The Rainboom Heard Around the World

[Prof. Yana 16]

Prologue

 

There she is, Twilight Sparkle, about to walk in to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Walk in, and be judged on whether or not she is good enough at magic to be permitted to attend.

 

No pressure.

 

Lots of pressure.

 

Okay, I can do this.

 

No I can’t.

 

Yes I can.

 

Pushing any unpleasant thoughts out of her head, she walks into the classroom just as another aspiring Unicorn walks out, looking devastated.

 

I can run away now, run away and give up on learning everything about magic.

 

No I can’t run away, not now, not after all these months of studying and practicing. No, I can’t run away now.

 

Her parents are already there, sitting on the other side of the classroom, looking nervous but reassuring. The judge’s are sitting in the highest row of desks, looking annoyed that they hadn’t found any worthy unicorns all day.

 

A young earth pony walks in, pushing a small carriage with a dragon egg in it. He leaves the carriage in the middle of the room and backs away.

 

“Well, Ms. Sparkle?” One of the judges says.

 

Twilight walks over to the carriage. Frightened that she’d fail, frightened that she’d never become the unicorn she’s always dreamed of being. It’s all riding on this, she can’t fail.

 

She hesitates; feeling sweat start to form on her face. She has to something, but her mind comes up blank. She lets out a nervous laugh.

The judges begin to write something on their clipboards.

The sweat is now freely flowing.

 

“Well, Ms. Sparkle?” The judge repeats, becoming annoyed.

 

Twilight, deciding she has to do something, backs up and concentrates on hatching the egg. A light spark comes out of her horn. She tries again. Not even a spark this time. One of the judges yawns, another checks her watch.

 

“We don’t have all day.” The one who checked her watch says.

 

Becoming desperate, Twilight runs around the carriage, trying from all angles, front, back, left, right, above, below, none of them work! Not even a spark! In one last attempt she puts all she has into it, it’s all riding on this!

 

Nothing.

 

“I’m sorry I wasted your time” she says, defeated.

 

Twilight sulks over to the window. Her parents come up behind her.

 

“The one chance I get and I blow it!” Twilight exclaims.

 

“There’s always next year.” Her Mother says with a kind smile.

 

“No there isn’t next year. They clearly think I’m the worst unicorn they’ve ever seen. Th-th-they’ll never let me t-try again.” Twilight says, crying by the end.

 

“No they don’t. Just keep studying hard, practice every day, and they’ll surely let you in next year,” her Father says, reassuringly.

 

Twilight just keeps staring out of the window, hoping that some miracle happens. Hoping that she doesn’t just have to walk away from her dream like this, she doesn’t know if she can do this anymore.

She’s been looking forward to this school for so long, it just doesn’t seem fair to have to end it like this.

 

Just then a giant, completely round rainbow shoots across the sky. It sends a powerful magical surge through Twilight. More powerful than anything she had ever felt before.

 

She can feel the magic running through her, it feels good. It feels like she can make one hundred of those rainbows. But it soon becomes too much, it begins clogging her senses. Her eyes go white as a magic aura surrounds her. She can’t control it, she tries as hard as she can, but it overwhelms her.

 

She blacks out.

 

When she comes to, Princess Celestia herself is there. Twilight’s heart sinks. She knows she’s lost control of herself. She knows she nearly destroyed Princess Celestia’s school. She knows The Princess will have her thrown in the dungeon, and never be allowed to use-

 

“Twilight Sparkle” Princess Celestia says.

 

“Oh I’m so sorry, I didn’t-”

 

“You have a very special gift. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“But you need to learn to tame these abilities, through focused study.”

 

“Huh?"

 

“Twilight Sparkle, I’d like to make you my own personal protégé, here at the school.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Twilight doesn’t know what to think. One minute she’s nearly destroying the school, the next the Princess herself wants to make her, Twilight Sparkle, her own PERSONAL protégé.

With newfound hope, she looks back at her parents, asking their permission. They quickly nod.

 

She jumps in the air.

 

“YES.”

 

“One other thing, Twilight,” says Princess Celestia.

 

“More?”

 

She falls on her stomach. Princess Celestia points at her flank.

Her cutie mark!

She starts bouncing around the princess screaming “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

 

After she calms down, her parents and the Princess congratulate her.

 

Amidst all of this, she secretly makes a promise to herself.

 

I’m going to find the pony that caused that rainbow, even if it takes years.

 

But she’s quickly overwhelmed by the homework that the Princess and the school give her.

She means to research that mysterious rainbow, but just doesn’t have the time.

She starts thinking about it less and less, until, one day, she stops thinking about it all together…

 

Chapter 1

 

Twilight shivers. She assumes she’s cold because of the higher altitude. The lavender pony is in the audience of the Best Young Flyers competition in Cloudsdale. She is there to support Rainbow Dash, who is quite nervous about doing her Sonic Rainboom. But Twilight made the mistake of giving Rarity wings, and now she’s performing at the same time as Dash! But Twilight is still proud of Rainbow; she

got over her stage fright and is performing anyway.

 

Rarity is performing some sort of ballet. Twilight might actually enjoy watching it, had she not been mad at Rarity. Rainbow Dash is looking really nervous.

 

“Go Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow hears Twilight yell.

 

"Wow, even that pony is yelling to me, I’ve gotta go on.” Rainbow starts her routine. It starts with weaving through a series of poles. It feels good so far, she is actually starting to have fun. Until she pulls in too early and hits a pole, sending her crashing into the stands.

 

“Ugh,” says Rainbow, trying to recover. “I guess it’s time for phase two.”

 

She flies up, and finds three perfectly good clouds. The cyan pony starts flying around them, as fast as she can in such a tight circle, making them spin. She completes the first, then the second. She is on her third, when a stray piece hits her in the face, knocking her away from the cloud. It starts to spin out of control. It’s heading right for Princess Celestia! Luckily, it isn’t very dense and doesn’t hurt anyone.

 

Rainbow looks over at Rarity, she’s just finishing up her weird dance—ballet, or whatever it’s called—and is starting to fly upwards.

 

“Looks like this is my last chance to turn things around. Phase three. The Sonic,” She swallows. “Rainboom.”

 

Rainbow Dash starts her ascent. The higher she goes, the less she can hear what’s going on around her, the wind is strong.

 

Okay, I can do this.

 

No, I can’t.

 

Yes, I can. I just need to remember my training.

 

And, if I fail, I will look like a fool in front of everyone, I’ll never be able to return to Cloudsdale.

 

Shut up, me.

 

Rainbow hears a scream, she figures it’s just the wind. She hears it again. By the third time she is getting annoyed. She decides to look around. Dash sees a little speck of white with some purple around it. It’s Rarity!

 

Forgetting about the competition, Rainbow Dash pulls out of her ascent early and starts flying down, way faster than she thought possible.

 

“Hold on Rarity, I’m coming!”

 

The stadium shoots past her, a blur, as she continues to gain speed. While approaching the speed of sound, she sees that the Wonderbolts are with Rarity, but they’re knocked out! Suddenly, even more desperate, she starts trying harder to fly faster. Feeling the resistance, she knows what she has to do.

 

Twilight is worried, and frustrated that she can’t help Rarity. Rainbow Dash is getting really fast now. Twilight is sitting on the edge of her cloud.

 

“Oh no, I can’t look.” says Fluttershy, hiding behind her hooves.

 

Twilight looks down at Rainbow Dash, becoming increasingly afraid that she won’t make it, though she would never show her friends. Rainbow’s getting faster and faster and…

A cold wind blows on Twilight. She looks around but can’t find the source.

 

“Not yet,” a deep, booming voice says.

 

Suddenly Twilight feels magic surrounding her, though not her own. She tries to fight it, but it doesn’t

even scratch it. She tries calling her friends, but her voice doesn’t seem to work. Starting to feel a familiar spell engulfing her, she tries signaling her friends one last time, but it’s futile. The spell is

getting stronger, she recognizes it. A teleportation spell. And then she’s gone.

 

The falling ponies are only a few hundred feet from the ground now, Rainbow pushes herself harder.

 

And then she does it, a Sonic Rainboom. A rainbow shoots out around her, as round as the sun itself. But she doesn’t have time to congratulate herself. Those ponies are still falling. She’s getting closer and closer, She can almost touch them, and…

 

Rainbow Dash is flying along the ground now, with Rarity AND The Wonderbolts in her hooves. She feels like she could just die from adrenaline. Realizing they are quite heavy, she pulls up to return to Cloudsdale.

 

“Whoa.” says Rainbow Dash, just now thinking about how amazing this must look.

 

Deciding that she is going to continue her performance, it will look even cooler with these ponies on her back, she flies over the stadium. At the top of her arch she looks down at the audience. Quickly scanning over it; looking for her friends. Upon finding them, she is surprised to find that Twilight isn’t there.

 

With no time to think about it, she completes her arch and flies back up through the middle of the stadium. Some Pegasi fly over to help take Rarity. She leaves the Wonderbolts with some medical ponies.

 

The moment Rainbow Dash lands, everypony cheers. The whole stadium goes berserk, with everyone stomping their hooves as hard as they can. There are streamers and confetti flying everywhere.

 

“I did it. I did it!”

 

“You sure did.” says Rarity, “Oh thank you Rainbow Dash. You saved my life!”

 

“Oh yeah. I did that too. Ha, best day EVER!”

 

“Hello, Rainbow Dash.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Princess Celestia is standing there, looking pleased.

 

“Princess Celestia, I am sorry I ruined the competition.” says Rarity. “Rainbow Dash here really is the

best flyer in Equestria.”

 

“I know she is my dear. That's why for her incredible act of bravery, and her spectacular sonic rainboom, I'm presenting the grand prize for Best Young Flyer to this year's winner, Miss Rainbow Dash!” Princess Celestia places the Best Young Flyer crown on Rainbow Dash.

 

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh,”

 

“And I think I can solve your little cloud walking problem, dear.” The Princess casts the Cloud Walking Spell on Rarity. “Congratulations again, Rainbow Dash, but I’m afraid I must get back to the castle. I bid you farewell, Rainbow Dash and Rarity.” She walks away.

 

Her friends walk over, except Twilight. Rainbow Dash asks where she is.

 

“Ohh, ohh, maybe she went to the little fillies room,” says Pinkie.

 

“Nah, ah don’t think so, she went right before Rainbow went on, remember?” says Applejack

 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to her. I was too caught up in your performance, Rainbow,” says Fluttershy, trying to hide behind her mane a little.

 

“Nah, it’s okay Fluttershy. You were probably just distracted by my awesomeness. But where is she? It’s really not like her to miss something like this.”

 

“Ah reckon we should just wait for her, she’s quite the independent little pony,”

 

“I guess you’re right.”

 

“So, now what? What are we gonna do ‘till Twilight gets back?”

 

“I guess I can continue showing you guys around. If she doesn’t turn up by sunset, then we can look for her.”

 

So Rainbow shows them around. They see where Rainbow grew up, where she went to school, and her old hang out spots. They end it, a little exhausted, at The Manehattan Diner.

 

They walk in and look around. It’s mostly empty except for a couple ponies in the corner, and the cook behind the counter. They get seated and order.

 

“So, after we eat here, I say we go looking for Twilight,” says Rainbow Dash, chewing on her daisy sandwich

 

“Well, we been all over Cloudsdale today, and we’ve seen no trace of her,” says Applejack

 

“Then let’s search Ponyville! I’ll search the west end!” says Pinkie, excitedly.

 

“Pinkie, that’s where all the bakeries are,” says Rainbow Dash, “though that is a good idea. Alright everyone, as soon as we are out of here, we’ll spread out across Ponyville. I’ll search the library and all of her other hang out spots, because I’m the fastest. You ponies search everywhere else, got it?”

 

“Got it! But I’m still searching the west end!”

 

“Fine, I’ll search Sweet Apple Acres and the market, because I know all the nooks and crannies she might be hiding in.”

 

“I’ll search all of the clothing stores, as I own one myself.”

 

“I’ll search the forests; I go there a lot to take care of the animals.”

 

“Okay, that’s settled. And after we’re done searching, we’ll meet up at the library.”

After they eat, they walk over to Twilights balloon.

 

“Alright, does anyone know how to fly this?”

 

With everypony searching in their respective places, Rainbow Dash starts at the library. On her way over, she thinks about if Twilight had acted weird at all, before disappearing.

 

No, I’m pretty sure she acted normal.

 

Nothing strange at all?

 

No, maybe I’ll find something at the library.

 

Still feeling a little extra confident, she decides to try the window. It’s just a little bigger than her, but still possible to fly through. She slows down a bit, to not crash the moment she flies through.

 

Starting to make her descent, she pulls all of her limbs in as tight as possible. As the cyan pony gets closer to window, she starts having second thoughts, but puts them out of her mind.

 

As she flies through, her left hind leg hits the windowsill, making her lose control. She tries to pull up, as to not knock over all of Twilights books, but only manages to go up the stairs and into Twilights bedroom, right into one of her personal bookshelves.

 

“Uhgh, oh Celestia, what happened?” A little dazed, Rainbow tries to stand up. It’s dark, with only the moonlight to brighten anything. Looking around, she realizes what happened. “Oh no, oh no, Twilight is gonna kill me. I’ve gotta clean this up.” There are books everywhere. Rainbow starts to clean up the

mess.

 

“No wonder all the smart ponies are unicorns, it’ll take forever to clean this up without magic. Well, I guess beggars can’t be choosers.” she says, stopping caring if she put the books back correctly.

 

Rainbow stops suddenly, staring at an open book. It looked to be a diary entry from when Twilight was a filly. The date is the same day Rainbow had done her first Sonic Rainboom. She is going to put it away, when a word catches her eye. Rainbow.

 

“Well, I guess a little peek can’t hurt. Besides, maybe she saw my awesome Rainboom.” She brings it out onto the balcony, into the unobstructed moonlight.

 

I got into Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns today! The goal was to hatch a dragon egg. I had failed a number of times, and had given up, when a completely round rainbow shot across the sky! It sent a powerful surge of magic through me (Note: I have to research this strange occurrence later). I went a little out of control, I nearly destroyed the school, and Princess Celestia herself had to stop me. I was worried she would throw me in the dungeon and take away my magic. But I was wrong, Princess Celestia decided to take me on as her own Personal Protégé! After that, I found out I got my cutie mark! And it’s all thanks to that rainbow. I made a promise to myself today. I’m going to find the pony that caused that rainbow, even if it takes years.

 

Feeling a little warmth creep to her cheeks, Rainbow Dash quickly puts the book away, not able to believe that Twilight had done all of that because of her.

 

Rainbow finishes cleaning up the mess. She heads out to the park, to see if Twilight is there, reading a book. She isn’t.

 

“Oh man, come on Twilight, where are you? I need to talk to you.”

 

Making the decision to keep looking, Rainbow flies off, checking her other hang out spots. She wasn’t at any of them. Rainbow heads back to the library, hoping her friends had found something. They are already waiting for her.

 

“Have you guys found anything?”

 

“No, dear, we looked everywhere, but there was no trace of her.”

 

“Then we just have to keep looking, I’ll head over to the-“

 

“Rainbow, I think we should get some sleep. We can continue the search in the morning.” says Applejack

 

“No, no! I’ll scour every inch of the Everfree Forest if I have to, I’m not giving up!”

 

“Rainbow, Twilight can take care of herself you know. Why are you suddenly so protective?” asks Rarity.

 

“I-I don’t know. I think I need to get some sleep, it’s been a busy day after all, he he. I’ll see you ponies in the morning.” Rainbow backs out of the door.

 

“Rainbow, come back! We can talk about this.”

 

Without answering, Rainbow Dash flies off. Feeling very confused.

 

Why am I getting so worked up? Twilight’s been through some pretty tough spots. Heck we don’t even know where she is! She could be at some lame spa for all we know.

 

But after reading that, that, thing, I have a need to protect her for some reason. Why? Why?

 

Rainbow Dash flies back to her house, and goes into her training room. She walks over to her favorite cloud, a particularly dense cloud made for boxing, and starts hitting it. She alternates between bucking and punching, to get her stress out.

 

“Darn it! Why do I care so much?!” She bucks it particularly hard and destroys it.

 

“Ugh, it’s gonna take me forever to get enough cloud to rebuild that.” All she wants to do is see that

Twilight is safe, though she knows that is probably not true, but she has no idea where to look!

 

Frustrated, Rainbow Dash goes to bed, just as confused as before.