The Shining Beacon

"The Shining Beacon" is the second episode of the RWBY animated series that was shown on the Rooster Teeth website on July 25th, 2013, 7 pm at GMT -6 (July 26th, 1 am at GMT +0). A preview of the episode during its unfinished stages was previously shown at RTX on July 5th, 2013, the same day of the premiere of the RWBY series.

Summary
The airship lands at Beacon Academy, and the students of Beacon quickly leave the ship. Jaune empties his uneasy stomach at a nearby garbage bin, and it is later revealed by him that he often suffers air sickness. Ruby and Yang are amazed at the sight of Beacon Academy.

Ruby was initially overwhelmed at the sight of many weapons owned by the other students. When inquired by Yang about her obsession with weapons, and whether she was happy with her current one, Ruby explains that each weapon is as different from one another, like their owners, and seeing each one is like meeting a new person - only way better.

Yang encourages Ruby to find some new friends, but Ruby is uninterested, as she has Yang to hang out with. With this, Yang reveals that she has already made some new friends of her own and rushes inside the academy to hang out with them. Left stunned and dizzy by Yang's exit, Ruby falls on a trolley carrying luggage owned by Weiss Schnee.

Weiss scolds Ruby on the volatile nature of the luggage, explaining that the content is Dust; more importantly, Ruby could have blown them both to bits. Weiss also points out that Ruby is too young to attend the academy, further scolding the latter on the fact that Beacon is a school to train Hunters to hunt and kill monsters, and not just an "average" combat school such as Signal Academy.

Unfortunately, while a vial of Dust is being waved in Ruby's face, she breathes some in and sneezes, quite explosively, on Weiss. Blake Belladonna spots the pair and explains that Weiss is the heir of the Schnee Dust Company, which is famous for providing the bulk of the world's Dust supply, but also infamous for its controversial labor practices and questionable business partners.

This latter point leaves Weiss stunned and angry and causes her to leave in a storm, leaving her servants to pick up her luggage, while Ruby shouts to Weiss that she'll find a way to make it up to her later. She then attempts to thank Blake for defending her, only to see her walk off too. Disappointed by how badly her first day is going, Ruby lays down on the ground to think for a moment.

Luckily, she finally befriends Jaune, whom Ruby identifies as "vomit boy." The pair immediately hit it off, Ruby introducing her Crescent Rose and explaining that she "went overboard in designing it" at Signal. Embarrassed upon seeing the advanced weapon, Jaune awkwardly introduces his weapon, which is a simple sword, a family heirloom, being held inside a shield and sheath combination.

The pair realize that they are lost believing that the other knew where they were going and followed suit.

Trivia



 * Roughly half of the episode was shown at RTX alongside the first episode.
 * During RTX, the scene where Ruby sneezes on Weiss has the explosion and Dust effects removed and a cameo appearance by RWBYsaurus along with the captions "VFX missing" and "KA BOOM" is replaced.
 * Ruby reveals that all students at Signal forge their own weapons.
 * When Weiss says "Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?", this is likely a reference to the Phineas and Ferb television series, which is a running gag in the show.