//------------------------------// // The Rainbow Inferno // Story: The Lone Survivor // by AvidSeason //------------------------------// Magical fire whipped around the crystal tree. Many ponies outside were looking in shock as their new princess' castle was being engulfed in the flames. They would be severely worried if not for the guard's enchanted armor. Guards hustled to and from rooms carrying ponies and gems outside to safety where the magic shockwave of the blaze wouldn't overload their mana capacities and shut down their brains or ,in regards to the gems, make them explode and fling their magical capabilities everywhere. Unfortunately what the civilians that were crowding around the area didn't know, was that none of the guards could enter the most heavily flamed area of the entire castle. Their magical enchantments could only go so far until they would horribly die from sever magical backlash. The seventeen unconscious guards that were quickly being drained of the energy that made them live was a testament to that. No guard knew what could have possibly been in that room to have caused something like this, but it would have to be either another powerful being bent on world domination/destruction or it was just another of Twilight Sparkle's experiments that went wrong a few days earlier than predicted. Either way they knew that something gigantic was going on inside that room. They would never know though. All they could do right now was watch as the flame engulfed the castle, so when Rarity and Spike approached it they were flabbergasted as to what the hay was going on. "What the hay is happening here?!?!" Rarity's eyes widened at what Spike had just thrown out into the wind. "Spike, while I fully agree with what you're implying about this current situation, IT DOES NOT excuse you to use the words of unspeakable horror!" Spike rolled his eyes at Rarity's antics. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry. Are you happy now?" While Spike's reply seemed to be a little dry and bitter towards Rarity, it seemed like she got the answer she wanted. "Okay. Now...where do we go for information about this?" Spike sighed as he pointed towards the one guard that was doing his best at crowd control. "Oh. There he is. Thanks Spikey-Wikey." Spike inwardly groaned about Rarity's particular word usage. He loved her and all, but he still did not get why she still treated him like a kid when he's only a few years younger than her. ~"Excuse me! Mister Guard! What exactly is going on here?"~ The guard turned towards Rarity and spoke briefly about the incurrences that entangled around the mysterious rainbow fire. "Well Miss, I guess this fire started around the top floor. Thankfully it's not really spreading anywhere else besides the castle. Otherwise some townsfolk might be dead right about now." Rarity's look turned dark as she turned away from the guard to stare at the castle fire storm. "I hope Twilight and Rainbow are alright in there." What Spike didn't know, however, was that Twilight, Rainbow, and ,the human Mark were all in a very perilous situation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight Sparkle was usually a mare in charge. Whenever there was a situation or disaster that was going on, she always got everypony calm, cool, and organized. This might have been one of the traits that actually helped Princess Celestia whether to decide she was ready for the mantle of Princess. Unfortunately, at this particular moment, that trait had lost its usefulness. There was nopony to organize and nopony to calm down. The only ones she could have been doing those to would have been either Rainbow Dash, who was currently unconscious, and Mark, who was spewing rainbow fire. The only pony that actually needed that kind of leadership was herself. She had no idea what to do, no clue as to what was happening, and she couldn't even produce magic to save the day, like usual. She was completely lost. "Rainbow! Are you alright? RAINBOW!" Rainbow Dash made no response to Twilight's yelling. Twilight was getting extremely worried that Rainbow Dash was going to die here. She could feel the uncontrollable pull of Mark's magic flames. She had no idea what had caused this ,but she was pretty sure that the magical feedback from Rainbow's rainboom had surely caused some kind of chain reaction with his unknown magical potential. This was very bad in Twilight's view. His magical capacities, to her knowledge, were being overloaded with outside magic and his body was trying to make a sense of it all. This was a very easy problem to fix ,in Twilight''s opinion, but it was going to be hard to actually do it. To cast the specific spell she had in mind she was going to need to get very close enough to him to be able to touch her horn anywhere on his body. Determined Twilight cast her horn for the spell and began to head towards Mark. The inferno engulfed Twilight as she stepped more and more towards Mark. She could feel the magical flame sapping away from her body. It was amazing how fast this flame was sucking away on her magical supply. She was already down to at least 25%. If this kept going on, she was surely going to collapse and die from magical withdrawal. She was going to have to do this quickly. She flapped her wings to disrupt the magical flames. Thankfully it cleared a little path that she could trot through towards the floating human. Her horn inched towards his chest. The magical spell within was finally unleashed as it touched him. A loud boom sounded as Twilight and Rainbow were pushed towards the wall forced to watch Mark. The rainbow fire surged towards the human and gathered at a point on the right side of his body. Then it all exploded outwards in an arc. It dissipated when it hit the side of the room. Twilight and Rainbow fell down to the ground. Twilight then felt some of her magic accumulating again. She looked towards Rainbow to check on her condition and noticed that her breathing was actually regular and not the irregular pattern that it once was. She was glad but she had to check the fallen human. If this spell had been cast on a regular pony the result would have been the same ,but with a human....she couldn't really know. As she got closer to the human she noticed that his magical energy levels were starting to get back to normal. Well...somewhat normal. She was just happy that the spell hadn't hurt him. Slowly his eyes opened taking in the surroundings before he spoke. "Why am I on the floor?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yet Again We Dive Into The Past Owwww. My head was killing me. Rainbow must've kicked my head in. How else could I be experiencing this much pain? Uhh. Where the hell am I anyway? I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by pitch blackness. "Hello!" Echoes only reached my ears. No other sound ever reached my ears, not even the sound of my own breath. This was creepy. It was like I was dead or someth-"I'm sorry to say Mark ,but you are getting there." "What the heck?!? Who said that?" I looked all around finding nothing but the cold, inky blackness surrounding me. "I did." I turned around swiftly towards the voice that whispered in my ear. Finding nothing I turned around once again to find a giant rainbow flame in front of my face. Startled I fell backwards onto the ground. "Ahahaha! Ohohoh! You should see your face! Oh that was a good one. I haven't laughed this hard in ages." The rainbow fire bulged around in many places until it stopped 'laughing'. "Who ,or perhaps what, are you?" The fire glowed a bit before it spoke once again. "I am your, how would you put it,....your mana." "I think I get it. You're saying that you are my magic, right? " "Ahh yes. That would be the correct statement." "Alright, now that that's been taken care of, what did you mean by me being close to death." The flame flickered a bit before it spoke again. "Well...what do you actually remember before you came here?" That's...a really good question actually. What do I remember before getting to this place? Let's see. Twilight took me away from the cave, she talked to me about my culture/history, Spike came in and was a bit of a jerk, we continued talking, and then Rainbow appeared outside and...Oh. "So...am I correct in saying that I'm on Death's door because of Rainbow Dash head-butting me?" The flame flickered once again before replying. "Yeah, that's the gist of it." I nodded once before realizing that I had another thing to deal with. "Now it's time to address another issue of mine. I don't actually believe you on being my 'mana'. Humans don't have magic. I can't just walk up the street and ask a neighbor to conjure up a bag of sugar." "While that may be the case now, it was not always that way. How else would I be here, eh?" "We're in Equestria. People usually write about how magic is usually here anyway." "Hmmm. That may be the case, but I only have one thing to tell you about that. Do you remember what happened at your seventh birthday party?" My eyes became saucers as I discovered why the flame was so bent on me having magic. "Um, nope. Don't actually know what you are talking about." The fire crackled as its color took on a more violet hue. I assumed that that was its form of a sigh. "You seriously don't remember that one time you saw a guy do magic. *crackle* Fine. Suddenly everything lit up. Colors invaded the darkness. Shapes were made with shadows and light. Buildings emerged from the canvas of colors. Once everything was done re-arranging itself, it looked exactly like what I had witnessed so long ago. The fire appeared right in front of me once again. "Whoo. That was a little hectic to make, but I'm sure that I'll get the excess that I used back. Anyway here we are. You surely can't deny it now. It's happening right in front of your face." I fidgeted left and right, trying to deny the same exact thing that I had once seen. There was no way there was magic. I was a man of science! I explain things with cold rationality and they are true. I became a physicist to unravel the various mysteries of the world. I didn't do it just to satisfy a childhood dream. Magic's not real and that's tha---- A burst of flame shot in front of me. Ahh yes. I remember this. My distrust and unhappiness soon turned into nostalgia as I got into the role that I had played so long ago. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was June, 24th. My seventh birthday party had just rolled around. My parents put out all the stops since they had gotten huge raises by their bosses. They weren't there of course. They had to work until 6:30. Sometimes they would stay out until 8:00. I was fine with it though. They always brought home food. I was worried for a time. They seemed like they were overworking themselves, but they said that they were fine. It was always there though. The constant feeling of absence. It was being driven out by the amount of 'friends' surrounding me though. I knew that they were never here for me, only for the fun and stuff that they could get. To them my party was a free buffet. I was just the dish that no one wanted. Like that weird sauce that no one ever puts on the salad. I didn't mind that though either. It was nice to pretend. You see my family was one from a passion of wealth. Ever since my great-great-someodd grandfather on my mother's side had the brilliant idea to dig for gold near Mexico City, people would never stop leaving him alone. That's why the family moved over to America under the guise of Spanish colonists. Then, if you speed it up to today, my father met my mother and they both fell in love. After I was born my mother's parents died and left their fortune to her as well as their stocks in the Walt Disney Corporation. They were pretty lucky to invest so quickly. Otherwise the whole family might've lost thousands of dollars. Anyway with our families quick rise to wealth, all of their jobs now seemed meaningless. I asked why they kept doing this and not spend time with me ,but they always replied with one simple phrase. "If anything in life was as easy to get, then why would you work hard for it." I never understood what they meant until I was older, but right then all I cared about was the cake, presents, and the awesome stage magician that they hired for everyone. Now when you think of a stage magician, you always think of the guy that's wearing the suit and pulls rabbits out of hats, right? This guy was totally different. He blew all of the kids and me away. He didn't have a stage name, nor did he bring a stage. All he had was a suitcase and his hands. He had red hair, blue eyes, and was pretty tall. He was also dressed in shorts, wasn't wearing a shirt, and he only wore sandals. Nobody here really expected him to be the magician. I thought he was just some surfer dude that came to California for some nice waves. That is until he specifically asked me a question. "Hey there. Is this..", He pulled out a slip of paper from his back pocket. "Mark's birthday party?" I nodded yes. He nodded back and replied, "Thanks kid." At the time I actually wondered what the heck he was doing here and why. Why would some drifter come here for my birthday party? All of my doubts were put to rest when he went in front of the fellow kids and announced, "Who here hired a magician?!?!" Of course all of us kids had no idea where my parents were, so must of us just shrugged our shoulders or just sat there staring at him. He sighed before looking around and asking another question. "Are there any adults here at all?" All of the kids shook their heads. "Alright then. Guess that means I don't have to bring the adult stuff." He then proceeded to open his suitcase and throw out all of the objects within. A suit flew out disrupting pre-set cards in the sleeves as well as a dove that was living in a bulge in the shoulder. A big box that was probably meant to be the saw trick flew out of the suitcase as well. What was extraordinary about that, was that the box was bigger than the suitcase. There was also intertwined rings and a top hat with a secret compartment that flew open, releasing a white rabbit and a carrot. He kept on throwing things out of the suitcase before it was completely empty. He stood on top of it before he announced, "Alright kids! Who wants to see some real magic!?!?" All of us were pretty confused. How was he going to perform 'magic' when there was nothing to perform with? Despite our confusion some of us half-heartedly cheered before he smiled. "Good." He tapped his foot three times onto the side of the suitcase. That was when the real magic happened. The whole crowd gasped in awe as the suitcase became a stage. There was no poof of magic. No trickery to follow. It just morphed into a stage. That was when everyone in the crowd cheered for him. Everyone knew that this would be an awesome day. He performed various tricks for us. He conjured up a wand, said some magical words, and did other fun things. He even transformed himself into a dragon and breathed flames above us. We were worried for our own health since he did light the house on fire at one point, but he fixed it so we had more confidence in him. The whole evening was spent eating cake and ice cream, having fun, and trying to figure out how he did what he did. It was pretty fun and all until everyone left. My parents were not here, so I was just alone with the magic man who was about to leave. I hadn't even bothered to ask his name. So right there I decided to do something that I hadn't done all day. Talk. "Ummm. Excuse me, sir. I was wondering..umm..what's your name? You never told anyone." As you can probably tell, I was that one shy kid that you usually never noticed and never developed any sort of social skills. He just smiled slightly. He turned towards me and spoke. "Well..well..well, the birthday boy finally speaks, does he? Well to answer your question, the name's Renald. Renald Groughf." He turned to leave and as I saw him walk off, sun against his back, I made it my life's one goal to figure out what he did and do it for myself. The last I ever saw of the man was as he was disappearing over the hill, down the neighborhood. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I snapped out of my reverend as I finally noticed I was not in my younger's place. I looked around to find the same flame dancing by my shoulder. "What made you stop believing, Mark? What made you lose the faith that you had?" I sighed as the mana fire once again 'talked'. "If you were a part of me you would understand." The fire just flickered in response and stated, "I am, but could you at least humor my request?" I sighed as I began telling him what exactly 'happened'. "I guess I grew up. No one believed me, my parents doubted me, and even the kids that were at the party just said it was some mass hallucination. Eventually I guess I believed them and this memory faded away into one of my child-hood fantasies." The fire flickered once again. "Alright, but what's stopping you from believing now?" I was silent for a time until the sun set and my younger self went back inside. I was still silent even when the fake moon rose into the sky. "Alright you can be silent all you want and not answer my question, but we will have to have this talk again." I nodded in reply. We stayed like that for a while just me sitting on the curb with the fire, staring up into the sky. It was a long while before anything really happened. It came without no warning really. A giant purple blob of energy just appeared in front of me. "It's okay", it said in Twilight's voice, " you're not in trouble or anything. Just calm down and we can get back to talking like we did before. You just have to gain control of this magical surge that you're having." It kept on repeating those words on a loop. I was utterly confused. "What do you suppose it's saying that for?" The fire briefly turned blue before returning back to its original rainbow. "Twilight Sparkle is trying to contact you. She believes that you are having a magical surge that may be potentially what's causing what's happening outside of your body." This got me skeptical of what exactly the rainbow flame was actually doing. "What are you doing that could possibly be seen as a magical surge?" It seemed to turn blue once again before reporting back to me. "I'm currently taking in magic to replenish what is currently being used up to heal you. It is a lot though, since the current aura field does not like the way I'm healing you." This got me suspicious. "How much exactly?" It did the color change and then warbled in and out. "Oh. That's unexpected. It appears we're taking so much, that the local energy field is also drawing on the energy of the locals to keep itself sustained." Alarmed I turned towards it and shouted. "Well! Can't you turn this off?" It flickered before it said, "Yeah, do you want to do it now and deal with being injured for a while? This is the only major stunt that I can probably pull off to keep us alive." Weighing in the options I finally conceded. "Alright do it." It flickered once before it began to take a shade of red. "It is done." The landscape began to melt away the colors faded to black, the shapes retreated into a two-dimensional form, and the rainbow fire began to fade away. "I'll see you later! Don't get into too much danger alright. You can't really control your magic yet, so it's imperative that you let me rest a little so you can recover some magic." Its words kept getting harder and harder to hear as it faded away. Soon it was completely gone and I was alone again, in this inky blackness. I felt bad for calling him nothing but a fire for most of our conversation. In most of my time in the new black space I was trying to think up of a name for it. Then ,after a while, I felt something prod me in the side and I opened my eyes. I saw Twilight next to me, Rainbow Dash in the corner, and everything in the room was stacked up against a wall. I also noticed that I was not on the bed yet. I thought that Twilight would've at least put me up on it while I was out. It was still sitting upright, so it could've been easily done. With these thoughts in my head, I said the first things that came to mind. "Why am I on the floor?"