• Published 31st Aug 2018
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SAPR - Scipio Smith



Sunset, Jaune, Pyrrha and Ruby are Team SAPR, and together they fight to defeat the malice of Salem, uncover the truth about Ruby's past and fill the emptiness within their souls.

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Consequences of Anon-a-Miss (New)

Consequences of Anon-a-Miss

There was a knock on the bathroom door.

“Go away!” Lyra said. She hesitated. “Unless you really need to go, in which case, could you not look at me when you come in?”

“No, Lyra, I don’t need to use the bathroom,” Dove said patiently. “I want to talk to you.”

“Talk to me about what? About how much of a freak I am? About how I’m a total space cadet and a loser?” Lyra demanded.

There was silence from the other side of the door for a moment. “No. I want to talk to you about how you’re holding up.”

“How I’m holding up?” Lyra repeated. “I’ll tell you how I’m holding up-”

“Well, if you want to talk, can we both be in the same room while we do it?” Dove asked.

Lyra hesitated, pouting for all that Dove couldn’t see her doing it… and that was the thing, wasn’t it? Dove couldn’t see her. He couldn’t see her, and he’d gotten her to respond in such a way that she almost had to let him in, whether she wanted to or not.

She crossed her arms. “Fine. Come in. But just you.”

“Are you sure?” Dove asked. “Bon Bon-”

“Just you,” Lyra repeated.

“Okay,” Dove said, his voice gentle and soft. “Just me.”

The handle to the bathroom door turned slowly, and Dove stepped into the room cautiously, with a soft tread that could barely be heard upon the tiles. He shut the door after him and sidled across the bathroom until he was standing above where Lyra sat upon the side of the bath.

He cast a shadow over her. She didn’t meet his eyes; she didn’t even look at him. She didn’t dare to look at him, for fear of what she might see there.

Dove knelt down in front of her. “Lyra, will you please look at me?”

Lyra did not look. “Why should I?”

“Because… because it wounds me to think that you fear me, when you need not. You have no need to fear my judgement, not ever.”

Dove Bronzewing was a bit of an odd duck. Sometimes, he could be pompous and stuff; sometimes, he could be completely clueless about the most basic things… and then, other times, he could come out with stuff like that with a completely straight face – no, not just a straight face; Dove wasn’t managing to sound sincere while he said these things, he was sincere, and that… people didn’t talk like that any more. Sure, it was a little odd, but it was also kind of wonderful too. Like being in a story.

Like being in a better class of story than the one it felt like she was trapped in right now.

Lyra looked at him. Dove’s blue eyes were as sincere as his tone. There was no judgement there, no mockery. He didn’t care what she believed. He only cared how she was.

Amber, whoever she was, wherever she was, was really a very lucky girl. If she still lived, then she was a fool to have left a boy like this behind.

“Hey,” she murmured.

“Hey,” he replied, his voice barely a whisper. “How are you doing?”

Lyra sighed and looked down at the scroll she was holding in one hand. “Someone has set up a site that allows anyone to report sightings of alien robots, and it will send notifications to my scroll. I’m getting bombarded with anonymous tips; most of them are reporting sightings of a weirdo who believes in alien robots. I’m a laughing stock.”

“With who?” Dove asked.

“'With who'?” Lyra repeated. “With the schools, who else? With the whole student body of four academies!”

“People you don’t know and were probably never going to know,” Dove replied. “Does it really matter what strangers think of you?”

“Yes, it matters!” Lyra replied. “This was… yes, I believe in that, and I believe that there are other worlds out there with other versions of ourselves, and in one of those other worlds, the versions of us are magical talking horses, but that doesn’t mean I wanted everyone to know that’s what I thought! I didn’t even want you guys to know! Not even Bon Bon knew half of this stuff! Plus, everyone knows I have a criminal record now.”

“A juvenile record,” Dove said. “It’s not like you were in the White Fang.”

“You wouldn’t know that from some of these messages telling me I’m not fit to be a huntress,” Lyra replied. “Maybe they’re right. I mean, it’s not even like I’m that good at it.”

“You’re getting better,” Dove assured her.

“Am I?”

“Yes.”

“Then why is Jaune pulling ahead of me?”

“Because he’s got Pyrrha Nikos to teach him; you’re stuck with me,” Dove said.

“Am I stuck with you?” Lyra asked. “Still?”

Dove frowned. “What do you mean?”

“It doesn’t bother you?” Lyra asked. “You don’t think I’m crazy?”

Dove was silent for a moment. “Amber… she once told me that her mother was a witch. She insisted on it. I never believed her, but it never bothered me that she thought so. I don’t believe you; I can’t imagine… but that doesn’t mean you’re wrong, just like it didn’t mean that Amber was wrong. I don’t believe, but I don’t assume that I have all the answers.” He reached out and took her hands. “The only thing I do know is that no one who really cares about you will be driven away by this. Your real friends, the ones who support you, will stay by your side, no matter what.”

Lyra sighed once more. “Thanks, Dove,” she said. “I just… I just wish that was enough to make me feel better. I mean, it does, a little, but… how am I supposed to face the rest of the school on Monday?”

“With us?” Dove suggested.

Lyra smiled, albeit a little wanly. “Thanks, Dove, but I don’t… I’m not sure that’s going to be enough.”

Dove squeezed her hands. “I’m sorry for that, not least because it’s all I’ve got. I’m sorry that there’s nothing more that I can do, nothing else that I can do, but I promise that, no matter what, I’ll be right here.”


“You.”

Rainbow’s ears pricked up. It was Saturday morning, and Team RSPT had – for the second time – usurped the place at the breakfast table usually reserved for Team YRDN. Or Team YRBN now. Whichever team they were, even if Blake was part of that team now, Rainbow wasn’t feeling guilty about it. If they wanted their seats to be free at breakfast, they ought to get up earlier.

The shadow falling over her breakfast – scrambled egg on toast – made Rainbow twist around in her seat. Bon Bon loomed over her, dressed in a white blouse with a blue frilly collar and an equally frilly white skirt with blue and yellow stripes just above the hem.

It was honestly making her attempts to glower seem a lot less intimidating than her intent.

She was not glowering at Rainbow Dash. Her gaze passed over her head and onto Sunset Shimmer sitting opposite her at the table.

Big surprise, huh?

Sunset took a theatrically long time chewing on her current mouthful of grapefruit before swallowing. “Can I help you?”

“You’ve helped enough,” Bon Bon snarled, fists clenched by her sides.

Rainbow didn’t like it – or like to admit it – but Sunset managed to look reasonably innocent as she spread her hands out on either side of her. “What did I do?”

“You know exactly what you did!” Bon Bon snapped. “Did you think you could just use the same name, and we wouldn’t remember?! Do you see Lyra over there with us?!”

Rainbow followed Bon Bon’s pointing hand. Dove and Sky were waiting over at the other table, but there was no sign of Lyra.

“She doesn’t want to be seen because everybody thinks she’s crazy, thanks to you!”

“Well, she does believe some pretty out there stuff,” Sunset muttered.

“Sunset,” Pyrrha said reproachfully. Her face was disfigured by a frown. “What happened to Lyra was very cruel, but you can’t mean to accuse Sunset-”

“Anon-a-Miss,” Bon Bon snapped. “She even went by Anon-a-Miss just like she did in Canterlot!”

“Sunset?” Ruby asked, her voice soft and quiet. “What is she talking about?”

Rainbow couldn’t help but wonder how hard – or not – it was for Sunset to pretend to be outraged at being accused of something that she knew full well that she had done. Her ears flattened down onto the top of her head, and she bared her teeth as she rose to her feet, knuckles resting upon the tabletop. “She’s lying, Ruby. She’s repeating false accusations made against me.” She practically spat the word false in Bon Bon’s face. “You’ve got a lot of nerve to come here, in front of my teammates, repeating lies and slanders made against me.”

“I know it was you,” Bon Bon replied. “Everybody knows that it was you.”

“Everybody was wrong.”

“This is a very serious accusation to make without proof,” Ciel said.

“I agree,” Pyrrha said, quietly but firmly. “Do you have any proof?”

Bon Bon froze, her eyes widening a little. “I… everyone knows!” she cried. “Rainbow Dash, Twilight, tell her!”

Rainbow got to her feet. “Let’s take a walk, huh, Bon Bon?”

“What?”

“Come on,” Rainbow said, taking Bon Bon by the arm and tugging her gently but irresistibly towards the exit from the dining hall.

“Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?” Bon Bon demanded. “Let go of me!”

Rainbow did not let her go, nor did she say anything in reply until the two of them had, one of them more reluctantly than the other, gotten outside of the cafeteria, and into the morning sunlight.

Rainbow pulled Bon Bon out of the path of the other students staggering in for breakfast; only then did she release her grip on Bon Bon’s arm.

“Thank you!” Bon Bon snapped. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Getting you out here where we can talk in private,” Rainbow said. “Or at least not in front of everybody.”

Bon Bon’s eyes narrowed. “What do we have to talk about, except maybe why you didn’t back me up back there?”

“Because Ciel’s right; it is a big accusation to make against someone without proof.”

Bon Bon let out a bitter laugh. “Oh, come on! You were as loud in accusing Sunset as anyone.”

“That doesn’t mean that I was right,” Rainbow replied.

“So you really think that she didn’t do it?” Bon Bon demanded. “More to the point, do you really think that she didn’t do that to Lyra? Who else would it have been?”

“What happened to Lyra was a jackass move,” Rainbow said. “But… drop it, Bon Bon.”

“Why should I?” Bon Bon demanded. “Lyra didn’t deserve that.”

“And Blake didn’t deserve to have the White Fang symbol painted on her door,” Rainbow said sharply.

Bon Bon’s eyes widened. “How… is that what this is all about?”

“So it was you?”

“And it was Sunset,” Bon Bon growled. “Are you… covering for her?”

Rainbow was silent for a moment. “I can’t prove anything,” she said, and kind of hated herself for how much of a weasel thing to say that sounded like.

“And you don’t want to, do you?”

Rainbow met Bon Bon’s gaze levelly. “Why did you do it?” she demanded.

“Because she’s White Fang, in spite of what people say!”

“Blake was an undercover Atlesian-”

“Oh, the hell she was!” Bon Bon snapped. “She’s White Fang-”

“She’s a faunus; there’s a difference!” Rainbow growled.

“I’m not a racist, Dash.”

“Really? You’re starting to sound a little bit like one to me.”

“You hate the White Fang more than any human I know, so why do you care about Blake Belladonna all of a sudden?”

Rainbow folded her arms. “Because I think… I think that she’s got what it takes. I think she’s made of the right stuff, okay? I’m trying to convince her that us Atlesians aren’t a bunch of prejudiced jerks, and I’m really glad that she doesn’t know what you did because it really wouldn’t help.”

“And that justifies what Sunset did to Lyra?”

“No, but… and why do you have special security on your scroll?”

“Why is that any of your business?”

“I don’t know. I just feel like I don’t know you anymore.”

“Maybe you never knew me at all!” Bon Bon yelled. She took a deep breath. “Tell Sunset that this isn’t over.”

“What are you going to do?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m hardly going to tell you, am I?”

Rainbow was silent for a moment. “I can’t stop you,” she said, “but I’m going to ask you to leave Blake out of it. She’s a good person, and she’s not our enemy. She doesn’t deserve to get hounded for mistakes that she made.”

“But Lyra does?”

“I didn’t say that,” Rainbow said firmly. “Please, Bon Bon, let it go. I’m sorry, but if you both put this behind you, then…”

Bon Bon hesitated. “I… wish that I could trust you, Rainbow Dash,” she said, “but you…” She frowned. “I’m sorry,” she said, and turned away, walking briskly away from the dining hall and towards the dorm rooms.

Rainbow’s gaze followed her as she retreated.

She had a very uncomfortable feeling that this wasn’t over yet.

And she didn’t like it one bit.


Bon Bon closed her eyes for a moment as she walked away. She really did wish that she could trust Rainbow Dash. She wished that she could believe that Blake was harmless. But she was too enmeshed in web upon web of conflicting loyalties to blithely believe that someone who had once been White Fang was now free of all loyalties to them, and Rainbow Dash was far, far too close to General Ironwood to be trustworthy. She would never believe the things that Bon Bon already knew to be true.

And even if she did believe, she might well side with him anyway.

Bon Bon had undertaken this mission because she believed in what she was doing, but there were times when she lamented the toll that it had taken on her: the secrets, the lies, the service to a cause with murderous designs, the fact that she might have to help carry those designs forward. The fact that Lyra was in harm’s way.

Of all those regrets and misgivings, the fact that she couldn’t trust anyone was quite a minor one, and yet, it was the one that she found herself focussing on as she walked away.

That, and her anger at Sunset Shimmer. She… she didn’t know what she was going to do about her. Or what she was supposed to do about her. Was she allowed to retaliate? Was she supposed to retaliate? There were times when Bon Bon thought that Sunset might be bulletproof, but then she’d been instructed to graffiti the SAPR door with the White Fang symbol. Not that Bon Bon had minded; Blake Belladonna didn’t belong here after all, but it had been a strange request nonetheless.

And it had gotten Lyra hurt in consequence.

Sunset tried to hack my scroll, found she couldn’t, and so she settled for hurting Lyra to get to me.

It was deeply unfortunate, but it wasn’t as though Bon Bon didn’t need to keep her scroll secure. There were secrets there that would do more than embarrass her if they came out.

But what to do about it?

What to do now?

“Bon Bon!” Dove cried, his footsteps pounding on the pavement as he ran after her. “Wait!”

Bon Bon turned to face him. She put a smile on her face. “Hey, Dove. Are you done already? You probably shouldn’t have left Sky in there all by himself, you know?”

Dove stopped. The two of them were almost of a height, and so he was able to look directly into her eyes without looking down on her. “You don’t have to fake a smile if it’s not what you feel,” he said. “Not for me, or anyone else. You don’t need to be ashamed of how you really feel.”

I can’t tell anyone how I really feel, any more than I can tell them who I really serve. “What makes you think I’m faking this smile?”

“I don’t see how you could be smiling so soon after yelling,” Dove pointed out.

Bon Bon chuckled. “Well, you’ve got me there, Dove.”

Dove’s face was crinkled with worry as he put one hand on Bon Bon’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“It’s not me who got attacked,” Bon Bon pointed out.

“No,” Dove agreed. “But all the same, are you okay?”

Bon Bon hesitated for a moment. “No,” she admitted. “I’m angry.”

Dove frowned. “I don’t… I’m not sure that revenge… I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he said. “I’m not sure that it ever ends well, but… if there’s anything that I can do, you only have to ask.”

Bon Bon’s eyebrows rose. “You think that it would be a bad idea for me to do anything, but if I ask you to, you’ll help me do it anyway?”

“Of course,” Dove said, as though it was her bemusement that was strange and not his offer. “Because you’re my teammate, and my friend, and I won’t abandon you, however much I might disagree with what you’re doing.”

The smile returned to Bon Bon’s face, and this time, it was genuine. “You’re a really sweet guy, you know that?” Maybe he wasn’t the smartest guy, but in Bon Bon’s opinion, he was definitely the nicest. They were lucky to have him on their team now. “But you don’t need to get mixed up in this. I don’t want to turn this into a feud between Team Bluebell and Team Sapphire. Or Team Iron. Or Team Rosepetal.” If this is between anyone, it’s between me and Sunset. Or Blake. Or both. “I can handle this.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Bon Bon assured him. “The last thing I want is to cause trouble for you guys.” She reached up and took his hand, pulling it gently off her shoulder, clasping it between her palms. “It was very chivalrous of you to offer,” she declared, with absolute sincerity. “But this… this is my business, and mine alone.”

“Right,” Dove said. “Are you…?” He stopped himself. “Right. I trust you. I just wish there was something I could do to help Lyra feel better.”

“Just be yourself,” Bon Bon told him. “Now go finish breakfast and keep Sky company.”

Dove nodded. “Right. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Bon Bon said as she watched him head back the way that he’d come, at a slower and more dignified pace.

She lingered on the spot for a moment, wracked with indecision, uncertain of what she ought to do, of what she was expected to do, of what she would be allowed to do.

And of what she wanted to do, which ought to have been the most important thing but somehow was not.

“It’s terrible the way they fool everybody, isn’t it?”

Bon Bon turned around, just in time to see Cardin Winchester step out of the shadows of the corner around which he had, apparently, been hiding.

Bon Bon took a step back. “What do you want?”

“What, do I smell?” Cardin asked. “Come on, I just want to talk.”

Bon Bon stared at him. She had never had anything to do with Cardin Winchester before, and she wasn’t certain that she wanted anything to do with him now. “What do we have to talk about?”

“Blake,” he said. “Sunset.” He hesitated. “When I arrived here, I didn’t think that faunus belonged anywhere at Beacon. Now… here’s what I know right now: a White Fang terrorist has absolutely no business at Beacon, no business bearing arms, no business walking free anywhere in Vale. There’s nothing I can do about the last two, but if she can be gotten out of Beacon, that’s good enough for me.”

Bon Bon was silent for a moment. “And Sunset Shimmer?” she prompted.

Cardin shook his head. “I don’t know how those two have gotten everyone believing they’re so good,” he said. “I don’t know why more people don’t see them for what they really are. Sunset might not be a terrorist, but she’s got a mean streak in her. Petty. Vindictive.” He snorted. “It takes one to know one. You’ve just had a taste of it, haven’t you?”

“Maybe,” Bon Bon said warily.

“And you want to do something about it, right?” Cardin asked.

“Maybe.”

“I’m going to need a yes or no answer on that one,” Cardin said, with a degree of exasperation.

Bon Bon hesitated. Well, that video was supposed to get Blake out of the way. “Yes,” she said. “I want Blake gone, and I want Sunset… Sunset hurt someone I care about.”

Cardin nodded. “Good,” he said. “I’m glad I’m not the only one around here who sees sense.”

“Do you have a plan?” Bon Bon asked.

Cardin smirked. “You know, I just might.”

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