Origin of the rainbow
Above the clouds, the night sky was a thing of beauty. It was a thing earth ponies like Meadowbrook rarely got the chance to see, especially back when the tribes were divided and pleasant weather wasn't often a luxury. Still, though, Meadowbrook picked up her pace a bit to catch up with Arca, who was chugging a vial of purple liquid.
“Arca, is that sand viper venom?” she inquired cautiously.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Doesn't that cause internal bleeding and death within ten minutes? Why are you drinking it?”
Arca shrugged, tossing the now empty vial back into his saddlebag. “Because it's flippin’ delicious, duh. Living philosopher's stone, remember? Poisons don't have any effect on me. I'd suggest you try some, but…”
“No thank you, Arca.”
“Between you and me, Princess Luna used to drink this stuff before she got banished. I wonder if she still does. I should meet up with her someday soon, honestly. Ah, here we are!”
The top of the mountain was a wondrous sight to behold, but what was up there left Meadow a little surprised. It was a small pond, glowing with ethereal light as it cycled through the colors of the rainbow, tiny colored specks of light wafting up and away into the night sky. A small pedestal was in the middle of it, with a weathered stone slab acting as a bridge to the pedestal.
“Heh, you like it, boss? This here is the heart of Rainbow Falls. We're standing on a potent arcane resonance point directly on a magical leyline. In other words, this place is supercharged with natural magic. This pool saps that mana and uses it to make all the rainbow liquid the town is known for. A potent alchemical ingredient that needs careful storing, otherwise it dissipates before it gets too far into the valley below.”
Meadow gazed into the almost hypnotically colorful fluid. Being hidden this high above the town meant that its glow was nearly impossible to spot from below, but it had her attention now. “So, Arca, what does this have to do with that duck? Oh, sorry, The Duck.”
“That, Boss, took place around 500 years ago…”
April 23rd, 478 ANM (After Nightmare Moon)
The sun was high in the sky as an orange unicorn in a lab coat galloped up the last few yards to the pool of pristine water atop the mountain. This place was a beautiful place of nature, with waterfalls cascading down from the clouds, streaking across the mountain and into the valley below. This lonely pool was high above the cloud layer, its origin unknown. There was, however, an ornate pedestal engraved with runes, positioned in the center of the pool, and a makeshift bridge (better known as a big flat rock) connected it to the edge.
“Come on, Celly! You're slower than usual today!”
Celestia sol Invictus, monarch of Equestria and commander of the heavens, slowly climbed the last few steps. “Arca… I'm not as used to… physical activity… as you are. I do paperwork... and meetings all day... while you go exploring... and experimenting.” Celestia paused to pant for breath for a few moments then continued, “Goodness, do I need to get back to working out…”
“Yeah, that's great and all. Blah blah blah. Lookie! I found the strongest point of magical resonance on the eighth leyline, and I set up my ritual here! With all the ambient magic, we can make a philosopher's stone without all the hassle of time sacrifices and stuff, but I can only do it once before the whole leyline gets thrown for a loop. So, pleasepleaseplease watch me so I get it right this time. I don't wanna do this unsupervised and you're the only pony who knows about the fact I pulled off making it once before.”
It took Celestia a good thirty seconds to process her royal alchemist's request, but eventually steadied herself on her hooves and nodded. “Go ahead, Arca. I trust you.”
“Fantastic! This won't take long, I promise!” he catered across the makeshift bridge and poured a thick, red sap onto an indent in the pedestal. “There. This should absorb the latent energy and form a connection with harmony, becoming the second philosopher's stone. Now, I just have to say the words.” Arca lit his horn, magic touching the pedestal as orbs of light began to float down from the sky in a line, circling the pool and adding a sense of otherworldly power to the scene.
“Kame eth pord fo der, het ontes hiwch I sredie,
Woperedme thwi gamic, ulef orf tis refi!”
As he chanted, the orbs began to collect in the pool of water, shining ever brighter. As soon as Arca finished, there was a brilliant flash that was likely seen for miles, and when it cleared much had changed.
Gone was the pristine, clear water of the pool, and looking down the mountain, so too had the waterfalls vanished. In their place was some sort of liquid rainbow, likely a side effect from channeling all that mana at once to the mountain summit. It looked nice, Celestia had to admit. Meanwhile, Arca stood in awe as a small red stone with a spiral pattern floated above the pool of rainbow.
“I did it,” he breathed. “I did it! Celly, look!” snatching it up in his magic, he galloped toward Celestia with unending joy. “A real, physical, non-pony philosopher's stone! With this, we can try to free my boss and your sister from their imprisonment, and revolutionize alchem-AH!”
“Qua-ACK!”
It all happened so fast Arcane and Celestia needed a moment to process what happened. Arca had tripped over a pebble, of all things, and fell forward. That caused him to drop the philosopher's stone, sending it flying through the air… and right into the mouth of a random duck who happened to open its beak to quack at that exact instance. It choked on the stone, and then…
“Uh, Celly?”
“Yes, Arca?”
“...did that duck just eat my philosopher's stone? You know, the one I've spent 300 years planning to make?”
“I do believe it did.”
“Quack.”
“Stay out of this, you damn bird!” Arca got up and lunged at the mallard, but it took to the skies and glided down the mountain. “Wait, come back! Aw, mane…”
Celestia draped a wing over her subject. “Don't worry, Arca. It can't have gotten far.”
“Still, I need to search this mountain top to bottom for it now,” Arca lamented, but then he appeared to have an epiphany. “Hey… Celly, are you still giving out land to settlers?”
“Indeed I am.”
“I'm calling in that favor you owe me. I want this mountain and its surrounding lands. One of these days… I'm gonna get that damn duck. And not just any duck…
The Duck.”
“After that, I set up an inn and hired some of the best hunters to track down The Duck. They all failed, but word of my offered cash reward as well as the beauty of Rainbow Falls got the town founded and growing fairly quickly. So I kinda own the whole town, but Celestia owns it too, and she said I needed a local government, so here we are! That's the story of The Duck and how I founded the town. Any questions, Boss?”
“Quack.”
“OH, BACK FOR MORE, ARE YA? GET YER FEATHERY ASS BACK HERE, YA DAMN DUCK! YOUR MOTHER WAS A PIGEON!”
Meadowbrook smiled to herself as her son scrambled after his foe. As she pulled out her enchanted crystal to return to her hotel room instantly, she only had one thing to say:
“Yeah, that sounds like you, Arca. And I still love you anyway.”
“LOVE YOU TOO, BOSS!”
“Quack.”
“HOLD STILL! 5,758TH TIME'S THE CHARM! IT'S GOTTA BE!"
"Quack."
"I SAID HOLD STILL!”
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Poor arca he has such poor luck when it come to the philosopher's stone
Huh, I didn't expect to be right on this one. It's a good thing it was only a duck that ate it...
9419878
Yeah, I was kinda surprised you guessed right.
But at the same time I couldn't tell you, because spoilers...
Impressive. It rhymes both like this and unscrambled.
So The Duck ate the stone.
Sounds like the time Pokemon shows the only time of using a Master Ball.
9419892
Holy floof it does
How'd I do that
Fist mistake
“maKe the drop of red, the stone wich I desire,
empoWered with magic, fuel for its fire!
9419919
Trusting Arca, or did I actually make a grammar error?
Or did you write fist mistake on purpose?
9419921
So close! Tones isn't right. Try again.
Stone
9419928
Dammit...
9419930
I mean, the other way WORKS, just not what I meant
Ever see the Flufflepuff series?
9419923
No, that was a typo. I meant to write first
9419984
Tbbbth
I feel like Arca is going to be the one to invent a shotgun.
9419930
Also fuel
9420019
I feel like that won't help against a certain bird...
This is even funnier to me since I have, for years, called the sound of a digital handshake "a duck choking on a kazoo".
Unless the Philosopher's Stone makes The Duck immune to magic, Tia and Arca are morons. T E L E K I N E S I S
9420130
It takes the smartest people to do the dumbest things.
9420061
Now I'm imagining Celestia thinking super hard and The Duck just outside the window choking on a kazoo provided by one very amused draconequus.
So is The Duck now a living philosopher's stone, or is it just a duck that happens to have a philosopher's stone lodged in its stomach?
Also, how invulnerable does a philosopher's stone make you? If you stabbed Arca with a sword, would it be like trying to stab adamantium? Cause if not, you'd just have to contain The Duck long enough to cut it open and retrieve the stone, assuming it's still a physical object. Then again, maybe the stone also has an element of probability-bending to it.
9420272
The way I like to think of it is like this: Arca is far more durable and heals remarkably faster than the average pony (see: every lab explosion), but could theoretically be killed with enough force. The real issue is that Arca is lucky/quick thinking enough to avoid any serious damage, and while somepony could theoretically corner him and kill him they would need to be stronger, faster, and better at magic than Arca while also having the adaptability to cope with Arca's love for more... peculiar behaviors in fights. The way I see it, Arca is powerful and experienced enough that Celestia, Luna, or maybe Twilight would have to fight him in a one-on-one to kill him, and Arca would likely flee before that point. He knows his limits... but he gets a little stronger every day.
The Duck, on the other hand, has regeneration on par with Deadpool, the durability and cartoon logic of a Loony Toons character, durability on par with Adamantium, the plot armor of an action movie hero, and the comedic timing of the three stooges. In other words, The Duck will annoy Arca forever.
Pretty good for a bird with a red rock lodged in its lung.
9420380
Good crazy, right?
9420384
that's still up for debate. & no nether can arca or pinkie can change it.
9420016
So. . . not sure if I said this already or not, but prank war w/ a mane growth potion given to blueblood that covers the entirery of canterlot?
9420307
The second paragraph is absolutely hilarious in this comment.
Well, that explains the national secret bit.
I'm guessing it's still sitting in The Duck's gizzard. Hell, The Duck's feces probably is infused with alchemical properties that cause all sorts of effects wherever it goes and "goes".
9421112
Close! It aspirated the stone, not that anypony can actually catch and hold it long enough to scan it and figure that out. In layman's terms, it got inhaled and is now permanently stuck in The Duck's lungs. Which lung, you might ask?
I don't know. Whichever one you wanna headcanon, I guess. It doesn't matter as far as the plot is concerned, so I didn't think about it.
9421203
That poor duck. It must hurt having a rock in its lung for so long. Pity Arca is so wont for overreaction, otherwise he could just grab the duck and give it a good squeezing. Freshly squeezed duck, just like babushka used to make. Also dislodge the stone. Maybe he should get Flutterpone to help.
Also let us hope Arca and The Pink One never meet, for it may be the doom of Equestria.
So THE DUCK is the reason why Rainbow Falls exist huh?
9421813
Yup. Arca offered a huge amount of his savings to anypony who could catch it for him, which brought hunters. They brought their families to help gather food and make shelter, and from there, the town grew to what it is today.
Similarly, the annual trade exchange started when Arca had a yard sale.
9421973
I've found it quite bitter, to be honest. But then, this is Equestrian sand viper venom we're talking about. The ponies also love to eat daffodils, and those are as foul as gall on Earth. As well as being quite poisonous due to the production of the alkaloid lycorine. Interestingly, it's cytostatic effect, inhibiting cell growth at the cytoskeletal level rather than inducing apoptosis, may make it useful for treating some forms of cancer.
(Alondro's knowledge is increasing rapidly... a sign that the Aponycalypse is close at hoof!)
Glorious....
"Make the drop of red, the stone which I desire, empowered with magic, fuel for its fire."
Other people have "translated" this already before but none have done so recently, so I decided to leave this here for others to know what it was.
On a similar note, I rather enjoyed unscrambling that. I am notoriously bad at unscrambling words but this one I found came to me. Keep up the good work.
I think I see where this is going
I have a question: "Did you ever ask The Duck, politely to cough up the philosopher's stone?"
...doesn't fit the tone of the series, but still
9420054
No, but the invention will still exist... Much to the dismay of Emerald and several innocent property owners...
9420307
The fact it is in its lung and the higher than Earth intelligence of Equestrian wildlife(1) might mean it is actively trolling him as an outlet for its chronic discomfort. Or is even discomfort too dark for this continuity?
(1) My fanon is that Earth Ponies have a cumulative aura that smartens up all animals they consider "cute" within a radius of miles, and the pet of a Pony (regardless of tribe) gets a further boost. Your average Star Spider is illiterate, but Owliscious had enough knowledge implanted in his brain as soon as Twilight accepted him that he can read all the titles in he library and knows the standard indexing system(s) she uses.
Also, the bit in a later post about the yard sale is also funny.