Rainbow burst headfirst through the bed of cloud cover, and with a somersault through the air, planted four hooves onto the cottony flooring.
“Thank you, thank you!” she said, leaning into bows for the imaginary crowd. “Oh, perfect scores? You’re too kind. I think a 9 and a half out of ten would’ve been more fitting… heheh…”
Wiping the grin from her face, Rainbow let out a content sigh. Her wings made a few lazy flaps to bring her airborne again so she could look out at the sea of clouds—and a sea it was. The cloud cover flew across the sky, patching up the open air into a quilt of fluff. It sewed together every crack and replaced every stretch of blue with a longer stretch of white and gray.
Rainbow couldn’t help but smile at the view. The clouds sailed on for ages, only companion being the sky above, and their only meeting place being the distant horizon where they clashed. Even an energetic girl like Rainbow could appreciate the sheer serenity that drifted through the air. Here, high in the unparted clouds, and with no one nor nothing to make a sound except her, the pegasus felt what she called “real relaxation.” She doubted there was a single place in Equestria—scratch that, on the whole planet—that could come halfway to this slice of heaven.
“Heaven?” She chuckled. “They do call the skies ‘the heavens.’”
The only downside Rainbow could think of was that she couldn’t come here more often. The conditions for a blanket of clouds in the sky were too specific for where she lived, and Celestia knows the weather factory would never approve scheduling one whenever she felt like it. Thundery storms sometimes filled the skies enough, but Rainbow rarely ventured into them. Simply too loud, not to mention dangerous. The last thing the pegasus needed was to be fried by lightning and served with a side of chips.
Landing again, Rainbow rolled onto her back and nestled into the fluff. She shook her head as she laughed, thinking of how earth ponies and unicorns could never have a cloud bed in their homes. Well, not without some magic, but who would waste energy casting a spell like that every day? Eggheads don’t count. Thinking of the landlocked ponies a million miles below, Rainbow thought of, as she put it, “the view from down there.” In truth, she’d always known what it looked like, but to look up into the skies above as a ground-bound pony must’ve been something so different. To them, “up there” must be such a strange and untouchable world while to a pegasus, it was just another floor to climb.
“Ugh… enough philosophy,” she said, shaking her head. “Relax time sound nice. Relaxing good.”
With a wink of her eye, she shut both and pushed herself into her makeshift pillow. Head literally in the clouds… she thought before drifting into her own thoughts.
She never slept. Rainbow only daydreamed on the fringes of unconsciousness. If she so felt like it, she could’ve sprang to her hooves, flared her wings, and outraced any pony in Equestria at any moment. But she had no reason to, so she remained silent in the world her thoughts created. For all she knew, it could’ve been an hour or a year by the time she squirmed back to awareness.
After working out a few cricks in her limbs and neck, Rainbow shifted around on her back to spread her wings. She stretched one more time before darning a smirk. Satisfied, she began the countdown.
Ten, nine, eight…
Her hoof reached up to push her mane back and out of her eyes.
Seven, six, five…
Her forelimbs set down parallel to her body, careful to not protrude outward.
Four, three, two…
Her eyes danced across the tranquility of being sky high one more time.
“…And one!”
…
Rainbow blinked. “I said… and one!”
The pegasus remained motionless on her cloud bed, not so much as twitching her hoof.
“…Okay, what gives?” she said, a bit miffed in her tone. Scrambling onto all fours, Rainbow stamped her hoof and glared down at the cottony culprit. With an “and one,” the pegasus was supposed to be dive bombing through the cloud layer like a madmare. She could envision it all in her head; after breaking through the clouds and entering the overcast land below, she’d freefall headfirst toward the ground while her wings would give her the tiny push that kept her away from the border into an uncontrolled decent. Her mind would be a buzz of activity as it hurdled through calculations, but, most importantly, she wouldn’t still be above the clouds and wondering why her command to fall through hadn’t worked.
Rainbow growled in annoyance as she stomped her hoof against the cloud again and failed to push through… again. Like trying to push through a mattress, she thought. It may be squishy, but there ain’t no going through it. Shaking her head, she heaved out a sigh, hoping some of her frustration would leave with it. “Okay, okay… What’s going on here?”
Pegasi had their own brand of magic, the most obvious of which being the ability to fly. Perhaps the second most obvious was the ability to walk on those fluffy puffballs you see meandering across the sky. If asked to explain how it worked, Rainbow wouldn’t be able to explain how she commanded her body to let her through a cloud on a whim. “It’s like moving your hoof,” she’d say. “You just do it.” After yet another failed attempt, Rainbow stepped back.
She blanked. “…I must be losing my mind…”
Shaking herself into focus, the pegasus flapped her wings and floated above the floor of white. What to do, what to do… Well, my magic’s acting haywire. Is that even possible? She shrugged. No idea. Well, I was planning to see the Princess of Books anyway. I guess I’ll just fly the old-fashioned…
She froze save for the constant beating of her wings. “…way?”
Rainbow pivoted around in midair, taking in the landscape surrounding her for as far as her eyes could see. Unlike earlier, serenity did not occupy her mind. Sea of clouds… she thought, ascending higher by the second. There’s not a single opening back to the ground. Realization struck her like a freight train.
I’m trapped here.
She slapped herself. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What am I saying? I’m not trapped! I just have to fly for a little bit until I reach an opening. Hay, I bet whatever’s going on with these clouds will wear off before I even find one. Ha!”
As if to prove her point, she dived right back down and planted her hooves onto the cloud bed. Nothing more happened. “…Right. Flying it is.”
The pegasus set off, choosing no direction in particular. She knew the lands crawling out from Ponyville for miles off, so she knew she’d be able to make her way back no matter where she ended up. As she flew over the clouds like a bird over water, she couldn’t help but place a feeling of anxiousness rising in her gut, but she forced it down. There is no reason to be concerned, the cloudwalker thought.
Rainbow soared in the same way she would any other day. She simply relaxed herself and let her gliding do most of the work. Without her concentration being taken up, she had time to think.
Her stomach grumbled.
…Like what she would have for dinner. Mm… I dunno. What did I have for lunch? Something on bread, and that was a while ago. Eh, I’ll just stop by Sugarcube Corner and see what the Pinks is cooking. Heh… yeah… Thinking aimlessly, she glided on, not paying heed to how much time passed her by.
…
“…Jeez, it’s really cloudy today.” Halting her progress, Rainbow hovered in midair for a moment and flicked her gaze about. If she didn’t know better, she’d say she hadn’t moved an inch. As much as her eyes darted about in search of a hole in the white flooring, the pegasus could see none. “…Guess I’ll just keep flying…” She shrugged, trying to ignore the anxiousness crawling up her spine.
So she flew. On and on for how long? Rainbow didn’t know in either time or distance. All she knew was flying… and flying… and flying… and—
“What the hay?! What’s wrong with these clouds?” she cried. “The cloud cover is never this wide!” A growl emitted from her throat. “You, you know what? Forget flying! I’m just falling through.” For the third time that day, she slammed to the cloud bed. She readied her hoof.
“Come on you…”
Stomp.
“Stupid, fluffy, cottony…”
Stomp.
“Annoying piece of…”
Stomp. Stomp.
“Trash! What the hay?!” With a growl, she bashed her hoof against the cloud only to be pushed away as it sprung back into place. She landed on her rear, but she didn’t get up again for a second round. Instead, she stared in a mix of confusion and… worry? She shook her head, but the action felt hollow. Glancing to and fro, Rainbow let out a shuddering sigh. I can’t be stuck up here… I can’t. Rising to her hooves, she stood tall and she simply stared at the unbroken tuft of cloud below her. “Can I…?”
Her face contorted into a snarl as she glared at the barrier encasing her, eyes radiating her burst of fury. “You know what? I’m going through whether you like it or not!” Her wings whipped out from her sides and gave a mighty flap, propelling her into the air. She only needed seconds to ascend far and high above.
She turned tail to face the sea below her, daring it to resist her one last time. She wouldn’t be denied. This pegasus was Rainbow Dash, champion of harmony and self-proclaimed best flier in Equestria. She’d be damned if a mere cloud would stop her.
Giving one last slow shake of her head, Rainbow angled herself toward her target—a calm, flatter patch in the sea. “Try me.”
Without a second more wasted, she dived. Wings set, hooves tucked, and eyes determined, Rainbow rocketed to the target like a hurricane. A blue, lightning-trodden hurricane. Her mind was as much a blur as she was, frantic with each and every miniscule calculation the flight path demanded. She only regretted one thing: not ripping apart the sound barrier on the way down.
Three…
Two…
One!
Rainbow registered exactly two things as she impacted the cloud. The first was the fleshy, cracking sound that rang out through the air. The second was the scorching flare of pain that shot up her foreleg right after.
She shrieked as she tumbled head over hooves, clutching at her twisted limb all the while. Collapsing into a heap as her body landed on its side, Rainbow cringed at each movement. “G-gah! W-what…?” Another spasm of pain shot her through, locking her jaw into the loudest silent scream she’d ever heard.
The crumpled pegasus swallowed back an injection of nausea as she tried to recollect herself through the torrent of pain. What’s the damage? What’s the damage? she thought, her mind like a broken record as she repeated the mantra in her head. What’s the damage?
She dared to glance down at her leg in all its burning, wringing agony.
“N-no!” she said, snapping her eyes away from the sight. “Not good…” Not bothering to try to push herself up, Rainbow laid against the cotton. Without moving her head, stared outward at nothing in particular, only meeting the sight of the ever-present sea of clouds. “I… I don’t know. What do I do?” Once again, realization struck her. This time, she didn’t and couldn’t slap herself into focus. As her eyes widened to saucers, and her breathing accelerated, she spoke to herself. “I-I’m trapped here. My leg’s broken, I can’t get through the cloud, and there’s no way in tartarus I’ll be able to fly like this.”
Her stomach grumbled.
Oh, and I’m hungry.
“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh,” she said, panting with each syllable. “Maybe one my friends will come looking for me. How long have I been out?”
She looked out to her surroundings. Nothing but cloud.
“Argh! Stupid! How are they going to find me up here? This is the last place they’ll look! W-why did I have to be so stupid?! Why’d I have to go and divebomb the cl—augh!”
Her leg pulsed as if it had its own heartbeat, following an unshakeable rhythym. Each tremor brought a new wave of pain crashing over the pegasus.
“Oh goddesses…” she whimpered, not caring that her eyes were tearing up. She’d broken bones before, but nothing hurt as bad as this. She felt as if nails were hammering into her leg and then slammed into a wall, nail head first. Just what the heck did I break?!
Oh…
I don’t even care.
A choked sob burst from her throat, causing her to spit saliva across the cloud beside her. “H-how am I going to get out of this? What am I going to do? What can I do?” Her breath came more rapid now, ragged and uneven. Voice a whisper, she said, “I… I don’t wanna be trapped here…”
She gasped. I’m not gonna be trapped here. No, I can’t just be stuck here for who knows how long? …After everything that’s happened to me?
“B-b-but how am I going to get out of this? I can barely move, and… it hurts so much to try.”
There has to be something! I can flap my wings still. I can still fly until I find a way out.
“How am I supposed to take off though? Let alone fly with a broken leg? Going at e-even a slow speed would cause too much movement. I’d pass out from pain before I even got going!”
Her stomach growled.
Still hungry.
Rainbow heaved a sigh, but it came out closer as a hack. “Is that what’s gonna happen? I’m going to starve as I wait for someone to find me? If they ever find me? I-I…” Her mind began to wander, about to flash through her memories of the years, but she cut herself off. “No,” she declared. “I’m not having that sappy last memories thing.”
But despite her burst of determination, the muddy mix of pain and realization dragged her back down and tethered her to the cloud she fell upon. It started as an escaping tear, then festered into a sob. Rainbow laid helpless and broken, physically and near emotionally, without a haven for her lost mind to escape to.
“Oh Celestia…” she whispered. “I’m gonna die like this.”
Then she was falling.
Rainbow’s eyes flew open, and her heart skipped more than just one beat. Registering just what had happened, the pegasus gasped as she entered free fall, but what truly took hold of her conscious was the searing agony of her leg. As it sailed unabated through the air, the movement alone made Rainbow nauseous. She would’ve believed her leg was being ripped apart from her flesh based on the pain alone. Even so, Rainbow knew she had to focus.
Half willpower, half instinct, her wings flared outward and pumped against her mad descent. The pain sunk its teeth deeper into her broken limb, causing her to screech in agony, but she fought away the attacker.
Daring to glance at the approaching earth beneath her, Rainbow quivered at the sight of how close it had become so quickly, but she didn’t panic. If there was one thing she’d learned in her years of flying, it was knowing how to survive a crash landing.
She knew she’d won.
The pegasus smacked the dirt and tumbled head over hoof, tearing up grass and weeds as momentum ragdolled her across the land. After far too many head-pounding seconds, she slowed into a slump on her side and, save for her broken limb, felt relatively intact. Cracking open one eye, Rainbow glanced around in a daze, but settled on one thing—the ground. Not the faux ground of clouds, but actual living earth. She would’ve laughed if not for being too sore.
After spitting out a chunk of dirt, Rainbow shifted her vision upward to the bed of clouds blocking out the heavens above. Still, there were no holes.
The pegasus blinked the one eye she had open. Unable to move, she could do and did do nothing but stare at those soft, cottony clouds.
“…I think I’ll stick around here for a bit…”
