Welcome to Storytime with Dad! Today we will be reading The Quest for the Lost Colors. Long ago, in a land where the sky was always bright and cheerful, there lived two rainbow friends named Ruby and Sapphire. Ruby shone with warm colors like reds, oranges, and yellows. Sapphire glowed with cool colors like blues, indigos, and violets. Every day, they brought smiles to the people below, coloring the world with their brilliant arcs. One morning, Ruby noticed that her red stripe looked... faded. Like an old painting. She hurried to find Sapphire and saw that Sapphire's blue looked pale, too. Even the trees, flowers, and houses on the ground seemed dull. Something was stealing the world's colors! From high above the hills, a wise old owl glided down. Once covered in golden feathers, now completely gray, this owl was ancient. Older than even the rainbows, she looked worried. "Hooo! I have witnessed calamity! A mischievous cloud spirit is stealing the world's colors," the owl said. "If you do not stop it, soon all will be gray. I am... fading... you must stop it, hooo!" "How do we stop the spirit?" asked Sapphire. "Why us?" asked Ruby. The owl pointed her wing toward distant lands. "Colors are hidden in three magical places, hooo! Find them, and your powers will return. Then you can drive away the cloud spirit for good. As for why you? Simple. We do not pick our destiny, it picks us, hooo!" Ruby and Sapphire set off at once in the direction the owl had pointed. Their first stop was a tall, icy mountain. Harsh winds whipped at the snow, which no longer sparkled white. It was dull and lifeless. As they climbed higher, they heard a faint humming sound — like a bell far away. Following the sound, they found a small glowing orb drifting among the icy rocks. It was not gray, it glimmered with soft red and orange light. Ruby reached out, and the orb floated into her rainbow. A gentle warmth spread through her stripes, making them shine brighter than before. Just then, a freezing gust of wind almost blew Ruby and Sapphire off the mountainside. It howled in a strange, echoing voice — like laughter mixed with roaring thunder. "That must be the cloud spirit," Ruby whispered, shivering. Sapphire nodded, and they hurried to escape the biting cold. The angry wind tore at the air, sending blasts of snow flying around them. But Ruby and Sapphire shared with each other strength to hold steady and continue their quest. They left the mountain and flew to a vast desert. It should have been golden and warm, but now it seemed gray and still. Cacti stood like lonely statues. The sky above felt heavy, as if storm clouds were hiding behind a curtain. Once again, they heard a gentle hum, and Ruby and Sapphire followed the sound to an old stone arch. There, a second orb glowed faintly with blues and greens. Sapphire touched it, and color rushed back into her side of the rainbow. Blues, indigos, and violets flickered to life. Suddenly, a swirl of sand rose into the air. Strong winds whipped around them, forming small tornadoes. The cloud spirit roared overhead, dark and angry. Lightning flashed in the distance. "Stop!" it boomed in a voice that shook the ground. "Those colors are mine now!" Sapphire trembled. "We need to get away!" Ruby set her jaw. "We can't run forever. We must save the last color before it's gone." The cloud spirit wasn't finished. It swooped down, turning the sandstorm into a fierce whirlwind. Dust pelted Ruby and Sapphire, stinging like tiny needles. They could barely see. Every time they tried to fly higher, the wind pushed them back. Bolts of lightning snaked across the sky, and thunder boomed in their ears. But Ruby and Sapphire held tight to each other's glow. Using their renewed colors, they aimed two beams of rainbow light at the swirling sand. The sand began to shimmer and fall in gentle glittering drops, as their color beam calmed the storm. Furious, the spirit let out a screech and vanished into a dark cloud overhead. Ruby and Sapphire took a deep breath, thankful they were safe — for now. They knew they had one more place to visit: a hidden valley deep in the forest. When they arrived, they saw trees that should have been lush and green. Instead, their leaves were gray, drooping from the branches. A waterfall trickled nearby, but it too looked lifeless. This place felt sad and silent, almost as if it had forgotten what color was. Deep in the valley, behind the waterfall, they found a secret cave. Inside, a bright orb flickered with greens, pinks, and other hues that still needed to be saved. Ruby and Sapphire smiled, knowing this was the final piece. As soon as they reached for it, the cloud spirit materialized, swirling with dark mist and sparks of lightning. "You won't take my treasures!" it roared. The cave shook. Stones fell from the ceiling. The spirit rushed at Ruby, sending a blast of cold wind that nearly knocked her out of the air. Then it turned on Sapphire, striking with sharp bursts of lightning that lit up the cavern like fireworks. Ruby shouted, "We have to protect each other!" Sapphire nodded. They flew side by side, touching the glowing orb together. A burst of rainbow power pulsed through them, and suddenly their colors shone brighter than ever. The cloud spirit screeched, sending a huge gust of stormy wind. But Ruby and Sapphire joined their arcs, forming a single rainbow shield. Lightning struck the shield, sparking in all directions. The spirit howled, growing weaker under the brilliant light. At last, with a final wail, the spirit burst into a swirl of gray mist and faded away into the dark corners of the cave. All around them, color rushed back. Leaves turned emerald green, the waterfall sparkled with blues and silvers, and birds outside began to chirp in bright, joyful tones. Ruby and Sapphire flew out of the cave, carrying the last orb of color with them. As they soared into the open sky, the forest below bloomed in every shade of the rainbow. Word obviously spread quickly: the colors had returned! Flowers shone red and yellow, rivers sparkled with rich blues, and the clouds in the sky looked white and fluffy again. People laughed and danced, marveling at how wonderful their world appeared. High above, Ruby and Sapphire glided side by side. They felt proud and happy, knowing they had saved the colors from the mischievous cloud spirit. And whenever a storm threatened to steal light from the land, the two rainbow friends were ready. Together, their gentle and bright hues could outshine any shadow, keeping the world safe and colorful for everyone below. The End. ----- Wow! I wasn't sure if Ruby and Sapphire were going to be able to restore the world's colors! That cloud spirit was pretty scary. I hope I never meet one of those in real life! A big thanks, though, to Neve for her story request. You asked for a story about two rainbows who were friends, and let me tell you - Ruby and Sapphire are the BEST of friends. Through good times and hard times! I hope you liked their tale. Given their story, let's talk about friendship! I really liked that these two were able to take on whatever came their way. You may or may not believe in fate, or destiny, but when these friends were told they needed to save the world they didn't argue about it. They decided that was something worth doing, and if the world needed them they were willing to support one another and save the world. That's what friends do. Sometimes being a friend is easy, sometimes being a friend is hard. But we can choose to love and help each other even when it's hard. One thing I liked about this story is that Ruby and Sapphire were very different from one another. Like, very different colors but together they could make a beautiful rainbow. In real life, sometimes we have friends who are radically different from us, too! I have friends like that, we don't always think the same way and sometimes we disagree with each other, but even if we disagree about things we know it comes from a place of love and wanting the best for everyone. That can build a really strong base for a friendship. The world would be pretty boring if everyone was the same. So, even when it's hard to hear things that are different from what you think, remember that your friends aren't trying to be hard to deal with. They probably believe what they're saying and maybe you can learn something from the fact that they are different than you. If your opinions come from a place of love, then it's all going to be OK. So, do you have friends who are different than you? I'd love to hear about them and what sort of things you've learned from them or challenges you've faced together! Please write me and share your own stories at: hello@storytimewithdad.com. Thank you for listening and I'll see you again next time.