//------------------------------// // Just Walk on a Journey // Story: Live Life // by Gpizano //------------------------------// It was only a couple of weeks before final exams for the spring semester would commence, which left the student body either studying frantically or working sleepless nights to finish their final projects. For any student this of course equated to stress, no matter what their degree was, everyone was subject to some level of it during this period of time. All attention would be focused on their work load... well, except for a certain bespectacled computer engineering student that was in a rush to get to the college on campus coffee shop where she was meeting a certain red head. Twilight Sparkle burst in, gasping for breath as she wildly looked around before spotting Sunset Shimmer sitting at a table a coffee and pouring over a text book. The Chemist student looked up with a start when something was suddenly slapped down on the table in front of her, but Sunset's confusion was resolved when she turned her gaze further up to see Twilight's excited expression. "It works! It works, it works, it works!" "You mean...?" Sunset became excited as well, marking her place before setting aside her textbook and looking down at the paper before her. Upon closer inspection, it looked to be a couple maps connected on a long piece of paper. The red head picked it up and looked at the first page, seeing a map of the country where it was all much the same color except for a few dots, but one in particular caught her attention. She flipped to the next page and saw a close up of an area where there was Canterlot city and the surrounding small towns and countryside. One specific area of forest had a red dot on an area that radiated out to the surrounding area. Upon seeing this, excited teal eyes looked up to Twilight's, the human having the biggest smile on her face. "YES! My program works! I mean, it's not as accurate as I'd like and I still have a lot of calibrations to make to refine the software, but now we can identify more magical leylines! And I found a really strong one in this area outside of Canterlot called Everfree!" Honestly, should Sunset have been surprised? Ever since they had started their research it was obvious that this planet's leylines were in sync with areas of great magic in the other dimension. Canterlot where Princess Celestia and many unicorns resided, Los Pegasus was one of the biggest cloud cities held together by Pegasus magic, and now Everfree forest, where in Equestria it was a strangely magical forest that had been home to the Tree of Harmony. But comparing magical places to find other leylines would have to wait, right now they had a good find that would be worth investigating! ... well, after the semester ended of course. After excitedly speculating for minutes on end with Twilight about the possibilities and what they might find, they had decided to put a pin in the subject for now and get back to studying. When her last class was finished, Sunset would leave the campus and ride on her red and black Ninja 650 ABS Kawasaki motorcycle. Now admittedly, she loved this bike. Not just because of the make or the color or the fact that it felt so damn good to ride again, but because it had been the best Christmas present she'd ever received from her wonderful girlfriend. Riding through the streets on it always brought a smile to her face and despite wishing to ride just a bit longer by taking the long way home, she really wanted to share the news with Jackie. She pulled into the usual neighborhood and parked around back next to Jackie's car, going through the usual process of setting the lock, cable and then covering it (she'd be damned if any shifty bastards in this neighborhood tried stealing her bike!), she headed into the apartment building and up the stairs. Despite the Pony Breakers having gotten more higher profile gigs thanks to their connections with Sapphire Shores and Coloratura, Jackie and Sunset had decided against moving just yet. After all, it wouldn't be fair to bail and leave Bobby high and dry, plus Sunset wanted to be one hundred percent sure on where they'd move, so for now they'd just save their money. Besides, after two years of living here she'd gotten kind of attached to it, despite the new mystery stains that appeared in the stairway now and then. "I'm home!" "Hey Sunset, Jackie's in the back." "Thanks Bobby. Good day of classes?" "Ehhh, sure. This study is killer though." Chuckling softly, Sunset left the future accountant to his business as she headed to the bedroom. As she had expected, Jackie was sitting at the beat up old desk, headphones connected to the CD player as she tapped her pencil against a blank music sheet. The red head snuck up behind the guitarist and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. Although it seemed she'd done this one too many times since instead of a jump, Jackie only tensed before looking over her shoulder as she took off her headphones. "Hey Jacks." "Hey Sunshine. You look pretty happy. Did someone finally break the legs of that religious nut who keeps coming onto campus saying you're going to hell if you're not pregnant and in the kitchen?" "Mm, afraid not. But I do have good news. Twilight's program is finally up and running!" "The one to check on magic around the country, right?" "Mm-hm, we've found a spot with a very strong leyline that we want to check out this summer." "Sweet. And how's the other stuff? With the not-so-pony-like Pony Mode?" "Nothing on that yet..." "Ah..." That was only a minor sticking point in Sunset's and Twilight's research. While the fluctuating human magic seemed to be taking on a more set form, it still required a catalyst. Whenever Jackie, Tino, or Poppy played and went into their Modes, they had to keep playing or they'd lose it a couple minutes after. That or Sunset had to go into her own Mode, which seemed to help fuel the others. No matter their efforts, this never changed and the only notable thing was that each of them seemed to have their own distinctive tattoo, along with what they already knew, that each of their subconscious seemed to influence the appearance and possible powers of their forms. But that could stay on the back burner for now, Sunset had planning to do! She got her laptop (an older, pre-owned model that got the job done) and logged onto the internet (SO nice now that they finally had wifi!) to start looking for places that she and Twilight could stay near or even in the forest of Everfree. As she reclined on the bed, Jackie put her own work aside for now and lied down next to her, watching the screen as her girlfriend searched. "Hey, think you can let me know when you're going? I wanna come too." "You sure? Twilight and I were thinking of staying for at least a week. Maybe camp out as near to the source as possible and mostly do work." "Well if I can swing it I'd wanna go. This is basically you're career right? So I wanna see you in action." Smiling softly, Sunset snuggled just a bit closer so that she could wrap an arm around Jackie as she kept surfing with one hand, stumbling upon a few camp sites that might suit their needs. However one in particular caught her attention and made her open the website, puzzling Jackie when she saw the name of it. "Camp Everfree? Sounds like a summer camp for kids, babe." "Yeah, usually it is. But there's a period after school ends and before they open for their summer program that they open the site for others to camp in." Pulling up a map of it, she looked it over and compared it to a larger map to confirm her suspicions. "And it's right in the epicenter of where the leyline is radiating magic. If we could get a reservation we'd have the best spot to do our research." "If you say so..." Just as Sunset was going over their prices, there came a notification from Kyte, Pinkie Pie having noticed she was on and sending her a message. It started off friendly enough, asking how the days went but soon Sunset divulged about her and Twilight's recent find and plans. OMG! You're gonna come out here?! :D It's been too long! Oh! Oh! We should throw a party! Oh! A camping party! Can I come out and throw you one? PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE?! :O Chuckling softly, Sunset shook her head at the sheer energy that came through the text before replying. Me and Twilight are going to be busy studying the area Pinkie Pie, this could be a very big find for us. :(((((( Although... I guess maybe we could extend our stay a couple days, that way we'd have plenty of time to work and have some fun. YAY! :DDDDD Oh! Oh! I gotta' tell the others! *GASP* What if we went camping too!? We've got a lot to plan! I'll let you know Sunny! After that, Sunset was left to fish her phone out of her pocket to send a text to Twilight while Jackie seemed thoughtful. "Sounds like she wants to plan a summer fun get together." "I don't doubt it. It's been about a year since I last saw them and honestly, if they did something like that I wouldn't mind..." "So that means our friends here in Los Pegasus get to come along too right? If they can?" "Jacks, you really think they'd want to go camping? I mean, Bobby would probably go along with it, maybe Tino and Sandy, but I don't see Poppy camping..." "Still, couldn't hurt to ask. And it's been a long time since they saw the gang in Canterlot too, it was a lot of fun when we got the two groups together." "Yeah... well, if you can get them to go along and the time Twilight and I are going out works, then yeah. Why not?" "Sweet, I'll shoot off the texts then." Watching Jackie roll off the bed and stretch, the blue haired woman headed out of the room as she pulled out her phone, probably to get a snack. This left Sunset to return to sending a text to Twilight while looking up how to reserve space at Camp Everfree. The more she thought about it, the more she was liking the idea. It had been a long year and having some summer fun catching up with friends sounded like a great idea. With a small smile on her face, Sunset sent the information on the camp to Twilight by email before favoriting the page before closing out and returning to her studies. The semester wasn't over just yet, but a small part of Sunset wished it was so that she could be out camping with her friends!