Author's Note

Takes place just after the episode Sonic Rainboom. Merry Christmas, VShuffler42, and thanks for the suggestion (and for your dedicated comments).

Spicy Rainbows

"Hey, Rarity! Something on your mind?"

Rarity smiled as she trotted down the street. "Hello, Pinkie. You always seem to know."

"Well, duh!" Pinkie bounced along, matching Rarity's pace. "That's my job!"

"I thought you were a baker."

"Well, sure, but that's only part of it! I keep everypony in Ponyville happy, and that means I've got to know what they're feeling first!"

"Everypony in Ponyville?" Rarity's eyes widened. "That must be quite a tall order."

"Yupperooni! But I do my best. Now, what's eating you?"

Rarity shrugged. "It's nothing much, really. I was just thinking about you eating the rainbow in Cloudsdale a few days ago."

"Ooh! That was pretty neat, huh? My face turned all these crazy colors like 'woah!' 'ah!' 'argh!' and I was all 'it's so spicy!' and Rainbow Dash was all 'they're not for drinking, silly!' That was pretty neat, huh? I mean, it was awful in the moment, but funny to look back on!"

"Well, yes, but Pinkie, your tolerance for spice is legendary in Ponyville. Second to none. And so I've been wondering ever since... what could possibly be in rainbows that makes them too spicy even for you?"

"Well, you see..." Pinkie's voice took on an ominous tone. "Have you ever wondered what happens to foals that can't fly? You never see any adult pegasi who can't fly, have you?"

"They... learn to fly?" Rarity suggested.

Pinkie shook her head. "Rainbows can only be made through pegasus magic. Where do you think they get that pegasus magic?"

Rarity's eyes widened, and her steps faltered. "You mean-"

A smile bounced up on Pinkie Pie's face. "Nah! I'm messing with you! They're actually technically a waste product. Why do you think they dump them all over the place like waterfalls? They don't do anything but look pretty!"

"Wait, do you mean waste as in-"

Pinkie sighed and shook her head. "No, Rarity. Rainbows are not made from any actual parts of a pegasus."

Rarity sighed with relief. "Okay. Keep going."

"Well, Rainbow tried to explain how the rainbows are made, but then she didn't do a good job, so I tried to get Twilight to explain and that just made my head spin, but I'll do my best!" Pinkie took a deep breath and began speaking very rapidly. "Okay so pegasi use their magic to take water and make it more like solid or air or something not really sure but that's how they make clouds but water reflects light and makes it into a rainbow so the pegasi accidentally make the light solid or something I don't really get it but making clouds accidentally creates rainbows too and they were like 'well we'd better use this for something' so they started using it for a decoration."

"Slow down, darling. I understood perhaps two words of that entire sentence."

"Pegasi make water more solid to make clouds. But water reflects light and turns it into a rainbow. So the pegasus magic accidentally turns the rainbows more solid too. So that's why ponies can't drink rainbows, see, because it's basically light and so there's a bunch of energy or something and our fragile little brains can't even really understand what light tastes like so we just perceive it as spicy and so we learn not to do it because ponies aren't really supposed to drink light in the first place, see?"

Rarity shook her head as if trying to clear it of cobwebs. "...yes, I think I understand. Somewhat."

"That's good! Because I don't really understand! So it's nice that you understand even though I don't understand!"

Pinkie Pie circled Rarity once, then bounced away again. "Wait, you don't even understand?" Rarity asked, but Pinkie was long gone. Rarity shrugged. Perhaps she had better pay a visit to Twilight as well, just to make sure she'd gotten everything straight. With Pinkie Pie, one never knew.