//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: A Horse Named Rainbow 
// by Haybales22 
//------------------------------//

	Jacob sat on his wooden porch, the thunder and lightning flashing and crashing around him.  In the sudden illumination of his acreage, he could see the wooden cross that marked where Dakota lay, under the willow tree across the yard.  He took a sip of his drink, the scotch tickling his throat as it went down.  He looked at the barn where the cows slept, imagining the empty stall with the nameplate still attached above.  The golden letters and maple wood now dull without the light dancing on the varnish.  His eyes closed for a moment, just a moment, and he saw a light behind his eyes, and heard the loudest clap of thunder all night.  His eyes shot open at once, and he could see bright beams of light emantating from the barn, all colors of the rainbow.  Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet beams shot from between the slats of wood, giving an eery effect to the structure.  Jacob cursed and ran towards the barn, never-minding the pounding rain and the lightning above.  Was the barn on fire?  Did he have enough time to save the cows?  What about the cats, the chickens?  What about Dakota's tack?  Her saddle, bridle, blankets, halters, ribbons?  All mingled with her salty sweet sweat smell, the distinctive odor he had known all his life, was it to be lost forever in a small barn fire?  And her name plate, would that burn as well?  

He shook the thoughts from his head and sprinted through the storm, the rain stinging his eyes as he ran.  He pushed open the barn doors, the light had stopped a while ago, but he needed to know what caused it.  He gazed around the dim barn, unable to see any sign of a fire.  The cows were chewing their cud quietly in their stalls, woken by the thunder and light.  He walked past the holsteins, rubbing their noses as he passed.  A loud whinney pierced the still air. Jacob jumped, the sound chilling him.  It must have been his imagination, he must have been imagining it.  There was no horse in the barn, his only horse had died months ago.  He could hear a loud, rhythmetic banging, a loud bang, a soft thud, pause.  Loud bang, soft thud, pause.  He rounded the corner towards where the noise was coming from, the part of the barn that had housed the horses, back when his parents and his horses were still alive.  The noise continued, and he could hear heavy breathing.  He could see the door to Dakota's old stall, the nameplate stil there, the sautered letters as dark as the day he made it in 4h so many years ago.  One last bang destroyed the half door beneath it, and splinters of wood flew everywhere.  Jacob covered his face to protect himself from the bits of wood, but looked up to see a blue horse.  The horse screamed and reared, its hooves flailing as it rose.  It fell to the ground, but reared again and opened its... wings?  The horse that proved to be a pegasus reared multiple times, screaming the entire time, a sharp whinney of fear.  Its mane, which was striped with the colors of the rainbow, flew about it, the forelock getting into its magenta eyes.  Jacob scrambled away from the insane horse, and it charged past him, crashing into the wall before galloping outside into the storm.  More whinneys could be heard outside, and Jacob got up and ran towards the barn's large double doors.  The Pegasus was rearing and spinning again, looking around it, its wings unfurled and flapping franticly.  It could not take off from the ground, although it tried.  He could see it's wings were already soaked by the pounding rain, and the feathers were slightly burnt as well.  The animal spotted Jacob and whinnied in fear and rage, then charged once more, jumping over him with ease and going back into the barn.  The left hind hoof clipped his head as it passed, and his vision blackened.  The last thing he saw before the immense darkness was a cloud and a tricolored bolt of lightning adorning the flank of the beast.  "Rainbowdash..." he murmured, before collapsing and becoming encased in the darkness.


"Go Rainbowdash..."  Fluttershy cheered quietly, her fearless friend unable to hear her over the wind whistling through her ears and mane.  Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle beside the quiet mare.  Sweetie Belle had been the first to achieve her life's goal, and a glass of liquid surrounded by flames adorned her flank.  Applebloom, upon asking Madam Pinkie for a reading of what her cutie mark would be, recieved a strange answer.  She had already recieved hers, and had had it for quite some time.  This had perplexed the small filly, as her flank was still blank, but Pinkie had told her her destiny was to be Equestria's greatest assasin.  The farm filly had assumed she was kidding, but she was awfully stealthy when she tried.  Maybe she was a ninja assasin...  Scootaloo was the only one without a predetermined destiny awaiting her, her flank was blank, without the promise of untold epicosity that came with being a ninja.  She had no cutie mark.  So she asked the pony she trusted most to help her, Rainbowdash.  After remembering how Rainbow and all her friends got their marks during a freak coincidence, she asked Rainbowdash to perform the sonic Rainboom, believing its powers could force her fate to become apparent.  All had gone well so far, Rainbowdash had gotten as close to the top of the atmosphere as she could, and was perched on a cloud she had dragged with her.  

Rainbowdash smiled from high above, her multicolored mane and tail flowing in the wind.  She flexed her cyan wings and grinned at the ground.  This was sure to be the greatest sonic Rainboom she had ever performed.  She had never been this high for takeoff.  The air was so thin up her that she was starting to get a bit dizzy, which wasn't good.  "Three!"  She called, just for show, although no pony could see or hear her.  "Two!"  Her voice was higher than usual, another side effect of the thinner air.  "ONE!!!"  She shouted, and dove from the cloud, the cluster of condensed moisture dissipating as she leapt.  The swan dive was perfect, and she aimed straight for the ground.  The wind whistled through what seemed like her very soul as she fell, her wings not even unfurled, no need to flap as she plummeted towards Equestria from space itself.  She could feel the incredible pressure of the boom increasing within her, her mane and tail already beginning to meld slightly to become a solid stream of pure color.  She could see the screen begin to take place, still in its soft bubble shape, the air itself turning into the vital sheild she needed so as not to explode from the pressure.  

The bubble hardened, and the pressure continued, the insane, almost orgasmic feeling growing within her spirit.  Suddenly, the ground rushed towards her, and the soft bubble became the cone of energy.  Her mane and tail exploded and made a river of color, and she exploded, the pressure bursting and the orgasm surging.  The ring of colored fire expanding as she ricocheted off the bounce site they had set, right above Fluttershy and what was formerly the cutie mark crusaders, Scootaloo's cutie mark was the entire purpose of this activity.  She rocketed off into the distance, her eyes closed against the wind that stung them.  This was defineately the strongest boom she had ever done, her body wriggling in the pleasure and happiness that came with the legendary phenomenon.  She yelled into the wings and waved her hooves.  She immediately regretted this decision, and felt herself lose control as soon as her form was compromised.  The rainbow behind her stopped, and she curled into a ball in order to protect herself.  She screamed in pain, her primal instincts kicking in as she whinnied shrilly, and felt her skin burn.  She opened her eyes, but squeezed them shut again as soon as she saw.  Her coat, mane, tail and wings had all caught fire.  She was burning alive, a stream of fire replacing the former rainbow.  She screamed in agony, and felt herself fall, the relatively short distance covered in seconds.  She did not hit the ground though, but instead kept falling.  She covered her face with her hooves, and felt the fire extinguish, then, darkness.  She continued falling into the seemingly endless darkness, and she opened her eyes, she unfurled her wings and tried to pull up, but her feathers were badly singed, and most of them were missing.  She fell further before deciding to speed the pace of the fall, and she spun into a dive.  With her increased speed, she could feel what felt like another sonic Rainboom, but she stopped before it could commense.  Her eyes clouded over with darkness, and she blacked out, falling slowly through space and time...

"SHE DID IT!!!  IT WORKED!!! IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!!!!"  Scootaloo was buzzing around at top speeds, an orange and violet blur, the royal purple winged wheel and lightning bolt on her flank blurred by the speed at which she was flying.  With sudden realization, Scootaloo stopped and hovered a few feet off the ground.  She then screamed again and did backflips through the air, discovering her new power of flight.  "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU RAINBOWDASH!!!  YAHOOO!!!"
"Um, Scootaloo?"  Fluttershy whispered.  The overjoyed filly paid no heed to the mare's words.  "Scootaloo..."  Fluttershy tried again, but Scootaloo still didn't answer.  "SCOOTALOO!!!!"  Fluttershy yelled suddenly, and all three fillies lined up in a row in front of the older pegasus mare, at attention, scared straight by the loud, reprimanding tone that Fluttershy had used.  "Um... Rainbowdash isn't here..."