Chronicles of the Spectrum

by Blue_Thunder

Trial Run

"Rainbow, what are you doing?" Fluttershy asked. She was sitting in a lovely white and yellow gown with her light green capeline on the table beside her. She and Rainbow were enjoying some lunch at a restaurant in town. Rainbow's treat, she insisted.

"Recording," Rainbow replied. She was sitting beside a recording device aimed at Fluttershy. "But not for the reason you might think." She moved the recorder to face herself. "That's right. Who loves you best?"

"You're recording right now?" Rainbow nodded and set her device down to face herself while she ate. "Why though?"

"See, I bought this thing, like, a week ago. And I spent that whole week thinking about what I want to do with it. And now I know. 'Chronicles of the Spectrum'! Y'know. 'Day in the life of me' sort of stuff. It's also going to be a trial run for the camera to make sure it meets my standards." Rainbow took a bite of her burger. "That's actually a good name for the first video."

"So... Like a video blog?" Again, Rainbow nodded. "That sounds ... fun." She gave a smile, though noticeably weak.

"I'm glad you think so, Fluttershy, because I need your help for opening day. I have an idea, and I need a second pair of hands. A steady pair of hands that aren't holding a needle and fabric. And, since this is your day off, I figured why not today?"

"What do you need me to do?" She ate a fry after her words. "Hold it?"

"Yeah! Well, and talk a little bit. And show yourself. Basically, you're going to set it up somewhere and get everything ready."

"Steady hand, huh?" Fluttershy propped up an eyebrow.

"It's not- alright, no. I don't need a steady hand, I need a co-host. Every video is going to have a co-host, and it's only this one time that I'm asking you to be co-host." Rainbow clapped her hands together, lowered her head and shut her eyes. "Please, Fluttershy? I'm practically begging you here."

Fluttershy ate in silence while Rainbow held her pleading stature. "Alright. I'll help you."

"Awesome! Thanks a million Fluttershy!"

~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, tell me again the plan? For the camera." Rainbow held open the recorder and aimed it at Fluttershy. Clearly, it was at the track field behind Canterlot High. Fluttershy was gripping her capeline in nervousness. "Nice and loud, too."

""U-um... W-we're gonna t-talk about y-you for a minute... Then you're going to run a mile."

Rainbow turned the recorder toward herself. "Okay, but what are you going to say somewhere in there?" Then again back to Fluttershy.

"Uhh... 'Pay attention... this is important..." right?" Rainbow nodded off-screen. Fluttershy sighed in relief.

"But with a bit more seriousness."

Fluttershy tilted her head down toward the camera and stared through it. "Pay attention. This, is important."

Rainbow closed the recorder. "Wow, that was really scary. Alright. You got it down?" Fluttershy nodded and relaxed. "Good. I brought along a tripod. See if you can find the best spot to film this from."

After a good twenty minutes of trying, Fluttershy found the perfect spot just a feet from the outer ring of the track. "Perfect. Sound coming in clear." Fluttershy walked toward Rainbow who was already in wait on the track doing some stretches. "When do we start?"

"Oh, uh... Walk off screen, ask me what I'm doing and we'll roll with it from there. Say that line just after I get into running position." Fluttershy walked off screen, looking at the camera all the while. "And don't look at the audience until that line either."

"Alright." Fluttershy took a deep breath, and shook her head.

~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Rainbow." Fluttershy walked toward Rainbow, who was doing some stretches. " What are you up to out here?"

"Heya Fluttershy. Not much, just getting in some afternoon running. You?"

"Uhm..." She twiddled her thumbs a moment.

"Wait, lemme guess: Twilight wants to use me for her science project, right? Something about Artificial Intelligence testing?"

"I- I ... She's doing that?" Rainbow nodded. "Really?"

"Sure is. Got Sunset to help her with it too. But I was all, 'I don't need artificial intelligence. I have enough synthetic intelligence." She sat down and reached for her shoes.

Fluttershy laughed a bit. "You do indeed. So... What's your best time?"

"On the mile?" Fluttershy nodded. "I don't know... A few seconds?"

Fluttershy waved her hand like a dog at Rainbow. "No seriously."

"Yeah, seriously. I'll prove it, too. Right here and now. Been meaning to see how fast I've gotten." Rainbow stood and loosened up a bit with a few shakes. "Call this a trial run." She got into her running position.

Fluttershy looked straight at the camera and recited, "Pay attention. This, is important." Then, she turned to Rainbow.

In a shorter time than Fluttershy thought possible, Rainbow took off like lightning around the track, adding a new hole in the ground with each pass. When she finished, Rainbow slid to a stop just in front of Fluttershy. "Well? How'd I do?"

"Alright, so you're fast. Never thought I'd see the day."

~~~~~~~~~

At school the next day, she showed her friends what the two of them had done. Rainbow pulled up the video on her phone's web browser at lunch and sat in front of the others who watched over her shoulder. When it ended, they looked at each other in confusion. "What? Too much effects?"

"'Many', Rainbow. And yes. Too many effects. If you can make a rainbow trail when you run without editing software, why would you edit your video to have a ... much stranger looking color trail?"

"For effect. And because I can get away with it now. Now, whenever I run in my videos, I add the fake trail over the real one, so it looks edited. Poorly edited. It's all part of my plan. Trust me."

"So, you did one with yourself as the focus." Sunset started. "Which of us is next?"

Rainbow pointed at Fluttershy. "M-Me? B-but you said-"

"That I wouldn't ask you to be a co-host. This time, you'll be the host, and one of us will co-host. And go in a circle like that until we've all had a turn." Rainbow relaxed and ate a bit. "Besides, I figured we'd all want to show off sometime. What better way than when they wouldn't believe it? You get the satisfaction of doing it, and they are none the wiser."

Twilight pushed up her glasses and sat down. "Alright. So, you run very fast. That is your geode-given talent. Fluttershy's is talking to animals. If you need, I can set some time aside to assist in your next video."

"That'd be awesome, Twilight. But I'm keeping it to one video a week. Give this one a chance to be out there a while and get some feedback. Sundays cool with you?" Twilight nodded. "Fluttershy?" Another nod, much slower. "Great. I'll pick up Fluttershy and come over to your... lab. I think that's where you spend most of your time, right?"

"Yes. Principal Celestia gave me my own science area outside the main building. She's so accommodating." Twilight smiled.

"So, next week's video is going to be starring Fluttershy showing off her power, with Twilight's help," Pinkie summed. "Then Twilight's turn in the spotlight after that, right?"

"That's right. I'll be holding the camera each time. Couldn't do it this time because it was about me." Rainbow leaned back in her chair and looked at her friends. "This is going to be awesome!"

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Huh, this is definitely something she would do. Only now do I realize that I've never seen a story about them just mucking about with superpowers. Y'know, stuff like Rainbow playing both sides of a Ping-Pong game. Random stuff like that.

I think I'll enjoy this.

[Dashie04]

This is nothing like I expected...

Whihc is great, because what I expected was a mediocre story, not a story about Dash as an aspiring YouTuber.