//------------------------------// // Sunrise would be nice for anypony else // Story: Cutie Mark Camp Blues // by Moonbeam Thought Writes //------------------------------// The sun. A vital orb of boundless energy raised and lowered by the lavender alicorn that sat upon Equestria’s throne. It burned to stare directly into, and yet you cannot live without it, as Celestia, former Princess of the sun, loves to point out to her younger sister Luna, former Princess of the moon, and would-be usurper of the heavens. And yet, as much as Equus needed the sun to remain in the sky, that didn’t mean Vig had to like it being there. A constant reminder of what she’d lost. Let it burn, she thought. Let it burn, for it only makes me hate the sun that much more. And so Vig stood, under the shade of the Everfree, glaring at the rays of sunlight filtering down through the canopy all around her, waiting for Moonbeam to finally get back, and enact her master plan. Whatever it was. “Vig! I’m back!” And there was her pegasus friend, lugging along- wait, were those some of the thick winter blankets off of the beds from the Nurse’s Cabin? The grey filly galloped towards Vig, somewhat hindered and slowed by a bundle of fluffy cream fabrics piled precariously on their back. However the weight of the blankets, Moonbeam grinned ludicrously, every inch of her wild expression screaming; THIS PLAN IS GOING TO WORK! It was a little terrifying. “… are you absolutely certain this will work?” Vig asked. The risk of burning was a bit high for maybes. “I am one-hundred percent certain!” “I can’t tell if you’re sarcastic or serious, and that’s scaring me.” “I am also one-hundred percent serious!” “Oh goodie.” Vig couldn’t help but let a little drop of sarcasm creep into her voice. “Aww, come on Vig, if it doesn’t work, we’ll know in the first few seconds. It’ll be fine.” Vig rolled her eyes, but the edges of her lips turned up. She’d never had a friend quite as… there wasn’t really a word for how Moonbeam was sometimes. It wasn’t in a bad way, just an indescribable one. “So, I’m guessing, we put the blankets over me, and get back to the cabin safe and sound.” “Ding ding ding! We have a winner!” Moonbeam unceremoniously dumped the fluffy masses off her back, and Vig held herself very still as they arranged the fuzzy swathes of fabric, until Vig’s vision was entirely obscured by white. “Don’t lie to me, I look like a pile of snow.” There was some barely audible chuckling, before Moonbeam’s muffled reply reached Vig. “Mmmmaybe.” Vig sighed, and slumped her shoulders. “Let’s just get this over with.” It quickly occured to the pair that the Vampony of the group, buried in a mound of blankets, couldn’t see crap. “Ok, ok, if you just keep coming forward now…” Vig was close to just ripping off the blankets in frustration. “To the right, no not that far, go back a little, there’s a root, watch the root…” “Just keep going straight!” Thunk. Vig walked straight into… was that a tree? She couldn’t see anything. “Moonbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam…” Vig started. More near-silent giggling, before the filly in question answered. “Heh, sorry, sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” Ripping that stupid blanket off was getting more appealing by the second. “I bucking swear, if we don’t get back to the cabin soon-” “Don’t worry, we’re almost there.” “Suuuuuuuure we are.” Vig grumbled under her breath. “I can heeeeear yooooou, so don’t get so comfortable mumbling from under there!” “Hrmph. Whatever.” “I can still heeeeear yooooou!” “I knoooooowww.” “Hey, look, if you just turn left here…” Vig pivoted, took one step, promptly smacked headfirst into another hard surface. “Oops, not that far.” “Yeah, I’m certain.” “I’m serious! We’re almost there! For real, I promise.” “If you say so…” Taking a deep breath, trying not to inhale too many fuzzy blanket fibres, Vig calmed herself, quietly whispered something about not taking the blanket off, and continued forwards. “Hey, for real now, turn left.” Cautiously, she moved to the side, careful not to slam into any solid barriers. Thankfully, there was no resistance, and so she strode further into the unknown of space beyond obscured vision. “Ok, ok, watch the step.” The warning came a second too late, and Vig’s forelegs went smack into a raised… something. Pulling her hooves back with a start, she swore under her breath. “That’s a step, so if you just-” “Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it. I’ve gone up stairs before.” She put her hoof forward, ignoring the slight pain that echoed in the movements of said hoof, and tried to find the top of the step. When she finally found open space, Vig pulled herself up, and waited for the next direction. “Ok, so, uh, Vig, we have a problem.” “Hm?” “That step you’re on is only big enough for one pony. And the cabin door’s shut.” “Is it locked?” A note of panic crept into Vig’s voice. The various locks and deadbolts decorating the door were many, but she knew neither of them had the key. “Thank Twilight, it’s not. You did a good job of picking them last night.” “All right then, where’s the door handle?” “Oh, right. It should be… up and to your right.” Vig stretched her hoof out, feeling through the fabric for the aforementioned handle. When something vaguely circle-shaped brushed against it, she twisted the circle-thing, which then disappeared from her hoof, seeming to fly forward out of her grasp. Taking this to mean the door had opened, Vig stepped in the general direction of where the circle-thing had been. When she didn’t immediately slam into a wall or a tree, or something, she continued walking. The floor turned to timber boards under her hooves, and as she kept walking, the sound of hoof beats started behind her, before something clicked. “Moonbeam? Is that you?” “Yeah, I just shut the door behind us.” “Good.” “Oh, and you might want to stop there, there’s a wall in front of your face.” “Right.” True to their word, when Vig outstretched a hoof, it met something solid beyond the fabric. “If you edge a bit to your… right, you should be able to make it into the next room.” “Ok.” Vig took a step sideways, before resuming her walk forwards. “Is it safe to take off the blankets yet?” “Oh Twilight no, you’re in the middle of a ray of sunlight right now!” The temptation to take it off, despite the imminent danger, was increasing by the second. “If you make a quarter-circle turn to your left, you should be in a direct path to that shadowy little room you’ve been staying in.” “Hey! The lack of natural light is perfectly fine by me!” “Never said it wasn’t.” When she finally made it to a point that Moonbeam said it was safe, Vig shook off the heap of fluffy material, and spat out a clump of fuzz that had somehow made it into her mouth. The room looked no different to when she had left it. The carefully tidied array of distractions and activities were still pushed to the edges of the room. The plump armchair that squatted in the corner still sat there, looking… smug? She didn’t exactly know if a chair could look smug, but that one managed to. None of the lamps or light fixtures spread throughout the room were switched on, but not that Vig needed any of them to see. The dark hadn’t been a problem for her ever since that fateful night not a week ago. Shadows lit up under her gaze, where they had been impenetrable before. Indeed the sun spilling out from the windows had also become blinding to look at for more than a few seconds. Interestingly, whenever Vig was around other ponies, there was a curious, continuous thumping noise, just beneath the normal level of noise that immediately reached her ears. Was it a heartbeat? An auditory hallucination? Vig tried her best to ignore the noise, and avoided thinking about it too much. Just in case it was the sound of a heartbeat. “So. We made it back, we’re both still- well, I mean, you’re not really alive, but the sentiment’s there.” “Yeah, don’t remind me.” “Sorry about that. At least you’ll stay young and beautiful forever!” “Really going to enjoy being fourteen for enternity. Not like I’ll never be able to drink, drive or vote!” “Yeesh, I said I was sorry!” Foggy Bramble paced, trying to figure out what had happened the previous night. It came back to her in flashes, not all at once, as she might have liked. Stalking the edges of the Staff Basement. Desperately clawing at the rotting wood, trying to escape. Snarling at the light pooling in through the cracks in the boards, furious at the feeble reminder of the glorious night she was missing out on by being locked in the basement. Snapping an old broom, left to rot, in one clean bite. Gouging claws deep into wood, and then dragging them, ripping through the rotted planks, only to find crumbling dirt behind them. Howling with rage, with fury, with reckless abandon. All in all, not the worst night she’d ever had. To be sure, the other was pretty angry about being trapped down in the darkness for the whole night, but she wasn’t the one with executive decision making, so what was she going to do about it? Nothing. The world was safe from Foggy Bramble. The thought brought a small smile to her face, which blossomed into a joyous grin. She couldn’t hurt anypony, down in the Staff Basement. She couldn’t kill, nor maim, or bite anypony else. It was the perfect solution to a problem that had plagued her nightmares. “Foggy?” A rectangle of light slithered down the steps leading up to the outside world, an ambassador of the sunlight gracing the camp above. Gybh gingerly stepped down the stairs, peering into the dim gloom that still enveloped the space where Foggy stood. “Foggy? Are you down there? Do I need to come back later?” “Morning Gybh, everything’s ok, you’re safe to come down.” The griffon let out a small sigh of relief before calling back; “Well, I hope you don’t mind if I stay right here. You do remember where we are right now.” “If you politely ignore the murderous history, it’s actually quite nice down here!” Foggy joked. “Nope. Nope. Still not coming down into the murder basement.” Gybh shrilled. “Fine, I’m coming up.” And with that, she ascended the stairs, and rejoined the world of the day. At first, the surroundings Foggy opened her eyes to were blindingly bright. Once her eyes had a second to adjust, she let out a small, disheartened breath. The ground around the entrance to the Staff Basement was covered in a layer of fresh, pure snow. The claw-and-paw tracks from Gybh revealed just how deep the camp was snowed through. Sinking one reddish-brown hoof into the icy clouds padding the earth, Foggy yelped and snatched her hoof back. The snow came up to her knee. “Ooh crap. Where is my winter gear when I need it most?” She muttered. Stealing a longing glance at the high-riding fluffy socks covering Gybh’s legs, Foggy let herself have one last self-pitying train of thought, before steeling herself for a long trek through unyielding ice. Sure, they could have been deathly ill, but this was getting ridiculous. Moonbeam Thought had been in the Nurse’s Cabin for far too long now, and Cobblestone was starting to lose any hope that the pegasus would be out in time for the Winter Moon Festival. There was only so much repurposed-Hearth’s-Warming-eggnog he could drown his sorrows in before it got repetitive. And the ponies he spent time with weren’t much better. Take Cream Partridge for instance. An off-white pegasus with an annoyingly nasal voice, and obsessively curled orange hair. He couldn’t tell if she liked him, or if she had suffered some kind of… brain damage? It really didn’t help matters when she told the same story of when she had hit her head as a filly every single time someone asked her anything. It was honestly mind-numbing. Or Juneberry Stag. She didn’t talk much (or at all, sometimes), but from the restrictor ring that she never took off her horn, the nervous way the Group Leaders watched her, and the way she always assumed the worst in ponies, well. Maybe the rumours of her parole from juvenile detention held a pearl of truth. And there were only so many sunshine-yellow unicorn fillies with gradient pink to navy manes before he recognised her from a wanted poster a few years back. And those were only the most interesting company he kept since the departure of his usual group. A filly who got hit in the head, and a bonafide delinquent. How utterly far he had strayed. Visiting Moonbeam, while sick, wasn’t out of the question. Maybe he would have time to do so after dinner. Yes, he decided. He would visit his sickly… friend? Friendly acquaintance? Cobblestone would make time to visit his friendly acquaintance in the Nurse’s Cabin that night, once he’d had his fill of dinner. She had to be out soon, right? And whatever she had wasn’t contagious, or else Sage Mercy would have declared so, and instated a lockdown. Or something. They’d probably be happy to see him, too. Vig had gone home on the Cutie Mark Express, and certainly wasn’t keeping Moonbeam company. It was an excellent idea. With luck, she’d be out and continuing the quest for a special talent alongside him any day now. Of course, he’d either have to introduce them to his new pals, or make his escape from the dreary group he currently associated with. No matter, Cobblestone would burn cross that particular bridge later. “I’m terribly sorry, sugar, but you can’t stay here for much longer. Don’t you wanna, I dunno… earn your cutie mark?” “Aww, but-” “You’ve been here for a few days now, and there’ve been no negative side effects from your… healing. You’re a miracle, sugar! But it’s time to get back out into the world. Vig’ll be just fine without you.” Sage turned to the Vampony in question. “Won’t you?” “Uhhh… I think Moonbeam should stay here. With me. And what if she’s cursed and- and- uhhh, it’s just taking a really long time to truly… uhhh… take effect? Half-lives and all that!” I facehoofed. No wonder Vig had failed science. But Sage Mercy was adamant that keeping me from finding my destiny through a magical mark on my ass was immoral. Granted, discovering said magic ass-mark had been significantly more appealing before I had been bitten by a monster in the Everfree. Now, my primary goal for the camp was making it out without inflicting my woes onto anycreature else. I did miss Cobblestone, and just leaving him without any explanation whatsoever was nagging at my conscience a little. But Vig seemed to be the only one who could snap me out of my uncontrollable… rampage just didn’t seem like the right word, but with no alternative way to describe it, a rampage was as good as I’d get. Granted, she had only used brute force, and I was quite sure anypony else with half her strength could have done similar. If a light concussion and a small amount of brain damage was the cost of my bodily autonomy, I’d take it over nothing. Sage Mercy blinked at Vig’s proclamation, before her shoulder’s slumped and she shook her head. “Look, you can stay until tomorrow morning, but after this, you’re moving back to the Birch cabin, alright?” “Yes!” I smiled at Vig, and she grinned back victoriously. I was quite certain that nothing could possibly go wrong in the space of a day. Considering my luck, this was a bold assumption to just make, but what could go wrong that hadn’t already done so? A day and a night, I wasn’t so sure about, but hey. I’m sure we’d be just fine. The worst that could happen was what? Death? Pretty sure even that couldn’t stop me if I fully lost control with no hope of Vig stepping in to hit me again. The chances of such a scenario were… low, but not zero. What could possibly go wrong in the space of just a day and a night, right?