The bus rattled up the road out of Canterlot and sped out onto the highway. They had a few hours journey, and the folks onboard relaxed as the ride commenced.
Seated relatively near the front were the Rainbooms, the old friends who had saved the world on three occasions so far.
“What do ya think we’ll get up to?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I imagine it will be a good time to relax. It’s been a very busy year,” Rarity nodded.
“Yeah, given all the dimensional stuff, learnin’ mah sister was from another world, and takin’ down demons, it’ll be nice to have a break.” Applejack glanced back toward the back of the bus once again.
“You’re looking back there a lot!” Sunset Shimmer commented.
“Nervous habit,” Applejack replied.
Something clearly wasn’t right, but that wasn’t the concern for now, as Twilight had nodded off. Up ahead the speed changed, and a lorry shot across the road with a heavy load.
“Shit!” Discord brakes hard, and the bus slammed to a halt just in time. “Sorry about that.”
“Owww, my nose,” came a muffled voice from the back.
Discord looked around. “Who said that?” he asked.
“Sweetie Belle, keep it down!” said another voice.
Discord got up from the driver’s seat, walked back along the bus and took a look in the back row.
There, dressed in their camping outfits, were Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom.
“We’ll deal with you three later,” he said, sounding displeased. He then turned around and walked back to the front of the bus, sitting down and accelerating forward. The bus rolled along for a few miles before pulling over into a layby.
Principal Celestia looked surprised, but otherwise had no reaction. Discord killed the engine, and motioned to the three middle-schoolers. They stepped forward with awkward looks on their faces.
Applejack motioned to Rarity and Rainbow Dash, and they stepped out after their sisters onto the tarmac.
Discord looked at the three younger students with a deep look of disapproval.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded. “You’re not on the student list!”
“We wanted to come,” Scootaloo said, as if it wasn’t obvious.
“But why sneak onto the bus? It's dangerous if students are unaccounted for! What possessed you three to do this?”
“Er, we’re partly responsible fer that,” said Applejack, raising her voice. Rainbow Dash and Rarity also had awkward expressions on their faces, as if they’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t.
“Who wants to go first?” Discord asked.
Apple Bloom raised her hand. “Well, it all began last night...”
12 hours earlier...
“Why, ma, why?” Applejack asked. I could clearly hear my sister and mother arguing in the next room.
“Because she’s too young, that’s why,” Ma replied. “I don’t want her getting hurt up there.”
“Ya let Big Mac go when he was twelve, so why not Sugarcube?”
“That was different. Big Mac was a lot more mature than Apple Bloom is, and you know how those three are. They’ll just cause chaos the entire time!”
“Not while Ah’m there,” Applejack cut in. “She wouldn’t dare misbehave when Ah’m around.”
“Can you be sure of that?” Ma said again. “And what happens if she slips on a rock wall? Besides, we lost her so recently, I don’t want to lose her again!”
“And we’ve been neglectin’ her fer too long!” Applejack thundered. “She ain’t a little kid anymore; all that Crusadin’ she does is more than proof she can care fer herself!”
“Playing in a park is different to going out into the world. I honestly fear the day she leaves the nest, as I’ll have no purpose anymore. I’ve devoted most of my life to raising you three, and I will not let her get lost in the woods and get hurt!”
Applejack sighed, exasperated. “Ah can see this is getting' nowhere. Well, Ah’ll go tell my little sis that her ma is so stubborn she won’t even treat her like the responsible kid she is!”
I went up to my room, feeling down in my heart. Applejack stepped in after me.
“Well, that were a load of horseapples!” she said quietly, hoping nobody would overhear.
“Thanks fer tryin’,” I said. “But looks like Ah’ll be here alone whilst y’all are havin’ fun.” My eyes began to feel a little wet.
Applejack drew me into a hug. “Ah know how much ya wanted to go on this trip, sugarcube,” she said. “But Ah have a plan.”
Suddenly, her phone buzzed, and she received two texts.
“Rarity: Mah parents refuse to let Sweetie Belle go ta Camp Everfree. Ridiculous, she’s been a good girl all year!”
She then opened the next one. “Rainbow Dash: Scootaloo’s aunts won’t let her go! This is stupid, Squirt’s been lookin’ forward to this for months!”
Applejack then smiled. She typed something into a message box for both of them.
“What ya doin’, sis?” I asked.
“We’re gonna get ya to Camp Everfree,” she smiled. “Even if it requires unconventional methods.”
The next morning rolled around at last, and Applejack came in to get me up and pack my bag.
“Let’s see, bathin’ suit, sunscreen, changes o’ clothes, bug spray, hmmm, Ah’m Ah forgettin’ anythin’?”
“Mah phone charger,” I replied. “They do have electricity there, right?”
“Limited connection ta the National Grid,” my sister replied. “But ya shouldn't have power issues.”
We bundled our bags together, and headed out of the house. I was dressed mostly in my usual outfit, but I had switched my usual shirt for one that was dark green, had a collar, and rolled-up sleeves. I’d also taken a pith helmet to protect my head from sunbeams. We loaded our stuff into the truck, and set off into the distance, toward our adventure.
“So,” I finished, “Our stuff was loaded first, and we were put on the back seat.”
Discord sighed. “Well, it’s too late to take you three back now. But your parents will be informed the moment we get there. Understand?”
“We’ll be the ones doing that,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Our parents deserve ta know.”
Discord sighed. “Brilliant. Well, we might as well get going again.”
We re-boarded the bus, and Discord set off again with a grumble.
Just then, Twilight shot awake, screaming loudly. “STOOOOOP!”
Pinkie Pie laughed. “We can’t stop, silly, we’re almost there!”
“Hey, are you okay?” I heard Sunset Shimmer ask.
“Heh. I'm fine.” Twilight sounded less than convinced.
"We are gonna have so much fun!” Pinkie Pie cried. “We're gonna roast marshmallows and eat marshmallows and sleep on marshmallow pillows!” She threw some marshmallows into the air to make that point clear.
Rainbow Dash groaned. “Yeah, probably not gonna do that, eh squirt?”
“Go Rainbow!” Scootaloo cried.
“Maybe you're not,” Pinkie laughed.
Then, Principal Celestia stepped up to address us, in doing so violating highway laws. “Attention, students!” she said in that warm, yet authoritative voice we were used to. “We're almost there. But before we arrive, we just wanted to say how proud we are of you for raising enough money to go on this class field trip.”
Luna smiled. “When we were your age, we made some of our favourite memories in these woods, and we're sure you will, too.”
“Now who's excited for Camp Everfree?!” Celestia called with excitement.
The students cheered. Much like at the Friendship Games, the sound of music floated through the air, as we all stepped up to start singing.
“Well, we might as well join in,” I said. “C’mon Crusaders, let’s show ‘em what we can do!”
We arrived at Camp Everfree that afternoon. Boy were we excited to be there. But there was one matter to deal with first. Applejack dialled her mother and waited for the call to connect.
“Howdy Applejack!” came the voice of Granny Smith. “You arrive safely?”
“Yeah,” Applejack said. “Look, Ah got a confession ta make.”
“Well, that explains why the gate was unlocked.”
“No, not that. Ah brought Apple Bloom with me.”
“That’s the best joke ya told in ages, Applejack!”
My sister sighed, and switched the phone onto speaker.
“Hi Granny,” I said.
“What?” the old woman snapped. "How’d you get there? Ah’m gonna tan yer hide for this, so hard ya will need a second skin!”
“There’s no need for that,” said another voice. It was Pa! "You two OK?”
“We just got ta Camp Everfree,” Applejack said.
“Ah haveta say, sneakin’ Apple Bloom aboard was mighty crafty,” he replied. "But when ya get back, yer both grounded fer a week, understood?”
“Yes Pa,” I said.
“Now to stop Big Mac from goin’ and breakin’ yer computer,” Pa said. "And Applejack’s.”
“If he so much as moves a disk on mah desk, he’ll regret it!” Applejack thundered.
“Noted,” Pa said. "Ah’ll also make sure Granny don’t beat ya when ya get back.”
“Yer such a softy!” said another voice at the end of the line.
“It hurts a lot and doesn’t work!” Pa groaned. “Look, I gotta go, have fun, bye!” The line ended.
I jogged over to my friends. “It go well for ya?” I asked.
“So grounded,” Scootaloo groaned.
“Rarity’s already planning the outfits she’ll be modelling on me,” Sweetie Belle groaned. I had to admit she looked pretty in her camping kit, which looked fairly similar to Rarity’s, but the colours were purple shorts, and a pink sleeveless shirt with the Camp Everfree logo on it. Scootaloo was dressed similarly to me, having swapped her hoodie for a green collared shirt.
“At least they ought ta look good on ya,” I said, unhelpfully.
“I know it’ll take her at least three hours on each,” Sweetie Belle continued. “And I won’t be permitted internet access except for homework.”
“At least it’s only for a week,” Scootaloo said hopefully.
“And we can speak ta each other,” I noted. “So it won’t be too bad.”
Just then, the intercom went, a loud, noisy system no longer fit for purpose.
“Hey, everyone! If you could start heading to the courtyard, that would be rad! It's time to start the best week of camp ever!”
The brief was incredibly boring. As Gloriosa Daisy rattled on, well into her 40th minute, Scootaloo poked me and pointed into the forest.
“Let’s go!” she said.
“Wait, what?” Sweetie Belle asked, before we suddenly headed off into the forest, and off on another adventure.
But we weren’t alone. Not at all.