This was written for nuts-and-dolts-week on tumblr. I am not at all affiliated with RoosterTeeth.

Ruby used Crescent Rose to send the boxes tumbling, but she knew that wouldn't stop the Atlesian soldiers chasing after Penny for long. Ruby wasn't sure how long she and Penny could outrun them, so she used her semblance to try and get them further ahead. Unfortunately, Ruby wasn't great at taking people with her while using her semblance, which caused Ruby to fall out of it in the middle of the road.

Where there was an oncoming truck. Ruby barely had the time to brace herself, to hope that her aura would take enough of the hit that it wouldn't hurt too much, when Penny pushed her out of the way.

The truck hit Penny's braced hands. Penny's eyes seemed to faintly glow. The ground cracked below Penny's feet. Frost coated the late summer cement.

Ruby thought she smelled something burning.

"Penny?" Ruby asked in a small voice. Was this Penny's semblance?

"Are you okay?" Penny asked. Her concerned tone was tinged with pain. Penny glanced down at her hands, and they immediately closed into fists. A crowd began to gather, including the two Atlesian soldiers. Penny pushed past Ruby and ran further away.

"Penny, come back!" Ruby yelled as she began to run after her friend. She glanced behind herself; the Atlesian soldiers weren't chasing them anymore.

"Penny, please," Ruby said when she caught up to her friend. "What is going on? Why are you running? How did you do that?"

"I can't. Everything's fine." Penny hiccuped. Her hands were still in fists. "I don't want to talk about it!"

Penny hiccuped again and hugged herself.

"Penny, if you could just tell me what's wrong I can help you."

Penny turned away. "No, no, no, you wouldn't understand."

"I can try," Ruby said. "You can trust me."

Penny looked over her shoulder. Her eyes were rimmed with red. "You're my friend, right? You promise you're my friend?"

"I promise," Ruby said.

Penny sighed. The panel on the back of her dress opened; it was the same one that Penny's swords had come out of back during the fight at the docks. However, instead of swords, a pair of wings unfurled. They were green, and iridescent, and almost looked like they were coated in some sort of glitter. They reminded Ruby of a firefly or a dragonfly, but not quite. There was something... off about the shape.

"You're... a faunus?" Ruby asked. Penny had flinched when General Ironwood mentioned how that many situations required a human touch. Also, Penny had known that Blake was a faunus, and apparently so had Sun, so maybe that was how Penny had known? Still, why was Penny so scared of telling Ruby?

"No, I..." Penny turned to Ruby, her wings folding slightly behind her. She opened her closed hands, revealing the burns. "I'm fey."

Ruby's eyes flickered between Penny's hands and wings. "Penny, I don't understand. I thought fey went extinct centuries ago?"

Well, that was what they had learned in Dr. Oobleck's class, anyways. Apparently fey were less likely to attract grimm, or something, and yet they had been hunted to extinction.

"Most girls are born, but I was made from well-preserved DNA found on one of the tundras. I have actual magic, not just an aura and semblance," Penny said. There was a proud look on her face, but it quickly turned to shame. "I'm not really... normal. I'm not really sure if I'm real, even."

Ruby took Penny's hands in her own, careful to avoid the burns. "Of course you are. You think just because the way you came into the world is different or the fact that you're from an ancient magical bloodline makes you any less real than me?"

"You're taking this extraordinarily well," Penny said, her face getting close to Ruby's. Ruby tried not to blush.

"You're my friend, Penny, and you being fey isn't going to change that." Ruby was unable to brace herself for the bone-crushing hug that came after it.

"Oh, Ruby! You're the best friend that anyone could have!" Ruby was unable to brace herself for the bone-crushing hug.

"I can see why your father wants to protect such a delicate flower..." Ruby grumbled, and she was only being somewhat sarcastic. From the way Penny was hugging her, Ruby had a good view of one of Penny's wings. Compared to the rest of her, it seemed more delicate.

Penny seemed to take the hint, and she let go of Ruby. "Oh, he's very sweet. My father's the one who cloned me! I'm sure you would just love him."

"Wow, all by himself?" Ruby had always been more into regular engineering as opposed to bioengineering, but cloning a person seemed really complicated, especially if you didn't have a baseline for that person.

"Well, almost. He had some help from Mr. Ironwood." One of Penny's fingers twitched. Ruby got the feeling that the story that fey were weak to iron wasn't just a fairy tale.

"Wait, like General Ironwood? Is that why those soldiers were after you?"

"They like to protect me too," Penny said. Her smile faded ever so slightly.

"They don't think you can protect yourself?" Ruby couldn't help but glance over her shoulder, just in case.

"They're not sure if I'm ready yet." Penny pressed her burnt hands together and winced. "One day, it will be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and test myself in the Tournament." She glanced down at her injured hands. "Though, I might need to get some gloves."

"Penny, what are you talking about?" Penny started to gesture with her hands, and Ruby quickly amended her question. "Save the world from what? We're in a time of peace."

"That's... not what Mr. Ironwood said." The two of them froze upon hearing the shout of one of the Atlesian soldiers.

"You have to hide!" Penny began to look around, and then she picked Ruby up. Thankfully, Ruby had enough of her aura that she was able to use her semblance to escape from Penny's grasp.

"Penny, you don't have to go with them; I can help you." Penny bit her lip; Ruby looked around. "You have wings. Can you fly?"

"I... somewhat?"

"Between my semblance and your wings, we might be able to get up to the roof."

Penny glanced toward the voices of the Atlesian soldiers, and back towards Ruby. She nodded. Ruby wrapped her arms around Penny, and the two of them flew to the roof and out of sight just in time for the Atlesian soldiers to arrive. The soldiers stopped, and one of them glanced in the dumpster. The two of them then continued down the alleyway.

"Hey, do you wanna head somewhere and, like, get some ointment for your hands or something?" Ruby asked once she was sure it was safe.

"I, I'm fine. No maintenance will be required." Penny hiccuped.

Ruby couldn't help but wonder if the stories they told about fey not being able to lie were exaggerated.