I had an idea for a oneshot from a comment on the last chapter lol, just Sabre being stubborn after doing something stupid XD

This takes place a little after Orange became Rainbow, while he's still hiding his actual identity.

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[3rd Person POV]

The Darkness Beast was powerful and tough, giving the two heroes quite the challenge. The people of the Orange Village hid inside their homes while the battle continued.

Rainbow repeatedly struck the Beast with lightning, causing injuries and blinding it for a few seconds. It stumbled backwards, trying to regain its footing. Meanwhile, Sabre was freezing away any traces of Darkness it left behind to make sure it didn't try to infect the villagers. His cold power had proven to be very effective against the inky substance, as once it was frozen it broke and dissipated like sheets of ice.

It had almost been driven away, starting to turn back and leave the village, when both the Beast and the heroes spotted a lone villager that had been trapped outside of his house. The Orange Steve cowered behind debris of a wrecked shed, stuck in place out of fear. The Darkness Beast began to run towards him, as so did Rainbow Steve.

The Orange Steve ducked his head and curled into a ball as the Beast's heavy, large footsteps came closer and closer.

Rainbow dashed ahead of the giant, inky being and extended his arms in front of him, charging a blast of energy that would at least knock it backwards. Or, he hoped it would. He knew that he didn't have as much of a hold on his new powers as people thought.

Rainbow braced himself as the Beast grew closer and closer, squeezing his eyes shut.

Suddenly, a voice yelled out in anger, followed by the sound of something hitting the ground hard. And... ice?

Rainbow quickly opened his eyes to see Sabre with a furious expression, having brought the orb on his staff to the ground, the star-like artifact inside the orb glowing radiantly. Ice quickly formed from it, making a cold trail leading up to the Darkness Beast as it grew. The Beast only had time to turn around before the frost reached it, beginning to freeze it from the ground up.

The Beast howled and screamed as its body froze, reaching its arms up towards the sky before being reduced to an icy sculpture.

Just as it was completely encased, Rainbow let off the blast that he was preparing, aimed directly at the Darkness Beast's back. As soon as the blast made contact, the icy silhouette exploded into many small, harmless fragments of black-mottled ice.

As the pieces fell, Rainbow stumbled backwards and grabbed onto debris to keep his balance, panting. He had used up more energy than he expected to. He looked at Sabre, and saw that he was knelt on the ground, leaning against his staff for support.

Rainbow turned around when he heard movement behind him, and saw the Orange Steve that was about to be attacked. He had an amazed look, and stared at Rainbow in awe of what he had done.

"Th-Thank you..." He whispers.

Rainbow quickly straightened up and turned to the villager with a smile, remembering to alter how his voice sounded to keep his true identity hidden.

"No problem, sir." Rainbow replies. "Now, you might want to head back to the rest of the village. Your friends are probably worried."

The villager nodded and ran off, rushing towards a group of other Orange Steves that quickly gathered around him in a group hug, asking if he was okay and where he was. Rainbow turns back to see Sabre walking up to him, the glow from the Heart of Winter fading.

"Are you alright?" Sabre asks, shaking bits of ice out of his hair. Frost always tended to form on him whenever he did something big like that.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine, thanks to you." Rainbow answered his friend. "What about you?"

"I was roughed up a little bit while making sure it kept away from the village, but other than that I'm okay."

"Good, you had me worried for a second there."

"So did you."

Rainbow couldn't tell how Sabre was actually feeling because of his monotone voice, and decided to ask him later when they were out of the public eye.

Speaking of people, the Orange Leader rushed up to the two heroes with a grateful expression.

"Oh my goodness, thank you two so much for handling that." The Leader says. "We were all so scared it would get too close to the village, but you seemed to handle it well. Are either of you hurt?"

"No, we're both unscathed. Thank you for asking." Sabre replies. "Are any of the villagers injured?"

Just then, Rainbow noticed that Sabre's hands were shaking. Knowing that Sabre was immune to the cold, he also knew what that meant.

"This is gonna be fun to deal with..." Rainbow thought to himself, acknowledging how drained he felt as well.

"Just a few scrapes and bruises, we're fine." The Orange Leader smiled.

"That's good!" Rainbow says with a bright smile. "We're gonna go head back to the Hub, if that's alright? There's things we need to get to."

"Of course, go ahead." The Orange Leader replies. "We'll start making repairs here. If you two ever need anything from us, let me know and we'll be happy to help."

"Thanks, sir. We'll see you around." Rainbow says, and he and Sabre begin to walk towards a spot outside of the village.

Once at a place far enough away, Rainbow teleports the duo out of the Orange Village and back to their home.

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As soon as the duo appeared back in the center of the Hub, they dropped the acts and started acting as themselves again.

"Ohhh jeez, that was tougher than I thought it would be." Rainbow says, slouching and placing a hand on a support of the gazebo to keep himself upright. "Sabre, you-"

Rainbow is interrupted when Sabre falls face-first onto the ground.

"I regret my actions. Immensely." Sabre says, his flat voice muffled by the floor.

"Yeah, guessed so." Rainbow sighs, standing up properly as he rubs his eyes. "Can you get up?"

"Yes, I can." Sabre replies as he starts trying to lift himself off the ground.

Sabre repeatedly attempts and fails, shaking like a leaf every time he starts to push himself up off the ground, soon dropping again. Rainbow watches for a minute before walking over and grabbing Sabre's arm.

"I'll take that as a 'no'." Rainbow says as he lifts his friend off the ground. "C'mon, let's go."

"I can get up on my own-"

"No, you clearly can't."

"Yes I-"

"Stop being stubborn and let me help you, snowboy." Rainbow laughed.

"Shut up, you walking rock."

"Nah."

Rainbow had discovered that becoming the Hero had made him much stronger than before, so despite being tired, he helped Sabre get to the house with minimal issue. Setting him down on the couch, he heard Sabre mumble a few sentences while he grabbed something from a nearby basket containing blankets.

"Here's your anti-blanket." Rainbow chuckled as he threw a light blue cloth blanket at Sabre. Unlike a normal one, it was ice cold to the touch.

"Stop calling it that. It sounds stupid." Sabre sighs as he takes the blanket and wraps it around himself.

Sabre had made it after discovering just how much warmer the world outside of the Permafrost is, hating the heat and making a blanket that keeps him cold using a bit of magic and some ice packs sewn within the fabric. Rainbow had no idea how he was comfortable like that.

"Just as stupid as filling a blanket with ice packs." Rainbow retorted, smiling.

After a second of silence, Sabre simply shifted to have his back facing Rainbow and started to ignore him. Rainbow wasn't offended, as he thought it was just one of his odd antics. Sabre, however, did it as a result of not wanting to admit he was losing the argument. He would never tell Rainbow that, though.

Rainbow went outside and sat down on the porch, glad that the battle with the Darkness Beast was finally over. It had scared him when he saw it was attacking the Orange Village, worried that he would lose friends to it and not even be able to mourn them. He was glad that everyone was alright.

"Hiding my identity sucks..." Rainbow muttered to himself as he heard a familiar tapping of hooves approaching.

Rainbow turned his head to see Gerald trotting towards him, and he smiled. He let the pig sit next to him and nuzzle his leg, as he reached to Gerald's head and gave him scritches.

"And where have you been, buddy?" Rainbow smiled.

Gerald gave an indignant snort and headbutted Rainbow's leg.

"Ohhh, so both of my friends are being difficult today? Okay then." Rainbow sarcastically says, rolling his eyes.

"I heard that." Sabre called out from inside the house, Rainbow hearing him through the open window.

"You literally couldn't get up and refused to let me help you get off the floor." Rainbow says, turning his head to the window. "You're stubborn as a mule!"

"I'll show you-" Sabre starts to reply, but he stops as the sound of something hitting the wooden floor reaches Rainbow's ears.

A beat of silence.

"...Did you just fall off the couch?"

"Shut uuuup."

"..."

"..."

"Do you need help getting off the floor again?"

"...yes."