Colors of a Rainbow - Chapter 2

>”…Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth… the night… will last… forever! AHAHAHA!!” the black alicorn cackles atop the balcony, her mane an ethereal blue as it engulfs the air above her in a swirling dark mist.
>This was supposed to be Princess Celestia’s first visit to Ponyville in years… you were so anxious to meet her.
>You are Anonymous, the human living in Ponyville, and you are twelve years old.
>You and Rainbow, or as you’ve come to call her, “Rainbro”, have stayed the best of friends ever since that day she appeared to you and Fluttershy.
>The two of you have both had many races since that day, the victor changing each time. It’s good that she keeps both of you in good shape, even though she ended up dropping out of flight school a few weeks after you two met.
>You never understood why; she wouldn’t like to talk about it much…
>Anyway, you’ve lost count on how many races the two of you have won, though you think that you’re ahead right now, because you’ve won both of the last three races the two of you have had together.
>You’ve grown quite a bit since then; your legs are much longer now from exercising with Rainbro, and now you are easily taller than mares and even some colts that you come along through the town.
>Biff Thunderskins is still larger than you, however; that stallion has muscles the size of watermelons, you swear.
>His wings are tiny little things, but still, in a bodybuilding or hoof-wrestling contest, he’d easily wipe the floor with you.
>As for Fluttershy, she’s grown taller as well, and her mane’s grown to the point where it flows down to just above her hooves.
>You have to say that out of all the mares you’ve met in Ponyville, none of them have acted more like… a mother.
>As much of a mother as you would have imagined, seeing young fillies and colts with their parents while walking through town.
>Sure, you two are relatively the same age, but Fluttershy always seemed to have… a caring personality. She never let anything bad happen to you if she could help it. And even if she couldn’t, she was always there to take care of you.
>Could Fluttershy… be the mother figure that you’ve been aching for?
>Now’s not the time to worry about that, though; you have bigger fish to fry.
>The black alicorn has since escaped the guards, and fled in a dark mist through the main doors of the building. Rainbow Dash has gone off after her, along with some new purple unicorn in town.
>”Anonymous, you need to get out of here, quickly!” Fluttershy exclaims, floating over to you and landing with a worried expression on her face. “It’s not safe here!”
“What about you?”
>”I’ll be fine, you just worry about yourself,” she says, smiling at you. “I’m going with Rainbow Dash to see what’s going on.”
“No way; what if something happens to you? You saw what that pony did to the guards-”
>”And that’s exactly why I need to go help Rainbow Dash. What if something happened to her, hm?”
“Then I… er-”
>”Exactly. Now you go on home,” she says, floating up into the air once again. “I’ll be back later tonight. Don’t stay up too late now,” she winks before flying off, following behind Rainbow Dash and that strange unicorn from earlier that day.
>You sigh… Perhaps she’s too much like a mother to you.

>What if she needs you? What if she got into trouble? You saw her, along with Rainbro and four other ponies from town head into the forest.
>One of them was that strange new purple unicorn that came into town today. You still weren’t sure who she was, or where she was from, but she definitely seemed to be leading the group…
>But, obedient as you are, you didn’t leave the cottage… idiot. That was the Everfree Forest you saw them walk into!
>Fluttershy always said for you to NEVER go in there, no matter what the circumstances were!
>And so here you are, lying in your bed, going over everything that had happened that night in your head.
>…
>…You can’t just sit here and do nothing.
>Fluttershy’s gonna need your help, whether she wants it or not.
>Time to prepare.

>Step one: Resources.
>You quickly scurry around and through the cottage, collecting various objects and tools, and gather them together upstairs in your room.
>Rocks from the flowerbed, thread and a knife from the kitchen, a thick piece of cloth, and a wishbone-shaped branch from atop the big tree in the backyard, kept in a pile safe inside a drawer in your dresser.
>You had a habit of collecting interesting-looking branches when you were younger, and bringing them into your room, storing them in the dresser. You planned on creating a collection and one day putting them up for display.
>Looks like the wishbone wasn’t going to be displayed anytime soon…
>You sit, cross-legged, on the floor of your room, the materials all lined up in front of you.
>Step two: Craftsmanship.
>You picked up the knife in one hand, the wishbone-shaped branch in the other hand, and slowly, carefully, you began whetting away at the imperfections along the branch. Twigs, leaves… they had no place for what you had planned.
>After about an hour, you waved the branch in your hand; it wasn’t perfect, but it was smooth enough to grip properly.
>Next up, the thread…
>You took the knife and placed its pointed-end into one side of the wishbone, twisting it and slowly drilling a hole into the branch to weave the thread through.
>Being with Fluttershy for upwards of seven years, you’ve learned how to be fairly delicate with your hands, so this only takes about ten minutes.
>The next part, on the other hand… that’s going to take much longer…
>You wet the tip of the thread in your mouth, and slowly weave it through each hole on opposite ends of the branch. As you do this, you also weave the cloth in with the thread to keep it in place.
>You repeat this multiple times until you feel that it’s taught enough for you to be able to pull it back and not break.
>Dang… that took nearly two hours… But it’s finally done.
>You hold up your homemade slingshot proudly.
>You swear you hear a “Da na na NAAAA!!” come from somewhere, but you dismiss it as completely ridiculous.
>Now that your weapon is ready, time to gather the rest of your gear.
>You and Fluttershy used to do make-believe safari expeditions when you were younger; you quickly go through your closet, looking for it…
>Aha! Found it.
>You reach in and pull out a fairly small camouflage outfit from the closet.
>It’s a bit small, but you’re sure you’ll fit in it.
>You slip the pants on, and you can barely button and zip up the fly, you’ve grown so much. The pants only barely cover past your knees.
>The jacket and vest, on the other hand, were a bit easier to get on, but only cover to your belly-button, leaving a small bit of skin exposed underneath. Luckily, you had a plan for that.
>Stretching.
>You do a few basic upper-body stretches, working the sleeves to where they would expand to your larger size.
>It worked, but only slightly; the sleeves barely reach your wrists.
>You didn’t bother stretching the vest; it was only hanging on your torso.
>Once you finish your upper-body stretches, time to break-in the pants.
>You do some squats, followed by reaching down to touch your toes.
>Stretching after exercising with Rainbro really helped out after all this-
>RRRRRIIIIIIIIP.
>…
>Oh no.
>They ripped.
>…
>…No problem, you were only going to be wearing these for one night, nop0ny is going to notice.
>…
>You hope.
>You quickly gather your slingshot and stones, sticking the stones into your pockets and walking to the window.
>You look outside; the sun’s barely peaking over the horizon.
>…Didn’t that alicorn say that the “night will last forever” or something?
>No time for that, you have a town to save.
>You are Anonymous, the Savior of Ponyville!
>You open the window, and leap out into a nearby bush.
>The bush tears the knees of your pants a bit, but no time for that!
>You sneak through the bushes, slipping behind trees and benches on your way to town.
>You would make your appearance there; let ponies know what you were doing, and then head to the forest to save them.
>As you get closer, however, you see that there’s already a crowd gathered…
>What could be going on?
>You turn and see a nearby tree; perfect.
>You climb up the trunk like a squirrel, and leap from a branch onto the roof of a nearby building, nearly tripping as you land on the shingles.
>…Alright, time to get a closer-
>What? They’re already back?
>And they’ve brought that alicorn with them!
>No time to go over this in your head, Anonymous! It’s time to act!
“I WILL BE THE SAVIOR OF MY PEOPLE! I WILL FULFILL MY DESTINY!”
>You whip out the slingshot and load it with a stone.
“LEEDLEEDLEEDLEEDLEEDLEEDLEE!!”
>You bark out your war cry as you instinctively leap from the building’s roof, keeping your aim on the alicorn as you fire your weapon of mass destruction.
>…
>You’re floating.
>You look around; your shot has quite obviously not connected, seeing as she’s still alive…
>You look at yourself, and notice that you have a golden aura around you.
>…
“I HAVE TRANSCENDED THIS MORTAL BODY, AND WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE RAIN DOWN UPON YOU, ALICORN!”
>The dark-colored alicorn is simply staring at you with the most horrified expression you can imagine.
>Perfect; you’ve instilled the feelings of pure despair within her. Time to-
>”Anonymous, what’re you doing? And why are you wearing that?”
>You look around for the voice, and finally pinpoint her location.
“Ah, Rainbro; come to assist me in my rain of vengeance?”
>”Um… no, and that’s not Nightmare Moon anymore, Anonymous…” she says, scratching the back of her head with her hoof. “That’s Princess Luna…”
>You point a finger dramatically at the princess. “Aha! So you have revealed yourself in order to lull us into a false sense of security so that you may dethrone the white tyrant!”
>You suddenly feel a great pressure weighing down on every muscle fiber in your body, it’s as if a ton of bricks were just smashed down on your body, followed by a massive explosion, yet you suffered no physical damage from it.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SPIRIT, YOU FIEND?!”
>You struggle in the air, yet it’s no use; you can’t reach the dark alicorn to exact your revenge.
>”You are still alive, Anonymous, and I do not like the ‘white tyrant’ remark you made,” a calmer voice comes from the pony next to her.
>You swear you’ve recognized that figure before.
>…
>Oh man.
>You dun goofed.
>That’s Princess Celestia.
>All this time, you’ve been focused on the darker alicorn, when all along it was her!
“SO IT’S YOU THAT’S DOING THIS TO ME! HAVE AT THEE, KNAVE!”
>You swing punch after punch, kick after kick, anything you can do at the white alicorn, once again to no avail.
>”Anonymous, I suggest that you stop this behavior right now, or-”
“Or what? You’ll throw me in the dungeon? Banish me to the Everfree Forest? Throw me in a dungeon inside the Everfree Forest?!”
>The white princess shakes her head, giggling a bit.
“No, you did NOT just giggle at that, I’m being serious here!”
>She nods. “As am I. Now calm down, you’re making a fool of yourself…” she says, looking around at the crowd that was gathered.
>You stop your struggling, and look around as well.
>All of the ponies… They were staring at you.
>…
>Or, more specifically, the huge rip in your pants.
>You hear a filly try to stifle a giggle, before the whole crowd, stallions and mares, start cracking up at seeing the rip in your pants.
>Your eyes widen, and you try to cover it, but the damage has already been done. Even Rainbro’s barely able to keep herself from laughing.
>Some bro, huh?
>Princess Celestia releases her magical hold on you, and you plop down onto your butt, right in front of the two alicorn princesses.
>Heh, you never noticed, but… they are much bigger than you.
>…Like, nearly 2 feet taller than you.
>You’re gonna need more stones for this.

>”Anonymous, how could you do that?” Fluttershy exclaimed after the two of you made it back home.
>The walk back was completely silent, save for a few glances exchanged between the two of you.
>…Hers were always angry glares. You didn’t like that.
“I couldn’t just leave you out there like that, I saw you go into the Everfree Forest! You told me yourself that we’re not allowed in there!”
>She huffs, folding her hooves across her front as she floats in the air in front of you. You’re sitting, hands folded in your lap, a guilty conscience on your mind. “And you thought I couldn’t handle myself? Anonymous, I know it’s not quite what you want, but we’re not kids anymore!” she exclaims. “I’m old enough to make my own decisions, and so are you. But when you do something stupid like this, it…” she trails off.
“It what? What does it do, Fluttershy?!”
>”It makes me think you’re still a kid!” she retorts angrily. “An immature kid!”
>You’ve noticed that these arguments are starting to get more and more frequent as you get older. While you’re busy with Rainbro and adding to your collection of strangely-shaped branches, Fluttershy has been caretaking for all of the creatures that she comes across.
>…Even you…
“…Sorry.”
>…
>Silence. It’s agonizing.
>Finally, a sigh from Fluttershy after a few moments. “I’m going to talk with the Princess in the morning about getting you something to do around town to make you learn responsibility,” she says, turning her back towards you. “Maybe then you’ll understand that life isn’t all fun and games. Sometimes, you have to do something, even if you don’t want to.”
>And with that, she leaves you to go upstairs.
>You’re sitting on the sofa, staring down at your hands.
>Out of all of the creatures you’ve seen in Equestria… you’re the only one with hands.
>One of a kind.
>…
>Who could possibly have use for you when you don’t have hooves, magic, or wings?

>That was four years ago.

>End Chapter 2