The Rainbow in the Park
Bo follows a rainbow that lands in the park and discovers a unicorn called Marshmallow waiting at the end. It is a gentle, cozy story about kindness and finding magic close to home.
Made on Nightstory, and shared. The child's name has been changed.
After the Rain
The rain had stopped. Bo stood at the edge of the park in her yellow raincoat and her red boots, and she listened. Drip. Drip. Drip. The whole world was dripping. Every blade of grass held a tiny drop of water. Every puddle was round and smooth as a dinner plate. When Bo stepped in one — splash! — the water jumped up and came right back down. Splash. Splash. Splash went her red boots, all the way down the path. The air smelled clean, like the inside of a green leaf. The sky was still grey and soft, the kind of grey that feels like a blanket. Then Bo looked up. Above the trees, something was beginning to glow. A faint arc of colour, pale as a soap bubble, curving quietly over the branches. Bo held very still. Her boots stopped splashing. The colours were getting brighter.
The Rainbow Lands
The colours grew brighter and brighter, until Bo had to squint. The rainbow was not a pale bubble anymore. It was red and orange and yellow and green, all at once, like a ribbon of ribbon candy stretched across the sky. Then it began to bend. Slowly, softly, the rainbow curved down and down, until its very end touched the grass at the far side of the park, right beside the big oak tree. Bo had never seen a rainbow land before. She did not know they could. Where the rainbow met the ground, the colours seemed to gather and pool, shimmering on the wet grass like sunlight on a pond. Little sparks of colour floated up and drifted away. Bo looked down at her red boots. Then she looked at the rainbow. One yellow boot went forward. Then the other.
Marshmallow
At the end of the rainbow, something white was waiting. Bo stopped. Her boots stopped too. It was a unicorn. She was the softest white, like a cloud that had decided to stay. Her horn was gold, and it caught the light in a small, warm way. Her mane and tail were the colour of strawberry milk — pink and pale and curly, like spun sugar at the fair. Her eyes were blue. She looked at Bo, and Bo looked back. "Hello," said the unicorn, very quietly. "I'm Marshmallow." "I'm Bo." Marshmallow took one small step closer. The grass shone pink where she stood. "I slid down to visit," she said. "It was so lovely down here. But now the colours are going sleepy, and I can't find my way back up." Bo looked at the rainbow. It flickered, faint as a candle. "I'll help you," she said. Marshmallow's ears lifted, just a little.
Gathering Colours
The rainbow flickered, faint as a candle. Then Marshmallow shifted her feet, and the grass beneath her turned a soft, rosy pink. Bo looked closer. "Marshmallow — look. The colours are brighter where you are." Marshmallow turned her head. Sure enough, the red of the rainbow was glowing, warm and round, right above her. "Maybe it likes kind things," Bo said. She found a big, flat leaf, shiny with rain, and carried it to a snail making its slow way across the path. She set the leaf down beside it. The snail slid on top, and the orange of the rainbow brightened, just a little. Bo patted the wet grass with her hand. Pat, pat, pat. The yellow grew warmer. A ladybird landed on a fence post. Bo smiled at it, a big, slow smile. The green of the rainbow shimmered, deep and clear. Marshmallow's tail curled up like a question mark. "It's working," she whispered. The colours were not sleepy anymore. They were waking up, one small kindness at a time.
Up the Rainbow
The rainbow stood tall and bright, all its colours singing together. Marshmallow looked up at it, then down at Bo. "Thank you, Bo," she said. "It's wide awake now." She took a step. Her hoof rested on the red, and the red held her, soft as a blanket. Another step, onto the orange. Then the yellow, then the green. The rainbow carried her like a little bridge, and it did not wobble at all. Up she went. Her strawberry-milk mane streamed behind her, and her tail curled and floated. Higher and higher, past the oak tree, past the little white clouds. "Goodbye, Bo!" she called, small and gentle. "Goodbye, Marshmallow!" Bo waved with both hands. Marshmallow grew smaller. Smaller than a bird. Smaller than a star. And then she was home, and the rainbow began to fade, colour by colour, soft as a bedtime song.
Home and Sleepy
Bo walked home along the wet path. The puddles held a little of the sky now, and one star peeked out, then another, like someone lighting candles. At home, she hung her yellow raincoat on its hook. She pulled off her red boots, one, then the other. Her pajamas were warm and soft, and they smelled like laundry day. She climbed into bed and tucked her triceratops under her arm. Out the window, the very last colour faded away, and the sky settled down for the night. Marshmallow is up there, Bo thought. Safe and warm, past the little clouds. She yawned a big yawn. Her eyes closed. A small smile stayed on her face, and the rainbow's colours danced softly behind her eyelids, red and orange and yellow and green, until they carried her off to sleep.
The end.