a/n: Happy Thanksgiving! Let's celebrate with a Halloween Special!

As is Costumary

It was October in the world of Remnant (please ignore the publication date) and our pint-sized Chibis were doing some last second shopping.

"What are we doing in the middle of town again?" Bumblebee asked.

"Ruby's birthday is coming up, so that means she's gonna be a bit more of a brat than usual," Yang explained.

"How so?"

"She wants a costume party," Yang explained, "And while I wasn't planning on Trick-or-Treating this year, she will not be happy if her own sister doesn't wear a costume to her party!"

"Yeah…" the motorcycle winced, "I can see how that wouldn't be pretty…"

"Thankfully, we still have a few hours until the costume shop closes," Yang replied, "I already bought Ruby's present weeks ago."

"Speaking of Ruby, what do you think she's up to right now?"

"I'm sorry, he said what?!" Sienna Khan asked.

"He said he was too cool for this cutesy comedy spin-off," White Fang Lieutenant Schwarz Kohle replied.

"I'm sorry, I thought that expanding into this comedy spin-off to make sure the Faunus are treated properly would trump all else, or does he just not care about the cause?" Sienna asked, "Seriously, Blake is here and she left the White Fang back in Volume 1!"

Sure enough, Blake was there, right next to Schwarz.

"How long have you been-"

"I've been here since before you joined the White Fang," Blake answered, "But something doesn't make sense to me."

"What's that?"

"Why did the story cut to us when Bumblebee asked about Ru-"

A whirlwind of petals crashed through the wall.

"There you are!" Ruby declared, before grabbing Blake, "C'mon, we've gotta get you a costume!"

"Wait, wha-"

"What do you think you're doing?" Sienna asked.

"Whatever I want," Ruby answered, "Cuz it's my birthday!"

She then dashed through the wall in another burst of petals, taking Blake with her, creating another hole right next to the first.

"… Well…" Sienna remarked, "Looks like we're going to have to restart recruitment."

"So, you're up to speed on the plan?" Sideways asked.

"Well, yes, but…" Mira's voice trailed off.

"But what?"

"How is fire-retardant foam going to hurt Optimus Prime?"

"Look, are you going to keep questioning my genius plans, or are you going to help me empty these fire extinguishers into these water balloons?" Sideways asked as he held up two armfuls of fire extinguishers.

"Hiya guys!" Ruby announced as she burst through the wall, Blake still in tow.

"EEK!" Mira dived behind Sideways.

"WHAT EVIL PLAN?!" Sideways shouted as he dropped the fire extinguishers onto the ground, causing all of them to burst and cover him with foam, "Oh, now I see the flaw in this plan."

"… I see nothing suspicious about this," Ruby remarked, apropos of nothing.

"Okay, what do you want?" Sideways asked as he wiped the completely harmless foam off of his body.

"Well you see, it's my birthday, and I was hoping to invite everyone!" Ruby explained.

"Even though we're supposed to be robots in disguise?" Sideways asked.

"Uh…"

"I don't think you thought this through," Blake pointed out.

"Dang it," Ruby crossed her arms and pouted, "I was hoping they'd really liven up the costume party."

"… A costume party, you say?" Sideways asked.

"Yep."

"Meaning everyone would be in disguise?"

"Technically."

"So if someone's costume was good enough, you'd have no way to identify them, allowing them to basically get away with whatever they want so long as it happens close enough to the party that the costume doesn't raise any suspicion?"

"Strangely specific, but yes."

Sideways grinned.

"Perfect! In that case-" he shoved Mira in front of him, "She can attend just fine!"

"Wait, WHAT?!"

"Excellent!" Ruby declared as she grabbed Mira's arm.

"Hold on, don't I get a say in this?!"

"NOPE!" Ruby declared as she latched onto Blake's arm, "LATER!"

And then she crashed through the wall, leaving another hole.

"Welp… Time to adjust my sinister plot to account for this…" Sideways remarked, "HEY OPTIMUS! I have an idea on how we can build up morale!~"

Marissa Faireborn was enjoying a quiet, peaceful afternoon as the leaves fell from the trees.

"HELLO!" Ruby shouted as she burst through a wall.

"Gah!" Marissa jumped, "Wait, how did you do that? We're outside!"

"It's my birthday," Ruby answered.

"… Okay…"

"And I'm going to be inviting/kidnapping you," Ruby added.

"I guess that… Wait…" Marissa's voice trailed off, "Inviting/what?!"

"Perfect! I knew I could count on you!" Ruby replied, "Now get in the bag with the others! I only have two arms!"

"Wait, why would I-" The burlap sack went over Marissa's head before she could object.

"And we're here!" Ruby announced as she untied the neck of her bag and dumped Blake, Mira, and Marissa onto the sidewalk onto the sidewalk, "See you all at the party later!"

And with that, she zipped off.

"… Oddly enough, that has got to be the most pleasant bag I've ever been shoved into against my will," Blake remarked as Mira desperately searched her pockets.

"This is a normal occurence for you?" Marissa asked as Mira pulled her helmet out of a back pocket.

Akai stepped out of the front door of the shop at the pile in front of her.

"New friends of Ruby, I take it?" she asked as Mira yelped and put her helmet back on.

"Yep!"

"I'm more of an acquaintance, actually."

"Why must I be perceived?!"

"… Welp, she's gonna be insufferable if you don't have costumes," Akai noted as she checked her bag, "Come with me if you value your sanity."

Later that evening, the Ark was decorated with orange and black paper chains and pumpkins with the Autobot insignia carved onto them.

"I fail to see the point of this," Ratchet grumbled as he stepped out in a nurse's outfit.

"You do realize that we're supposed to be dressed as things we're not, right?" asked Drift, who was dressed as a ninja.

"And I'm a doctor," Ratchet replied, "Therefor, since I'm not a nurse, I'm dressing as something I'm not."

"… You just wanted to prove you could rock those heels, didn't you?"

"You can't prove that."

"Anyway," Arcee interrupted as she stepped in, wearing a mostly brown outfit and a blue wig with an abnormally long and bandaged ponytail, "Does anyone know what Optimus is supposed to be?"

The Autobot leader was wearing a stitched up, floppy, bluish-gray costume with a hole in the neck for his face directly below a much longer fake face with button eyes.

"I felt a strange sense of familiarity when I saw this donkey costume," Optimus remarked, just in time for the fake face to droop down over his actual face. "Oh dear."

"Honestly guys, I don't think you're appreciating the fact that, while you all had hours to prepare, I had to throw together this outfit in just thirty minutes," Bumblebee remarked as he put his costume's mask on, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to put together a convincing costume of an unlikable and overrated edgelord with only thirty minutes of forewarning?"

Indeed, Bumblebee was dressed in black and red, with a white Grimm mask.

"Honestly, I thought you were going for a Cliffjumper who'd been in the oven for too long," Drift admitted.

"… Everyone's a critic."

"At least you have a costume," Hot Rod remarked, "I only had time to repaint myself in purple to look like an evil alter ego of myself from another universe where I was possessed by the Matrix of Chaos after having a crisis of self doubt."

"Oh! That sounds like it would make for an interesting and emotional plotline!" Arcee commented.

"… No comment…" Hot Rod replied, "Hey, where's Sideways? This was his idea!"

"As eager as he was to participate, I had a very important job for him to do," Optimus explained, "After all, he would probably want to keep an eye on his partner…"

Sideways growled as Ruby's birthday party entered full swing.

Two evil plans down the drain in one day…

"Mira, why aren't you wearing a costume?" Yang asked. Yang was dressed up in a witch's gown and hat.

"I am in costume," Mira replied as she put on her helmet.

"You're just wearing your usual outfit," Yang remarked.

"Look, it was hard to top my default ensemble when I'm attending as an antisocial introvert who was forced to attend against her will by her so-called friend!"

Sideways grumbled loud enough for Mira to hear, but quiet enough to be drowned out by the music.

"Did I miss something?" Blake asked as she walked up to them. She was dressed as a pirate captain, complete with an eyepatch and a peg leg.

"Blake that does not look comfortable," Yang remarked as she analyzed the peg leg part of the costume, where Blake had to keep her left leg bent to attach the peg to her knee.

"I already fight in heels," Blake deadpanned, "Style trumps comfort, Xiao Long."

"Hey, there's a reason my costume doubles as a suit of armor," Akai remarked as she walked up in a green and white armored suit with a girl with a bedsheet draped over her head.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Blake asked.

"I'm Phenolo-Phi, the Micronaut," Akai answered.

"And I'm Acroyear," Marissa replied, dressed primarily in red armor, "The second I saw that he had a jetpack, I was sold."

At that moment, a man in a scarecrow costume walked up to the group.

"I drew the short straw," Qrow Branwen grumbled, "Of course Taiyang gets the good costume…"

"Leader-1 from GoBots?" Yang questioned.

"Yep."

At that exact moment, a Beowolf with cardboard on its arms and legs approached the group.

"Hey guys, isn't this party grea-"

"TALKING GRIMM!" Yang shouted, before punching the Beowolf so hard that it toppled over and lost its head.

"… Ow…" revealing Ruby Rose underneath.

"OHMIGOSH RUBY!" Yang zipped over to her sister's side, "Are you okay?"

"… I knew I should've listened when they said the costume was too lifelike…" Ruby groaned, "But I just had to say 'But Robo-Grimm aren't real!' instead of going for a faker looking costume…"

"That's hindsight for ya," Yang replied as she helped her sister up.

"Wait, if you were in the Beowolf costume…" Akai glanced over to the sheeted figure next to her, "Who've I been hanging out with this entire time?"

"… Oh! I just realized I never introduced myself," the girl remarked as she removed her bedsheet, "The name's Amber, how's it going?"

"… Weren't you incinerated?" Qrow asked.

"What're you talkin' about Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked as she zipped over to Amber, "Nothing bad EVER happened, remember?"

"But, wait," Qrow cut in, "Isn't half the cast's presence here on Remnant based on-"

"All that matters is that the gang's all here!" Ruby cut in, as she, Blake, and Yang stood in a line, an awkward gap very clearly present between Ruby and Blake.

"This still doesn't make any-"

"And would you look at that!" Ruby interrupted, "The oneshot's over! That means we have no time to explore the implications of the events that just transpired!"

"Hang on, you can't just throw a curveball like that at the last second and expect it to wor-"

The End!

Update 12/1/2021: Corrected the spelling of Shwarz's name.