Awesome As I Wanna Be

Chapter 21: Suffering

Madam Gradient could sense the change. The charge. An electrical current sweeping through the air and pounding into the ground. It was growing and racing ever nearer. What it was and whether it was friend or foe was another matter entirely and not one she could work out. It wasn't Obsidia. No, this didn't feel like her, you never got a warning when suffering was coming. Just go to sleep one day and then- BAM! You are in the midst of a great deal of hardship and intense suffering.

There was however, three potential good things about going through such trauma: It brings you closer with the people around you, makes you stronger to know that if you can handle that, you can handle a lot more than you originally thought. It also doesn't discriminate. You could be the nicest person in the world and suddenly your family is hit with cancer or you could be a murderer with a big criminal record and have to watch a loved one suffer through a long disease that they've had for a while.

Rainbow thought about this surprisingly often. Believing that she condemned her family to a terrible life of raising the person that would destroy the world, she'd assumed as a young girl that her parents must have done something in the past to deserve it. But that's not how the world works. Sure, karma is a thing but that's for if you're rude to a friend and a bird steals your food. No one had done anything, it was just how the world wanted things to happen. That was why it is pointless in her opinion to say 'Oh, well, it could be worse.' Or 'There are people in the world who suffer more than you.' For that makes it sound like a choice everyone had to chose to what degree they suffered. She didn't ask to have all this magic inside of her, just as Obsidia didn't ask to be made a monster. The world, Gods, decided that they should be because... Why? There was no answer.

Rubbing her eyes, Rainbow sighed and stretched in her chair. It was nine'o'clock according to her alarm. She could barely remember why she was sat in this chair rather than curled up nice and warm in bed. When her brain went deep in thought, it sometimes took a while to surface again. Inside of her, she could feel her magic. Both Equestrian and Iridescent. It was like there were two separate balls of power inside her that were constantly swirling around and around. Rainbow liked to imagine one a dark purple colour and the other sky blue. Sometimes they caused peace inside her when they were friends and other times nausea ruled as they fought. It was a very delicate balance.

A knock at her door caused Rainbow to spin around and be greeted with the loving face of her mother. "Hey Dashie," Windy came in and took her daughter's hands, guiding her to her bed. "You okay?" Rainbow snuggled into her mum and bed as she stroked her hair. They hadn't done this since she was a little girl.

"I'm fine, just tired." She whispered as she felt her eyes begin to close. The tender loving care of Windy was sleeping through and causing sleep to approach.

Windy chuckled. "Yes, I imagine so." Tucking her into bed, she kissed her on the forehead. "It's time to go to sleep. Goodnight." She turned the beside light off and walked to the door. "Sleep tight, love you." Windy blew her a kiss and shut the door.

In the cosy darkness of her new bedroom, Rainbow smiled. "Love you too, Mum." Then she fell into a deep, relaxed sleep.

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The morning sun was accompanied by the loud cacophony of many singing birds. It tugged at Rainbow's subconsciousness and forced her to open her eyes. Checking the time, it was six in the morning. 'Not bad.' She thought in regards to her sleep hours as she stretched. Nine hours was quite the luxury nowadays and the suggested time frame for teenage boys and girls. It was surprisingly hard to sleep when you had two growing balls of energy inside you and the weight of the world ending on your shoulders.

Their new house wasn't actually that bad. One of her parents friends were renting it out for a reasonable price. Once they heard of what had befallen the Dashs', they were more than happy to help. You could often find help if you went looking for it, like trouble in that sense. Rainbow's new bedroom wasn't as big as her previous one however it had its own ensuite and a balcony so she wasn't about to complain. Having lost the majority of their belongings in the fire, the trio had little of their own possessions to populate their new home. Her entire childhood, gone up in smoke. The thought made any fragile objects within the house combust instantly as Rainbow's anger was simmering very close to the surface nowadays.

Whenever it crossed her mind, it also made her realise how quickly and perhaps naïvely they had all accepted Madam Gradient's sorrow and repent. But it was like Pinkie had once said: 'We're a really forgiving group'. And they were, however she neglected to mention that the time to took for them to forgive varied from person to person. Having never experienced anything like this before, Rainbow wasn't sure what the protocol was but she had to look at the bigger picture: There was a Goddess out there with immense power who was ready at the drop of the hat to kill her. Like a deadly musical, which as a genre or option for entertainment, she still wasn't overly fond of. That meant that the option to be picky about who you trust and where you get your information from was stripped away from you. However Rainbow was fairly certain that on the whole, Madam Gradient could be trusted. Mostly sure.

The sound of her parents moving around downstairs brought her attention back to the present. To be honest, Rainbow wasn't entirely sure what they were supposed to be doing in this period of time between the bad stuff being sorted and the boss battle. She had the feeling however that there was definitely one or maybe two more obstacles until the end. Whatever happened after that, well, no one knew. One thing was for sure, Rainbow wouldn't be the same person after all of this was over. In many ways though, through the suffering of herself, her friends and her family, she had already changed quite a bit. Her magic was changing as people needed it to, yet powerful as it was, Rainbow doubted she was strong enough just yet.

Her phone buzzed beside her bed as she rolled over to check it. The message had come from Madam Gradient who apparently was stood in her new kitchen. 'That would explain all the chatter then.' Rainbow made the connection as she heard the voices of Windy and Bow waft up to her closed door. Why on Earth she was in their kitchen was a different matter entirely however she had the good sense not to keep anyone waiting. That would be rude and probably potentially dangerous.

As she got dressed, Rainbow was struck by the notion that the only reason this Goddess was after her was due to her Iridescent magic. If she got rid of that then all of her problems would be solved. Unfortunately however, that would leave her completely magicless. With her geo destroyed, Rainbow didn't even have it in her to pony-up. She was surprised that none of her friends had noticed that change in her. Although everyone was pretty busy with the other part of the magic within her to worry about powers that had been fine for a long time.

When she went downstairs and into the kitchen, Rainbow tried very hard not to show how surreal the scene of her former headteacher having breakfast with her parents was. Whether or not she was successful was difficult to tell but once they noticed her, Madam Gradient stood up rather enthusiastically. "Good, you're awake. Have some breakfast and then meet me outside. You will need your strength for training time." That said, she whisked herself out the front door and into the garden. Rainbow sighed for there was little she could do and started eating.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, on time again. I wonder what type of magical training Madam Gradient will include? I will probably update again tomorrow. Bye, bye.