//------------------------------// // It All Starts Going Wrong // Story: Oncoming Storm: What Lurks Beyond // by Chengar Qordath //------------------------------// I threw the last of the branches on top of the smoldering pile with a distinctly unladylike grunt, then wiped my sweat-matted hair out of my eyes. I scanned the nearby area and finally found no more detritus to remove. “I think that is the last of it.” Sparkler groaned and flopped onto the forest floor. “Thank god, I’m boiling.” “Just a bit of honest sweat from a hard day’s work,” Applejack declared, wiping her own brow. “Or a lotta sweat, if Ah’m being honest.” “Honesty is supposed to be your thing,” Rainbow pointed out, flopping tiredly against Cloud. “And no kidding. Even with super-speed, that took way too long. Though it is cool to know I can use my powers to help start fires.” “Super speed means super friction,” Sunset pointed out. “It’s a lot easier to start a fire by rubbing sticks together when you can do it several times faster than humans are normally capable of. It’s the same reason your shoes melted that one time you went super-speeding around for too long.” “And that is why, for once, I am grateful for Rainbow’s appalling lack of taste in footwear,” Rarity announced, breezing in with two more trays of cold drinks. “Imagine if she’d done that to a pair of Guccis.” Rarity shuddered melodramatically. “But let’s not dwell on such nightmarish things. Lemonade, darlings? You all do look quite bushed, if you don't mind me saying so.” “Yes!” Pinkie grabbed a glass and chugged it down. “Blech, I’m so hot and yucky-gross out that people are gonna start calling me a Stinky Pinkie!” Her eyes shot open and she clapped her hands over her mouth. “Oh no, that's too catchy!” Everyone else followed Pinkie’s lead in downing their lemonade, and with only slightly less alacrity. Cloud let out a contented groan after finishing her beverage. “Thanks, Rarity. So ... we drawing lots on who gets to use the shower first?” “Probably oughta figure out somethin’,” Applejack agreed. “Maybe not just make it purely random though, considering someone would lock up the bathroom fer a few hours when it was her turn.” She pointedly cleared her throat and looked at Rarity. Rarity sniffed and refused to meet her eyes. “I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration, darling. However, considering the rest of you were working outside and got quite a bit messier than me, I don’t mind letting everyone else go first.” Applejack smiled. “Works for me. Long as you don’t mind goin’ last, you can take as long as you want primpin’.” “I am hardly primping,” Rarity shot back with just a hint of haughtiness. “I am simply taking appropriate care with how I present myself. Not all of us can pull off the unkempt beauty look.” Applejack stared at her for a long moment. “Ah ain’t sure if that’s an insult ‘cause you’re sayin’ Ah’m scruffy-looking, or a compliment ‘cause you’re sayin’ scruffy’s a good look for me.” “I think we are all a bit unkempt after several hours of working outside,” I pointed out. “Which is why we are all so eager to hit the showers.” “Exactly,” Sparkler smirked, and I saw a mischievous gleam in her eye that boded ill. “You know, if we really want to clear out the showers as fast as possible, Rainbow and Cloud could double up and save some time.” Cloud sighed and pulled one of the ice cubes out of her lemonade glass, then tossed it so it bounced off Sparkler’s nose. “Such a brat.” “Yup,” Sparkler agreed shamelessly. “And anyway, probably not the best idea. They’d make a mess, and I wouldn’t wanna be the one to use the shower after them.” “Anyway,” Sunset cut in before Sparkler could get going, “isn’t there a lake right pretty close by? The water looks clean, and I’d rather not have an hour-long wait for the shower if there’s an alternative.” I quickly confirmed the proposal. “We usually swim there whenever we come up here, and it has always been fine. Sounds like a great idea, as long as everyone brought suits.” “And it’s not like we can’t skinny dip,” Sparkler grinned, reveling in the outraged and annoyed looks that remark earned her. “What? We’re all girls here.” Rainbow groaned and rolled her eyes. “Okay, all in favor of a ten-on-one splash fight against Sparkler soon as we’re in the water?” We all raised our hands. Even Star looked up from her phone long enough to turn on her fellow brat. When Sparkler gaped at her Star just shrugged. “You’re asking for it.” Tempting as it was to enjoy our brief alignment of interests, I could not resist the chance to poke at Star. “You know you will have to go without your phone while we are in the lake.” Star scoffed. “Waterproof phone in a waterproof case.” She paused a moment, frowning in thought. “Still expensive. Better be safe, Mom and Dad’ll kill me.” She sighed and very reluctantly put it away in her pocket. “What new spoor of madness is this?” I teased. “Star voluntarily turning off her phone to interact with us lowly meatspace denizens?” “Don’t get used to it,” Star murmured. “Gonna get my suit.” “I shall do the same,” Rarity announced. “It does seem like a lovely day for a swim.” “I’ve got extra suits if anyone forgot theirs!” Pinkie grinned, bouncing on her heels. “I always keep spares on me in case of swimsuit emergency.” “I think we’ll all be okay,” Twilight declared, adjusting her glasses. “A swimsuit was one of the things on the list for us to bring.” “Right,” Sunset agreed. “But someone could’ve forgotten theirs. We don’t all triple-check our packing checklist before we leave on a trip.” “Well you should,” Twilight grumbled under her breath. “Don’t worry, if anyone made an oopsie and forgot your auntie Pinkie Pie’s gotcha covered!” She reached behind her back and pulled out several bright pink two-piece bathing suits, all covered with her own face in a variety of ridiculous expressions. Rarity stared at the swimwear. “I'm almost frightened to ask how you made those.” “It’s maaagic!” Pinkie announced, waggling her fingers. “Or a custom order I made online. But really, aren’t those the same thing?” “No,” I explained. “They are not.” “Awww...” She pouted, her gaze dropping down to the ground. “So nobody needs one of my suits?” Nobody did. Pinkie shrugged, then chomped down on one of them. “Oh well, good thing I ordered the edible ones! This one tastes like strawberries!” Rainbow Dash stared at for several seconds, then chuckled and shook her head. “Pinkie, you are so random.” A short time later we were all dressed and ready for the day. Rainbow Dash sprinted out ahead of the group, leaving behind a multi-colored trail. “Last one to the lake is a Sparkler!” Nobody took her up on the challenge. After all, beating the girl with super speed in a race was a non-starter. Once it was clear nobody would go for it, she doubled back to rejoin the group. As we walked out I couldn’t help but notice Cloud had a new suit. “What happened to your old one-piece?” Cloud shrugged and waved to the open belly of her two-piece suit. “I do three hundred sit-ups a week. Might as well show off what that gets me. Besides, Dash likes it.” “Darn right I do,” Rainbow agreed shamelessly. “Good answer,” Sparkler announced, stepping out in something that only barely qualified as enough clothing to maintain decency. “Since she’s got me doing all that exercise too, I might as well follow your example.” Cloud took one look at Sparkler, then groaned and averted her eyes. “I don’t know whose example you think you’re following Sparks, but it’s not mine. I think you mixed up your bathing suit and your underwear.” Rainbow snorted. “No kidding. You’d get kicked out of French beaches for wearing that.” “Bah, you’re all a bunch of prudes.” Sparkler strode past us. “How come it’s okay for Cloud to wear a more revealing suit and not me?” “There’s a big difference between me wearing a sport top and you wearing something that looks like it was designed for horny guys to slip dollar bills into,” Cloud answered. “Plus I want to see this,” Rainbow added, waving to her girlfriend. “Nobody wants to see what you’re shoving in our faces.” Rarity cleared her throat. “Normally I would love to debate the merits of her fashion choices, but perhaps we could let the matter rest to focus on relaxing and enjoying ourselves?” “If even Rares doesn’t wanna talk clothes, ya know it’s gone on too long,” Applejack agreed. “Let’s just ignore her an’ have some fun.” “Sounds like a plan to me,” Sunset concluded. “So what are we waiting for? Let’s get swimming!” She draped her beach skirt over a nearby tree branch, then waded out into the water. Most of the others followed her lead. The lake did look especially lovely today, with placid clear blue waters framed by trees that weren’t quite large enough to interest the loggers or be a fire hazard. Then the water’s stillness shattered as Rainbow shot past us. She couldn’t resist showing off, zipping past everyone and using her magical powers to go so fast she managed to walk on water. Moving that fast kicked up a huge spray behind her, and it didn’t take long for her to swing around and splash everyone still standing on the shoreline. Cloud snorted and flipped her newly wet hair out of her eyes. “Show-off!” she called out after her girlfriend. Rainbow slowed down just enough to smirk and wave to us. “You know you love it!” Cloud chuckled and smiled fondly. “True.” She looked along the shoreline, then grinned and pointed to a rope hanging off one of the old trees. “Nice, it’s still there. I might not be able to super-speed like Dash, but...” She jumped and grabbed the rope, swinging out over the water. She timed her landing perfectly, splashing into the water right in front of Rainbow and sending her tumbling. Rainbow surfaced a second later, sputtering indignantly. “Dangit Kicker! Why’d you hafta—I’m gonna...” She growled and playfully tackled Cloud under the water. The two emerged a second later, grappling for dominance in a way that involved far too much lingering physical contact to be a serious contest. Sparkler grinned as she watched the two of them, then pitched her voice to resemble the narration on a documentary. “Having spotted its partner, the wild Boe now engages in a mating display to show its sexual prowess. The wild Cloud feigns resistance, but is clearly taken in by her charms.” Rather than respond to my bratty little cousin, I ignored her and took my turn on the rope. I had to swing a bit wide to make sure I didn’t land too close to Rainbow and Cloud. That resulted in me cannonballing into the water a bit closer to the shoreline than I’d planned. Not into shallow water, thankfully, but I did wind up splashing some of the people who were just starting to wade out into the lake. I surfaced to find a thoroughly soaked Twilight Sparkle standing in front of me, wiping off her glasses. “Well, I suppose I should’ve known I’d get wet sooner or later.” Unfortunately, she said that just loud enough for the brats to hear her. Sparkler smirked in an especially devilish way and loudly called out, “Did she just say Storm got her wet?” Star evidently decided this was worth testing out the waterproofing on her phone and case, whipping it out and pulling up an audio clip with suspicious speed. “Ohhh myyy!” Twilight’s cheeks lit up and she let out a nervous sort of squeak, while I was just annoyed by the two of them being exactly as they always were. Rather than attempt any sort of verbal response I reached down and grabbed a handful of the nastiest muck I could find at the bottom of the lake, then chucked it at both of them. They let out a satisfying scream as the muck hit them dead on. If nothing else, it was a start to exacting retribution. While they tried to wash themselves off, Applejack grinned and strode up to the side of the lake.  “Ya’ll can have the rope, Ah don’t need it.” She took a running start, and a second later the gem hanging around her neck glowed as she leapt high into the air, easily sailing over everyone’s heads and landing out in the middle of the lake. Rainbow paused in her contest with Cloud to call out after Applejack. “And you call me a show-off!” “You are a showoff,” Applejack called back. “Me bein’ better at it don’t change that!” “Why you...” Rainbow let go of Cloud to focus on her new opponent. “Hey Cloud, truce to team up against Applejack?” Cloud shrugged. “Sure, why not?” Sunset sighed and chuckled to herself. “I see the horseplay’s started already.” Pinkie popped out of the water next to her. “Nice pun, Sunset!” She paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “So do they still call it horseplay in magical pony land? I mean, you’re horses so everything would be horseplay already. Ooh, what if they call it humanplay? That sounds kinda weird to me, but I bet calling it horseplay sounds weird to ponies too...” Pinkie continued rambling on, but I put her out of my mind when I spotted Twilight Sparkle on the shoreline, slowly approaching the rope. “I suppose I could give it a try.” She grabbed the rope and got a running start, only to trip over a tree root. She kept hold of the rope, so instead of falling on her face she dangled awkwardly as she swung out over the water. A second later the lost her grip, flying out with an awkward half-somersault that ended with a painful slap as she landed belly-first on the water. I winced at the impact. Just hearing it hurt, let alone imagining what she must be feeling. I quickly swam over to her side. “Are you okay, Twilight?” Twilight groaned and slowly surfaced, coughing and holding one arm over her belly while the other held her glasses in place. “I’m okay,” she squeaked out. Rainbow came over and gave her a quick pat on the shoulder. “Owww ... points for effort Twi, but the judges are gonna have dock you a bit on style.” Sunset joined us as well, giving Twilight a light, friendly punch on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, we’ve all belly-flopped. Come on, let’s just have a good time.” “Yeah!” Pinkie took a deep breath and dove under the water, only to emerge a short time later covered in lake weeds. “Blaarrgghy! Beware me, for I am the Lake Monster! Raaaawr!” She slowly shambled her way over to Rarity, who quickly swam away from her, “Okay.” Twilight smiled at Sunset, then carefully splashed some water at her. “It looks like everyone else is goofing around, so...” “Might as well join in on the fun,” Sunset agreed, responding in kind. I was about to make my own tentative entry into the contest when a massive wave struck the back of my head. I turned around just in time to catch a second one to the face. Thankfully I managed to avoid getting any water up my nose or in my mouth, but the attack still left me sputtering indignantly. Star and Sparkler grinned back at me before splashing me again. “Vengeance!” Sparkler crowed. “You’re no match for our combined bratly power!” I tried to rush them, but Sparkler splashed me in the face again. That distraction gave Star an opening to flank me and quickly dunk my head under the water. I shook her off a moment later, but she knew she’d won that round. “You’re gonna lose, Skunky.” Much as I hated to admit it, she was probably right. I could beat Star one-on-one thanks to being older, more experienced, and more physically active, but with Sparkler backing her up I was at a huge disadvantage. Fortunately, I was not alone. “Cloud!” My fellow big sister took one look at the situation and realized how dire it had become. “Gondor calls for aid! The brats are teaming up!” She rushed over and tackled Sparkler from behind, then lifted her up and sent her flying halfway out of the lake before she crashed back down into the water with a mighty splash. I couldn’t manage anything quite so dramatic with Star, mostly because she had the good sense to start swimming away as soon as her teammate was out of the picture. I had to settle for grabbing her by the ankle as she tried to flee, leading to a startled yelp as her momentum vanished and she sank beneath the lake’s surface. I let her go a second later, satisfied now that I had reaffirmed the natural pecking order. The two brats swam clear of us, grimacing at the taste of the ashes of defeat. Or perhaps just regrouping, judging by what Star said next. “Phase two?” “We gotta,” Sparkler agreed. Star took a deep breath, then dove under the water. Moments later Sparkler began to rise as Star lifted her up onto her shoulders. Sparkler threw her head back, cackling like a supervillain from an especially cheesy movie. “Mwahahahaha! Just when you thought you were safe, Brat-Tron stalks the waters once more! Bow before your Brat Overlords!” Cloud grinned. “So that’s how it is? Fine, if it’s a fight they want, let’s give it to them! Team-up time, Rainbow!” “We’ll get ‘em!” Rainbow rushed over and hopped onto Cloud’s shoulders before she had time to brace herself. The two of them wobbled for a moment, but then Cloud grabbed onto her legs to steady her. “Form Robo-Mecha-Bot-i-Tron and let’s kick brat butt!” As the two teams started closing in on her, Applejack grinned and paddled over to Rarity. “Hop on up, Sugarcube—we’re not missin’ out on this fight!” Rarity pulled the last bit of lake weed out of her hair, glowering at Pinkie Pie. “I do have a certain lake monster I need to avenge myself upon.” Pinkie gasped. “Who?!” She looked down at her own plant-draped form. “Oh, right. Oh no, I gotta get a teammate! Hey Fluttershy, do you want to join me? We can become Mecha-Shiva!” Fluttershy shrank down. “That’s okay Pinkie. I think I’d rather just see what lives on the lakebed. Um, thanks.” She adjusted her snorkel and quickly dived down under the water. “Go figure, Fluttershy doesn’t like roughhousing.” Sunset grinned and turned to Twilight. “So looks like everyone’s teaming up, do you want to—whoa!” She yelped as Pinkie emerged from underneath her, hauling her up into the air. After the surprise wore off she shrugged, then grinned down at her new partner. “Alright then, let’s get ‘em Pinkie!” Pinkie grinned and started charging into the fray. “Go Go Super-Sunset-Pinkie Rangers!” Twilight frowned after the two of them, probably a bit put out that Pinkie stole Sunset right in the middle of their planned team-up. She sighed and took off her glasses, stowing them in her suit. “Alright, have fun you two.” She tried to smile, but it looked just a little brittle. A quick scan of the lake battlefield confirmed the rather obvious fact that we were the only two left without teammates, not counting Fluttershy. That suggested a rather obvious solution. I approached her and cleared my throat. “Well...” Twilight turned to me, a faint uncertain frown on her lips. “Oh. You, um, you want to work together?” I shrugged. “We are the only two left without teammates. We can either team up or sit out the contest entirely.” I thought about it for a moment, then conceded. “Or you could attempt to talk Fluttershy into joining, but...” “I don’t think I could talk her into it, and I don’t think she’d have much fun if I did,” Twilight agreed. “Alright then, I suppose there’s no harm in giving it a shot. The worst that would happen is we won’t win a game with no real rules or any way to really determine an agreed upon winner in the first place.” “Very well then.” I dropped down into the water and waved for her to get on. Despite being a year younger than her, I was taller and in much better shape. I was the logical choice to take the bottom, and she would likely be more comfortable if I let her be on top. “Okay, I think I’ve got this.” She tried to get onto my back, but her legs slipped off my shoulders as soon as I tried rising up. “Sorry, I haven’t done anything like this since I was a little girl playing with Shiny, and now I’m a lot older and you’re not my big brother.” She tried again, with no more luck than last time. “You are leaving your hips too far back,” I advised. “You need to align your center of mass with mine as much as possible.” “Uh, right.” She nodded slowly. “That makes sense. Balance the weight in the middle to make it more stable. So I just need to, um...” She made a third attempt, this time moving quite a bit more forward. It still was not quite enough, so I shifted back a bit until I could feel her suit pressing against the back of my skull. Twilight let out a soft squeak at the contact, but thankfully remained in place rather than tumble off my back again. “Sorry...” “It is fine,” I assured her. She started wobbling a bit as I rose up, so I quickly clamped my hands down on her calves to hold her steady. That got another cute little startled squeak out of her. I kept my hands in place even after she had steadied, just in case. They were surprisingly nice legs—not toned like mine, but certainly not flabby either and with a few hints of newly formed muscle indicative of recently adopting a slightly more active lifestyle. Twilight coughed and shifted her hips a few times, slowly finding the best balance for both of us. Once she was comfortably perched on top of my back she coughed and spoke up. “Um. Okay. So, I think I'm getting a feel for it.” I couldn’t really see her face too clearly from my current position, but I could swear she was blushing. “Um, forward?” I nodded and started towards the melee, trying to set a slow, steady pace to give her a bit more time to get used to this. Though considering we’d shortly be going into battle against teams that seemed a lot more comfortable working together, the fact that just walking forward was a challenge boded poorly for us. Thankfully Rainbow and Cloud seemed quite occupied by their battle with Star and Sparkler, striking a righteous blow against little sisters and punishing them for the crime of acting bratty. That just left us to face the winner of the contest between the Pinkie-Sunset team and the Applejack-Rarity duo. That battle proved to be a close one; Applejack wasn’t quite as nimble as Pinkie, but she was a solid, immovable rock. It might have been interesting to see how the contest between the two of them and their contrasting styles would have played out, but the battle wound up being decided by the top pair. The contest between Sunset and Rarity was close up until one of Rarity’s false lashes came loose, and that distraction gave Sunset the opening she needed to send Rarity tumbling off Applejack’s back. With that foe vanquished Sunset grinned and tapped Pinkie’s shoulder, pointing towards the two of us. Pinkie growled playfully and started stomping towards us. “Chaaarge! Today is a good day to PARTY!” Twilight wobbled on her perch once more as I angled in to meet them. The last thing we needed was to let Pinkie have all the momentum for the first exchange; that could turn the battle into a five-second-long crushing defeat. The stakes might not be as high as they would if we were up against Star and Sparkler, but I still wanted to put in a good showing. As it was, both of us had to pull up short to avoid slamming into each other head-first. The awkward stop mid-charge bought Twilight a few seconds to get her bearings, but Sunset was quick on the attack as soon as she was in range, planting a hand on her shoulder and shoving back. If not for my hold on her legs she would have tumbled over. Sunset grinned, a gleam in her eyes. “Nothing personal Twilight, but you’re going down. I might not be as competitive as Applejack and Rainbow, but I do like winning.” Twilight’s response was nowhere near as strong. “Ah!” When Sunset’s next shove nearly knocked us both over I suddenly felt some weird sort of external force steadying both of us, and I saw a faint lavender glow encompassing both our bodies. “Hey!” Pinkie called out, glowering up at her. “No powers! Or at least, I thought that was the rule ‘cause we wanna put everyone on equal footing. If I can start using kersplosions it wouldn’t be fair, even if it would be a lot more fun!” “Sorry,” Twilight murmured. “Instinct. Though I don’t think everyone’s following that rule.” She pointed over to where Cloud and Rainbow were fighting the brats. Judging by how Rainbow was noogieing Sparkler so far fast her arm was a barely visible blur, it seemed like a safe bet she was applying some level of magic to it. Not that I could complain, considering her target. “Don’t worry about it, Twilight,” Sunset cut in as she squared up for another round. For a moment I could swear I saw her gem and eyes both glow, and then she rushed in for her next offensive. Twilight tried to block her, but Sunset slipped past her defenses with seemingly no effort, landing a powerful double-handed shove that sent Twilight reeling. I tried to compensate, but that just meant that I went down along with her. We both surfaced a moment later, coughing and more than a little tangled up. After she’d fallen off my back Twilight had instinctively grabbed onto me, which made getting both of us back above the water a bit more complicated. Not that we seemed worse for the wear, bar a little coughing after we surfaced. “Are you alright?” “I’m fine,” Twilight assured me. “Just...” She trailed off uncertainly. A second later I realized what must have been on her mind: when she’d grabbed me on the way down her hands somehow wound up firmly attached to my ... womanly attributes. I felt my own cheeks warming up as I fully grasped that she was essentially groping me. If there was any doubt in my mind that it was purely accidental, that vanished when she hastily removed her hands with a terrified squeak. “Gurp!” She coughed several times, her cheeks positively flaming. “Sorry! I’m really sorry about grabbing your breasts! It was an accident, I’d never do something like try to touch your breasts on purpose! Wait, that’s—I mean, um, not that there’s anything wrong with your breasts or anything! They’re actually nice! If I ever wanted to touch another girl’s breasts yours would right at the top of the list!” A second later what she’d said seemed to sink in. “Wait! That’s not what I meant at all! I was just ...” She groaned and buried her face in her hands. I cut her off before she could work herself up into any more of a frenzy. “Don't worry about it, accidents happen when we’re goofing around like that.” Cloud stared at me like I had grown a second head. “Did Storm just use a contraction?” Star was so stunned she completely forgot to hold Sparkler in place, dropping our cousin into the water. Sparkler surfaced a second later, sputtering. “She what?! I thought she had some kinda hangup where she wasn’t even capable of saying those!” “No kidding,” Rainbow agreed. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard her say one in all the time I’ve known her.” “It is not that big of a deal,” I groused. “Just because I normally do not use them does not make it some earth-shattering event when I do. Now then...” I turned back to Twilight. “Once more unto the breach?” She nodded and slowly climbed back onto my shoulders. “Yeah. Um, awkward accidents aside, this has been really fun.” After several more hours of fun and relaxation, it was time to set up camp for the night. The tents went up with relatively little trouble, and there was more than enough left over wood to set up a proper campfire. Then we broke out all the usual accoutrements of campfire cooking, namely marshmallows and hot dogs. Most of us had one or two cooking over the fire, while Pinkie had what looked like a small bush with over a dozen marshmallows and three hot dogs all roasting. Cloud and Rainbow were huddled up off to the side, leaning against each other and whispering as they cooked their respective food. “I still don’t get why you like to set your marshmallows on fire before you eat ‘em.” Cloud shrugged and blew out her marshmallow, then bit into it. “I like them crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “You are such a weirdo sometimes.” She leaned in for a quick kiss. “Though smooching you is pretty sweet when you’ve got a little bit of marshmallow goop on your lips.” Cloud snorted and slugged her shoulder. “Now I have to question whether you’re kissing me because you love me, or just to steal any bits of leftover marshmallow.” Rainbow grinned impishly. “Both, obviously.” I shifted my attention over to Star, who seemed to have fallen back into the phone zone, ignoring everyone else around her. I gave her a quick poke to pull her out of her trance. “Hey Stalker, your food is getting burned.” Star looked up from her phone. “No it’s not, Skunky. Just because you think your beef is burned if it doesn’t moo when you bite into it doesn’t mean the rest of us overcook ours.” She rolled her eyes, but didn’t slip back into her phone trance so I would call that a win. Once we had all made decent progress on tearing through our supply of campfire food, Sunset leaned back and looked over the group. “So, which campfire tradition do we want to start with? “Ghost stories? Truth or dare?” “Or we could do a sing-alooooong!” Pinkie grinned and pulled an accordion from behind her back. “Who wants to get started?” When nobody randomly burst into song she sighed and put her accordion away. “Fine...” Fluttershy frowned down at the fire, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. “I’d rather not do any ghost stories.” “Truth-or-dare then,” Sparkler declared. Sunset waited a bit to see if any other suggestions came up, and when none did she shrugged. “Okay then, truth or dare wins by default. So who wants to start?” Sparkler’s hand instantly shot up. “Anyone else?” Sunset called out. “Anyone at all?” “Bah, why’s everyone so scared of letting me go?” Sparkler whined. “I wouldn’t do anything too horrible. Just a little awful and bratty.” “Ah’ll go then,” Applejack volunteered. Rainbow snorted. “Truth would be pretty boring with Miss Honesty, so I guess it’ll be a dare.” Sparkler poked Sunset in the ribs. “Nooo, it has to be me. I volunteered first, you can’t just skip me.” She sighed and shook her head. “Look, I promise I’ll go easy to start things off.” Sunset sighed. “Okay, fine, Sparkler goes first.” My bratty cousin grinned in a particularly mischievous manner. “Excellent. So ... who to go after? Cloud’s the obvious choice, but I can bug her anytime I want. Though not usually in front of so many people at once...” Cloud sighed and rolled her eyes. “And she’s already up to her usual tricks. Just remember the rules on what you’re allowed to suggest.” “No dares or truths the majority agrees are out of line,” Sunset confirmed. “And even without that you can just outright refuse if you really don’t feel comfortable. It’s supposed to be a fun game, so if something would ruin the fun for anyone there’s no point in doing it.” She shot a pointed look Sparkler’s way. “So nothing that crosses the line.” Sparkler held up her hands. “Believe me, I know my limits. Same as my bratting rules when it comes to messing with Cloud, I don't pull stuff that’d hurt anyone or piss you off. I’ve been having a blast so far, and I’d rather not get uninvited to any future trips.” Rainbow folded her arms over her chest. “Sure, you won’t cross the line. But I bet you’ll do something that’s pressed right up against it.” Sparkler grinned. “Ladies, I think we have a volunteer. Truth or d—oh who am I kidding, we all know you’ll pick a dare. So I dare you to do 100 push-ups in ten seconds.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright...” She got into position and became a prismatic blur as she tapped into her magical powers. She was moving too fast for me to keep up a proper count, but everyone seemed to agree it was close enough. Once she was done Cloud snuggled back up with her. “Not much of a dare, Sparks.” My cousin shrugged. “I did promise I’d start things off easy, and it’s kinda hard to think of any good dare that would really get to Rainbow. At least, not without breaking one of the other rules. Maybe ask her to do some super-gushy sweet talk to you, but that’d make me want to barf just as much as her. Least this way I got some payback on her for noogieing me.” She smirked. “Feel free to show us a proper one when it’s your turn.” “Well it’s my turn now,” Rainbow frowned, looking everyone over. “Daring my own girlfriend would be boring. That, or I’d end up carrying a sleeping bag around asking someone to let me crash in their tent. So ... hmm ... Sunset! Truth or dare?” Sunset grinned. “Dare me.” “Alright…” Rainbow smirked. “I dare you to get on all fours and be your most pony-like: trot, whinny and prance—all that good stuff.” Sunset glowered at her, then sighed and shook her head. “Fine.” She got down on her knees and balled her hands up into fists, walking along on them. “And you’ve been to Equestria, so you know we don’t go around whinnying and prancing. Not to mention my anatomy’s all wrong for it right now.” “It’d be boring to watch you act like a pony while you’re a pony,” Rainbow pointed out. Star watched the spectacle for a few seconds “Is this ... racist? Speciesist? Feels like it’s some kind of -ist.” “It’s fine,” Sunset concluded as she finished her performance and sat back down. “Anyway, my turn. Fluttershy, truth or dare!” Fluttershy let out a startled squeak. “Oh! Um ... truth.” Sunset tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Okay, what’s your darkest secret?” Fluttershy shrank down into herself. “I don't, um … I don’t like Zephyr’s cat.” Sparkler’s response echoed everyone’s thoughts. “That's it?” “I told him I loved her!” Fluttershy whimpered. “Even though she’s a mean cat who chases Angel Bunny around and I have to be careful what animal friends I bring home! I want to like her but it’s just so hard!” Sunset stared at her for a bit longer, then slowly nodded. “Okay then, that answers the question. It’s your turn, Fluttershy.” “Oh dear.” She took a deep breath, looking over the entire group. “Um, Pinkie? Truth or dare?” Pinkie answered with a huge smile, practically bouncing in place. “Truth! No, dare! I mean truth! Ooooooh, Can I do both?!” “Um, maybe?” Fluttershy glanced over at Sunset, who shrugged and nodded. “Okay then. Um, what’s your favorite animal?” Pinkie tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Well, aside from Gummy my favorite animal is a party animal!” Fluttershy nodded. “That makes sense. And for the dare... Would you be nice enough to give Angel a good combing?” Pinkie’s smile smile slipped away. “I thought we weren't gonna do anything dangerous for the dares!” “Angel’s not dangerous,” Fluttershy insisted, though she might have had an easier time making that case if the rabbit in question wasn’t glowering daggers at Pinkie while brandishing a carrot like a small orange dagger. “But I guess if you don’t want to brush him, that’s fine too.” Pinkie took one look at the rabbit, then shivered and hugged her legs, rocking back and forth like a traumatized child. “No ... no.” A second later she perked back up, seemingly her normal self once more. “My turn! Star! Truth or dare?” Star shrugged. “The truth’s a lot more dangerous, so let’s do a dare.” Pinkie grinned like she’d just spotted half a dozen cupcakes. “I dare you to turn off your phone and leave it off for the rest of the night.” I let out a low, impressed whistle. “Making her go without her phone for hours? She will start manifesting withdrawal symptoms within five minutes. By the half-hour mark she will find a large flat stone to tap away at so she can at least pretend she still has her phone fix. And if she has to go to sleep without checking social media first ... I do not know if she would actually be capable of sleeping, or if she would just stay awake all night shaking.” Star glowered at me and shot several particularly colorful gifs my way, then sighed and turned her phone off. I was a bit surprised when she passed it over to me. “If there’s anyone we can all agree would keep me honest, it’s Skunky.” She gave that just long enough to sink in, then smirked at me. “So Storm ... truth or dare?” I glowered at her, refusing to let her see me sweat. “Dare. Hit me with your best shot.” “I plan to.” She remained silent for a long moment in a transparent attempt to build tension for the reveal. To her mild credit, when she did ultimately reveal her intentions they were nefarious enough to justify the dramatics. “Storm Kicker. I dare you to...” She leveled a finger at Twilight Sparkle. “Kiss her. Not just a quick peck, a real kiss.” Despite all the forewarning, my jaw still hit the ground.“Wh-WHAT?!” Twilight’s mouth gaped open in shock, and her cheeks had already turned beet-red. “You want her to ... um...” Sparkler grinned and slapped her fellow brat on the back. “Wow, Star. Props—I think you managed to break both of them at once.” She turned to Twilight. “Though really, what’s the big deal anyway? You already got to third base with Storm, this is just going back and letting her get her fair share.” Rarity looked between the two of us. “I suppose it was inevitable the dares would get a touch risque, but I wasn’t expecting anything like this.” Applejack snorted. “Last time someone tossed out a kissing dare, you were all for it.” Rarity shot her an arch look. “I certainly don’t recall you complaining about it at the time, darling. In fact, I seem to recall you being quite enthusiastic about your side of it.” Star cocked her head to the side. “So there’s precedent for kissing being a perfectly valid choice for a dare?” “Yes and no,” Sunset answered. “There’s precedent for it being okay for Rainbow to dare Rarity to kiss Applejack in those specific circumstances. This is different.” She turned to me and Twilight. “It’s completely up to you two whether you want to or not. No pressure, and nobody will think less of you if you don’t.” “I will,” Star cut in. “Nobody who counts will think less of you,” Cloud countered. “It’s okay.” Twilight turned to face her, her cheeks still flaming. “I mean, I-I guess that would be okay. It’s just a little kiss, r-right? It’s not that big a deal...” I took a deep breath and tried to put the shock out of my mind. Star had doubtless come up with that dare specifically to outrage and embarrass me. Therefore, the logical move was to deny her the reaction she wanted. Just do the dare without making a big production of it, and move on to the next event. Oh, and start plotting my revenge. “Yes, I suppose we could do that, so long as you are also willing.” Sunset frowned and looked between us again. “Look, despite what your sister and cousin might say, there’s no peer pressure on this. You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.” Sparkler rolled her eyes. “They’re both willing, stop trying to talk them out of it.” I looked at Twilight and took a deep breath. “Well, um, I suppose we should...” Twilight tucked a bit of hair behind her ear and adjusted her glasses. “Right. Um, so did you want to ... or should I ... um...” We were still trying to work out the logistics of how to handle the kiss when events overtook us. We had only just started leaning towards one another when a massive crash echoed through the woods, and we both instinctively jerked back in surprise. I frowned, staring off into the distance and trying to find the source of the noise. “What was that?!” “I don’t know,” Twilight answered. “But it sounded big.” Applejack stared out into the darkness. “If that was some kinda critter, it was a lot bigger than anythin’ Ah ever heard. Fluttershy, can you...?” Fluttershy nodded and took her little crystal necklace in hand. “Um, hello? Is anyone out there? If you’re just a hungry bear or something, I don’t mind sharing my food.” After several more seconds she called out, “Um, excuse me, does anyone else know what that noise was? Sorry, please, not all at once ... okay ... okay.” She sighed and shook her head. “None of the creatures know what’s going on either.” Rainbow bolted to her feet. “I’ll go check it out. If there’s some sort of crazy monster or something out there, I’ll kick its butt.” Cloud grabbed her wrist before she could start moving. “No running around the woods in the middle of the night all by yourself. That’s just asking for trouble.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Not that I don’t appreciate the concern, but I can handle being out in the big scary woods by myself.” Cloud frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “And what happens if you trip over a root or run into one of those thorn vines when you're going sixty miles an hour, and we're all miles away from you?” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Cloud, you’re being ridiculous. I’ll be fine.” “She’s got a point, Rainbow,” Sparkler cut in, showing off the band-aids on her legs. “Those vines cut me up pretty good before I put on long pants, and I didn’t do more than brush against ‘em. If you run into them while you’re super-speeding along, it’d probably be almost as bad as running into barbed wire.” “Think about it this way, Dash,” Cloud continued. “We just heard a weird creepy noise out in the woods. One person wants to go out all by themselves, far away from where anyone can hear them or help if they’re in trouble. If we were watching one of the Splattergoria movies, we’d be joking about how the person doing that was dead meat.” Rainbow grimaced and nodded. “Yeah, okay, you made your point. Though we all know if this was a horror movie, I’d be the hero who takes out the big bad monster and gets the girl.” Cloud glowered playfully at her. “If you’re about to imply that I’d be the damsel in distress, I’ll kick your butt so hard you’ll wish you’d gone running off into the woods to investigate the spooky noises all by yourself.” “Leaving aside the debate about who would be the hero and who would be the damsel, perhaps we should all fall back to the cabin?” I suggested. “If there is some sort of wild animal or anything else out there, I would feel much safer if we had a solid wall between it and us.” Sunset nodded. “If it is just some sort of wild animal who smelled our food, a tent’s not going to be enough to keep them out.” Rainbow groaned. “So we just coop ourselves up? How are we supposed to find out what’s going on when we’re stuck inside?” Star raised a hand. “I can send F1X3R out for recon. Battery’s good for almost 4 miles, plus it’s got an LED light next to the camera.” “Now I wish I’d brought my drone too,” Twilight sighed. “One is still much better than none.” I took a quick scan of the campsite. “Does anyone see a problem with hunkering down and letting the expendable stalker-drone do the scouting for us?” Star quickly grumbled something to me. “You spent that much on that thing?!” She scowled at me, and I sighed and massaged my temples. “Fine, fine. I have no idea why Mom and Dad let you spend ... ugh, never mind. Alright them, the only-slightly-more-expendable-than-us creeper-drone will go out and check the area while we hold down the fort.” Sunset started grabbing her belongings. “That seems like the best way to keep everyone safe while still finding out what’s going on out there. Hopefully it’s nothing, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.” Star planted herself in front of me, crossing her arms over her chest. “Need my phone back if I’m gonna be running F1X3R.” I sighed and handed it back. “Yes, yes. This is a bit bigger than a campfire game.” “Right.” She turned it back on, then smirked at me while it was booting. “Though don’t think you’re off the hook for my dare just because there’s a wild animal running around. Just putting it off for a bit.” I rolled my eyes. “That would be your top priority.” Thankfully we all managed to get back to the cabin without incident. By the time Star had her laptop out, F1X3R set up and ready to go, and her VR headset configured, I was starting to wonder if maybe we had all overreacted. After all, it could have just been a perfectly normal bit of forest noise we had all been panicked by. I was almost tempted to head back to the campsite, but at this point it seemed better to be safe than sorry. Other than Twilight, Star, and Sunset working on setting up all the technology, the rest of us were stuck on the sidelines watching and waiting. Rainbow and Pinkie were standing sentinel at the windows while Cloud nervously paced back and forth. The others were busy working out sleeping arrangements for how we would fit eleven people in a single cabin as comfortably as possible. Star donned her VR headset, holding the drone’s controller in her hands. “Okay, connection looks good on my end.” She hit a few buttons, checking that everything worked properly. “Control check is fine. Video showing up on the laptop too?” “Looks like it,” Sunset confirmed, enlarging the video feed to cover the whole screen. “And I’ve got the satellite photos of the area,” Twilight answered, holding up her phone. “Between that and the GPS tracker on your drone we shouldn’t have too much trouble keeping track of where we are and where we’re going.” “Good.” She fired up the drone’s rotors, smiling as it went airborne. I opened the front door, and she carefully eased it out before sending it up into the sky. “In hindsight, really wish I’d picked up that night vision upgrade. Not that getting a camera with 3x optical zoom and 4K resolution was a bad call either.” “What do you even need that much resolution and zoom for?” Sparkler asked, showing unusual reasonableness in questioning her fellow brat. A second later she backpedaled. “You know what, I’m probably happier not knowing. Long as it helps us figure out what’s going on, I’ll just be grateful for your flagrant disregard for privacy.” Star shrugged. “Not like I’ve got it breaking into people’s houses or anything. I checked the law, everything F1X3R is designed to do is perfectly legal. At least, long as I don’t take it into restricted airspace or anything, and Mom cleared it up the one time I sent it too close to base.” “Pity,” I murmured. “I had such high hopes that would end with Star in a military prison for years, or at least booted off to reform school.” I couldn’t see Star’s facial expression with the VR headset on, so instead she just said, “Sparks, do me a favor and flip Storm off for me?” Sparkler obliged her fellow brat. “Thanks.” Pinkie let out a loud gasp and stumbled back from her perch. “Hey everyone! I can see someone else in the window!” “That’s your reflection, Pinkie,” Rainbow deadpanned. Pinkie let out a frustrated groan. “It’s not my reflection, Dashie. There’s someone else out there! They were all weird and green!” Everyone else scrambled over the window, trying to spot Pinkie’s mysterious interloper. There was nothing out but darkness and trees ... though it was a fairly dark night that made it hard to see deep into the forest. Perhaps whoever Pinkie spotted had already slipped off into the safety of the trees. They could be standing ten meters away and we would not have a clue. Applejack frowned down at her. “Pinkie, if this was one of your jokes or flights of fancy...” “It’s not!” Pinkie snapped. “If it was a joke it would’ve been funny! What’s funny about scaring everyone when we’re already really nervous?” She paused, then amended, “Well okay, maybe it would’ve been funny if I did a really goofy monster roar or something, but that’s completely different.” “Settle down,” Sunset chided both of them. “The last thing we need right now is to start sniping at each other.” “Well said,” Rarity agreed. “I know we’re all a bit stressed and on edge right now, but fighting with each other will just distract us when we need to stay focused.” I stepped up to window to get a closer look, but saw nothing. Perhaps Pinkie was just jumping at shadows? Considering how nervous we all were it would not be a surprise. The green person she thought she saw could easily have just been some of the foliage shifting in the wind combined with an active imagination and quite a bit of fear. I was about to dismiss the sighting as nothing when I spotted a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye. I slowly opened the window so I could get a better look at what lay directly beneath it. What I found put a new spin on things. “I found our missing gas can.” Applejack stuck her head out next to mine. “Well Ah’ll be...” She frowned down at it. “Ah sure as hay didn’t put it there, and Ah can’t imagine why any of y’all would move it here.” She leaned halfway out the window to get a closer look. “And them vines are awful grown up around it when it couldn’t have been there for more’n a couple hours.” “The green lady probably put it there!” Pinkie concluded. “If she even exists,” Rainbow grumbled under her breath. Before that debate could reignite Star interrupted everyone. “Son of a ... well I just found out what that huge noise was. There’s a downed tree blocking the road out. No, two—three of ‘em! No way we’re getting past that without some heavy equipment.” I did not like the sound of that at all. “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” Cloud grimaced and nodded. “So we’ve got freaky stuff going on, and now three trees just so happen to fall in way that blocks the only way out of here? That sure looks like somebody’s gunning for us, especially when next we’ve got a missing can of gas turning up right next to the house we’re all staying in. If a bad guy set the house on fire while the only road in or out was blocked off...” Everyone grimaced at where that line of thought lead. However, Twilight quickly brought up a counter-argument. “No one could have just chopped down all those trees without us noticing, right?” Applejack frowned and shook her head. “Trees that thick don’t just fall down on their own in calm weather, especially not three of ‘em all perfectly placed to block the road. But she’s got a point—we would’ve heard a chainsaw, and doin’ that kinda work with an axe in the dark would’ve taken a while.” Star brought her drone around to get a closer look at the fallen trees. “They weren’t cut down—they’ve still got their roots attached.” “So what knocked them down?” Rainbow asked. “Don’t tell me we’ve got some sort of evil tree monster or something. ‘Cause if this turns into Evil Dead, I am so outta here.” “We are a bunch of teenagers all alone in a cabin in the woods,” Sparkler agreed. “Let’s not panic,” Sunset ordered. “There’s no evidence the trees came down by foul play. I’ll call for help getting the road cleared. Star, keeping checking the area, and everyone else keep your eyes and ears open and your power crystals on you.” She glanced my way. “Um, if you don’t have any magic...” “I will check if Dad and Uncle Tor left their hunting rifles here,” I finished for her. “It might be overreacting, but I would rather be ready for whatever comes.”