course of your Initiation that you have at least some of the qualities that we look for in a team leader. Over the course of your studies, those qualities will be honed through special lessons with Professor Goodwitch that are reserved exclusively for team leaders.
“But I want none of you to be under any illusions: this is not simply an honour that has been handed to you, but a grave responsibility also. In battle, you will hold the lives of teammates in your hands; your decisions will determine not only the success or failure of the mission but also the life or death of those who fight under you.”
Blake Belladonna flinched at that, a decidedly uneasy look upon her face. “P-professor,” she began, her voice trembling. “If we-“
“I would prefer you didn’t second guess my decisions on the very day that I’ve made them, Miss Belladonna,” Professor Ozpin said, a touch of humour in his voice. “Team dispositions can be reviewed if the circumstances justify it. I’m not sure that any circumstance could justify their review moments after they were announced.”
Sunset couldn’t help but snort at that, and she wasn’t the only one. Weiss seemed to find it rather amusing too, although Yang glanced at Blake with concern in her purple eyes.
“To encourage you to take your responsibilities seriously, leadership confers duties inside the school as well as on the battlefield,” Professor Ozpin continued. “As team leaders, you are responsible for ensuring that your teammates attend all classes, pass all examinations, and turn in all homework on time. Be advised that your teachers will not hesitate to punish team leaders whom they judge to be failing in those responsibilities.”
In other words, it’s our job to step in if our teammates are slacking, and if we don’t, then we’ll be the ones punished for slacking off ourselves.
“Leadership can be difficult,” Professor Ozpin declared, “and there will no doubt be times you will wish that I had appointed someone else to lead your team, but if you are willing to work as hard at being leaders as you are at the rest of your education here, then I think you will find that leadership can also be incredibly rewarding.”
I hope so, thought Sunset.
“With that said,” Professor Ozpin concluded, “the main thing I want for you to take from this…is that you have all done very well. Find your rooms, rejoin your teams, and get some rest. Tomorrow morning, your journey begins in earnest.”
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This is great! Can’t wait to see where the Rainbooms will pop up.
This is so awesome!
alright I'm liking the team's so far. oh and we got team racist with Wiess at the helm so thats going to be fun. can't wait to see how the rest of the year goes and how exactly team SAPR get pulled into the white fang plot. though I can see them having a rivalry with team WSTW, if only thanks to Flash and Cardin.
Don't be mean to Yang, Ruby. Please respond to this comment.
Aw jeez, Flash is on team rascist
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Honestly, Yang acts more like a Mom to Ruby than a friend during the first half of volume 1
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“Ladies... Ice Queen...” “Hey!”
But..... But....... White Rose!!!! Q.Q And Bumblebee!!! Q.Q
Not sure how I feel about the team leader picks though XD Oz made Ruby the team leader for a reason after all =P And making Sunset a team leader seems pretty.... detrimental to Oz's efforts ^^;;
Side note: Fluttershy for member of original White Fang please!!!! Would be so hillarious to see her as that XD Bonus points if you make Angel a ''friendly'' grimm XD
Ok im really starting to get into this!!
so crazy question but since ozpin said "another equestrian refugee" is he saying he is one? and if so is he starswirl?
Good chapter, but this is also the first time I have to point out what I see as a major flaw in the writing:
You dumped too much with the scene with Ozpin. You should have kept those bits close and trickled them out slowly over the story, teasing your audience. Should've kept the audience knowledge closer to what our main protagonists know. Now we're going to be frustrated at the characters for not knowing what's already been revealed tot he audience instead of wondering what Oz is hiding. That scene with him stoically drinking coffee without a word was actually quite important to his build up and I feel like you kinda ruined it.
Awwweeeee man... I wanted to see Derpy, or Vinyl, or Octavia, or Starlight make it in...
Team Shamrock, or Shamrod for simpler purposes... (SVOD
Not the teams I'd have done by a longshot. If anything Bon Bon and Lyra with Ren and Nora and Flash with Weiss, Yang and Blake. That being said I applaud the changes you've mad, most people would try to make a fic such as this as close to cannon as possible. It will be interesting to see how the teams play out.
It was small than the Arma, and far less intimidating
It’s killer turned out to be a boy clad
Killing it’s friend wasn’t enough
The secrets of Mister Ren and Miss Valkyrie’s shared past were there own, in all their sorrow
It’s body remained standing for a moment
it staggered by did not fall
It made no sound, it did not raw or howl
1. Smaller.
2. Its.
3. Its.
4. Their.
5. Its.
6. But.
7. Roar.
I'm sorry, "another"?
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The Sirens were there first and possibly others.
That is correct, Ren. They sound more like this:
>Naming a character with the first letters of their nicknames
“This must be the work of an enemy Semblance!”
Goddayum. This is how she feels about Twilight, doesn't she? Does Sunset even know about Twilight taking her place back in Equestia? The first EQG never made it clear how Sunset ever knew about the situation on both sides of the mirror. That the Elements of Harmony existed, the Element of Magic being in Twilight's crown, Twilight being a princess WITH a crown, or the mirror being moved to the Crystal Empire (which didn't even exist when Sunset left). Maybe it's unfair, but I'm going to be expecting you to fill in those plot holes from the shaky launch of the Equestria Girls franchise if Sunset has any plot for pulling a heist.
But a much bigger issue on the horizon, concerning Equestria, is why you've given Ozpin (and presumably Salem) knowledge of Equestria, to the point where he's able to speak of it rather banally. Do they not know how to get over their? Because otherwise, I can't imagine why either of them wouldn't try to acquire power, resources or even allies from Equestria. It seems like the balance of power in Remnant would be really out of whack.
I keep thinking that because this is a crossover, Remnant won't be going by the EQG new rules of having spontaneous human counterparts to Pony characters. A big reason for that is because it's hard to imagine characters like Lyra or Flash (from Equestria or Canterlot High) being in roles as intense as Hunters in the workpld of Remnant. Also because the parallel individuals existing in both universes is something that the MLP specials have never even tried to explain. Then there's this:
Even though it's now a combat school, it's still off-putting to hear Princess Luna and Celestia being reduced to the role of school principals. Although not as off-putting as imagining Luna's derpy human model being rendered by Rooster Teeth.
I'm assuming that there's a "Headmaster Celestia" for Canterlot Combat School? Would that make Crytal Prep the other main source of initiates to Atlas academy? Now there would be canonical reason for the place looking it was carved out of rock.
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/0d938a48-316c-47df-8118-400d86d87b56/da1gsoi-28bd2f5e-09d0-4089-92b3-e1a60c111fa1.png/v1/fill/w_1024,h_576,q_80,strp/crystal_prep_academy_lobby__background__by_lyricgemva_da1gsoi-fullview.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NTc2IiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvMGQ5MzhhNDgtMzE2Yy00N2RmLTgxMTgtNDAwZDg2ZDg3YjU2XC9kYTFnc29pLTI4YmQyZjVlLTA5ZDAtNDA4OS05MmIzLWUxYTYwYzExMWZhMS5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTAyNCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.wtAUgJLvHJWY9yNSkp9ZE07iHSNl1b9oGKNcYa6YDyM
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/rwby/images/0/05/Atlas_00017.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20161020170444
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I found it a good way to avoid having to create a lot of RWBY OCs.
I want to like your story I really do but your sunset is so bitchy and such a downer I mean I hope this is like Rwby and things get better as time goes on like they did with Weiss's character I'm going to give it a few more chapters and see where it goes and she doesn't improve I'm probably going to dip out.
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If you want to skip the very worst of the bitchiness you can skip to the chapter Sunset in Splendour; alternately you can go all the way to Forever Fall if you want even less than that.
So what logic are we going with for team names here? In OG RWBY they use the first letter of everyone's first names, but that's obviously not the case here.
I'm worried about Weiss being stuck with Cardin. I feel like her faunus prejudice might only get worse with him around, unless Flash proves to be a positive influence.
As for Yang's team... YDRN is a tough combination of letters to work with, I guess.
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Even in canon, both Lie Ren and Sky Lark have their last name used for the team name.
Aww... i wanted to see if Ruby tried 1v1ing a Nevermore again...
There's two lines I really want to look at here specifically:
I have always had a feeling about this quote, but I actually sat down to think about it this time. Sunset's uneasy admission that she likes the classic look offers an actual glimpse at who she is behind her walls, and it's much more fragile than she makes herself out to be. There's of course the question of where the like of classics comes from (Does it come from Equestria), but the what she likes isn't as important as how she expresses that in a neutral situation. In retrospect, her earlier thoughts about not having faunus traits also show she's not exactly comfortable in her own shoes, but this little inclusion is something I've felt in my prior reading, and it adds depth to her that we probably wouldn't see in her perspective's narration (at least not yet).
This I have read, but never singled out until this instance as its own image. Its easy to remember her ears, but I admit I've forgotten it. Just this little bit of attention shows some of her character and emotions (holdover from her pony days, no doubt), yet actually adding the tail to the picture here adds quite a lot to the scene. I am going to have to keep an eye out for other tail mentions, especially during battles.
Edit:
I almost forgot to mention. Flash and Weiss was an excellent choice, and I loved their little back and forth. An all around good and enjoyable chapter (I feel I'm going to be saying this kind of general compliment a lot, but if it's deserved, I feel I still ought to say so).
So since you moved Ruby gushing over Sol Invictus you instead had Sunset being more standoffish about friendship... I think. Can't remember everything you put down originally. I do really like the part at the end where you had Ozpin addressing the team leaders, it'll help establish some of the upcoming character conflict.
The part with Oz's introspection about the kids is somewhat of a mixed bag. For Jaune it's interesting enough, it teases at some mysteries with his 'call to destiny at age 9' and how they're possibly related. And it shows that the headmaster is knowledgeable, he knows Jaune's dad was a reasonably good huntsmen and a descendant of a great warrior during the Great War. Sunset's was alright, some added thought from Principals Celestia and Luna to give it more nuance compared to him just knowing she was an Equestrian in the base story. For the beginning of Pyrrha and the end of Ruby were too telling though. Pyrrha's stuff starts to overload people with information that they would learn naturally during the story. The stuff after his thoughts on Ruby compared to her mother towards the new/old teams together is really bad. Instead of a mystery that slowly gets unravelled because Sunset's the only one looking/demanding answers because she doesn't have the greatest trust in authority figures devolves to her being paranoid since the reader already knows that while Ozpin has plans for them, he clearly is trying to protect them and let them live there normal lives as long as possible. You're getting rid of a lot of the mystery and intrigue about information and character motivation with some of these additions just to say you established it earlier.
Also you have Ruby having a stepmother. Raven wouldn't be classified as Ruby's stepmother. Just her dad's ex-wife.
wait Sunset is the same age as her? cause you said she was admitted on Canterlot early...
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She was admitted to Equestria Canterlot early, not to Remnant Canterlot.
Sunset exact age is a bit of a mystery, considering that the mirror seems to screw over time (there is no way that Princess Twilight and Sunset are even close to the same age, while Sunset is the same age as Remnant Twilight) but for Remnant she is currently considered the same age as the other students, so about 17, while Ruby is 15.
Already in just his first major chapter, Ozpin managed to stand out as a better otherworld leader than Dumbledore from If Wishes Were Ponies . . . .
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Ozpin is a big beneficiary of the rewriting process; if you could have seen the first version of this chapter (actually you can, it's on fanfiction.net) then you would probably cringe because I was kind of convinced he was (or at least might be) evil at the time and his writing reflected that.
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I wouldn't consider that a hard thing, that story Dumbledore is so stupidly OOC that is baffling. From where the hell does the gay character that has spent his entire life trying to evade a position of power because he KNOWS that he cannot be trusted with it becomes the incompetent idiot controlling the world from the shadows to push the expansion of mages by breeding that is show in that fic?
Anyway, I understand that in Ozpin case, there were side material where it was explicitly said that Ozpin was the evil mastermind controlling humanity (as many people screaming that Ozpin is worse than Salem point out constantly), but in the show itself we never see that.
Ozpin has a lot of control over the Huntsmen because of the Academies, but they are too busy dying against the Grimm to make any kind of power play in the Kingdoms themselves. Ozpin is never shown to have any real power in the governments themselves, and the only one of his followers that does have power (Ironwood) is openly showing his independence by going against his wishes in the whole "bring an army to Vale" event. He is too preoccupied with his war with Salem and too short on resources to do any kind of power play on 3rd parties, making his management of the Equestria issues more cautious by default.
Tad upset that not all of the original team matchups stayed the same - like if Weiss, Blake, and Yang, as well as other teams had their original members, with only replaced with either known or OC characters. Oh well, anyway back to reading!
I like that you rearranged the original teams, though I can not help but question the choice of Blake. She just does not strike me as a leades, specially at the begining ig the story.
I am amused by Sunset's constant mindset of gaining recognition.
I wonder how Weiss will shape out. Team RWBY had a good influence on her, while this new set of teammates are pretty much a blank slate.
So THAT'S how you pronounce SAPR (sapphire).
I think this is supposed to be 'Jaune and Pyrrha/Ruby?
Oof. Team Names are always an issue, but I'm kind of struggling to see how this translates to 'Iron'.
I was intimidated by the length of this story but finally felt like giving it a go. I have to say that I'm enjoying the ride so far.
OOF! that’s an oof.
I think was a change, but that was a lot of Ozpin here. I can’t remember the old stuff, but I definitely think more could have been held back.
Other than that, i miss the old Ren and Nora meeting up with “Some things are the same everywhere”
That line was cute.
The WWSR team is just the bomb! In the sense that she is ready to explode at any moment. As far as I know, only Flash has a quiet and non-confrontational character, while the rest... I don't like this guy, but damn, I feel sorry for him.
The WWSR team is just the bomb! In the sense that she is ready to explode at any moment. As far as I know, only Flash has a quiet and non-confrontational character, while the rest... I don't like this guy, but damn, I feel sorry for him.