//------------------------------// // Episode 1: Pilot // Story: My Little Pony: Sparkling Harmony: Camp Little Hooves // by Captain_Cosmos //------------------------------// “Bye mom!” Melody and her siblings said, after which they left the castle with their uncle Shining. Shining smiled as he led his nieces and nephews to a hot air balloon that was moored near the castle. “Alright. Who’s ready for Little Hooves?” He asked. “We are!” Dark and Light responded, as did their siblings. “This is gonna be so awesome!” Sky commented excitedly. Shining chuckled. He was looking forward to this summer. He had recently taken over as director at his childhood camp, Camp Little Hooves. And he believed it could be an amazing time for Twilight’s and Sparkler’s kids. After just a little begging on the kids' part, and assurance from Shining that Camp Little Hooves was completely safe, Sparkler and Twilight agreed to let them go for the summer. He nodded as he started helping the kids into the hot air balloon. “Alright then, all aboard the Little Hooves express.” He said. The winged foals happily flapped their wings and landed inside the hot air balloon’s gondola. Shining armor got onboard. “Everypony ready?” He asked. “Ready!” All 11 kids responded. Shining nodded and lit his horn the flame increased in intensity and filled the balloon with more hot air, making the whole thing lift off into the sky. And they were off. From afar, Clear-Cut watched the hot air balloon lift off. He nodded as he spoke into his wrist. “Next Gen Medleys are en-route. Watch their backs son.” He said. “Roger that dad, already at the camp.” Came a voice from the device attached to Clear-Cut’s wrist. “Good luck.” Clear-Cut responded before cutting the connection. The main threat will focus on Sparkler should it arrive prematurely, but Silver-Mane most likely has it out for ALL Medleys at this point. He thought. Knowing full well it was possible Silver-Mane would be where Camp Little Hooves was. Some time later, at a campsite located in an open area in a forest, Night Mare walked through the gates into Camp Little Hooves. Her childhood camp. She breathed in the fresh air and exhaled. “Ahh. Ooh does it feel good to be back!” She exclaimed as she trotted forward. It was an easy decision when Director Shining Armor asked if she was interested in being a counselor. “I can’t wait to nurture young minds on constellations when roasting Marshmallows.” She said. “Ooh. That will be a fun segment. Constellations with Dr Night Mare.” Said a familiar voice. Night Mare turned to see who spoke, and smiled when among the crowd of arriving kids, she saw. “Aqua? Aqua Blossom?” She asked as she approached the Light Blue Earth Pony mare. Aqua smiled brightly as Night Shade approached. “In the flesh. Let me guess. You’re a counselor here too?” She asked. “Are we both counselors here?” Night Mare asked. “I think so!” Aqua responded. Night Mare beamed as she and Aqua hugged excitedly. “This is awesome!” She exclaimed. “I know!” Aqua responded. “Night Mare? Aqua Blossom?” Said a stallion’s voice. Aqua and Night Mare turned to see an orange unicorn stallion with a messy mane approach. Aqua smiled widely. “Sunburst! You’re here too!” She exclaimed. “Counselor. Same as you two probably.” Sunburst responded. “This is great! The three Little Hooves ponyteers, back together again!” Night Mare said happily. “Yeah!” Aqua and Sunburst responded as the three of them hoofbumped. Excited that the three of them were back together, just like when they were kids. “Auntie Night Mare!” Called out 11 kids. Night Mare smiled as she turned to see her nieces and nephews approach. “Kids!” Night Mare exclaimed excitedly as they all dogpiled on on Night Mare. “You made it!” “Yeah! Are you a camp counselor here?” Melody asked. “I am!” Night Mare responded as the kids let her up. “Awesome!” Light and Dark responded. Sunburst and Aqua smiled at Night Mare. “Oh yeah. I did hear something about you being an aunt now.” Sunburst said. “Yeah.” Aqua responded. Night Mare laughed. “Yeah. Twilight had a few adoptions in the past year.” She said. “Sunburst, Aqua, these are my nieces and nephews. Melody Sparklehearts, Lumber Striker, Trail Blazer, Lightning Shield, Sky Flitter, Crystal Spark, Sprinkle, Pedal, and Mystic Medley, and the two newest additions, Light Wing and Dark Wing.” She introduced them. “Kids, these are two of my friends and camp counselors, Aqua Blossom and Sunburst.” She said. “Hi!” The kids said. Sunburst and Aqua were predictably taken aback by Light’s and Dark’s appearance, but only for a split second as they smiled. “Well hello there. Aren’t you kids just a pack of cuties.” Aqua said. “Welcome to Camp Little Hooves.” Sunburst said. “Can’t wait for a fun time!” Dark exclaimed excitedly. “Oh this WILL be fun.” Shining said as he trotted up to his counselors. “You can count on that.” “Yeah!” Night Mare said. “You’ll have a blast. Just like your auntie and uncle did.” “Yay!” All the kids said. Shining smiled and got out a clipboard. “Alright, let’s get you kids to your cabins. Boys in one, girls in the other.” He said. Melody raised an eyebrow. “Huh? Why’s that?” She asked. “A, because the cabins aren’t large enough to house 11 kids.” Aqua responded. “And B, boys and girls don’t share cabins with each other. Just a camp rule.” Sunburst added. The kids looked at each other, before nodding. “Alright.” They all said. “Right, girls, go with Aqua, boys, with Sunburst.” Shining said. The kids nodded and the two genders went with their respective counselors. “Here we are! Rabbit Cabin, or as campers and counselors affectionately call it, The Rabbit Hole.” Aqua said as she led the Medley fillies into their new home for the next two months. The fillies looked around. There wasn’t much to the cabin, just a couple of bunk beds, a dresser, and a bathroom with a door on it. Melody, spying a top bunk, smiled and flapped her wings. “I call a top bunk!” She said as she flew up to a bunk. Her sisters quickly claimed bunks of their own. Aqua laughed. “Hang on there eager beavers, the way we do it here is we wait for all the campers to show up and then we pick names out of a hat. So that everypony gets a fair chance.” She explained. “Who are we missing?” Crystal asked. “Hey there Medley girls!” Said a familiar voice. The girls turned to see a pair of fillies all of them were excited to see. “Pearl! Lucky!” Melody exclaimed. “You girls are here too?!” Crystal asked. “Yeah!” Pearl and Lucky responded excitedly. “We’re cabinmates!” All right fillies hugged each other. Aqua smiled. “Now we have everypony.” She said. With that, she got a hat and some paper. “Right, time for the hat.” Meanwhile, in another cabin, Sunburst was introducing the Medley bros to their cabin mates. “This is Thunder Arrow, Refract, and Midnight Knight.” Sunburst said. “Guys, this is Lumber Striker, Trail Blazer, Lightning Shield, Light Wing, and Dark Wing.” Sunburst said. “Hello!” Thunder arrow said. “Nice to meetcha.” Refract said. “You too!” Light responded. “Alright, now let’s get the hat and see what beavers are sleeping in what bunks.” He said. Much later, Shining and Night Mare were watching as the campers all assembled in the main area of the camp for the opening orientation. He smiled. “Feels like yesterday doesn’t it Nighty?” He asked. “Still peeved we were never able to convince Twilight to come. I’m sure she woulda had a blast.” Night Mare responded. “Well, least we were able to get all her kids to come.” Shining said as he and Night Mare hoofbumped. “Now, time to join Aqua.” Night Mare said as she trotted up to the stage, just as Aqua was addressing the crowd. “Hey hey hey! What up campers!” Aqua said over the mic. The gathered campers cheered. Aqua smiled. “We’re so excited to see so many new and returning faces in the crowd this summer. This summer is going to be a blast. My fellow counselors and I are sure of it.” She said. “Now, the camp director has a couple of things to go over with y’all but before that. Those of you who are returning, this will also be new. Every year the counselors do a little welcome number. And this year, I felt it could use a little update. So if my fellow counselors will join me on stage, we can HIT IT!” She called out. Night Mare and Sunburst trotted up to join Aqua as the music started. (Inspiration for the below lyrics) 🎵Clickety-clack, who’s that? It’s ya girl Aqua, singing with a brand new track Jamming up here, it's a brand new day With fun that pops and site so big Come on, get your groove on, your hooves going Everypony’s shaking their tails now Dance to the beat, dance to the beat Who could ever sit still with a groove this sweet? A place you can go Where you already know You can find your pony flow When you step through the gates Try something new, take a chance, just believe it Let out your light, shining bright, can ya see it? Whoa-oh-ohhhh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh, hey! Whoa-oh-ohhhh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh Try something new, take a chance, just believe it Let out your light, shining bright, can ya see it? At Camp Little Hooves, hey! At Camp Little Hooves! Let's go! with a sick new flow got a wicked new crew Let's have some fun! A one stop shop to make new friends And have some fun in the sun Come on, get your groove on, your hooves going Everypony’s shaking their tails now Dance to the beat, dance to the beat Who could ever sit still with a groove this sweet? A place you can go Where you already know You can find your pony flow When you step through the gates Try something new, take a chance, just believe it Let out your light, shining bright, can ya see it? Whoa-oh-ohhhh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh, hey! Whoa-oh-ohhhh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh Try something new, take a chance, just believe it Let out your light, shining bright, can ya see it? At Camp Little Hooves, hey! At Camp Little Hooves! 1234 bring yourself right through the gates 5678 when you're here you'll have a blast that's right, a wicked time Branch out and try the lake or climb the rock Go, and have fun It's your summer so flaunt it! hey Try something new, take a chance, just believe it Let out your light, shining bright, can ya see it? Whoa-oh-ohhhh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh, hey! Whoa-oh-ohhhh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh Try something new, take a chance, just believe it Let out your light, shining bright, can ya see it? At Camp Little Hooves, hey! At Camp Little Hooves!🎵 The song came to an end and the crowd cheered. Shining clapped before trotting onto the stage. “Let’s hear it for the camp counselors everypony!” He said. “Now, onto the boring Little Hooves Handbook.” That got a collective Aww from everypony. Shining nodded. “I promise it won’t be so bad and afterwards we can roast marshmallows.” Some time later, late at night, while everypony else had gone to bed, Refract wandered into the woods surrounding the camp. He came up to a tree, looked around, and raised his right foreleg, which suddenly opened up to reveal a device concealed within. He pressed the device and spoke into it. “Refract to Clear-Cut, dad come in.” He said. After a second, Clear-Cut’s voice came out of the device. “I read you Refract, what’s the sitch?” He asked. “Did you just say sitch?” Refract asked. “Is that not what the kids are saying these days?” Clear-Cut asked. “Not usually, no.” “Oh, ok. What’s going on?” Clear-Cut asked. “I’ve made contact with the next gen Medleys. I’ve been assigned to the same cabin as the boys.” Refract responded. “Good. That allows you to stick close to them.” Clear Cut responded. “Yeah. And there’s more. Aqua Blossom is here.” Refract said. “What?!” Clear-Cut responded in a surprised voice. “Yeah. The third triplet is a counselor here.” Refract responded. “Are you sure?” Clear-Cut asked. “I saw her with my own optics dad, she’s pretending to be an Earth Pony but I sensed the magic around her.” Refract responded. “Did she recognize you?” Clear-Cut asked. “I don’t think so. Though we never interacted today. I’ll pull her aside some time in the next few days and update her on things.” Refract said. “Make sure you do it out of earshot of the next gen Medleys. Any one of them could report back to their mother and she cannot know yet.” Clear-Cut said. “Yeah…that’s something I never got. WHY is it she needs to be in the dark?” Refract asked. “That’s just how it is son.” Clear-Cut responded. “She already knows more than she’s supposed to with Fleur. We cannot take another risk like that.” “Understood.” Refract responded. “But you do realize the odds of Aqua wanting to go to her sisters is high right?” “You’ll just need to tell her she can’t.” Clear-Cut responded. Refract sighed. “Roger that. Refract out.” With that, the connection was cut and Refract’s leg closed back up. Refract took a deep breath. “I’ll say this about being an alien autonomous robotic organism…it comes in handy for helping ponies recall events from long ago.” He commented to himself as he made his way back to camp. “I just hope Aqua will listen.” To be continued…