#4

She slowly sat up, groaning faintly. "Nothing broken..." She leaned forward and looked down through the branches, hand poised as she tried to figure out the best choice of action. It was strong, and the more it moved around, the more those feet poisoned the Earth. "Its feet..." Well, it was worth a shot. She reached for the last of the star sprinkles she had on her. She waited for the perfect moment, while the creature's back was to her, then sent the rainbow down. It quickly wrapped around one foot, then moved to the other to do the same.
The creature let out a screech and turned to face Rainbow. It began to run towards her, and with each step, the rainbows around its feet began to discolour, becoming shades of green, then fading to gray, before finally melting away. As it happened, it would effect the belt, the star losing its colour.
She grit her teeth as she felt her power weakened, and quickly began to look for an escape. "Starlight!"
Just then, Starlight slid to a stop at the far side of the tree. "Here, Rainbow!"
She scurried through the branches and leapt out of the tree, straight onto Starlight's back.
"Run! We need room!"
He at once took off, not even sparing a breath for a smart comeback. The pause to collect her, however, was plenty of time for them to become viable targets for the hammer again.
"Ride low, Rainbow!"
"Right!" She leaned down to hug herself to his neck, reaching back only to grab a handful of star sprinkes, just in case they were seperated again. Lucky for her. With the next swing of the hammer, it passed right over Starlight's back, just behind Rainbow, low enough to catch the saddlebags. They were knocked off his back and fell to the ground, a moment later trampled under the creature's feet.
"Ah! The star sprinkles!"
"Rainbow, what do you usggest we do?"
"Give me a second!"
"I can run as long as you need!"
She smiled faintly, then closed her eyes. She could let Starlight worry about running. She needed a plan. But what could they do with a handful of star sprinkles?
"We have to get home. There's nothing we can do here."
"Then let's go." Starlight veered around and began to run towards an open area.
Rainbow furrowed her brow as she tried to summon the rainbow from home. "Something's wrong! I can't reach them!" As they came into the open, she used her handful to create her own rainbow. "Go!"
Starlight leapt onto the rainbow and climbed to safety. It was only minutes before they were free of the Earth and heading home.
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I think when I used the rainbow on its feet, that poison somehow infected the belt. Let's just hope the connection comes back when we get closer. We don't have nearly enough sprinkles to get home."
"Then I'd better hurry." As if he'd been standing still all this time, he charged forward with new gusto. "You're okay?"
She blinked, then leaned forward. "I'm fine..." She smiled and lowered her head to his mane. "And you?"
He glanced back at her, but just looked forward again. "I'm alright."
"Good. I'm glad."
"Keep trying to contact Rainbowland. We'll get home."
"Okay."
Just as Rainbowland became visible in the distance, the rainbow began to falter.