As The group of friends split up, Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed Rarity’s attention before she could leave. “Hey.. Rarity?” She asks and Rarity turns to face her. “Hey uhhh.. could you.. help me with something?” She asks and Rarity raises an eyebrow before she and Dash walk together for a bit.
“What is it I can help you with darling?” She asks and they continue talking for a bit as Rainbow explains something that she found.. embarrassing.
“I’m so glad you’ve found your own way to honor Light Hope, this is really nice of you to do.” Rarity says and Rainbow gives a sad smile as she sits with Rarity standing behind her, working on something for her.
“Thanks.. I also figured it was time to switch things up a little, y'know?” She asks and Rarity smiles and nods. “How.. how are the plans for her funeral coming along..?” Rainbow hesitates to ask and Rarity stops for a second before continuing.
“Very well actually, with a little luck and no more attacks, the funeral should take place in about.. two days.” She says and Rainbow nods in understanding before Rarity finishes up. “Alright, all done, what do you think?” Rarity asks as she passes a mirror to Rainbow Dash who checks out her new mane-style and smiles at how it looks. (Read the Author’s Note for the link to see it.)
“Huh.. I actually like it.” She says and Rarity squeals in excitement.
“It actually felt really nice to do something like that again. Especially for one of my friends.” She says and Rainbow chuckles, puts the mirror down and stands up, turning to face Rarity.
“Thanks Rarity.. I know it’s late but.. she did say that it would’ve eventually grew on me.. and I already believe her.” Rainbow says and Rarity nods and hugs her friend, prompting her to hug back.
“Not at all dear.. I’m glad I was able to help you.” Rarity says before they separate and Rainbow starts to walk out and Rarity smirks, deciding that now was the perfect time to tease her about something. “Going to show it off to a certain princess I see.” She says and Rainbow instantly freezes up and turns to her, pretending not to understand.
“Uhhhh I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m going to bed.” Rainbow says and Rarity gives her a knowing smirk.
“If you say so darling, but just know that you aren’t too great at hiding it.” Rarity says and Rainbow rolls her eyes.
“Ok what about you with Spike.. or a certain Earth Pony we know?” Rainbow asks with her own smirk and Rarity blushes, causing Rainbow to burst right into a laughing fit. “You aren’t too great at hiding it yourself.”
“Wha- Well I- You.. just go already! Shoo!” Rarity says, playfully pushing Rainbow Dash out the door. “Goodnight to you, Rainbow Dash.”
“Night, Rarity.” She responds before walking off as Rarity closes her door. Rainbow walks for a while, staying deep in her thoughts.. if Rarity already knew about.. what she felt for Twilight, she wonders who else knew. She walks right pass the planning room but stops as soon as she does.. hesitating before sighing and slowly and quietly walking in. She sees Spike has already fallen asleep and has been tucked in by Twilight who’s still up trying to figure out a plan. She smirks and gets the idea to sneak up and get closer.
Twilight’s ears twitch and she can’t help but giggle and know who it is without even turning around. “I know you’re there Rainbow.” She says and Rainbow groans in annoyance as she starts to walk normally to her.
“One of these days, I’ll be able to surprise you again.” She says and that’s when Twilight turns around and sees her new mane-style. Rainbow looks embarrassed and averts her eyes. “Is it.. bad.” Rainbow asks and Twilight snaps out of the amazed state she’s in to answer.
“No no no! It’s amazing. You look.. really beautiful.” Twilight says, and Rainbow blushes before sitting on the table right next to Twilight’s plans. “And you’ve already surprised me Rainbow, in more ways than one. I thought you would’ve kept your original mane style.” Twilight says and Rainbow shrugs and responds.
“Yeah, well after cutting some of my mane off and realizing it was gonna take a bit for it to grow back.. and seeing that it didn’t look right the way I had cut it, I remembered something Light Hope had told me and showed me.” Rainbow says and Twilight looks confused so she continues. “She might have.. made my mane like this once when Fluttershy and I meditated with her and said.. it would grow on me someday.. and she was right.” Rainbow says and Twilight smiles at her.
“I wish I had a chance to meet her.” Twilight says and Rainbow looks shocked then smiles and agrees.
“Me too.. you would’ve liked her.” Rainbow says as she looks down sadly. That sadness soon turns to both sadness and anger. “I swear, the next time I get my hands on Lightning Dust.. Light Hope would still be here if it weren’t for her.. and me.” She says and Twilight slams her hand down next to her, startling her. When she looks at Twilight, she sees her glaring right into her soul.. and she’s actually a little intimidated.
“That. Isn’t. True.. You had nothing to do with what happened to Light Hope, Rainbow. You hear me? No one is to blame but Midnight, Lightning Dust, and anyone else who’s on her side. They started this.. but we’re going to finish it and make things right.. ok?” She asks and Rainbow, after shaking off the shock from how assertive Twilight got, nods and Twilight smiles. Rainbow didn’t know how to feel now. Twilight had gotten so aggressive out of nowhere.. that was new. She kinda liked this new side of her.. it’s exactly what they needed if they were to beat Midnight..
She just hoped that Twilight could go back to normal after all was said and done. She then looks at Twilight’s plan and notices something that she probably hasn’t thought of.. Midnight’s airship.
“Twi.. I think I might have a few ideas to add.” She says and Twilight looks intrigued and she draws Midnight's airship on the map. “So we need a distraction long enough and big enough to keep Midnight’s whole army busy right?” She asks and Twilight nods. “Well here it is.. everyone else can work on stealing her airship while you, me, and the others get close to Midnight and use the elements on her.” Rainbow says and Twilight looks shocked then hesitant.
“Rainbow.. that sounds too dangerous. I mean, we don’t know how it works. And for all we know, Midnight’s probably boobytrapped it. She’s always been one step ahead.. why would this be any different.” She asks and Rainbow hesitates before looking at Twilight and responding.
“It’s a chance.. right?” Rainbow asks and Twilight hesitates.. but nods.
“Alright.. well now that we have a plan, what do you say we turn in for the night.. it’s pretty late and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” She says and Rainbow nods but when she looks down, she sees that Twilight has listed all the villains on flashcards. Their strengths, weaknesses, power levels.. and she sees Lightning Dust, causing her fists to clench, her breathing to increase, and her powers to slowly start to react.
She wants to kill her.. to make her pay and she would.. hopefully tomorrow. She’s stuck staring while inhaling enraged breaths until she feels a hand on hers and sees it belongs to Twilight. She looks up at the alicorn who nuzzles her, causing her to calm down immediately, a blush covering both their faces now.
“Hey.. I know what Lighting Dust did is terrible.. what they all did was terrible.. but we can’t start thinking like that.. we can’t give in to hatred like they did.” Twilight says before continuing. “We. Must. Be. Better.” She continues and Rainbow Dash hesitates but then nods, seeming to decide to let those thoughts go.. for now at least.
“Thanks Twi..” She says and Twilight nods in response. “Ummm.. I-I’m gonna go ahead and.. get some sleep.”
“Oh, no, of course. You go on ahead, I’ll see if there’s anything else we can probably use.” Twilight responds and just as Rainbow gets ready to walk out, Twilight says one more thing to her. “Oh and Rainbow? Once again, love the new mane style and I’m sure the others will love it too.. it suits you.” She says and Rainbow chuckles nervously and Twilight could swear she just barely sees the faintest hints of a blush. “Adorable..” She thinks, causing herself to blush.
“Thanks.. 'night Twi.” Rainbow says and Twilight nods before responding.
“Goodnight Rainbow.” She says and after that, Rainbow Dash walks out, leaving Twilight to finish looking over the plans. She sighs and looks for anything they might’ve missed. When she doesn’t find anything of importance, she decides to turn in. “This plan will work.. it has too..”
The next day
As Twilight sat on top of the castle of the two sisters, watching the sunrise, she couldn’t help but dread what she knows lies ahead of them as soon as they set foot in Canterlot.. but she was prepared.. she had to be. They all had to be. “Twilight! You out here?!” She hears Sunset call and she looks down to see all her friends looking for her. She stands up and gets ready to go down.
“Up here!” She responds before teleporting down to them. She looks around at them all and realizes that they forgot one important thing. “Armor! We forgot to make armor..” Twilight says, facepalming with a disappointed sigh. “Damnit..” She says and they all look a bit worried until Luna walks out with her own armor and she has the elements with her.
“Believe me, you’ll only need these.” She says as she uses magic to pass each of the Mane 6 their elements. “Those and your powers.” She continues and they still look hesitant.
“Still would’ve liked some sort of protection though.. wish we hadn’t forgot.” Sunset says and Starlight, Trixie, Tempest, Spike, and the Mane 6 all agree.. and something amazing happens when they do.
The elements start to glow and float out of the Mane 6's hands. They then start spinning.. and the Mane 6 start floating as well. “W-What’s happening?!” Twilight asks as they all continue floating, multicolored magic now surrounding them. As this continues they all notice that their outfits were starting to.. change. They were turning into armor that’s perfect for each of them. The magic then spreads to everyone else, making armor for them as well. They all look surprised and Tempest is proud when her new armor has a different mark on it than the Storm King's.. a better one.. Twilight’s.
“That. Was. AWESOME!” Scootaloo yells and everyone else agrees. They all also have weapons of their own. Luna smiles a bit and turns to everyone else.
“There, also I sent everyone else to meet us just outside of Canterlot. So if we’re going, we should go soon before they’re spotted.” She says and Twilight nods in understanding.
“First.. a little trick I learned from Twivine.” Twilight says as her horn lights up and after a few seconds, a clone of herself appears next to her and everyone is shocked. She gives the tracker to the clone and it flys off. “Something else to keep them distracted.. let’s go, and remember..” She says before a purple mask with a golden outline forms on her face. After it does, she continues as her eyes glow purple.
“No matter what.. this. Ends. Today.”