"We can't just ignore them forever," Twilight said as the 12 teens sat at a bench. "We need to find a way to stand up to them, to take back control of our camp experience."
The group looked at Twilight, surprised by her sudden determination. They had never seen her like this before, and it was clear that she was not going to back down.
"Okay, Twilight. What do you suggest we do?" Cole asked, his tone serious.
Twilight thought for a moment before speaking. "We need to gather more information about Trixie, Morro, and Sunset. We need to find out what makes them tick, what their weaknesses are. Once we know that, we can come up with a plan to take them down."
“Well, one of us has been with Trixie, Morro, and Sunset. I know a little something about all three.” Kai smirked.
The group turned to Kai, surprised by his confession. "What do you mean?" Twilight asked, intrigued.
Kai hesitated for a moment before continuing. "They're not as tough as they seem. Trixie is all talk, and Morro is easily intimidated if you know how to push his buttons, And Sunset, well, she's just too arrogant for her own good. If you can get under her skin, she'll crumble like a house of cards."
The group nodded, taking in Kai's words. "Okay, so we have a starting point. Let's start gathering more information and come up with a plan," Twilight said, her determination growing.
“Yoooo, dweebs!” Everyone except Lloyd and Twilight groaned as they recognized the voice. They turned around to see a black haired guy walking towards them with paper in his hands.
“What do you need, Morro.” Kai gritted out his teeth. “Sheesh Kai, is that any way to treat your old friend? You wouldn’t want to break our little agreement, would you?” Morro smirked as Kai looked away.
“Anyways, we’re having a party in my cabin at the end of the week. Just gonna do some fun stuff, you know, getting drunk, spin the bottle, average teenager things.” Morro explained.
“Do the camp counselors know about this?” Lloyd raised an eyebrow. Morro let out a loud laugh. “Do they know? Get a load of this guy!” He slapped Lloyd’s back in the process, getting an annoyed look out of the boy.
“Of course they don’t know. That’s the fun of it.” Morro whispered, as to which Sunset appeared behind him.
“And if any of you tell, we’ll make sure to make your lives so miserable here, you’ll be begging to not come back. You understand?”
The group nodded swiftly and looked at each other nervously. “I definitely want to see you there, you’re too pretty to miss it.” Morro leaned over and kissed Twilight’s hand, causing her to cringe in response.
“Make sure you show up, cause if you don’t… I wouldn’t want to come get you, would I?” Morro laughed as him and Sunset walked off to go bother some kid across the pathway.
“Wooo, my first party and I’m being forced to go.” Lloyd cheered sarcastically. “This is the first year he’s done this. Awww why did you have to show up this year!” Kai faced Twilight.
Twilight's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?”
“It’s because he’s trying to make out with you, Twi. A party is his cover up because Trixie and Morro can never stay loyal to each other for more than 2 seconds” Cole rolled his eyes.
Twilight's eyes widened in shock at Cole’s words. She had no idea that Morro had any interest in her, and the thought made her feel uneasy.
"I didn't realize that Morro had any intentions towards me," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Kai sighed and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on you. We won't let anything happen to you."
“Party’s still a week away, but trying to pull any fast ones is like playing with fire,” Rainbow reasoned. “I suggest we just try to enjoy camp till after the party.”
“Agreed, getting into trouble on the second day of camp would have too much wear and tear on my wardrobe.” Rarity flicked her hand. “I for one would love to go on a canoe ride.”
The teens looked among themselves, and decided that a canoe ride was actually a pretty nice idea, as long as nobody fell off into the water below.
The group made their way to the lake, where canoes were waiting for them. Twilight and Rainbow Dash paired up, as did Lloyd and Zane. Cole paired up with Rarity, and Nya paired up with Pinkie, with AJ and Fluttershy in another. Kai and Jay were left to share a canoe, but they didn't mind. As long as they didn’t try to kill each other along the way.
As they paddled out onto the peaceful water, they couldn't help but feel grateful for the moment of calm amidst the chaos.
"This is nice," Zane said, breaking the silence.
"Sure is," Lloyd agreed.
Cole worked at the paddles for his and Rarity’s boat as she sat in the back, taking in the sun.
“You sure the sun isn’t gonna melt the makeup off of you?” Cole asked with a smirk, which Rarity scoffed and playfully hit him in the back. “You talk too much for your own good cake boy.”
"You seem to be taking this whole camp thing in stride," Cole said, rolling his eyes.
Rarity smiled. "Of course, darling. I'm always up for an adventure. Besides, I'm quite used to roughing it in the great outdoors."
Cole chuckled. "Really? I wouldn't have guessed that about you."
Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Oh, do tell. What do you think I'm like?"
Cole smirked. "Well, let's just say you strike me as more of a high-maintenance type."
Rarity playfully swatted him on the arm. "Oh, hush. I'll have you know that I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
Cole grinned. "I'm sure you are. But hey, if you ever need someone to help you pitch a tent or start a fire, just let me know." He was certain she was lying, as back at home there was always stuff he was coming over to help with, but he decided to play along just for the hell of it.
Rarity laughed. "I'll keep that in mind, darling."
As they paddled through the lake, Kai couldn't help but notice that Jay's paddling was a bit slower than his own. "You're paddling too slow, Jay," he groaned, wanting to get to their destination faster.
Jay rolled his eyes. "Well, you're going too fast, Kai. We need to pace ourselves."
Kai scoffed. "Pace ourselves? We're in a race, Jay. We need to win."
Jay shook his head. "It's not a race, Kai. We're just trying to enjoy the scenery."
“Enjoy not being able to get my sister.” Kai smirked. Jay glared. “Someone’s got jokes today huh? And I’m normally the one with jokes! Dating half the camp and still not the girl you actually want!”
“Oh that does it!” Kai lunged for Jay and tried to force his face into the water below. “Help! He’s attacking an unarmed man!” Jay screamed. “I’m trying to wash your mouth out!” Kai laughed.
Twilight chuckled at their bickering while Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Can you guys stop trying to kill each other for two seconds and just enjoy the ride?" she said, exasperated.
Kai let go of Jay and they both grumbled but eventually fell into a comfortable rhythm, their paddles moving in sync. As they paddled further out, they were suddenly surrounded by a thick fog. They couldn't see anything beyond a few feet in front of them, and they started to feel uneasy.
“Uh guys? I think it might be a good idea to turn around.” Lloyd called out. “Ya think? I can barely see where I’m going!” Rainbow yelled.
“Zane, help me out here!” Lloyd cried out. “I do not know how to assist you, but I can provide light.” Zane pressed a button on his head, and two blue lights shone from his eyes.
“What the- HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” Lloyd stared, shocked.
Zane simply shrugged. “It is one of my many abilities as a nindroid. Did I not mention that to you earlier?”
Lloyd shook his head frantically, and then looked back at the others with a “did you guys know this?” And received a couple of nods.
“Hey Zane! Think you use those lights to guide us out of this fog?” Kai asked hopefully.
Zane nodded and they all followed the blue lights, paddling carefully to avoid running into anything. As they navigated through the fog, they started to hear strange noises - whispers and rustling - but they couldn't see where they were coming from.
“Guys, I don't like this.” Jay's voice was shaky.
“Just keep following Zane's lights, we'll be okay.” Twilight tried to reassure him.
“What if it’s the Storm King?” Fluttershy whimpered. “Don’t worry Fluttershy… it’s just a myth, right yall?” Applejack asked. “Honestly AJ, I’m not too sure myself anymore.” Kai responded shakily.
“Zane’s light isn’t doing enough! We need something brighter,” Lloyd said. “Where would we find something like that? A branch? We have no lighter!” Twilight responded. “Whatever it is, you need to hurry and find it before we all get lost!” Rarity screamed.
“I got it!” Kai put his hand into the air. He then looked down to see everyone looking up at his hand, gasping in awe. “What are you all staring at?”
Jay pointed to his hand, which Kai looked up at to see a bright flame surrounding it, and the crazy part was, it didn’t hurt!
“Woah, how did you do that?” Rainbow asked, amazed.
“I don’t know, I just...felt it,” Kai said, still in shock himself.
“Just hurry up and use that flame to guide us out of here,” Zane urged.
Kai nodded and held his hand in front of the canoe, using the flame to light their way through the thick fog. They paddled as fast as they could, trying to get back to the main sight.
Finally, they saw land in the distance.
As they paddled away from the fog, they could all breathe a sigh of relief. They had made it out alive, thanks to Kai’s unexpected ability.
“That was insane,” Twilight said, breaking the silence.
“Yeah, but we’re all safe now. That’s what matters,” Jay said, smiling.
“So… explosive sprinkles and fire powers? That’s… random?” Lloyd pinched the bridge of his nose. “And it’s not like Gloriosa will believe us, even if she sees it right in her very eyes!”
“Yeah, we’ll just have to hope that we don’t have to explain it to her,” Rainbow said.
“Speaking of Gloriosa, we should probably head back to camp and let her know we’re okay,” Twilight suggested.
They all nodded in agreement and started paddling back towards camp, the sun setting behind them. As they approached the shore, they could see Gloriosa waiting for them, looking relieved.
“Thank goodness you’re all okay!” Gloriosa exclaimed as they stepped out of the canoe.
“We had a bit of a scare in the fog, but we made it out,” Kai said, pointing back to the water.
Gloriosa’s eyes widened in surprise. “I...I got this! I’ll have that fog cleared out faster than you can say fog!” She hopped onto a canoe herself and paddled out into the distance, leaving the 12 teens dumbfounded.
“She’s weird… and not funny weird like me… just weird weird,” Pinkie whispered to Jay, who nodded heavily in agreement.
As they waited for Gloriosa to return, the teens sat around the campfire, enjoying the warmth of the flames.
“So...what do we do now?” Fluttershy asked, looking around at her friends.
“I really hope this is all some weird cgi where they’re filming a movie.” Jay sighed. Kai lit his hand on fire and threw a fireball at the campfire, spewing flames everywhere as Rarity and Jay backed up and yelled in surprise.
“Can you stop doing that!? I just designed this and I’d hate to see it burned off!” Rarity rolled her eyes. Kai and Cole looked at each other and snickered as Rainbow caught onto their implication.
“You two are disgusting!” She threw a marshmallow bag at Kai’s face as Cole ducked to dodge it.
“Don’t you three have siblings who go here?” Zane looked at Rarity, Rainbow and Applejack. The girls nodded and Rainbow sighed. “I’d never forgive myself if something happened to Scoots, you know, her growth was stunted at a young age, so I try my best to keep her motivated.”
Rarity nodded in agreement. “And Sweetie Belle is here as well. I can’t imagine what would happen if something happened to her,” she said, looking worried.
“Same goes for my little sister, Apple Bloom,” Applejack added, a determined look on her face. “We need to make sure everyone stays safe.”
“My dad shows up on Thursday. We can report all of this to him, and maybe he can finally give us whatever the hell is happening around here.” Kai explained.
“But then we still have that party, which is most likely gonna suck” Lloyd added. “We’ll deal with that when it comes around. For now, let’s go join everyone else at lunch.” Cole said as everyone stood up and made their way to the mess hall.
Camp Everfree was a strange place, and the random powers were even stranger…