//------------------------------//
// Blood and Rainbows 
// Story: The Mysterious Adventures of Mare-do-well 
// by Commando-Scarecrow 
//------------------------------//

This was either the best idea that either of the mares had ever been a part of, or the craziest. Eventually, they agreed it was both. They flew an orange and black airship, what Summer Blaze had names the Trail Blazer, packed with a buck-ton of explosives into the city. When Trixie first saw the airship, she was shocked. “I thought you said that you spent every last bit you had to bail out your sister.”
“And you think I paid to get her out?” She smiled at him when he said that. She shouldn’t have expected anything less.
The trip took a few hours, but they finally saw it: New Maredrid City. The wretched hive of scum and villainy that Mare-do-well, Trixie, and Summer Blaze took it upon them to liberate. There had to have been no less than three dozen air hips with thousands of changelings guarding the largest structure in the entire city.
Mare-do-well felt her blood boil as she saw that her perch had become the base of their enemies. As she saw Trixie and Summer operating the ship, she couldn't help but wonder what brought her to this point. She had been lied to by her boyfriend for the sake of her protection and had been lying to him for the sake of his own as well. She had beaten and maimed so many criminals for the sake of justice and when her boyfriend, as the Hat, finally revealed himself and his intentions, it had been too late. The final steps of their plan had already been set in motion. By the time they could make their move, the usurper of the shadow organization had already made hers. If not for a lucky coincidence of a mercenary with a heart of gold, she, Trixie and Braeburn would have been lost that day. Then came what Blood Diamonds no doubt thought would be the coup de grace against Mare-do-well and her ragtag team-mates. She lost Braeburn that day, and she would make that griffon pay for that with her life.
She took a deep sigh, then looked at her friends. They were all scared. Even Summer. Especially Summer. Earlier if she asked him why he was shaking, he replied that he was shaking with excitement. Neither she nor Trixie, who had since dropped her hero name, believed him, but they let him be.
Rainbow Dash didn’t say much, though. She got sick when they left that morning and spent most of the time in the only room on the ship, making sure she’d be in tip top shape for the fight ahead.
"When we get 200 feet away from the Spire!" he had to shout because of the wind currents in the sky. "I want you both to jump!" Trixie and Mare-do-well both nodded in understanding of what the plan was.
They all looked to see the enemy fleet mobilizing against them in a tight formation. Good. It'll make it easier to kill 'em all if they're all in one spot. At about 400 feet, the changelings still didn't move on them. They were expecting an all-out charge. Fools. Summer Blaze changed the direction of his ship to a higher angle. For this to work like he wanted, it needed to be high enough so that it wouldn't damage the city.

As Duchess Blood Diamonds dined on an exquisite quiche, she took in all of her good fortune. The Alicorn Amulet had made everything easier for her more personal desires and all her enemies that were an actual threat would be slain this day. The foolish heroes had thought that a single airship would be enough to penetrate her fleet’s defenses? Ha. She scoffed at the thought. So as she kept eating, admiring the charm around her neck, she continued to ponder her plans. New Maredrid will be a fine point to catapult my conquest, she thought. And with the Alicorn Amulet, not even the elements or all three princesses will be able to stop me. She took a grim enjoyment that it had been one of the Hat's own allies that helped her find the Amulet. Had she not made a plot out of herself when she had been in possession of it, it may have remained more elusive. But because of that, news got out and, with enough digging and enough bits, they were able to find the pesky zebra that had been guarding it. Even with her knowledge of arcane and forgotten spells and tricks, she died and failed her personal mission in keeping the red-gemmed charm out of evils hooves.
She moved another bite to her mouth with her scarlet magic and was suddenly knocked to the floor by a large explosion. "What in tartarous?!"

"JUMP NOW!" For the past few moments, they were swarmed by enemy ships and changelings alike. Trixie and Summer both used their magic to create a low level force field to keep them out and, but the time it came to jump, all three did so.
Trixie and Summer were both in free fall while Mare-do-well flew quickly to the base of the Spire. She would have to fight through dozens of floors of security to get to Diamonds, but he knew she could do it. As for the two unicorns... Summer and Trixie both looked at the ship as it continued to sail, or fly, upward, drawing the attention of most of the Echelons fleet. Finally, as soon as he was sure that they were a safe distance away, he used his magic to activate the detonator on his ship. "Boom," he whispered with a smile on his face. They were both still plummeting to the earth when Summer spoke again. 
They both saw a shock wave rock the entire area. Ships came crashing down and were set ablaze by Blazes well times trap. I’m gonna miss that ship, the thought to himself as he watch the shattered fragments of his beloved Trail Blazer fall to the city below.
"Hey, Trxie! You remember when I said I wouldn't let anything hurt you when we did this?!"
She smiled as warmly as she could in a free-fall towards the earth. "Yes!"
"Yeah... you're not gonna wanna wait up on that!" He looked back to the earth. She looked at him, concerned at what he had said. Surely he didn't mean what she had thought he meant. Then she down to the city they were falling too and she saw what he was staring at. The abomination that had once been his little sister began to charge at them from below.
She looked at him and he looked back at her. For a moment, the world stayed still as they gazed at each other for what may very well had been the last time. Neither spoke, but both understood what the other thought. She only nodded at him. His face took on an air of confidence, but not arrogance. It was like he was relishing the challenge that he knew he was up for. "COMIN' AT YA, LITTLE SISTER!" He began to engulf himself in fire and, like a comet, slammed into Winter Night. This fight would be one for the history books.

...

Mare-do-well made it to the bottom floor of the Spire. She would have started up higher, but there were no doors or gaping holes she could enter through. Mare-do-well was strong, but even she couldn't bust through solid concrete and steel. So she had to go to the top floor the good old fashioned way. It looked like she was hoofin' it.
She didn't see a single soul for nearly ten floors. It struck her as odd. Summer himself thought that the Spire would have about 19 floors worth of security. Granted, not everything he'd said could be counted as accurate. He did leave the Echelon before they made their end-game, so certain plans might have been changed. The few guards who were there were quickly dispatched. She didn't kill them, though. There will enough dead by the end of the day.
Eventually, after going through floor after floor with only the barest minimum of security, she found herself on what was obviously a prison level. There wasn't really anything worth investigating in there. She only saw a few dead ponies and a few ponies close enough to death that they might as well have been called dead. She sighed and took notice for the first time what these ponies were like. They had been fighting them, sure, but she never really had a good feel for what kind of evil they were. She began to walk to the next flight of stairs when she found out.
Behind the iron bars and strapped to an "X", she saw him. Braeburn. She rushed to his cage. "Braeburn?!" Mare-do-well was both shocked and amazed to see him alive.
He weakly lifted up his head. It was clear that he had been put through some kind of torture, but his body looked, well, healthy. At least as healthy as he could be being strapped to an "X" at any rate. "Dashie?" He struggled to give her a smile for her own benefit, not his. "It's good to see you."
Rainbow Dash couldn't help but feel a tear welling up in her eye. She honestly didn't know what to say. "I thought you were dead..." even the most fearless flyer in all of Equestria couldn't get her voice much past a whimper when she saw him. She took her mask off. If she was going to take down Blood Diamonds, then she would see the face of the pegasus that killed her. "Hang on. I'm gonna get you out of here." She used that trick with her wing to unlock him. First the cage, then the shackles.
"Rainbow..." he started weakly. “I’m... I'm sorry." He fell on her back perfectly.
"Don't be, Brae. That monster could have grabbed any of us," she was trying desperately to make him feel better, not that it was working. If she had been subjected to that kind of mental torture, then she wasn't sure she wasn't sure how she'd be, either. "C'mon, Cowboy. We're getting you out'a here." His grip was weak, but it was there.
At first, she wasn't sure whether or not she should back-track back to Trixie and Summer outside, but then decided against it. They were still in the thickest of fighting and there wasn't many guards, so he was safer in the enemies base with her, ironic as that was.
As she walked up many more flights of stairs with him on her back, she told him where they escaped to and what they were doing for the past week. She told him about Trixie and Summer being a thing now, and he got a small smile out of that. "Was it you guys that shook the building?" he'd asked.
"Yeah, Brae," she answered softly. Blood Diamonds would pay for this with her life for whatever she did to him. "Summer blew up his air-ship and took most of them out."
"Summer had an airship?" That was the biggest response she got out of him in the last 15 minutes since she rescued him.
"Yeah, he did," she smiled at him. He was back with her now, and soon everything would be alright again. "But you should be quiet now, Brae. You need to rest."
"But-" he tried to argue. He failed.
"Shhh," she interrupted. She had no idea that she would miss him this much. But here she was, fighting an army to get the one stallion she would have fought the whole world for. That was the first smile he gave her since she'd freed him. It gave her a warm feeling on the inside. Soon, everything would be right again. They'd be married and then they could leave this crap-sack city. She could be with all of her friends again. It's strange. She used to dream everyday of adventure. Of fame and of becoming a legend. But she became a legend and decided it didn't suit her near as much as she thought. She guessed that she just lost her taste for it.
Finally, she made it to the top floor and set Braeburn against the wall to rest. Floor 20. She took a deep breath and opened the door. It was time to end this nightmare once and for all. She began knocking. 'Bum-dum-dee-dum-bum-dum-CRASH!' She kicked the double door clear off the hinges. "Knock knock."

...

"COMIN' AT YA, LITTLE SISTER!" Summer Blaze shouted at the top of his lungs as his little sister as he slammed into her frozen and hazy body like a hurricane. She began to solidify just as he collided with her.
He saw Trixie safely land in a building and then turned his attention to his little sister. "You!" They hissed at him. The smoke slowed his landing so there they were, staring at each other in the middle of the brick roads of New Maredrid City.
"Me," her ice began to envelope the area, but instead of countering each and every foot of cold with fire, he elected to be the master of his own small world, taking a defensive stance. There were no more words between the two. There was only action.
They charged at him with the ferocity of one thousand winters. She released a blizzard at him, while he unleashed a wave of heat at each attempt to freeze him alive. They all failed.
He reacted himself with his breath of fire, heating the air nearly as hot as it had been in the underground complex. She only turned into smoke and dissipated after each attack.
This wasn't right, he thought. He knew that she had much more power at her disposal, but wasn't using it. He also knew that he could take her, but only if she was as reckless as she had been in their last bout. She was holding back. Or maybe it was King Sombra. Regardless, they kept fighting. Summer and Winter in one of the most bone chilling and explosive battles in centuries.

...

Duchess Blood Diamonds had elected to finish her quiche as a war raged outside of her new home. The explosion that nigh obliterated her fleet and much of her army would be a setback, true, but it was nothing she couldn't recover from. Then she heard something that unsettled her.
She heard a knocking at her door that went 'Bum-dum-dee-dum-bum-dum-CRASH!' Her very nice pair of marehogany doors were sent flying, incidentally at the two guards that had been acting as her security. "Knock knock." She saw a blue mare with violet eyes and a rainbow mane staring her down from across the room. It took a few moments, but she finally registered whom it was: the mysterious Mare-do-well.
The duchess wiped her mouth calmly. "It was unlocked, you know." But the blue mare was not entertained by her quip. Very well. "You must be the illustrious Mare-do-well. Welcome." Rainbow Dash only stared at her with hatred that shouldn't even have been possible. "It's customary to say hello back when you are a guest in somepony else’s home, you know."
"Why?" Rainbow Dash wanted answers before she ended that butcher.
"Because it is common courtesy, Ms. Mare-do-well," she paused to take an grin. Rainbow Dash already didn't like her. "You are a 'Ms.', aren't you?"
Rainbow Dash didn't know where she was going with this nor did she care. "Enough!" she barked at the self-proclaimed duchess. "WHY THIS?! WHY ALL OF THIS!?"
"Why, for power, of course. All the power in the world," red lightning began to crackle on the scarlet-silver mare’s horn and her eyes glowed red. "And the entire world that comes with the power..."
"What did you do to Braeburn?" Rainbow Dash cared nothing for the manners this griffon was forcing on her. She didn't even think Rarity would be up for it this time.
She began to wear an evil smile, and then spoke up again. "So that's his name. I've just been calling him Mr. Hat." She took a moment to consider. "But I do like the sound of Braeburn better."
"What. Did. You. DO"?!
Rainbow Dash's anger was seeping now. At least, that's what she thought until she saw the red aura around her fiancé as he levitated to their sworn enemy. "My my my, aren't we interested?" Braeburn, still weak, was forced into orbiting around Blood Diamonds. "Very well. I shall tell you every delicious detail."
First Rainbow Dash's heart stopped, then she felt it sink. She hoped and prayed that she wasn't right when she thought these things. "You didn't..."
She held Braeburn close to her with her magic, admiring him with a tell-tale smile. "I did. Truth be told, I was hoping to save that position for Mr. Blaze. That was until he turned traitor. But Braeburn here proved himself to be a very, VERY able replacement." Then she stopped eyeing her boyfriend and looked at Rainbow Dash. "Would you still like to know? Because if you really do, I can tell you one thing in particular..."
This wasn't right. Nopony she'd ever met had been this low, had been this close to being the scum of Equestria. "Shut up."
Diamonds saw that Mare-do-well was losing her resolve and her strength. Anger was being replaced by grief, a much less useful emotion. Good. Now if she could just push her a little further. "He resisted it at first. Oh, did he resist. But the Alicorn amulet makes so many things so. Much. Easier."
She began stroking him on his shoulder suggestively. That tore it. That bitch was going to die. "I SAID SHUT UP!!" She saw a downed unicorn, broke its horn off with her foot and flipped it up in the air, catching it with her mouth. She made a mad dash at the evil mare.
"Very well," That's when the unthinkable happened. Even with all the speed she could muster, she wasn't able to stop her. Blood Diamonds impaled Braeburn through his chest with her horn. She had gotten what she wanted out of him anyway "Then let us end this!" She through Braeburn aside like a rag-doll and looked back at her nemesis. At that moment, a great and terrible battle began not only for New Maredrid City, but for the very soul of Equestria.

...

The battle between fire and ice waged for what seemed like hours. All of their attacks barely made in contact beyond nearly burning one and only grazing the other. Even as Summer blaze breathed fire on his little sister, she kept coming at him. And even as she let out a beam of frozen oblivion at her brother, he kept resisting. In another time and place, Summer would have felt proud that he was able to match the power that once rivaled the princesses. It seemed that all of his training had paid off.
He fired another fiery blast at his monstrous sibling. This seemed eerily familiar, he thought to himself. In fact, he had the strangest feeling he had been in this exact same fight before, only he wasn't his magic wasn't being wasted near as much as last time. She fired a blizzard at him and sent him tumbling down the brick roads of the city. He felt cuts and scrapes on his back legs and saw a gaping hole in the right arm of his jacket. That's when he decided to change tactics.
"Alright, Your highness..." began quietly. His enemy had changed tactics almost completely. He sighed and guessed that it had been a sign that King Sombra had taken over his little sister completely. Well, one more thing to fight for, he thought. "You wanna play rough?" His whole body began to heat to levels that even he didn't think he could reach. His jacket could take it, sure, but his scarf began to burn away into ashes. He tore off his sleeves with his orange magic, figuring he would need the extra maneuverability against this one. "THEN LET'S GET DANGEROUS!" The noble mercenary was set ablaze by his own fiery spirit.
The king smiled at the proposition and as Summer began to fly straight at him. Good, he thought. The time for games was over. Smoke and fire mingled as the two warriors collided time after time. The dark lord slammed into the young unicorn and sent him flying through several buildings, but Summer countered it with his own force field spell to protect him. Like a hamster in a ball, though, he couldn't stop himself for quite a while. He had to have gone through building after building until his concentration on the matter finally snapped and he fell to the cold, hard ground. "Oomph!" His back pounded against the outer wall of a local BBQ place. "Gonna feel that one tomorrow." The abomination made of sister and smoke appeared once more, and so once again ignited his fire. This is not going anywhere, he thought as he fought for his very existence. He can't take him like this. And then a crazy plan came to mind. He went in for the kill. King Sombras kill.
Summer Blaze just stood there as the king went in to end the pesky unicorn that had been a thorn in his side for far too long. He didn't say anything beyond a loud hiss, but Summer knew what he was thinking. That the prey had given up, that the mercenary that fought a king had decided to roll over and die. King Sombra engulfed the unicorn in his icy haze. "Your mine!" he king's hissing was all around Summer Blaze, but even surrounded by frozen oblvivion, he remained as calm and as cool as a cucumber.
And that was when Summer Blaze made his death stroke. "You want to eat me, Sombra?!" he shouted at the demon at the top of his lungs. Summer began to glow with an inner heat, then an  out heat. "Well then let me tell you something!" Fire began to replace the heat that surrounded the hero. He was ending this lunatic son of a griffon once and for all today. "MY SPIRIT BURNS WITH A RAGE THAT IS PURE AND RIGHTEOUS AND IT SHALL NEVER BE TAINTED BY THE LIKES OF YOU!" The flames got hotter and the cold disappeared entirely. Soon, even the smoke from King Sombra’s body began to disappear and to burn up. "AND IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT OF MY RAGE," He stopped being a mere fire and turned into a blazing inferno. The spirit of Sombra tried to make contact with Summer one last time before he was given a smile by the orange colt. "Then stay out of the kitchen." The last words Summer Blaze said to him were just loud enough for King Sombra to hear. In fact, they were the LAST things he heard. The dark king spirit and smoke was totally incinerated by Summer Blazes fiery spirit.
Summer Blaze, the mercenary who had a change of heart and who was briefly known as the hero known as 'Fire Starter' had done it. He killed King Sombra. He knew that somewhere up in the stars, his master was beaming with pride at him. Summer was smiling a bit himself. He nearly collapsed to the ground out of a very familiar feeling of exhaustion, but was then stopped by a face that was just as familiar and all the more welcome. "Trixie?" She held up the only one who actually got her on most levels. She gave him an arrogant, reassuring and warm smile. Blaze returned it. "Where have you been for the past hour?" He wasn't really mad at her, but given what he just went through, he felt he deserved and explanation.
"The great and powerful Trixie was otherwise preoccupied with the ARMY you and Rainbow Dash totally ignored." He got the feeling that he touched a nerve.
"Heh heh, yeah..." Summer just laughed it off. "Oh wait. There was something else..." He stumbled and staggered to his feet and to his little sister lying on the cold ground. He saw the horn of King Sombra and abruptly stomped in it until it was in a million pieces. "Need to make sure THAT won't happen again."  He kicked her. "Alright. Wake up stupid," Trixie was almost surprised at how he treated her, but then realized who they were. Summer and Winter. Brother and sister. She rolled as if she were in her bed, as if nothing were wrong at all. "I'll pick her up later." He turned to the blue mare behind him.
"So what now?"
"Now?" he considered for a moment. "Now we wait for Mare-do-well to do her job." 
A feeling of dark foreboding crept down the magician's spine. "I'm going to get a better view from the Spire," Trixie declared. They both knew that they could better see what was going on from there, so Summer nodded in agreement. Both Summer and Trixie knew what was at stake if Mare-do-well failed. As they left, they both took one last look at a sky that seemed to be stained with blood and rainbows. Trixie had a bad feeling that this day wasn't going to end well, no matter who won.

...

Rainbow Dash watched as Braeburn fell to the floor, bleeding profusely from the stab that Duchess Blood Diamonds had inflicted. She was frozen. The one great love of her life was dying now. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked back at the unicorn giving a self-satisfied smile at her, blood dripping from her horn.
"I'm sorry," she lied. She couldn't care less about what just happened. She got what she wanted out of the golden coated colt, after all. "Did you care for him?" Rainbow Dash only stared in rage at the red-silver mare baring an evil grin. "I thought so. He simply wouldn't be quiet about how his heroine, Mare-do-well, would come to save him. It's too bad to see that you completely failed."
The horn of a downed unicorn still gripped tightly within her mouth, she charged at the monster that brought down Braeburn. Rainbow Dash would make her pay for that with her life. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
"You will try," Blood Diamonds responded to the promise confidently. Her horn glowed blood red as she attempted to push Rainbow Dash back telepathically. It didn't work and, in a panic, she met the heroine’s horn with her own. She was astounded and shocked by what had just happened. "How did you do that?"
Rainbow Dash only stared intensely into the eyes of a monster, refusing to give it the satisfaction of an answer as they locked horns. All of her hatred and rage had to be put into this fight, she thought. If she didn't give it her all, then Braeburns death would be in vain, and she'd be DAMNED if she let that happen.
Blood Diamonds eyes continued to glow bright red. "Oh, I see it now. I should have seen Summer Blazes hoofety work." She grinned, proud that she figured it out by herself. "He was worth every bit we paid for, too bad he turned traitor." Then her eyes glowed a deeper shade of scarlet as she forced Rainbow Dash back with a powerful shock wave from her horn.
The suit absorbed most of the blast, thanks to Summer, so she charged again. Each of Rainbow Dash's strikes against Blood Diamonds was met and matched by the evil mare. She was good, Rainbow Dash thought to herself. Real good. Even without the Alicorn Amulet, she would have been a match for the blue pegasus. She realized that if she wanted to stand a chance in this fight, then she would need to keep in close-quarters with the scarlet mare. She met her again and this time was sure to lock horns once more. The closer I am, Dash thought to herself, the harder it'll be for her to use magic in an effective way.
As the two mares locked horns once more, Blood Diamonds began to speak more of her hurtful words. "You know, even though it wasn't consensual in the least on his part, I'm sure your Braeburn loved every. Single. Moment!" Then she did something surprising. She grabbed Rainbow Dash's hoof and brought it to her stomach. "Do you feel that, Hero? That is YOUR stallion’s child inside of ME!" Before Rainbow Dash had a chance to lash back at her, she was blasted by the whore mare through the walls of the Spire.
"Gah!" Rainbow Dash shouted in pain as she was thrown into the outside. Her suit saved her, but it was starting to show some real wear and tear now. There was no way that it could hold up to another blast like that. She looked below to see piles upon piles of dead Echelon agents, changelings and pieces of airships. So many dead, not just Braeburn, because of this monster. That's when Rainbow Dash realized something good the blast from the evil mare did: it cleared her mind.
This whole fight, Blood Diamonds had almost literally owned her through her dying boyfriend. She was tricked into doing something that Rainbow Dash would never do: feel sorry for herself. Well, that was going to stop right there.
That's when she saw a scarlet flash blast toward her. So apparently Blood Diamonds was using her magic to levitate herself. Fan-tucking-basting. But then wasn't the time for that kind of thought. Now was the time for actions. "You know, you really are fighting much better than I thought you would have. You have my res-" Rainbow Dash had enough of her talking, so she threw the horn from the unicorn straight at her, cutting her on her right cheek, barely missing the center of her face. She remained silent as she felt the side of her face with her right hoof, and then looked at it. "You will pay DEARLY for that."
Rainbow Dash gave herself the smallest smile she could without giving it away. It seemed as though she struck a nerve. Let's see what happens when she drops and anvil on it.
The two mares collided back and forth for what seemed like hours, though in truth it had only been one since she and her friends got here. The two managed to break the sound barrier more times than either would care to count and it had seemed as though they had painted the sky in bloodstains and rainbows. "Every second you fight me is a second that I could be saving your precious Braeburn! Or do you not care about him? Has avenging a death that has yet to happen begun to concern you more than stopping it?!" Blood Diamonds barbed questions were losing their edge. That's when Rainbow Dash decided to take the opportunity to seize control for herself.
"Enough about me!" She spoke for the first time since the fight started. "Let's. Talk. About. YOU!" As they moved together in an elegant dance of death, Rainbow pleaded her own case. "You took it so hard when I scratched up that pretty face," Rainbow Dash usually wasn't mean on purpose, but when she was, the gloves came off. "Why? Was it because it belonged to your mother?" The red mare only remained silent as the blue pegasus bit back. "Or maybe it was because you were daddies little filly when you were younger." She still kept quiet. "Hey, what if it was because-"
"Are you finished?" The flying unicorn interrupted Rainbow Dash. "Because I can assure you that I fully resemble my father and that he would be proud of what I've accomplished in the last week." Rainbow stayed quiet now as the Blood Diamonds opened up to her in the heat of battle. "In fact, he would no doubt say so himself. He didn't force me into this, after all. I followed him. He loved me and I avenged him after he was executed for his failed coup against his fellow council members. And would you like to know what else, Heroine? I set out this plan completely! Not my father or the council. ME! And do you see how I brought this cities greatest hero to his knees and begging for mercy? There are none that can rival me in all of Equestria, and perhaps none in the entire wo-" Her boast was cut short by Rainbow Dash.
In the time it took Blood Diamonds to finish talking about herself, the guardian of New Maredrid City was able to come up with a backup plan. Instead of making her go mad with rage, she used the distraction that Blood Diamonds herself provided while she should have stayed focused and grabbed her horn with both her hooves. "Braeburn doesn't beg... ever." And then it was Rainbow Dash's turn to boat. "Looks like I got horn. What'cha gonna do about it?"
The Duchess still remained confident as ever. "You think that a cheap trick like that would work on ME? Please, Mare-do-well. I knew you weren't as smart as the Hat, but I thought for sure you wouldn't try anything as quaint as this." Her horn began to glow a deep crimson as she prepared to end Rainbow Dash once and for all. "Say goodbye, Heroine!"
Rainbow Dash only smiled. "Goodbye." The blast then went off... and backfired as spectacularly as the pegasus could have ever hoped for. A trail of red streaked to where she slammed into the city like a comet. Rainbow flew down to meet her and she saw that her ploy had worked like a charm. Just like what she did with Summer Blaze when she beat him, only this time? This time, since Blood Diamonds had so much more power, the blast not only knocked her out of the sky and down a few pegs, but took something that was part of every unicorns identity. Rainbow Dash, in her tattered violet suit, landed before her nemesis and looked upon her.
"What..." Blood Diamonds felt her forehead with her blood covered hoof and, in pure horror, noticed that something was missing. Her eyes went wide as it registered. "No... no... this can't be..." She was so broken she couldn't even talk right. Her horn wasn't just broken like what Summer did to his sister, it was flat out gone. Only the stub at the end remained. The broken shattered into one thousand pieces from the force of that blast. "How did you-"
"You should have seen Summer Blaze's hoofety work," in a cruel and justified irony, she parroted the fallen unicorn that lay amongst the rubble. Then she grabbed her by the neck and pressed her against the wall.
"So what will you do now, Heroine?" Even at Rainbow Dash's mercy, she still acted as though SHE was the one in control. "Kill me? For whatever good it will do, make it hurt. There is no saving your Braeburn now."
"You kill and..." Rainbow Dash struggled to say that word. Ever since she began her mission as Mare-do-well, she always had a special place in her heart for those who were that special kind of evil. Those were the ones whom she showed no mercy and whom she happily ended. Finally, she just spit it out. "rape my fiancé. Kill thousands for the sake of your own sick mission for power, and now, after everything you have done, you just expect me to let you DIE?!" She was so willing to oblige her suggestion. She pulled her hoof back as far is she could and let it lose.
Blood Diamonds didn't even flinch as it hit and cracked the concrete next to her head. "I knew you weren't strong enough to do it. Just like how you weren't able to save your fi-" Rainbow Dash punched her as hard as she could without killing her.
"The only thing saving you right now, Princess, is the fact that the child you're carrying is just as much the kid of a hero as it is the kid of a monster." That was the really the only reason she could think of. Braeburn was a part of her. As much as either of her wings. Even if the foal growing inside was the child of a monster in every sense of the word. "You will spend the rest of your life in Canterlot behind bars with nothing. Not this," she tore off the Alicorn Amulet. "Or any magic. And when that kid is born, I'm sure there will be plenty of families willing to adopt the son or daughter of a hero." She saw the horror grow on the blood-covered face of Blood Diamonds. "You will be powerless for the rest or your life. Deal with it." She then planted the villainess under the rubble where she would be able to find her later and took off to find Braeburn. Rainbow Dash's face needed to be the last one he saw before he died.

...

Rainbow Dash landed where she last saw Braeburn. He was right where she left him. She also saw Summer and Trixie stood next to him. Summer approached her and she swore he wanted to cry, but wouldn't let himself.
"I did what I could with what I had, Rainbow, but..." he trailed off, but Rainbow Dash knew what he meant. He had used most of his magic in his fight against Sombra. She knew that he had some healing abilities, but she just wasn't sure to what point. "I was able to make sure he would live long enough to see you."
"We've already said our goodbyes, Rainbow Dash," Trixie entered in. Rainbow Dash could see the streaks of tears on her face. If there was anypony that felt anything like she did, it was Trixie. "You need to..." She began to cry again. "Just say yours."
Rainbow only nodded as she walked to her fiancé. "Hey, Brae," she said quietly. "How's it going?"
He smiled weakly at her. He was covering up the impalement, but she knew it was there. "I ain't gonna lie, Dashie. I've been better."
Rainbow Dash smiled as she fought back the tears. "C'mon, Cowboy." She cradled him in her arms as she took him over to the giant hole that Diamonds made in their fight. "Let's watch the sunset one last time."
"Sounds like a plan, Sugarcube." Held on to her as hard as he could. If that was any indication, then he didn't have long. She set him down and she sat down next to him. "Dashie?"
"Yeah, Brae?" It was taking every last ounce of strength not to cry on him. She had to be strong. For him.
"I love you," he looked deep into her eyes as she said that.
She only smiled. "I love you too, Brae," She hardly ever said it, but he needed to hear it one last time. She went in for one final kiss before he left. In the end, the last thing he saw wasn't the sunset, but Rainbow Dash's beautiful violet eyes tearing up. He died with a smile on his face. “Damn it, Brae!”
Trixie retreated into Summer as she began to cry. Summer himself began shed exactly one tear in response, and then many more followed. He just couldn’t hold them all back. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand,  held on to Braeburn for what felt like hours, crying, no, SOBBING like a filly into him as she caressed his mane one last time. A hero died that day.