//------------------------------// // The Tale of the Donkey's Tail // Story: Tales Around the Campfire // by Cinders of War //------------------------------// It arrived in the mail today. As Rainbow Dash held the strange object up to her eye to examine it, her nose took one whiff of it and she recoiled back, putting the thing back on her coffee table. It was a donkey’s tail and it reeked. Rainbow wondered just who could’ve sent her something like this. There was no return address on the parcel she received. Hay, it didn’t even have a name. All she had with the tail was an old sheet of paper. No, she couldn’t even call it paper. It was an old piece of parchment, yellowed with age and the words on it looked to be written with a quill, sloppily and big. They were instructions. “To use the Donkey’s tail,” she began reading out loud as she followed the words. “Simply hold it out in your left hand and say, ‘I wish…’ and then whatever it is you are wishing for. You will only have three wishes. But be warned, be careful what you wish for. You have been warned.” “Wait, wait…” Rainbow Dash waved her hands madly. “Why am I the one in the story? And why did you say ‘be warned’ twice?” “Okay, perhaps once was enough.” Rarity cleared her throat. “As for you being in the story, why, I thought it would fit better, wouldn’t you think?” The fire crackled, sending cinders up into the air. It was a cold night tonight and the group had been all too happy to be sitting around the campfire. Tonight, it was Rarity’s turn for a spooky story, and she said she had a good idea. That was still yet to be determined. She sat around the fire with Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Home Run and three newcomers. The first was Twilight Sparkle, who had shifted over from Crystal Prep Academy a few months back. Some crazy stuff had happened then, but that was a story for another time. The other was Velvet Breeze, who was a girl with teal-grey hair, living in Equestria with her sister at the moment. She still came over to this world all the time, and that was another long story for another time. Then the last newcomer was Moonglade, a beautiful girl with blonde hair and tan skin, who was Home Run’s girlfriend. Her introduction was also another story for another time. Tonight, the story was Rarity’s, and did she have a story to tell. “Rainbow, don’t interrupt her so early on,” Applejack lectured. “Let her continue.” “I think it’s an interesting premise,” Velvet added. “I want to hear where this goes.” “Why’d it have to be a donkey’s tail?” Fluttershy asked. “Poor donkey…” “But it grants wishes, huh?” Moonglade leaned against Home Run’s side and held her legs up to her chest. She looked like she was already spooked. “I wish I had something that could grant wishes.” “But didn’t you hear?” Home Run gave her shoulder a rub. “You have to be careful what you wish for.” “I would wish for lots of cakes!” Pinkie giggled. “Then we can all have cake all day long!” “Ahem, girls?” Rarity forced a coughed. “Maybe I continue? We can debate about cake later.” “Guy…” Home Run sighed and leaned back against his log. “There’s a guy here too…” “A wishing device, huh?” Rainbow held the tail between two fingers. It was all shriveled and dried, as though it was as old as time itself. “Really? Whoever sent this to me has a sick sense of humour. As if something like that exists.” Immediately dismissing the object’s claims, Rainbow threw the tail back in the box it came in and shoved it into her school bag. If anything, it would be an interesting thing to show her friends tomorrow. “Wish grantin’ device? Ain’t no such thing.” Applejack was predictably skeptical about it when Rainbow had shown her friends the tail in the box. “That’s exactly what I think.” Rainbow waggled the tail in their faces. Fluttershy drew back as it passed by her. “How in the world is this supposed to grant wishes? It’s just an old donkey’s tail.” “Who do you think sent it to you, anyway?” Sunset Shimmer rubbed her chin as she eyed it. “Maybe someone’s trying to prank you.”  “Who would even bother?” Rainbow put her hands on her hips. “I’m awesome.” “Yeah, yeah, ya always say that.” Applejack picked up the tail and held it out to have a better look. “That’s ‘cause I am!” The cowgirl grunted. “Ah wish you’d just stop sayin’ that.” She suddenly took a few steps back and dropped the tail on the cafeteria table. “What? What happened?” Sunset asked, an eyebrow raised. “The-the tail…” Applejack looked at her empty hand. “It moved.” All of them eyed the tail, which was now on the ground. Rainbow expected it to start flopping about like a fish, but it just laid there, unmoving. “Wait, you said something about holding it and then saying a wish?” Twilight Sparkle picked up the tail by its end and squinted at it. “What was it again?” Rainbow took out the parchment. “Simply hold it out in your left hand and say, ‘I wish…’ and then whatever it is you are wishing for. AJ, did you hold it in your left?” The cowgirl held out her hand and wiggled her fingers. “Well, duh.” “And you wished for me to… what was it, I’d stop saying I’m awesome?” “What, you believe it works now?” Rainbow folded her arms. “Uh, well, no. But uh, you said it moved.” “What do you think is going to happen?” Rarity asked. “Rainbow, dear, try saying ‘awesome’.” “Uh… I’m awesome?” Rainbow said slowly. Nothing seemed to happen. “Huh. I guess it really is baloney!” Pinkie Pie grinned and dashed off. “Still, I wonder who gave this to you, Rainbow.” Sunset eyed the tail as Twilight put it back in the packaging it arrived in. “It has to be some si-sicko…” Fluttershy frowned at the thing. “Well, whatever or whoever or whichever, we’ll worry about it later.” The athlete shoved the package and parchment back in her bag and slung it over a shoulder. “I’ve got a soccer game to get to. I’ll see you girls after I win!” And she was off, leaving the rest of the Rainbooms standing there, wondering just what the tail was meant for. Rainbow Dash plopped herself down in a cafeteria chair as she sighed and blew up at her fringe. “I can’t believe it! Another loss! We haven’t won a soccer game in weeks now! What gives?” “Maybe ya just ain’t as good as ya thought ya were,” Applejack told her bluntly. “She definitely isn’t!” Cloudy Kicks walked by behind her and stuck out her tongue. “You’re not awesome, Rainbow. You’re pathetic.” “That wasn’t very nice…” Fluttershy whispered. “Ugh…” Rainbow slapped a hand to her face and groaned. But Cloudy Kicks was right. She hadn’t been playing very awesomely recently. Her every pass and her every dribble had been intercepted by the opposing team. Every time. She hadn’t even gotten the chance to try a solid kick at the other team’s goal. In fact, she hadn’t been able to play well since… “Hey, remember your wish, six weeks back?” Rainbow looked to her blonde haired friend. “You wished for me to not say I’m awesome?” “Yeah?” “Well, I haven’t got to say it since!” Rainbow threw her hands up. “Happy? Your wish was granted!” “Wait, wait.” Home Run snapped his fingers to get Rarity’s attention. “It’s been that long? Six weeks is a long time. That’s like… uh…” He held up his fingers to count. “About two months, Home Run.” Moonglade ruffled his hair. “Yeah. That’s a long time.” “Does it matter how long?” Rarity asked. “It’s my story. I get to decide the length, don’t I?” “She has a point.” Velvet held up a finger. “Yeah, anyway, can we continue?” Applejack interrupted. “Ah wanna know where this goes.” “Thanks, Applejack. Anyway…” “How do we know if it was the wish?” Applejack challenged. “Maybe ya just started playin’ bad on your own.” “Since when have I ever had a problem with sports till now?” “Well, that is a little odd, yeah.” Sunset rubbed her chin. “Do you still have the tail, dear?” Rarity held out her hand. “We should try it out more.” “Oh, I actually never took it out of my back.” Rainbow unzipped her backpack and dug through it, getting the tail out. “Aha. Here we are.” “Ya actually believes it works now, then?” Applejack folded her arms, unconvinced. “I didn’t say that,” Rainbow countered. “But I don’t see why I suddenly got bad at what I do best.” Fluttershy eyed the tail and gulped. “I think we should just leave it alone…” Rarity took the tail from her friend and held it out in her left hand. “Let’s see now, what’s a good way to try this out…” “Wish for cakes!” Pinkie jumped on her seat. “Nothing too big, Rarity,” Sunset warned. “We don’t want another case of what happened to Rainbow.” “That’s… if it even works,” Applejack reminded them. “We don’t know that yet.” Rarity rubbed at her chin, then stretched her arm out in front of her. “Maybe if you had a boyfriend, you would be thinking less about sports. I wish Rainbow Dash had a boyfriend.” “Wooahhhh woaahhhh, wait wait, hold up.” Rainbow interrupted the story. “Why would I need a boyfriend? I’ve got sports! Life is exciting enough!” “Rainbow, you do not know what you’re missing out,” Rarity answered her and tilted her head up proudly. “It’s nice to have people to love. Isn’t it, Home Run? Moonglade?” “Sure is.” The baseball player nodded. The blonde girl nodded as well and sniffed at the air. “Definitely.” “Yeah, well, like I told Home Run long ago, I don’t need any relationships at the moment. I’ve got so much to do in life. A relationship will spoil my life.” There was an awkward silence, broken only by Velvet Breeze clearing her throat. “Can we uh, just keep going?” “Yeah, the story’s getting interesting.” Twilight adjusted her glasses and leaned closer. “Gladly.” Rarity dusted her hands. “So…” “Come on. I don’t need a boyfriend,” Rainbow retorted. “It would make you feel better.” Rarity batted her eyes. “In more ways than one.” “Yeah, uh, well, we don’t even know if it’ll work. So yeah.” “We’ll see, I guess.” Sunset pushed off her chair. “Come on. Lunch is almost over. We better get ready for next period.” As Rainbow and her friends moved to put their trays away, she internally scoffed at the idea of having a boyfriend. She had sports to play, but then again, maybe that would be good, seeing as her sports hadn’t been all that good in the recent months. “Rainbow, what happened?!” Applejack grabbed her friend as she ran through her front door, slamming it shut behind her. Rainbow Dash’s clothes were torn, there was blood on her face and she looked hysterical. “He’s out there! He’s looking for me!” Rainbow gasped, keeping her back against the door. “Who?” Applejack pushed her aside and looked through the peephole. Everything on the road to the farm looked normal, except for a black haired boy walking around holding a knife in his hands. “What the hay?!” Applejack turned to look at her friend. “What’s Hoodlum doin’ with that? Did he do this to ya?” Rainbow nodded. For a month now, Hoodlum had been her boyfriend. He’d mysteriously appeared one day and somehow, just somehow, Rainbow had agreed to date him. Looking back, she didn’t know what she saw in him. “He’s crazy! He’s trying to cut me up! Look!” Rainbow lifted the remains of her cut up shirt and stuck a finger through it. She’d even been nicked just below the right breast and blood was staining her white shirt. Hoodlum had been showing signs of weirdness for a whole week now, but only just today, on their date, he said he wanted to see inside her. Rainbow thought he meant something more… intimate, but then he pulled out his knife and tried to gut her. She put a hand on a cut on her cheek and shivered. “You see this? Rarity got her wish. I hope she’s happy! Because I sure as hay am not! I almost died!” “Calm down, hold ya horses.” Applejack looked back out the peephole. Hoodlum kept looking left and right, but soon he shrugged and went off on his way, stowing his knife back in a belt under his shirt. “Okay, he’s gone.” “Ughh…” Rainbow slumped to the floor, her adrenaline fading and her wounds hurting. “Finally…” “So do ya believe that tail works now?” Applejack ran to grab her first aid kit. “First, ya got bad at sports and now ya have a boyfriend.” “A boyfriend who wants to kill me!” she reminded. “Still. It’s a boyfriend. Ah think this tail actually has some magic to it. Ya still have it?” “It’s in my bag.” Rainbow turned her head to it. Her bag was lying on the floor near the door, one strap cut at the top. “What happened to saying the tail is a dud?” “Ah can’t deny that now, can Ah?” Applejack held it up in her fingers and inspected it. “So it actually grants wishes…” “Wish me some ice, would you?” Rainbow held her chest wound and winced. Holding the tail in her left, Applejack held it up and said, “Ah wish there was some ice for Rainbow.” At first nothing happened, but then there was the sound of something breaking, something tearing, and then something hard hit Rainbow in the head. Hard. “Ow!” She fell to the side and grabbed her head. It was bleeding, but her hand also came away with… “Ice?” There were more thuds and the two girls turned to the side to see hail falling through the roof, smashing into the ground and shattering into a million pieces. “My house!” Applejack dropped the tail and covered her head. “What the hay?! Why’s it hailin’?” “That tail!” Applejack pulled out an umbrella and held it up, but the hail tore through it with ease. “Dagnabbit, hail!” Rainbow shielded her face and crawled to the tail, holding it out in her left hand. “I wish-!” A large hailstone smacked her in the face and she fell over. “I wish for it to be sunny!” One more hailstone hit her on the head, then it became all quiet. Rainbow opened her eyes slowly to check and the hail had indeed stopped. “It’s over?” Applejack lowered her broken umbrella and shook the water droplets off of it. Rainbow rubbed at her head and looked down, noticing all the fallen hailstones had already melted. The sounds of crickets could suddenly be heard from outside and before she knew it, her body was already starting to prickle from the heat. It was hot, and not just hot like a sunny day. The heat right now was like that of standing next to a furnace. It was sweltering and burning at the same time. “Hoowee, mighty hot out now…” Applejack dragged a fan over and turned it on, which did little to cool them against the heat, but it was better than nothing. “Wish it away, Dash.” “I don’t know…” Rainbow eyed the tail. “It’s already plagued us like… basically every time we’ve used it. We need to be more specific with our wishes.” “Or… we could just toss it.” “Come on, toss a wish-granting thing?” Rainbow stuck her tongue out. “No chance! We just need to be careful with what we say. We could get anything we want!” “Uh huh, well, whatever. You’re pretty banged up, Dash. Let’s get’ya back up to speed for now.” Applejack helped patch Rainbow’s wounds up, especially the knife wounds, which she stitched back together, albeit quite crudely. “Hey. Ah know how to stitch things just fine, thank you.” Applejack folded her arms and huffed. “I thought that was only a skill Fluttershy had?” Rarity asked. “I mean… I can do it, yes.” Fluttershy stroked her pink hair. “But AJ’s quite good at it too. She has farm animals and a younger sister…” “Ah mean, not as good as Fluttershy, no, but yeah, a younger sister who blows herself up at times.” Applejack nodded. “Fine, fine. I shall tweak the story a tad, alright?” Applejack helped patch Rainbow’s wounds up, especially the knife wounds, which she stitched back together quite well. “I need a soda…” Rainbow wiped her forehead while Applejack stowed the first aid kit back on her shelf. By now, the sun had set and darkness was rising. “You and me both.” Applejack spat a wad of saliva into a nearby bucket with a resounding ding! “What if we wish for money?” Rainbow swung the tail in her fingers like a pendulum as she leaned against the wall. “Loads of money.” “Ah dunno. How many wishes do ya got left?” Applejack raised her fingers, dropping them as she counted. “Ah’ve got one left.” “Two for me,” Rainbow said. “You try.” “Umm…” Rainbow thought about it for a few seconds, then held up the tail and cleared her throat. “I wish for a thousand dollars. Money that isn’t illegally acquired!” The tail twisted in her hand and she dropped it. It still felt weird when it moved. It was like it was alive, but at the same time, it’s movement wasn’t natural, it felt almost… sinister to her, and she didn’t mean the left hand aspect of it. “Gee, really, of all things to ask for, ya ask for money.” Applejack shook her head. “What are ya gonna do with money?” “Uh, a lot of things? Duh. If I were rich, I’d be the star of Canterlot!” She stretched her arms to her sides, then winced and grabbed for her chest. “Ow…” Like magic, when she had done that, her phone began to ring. She gestured for Applejack to get her bag for her, which the cowgirl did. Once she had her bag, Rainbow dug around it until she found her phone, but when she saw the number, she was a little surprised. “It’s the cops.” “Ya wished to get that money legally, didn’t ya?” “I did. I wonder what they want.” Rainbow gulped, then answered the call. “H-Hello?” “Hi,” a voice said on the other end. “Is this Rainbow Dash?” The athlete swallowed. “Umm… yes?” There was a short pause on the other end. “We have some bad news, I’m afraid. Your parents have… they’ve had a serious accident on the freeway. We are still looking in on what happened, but it seems to involve foul play. I don’t have a better way of putting this, but… we need you to come in to properly identify your parents. The crash has... mangled up their bodies quite a bit.” Rainbow almost dropped the phone. Her parents had been in a car crash… “Hey, hey hey hey!” Rainbow Dash pushed to her feet and waved her hands wildly at Rarity. “You killed my parents?!” “Come on, Rainbow, it’s just in the story,” Twilight Sparkle reasoned. “Yeah and it’s not like we’ve been spared in your stories too.” Applejack gave her leg a pat. “Come on, sit back down and let Rarity continue.” “Yes, be a good darling and do so.” Rarity clapped her hands together. “Let me finish. Now…” “We know it is hard to accept such… conditions,” the policeman on the line continued. “But there’s more. We found something in the back seat that your parents have left for you. If this was indeed foul play, we could guess why.” “What did you find…?” Rainbow had to squeeze the words out of her throat. “Your parents left a letter, saying they’ve been saving up money for you, and they had intended to hand you some for your own spending. As a bonus for being such a… such a good daughter.” Tears welled in Rainbow’s eyes. “How… How much…?” She knew the answer, but she couldn’t fathom it. She couldn’t accept that it was her fault that they were gone. “They’ve left you one thousand dollars.” This was too much for Rainbow and she threw her phone against the wall and she wailed into her arms. Her parents were dead and it had all been because of her wish. A petty wish for a thousand dollars. “Rainbow, Rainbow, what happened?” Applejack was immediately beside her, consoling her and rubbing a hand up and down her back. The athlete slowly recounted everything the police had told her, from the car crash to that one thousand dollars her parents were going to give her. “No way…” Applejack sat on the floor and took her hat off. “Ah’m so sorry, Dash, that it turned out like this.” “That’s an odd thing, for my parents to be driving down to hand me loads of money,” Rainbow said, interrupting the story again. “It does sound a little odd, yes…” Fluttershy nodded. “It isn’t entirely out of the picture, right?” Home Run decided to chip in. “Scientifically speaking about the human mind…” Twilight adjusted her spectacles. “That isn’t out of the question. Rainbow’s a loyal child of her parents. Perhaps they had just gone to the bank to get her a little something just then.” “That… does make sense.” Moonglade smiled. “Right, yes. I shall leave it to interpretation, then.” Rarity combed a hand through her hair. “But we are past that, yes? So back to the present…” Rainbow Dash blew into a tissue Applejack had given her and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. It had almost been an hour since they received the grave news, and she didn’t know where to go from here. It was like her whole world had just crumbled before her. Applejack was the first to break the silence, getting to her feet to pick up the donkey’s tail. “We can use my last wish.” “Uh, what are you going to do with that, AJ?” The cowgirl held the tail out in her left hand. “Ah wish Rainbow Dash’s parents were alive.” The tail moved and Applejack instinctively tossed it out of her hand. “Dagnabbit, gets me every time!” There was a brief silence as Rainbow contemplated what her friend had just done with her last wish. “You used your last wish… for me?” “Of course Ah did. You’re my friend. We friends stick together and help each other out, don’t we?” Applejack smiled proudly. “Dagnabbit, where’d that tail go?” A few knocks on the door interrupted the both of them. Their heads turned to the entryway. “Could be your parents,” Applejack said. “Who is it?” No answer came, only another series of knocks. Rainbow couldn’t explain it, but something felt… wrong. The hair on her arms and neck had stood up and the more she thought about her parents being alive and outside Applejack’s door, the more she didn’t want to open it. A picture of burnt and crumpled flesh appeared in her mind, only for the briefest second, and then it was gone. It was like her brain was trying to warn her about something. “AJ…” she breathed slowly. “Don’t open that door.” The blonde girl turned to her with a dumbfounded look on her face. “What? Why?” “I… I don’t think those are my parents. Outside.” “What? Why not? Ah wished for them to be back. It must be them. The timing’s too perfect.” “I-I don’t know. It’s just a feeling.” Rainbow carefully got back on her feet. “What if it’s really your parents?” “It’s not.” “But what if it is?” Just then, the knocking had stopped. Instead, it began to be replaced by a bang. Whoever was outside was now pounding on the door with their fists, and by the sound of it. There was more than one person out there. “We should open it.” “What, are you mad?!” Rainbow grabbed her friend’s arm. “You can’t! Don’t!” The pounding got rougher and a piece of the door splintered in, just enough for them to see a glowing yellow eye outside. It didn’t look like anything but a ball of fire in a socket of deepest black. “The tail, we need the tail!” Rainbow scrambled on the ground, looking for it. “Where’d you toss it?” “Ah dunno. Shouldn’t have gone far!” Applejack bent down to help look. Rainbow yanked the carpet off the ground and tossed it away, then searched under the nearby table and flower vase, but she saw no sign of the tail. As the pounding got more desperate, so did she and she was afraid that door would bust down any second now and whatever those things outside were, they were going to come in and get them. All this foolish wishing had just made things worse since the first day and she knew just what she had to do to change it all. “Found it!” Applejack ducked to her nearby umbrella rack and fished the donkey’s tail off the ground. “Catch!” She tossed it to the athlete, who did a somersault and caught it in the air. Holding it out in her left hand, she cleared her throat and looked at it intently. The center of the door broke and a broken and bloody arm reached through, grabbing in the air and forcing Applejack to scramble away from it. “Dash!” she yelled. “I wish…” Rainbow began. “I wish I never opened the box the tail was in when I received it in the mail!” The tail moved in her hand and she dropped it. She heard the entire door give way, but when she turned to look at it, the door was fine, as though it hadn’t even been splintered by the things outside. “Is it… Is it over?” Rainbow patted herself down to see if everything was okay. To her surprise, she found that the wounds Hoodlum had inflicted on her were all gone, bandages and bandaids and all. “Hey, I’m all better!” The two girls looked up at the ceiling, then at the door. They weren’t damaged anymore and it was as though nothing had happened in the first place. “Woah nelly.” Applejack took off her hat and ran a hand through her hair. “Did we perhaps imagine all that?” Rainbow looked around the floor for the tail, but no matter how hard she looked, she just couldn’t find it. It was gone. Her wish had come true. She had wished she hadn’t opened the box and the tail must be in there, untouched now. There was only one more thing she needed to find out. Whipping out her phone, Rainbow dialed in the number of her dad and waited, her heart at the edge of its seat. There was a click on the other end and she was afraid it was just going to disconnect. “Hello? Rainbow?” It was her dad’s voice and he sounded normal. “What’s up, sport?” “Dad, you’re okay!” Rainbow exclaimed with glee. “And… And Mom?” There was a pause on the other end. “Yeah. We’re… fine. Why wouldn’t we be? Did something happen?” “Oh, too much has happened. But just checking up on you both. Nice to know you two are doing okay.” “Well alright. We’re currently on the road now, but we’ll be home in no time. How about we watch a movie tonight?” “Yeah, that’ll be great, dad.” Rainbow nodded. “Right, then we’ll see you at home. Have a great day.” “We did it… It’s over…” She rested her head on the wall and sighed with much relief as she dropped her phone to her side. She was so glad her parents were okay. “Yeah…” Applejack chuckled lightly. “What are ya gonna do about that tail? I reckon its back home now in that unopened box?” Rainbow dug around her back and she couldn’t find the box too. “Yeah, you know, I’ve got a special place for something like that. It starts with a ‘S’ and ends with a ‘ix feet under’. Under the dirt out back.” “Ah’ma help you with that.” Applejack gave her  a pat on the shoulder. “Least Ah could do. Ah’d like to give that tail a good place under after what it did to my house here.” “Settled. Let’s go.” Rainbow got up and flung the door open. “Just wait till we tell the others about what happened here…” Applejack followed her out. “The end.” Rarity said with a smile. “I do hope that story kept you on the edge of your seats.” “You mean our logs?” Pinkie Pie snickered. “Yeah, that was great!” “Always be careful what you wish for, huh?” Twilight agreed. “Interesting story. And a good lesson to add.” “I liked the supernatural element of it.” Moonglade chuckled and leaned against Home Run. “If only stuff like that existed.” “Well, ya never know.” Applejack dusted her hat and got up. “We’ve dealt with plenty o’ magical artifacts. What’s another one that can grant wishes?” “Not something I’d like to find.” Rainbow shook her head. “Especially not after what Rarity’s put me through.” “It’s just a story, Rainbow.” Rarity daintily flicked her hair back. “Why, perhaps an actual wish-granting artifact might actually deal you better wishes.” “Ooh, ooh!” Pinkie waved her hands around frantically. “Me next, me next! For a campfire story! I think I’ve got a pretty good one!” “Another night, huh?” Applejack stretched her arms. “Ah think it’s time for some shut eye.” “Yeah.” Fluttershy got up as well. “We better get to sleep before it gets too late.” “Right, Home Run, if you will, darling?” Rarity pointed to the bucket of water. “Right, okay.” The boy got up and picked the red object up. “Moonglade, you better get a headstart.” “Hmm? Why?” “Let’s say it’s going to get dark real soon.” “That’s kinda racist.” Rainbow slapped him on the back. That sudden jolt made him stumble and drop the bucket’s contents over the fire, plunging them all into darkness. Moonglade shrieked.