The next morning at breakfast, the volunteers took their seats at their personal table. Somebody was noticeably missing.
“Where’s Sunset?” asked Flash as he and the male volunteers set their food down and took their seats.
“She just grabbed a slice of toast and said that she needed to talk to Gloriosa about something,” Twilight replied before downing a spoonful of granola. “We’re honestly just as in the dark as you guys.”
“Hey, Bro,” called Base. “Thanks for bailing me out of that jam I got myself into last night.” He groaned as he slumped forward, propping he head up with his left arm. “Ugh. I can’t believe I told those kids that dreams were silly. Why did I even say that?”
“You wouldn’t have said it if a part of you didn’t believe it,” his brother bluntly replied. “The better question is when did you start believing it and why.”
“I don’t know. Maybe around the time I started getting bullied. As for why, I honestly don’t really know either. Everything about me that wasn’t about getting good at baseball just started feeling really silly of a sudden.” Base sighed. “The goofing around, the mouth noises, auditioning for the school play, making other people laugh, even the dreaming. All of it just felt silly and worthless.”
“Hey!” Pinkie cried in protest. “Making people laugh is not silly!” After receiving several confused stares from her friends, she continued, “Okay, fine. It’s silly. It’s totally silly, but it’s not worthless. I mean, who wants to spend their life being serious and laugh-less ALL the time? Sure, you need to be serious to get stuff done, but if you’re serious ALL the time, you’re going to end up a horrible, meanypants party-pooper like Ex-Principal Cinch.”
“Or like Ms. Chrysalis,” Flash pointed out.
“Or like Sunset back when she was mean,” Micro Chips added, earning him glares from all the high schoolers at the table. “She got better.”
“Look, Little Bro. I think what Pinkie is trying to say is that all the stuff about you that you think is silly doesn’t make you worthless. That bit of silliness keeps you from turning into a life-sucking blackhole that no one wants to be around.”
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to say,” Pinkie agreed.
First Base smiled at that. “Man, am I going to miss you guys when you leave for college.”
“Hey, I’m still going to be in town. I’m going to be working with the Cakes as a baking assistant. I’m going to be pretty busy though with two jobs and everything, but hey, at least you’ll see me around,” Pinkie rambled.
“Yeah, and Everton isn’t that far away,” Twilight pointed out. “Flash and Sunset can still come down and visit every couple weekends or so.”
“Which is more than what Twilight and I will be able to do since the two of are going to school so far away,” Micro Chips added before putting a hand to his face. “Oh, my poor mother.”
“On top of that, I’ll try to call you and the family every week,” Flash reassured his brother. “Come on. Let’s finish up. We still have to see whatever Sunset was going on about last night.”
After everyone finished breakfast, Thorax, the kids, and the rest of the volunteers met Sunset Shimmer at the side of the main lodge that was facing the picnic tables. A large tarp was spread on the ground, and several cans of paint and other painting supplies were strewn on top of it.
“Okay,” Sunset began. “So, last night, Lean gave me a great idea for what you guys can do for your camp gift.”
“Is that what all this paint is for?” asked Minty.
“That’s exactly what all this paint is for because your camp gift for is going to be a mural that you’re going to paint right on this wall.” Sunset gestured towards the empty wall emphatically.
“Wow! That IS a great idea,” Gypsy declared, genuinely impressed.
“It’s not too hard or too small, and everybody after us will know that we were here,” noted Chitin.
“But what are we going to paint on the wall?” asked Bee.
“That is what these are for.” Sunset made her way to a nearby table and picked up a sketchbook and a pencil. “I’m going to have a certain someone come up with a design for our mural.”
“Who?” asked Robby.
“Lean.”
“Me?” cried Lean, who suddenly ducked behind his brother.
“Why not? You said that you wanted one of your pictures up on a wall. Now’s your chance.”
“But what if nobody else likes it?” Lean protested, still hiding behind Sid.
“Come on, Lean. You’re the best drawer out of all of us,” said Sid, trying to pry his brother off him. “If anyone can draw a picture good enough to put on a wall, it’s you.”
“Besides,” Sunset continued, “if you do it, I’ll let you in on a little secret of mine.”
“What kind of a secret?”
“The kind that not even your big brother or best friend is allowed to know.”
“Oh, gee, I still don’t know, but I guess I can try.” Lean let go of Sid, took the sketchbook and pencil from Sunset, and sat down. “Okay, here I go,” he said as he opened the sketchbook and touched the tip of the pencil to the blank page.
Five minutes later, Lean was slumped forward on the table with the sketchbook sandwiched between his face and the tabletop. “I can’t think of anything to draw!”
“You’re only five. How can you be out of ideas already?” Kit cried, facepalming.
“I’ll never get a picture up on a wall,” Lean whined despondently.
“Hey, none of that,” Sunset scolded, pulling Lean upright by the shoulders and bending down to his level. “Look at me, kid. We are not gonna quit, and we are going to get one of your ideas up on that wall even if it kills us.”
“Uh, yeah, by ‘us,’ you mean just you, right?” Bee deadpanned.
“You know what? Forget the sketchbook for now.” Sunset pushed the sketchbook away from Lean. “Just breathe in.”
“Why?” Lean asked.
“Just do it. It will help. Trust me.”
Lean shrugged but did as he was told.
“Now, slowly let it out.”
Lean slowly exhaled.
“Okay, now, shut your eyes.”
Lean squeezed his eyes shut.
“And go to your happy place.”
Lean’s eyes popped open. “What’s a happy place?”
“Oh, well, it’s the place in your head where you go to think about stuff that makes you happy,” Sunset explained.
“Oh, gee, I don’t know if I have one of those.”
Sunset scratched the top of her head in thought. “Okay, I guess you can just start thinking about stuff that makes you
happy then.”
“Okay, I’ll try.” Lean once again shut his eyes.
After about a minute, Sid asked him, “You getting anything, Lean?”
“No, no yet. Wait. I’m thinking of something.”
“What?”
“I’m thinking of,” Lean paused, “Gale singing.”
“You want to draw Gale singing?” Bee snarked.
“No, not really. I just like listening to her sing.” His eyes shot open as he gasped. “Wait. What if listening to Gale sing helps give me an idea?”
“Well, if it will help, I’ll be glad to,” Gale agreed. “What do you want me to sing?”
“Oh, uh, I guess whatever you want.”
Gale smiled triumphantly at her younger brother.
“No,” Robby whined futilely. “Lean, why?”
“I’ll go get my guitar,” Flash offered.
“And I got the wind in my hair and a song in my heart and the fun's only started/I got a skip in my step and I haven't a care/That beautiful breeze blowing through/It's gonna carry me who knows where/But I'll take any dare/With the wind in my haaaaaaaaiiiiir!” Gale closed the song. “I got a smile on my face and I'm walking on air/And everything life ought to be/Well, I know that it's waiting for me out there/And I'll find it, I swear/With the wind in my haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrr!”
“Please tell me you thought of something already,” Robby whimpered to Lean with his hands over his ears.
“Hmmm, nothing yet,” replied Lean with his eyes closed. “Oh, wait. I think I see something. It looks like…a sun!”
“A sun?” repeated Sunset.
“Yeah.” Then, Lean gasped and opened his eyes before grabbing the sketchbook and furiously sketching something. He drew what looked like a sun in the upper right corner of the page. However, its rays appeared to be made of little handprints. On the left side of the page, he drew a tree trunk with a single long branch. On the top side, he drew two beautifully fluffy clouds. Along the bottom, he drew what looked like handprints growing out of the ground with stems and leaves.
He showed the drawing to Sunset as he pointed to the corresponding places on the wall. “We can put the sun up there and make the rays out of our hands. We can also make flowers with our hands. I didn’t know how to draw it, but I was thinking that we can make birds and butterflies with our hands too.”
“That’s brilliant, kid,” Sunset praised, ruffling Lean’s blue-tipped, black hair. “I knew you had it in you.”
“Hey, everybody!” Sunset called to everyone else present. “Lean just gave me the design for our camp gift, so this is what we’re going to do next. I’m going to need a few helpers to help me paint on the background. Ms. Gloriosa only had fifteen painter’s smocks, so not all of you will be able to help all at once. Why don’t half of you help paint while the other half can do something else?”
Since no one objected, Thorax, Twilight, Micro Chips, and Sandalwood helped half of the kids put on the painter’s smocks while Flash, Pinkie, First Base, and Derpy sat with the other half at the picnic tables.
“So, what are we going to be doing while they paint?” asked Robby.
“Well, I’ve already got my guitar out,” Flash noted. “We could sing a song.”
“Oooh,” Pinkie squealed. “Let’s teach the kids the camp song.”
“There’s a camp song?” uttered Base.
“Yeah, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna taught it to us when we came here last year,” Derpy explained.
“How does it go?” Gale asked.
“Hit it, Flash,” Pinkie yelled. Flash began playing the opening bars of the song as Pinkie sang. “Will you be lost by time or be part of history?/Will your story be told or remain a mystery?/Will they sing your song, telling all that you have done?/Time to make your choice, only you can be the one”
“Oh, oh, oh-oh-whoa,” Flash joined Pinkie. “As you join in the Legend of Everfree!”
“Hey!” Derpy clapped along.
“Oh, oh, oh-oh-whoa/As you join in the Legend of Everfree!”
“Hey! Hey! Hey!” First Base began clapping along with Derpy.
Flash and Pinkie suddenly stopped when they heard somebody laugh. They turned towards the sound and saw Gloriosa approaching their group.
“Nice to see that that old song is still around,” Gloriosa noted as she sat next to them. “You know, I don’t say this to a lot of campers, but the camp gift tradition actually started with that song.”
“Really?” gasped Gale.
“Uh-huh,” Gloriosa nodded. “The first group of campers that Camp Everfree ever had left that song behind to help future campers remember this place and what a great time they had here.”
“Wait,” said Flash as he pressed his lips together in thought. “Didn’t you say that this place has been around since your great-grandparents’ time?”
“Wow!” Ala gasped. “That’s a long time for a song to be around.”
The adult and teenagers all laughed at that.
“I wonder how long our gift is going to last,” Kit asked, looking towards the group that was painting.
“Well, maybe one day, when you’re all grown up and have kids of your own, you’ll be able to bring them here to see it,” replied Gloriosa.
“That’s a long time from now,” said Ala with wide, wonder-filled eyes.