SAPR

by Scipio Smith

Belladonna

Belladonna

Waiting did not come easily to Blake Belladonna. She was, if she said so herself, a person of action, not of patience. It was ironic, considering that she had trained in what might be called the ninja arts, but sitting in the shadows was not for her at all. Leaping out of the shadows to attack someone by surprise was more her style. She only needed to see a situation in order to jump headfirst into it, be that a righteous cause or a desperate battle. It was a quality that, she was aware, had gotten her into no small amount of trouble in the past, but nevertheless it was a part of her, and you could be aware that something was a flaw in your nature without being able to so easily excise it from your soul.

Which was why waiting in this shelter was almost torture for her.

And the fact that she was also aware that this was a very whiny and self-pitying attitude to have – oh, woe was her, snug and safe in an underground shelter while her friends fought for their lives against the grimm – didn’t make it any easier to sit around in an underground shelter while her friends fought for their lives against the grimm.

She had volunteered to help protect her mother and Councillor Cadenza because it was her mother, and she wanted to know that she was safe, but she hadn’t realised – hadn’t thought far enough ahead to realise – that this was going to stick her so far from the battle with no news from said battle. Right now the only other person she could be sure was safe was Sunset, who was like her trapped with no way of getting out and influencing the fighting. Was the waiting as much torture for Sunset as it was for Blake? How could it not be, Sunset being who she was? She and Blake were alike in preferring action to patience, in being the sorts who would rather get stuck in than wait for news. It must be painful for Sunset, because it was painful for Blake to sit here and wonder how their friends were faring out on the front lines. To think that Ruby could be dead right now, or Pyrrha, or Jaune; to think that Team Rosepetal could have been wiped out at this point, and she wouldn’t know until much later, wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it.

It was awful. Blake had no idea what she was supposed to do right now. Staying with her mother to protect her…well, no doubt it pleased her mother to have her so close by and out of danger, but it wasn’t as if she actually needed Blake’s protection right now. The shelter into which they had stumbled – they included Fluttershy, along with Rainbow and Twilight’s other friends Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who had caught up with them on the way – was empty apart from their party, but it was, so far as Blake could tell, sturdy and well built, secure from the outside, and even if it wasn’t perfect there were no grimm within the walls anyway (that Blake knew of) so to an extent having taken shelter was a formality anyway. And even if it hadn’t been the Atlesian guard captain Shining Armour was here, along with the Councillor’s Atlesian security and her mother’s bodyguards. It might be that Blake was more skilled than any of them except Shining Armour, but that didn’t actually make her needed here.

Of course it was a little late to leave now, and hard to explain all of this to her mother. And although her mother seemed to be preoccupied in a political discussion with Councillor Cadenza at the moment that didn’t mean that Blake fancied her chances of slipping out to join the battle. Her mother’s eyes would spot her the moment she started to leave.

So all she could do was wait, and pace up and down, and listen.

“I want to help,” Cadance said. “And Atlas wants to help, but I don’t know how you can promise that there will be no trouble when by your own admission the White Fang commands the largest military force in Menagerie.”

“But Sienna Khan won’t dare use it in Menagerie, not without provocation a lot more serious than outside investment or expertise – faunus expertise – coming in from outside the kingdoms.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because support for the White Fang is wide in Menagerie, but it isn’t deep,” Kali explained. “People like the idea of a group that is fighting for the rights of the faunus back in the old countries, so long as they don’t have to think too hard about what that fighting entails. If Sienna started setting off bombs in Menagerie itself then support for her and her movement would ebb away quickly.”

Blake allowed her attention to drift away from the discussion that her mother was having with Cadance. She wasn’t altogether sure that her mother was right, but then who was she to question when she hadn’t been back to Menagerie in years? Her mother had been there only this year.

She walked away, pacing across the grey, dull, concrete shelter; she tried, but mostly failed, to keep her thoughts from flying away to the battlefield where her friends were risking their lives to protect Vale. Where she ought to be.

She tried not to think too much about that, as painful as it was, as hard as it made the inescapable waiting. Her stride carried her across the shelter to where Rarity was sitting by herself, humming softly under her breath as she sewed some sort of blanket or something. Fluttershy was reading a book on birds, while Pinkie was playing some kind of card game with the children that Blake, not having what you might call a normal childhood, didn’t recognise.

How could they all be so calm at a time like this? How could they sew or read or play games with everything going on outside, with their friends facing danger and the possibility of death?

“The answer, darling, is a great deal of practice,” Rarity murmured, without looking up from her sewing.

Blake blinked. “Am I that transparent?”

“Your stride is speaking volumes,” Rarity said. She looked up at her. “Why don’t you sit down? You won’t help anyone by wearing holes in those fabulous boots you’re wearing.”

Blake took a seat next to Rarity, the two sitting side by side in silence that was neither particularly companionable nor particularly awkward. “What are you making?” Blake asked.

“A poncho,” Rarity said, holding up a glittery blue cape thing for Blake’s inspection. “Magnifique, no?”

“Um, I suppose,” Blake said.

Rarity looked at her over the half-moon spectacles that Blake guessed she wore for detail work. “You could make an effort, darling.”

“Sorry,” Blake said. “I’ve never had a great eye for fashion.”

“And yet you have a great deal of fashion sense, that outfit really is fetching.”

“Thanks,” Blake said awkwardly. She bit her lip. “Does it…does it ever get any easier?”

“Waiting to find out whether my friends are going to come home hale and hearty or in body bags, if they come back at all?” Rarity said, lowering her voice for the benefit of the children. She sighed. “No, dear, it never gets any easier. In fact I think it might have gotten harder recently.”

“How so?”

“It was…well, it was never easy,” Rarity said. “But when it was Applejack and Rainbow, well…you’ve met them both. They...I know that Applejack would much rather be on a farm somewhere but they both…they suit the life of a huntress, if you follow me. We worried about them, I worried about them, but I could always tell myself that they could take care of themselves and I could believe it, if you follow.”

Blake nodded.

“But then Twilight…” Rarity sighed. “I don’t mean to insult her, but…the thought of that shy, awkward, adorable girl going off to war…”

“I get it,” Blake said. “She doesn’t seem suited for it. I…I’m not sure that she is. If it weren’t for Rainbow Dash…I’m not sure how committed she’d be to the idea of proving herself in battle.”

“I think she suspects we all coddle her a little and she doesn’t much care for it,” Rarity admitted.

“Do you?”

“Oh, yes,” Rarity said brazenly.

Blake raised an eyebrow at how openly she confessed that. “Why? If you don’t mind me asking…why are you all friends? You…you don’t seem to have-“

“Very much in common?” Fluttershy asked, gently closing her book. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, it’s just that I couldn’t help but overhear you.”

“It’s fine, Fluttershy,” Blake said. “And yes, that’s what I was going to say. You don’t seem to have much in common.”

Rarity gave a faint smile. “We may seem as different, as the night is from day.”

“But you look a little deeper,” Pinkie sang out from where she sat. “And you will see that I’m just like you and you’re just like me, yeah!”

Rarity chuckled. “Yes, indeed, Pinkie dear. I admit that it may seem as though we are a rather disparate group, but…well…I don’t know exactly how to explain it. A meeting of souls, one might say. A string of fate binding us all together.” She shook her head. “Of course I will admit that we would never have met if we hadn’t all happened to be attending Canterlot Combat School at the time.”

“Yeah,” Blake said. “About that…I know that Rainbow said they do supplemental courses, but still…some of you don’t really seem the type to be huntresses.”

“I certainly considered it, at one time,” Rarity said.

Blake’s eyebrows rose. “Really?”

Rarity tilted her chin upwards. “Miss Belladonna, in these perilous times a lady should be able to fence as well as she dances, and I dance very well if I do say so myself. I wasn’t absolutely certain that was what I wanted to do with my life, the call of the world of beauty was very strong, but…I’m not sure if this will make sense to someone like you, but there are times when the world seems very safe and secure…and then there are times when it seems such a terrible place that Atlas has need of every sword that will lay itself at the feet of the council. And in those times I think: why not mine?

“And so I decided to take a year’s course in aura training at Canterlot to see if it was for me. And that was when I met the girls. Rainbow Dash was the star of the combat track, of course, even in her first year; dear Applejack was a prefect tasked with herding cats.”

“I was taking a supplemental course as well,” Fluttershy said. “I think it will help with my application for a research grant.”

“Research?” Blake said. “I had no idea you were a scientist.”

“Oh, I’m not, that’s Twilight’s department,” Fluttershy said quickly. “I’m talking about ornithological research. Do you know that in the entire of human history there’s been no comprehensive study of bird life on Remnant? Well, no comprehensive studies on any animal life whatsoever really, but I’ve always gotten along with birds the best, they’re just cuties.”

“I imagine that the grimm make it difficult – dangerous – to head out into the wild in search of…less ferocious wildlife,” Blake observed.

Fluttershy nodded. “That’s right. And so many people just aren’t that interested, I’m sad to say. That’s why I’m hoping to get a grant from the Atlesian research committee to be the first person to travel to all four kingdoms documenting their avian wildlife. That’s why I wanted to learn a little more about my aura, so I could prove to the committee that I’m able to survive in the wild. Rainbow Dash and Applejack both promised to escort me, but with everything that’s going on I don’t think they’re going to have time.”

“No,” Blake murmured. “I think, unfortunately, you’re probably right about that.”

“Twilight was there for much the same reason,” Rarity said. “Atlas likes its scientists to have a degree of a handle on their aura so it can put them into the field.”

Blake nodded. “What about you, Pinkie? What brought you to a combat school?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Just a feeling.”

“A feeling?”

“I knew that I was never meant to be a huntress,” Pinkie said. “Not like Maud. Maud’s my big sister, and to be honest she’d rather study rocks than fight monsters, but she’s also really committed and selfless and the coolest big sister that any little sister ever had and so she trained hard and went and kicked butt alongside Rainbow Dash and Applejack on their first team before Rainbow got a whole new team with Twilight-”

“Breathe, Pinkie,” Rarity admonished gently.

Pinkie took a deep breath. “Anyway I knew that I was never going to be like her. But I had a feeling. Just…a feeling, you know? Like you get in your toes, or in your hair. A feeling that told me ‘Pinkie, this is where you’re meant to be’.”

Rarity shook her head. “I’m still not sure how you persuaded Principal Celestia to let you in a year early.”

Blake’s eyes widened. “You got in a year early?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Apparently I’ve got lots of potential. But killing isn’t for me. I think my Pinkie sense was just telling me where to go to meet my very best friends!”

“So there we all were,” Rarity said. “Twilight and Rainbow Dash already knew one another, but I can’t exactly what remember what it was that drew the rest of us together. It was…a kind of magic.”

“Magic,” Fluttershy agreed. “And Twilight Sparkle.”

“Yes,” Rarity said. “And Twilight Sparkle.” The smile wavered on her face. “It wasn’t until they went to Atlas that we who were left behind realised what it meant to be close friends with huntresses.”

“What made you decide not to follow?”

“Hmm?”

“You said you’d considered being a huntress yourself,” Blake said. “You graduated from a combat school. What made you decide not to go to Atlas yourself?”

“Oh, that,” Rarity said. She laughed lightly. “Actually it was Applejack who made that decision for me.” Rarity’s voice slipped into a very bad impression of Applejack’s distinctive accent. “Now listen up, Rarity, you ain’t go no call to be risking your neck out on the battlefield, you hear me. We both know you ain’t the type for it, and we both know that you don’t want to be the type for it neither.” Rarity’s natural – her usual, anyway; there was a confected air about Rarity’s usual voice that made Blake wonder if it was at least partly put on for whatever reason – accent returned. “The irony, of course, being that Applejack doesn’t really want to be the type for it herself.”

“But she does it anyway,” Blake said. “Why?”

“Duty,” Rarity said. “Courage. A feeling that since somebody has to it might as well be her. Honestly, you’d have to ask her yourself, darling.”

Blake nodded, and might have said something else if Shining Armour hadn’t suddenly said, “Do you guys hear that?”

Blake listened. Her feline ears twitched on top of her head. She did hear that. It was a Bullhead, judging by the whine of the engine, and it was coming down nearby. “Could it be Atlesian forces?”

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t have called ahead,” Shining Armour said. He walked to a small wooden desk in the corner of the shelter, near the slanted metal doors shutting them off from the surface, where a set of nine miniature monitors were stacked three across and three up. He bent down in front of them. “I can’t see anything. The coverage isn’t good enough. I can’t see the aircraft coming down.”

“This is Sienna Khan of the White Fang!” Sienna Khan’s voice boomed into the shelter from without, so loud that Blake thought she must be shouting into a bullhorn from some safe distance outside. “Atlesian forces, I have no interest in you. Surrender Kali and Blake Belladonna to me within the next five minutes and the rest of you will be left unmolested. If you force me to storm in there and get her then I will not be responsible for any other casualties incurred in the process.”

Blake got to her feet as Shining Armour cursed under his breath. “How did they find us?” he asked.

“Ilia,” Blake said. “She must have…tracked us somehow.”

“You don’t think that she followed the three of us, do you?” Fluttershy asked.

“It doesn’t matter how they found us,” Cadance said. “What matters is our current situation. I’ll contact General Ironwood.”

“I am, of course, jamming all communications in this area,” Sienna said. “Despite what your Atlesian arrogance might lead to you believe I’m not just some yahoo with a gun.”

Cadance pulled out her scroll regardless. “No signal.”

“How is she doing that?” Shining Armour asked.

“My guess is with an Atlesian J-7 man-portable field jammer,” Blake said. “Either stolen from one of your bases, or…well, ever since you started bringing in the J-8 a lot of J-7s have been finding their way onto the black market. It happens every time the military phases in new gear: some of the old stuff always gets lost on its way to be condemned.”

Shining Armour looked at her. “If you do join the military then you should ask to be assigned to the Inspector-General’s office, it sounds like you know all the tricks already,” he said. “Our own equipment used against us.”

“You sound as though she’ll be in a position to join your military,” Kali said cautiously.

“We’re not handing you over to them,” Cadance said.

Kali looked surprised. “You’re not even going to consider it.”

“Atlas doesn’t bow to the demands of terrorists.”

“Not even with the children in harm’s way?” Kali asked.

“Am I supposed to trust the word of Sienna Khan that they wouldn’t be harmed even if I threw you and Blake out?” Cadance replied. “I’m a member of the Atlesian council, is there anything the White Fang would like more than to take my head?”

“They might not like the reprisals that followed,” Blake murmured.

“I admit that I don’t know these people so well as you,” Rarity said. “But I’m inclined to say that if they were so worried about reprisals they wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

“Kali, my old friend,” Sienna shouted. “I give you my word that you will not be harmed. Is that not enough?”

“Do you trust her?” Cadance asked.

“She won’t kill us,” Kali said.

“She’ll just use us to get leverage against Dad, won’t she?” Blake said.

“That’s what I fear, yes,” Kali said.

Blake frowned, and looked at the three young girls. Could they really afford to wait here and risk harm coming to them?

“I don’t suppose there’s another way out?” Rarity suggested.

“If there is it will be covered,” Blake said. “Sienna’s right, she’s not just some bandit, she knows what she’s doing. This whole shelter will be surrounded, and tightly.” She sighed. “Perhaps-“

“No,” Cadance said. “I’m not going to throw you to wolves on the off chance that the White Fang will keep their word.”

“But-“

“The White Fang have already tried to kidnap me once, not to mention putting the lives of everyone I care about in danger,” Cadance said. “I won’t surrender to them now. Shining Armour,” she walked over to her husband, and took his hands in her own. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Shining Armour said at once.

Blake’s eyes narrowed as blue crackled between the hands of Cadance and Shining Armour. As he bowed his head, and rested it upon her forehead, a soft blue light enveloped them both. As Blake watched, she felt something like a soft breeze passing over her, and then a pink light rose from around Shining Armour, expanding outwards across the shelter and beyond it, passing harmlessly over Blake and all the other inhabitants of the shelter, covering not only the room that they were in but passing beyond the doors and into the galley and toilet to the left and right of them and a little way into the deeper recesses behind them too.

Shining Armour and Cadance stood like a statue of two lovers, eyes closed, hand in hand, foreheads pressed gently against one another. Neither moved, nor said a word.

“Um,” Blake murmured. “Are they-“

“Shining Armour’s semblance…” Rarity began. “It pushes his aura outwards from his body, forming a barrier around not only himself but other people and things whom he wishes to protect.”

“But it immobilises him to do it,” Blake finished.

“Indeed,” Rarity murmured. “Cadance is lending him her strength, but in the process she has become caught in the effects.”

“So her semblance is like Jaune?” Blake said.

“Not exactly,” Rarity said. “It doesn’t work on just anybody. It requires a more…intimate connection. Love,” she added, when she saw on the look on Blake’s face. “Although I can see how you might have gotten the wrong idea, I do apologise.”

“What matters is that we’re safe now,” Fluttershy said.

“Are we?” Blake asked. “I’m not so sure.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.

There was a booming sound coming from outside.

“That’s what I mean,” Blake said. “They’re trying to break through, and they’ll do it too.”

“What makes you so sure about that,” Pinkie said. “Shining Armour and Cadance together are pretty strong, you know.”

“I’m sure,” Blake said softly. “But it’s still just aura, and aura can be broken.”

“In time,” Rarity said. “Surely the White Fang will give up before then. Once the battle is over someone will come for us, won’t they?”

“Eventually,” Blake said. “If the battle ends that fast.” She glanced at her mother. “But I wouldn’t count on Sienna Khan giving up easily.”

Indeed she did not. Being under the protection of Shining Armour’s shield turned out to be a lot like being in the shelter while the battle raged without: a great deal of waiting, within a space that was theoretically more confined that it had been before because, it turned out, once Shining Armour’s shield had passed over you you couldn’t get out of it from the inside. So Blake, who had considered chancing the escape hatch – which looked rather like a manhole cover and might have gone unnoticed by the White Fang when it came to sealing off all the exits – in the sleeping quarters to slip out and try and destroy their jamming equipment was balked because she couldn’t even get into the sleeping quarters because they weren’t covered by the shield.

And so there was nothing that she could do but wait, nothing that they could all do but wait, as the shield held them captive even as it kept them safe and all the while the thunder of the White Fang’s wrath rebounded from outside.

Blake wondered what it was they were hitting the shield with. Guns? Explosives? Where they using the cannons in the noses of the Bullheads they had used to fly here? Where they simply attacking it with their melee weapons? Where they throwing everything they had at it in a bid to get through it faster? That was the most likely explanation. She wondered how much more Shining Armour could take. He seemed to tremble a little with each impact, and Cadance too. The blue light that she had spread over him seemed to be holding strong but how much aura did they really have between them at this point.

Everyone was looking nervous. The other Atlesian guards, her mother’s guards, the friends of Rainbow and Twilight, they all looked a little more strained than they had done when the attack began.

And the children, too. That was what made Blake feel the worst.

She realised that it was rather patronising to think of them as the children like that; they were all older than ten, and probably closer to thirteen than ten; not much younger than Ruby, barely younger than Strongheart. But, not having seen or been through what Strongheart or even Ruby had they seemed much younger. There was an innocence about them that made them seem more like children than others their age or not much older.

“I’m sorry that you’ve all been caught up in this,” Blake murmured.

“It’s okay,” Scootaloo said.

“No, it isn’t,” Blake said. “You shouldn’t be in danger from the enemies of my family.”

“But aren’t they Atlas’ enemies, too?” Apple Bloom asked. “Aren’t they the people that Applejack and Rainbow Dash spend so much time fighting?”

“That’s…true,” Blake admitted. “But still…you still shouldn’t be in harms way, and I’m sorry for that.”

“You’re the one who’s fought with Rainbow Dash, aren’t you?” Scootaloo said.

“Lots of people have fought alongside Rainbow Dash,” Blake said. “I’m fortunate to be one of them.”

“And you’re the one who helped rescue Applejack from down in that underground city, right?” Apple Bloom said.

“Again, I was one of many people who were there,” Blake said.

“Anyone who did that is alright with us, right?” Apple Bloom said.

“Right,” Sweetie Belle said. “So don’t worry about it.”

Blake blinked. “Aren’t you three worried? At all?”

“A little,” Sweetie Belle said. “But…”

“But we know that our awesome sisters will show up to save us, just in time,” Scootaloo said. “No way that Rainbow Dash will let us down.”

“Or Applejack either.”

Blake smiled slightly. If only that were an iron law. Still, it brought her back to her plan to destroy the jammer. If they could only do that then they could get word out and once they could get word out then surely help would race to their position.

The only problem was…well, there were multiple problems, starting with the fact that she didn’t know how many fighters Sienna had with her, or who she had with her…but apart from that the first problem that she would have to surmount was that she couldn’t get out from behind this shield.

Blake turned away from the three children and paced to the wall. Sienna herself. Ilia I know is one. Gilda, probably. Strongheart, perhaps. If Sienna Khan came here from Menagerie then she probably brought more than just Ilia with her. Peter? Holly? Woundwort? Blake shuddered at the thought of facing Woundwort, the person who had thought Adam was too soft on humans, but he was so strong Sienna would have been a fool to leave him behind.

She’ll have brought her best if she’s smart, and Sienna’s no fool. But perhaps, if she doesn’t expect me…

“Blake?” Kali asked. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that we can’t just sit here and wait,” Blake said. She pulled out her scroll, and tapped out a text to Rainbow Dash. White Fang attack. Holed up with whole party including children. Send help. She added the coordinates of their current position and pressed send. Of course, with the signal being jammed the processing wheel just kept on spinning and spinning as the scroll tried, and failed to find a signal to connect to.

“You know that won’t work,” Kali observed.

“Right now,” Blake replied. She held out the scroll to Rarity. “Rarity, will you hold onto that for me for a little bit?”

“What? Oh, of course darling,” Rarity said, sounding somewhat puzzled as she took the scroll from Blake’s unresisting hand.

Blake walked towards Shining Armour and Cadance, who had not moved one inch since Shining Armour had raised his shield around them.

“Can they hear me?” Blake asked.

Shining Armour’s eyes opened, and he blinked. Perhaps that was the greatest extent of movement allowed to them.

“Once for yes?” Blake suggested.

Shining Armour blinked.

“You need to drop the shield while you still have some aura left for the fight afterwards,” Blake said.

The eyes of both Shining Armour and Cadance snapped open and both widened in an ‘are you crazy?’ sort of fashion.

“I know how it sounds,” Blake said. “But how long has this attack been going on? It’s clear that Sienna isn’t going to give up and frankly I’m not sure that our allies are going to win quickly enough that they’ll be able to check us without a nudge that we can’t give them right now. How much aura do you have left? And what are you going to do when it runs out?”

She could see the concern in Shining Armour’s eyes, so she pressed her advantage. “If you lower the shield now then you’ll still have some aura left to fight them with, and while they break down the door I’ll sneak out one of the other exits and take out the jammer so that our message for help gets out.”

He didn’t speak, neither of them did, but she could read the question in their eyes well enough. Do you really think you can do it?

“I’m the second best stealth expert the White Fang ever had and one of the best warriors,” Blake said. “I can do it. And I don’t see that there are many better options.”

The two of them looked into one another’s eyes. For a moment they were once more completely still, and Blake had the uncanny sense that they were almost sharing one another’s thoughts.

Then they both blinked once.

Blake nodded. “You won’t regret this,” she said. “I swear.” Rainbow Dash once saved my life, now it’s my turn to save everything that matters to her. She turned to the others. “Once the shield goes down you should move further down into the shelter, try and lose them.”

“We’ll stay here,” one of the Atlesians said. “Hold them off as long as we can.”

“So will we,” said one of her mother’s guards.

Blake frowned. “These will be the best the White Fang has coming through that door,” she said.

“Still,” the Atlesian said. “As long as we can.”

“I, on the other hand, think that that is splendid advice,” Rarity said. “Sweetie Belle, girls, come along. Get ready. I’m not sure how much time we’ll have.”

The party – Kali, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie and the children – gathered at the edge of the shield, waiting.

“Blake,” Kali murmured. “Do you have to-“

“Yes, mom,” Blake said. “It’s dangerous, but I’m the only one who can do it.”

“You always think that.”

“I know,” Blake admitted. “But this time it’s true, I promise.”

Kali nodded. “Stay safe, my baby girl.”

“I will, Mom,” Blake said, even as they both knew that was not a promise she could guaranteed to keep.

Blake turned her attention, once again, to Shining Armour and Cadance. “Do it,” she said.

Shining Armour and Cadance stepped away from one another, as the pink protective dome that had held them captive even as it kept them safe dissipated and dissolved into nothingness, leaving only the empty air and the grimm proof doors to protect them.

“Go!” Shining Armour said. “Cadance, go with them.”

“I-“

“Go,” Shining Armour repeated. He looked at Blake. “We’ll buy as much time as we can.”

“And I’ll go as fast as I can,” Blake said. There was no time to say anything else, not even a goodbye to her mother, whom she last saw hurrying away with the others into the deeper recesses of the shelter, closing the bulkhead-like doors behind them as they went – the shelter was designed to be sealed off and segmented, in case any part of it was breached by the grimm, for the same reason that there were escape hatches all over the place to enable escape to the surface from almost any part of the bunker – while Blake herself went another way, sprinting to her left into one of the sleeping quarters, a room filled up with bunk beds covered with dust, the unused sheets being devoured by bed bugs while ants and cockroaches crawled on the floor. It had looked pretty disgusting the first time that they took a look inside – Rarity had come very close to shrieking in dismay – but Blake barely noticed as she leapt across the dusty concrete floor and reached the ladder at the far end of the long room, the ladder leading up to a hatch that was all that separated her from the surface.

She scrambled up the ladder even as she heard, muffled only slightly by the distance behind her, the doors being broken open and the sounds of fighting erupting between the White Fang and the guards, Atlesian and Menagerie alike.

The escape hatches, like the one that Blake scampered up the ladder towards until she was just beneath it, were designed to open outward only and to be opened from the inside only: they were escape routes, not vulnerabilities against the grimm (that was the intention, although without releasing a grimm into the city to try and get into the shelter it was impossible know for sure that they couldn’t); it was for that the reason that the White Fang hadn’t been able to enter the shelter through one of the more distant exits which were not covered by the shield. However, that didn’t mean that they were guarding this hatch.

Fortunately there was a monitor built into the tunnel, so that anyone wishing to escape could see that there wasn’t a beowolf waiting to devour them as soon as they popped the hatch and stuck their head out, and even more fortunately it was still working after however many years of neglect. So Blake looked at the small black and white picture in the monitor, watching as the camera rotated three hundred and sixty degrees, showing no White Fang sentry nearby. It wasn’t too surprising – unlike the main entrances at the front and rear, these escape hatches were inconspicuous, and without plans of the bunker it would be hard to find them all – but it was fortunate, and for the first time since Sienna and the White Fang arrived Blake felt as though things were falling out in her favour.

The hatch had instructions stuck to it, surrounded by a red and yellow border; the handle to pull to open said hatch also had warning stripes on it with the message DO NOT PULL EXCEPT IN EMERGENCY.

I’d say this qualifies, Blake thought, as she gripped the handle tightly and, with a firm tug, popped the hatch.

The cold night air, chilly and yet refreshing at the same time in contrast to the increasingly stale air within the shelter (there was an air filtration system, but that hadn’t stopped it from feeling increasingly fresh, at least as far as Blake was concerned) hit her like a slap to the face as she pushed the hatch up as far as it would go and stuck her head out.

It was dark, the moon providing little light, but her feline vision confirmed what the camera had already told her: the White Fang hadn’t found this escape hatch, and in not finding it had neglected to guard it.

The shelter in which they had taken refuge lay beneath a high-rise tower block, and Blake had emerged in the alleyway between said tower and the hotel next door, a slightly smaller structure but more sturdily built out of stone rather than glass, and the two buildings together meant that she had very little view of what was going on outside the alleyway. She climbed out of the hatch, drawing Gambol Shroud from across her back and holding it in pistol configuration, gripping the butt tightly with both hands as she crept sideways, her back pressed against the one-way glass of the high rise, and glanced out of the alleyway.

She could see an empty Bullhead grounded outside the shelter, and not far away she could see the jammer, an old Atlesian J-7 just as she had predicted: a three-sided vertical column of black plastic, sitting on a black tripod altogether just a little shorter than Ruby, glowing with blue lines running up the sides of the column that showed it was currently activated.

Once she destroyed it then her message would get through to Rainbow Dash and the cavalry would arrive. And the sooner the better.

The jammer was scarcely guarded; Sienna – who was outside herself, having evidently decided to let her followers bear the risks of this particular battle; Blake, who could just about remember when the High Leader actually led her men into the face of danger, felt a surge of contempt to see her now using others as her weapons – had evidently committed the bulk of her forces into the bunker. Aside from the High Leader there was only Strongheart and some woman that Blake didn’t know, young-looking but with grey hair and grey hands to match as though she had dipped them into wet cement not long ago. None of them gave any sign that they could see her.

Blake – careful not to expose herself – took aim at the jammer.

She felt the sting of the whip across her back a split second before she felt the shock travel up and down her entire body, sending her stumbling in convulsions out of the alleyway and into the sight of Sienna and her cohorts even as she felt her aura being torn away by the electricity rippling up and down her body. She turned, stumbling backwards, to see Ilia changing colour from the black that had concealed her in the shadows of the alley, her face set grim with anger as she pursued Blake with a leaping kick that drove her foot into Blake’s gut and doubled her over.

Ilia snarled as she raised her whip to lash at Blake again, but this time Blake left a clone in her place to take the blow as she leapt away, firing her grapple up at the hotel to her right. The hook struck home, digging into the brown stone halfway up the structure as the line began to reel in, carrying Blake upwards and out of the range of Ilia’s Lightning Lash as she planted her feet on the stone and looked down. There was the crack of a rifle, and Blake leapt away just in time as a bullet from Strongheart’s rifle hit the wall where Blake had been causing a shower of masonry to explode from it. Blake grabbed for the edge of a nearby window to keep from plummeting – her aura could absorb the drop, but best not to risk it while fighting a battle – as she saw Strongheart work the lever on her rifle and raise it to her shoulder once again, while Sienna, her Cerberus Whip glinting in the moonlight upon her wrist, padded across the open courtyard before the two buildings, sidling closer to Blake’s position. The grey haired girl had not yet moved at all – she didn’t appear to have a weapon either – but that might not last.

Blake dropped as Strongheart fired again, the bullet shattering the window and sending shards of glass falling down, some to clip Blake’s aura as they descended around her like a hail of knives. She fired her grapple again, hitting the wall above her, but instead of winching herself up Blake teased the line out slowly, turning her fall into a controlled descent which she sped up gradually as she kicked off the wall, swinging on the line to plant both her feet into Ilia’s chest in a kick hard enough to send her old friend flying backwards and onto her back. Blake dashed forwards, towards the White Fang Bullhead, taking aim at the jammer with Gambol Shroud, but before she could fire Sienna lashed out at her with Cerberus Whip, the chain uncoiling from around her wrist to spring through the night air like something alive, the red lightning dust in the first point glowing malignantly as it flew towards her. Blake backflipped away, leaving an earth clone in her place to take the blow as the blade rebounded from the rock. A second earth clone took another shot from Strongheart – blowing the stone Blake’s head off – as the buffalo girl took up a defensive position between Blake and the jammer.

Ilia was on her feet by now, and she and Sienna were closing in on Blake from both sides; Sienna’s tiger eyes gleaming with anticipation. Blake waited, almost unmoving, as Cerberus Whip leapt at her like a hunting creature, coiling around Blake’s waist and pulling her off balance while Ilia lashed at her with her own electrified weapon.

The fire clone exploded, with just enough smoke to disorient the two of them momentarily as Blake charged for Strongheart, using shadow clones to push herself forward even faster as she ran in a blur of shadows, firing Gambol Shroud as she ran, snapping off shots which Strongheart was forced to stand and take or risk the precious jammer getting hit instead. She tried to block them with her rifle – she blocked one or two that way – but she was also staggered backwards by the impacts of Blake’s rounds before Blake switched her weapon from pistol mode to sword, drawing her cleaver-scabbard with her free hand as she closed the range with the girl she had once watched cry herself to sleep.

Strongheart scowled, and screamed a battle cry as she, too, switch her weapon to one hand and drew the tomahawk from her belt as she surged forward, her semblance driving her on in an impressive burst of forward motion which carried her right into Blake’s ice clone, which enveloped her in an expanding cloud of ice from which only bits and pieces of her body emerged as she grunted and howled and struggled to free herself.

Blake jumped up into the air, kicking off the ground with all the force that she could muster, Gambol Shroud changing back from sword to pistol as she reloaded in mid-air to a clip of fire dust rounds.

She fired, snapping off one shot, three, five before Cerberus Whip coiled around her ankle and pulled her back down to the ground with a heavy thump.

But by then it was too late as Blake’s shots struck home, igniting the jammer.

Blake felt something wrap around her body, a sticky substance, not inflexible but binding…a spider’s web, shot from the grey hands of the fourth girl, the one who had hitherto taken no part in the battle. The web wrapped around her while she lay on the ground, enveloping her like a straightjacket as Ilia kicked Gambol Shroud way from her.

It didn’t matter. The jammer was on fire, and as Blake watched from where she lay on the ground it sparked, then shorted, then gave up the ghost altogether as the flames consumed it.

She glared up at Sienna. “Whatever you do to me next it doesn’t matter, I’ve won.”

Ilia’s face twisted into a snarl even as her hand curled into a fist. Sienna raised one hand to still her.

“Blake,” she said. “Blake, Blake, Blake. I am so very disappointed in you.”

“I could say the same about you,” Blake said. “Working with the enemies of all human and faunus kind, putting a city that’s home to tens of thousands of faunus in danger? And for what? To take me and my mother prisoner? Is that the only reason for any of this?”

“This battle was going to happen anyway,” Sienna said. “I’m simply taking advantage of the confusion.”

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” Blake said. “You have no idea what’s at stake here. This is so much bigger than faunus and humans-“

“Says the girl who sold out her kind for an Atlesian uniform,” Ilia snapped.

“If we don’t stand together we’ll die alone,” Blake said. “Do you have any idea what kind of monster you’ve made a bargain with?”

“Don’t talk to me about monsters, Blake!” Ilia shouted. “The only monsters I know are the humans who laughed when they heard that my parents had died in the mines!”

Blake twisted in the spider’s web so that she could get a better look at Ilia. The chameleon girl was red with anger, her skin burning like the setting sun. “Ilia, I know how you feel-“

“No, you don’t!” Ilia yelled. “If you didn’t then you wouldn’t…I told you that story because I thought you’d understand, but if you really understood, if you cared at all then you wouldn’t have sided with the people who killed my parents and then made fun of them.”

“There’s so much more to Atlas than those stupid girls you thought were your friends,” Blake said. “There’s so much good, and so many good people-“

“Shut up!” Ilia shrieked. “How could you…how could you? You were supposed to be the best of us, the one we all looked up to and admired, the paragon of our cause. You were the one that I…that I…” She let out a sob, and turned away from Blake. Strongheart reached up to put a sympathetic hand upon her shoulder.

“She is right,” Sienna said. “You were the greatest warrior I ever trained, everyone who knew you or fought alongside you remembers you so fondly. And I…you were like a daughter to me, and it was my plan that in time you would succeed me as High Leader of the White Fang. And now…this? Atlas? Siding with humans against your own kind, betraying Adam to his death? It pains me to see how far you have fallen.”

“I’d say that I’ve risen higher than I could have dreamt of,” Blake said. “What are you going to do to me? And my mother?”

“You and your mother will both be my guests for a while,” Sienna said. “So that your father can understand why it is not wise of him to make overtures to Atlas as though I am some insignificant nobody, and the White Fang a feeble rump of little account to be ignored whenever we are inconvenient, and not a power that he must respect. You will always tell me just what you and the councillor were talking about. Once I have impressed upon your parents the way of the world your mother will be free to go.”

“But not me,” Blake said.

“You will remain as my guest,” Sienna said. “I miss our stimulating conversations. I miss you. We all miss you, Blake. Everyone will be so glad to see you returned to the bosom of your family.”

“You are not my mother and the White Fang isn’t my family,” Blake said.

My family is on its way right now.

I hope.

---

The engine growled on Sunset’s bike as she sped down the streets of Vale, holding onto the handlebars with one hand even while she held her sword in the other. She used said sword – not on fire right now to save the dust, but still a sword – to bisect a passing creep in the middle of the street.

With the roads as deserted as they were and everyone huddling from the terror of the grimm, said grimm were about the only things that Sunset had to worry about on the roads tonight. She glanced upwards, where she could just about make out the contrails of Rainbow and Penny’s jetpacks – apparently Penny had a jetpack now, something that Twilight had been working on that the robot girl could wear in special situations; the fact that she would have to take it off again to use her Floating Array wasn’t ideal but in situations like this when speed was of the essence it was a lot better than nothing – as they flew through the night sky towards the coordinates sent to them by Blake.

Ruby’s hands were wrapped around Sunset’s waist as she clung on, sat behind her on the bike (even though Flash had his own car, Sunset had built the bike with the idea that maybe they could go riding on it together, with his arms around her waist, and so there was enough space for someone to ride behind) as they raced through the streets. A shot from some distance behind indicated that Applejack, following on horseback, had encountered a grimm of some description of her own en route.

Twilight and Ciel would be the last to catch up, simply because they were waiting for an airship to be re-routed to them so that they could evacuate Councillor Cadenza and her party on it once they arrived.

Everyone was responding to Blake’s message. Everyone except Pyrrha and Jaune, who were responding to Ozpin’s.

Sunset would be the first admit that their response to these two emergencies was completely unbalanced, but Pyrrha had insisted that there was nothing that any of them could do if they went to Beacon, that only she could get into this place, the Vault of the Fall Maiden that was likely the source of all the trouble, and it had been impossible to get her to take any additional hands to support.

“Ruby should go with you as well, I’ll bet she can keep up with a horse using her semblance. Hay, I’ll bet she’s faster than a horse.”

“Probably,” Ruby said, without much enthusiasm. “I mean…it’s like I’ve ever raced one or anything.”

“And what would you do when you got there, Ruby?” Pyrrha said. “What would any of you do? I’m the only one who can enter the Vault.”

“You don’t know that you’ll need to enter the Vault,” Sunset said. “And even if you do then…if you…you don’t know what you’ll be facing down there alone.”

Pyrrha didn’t answer that. And from the way she looked away it seemed pretty clear to Sunset that she knew the truth as well as Sunset herself. “We’re wasting time,” she said. “Blake needs you, you need to go.”

“Do you really think that this is something you can do alone?”

“I took this burden on myself,” Pyrrha said. “If this is my fate then…then it is also my choice.” She smiled, though it was a smile touched by melancholy. “Don’t worry. I have no intention of dying tonight, when I have so much still to live for.”

That didn’t make Sunset feel much easier, as she drove her bike down the empty city streets. Pyrrha might not intend to die, but who knew what was waiting for her at Beacon. Amber was there, Ozpin’s message had said, but he hadn’t said who Amber had with her and yet Sunset couldn’t believe she was alone. Maiden or not Sunset doubted that Amber was any match for Pyrrha on her own, and yet the people who might be with her…

I know that there’s some magic spell on the Vault, but still…I think she only took Jaune with her because he knows how to ride a horse and she doesn’t.

That and he wouldn’t let her leave him behind even if she wanted to.

Finding the horses…or rather, the fact that the horses, having broken out of their enclosure and fled from the fairgrounds in terror of the grimm when the school had come under attack, wandering over the course of the night through city until they were close by when the huntsmen had need of them, had been a fortuitous stroke of luck, almost enough to make you believe that the gods had not completely absented themselves from Remnant and were giving things a little nudge to help out the good guys once in a while. Without them then Pyrrha and Jaune would have been hard pressed to get all the way back to Beacon in any reasonable length of time, and Applejack would have had no way of keeping up – or trying to – either.

Although…without the horses I would have had to take Pyrrha up to Beacon on my motorcycle, which…well, it would have made me feel a lot better even if it didn’t do much for Jaune right now.

So I guess it all evens out.

She was more worried for Pyrrha than she was for Blake, and Sunset didn’t mind admitting that. Blake only had the White Fang to worry about, and not that the White Fang weren’t plenty to worry about but they weren’t as bad as what Pyrrha might be up against; and Blake had Atlesian and Menagerie soldiers with her, while Pyrrha only had Jaune and even he couldn’t follow her to where the battle might be fought.

And there’s nothing that I can do except hope that she’ll be okay.

“Is Pyrrha going to be alright?” Ruby asked, her voice a little muffled by the crash helmet – Sunset’s crash helmet – that Sunset had insisted that she wear.

Sunset glanced briefly over her shoulder before returning her eyes to the road in front of them. “Sure,” she said, with more confidence than she felt. “This is Pyrrha, remember? She’ll be fine.”

“Right,” Ruby said. “That’s…that’s good to hear.”

Everything Ruby said sounded flat, stifled, unanimated compared to normal; Sunset didn’t have to be a psychologist to understand why that was: she had pushed her feelings into a box so that she didn’t have to deal with them right now, because if she’d done anything else then the loss of her sister would have overwhelmed her. That wasn’t…well, it wasn’t great, but on the other hand it couldn’t be argued that they still needed Ruby in the fight. So long as she let it out afterwards, then…

Then I’ll be back in prison and a lot of good I’ll be to her then. I just hope Jaune and Pyrrha will be able to help pick up the pieces.

“Guys, we’re almost there,” Rainbow said, her voice crackling into Sunset’s earpiece. “Two minutes out.”

“Okay,” Twilight said. “From the plans of that shelter there are two main entrances, one to the north and one to the south.”

“Thanks, Twi,” Rainbow said. “I’ll take the south entrance, Penny you take the north.”

“Affirmative!”

“We’re approaching towards the north entrance,” Sunset said. “So we’ll back you up when we get there.”

“I’ll see you there,” Penny said.

“Yeah,” Ruby murmured. “We’ll see you there.”

“Ruby,” Penny said, in the tone of someone who very much wanted to say something helpful but had no idea what to say.

“It’s okay, Penny,” Ruby said. “We’ve all got a job to do right now.”

Penny was quiet for a moment. “Yes,” she said. “I…I understand.”

---

Pinkie Pie hopped, skipped and jumped down the corridor, spreading her arms out on either side of her as her voice echoed off the grey concrete walls.

“Cause all I really need’s a smile, smile, smile…from these happy friends of mine!” She hopped forward, balancing on one leg as the word smile echoed up and down the corridor, in front of her and behind.

Someone was sure to hear it. That was kind of the idea.

Pinkie wasn’t smart like Twilight, who was a real genius with all kinds of neat ideas to make everything better, but that didn’t mean that Pinkie didn’t have any ideas to speak of. Why, she’d had an idea just now when they were all heading down these really boring grey corridors that were kind of making her feel down and miserable so that she needed to sing just to brighten them up a little. Anyway, Pinkie’s idea was that since all of these bad guys were after Blake’s mom – and probably wouldn’t be too sorry to hurt Cadance either – then maybe it would be a good idea if somebody was to go off on their own and make a lot of noise to attract all the bad guys to them instead? Wasn’t that smart?

Pinkie certainly thought so, but she also thought it was the kind of thing that everybody would try to talk her out of if she told them about it. That was why she hadn’t told them, she’d just disappeared on them while they were trying to hide. She hoped that they weren’t too worried or that they didn’t do anything silly like try to look for her or something like that.

Just like she hoped that Shining Armour and everybody else fighting was okay. Not just because Twilight would be really upset if anything happened to her BBBFF – and Twilight being sad was one of the worst things that Pinkie could imagine – but also because Shining Armour was a pretty cool guy and Pinkie liked him; and he was about to become a Dad – it was a miracle that Pinkie had managed to hold that fact in, the suspense of waiting for everybody to find out was killing her – and it would be so, so sad if he were to…to not be around to meet his kid, and if they weren’t able to meet their Daddy. That would be even worse than Twilight being sad.

Pinkie hoped that everybody was okay. Why did everyone have to keep fighting like this? She knew that there were monsters out there in the world but why did other people have to turn themselves into monsters too? Didn’t they have enough problems without trying to hurt one another? Why did so many people want so badly to make other people hurt, when it was so more fulfilling to try and make them smile instead?

She didn’t get it, not one bit. Fighting to protect others, like Rainbow Dash and Applejack, (and Twilight now, apparently) was one thing. It was really cool what they did, and it was really brave of them to do it, and Pinkie could think that they were awesome even while she didn’t want to do that herself. But this? Fighting other people because you didn’t like them? Who wanted to do that?

Such dark and gloomy thoughts were only making the dreary corridor seem even darker and gloomier than it had seemed before, and so Pinkie kept singing as she hopped and skipped down it.

“I’d like to see you grin (awesome!); I’d love to see you beam-“

Her song was interrupted by the sound of heavy thud coming from behind her.

Pinkie turned around as she heard more thuds, softer now but not actually soft, like heavy footsteps, accompanied sometimes by what sounded like somebody smashing something into the wall, came down the corridor towards her.

She saw his shadow first, and it was a pretty big shadow; a pretty big shadow for a pretty big guy, bigger than Twilight’s friend Mister Ironwood. As he emerged Pinkie could see that he was wearing one of those suits that they made people wear in prison – Pinkie didn’t like the colour much – and he was carrying a really big axe in one hand. He looked down at her with a sneer on his face.

“Here’s a tip, kid,” he said. “If you want to cause a distraction, maybe don’t make it so obvious.”

“But you still feel for it,” Pinkie said brightly. “So I must have done something right, right?”

“Maybe I just wanted to shut you up,” he said.

“There’s no need to be like that, is there?” Pinkie said. “I don’t want to fight you. Why, I bet if we sat down and talked about it we could find that we’ve got lots of things in common. Ooh, do you like board games?”

The big guy stared at her. “You know, the High Leader doesn’t want unnecessary casualties…but the High Leader isn’t here to see this, is she?”

Pinkie took a step back. “Like I said, I don’t want to fight you.”

The big guy chuckled. “Unfortunately for you, I’ve been stuck in a cell for the six months and I’ve got a lot of pent-up energy. So after I’m finished with you I’m going to go after the rest of your friends. Ilia says that you’ve got children with you-“

“Stop right there,” Pinkie said. “You can want to do all kinds of mean things to me if you want to – I mean I’d rather that you didn’t, but okay – but there’s no way that I’m going to just stand here and let you threaten those kids!” Threatening children was, like, the worst. Didn’t he realise that children were the gods’ gift to the world? (Sure, that was supposed to be dust, but think about it: what brought more joy, dust or children?)

“Really? And what are you going to do to stop me?”

“Well, I could always use this,” Pinkie said as she pulled a bazooka out of her hair. It was blue, and decorated with golden stars. Rainbow was always getting at her to give it a cool name, but Pinkie didn’t like using it enough to give it a name. It was only for emergencies, after all.

The big guy’s eyes widened. “What the-“

Pinkie fired the bazooka. The rocket hit the big guy square in the chest. He howled as it carried him backwards down the corridor and out of sight. There was an explosion, but Pinkie didn’t see what it did. She doubted that he’d be bothering anybody, at least not for a while.

“I said that I didn’t want to fight, I didn’t say that I couldn’t,” Pinkie said.

She should probably get back to her friends now. It didn’t seem like anybody else was coming. She guessed her brilliant idea hadn’t been so brilliant after all.

Still, she thought as she started back the way that she’d come, at least it was one less bad guy for the others to worry about.

---

Gilda was, temporarily, alone. She had been with Yuma, but this place was kind of a rats maze in places and so, having split up into pairs to search, they’d split up even further to look for their quarry.

That was all to the good as far as Gilda was concerned, that guy gave her the creeps and she hated the way that he called her ‘sister Gilda’; she was not his sister.

She would have rather had Strongheart with her, but the High Leader wanted her to guard the jammer, and who were they to question the High Leader.

Except that Gilda had been doing that a lot lately, hadn’t she?

I just…I don’t…what am I even doing here?

And so Gilda was alone with her doubts when she came across Kali Belladonna – even though they’d never met Gilda recognised her from pictures; she and her husband were celebrities amongst faunus even if humans had never heard their names – alongside Councillor Cadenza of Atlas, Rainbow’s friend Fluttershy, some posh Atlesian girl who might be another friend of Rainbow Dash and…and three children.

Why did there have to be children there? One of them was even a faunus kid, with a prosthetic leg visible between her shorts and her boots and a haircut that, especially combined with her pony ears, reminded Gilda of Dash when she was younger.

Actually it reminded Gilda of Dash now; she’d had the same haircut since she was eight years old. Why change what works, right?

But why did there have to be children?

The Atlesian girl, the one with royal purple hair rolled and curled, the one with golden bands around her wrists and gem-studded shoes, stood in front of her as if she could defend all the others. She didn’t have a weapon but she stood her ground in the face of Gilda and her swords.

She threw up both her hands, conjuring a shield in the shape of a dazzling blue diamond. “Stay back, you…you brute!”

“Gilda?” Fluttershy murmured. “Gilda…is that you?”

Gilda’s swords were raised to strike, but she found herself lowering them just a little even as she advanced a step closer to the group. “Yeah, it’s me. Hey, Fluttershy. I…I’m sorry that we have to meet again like this.” She hesitated. “I, um, thanks for giving me Rainbow’s number…before. It was really useful.”

“She told me,” Fluttershy said. “She was happy to help.”

“Yeah,” Gilda muttered. “She was, wasn’t she?”

“Fluttershy, darling, are you really having this conversation,” the other girl asked.

“Don’t worry, Rarity,” Fluttershy said. “Gilda’s not a bad person, are you?”

“No,” Gilda said immediately. “I’d like to think I wasn’t.”

“Gilda,” Kali said. “Gilda Swiftwind?”

Gilda blinked. “You know me, Chieftainess?”

“I know your parents,” Kali said. “They live down by the beach.”

Gilda nodded. “They won the lottery you hold.”

“I check in on them sometimes,” Kali said. “I like to make sure that all our new arrivals are settling in okay. They’re luck to have old friends from Atlas living nearby. They talk about you a lot. They’re so proud of you.”

The points of Gilda’s swords tapped against the floor as her hands dropped to her side. “Yeah, they’re very proud,” she muttered. “They’re proud because they think I’m an electrician like my grandpa.” We were so worried with all the trouble you got into when you were younger; we’re both so glad that you’ve found your path.

“Why haven’t you told them the truth?” Kali said. “There are lots of families on Menagerie with a son or daughter or brother in the White Fang, just as there are those with a child in the Atlesian forces; some hold it a badge of honour to have family in the struggle, but even for most who don’t…it’s not a shameful thing. Unless…you’re the one who feels ashamed?”

Gilda scowled. “And what if I do?”

Kali’s expression was soft and understanding. “Then maybe it’s time that you did something that you don’t need to feel ashamed of. Something you could tell your parents about, and feel proud of it.”

“That…that would be…”

“Congratulations, Sister Gilda,” Yuma said, as he approached her from behind. “It appears that you have found our quarry. Chieftainness, I must ask you to come with us.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Councillor Cadenza declared.

“Excellent,” Yuma purred. “I was hoping you’d say that. Sister Gilda, help me dispose of these Atlesian scum.”

Gilda looked at the faunus girl with Rainbow Dash’s haircut. “They’ve got children here.”

“Atlesian children.”

Gilda looked into Fluttershy’s eyes. Gilda’s not a bad person.

But I will be if I don’t do something now.

“No,” she said.

“No,” Yuma repeated. “Is something wrong, Sister-“

“I,” Gilda growled. “Am not your sister!” She turned on him, blades flashing even under the low light of this grey corridor, slashing across his chest before she leapt up into the air, wings unfurling, body twisting to deliver a kick to his face to stagger him backwards.

Gilda landed. Her wings were spread from wall to wall as she raised her swords, took her stance, and stepped forward.

Swallow Strike.

Her blades were lightning, streaking through the air leaving silver lines behind them, moving fast enough to hit a swallow in mid-flight, three strikes faster than many swordsmen could deliver one to slash through Yuma’s aura and send that stupid bat with his stupid voice retreating, holding up his hands to shield himself.

He looked at her, his mouth opening to speak.

There was a bang, and he fell to the ground.

Rainbow Dash stood behind him, one gun raised.

Pointed at Gilda now.

“Gilda,” Rainbow said.

Gilda licked her lips. “Dash.”

Dash looked down. “So what was that?”

“That…that was me switching sides, I guess,” Gilda said. Although it had happened kind of by accident now that she had actually done it – and she had gone and done it now, there wasn’t much chance of a way back – it felt…pretty good, actually. Better than the alternative would have, that was for sure. She turned her back on Rainbow Dash, trusting that her old friend wasn’t the type to shoot her in the back, and knelt down on the ground. “Chieftainess, my swords are yours.”

Kali chuckled. “Oh, get up, Gilda, there’s no need for that kind of thing. I’m just glad that you decided to do…the right thing.”

“Still, if you don’t mind me saying,” Gilda said. “I hope you’ve got a spot on the boat back to Menagerie.”

“We need to get out of here,” Rainbow said. “Twilight and Ciel are bringing a Skygrasper to evacuate you all, we should get out of here and meet them…where’s Pinkie?”

“I’m afraid we’re not entirely sure, darling,” Rarity said.

“Okay, I’ll go back and look for her once we’ve got the rest of you to safety,” Rainbow said.

“What about Shining Armour and the others?” Councillor Cadenza said. “He held off the White Fang while he ran.”

“And Blake destroyed the jammer that was stopping word getting out,” Kali added.

“On the other side of the shelter?” Rainbow asked. “Don’t worry; Penny’s taking care of it.”

---

Shining Armour fell to his knees. Blood dripped down his forehead, filling one eye so that he had to close it because he was seeing nothing but red in any case. His aura was gone, and he felt such an immense weariness that it was a wonder that he could keep either of his eyes open right now. His arms were heavy, his hands were shaking, his legs were weak. He was bleeding in places, from wounds to his chest and arms, claw rounds where he had been slashed or stabbed as his aura broke.

His breathing was slow, but shallow. He could hear it. He could feel his heart beating quickly, for however it kept on beating.

As he looked up into the face of his opponent Shining Armour wasn’t sure how much longer that would last.

His men were all dead, and the Menagerie guards too. They had fought hard to hold the line, and holding the line they had all fallen. All except him. He had been the last one standing, the last one to keep up the fight as his aura collapsed. Now he was on his knees, and all the White Fang – the ones who weren’t lying on the ground alongside his men, the ones his comrades hadn’t taken with them, the ones he hadn’t cut down with the last of his strength, they had all followed Cadance and the others into the tunnels.

Cadance. He hoped that she’d be okay. He hoped that help came. He hoped that she got out of this in one piece. He hoped that he had brought her enough time.

There were worse ways to die than protecting the woman you loved.

And so, in spite of the blood dripping down his head, and filling his mouth, Shining Armour felt strangely at peace.

Twily…take care of Cadance for me.

He looked into the eyes of his enemy. He had been beaten down by easily the biggest guy he’d ever seen: a rabbit faunus with one lapine ear almost gone, only the stump remaining; one eye gone as well, a milky-white blind ruin. His face was scarred, and so was what Shining Armour could see of his neck, probably the rest of his body too. He wasn’t bothering to wear a mask, almost as if he wanted Shining Armour to see his face.

As if he wanted his face to be the last thing Shining Armour saw.

The grin on his face was almost sadistic as he raised his fist – he was wearing clawed gauntlets, which had dealt the wounds that were already paining Shining Armour – for one final strike.

Shining Armour didn’t flinch. He wouldn’t give this guy the satisfaction.

There was a whooshing sound, like a rocket of some kind, before a winged jetpack slammed into his opponent from the side, lifting him up and carrying him at great speed across the room before slamming him through the wall – and all the pipes and wires built into the wall – and into the sleeping quarters on the other side. Bunk beds tumbled and toppled into a heap.

Penny skidded to a halt inside the shelter, giving an approximation of a salute. “Reporting for duty, captain.” Her swords erupted from her back, firing a spray of green laser beams out into the courtyard beyond. She looked that way briefly, before looking back at him and holding out her hand. “We should probably go. Rainbow Dash has already found Councillor Cadenza and the others and thinks we should try and meet up.” The smile faded from her face a little as she looked around the room. “Although it looks as though I got here a little late.”

Shining Armour took her hand. “I’m sure you got here as fast as you could. You say Cadance is safe?”

“I…” Penny paused, cocking her head as though she was listening in. “I think Rainbow Dash could use some back-up.”

“Then lead the way,” Shining Armour said at once.

The rabbit faunus with the scarred face groaned as he started to pick himself up. He’d gotten about halfway before a casual shot from Penny, who didn’t even need to look at him, knocked him back down again.

A shot whizzed into the bunker, blowing away a chunk of wall.

“We should get out of here now,” Penny said. “I think this will be much faster,” she added, as she swept Shining Armour up in a bridal carry. Her swords fired their lasers out behind her like skates, powering her down into the corridor after the others.

---

Rainbow ducked around a corridor and fired a burst from her machine pistol, before ducking back into cover as a flurry of bullets slammed into the wall.

On the other side of the corridor Gilda ducked around the other side to fire Rainbow’s shotgun – which she had borrowed since she didn’t have a gun of her own for reasons that Rainbow wouldn’t even pretend to understand – a couple of times at the White Fang on the other side of the T junction at which they were stalled.

The right hand corridor led to the exit, but that hardly mattered when there were White Fang on both sides and they couldn’t go any further without getting caught in a crossfire.

To make matters worse there were more bad guys behind them too, at the moment their fire was slamming into one of Rarity’s diamond shields, large enough to block off the entire corridor, while Rarity – using Rainbow’s other machine pistol – and Pinkie (who had caught up to them shortly before the rest of the White Fang did, after having gone off to something kinda stupid but pretty brave all the same) fired back at them. Cadance, Kali Belladonna, Fluttershy and the kids huddled in the middle of all this, while the corridor filled with smoke from all the shooting and the lights – that weren’t that great to start with – flickered on and off.

Rainbow’s goggles meant that she didn’t have such a problem with the dark as she might have had, but a lot of the faunus in the White Fang didn’t have a problem with the dark either and they didn’t have to worry about not sticking their head out for too long unless it got blown off, so the gathering darkness was kind of the least of her worries right now.

She ducked around to spray some more fire at her enemies, although it didn’t seem to be lessening the amount of fire coming back at her.

Gilda fired another shot. “Reminds you of old times, right Dash?”

Rainbow boggled at her. “You think?”

“Yeah. You and me, against the world, getting into fights, it’s just like old times,” Gilda said.

“That doesn’t make it good.”

“You used to enjoy stuff like this,” Gilda said.

“I still do,” Rainbow said. “Just not when the lives of people I care about are on the line.” She fired again, and this time she knew from the cry of pain that she’d hit somebody. Unfortunately someone hit her too, and she felt her aura drop as she scrambled back into cover.

Gilda had a big smile on her face regardless of their situation. “Maybe I’m just so glad to be fighting alongside you again, huh?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re one of us now, G,” Rainbow said, as she snapped off a few more hasty shots down the corridor. “I’m just…it’s not a great time.”

“I hate to say it, darlings,” Rarity said. “But I’m afraid that my shield might be starting to crack.”

Rainbow glanced back. There were cracks appearing in Rarity’s diamond shield, fault lines appearing as the bullets slammed into it.

“Penny,” Rainbow shouted into her comms piece. “Where are you?”

A burst of green flashes coming from beyond Rarity’s shield, accompanied by the occasional white of a spectral blade and shouts of confusion and alarm from the White Fang, provided all the answer that Rainbow needed even before Penny called out, “Here I am, Rainbow Dash! Although I think there may be more hostiles behind me.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be out of here before they show up,” Rainbow said. “Come up to the front and we’ll-“

Her words were cut off by the unmistakable sound of Distant Thunder – a louder bang than any weapon currently on the battlefield – booming out within the confines of the corridor, the sound echoing through the bunker jarring Rainbow’s ears even as the rattling of smaller calibre weapons, like snare drums compared to the bass drum of Ciel’s ludicrous rifle, started up soon after, coming exclusively from the side of the junction which led to escape, the rattling sounds only being drowned out by two more shots from Distant Thunder before all gunfire down the corridor fell silent.

“Councillor Cadenza,” General Ironwood called. “Are you alright?”

“General Ironwood?” Cadance said.

“I’m here to get you to safety,” General Ironwood said. “Quickly, I have transports waiting outside.”

“Hey, Dash,” Gilda murmured. “I, uh,”

“You’re one of my bodyguards,” Kali said softly. “And no one here will contradict that, right councillor?”

Cadance shook her head. “No, nobody will call you a liar.”

“Good thing you’re not wearing a mask,” Rainbow said, grinning at her old friend as she rounded the corridor to see General Ironwood and Ciel, accompanied by what looked like two squads of infantry filling up the corridor. “Glad to see you, sir.”

“Likewise,” General Ironwood said. “Is everyone accounted for?”

“I’m afraid that most of my guys didn’t make it, sir,” Shining Armour said, as Penny carried him out.

“And the captain needs medical attention,” Cadance said. “There’s also the fact that Sienna Khan is on the scene.”

“Tempting,” General Ironwood said. “But my priority remains getting you to safety. Everybody move, back to the airships.”

“But what about Blake?” Kali asked.

---

Blake had seen Penny fly into the bunker, and guessed that Rainbow Dash had used the other entrance. She didn’t begrudge Penny the fact that she’d left her here, bound captive; it was more important that they rescue her mother, and of course there was the Atlesian councillor to think about too.

She was fairly confident that they would get around to her, and even if they didn’t…watching Sienna’s plans fall apart brought a degree of satisfaction all on its own.

“It looks as though things aren’t working out as you might have hoped,” she said.

“Quiet,” Ilia snapped.

Sienna looked down at her. “You are, unfortunately, correct. Thanks to your intervention this mission is on the verge of falling apart.” She looked up at the sky; Blake couldn’t twist her body around to see what her old mentor saw. “Get Blake into the Bullhead, we’re leaving.”

“Now?” Strongheart said. “But what everybody still inside the shelter?”

“They will have to lie low until the opportunity presents itself to get out of the city,” Sienna said. “It’s unfortunate, and I admit to my mistake in not calling off the attack as soon as we lost the jammer, but there is no help for it now.”

“So that’s it?” Blake said. “You’re just going to abandon your own warriors?”

“Any Atlesian soldier would do the same,” Sienna said sharply.

“No,” Blake said. “They wouldn’t.”

By the chagrined look on her face Sienna knew that too. “Your penchant for talking back was adorably precocious when you were a child, Blake, but at your age it risks becoming insufferable. Load her onboard; at least we will have something to show for this debacle.”

Blake’s ears twitched at the sound of a motorcycle engine approaching, an engine that sounded as though it had been put together from spare parts someone had stolen from a junkyard.

Could it be…but how?

How could she be here?

Sunset’s ugly chimera of a bike erupted into the plaza like a bat out of hell; she seemed to have somewhere found a ramp to launch off – Blake wouldn’t entirely have put it past Sunset to have created one using her telekinesis just so that she would look cool making her entrance; she would have rolled her eyes if she hadn’t been grateful for the rescue – and her flaming hair flew out behind Sunset as she flew, the effect beings lightly ruined not only by the fact that Ruby was clinging on behind her but also by the fact that Sunset herself looked absolutely terrified.

Blake stared at the flying motorcycle with the same shock that seemed to have gripped all of her captors as they watched the bike soar across the square and begin to descend…right towards them.

Sunset, are you trying to rescue me or kill me?

Blake closed her eyes, turned her head away, and hoped that she had enough aura left for this.

There was a thump, but Blake didn’t feel it; rather she felt herself being lifted up off the ground and borne along.

“Have a little faith, Blake!” Sunset yelled.

Blake opened her eyes as Sunset, holding onto Blake with one hand by the webbing, turned the back ninety degrees, sending it skidding to a halt inches before it would have crashed into the high rise sitting atop the shelter.

Blake saw Trifa lying prone on the ground not far away; she must have been the one who got hit by the bike.

Strongheart raised her rifle to her shoulder, but Ruby sprang off the now stationary bike in a blur of rosepetals, Crescent Rose unfolding as she ran. Strongheart charged too, her semblance driving her forwards…right up until she ran headlong into Ruby and got knocked flat on her back for her troubles. Sienna lashed at Ruby with her Cerberus Whip, but Ruby leapt nimbly out of the way, turning Crescent Rose upon the High Leader of the White Fang with a shot that made Sienna dodge in turn.

The clip-clop of hooves announced the arrival of Applejack, looking very appropriate upon the back of a horse, firing her lever rifle and twirling it in her hands to chamber a new round.

“Ilia, start the Bullhead,” Sienna ordered, flinging her hand out towards the airship as though Ilia would have forgotten what it was.

Ilia obediently ran towards the airship, pursued by fire from Ruby and Sunset, who had slung her rifle from across her back.

“Um, Sunset?” Blake said. “A little help.”

“Oh, right,” Sunset said, before she untangled Blake from Trifa’s webbing.

“Thanks,” Blake said. “How are you-“

“I have a note,” Sunset said. “I can show you if you like.”

“No, thanks,” Blake said. “I’m just glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” Sunset said, snapping off a shot at Ilia that ricocheted off the side of the Bullhead. Ilia leapt into the airship, and a moment later the engine of the craft began to whine.

Sienna might have been the kind of leader who would abandon most of her men, but in this moment it seemed that she didn’t lack personal courage. Though she was now the target of fire from everyone on the field, she nevertheless dived forwards, getting hit at least once by someone – Blake couldn’t tell who it was – to reach the unconscious Trifa and sling her over Sienna’s shoulder, before grabbing Strongheart too and helping her up, guiding her back towards the Bullhead.

Ruby rushed towards them, her scythe swept back for a sweeping stroke to knock them all to the ground, but Sienna pushed Strongheart away and flung out Cerberus Whip, lashing it around Ruby’s waist before unleashing the lightning dust held in the tip. Ruby screamed as the yellow lightning rippled up and down her small body, and though it didn’t break her aura it did knock her to the floor, at least for a moment.

Ilia guided the White Fang Bullhead a foot or two off the ground, turning it, spraying fire from the cannons in the nose that made Sunset and Blake dive for cover before she turned her fire on Ruby, hitting her just as she was regaining her feet.

“Ruby!” Blake cried, as Sunset’s face transfigured into a snarl as she started to fire at cockpit. The glass in the windows shattered, but Ilia seemed unaffected as she glided the aircraft forward, close enough for Sienna to leap inside with Strongheart and Trifa, at which point the central hatches began to close as the Bullhead began to rise.

Bullets from Applejack’s rifle continued to bounce off the hull as the Bullhead began to fly away over the Vale skyline.

Blake rushed to Ruby’s side, with Sunset not far behind. “Ruby, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Ruby said, in between groaning that gave the lie to it. “Did they get away?”

“Hopefully the Atlesians can get them in the air,” Sunset said. “Although with everything else they have to deal with…”

“What about my Mom?” Blake asked. “I saw Penny go in earlier-“

“Everyone’s fine,” Sunset said. “General Ironwood’s got them.”

Blake sighed and sagged with relief. “Thank goodness. Thank you for coming to help.”

“No problem,” Ruby said. “We weren’t going to let anyone else die if we could help it.”

Ruby’s words trickled down Blake’s back like ice. “Anyone…else? Ruby, who…” There was no sign of Jaune or Pyrrha, were they-

“Yang,” Ruby said, with less emotion than if she had announced the death of a pet.

Blake’s eyes widened. Yang? Yang was dead? But…but it was Yang! Yang, who always seemed so tough, so strong, so…Yang couldn’t be dead. Could she?

“Ruby…” she murmured.

“I know,” Ruby said. “You don’t have to say it.”

This is bad, Blake thought, and it wasn’t Yang’s death that she was thinking of but Ruby’s reaction – or rather lack thereof – to it. She’d seen this before. It didn’t end well.

“Ruby,” she said again, kneeling down in front of the younger, smaller girl. “I…I know that we’re not the best of friends, and you don’t know me very well…but whenever you’re ready…I want you to know that I’m right here.” It was something that she’d done for a lot of the youngest fighters in the Vale chapter, just been there while they let it out. Sometimes that was all that you could do.

Ruby didn’t acknowledge her. She didn’t act as though Blake had even said anything. “Sunset, we should go,” she said. “Pyrrha and Jaune might need our help.”

“Pyrrha and Jaune? Where are they?” Blake asked.

“Beacon,” Sunset said. “You weren’t the only one who called for help.”

“And you left them?” Blake asked. “To help me?”

Sunset nodded, even though she didn’t look entirely happy about it.

Blake didn’t know whether to feel grateful or…something else. Ashamed? That would depend, she supposed, on what happened to Jaune and Pyrrha without their team mates.

“Ruby’s right,” she said. “You should go. And I’m coming with you.”

Comments

[Pinklestia]

You know, Ruby is most likely to have a breakdown once this is over.

[law abiding pony]

9932467
A pen in of itself is definitely not going to happen. But giving an inmate just the writing tip with attached ink reservoir (basically take the plastic cover off) is more likely. That won't stop prisoners from wrapping the thing up to make it firm enough to write with.

[alfonso_rd_33]

9933196
Yeah... It so funny! In fact, it's funny enough to be mean with it ..

[Sollys]

Something is telling me Yang isn't dead. Maybe I'm just too hopeful, I don't know.

[Sollys]

9933196
For real

[Sollys]

9933352

9933362

Doesn't mean she's deeeeaaad

[Scipio Smith]

9933365
She's not. Raven didn't kidnap her to murder her, but to 'save her life' from Ozpin and his machinations.

It's insane, but Raven is doing the right thing by her lights.

[Pinklestia]

9933368

To be fair Ozpin is kinda terrible at his job. And his bright idea to depower himself and make the powers of the maidens go to however was the maiden thinking last avoid instead to good girls was... ugh...

[Adser]

Well, in the end the WF plan ended up being ineffective.

Good, they really are not worth the heroes time, Salem is way, WAY more important than them and having to redirect your attention to their group of idiots is the last thing anyone needs.

Also Gilda is finaly doing something she can believe in, yay. That does lower the amount of thinking people in the WF to 0, and I am certain that this mess is going to end with almost a civil war in Menagerie,as papadonna is going to get Sienna reminder of how dangerous the WF is quite well, only he is not going to respond by meekly lowering his head as she hopes for.

[Adser]

9933352
Raven saved her. She kidnapped her from the battle.

[Sarikano]

You know, I have feeling that, after everything that Sunset have done during that night, Vale is going to release her. Helping the guards at the prison, saving Mystral's troops, being part of the group of heroes that took down the dragon, helping save an Atlas council member and the leader of the Menagerie. And the night isn't even done!

[CIA]

And now sunsets sentence has been reduced to helping at bingo night.

[RedDog5207]

Hey, shouldn't we also take note on AJ and Jaunne & Pyrrha riding into battle on horseback for the big hero entry too?

Jaunne & Pyrrha for the classic sword and shield hero era.

AJ for the classic cowboy era.

Sunset for the modern era with her motorcycle.

Also, any chance Fluttershy's Semblance might come in useful later? I'm going with the speculation on Zwei sniffing out Yang's last location and noticing Raven's scent as well.

[AnimeGamer13]

9933910
Agree, the chances of Sunset getting mercy is completely dependent on the council of Vale being unbiased with Faunas criminals

There's also the chance that the factions of pro-native citizens of Vale may try and use Sunset's actions as an example of why dependence on foreign powers is hindering Vale's progress as a kingdom and why Ozpin should be removed

[AnimeGamer13]

9933454
I doubt Ozpin had any hand or say in the Maiden selection process

[Mastermind4892]

“Really? And what are you going to do to stop me?”

“Well, I could always use this,” Pinkie said as she pulled a bazooka out of her hair. It was blue, and decorated with golden stars.

It's just delightful to see Pinkie defeat one of the bad guys by doing... whatever it is Pinkie Pie does.

[Scipio Smith]

9934483
It isn't the Fourth Wall breaking moment you asked for, but I'm glad you liked it anyway. It's been one of those scenes that has been in my head for months now and I've been waiting for the chance to get it down and in the story.

[Mastermind4892]

9934488
Indeed, and thank you!

I can only imagine the look on Ozpin's face at Pinkie pulling a cannon out of her hair! I doubt even he has seen anything like her before. No one has.

[LostUmbrella]

9933196
I haven't checked but it should have been used trice now.

[Pinklestia]

9934367

But he did create the Maidens by splitting his power away so is still his fault.

Had he got done so at least he would be more or less equal to Salem in power. And he could have made so the power he have away to someone came back to him when that person died.

[RedDog5207]

9934488
Will there be other future scenes involving Pinkie's "special hair storage" and "flexible hair" abilities? I had a really good laugh when Pinkie brought out her Party Bazooka. Thanks for bringing that into the story, along with the hints about her Pinkie Sense.

[Scipio Smith]

9934650
The rest of the Humane Six will have a bigger role in the story going forward, so probably.

[Mastermind4892]

“So that’s it?” Blake said. “You’re just going to abandon your own warriors?”

“Any Atlesian soldier would do the same,” Sienna said sharply.

Wait. Did Sienna just run and abandon her men like Adam did in Volume 5? Wasn't that what got him stripped of his title as High Leader?

[everydaygamer]

9934878
It's certainly similar, the main difference is that Sienna can easily put a positive spin on her actions whereas Adam had no way to disguise what he was doing.

[Mastermind4892]

9935354
True, but Sienna left her men to the clutches of Atlas, the most hated enemy of the White Fang, using the excuse to treat her men the same as said hated enemy. Worse, Blake's father still has a lot of influence amongst Menagerie and the faunus people. Once he hears Sienna tried to abduct his family, he won't stay quiet anymore.

[everydaygamer]

9935430
Yeah but at that point it just becomes a case of he said she said. Maybe it works but it probably won't.

[Mastermind4892]

9935436
Agreed, no doubt about it. Just wanted to point out there is now a major potential threat to Sienna's position.

Either way, one thing is certain; Blake's father will be furious with Sienna.

[redandready45]

9934364

I think whatever the Vale Council decides, whether it's a reduced sentence or not, Sunset will stoically and humbly accept it.

In her jailbreak, she told the warden she would march right to prison once the battle was over and her friends were safe. I have a feeling she'll keep her promise...which could stack public opinion in her favor.

After all, nothing proves you've reformed more then having the power to escape but choosing to obey the law anyways.

[AnimeGamer13]

9935557
I'm more worry about the councilwoman who has it out for Ozpin as the council's ruling may be used to harm him by depriving him of one of his best defenders for the world

[RedDog5207]

9936023
I don't think Ozpin would survive this encounter like in RWBY canon and what's hinted in the Battle of Beacon chapter (i.e. the "one last time" scene and seeing Oscar). But the political right-wing nationalist rhetoric from Ms. China and her "Saviours of Vale" right-wing nationalist group would still remain considering the big hints in the Misinterpreted chapter.

What I'm both curious and worried about will be the political aftermath AFTER this big Battle of Vale and Beacon story arc. The various Huntsmen and Huntresses teams from various Huntsmen Academies defeating the Grimm Wyvern and what happened at the Red Line's gates could have political implications.

More so since once again, Vale had to be protected by others which could make Vale look like incompetent fools (the Fall of Mountain Glenn and the Breach and the White Fang jailbreak which was only stopped due to Sunset Shimmer) and backstabbers. And in all those occasions, Vale's own defenders made virtually no presence nor contribution other than crowd control froma safe distance behind Mistral's and Atlas' forces and the Huntsmen and Huntresses teams.

[AnimeGamer13]

9936133
What really worries me about the aftermath is the fact that SAPR's victory will be pyrrhic as their efforts to defend Vale from their true enemies as well as Ozpin's efforts to unite the kingdoms are undermined by those who have given less than a fraction of SAPR's efforts or Ozpin's devotion

I also cannot stop hearing the speech Cinder made about the hunters failures but now being said by the councilwoman with an aim towards Ozpin's failing the native students of the academy and the dependence Vale had on foreign allies being a weakness

[AnimeGamer13]

9936134
I'm thinking Dash will try and ignore the guilt away for as long as she can, either by devoting herself to her duties but slowly ignoring her friends or passively seek out dangers to distract herself with the same effects on her friends, with it slowly eating away at her and it will only be an intervention with her friends, the main 6 her team and Gilda, that she will confess to her part

[RedDog5207]

9936200
Huh, sounds like this time, it's Vale that's becoming the paranoid isolationists instead of Atlas like in RWBY canon.

[AnimeGamer13]

9936377
I'm sure that there will be those who want to speak on Sunset's behalf but they might be ignored as "inconsequential character witnesses" to the case as it may be manipulated by either the councilwoman to move her agenda or Sonata for revenge in Sunset's interference of getting the relic

[AnimeGamer13]

9936822
They wouldn't but unfortunately they may not be in any position to protest the council's decision as they may be too weaken, politically and physically, to do anything

[Arkonfleight]

>Woundwort
Mad props.
Is he RWBY canon?

[AnimeGamer13]

9936953
I see a no win situation for Sunset's friends as if they act they break the fragile trust the remaining hunters have with the kingdom of Vale and damage any future efforts to rebuild it and if they don't act they lose their friend to whatever agenda the councilwoman has in place for Sunset

Either way, however way Sunset's friends act to the decision will be beneficial to the councilwoman's agenda in either way

[KIng_floppy]

I'm very interested in what Raven's going to do to at least subdue Yang, if not convinced her. I hope it's not some kinda brainwash thing. She's gonna need for Yang to at least let Ruby know somehow that she's alive, else I don't see Yang doing anything but make Raven's life hard. As for Ruby herself, eh. Hard to dredge up much sympathy still knowing what we know, and it's harsh but this isn't the teaching/eye opening moment I was hoping she'd get. Gilda's face turn was great though, and everything with Blake and Sunset as well.

[RedDog5207]

It was said/hinted that each Maiden had to stay within their respective kingdoms due to them being the keys to the Relic vaults. That however, made me wonder, how much trouble or difficulty would it cause if any of the Maidens left their respective kingdoms to hide elsewhere? Wouldn't that be also like hiding the key in completely different haystacks? I mean, the purpose is to keep the Relic vaults hidden and locked from Salem's reach, right?

Plus, considering the Grimm Wyvern was killed off in-story, could this still be a significant loss of a high-level Grimm asset for Salem? Growing/spawning the smaller sized Grimm types are one thing but both the Grimm Wyvern and Leviathan look like they take considerable time and effort to create/grow.

[The Scarlett Mare]

Everyone was responding to Blake’s message. Everyone except Pyrrha and Jaune, who were responding to Ozpin’s.

I don't like where this is heading

[The Scarlett Mare]

“I said that I didn’t want to fight, I didn’t say that I couldn’t,” Pinkie said.

I love my child she's amazing

[MSie95]

I absolutly love Cadance and the friendship she formed with Kali.

“Stop right there,” Pinkie said. “You can want to do all kinds of mean things to me if you want to – I mean I’d rather that you didn’t, but okay – but there’s no way that I’m going to just stand here and let you threaten those kids!” Threatening children was, like, the worst. Didn’t he realise that children were the gods’ gift to the world? (Sure, that was supposed to be dust, but think about it: what brought more joy, dust or children?)

Don't make Pinkie angry. You'll be on the World's shit list.

“That…that was me switching sides, I guess,”

Hooray!!! Though I hope Strongheart and even Ilia will follow soon.

9934666
Awesome!