Equestria Copes

It took a fair bit of convincing for Vesper to allow Spike to change clothes in the same room. He was still behind a privacy curtain, but at the very least, he could talk while they were putting on their new uniforms.

"While I am quite happy to see that not all the robes are shades of white," sighed Rarity, "I must admit that I was not expecting the armour to be a necessary component."

"It's pretty cool, though," smiled Rainbow, flexing her left front leg over and over again, the metal plates clicking and clacking against each other.

"I'd have thought you'd take issue with the fact that there aren't holes for your wings," noted Twilight. "Mine certainly didn't."

"You didn't try putting it on, did you?" asked Pinkie. "Even I have wings, now!"

"Please hurry, girls," urged Fluttershy. "I want to make it back to Equestria as quickly as possible."

"Ah'm ready," answered Applejack, jingling the rings holding up her curtain. As she stepped out, her long amber robes flowed along her body. All four legs were clad in a simple white metal plate without a lot of moving parts. Her hood covered most of her face, save for her snout, and was topped with a pale gold circlet, barely visible under her hat. Most notable, however, was a stack of eight spikes on her back that each spewed a long tendril that formed the shape of a pair of wings.

Fluttershy stepped out next. Her robes were pastel yellow, but only covered her head and torso. Much like Applejack, she was armoured, but rather than white metal plates, her shoulders and hips were adorned with large green shields that came down to her elbows, and her entire back was covered in a matching plate. She had been afforded cloth gloves and socks matching her robes. Her hood was capped with a pink circlet.

"GRR!" shouted Pinkie, bouncing out from behind her curtain. Her bright pink robes were covered in little bells, and her armour was a pink-gold chainmail, so every step she took let out a soft jingle. Her crown was also pink-gold, but from it hung several more bells that jingled as she turned her head. "Don't I look absolutely fearsome in this?"

Applejack couldn't help but chortle. "Sure... but didn't ya say ya had wings?"

"Oh, yeah!" Pinkie took a deep breath and pushed out her tentacular wings, which unspooled like party blowers.

Fluttershy arched her back, and a few tendrils slid out of the edges of her back plate. "I think we all do."

"But not nearly so cool as mine!" boasted Rainbow, sliding out into the open on her knees while playing air guitar. Her armour was intricate and made up of several moving parts, making it easy to move around in deftly. Rather than a full robe, she was fitted with a jerkin, done up in the colours of her mane and tail. She had the most metal on her by far, including wearing a helmet instead of a hood. It was still fitted with a circlet, sky blue against her cobalt armour. And rather than simple tendrils, her wings were jets of flame that shone in every colour of the rainbow. "Can you believe how awesome this looks?!"

"My turn!" sang Rarity, grabbing the curtain, but then moving away. "Unless Twilight or Spike would like to go first?"

"I'm not sure how this is supposed to go on," answered Twilight. "I'll be another minute, I think. Go ahead."

Spike poked his head out, showing his white-gold circlet, and then pulled his head back in. "Go ahead. I'll catch up."

Rarity's curtain flew aside. Much like Rainbow, her armour was made up of a lot of small parts. Unlike Rainbow, almost none of them were embellishments. From beneath her long, flowing pastel pink robes with their blue filigree, her legs were covered in small overlapping scales, which, while appearing white at first, showed that they changed colour depending on how the light hit them. Her wings were colourful, reminiscent of her time in Cloudsdale. Her hood wasn't closed, but she wore a porcelain mask designed to fit her face exactly, without completely covering her mouth and nose. Her circlet was, so far, the only one that wasn't closed, as it was open in the front, like a backwards horseshoe, with silver leaves adorning it. "A real shame to have my mane covered, but it's the only way the mask would stay on."

"Aha!" exclaimed Twilight. "That's how it fits together!"

Twilight pulled the curtain aside and stepped out into the open. Her outfit seemed to be all cloth at first, with the only exposed metal being sabatons, but as she moved her legs, it was clear that, beneath her lilac robes, a sheet of some kind of chainmail protected her. Her gold circlet was adorned with five spikes, the center of which was the largest, all of which were adorned with stars. Her face was completely obscured by her hood, and the tendrils of her wings pointed forward like claws.

"Wow. Nice crown," noted Pinkie. "Do you think you'll qualify as a princess here, too?"

Twilight just shrugged. "Who knows? It's just the outfit I was given. Maybe they thought I'd be more comfortable this way?"

"It does suit you, though," smiled Rarity. "Okay, last one. Spikey-wikey?"

"Go ahead without me," he said, not coming out. "I'll catch up."

"Don't be silly, Spike!" urged Pinkie. "We want to see what your uniform looks like!"

"It's nothing special," he called back. "It's very normal."

"None of these outfits are the same," snorted Applejack. "Ah sincerely doubt yours is "normal." Even if it is, Ah don't know which one of us is in the "normal" uniform. Why don'cha come show us?"

"Promise not to laugh?"

"I make no such promise," stated Pinkie.

Rainbow elbowed her in the ribs. "I do. Nopony's going to laugh at you. Come on out."

Spike grabbed the curtain and pulled it aside, bracing himself for their laughter. He was wearing just an orange tabard, with a riveted wooden shield on his back. He didn't even have a hood, just the white-gold circlet.

"So, why would we laugh at you?" asked Twilight. "You look the most like your old self out of any of us."

"But I don't have any cool armour," he pouted. "You all look super strong, and I look... normal."

Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder. "You look great, Spike. You have for a long time. What you're wearing is not going to change our opinions of you. Come on, let's go tell Vesper that we're ready."