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// Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins 
// Story: A Chaotic Land 
// by donutsforthewin 
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        Hey there, my name is Spark. I'm a pegasus. Well... I guess I'm not a full blown pegasus until I can actually fly, but Grandpa says he will start teaching me very soon. Speaking of Grandpa, I guess I should tell you about where I live. Grandpa and I live up in the clouds, safe from most of the chaos down on the ground. I've never been down there, but Grandpa says it is no place for a pegasus that can't fly. He says a pony can get into a lot of trouble down on the ground, it just ain't safe. Back to where I live, the cloud Grandpa and I live on is a pretty stable cloud, as far as clouds go. It rakes a lot of maintenance for Grandpa to keep it from dispersing and dropping us to the ground, but we manage.

I live alone with Grandpa. He tells me my parents were killed by thieves on the ground. They just snuck up on my parents, stabbed 'em, and took off with their belongings. By the time Grandpa wondered where my parents were and went searching for them, it was too late. He found them lying on a path, nearly dead from lose of blood. He tried to save 'em, but he didn't have the supplies he needed. They died together. Grandpa says they were happier that way. I was only a little colt back when my parents died. I only can remember a little bit about them. However, I can remember the day Grandpa came home and told me that I wouldn't be able to see my parents anymore. He was decent enough to tell me the truth: that my parents had died. He explained it to me many times, but I was too young to fully understand it, though as I grew older I began to understand what had happened to my parents.

I still miss them, you know. It is ok living with just Grandpa, but he could never totally fill the gap left by my parent's death. Grandpa did try his best though. And to be honest he did a pretty good job. He could still comfort me when I was sad, and could cool me down when I was angry. And instead of singing me to sleep, like my mother did when I was just a colt, he would tell me stories. He told me of stories of happy times, sad times, but none compared to the stories of the times when there was order in Equestria. These weren't just stories, they were legends.

I was always so interested in the legends. When Equestria had recently been founded, and ponies worked together. I never understood the story of when it all went wrong. It didn't make any sense. More and more, nowadays, it keeps me up at night. There had to be more to the story. What had really happened that could make ponies, who had been able to work together for hundreds of years, change so much. In just weeks, days even. There was something unnatural about it. And I was going to find out why.

I had been considering it for a while, but I never quite had the nerve to try to go to the surface. It is such a dangerous place, as Grandpa tells me. But, I just had to go. I was too curious. I decided to ask Grandpa if he would take me with him the next time we go to the surface. It would probably take a lot of arguing, but I was determined.

"OK, you can come with me."

I turned around and saw Grandpa standing there. He is a yellow pegasus with a bright orange mane. Similar to me, I have a yellow coat and a yellow mane, which is why my parents named me Spark. Grandpa had been sitting there behind me the whole time, listening. I need to start thinking inside my head.

"What?" I replied.

"I heard you talking to yourself about wanting to go down to the surface, and it probably is about time you see what the real world is like."

I had thought this would take a lot more convincing, but OK, works for me. "Cool! When are we going?"

"Now. We are running low on food so we need to get some more. Also, the surface is the best place to teach a pegasus how to fly."

Awesome! Grandpa is finally going to teach me how to fly, and I get to go to the surface. In the the same day.

"Now, the surface is very dangerous," began Grandpa, "If you see another pony, make sure you are close to me, and remember, there are many ponies on the surface that would have no problem with killing you just to get the food you are carrying."

"Yeah, whatever." I can't believe I'm going to the surface! Finally!

"Spark! This is very serious. You could die down there if you are not careful. Your parents died even when they were very careful. You cannot let your guard down. If some thief sneaks up on you.. well you won't get a second chance."

"Oh, yeah, sorry Grandpa."

"I just want you to be careful Spark. Now, lets get ready."

About a half an hour later we are finally ready to go. I am so excited, I finally get to learn how to fly! We head down to the surface with Grandpa carrying me and flapping his wings to keep us below leg-breaking speeds. As we get close to the ground, I begin to see just how big it is.

"Wow, I can't even see the end, how far does the surface go?"

"Well, it just keeps going, in every direction. There is no end."

I had never thought of that. I was so used to living on a cloud, where of you went too far one way you would just fall off. This was totally different. And kind of scary. I was in a whole different world.

When we reach the surface, Grandpa is looking around constantly. "You have got to be careful down here Spark. Ponies aren't usually too friendly."

But, we don't see anypony around. Grandpa said that the first thing we had to do was find food. Simple enough, plenty of trees around, lots of flowers too, the usual stuff ponies eat. We begin to collect apples, and all sorts of food. We don't need any water because Grandpa can just find a cloud and make it rain to get water. Soon we are done collecting food and it is time for the part I have waited for for years. Grandpa is finally going to teach me how to fly.

"Well," Grandpa says' "The first step to learning how to fly is to learn the form. Flying is not about flapping your wings as hard as you can, it is about pushing down on the air so it pushes you up."

Grandpa then begins to show me how I need to curve my wings when they go up, and flatten them when they go down. Curve and up, flatten and down, curve and up, flatten and down. I practice for about ten minutes or so, until Grandpa is satisfied I am doing it well enough.

"For the next step we need to find a large rock, or a small cliff. It will take forever for you to start learning to take off from the ground before you learn to just fly. You will need to jump off a rock to give yourself some time in the air to catch yourself."

We search for a little while and find a suitable rock. It is about six feet high. We climb up some smaller rocks to get to the top of the big rock. I am about to jump off the rock when Grandpa stops me.

"Don't jump off this side, if you fall onto one of the rocks we just climbed up you would probably break something. Lets check the other side."

Sure enough, the other side looks over a grassy plain, and the ground looks much softer. I jump off and flap my wings, but I just fall to the ground. Grandpa gives me some encouragement and I get back up and try again. The second time I manage to slow my descent and land on my feet. I try a few more times and eventually I start to get the hang of it. I can't fly very fast, but I can fly! I fly around a little bit and notice a few ponies off in the distance, but who cares, I can fly! My wings begin to get tired and I glide down to the ground.When I hit the ground I stumble and fall, I need to work on landings more.

"Great job." Grandpa says. Next he has me practicing taking off from the ground. It is a lot harder than jumping off a rock because I have to flap my wings and get going as soon as I leave the ground. It takes me a little while, but I finally get that too. I begin to soar around. It is fun to go sideways and spiral down to the ground, then lifting up a few feet before I hit the ground.

I look over a Grandpa and wave. Then I something shiny on the hill just behind Grandpa. I look closer at it and realize it is a pony. The pony is running toward Grandpa, with what looks like a sword in it's mouth. Wait, that is a sword in it's mouth! I yell a warning to Grandpa, but it is too late. I see the pony leap and stick the sword into Grandpa's back. I... I don't know what to do. I just fly towards Grandpa as quickly as possible. I don't even slow down when I get close to the ground, I just need to help Grandpa! I slam into the ground and feel my head hits the earth. I start to black out when I hear another pony.

"Should we kill the other one too?"

"No, just take his stuff. He knocked himself out when he hit the ground. Stupid pegasus. Besides, he doesn't even have his cutie mark. He is no threat to us."

They begin to walk away as my world goes black.