A cold draft infiltrated the empty morning air over Ponyville. The soft clouds rolled along agreeably, slightly off-course from where the weather team had arranged them. This fact did not escape the notice of a sky-blue Pegasus drifting lazily on the breeze.

Newbies. They gotta learn to teach those clouds who's in charge in this town.

The Pegasus slipped out of her comfortable position, kicking the clouds back into place within the blink of an eye. She yawned, falling back into the current of the wind. In only a few minutes, the mare had arrived where she wanted to be.

She hopped up to the doorstep of the cloud mansion. She gave a powerful flap of her wings, and the door swung open. The Pegasus yawned again as she shuffled in, kicking the door closed behind her. It had been a long day at work, and all she wanted was a good night's rest.

She flopped on a couch in the living room, eyes already drooping. Sprawled over, the aching in her muscles began to ebb away. Finally, sleepy time.

"Rainbow Dash!"

The Pegasus' head jerked up, ears perked. "Huh?"

A rapping on a window could be heard. Okay, sleepy time could wait long enough for her to clobber whoever was here upside the head. Rainbow Dash groaned as she pushed herself up, shaking her head to rattle her brain awake.

Rainbow trudged back to the door stiffly, then pulled it open to reveal her visitor. Well, she couldn't see through the burst of sunlight exactly who it was. Speaking of which, why was it sunny?

Rainbow Dash hissed and brought a hoof up to shield her eyes.

"Alright, what's going on, huh?" Rainbow Dash muttered.

"Rainbow Dash, the map!"

Rainbow Dash recognized the voice of Twilight Sparkle. What the hay was she bothering Rainbow Dash so early for?

"Twilight, what time is it?" Rainbow Dash yawned.

"It's 11:30." Rainbow could practically hear the Alicorn rolling her violet eyes.

"No way. I just got home and shut my eyes for a few seconds."

"Well, you must have dozed off." Twilight suggested patiently.

Rainbow Dash exhaled, leaning her head against the doorframe. "Fine. Now, what is it you need?"

"The map." Twilight repeated. She turned slightly to the left, allowing Rainbow Dash a glimpse of her glowing cutie mark. Taking the hint, Rainbow Dash glanced at her backside. Sure enough, her cutie mark was pulsating in a similar fashion.

"Oh."

~~~

"So, where exactly are we going?"

Rainbow Dash carefully examined the spot where her cutie mark chased Twilight’s in circles. It wasn't any place Rainbow recognized.

"I have no idea. It's in uncharted waters." Twilight answered truthfully.

Rainbow Dash massaged her head. Five hours of sleep on her vacation was already having a brutal effect.

"So, how are we gonna get there? It looks like a three-day flight out of Equestria."

Twilight straightened, giving that nerdy smile that always screamed that she had an obvious answer. "We won't be flying, Rainbow Dash. We'll be sailing."

"Oh, really? You know how to sail a ship?" Rainbow Dash grinned, picturing a scurvy-looking Twilight barking orders at scruffy pirates. Peg leg, eyepatch, earring and everything.

"I've read books," Twilight stated matter-of-factly. Of course she has. "But I am hiring a crew to take us there."

Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. "Okay. When do we leave?"

"Tonight." Rainbow Dash pursed her lips, dropping her gaze. "What's the matter? If anypony would be up for an exciting journey into the unknown, I thought for sure it would be you."

"I'm just tired." Rainbow Dash mumbled, not entirely lying.

"Well then," Twilight began in her lecturing voice. "Pack what you need, get some food in your system, and rest up. I'll meet you at the marketplace a quarter after six."

"You got it." Rainbow Dash yawned, her wings lifting her off of her crystal throne chair thingy. She drifted out of the spacious room, pushing open a window. She squinted as the sunlight hit her once again.

A friendship problem far out in the middle of the ocean, huh? Well, this was the first one out of Equestria since Griffonstone. Rainbow Dash knew she should be excited. After all, she absolutely loved adventures. But, she just wasn't.

Rainbow Dash sighed as she made her way back home. Nestled into her cloud bed, Rainbow Dash shut her eyes. She was still tired, but her now-busy mind repeatedly reminded her just how dull she felt curled up, alone.

~~~

"He's doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"That thing with his eyes. They're all glowy, and he's mumbling a bunch of gibberish."

"Okay, okay. You and your little brother go get your father, I'll see if there's anything I can do."

A pattering of tiny hooves rushing out of the room. The clatter on the wooden floor turns into a soft thumping on sand outside. The mare jumps out of her bed, treading slowly down the hall. A green light glows from under the door of a bedroom of the hut.

The pony timidly pushes it open with a creak. "Sweetie? Are you okay in there?"

A mellow mutter can be heard. The mare gulps silently, then enters. The room is rather plain, star patterns occasionally etched into the walls. A bunk bed closest to the door is abandoned. A small gray colt sits upright in a bed by the window.

"Sweetie? Mommy's here. Are you okay?" She shouldn't feel afraid. This is her son. Not some criminal, or psychopath. But as the deep, alien sounds grow louder, fear is all that encompasses her.

"S-Sweetie?"

The mumbling stops. The colt turns away from the window. Fierce green light shines from his eyes. She cannot see his pupils, but she knows they are locked onto her like a predator focusing in on a poor field mouse.

"You cannot stop it." The colt growls in a gravelly voice unbecoming of the otherwise innocent looking child. "The Great One will be made new, and he will rule all, as is his destiny."

The mare trembles, backing up away from her son. There is no trace of the smart, gentle young boy she had birthed in the face of the venomous creature before her now.

"And should you attempt to interfere with his fate, rest assured," The colt cackles hideously. "I will make you regret it."