//------------------------------//
// Beach - PropMaster 
// Story: Operation Westhorse 
// by PropMaster 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow Dash awoke with a sputter and a splash of water. It was dark and she was floating, limbs askew and wings out.

For one panicked, fluttering moment, as the water clung to her coat and feathers, she feared she'd fallen asleep flying. She'd been exhausted, waiting for the plummet over the edge. Waiting for the onrushing armies, a clash to end all clashes. The last thing she remembered was telling Fluttershy that her wings were feeling tired, and then...

Gasping, Rainbow Dash stuck her legs out, flapped her wings mightily, and tried to catch air. If she was in the water, she had mere seconds before the falls at Bleak's Plummet pulled her over the edge of the world and into open space. When she reached out, though, her legs touched bottom. Mud and silt swirled beneath her hooves as she found herself standing up, wings flared, ready to fly. She blinked, whirling around in a quick circle in an attempt to get her bearings.

"This... is impossible..."

She was on a beach. There was a moon overhead, covered mostly by clouds. But, this was not the moon she knew. This was different. The craters on the face were wrong. The light from it was... dim. Not just because of the clouds. Something about it was wrong. Rainbow Dash tore her gaze away from the sky to the beach.

It was a sand bar, the sand white and rocky. A little inlet wrapped around the sand bar, water shallow and muddy, and led right to grass and low scrub and brush. There were lights to her right and left in the distance, oddly white for firelight and too bright to be anything but magic. She could dimly make out the shapes of square buildings and black-roofed houses, but little else. She turned, slowly, towards the water.

Beyond her, to the east, was an ocean. There was nothing else it could possibly be. There was no land beyond, as far as she could see, and the salt water was making her feathers sting and itch and her nose and eyes burn. She reached up and touched the Element of Loyalty, but the ruby did not react. She swallowed hard, and said quietly, "Girls?"

There was no answer.

Rainbow Dash tapped the Element of Loyalty several times, trying different things, but it did not react. Nothing she did made a difference; the ruby did not glow and her friends did not appear.

"What the buck is going on?" she snarled, slamming her hoof against the necklace to no avail.

"Girls? Twilight? Anypony?" she called, turning in a slow circle, feeling fear grip her. "This is not cool. This is a dream. I must be dreaming."

Even as she spoke, she knew it wasn't true. The details were too precise. The sand was too gritty beneath her hooves, the salty sting of briny ocean in her nostrils too raw. This was real, and her Element was not working.

She swallowed, hard. "Okay. Okay. Maybe... this is some kind of vision?" She looked up at the sky, searching the stars, looking for... something. She shouted, loud, "Hey! Come on! Where's the big voices? The grand speech? I'm here, and I'm tired of waiting!"

There was no response, cosmic or otherwise, other than the sound of some birds that were hidden in the brush nearby fleeing her fruitless shouts for acknowledgement. Rainbow Dash scowled. "Fine. You wanna play rough? We can play this game."

She reached up to her necklace, hooves on the clasp, and then hesitated. Was this smart? No. It was stupid. She bit her lip, snarling, and moved her hooves away from the Element of Loyalty. "No. Let's not be stupid."

She left the necklace alone, and trotted towards the shallow river mouth that wound its way into the brush. The water was fresher, here, and didn't sting her eyes when she splashed some on her face. She took a careful taste and scowled, spitting it out. "Bleh. Tastes like lamp oil."

She washed the salt residue from her coat and feathers, though, glad to be free of the itchy sting of the salt, and she gave her wings a few flaps. It was hard, strangely difficult. Like the air was thick, or... maybe she was heavier? She blew her bangs out of her eyes, and then blinked. "My... my mane is back?" She turned quickly, and saw her tail had grown long once more, back to its usual length. "How... how long was I out?"

There were no answers here, though. She swallowed, facing the ocean to her east... and then turned west. There was no way she was crossing an ocean. Maybe she could find some supplies around, gather up what she needed. As she turned and faced the west, she noticed something curious. The pendant, her Element of Loyalty, glowed briefly. The light dimmed immediately and was gone, almost like a dream, but she had seen it.

Her gaze slowly turned to the starry sky. She shook out her wings, flinging the last droplets of moisture away, and then leapt into the sky. It was difficult for a moment, but she adjusted quickly, adding a few extra beats to her usual rhythm, and she soared into the sky. She wheeled in a slow circle, getting the lay of the land. Lights spread out, framing buildings, but to her west was open land and stands of trees. The pendant had been clear.

"West, huh? Well, that's a change of pace."

And so Rainbow Dash flew west.