Root Strider found himself flying through the air; a foal again. He gave a small smile as he hurtled towards a large tree limb. As he connected, his horn gave a flash of lavender and the branch bent, catching him softly, before slinging him high into the air again.
No, it's too soon, I can't see this again. His eyes squeezed shut. When he dared to open them, he found himself with his head held low, being carried on the back of his mother towards the city gates.
"This is for your own good. I told you to be careful, but you didn't listen, and now you've lost your magic. Do you know what this is doing to me and your father? What are we going to tell your baby sister?"
"But, but it was an accident. The rainbow exploded and I couldn't control my horn, and-" his voice trailed off as they approached the gate. The gate he was forbidden from passing; the gate that if any foal left out of, they wouldn't be allowed back in.
The gate loomed over them, two guards nodded politely to her as she opened the gate and sneered at him as she stepped into the forest beyond.
"Enough with the excuses! Lying about your failure won't bring your magic back. Now be silent, before you make it any worse," She hissed, her sweet voice soured by scorn.
"You are lucky," she said as she lifted him off her back and onto the hard ground, "My husband was able to convince the judge to give you a small pack of food. The nearest town is three days away. Never come back." With that, she was back behind the gate, which closed with an unforgiving clang.
Would my mind keep me here for the whole lonely walk, trapped here, unable to wake up?
"Boy, was she snooty." A voice giggled as he was glomped by a small ball of pink.
"Muh, bwah, gah, what?" He was speechless. His memories had never been interrupted before. "How are you here in my memory?"
"This isn't a memory, well, it is, but it's a dream too. The good thing about dreams is they don't have to follow the script. Hey! I'm a little filly again!"
"Ok, this is my brain trying to make me feel less bad about all that's happened, and has decided to use a younger version of the pink pony, Pinkie Pie, to do it."
"You remembered my name!" She cheered, the pink foal glomped him again.
"Would you stop that, please."
"We were all so worried after Dash brought you back and you were knocked out again, and she said you got struck by lightning and Twilight wanted me to watch you so you didn't run off again when you woke up, and you looked like you were having a bad dream so I worked some stuff, Spike isn't the only one who can send letters to princesses, and I came here to cheer you up in your dream, and I'm so excited you remembered me!" She finished with a leap in the air.
"Whu-wait, I got struck by lightning?"
They walked along a winding path, the sounds of the forest were soft and welcoming, rather than the usual ominous and threatening, but he didn't even notice.
"Yeah, but Zecora is confused since it just knocked you out; no lasting damage was caused."
"So, what happened?"
"Well, Dashie told us that you got into this clearing, and lightning struck, causing the zapapple orchard to grow which threw you two into the air, she caught you, and flew you back here."
"Hmm. A wild zapapple orchard, makes sense that the timber wolves wouldn't enter it."
"So, who was the grumpy Gilda and where are we?"
"She was my mother, before she abandoned me, and we are outside of... my hometown."
Pinkie stopped bouncing around and walked beside Root Strider, "Zecora told us about your accident and what happened."
"Yeah, you probably don't think a rainbow exploded either, in all my wanderings, nopony remembers it."
"I remember it."
Root Strider's ears perked up and a smile crossed his face, "Really? You believe me? You aren't just pulling my leg?"
His smile was infectious and her bounce returned in full force, "of course I believe you. Without that rainbow explosion, I would never have gotten my cutie mark. In fact all six of us got our cutie marks because of that rainbow explosion."
"Wait, all six of you remember the rainbow explosion? That must be why Zecora told you about what happened. This is amazing!" He danced a little jig that rivaled Twilight's skill. "I knew it! I knew it!" He chanted while dancing.
"Why not?" Pinkie shrugged, "I knew it! I knew it!" She chanted as she danced with him. They danced for a few minutes before they he tripped over her hooves, sending them both tumbling down the path laughing.
When they finally rolled to a halt, he asked, "So, you don't think I'm crazy for being afraid of rainbows?"
"You're afraid of rainbows?" Pinkie held it in for as long as she could, almost three seconds, before she burst into a giggle fit and fell over, "Dashie didn't mention anything about that." She gasped out between giggles.
"Yep, I knew this was to good to be true." Eyes downcast, he got up and trudged past where she had fallen over.
"Hey, wait up." She bounced after him, "It's not so bad, irrational fears can be stood up to and you won't have to be scared anymore."
He spun and stomped back to her, his face twisted by anger, "It is not an irrational fear! That rainbow took my magic away from me, made my parents hate me, and got me thrown out of town!" He practically shouted at her. She couldn't meet his raging eyes, so he turned and trudged on.
They walked in an awkward silence for a few minutes.
"Is it really so bad?" She whispered, her straight mane creating a curtain to mask her face as she walked. "Twilight told us about Little Bighorn; would you really be happy living there if you didn't lose your horn?" She looked at him pleadingly. This time it was him who couldn't make eye contact.
"I know," tears dropped onto the ground, "the town only cared about magic, and my parents only cared about how my magic could raise their influence, the other unicorns only cared about getting stronger magic, but I miss having my magic. I could make the trees my friends, so I didn't try to make any with others my age. I was the freak to the younger ones, and jealous eyes fell on me by the older ones. My magic was either coveted or hated, but I didn't care, because it was mine. I guess I was unhappy because the rainbow took away something I thought couldn't be taken away. I felt like I had lost a part of myself."
"Don't be silly, no one can take away who you are," She looked at his hind legs, "I don't see a cutie mark yet, so losing your magic didn't take away your special talent or who you are."
"Well, yeah, I didn't get my cutie mark until... I made my first potion with Zecora and her parents."
"So your special talent is potion making?"
"Well, not exactly. I can instinctively figure out how plants and herbs interact and what they can do to help others. Potions are only part of it, I also make excellent balms, poultices, and other medicines. I'm also good with spices and color dyes."
"But you didn't find out all that until after you left? and you traveled around with Zecora and her family?"
"Yeah, traveling with her was the happiest time of my life."
Root Strider heard a familiar cry and he saw the foal version of himself run forwards to help a zebra foal that was trapped and thrashing about in a thorny rosebush. A small smile crept up, "Maybe the accident wasn't so horrible."
Pinkie's hair poofed up as she giggled, "Twilight's out of luck, she chased an owned stallion."
"What?"
"No~othing" she sung as she bounced upwards.
"Wait! Where are you going?" he called as he ran up after her.
"I've got to get back before you wake up." She disappeared behind the clouds. "Don't worry, everything is going to be okay. I mean, what can go wrong?"
He gasped as she said those fateful words. He couldn't run on air anymore. branches snapped painfully as he crashed through them. He made a crater in the dirt that was in no way representative of the distance he fell. He heard laughter and saw blue petals as he woke up.