Rainbow Lollipops
Rainbow Lollipops
One Month earlier…
Rainbow Dash knelt on the floor of General Ironwood’s office. Blake knelt upon her left, and Penny upon her right.
Ciel wasn’t with them; it was a great honour to swear their oaths as huntresses before General Ironwood himself, but it was an honour that Ciel had declined; honour was less important to her than her faith, and so she was taking her oath tonight at some church in Atlas.
The other two huntresses of Team RSPT, plus Blake, had accepted the general’s generous invitation. No matter how unworthy they were to receive it.
That last thought was more for Rainbow Dash than for either of the two companions who knelt beside her. No one could doubt the worth of Penny Dragonslayer, hero of Atlas and saviour of Vale – at least as far as Atlas saw it, and they were back in Atlas, so who else’s opinion mattered? – to not only bear the name of huntress but also to be given that title by none other than the illustrious General Ironwood himself. As for Blake, while her deeds were less grand and glorious, she had played her part as well as anyone and better than many. She had been at the Breach, she had been present at the capture of Roman Torchwick, she had protected Cadance from the White Fang.
And she had committed herself to Atlas, heart, body and soul; at the moment, that felt like more than Rainbow Dash could say for herself.
No, the question of worth or the lack of it did not surround Penny or Blake. They only belonged to Rainbow Dash, who had known the truth for so long and done nothing. Who had by her silence betrayed the man who had believed in her more than any other, and done more for her than any other.
It was a good thing that she was knelt upon the floor with her head bowed. She didn’t think that she could stand to look at him right now without cringing away in shame.
“Are you prepared?” General Ironwood asked.
“Yes, sir,” Blake whispered.
“Ready, general,” Penny declared.
No, I’m not ready at all. “Yes, sir,” Rainbow lied.
There was a moment’s pause before the general spoke again. “By Winter,” he said. “I charge you to endure all hardships, on behalf of all those who cannot endure.”
“By Winter, I swear that I shall be a shield for Atlas and for all mankind,” the three young huntresses declared as one. “I shall bear all blows, and withstand the biting of the wind and the fierce fangs of the enemies of Atlas; I shall stand between my kingdom and misfortune, and no foe shall pass me while I live.”
“By Spring,” General Ironwood said. “I charge you to master your fears and go forth to battle against all darkness.”
“By Spring, I swear I shall make courage my sword, and with it I shall strike down all those who dare to raise their arms against the power of Atlas.”
“By Summer,” said General Ironwood. “I charge you to bring hope to those who have none, and to be a light in dark places for all those whom you fight for.”
“By Summer, I swear that I shall be a light in dark places, when all other lights go out,” the young huntresses vowed. “And with that light I shall burn away the shadows that gather all around us until none remain.”
General Ironwood took pause again, for a moment or two. “By Fall,” he said. “I charge you to be upright, just and honourable, to be the benchmarks of virtue and the exemplars of all our values.”
“By Fall,” Blake said, and Penny too. “I swear that I shall uphold all the values of Atlas until my dying breath; that I shall be generous to my friends, fierce to my enemies, and just and honourable to all the world; that I shall be loyal, faithful, true and honest to my superior officers; that I shall be kind to those who shelter under my protection; that as I have sworn to be a light, I shall be a light worth emulating.” Blake sighed when she was done, as though a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders, as though she had been washed clean of all her past sins and now stood reborn in grace and virtue.
Only Rainbow did not speak; she alone of the three of them was silent. She could not say it. She could not complete the oath. The words stuck in her craw, as if they were aware of her guilty little secret and sought to prevent her from giving false oath. For how could she swear an oath when she had already broken it? Faithful, true and honest? She had already proved that she was none of those things when she had betrayed General Ironwood for Sunset’s sake. A good man, a second father to her and she had lied to him for months for Sunset Shimmer! She had lied, she had been disloyal, and she had betrayed everything that a huntress – still less a huntress of Atlas – ought to stand for.
Everything that Applejack, Maud, Spearhead, her friends who had helped her reach this point stood for.
She had betrayed the trust not only of General Ironwood but…of everyone who had ever trusted her.
“Rainbow Dash?” General Ironwood said. “Is something wrong?”
I don’t deserve to take this oath. I don’t deserve to wear this uniform. Rainbow squirmed on the ground where she knelt. She found her voice, stammering and stumbling. “By Fall,” she said, slowly and softly and so uncertainly she was like a newborn filly stumbling as she tried to walk. “I swear that I shall…shall uphold all the values…the values of Atlas until my dying breath; that I shall be generous to my friends, fierce to my enemies, and just…just and honourable to all the world; that I shall be….loyal…faithful…true…and…honest to my superior officers; that I shall be kind to those who shelter under my protection; that as I have sworn to be a light, I shall be…I shall be…I shall be a light worth emulating.” Some chance of that now.
While Blake seemed to have felt blessed and renewed by having completed the oath, Rainbow only felt as though the weight upon her shoulders had increased until she was in danger of being crushed by it.
“Do swear, faithfully and honourably, to bear true allegiance to the Kingdom of Atlas, its councillors and the officers appointed under them, that you will, as in duty bound, honestly and faithfully defend the Kingdom of Atlas and all its citizens in person, honour and dignity against all enemies, and will obey all orders of the generals and officers set over you?”
“I, Blake Belladonna-“
“I, Rainbow Dash-“
“I, Penny Polendina-“
“Do solemnly make that oath,” they declared.
“You knelt as children,” General Ironwood said. “Now, as a huntsman and an officer of the Kingdom of Atlas, I bid you rise as huntresses, and as Specialists Junior-Grade in the Atlesian military. Congratulations.”
It ought to have been one of the happiest moments of Rainbow Dash’s life, but as she got to her feet, a huntress and a specialist, all she could feel in her mouth was bitterness.
And it was all directed at herself.
"And they hop?" Fluttershy said. "Like bunny rabbits?"
"Yeah," Blake said, albeit with a touch of uncertainty in her voice. "Like very big, territorial, occasionally dangerous bunny rabbits. And they have these pouches where…"
Rainbow Dash tuned out the rest of what Blake was saying. She was sitting on the couch, holding forth to an enraptured Fluttershy and Rarity about Menagerie, the homeland of the faunus, alternating between descriptions of all the weird wildlife they had way down under, and the different kind of fancy fashions that the faunus wore. Maybe holding forth was a little bit strong; everything was pretty hesitant, couched in 'it's a little like' or 'from what I remember' because Blake wasn't a fashion expert and it had been a while since she'd last set foot on Menagerie, never mind seen any of the crazy critters she was trying to tell Fluttershy about. But Rarity and Fluttershy both seemed to be getting a lot out of it, and Rainbow was sure that someone would come to Blake's rescue if she looked like she needed the assist.
But she wouldn't get it from Rainbow Dash; she wasn't feeling in the mood for that right now.
She wasn't feeling in the mood for much of anything, least of all a graduation party, but here she was in the living room – which also included the kitchen – of the apartment that Pinkie shared with her sister Maud when the latter was in town, with music echoing off the walls.
It was a pretty big apartment, so big that the only explanation for how a student and an assistant in a mom and pop store could afford it was that their parents were helping them out, but it wasn't big enough for Rainbow Dash right now.
She really didn't want to be here. She didn't want to be listening to this music, she didn't want to be eating this cake, she didn't want to be celebrating this thing that she had no right to have, let alone celebrate. How was she supposed to celebrate becoming a huntress when she had no right to even be a huntress? How was she supposed to celebrate with her friends when so many better people weren't around to celebrate with their friends? When their pictures were pinned up on the These Are My Jewels memorial because of what she'd done, or not done?
Because this was partly Maud's apartment, the party included Maud's friend Starlight and her two non-traitor team-mates, because it would have been rude to have invited Starlight but not them. Twilight was in the middle of an animated conversation with Sunburst, while Starlight hovered in a vaguely jealous way nearby, occasionally saying something to Maud who seemed okay with being otherwise ignored. Trixie was entertaining the kid sisters with a self-aggrandising story about her great and powerful exploits, interleaved with the magic tricks that she was genuinely pretty good at. Ciel had politely declined the invitation – something Rainbow wished she'd had the guts to do – because she was going out to dinner with her folks. Penny was dancing, while Applejack had been talking to Pinkie…only Applejack was on her own right now which meant that Pinkie was-
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie declared as she suddenly appeared at Rainbow's side. "Are you enjoying the party?"
"Uh, yeah," Rainbow lied. She forced some laughter out of her mouth. "It's as great as always."
Pinkie blinked. "You don't look like you're having fun. You're standing here against this wall all by yourself."
Rainbow turned ever so slightly away from Pinkie, hoping that she would take the hint. "I just wanted to be alone for a little while."
"But why?" Pinkie pressed. "Do you not like the music?"
"The music's fine, I just-"
"Then is it the cake? Because if you don't like the cake then I can make you something-"
"There's nothing wrong with the cake, Pinkie, I just…I should go," Rainbow said, as she started to make her way to the door.
"Go?" Pinkie repeated. She grabbed at Rainbow's arm to stop her from leaving. "But you can't go now; we're only just getting started."
Rainbow half-turned back to Pinkie, glaring at Pinkie's hand upon her arm. "Pinkie, let go of my arm."
"Not until you tell me what's gotten into you."
"Pinkie," Rainbow growled. "You need to let go now."
Pinkie pouted. "Rainbow Dash, I planned this party to celebrate your-"
"Well I didn't ask for any stupid party and I didn't want one either!" Rainbow snapped, throwing her plate with its mostly uneaten slice of cake across the room. It hit one of the baby blue walls; the plate shattered with a tinkling sound as the wall was stained by the cake which fell with a plop to the floor.
Everyone was staring at them now as Pinkie recoiled, releasing Rainbow from her grip. "S-stupid?" Pinkie murmured, her voice suddenly very childlike.
"People died, Pinkie," Rainbow declared. "People died, good people. And I can't stand here and eat cake and pretend that everything's fine and those people didn't die because…because I got lucky enough not to be one of them. I can't do it."
Tears began to well in Pinkie's innocent blue eyes. "I only wanted to make you happy," she whispered.
Rainbow cringed as guilt stabbed her through the heart as sharp as any dagger. Everyone was staring at her, wide-eyed and open mouthed; some of them were looking at her accusingly, and it wasn't as though she didn't deserve it.
"I should go," she repeated, and left the apartment before anyone else could try to stop her, slamming the door behind her as she walked quickly – only a little shy of running – down the corridor and started down the stairs to the base and exit from the apartment block.
"Now what in the hay was that?"
Rainbow turned on the stairs, to see Applejack at the top, glowering down at her.
Rainbow scowled. "Tell Pinkie I'm sorry for what I said, but-"
"First, if you're sorry you can come back and tell her yourself," Applejack said. "Second, you know if anybody else talked to Pinkie like that, you'd be the first one to call them out on it, so just what in tarnation is eatin' you?"
"I can't tell you that,” Rainbow said. “But...I will go back up and apologise to Pinkie,” she conceded, as she began to trudge back up the stairs.
I guess it’s the least that I can do, since I don’t have the courage to say goodbye.
Present Day…
The Mantle School Run had a reputation amongst huntsmen and huntresses as being the milkiest of all milk runs. Deep in the second heart of Atlas, holding a big red STOP sign while all the kids crossed the road was no great test of even an inexperienced huntsman’s abilities, and the chance of anything worse than an impatient driver was practically nil. This was Mantle, and as Rainbow Dash waited at the first crossing for the children to arrive she did so while under the shadow of the Defiant, flagship of the Mantle Squadron, the rest of which she could just about make out through the smog and the haze thrown up by Mantle’s industry to choke the sky; and in between the rising towers and the smoke-belching chimneys Rainbow could catch glimpses of Mantle’s final and highest wall in all its might.
Mantle didn’t have a large hinterland like Vale, and so unlike, Vale it didn’t have a defensive line way out beyond the boundaries of the city proper at which the grimm could be stopped – or tried to be stopped, at least -- what it did have was a triple layer of walls, each wall higher and better supplied with turrets and gun emplacements and the like than the one in front of it and the space between each walls as perfect a killing ground as Atlesian science and technology could devise. Nothing was getting past the Colton Walls in one piece, and certainly nothing was doing so to trouble the little kids on their way to school.
No, this was a milk run, and the fact that Rainbow Dash was standing here with her STOP sign tooled up to go to war, with her wings strapped across her back and chest, her auto-pistols in their holsters and a shotgun slung behind her was not indicative of the fact that she expected to use any of these weapons. In fact, she could understand why a lot of huntsmen on this assignment left their weapons at home for this one, but she was a huntress -- and an Atlesian Specialist, however unworthy of the title -- and she meant to be ready for anything that might come her way, however unlikely.
Plus, it made her look kind of ridiculous, and looking ridiculous was half the point of this exercise: since she couldn’t find a mission on the job board that might kill her, she had started looking for ones that would murder her pride and put it through a mincing machine instead.
You see, the Mantle School Run had a reputation as a milk run, but amongst huntsmen and huntresses – particularly young huntsmen and huntresses – that wasn’t the only reputation that this particular assignment had: this was the assignment where you would get to meet the Mantle Moms.
Although who exactly the Mantle Moms were – beside the fact that they were moms who lived in Mantle, obviously – was a little harder to get a handle on. Rufus had seemed to have a grand old time taking this mission on; he said the ladies gave him lasagnes and now he had a freezer full of them. On the other hand, Sunburst had come back from a few days on the School Run looking more traumatised than he had been after the Battle of Vale – seriously, dude looked like he’d seen some stuff – and Starlight had been angrily insistent that he was never doing that again.
Rainbow doubted that she was that upset over lasagne. No, these ladies seemed to appreciate having a huntsman around if you- oh, gods that sounded gross just in her head. Poor Sunburst, he really wasn’t the kind of guy for that; Rainbow didn’t doubt that there were some huntsmen who would take this mission on and come away with a scroll full of numbers – someone like Flynt, rest his soul – but mild-mannered, slightly put-upon Sunburst wasn’t one of them.
Rainbow wasn’t one of them either, even leaving gender aside. She didn’t know how the Mantle Moms would react to having a huntress around, but whatever they did to her would probably be no less than she deserved.
She deserved a lot after all.
“Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow turned, to see Blake walking quickly towards her down the sidewalk. Rainbow scowled, but unfortunately, Blake had been really sneaky about this; Rainbow couldn’t leave her post until the children arrived and the mission actually started, so until that happened, Rainbow was stuck here…with Blake.
It was irritatingly clever.
Although why she wanted to corner Rainbow Dash was a lot less clear than how she had done it.
“How did you know I’d be here?” Rainbow demanded as Blake approached.
“I pulled your mission logs,” Blake said simply.
“Of course you did,” Rainbow muttered. “Why, though? What are you doing here? This isn’t a mission that requires two huntresses.”
“I’m not here to help you walk the children to school,” Blake said with a touch of impatience in her voice. “I’m here to talk to you.”
“Why?” Rainbow demanded in a surly tone.
“Because that!” Blake said loudly. “Because we’re supposed to be roommates and the most I ever see of you is a shadow in the dark when you come back at night, because you’ve been acting out ever since we got back from Vale, because your friends asked me to come and speak to you because you’ve been ignoring them ever since graduation. Because you were there when we promised Twilight that we’d all stay friends, but ever since, you’ve been ignoring everyone who cares about you. Because they’re scared for you, and they’re worried about you, and so, they asked me to talk to you about what’s up. And don’t tell me that nothing at all is up. because I know better. I don’t need to know you as well as Twilight to know that something’s wrong.”
Rainbow snorted. “Sometimes, Twilight could stand to mind her own business.”
“That doesn’t sound like you either,” Blake insisted. “Rainbow Dash, what is going on?”
Rainbow scowled. She looked away from Blake. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “You should go; this kind of mission is beneath you.”
“Beneath me?” Blake repeated. “What about protecting children, about reassuring people that they're safe from the grimm, could possibly be beneath me?”
“People don’t need a huntress to reassure them that they’re safe,” Rainbow said. “They can just look up at that cruiser. Any bum could hold this sign.”
“Then why do they pay a huntsman to do it?”
“Because they’re stupid, how should I know what people in Mantle are thinking?” Rainbow yelled.
Blake folded her arms. “We both swore to bring hope, and light into dark places.”
“I remember the oath we swore,” Rainbow muttered.
“This?” Blake said. “This is exactly the kind of thing that huntresses should be doing, and if you don’t see that, then maybe I should stick around.”
Rainbow smirked. “You want to hold my sign?”
“I want to know why, if you think so little of this mission, you took it,” Blake said coldly.
“Forget Twilight,” Rainbow said. “Maybe you’re the one who needs to mind your own business.”
Blake's ears flattened angrily against the top of her head. "Why? Because I care about you?"
"Because I don't need you, or anybody else, to tell me what an Atlesian huntress is supposed to be," Rainbow snapped. "And I certainly don't need you to tell me all the ways that I'm not measuring up!" She was not quite so lost as to say this out loud, but a part of her couldn't help bitterly wondering how it was that Blake Belladonna, of all people – Menagerie-born, White Fang terrorist – was now in a position to look down on her for not upholding the ideals of Atlas that she now embodied so effortlessly.
Because I betrayed those ideals, that's how.
Blake's expression softened. "'Not measuring'…you have to start making more sense than this; you have to talk to me."
"Maybe I don't want to talk to you or to anybody else."
"Too bad," Blake said sharply. "You know…I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."
Rainbow glanced at her out of the side of her eyes, waiting for her to explain what she meant by that.
"When I was…with the White Fang," Blake murmured, and even now her voice wasn't free of guilt whenever she brought that up. "I used to think that the soldiers of Atlas were…I'll be honest, I thought that even the ones who weren't actual robots were kind of…robotic. Automatons, heartless, even a little soulless, obeying the orders of your corporate paymasters without question."
Rainbow scowled. "You know, in spite of what Sienna Khan might have told you, we are not an outsourcing of SDC Corporate Security. We are…" she thought about how Cadance had phrased it once, praising her for the path that she was embarking on when she got into Atlas. The praise stung her soul now, but the words were ringing nevertheless. "We are the embodiment of the kingdom at war."
"I know," Blake said. "Well, maybe not that part specifically, but I know that you're not SDC. You're so much more than that and so much better than I could have imagined. You showed me what it meant to be an Atlesian huntress, to be a part of something great and powerful, an engine of good and change without sacrificing myself."
"Ciel-"
"Isn't the one who inspired me to be here," Blake said. "You are."
Rainbow snorted disdainfully. "Why? Because I'm a faunus?"
"Yes," Blake replied unabashedly. "I thought that being a faunus in the service of Atlas would mean constant compromises with who I was, but you…you proved me so wrong about that. And…and after the Breach, when I was wounded in more ways than just my hand…you made me get the help that I needed. I'm standing here because you didn't give up on me, either when I was in interrogation or when I was in hospital…and so I'm not going to give up on you, and I'm not going anywhere until you talk to me."
"Gee, thanks," Rainbow replied with evident sarcasm. "So why you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean if Twilight's so worried about me why doesn't she come down here herself?" Rainbow demanded.
"Do you think I'm lying about that?" asked Blake, her voice prickling at the suggestion.
"I think that if it turned out you were the only friend I had left, I wouldn't be too surprised," Rainbow said. And I wouldn't even feel hard done by either.
Blake folded her arms. "If you really think that one blowout and some ghosting is enough to make your friends turn their backs on you then you don't know them as well as I thought."
"Okay, so back around to it then: why you?"
"They think that whatever's bugging you is a huntress thing," Blake explained. "And I think they're right, now. Twilight thought – wrongly – that you might talk to me because I get it."
"And Applejack wouldn't get it?"
"Applejack," Blake said, her words becoming as pointed as the tip of Gambol Shroud. "Thinks that you're mad at her."
Rainbow blinked. "Applejack…thinks I'm mad at her?"
"Because she's the one in General Ironwood's confidence," Blake said. "Instead of you."
"Or you," Rainbow replied, unable to keep all of the bitterness out of her voice. "You never considered that I might be mad at you, too."
Blake's eyes narrowed. "Should I have worried?"
"No," Rainbow spat. "And neither should Applejack; I'm not mad at her. General Ironwood needs somebody he can trust at his side."
Blake was silent for a moment. "What did you do, that you're so mad at yourself?"
Rainbow exhaled through gritted teeth. "I…I knew. About Sunset. About the Breach. About…about everything."
Blake was quiet for a moment. "When?" she asked, the single word soft as it was solitary.
"I saw her do it," Rainbow answered. "Use her powers on the controls. I was standing in the doorway to the cab. I should have stopped her, but I didn't; I should have told General Ironwood the moment the battle was over, but I didn't do that either. I let Sunset talk me into keeping quiet about it. I let her turn my head right around until I…I didn't do anything at all, and I didn't even let it bother me."
"But you told him now," Blake murmured.
Rainbow nodded. "I…after the memorial service, I…I couldn't hold it in any longer. The general, he…he wasn't mad that I choked on the train, although maybe he ought to be. But he was very mad that I kept it to myself, and he's got every right to be. That's why I'm not upset at Applejack; I deserved to lose General Ironwood's trust after what I did…didn't do."
"He trusts me," Blake said, in a deliberately humble, slightly plaintive tone.
Rainbow frowned at her. She was confused by the relevance of that, especially since Blake sounded as though she was trying not to brag. It took her a moment to grasp what Blake was actually saying. Her eyes widened. "You knew too?"
Blake nodded silently.
"How?" Rainbow demanded.
"I worked it out, when the accusations against Penny started," Blake said. "I knew that it wasn't Penny, because she was down at the other end of the train with the rest of us…but Sunset's energy beams are quite similar to Penny's lasers."
Rainbow put her hands on her hips. "So what did you do about it?"
"Nothing," Blake admitted, bowing her head as she did so. "I let Sunset-"
"Talk you into keeping her dirty little secret," Rainbow finished for her. "No harm was done, it all worked out in the end, nobody really believes that Penny was responsible for this. Sound about right?"
Blake nodded silently.
"Yeah, she's got a real silver tongue, doesn't she?" Rainbow spat. "Does General Ironwood know?"
"I told him before the fleet left Vale," Blake said. "I wanted him to know what he was getting…so he could decide if he didn't actually want it. He…forgave me."
"Probably because you weren't Atlas then," Rainbow said. "He didn't expect you to be…He holds his soldiers to a higher standard. He won't go so easy on you again."
Blake didn't dispute that directly, but she did say, "I'm sure that he'd forgive you, too, if-"
"I don't want him to forgive me; I want him to start trusting me again," Rainbow declared sharply. "Not much chance of that."
Blake said nothing either to agree or disagree with that. Instead, she said, "I still don't see what this has to do with your friends?"
"How was I supposed to enjoy a party knowing that good guys like Flynt and Neon were dead because of me?" Rainbow demanded.
"That wasn't Pinkie's fault," Blake pointed out.
"I know that!" Rainbow snapped. "I just…I don't deserve my friends, not after what I did."
"Your friends are the most understanding, forgiving people I have ever met," Blake began.
"That doesn't mean that I deserve…that I ought to be forgiven," Rainbow growled.
"Twilight-"
"I know what Twilight said when it all came out," Rainbow said. "I…I'd like to think that that was because she hadn't really thought it through."
"But you have?"
“I’ve given it a lot of thought, yeah,” Rainbow growled. She sighed. “I love my friends. I’d do nearly anything for them, I’d die for them, those five…those girls are the best part of me. But…do you suppose that somewhere in Vale there’s a Mom and Pop bakery, and a girl who works part time in the kitchen who the Mom and Pop love like she was their own daughter?”
Blake frowned. “I suppose…it doesn’t seem too unique a scenario.”
“How about a girl who dreams about being a trend-setting fashionista, the kind where everyone knows her name all the other world; the kind of girl who acts all high class even though her family…really aren’t?”
“You mean, like Rarity?”
“Sunset chose the only friends she had in the world over the world,” Rainbow said. “That’s…that’s a nasty move, but I can see why she did it. Huntresses are the only friends, the only family, that she knew, and she chose to protect her family. That’s…that’s who she is. But I have friends who aren’t huntresses, and I chose to put my team over people just like my friends living in Vale.”
“You didn’t make that choice,” Blake said. “Sunset did.”
“I let it happen,” Rainbow said. “And then I covered it up. How am I supposed to wear this uniform after what I did?” Her expression tightened, and she looked up at the skies and the cruisers floating above the haze. “For half my life,” she declared, “all I ever wanted was to be an Atlesian specialist. Ever since Twi’s brother gave me the idea. I was just kind of bumming around their house, I didn’t know what to do, how I could repay what Twilight’s folks had done for me. It was Shining Armour who suggested I could apply for Combat School; he told me that if I worked hard, then I could go from Canterlot to Atlas to wearing this uniform. He said it would be a way for me to make something of myself.” Rainbow grinned. “Twilight…Twilight wasn’t too happy when she found out about it, but I…I wanted to prove that I was worth the effort they’d taken with me. I wanted to prove to all of them: Twilight, General Ironwood, my friends; I wanted to prove that it was worth it, all of the trust and all of the help. I wanted to make them proud of me. And now…now that I’ve finally got this uniform I don’t deserve to wear it.”
“Then why are you wearing it?” Blake asked.
“Because the general won’t let me quit,” Rainbow said flatly. “I don’t know why.”
“Because he hasn’t given up on you,” Blake said. “Just like I won’t give up on you. Just like your friends won’t give up on you, even if there are times when you wish they would.”
“You don’t understand-“
“Sure, because I’ve never done anything in my life that I regret,” Blake said, in a pan so dead it was practically exsanguinated.
Rainbow’s jaw tightened. “So how do you do it? How do I take this back? How do I make this go away?”
“You can’t,” Blake admitted. “We can’t change our pasts. We have to live with the bad – all of the bad.”
Rainbow’s shoulders slumped. “Then what am I supposed to do?”
“Better,” Blake said. “You’re supposed to do better from now on. Like I’m trying to do better, here in Atlas.”
“You are doing better,” Rainbow said. “You’re doing so much better it’s kind of annoying how good you are. Especially when I’m…not. Since you’ve got all the answers, I don’t suppose you know how I can get General Ironwood to start trusting me again?”
Blake shrugged. “Sorry, I don’t know about that. It means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”
“I’d say that it means everything to me except, if that was true I wouldn’t have betrayed it in the first place, would I?” Rainbow asked. “I feel like…I didn’t quite appreciate it until I didn’t have it any more.”
“I think you’re being too hard on yourself,” Blake said. “But I know what you mean. We don’t always appreciate our parents…until after we’ve rejected them.”
Rainbow let that pass without comment. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, Blake.”
“You can’t stew on it,” Blake told her.
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Rainbow demanded. “The general won’t punish me even though I deserve it. If he gave me the rogues’ march and tossed me out on the street, then at least I could tell myself that I’d gotten what I deserved, but he won’t punish me, and he won’t…I can’t see any way that I can get his trust back and without that…what am I supposed to do but stew on it?”
“And taking missions that you don’t like and don’t respect the need for is supposed to help how?”
“If General Ironwood won’t punish me, then I’ll just have to punish myself,” Rainbow declared.
Blake stared at her evenly. “To be perfectly honest, the fact that you think this is a punishment shows…you kind of need to do this mission anyway. But don’t pretend that this is going to help because it won’t.”
“So what will help?”
“Talking to your friends!” Blake cried. “You don’t have to tell them what you did, but you do have to let them back into your life, or else…it won’t end well, trust me. I’ve seen too many good people ruined by anger to let you end up the same way.”
Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment. She did want to talk to the girls again, even if she was afraid that they would reject her after what she’d done – to Pinkie, not on the train; she wasn’t sure she had the guts to tell them about that. But that would still leave her right where she was, on the outside of General Ironwood’s circle looking in, and no way to find the door. “I don’t see a way out of this.”
“We’ll find it together,” Blake promised. “Every step of the way.”
Rainbow nodded slowly. “When this mission is over,” she said. “Do you want to come with me and visit my old team-mate? His name’s Spearhead, he used to be on Team Jasper with me and Applejack and Maud.”
“Used to be?” Blake repeated. “Your old team got broken up, didn’t it?”
“Spearhead and Maud decided that it wasn’t for them,” Rainbow said. “Maud changed her mind later on, but Spearhead didn’t. Considering the guy lost his arm, I can’t really blame him. The point is…I haven’t gone to see him since…yeah. I probably should have, but I didn’t. I…I kind of left him behind. Thanks, for not doing the same to me.”
“Don’t mention it,” Blake said quietly. “So, where is he now?”
“Here, in Mantle,” Rainbow said. “He became an artist, I think.”
Blake’s eyebrows rose. “What kind of art?”
“We’ll find out,” Rainbow said. “If you’re in.”
“Sure,” Blake said. “I can appreciate art as much as the next person.”
“More, cause the next person is me,” Rainbow said wryly. She leaned against the wall as she checked the time on her scroll. “The kids should be here soon.”
“I’ll wait.”
“Because you don’t trust me?” Rainbow asked.
“Because there’s nothing that says this mission can’t be completed by two huntresses,” Blake replied with a slight smile.
“No, I guess not,” Rainbow said. “We can take turns holding the stop sign. So, is this your first time in Mantle? I think it is, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” Blake said. “It’s, uh…” she trailed off a little as she looked around the dingy streets, the smog-choked skies up above, the chimneys rising above them. “It’s, uh-“
“A dump?” Rainbow suggested. Mantle might be the second heart of the Kingdom of Atlas, but it was the heart that was all yellow and blackened in places from smoking too much and you only had to take a look around to realise that.
“That’s not what I was going to say,” Blake said defensively.
“I don’t care, you can say it to me,” Rainbow said.
“My…I had a friend named Ilia,” Blake said. “She was born in Mantle, but her parents were able to get her a place in a prestigious Atlas prep school. When I first came to Atlas, after I was wounded, I understood the way that she talked about it: the wonder in her voice. Now that I’ve come to Mantle-“
“You understand why her parents wanted to get her away from it,” Rainbow finished.
Blake frowned a little. “I understand the distaste in her voice when she talked about the city she was born in. It’s…not the nicest place in the Kingdom. Why is Mantle so different to Atlas, or even Canterlot?”
“I don’t know,” Rainbow admitted. “You could listen to what Robyn Hill has to say about it, but I wouldn’t if I were you.”
“Robyn Hill?”
“She’s a crook with pretensions,” Rainbow said. “Claims to be standing up for Mantle against Atlas, always attacking General Ironwood and the Council, claiming that they’ve got it in for this whole city. If you want to know what’s really up with Mantle, you should talk to Rarity.”
“Rarity?” Blake repeated. “Rarity is from Mantle?”
Rainbow nodded. “Of course ‘I am an Atlas girl at heart, darling’ but she was born here. Just like your friend, she got out.”
“What happens to the people who can’t get out?” Blake asked.
“I…I don’t know,” Rainbow said.
Anything else that the two huntresses might have said to one another was prevented as the sounds of high-pitched chatter and a multitude of footsteps heralded the approach of Rainbow's charges even before the children – and their infamous mothers – came into view. But come into view they swiftly did, rounding the corner en masse and walking up the street towards the crossing.
It was the children themselves who led the way, a multi-coloured assembly of mop tops all wrapped up in coats and scarves against the chill Mantle air – yes, there was a city wide heating system that made the place inhabitable, but that didn't mean that you wanted to be walking around in a T-shirt when the wind whipped through the streets – heading towards Rainbow and Blake in a gaggle, with the more confident kids striding out in front and the meeker ones hanging back a little closer to their parents.
Said parents came next; they were all women – a place like Mantle, built upon back-breaking mines and heavy industry, tended towards tradition that way even if it seemed a little old-fashioned if you looked at it from a more Atlesian point of view – and like their children, they were wrapped up warm, although their coats eschewed the brighter blues or verdant greens of their children in favour of a palate limited to shades of pink and purple. Some of them clutched disposable coffee cups in one hand, and some of them even had food – Rainbow couldn't make out exactly what food, maybe a bacon sandwich or it could be just a croissant – in the other.
None of them, as far as she could see, had brought her a lasagne. Or a casserole, for that matter.
Rainbow wasn't put off by that – none of these people owed her dinner, after all, and she tended to grab a burger on the way back to Atlas Academy for dinner most nights anyway – but what did bother her a little was the way that the conversation amongst the mothers gradually faded as they saw just who was waiting to take their children to school. Some of their conversation dropped to hushed whispers. One of them even pointed.
She might have liked to believe that they were just disappointed that neither Rainbow or Blake was a cute, young alternative to their disappointing husbands, but unfortunately, she knew better.
This is what I signed up for.
"Are you going to be okay with this?" Blake asked softly into her ear.
"Hey! I am great with kids," Rainbow replied. "I have my own fan club, you know." She paused. "I mean, I'm not saying that I deserve one any more, but I've got one. Because I'm good with kids, and they look up to me." And there is nothing at all weird about the fact that I have hung outside the window and listened to the meetings…once or twice.
One of the children, a little boy with pale flaxen hair, broke away from the pack and ran up towards Rainbow and Blake. Rainbow moved to block his way off the pavement and onto the crossing, with Blake following just a step behind her. "Wait for the others, kid."
The boy looked up at Rainbow and Blake with wide eyes and said, in that loud voice that children use when saying things that few grown ups would dare to utter aloud, said, "What kind of animals are you?"
This is what I signed up for, Rainbow reminded herself. She reminded herself that he was only a kid and tried to keep her voice even in consequence. "We're not animals; we're faunus. That means we're people, but we come with cool extras."
Blake gave Rainbow a touch of side-eye at that, to which Rainbow shrugged. What was I supposed to say?
"My mommy says you should be in a zoo," the boy went on in that same overly loud voice.
Rainbow's mouth hung open for a moment as she glanced at Blake, who returned a look of equal helplessness; yes, it was a terrible thing to say, but were they really going to chew out a five year old?
Fortunately they were spared the need to say anything by an embarrassed squawk from within the crowd of mothers who – along with their children – had nearly caught up with the front runner. "I said no such thing! Timmy! What are you thinking making up stories about me like that?"
"But-"
"No buts! Your father will be hearing about this, young man."
Another of the Mantle women, dark skinned like Ciel and wearing a maroon coat, stepped out of the pack and tiptoed around the crowd of children waiting like penguins in front of the crossing. The woman walked in a way that put Rainbow a little in mind of Rarity, the same sort of strutting step of someone who had style and wanted you to know it too. Her smile, on the other hand, was nothing like Rarity's; it didn't reach her eyes. "Rachel Eick, head of the local PTA," she announced. "I must say, we don't usually get two huntresses here to escort our little ones. Usually one strapping young man is enough." She laughed. "I hope that this isn't a question of quantity over quality."
This is not what I signed up for. Thanks, Blake. "No," Rainbow said. "Ma'am, either one of us would be more than capable of escorting your kids-"
"Then why are you both here?" Ms Eick asked.
Before either of them could answer, a little girl in a light blue coat piped up, "Are you Blake Belladonna?"
“Uh, yes,” Blake said. “Yes, I am.”
The girl gasped, and started bouncing up and down excitedly on the balls of her feet. “I knew it, I knew it was you!”
Blake’s eyebrows rose. “You know who I am?”
“Now that I know what to look for…” Ms Eick murmured. “Yes, it is you, isn’t it? You’re quite famous, Miss Belladonna: the Princess of Menagerie serving in the Atlesian military. Didn’t you know?”
“N-no, I didn’t,” Blake said softly.
“Are you really a princess?” asked the little girl.
“Um…it’s not quite as simple as that-“ Blake began.
“If you’re a princess then what are you doing here?” one of the other children asked.
“I think that some of us would like an answer to that as well,” said one of the mothers, a blonde woman in a red coat.
Blake straightened visibly. “I’m here to fight for the Kingdom of Atlas, as part of the greatest shield of mankind in all of Remnant.”
“Oh, very good, did you memorise that from a pamphlet?” the woman demanded. “What I want to know is why we’re spending millions of lien to help your people when we still have potholes on our road and I can’t get a weekly garbage collection outside my house.”
“Speak for yourself,” another one of the mothers said. “My sister-in-law moved to Argus last year, and until the CCT gets back online I don’t even know if Argus still exists. My husband’s worried sick. I can’t wait until the network is restored and everything is going to get back to normal.”
Arguments began to spread amongst the women of Mantle, mostly disputing the relative importance of restoring the CCT versus the more prosaic concerns of things in Mantle that could have used a little money to touch them up.
“As you can see,” Ms Eick said, with a slight roll of her eyes, “not everyone is a fan of the moves that the council has been making.”
“Not everyone,” the woman in the red coat said, “is a fan of having money spent on animals ahead of our own kingdom. I don’t pay my taxes to have it spent on the likes of you and yours.”
Rainbow had to give Blake credit: she was mad, Rainbow could see it in her eyes…but only in her eyes. She didn’t shout, she didn’t argue back, she didn’t even clench her fists. She just folded her arms behind her back and said, in the calmest voice that you ever heard. “I’m sorry you feel that way, ma’am.”
This kingdom has really made something out of you, hasn’t it?
I suppose that even if I turned out to be a great big disappointment to everybody, I at least gave Atlas someone it could really be proud of, and that’s…not bad, I guess.
“Anyway,” Rainbow said loudly, before anyone else could stick their oar in. “It’s time to go, so say goodbye to your mommys, kids.” She stepped out into the road, holding her red STOP sign so that oncoming traffic – of which there was none right now, but you never knew when a car was going to come racing along – could see it and began to wave the children across the road. “Come on, single file, across the zebra, that’s it, hey! No running! Just walk across-“
Rainbow’s ears twitched at a sound coming from a street or two away. A sound like…like something growling.
A glance at Blake told her that the other huntress had heard it too. They both turned away from the children and their parents, in the direction from which they thought they had heard the growling sound.
There it was again, something growling, and it seemed like it was a little louder this time.
It’s probably just a stray dog or something. This is Mantle, there’s no way that it could be-
“Is something wrong?” Ms Eick asked.
“Hey, kids,” Rainbow said. “Why don’t you go back to your moms for a little bit, okay?”
“What’s going on?” asked the little girl who had recognised Blake.
Neither of them bothered to answer her. They had other things on their mind. Blake sidestepped a little closer to Rainbow Dash. “I’ll go check it out,” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
“No, I’ll go check it out,” Rainbow said. “You stay here and call for back-up if I need it.”
“You’re supposed to be watching these children.”
“You can watch them,” Rainbow said. “Okay, kids!” she said loudly. “I’m just going to check out a weird sound down the street, but Princess Blake is going to wait right here with you until I get back! Isn’t that great?”
Blake’s ears flattened. “You can be a real jerk sometimes,” she muttered.
Rainbow didn’t bother to reply to that, but set off in the direction of the sound.
And then it came again, and this time, Rainbow Dash was absolutely certain that it wasn’t a stray dog making that noise.
Because it wasn’t just one creature growling now; it was a lot of them, and they were coming this way.
“What is that sound?” Ms Eick demanded, because the civilians could hear it now too.
“Everybody stay calm,” Blake urged.
“We’ll stay calm when you tell us what that sound is.”
“Is that-“
“It couldn’t be-“
“How did-“
They were cut off by the roaring of the pride of sabyrs that rounded the corner and began to charge straight towards the crowd of mothers and their children.
“Blake, call for back-up!” Rainbow yelled, not waiting for Blake’s acknowledgement as she charged to meet the grimm, trailing a rainbow behind her as she ran, her trainers almost sliding along the tarmac of the road as she rushed towards the sabyrs faster than the sabyrs could come for her. She still had the STOP sign in her hands, and she used it to brain the first sabyr across the face hard enough to knock it sideways before Rainbow reversed the sign and jammed the long wooden pole into its throat.
Even before the grimm began to disintegrate, Rainbow was already moving, rushing to intercept the second sabyr that was trying to run past her towards the civilians. It saw her coming, but Rainbow was moving faster than the grimm could turn, and she kicked it in mid-flank to knock it on its side as she drew her auto-pistols – who said you didn’t need your weapons on the school run? – and fired one pistol on full automatic into the sabyr’s head until it died.
She didn’t even need to look as, with her second pistol, she filled the third sabyr – the one that was about to leap on top of her – full of holes until it, too, turned to ash and scattered on the wind.
The next one to catch her attention was a little larger. It only had one sabre-tooth; the other was just a cracked stump as though it had lost it in a fight. The sabyr pawed the ground once before it began to lope towards her.
Rainbow didn’t bother to paw the ground before she started running. She fired all the remaining rounds left in her pistols but ran out of ammo before it seemed to affect the grimm much at all, and so, she discarded both her guns and clenched her hands into fists.
The sabyr leapt, roaring.
Rainbow leapt, snarling.
The sabyr stretched out its clawed paws to reach for her.
Rainbow swung with her right hook, punching the grimm right in the chest as she let it have it with an aura boom that ripped right through the black and oily monstrosity, scattering its remains upon the wind.
The high-pitched crack of Gambol Shroud drew Rainbow’s attention as she landed lightly on her feet. Blake was standing between the civilians and the sabyrs, snapping off shots with her pistol in one hand while in the other hand she held her scroll.
“-repeat, this is Specialist Belladonna requesting immediate reinforcements at the junction of Thirty-fifth and Eighteenth. We have grimm in the city and children in danger!”
“Belladonna, this is Mantle HQ: did you say grimm in the city?”
“Yes!” Blake shouted into her scroll while continuing to fire her pistol.
“Roger that, your request has been forwarded all to units, priority urgent.”
“This is Team Tsunami, we are en route, thirty seconds out.”
Blake wasn’t able to reply as a sabyr got close enough to leap for her... and leapt straight into a solid stone clone of Blake, as the real Blake descended upon the creature from above, Gambol Shroud shifted into sword mode in one hand and her cleaver-scabbard in the other as she dropped spinning, a whirl of blades that sliced clean through the sabyr’s back all the way to its belly. Blake landed with perfect poise and precision and flung out her grapple towards a sabyr that was trying to work its way past it, digging into the monster’s hind leg and making it yelp in pain as Blake hauled on her black ribbon to pull the beast towards her and into range of her deadly blade.
Rainbow ran back towards the civilians, intercepting the closest sabyr with a kick to the jaw that sent it flying into the air before she finished it off with a blast from her shotgun as she pulled it off her back and blew the grimm’s head clean off. The next one was a little tougher and took three shots to finally put down.
The roaring of the remaining sabyrs was drowned out by the roaring of a Skyray as it soared down the street, high speed, low altitude, coming straight towards them. It began to climb upwards just a little as it approached the civilians, but as it passed over the anxious crowd huddled together by the roadside, a solitary figure leapt from out of the airship to land on her knees on the ground in front of the non-combatants.
It was Maud Pie, in her familiar grey dress, wearing her familiarly disinterested expression and speaking in her familiarly disinterested - some might even say bored - voice as she said, “Stay where you are, children.”
She placed her hands palms down onto the road, and at her command, the road buckled and bent, the tarmac splitting as the earth erupted upwards in a wall between Maud and the onrushing sabyrs, a wall of stone curving around in a semi-circle shielding mothers and children alike from the savagery of the grimm.
It left Rainbow and Blake on the wrong side of the wall, but they were huntresses; it was all part of the job.
The Skyray had elevated in its approach so that it could back around; it had banked back over the combat and now a second huntress leapt down from out of the transport to land nimbly on top of the wall that Maud had raised.
“Never fear, the Great and Powerful Trixie is here!” Trixie declared, her moon-and-stars cape billowing out behind her as she struck a grandiose pose. She waved her wand around in a circle. “Watch as she makes these monsters disappear!” She pointed the wand directly at a sabyr, and as the roaring grimm leapt at her a jet of flame issued from the end of the wand to consume the monster in the flames.
Sunburst was the next to land, his own cape – considerably less sparkly than Trixie's – barely managing a flutter as he hit the ground unsteadily. His staff was in his hands, and atop the staff gleamed a light blue ice dust crystal. As a sabyr charged at him, he thrust the staff outwards with a kind of grunt, and a rippling stream of ice erupted from his staff to coat the road in front of him, spikes of ice jutting upwards in waves until they had not only engulfed the sabyr's paws, but impaled it through the chest as well.
Rainbow didn't see Starlight Glimmer leap from out of the Skyray; rather she must have jumped down to land behind Maud's earthen barrier because it was over the wall that Rainbow saw her jump in a flying leap that carried her over the wall and across the face of the sun. Green laser beams flew from her carbine, Equaliser, to slice through the grimm and reduce them to swiftly scattering ashes.
She landed on one toe with a dancer's grace, spinning in place, thrusting out her free right arm and she must have copied Maud's geokinetic semblance because as she spun Starlight mentally wrenched a chunk of earth and rock out of the ground, splitting the roadway as she did so, and threw it at one of the larger sabyr's to strike it dead.
Equaliser transformed from a carbine into a lance with a glowing green tip which Starlight thrust into the belly of the last remaining sabyr as it made a final, futile, desperate charge to reach the civilians sheltering behind Maud's wall.
"And the day is saved," Trixie proclaimed. "Thanks to the Great and Powerful Trixie and the unstoppable force of Team Tsunami!"
"We could have taken them," Rainbow said defensively as she recovered her pistols.
"Calling for backup was the right move," Blake replied, as she sheathed Gambol Shroud across her back. "If someone had been hurt-"
"I know, I know, if you paid for a sledgehammer you might as well use it," Rainbow said. "I just don't like Trixie acting like she saved my life or anything."
Trixie winked as she leapt down from off the wall. "Any time, Rainbow Dash."
Blake shook her head. "Thank you for showing up so swiftly," she said, as the sky began to fill with other airships, a mixture of Skyrays and Skygraspers bringing further reinforcements to answer Blake's distress call. Yes, they were a little late, but Rainbow didn't really blame them: when you got a report of grimm in the city, you were liable to overreact. Blake gestured at those airships with one hand. "How did you get here so much faster than anyone else?"
"We'd just completed a mission," Sunburst explained. "Our Skyray was taking us home when we got your message."
"Lucky break, huh?" Starlight said brightly. "But what are you two doing down here in Mantle?"
"Sunburst!" Ms Eick gasped, as she peeked around the earth wall and caught sight of the young huntsman. "You came to save us!"
"Oh great," Rainbow muttered.
"Oh gods," whined Sunburst.
"Oh brother," Trixie moaned, slapping a hand to her face.
As the mothers of Mantle converged around their gallant saviour Sunburst, the sound of Starlight Glimmer cracking her knuckles rose above the hubbub of their chatter.
After avoiding a PR nightmare – and having handed off the school run to a squad of Military Huntsmen from the Defiant, as more soldiers and androids fanned out to secure a perimeter – the six huntsmen ventured in search of the source of the grimm incursion, heading in what was Blake and Rainbow's best guess as to where they had first heard the growling of the sabyrs.
"I still don't understand how a pride of grimm was able to breach Mantle's defences," Sunburst said.
"It's not a breach," Rainbow replied.
"Well what would you call it when a bunch of sabyrs manage to get into the middle of the city?" demanded Trixie.
"It sounds like a breach to me," Maud observed flatly.
"It's not a breach," Rainbow insisted. "Breaches are…bigger."
"So it's a small breach," Starlight said.
"It's not a breach!" Rainbow yelled. "Breaches happen to other kingdoms, not to ours."
"It doesn't matter what we call it," Blake declared. "The fact is that grimm entered Mantle, and that means that instead of fighting about what to call it, we need to keep calm, do our jobs, and find out how they got inside the walls."
"How could they have broken in through?" Sunburst suggested.
"One pride of sabyrs couldn't break through the walls," Rainbow insisted. "You'd need an army of grimm to do that, and anyway, if the walls had been broken through, then we'd all be going deaf from the alarms going off."
"You have a point," Blake acknowledged. "But then how did they get in here?"
It didn't take them much longer to find out; searching the nearby streets took them to a blind alley, where the first sign of something wrong was a manhole cover that had been ripped free and buried in the wall next to a pipe.
After that it didn't take them long to notice the gaping hole ripped in the alley, a jagged wound in the tarmac leading down into the darkness below.
"Okay, this is starting to feel familiar," Rainbow admitted.
"The sewer," Blake murmured.
"Ugh, and this is Trixie's best cape," Trixie groused.
The six huntsmen gathered around the hole in the earth, looking down into the darkness.
"So," Sunburst said with a nervous laugh. "Who wants to go down into the dark hole to look for more grimm?"
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Me
Well, making child soldiers is always an awful idea.
They are getting smarter or Salem is guiding them personally. Love the transition.
I'm glad that Rainbow Dash is finally confronting herself about her own place in the train fiasco. Just remember, the strongest and greatest of us are those who touch the darkness inside and turn away from it.
Another reason why Sunset Shimmer finally ascended.
10174390
Well, the Crown of Choice has made Salem into an actual strategist now. So, it's likely a bit of both.
10174366
Child soldiers are indeed truly terrible. I've researched the stories of how the Germans in the World Wars used to literally grab random children off the street with a black bag, thrust an assault rifle into their hands and sent them off to the frontlines, untrained and unwilling, to act as cannon fodder and human shields for tactical and political gain.
It's a good thing RWBY doesn't do that.
10174506
No, they just have Atlas pull what Nazis did and brainwash kids from a young age to die for Atlas.
10174483
What does the crown do in this universe? Is it precognition
10174594
No, it takes everything that the wearer (Salem) knows, and tells you the very best choice and path to take. That instantly makes you the definition of a master strategist. But like all tacticians, it can only work with what you are aware of. (Check Chapter 188 for more info)
10174590
Inspiring patriotic duty is something that nearly every country with a military does. The characters of Remnant may be young, but they are still choosing to risk their lives. And just as importantly, they are highly trained and well-equipped. Nearly every major character in RWBY can run circles around most real-world Special Forces.
As the clips have explained, the main difference about Atlas is that they strongly 'encourage' Huntsman graduates to join the Atlas military. But for right now, I'm far more concerned about Vale in this story. Cardin mentioned that the Council is deporting any huntsmen that are not of Vale birth, and are now recruiting right out of their middle schools to compensate. Most middle-schoolers aren't even teenagers yet!
10174606
That's kinda broken, but also has huge disadvantages if your information is bad and those disadvantages increase if the enemy is actively aware you possess it and how it functions.
10174652
The Relics are divine constructs, of course they're broken.
And the limit of the Relic of Knowledge was only three questions every one hundred years. But what impressed me was that Jinn goes far beyond what you expect from most genies or oracles we see. She didn't pull any tricks or twist Ruby's request. She didn't give any vague answers. No, she adheres to the spirit of the question, the intent of what knowledge you seek behind it. She tells the entire story by showing everything exactly as it happened. Not a single detail was left out, and she even shared the knowledge with the entire group rather than just Ruby who asked the question!
Which is also why it scares me that Jinn states rather simply that Salem can't be destroyed.
10174686
Looked up the episode Ozpin asked Jinn how he could destroy Salem, Jinn told him that he couldn't. I would like to point out he didn't ask how to stop her or how to kill her, she said he couldn't destroy her, that doesn't mean someone else can't or that she can't be destroyed just that Ozpin can't do it. It may be reaching but maybe not. As far as Ruby's question and Jinn's response I am pretty sure she asked them what Ozpin was hiding from them or what he wasn't telling them. So the question was vague to begin with and Ozpin was not telling them a lot of things also I think Ruby specified us not me so Jinn would tell everybody present so Jinn could have interpreted it that way and rolled with it. Then again we don't know the rules for the questions Ozpin asked direct questions and Ruby asked a vague all encompassing question. We also don't know how much control Jinn has over the answers she gives either. She is compelled to answer but to what extent? Sure she answered the entirety of Ruby's question but maybe that was b/c Jinn liked Ruby, but wouldn't be so quick to give Salem full answers or perhaps would use half-truths or vague prophecy speak. Just some thoughts.
Well, wouldn't you have it, it seems like Blake really was the best person to talk to Rainbow. Also...I guess we got another retcon to make this story line up with canon more? Seem to recall Mantle being called Low Town earlier.
Oh, and Starlight's weapon amused me. An energy carbine named "Equalizer" that transforms into a pronged spear...nice nod to Starlight's debut.
10174747
I noticed as well, even before Volume 7 started and Ren and Nora pointed out the possibility. There are too many unknowns to be sure right now. Either way, in this story it has already been proven in a flashback that Silver Eyes can't hurt Salem.
10174748
Low Town was introduced in this story before Volume 7 started. It pretty much serves the same purpose that Mantle did in the show, but they are two distinctly different places.
10174873
So I guess Mantle here is a separate city like the World of Remnant implied it was?
Rainbow Dash references to Sunset as silvertongue, that attitude I was reading. I feel like even if RD gets over her personal issues, when Team Sunset and Team Atlas collide again, it's going to be conflict between those two as Rainbow questions everything Sunset does.
10174749
Fair enough, this was a nice chat thank you
It's almost like everyone is purposefully avoiding the fact that Sunset and Ruby were on that train and that those two are literally the only real hope and chance of managing to do anything against Salem. If they were to die due to stopping the train then the lives saved by that act would die anyway when Salem won.
10174878
Yes, that's exactly it.
TL;DR
Rainbow Dash: emoemoemoemoemoemoemoemosad.
Grimm: grrrrrrrrrrrrr. Battle.
All: lol
10175291
i would'nt really call dash emo. She has been to question how far she would go for her friend and now she is in war with herself on what to do. she believes that she is in the wrong and deserves to be punished. she thinks she can't be redeemed. don't quote me on this but i think this might be a form of depression. she's not emo just very confused on what to think of herself. she still harbours resentment towards Sunset and refuses to identify with her.
Sorry for that rant. i just thought you did the chapter dirty.
10174932
10175078
Well, the problem with Sunset is that nobody really trusts her completely except maybe Cinder. And they have a reason not to, especially the higher-ups are aware that she will jeopardize a mission and the lives of innocent, as long as she can save the ones she holds dear. They all know that Sunset will do what she thinks is necessary without asking for another opinion. So it's kind of hard to put your faith into somebody who has no qualms putting a wrench into a plan if she thinks she can do better and goes all-in like in a game of poker.
10175561
Yeah Vale is fucked; the Sirens going there would be actually an improvement.
Actually can the author retcon things so they go there? That way they can take over while our heroes are busy with Ozpin.
10175574
They were already going there, they just hadn't got there (or made their presence felt) before everyone else left.
10175722
Well, I am interested to see if they can actually stop Vale from imploding because if they delay things a few months more they won't be any Kingdom left.
As said by Miles Luna (VA of Jaune Arc) when the cast were asked to describe in three words something they were looking forward to in Volume 7.
The entire first part reads wrong, it sounds like Blake is the one narrating, not Rainbow. Too wordy.
So, Rainbow is still being her infuriating, raging HYPOCRITE self, but at least she is starting to listen to reason about her self-flagellation and seems like she will start doing actually useful things again. It still feels that Rainbow is going to be a gigantic problem once the teams meet up again and will probably end up screwing things up again at the worst possible moment if she keeps blaming Sunset for her own actions, but that is a future problem.
Good to see some disagreement between the Mantle moms about the whole Menagerie thing, it is an actual improvement from the badly veiled racism that is expected from Mantle. Having some nice practical improvements is always the best way to push any ethical issue.
And we have Grimm in Mantle. This definitely is not a planned attack, if Salem had a hole into the city she would not blow her hand with such a weak event, so that means that either someone is stocking Grimm somewhere and they had some of them escape the leash or someone made a hole into the city for some smuggling and the Grimm wandered into it.
A part of me wonders if I should re-read, from the beginning, since I'm a few (5) chapters behind. It has been a long while since I peered into the early goings. And it will probably, most definitely, help me write my own crossover.
Still, congrats on hitting 200+ chapters and .... a lotta words. Lmao
Seriously, congrats.
10179746
As someone who has re-read this story more than a few times, I'd say go for it. Even on my last go-through, I was still picking out new details. Having the advantage of foresight for your second read through will make it a genuinely different experience than the first read.
Happened to see this, so I thought I'd mention it.
10183832
I find that Celestia view on immortal life it's not only a healthy one, it is also the most realistic one.
A LOT of authors have gone on and on about the heartache of immortality and seeing your loved ones die, ignoring that a much more simple version of this event has already happened to almost everyone.
Did you ever had friends growing up? From school or from your block or things like that.
Do you still talk with every single one?
Just because you no longer talk with those friends, does that mean that you should never have become their friends at that moment?
Friendship, love, companionship, those are things that happen in the moment, and while everyone wants to make them last that doesn't mean that they lose their worth. You are meeting people all the time and if you are open then you will make new friends all the time. And relationships cannot be replaced, each one is unique no matter how much some people may try to replicate old ones.
Ozpin immortality is particularly shit, and his situation makes him easy prey to betrayals, but just closing himself from others is doing more harm that good to him.
ah, a delightful peek into the goings on of Atlus and Mantle. Rainbow's self destructive behavior has been called out and nipped in the bud (hopefully), now if only Cinder or someone could catch on to what Sunset is doing and call her out on it...
Good chapter, glad to see Blake giving Rainbow some tough love. Sewer adventures next? Fun times.
Been re-reading a few chapters. I'm a little sad to say that Rainbow Dash deserves to feel ashamed, but for more than she gives herself credit for. She didn't just keep her mouth shut about Sunset Shimmer on the train, she also deliberately chose to keep quiet about all suspicions regarding Tempest Shadow.
Unlike Sunset, Tempest is an actively malicious and hostile enemy operative. And both Rainbow Dash and Ciel actually argued against SAPR about voicing any suspicion about Tempest to Ironwood or Ozpin. All suspicions were outright disregarded and dismissed for no reason other than blind confidence that an Atlesian soldier is incapable of treachery. On the contrary, it is up to your superiors to make the call of whether or not someone is a threat, not you. And that is a far greater offense. Soldiers have been court-martialed for less.
Uhh, this seems like a Cult.
Can I just say Atlas is being too fanboyed in the story to be enjoyable?
Hehey, screw you.
You're not disappointment. You had chosen your friends. Don't forget that.
This is absolutly hilarious.