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// Chapter the Fifth: The First Night 
// Story: The Bigger Pony 
// by Kiernan 
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After taking a sip of water from the source and clearing away more debris from the dam, hopefully enough to remove the remaining water, Rainbow walked all the way back to where she'd set up camp. Rarity was already there, pressing some branches into the ground. There were only a few fronds actually woven into the roof, but darkness was about to set in, so it would have to do.

"We're going to have to really huddle together to fit under there," observed Rainbow. "And we don't have the foundation to hold up the other side."

"I know," answered Rarity. "It's not ideal, but it's only half the day's work with no tools outside of my own hooves. The best tools I had was the Flemish twisted grass cable and a sharp rock, and I don't have the rock anymore."

"What happened to it?"

"It cracked. Too much force broke it apart. There's a reason we no longer use stone-age tools, you know."

Rainbow nodded in agreement. Rocks could break, especially when they were thin and subjected to impact over and over. It actually made her pretty glad that most of the rocks she was using for construction were small, as it would be difficult to break them down. 

Rarity turned to Rainbow. "It's going to be dark soon, and we haven't eaten all day. Why don't you start on the fire, hm?"

Rainbow looked over to the firepit she'd made. There was some dry wood and grass that had been gathered over the course of the day, sitting in two piles next to it. "How do you expect me to start it?"

Rarity shrugged. "You go camping with Applejack a lot. I figured you knew how to start a campfire."

"Yeah, with a ferro rod."

"I don't know what that is. I use matches. Didn't Applejack start one by rubbing two sticks together?"

Rainbow tried to remember back to that. It was true that she had done something that looked like she'd rubbed two sticks together, but it would take a bit more than that. "I'm going to try to find a rock and a piece of wood that are capable of doing that. Do you have any more of that cordage?" 

"Of course. Why?"

"I need you to find a straight-ish stick and tie a cable to both ends. I want a flexible stick and a tight cable, if you can."

Rarity looked to Rainbow and raised her eyebrow. "Okay, I guess it's my turn to ask for an explanation."

"The method you described is called a fire bow. You wrap the cord around a spindle, then spin it over and over until the friction creates enough heat to light the dust that will spark your kindling. The rock is to make sure the spindle stays upright."

"Why not just use your hoof?"

"Because the principle for a drill is the same thing, and I'd rather not bore a hole in my hoof." Rainbow found a splintered piece of wood that would do a decent job as a base board. A knot near the split provided a ready-made notch for the charcoal dust to gather. She also found a pretty straight, fairly dry piece of wood. The friction would cause enough heat to dry it the rest of the way.

Once she had the bow, it took almost half an hour to generate enough heat to start the fire. Rainbow was sore and exhausted, but she fed it enough kindling to take off, and enough wood to keep it going for a good hour, at least. In the meantime, Rarity had been skinning the coconuts, and with the fire roaring to life, she could set them near the flames and let them cook for some time, turning them occasionally.

Rarity settled in next to the fire. "Isn't this about the time you start in on the ghost stories and such?"

"I'm in no mood right now," huffed Rainbow. "It's hot, I'm sore, I've been working all day, and the last thing I ate was yesterday's lunch. Cucumber sandwiches? There's nothing there. I just want to eat something, anything, and go to bed. Hopefully, I'll wake up tomorrow and realize this was just a terrible dream."

"Oh, come now, Rainbow. We're sitting around a fire, waiting for our dinner to cook. Do you really want to sit in silence for the next half hour?"

Rainbow said nothing, just staring into the fire. She had no intention of treating this like it was a fun camping trip. This was a situation she was not happy with, and she was not going to just cover up her displeasure. Survival was key.

"Well, I don't want to," said Rarity after a short wait. "This is not an ideal situation, I know. I also recognize that I was being very difficult this morning. I want you to understand that my observations, in which I was pointing out problems, is something I should have dialed back. However, I don't regret it."

Rainbow looked over and scowled.

"I mean it. Every word I said. We're not well-off. I may have been pointing out all of the issues I had with our situation, but I regret none of it. It is only by understanding the state in which we find ourselves we're in that we can start to make it better."

"Complaining about the issues doesn't solve them."

"Au contraire!" countered Rarity. "I complained about not having a way to reach the water without walking through mud, and as a direct result, we started looking for a clog. Would you have drained that pond if I'd said nothing? Would you be able to trot right up to it tomorrow morning with dry hooves, or would you have spent the whole day trying to find food, something that we only have now because I brought up the idea that we should make sure the water doesn't just clog somewhere else?"

She had a point. Rainbow, unable to fly, would have actually spent most of the day trying to find something to brace her wing, so that she could fly again sooner without as much risk of it breaking. She had considered it over the course of the day, just to keep her mind occupied, but only near the end of the day had she thought about what would happen if she slipped free of it in the middle of the ocean. 

"I suppose you're right," she admitted. "Perhaps I'm just saying that because I'm stuck with you for awhile, and I don't want this to be a total nightmare, but I need more than just complaints. What good is knowing a problem when you can't come up with a solution?"

Rarity turned up her nose at the assertion that this was going to be a bad time as long as she was around, but she was willing to at least put in the effort. "I don't have all of the answers, but knowing the problem allows us to try possible solutions until something works." She quickly turned the coconuts with a crude pair of tongs that was just two short branches tied together. "The scary stories are just me trying to raise your spirits. I don't want you to be scowling all the time; it makes me uncomfortable."

Rainbow smirked. "You really want a scary story?"

Rarity nodded and smiled.

"This is the tale of when I fought a kraken..."

Rarity buried her face in her hoof. "Oh, sweet Celestia..."