//------------------------------//
// Camp Everfree 
// Story: TD vs Equestria Girls 
// by BronyWriter 
//------------------------------//

Some days things actually go pretty well. 

Usually my day is jam packed with all of the stuff that goes into ruling a nation, but for whatever reason, things had lined up so that I didn't actually have anything to do until the next afternoon. Weird. Celestia and Nymeria were all in the Crystal Empire for some function or another, so that left me more or less to my own devices. I technically could go hang out with Luna and see Maia some more, but just hanging out with Luna was kind of odd. It wasn't like we disliked each other, despite our differences in the past, but just the two of us hanging out would be weird. 

I got up off of my throne and stretched out as the door closed behind the last pony coming to court. Thankfully stuff about the war had slowed down considerably, so it wasn't as stressful as it normally was. I never thought I'd be happy to have Day Court be boring, but dealing with taxes is far preferable to dealing with grieving widows. 

"Alright, Blaze, Rapids, how about we get some lunch, whaddya say?"

"Sounds pretty good to me," Blaze said, adjusting his armor. "I've actually gotten a bit of a hankering for some of your imitation meat."

"Easy to do when you know it's not a real animal you're eating," Rapids agreed, following behind me with Blaze. "You're definitely right about bacon, Prince Antares."

"Sure am," I agreed as we reached my private dining room. "One of the best periods of my reign here, and I'm pretty sure that the chefs who got raises for discovering the formula were pretty happy about it, too."

"Ah, raises," Blaze said wistfully. "I don't remember the last time I got one, can you, Rapids?"

"No, I can't," Rapids said with a sad shake of her head. "It had to have been before the war, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "You guys got a raise six months ago. You're going to have to wait until the year mark like everypony else."

"And after everything we've done for him," Blaze muttered.

Sheesh. 

I opened the door to my dining room to see that Kristen is already there with a plate of food already in front of her. If I had to guess, she'd made it herself, as she doesn't really need to have the palace chefs make her anything. When she can make anything appear out of thin air, she doesn't really need chefs.

Especially since some of the stuff she makes for herself to eat aren't exactly food, per se. 

She looked up when she heard us come in and smiled at me. "Hey, TD. How's it going?"

"It's going well," I replied, taking my usual seat at the table while Blaze and Rapids each took a spot of their own. Ever since the war and everything else they'd gone through with me, they had special privileges. Some of those extended to being able to eat in my personal dining room. 

We had just started up with lunch when I got a knock on my dining room door. I lit my horn and opened the door where Tulip walked in, holding a book in her magic. She bowed to me and put the book in front of me. "Prince Antares, Sunset Shimmer just sent you a message through the book."

I made a noise of interest and brought the book closer to me. I flipped it open to the correct page and saw that, yes, Sunset had indeed contacted me. Hopefully it wasn't something world-threatening this time around. I was hoping for a lazy weekend, not something where I had to save the alternate world. 

"Oh yeah, is that the book to the human world you were telling me about?" Kristen asked, pushing her plate of eggs and tin foil aside. 

I nodded. "Yeah, that'd be this. From what I can see, there's nothing too bad going on. The two sirens are doing fine, and they're going to a summer camp that..." I groaned and facehooved. "Feels like it has some magic there."

"Ah." Blaze grimaced and steepled his hooves. "We're going to have to go back there, aren't we?"

"Looks like it," I replied. "Hopefully it's nothing as bad as the sirens, but I can see why she'd want my help at least checking things out. It's just a bit of a hum more than anything right now, but both her and the sirens felt it."

"Our time to shine then," Rapids replied, getting up from her seat. "I assume we're leaving ASAP?"

"Pretty much," I said, standing up myself. "I'd rather get all of this settled now instead of putting it off, then having to work a lot harder to fix the issue."

"Ooh, so I get to come along this time, right?" Kristen replied with a large grin. "I haven't been a human in months!" She frowned and tapped her jaw. "Come to think of it, I haven't been a normal pony in months either."

Yeeaahhh. I suppose that I couldn't stop Kristen from coming along even if I wanted to. Although, my level of security around the mirror was high enough that I could probably stop her if I wanted to, but that would cause a pretty big rift. She would not be happy about that. At all. A highly irritated chaos lord sister who created the One Ring just to prank me would be somepony I would rather not piss off. Still, I didn't know if her chaos powers would transfer over to that world. If they did...

"Uh... yeah, I guess so," I said. 

"Yes!" Kristen flew up and punched the air. "This is gonna be so much fun!" She landed and shoved her entire meal, and plate, in her mouth. She didn't even chew it as it went down. "So, you said that you punched your counterpart last time you saw him. I wonder if he'll be there."

"Yeah, that's a good point," Rapids replied, grinning at me. "If he is there, do you think he'll still be mad?"

I groaned as they continued making jokes at my expense. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.


*  *  *  *


After making the usual arrangements, the four of us made our way to my weapons room, where the usual four stoic guards waited for me. Lately I'd actually cast a background pony spell on them, just so if someone was walking past, they wouldn't notice the four guards guarding a random stretch of wall. When we reached them, they nodded at us in unison. 

"Prince Antares," the one on the back right said, "what are the five worst films to win Best Picture?"

"I turned and looked at the pony right next to him. "The Greatest Show on Earth, The Broadway Melody, Out of Africa, Cimarron and Shakespeare in Love."

"There was one that just came out called Moonlight that was pretty bad," Kristen muttered to herself as the guards nodded, and the door opened before us. We walked in, and I went up to the mirror to plug the book in while Kristen took a look around. "So this is the mythical weapons room of yours."

"Sure is," I said, smiling when I heard the telltale hum of magic when I plugged the book in. "And while a lot of ponies know it exists, I'd like to keep it as much of a myth as I can. Nopony can get in, but I'd rather not have ponies or other creatures killing themselves trying."

"Wow." She frowned and picked up a prototype gun I had lying on one of the workbenches. "So if I, for example, disguised myself as you, then came down here and used that password, and I didn't manage to get in, what would happen?"

I glared at her and used my magic to take the gun out of her grasp. "Well, the whole palace would lock down, I'd teleport here almost immediately, and enough freezing spells would be shot at you that it'd take you weeks to thaw out." My eyes narrowed further when she tilted her head in thought. "So don't even think about it. Discord at the height of his powers wouldn't be able to get in here."

Kristen huffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. I won't try to sneak into your weapons Fort Knox."

"See that you don't," I grumbled.

"Ah, siblings," Rapids said with a sigh. "This brings back memories with me and my four sisters."

"I just have the one older brother, so I think I lucked out with the sibling draw," Blaze said. 

"In any case," I began before they could get going, "I think it's time to head back to the human world once again. I lit my horn and opened up one of the drawers on the workbench, taking out a small backpack containing our phones and keys. "Let's do it."

I stepped through the portal and once again felt like I'd taken too many drugs for just a brief second. When the portal spat me back out, I quickly got to my feet and stepped aside just as Blaze, Rapids and Kristen came through themselves. Blaze and Rapids, being used to this by this point, didn't make any fuss at all. Kristen on the other hand...

"Holy cow, that was trippy!" she said before looking down at herself. "This is pretty trippy, too! I gotta admit that I didn't see this coming. When you said human, I thought I'd look the same as I did back on Earth, but wow was I wrong about that." She examined her blue arm and shook her head. "I look like some kind of Star Trek alien."

"Eh, you get used to it," I replied with a shrug. "It was pretty crazy for me the first time around. For now, though, I say we get to the house and check things out. From what Sunset was saying, the bus already left for Camp Everfree, so if the car is still there, we should be able to just drive on over. Given everything that's happened, I don't think that Principal Celestia would mind if we tagged along, especially if we say that there's magic involved."

"And that you haven't punched her in the face for a little while," Blaze pointed out as we began walking to the house. "That would improve her mood."

"Yes, it definitely would," I agreed. 

Kristen scoffed and shook her head. "Yeah, what is it with you and the punching in the face? You were never like that back on Earth. I would know. We got into a lot of fights, but never any fisticuffs."

"Extenuating circumstances," I admitted. "I'd never been dragged into another world and told I could never go home."

Kristen grimaced a bit and took a deep breath. "Yeah," she muttered. "Life is funny, isn't it? We come here and you're a pony prince and I'm the god of chaos in that world. Weird."

"Definitely. That aside..." I motioned in the direction of the house. "Let's get to our home away from home."


*  *  *  *


We made it to the house after about a forty-five minute walk. Kristen mostly just looked around at everything, marveling at the similarities and differences from Earth. Truth be told, I was kind of like that the first time around, too. After several years as a pony, things that remind you of your old home do tend to be fascinating. 

When we arrived, I pulled the keys out of the backpack and walked in. The lights were all off, so I reached a switch and flipped them on. Right away I could see that, yeah, people actually lived here now. The new big screen TV had a couple of game systems hooked up to it, and I could see a cabinet full of movies in the entertainment center. The coffee table in front of the TV had a couple of magazines on them, as well as a book with a bookmark about halfway through. The garbage had thankfully been taken out, but a check of the fridge showed it stocked with food. Overall, it had the general clutter of three people living there. 

Well, this isn't how we left it," Blaze said as he flopped down on the couch. 

"Yeah, but I think that's good," I replied.

"I wonder who won the fight of who would get the master bedroom," Rapids said thoughtfully. "Do you think it was Sunset, since the sirens don't have powers to use anymore?"

"Either way, you kinda went overboard with this one," Kristen said, sitting at one of the stools at the kitchen counter and taking an apple out of the fruit bowl. "I can see why you'd do this if you were a millionaire here, but I guess you wanted to be comfortable in case you got stuck here." Kristen frowned and looked down at her apple. "Although, now that I think about it..." She waved her hand over the apple, and it instantly turned into a bright pink orange.

Oh dear.

"Yes!" she said, pumping her fist. "I still have my chaos powers!" She took a bite out of the orange, peel and all. "This is gonna be great!"

That could either be really good, or really bad. If something evil popped up at the camp, her powers would likely be invaluable when it came to dealing with it. On the other hand, since becoming the chaos lord, the slight mischievous streak she'd had back on Earth had multiplied times a hundred, and pranks at camp are just part of tradition. 

Long story short, after a rocky start, she'd taken to her new powers quite nicely. 

I forced a smile on my face and took an orange, peeling it first like a normal person. "Yeah. Good to know, if nothing else."

"Oh, don't be such a grump," Kristen said as she waved her hand and turned my fully peeled orange into a plum while making the orange peels bounce into the trash by themselves. "Camp plus chaos powers equals lots of fun."

"I'm with her on this," Rapids chimed in as she walked down the stairs into the kitchen. "Although..." She jerked her thumb in the direction of the master bathroom. "Did Sunset tell you that she installed a hot tub in the bathroom?"

I rolled my eyes and opened up my backpack to take my cellphone and charger out. Guess Sonata had fully worn her down on that one. I plugged my phone into the outlet on the kitchen island and turned it on. To my surprise, I actually had one text message. I shouldn't have had one. Everyone here knows I take my cellphone with me when I go back to Equestria. I opened up the text, and shouldn't have been surprised when I saw it was from Pinkie, but I was anyway for some reason. 

Hey, Prince Antares! Just texting to see if this actually works. Miss you guys lots!

Well, at least she didn't bombard my phone with dozens of texts. I pulled up Sunset's text thread to start messaging her.

Hey, we just made it. We're at the house now. How are things on your end? Any updates about the magic you were talking about?

I didn't have to wait more than a minute for a response. 

Yeah, there's nothing new in regards to the magic, but both Sonata, Aria and myself all felt it. Speaking of the Sirens, though, when we got here, we actually found Adagio. She's one of the camp councilors here. Has been for about six months now. She's not saying what she was doing between the last time we saw her and when she started here, but the other two were obviously happy to see her, and it looks like she's mellowed out a lot. Got a haircut, at least. I haven't personally talked to her, so I haven't been able to ask her anything about the magic.

"Wow," I muttered to myself. "That's unexpected."

"What?" Blaze asked, sitting up from the couch. "What's unexpected?"

"They found Adagio. She's working at Camp Everfree, if you can believe it."

"Huh, it'll be strange to see her again," Rapids said. "The last time we saw each other, you nearly blew her head off with a shotgun, and the two of us cut the other with a knife. The two of us and Adagio might be the only relationship here more awkward than you and Principal Celestia."

"Well, you slammed Aria's head into a statue and knocked her out, and she doesn't seem to resent it completely. Besides, Sunset said that Adagio has mellowed out, so maybe she's moved past it."

"Hope so," Rapids said. "Otherwise me might have an awkward weekend."

"If we stay that long," I said. "I'd rather head out as soon as we find out where the magic is coming from and fix whatever issues come with it." I took a bite out of my plum and grimaced for a brief moment when it tasted like a cucumber. Of course she would. The worst part about her pranks like this is I couldn't get her back. What was I going to do to her food when she could eat literally anything?

"How's the plum, TD?" Kristen asked as she finished her blue orange.

"Delightful, thanks for asking," I replied. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction. Instead, I turned my attention back to my phone.

Huh, interesting. I'll have to see what she's like when I get up there. Keep me posted on any new developments, and we can talk when I arrive.

Sounds good. It's not a bad trip. Takes about four hours. I'll send you the directions. Credit card is in the drawer next to the kitchen. Your car should have a full tank.

Sounds good. See you in a few hours.

"Alright you guys, I think it's about time to head up," I said, clicking my phone off and putting it in my pocket. "Sunset says it's about a four hour drive to Camp Everfree, so if you need to hit the bathroom before we go, now would be the time. Sunset says that the car has a full tank of gas, but we should hit the gas station anyway for some snacks before we really hit the road."

Kristen shot me a confused look. "Snacks? Why would we buy snacks when I can just make whatever we want?"

The cucumber plum told me why that was a bad idea. "I don't know if--"

"I mean, I can just make anything. Peanut butter crackers?" She waved her hand, and a stack of them appeared on the counter. "How about some Doritos? Cheetos? Mountain Dew Code Red? Twinkies? More fruit? Vegetables? Fruit vegetables? Vegetable fruits? Edible tin foil? Filet Mignon? Seriously, people, we don't need to buy anything."

I groaned at the pile of snack food on the kitchen counter and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Let's just get going, okay?"


*  *  *  *


As Sunset stated, the drive up to Camp Everfree wasn't too bad. Kristen, Blaze and Rapids all had fun eating the feast of snacks Kristen had conjured, as well as playing poker on an invisible surface using M&Ms, Starbursts and Skittles for poker chips. When it came time to fill up about two-thirds of the way through our journey, I drew the line at Kristen offering to fill the car up with her magic. I'd rather not risk her doing something wrong an blowing the entire car up. That would have been bad. Very bad. At the very least we got to listen to my music on the way up since I was the one driving. 

We pulled into the camp at a little past six and parked next to the bus I assumed that the rest of the students had arrived in. The four of us hopped out, and everyone except Kristen stretched to loosen up a bit after the car ride. Sometimes I was a bit jealous of her powers, I have to admit. 

"So this is Camp Everfree, huh?" Kristen said, walking up to the sign that stated that yes, we were indeed at Camp Everfree.

"Looks like it," I said, clicking the fob to lock the car. "I guess the first thing to do is find Sunset and the rest of them. She didn't text me anything on the way up, so I don't think that there are any updates on what's going on around here." The four of us stepped underneath the arch that led to the camp, and I instantly flinched back as though I'd been electrocuted. Okay, yeah, something was definitely going on here.

"Anyone else feel like we just stepped into a power station?" Kirsten asked. "I can see why Sunset called you."

"Yeah, that's pretty impossible to miss," Blaze agreed. 

"It doesn't feel like anything evil right off the bad," Rapids pointed out. "It just feels kind of... there, more than anything."

"Definitely. I think we're going to have to find its source pretty quickly," I said. "The sooner we find that, the sooner we can solve the issue. I guess we should start with--"

I turned around and saw that Kristen had disappeared. A quick glance around showed me that she wasn't in sight. Great. Just great. Who knew what kind of trouble she could get into by herself? I doubted she'd do anything too bad, but... chaos lord. One never knew.

"She'll be fine," I said with a wave of my hand.

"Yeah, but... will we?" Blaze asked. 

"I..." I was never taking her through the portal again. "Yeah, yeah, sure."


*  *  *  *


Aright, Camp Everfree. Let's do some exploring while TD and his soldiers figure out what to do next. Yeah, I felt the magic the second I'd gone through the arch. I didn't know a lot about regular magic, but it didn't feel chaotic. 

I think I would know. Maybe. I wasn't even close to figuring out or developing all of my powers. From what TD and Celestia told me about Discord, he could do stuff I couldn't even imagine yet. 

Pushing those thoughts aside, I continued my exploring. It looked like a regular summer camp so far. It was pretty much exactly what I remember the summer camps TD and I went to growing up were. So far I hadn't seen anyone, but when I passed the rec hall, I heard a ton of people inside. I peeked through the window and saw that, yep, we'd caught the camp at free time. At least TD wouldn't have a hard time figuring out where Sunset and the rest of them were. 

That's when I turned around and saw one of the craziest things I've ever seen in my life. High bar, I know, but this was top three easily. I saw... me. Same hair and skin color, same clothes, same baffled expression on her face... yeah, if she was here, I'd guess that TD's double was here, too. 

"Whoa," we both said at the same time.

"Well, now I've seen everything," the other me said.

"Trust me, you haven't," I replied. "Still, bet you never thought you'd see another you. I know I didn't."

"Yeah," she said. "Definitely not. I guess you're the double from the pony land my brother and Celestia keep talking about."

"That'd be me." I walked up to her with a grin and extended my hand. "I'm Kristen."

"Eris," she said, taking my hand and shaking it. "Huh. Thought that would be your name, too."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "As if. They tried giving me a pony name, but I wasn't having it. Guess they would have called me Eris if I'd gone with it."

Eris shrugged. "Guess so. So I take it you're a pony over there, too?"

I nodded. "Yep, and..." My grin turned mischievous. "I also happen to be the chaos god over there, too."

A matching grin instantly crossed her face. "Oh really now? So I take it you like pranks?"

"I absolutely adore them," I confirmed. "And since I have chaos powers..." I waved my hand, and a tennis ball appeared out of nowhere. "I can pretty much do whatever I want."

"Ooh! I like it," Eris replied. She looked around for a moment before turning back to me. "So, since no one has seen us together, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Oh, I just might be," I said. 

"Parent trap?" Eris guessed. 

I nodded. "Parent trap."