The setting sun cast an ethereal glow across the rolling clouds as Rainbow Dash touched down. Pastels of pink and yellow and orange danced across the stratosphere, in stark contrast to the perturbed clouds below, heavy with moisture and anxious to unleash their mighty fury.
Rainbow took a deep breath and sprang from her fluffy perch and whipped across the sky, clearing the thunderheads in no time at all. The last wisps of the clouds dissipated, then reformed as the pegasus pulled together a new cushion, this one small and white. She stretched, and several joints popped, eliciting a satisfied sigh from the weathermare.
She was overcome with a fit of coughing, and she touched her ruby pendant. There was a small pulse of crimson light, and the coughing subsided. Rainbow wheezed once, twice, then rummaged in her now damp saddlebags.
Settling down into her cloud, she pulled out and tipped up her canteen and took a swig of water. What came out was little more than a dribble, and she scowled and gnashed her teeth. Her eyes scanned the ground below and spotted a narrow lake far to the northeast, partially obscured by tall dunes.
With little fanfare, Rainbow adjusted her goggles and kicked off from her cloud, descending on the lake in a lazy circle. To the west lay a placid sea, its waves lapping and foaming against the sands as they churned back upon each other. Cliffs and dunes rose around the shore, reaching towards the prismatic sky in some desperate attempt to pierce the heavens.
Rainbow Dash flew to the southern end of the lake and felt the earth give as her hooves made contact with solid ground for the first time in hours. The dirt was mushy, almost bog-like, but gave the pegasus little resistance as she trotted up close to the serene pool. She lifted her goggles, and twin points of ruby pierced the darkening world around her as she lowered her head to drink.
Cool, sweet freshwater graced her rapidly curving lips.
Rainbow eagerly drank and, once finished, filled her canteen with the crystal-clear liquid. She relaxed and simply stood in the marshy soil, taking in her surroundings. In the distance, she watched several sheep mill about the hills and plains without any apparent purpose. Frogs and bugs sounded off around the pegasus, who flexed her wings to drive the more curious insects away.
A door banged open from a ramshackle house in the distance, and Rainbow heard a voice call out from within, unintelligible but commanding. The milling sheep turned and, with one mind, headed off in the direction of the stone hut. Rainbow Dash turned as if to follow them, but instead glanced up at the sky and saw only glimmers of orange among the undersides of the clouds far above the ones she had dissolved.
Frowning, Rainbow sat down and shuddered as the moistness of the earth soaked through her coat. She savored the sensation, allowing a sigh to escape. As she closed her eyes, she felt the wind pick up slightly, and a shiver ran through her petite body. Rainbow Dash tucked her wings in tighter to stave off the cold, but eventually sighed and picked herself back up.
After some stretching, the petite mare trotted towards the sand dunes, beyond which the sea lay. The harmony of the creatures here faded until a uniform hum remained behind the dunes. As she stumbled through the undergrowth and up over the hills, Rainbow saw the great ocean before her and stopped, as if in reverence.
A crescent of untainted beach spread out before her, tapering up and around a small pocket of the vast water. Seaweed was scattered here and there along the shore, forming broken lines where the waves could carry them no further. Small wooden paths wrapped up and around on either side of her, from behind the dunes and then some. In the ocean, a ways away, smooth plateaus and jagged pillars of rock crested the highest waves, reminiscent of the cliffs near the dunes.
Rainbow caught a weathered sign out of the corner of her eye, and she trotted up to read it. Bàgh Seannabhad agus Am Buachaille, the splintered text read, and the pegasus scrunched up her nose in confusion. Below, in smaller letters, was a translation: Sandwood Bay and The Herdsman, followed by a crude image of one of the largest pillars of rock jutting up from the water.
With a devilish smirk, Rainbow lowered her goggles and bolted from the sand, sand billowing behind her as she sped towards the formation of rock pictured on the sign. Within seconds, she descended and perched delicately on the stone, smooth from nature but still rougher than she had imagined.
She remained for a second or two before flopping over onto her back to catch the last warmth of the sun.
Scratching her back against the rock gave rise to a groan of satisfaction as Rainbow’s muscles loosened and debris flaked from her coat. Her support was warm to the touch as a result of being basked in the sun’s radiation all day, and Rainbow had never felt more grateful than she did at that moment. Her tail whisked beneath her and the pegasus let out a hum of content.
At last, she picked herself up off the rock and cast a glance over the vast beach behind her. The moon had peeked curiously over the horizon and was beginning its dominating rise to the apex of the night. Rainbow sighed, crouched, and took off.
As the last vestiges of light finally vanished over the horizon, Rainbow turned back to look at the bay behind her. A flash caught her eye, and as she turned fully, she could see a sweeping beam of brilliance cut through the thick night, set atop a structure on the brink of a jagged cliff.
Rainbow Dash smiled and rocketed away to the west, leaving her own brilliance in her wake.