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

Well, as much as a part of me wanted to tear the camp apart looking for Kristen so that I could keep an eye on her and make all of this go as smoothly as possible, I knew that wasn't going to happen. It would literally be impossible for me to keep her under control unless I wanted to use the Elements, and those were back in the Tree of Harmony. 

Sigh. 

Pushing all of that aside, the best place to start would definitely be finding Sunset. As the only other pony in the group, she'd have a better idea of what we were up against here. As usual, the three of us got a bunch of looks as we walked through the camp. I mean, I'm sure that it's pretty common knowledge that we're not just Canadians. We're magical and all that. But hey, now that Kristen is here, there are now four Canadians here! Or is it two because Blaze and Rapids aren't actually Canadians? Or is it only one because Kristen and I are both only half-Canadian? This is too complicated. 

Well, given that the camp isn't the size of Montana, finding a group of nine girls who are more or less attached at the hip isn't all that difficult. The Mane Six (now completing the set with Twilight), Sunset and the two reformed sirens are all standing around outside of what appears to be a rec hall of some kind. Sunset notices us first. She smiles and waves the three of us over. 

"Hey, Prince Antares. How are things?" she asked. 

"I should be asking you that question," I replied as I made it over to the group. "Seriously, I can feel the magic in this place. It's insane."

"Yeah, nothing's happened yet, but it's definitely noticeable," Sunset said with a nod.

"It's probably a good thing that we don't have our gems anymore," Aria chimed in. "I think the three of us would just go completely insane tearing the camp apart looking for it."

"Yeah, sounds right," I replied. "So have you managed to do any exploring? Have you gathered any more intel on what this could be?"

Sunset shook her head. "No, I haven't really had the chance to yet. We are here for summer camp, after all, and we don't have enough free time for me to just start wandering out in woods that I'm unfamiliar with on the off chance that I stumble into something."

"And she wouldn't let us help her," Pinkie pouted. "I mean, what could go wrong with the nine of us just randomly walking around in the woods with no idea of what we're looking for?"

"I dunno. That sounds like a game of capture the flag to me, or something like that," Rainbow pointed out.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, a simple flag is the same thing as a possibly dangerous power source."

"In this world, you never really know," Sonata pointed out.

"Granted." I took a deep breath and looked around. "So you think it's coming from the woods?"

"Must be," Sunset replied. "We've all looked around the camp and can't find anything. The forest is our last option. Plus it's where it's felt the strongest."

"Interesting." I shrugged. "Well, the four of us aren't quite as tied to the activities here, so we can spend a lot more time trying to figure out what's wrong here. Hopefully it's just some artifact that we can safely dispose of or take back to Equestria for safekeeping."

"Right, because it's always been that simple," Applejack muttered.

"I think Applejack might be right," Fluttershy said before frowning. "But hold on. You said four of you?" Her eyes lit up, and a huge smile crossed her face. "Did you bring your daughter?"

I raised my eyebrow at her. "Why on Earth would I do that? A potentially dangerous situation like this? That's asking for trouble. No, I brought my sister."

"Sister?!" Twilight and Rarity said at the same time.

"Yeah, she's..." I motioned around the camp. "Around here somewhere. She disappeared pretty much as soon as we got here." 

"Is she an alicorn in your world, too?" Twilight asked. 

I shook my head. "No. She's just a pegasus. Although..." I sighed and rubbed my temples. "She's kind of... the chaos lord over there. There used to be a chaos spirit called Discord, but him and I got in a battle which I won, and there always has to be one, so... yeah, his powers transferred over to Kristen."

The eyes of Sunset and the sirens widened. Yeah, there was no way that Sunset hadn't studied Discord, and the sirens might have even run into him at some point. Either way, at least somebody appreciated the gravity of the situation. She was the total wild card here. If she went nuts, this whole camp could be destroyed. She wouldn't do anything malicious, of course, but she didn't always have complete control of her powers. The business with the One Ring showed me that.

"In any case," I began, pushing that aside. "How are things here overall? Is it just being a normal summer camp for the time being?" 

Sunset nodded. "Yeah. We've only been here a little bit, but everything here is just like normal summer camp. You know: archery, canoeing, rock climbing, all that fun stuff."

"Cool," I replied with a nod. "Hopefully things won't go too nuts here and we can solve things in a way that won't totally upend everything here. Heck, if I solve this quickly enough, then maybe I don't even need to see Principa--"

I turned around right as I saw that to see, of course, Principal Celestia and Mr. Antares both walking up to us. Mr. Antares was naturally glaring at me, while Principal Celestia just looked glum. Yeah, I know. Every time I show up in her life something goes wrong. 

"Uh, hey, guys," I said with a weak smile. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Yes, fancy that," Mr. Antares said, his glare hardening. "What the heck are you doing here anyway? You aren't students. Celestia made sure of that."

Huh, so I guess we did officially get kicked out of Canterlot High. Good to know. Not surprising. 

"We're here as..." I spun my hand around trying to think of the best way to put it. "Private detectives, if you will. Equestrian magic is hanging out around here, and we're here to make sure that everything is safe and handle any problems if they come up."

"I understand that, but please don't blow the camp up," Celestia said. 

"Hey, I have no intention of it. We just wanna figure it out, fix it, then skulk off back from whence we came," I insisted. 

Before we could continue our conversation, a voice cut through the air.

"Alright campers! Everybody meet outside the mess hall! We're going to play tug-of-war, then head out for a hike before dinner!"

I turned to the source of the voice, and my eyes widened when I saw that it was, of all people, Adagio. I mean, Sunset told me that she was working here, so I shouldn't have been as surprised, but still, seeing her dressed as a camp counselor with a shoulder-length ponytail was definitely not what I thought I'd ever see. However, I couldn't miss the fact that she just seemed... less tense. I couldn't sense that aura of aggression and dominance that I felt from her whenever we interacted the first time. The smile on her face seemed genuine, and she just overall looked happy.

"Bet it was weird to see Adagio here when you arrived," I said to Sonata and Aria.

"Oh yeah, it was the coolest thing ever!" Sonata squeed, jumping up and down. "We hadn't seen her in forever and now here she is as a comp counselor!"

"She was actually happy to see us too," Aria said. "Not quite as happy about the ten minute crushing hug that Sonata gave her, but it was actually a nice reunion."

"Nice." I let out an amused scoff. "Probably best she doesn't interact with me. The last time we saw each other, I blasted her necklace with a shotgun."

Since it's me, that obviously means that she turned to face our group right as I said that. She smiled at all of us, but that smile completely evaporated the second she noticed me. Her jaw dropped slightly, and she shook her head. I half expected her to start running or yelling at me, but instead she started walking up to us, putting her clipboard under her arm.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in an even tone. Wow, tine really had mellowed her out a bit.

I motioned to Sunset. "There's a problem here that Sunset's called me to deal with. Not sure what it is, but I doubt it's benign."

"Hm." Adagio shrugged and grabbed her clipboard. "Guess we'll find out. For now, it's time for tug-of-war. Join if you want."

Blaze, Rapids and I exchanged a look as she walked away. For somebody who had been on the wrong end of a shotgun shell that turned her mortal, she was remarkably chill about seeing us. I beckoned Blaze and Rapids close to me as we all walked to the tug-of-war field. 

"I don't like it," I muttered, glancing over to Adagio. "You know how nasty she was back in Canterlot High. Now we've come here to find magic and she's here."

"You think she's planning something?" Rapids asked. 

"I get that feeling," I replied. "I think she's so calm because she's planning something. She doesn't think we can stop her, so she's not going to draw too much attention to herself until she can enact her plan. Wolf in sheep's clothing, and all that."

"So we should definitely keep our eyes on her, then," Blaze said. 

I nodded. "Definitely. I don't trust her as far as I can throw her. I can buy that the other two sirens mellowed out because they've been taking friendship lessons and whatnot from Sunset and her group, but who's helped Adagio? I wouldn't be surprised if she took the job here because she felt the magic here, too."

"How could she?" Blaze pointed out. "Aria and Sonata don't seem to be feeling it, so why would Adagio be able to?"

Hm. That wasn't actually a bad point. However, that didn't totally remove her as a suspect. If she'd been here for a while, she might have started to feel it. Either that, or she might have some lingering siren magic in her. She'd always struck me as the strongest of the three, so maybe she had some left after I defeated her. 

In any case, I needed to keep an eye on her. 

We reached the tug-of-war field, and I saw Adagio talking with a guy and a girl who were also dressed as camp counselors. The fact that both of their polos said "Head Counselor" on the back while Adagio's only said "Counselor" gave me some idea of what their role was in this camp. It might be a good idea to ask them if they'd seen anything weird, but on the other hand, how would I even broach that subject, and what would they look for anyway? I'd have to be subtle about it either way. 

I was just about to start listening to the instructions the three of them were giving when of all people Kristen walked up to me. I gave her a flat look and crossed my arms. 

"You have fun doing whatever it was you got up to?"

"Oh, a blast!" Kristen said with a huge grin and a wave of her hand. "I've been up to all kinds of shenanigans."

I groaned and rubbed my temples. "We're not here for shenanigans. We're here to figure out where the Equestrian magic is coming from and how to beat it."

Kristen shrugged. "Why not both? I haven't been a human in forever, and now I'm in a summer camp? Pranks are practically required!"

"Behave," I growled. "The last thing we want is for us to get kicked out because you blew up a toilet, or something like that."

Kristen gasped and put her hands up to her mouth. "B-blowing up a toilet? I would never!"

I grunted. "Good. Tha--"

"I would never do something so cliche!" she continued. "If I'm going to cause chaos in a summer camp like this, it's gotta be memorable; something the campers and counselors talk about forever! It'll become part of the camp lore, ingrained in the legends of this place."

"Why did I bring you along?" I groaned. "Why?"

Kristen shrugged. "Not like you could have stopped me from getting horrific revenge if you didn't."

"Oh for pete's sakes," I muttered while Blaze and Rapids had a little giggle at my expense. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. We'll see if they're laughing when Kristen, I dunno, turns their sleeping bags into giant slugs, or something. Between Adagio, the camp in general, and now Kristen, I had to keep an eye on a lot while I was here. 

And here I thought this might be a little less stressful. Silly me. 

Maybe it still could be. Adagio was explaining the rules of tug-of-war, as it anyone really needed a refresher on it. It's tug-of-war. Simple. 

"--and we can have teams of five, ten, or even one-on-one," Adagio said. "So, who wants to go first?"

"I do," Mr. Antares said. "And I want to challenge him."

It took me a few seconds to realize that he was pointing at me. I blinked in confusion as I looked around, hoping that he was pointing to somebody behind me. No such luck. I uneasily chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck. "Oh, come on. No need for that, is there?"

"I owe you several, Canadian," he growled. "You gonna fight me here, or are you gonna prove that you're all talk?"

"I think I've already proven that I've got a good right hook," I pointed out. "But, uh..." I sighed and rubbed my temple. "Fine. Fine. I'll pay tug-of-war."

A triumphant smile crossed his face as I took my place opposite him. I grabbed the rope and wiggled it around a little bit. It was pretty sturdy. I doubted that it'd break. If I still had my alicorn strength, I could take on the entire camp at once, but once I came through the portal, I was as strong as a normal person my age. Probably for the best. Otherwise I'd have punched their heads straight off a la Jason Voorhees. 

"Alright, let's do this thing," Antares said, taking his end of the rope and cracking his neck. "You're going down."

"You wish," I shot back.

"Alright, enough smack talk," Adagio said. 

Never.

"On the count of three, go." She raised her hand in the air. "One... two... three... go!"

Both of us instantly started pulling. He had a good fifteen years on me, but I wasn't going to give up that easily. He admittedly had the upper hand to start, and I almost stumbled forward right away. I wasn't going to lose to this guy two seconds into the match. I dug my heels in and leaned back, trying to use my weight to pull him forward. 

"You gonna punch me in the face if you lose?" he mocked, copying my strategy. 

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, yeah, that's my one character trait. Don't pretend like you've never punched anyone in the face."

He paused for a brief moment before growling and redoubling his efforts. Yeah, thought so. As much as I would have like to keep going with the smack talk, all of the campers had crowded around us and were cheering us on. I couldn't tell exactly who they were rooting for as their voices just blended together. My instincts were telling anyone who said the name "Antares" was rooting for me, but I was TD in this universe. The problem was that we were pretty much evenly matched. Made a bit of sense. We were, at the end of the day, largely the same person. Getting in an evenly-matched tug-of-war game with an alternate version of myself was... different. Somehow not the craziest thing that had ever happened to me, but it definitely ranked in the top thirty.

I was just about to start thinking about the best way to get a real upper-hand when the rope snapped, sending both of us flying back. I splashed into, of all things, a large mud puddle that I hadn't noticed behind me. It took a moment before I could even begin to realize what had happened, but I eventually sat up. Mr. Antares had somehow also flown back into a mud puddle behind him. 

"Uh... the lead counselor blinked in confusion as she held up the somehow whole rope. "What happened? I didn't think there were mud puddles there!"

Oh. No. She. Did. Not.

I slowly got up and turned to Kristen, ruing that I didn't have my imaginary "alicorn death glare" powers. She hid behind Blaze and Rapids like a little wuss. Oh, she was in for it now. As I got to my feet, I noticed the mud smelled vaguely of candy corn. 

Jerk. 

I stomped up to her with my teeth bared. "Are you serious?!" I growled. 

Kristen looked to me, then to Mr. Antares, then shrugged. "Wasn't me."

I scoffed and crossed my arms. "Oh, I'm sure. A rope that thick snapping, shooting both of us into mud that smells like candy corn, then repairing itself isn't the fault of the chaos lord we have running around. 

Kristen shrugged again. "I dunno. We're here looking for magic, right? Maybe that was it. If it's somebody who's wielding it and doesn't want you to get close, they could have done it."

My eyes narrowed. "Then explain the candy corn," I said in a threatening whisper. 

"Dunno. Magic is weird, isn't it?" 

"I will end you." I glanced over to Blaze and Rapids. "And stop laughing! I'm going to hit the showers."


*  *  *  *


"Wow, what happened to you, Antares?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Eris," I growled, stomping in the direction of the showers with Celestia following closely behind me. "

Eris tilted her head and got in step beside me. "It can't be something you and Celestia did. She'd be just as dirty."

"Eris, I swear..." Celestia grumbled from behind us. 

"Okay, okay, fine," she replied. "But seriously, bro. Was it those Canadians you're always complaining about?"

"Something like that," I grunted. I reached the showers and stomped inside to begin taking my clothes off. "Get me a towel, would you, Celestia? I want to-- WHAT THE HECK?!"

I shot out in shock, and the sight of my, uh, recent discovery caused Eris and Celestia to both gasp. 

"Bro... when did you get prison tats?!" Eris cried. 

"I... I don't..."

"Th-these are temporary, right?" Celestia said. "Right?"

Eris frowned and turned to Celestia. "You mean he didn't have these last night? Huh, I guess you of all people would notice."

Celestia growled and facepalmed. "Have you been hanging out with those Canadians, then?"

Eris shook her head. "No. Don't think so. Anyhoo..." She turned to me. "Any idea what happened?"

I'd already run into the showers to try to wipe the hopefully fake tattoos off. 

I didn't know how the Canadians were involved in this, but I was going to destroy them for it.