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True Colors · FiM Short Story ·
Organised by RogerDodger
Word limit 2000–8000
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A Speculative Spectrum
“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.

Pinkie herself hadn’t know about bright and vibrant colors until she had gotten her cutie mark. She knew of them, as a concept, but she hadn’t seen how perfectly bright they could be until that day.

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 with 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, Pinkie had spoken to the smartest pony she knew. Twilight couldn’t do it herself, but she had said there might be a spell to create a new color. Well… she hadn’t said there was, just that she didn’t know of one. So that meant it was up to Pinkie Pie to find out if such a thing existed!

The trouble was that Pinkie had no idea how to begin. She’d never researched anything in her life! There was that one time she tried to find out about the kinds of parties Yaks held, and that had needed a bit of reading, but she usually just made things up on the spot.

It worked, generally. For most parties, there were things she could expect: Most ponies liked decorations, food, drinks, and music. She would customize what form those took depending on the pony and his or her preferences, but having a wide variety of choice prepared ahead of time meant that any problems that arose could be dealt with. She was a master of improvisation, and that helped make ponies happy. But her parties always ended. They had to.

That was something that improvisation couldn’t fix. What she wanted was something she could show ponies during her parties that would stay with them. Something that stuck out in their minds as happiness, and nothing but. That wasn’t something that was so easy to improvise. She’d spent some time thinking on it, and went back to the moment when she first understood what happiness was. If the seven existing colors of the rainbow did that for her, a brand-new color would do the same for everypony else! It was a flawless idea!

The trouble was finding or creating it.

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!

She stopped by Twilight’s castle and asked Spike to send a letter ahead of her, then bought a ticket to Canterlot for next week. She still had parties to plan and couldn’t just drop everything on such short notice. If she was to ignore happiness in her quest for happiness, how would she know it if she found it? No, she was prepared to wait a little bit for happiness to be found. The current colors weren’t going anywhere, and it looked like she was going to have to create a new one. That meant talking to the pony who was in charge of the source of light: Celestia herself.




When next week finally arrived, Pinkie hopped on an evening train heading to Canterlot. 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!”

“There’s no rule against eating cupcakes on the job. He’s just being uptight. 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. As the little cup tilted, Celestia closed her eyes, thinking through the story Pinkie had told. She pulled the cup away from her lips and looked up at the ceiling, then she looked to the stained-glass windows, took another sip, and turned back to her waiting guest.

“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 other’s 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 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.

“Please, Pinkie Pie, do try to enjoy your meal. I’m sorry your idea didn’t work out, but dwelling on things you aren’t able to change will only make you miserable. Surely you realize this.” Celestia sipped her tea with an encouraging smile on her face.

Pinkie tried. She ate, and it was delicious. The vegetables were fresh, the cheese was exotic, the fruits were juicy and ripe, and dessert was decadent. It was everything she expected of the royal kitchens. Her own cupcakes suddenly seemed childish by comparison.

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.




Her return train pulled into the station with the squeal of metal. Pinkie leaned on the doors with her face against the glass until they opened, then zipped past other passengers as she raced down the road toward Fluttershy’s cottage.

The animals that were ever-present at the little cottage were milling about. Birds and butterflies fluttered about the windows perching on one branch or flower then moving to the next. Squirrels clambered up the vines and lattice on the walls of the cottage, while other animals milled about outside. Their lazy and relaxed manner seemed to indicate that they had been fed not too long ago. That would mean Fluttershy was likely at home.

Pinkie bounced around the sides of the cottage, looking to see if Fluttershy was feeding the chickens, but after a full circuit of the house, there wasn’t anypony outside. She returned to the front door and rapped on it with a hoof.

Soft hoofsteps could be heard inside the cottage. They approached the door and opened it to show Fluttershy hidden slightly behind it. When she saw it was Pinkie Pie, she smiled and stood up straighter, opening the door wider for her friend.

“Oh, hello, Pinkie Pie. What brings you here?” Fluttershy stepped to the side and motioned for Pinkie to enter.

Pinkie Pie pranced past her and into the cottage. “Good afternoon, Fluttershy! I actually came here to ask you some questions about Discord.”

“Oh?” Fluttershy shut the door and walked to the kitchen, where she started preparing some tea for her unexpected guest. “If you want to know when his birthday is, he said he doesn’t really have one, so he’ll accept whatever day you want to throw him a party.”

“No, nothing like that, though I should really throw him a birthday party sometime. I wanted to talk to him,” Pinkie said.

Fluttershy stuck her head out of the kitchen, confused. “You want to talk to him? Nopony ever wants to talk to Discord but me. What about, if I may ask?”

“Colors!” Pinkie threw her hooves into the air, tossing a small hoofful of confetti.

“Colors? What about them?”

“I want to know if he–as the spirit of chaos–knows of any colors we don’t already have, or if he could create a new one!”

“A new color?” Fluttershy’s brow furrowed as she tried to imagine one. “What would that even look like?”

“I don’t know, but it would suuuuper neato! I figure if seeing the seven colors of the rainbow made me so happy when I was a filly, a new color would make other ponies happy!”

Fluttershy brought out the tea and passed Pinkie Pie a cup. She sat in an armchair and inhaled the gentle aroma of her tea, then smiled. “Well, I don’t know anything about that, but I can send him a message. He’ll be coming for our weekly tea party too, and I can mention it then. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to talk about something so… odd.”

“Perfect! Thanks, Fluttershy. You’re a real pal!” Pinkie reached over and hugged her friend. Fluttershy had to hold both her saucer and cup above her head until Pinkie let go.

“Oof! You’re welcome, Pinkie.”




Pinkie Pie waited as patiently as she could. Her usual workdays of confection-making and party-planning were uninterrupted by the physical embodiment of chaos itself, but as the day of Fluttershy and Discord’s tea party came and went, Pinkie Pie’s anticipatory excitement turned to confused disappointment. She didn’t want to bother Fluttershy more than she had to, but if Fluttershy had forgotten to mention her, she was going to have to go over there and ask about Discord again, and that would be tacky.

She waited as long as she felt was the required polite amount, then after work on a sunny day, Pinkie wandered up the path to Fluttershy’s cottage. The animals were still ever-present; chirping, growling, and snuffling as they were wont to do. Pinkie Pie marched on up past them, and reached out a hoof to strike the door. She knocked, and after the third knock, Pinkie noticed the animal sounds were gone.

She turned away from the door and saw that the animals that had been everywhere not five seconds before, were all missing. Along with most of the ground, replaced by a curious starscape of floating islands and shifting clouds. Her attention was drawn back to the door when she heard the latch open, and Discord appeared in the doorway. He smiled that welcoming smile that implied he was privy to a joke nopony else was, and motioned for her to step inside.

“Welcome, Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy told me you wanted to talk about colors,” Discord said.

Pinkie took the change of scenery in stride. When dealing with chaos, nothing was out of bounds and it was just best to accep that. “Well hey, Discord! Fancy door you got. It looked like Fluttershy's door when I first got here!” Pinkie stepped into Discord’s home and gawped at the strange décor. A table floated past her muzzle and she giggled.

Discord shut the door behind her and watched her admiring his home. After a moment to let her look, he steepled his claw and talon together and cleared his throat. “As much as I appreciate your admiration, I do think we should get down to business, Pinkie Pie. I am a busy creature of chaos, and I’m sure Ponyville’s party-planner has many things to do.”

Pinkie Pie whirled to face Discord and put on as serious a face as she could manage. “You’re right! This is for the good of ponies everywhere! I want—” Pinkie whipped a hoof up to point at Discord’s face and waited for dramatic effect “—a new color!”

“A new color, hmm? What’s wrong with the old ones?”

“Everypony has seen them! I can put streamers up for a birthday party in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, or violet or any hue in between, and everypony has seen them before!” Pinkie ranted. “Even if we used magic to allow ponies to see invisible colors, that wouldn’t be enough. I asked Twilight and Celestia about that, and those colors already exist! I want something brand new!” Pinkie stabbed a hoof at Discord for punctuation.

Discord kept his face carefully neutral. “While I think you’re not giving the current colors enough credit, I do know of colors nopony has seen, there’s more to those than you might think, however.”

“So you do know of new colors? What kind! What are they like?” Pinkie pushed closer to Discord, placing her forehooves up on his lower torso.

“Well, there’s such a thing as the color of magic in a world far from this one. They call it ‘octarine’, but that won’t do for you. Only those who use magic can see it.”

“That would be neat for unicorns, but other ponies get left out. That’s no good at all.”

“Oh, but don’t fret, there are others. There’s a new color inside an ark hidden in a place called Area 51. Some archaeologist found it.” Discord scratched his chin in thought. “That one may not be what you’re looking for. It causes an agonizing death upon those who see it.”

“Colors that cause death? I don’t want them to cause death, I want ponies who see it to be happy!”

“You’re right, of course. Happiness, not death.” Discord nodded and punched a fist into an open palm. “I might know of a few, and we can certainly go through the list, but…” Discord leaned down and whispered to Pinkie Pie. “How would you like to see the current colors in a different way, hmmm?”

“A different way? Like Rarity’s designs?”

“Ohhhhohoho, no. A way I can guarantee nopony has ever imagined before.” Discord winked and smiled at her.

Pinkie put a hoof to her chin in thought. She hemmed and hawed and rolled her head about as she pondered his words. She thought to herself for a minute or so, then whipped about and pointed a hoof at him.

“Why don’t you want me to have a new color?”

He held up his hands, trying his best to look innocent. “I swear I’m not trying to stop you, I’m just saying you could have the opportunity to take a look at the colors you have. Maybe you’ll find a way to work with existing colors instead of dredging up dangerous ones. You never know, maybe you’ll be inspired.” Discord grinned at her.

“Hmmm. Okey-dokey-lokey. But this better not be a prank. I’m super serious about this!” Pinkie Pie frowned and looked askance at Discord.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Discord made a cupcake appear and smushed it into his face for emphasis. He looked at Pinkie afterward and smiled.

“Okay. Do some chaos, Discord!”

Discord snapped his fingers, and Pinkie’s eyes began to ache.

At first, nothing seemed different. Pinkie blinked and squinted as her eyes hurt her. She shook her head and blinked rapidly, trying to clear the pain, but nothing worked.

“Discord, what did you do?”

“Why don’t we go back to Fluttershy’s place and have a look outside? That should answer all your questions.” Discord snapped his fingers again, and Pinkie could once again see the trees and animals that all lived around Fluttershy’s cottage.

Pinkie focused on the leaves of a nearby tree. They began as green, but as the ache in her eyes became more acute, the green started to slide off the tree. It swam away from the trunk, and coalesced into a floating sphere of color. After it had gathered together, the sphere burst, throwing green all over the landscape. It splattered onto the blue of the creek near Fluttershy’s house, and sucked the color out of it. The now black and white river trickled on by, until the black and the white leaped off the ground and stood at odds with the blue and green colors across from them.

They began to battle, black and white jets of color met blue and green in between. There was no sound to accompany this combat, but Pinkie watched confused, though interested. The blobs started to dance around each other, looking for an opening. White moved first, but was caught in jets of green and blue as they responded to its movement. It doubled over, fell down, then pooled on a carpet of uncolored grass.

Green and blue moved away from white's amorphous body, and black crawled slowly forward. It reached out with black tendrils and enveloped the dribbling mess of white in its inky limbs. It reared back, looked up at the sky, and threw the white upward. Pinkie followed as the white lifted into the sky. Up, up, and up it went until the light became too bright, and Pinkie finally saw the sun.

When the celestial orb entered her vision, everything exploded in color. Green, blue, white, and black, were all obliterated. Every color was washed away as her eyes were filled with sunlight. She couldn’t name the color everything changed to as her sight disappeared, but she knew it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Unfortunately, it was gone as soon as it appeared. She tried to call out to it, but her voice did not follow her orders, and the strange color gave way to white.

White soon gave way to violet, then that was washed away by indigo, then blue, and on through the rest of the rainbow. The colors danced through her mind. They lived lives of their own, they fell in love, they married, they had children. They owned businesses, they played games, they went on adventures, and they died. Then their world disappeared around them and gave way to a pit of blackness. Out of that pit came nameless things of single colors espousing virtues and vices, they battled for supremacy and twisted themselves into further strange shapes to strive for becoming the greatest color among them.

Then those died away and others rose. These lived peaceful lives, enjoying a calm existence. They whispered knowledge into Pinkie’s ear, and told her secrets the likes of which she had never conceived of. They told her the secrets to life, and to existence, then left her with a ringing in her ears that washed away all knowledge of it. She lived lifetimes in an instant, and then, as quickly as it came, it all disappeared. Red gave way to orange, then to yellow, green, and onward until white was all there was. White then disappeared, and became yellow.



“Pinkie Pie?”

The yellow in front of Pinkie’s eyes waved up and down.

“Pinkie, you shouldn’t stare at the sun for so long. It’s dangerous,” Fluttershy said.

Pinkie Pie blinked, the afterimages of the sun’s light glowing in her vision. She turned to look at Fluttershy, and blinked again.

“Um… Pinkie, you have a little something… right here.” Fluttershy wiped the corner of her own mouth and pointed at Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie closed her mouth that she wasn’t aware was open, then wiped the corner of her mouth Fluttershy had indicated with a hoof. She had been drooling.

Pinkie looked around. The tree she had looked at was green, as was the grass. The creek near Fluttershy’s house was intact, and had a lovely and clear blue. The dandelions were yellow, and the roses were red, and yellow and black bees buzzed from one to the next under gently scudding clouds of white. Pinkie stared. She blinked yet again, and turned her head to look at Fluttershy.

For what seemed like the first time, she really looked at Fluttershy. Her friend had a yellow coat, and her pink mane and tail draped down across it in an exquisite manner. The soft pastels of her coloring really drew out the cool blue of her eyes, and the longer Pinkie stared, the more amazing her friend’s colors looked.

Fluttershy looked concerned, but Pinkie’s gormless expression quickly gave way to a small smile which widened the longer she stared. Pinkie’s mane, which had been listless before, slowly fluffed itself up to its usual bright and poofy self along with her widening smile.

“Are you… okay, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked.

“Okay?! I’m better than okay! I’m grrrreat!”

“Oh, that’s–”

“In fact, I’m amazing! I understand now! It wasn’t the colors that were wrong, it was me! I wasn’t seeing the value of what we already have! We don’t need anything new to truly be happy, we need to understand the true value of what’s already here!” Pinkie bounced around Fluttershy, her excitement bubbling out of her in an unstoppable deluge.

“So, what–”

“I know exactly what I’m going to do! I’m going to go home, and I’m going to bake a cake! It’ll be an amazing cake! It’ll have icing, loads of icing! Icing of every color of the rainbow!” Pinkie grabbed Fluttershy’s hooves and danced in a small circle with her. “It doesn’t matter if the happiness I bring ponies disappears, because I can always make them happy again! That’s what makes their smiles worthwhile!” Pinkie Pie bounded down the dirt road away from Fluttershy’s cabin, shouting back excitedly. “Tell Discord I said thank youuuuuu!”

Fluttershy watched dumbstruck as her friend screamed and bounced away from her cottage. When the Pink pony was finally out of sight, she turned back to her cozy little house and stepped back inside. When she entered, she was surprised to see Discord was waiting on the couch.

“What did you do to her, Discord?”

“Me? I barely did anything. I just let her see colors. True colors.”

“New colors?”

“No no no, those are dangerous. These are our colors, but now she has truly seen them, for the second time.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “You promise you didn’t do anything dangerous to her?”

“Please, Fluttershy. I would never hurt a friend of yours. You know that.”

“Well, she seems happy. Thank you, Discord.”

“Anything for a friend, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy smiled and picked up her kettle and put it on the stove to heat up. Though it wasn’t their weekly meeting, tea was always welcome. It was sometimes something they took for granted, and having it on a different day was refreshing. Change was the spice of life, after all, and sometimes it took looking at things differently to truly appreciate what seemed ordinary.

The End.
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#1 ·
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Beautiful. And that's all I have to say, about that.
#2 ·
· · >>Fenton >>AndrewRogue
It's... different. I really like the idea of Pinkie Pie associating the discovery of new colors with joy. This could certainly be an interesting concept story, with some revisions. But as is, it really doesn't work for me for a few reasons:

The first is the early sections. I understand that they're establishing the concept, but very little happens in them, and the pacing is slow. They started to drag after awhile, and I wondered when the story would get to the point. I think they could be dramatically shortened without losing much.

Second, Discord felt a little out of character. Giving someone a new appreciation for the joy of little things isn't exceptionally chaotic. He serves as a genie in the story, and his character is more complex than that.

Finally though, the revelation at the end. I think I see what you were trying to do, but honestly, it felt more like Pinkie Pie was having an acid trip. There are simpler and less trippy ways to represent this sudden enlightenment. For instance, she could see the world in black and white and have each color filled in one at a time.

Would love to see a revised version of this. This is one of the cuter Pinkie Pie's I've read in awhile!
#3 ·
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Twilight should have just taught Pinkie about Impossible Colours. That should have kept her occupied for a few weeks.

I had a blast reading this. Honestly, you managed to put a smile on my face for most of the story. Like Jaxie pointed out, though, the story could use a bit of tightening. I liked the different points of view Pinkie considers in regards to her colourful quest before she settles on Discord's path, and I'm sure you can find a way to make all this more structurally sound.

But yeah, good job.
#4 · 1
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>>GaPJaxie has already mentionned my main problem with this entry.
You start your story in media res, but after a couple paragraphs, we have no less than seven paragraphs of 'info-dump'. I understand they are important for the resolution, but I'm sure there is a better way to do it.
My suggestions would be to either start with half of your explanation, then have the scene with Twi and Pinkie, and after give the rest of it, or spacing your explanation with some actions.
As it is, starting with people interacting to then have several paragraphs of back-story threw me out of the story a bit.

But aside from that, it was great. The premise is engaging, and Pinkie's voice is quite good. There are a few nitpicks I could mention here and there, but nothing like the beginning.

As for Discord, I'm sure you can have him more in character by suggesting that the reason he helped Pinkie is because her parties bring chaos. It may be enjoyable chaos for ponies, but it's still chaos.

Anyway, this was a really pleasant read, and it should score pretty high. Thank you for writing.
#5 ·
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Genre: Octarine

Thoughts: I hate to say this, but I find myself wanting to like this more than I actually do. So on the plus side, the story sells me on the central concept of Pinkie wanting to spread happiness through a new color, and her journey makes sense. Structure is probably the story's strongest element apart from Pinkie's wish itself.

I regret to say that the story ends up losing me due to two main issues: length/density of exposition, and character voice during dialogue. For the latter, I think the issues were biggest with Discord and Celestia; I simply couldn't picture those characters saying most of the dialogue they were given. Celestia's line about dropping it to avoid being miserable was the biggest but not only example. I'm cognizant that there's some personal taste here, but this is the mare who told us "there's no wrong way to fantasize" earlier this season. And just overall it feels like both Discord and Celestia know something about new colors but want more than anything to keep it under wraps and won't just be straight about what they know.

The color trip scene was cool and interesting though!

Tier: Keep Developing
#6 · 1
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And here I'd been sitting on the octarine comment since the very beginning of the story and you go and make it for me. I feel cheated.

Another rather cute and sweet story.

Anyhow, this story is kind of an odd duck. It reads a lot like a children's story in tone and cadence, with a pretty fair amount of repetition of ideas and actions within the body of the story, and the characters exist as vehicles to say why she cannot have more colors. This is really hard to explain, but hopefully you can sort of see what I mean if you take a look back and read it?

If its intentional, I think the story ends up far too long and dense for that sort of thing. If it isn't intentional, I think it detracts a bit from the reading experience. It is pleasant sounding, but not necessarily something I want to read.

When you do things, you should consider why! The gap between visiting Fluttershy and Discord is odd, and I don't think it really adds a lot besides slowing the story down, which I don't think you need to do.

While I like the final message and the idea for how it works is cool, I find myself agreeing with >>GaPJaxie that this feels like a bit of a broken aesop. If you have to have magical acid trip induced by the god of chaos to start appreciating things again, I'm not wholle convinced it is going to work for everybody else!

I think you stand at an interesting crossroads, where you need to pick one of two directions for the story, and settling that question will result in a pretty solid piece of fiction.
#7 · 1
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Drop the perspective switch at the end; it's jarring and unnecessarily repeats a moral that the rest of your story conveys just fine.

I have little to add beyond that. It's a cute Pinkie tale with a cute little moral, and I give it eight invisible-to-the-naked-eye colors out of a possible ten.