To Rule the Sky: Cloud Flash's Story: Chapter 1

The night sky was overflowing with a million stars as the full moon shone over Fillydelphia. The slow, dry wind blew through the slightly opened window of a small house. A gray pegasus mare shivered and she gently lay her pinkish-red tail on her newborn daughter. Nearby a light blue stallion with a black and darker blue mane smiled proudly, beaming at his wonderful wife and his new daughter. This stallion was known as Nav, a member of the Flash family. The Flash family came from a line of purebred pegasi, and had enough members to nearly rival the Apples, but not quite. This family was known all around for their incredible contribution to the sciences of Equestria and their seemingly perfect flying ability.

The mother, on the other hand, came from a slightly less fortunate family. As her name, Red Gypsy, implies, she came from a family of wandered and travelers who refused to stay in one place for very long. Red Gypsy’s branch of the family helped clear the weather as they traveled, and, unlike Nav, she followed in her family’s hoof-steps and became a weather pony. As a testament to this, she gave her daughter the name Cloud, with the hopes that the filly would become a great weather pony, like her mother. The suffix of Flash was added to her name as tribute to her father’s family.

Cloud Flash wasn’t actually the only child of Nav and Red Gypsy. Flare Flash was their oldest, a rather mean-looking young colt with a darker gray coat and a red and black mane. Flare Flash tended to scare young ponies who were his age, causing him to forge a very strong bond with his younger sister, who was the only pony who would play with him.

Much to her mother’s dismay, Cloud Flash prefered her father’s interests in navigation, showing this as soon as she could talk. She did her best to make maps like Nav, but with no luck. While she did show some interest in the sky, it wasn’t Red Gypsy’s clearing the clouds that caught her attention. Red Gypsy eventually gave up trying to teach her the ways of a weather pony, seeing that it was no use.

The family of four traveled all over Equestria, not at the mother’s request, but at the father’s. Nav was a map maker by trade, displaying this with his coltiemark and his almost limitless knowledge of any landmark that they passed by. Flare Flash’s talent as a survivalist helped whenever they got lost, which usually happened when an ever curious Cloud Flash would wander off. Cloud Flash did this daily, and seemed to have a talent for it, because even if Red Gypsy only took her eyes off of Cloud Flash for a moment, the blue and white maned filly would vanish. This wasn’t her “super special” talent, however, as no cutie mark appeared on her flank.

It was late one night when Cloud Flash decided that she’d go on her biggest exploration yet. Her family was camping under the stars, as they usually did, suspended just over the treetops of a massive forest by plush clouds. Fluttering her small wings, Cloud Flash made it safely to the forest floor. She looked around,tapping the ground with her right front hoof. She started walking slowly and cautiously, but quickened her pace as she continued on. The fact that it was dark didn’t bother her. After all, she often stayed up late to look at the stars. She looked up and, upon seeing that the sky above was blocked by branches, realized just how deep she’d gone into the forest. An owl hooted suddenly overhead, startling her slightly. Burying his nose into her white scarf, she started to walk again, her wings slightly unfolded, incase the need to escape arrived. The trees, which had been welcoming a moment before, now loomed over her like judgemental strangers, which Cloud Flash was unfortunately used to. She eventually sat at the roots of a large tree, humming softly in an attempt to calm herself. By now, her parents or brother would have found her, but she was alone. She’d never been left alone for so long in her life, no matter how far she wandered off. It had been several hours since she’d left, she guessed. She lay down and curled up, covering her face with her tail.

She wasn’t asleep for long. A growling noise to her left woke her almost instantly. Slowly, the little filly turned her head, only to see the large shape of an animal stalking toward her. Cloud Flash leaped to her hooves in a heartbeat, and was running blindly a moment later. She tried to fly, but the trees closer around her, limiting her space. Whatever had been growling was chasing her now and causing an uproar, sending sleeping bird fluttering frantically through the trees. Cloud Flash looked back at the animal, but a vine caught her hoof and she tripped. She was suddenly rolling down a steep hill, branches and leaves whipping her face and body, thorns scratching her wings and sides. She let out a sharp cry as her unfolded left wing caught a branch and sent her spinning off course. The ground rushed toward her, and she blacked out suddenly.

It was some time before Cloud Flash woke up again. She was laying on her right side at the bottom of a tall hedge. The blue sky greeted her through the treetops, a forked branch allowing a small view of the sky. Cloud Flash stood up, hope swelling in her chest as she prepared to fly. As soon as she spread her wings, however, an unbearable pain shot through her left side. The little filly gave a cry of pain and looked to her left, only to see her left wing slightly twisted and limply brushing her side, still half-folded. She whimpered and looked longingly at the sky, desperately hoping somepony would fly overhead. Surely her family was looking for her now. It looked to be sometime in the early-afternoon, and her parents woke up at dawn. She sat down and looked at her wing sadly, longing for the plush cloud she had slept on, and the warmth of her mother nearby.