Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-4830106-20141010002549/@comment-24994749-20141010130932

Well, for one, Ruby's fall from the Nevermore wasn't quite the same as her fall into the hole in this ep.

Her fall from the Nevermore was cut mid air by Jaune and then she jumped off the tree branch to join Yang. There is also the whole psychological aspect: she had been intending to jump from the Nevermore, against here where the ground just collapsed under her and she barely managed to save her dog (anyone who has a pet will understand the panic the idea of it falling into a dark of doom like that can give you).

As for Sun and Penny taking down the goons easily. Sun, while he too uses a pole arm, his fighting style seems to be largely unarmed, given he delayed deploying his staff up until he was effectively surrounded. And Penny is a combat robot and she didn't really engage in hand.to-hand with any of them, she used the swords always.