Seeking Sparks placed a new log onto the campfire as Running River strummed her guitar and led the campers in a familiar song.

"Take me back to Camp Friendship, where the grass is always green…"

Sparks smiled and joined in. "Where even on the darkest nights, the sun shines in on me..."

The campers followed along, the tune and lyrics a familiar comfort after so many days at camp. Colts and fillies all sat on logs around the fire that Sparks had built, the warm glow illuminating smiling faces and sparkling eyes.

As the song came to a close, Running River put her guitar down and looked around the group. "Alright then. What shall we do next?"

One filly shot her hoof into the air. "Campfire stories!"

Sparks chuckled and turned to her. "Okay kiddo. What story do you want to hear?"

There was a moment of silence until one colt hesitantly gestured to Sparks' crippled wing. "What happened?"

River gingerly placed her hoof over Sparks' and traced a small, comforting circle. Sparks simply smiled and swept her eyes around the circle of foals. They all looked at her, wide eyed and curious. She chuckled; who was she to deny these foals a good story?

"Are you all ready for this?"

The foals nodded enthusiastically and Sparks closed her eyes, feeling the breeze ruffle her feathers.

"I remember the last day that I flew….."

oOo

I remember the last day that I flew.

It was cold; the air was biting and crisp. Cloudsdale was over Ponyville that day, so many pegasi were watching the running of the leaves. That's where my parents were. They didn't know what happened until it was already too late.

It was my first day of flight school and I was buzzing to show what I could do. The clouds were soft and sturdy under my hooves, and my little wings were beating furiously as I waited for my turn. My instructor was Swift Wing, and looking back, she had probably immediately labeled me as a trouble maker. I know the look in a filly's eyes that just tells you she's a wild spirit. So I suppose that perhaps Swift Wing put me at the end of the line for the same reason I sometimes put my campers at the end of the line: to get them to watch the others, to slow them down and get them to live in the moment.

But it didn't work on me. I didn't slow down and appreciate the present. No, I wouldn't learn that lesson until much later. That day I impatiently waited my turn as Swift Wing helped all the foals before me to take off and try some simple flying maneuvers. I rolled my eyes, flicked my tail, tapped my hoof.

I thought I was all that. I was above all these amateurs. I didn't need take off and landing help. I would show them all.

When it was finally my turn, Swift Wing turned to me and started to say something. Instead of listening, I shot up into the air. I sometimes wonder if my life would be different if I had simply taken the few seconds to hear her warning.

With all the confidence of a foal well beyond my years and experience, I threw myself into a series of complicated loops and turns. My classmates cheered and I felt a surge of fire in my chest.

The whistle of the wind, the roar of the crowd, the watching eyes. I loved it. I heard Swift call out to me to slow down and I saw her fly up to try to stop me, but I paid her no mind. Her light gray form hovered somewhere below me as I circled the compound, saluting the foals on the clouds.

Glancing around, I saw the waving flight school flag. With a cocky smile, I made a decision that would determine the rest of my life. I tucked in my wings, threw myself into a barrel roll, and spun towards the flagpole. At the last second, I flared my wings out, intending to soar right in front of the flag.

But I miscalculated.

I continued to spin, and as I passed the pole I felt a sharp pain in my left wing and the lurch of my stomach into my throat as I fell out of the sky...

oOo

Sparks let the silence stretch as the crackle of logs was the only sound. "Well. I think it's about time for bed. Don't you think River?"

Running River grinned and hopped off her log, stretching one back leg at a time. "Why yes I would think so Sparks."

"Wait!" one camper wailed. "You can't stop now! What happened?! Did you fall out of Cloudsdale? What happened to your wing? This isn't fair!"

Seeking Sparks raised an eyebrow and gestured to the twinkling stars. "It's getting late though isn't it? Seems like it's bedtime for some campers who have a long day of fun awaiting them tomorrow."

The campers grumbled and jumped off their logs and walked back towards their cabins. "Besides," Sparks said mischievously, "What's the fun in telling all my secrets? Then you'd have nothing to talk about all night when you think we're not listening."

The campers all glanced at each other and bolted for the cabins, shrieking in laughter and giggles as they ran. River wrapped her hoof around Sparks' shoulder and called out "We'll be there to say good night in five minutes! Teeth better be brushed and you better be IN YOUR OWN BEDS!"

"That was a terrible cliffhanger to leave them on."

Sparks grinned and flicked her braid over her shoulder. "What can I say, I'm an agent of chaos."

River rolled her eyes and lightly shoved her, walking towards the cabins. "Put the fire out and let's get these foals to bed," she called over her shoulder.

Sparks smiled and breathed in the deep scent of woodsmoke, pine, and fresh summer air. Opening up her wings, she glanced over her body. With her deep, wood-brown coat and forest green mane and tail with bright green highlights, she looked like she simply materialized out of the woods around camp. Her bright campfire cutie mark matched the fire slowly smoldering behind her. The only thing that seemed to call her out were the clipped and broken feathers on her left wing.

Sparks flapped her wings twice, feeling the muscles ripple and flex. Every year the campers asked why she couldn't fly, and every year the story got easier and easier to tell. Though she'd never soar through the air again, never feel the wind streaking through her mane, she knew she wouldn't trade her life for anything in the world.

And tomorrow at the campfire, the excitement in her camper's eyes would be just as gratifying as it always was as she picked up the story right where she left it.

"And I fell out of the sky..."