//------------------------------// // Camping // Story: Forgotten: Sunrise // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// "Well, I don't know about you, but my stomach is starting to growl. What do you say we stop for the night and get a campsite set up?" Pipp suggested. "Yep, I'm definitely getting on the hungry side myself," Sunset replied. "You think we've come far enough for the night?" "Definitely. If we get an early enough start, we'll be there by early afternoon tomorrow. So let's start looking for a clearing," Pipp suggested. The sequoia trees making up this forest made Sunset feel quite tiny. It also made it feel like they hadn't come as far as they really had. But according to Pipp, Sunny and Izzy had made the trek in just over a day's time, with stopping to eat and get enough sleep. A quarter of a mile later, they came up to a small clearing off to the left of the somewhat beaten path, "Yeah, I think this looks pretty good. What do you think? You're the camper," Pipp asked Sunset after looking it over for a few moments. "Yep. Enough space for two tents and a fire ring. Let's get to it," Sunset replied, unhitching from the cart after pulling it just far enough off the road to not block the path. Once they had a fire ring arranged, and kindling gathered, Sunset lit up her horn, and after a momentary flash at the tip, a fire sparked to life in the kindling. "Wow. Well, that's one way to go about it," Pipp said with a smile as she began to go through their food supplies. For her part, Sunset got out the tents, poles, footprints, stakes, and the rain fly for each, and began putting up the tents diagonal from each other, and facing the fire. After she had both tents up and adequately sheltered from the elements, she returned to the cart to grab the two tightly-packed sleeping bags, depositing one in each tent, along with a portable battery to charge their phones overnight. By the time their sleeping arrangements were all set and ready to go, Pipp was ready with dinner fireside. "Fresh campfire haycakes, hot off the flames," Pipp announced, passing Sunset a plate, who took it in her magical grasp. "So, you've clearly done that a time or two," she finished, motioning to the pair of tents. "Camping trips were common with my friends back in the mirror world. Setting up camp is pretty second nature to me by now," Sunset said, before taking a bite. "And you seem to know good haycakes." "Camping staple, or so I'm told. I never really camped before I met Sunny and the others, but I did do a vlog on quick and easy camping foods for my outdoors-y fans," Pipp replied before taking another bite. "I'm looking forward to seeing your setup, you know, how you stream, and how often you plan in advance," Sunset said, taking another bite. "I do my shorter vlogs right on my phone. I try to stream games once or twice a week." "Heh, now we're talking. Gaming was my main avenue, got up to over five hundred thousand subs before I came back here. I gave the channel to a friend when it was clear I'd be coming back here." "It must be so weird," Pipp began, swallowing her bite of hay cakes. "Coming back to a wildly different Equestria, but that's also so much closer to the world you just came from." "Tell me about it, I've stopped trying to wrap my mind around it for now. Hope there's plenty of distractions in Zephyr Heights," Sunset replied. "We've definitely got you covered there. Absolutely no shortage of things to do in our city." "I wonder how much of it I'll recognize. I mean, um..." Sunset trailed off. "Yeah, I know about Sunny's research, how ZH used to be a unicorn city untold moons ago. You're... You're not angry about that, are you?" Pipp asked, a twinge of nervousness in her voice. Sunset immediately shook her head. "Absolutely not. I don't hold the ponies of today responsible for the actions of the generations that came before. What happened happened. I just can't even, you know, imagine things getting so bad, that unrest or civil war would break out like that, after everything that Princess Twilight and her friends did. But I suppose Discord's message was right; every generation has the responsibility of taking up the mantle of friendship and carrying it forward." Pipp nodded. "At least we're doing that here and now. For what it's worth, I hope you can find your place here." Sunset smiled at her. "Yeah, me too."