Strategy Sessions
They had laid Sky to rest in one of the small boats that hung over the sides of the barge; then lowered the boat down into the water and let the river take it and him. With good fortune he would be borne backwards on the current all the way to the ocean and then…then fate and the tides would have their way.
Given that it would have been unwise to stop and give that thing the chance to catch up to them, it was the best that they could do for him.
Once he was dead, anyway.
Sunset stood near the flattened, snub-nosed prow of the barge; the darkness was all around her, and still the grey clouds loomed overhead, blocking out both moon and stars as the rain descended upon her head, pattering upon the roof of the cabin, falling on everything.
Sunset barely felt the rain. Her mind was back at the tower, replaying over and over again in her mind everything that had happened. Everything that she’d done wrong.
My mistake was letting them come with me just because they volunteered to; I could have gotten out by myself…assuming that I didn’t get caught with that first shot.
My mistake was in not heading back to the barge when we reached the tower and found that the whole place was too quiet.
My mistake was in not sailing on when we reached the pier and there was nobody there to greet us like there should have been.
“Mind if I join you?”
Sunset looked around, a little startled by the sound. The voice was that of Taiyang, Ruby’s father; he loomed over her just a little bit in the darkness and the overcast sky, the rain dripping off his pronounced muscles.
“I…if you wish, sir,” Sunset said. She turned away, and leaned upon the side of the barge. “Though I can’t think why you’d want to.”
“You look as though you could use the company,” Taiyang said as he joined her at the prow. He, too, seemed to be ignoring the rain that descended from on high upon him. He was silent for a moment, as he clasped his hands together in front of him. “Did you know him?”
“Sky?”
Taiyang nodded. “The boy who died.”
Sunset shook her head. “No. I didn’t know him at all. We’d never even spoken.”
“But he was under your command and so losing him bothers you anyway.”
“Shouldn’t it?” Sunset replied, turning her head to look at the older huntsman. “Isn’t that how a leader is supposed to feel?”
“Yes,” Taiyang said bluntly. “You were responsible for his life, and if you didn’t feel that responsibility you’d be a terrible leader.”
“I’m not a great leader anyway,” Sunset muttered.
“You’ve lost someone,” Taiyang said. “But you’ll lose more than that if you give into despair and let the enemy take up space in your head.” He paused. “You never got around to Port’s Military Strategy class, did you?”
Sunset blinked. “Professor Port teaches Military Strategy?”
“If you’d stuck around in school until second year you would have found out there’s a reason he’s a teacher at Beacon,” Taiyang declared. “One of the first lessons that we ever learned in that class was that battles are fought on the field but won in the mind. If you start thinking of yourself as a screw-up then guess what? You’ll keep screwing up, and more people will die.”
“Whereas what?” Sunset asked. “If battles are won in the mind then can I keep them all alive by positive thinking?”
Taiyang wasn’t amused. “There are times when you can’t save everyone. And there are times when you could have saved someone you didn’t save. The trick is to recognise the difference between one and the other, and learn from the one time without letting the other time beat you down and break you.”
“Is that what you did when you were a huntsman?”
“I was never a leader,” Taiyang said. “Summer, Ruby’s mother, she was the leader. And when things didn’t go just right she would spend hours afterwards running over every decision in her mind, trying to figure out exactly where she went wrong so that she could get it right the next time.”
“Sounds diligent.”
“At times it verged on obsessive,” Taiyang said. “There comes a point when you’re not really learning anything new about what happened or what you did, you’re just beating yourself up for the sake of it; because it feels like you ought to beat yourself up.”
Sunset was silent a moment. “If you’ll forgive me, sir, it’s a little hard to imagine the great Summer Rose as having much that she needed to beat herself up for.”
Now it was Taiyang’s turn to not speak for a little while. “We all make mistakes,” he said, in a tone that made it clear that he had neither the desire nor the intention to travel any further down that road. At least not with Sunset Shimmer as his travelling companion.
Sunset didn’t press upon the point. She accepted his will in this. If he was going to talk to anyone about his late wife and these hypothetical mistakes she may or may not have made then it should be their daughter, not some stranger that he barely knew however gamely he was trying to help her right now.
“I shouldn’t have let them go with me,” Sunset said. “I felt…after talking to Lyra and Bon Bon last night I felt as though they deserved a chance, but…it’s a little funny when I think of how I was when I came to Beacon, but it seems I’ve gotten too used to working with a team. I’ve forgotten that there are times when I might work better on my own.”
“Because of your magic,” Taiyang said.
Sunset felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. “I don’t know-“
“I know that you’re of an age where you think that everybody over the age of twenty is a senile old fool, but that doesn’t actually make it so,” Taiyang said. “I’ve seen enough magic to know it when I see it.”
Sunset exhaled slowly, and very deliberately. “I…” she chose her words with care. “I would like to apologise if you thought I was treating you like an idiot,” she said. “But I would also like to ask that you not shout it around, sir.”
“I’m used to keeping secrets too,” Taiyang said, and Sunset noticed that his voice had dropped in volume. “So what happened? You’re not a Maiden, I’ve seen what they can do; did Oz give you this? It’s a step up from the gifts he gave to Qrow and Raven.”
Sunset shook her head. “No, this…this is all mine, I was born with it,” she said. “Much good it did me today.”
“Born with it,” Taiyang repeated. “I didn’t know that was possible.”
Sunset tapped her fingers upon the wood in front of her. Through her gloves she could feel the roughness of it. “There are things about me that Ruby knows,” she said. “But which, with all due respect, I don’t know you well enough to share.”
Taiyang nodded. “I can understand that. If Ruby still trusts you after knowing the truth then that’s good enough for me.”
“Thank you, sir,” Sunset said softly. “What I will say is that I was born with abilities that have a wide variety of uses, some of which you’ve already seen, some of which aren’t actually that dissimilar from the powers of Maidens.”
“The storm you created back at the house,” Taiyang said. “Yeah, that was familiar. If I hadn’t seen you shooting laser beams out of your hands at the same time I might have thought you were a Maiden.”
I was, but only for a little while. “That would have been too much power in the hands of one person,” Sunset said. “Or at least that’s what I thought until very recently.”
Taiyang nodded. “Never be afraid to admit when you were just outmatched,” he said. “Summer never liked to run, but Raven used to say that there was no shame in getting out when to stand meant to die. Even if she ran too far in the end she was right in principle.” He shook his head. “And I thought that I’d seen the worst of the monsters in the world. I take it you don’t know what they are?”
“I know that they’re not ordinary grimm,” Sunset said. “I know that they’re tougher than ordinary grimm, that they don’t die or even get hurt so easily and I know that they have magic powers, which shouldn’t even be possible. But no, I don’t know what they are, where they come from or how many of them there are.”
“You think there are more than two of them?”
“I don’t think we can arbitrarily say that there are only two of them,” Sunset said. She scratched the back of her head. “Sir…I wouldn’t ask this ordinarily, but in the circumstances…is there anything you know that could help Ruby train her silver eyes?”
“Yes!”
Sunset paused, then turned around, placing one hand upon her hip. “And how long have you been listening, Ruby Rose?”
Ruby slunk out from behind the pile of boxes. “Long enough,” she admitted. “Not as long as it took you to realise that my silver eyes aren’t something to be ignored.”
Sunset sighed as she ran one hand through her hair. “This isn’t something that I take lightly,” she said, speaking to both Ruby and Taiyang at once. “But…Ruby’s eyes are a light to burn away the darkness, and it might be our best chance, or perhaps the only one.”
“Ruby’s eyes didn’t stop the thing at our house,” Taiyang reminded them.
“No, but it did slow it down which is more than either of us could say,” Sunset replied. “And maybe with some actual training…I don’t know if it will work, but people are dying and I don’t know if we can afford to turn our back on what an asset Ruby has.”
“Maybe if you hadn’t ignored it up until now-“ Ruby began.
“Nobody likes the person who says ‘I told you so’, Ruby,” Sunset said. “It’s a very unattractive trait.”
Ruby looked down at the soggy floor of the barge. “Sorry,” she said. “I just meant…since I’m fighting anyway, since I’ve always been fighting, then I might as well use every weapon that I’ve got to fight. I never understood why none of you got that, why you all wanted me to pretend that I didn’t have this power.”
“Because we didn’t think you needed it,” Sunset said. “And because we were worried about the toll that it would take on you. I still am, that’s why I don’t like to bring the subject up.”
“I don’t like that you brought it up either,” Taiyang said, in a voice that was almost but not quite a growl. “But I can see why you did.”
“Dad, I can do this,” Ruby said. “I want to do this.”
Taiyang looked at her. “That was never the issue.”
“What if Sunset’s right?” Ruby said. “What if my eyes are the only weapon we have against these things?”
Taiyang clenched his jaw visibly. “I suppose…I suppose that the effects…the effects might lessen if you get better.”
“Then there’s something you know?” Ruby asked.
“I’m not an expert,” Taiyang said. “But I spent enough time with your mother that I might have picked up a few things.”
Ruby did not look elated, as Sunset had thought that she might have done; rather she looked quietly glad, with resolve rather than excitement flickering in her silver eyes. “So when do we start?”
“Not right now,” Sunset said. “Practice, of course, but I’d rather you did it somewhere more private than here. Some people on this barge know far too much already.”
Ruby looked around. “There isn’t a lot of room for privacy here.”
“There will be,” Sunset said. “Soon.”
“Does that mean you’ve figured out our next move?” Taiyang said.
Sunset shook her head. “No, it doesn’t, I just know that we need to make one. We can’t keep going up river indefinitely.” She tapped her fingers upon the wood. “I was hoping that you might have some idea as to our next step, sir, seeing as how you’re the most experienced huntsman amongst us by some distance.”
“Experienced, sure, but I’m not a traveller,” Taiyang said. “I can’t guide us over the mountains and across the eastern half of the continent to reach the coast any more than I could find us a boat when we got there.”
“Somehow I doubt our smuggler friend is going to guide us now,” Sunset said. “He’s sticking with us out of fear, but the moment we leave the barge he’ll be gone and headed back home. I was hoping that-“
“I understand,” Taiyang said. “And if Qrow were here I’m sure that he’d know a way, but I’m not so well travelled; my career has been shorter than his, and I spent most of it in Vale.”
“I know that huntsmen crossing the mountains often use Stallion Pass, and that we might find supplies hidden there in the old fortress,” Sunset said. “But I wouldn’t know where to go from there.”
“How do you know there’d be supplies in the pass?” Ruby asked.
“Because Professor Port told a story about it,” Sunset said. “He said that huntsmen take what they need from the cache and leave what they can for the next group to come that way. His group took medicine for an injured comrade and left food.”
“You paid attention to one of Professor Port’s stories?”
“I’m afraid that getting to Stallion Pass would be pointless if we had no idea where to go from that point,” Taiyang said. “There’s a lot of ground to cover once we clear the mountains.”
“I know,” Sunset said. “I have an idea but…I am loathe to go through with it.”
“Let’s hear it, since it seems to be the only idea,” Taiyang said.
“Jaune’s sister is – or was, I don’t know what their status is at the moment – a member of the Survey Corps,” Sunset said. “She might know how we can cross the country, and find a port of some kind on the other side. But it means backtracking to Jaune’s home village, and besides that…I’m not sure that I want to get Jaune’s family involved in this. I’d like to be able to look him in the eye when we reach Mistral.”
“We have to get to Mistral before you can look him in the eye,” Taiyang pointed out.
“We all want to get to Mistral, but that doesn’t mean that we can ask Jaune’s sister to put her life on the line for us,” Ruby said. “Just because she’s his family doesn’t mean that she chose to be a part of this.”
“I know, that’s why I don’t really want to ask her if I have a choice,” Sunset said. She frowned. “It doesn’t matter while we’re still on this barge, so we have time to think about it for a little while longer. Who knows? Maybe a better idea will present itself before we need to put our…not so good idea into action.”
The weather cleared up the next day – and about time too, in Sunset’s opinion – as they reached a point at which the river was divided in two by a large island in the centre of the channel, which beyond the island opened up on a broad bay.
Upon the island had been raised a great statue, or at least Sunset thought that it must have been great once, when it marked the border of some ancient realm or stood as the monument to some great victory; now nothing remained but two vast and trunkless legs of stone, sitting upon a grey plinth surrounded by water, while it seemed that the rest of the statue had been snapped off, with a clean shearing break travelling from just below the left knee downwards towards the right ankle. Sunset looked around, and upon the left side of the river – the side of the river on which they had disembarked so ill-fatedly before – she beheld the head that had once adorned the fallen and, for the most part, vanished statue: the face of a king, a crown of stone atop his head, his expression stern, the blank stone eyes seeming to stare at Sunset as she sailed down the river.
Nothing beside remained, and the water beat on towards the sea and the barge travelled onwards in the opposite direction; who he had been, to whom this statue had been raised, and why and when, whether he had raised it to his own glory or been honoured by his obedient sons and heirs, whether he had deserved the honour or been flattered by it beyond his deserts…of all of that Sunset was wholly ignorant. Of all of that the world was as ignorant as they were of the existence of all that was left of his monument to a glory that was vanished more permanently than the statue itself. How it had fallen Sunset likewise could not say: perhaps the grimm, driven by a hatred not only of men but of the works of men, had torn it down somehow; perhaps some strong semblance had been used to slice through the stone. Perhaps time had simply worked in an unusually precise way.
Dust to dust.
Cinder came to stand at the bow beside her. “What are you thinking?”
Sunset sighed. “I was thinking that I wanted a statue once.”
Cinder looked at her out of the side of her smouldering eyes, as though she wasn’t quite sure if Sunset was joking or not. “Me too,” she said softly.
Sunset’s eyebrows rose. “Really?”
“You have such a hard time believing?”
“You always struck me as being more focussed on the realities of power than the gaudy trappings that so enthralled me.”
“You don’t think that there’s something gaudy about the ability to create storms while hovering six feet up above the ground, one’s eyeballs burning dramatically?” Cinder asked.
Sunset snorted. “You have a point there.”
“That hadn’t occurred to you until now?” Cinder asked. “I thought that might have been a reason you gave my magic away: it had become too gaudy for you.”
“Don’t start,” Sunset said. She shook her head. “For me, it was only ever half about the power itself. I’d seen Princess Celestia wield power without recognition – not that everypony didn’t know she was in charge, she was no Professor Ozpin; rather what I mean is that although she reigned without doubt she rarely ever seemed to rule while I was her student; she preferred to nudge ponies into doing what she wanted rather than giving them their orders.” Sunset paused. “I could never have done that. I wouldn’t have had the patience. I didn’t just want to have power I wanted to be acknowledged for it, to have statues raised in my honour and songs sung of my name.”
“And you think I didn’t?” Cinder asked.
“I’m not sure,” Sunset said. “Like I said, I always thought you were more focussed on the simple fact of being powerful.”
“I want to be powerful,” Cinder murmured. “I want to be strong. I want to be feared. To be feared, Sunset; you can’t be feared unless people know full well how strong you are. I wanted a statue too; I just didn’t need it to be built by the grateful beneficiaries of my magnificence; a monument raised by fearful slaves to placate me would have done just as well.”
Sunset turned to look at her. “I would very much like to think that you’re joking; unfortunately I don’t think you entirely are.”
“We’ve both been things that we are not now, and not proud of either,” Cinder said.
“We were both fools,” Sunset said. “It will all turn to dust in the end.”
“So will our bodies,” Cinder replied. “It almost makes you wonder what the point of it all is.”
“The moment is the point,” Sunset said. “I think that’s it, anyway. The now and what we have in it.”
Cinder was silent for a moment. “I have to say,” she said. “This particular moment is leaving something to be desired.”
Sunset covered her mouth with one hand to try and stifle a chuckle. “You…you’re not alone in thinking that.” She sighed. “No, you are definitely not alone.”
“You’re not blaming yourself too badly, are you?”
“No,” Sunset said. “I’m just blaming myself.”
Cinder was silent for a moment, before she said. “Do you have a new plan?”
As the barge passed the island and entered the bay, Sunset straightened up and raised her voice. “Take us in here, on the right bank. We’ll disembark there.”
A corvid cawed in the woods that grew on either side of the river as the barge glided in towards the bank, striking the earth with a gentle thump. The entire group, minus Bullseye whom Sunset suspected would be heading back to Vale as fast as he could, disembarked, offloading all the supplies that they could save only for a little food for their pilot who had, after all, done all that he had been required to do.
Sure enough, as soon as the company was off his barge and on the wooded riverbank Bullseye reversed the engine, and Sunset watched as the barge retreated backwards away from the bank and began to turn in that wide bay, pointing its fat bow in the direction in which the water flowed, towards Vale and home.
Sunset wouldn’t have been surprised at all if there were some who would have rather gone with him than stayed where they were.
“You know, before we go any further,” Torchwick said. “I think that some of us are owed a little bit of an explanation.”
And there are some I probably should have sent back with him, Sunset thought.
Cardin folded his arms. “And what makes you think that you’re owed anything, Torchwick?”
“Well, maybe owed was the wrong word,” Torchwick said. “Maybe what I should have said was ‘if you expect me to take one more step you’re going to have pay me with some straight answers first’.”
“You never asked for answers when you were working for me,” Cinder reminded him. “You never asked me any questions at all.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure I asked the questions,” Torchwick replied. “You just never gave me any answers is all.”
“And you went right on robbing and murdering just the same,” Cinder said. “You certainly never stamped your foot like a two-year old until I unfolded my aims to you.”
“It didn’t bother me so much then because I thought I had you figured out,” Torchwick said. “I thought you were someone like me, someone who wanted to tear down the system and build something better in its place.”
“Don’t paint yourself as some kind of revolutionary,” Cinder said. “Whatever you thought my objectives were you certainly didn’t share them.”
“No, I just shared an interest in acquiring money and power, which I’m not getting here,” Torchwick said. “And now I think we all share an interest in staying alive. And frankly, after the fine mess you’ve gotten us into I’m starting to learn the importance of asking all the questions. Like what the hell was that thing back at the tower? And what are we really doing out here?”
“You know what we’re doing out here,” Cardin said.
“Oh, please,” Torchwick said. “If this was just about snatching some guy then you wouldn’t have brought little red and her pops and we wouldn’t be being followed by whatever that was back there. So why don’t you tell us what’s really going on?”
“I don’t know,” Sunset said, her voice laced with sarcasm. “I really can’t imagine why I wouldn’t share everything with someone like you. You know all that you need to know: we’re going to Mistral, and you’re going to get your freedom when we get there.”
“I think we need to know what that thing was,” Torchwick said.
“I agree,” Bon Bon said, albeit with a hint of reluctance in her voice. “Sky died because we didn’t know what we were walking into.”
“We still don’t,” Sunset said. “I’ll admit that there is something about our mission that you don’t know, but when it comes to that creature I don’t know any more than you.”
“Once you’ve admitted to keeping secrets why should we believe that isn’t one of them?” Jack said.
“I don’t know,” Sunset said candidly. “It doesn’t really matter whether you believe me or not because in case you haven’t noticed the boat just left, just like you left it a little late to have this conversation because there isn’t any way back to Vale any more unless any of you fancy a walk through the woods. So you can stay here and grumble or you can accept that you know what you know and do the job.”
Torchwick raised his hand.
Sunset growled. “What?”
“The plan was that we were going to get a ride across country to the coast,” Torchwick said. “That’s not happening, so what’s the plan now?”
Sunset’s jaw clenched.
“You don’t have a plan, do you?” Torchwick said.
“It’s a work in progress,” Sunset admitted.
“I’ve got an idea,” Sami said, a smile playing across her features as she said it. “We need to get across the mountains across the eastern territory, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Sunset said, slowly and not without suspicion. “That’s right. And find a boat to Anima at the other end.”
Sami reached up and scratched around one of her caribou antlers. “I can’t say for definite that I can find us a boat, but I think I can get us to somewhere you could find a boat with a bit of luck.”
“How?” Ruby asked.
“My people are nomads,” Sami explained. “We roam around, sometimes outside the kingdoms. I left the tribe but I still remember the routes we used.”
Sunset glanced at Cardin, then at Ruby; neither of them voiced any objections or showed it on their faces. “Go on,” she said.
“We can cross the mountains via the Pass of the Raven, then go through the Goat’s Cleft,” Sami said. “Once we’re out the other side I think I can remember an eastern trail.”
“And what about your people?” Sunset said. “Will we find them, too?”
Sami shook her head. “It’s the wrong time of year to cross the mountains; if that happens it happens in summer when the weather is at its best; they’ll only just be coming out of wintering wherever they spent that, and deciding where to go next.”
“And a boat?” Sunset said. “How do we get to Anima?”
“There are a couple of port towns we used to trade with,” Sami said. “I can find them.”
Sunset nodded. She didn’t say anything for a moment as she considered Sami’s suggestion. On the one hand it was Sami, not the most trustworthy person that Sunset knew, but on the other hand…Torchwick was right, they didn’t have another plan. Taiyang was not widely travelled enough to be their guide, Sunset really didn’t want to involve Jaune’s sister if she had another choice even if you left aside the travelling to go to Jaune’s home and even if you assumed that she would help if she was asked; eastern Sanus was so strange to the rest of them that it might as well have ‘here be monsters’ written on the map. Was there a better choice available? Not really, not that Sunset could see; the biggest risk that they would encounter Sami’s people on the way, but if that was the case then Sunset was more confident in the ability of the wider group to fend them off than she was in facing some of the other potential dangers that hemmed them in.
She glanced again at Cardin, who gave a slight nod of the head in agreement. Ruby did the same, and Cinder too; all those whom she actually trusted were – however begrudgingly – in favour of this.
“Okay,” Sunset said. “The Pass of the Raven it is.”
And so they had a new direction – Sami helped Cardin to plot the course on his map – and through the rest of that day they travelled towards the mountains and the pass that Sami knew. As the darkness fell they came to a hill upon which stood the ruins of some ancient seat, where graven statues of old men, worn and weathered by the decay of years, stood garlanded by crowns of daisies on their brow and robed by moss that grew upon the stone; where the stumps of crumbling columns reached towards the sky and fragments of wall and seemed to grow amongst the trees; where stone stones had once been raised to ease the passage up the hill but now the weeds had split and cracked said stones. The walls offered a little shelter from the wind, and there were enough remains of a second floor rising above the first that there would even be shelter from the rain if it returned, and so as the night was falling they made camp there, and lit a fire in the centre of the ruin as darkness surrounded them.
Cinder took watch, standing atop the second floor and looking out across the forest, as still at times as one of the fading statues that surrounded them, at other times stalking from one position to the other with the grace of a panther, the moonlight glinting off the glass bow that she held lightly in one hand.
As the fire died, and the rest of the company slept, Sunset sat with her back to a fallen column and took out her journal.
Twilight, are you there? I really need your help with something.
Is Ruby okay?
As good as she can be in the circumstances. Her father is going to help her unlock her silver eyes.
I thought that you didn’t like the idea of her doing that.
I don’t, but in the circumstances I can’t really oppose it any more. Someone’s dead.
I’m so sorry. Who?
Nobody whose name you’d recognise. Not a friend, nor even close. But he was under my command and that makes me responsible for what happened to him just as it makes me responsible for what happens to everyone else here.
What did happen?
Something got him, but I don’t know what it was. Not a grimm, not like any grimm I’ve come across before; even Ruby’s father, a more experienced huntsman, has never seen anything like or like the other special creature that attacked us at Ruby’s house. It wasn’t made of magic like the rest of them are, but it had magic. It could do magic, Twilight, and strong magic too. No grimm should be able to do that.
And you think that Ruby’s silver eyes will provide a defence against it?
They slowed the thing at Ruby’s house; maybe they can do more with training. I don’t know, but I can’t afford to stand in the way of Ruby moving forward any longer.
You just wish there was something you could do as well, right?
Right. My best shot only seemed to irritate it; that’s the one at Ruby’s house, I didn’t stick around to fight the thing that killed Sky; I focussed on getting the other two out of here.
That sounds like a reasonable decision in the circumstances.
But, even if unicorn and pegasus magic can’t hurt these new things – whatever or whoever they are – enough to stop them, I have an idea for something that might. But you can’t tell Celestia that I asked about this. I mean it, Twilight, this has to stay between the two of us.
The fact that you felt you had to say that is a little worrying.
Sunset took a deep breath. A silver light can burn away the darkness, but perhaps a deeper dark can swallow it up also. Can you teach me dark magic?
Dark magic? That’s your plan? If Celestia knew about this
That’s why you can’t say anything to her.
You know that I should. I can’t believe that you don’t know all the reasons why dark magic is forbidden.
I know that the thing I fought at Ruby’s house was able to overpower my magic with his own. Straight up, beam to beam, and it was stronger than I am. I would have died if it weren’t for Ruby and her silver eyes. The strength of dark magic
Comes from hate and fear, you must know that. Aren’t those the very things that attract grimm?
Are you saying that you won’t help me because you’re worried that I’ll get eaten by a beowolf mid-lesson.
I don’t want you to do this because dark magic is corruptive. The more you use it the more it will make use of you in turn.
People are dying, Twilight; you say that dark magic is powered by hate and fear but I’m scared already. What if it’s Ruby next, or Cinder?
What you’re talking about might help you to defeat your enemies, but at what cost to yourself?
If it keeps Ruby and Cinder safe it will be worth it.
Even if you lose the very feelings that make you want to protect them now? You don’t know what it does to you, Sunset; you might think you do, but you don’t. I won’t help you destroy yourself.
Even if there’s no other way?
You already have a better way in Ruby.
I don’t want to put all the pressure on her; it isn’t fair.
I’m sure she’d rather that than what you’re proposing.
I can’t be helpless and reliant on Ruby. I can’t lose a friend to these new monsters.
You’ll lose all your friends if this goes wrong.
I understand that you’re concerned
I don’t understand why you’re being so unconcerned.
Because there is nothing that any dark power could do to me that I haven’t already done to myself. I found my way out of the hole once, I’ve learned my lessons already; if I have to I’ll just climb out again.
I can’t talk you out of this, can I?
No. And if you’d seen what I was up against you wouldn’t try.
There was a moment in which no more writing appeared in the journal. I suppose you want to start right away?
The wisp of black cloud that Ruby had perceived intermittently from above, that had seemed to trail their barge as it sailed down the river, descended towards the north bank of the river, and as it headed towards the ground it resolved itself into the form to which Selene had been condemned for these many ages past: that of a winged unicorn as black as the night, tall and lithe limbed, with white bone forming a helmet upon her face and armouring her chest.
Selene glided down into the forest clearing, where Sombra and Corypheus were already waiting for them, along with Salem’s giggling little creature.
She landed, tucking her wings in along her flanks.
“Well met by moonlight, Nightmare Moon,” Corypheus said, the blue glow from the tip of his staff illuminating his face.
Selene’s snout twitched. She had been called Nightmare Moon once, it had been given to her by her fearful subjects when she, as High Priestess of the Moon, had begun to sacrifice them upon her altar in worship of the lunar orb and the glory of the night. And for that they, small minded fools that they were, had resented her and paid all worship to the garish sun. She had never liked the name. “Indeed, Storm King,” she said, ascribing to him in turn the epithet given to him by those who trembled in fear of his conquering armies and the ferocity with which he laid waste to all those who stood against him.
The Storm King simply chuckled. “You think to insult me? I like the name and always did. I am the storm, the lord of storms and tempests who will sweep all things before my wrath.”
“Not quite all things,” Sombra said. “You never had the courage to challenge me in my domain.”
“I would have,” the Storm King replied. “Had Salem given us the time to see, once and for all, who was the stronger king and lord of war.”
“If you had truly wished to see who was the stronger of you you would not have made common cause to follow Salem,” Selene declared. “Where is Tirek?”
“He will not come,” Sombra said. “You know how he disdains company, and desires to walk a lonely road.”
“Indeed,” Selene said. “Very well, I shall speak of my news to the two of you alone.”
“The two of them?” Tyrian demanded.
All three of them looked, or perhaps it more accurately might be said that they glared at him. “Indeed,” Selene said. “The two of them. Hie you from this place, O capering goblin, thou jester of Salem; get you gone, you who are worthless, counting for nothing in battle or debate, and leave we princes of the world to speak as princes do.”
“I am the servant of the goddess-“
“And we are not slaves of Salem the Deceiver that we must bend our necks to the will of any mere servant in her service,” Sombra snarled. “We are the kings of storm and shadow, moon and blood. Go, servant, and when your service is required you shall be sent for once again.”
He went. He went unwillingly, his outrage plain upon his bruised and beaten face, but he went, slinking off into the darkness where he could not pry and spy upon their conference.
“So much for him,” the Storm King said. “Now we may speak at leisure. What’s the news?”
“They have left the river,” Selene said. “And entered the woods. I cannot follow them from the air, the trees are so thick that I cannot see the prey below.”
“We will find them again,” Sombra said. “They mean to cross the mountains, let us seek them there.”
“So sure of their intentions?” the Storm King said.
“Why else would they come this way,” Sombra said. “When all the wealth of this land is in the west.”
“Then why head east at all?” Selene asked.
“Perhaps to rejoin their comrades across the sea,” Sombra suggested. “The other two whom Salem would see dead.”
“Perhaps,” the Storm King allowed. “And perhaps when they are joined together we may see what disturbs the Deceiver so that she would let us loose. At present, I do not see the root of her concern.”
“One of them has the Eyes of Heaven,” Sombra growled. “They are weak, for now, but should they grow stronger then we must needs beware her wrath upon us. And the other has magic that I thought had gone out of the world.”
“Yet neither strong enough to vanquish you, nor any one of us,” the Storm King said.
“The same could not be said of Salem’s other servants,” Sombra said. “Hence why she has need of us.”
“But should we do her bidding?” Selene asked. “Or should we look to other purposes, more pleasing to our wills and natures. Think on it, cousins: four kingdoms now remain in this Remnant of the world, and here we are four kings in all once Tirek is counted in our company. Why should we, the last princes in a world which has none, not take these kingdoms for our own and let lying Salem curse our names for all that she has power over us.”
Sombra snorted. “You think you are the first to notice that there is a kingdom for each of us? You think you are the first to have this thought? My mind is fixed on sovereignty. I will go north, to the land that the men of this age call Atlas; for I have heard that it is a kingdom of great strength, where the hard lands of the north hath bred strong men; I shall take that hard land for myself, and take those hardy men also and with their strength shall ring my throne with iron as I did of old.”
“For myself I shall go east,” Selene said. “To the city called Mistral, where it is said all beauty flowers, and there I shall enjoy all the good things of this world: wine to drink, gold and fine fabrics to adorn myself, and sweet music shall be my constant accompaniment.”
“While I to the western desert shall betake myself,” said the Storm King. “And while you, Sombra, think that it is in the north that you shall find your iron men I know that it is amongst the desert rats that I will raise a new storm of furious intensity.”
“Which leaves this present Vale for Tirek,” Sombra said.
“He will not care where he goes, as long as he sits a throne,” Selene said. “If he can overcome the creatures to whom Salem has promised it already.”
“Whether he can or not is no concern of ours,” the Storm King said.
“Are Salem’s foes any concern of ours?” Selene asked, returning to the subject at hand.
“Yes,” Sombra said. “For if the girl with the eyes masters her strength then we shall all of us be in danger; as for the rest, I understand that one of them is heir to the throne of the kingdom you would take. And all of them are champions amongst our enemies.”
“Salem’s enemies,” Selene said.
“Which will oppose us also, in these monstrous forms to which we are condemned,” Sombra said. “Therefore, though it serve the will of Salem the Deceiver, let us strike them down and dishearten all our foes.”
“And then we’ll take these kingdoms for our own,” Selene said.
Is the team name pronounced Sapper? As in a military engineer?
10064811
Sapphire.
10064812
Oh. That makes more sense. Thanks.
I cannot believe Twilight would teach Sunset dark magic
Sunset, Why dive in to the darkness, Skirting the edge has its uses.
(Hey use the spell that makes crystal fear to petrify the monsters.)
Okay, that's a lot of villains
Tirek, Storm King, Sombra, and Selena?
Dang.
Question:
Are the four kings' bodies changed because of the magic or did Salem fuse them to Grimm to have control over them
10064817
Desperate times calls for desperate measures Twilight, in her infinite wisdom (sarcasm applied), cant be persuasive enough to convince sunset to not go for dark magic
So those are the 4 kings. Quite interesting that they have such enmity towards Salem. I do wonder what safeties does Salem has against them, as I doubt that she is unaware of their ambitions and the crown is still telling her that letting them go at it is the best decision.
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If we consider the black crystals that Sombra use as dark magic (no idea if they have ever been canonically defined) then Celestia taught Twilight with no fanfare and Twilight herself has used it with no issue when it was absolutely necessary.
I am quite certain that she will nag at Sunset the entire way and will only teach her the "safest" dark magic she can, though I am not sure how effective that will be in showing Sunset how bad this can go before tragedy strikes.
Equestria culture of expecting the best outcome and always doing everything to save a life is going to bite Twilight in the ass if she given Sunset too much knowledge of dark magic
So Sunset fights darkness with darkness? That is kind of concerning. But interesting, still. Surely another way could have been that Sunset gets herself some Maiden Magic or another power source, because she can't keep up otherwise. Please, don't change that, I can already feel the rage of ppl who will critize the setting. Sunset, for going through with it, and the Princess of Friendship for teaching despite her knowledge of the potential drawbacks of Dark Magic.
On another note... finally! It's so annoying that foes who have centuries or eons more of experience and time to master their power get defeated by the very young hero(es), even thought said hero has no Deux Ex Machina (Elements of Harmony) at his disposal. Sunset learning Dark Magic was unexpected, but is a reasonable and desperate attempt to even the odds and in character for someone as her, who is ready to do anything to save those she cares for.
May more dramatic future choices await us!
just found this fanfiction and i can't wait to start reading it.
alarm bells are ringing, Sunset...
RED FLAGS ARE GOING UP, TWILIGHT!!! 😱
and now we come to the four kings... it seems my theory was correct. CALLED IT!!!!
Team SAPR has been separated and is currently incomplete. Without her truest and most beloved friends at her side, Sunset cannot tap into the same level of power from Friendship and Harmony that was required to defeat these four villains in Equestria.
We can't just wait
With lives at stake
Until they think we're ready
Our enemies are gathering
The storm is growing deadly.
Thumbs up if you thought Volume 7 was fantastic!
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I'd like to, but they did wrong by Ironwood this volume in a big way and he's pretty much my favourite living character at this point so...no, I can't give them a thumbs up for that.
10065164
I believe you've demonstrated quite aptly how far someone will go, how much they will sacrifice when they're desperate to protect what they value the most.
10065164
Ironwood's development makes perfect sense though, he's been betrayed by people he thought he could trust, is faced with a seemingly unstoppable threat and now that he's been pushed to the point of desperation, with no idea who he can trust, he just wants to save what he can by any means necessary.
It sucks but the writing has been on the wall for a while that this was where things were gonna end up with him. It's unfortunate but just like how the Lion lost his courage it was inevitable that the Tinman was going to lose his heart.
Still, hopefully, he gets redeemed in the end because Watts vs Ironwood is easily one of the best fights the series has ever had.
10065164
Ever since the Volume 6 finale, I had been thinking and wondering about what had happened to Ironwood since we last saw him. Even back in Volume 4, his appearance wasn't as pristine and his uniform was less well-kept. Not to mention the five o'clock shadow. Ironwood had been going through exactly what Tai Yang just advised Sunset on in the latest chapter; obsessing over everything that had gone wrong, thinking he should have done more and slowly losing yourself in the process. During the Fall of Beacon, his protection was worthless, his own androids slaughtered the masses, he lost his fleet, his systems had been hacked... there was nothing he could do, and after Beacon all of the world turned against Atlas. Not to mention that he knew that the virus had been able to compromise his systems so easily, and as Pietro said it had to be either a genius that could do this with impunity... or they had a traitor from within. And so then he became unnerved and paranoid, worried about infiltrators and desperate to keep Atlas safe, and he acted the only way he knew how to: Locking down the borders, withdrawing all Atlesian soldiers and protection from the other kingdoms and then worst of all, declaring an embargo. During a time where global communications were down and the entire planet was spewing negativity, that embargo has slowly deprived the rest of Remnant of Atlesian weapons and the finest Dust in the world. Weapons and resources the rest of the world sorely needs.
I was quite delighted they showed that very detail with the image of the Black Queen piece. That alone confirmed so much of what I suspected before Volume 7 even began. The Supreme Commander of the mightiest military in the world... and Salem was laughing at him.
The return of Ruby, Weiss, Qrow and even Ozpin gave him new hope, but it didn't last as Arthur and Tyrian tore everything apart. And then learning that Salem was beyond his ability to kill, and then her own message to him... it finally drove him over the edge. What happens when you drive a good man too far?
10065164
Speaking of Ironwood, how are you going to make him in your story when get to that point?
Sunny is going to go Nightmare herself... Guess she can't get away from that fate no matter how her life goes.
Was hopping she would go to the Arcs, she should feel just what the gems are now that she is what she is.
Very apprehensive about the dark magic dive sunsets about to go on, but im confident you can pull it off. And the four kings, that subplot is great and continues to build in excitement, can't wait for the next one
10065279
I don't think he's going to get to that point at all given the significant divergences between canon and this story.
As vile and corrupt dark magic might be, you cannot disagree with the fact that demonic Sunset looks awesome.
And I want to see Jaune and Pyrra's reaction on her unholy beauty.
Also, want to see reaction of Arc family on "Evil Redhead".
Oh, and why Sunset did not ask Twi for healing magic the whole time they're in contact? Aura or not, Adam's Wilt proved that healing and flesh mend are things that better have and don't need than otherwise.
Corypheus, you need to get yourself a Darkspawn Dragon.
Also, I wasn't expecting Nightmare Moon to show up. I think we all called Tirek though.
I wonder when people will remember the thing Sunset and other Twilight made. Y'know? The word that starts with a B.
10064898
But she can just not teach it instead.
10064914
That was one spell and it was a quite tame one and Twilight once used it like two times.
10066388
True (but story wise that just be boring) besides as the good saying goes: Nothing ventured Nothing gained
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10065742
I am incredibly tempted to have a scene where the Blakepetals arrive for a briefing with Ironwood and find him shaving. The only issue is I can't think of a reason he'd be shaving in his office or why the Blakepetals would be coming for a briefing in his home.
10066828
Shaving on work is actually, while uncommon, is not unheard. By making hygiene on work you can save some minutes.
I, myself, when was in army, was shaving in free time after I got to battalion HQ. Just because some work requires waiting and while you wait why not shave yourself? Also, making some free time in the morning.
10066388
And Sunset is not getting much more than that.
Sunset is not going to be sacrificing virgins to blow her enemies or ripping the souls of her victims because any dark spell she learns would have been a spell Twilight would either know or be willing to learn. That narrows down the scope of this crash course quite hard.
What I think they will go for is to emulate the effects of the Alicorn Amulet, that would give power in exchange of restraint, something that is not that big of an issue when you don't want your target to survive. They may be taking risks, but they are not idiots (at least in the academic sense). They will be maximizing the power benefits of using dark magic while lowering as much as possible the consequences of the price Sunset would have to pay.
About WHY would Twilight be willing to teach her, well do remember that from the Equestrian perspective Remnant is pretty much hell. Being willing to take a risk in exchange of the power to protect the life of her friends in a extremely dangerous situation is something that Twilight would definitely sympathize with, after all that is something Twilight would do or at least be really tempted to do.
Equestria also doesn't seem to be THAT concerned about dark magic by itself. They put much more weight into the motivations behind an action that the action itself, and both Trixie and Rarity used blatantly dark artifacts with no legal repercussion. While Rarity had the excuse of having absolutely no destructive motivation or real knowledge of the situation when she used the Inspiration Manifestation, Trixie does not have that excuse in her use of the Alicorn Amulet, and yet she is treated pretty much as a bully more after the girls take the amulet from her.
Celestia is obviously not just going to let ponies carry around dark artifacts or teach dark magic on the streets, but it doesn't look like its possession is a crime by itself and given how much ponies care about intent I doubt that even its use under duress/to save someone would be considered a crime worth of imprisonment.
As an aside, anyone else having issues with notifications? I only knew you gave a response because I checked the comments, I didnt get an alert (or at least didnt notice it).
10066828
That and Ironwood didn't look/sound(?) as haggard like he was in RWBY canon. He does feel the weight and stress from the heavy losses sufferred during the Battles of Beacon & Vale, the collapse of global communications and the breakdown of communications and relations between the kingdoms and finally, the death of Headmaster Ozpin and losing the Relic of Choice. Those are heavy issues but the trust and loyalty Ironwood depends on are still strong so his canon breakdown sounds less likely. He still has his heart.......
Plus, maybe the next scene could also show Cadance talking some reason into him to try and reestablish communications with the other kingdoms, including Menagerie? The talks between her, Kali and Ironwood look like pretty good story plots for future human and faunas relations.
10067516
It is the difference between having your beliefs exalted and broken down.
Ironwood believes that with dedication, discipline and sacrifice you can march through the storm and complete your mission, and that belief was proven right in this story. Ironwood has always known that the full force of the grim is stronger that his army, and that was proved by the Wyvern easily blasting his ships, but they stood they ground, fought the tide, and were able to gain enough time for Penny and the rest of the huntsmen to slay the Wyvern and win the day. Dedication, discipline and sacrifice won the day.
While in canon first he gets berated by his allies for bringing his army, then he loses Penny (even if temporally), then his army is taken from him and used against the kingdom, leaving him to return as a shamed failure. Everything he put his hopes on failed and he is left in a hostile environment while having a crisis of faith. It is no surprise that he ended breaking down when he no longer has anything to believe in.
10067623
Good points, plus I also think there are these other differences:
(1) The presence and contributions from SAPR, RSPT and the other MLP: FiM characters, including Cadance's presence within the Atlesian council and the talks between her, Kali and Ironwood. I often felt that Remnant Cadance has a finger on the pulse of the people's heart (yes, pun intended as a shoutout to her Equestrian counterpart).
(2) Ironwood knowing about Salem's immortality curse from the start and being allowed to let SAPR and RSPT get a peek behind the curtain meant there's a bit more openess, trust and his words having more say with Ozpin compared to RWBY canon.
(3) Robyn and her Happy Huntresses' actions in RWBY canon merely represented the tensions and pushback from the people of Mantle and the rest of the kingdom's common folk. If it weren't for Ironwood's paranoid actions and Dust embargo in RWBY canon, Robyn and her Happy Huntresses didn't have to be....... chaotic neutral antagonists(?). This further pushed Ironwood's paranoia and mental state closer over the edge which is less likely now.
In SAPR, things are now VERY different........ instead Robyn and her Happy Huntresses could serve as chaotic neutrals that help show the readers what the rest of the Atlesian kingdom is like (I think in SAPR, Mantle was hinted to be located somewhere at the coast compared to RWBY canon), along with POVs of Atlesian Huntsmen and Huntresses who decided not to join the military after graduating from Atlas Academy (as stated in the official WOR: Huntsman video, that was a choice Atlas Academy's military-aligned faculty try to encourage/pressure on the students, not force or a mandatory policy).
10067516
10067623
10067714
While the suspicion towards Atlas isn't as bad as in canon, there was still the animosity towards robot Penny, Grimm experiments and the 'false flag operation' with the train (even though Sunset confessed). The real problem is that Beacon Academy still fell, Ozpin is gone and Vale is even worse off than canon. Trust isn't as much of a problem for Ironwood this time around, but he'll still be just as desperate to keep the same thing from happening to Atlas.
The worst part is how frantic he was to protect the Staff and the Lamp in Volume 7, and this time Salem already has a Relic. That must terrify him.
10067297
Twilight never studied or was able to study the Alicorn Amulet.
10068364
Irrelevant, my point was that she would try and find a spell like that.
Twilight is not exactly a great source of dark magic, so to teach Sunset anything she first has to find and research some dark magic to do so.
Given that the point is to gain the strenght to protect Sunset friends, a spell similar to the effects of the Alicorn Amulet is perfect. She doesnt need the amulet itself to research a similar spell, she already knows an effect like that exists and that gives her a north to where she can point her research.
She is also a princess now, and if I remember well the Amulet is just in storage. She may have the autority to get it (without letting Celestia know may be harder).
I was under the impression that demon Sunset Shimmer was getting skipped but apparently it's just being pushed after her ascension instead of before.
I still think Chrysalis would have fit in with the Four Kings group better than Storm King of all people but whatever.
I don't know if anyone's pointed this out yet but with them being four ancient royals calling Salem the Deceiver I'm guessing they are the royalty Salem convinced to fight the Gods and that these forms are their punishment. Since they called it damnation.
10068245
Even if Beacon Academy briefly fell to the Grimm Wyvern, it wasn't as permanent like in RWBY canon where Grimm are gathering there due to being drawn by the trapped Grimm Wyvern. In SAPR and seen publicly, the system worked thanks to the combined efforts of both the Huntsmen Academies and the Atlesian and Mistralian militaries, albiet with heavy losses. The current public issues are the collapse of global communications (and by extension, international trade and service-based economies), Vale's personal identity+global trust+personal security issues/crisis and the floundering of international relations due to the previous points. And that's only the publicly known issues.......
Privately, Ironwood and those in the know are also deeply worried of what's Salem's next move now that she has the Relic of Choice. And considering potentially tense relations due to former Great War grudges and human-faunas tensions........
I suppose Ironwood's better in-story position compared to RWBY canon are among the minor bright spots for Atlas......
She spends all this time trying to purify Cinder of her darkness and hunger for power just to start seeking power through darkness herself. Not sure Sunny is really taking her own lessons to heart
I suspect we'll be seeing a bit of role reversal at some point...
10069138
Chrysalis has already been established as a member of the White Fang. Plus even as Queen of the changelings her reign, power and infamy was never as... shall we say "impressive" as the others here.
10069721
Dono, could be useful, Sombra’s crystal spell to turn Grimm to crystal?
10064957
Orbital friendship cannon of deux ex Machina
10064886
I think this is the end for all mortals who so directly serve Salem.
So Cinder should take a good look and see the fate she avoided.
As we know, Aura and Semblance are manifestations of one's soul. And in Equestria the power of soul manifests in magical power. Ponies (and other creatures) do not need Aura (in general) because they have natural resillence to outside powers, be it blunt force, mind control or something like fire or poison. This is because of higher compability of creatures of Equestria with magic. All ponies possess magic but it manifests in different ways: earth ponies generally more resillent, strong and have higher compability with nature, be it flora, fauna, soil or rock (Apple Pies in general); pegasi have ability to fly (with wings to small for aerodynamic flying) and often affilates with motion, speed, resistance to elements and control of such elements (Rainbow Dash (water and/or light), Lightning Dust (electricity), Spitfire (flame or heat, of all things; her plot symbol is literally wing of fire) not necessary in literal meaning; unicorns, while not having distinct affinity in one or another aspect, have their horns that act as foci for magical power and as result greater divergence of their powers and abilities such as telekinesis (all ponies have magikinesis but unicorns can use it without touching a object) and talent skills (which are quite simillar to Semblance because Semblance is that - a semblance of magic). Alicorns are bit different, they are not only a combiation of all three but also have great affinity to soul magic (which, presumably, makes them resillent - but not immune - to dark magic as well) This explains why all mature alicorns have soul aspect in them (Celestia - the Sun - power, mind, spirit and soul; Luna - the Moon - life, time, reflection and adaptability; Mi Amore Cadenza - the Heart - feelings, emotions, will and courage; Twilight Sparkle - the Star - hope, constanst, presense of divinity, spark of creativity; and now Sunset Shimmer with her Sun of Dualism). Because alicorns can use soul aspect, their raw magical power dwarfs magical power of all other ponies and most of other creatures.
Remnant was populated with magical creatures (apart from grimm, which are magical constructs) and people (not humans, people) were able to use magic but because of Divine Jerk #1 and Divine Jerk #2 they were purged and new people were designed to not possess magic. But here's their big mistake: they still have a soul which means that their magical powers cannot be outright taken but merely blocked. And someone (presumably, Ozma) teached them how to unlock the powers of outer shell of soul, how to turn will to power. Not magic, merely a semblance of magic, but this is enough to make difference between struggle with creatures of grimm and outright wipeout of people.
...
I lost my thought.
What about Ren and Nora? Where are they..? Could they have gone back home? And if so, will they meet the Grimm who killed their families? Will they survive?.. Or will they be helped by one blonde who appears at the right time?
Ahem, anyway, let's see what we've learned.
Sunset is going to learn dark magic, one of her team wants to kill Maiden, we still don't know anything about Yang and Crow as well... That there are four kings in the world: most likely created by the Younger Brother himself when the Brothers were still on earth. Oh, I almost forgot, Neo joined the squad! Yohu, more Neo, the God of Ice Cream!
STOP DISAPPOINTING ME!
She’s two for two now. Get Your head straight girl!
Just cause you can’t convince them does not mean join em.
10064850
I also
I am stopping my reread momentarily at this point, for everything preceding this. The Sunset beating herself up, and the pep talk Tai gave her from his own experiences, with both characters giving firm lines as to what they won't discuss was excellent. We understand why in both cases, even if we don't know all of the details when it comes to Tai. Part of that is on Sunset's reputation, I'm sure, but not all of it.
And Ruby is still Ruby in interrupting such a bonding moment. For all the funk she's been in, it's good to see.
I wonder how many people caught it. I don't see any comments here, but this is the first time that (excepting any rewrites in the first 10 chapters since I didn't check those) Sunset has said the word 'everypony' outloud. Granted I didn't look for 'anypony' or 'somepony' or other derivatives, but the only instance she thought it at all was in "Threadneedle" six chapters ago. It could just be an oversight, but let me go with this for a bit.
Sunset is, for once, talking about her Equestrian experience. The most she's ever really talked about it is with Ruby, and maybe Jaune, but he wasn't aware of the pony stuff for their first trip to Mistral. She is slipping into her native verbiage here and it shows just how close she is with Cinder right now to both be talking about it, and be slipping into 'everypony' speak rather than 'everyone.' It also makes sense, again, because she's speaking of something decidedly Equestrian.
The only thing I'm possibly disappointed about is that Cinder didn't call her on it. It could have happened with an anypony/somepony though in the past, I can't be sure, and I'm not about to control-f through 200 chapters again.
Beyond that, we get more info on the four and it's great, we get Sunset pursuing dark magic and that's going to be fun, we get Torchwick being a touch too slow, but my mind is still hinging on that use of everypony, and it's made me think of two things:
One: I kind of wish the rest of SAPR had gotten a chance to know more about Equestria. I'm sure they'd have some humorous opinions on the prospect of a pony kingdom. And two: Princess Twilight and Cinder having a book conversation would be especially interesting.
10343044
It IS the only time in the entire story that Sunset says the word "everypony". Remember that you can download the entire fic as a .txt from the download options in the main page, quite useful for CTRL+F searching.
I do agree that having Sunset talking with the rest of SAPR or Cinder about Equestria is something that I really want to see.
Edit: Scratch that, what I really want is for Blake to tell the others what Celestia and Luna told her, and that Sunset is technically the Gods of Remnant grandaughter.
Boy is learning the full origin story of both worlds something that Celestia, Luna, Ozpin and Salem not going to like. Celestia and Luna because they will feel guilty of how much their parents screwed over everyone in Remnant, Ozpin because he will be quite conflicted, and Salem is going to pop a vein from learning that her grand plan may be no-viable from the start, depending if the elements (I assume the sisters used them) banished the brothers so hard that they would be unable or unwilling to go back to Remnant once the 4 relics are brought together.
Heavy existentialism ffs.
Sorry I can't help but be sad by reading this and so many other descriptions so far in this novel. This just seemed a particularly sad one and yes I might be crying a bit