Little Things
Happy giggles and piercing squeals resounded as Rainbow Land roused for the start of Spring. The shrill cacophony had Skydancer lay his ears back in semi-pained irritation.
Oh, very well for all of them to be ecstatic and delighted! Skydancer pawed the ground with a fore hoof as he watched his Mistress mingling with the others. It was going to be a long, long three seasons before he could, once again, go on wild rides with his Mistress as they rode the fierce storms and howling winds.
Glancing up he irritably snorted as he watched Rainbow Brite and that insufferable Starlite go riding off, galloping across the sky atop one of her majestic, scintillating rainbows. He really didn't mind Rainbow Brite; he felt more for her than mere toleration, even if she was indirectly responsible for curbing and terminating his fun. It was, after all, Spring that was directly responsible for that! Besides, she was too sweet and nice a person to truly dislike . . . even if she did giggle a bit too much for his tastes.
Starlite, on the other hand . . .
Skydancer disdainfully snorted, tossing his head and sneering. 'Magnificent' indeed! The only thing truly magnificent about him, Skydancer felt, was his ego! Especially his boast about being a flying horse! The only reason he could 'fly' was because he pranced about like an overweening, haughty priss atop Rainbow's rainbow! Take away that rainbow and he could no more fly than a rock!
'Unlike me!' Skydancer smugly thought.
Granted, Starlite could audibly speak. Although as far as Skydancer was concerned that was more a liability than an asset. The problem wasn't that Starlite spoke . . . it was that he seldom shut up!
Several merry sprites went dashing past him, one even racing under his belly, and Skydancer gave a gusty sigh. Glancing over he saw his Mistress, Stormy, mingled with the others. He'd always hated the first day of Spring, and for the longest time so had she. The last couple of weeks of Winter they'd always spent in a somewhat frenetic, almost frantic, binge and fling of storms, instinctively sensing the inexorable, impending cessation of their fun. Even though they both knew that Spring would come, will-thee or nil-thee, the first day of Spring was always a sharp, almost painful blow. And again neither of them had truly blamed Rainbow Brite for that. There was another force other than she responsible for that happening, and that force was undeniable and inescapable.
But at least now his Mistress did have something to look forwards to, although, of course, her preference—like his—would have been shrieking with rowdy glee as they leapt back and forth through wild, howling storms. Now she had friends, and things to occupy herself with. Nor were those things simple, idle busywork either. Skydancer did have to give Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids that: they'd fully accepted Stormy amongst them. And not only had accepted her, but trusted her as well.
Snorting again Skydancer turned and slowly started pacing off. The beat and throb of primal, untamed storms still resonated inside him. How he hated the first couple of weeks of Spring! Those just made him want to bite and kick something! Or someone!
Ears partially folded back Skydancer plodded towards Green Grange. Although it was still too early in the season for lush grass most anywhere else, even now Green Grange would be thickly carpeted. And with more than mere grass, too, no matter how sweet! There'd be swards of sumptuous clover!
He paused a moment, ears pinning back even further, as a spangle of young sprites went dashing their irritating, giggly fashion past him, bright colorful balloons trailing from strings held in their hands. 'Happy happy happy!' he groused. 'Everyone is so happy!'
His ears jerked forwards as he heard a shrill cry then, a few moments later, a tragic wail. Pivoting on his hindquarters he faced where the moppets had dashed. One was just sitting up, having obviously tripped and fallen, and pointing up in the sky with a mournful cry of woe at the balloon that was darting upwards in freedom. The others, Skydancer noted, were clutching the strings of their balloons much more firmly than they had been before.
He started turning around to continue to Green Grange—and the sweet clover waiting there—but paused. The tot was now softly crying, both little arms held fully extended and up as they precariously teetered on tiptoes, as if trying so very hard to—somehow!—reach their wayward balloon.
Skydancer gave a very gusty sigh, sounding like a bellows. Haunches bunching he gave a mighty lunge, leaping up into the sky. It took only a couple of steps for him to reach the balloon and grasp the string with his strong teeth. A few moments later and his hooves drummed the ground as he landed.
All the sprites were quiet now, even the one who had been wailing, and all of them were looking at him with grave round eyes. Especially the moppet who had lost her balloon, who just stared at him as Skydancer solemnly padded over then stopped, lowering his head down and returning the balloon to her. She took it, looking quite wide-eyed, then suddenly broke into a huge beaming grin before flicking herself against his foreleg and tightly hugging.
He softly whickered, then gave her a gentle nudge, silently saying 'Go off and play now'. Still beaming she nodded, then the spangle skipped off . . . still holding their strings very tightly, he noted.
The clover was just as sweet and lush as he'd remembered, and Skydancer enjoyed a good grazing before settling down for a snooze. He hadn't napped very long at all, though, before he was woken by the sounds of . . . giggling and laughter.
Irritably snorting he opened one eye then sighed. With the whole of Rainbow Land to play in why—why!—did they have to play here?
About thirty feet away, down in a small hollow, was a pond, and a small spangle of young sprites were enjoying the sunshine and—ick!—mild weather by sailing toy boats. Skydancer sighed again and closed his eye. He'd never get back to sleep, he knew, but he was far too comfy and relaxed to desire to move. At the moment, anyway. He had no doubt at all that, after far too short a time, those squeals and giggles would grate on him like an annoying horsefly.
Quite some time passed then his eyes flew open, his ears swiveled forwards, as those giggles and squeals abruptly became cries of distress. Lurching to his feet and giving a mighty shake Skydancer shook the dregs of sleep from him, coming fully alert. Gazing down at the pond his eyes sharpened a moment before he silently groaned and audibly, gustily sighed. One of the toy boats had drifted 'out to sea', and its 'Captain' was quite unhappy.
One thing was certain: he'd never get any peace and quiet here!
He'd paced no more than twenty feet when the sounds of distress abruptly changed. There was a sharp cry, then yelps and cries of panic. Stopping he turned his head and looked back over his shoulder. One of the youngsters—most likely the wayward boat's 'Captain'—had obviously attempted retrieving the errant craft. And for their efforts, had fallen into the pond.
And hadn't just fallen in, Skydancer noted, but was ungainly thrashing about and foundering quite badly.
Before he truly was aware of doing so his hooves had minds of their own, for Skydancer found himself standing at the edge of the pond before he knew it. Bracing his legs he stretched his neck way out then, with a delicacy that would surprise anyone used to his stern, fierce countenance, gently gripped the youngster by his belt and hoisted him up.
Taking a couple of steps back Skydancer turned his head and gently set the sopping, dripping youngster down. He made sure the little sprite was OK before turning and walking off. Other than being soaking wet and suffering a bit of a fright they looked fine. But he'd only taken a couple of steps before pausing, stopping in place and glancing over his shoulder. He gave another, long-suffering sigh. That dratted toy boat had drifted even further away, and Skydancer had a pretty shrewd hunch that a mere, simple dunking wouldn't be enough to dissuade that boat's 'Captain'.
The little sprites oohed and aahed as Skydancer stepped out and 'walked' atop the water. He wasn't actually walking on the water, of course. He could fly, after all. Unlike Starlite, his disdainfully snorted. All he was really doing was flying just high enough to keep his hooves dry.
Once he reached the boat he lowered his head and softly snorted, filling the sail with his breath and puffing the boat along. But not straight back to the shore. Instead he snorted it along the shore a bit until reaching a part where the bank was more gently sloped, and therefore less likely for one of them to take another, impromptu bath.
They followed along, toy boats clutched in their hands, merrily giggling as Skydancer sailed the boat along then finally puffed it to shore. They all jumped up and down, clapping their hands, eyes sparkling and antennae bouncing and jiggling.
Well, he was certainly wide-awake now. So he padded down to the Color Castle and looked for his Mistress. He wasn't in the mood to help push color-crystal-laden carts along tracks; this wasn't a time of emergency, after all. But he certainly wouldn't mind a good grooming!
Stormy was more than willing to accommodate, and Skydancer blissfully sighed as his Mistress spent a good hour fully brushing him down. But then she was off again helping, and Skydancer felt sulky once more. He had no desire to make things bright and colorful. Buried under snow in a howling blizzard? Drenched in a torrential downpour? Dazzled by fierce bolts of jagged lightning? Now those would be fun!
Grumbling Skydancer padded off again. He was glad, really and truly happy, that his Mistress enjoyed the social interaction, and had even found a second home, here. But his home were the clouds. He just didn't fit in here, not really. Not that he minded not fitting in, because he didn't. He was OK with that, as long as his Mistress was OK. That was all that truly mattered to him.
He spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering, grazing and napping, now and then madly galloping and burning off his excess energy. It was growing near evening, that time when everyone gathered together for dinner, mingling and relaxing after a long day of work. Skydancer slowly ambled towards the Color Castle. He wasn't heading there to socialize or eat, but because his Mistress would be there.
Making this particular occasion even more acutely odious was that, since it was the conclusion of the first day of Spring, they'd hold a little celebratory party, and Skydancer couldn't think of anything he'd want less to celebrate!
He was about halfway there, passing through Orange Meadows, when his ears perked forwards. Just ahead and to one side was a small copse of trees. His sharp eyes picked out a flash of color high up in the canopy of one of them, and a few moments later he recognized that as a kite. But the color wasn't what had caught his attention. No, that had been the odd rustling of budding leaves and low rattle of branches.
Growing closer he kept staring at the kite-stranded tree, and a few moments later spied the indigo flash of a small sprite industriously climbing up, obviously to retrieve the kite. A kite that was very high up. Which, in turn, meant it was a loooong way down.
He picked up his pace to a trot then skidded to a stop just below. And just in time, too. Moments later there was a shrill cry, the sound of branches snapping and breaking . . .
*thump*
The young sprite landed on his back, his cry of fear instantly stopping in surprise as he softly landed on Skydancer instead of the terrifying, damaging landing on the unforgiving ground below. Leaves and small broken branches showered the both of them for a few seconds then Skydancer carefully stepped away from the cascade, carefully keeping the sprite balanced atop his back.
Kneeling down he gave a little twitch to his back. The youngling slid off . . . kite clutched in one hand Skydancer noted. Rising back up he gave a tremendous shudder, shaking remnants of leaves and branches off him. The sprite gave him a quite but tight hug to his foreleg before scurrying off.
As he approached the Color Castle he wasn't at all surprised at what he found. Colorful banners, streamers, balloons and flowers were everywhere, as were tables groaning with food and drink. Loud cheers went up as, with a dazzling flash, a wide rainbow arced overhead and, shortly thereafter, Rainbow Brite, Twink and Starlite triumphantly returned.
Skydancer softly sighed as he stood at the fringes and gazed about looking for his Mistress. He finally spotted her, gathered with the other Color Kids, as she was, in turn, looking for him. Their eyes met, then held. Her brow lifted; he nodded. Her face softly glowed as she smiled. Yes, he was fine. And he was fine with her staying with her friends. Even for something as horrid as a 'First Day of Spring' party. He was hers, and she was his. That's all that really mattered. And later, once the party was over and her friends headed off to bed, she'd return to him and off they'd go, high up to their billowing, cloudy home. These first few weeks of Spring Stormy never stayed here, save for a dire emergency, but instead stayed with him.
There were the cheers and applause. The happy cries and hugs. The spontaneous jigs and dancing of the sprites . . . and, quite often, the Color Kids as well. All the usual ruckus and commotion. Finally things settled down—for now, anyway—as everyone took their places for dinner. They'd all sat down then, as usual, Rainbow Brite stood up to make her little ickle-sweet 'Welcome Spring' speech.
"I want to thank everyone for helping make this a truly awesome and wonderful First Day of Spring!" she called out, eyes dancing and sparkling. "You've all worked very hard, and everyone on Earth appreciates the color and beauty you've helped bring them. But there's someone that deserves an extra-special thanks!"
Everyone grew very quite then. Not because of what she'd said but because she then hopped down and started striding towards the crowd.
Well, through them, Skydancer idly noted. Then his head jerked up, his eyes widened a bit, as Rainbow kept striding . . . through the huge spangle of sprites who parted, making a path for her.
As she passed through them . . . and solemnly paced up to him!
Rainbow held up a small, rainbow-colored ribbonned medal, a small gold star at the end. Slipping it over his head she settled it in place, then smothered a giggle at his bemused, dumbfounded expression. Her eyes sparkled, her cheeks dimpled with a truly radiant smile. "Everyone notices the really big things Skydancer," she softly murmured. "But sometimes it's the little things that count the most. Thank you for helping make the first day of Spring truly something to celebrate!"
