A Speculative Spectrum

by Waxworks

The search begins...

Pinkie Pie remembered the day she got her cutie mark with amazing clarity. Her life until then had been a drudgery of stone. Pushing, pulling, sliding, rolling, breaking, and polishing rocks. It was an interminable and never-ending chore, and Pa had pushed her and her sisters to work hard to ensure the success of the family business.

That all changed when she saw the sonic rainboom. That arc of color had spread across the grey skies that constantly hovered over the rock farm. It had blasted away the drab days and opened Pinkie to a world of smiles. The delight she had felt upon seeing the sonic rainboom was a feeling she wanted to share with as many ponies as possible. Nopony should be without a smile for long if she had anything to say about it.

But there should be more to it than that. The fun, the smiles, and the happiness she felt and that she shared was so fleeting and ephemeral. It disappeared within hours, or even minutes! A single wrong word could crush somepony’s smile and end their happiness. Why did it have to be that way? Wasn’t there something that could keep that happiness going? Something that could prevent the loss of the smile and help somepony be happy no matter what was happening? Colors had brought so much happiness to Pinkie’s life, and she was certain they were the answer to this conundrum as well.

So, that had brought Pinkie Pie to the smartest pony she knew: Twilight Sparkle.

“But surely there’s something you’ve heard of!” Pinkie Pie’s head bobbed up and down as she looked at the strange things laid out on Twilight’s table. She poked one of the vials and it released a cloud of bubbles that floated to the surface of the liquid. She giggled.

“I’m sorry, Pinkie. Ponies can only see the seven colors of the rainbow and the hues in-between,” Twilight said. “There are more colors, but we cannot see them, nor can we fathom what they would look like because of the limitations of our eyes.”

“But what about with… magic!” Pinkie waggled her hooves and rolled her eyes.

“Even if I were to cast a spell to allow you to see them, you wouldn’t know what you were looking at,” Twilight said. “Not to mention, ultraviolet isn’t a ‘new’ color, per se, we just can’t see it. You wanted a new color. The pony brain is limited, and has difficulty understanding the concept of a color that isn’t somehow made of colors that already exist.”

Pinkie Pie stuck out her lower lip and frowned. “But–!”

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight cut her off and sighed. “I’m sorry, but I really can’t. It’s just not possible with the knowledge I have. Maybe there is a spell for it, but I don’t know it. Now please, I really need to get back to work.”

Pinkie Pie nodded, and without another word she left Twilight to whatever she had been doing. She wasn’t offended by the brush-off, because if Twilight had known how, she would have shared. Pinkie was just sad that Twilight didn’t know of a spell to create a new color. It didn’t seem like something that should have been so hard.

The castle receded behind her has she pranced away from it. She hummed to herself and pondered the possibilities of creating or discovering a new color. Her options were limited. She was neither a unicorn nor a pegasus, so she couldn’t use magic in her search, and she couldn’t fly as fast as Rainbow Dash and create a sonic rainboom. She would have to get very creative. For that sort of creativity, she would need some advice. Advice from the most creative pony she knew: Rarity.

Rarity understood colors and creation in a way that most ponies could only dream of. Where Pinkie was a brass band on the creative stage (noisy but fun), Rarity was an orchestra. She wove music into elaborate images that waltzed through the mind and persisted. If somepony knew how to make a color that could cause emotional staying power, Rarity might know them.

After she explained her quest, Rarity blinked at her. “You want a new color? You mean a new shade of blue or red?”

“Nonono. A new color. Brand new! Something nopony has ever seen before that isn’t part of the colors of the rainbow,” Pinkie said.

Rarity creased her eyebrows in thought as she pondered what Pinkie meant. “I don’t think such a thing exists. If it did, somepony would already have seen it.”

“But there has to be a new color! Rainbows only have seven, and that’s not enough! I need an eighth one to make ponies happy!”

“Oh, I understand what you mean now.” Rarity pulled a bolt of cloth out of a drawer and carried it over to her sewing machine. “But that’s just not possible, darling. Light doesn’t break up into more than the visible spectrum. You said you spoke to Twilight already?”

Pinkie nodded. “She told me there might be spells to see ultraviolet light, but ultraviolet light already exists. I want a brand new one! You’re fancy and creative, do you know of any spells to make one?”

Rarity shook her head. “Pinkie, our eyes can’t see anything that isn’t already there. Look.” Rarity picked up a clear crystal from a chest of gemstones. She walked over to the window where sunlight was spilling in and held the gem in the sunbeam, refracting a rainbow onto the floor of the boutique. “Light isn’t made of anything more than the colors Twilight talked about. There’s a few we can’t see, but as you said, those aren’t new, we just can’t see them. If you want a new color, you’d have to change light itself.”

Pinkie frowned. Her mane twitched, her forelock bouncing in front of her eyes as she tried to reconcile this new information. “Hmmm…”

“I’m terribly sorry, Pinkie. There isn’t anything I can do. If you want something with existing colors that really gets ponies’ attention, I’m your mare, but creating new colors is impossible,” Rarity said.

Pinkie nodded and grunted, then stepped out of the boutique, leaving Rarity to her dresses. Rarity hadn’t been able to help her, but she had given her a new pony she needed to talk to. It would be a bit of a trip, and she might have to wait, but she was one of the elements of harmony! If light needed to be changed, she would talk to the pony in charge of light: Celestia herself!

---

Pinkie hopped on an evening train heading to Canterlot. She had asked Spike to send a letter ahead, and Celestia had promised her a room at the castle when she arrived so she could spend the night in style and comfort. She had even offered dinner, and Pinkie had graciously accepted. She’d brought cupcakes for dessert, just to show off a little. The castle had its own bakers, but nothing could beat a gift from a friend.

When the train arrived, the sun had long since set, and a member of the royal guard was waiting for Pinkie when she bounded out of the train doors. Pinkie offered him a cupcake, but he initially refused, citing that he was at work, so she hid it in the crest of his helmet when he wasn't looking so he could find it and enjoy it later.

The guard and Pinkie Pie respectively walked and bounded up the road to the castle. Pinkie was shown into the dining hall where Celestia was waiting at a large table spread with food. She waved and motioned for the guard to bring her in, then motioned for him to leave so the two of them could dine in peace.

“Hello, Pinkie Pie. Thank you for accepting my invitation to dinner. I trust your journey wasn’t unpleasant?” Princess Celestia said.

“Nope! I always enjoy riding the train. The wind in my face when I stick my head out the window is invigorating!” Pinkie Pie put the box of cupcakes on the table and pushed them over to Celestia.

The Princess opened the box to look inside and noticed an empty space. “Why thank you, Pinkie. I see one is missing. Did you offer one to the guard?”

“I did! He said he wasn’t supposed to eat one while working, but nopony doesn’t want a free cupcake! That’s just silly!”

“Well I’m sure he’ll enjoy it when he finds it.” Princess Celestia took a bite of her salad, chewed slowly and swallowed. Then she turned to Pinkie, who was fidgeting in her seat across the table. “But cupcake delivery wasn’t why you came, was it? What can I do for you, Pinkie? Your letter left your goals a little vague.”

Pinkie perked up when the Princess skipped any more formal small talk. Her patience had a very short limit. “Okay!” She took a deep breath, and launched into her explanation: “So, when I was young I was always so very sad because work on the rock farm was really boring and my Pa and Ma only wanted us to work day in and day out and it was sooooo dull, and Maud and Limestone and Marble and Me were all serious all the time and there wasn’t any fun, but then one day there was a big explosion in the sky really far away, and I didn’t know it was from Rainbow Dash I didn’t learn that until later, but the colors of the rainbow made me suuuuuper happy and I wanted to hold a party even though I didn’t really know what a party was at the time, so now that I know how to make other ponies happy I really want to make them happi-er, and I figured if seven colors made me so happy, what would a new color do for happiness, but Rarity told me there isn’t one we can see, and even those aren’t new, so I have to change light, and so I’m here because I want you to change light to make an eighth color!” Pinkie panted at the end of her story and gulped in air.

Celestia stared at Pinkie and picked up her tea to take a sip. When she lowered the cup, she smiled at Pinkie. It was benevolent, but Pinkie could tell she wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Although I understand your desires, I cannot do as you ask.” Pinkie’s mane deflated a little at her words. “Although I have a lot of control over the sun, I did not create it. The light it sends out is not mine to change. I am sorry. Your mission is a worthy one, but I am sure you will figure out how to make ponies happy with the colors you have.”

“Awwww… and Luna can’t do anything with the moon’s light?”

Celestia smiled patiently at Pinkie. “The moon reflects others' light. It has none of its own.”

Pinkie leaned back in her chair, defeated. She couldn’t find a spell to create a new color, and she couldn’t change light to create a new color. What else was there? “What else am I supposed to do? The rainbow made me so happy when I first saw it. The happiness of a new color would have made so many ponies happy for so long.”

“Pinkie Pie, Twilight has nothing but good things to say about you anytime she writes. From what I know of you, although you can be a bit chaotic at times, your antics make ponies happy far more often than they do not. I’m sure you’ll think of something else.”

Pinkie picked at her food and frowned. She didn’t want to do something else. Colors were unique. Combinations could please ponies or disgust them, and some colors were able to encourage specific emotions. She wanted a new color.

“Although I cannot help you find this new color you seek, there are plenty of ways to use color that will make ponies happy. The bright red of a balloon or the soft pink of icing on a cupcake” —Celestia held up one of Pinkie’s cupcakes in her magic— “all do well to make ponies happy in different ways. One provides fun while another provides a delicious treat. If there’s anything I know about you, Pinkie Pie, it’s that you use colors to make ponies happy already. Even if you cannot find a new color, I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Celestia took another sip of tea with an encouraging smile for the pony across from her.

Pinkie sulked. She knew it was foalish of her, but so far she had been thwarted at every turn. She took a bite of her food while she thought long and hard about what she could do next.

While she ate, something Celestia had said kept niggling at the back of her mind. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on it at first, but she was halfway through an entire rhubarb pie when she realized what it was: Celestia had called her chaotic! Chaos was the upending of the expected norms! Chaos was the answer!

Pinkie was uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of her time with Celestia. She was imagining all the possibilities asking Discord for help could result in. He, like her, was naturally chaotic to other ponies, but unlike her, he had powerful magic. He was able to conjure things that normally couldn’t exist, or that flew in the face of rational thought: Cotton candy clouds that rained chocolate milk. Checkerboard grass. Choreographed wildlife. All unnatural phenomena were run-of-the-mill for Discord. He could reverse gravity or ignore it altogether, and when it came to things behaving like they should, he was able to change the expected result. So, if light was naturally only the seven visible colors and a few invisible ones, who was to say Discord couldn’t change that as well?

Pinkie Pie was positively vibrating with excitement as she bedded down in her room at the castle that night. When she returned to Ponyville, she would talk to Fluttershy, and Fluttershy would help her get in contact with Discord. It was perfect! Pinkie went to sleep with a smile on her face.

Comments

[Zris]

Hm... no comments for a great story. Although it's definitely not the 'ALL HAIL WAXWORKS', kind of story, it's very nice. I'm very surprised that there's no Discord face-emoji-thing to use.

[Gavier]

Twilight sounds a little out of character in thag last line of hers. I don't think she would tell Pinkie to go away so she can concentrate in her work. Yes, she loves science and investigation, but she knows that nothing is more important than a friend in need.

Just that little thing that bugs me

[Ri2]

I guess Pinkie hasn't heard of octarine.