The next day, Pyrrha stood on the stage in a long, golden armor-style dress alongside a stoic Weiss, a cheerful Penny, and a shy Blake. Cinder was strangely missing. The winner of the Princess Trial was about to be announced, and Prince Jaune's identity would be revealed to the public afterward.
Pyrrha was happy, but not because she would be a princess. She had spent most of her life being put on a pedestal, a child star excelling in tournaments she'd been competing in to support her family ever since her father died. Becoming a princess would only put her on more of a pedestal. It was a fact that had given Pyrrha anxiety ever since Jaune had confessed to her that he was the prince of Vale back at Beacon. She'd almost been too afraid to enter the Princess Trial. But she had fallen for Jaune before she'd found out that he was a prince, and she had decided that she would put up with being on that pedestal because of her love for him.
The announcer's voice boomed into the microphone. "And the winner of this year's Princess Trial is..."
But he never got to finish the sentence, because suddenly a familiar-looking sword stabbed him in the back.
One of Penny's swords.
Screams erupted in the audience as more of Penny's swords found targets. The girl quickly withdrew her blades from her victims and turned to face her fellow princess candidates and the prince, her normally innocent mint green eyes glowing red.
Pyrrha leapt into action. She couldn't let more people get hurt. She charged at Penny and their weapons clashed against each other's. Penny blasted lasers at Pyrrha that she narrowly dodged. Suddenly Penny's swords filled the air, seeming to multiply by hundreds right before Pyrrha's eyes. With no other choice, she lashed out with her polarity semblance hard to control the blades, sending them back at Penny. The attached strings wrapped around Penny and ripped her body apart, revealing metallic body parts.
All Pyrrha could do was stand and stare in shock at her first kill.
"Well would you look at that? This competition certainly has gotten nasty. First there was the reveal that two princess candidates have been hiding their love for each other while pretending to want the prince, then there was the terrible bigotry on display by the princess candidate who cruelly outed them, and now this? Why would Atlas send a robot- a military weapon- disguised as an innocent young girl to Vale's Princess Trial?" a somewhat familiar female voice asked over the intercom.
"People of Remnant, this is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, and your children to men who claim to be our guardians but are, in reality, nothing more than men. And what do we really know about these men in these positions of power? I happen to know that one of them has skeletons in his closet- skeletons that have been hidden for a very long time."
The voice sounded laced with venom on that last part. It continued, "With such corrupt, untrustworthy leadership, is it really surprising that we've had huntsmen and huntresses like the horrible late team AZUR being idolized? They had a skeleton in their closet too- a 15-year-old girl from an abusive home in Atlas, made to look like a victim of White Fang violence when in reality it was team AZUR that brutalized her."
The voice had seemed overwhelmed with emotion during that last part, but it recovered quickly.
"The thing is, even though Penny was a robot, she was also a girl- a life. And now that girl, perhaps after having snapped under the pressure of becoming Vale's perfect princess and pit against her peers, has been put down by fellow princess candidate and role model to young girls, Pyrrha Nikos.
"Is this how our kingdoms should be run? Why does our leadership insist on using powerful young huntresses and huntsmen to feed the royal bloodlines? What are they hiding from us? One thing's for sure: The grimm are coming."
Just then, a horde of grimm began crashing in through the palace windows, and White Fang Members and Atlesian knights parachuted down from airships.
...
"Penny!" Ruby cried from the hallway. "Why?"
She had just left the ladies' room when she saw Pyrrha deal the death blow to her dear friend. Although she had only known Penny for a short time, the two of them had become very close. And for some reason, that feminine voice over the intercom giving that dark speech sounded very familiar to Ruby.
All of a sudden Ruby spotted Mercury Black, a member of Cinder's team back at Beacon and one of the few men who had entered the Princess Trial for a shot at marrying the prince, at the end of the hallway. Something about Mercury had always seemed...off...to Ruby. Insincere. Right now he was using his scroll to film the destruction on display.
Just then it dawned on Ruby who the voice on the intercom sounded like: Cinder.
It can't be, Ruby thought, a feeling of dread overtaking her.
Mercury stopped filming and walked toward the stairwell.
Ruby followed him.