The heat of the sun on the back of her neck was a constant reminder of where she found herself.

Were exactly? Now that she wasn't sure, the only thing her magenta eyes could see was sand and dunes for miles and miles on every direction, and even if she were to fly up to the sky and take a look around, the sand would still reach as far as her sight went.

But at least she knew she was in a desert.

She could've been anywhere, but she had to crashland on a bucking desert. Why couldn't she be on a beach or a forest? Or even the mountains! The mountains would've been nice, there's all that rockiness and highlands to explore, and sometimes mountains include wild gusts of wind she could fly through, that's something all right! But deserts... Deserts are just the same all around. Sand, sand, and more sand.

Occasionally she would see a lone scorpion or a drifting cloud up in the sky – she went up to one of those, but there was just not enough moisture on it to actually get comfortable... it dissipated... – but she'd still need to be on the ground. Clouds here don't seem to be like on Equestria, they don't stay put, and they are far too fragile for her to manipulate them, so the ground it is.

Rainbow Dash sat on her haunches, lowering her face towards the sand – damned, bothersome sand – and contemplated her situation.

She had crashlanded after Princess Celestia sent her away to the confines of the world on a magic blast... thingy, she was never really one for magic, that was more Twilight's area of expertise. Then, the next thing she knows is that she's here, alone, stranded in the middle of a desert somewhere, no civilisation in sight and a few hours until dusk.

Great.

If she had the energy, she would just dash for it (heh) but all the drama with... him had left her spent. For the time being she needed a plan, but the thing is, she didn't have one.

Rainbow Dash felt the weight of her element on her neck, and directed a hoof to it. Carefully she touched the lighting bolt in the middle of it, as if caressing it in some sort of delicate yet resentful way. Loyalty. Of course... What kind of loyal friend she was...

If her friends were here, maybe they would have a plan. Twilight would've already found a clever way to determine where they were, AJ would've set up camp somehow, Rarity and Fluttershy would make sure they all had resources to go by at least until they found some civilization, and Pinkie Pie would be keeping morale high. But her... Rainbow would just be Flying above them all making some angsty (but awesome) remark as to why sand is the worst.

She clutched the element in her hoof and took it out of her neck, throwing it away as far as she could. She didn't care! Let it land on some stupid sand!

Rainbow closed her eyes tightly. She wouldn't cry, cool ponies didn't cry, Rainbow Dash did not cry! She had to be brave! resilient! nothing could stop her! She was awesome!

Awesome enough to leave her friends for a cloud...

Sigh, what a friend.

"Whatever you do, don't lose sight of the elements!".

Her eyes opened with such force she thought they might come out of their sockets, she looked around but there was nopony there, only the sand and the dunes and the occasional scorpion and the drifting no-good-for-laying-down clouds.

She took a deep breath and sat straight, the reflection of gold catching her eyes. A little more to her right, the element of loyalty rested on the sand.

"Right, don't lose sight of the elements" She whispered to herself, standing on her four hooves and walking to the necklace. "But what good is it if there are no elements to see?!" She screamed.

The necklace still rested on the sand, right in front of her.

"Well?!" Nothing. "Where are they?! Why aren't they here?!" The reflection of gold still in her eyes. "Say something you cheap piece of junk!" The red lighting bolt kept on staring back. "You're supposed to be magical! You're supposed to be an ancient relic! But all you are is some stupid old necklace that's worth nothing alone! You think you're so great, so special, is that it?! Well, news flash you dunderhead! You are not! You are worthless!".

The heat of the sun on the back of her neck was a constant reminder of where she found herself, and why.

"Oh shut up" She said, turning her back on the silent necklace. "All we had to do was stick together...".

Rainbow took a deep breath, spreading her wings. She could fly away, she still had some energy in her to do so, she could be fast enough to fly towards somewhere and reach something, she could disappear and nopony would be the wiser.

"I would..." She sighed.

"Whatever you do, don't lose sight of the elements!".

"Oh for Pete's sake..." She muttered under her breath. "Shut up!" She screamed at the sky. Truly, there was nopony to hear her but she might as well try to get her frustrations out of her system. "What do you want from me?! Why did you send me here?!".

But nopony answered.

"Where are the others?! Why aren't they here?! Why am I alone?!".

Still no answer.

The lone pegasus looked up to the silent sky, wondering whether or not to just cry herself to death. Dehydration and starvation were some ways to die, insolation seemed fitting too, given her circumstances. If she did, however, her cadaver would end up buried beneath the sand... She hated the sand.

Frowning, she turned around, Rainbow took the element from the sand and placed it up around her neck once again. She'll be damned if her rotting corpse ends up buried in sand.

Rainbow missed her friends, she wished they were here with her.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. No, her friends were somewhere, she just needed to find them. They were with her when she got teleported into Sandland, so they must be around, right?

Either way, she would find out.

"I guess the only way to go is forward".

Author's Note

First and foremost, I would like to start by saying that english isn't my first language, so if there's any grammar/spelling errors (or any errors for that matter), please, do let me know.

Now, this story has been on my mind for over two years, but I never really had the courage to post it anywhere, (I guess mostly because of the language barrier). So, as to why I'm posting it... I'd like to explore some of the characteristics that were not really seen in the latests seasons of the show.

Also, the first few chapters are meant to be short for the sake of establishing the story. I know how frustrating it is to read something that doesn't seem to go anywhere, but I promise you this story underwent so much preparation, so please give it a chance.

Without further adieu, you're most welcome to read "Scintilla (Go the distance)", and I hope you like it.