The next day after breakfast, all the kids were at the picnic tables hard at work on something. Twilight, Micro Chips, Sunset, and Sandalwood were working with a group of eight children building a massive kite while the rest of the volunteers were working with two kids each making smaller kites.
“Wow! These are all looking great, everyone,” Thorax exclaimed as he went from table to table, watching everyone work. “These are going to look so cool up in the air.”
Timber Spruce also arrived. He smirked to himself when he noticed that Twilight and Flash were working in different groups. He slicked back his hair and approached Twilight’s group.
“Watcha doin’?” he asked her in a flirtatious voice.
“Helping these kids build a kite,” she answered without even looking up.
Timber frowned at the fact that he barely got a response. He furrowed his forehead as he tried to find another way to get Twilight’s attention. Then, he smirked again as an idea came to mind. He went over to where Carpenter Pencil was working and placed his hand over the dowel that Carpenter was about to pick up.
“Hey, why don’t I help you with that?” Timber said to the boy with a friendly smile.
“It’s okay, Mr. Timber. I got it,” Carpenter answered as he pulled the dowel out from under Timber’s hand.
“Are you sure ‘cause I can totally help you out with that if you need it?”
“I’m sure.”
Timber’s smile faltered a bit before he forced it back on. “Are you sure you’re doing that right? Maybe I should show you how…”
“Timber, he’s got it!” Sunset snapped. “If any of them are having trouble, they’d either say so or one of us would have noticed them struggling. Right now, they’re fine.”
Timber Spruce pulled back like a kicked puppy before scowling. “Fine then.” He once again forced a smile and asked with feigned innocence, “So, have you guys gotten any ideas for your camp gift?”
“No,” groaned Chitin. “We haven’t thought of anything.”
“All our ideas are either too easy, too hard, or too completely useless,” added Sid.
“What about my idea to build a birdhouse?” pointed out Ala.
“Too easy,” deadpanned her brother.
“We can make a bigger house for small animals to live in,” suggested Gale.
“Why would small animals want to move into a house near a bunch of noisy people when they’ve got the whole forest to themselves?” Kit countered.
“Or we can make a whole bunch of birdhouses and put them all over camp,” Ala continued.
“That’s not that bad of an idea,” replied Gypsy, “but it’s not that good either. Let’s hold on to that as a back-up.”
“Hey, chill out, little dudes,” said Sandalwood. “If we get an idea tonight, we’ll still have about four days to get it done, which is totally plenty of time. Besides, stressing about it isn’t going to give us ideas. All that does is make more bad vibes.”
“I don’t know what some of that means, but I guess you’re right,” replied Willow.
“Hey, Mr. Thorax, we’re done,” called Carpenter as they put the last of the finishing touches on the giant kite.
“That’s great,” Thorax replied as he made his way to their table and admired their kite. “Wow! You guys made an elephant kite.”
“It’s not just any elephant kite,” beamed Sid. “It’s Dumbo.”
“Hey, Flash,” Micro Chips called, “Can you help us get our kite up?”
“Only if you help my group finish up,” Flash called back.
“It’s okay, Mr. Flash,” said Lean, holding up a simple yet colorfully decorated diamond kite. “Denny and I just finished.”
“Uh, why don’t I fly that kite for you?” Timber offered the group of eight children and their supervisors.
“That’s very generous of you, but we worked way too hard on this kite,” Sunset refused. “The last thing we want is for Dumbo to crash and break, so we kind of need someone with a little more skill. No offense.”
“None taken,” Timber grumbled with thinly veiled frustration.
“Flash is the second-best kite flyer in our neighborhood. If anyone can get a kite in the air without crashing it, it’s him,” Micro explained.
“Wait. Second-best?” Twilight asked.
“The best is his grandmother.”
Twilight blinked a few times in surprise. “That shouldn’t surprise me, yet it does.”
“Hey, Timber,” Flash suggested to the older teen. “If you want, you can help Lean and Denny launch their kite.”
Timber forced his scowl to turn the other way as he took the kite from the two younger boys. “Sure. I’d be happy to.”
Everyone who had finished their kites made their way to the clearing by the gazebo. Twilight and Micro Chips held Dumbo aloft as Flash ran against the wind. The large kite caught the wind and began to rise.
“Come on, Dumbo, fly!” Gale cheered.
“You can do it, Dumbo!” cried Ala. Soon, all the other children began cheering for Dumbo as he flew higher and higher into the air.
“He’s flying! He’s flying!” Chitin celebrated.
“Woo-hoo!” Carpenter exclaimed as he began passing high fives all around his group.
“Hey, kids! Get over here,” Flash called, beckoning the group over. Carpenter arrived first, so Flash handed the string off to him. Flash then bent down beside him and began giving him flying pointers.
“Hey, Big Bro!” First Base called. He, Derpy, Pinkie, and their groups approached the clearing, having just finished their kites. “Can you help us get our kites up too?”
Timber, who had also managed to get Denny and Lean’s kite up, frowned jealously as he watched Flash help launch three more kites into the sky. What does everybody seem to like about that guy? There’s absolutely nothing special about him. Heck, that annoying brat that he calls his brother has more personality than he does!
“Uh, Mr. Timber, can Lean and I fly our kite now?” Denny asked, timidly.
“Sure. Knock yourself out,” Timber flatly replied as he carelessly handed Denny the string before storming off back into the lodge.
“Whoa! Denny, what are you doing?” Lean cried, seeing their kite dipping.
“I don’t know,” Denny cried. “Somebody, help!”
“Pull the string a little bit,” Twilight called out as she rushed to help them.
Denny did as he was told, and the kite righted itself. “Gee, thanks, Ms. Twilight.”
Later that afternoon, Thorax called the volunteers to a quick meeting with Gloriosa and Timber.
“Just to clarify, most of you have been here before, right?” Gloriosa asked uneasily.
The oldest volunteers voiced their agreements.
“So, most of you know that today is the day when we make the flying lanterns, right?”
Again, almost all the teens agreed.
“I’ve got bad news. We won’t be able to do them this year.”
“What?!” cried Pinkie Pie.
“The National Park Service sent out a notice that floating lanterns are banned from wooded areas for being a fire hazard,” Timber Spruce explained.
“But, but I told Missy that we’d be making them, and she was so looking forward to that,” Pinkie whined.
“To be fair, she was kind of looking forward to pretty much everything,” Micro Chips pointed out.
“Maybe we can have them do something else instead,” Flash suggested.
“I know, but what?” replied Thorax.
“I’ve got it!” exclaimed First Base. “You know those paper bag lantern things that the cancer research organization sells as a fundraiser?”
“You mean luminarias?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, those. Maybe the kids can make them instead of the flying ones. It’s basically the same thing without the flying.”
“That’s a great idea, Little Bro,” Flash praised before turning to Gloriosa. “Do we have all the stuff that we’re going to need for that?”
“Well, that depends on what you’re going to need,” the camp director replied.
“Candles and paper bags for sure,” Flash answered.
“And paint and markers for decorating,” Derpy added.
“We’re also going to need something to weigh down the bottom with so that it doesn’t fall over,” explained Sandalwood. Everyone gave him questioning looks in response. “I made one once back in elementary school. I think my art teacher used dry sand.”
“Well, I always keep art supplies in stock for the campers, so we aren’t going to need to worry about those first few things. It’s just that last one we need to figure out,” said Gloriosa.
“What if some of us went to look for dirt and small rocks over by the rock quarry?” Sunset suggested. “That could work.”
“I’m way ahead of you, sister,” Pinkie cheered as she pulled out two beach buckets and two beach shovels from her hair. Everyone stared at her in shock before shrugging the occurrence off as Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.
As the sun began to set, everyone was hard at work decorating their luminarias. Thorax and the volunteers were also making their own while helping the children with theirs. Timber Spruce was once again among them, and once again, he was trying to find a way to get Twilight’s attention. He saw her sharing a table with Derpy and four kids. He also noticed that Flash’s table was quite a distance away from her and smiled. Now, all he had to do was find a kid who obviously needed his help where Twilight can see and swoop in and save the evening. To his luck, a girl at Twilight’s table was just sitting there doing nothing.
“Hey, there. Need help?” he asked.
“Uh, no,” Bee retorted as she continued to just sit there.
“Uh, you sure?”
“Do I look like I need your help?” the 12-year-old snapped.
“Well, if you don’t need my help, then why aren’t you decorating your bag?” Timber answered back.
“Because I don’t want it decorated. Duh!”
Timber was completely taken aback by the girl’s biting attitude. “But your lantern won’t look as nice if you don’t decorate your bag.”
“You think I care. It’s just going to get thrown out when we’re done anyway, so why bother?”
“Well,” Timber stuttered as he reached for Bee’s bag. “I could decorate it for you if you don’t want to do it yourself.”
“I said that I don’t want it decorated,” Bee screamed, swatting Timber’s hand away.
“Timber, stop bothering her,” Twilight scolded. “She doesn’t have to decorate her lantern if she doesn’t want to.”
Timber scowled as he rubbed his stinging hand, seeing his plans to impress Twilight go up in flames. First Base and Micro
Chips happened to be at a nearby table and witnessed the whole scene.
“Can you believe this guy?” Base said to Micro with his eyes.
Micro shrugged and rolled his eyes in agreement.
Timber looked around at the nearby tables for another chance at making himself look good. To Base and Micro’s surprise, he started making his way towards their table, specifically towards Sid.
“Hey, kid, you sure you want your lantern that color?” Timber asked Sid as the boy continued to paint his paper bag black.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Sid answered.
“You know that the light isn’t going to show very well through black, right?”
“I know. It’s all part of my design.”
“You sure you don’t want to use another color. How about blue? Or green? Do you like those?”
“I like them. They’re just not what I’m going for.” Sid began to scoot away from Timber, suddenly feeling uncomfortable about the conversation.
Timber could feel his frustration about to boil over.
“Well, what are you going for then?” he asked with forced composure.
“If you can get me a hole puncher or a really sharp stick, then I can show you,” Sid replied.
“Yeah, you can do something that simple, can’t you, Timber?” First Base taunted with a smirk.
Timber scowled, remembering that the younger teen had snitched on him last night. “Of course, I can. I happen to know where my sister keeps the art supplies.”
“Then, go get it.”
Timber growled under his breath but went and fetched the desired implements anyway. When he returned to the table, he unceremoniously set them on the table.
“Thanks, Mr. Timber,” Sid said before turning to admire his handiwork. He had painted his bag completely black, and the paint was already mostly dry. He looked over the tools that Timber had brought and after much deliberation, chose the pointed stick. Using the stick, he carefully punched out a series of holes in a starry sky pattern all over the bag.
“Wow, Sid!” First Base exclaimed. “That’s going to look so cool lit up.”
“Yeah, it is!” agreed Micro.
Timber Spruce rolled his eyes at this. How was he supposed to know that was what the kid was going for? He sighed and went back inside the lodge to sulk.
The sun had almost completely sunk beneath the horizon when everyone finished decorating their luminarias. Thorax and the volunteers filled the bottom with dirt and pebbles and placed a small candle inside each one. One by the one, the children took their luminarias to Gloriosa for lighting before placing them around the gazebo. Everybody stepped back as they admired the warm, colorful glow surrounding the gazebo.
“Maybe our kites and our lanterns can be our camp gift,” said Willow Blossom. “We’re already going to have to leave them behind anyway.”
“The kites and lanterns are made of paper,” pointed out Honey Bee. “They’ll be trash before the next group of campers even get here.”
“It wasn’t a bad idea. It’s actually a pretty good idea,” Gypsy said to Willow, making the younger girl brighten.
“Can I look at the lights from inside the gazebo, Mr. Thorax? Please?” asked Gale.
“Me too,” cried Sage Leaf and Minty. Soon, many other children were clamoring for permission to see the lanterns from inside the gazebo.
“Okay, settle down, everyone,” Thorax replied. “The gazebo’s not going to be able to hold all of you, so you’re going to have to go in a few at a time. Gale, you, Minty and Sage can go first since you asked first.”
The three girls excitedly rushed into the gazebo. They gasped as they admired their surroundings. It was like the three of them were wrapped in a cocoon of colored fire.
“It’s even prettier from the inside,” gasped Sage.
“Every night I lie in bed,” Gale began to sing as she slowly spun around the gazebo. “The brightest colors fill my head”
“A million dreams are keeping me awake,” her brother joined her. “I think of what the world could be/A vision of the one I see/A million dreams is all it's gonna take”
First Base involuntarily sang along with them, “A million dreams for the world we're gonna make” He quickly clamped a hand over his mouth when he realized what he just did.
“You like that song too, First Base?” Robby turned and asked him. Aww, great! He had been heard.
“I mean, I guess I do,” Base hesitantly answered. “I just don’t like people knowing that I like that song.”
“Why not?” asked Missy.
“Well, it’s silly.”
“How is it silly?” Gale asked as she, Sage, and Minty walked out the gazebo and the next group of children went in.
“Well, it’s about pretty colors and dreams.”
“Wait. So, kids aren’t allowed to have dreams anymore when they grow up because dreams are silly?” asked Arrow Swift with wide eyes.
Base’s jaw dropped as he mentally facepalmed himself, realizing what he had just implied. He looked to his brother and the older volunteers for help with a desperate, pleading look.
Flash bit his lip as he carefully thought of how to diffuse the situation.
“Some people do say that, yes,” Flash began to the shock of Thorax and all the other volunteers, “but I think those people are wrong.”
“Oh, well, why do people say that, Mr. Flash?” asked Lean.
“Because dreams don’t come true. That’s why,” Bee huffed. “I mean, sure, some people’s dreams come true, but other people just get theirs totally crushed, which is just so unfair!”
“Bee, honey, I know you’re upset, but please let Mr. Flash finish,” Thorax admonished the girl.
Bee crossed her arms and muttered, “Don’t call me that.”
“Actually,” Flash continued with a sigh, “Bee kinda got it mostly right. I think people who say that dreams are silly probably gave up on dreaming because theirs never came true. Maybe some of them have even had dreams broken.”
“What happens when a dream gets broken?” asked Minty.
“I don’t know I’ve never had a dream break before,” Flash paused as he suddenly remembered something. “Oh, wait, yeah, you know what? I think I have had a dream break before.”
All the volunteers except Micro Chips and Derpy turned towards him with wide, shocked eyes, especially Twilight.
Flash bent down so that he was closer to eye level with the kids. “When I was your age, I had a dream that I’d have a normal, happy family with a mom and a dad like all the other kids. When my dad went away, I spent years trying to call him and write to him, begging him to come back. When I finally realized that that dream wasn’t going to come true no matter how hard I tried, a piece of my heart broke along with the dream.”
“Oh no!” exclaimed Gale. Many other children frowned in agreement. “Were you able to get your heart fixed, Mr. Flash?”
“I was,” Flash nodded with a smile.
“Did the dream get fixed too?” asked Arrow.
Flash pressed his lips together thoughtfully. “Sometimes, broken dreams do get fixed, but mine, well, mine kinda just stayed broken.”
“Aww,” the children chorused in sympathy.
“Hey,” Flash reassured, “Don’t be sad about that. The good thing about broken dreams that don’t get fixed is that they make room for new dreams, better dreams.”
“What’s your new dream, Mr. Flash?” asked Robby.
Flash smirked secretively. “Do you wanna know?”
All the kids surrounding him nodded.
“Do you really wanna know?”
The kids nodded even harder.
“Do you really, really wanna know?”
“Yes!” the children cried impatiently.
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you,” Flash chuckled. “My new dream is,” he paused, “is to grow up to be a good dad.”
“That’s it?!” Bee cried in disappointed bewilderment. “All that build up, and all you want in life is to be a good dad?”
“You’d make a great dad, Mr. Flash,” exclaimed Gale. All the other kids, except Bee, voiced their agreements.
Flash shook his head in amusement. “You guys sure you’re not just saying that because you guys like me?”
“Of course, we are,” declared Denny. “If we didn’t like you, you’d make a terrible dad.”
Flash burst out laughing, and Twilight and the rest of the volunteers soon followed.
“I’m serious,” Denny insisted.
Flash managed to stop laughing long enough to answer him, “Oh, I know, Denny. I’m just laughing because I’m happy.”
Twilight thought about talking to Denny about the gaps in his logic but decided that was a conversation better suited for another time.
“Anyway,” Flash continued as he straightened up. “That’s enough talking about me. What about your dreams?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” replied Gale. “I want to marry a prince,” she paused, “and be a singer.”
“Oh, gee, Mr. Flash,” said Robby. “I don’t think I have one yet.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Flash reassured him. “I’m sure you’ll get one eventually.”
“Oh, I know,” added Carpenter. “I want to build skyscrapers.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Chitin. “Well, I want to build airplanes.”
“Oooh, oooh!” squealed Pinkie Pie. “My dream is to break the world record for most cupcakes iced in one minute. Right now, my personal best is 15, and the record to beat is 20. Oooh, I’m so close I can almost taste it.” With that, Pinkie immediately pulled a cupcake out of her hair and ate it in one bite.
“What about you, Ms. Twilight?” asked Willow. “Do you have a dream?”
“Oh, me,” Twilight replied, surprised. “Well, when I was about your age, I wanted to win as many awards for science, technology, and math as humanly possible including the Nobel prize.” Twilight smiled in nostalgia before suddenly frowning. “But now, I think I’ve changed my mind about that.”
“You can change your mind about dreams?” Missy exclaimed, shocked.
“Of course,” Sunset agreed. “Sometimes, when you look back, some dreams just aren’t as nice as you thought they were. Back when I was younger, I wanted to be so powerful that no one could make me feel helpless again.” She sighed. “Let’s just say that that dream getting destroyed was the best thing that could have happened to me and everyone else.”
Everyone looked to Sunset and blinked in confusion.
“Let me explain it this way,” Derpy cut in. “Remember how in Tangled, Flynn Rider’s first dream was to get really rich?”
“Oh, yeah!” Gale exclaimed. “Then, he realized that having someone to love was better than having money.”
“Right. Having dreams change is a lot like that.”
“Anyway,” Twilight continued. “I used to think that if I got a lot of recognition for what I did, then that meant that I was good at what I did, and I want to be good at what I do.” She shook her head. “Now, I’m thinking that maybe the prizes don’t matter as much as I thought they did. Maybe the whole point of getting good at what I do should be using what I’m good at to help people.”
“Like how you help us with our homework whenever you come over with Mr. Flash and Ms. D,” said Kit.
“Or how she helped us study for our final exams,” added Pinkie.
“Is that your new dream, Ms. Twilight?” asked Gypsy.
“You know what?” Twilight declared with a wide smile. “I think it is.”
“So, I’m guessing you’ve gotten over not winning ‘Most Likely to Invent Cold Fusion’?” Micro Chips asked with a smirk.
“Don’t push it, Chips.” Everyone else laughed as Micro recoiled at Twilight’s scowl.
“Well, my dream is to paint a picture with Flanksy,” said Lean.
“How are you going to do that?” Bee scoffed. “NO ONE knows who he or she even is.”
“Well, actually,” Pinkie Pie began. “I know who Flanksy is. I ran into her by accident, but she didn’t want anyone to know who she really is, so she made me Pinkie promise not to tell anyone, so I can’t tell you who she is even though I really, really, really want to.”
Sunset cringed and put a hand on her forehead as she listened to Pinkie prattle.
“Wait. Flanksy’s a she?” Sid realized.
“Oopsies.” Pinkie covered her mouth in embarrassment.
“Uh, hey, Lean,” Sunset interrupted. “Why don’t you tell us some more about that dream of yours?”
“Well,” Lean started. “I think it’d be really cool to be able to paint with Flanksy. It’d also be great if I can have one of my pictures up on a wall for everyone to see.”
At Lean’s last sentence, Sunset’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. “Oh my gosh.”
“What?” asked Sandalwood.
“Okay, there’s 16 kids, eight volunteers, and Thorax in our group. How are we just barely coming up with this?” Sunset exclaimed.
“You do realize that we have no idea what you’re talking about, right?” Base deadpanned.
“You know what? It’s late. Let’s just get to bed for now. Meet me between the main lodge and the picnic tables tomorrow morning after breakfast.”