//------------------------------// // [April Fool's Intermission] When It Rains... // Story: Spells and Rainbows // by 6-D Pegasus //------------------------------// *Adding this note now for future readers, you can skip this chapter of you want. It's just something I did for April Fools, doesn't actually happen in the story. * "Hrrghh owww my head..." Rainbow groaned to herself, her head throbbing with an intense pain. A sharp, high pitched noise rang in her ears, and she shook her head to try to clear her thoughts. "Ughh what just happened?" The last thing Rainbow could remember was the start of... a race? No, there were no opponents. She had been racing herself. Why was she racing herself? Did she get faster? Enhanced by a... potion? Artifact? Spell? Yes it was a spell. A speed spell... cast on her by Starlight... no, through an amulet... Her eyes slowly opened, but they quickly widened in surprise as she was met with white. Just white, everywhere. What's going on? She lifted a foreleg in front of her and was relieved to see that it was still there, along with her entire body and all its accompanying limbs. She wriggled her hind legs around a bit and slowly unfolded both her wings. A faint breeze flowed through her open feathers, and she quickly closed them before she started shivering. Nothing seemed to hurt. Everything was in working condition. So where the hay am I? Once she was satisfied her body wasn't missing anything vital, Rainbow once again glanced around at her surroundings. Or to put it more accurately, her lack of surroundings. She took a look down and realized she could see no ground below her. Somehow, her body was floating in nothing, and yet her brain reassured her that down was indeed down; she was floating right-side up. She narrowed her eyes to try to focus on something, ANYTHING, in the distance, but to no anvil. All she could see was white, the only color in her sight being her very own rainbow mane drifting around above her. "Hello?" She called out, her voice shaking slightly in anxiety. "Is... anypony there?" No answer. Nothing. Not so much as an echo of any sort returned to her ears. "Pinkie, is this one of your pranks again?" Rainbow frantically swerved her head back and forth, hoping to catch a glimpse of the telltale pink colors of her fellow prankster friend. "Th-... This isn't funny anymore!" Still, no reply. No flash of pink. Not even a hint of her signature, high pitched giggle. Panic began to set in, and Rainbow felt her heart beat more and more frantically as adrenaline began to pump throughout her system. What is this?! What's going on?! Am... I dead? She had heard tales from ponies with near-death encounters. Those who had seen Her and returned... But they described the encounter as being in an environment of absolute darkness, with the warmth of Her light beckoning them forward. There was no darkness here. Just white. Her pupils shrank as she realized she was utterly alone. And she hated being alone more than anything. All alone with only the sound of her own breathing and the occasional ruffle of her feathers. Her feathers... My WINGS! Rainbow ran a hoof across her face to wipe off the few tears that had began to collect underneath her eyes. Once again, she unfolded her wings and studied the wind that brushed past her feathers. So weak... I can't even tell how fast it is... But it's definitely coming from in front of me. And if I have wind... She gave her wings a strong flap, putting all her hope and determination into it. To her eyes, nothing had changed. But the rest of her body quickly sent a wide range of signals to her brain. The fluid in her inner ear sloshed slightly, the fur along the front of her body flattened slightly as if hit by a sudden wind, and her mane flew behind her. She had moved forward. ...I have flight! She began to flap her wings again, slowly at first, to test the strength of the wind that blew around her. It felt like a normal breeze, as if she were flying around the skies of Ponyville like nothing was ever wrong. Gradually, she began to put more energy into her wings, each flap stronger than the other and propelling her forward even more so. She put herself in forward flying position, with both hooves stretched out in front of her and her back legs and tail lined up behind her to create the least amount of air resistance possible. Suddenly, something up ahead caught her attention. *Gasp* "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!" In the far distance, though she could not tell how far exactly, lay a tiny black dot, standing out harshly against the whiteness around it. Filled with a newfound sense of hope, Rainbow gritted her teeth and put everything she had into her wings. She felt a familiar spark ignite within her, and started noticing small bolts of bright cyan lightning streak across her front hooves. Sometimes, a bolt would jump loose and arc between them for a moment before resuming its path throughout her body. She could feel more streaks travelling the surface of her skin, but she dared not look, in fear that if she were to take her eyes off the black dot for even a second, it would vanish. Slowly but surely, the dot grew until it became a small, black rectangle. A doorway. This could be my way out! Rainbow continued flying, ignoring her slowly increasing fatigue from the amount of stain she was putting on her wings. She began to lose track of time as the task for flapping her wings got placed on autopilot and all of her attention was directed towards how close the door was getting. How long had she been in this place already? Minutes? An hour? Could a full day have already gone by? Without a way to time, Rainbow kept pushing forward, determined to see the smiles of her friends once more. Almost... there... Eventually, the darkness that indicated the doorway was large enough that she could tell it was just a few meters away. With a final cry, Rainbow propelled herself through the doorway and landed on some invisible black floor. Everything around her was black, obscured in absolute darkness. It was like the white area she had left behind, but this time her hooves clopped soundly against solid ground. What the ground was made of was remained a mystery to the exhausted pegasus. Rainbow turned around to gaze back through the doorway through which she had just flown. Without a reference object on the other side, the doorway now appeared to be nothing but a floating, white rectangle. BANG! A loud noise came from behind, startling Rainbow and forcing her attention away from the door. She quickly turned on her hooves to face the source of the sound. Where there once was nothing but darkness now lied a single piece of paper, seemingly lit by some unseen light source from above. "Hey?" Rainbow called out. "Did somepony put this here?" She cautiously trotted over to it and examined it. It looked like a perfectly normal piece of paper. She picked it up with a hoof and noticed some small, blue writing in the bottom right corner of the page. Turn me over. Rainbow gulped nervously. What would she find written on the other side? A spell to get out? Some evil curse that she could only get rid of if she sent ten copies of it to other ponies in the next twenty four hours? There was only one way for her to be sure. She shut her eyes out of fear and turned over the page. Very slowly, Rainbow peaked her eyes open to read what was written... ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ You looked GOTCHA ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀