//------------------------------// // Camping for the night // Story: The Elements of Salvation // by Slick Dash //------------------------------// "T-Thor!" Archy cried, scrabbling away slightly in shock and awe, "How the hoof did you find A HARPY!" Thor laughed at his friend's reaction, obviously enjoying every second of it. "I know right?! Well to be honest, I didn't find him, he found me!" Seed frowned, dreading how his friend knew this was a 'he.' "Ummm, Thor, buddy how exactly do you know it's... you know... a guy?" "He told me." Thor said happily, his naive attitude towards something so strange struck Seed as a surprising similarity to Sweetness. "It... what?" Angelica asked, her jaw agape at what she thought was her friend going completely insane. Thor glanced over at his fellow Pegasus, causing her a pang of guilt as her glared back and rubbed his cheek melodramatically. "Well HE told me, simple as." Archy piped up now, tired of the silly games. "Thor, stop it, it's not funny! You're freaking us out, Harpy's can't talk. There's never been any proof that they're intelligent enough to!" With a sudden lurch, the Harpy let out a loud indignant sounding squawk, causing all four of the ponies to jump in surprise. "Haha, I don't think he liked that Archy!" Seed laughed after recovering from the surprising noise. Archy rolled his eyes at the orange farm stallion. "Seed don't you start as well! That was just coincidence, it's just basically a very big bird, with admittedly more magical properties with its wigs and talons, but that's it!" Archy stared at the large creature, who stared back with blank looking black eyes. For a moment, Seed swore he saw it's brow furrow, as though it's feelings were hurt! The large beak opened again, this time slower than before, and it let out a low, slow, sad caw. The noise was enough to tame Archy's rising annoyance with his friends, and make him feel a little guilty after what he had said. He looked to the ground and scuffed his hoof into the ground, making a small divot in the soil. As he watched the swaying blades of grass, he saw two pairs of yellow hooves walk past him. He looked up to see Angelica moving slowly, and purposefully towards the large bird. The creature eyed up the approaching Pegasus suspiciously, even taking a few nervous steps backwards for security's sake. "Hey, shh shhh shhhhh, it's ok." Whispered the yellow Pegasus, reaching out with a gentle hoof towards the creatures beak. Thor had to stop his jaw from dropping in amazement, he'd never heard Angy use that kind of tone before in his life! Archy was in similar spirits, staring in amazement wit the soft kind words slipping from her mouth. Even Seed was a little surprised, he hadn't heard his cousin speak that kindly for a good few years at least! The only one who seemed to be encouraged and not frightened by this change of attitude, was the Harpy. It seemed to calm it's nerves at her soft voice, and began to retrace it's scared steps. "Thaaaat's right..." Angy encouraged, flashing the creature a kind smile. Soon her hoof was only inches from the maw of the large bird, the creature paused a moment, giving the limb a quick suspicious sniff, before letting it's head drop into a small bow. At this Angelica let out a small sigh of relief and began to stroke the top of the creatures beak softly. The female Pegasus turned to look around at the three stallions staring incredulously at her. "Ok, so I like animals big deal! With my mom are really that surprised?!" Angelica asked, some of her former confidence edging back into her tone. "Uhh... I-" Thor coughed, trying to recover from his amazement. "Ahem! I guess." "That's what I thought!" Angry said defensively, and looked away with a huff, but not before her cousin saw the faintest little smile spread across her lips as she returned to stroking the large Harpy. Seed walked over to the large creature as well, pausing to grasp Thor's shoulder fleetingly to say he was glad he was ok. He then came over and stood beside his cousin. He waited until she looked at him then he smiled, glancing at the creature. "Can I?" "Sure cous'!" Angy encouraged, taking Seed's hoof and replacing hers with it. "See! He's a big wuss really!" She laughed as the creature gave a happy little chirrup and pushed against Seed's hoof happily! Seed laughed. "When was the last time we did this you reckon? Two, maybe three years?" Angelica laughed, her eyes slowly going thoughtful. "Yeah, I guess so. We didn' get much time with them animals and my mom last few years did we huh?" Seed grimaced sadly. "Nah... we didn't..." The two relatives stood there silent for a moment, then were pulled from their conversation by Thor announcing the arrival of Sweetness and Ruby. "Well look who finally showed up!" The loud Pegasus laughed. "You guys went off so fast you didn't see the surprise!" He had rushed towards the two approaching mares, laden with dry twigs and wood. As he relieved them of a few of the pieces of kindling. Sweetness began to giggle with glee. So high pitched was her voice with excitement, she roused the Harpy from his almost dream like state from his petting. "OOOOHHH! A SURPISE WHAT IS IT?! FOOD? GAMES? TOYS?" Thor laughed at the mares high spirits, and moved from in front of them to clear their vision. Ruby's jaw dropped as did the twigs in her magical hold almost, she just caught them again with her own hooves, but never taking her eyes away from the sight before her. Her large green eyes were filled with both amazement and fear at this massive bird before her. The bird stared at her for a moment, looking her up and down with its small black eyes. Then it's vision turned to the pink pony, who was gasping with amazement, one long, looong gasp. For a second nothing happened, then the beast erupted in a chorus of shrieks and caws. Seed, thinking fast, grabbed his cousin and pulled her away before those sharp talons could do any harm. "WHAT THE HAY!" Seed yelled in alarm as he saw one of the deadly tips skim just bellow his throat. "RAAAAAWWWWWK! DRACONEQUUS! DRACONEQUUS! RAAAAWWWWWK!" Came a shrill and gruff voice from the frightened creature. It flapped its wings towards the pink pony as though trying to urge her to leave, retreating slowly as it did so. "It CAN talk!" Archy cried in amazement, in spite of the situation, stopping to watch in amazement at this new discovery! Thor on the other hoof had taken to the air, and had flown up to obscure the birds view completely. "Hey! Hey, it's ok it's alright!" He said quickly, trying to calm the creature to the amazement of the rest of the group, he really was the element of bravery. The creature flung it's wing hard at the pegasus, and he was sent a few feet back through the air, but he recovered fast and resumed his attempts at settling the agitated creature. All his attempts fell on deaf ears however, as the creature continued to screech the same word again and again, constantly trying to look past Thor and towards Sweetness. "RAAWWK! DRACONEQUUS! RAAAWWWK!" "Hey! What are you talking about?!" Thor shouted to the creature glancing back at the little pink pony, who watched on in complete fearful confusion. "That's Sweetness, she's our friend!" "RAWWWWK! IT'S A DRACONEQUUS! IT'S AN ENEMY! RAAAAAWWWK!" The harpy kept screeching, obvious fear pouring from every part of his body. The jagged pulls of his wings, the frantic screeching, the terror in his eyes. " "THAT'S SWEETNESS!" Thor argued again, grabbing the birds head and making it stare him in the eye. "SWEETNESS!" He repeated, "She's a FRIEND!" The bird squawked again, this time a little less fiercely. His brow furrowed as he stared into Thor's determined eyes. "Raaawwwk, friend?" the Harpy asked slowly, lessening the beating of his wings to bring him back to the ground. Thor smiled, and nodded. "Yeah, that's right, friend." He said panting with relief. "She's a pony. Like me, like all of us. Not a Draconequus." Though the very words left his lips, Thor couldn't help but wonder in the back of his mind. Why had the Harpy just freaked out so much? And why the hay had it just thought Sweetness was a Draconequus like her father? He released the large bird, and slowly came to the ground. With a quick nod to Sweetness, her gestured for her to come nearer. The pink pony looked unsure, she glanced at the glinting beak, and the sharp looking talons, they looked even sharper than her Pappa's! She took a protective step backwards, and felt her rump bump against something, she glanced back to see Ruby watching in amazement, yet also with an encouraging smile on her lips. She looked at sweetness, and gave her a warm nod, silently telling her to try. So Sweetness turned back and looked at the large creature, before nervously approaching it. Seed watched, unable to stop thinking about how this had played out. Though friends, Thor was always the one trying to be funny at Sweetness's expense, now though, he was the one encouraging her to trust him, and come to this massive monster of a bird. Though a terrible thing, he couldn't help but wonder, had losing home made them that much closer? Sweetness had reached Thor now, who like Angelica, took his friend's hoof and guided it up to the beak of the Harpy, once again the bird sniffed the approaching hoof. This time it took far longer before it eventually bowed it's head, obviously suspicious of something it could smell. All suspicion on both sides however, were dropped as soon as the bird chirruped and rubbed itself tenderly against Sweetness's hoof, which received a happy giggle from the pink pony. Sweetness rubbed the slender beak, to which the Harpy cawed with pleasure, and to everypony's surprise, it ducked down, and scooped the pink pony up over its head. Using its neck as a makeshift slide, Sweetness came sliding down the creatures back fast, and screaming with happy laughter. She came to stop of the creatures back and began to tickle him just beneath his wing joints. The Harpy fell to the floor, to everypony's entertainment. This mighty beast, brought down by the least intimidating of the group, and by tickling no less! Angy, Thor and Archy all gathered around the creature now playfully rolling around with their giddy pink friend. Ruby also attempted to, but as she did she stumbled, laden with all the twigs and kindling. A few sticks began to fall, but as Ruby tried to reach for them difficultly, an orange hoof shot out of nowhere and caught them. Ruby looked up to see Seed looking down at her, smiling warmly. "Lemme give yah a hoof there." He said, taking some of the wood from her, and picking up the abandoned wood that had been brought by Sweetness. Her load considerably more manageable, Ruby made her way to the driest spot with Seed, then proceeded to dumb the wood there with a relieved breath, her mane falling across her face. Seed did the same, and when he straightened up, he glanced down at the platinum pony. She quickly pushed her mane behind her ear with her hoof, and she smiled warmly back at him. "Thank you." "No worries." A loud caw from behind him caught his attention, and made him turn back to investigate. While he did, Ruby let out quiet and suddenly shaky breath. All of a sudden she felt very warm, and flustered. Why? "Hey, c'mon!" Seed suddenly called back to her, as he made his way to the creature, now finally pulling himself up after the playful display with Sweetness. Ruby watched him go for a minute, wondering why she suddenly felt this way. She forced her numb legs to move, and pushed herself towards the rest of the group to listen to the bird now addressing the group. "RRAAWWWK, this is our home!" It was saying, apparently answering a question from the still awestruck Archimedes. " RRAAWWWK, we live in the mountains, but we came down to get food! RRAAWWWK!" "'We?'" Archy asked curiously. "You mean there are more of you? You have a family?" The large bird nodded it seemed to the dark unicorn, that though it could speak, it preferred not to, or at least struggled to speak in a very complex way. "Ooooooh! Really? What are their names?!" Sweetness asked, stood he closest to the winged beast. The creature turned its head to the pink pony, and tilted it to one side, obviously confused. Sweetness waited a second, then slowly the realisation seeped in. Her brow creased, and her eyes looked slightly sad. "Y-you mean you don't have names for each other?" The bird still looked confused. Archy quickly took over. "She means what do you call each other." The bird's eyes widened for a moment in understanding. Then squawked, "RRAAWWWK, no names, no names, RRAAWWWK." Sweetness looked incredulous, no names? How was that even possible?! She couldn't imagine having a family without naming the members of by heart! "That's... terrible..." Sweetness whimpered, her ears drooping sadly, but only for a moment before she sprang back up and said, "Don't worry! I'll think of a name for you!" The bird gave, what looked like a smile, and nodded it's head happily. "Sorry t' in'errupt." Angy cut across, making everypony and the bird look to her. "But if you live in the mountains, you'll know where Canterlot is. How far are we would you say?" Yet again the bird looked confused. Archy leant to his right and explained to the group leader quickly. "He hasn't been brought up around ponies, it's a miracle he can even talk, so he definitely won't know the names of our cities! Keep it simple." Angy nodded as Archy pulled away, and tried again. "Ummm... Castle?" She said, testing if it knew that word. For a moment the Harpy stared back, then nodded slowly. "Do you know... the big castle? Up there!" Angy tried to help by pointing up towards the summits of the may mountains above them. This proved helpful, as the bird looked up for a moment, then back down and nodded. "Good," She said, smiling, encouraging the creature to keep helping, just like her mother taught her. "So, how long to get there? How long does it take to get up to the big castle?" The Harpy stared up at the mountains, then back at the small group of ponies. " RRAAWWWK, a day, a day to the castle, RRAAWWWK!" "Perfect," Angelica smiled, content with the information she had received. "Wait a second..." Archy said, raining on the yellow Pegasus's parade. "Is that flying?" He asked, flapping his forelegs to the sides to emphasize what he meant. Sweetness stuffed her hoof in her mouth to stop from laughing, as did the rest of the group. Archy blushed, but persisted by asking again. "By flying?" The bird stared at him, and nodded, confused as to why it was being asked such an obvious question. Archy's face fell. "See, you and Thor could get there in a day, but the rest of us would have to hike up there, that could take days." "What?!" Ruby asked, horrified. "We can't take even longer! A day's too long as it is. The princess needs to know what happened! A few more days and our parents could be... everypony else could be..." She couldn't bring herself to say it, her eyes misted with tears as she stared at them all, silent, unable to answer her. They all were worried for the same thing, they'd taken too long already as it was! Ruby felt a soft tickle on her cheek, she looked to her left, and saw a large feathered wing, the tip of which was wiping the tears away from her face. Even in her moment of worry and sadness, she couldn't help but let out a surprised and happy laugh. To which the bird cawed, content with her change back to a state of joy. The rest of the group smiled. "Ok then." Seed began. "So what d' we do if it'll take only a day flyin' and a few days climbin'?" Angelica opened her mouth, but was cut off by the bird suddenly making a racket. " RRAAWWWK, the tunnel, the tunnel! RRAAWWWK!" Sweetness frowned at her new friend. "What tunnel?" The bird scuttled around, and pointed with a wing towards the edge of sight in the distance. A lot of them couldn't see anything, but Thor piped up quickly. "He's right! There's definitely a cave there at least, who knows it could cave a tunnel heading up to the castle." "Wouldn't that be a bit too convenient?" Angelica scoffed, suddenly apprehensive as to why there was suddenly this third option out of nowhere. "N-no..." The group all turned to Archy, who had suddenly gone very pale. "It's not convenient, that tunnel probably does lead up to the castle..." Seed knew something was up. He advanced a step towards his dark friend. "But?" Archy gulped. "Tunnels up to the castle around here would only be one thing... escape tunnels." The air suddenly felt cold. "What!?" Angy asked furiously. "Escape tunnels," The bespectacled pony repeated. "They all lead out around the railway bridge, as it means escapees can grab a ride and get out quickly, provided the train is still going..." He turned to the large bird. "Have you found any other ponies out here besides us?" The bird nodded hard. "WHERE!" Thor yelled, suddenly nervous. Why hadn't they seen any if they were so close to a supposed 'escape route.' "The town, the town, RRAAWWWK!" the bird replied just as loudly, not realising the sudden worry. "Town?" Archy said confused, he thought back to all the maps, and geography books he had read, he was sure there'd be no town around here. The bird nodded again. " RRAAWWWK, they feed us sometimes RRAAWWWK!" Archy waved the comment aside for a moment. "So you haven't seen anypony out of the tunnels? Nopony coming out?" The Harpy shook it's head. "That's good..." Archy mused for a moment. "Good? How?" Seed asked, unsure how his friend came to that conclusion. "It's still an escape tunnel." "Yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean something's wrong. My mum told me how when she lived in Canterlot with my uncle. Because he was captain, his priority would be the princess's safety, meaning my mum would have to come with him in an emergency. Now she never told me where they led, but she said some of them attached to natural caves and fissures. So, that one over there is probably just a natural one. Meaning instead of finding and opening a tunnel, we already have the perfect way up!" For a moment, everypony stared, then Thor let out a low whistle. "You know, it helps to have a walking talking library sometimes doesn't it!" Everypony laughed. Thor zipped over t his friend and pulled him into a headlock. "You just helped buddy! How does it feel to finally be useful!" "Get off!" Archy laughed, pushing his friend off with difficulty. "I seem to remember, I was the one who told you to follow Zecora! What have you done so far? Found a big bird!" The Harpy looked up looking slightly affronted. "No offense!" Archy added quickly. Making the group al laugh again. Finally they had a way to get to the Princess, and find help for Ponyville! So all their relief came pouring out in waves of laughter. "So now we know what to do!" Angy cried happily, taking the role of leader once more. "So we get some rest, then head up that tunnel tomorrow! Providin' it is an actual tunnel, then we find the Princess, ask for her help, go back and find our parents, agreed?" "Agreed!" The group shouted unanimously. The Harpy cawed in surprise at the loud noise, but then fell silent once again. "Ok then, everypony, get some slee"- 'GRRRRRRRRRRR' Angelica paused, interrupted by the gurgling growl. She looked down to her stomach, feeling it almost sucking in, craving food. "Hehhehh, sorry guess I'm a little hungry." Almost in response to hers, all the other pony stomachs in the group began to gurgle as well. "I think we all are." Seed said, rubbing his stomach hungrily. "I suppose we could..." Archy began, then fell short when nothing came to mind. Angy's mouth opened, then closed, almost like a fish. Then Thor came up with an idea. "That town!" They all looked at him. "That town he talked about." He gestured to the Harpy. "He could show me the way, they feed him, if I explain what's going on they're sure to have some food of some kind to spare." The group murmur their agreement to the plan. "Awesome!" Thor clapped his hooves together and spread his wings. "You coming to Slappy?" He asked jokingly to the yellow pegasus. Who blushed and looked away. "Uhh, no, I'll stay here." "Suite yourself. Come on then you big old bird!" He shouted, sweeping low to the ground, guiding the Harpy back into flight, it did so begrudgingly, looking back at Sweetness who also looked saddened at her new friend leaving. "Be back soon guys!" They heard Thor cry as he zipped into the night with Harpy showing him the way. ..... They got the fire going, and waited for their aqua maned friend to return. Angy, for some reason seemed suddenly very distant, and said she'd 'keep watch' and stared of towards the place where they had come. Ponyville was somewhere down there, past the trees of the forest, and Angelica seemed determined to find it again! Sweetness found yet another friend in a small lady bug on the grass, who she was now 'playing with' by pretending to be a giant monster destroying a town. Seed couldn't help but disapprove of her game idea, judging by what they had just come from, but Archy seemed to be entertained by the display, so Seed let it slide. Seed himself was attentively stoking the fire, trying to ignore his grumbling belly. "Mind if I join you?" Seed glanced up and saw Ruby. "Y-yeah, sure!" Seed said, scooting over slightly to allow some of the comfy squashed grass be used by the platinum unicorn. Across the clear space, Archy glanced over at the two beside the fire, and smirked. Maybe not everything from what happened in Ponyville was a bad thing. Maybe not everything. "You know..." Ruby began, catching Seed's attention. She stared into the fire as she talked, watching it dance and flicker. "I left here, worrying about Thor, and with our group down a pony... I come back, and Thor's back safe and sound, and we've actually found a Harpy!" She looked up from the flames and stared straight into Seed's eyes. "There's never a dull moment with you is there Seed." Seed laughed, but slightly nervously, what was with the way she was staring into his eyes. So, interested, so focused. "Well, it wasn't my idea to bring the big buzzard along!" They both laughed, and returned to staring into the fire. "D-do you think..." Ruby began, then bit her lip stopping herself. "Yeah?" Seed asked, encouraging her to continue. "Do... you think it's too late, that when we get back everypony will be..." "NO!" Seed said loudly, making the delicate mare jump. "When we get there -With The Princess and every guard we can get!- We'll find every one of our parents, all of our friends!" "B-but..." Ruby began, but was stopped by Seed who placed a hoof on her shoulder, she looked at it, then up at him. "I promise! I'll find your parents, We'll find them an' you can live normal 'gain!" Ruby smiled, her eyes full of tears. "You promise?" Seed nodded, to which Ruby exploded into action and threw her forelegs around his waist and hugged him tight. It took him a second to register what had just happened, but then happily let her stay there, as she rearranged her position to get comfortable against him, and he stroked her mane contentedly. ..... Archy couldn't help but feel a little voice in his head going "YES!" At the sight of his friend finally being so close to Ruby, he knew Seed had wanted that for a long time, and the dark unicorn couldn't help but feel good for his old friend. "What is it Archy?" Sweetness yapped happily, bouncing over and trying to see what Archimedes was smiling at. "Oh, nothing!" he said quickly wiping the smile from his face. "So, where's your bug friend?" "Oh she'd gone for now, but she said she'd come back later f we were still here." said the pink pony happily unaware of the oddness of what she just said. "Uhh... she said that to you?" He asked, to which she giggled and explained. "Well actually she didn't say that, she said 'Buzz, buzbuzbuz buzzzzzzz buzz buzzz.' But I got the general message I think!" Archy let out an exasperated laugh, and let the matter drop. Sweetness soon decided to flop on her back and gaze up at the stars, just in view slightly behind the large bridge above them. Archy, with nothing better to do, did the same. The two sat there for a while, saying what they saw in the pearly lights. Then suddenly, Sweetness let out an ecstatic squeal! "OOOOHH! LOOK THERE'S MY PAPPA!" "What?!" Archy yelped, bolting up and looking around, they were too far from the others for them t hear, but as Archy prepared to call them over, her felt a hoof n his foreleg that was propping him up. "No, silly! Up there!" Archy frowned and lay back again, looking into the sanguine sky. "There see!" Sweetness pointed into the sky. "The mighty and powerful Draconequus 'Discord!'" Archy gazed up, confused. "Uhhh, Sweetness, that's a pony..." Suddenly, he was reminded of the events earlier that night. The Harpy screeching that Sweetness was a Draconequus, and how fearful it had been at the sight of her. Why was that? She was a pony, obviously, anypony could see that! "Nooooo, there!" Sweetness corrected him, pointing more precisely, Archy glanced again, and saw it this time, a long slender slim snake like figure was oddly posed in the sky, or at least it looked like that with positioning of the stars. Sweetness gave a little sigh of happiness, making Archy glance at her from his spot on the floor. "You miss him don't you..." he said quietly. "Of course I do silly, he's my Pappa!" Sweetness giggled while looking at the starry figure. "Well, I wouldn't know that, so... you know I had to check." Archy said, his voice going suddenly a lot lower, and less cheery. Sweetness turned her head from the sky and watched the dark unicorn, now staring gloomily at the stars. "You know, I don't believe you!" Archy glanced at her, confused. "Pardon?" "I don't believe you. I think you do know about missing your Pappa." Archy seemed to bristle at the very idea. "Well I don't." He said glaring back at the night sky. "Of course you do silly, he's your dad." Sweetness persisted, she'd never spoken to him about his dad, she didn't think anypony really had, she didn't understand why. "He stopped being my dad the second he walked out on us!" Archy growled, slumping away from Sweetness, it was obviously still a tender subject. "How do you know he walked out?" "I'm sorry Sweetness, haven't you been paying attention to the last fourteen years of my life? If you hadn't noticed, he never came back, that kind of suggests he walked out." Archy curled up slightly, it suddenly felt very cold. "Maybe he couldn't get back..." Archy's eyebrows scyrocketed. She was honestly going to do this? Going to try and defend the absentee father of well over half Archy's life? "Just face it Sweetness, we can't all have devoted dads like you!" He hadn't meant to snap, the subject of his father always made him testy. He heard Sweetness take in a small surprised breathe, Archy bit his lip, regretting his heated words. "Look Sweetness, I'm sorry, it's just"- Archy said while turning over, but was cut off by a loud caw from above, and a triumphant shout. "WHO'S HUNGRY?!" A loud thump sounded out as a large sack was dropped into the centre of the campsite. A second later, a proud looking Thor landed along with the Harpy, holding a second, smaller bag in its beak. The campsite buzzed with excited murmurs as the group all came closer to the food. Thor undid the knot in the sack, and it's corners fell away to revel a virtual treasure trove of delicious food. "There's so much!" Ruby said amazedly. "There's got to be enough for two nights worth at least!" Cried Angelica. "There's cake!" Sweetness screeched, diving for the pile of cupcakes comically. So they all sat down, and began to dig in to their feast, enjoying every delicious morsel! While eating, Archy gave a nervous smile to Sweetness, silently apologising, she beamed back at him, proving it was all ok. Seed glanced at Ruby taking a delicate bite out of a small sandwich, though her head didn't move, her eyes looked up into his and he quickly looked away awkwardly. Making the mare giggle silently. And Angelica, tucking into one of Sweetness's beloved cakes, glanced around making sure no one was looking, then took a glance at Thor, stuffing his face with two sandwiches. She was just relieved, he was safe.