Chapter 3: The Missing Rainbow

As Rainbow got ready to leave the library after crying for what seemed liked hours she ran into Twilight, who has a large smile plastered across her face. There was an awkward moment of silence as Rainbow tried to figure out what Twilight was so happy about, and why she was stopping Rainbow from leaving.

"Uh, Twilight?" Rainbow asked quietly, snapping Twilight out of her stupor.

"Oh, yes Princess?" Twilight asked happily, bowing slightly as she did, much to Rainbow's annoyance. Rainbow let out a loud sigh before speaking, which made Twilight's smile diminish slightly.

"One, don't call me that, and two, why are you blocking the exit?" Rainbow said, looking past Twilight at the library's main door. Twilight looked at Rainbow in confusion for a second before she realized what was going on. She started to pull Rainbow towards the main table, but Rainbow resisted, making Twilight turn around in confusion.

"Didn't Princess Celestia tell you?" Twilight asked, cocking her head to the side ever so slightly, "I'm teaching you how to use magic!" Twilight smiled happily at Rainbow when she finished, and before Rainbow could decline her offer Twilight was running around the library, pulling book after book off the shelves, stacking them neatly in the middle of the table. When all the books were stacked, making a tower nearly as tall as Celestia herself, Twilight sat down, nodding to a chair across from her for Rainbow to sit in. Rainbow reluctantly moved to sit in the chair, silently cursing Celestia for this in her thoughts.

"We will begin with the basics" Twilight said, pulling a pair of reading glasses seemingly out of nowhere, "How to control your magic ability. Step one, think of the spell you are..." Twilight continued to talk as Rainbow quietly listened, thinking of flying at high speeds with larger wings the entire time. I wonder if have larger wings would make Sonic Rainbooms easier to do, Rainbow thought, thinking of the wing speed she normally required to do one, Don't bigger wings make it easier to pick up speed when flying?

"...and that's how you tap your magic potential" Twilight said, pausing to take a breath of air before reading step two, "Step two, using a spell requires you to use the correct amount of your magic potential, otherwise..." Rainbow was still thinking about her new wings. How big are they going to be anyways? Rainbow asked herself, thinking about Celestia's wings on her body, which made her giggle, unnoticed by Twilight.

"Step three, to use the spell you must think of it becoming reality, projecting your magic potential outwards to..." Twilight continued to speak, still under the impression that Rainbow was paying even the tiniest bit of attention to her. While Rainbow imagined herself performing a Sonic Rainboom as an all powerful Alicorn there was a knock at the door, startling both her, and Twilight.

"Who could that be?" Twilight asked out loud as she walked towards the door. Rainbow, still not wanting to be seen by anypony in town, hid behind the table, carefully listening as Twilight opened the door.

"Hey there Twilight, is Rainbow around here?" a stallion asked. At first the voice sounded unfamiliar to Rainbow, but after a few seconds she knew who it was, she could recognize that accent anywhere. Big Mac was here, which means the girls were done swimming and he decided to come look for her to tell her how things went. No, no, no! He can't see me like this! Rainbow thought, looking around for a way out without him seeing her, but she was stuck.

"Oh, yes, she's just in here, follow me" Twilight replied happily, turning around to lead Big Mac towards Rainbow, who was now cursing Twilight under her breath. Wait, magic, I can get out of here with magic! Rainbow thought, now trying to remember what Twilight had been rambling on about. As the clip clop of hooves drew nearer Rainbow wished she was invisible, and as the hooves reached her side of the table...

"Huh, where did she go?" Twilight asked, looking around for any sign of Rainbow. When there was no sign of Rainbow anywhere in the library she turned around and gave Big Mac a sorry look.

"I don't know where she could have gone off to, sorry Big Mac" Twilight said sadly, but Big Mac quickly moved to cheer her up.

"It's okay Twilight, I can ask her out to dinner another time" Big Mac said calmly, giving Twilight a warm smile before he turned to leave, oblivious to the fact that Rainbow had been sitting right there the entire time. Wait, how did he not see me, I was right here! Rainbow thought quickly, her mind now rushing to figure out what was going on. Without hesitation Rainbow flew up to Twilight's room, running over to the mirror only to look inside it and find...

...nothing?

"What the hay?!" Rainbow shouted, startling Twilight, who had been making her way to her room so she could study up on the history of Princess Aurora.

"Rainbow, are you there?" Twilight asked slowly, looking around her room for any sign of Rainbow.

"Yeah I'm here, but I'm in a bit of trouble right now" Rainbow said, looking back into the mirror just to make sure she was still invisible and not going crazy.

"Where are you?" Twilight asked, cautiously walking deeper into her room, still looking for Rainbow. Of course, Rainbow wasn't stupid, she knew that Twilight wouldn't be able to see her, so she picked up a book that was sitting on a nearby dresser and waved it in front of her, grabbing Twilight's attention.

"Are you invisible Rainbow?" Twilight asked, poking the area behind the floating book with her quill, eliciting a yelp from Rainbow, who had been poked in the cheek by it, "How did you manage to do that, invisibility is a hard spell, even for me"

"I have no idea, I just thought about it and, poof" Rainbow said, moving the book to her wing so she didn't have to balance anymore. Twilight watched the book carefully, and then snatched it away, confusing Rainbow. Before she could argue about it Twilight turned to where she was and her horn started to glow. After a small puff of smoke drifted past Rainbow she was visible again, proven by her appearance in the mirror.

"Thanks Twilight" Rainbow said happily as she looked at herself in the mirror, but her smile quickly faded as she noticed the large amount of changes that had occurred while she was invisible. She had grown taller, her horn and wings were bigger, and her mane had grown out and taken on a shape similar to Celestia's. Since Rainbow didn't want to look exactly like Celestia did she used her magic, without thinking about it, to pull a hair clip from Twilight's dresser, clamping her flowing mane down. For a few seconds it was weighed down by the clip, but it quickly returned to it's original flowing look.

"I like the new look Rainbow" Twilight said while giggling, which only made Rainbow angry.

"Shut up" Rainbow said quickly before she remembered what Mac had said, "Twilight, do you know where Big Mac went?"

"Back to the farm I think, he had to drop the girls off first though" Twilight said, trying to remember if he had said anything to her about his next destination. With that information Rainbow dashed off, leaving Twilight to her thoughts. As Rainbow flew out of the door to the library all she could think about was Mac wanting to ask her out. I've been waiting for that for so long, to the moon with it if I'm going to let this stupid thing stop me! Rainbow thought to herself as she sped up, flying at an insane speed towards Sweet Apple Acres.