Happiness, Pain, Brightness, Rain
Written by LOLSTERDarkMoon
This chapter was slightly inspired by this music
“Daddy!” the little filly cried happily, throwing herself at the aged stallion. “Where have you been? You said you would be back by morning!” The filly gave a cute attempt at a serious face, back gave up and giggles instead, getting a chuckle from her father as well.
“Hehehee, well, I’m here aren’t I?” he said as he fluttered around, the filly squealing joyfully in his grasp.
An equally aged mare watched smiling from the doorway, waiting her turn for his loving hold. She had long deserved one, being forced to wait an extra twelve hours before his arrival. The mare wondered what he got up to sometimes, but put such thoughts away; knowing that this stallion was far from being able to think about such things.
Finally putting the filly down, he greeted his loved one with a passionate kiss, accompanied with a wink. The house he entered was a simple one. Like many around it, it sat atop the clouds of Cloudsdale. It was a humble single floor, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and other basic rooms.
Sighing, he removed his uniform, the uniform of a warrior, and set it on the old maple table. His collection of metals pinned to his uniform, shiny and bright. The mare joined him, standing by his side smiling at the various pieces of metal that showed how much of a hero he was.
He gazed at those metals, deep in thought. The little filly standing behind her parents, waiting for more attention; when he ripped those metals off his uniform, and threw into a trash bin.
The mare was shocked, and shouted at him for being so stupid. The filly retrieved those metals, and placed them on the table, grinning up, hoping for a pat on the head. All she got was a shout, and the shattering of glass as those metals sailed out the window.
The mare was now shirking at him. The filly stood confused and frightened. He reached into his uniform, and pulled something out. He walked over at one wall of his house, where the flag of his nation stood proudly, and tore it down. He replaced it with the item he had go from his uniform, a new flag, an empty white flag.
He stood back from the wall, and gave a salute. Just as stallions all in armor stormed in and tackled him to the ground. The filly was now panicked, so she ran at those who threatened her father; only to be smacked back into another wall.
“Daddy!” the little filly cried, this time in pain and sorrow. No one heard her among the chaos as her mother was also tackled. The many stallions started to take her only family, out the door they went.
Her father managed only to shut one thing, “Rainbow!”
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Her eyes flicked open, half her face buried in the warm softness of the pillow. The sun poured right into her face, through the window next to her bed, stinging her eyes. Slowly she pushed with her fore-hooves and sat up, facing the window like every morning.
The suns grace shone off her mane, casting a rainbow shadow throughout the room. Stretching with a yawn was all it took to get her out of bed. After a few more stretches she picked up a stopwatch from her bedside table and hanged it over her neck. As soon as it was pushed, the only remains of her being in that spot were a rainbow trail. At the other end she cursed under her breath.
“Pony-feathers, 0.46 seconds; that’s 0.2 seconds slower than last time,” she growled. She was now in the kitchen of her house and quickly got started in making breakfast; playing some rock and roll on her gramophone.
Rainbow Dash swayed to the music and whipped out some bread and jam, quickly spreading an overload of spreading. Without delay she stuffed the sandwich into her mouth and was out the door. Rainbow had friends to meet up with.
“She’s sure takin’ her sweet time gettin’ here.”
“Oh I’m sure she’s on her way. You know how busy that poor dear is.”
“Ye’, I know, but she isn’t the sort to keep ponies waiting, especially us.”
“Knowing Rainbow, she’s already out the door with breakfast still in her mouth. I swear to Celestia, she’ll chock one of these days.”
“Well, no need to keep worryin’; she’s here.”
The three mares looked up to see that Rainbow was in sight, still chewing as she flew. She did a fancy back flip and landed in front of her friends.
“Hey guys, *Scrunch* how’s it going, *Munch*?” she said with a mouth still full of jam.
“My dear Rainbow,” said Rarity, “Please do eat with your mouth close, it’s so uncouth.”
Rainbow just glanced her way then swallowed her mouth full. “So, are we gonna do this or what?”
“Calm your horses Rainbow,” said the slightly annoyed Applejack, “Twilight is still setting up. You can busy yourself till then.”
Rainbow groaned in response, turning to a tree standing nearby. “Fine, just hurry up, will ya? I didn’t come all this way for nothing.”
The four friends had gathered on a clear field on the out skirts of Ponyville, along with a new device Twilight was eager to try. It looked like a cage with four large blades on the top, that supposedly spin extremely fast when powered by magic.
“So what’s this doohickey meant to do again?” asked Applejack as she joined Twilights side.
“Well, when I channel my magic energy into the motor it spins these blades, which create lift. I can control the lift with these levers here that cause the lift to switch to different places; this allows to me control it. And with enough lift, I can get off the ground and be able to fly!”
“So, it’s pretty much what Pinkie uses.”
“Yes, but with this I don’t have to use pedals to spin the blades!”
“Instead ya’ll use magic. Won’t that tire you too much? We don’t want any accidents, Twi.”
“And that’s why we have Rainbow! If anything was to go wrong, then we won’t have to worry! Right RD?”
The only reply Twilight got was a soft snore in a tree.
“Well, never mind,” Twilight said as she shook her head, “We won’t her if this goes well, which it should.”
Twilight climbed aboard the invention and slipped on some goggles. After a few final checks, she gave a wave to Applejack who nodded in return, and joined Rarity under the tree.
Once sure that her friends were safe from harms reach, Twilight began to power her horn. A purple aura grew in size and light, and then demised as Twilight shot it into the motor. The machine coughed a couple of times then came to life. The blades started to turn and grew in speed, then went faster, then faster, and faster; until they was spinning so fast it was near impossible to see them. Slowly, it rose off the ground. Twilights friends cheered but were drowned out by the noise of the spinning blades.
All was going well inside the machine. Twilight had complete control and no red lights going off in her face, overall everything was perfect. She rose to about twenty feet In the air, and still rising, her friends starting to grow smaller and smaller on the ground.
Her violet mane whipped at her face in the wind, the adrenalin rushing through her entire body in the excitement of the moment. This was almost as much of an achievement as the time she got into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Twilight raised her hooves above her head and yelled to the world in happiness.
By doing this, she knocked one of the many buttons above her head, shutting off the motor. Twilight quickly noticed this as the machine started coughing and the noise of the wind dying down.
“Oh no,” was all she said before it plummeted.
“Twilight!” two of her friends shouted, to shocked to do much else. The third one let out another soft snore.
It took only seconds to lose the all that height.
Crash.
Shards of metal and clumps of dirt sprayed everywhere on the ground. The loud noise woke Rainbow from her nap and she fell out of the tree.
“OK, whose funny idea… was… that?” She stared over at the hunk of twisted metal and earth, trying to understand what happened.
AJ and Rarity recovered faster than the Pegasus and ran over to the crash to search for their friend. Rainbow finally shook herself out of it and flew over to join the search.
For a while they found nothing, only metal. But then a shaky hoof reached into the air, and all three friends ran towards it. With combined effort they pulled apart the metal coffin and grasped their friend.
“Twilight! Oh dear, please promise us you won’t do anything like that again!” said Rarity. Twilight had no answer; she had her focus on Rainbow.
“Where were you?! Where were you Rainbow Dash?! I thought you were here to help keep me safe, so where were you when stuff went wrong, huh?!” Twilight yelled in rage, still shaking from falling.
“I… I thought… you’re the egghead, so-“
“Oh, so just because I’m an egghead I’m not important?! Tell me Rainbow, what is important, your little naps?!”
“Twi, Hun, just calm down-“
“Don’t you start Applejack! You saw, she let me down! She let me down…” Twilight’s voice lowered, being replaced by sobs. “I’m going home.”
She shrugged her friends and limped away, almost falling every now and then. Rainbow was about to go after her when a hoof held her back. She turned to find Rarity, shaking her head. They sat there, watching Twilight disappear over the hillside.
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Rainbow took the long route home, holding back tears as she went. Twilight had never shouted like that before, but she was right; she was always right. Where had Rainbow been when things went wrong? She was the Element of Loyalty, and she couldn’t even watch over the safety of her friends.
Her house finally came into view. Because of the longer trip home, the sun was almost gone, leaving most of the clouds around her in darkness. She arrived at her front door, and managed to unlock with the lack of light from memory. But as she went to go inside, she tripped on a rectangle shaped box sitting on her doormat.
“Stupid thing,” Rainbow said out loud and gave the box a kick. The box then began to cry.
This shocked Rainbow and by instinct she kicked out again, nearly sending the box over the edge of her cloud home. She turned and dived for it, catching it just as it started to tilt over; it still cried. Rainbow quickly brought it inside and lit a light to get a better look.
The box seemed to be taped shut, air holes poked into the top. There was no address, no ‘return to sender’ information, just a box. And it still cried. Rainbow quickly grasped the edge of the tape and tore it loose making it open-able. Her heart started to thump as she reached for the lips of the lid; and she opened the box, letting out the biggest gasp of her life.
Sitting inside was a foal, a colt with a rainbow mane.
Happiness, Pain, Brightness, Rain
Written by LOLSTERDarkMoon
The young filly screamed and wailed, fighting against the grasping hold of these stallions. They dragged her out of the house, her home, and guided her onto a chariot. The only thing else on that chariot was what little possessions that she was allowed to keep. No photos, no family papers, just clothes and a single Wonderbolt doll.
She held that doll as the chariot started to move, slowly putting distance between her home and parents. The world outside that fuzzy doll soon disappeared from thought.
After what seemed like hours, the chariot finally arrived at its destination. The filly still refused to acknowledge the world and was picked up by one of the stallions, along with her belongings. She was passed to another pony, one whose touch was soft and caring. The filly took the risk and looked up, and to her she was gazing upon an angel. The mare was young, still in her teen years, her pink mane reaching over her shoulder and tickling the filly’s feet.
Looking past the angel, the filly saw a large sign that made no sense to her. O-R-P-H-A-N-A-G-E; she asked what it meant and she was told.
It was a place where those with no family lived.
She told them they were wrong, she still had a family, a mother and father. The stallions just shook their heads and the mare whispered a heavenly shush. The filly was very tired, and in the hooves of an angel she slept.
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Rainbow woke with a very stiff back and tired muscles. She sat up to find herself on the floor. This was strange because she was not known to sleep walk or fall asleep randomly unless extremely exhausted, and she didn’t remember doing anything over the top the day before.
Slowly, using the table for support, she lifted herself off the floor and stretched the aching from her body. The sun was already about two hours above the horizon, and that meant her routine was mostly scrambled.
‘Speaking of scrambled,’ Rainbow thought, ‘I could go for some eggs about now.’
She headed for the kitchen and flung open the fridge. Before she grabbed the eggs, she noticed what looked like a foals bottle, filled with milk, just sitting there. She would of thought about more, but a sudden screech caused her to jump, slamming her head on the top of the fridge.
“Ow. Dang it! What in Equestria was that?”
Rainbow walked back to her living room, but this time her eyes locked on box sitting on the table. The events of the night before slowly came back to her. The colt with the rainbow mane, trying to find a way to make it stop crying, some baby’s milk powder she had sitting around, the long hours staying close and eventual loss of the battle to stay awake.
The box still cried loudly, shaking, with tiny hooves hanging in the air. Rainbow approached the box until the foal himself came into view, its bright ruby eyes locking on hers. Just standing there seemed to calm the colt down, as if her presence had some familiarity had he could trust.
He raised his tiny hooves and reached towards Rainbow, asking to be held. Rainbow was a bit confused at first but soon got the message.
“Woah, Woah. Umm, sorry kid but I don’t do that kinda thing. Heh, who knows what ponies, would think of me.” She looked at the foal with a light smile.
The foal sat there for a moment longer, still reaching, before realizing that he wasn’t going to be picked up. He then started screaming. Rainbow slammed her hooves into her ears as her whole house seemed to shake.
“Okay! Okay! Fine, I’ll pick you up, but that’s it, Okay?”
He stopped the screaming and looked at Rainbow as she reluctantly reached down and picked him up, his coat showing to be a darker shade of blue then her own. He looked around, feeling strange being off the ground and looked at rainbow, reaching towards to again.
“Oh no kid, that’s as close as you’re getting.” She turned her head away and was about to place him back down. The foal smirked and sped up his wings, sliding up her outstretched hooves and into her chest, grabbing hold with a powerful grip, giggling happily. “H-hey, not cool!”
The foal looked up at Rainbow with big, adorable eyes, and Rainbow could almost feel her heart melting. Then someone knocked on the door.
“Rainbow, darling, are you home? After the terrible incident yesterday I thought I might just pop in and-“ Rarity said as she walked into Rainbows house, using the cloud spell to stay up. The spell almost failed when she saw Rainbow Dash and what she was holding.
“Oh, uh, hi Rarity,” Rainbow said, eyes shifting everywhere, “How are you?”
Rarity had no answer other than stand and stare. The young foal giggled at the new mare.
After a few awkward moments, Rarity slowly backed off, then turned tail and galloped away.
Rainbow just sighed. “Aww, pony feathers.”
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Twilight still had a limp from the day before. She had mostly calmed down and recovered but her anger had left a bit of a burn in her mind. It would be awhile before she even talked to Rainbow again.
The pile of books before her was company enough for today, plus Spike who checked up on her every now and then. The history of the rebellion of battalion Sky forge was amazing. They just stopped fighting for a reason that had been removed from history.
She was almost at the end of the book and ready to make notes when shouting could be heard down stairs.
“Spike! Where is she?! I need to see her now!”
“She’s upstairs Rarity, but she said-“
“Thank you Spike, now out of my way!”
Moments later Rarity came bursting into the room, her mane completely out of shape and eyes unable to focus on anything.
“Twilight, Rainbow, visiting, rainbow, adorable, Foal!”
Rarity collapsed on the floor, unconscious, but Twilight heard all she needed to. What was Rainbow doing now? Stealing peoples foals?
“Spike! Get in here. I’m going to need some help.”
“Yes Twilight?”
“I’m going to Rainbows place, I want you to get Applejack and tell her to meet me there.”
“Okay, can I ask why?”
Twilight looked at her assistant, her eyes full of worry. “I fear Rainbow Dash has done something very stupid. Something that is putting lives in danger.”
Spike held eye contact for a bit, then nodded and headed for Sweet Apple Acres.
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After a few hours of work, Rainbow had finally made a made-shift cot for the foal. He was now fast asleep, making the cutest snoring noises. Rainbow stood over the cot, wondering what to do. She would have to find a home for him, but who would take him? The orphanage was out of the question. Maybe find his parents? The fact it shares the same mane made her think that was possibly not the best idea.
The options were low at the start, but as Rainbow pondered on it, they seemed to drop in number even more. She knew only one mare that would have any real idea how to deal with this, but there was no way Rainbow could talk to her. Then the knock came.
“Who is it this time?” Rainbow groaned and moved to the door. Then the door flung open revealing an unsure Applejack and an angry looking Twilight. “Woah, girls what are you doing here?”
“Where is it Rainbow?” Twilight growled, “We know it’s here somewhere.”
“Where… What… Huh?”
Twilight then picked Rainbow up with magic and forced her against a wall. “I’ve got her, Applejack. Go see what you can find.”
Applejack ran off into the house while Twilight held down the fighting Rainbow Dash.
“How could you Rainbow? I never thought you’d do something like this.”
“How could I what? What are you even talking about?”
“You know full well what I’m talking about! Foals don’t just go missing by themselves.”
“Wait, you mean the foal? You know where its parents are?”
“Well… No, but I’m sure they’re sitting somewhere terribly worried.”
Applejack returned from the deeper part of the house holding the cot.
“Good, let’s get out of here.” Twilight was already walking out the door, but Applejack called her back.
She turned, just wanting to get home, but froze. Applejack was holding the foal, who had just woken up and was gurgling happily. Twilight got closer with her eyes on it the whole time. It looked at her with those ruby orbs and smiled a bit more.
Twilight wasn’t interested in its smile, she was watching its mane, waiting for it change colour due to the angle of light or… something.
It didn’t change. Its name was a rainbow. Applejack kept watching it as well, hardly coming to terms with it herself.
As for Rainbow, she was still being pressed against the wall and her back was starting to regain the ach it had that morning. “Hey, ahh girls, could I get down now?”
