//------------------------------//
// Chapter One 
// Story: Clouds 
// by ramdom_player201 
//------------------------------//

I am lying in bed with my eyes closed, waiting for sleep to claim me. And suddenly there’s this large popping sound accompanied by a bright flash of light that seems to blind me through my closed eyelids; then suddenly I feel like I’m falling. Naturally, I scream.

I continue to scream as I fall. Until I feel something catch me. It’s soft and squishy, so much so that my momentum pushes me through its surface before I stop. I can feel it wrapped around my body, but my head and legs are free. My screaming stops as nothing appears to be happening, so I open my eyes. That is a mistake, I stare down in horror at the large drop still below me.

I can just about make out a small town in the distance, with small colourful dots moving around its streets. I feel a wave of nausea and close my eyes. Instead, I focus on steadying my breathing. As I calm down, I begin to notice that my body feels wrong. I try to shift my arms, but the squishy substance holds firm and I can’t get my hands free. Speaking of my hands, I can’t actually feel them. I try to grasp at the walls around me, but nothing happens.

I begin to feel panic welling up in me, but I quickly catch myself and focus again on my breathing. Sufficiently calmed, I continue mentally checking my body for any other unusual feelings. I try moving my legs. They are still free, but I cannot feel my toes. I try angling my legs downwards and push against the squishy ground. But the soft stuff just deforms out of the way, causing my legs to slip free every time.

Giving up, my attention is drawn to another feeling against my legs. Unlike the strange substance I am stuck in, this feels more like hair. I shift my legs against it, feeling a response further up; like a strange muscle that never existed before. I give it an experimental flick and feel something attached to it fling into the air, at the same time moving the hairs off my legs. But then the hairs fall back down into place, is it just me or do I now have a tail?

What else is different? I try to shuffle my body, I’m still stuck but I notice something against my sides. I attempt to make them do something; they try to respond but are held in place by the walls. I decide to worry about all that later, I need to work out what to do next. I’m definitely stuck and can’t move, but what am I stuck in? It’s soft, squishy and very comfortable, while also being firm and maintaining its shape. But it still deforms such that I can’t get any traction against it.

I decide to risk opening my eyes. Although I’m prepared, it’s still a shock to find myself suspended so high above the ground. I peer down at the sprawling town below. The houses all look quite small and many have yellow roofs, are they thatched? The town seems to have no structure to its layout, with random buildings spread haphazardly around; although there is a large circular building in the middle that looks quite important. There is also a large tree nearer to the edge of the town, I wonder if it has a purpose?

Tilting my head, I see a large forest stretching endlessly into the distance. It looks dark and foreboding. I twist round and see another forest, although it’s a lot less dense and appears to be part of a farm, I guess it’s some kind of orchard. I can see a red barn near the back of it and a few miscellaneous fields beyond that.

Still, I am curious as to what I am stuck in, so I pull my head upwards, causing my long hair to come loose and fall to hang below. What I see when I look upwards is surprising. My eyes widen, am I in a cloud? I am distracted from my thoughts as a large vibration runs through the whole structure. Moments later, I am pulled sharply from that strange muscle group on my behind and slip up and out of the cloud.

The hole seems to close itself up behind me as I hold out my four limbs for stabilisation while the structure reforms itself. When the vibrations cease, I carefully adjust my position, the cloud wobbles and compresses under me as I move, but holds firm. I take a moment to look down at my arms, only to find an orange furred stump.

“Hey, you alright there?”
The voice comes from behind me.
“Uhh… yeah, I think so…,” I answer as I carefully turn myself around to face the speaker. My voice trails off as they come into view. They’re some kind of quadruped, cyan in colour, with large magenta eyes and a mutli-coloured mane. I can only stare confused as my brain tries to comprehend what I’m seeing. And it was doing surprisingly well throughout this, I suppose it’s from how tired I am.
“You sure you’re okay?” it asks.

I quickly snap myself out of my stupor.
“Wha- … Who are you?” I ask.
“I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in all Equestria!” it exclaims, wriggling its previously unnoticed wings. I simply tilt my head.
“What, never seen a pegasus before?”
I shake my head, one of the things on my side falling open onto the cloud surface. I turn my head to look at it. Wait, so I’m a pegasus now?
“I- I don’t know how I got here, or even where here is.” I say.
I carefully make my way to the edge of the cloud and peer over the edge, careful not to get too close lest I slip and fall.

“We’re in Ponyville, Equestria. I need to be meeting with some friends at Sugar Cube Corner right now, wanna come?”
“Umm- sure, but how do we get down?”
“We fly of course!”
“One problem, I don’t think I know how to fly…”