//------------------------------//
// Just Doubts 
// Story: All Eight Must Fall 
// by MemoryLane 
//------------------------------//

Day 1
2:13 PM
“Firework”

I looked around, desperately staring at the group with wide eyes. I hoped and prayed that someone would say something, maybe try and intervene so I wouldn’t have to make such an important decision. To my chagrin, everyone stayed absolutely quiet, and a few members of the group glared at me in anticipation. I did not want to choose sides, that would be the last thing that I would want to do. So instead of trying to come up with a solution, I tried to worm my way out of it.
        “Uh, what if we do both? We salvage what we can, and then go?” I asked, hurriedly. Windstrom sullenly shook her head.
        “No, Firework. Just choose,” she sighed, losing her patience much like everyone else in the group. I took a few more moments to hesitantly think to myself the best course of action. Well, if we stayed, then we just might attract attention to ourselves, just like Omega was saying. However there was the chance for shelter, using the vast array of scrap metal to our advantage. If only we could put out that smoke though, the best way to do it would be to just put some dirt over it. The smoke should fan out within a matter of an hour or so. Also, I didn’t hear any sort of explosions or whistling earlier. I wonder if my gunpowder, or even a few of my fireworks, made it?
        Although, if we leave we have the possibility to enter unwanted territory. But what if there were intelligent species? Maybe they could indeed help us. Or, we could all slowly perish as we tire ourselves out from all the walking. I put the pros and cons together and firmly spoke up, wobbling just slightly. “I...I say that we stay.” Turbo, Omega, and Spades all groaned, while the rest of the group -- save for Nautics -- gave semi-smug grins.
        “Firework! What the Hell!?” Spades hollered. “You need to take into conside-”
        “Spades, he’s already decided. You were outvoted, deal with it.” Windstrom cut in, slyly getting her revenge for being interrupted earlier. I was very close to impulsively mentioning to Windstrom that being demanding and rude right then really was not the best thing to do. I mean, if we’re going to be out here for a while, then we needed to learn to get along. Was Windstrom the best choice for leader? So far, I’m not too sure. I hoped she proved herself soon, otherwise I fear that other members of the group will try to step up and take over, and there are a few here of which I’d be afraid.
        Spades sighed, possibly considering just walking away, but after realizing how much of a horrible idea that was, he stayed put. “Okay, so Jolly Rogers, I want you to go through this wreckage piece by piece and try to see if you can repair the ship,” Windstrom ordered, pointing over to the area mentioned. Jolly Rogers gingerly put a hoof to his forehead and saluted. 
        “Aye, aye, captain!” he cheered, before moseying off towards the remnants of the ship. I remembered vividly that he packed his toolbox on board, and I was curious as to if it had actually survived.
“Turbo and Spades, you two work on making some sort of shelter. If there are any pieces of scrap metal that Jolly isn’t using, be use to use them,” she continued. Turbo and Spades looked at each other. One pony bore an unamused frown, while the other was gleefully smiling. Part of me thought this was a bad idea. Wasn’t Spades one of the smartest ponies here? Why is he doing manual labor? Spades sighed at both his task, as well as his partner.
“Nautics, Tome, we could use your assistance surveying the area. Search for any sort of water within the nearest two miles. Hurry though, as we can’t put out the smoke until you return.” I was going to ask why, but then I realized. Duh, I’m stupid, they could use it. But then again, so could anyone else. Nautics was more than happy, smiling for the first time since I’ve even met him, to explore the nearby terrain. Tome bit the inside of his cheek, before turning to Spades.
“Wanna trade?”
“Oh god, yes.”
Windstrom sighed, before shaking her head restlessly. “Fine, Tome and Turbo can make shelter, and Spades and Nautics can get water.” I don’t know why she repeated it out loud, maybe it was so she could remember who was doing what better. With that, both groups wandered off to gather their pre-decided supplies in the woods.
“Omega and Firework-”
I fell over.
There was a slight pause as Omega actually had to help me stand up again. “...Uh, Firework you know a lot about fire, does that include smoke?” I scoffed, rolling my eyes playfully. I had a feeling she would use me to take care of the smoke from the ship.
“Of course! All you need is to get rid of the oxygen in the area, and the smoke should dissipate. I would just smother it with dirt, to be honest.” I explained. Windstrom actually seemed entertained by my answer, and she looked at Omega expectantly. The pony in question lifted up a hoof, defensively.
“Omega, since Firework can’t walk, I need you to listen to him to try to get the smoke covered when the groups come back. For now, please try and salvage what you can from the ship and in the clearing.” Omega, pretty okay with his task and the simplicities of it, nodded before heading over to the ship.
I was the only one left. Windstrom turned to me, raising an eyebrow. “Uh, Firework...just keep trying to figure out how to walk…”
Dammit...

***

Day 1
2:45 PM
“Spades”

Well, things could not be going more smoothly. In case you didn’t get it, that was sarcasm. So far this is one of the worst days of my life. I get drafted into some sort of military exploration mission, only to have it go horribly wrong. Now there I was, my body shifted into that of a unicorn, scrounging around the forest in a useless effort to find a source of clean water. I was practically dragging my hooves through the brush. I wasn’t entirely sure if I even cared about finding water. I knew for certain that we needed it. If we didn’t find some water, our group would be in deep trouble, unless some canteens managed to survive the crash, which I deemed highly unlikely to occur.
        I was forced to travel with Nautics, the younger guy of whom I don’t know anything about, although I really didn’t care at all to learn more about him. He weirded me out a bit. The way he could go so long without saying a simple word. I was an introvert myself, but this kid takes it to a whole different level.
        Part of me was glad that Windstrom made the decision for him to find water. It was said earlier that he was one of the best navigators in the world. This may be new terrain for him, but he was handling it marvelously. We haven’t needed to stop or change directions once. Surely, he knew where the nearest water source would be, if there even were some.
        I couldn’t stop my head from hurting every time I tried to make sense of everything that was happening. This was so very surreal, and every moment I could, I inspected my new, unicorn body. Weren’t unicorns...magical? I believed so, as I had read it in a book. I had a wonderful memory, by the way. I can still remember books word by word that I’ve read when I was just a child. My parents called me a prodigy, but I don’t see it as such.
        It was only getting more and more awkward between Nautics and I, and as much as I hated to say it, I was dying to get out my thoughts to someone. 
        “What do you make of this?” I asked, rather suddenly. Nautics perked his head over in my direction, somewhat stunned that I actually opened my mouth. Upon realizing that it was just me, his attention went back to the trail.
        “Well, the soil is damp, leading me to believe that there is some sort of water source within the vicinity.” he replied. Not what I meant.
        “No, I mean about all of this? About these new bodies, about the crash, about… everything?” I said. I wasn’t entirely sure how to phrase it, so I forced myself to simply wing it. Nautics did not seem to be fazed by my question in the slightest, he just kept walking, with me in tow, through the brush.
        “I’m… I’m not too sure,” he said. As the words left his lifts his gaze began to droop lower and lower. “I don’t know what to make of this.” I’ve never noticed how monotonous his voice was. I could tell, however, that he was holding back a decent amount of emotion. I couldn’t tell what, though. Was it anger? Fear? Maybe even a little bit of sadness? I’m sure it didn’t matter at that moment.
        A sullen breeze rode through the forest, making me tenderly shiver. I was by no means an outdoorsman, pony, you catch my drift. As you can see, I am much more suited for indoorsy intellectuality. I play cards, indoors. Maybe switching roles with Tome was a bad idea. But then again, I really didn’t want to have to lug around heavy pieces of metal.
        God, was he getting on my nerves. Every time he said something, it’s usually a put down. He had the vibe that just screams “leave me alone, I’m better than you”. At least that’s what it seemed like to me. He wanted to be leader? Psh, I had an honest feeling that he would drive this group into the ground if he was given any sort of authority. It’s the exact reason I sided with Omega earlier.
        If anything, I deserve to be the leader of this group. I’m most definately the smartest out of everyone. Tome may be a scientist, but not when it came to everything. He may know a little about one field in particular, but that’s it. I’m definately more qualified than him, and I hope Windstrom understands that also. If Windstrom, for some reason or another, needs to hand the role of leader to someone else, it better be me. I’m not sexist in the slightest, but she really didn’t seem like “leader” material.
        Another thing, I wondered if my playing cards managed to survive the crash? When I was on the ship, one of the dumbass soldiers requested that I put them away during the flight, to which I obeyed. However, when I woke up, they were nowhere to be found. I suppose unicorns do not have pockets, so I wondered where exactly they could be. I searched all around where I woke up, but I did not find a single card. That was my favorite deck, also. It was vintage! Made in 1983 and used by various historical poker players.
        I habitually flicked my mane, as a small strand of it would annoyingly appear within my peripheral vision. “How close are we?” I asked, thinking of something rather important. “How are we going to carry the water anyways?” I’m sure I could quickly come up with something myself, but I was curious as to what the adventurer had planned himself.
        “Not too far now…” he sighed. It’s a wonder that he hadn’t needed to stop and catch his breathe yet. For a little bit, I felt like passing out, but I had to keep forcing myself to forge on. I noticed that he didn’t answer my second question, so I just dropped it. If he didn’t have an idea when we got there, then I would myself.
        Sigh, I just hope that this will be over with soon.

It was literally a few minutes later when we actually stumbled upon something great. Nautics looked mighty pleased with himself, as I let out an impressed chuckle. We stumbled upon a grand lake, full of water so pure, so clean, that I could see the bottom of it from twenty feet away. Never, ever, has there been a body of water on Earth that produced such clear water. “Whoa, you really know your stuff don’t you?”
        Nautics didn’t reply, he simply smiled out towards the lake. I could see the sun high in the sky, giving me the impression that it was roughly around three or four o’clock. That kind of made me worried, knowing that we were most likely going to have to sleep in an unknown place, but I put my fear aside. I was going to have to deal with it.
        “We should probably hurry, it’s going to become dark in a few hours.”
        “On it!” Nautics said.

***

Day 1
3:04 PM
“Turbo”

Ahh! Such a bright and shining day! I mean, this place was absolutely gorgeous. This isn’t anything like I would have expected another planet to be! I don’t know about anyone else, but I love to switch things up, I enjoy the smell of adventure! 
        Tome and I have been instructed to work on making shelter using various amounts of scrap metal, leaves, twigs, anything we could find really. Tome was doing most of the architectural designing, while I kind of played to role of a tow truck, hauling all the materials that were too heavy for him to carry. Anything to help!
        Tome came up with the idea that we should create eight little teepees for everyone, as he really did not wish to share. I pondered that thought, deeply. When I think about it too, I’d much rather sleep alone at night. But then again, that’s also a lot more supplies that we need. Frankly, Jolly Rogers needed every single piece of the ship so he can try and put it back together. However, the more he worked, the more frustrated he became. I didn’t really think he’s having very much luck…
        “But that’s so much more stuff I have to carry!” I whined, not entirely pleased. Just because I was the biggest here doesn’t mean that I liked to carry extremely heavy bits of metal. I had made a small pile of pieces in the middle of the clearing so they’ll be easy to move around later. Next to that pile, was another one that was much larger, but it was of sticks and shrubs. Tome sighed, tiredly.
        “Turbo, you’re here for physical support. Don’t complain and just do it…” he said. He cracked his neck, surveying the area as if he was doing some kind of formulas in his head. “Okay, if we do eight smaller kind of huts, about seven by ten, then I think that might just be enough. Although, we’re going to have to make one of them eight by twelve, because of your size…”
        I took pride in that.
        I looked over to take notice of the rest of the camp, although there really wasn’t much going on. Jolly Rogers was still pounding on some of the metal with a hammer, apparently trying to get some kind of dent out of it without much luck. Windstrom and Omega were salvaging multiple things from the ship. I’m actually surprised with how much food they deemed still good to eat. They actually formed a decent sized pile with it.
        Then there was Firework, that kid was still trying to figure out how to walk. It was actually pretty adorable, seeing how he would take two steps and proceed to fall over. He’s getting better though, that’s for sure. My guess is that, since he’s a much younger pony, his legs are still frail, like that of a fawn. Weird, he doesn’t appear to be a colt, although he is young. Once he learns how to walk, it’ll become easy though.
        I know a lot about horses, don’t judge me.
        “Turbo!” Tome snapped next to me. I jerked back to attention, turning to look back at Tome who had apparently been trying to get my attention for the last few minutes. When he was sure I was listening, he sighed and shook his head. “Did you hear a word I just said?”
        I struggled to think back and recovered the information of which I really didn’t hear. Turning a slight crimson, I winged it. “Uh, well, you said that there are… many things to build, with… metal and stuff. And that-”
        “Turbo!”
        “I love you?”
        Tome smacked his forehead, and I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. Come on! A little humor never did anyone any wrong! If no one else is going to lighten the mood then just leave it to me. I didn’t mind, I had plenty of jokes anyways. “Just… just… let’s start building.” Tome said, walking over to the pile of metal scraps. Without saying another word, I smiled and followed him.

***

I’m not really sure how long it took, but the sun was definitely starting to set by the time we had actually began to finish. Spades and Nautics had both long returned, hoisting water in some sort of hand (hoof?) made baskets made from some type of algae and plant stems. I was not sure, I didn’t get too much of a good look at it. Omega took the liberty to smother the smoke with dirt, causing the billowing pillar of smoke to finally dissipate into the air. About time, that smoke could have actually been the death of us had any predators or intelligent species noticed it. However, I didn’t think there are many…. things, out there. Nautics and Spades both traveled about two miles out, and the only thing they saw were strangely colored birds that didn’t pose a threat.
        Tome and I started pridefully at our work, eight different freestanding huts. One of them was excessively larger, take a guess as to whom that one belonged too? They were very boxlike in shape, but no one was really complaining. To be kind of honest, they looked pretty ugly, there were holes all around due to the fact that we were unable to move or fold the metal, but it’ll still keep things like the rain out. All of the huts lacked a door, there was only a hole. Oh well, better than nothing.
        I wiped a tear from my eye. “They’re...they’re so beautiful…”
“Shut up, Turbo,” said Tome, walking away.

***

Day 1
4:14 PM
“Shining Armor”
Canterlot Castle

I strode through the Canterlot castle with a very familiar frown on my face. The bags under my eyes were so heavy that they seemed to be weighing me down. Just another day for the Captain of the Royal Guard. As much as I loved my job, sometimes it was a real pain in the butt. I haven’t slept at all in the past three days due to copious amounts of paperwork that I had to complete. It’s never-ending, I tell you. 
 I practically dragged myself down the hallway to the Princess’ throne room, my head low and my eyes half open. I’d fix my composure when I got closer to the Princess, for now I decided to just have this moment.
For some reason, the Princess called me down from my paperwork so I may speak with her about something that wasn’t entirely specified. Well, when duty calls, I guess. It’s not like I could just say no. I was just so tired, though. Part of me hoped that she wasn’t going to give me another assignment. Perhaps I may actually try and get some sleep tonight.
“Shining Armor? You okay?” a gruff feminine voice next to me called. I turned my head to see that my second in command, Rapier, right at my side, as always. Her voice poked the air like a sewing needle. I wasn’t sure if she was just speaking entirely too loud, or if my sleepiness was just getting in the way again. “You don’t look so hot,”
I shook my head, desperate to look just a little more presentable as we began to approach the large doors in the distance. “Uh, yes. I’m fine. Just tired.” As you could tell, I wasn’t really in the mood for speaking. Rapier furrowed her brow, sighing. My sagging body subtly reminding her to straighten hers.
“You might wanna buck up, or at least look like you’re not going to pass out.”
Rapier was a mare of strength, if I said so myself. She was young, but she had a bounce in her step that shone of confidence and determination. That’s what I liked about her, and why she’s currently my second in command. I could have picked anyone in the great nation of Equestria, and I stand by my decision to choose her. When it comes to work, she’s always by my side. My only problem would be that dumb attitude of hers...
With a shake of her head, she flipped her unnecessarily long, muddy-colored mane so it hung on the other side of her body, away from me. “Yeah, will do…” I said. Both her mane and her tail were tied back in some sort of impressive looking ponytail. I was not one for fashion, but it suited her well.
Two guards opened the doors for the both of us, slyly eying us up as we walked through the door. I had half a mind to tell them off, but I didn’t. I was much too tired to do anything about it. Walking across the carpet, we came upon another familiar sight, Princess Celestia.
She stood tall, her back arched at it usually was. She wasn’t even sitting at her throne, she stood in the middle of the room, as if she had been impatiently waiting.  Well, she probably was. Shaking all the sleepiness out of my system, Rapier and I made our way over to the her, a pair of white and sapphire bodies, to be exact.
“Princess, we came as soon as we heard you requested us.” I announced as our duo did a slight bow. As much as I knew Rapier hated doing it, formalities must be kept. Princess Celestia let out a kind smile in our direction. It was so strange, some ponies were entirely afraid of anything having to do with the Princess’. Once you got to know Celestia and Luna, they kind of become like second mothers. There are two sides, it seemed. A side that reigns and harbors spectacular leadership, and one that is excessively kind and caring. Most of the time, she was a mix, but I don’t complain.
“Shining Armor, Rapier, it’s great to see you two again.” she said. Great to see me? Obviously, the matter of which Celestia brought me down here for must not be that important if that’s how she’s currently feeling. Then again, I could be wrong. 
“You too, Princess Celestia.” Rapier and I both replied, simultaneously. My eyesight was beginning to lose focus, so I was forced to blink multiple times so that I may focus on the regal Princess in front of me. I must have been exceedingly obvious, as she managed to call me out on it.
“Shining Armor… are you alright?” she asked. I was about to reply, but Rapier stepped in for me. 
“He’s been up for a while doing paperwork, it’s only natural that he would be tired.” Celestia looked downwards, but kept her original comment to herself as she pondered another thought. Hm, a little strange, even for her.
“Shining, I had a task in mind for you,” Internally, I sighed. At any other point in time, I would be excited, more than happy to serve the princess and all of Equestria. However, now is just not one of those times. In all honesty, I just wanted to take a nap. I can practically feel my cool pillow pressed up against my face. “in Everfree forest, natives could see some sort of smoke rising from one of the deepest parts of the forest.” Smoke? Weird, believe it or not, we don’t have very many things that produce smoke. Maybe some kind of blimp or balloon crashed or something, or maybe it’s just someone trying out smoke signals. I nodded to the Princess, wobbling a little bit as I did so.
“You got it, Princess!” I announced. I could see the mare next to me frown as she saw me begin to toddle off. I felt a cold hoof on my shoulder hold me back from moving, almost making me trip over myself.
“Princess, Shining Armor is obviously not capable enough to handle this mission,” Rapier said, turning back to look at her with large, amber eyes. Uhm, excuse me? I was more than qualified and ready to do this mission!
Oh, who was I kidding, I was a mess…
“Rapier-” Surprisingly, Rapier actually cut Celestia off. What the heck has gotten into her? There things you could do to the Princess, and things you couldn’t. You’d think she would’ve studied up on those. I sure did, once or twice the hard way, even.
“Celestia, if there is no one else, I would be more than happy to take responsibility for the investigation.” I was wide-eyed now. Definitely wide awake. I wasn’t sure of what to call this. Either Rapier was taking some sort of pity on me, which I really didn’t appreciate, or she’s using this to her advantage. Nonetheless, Celestia was more amused than insulted.
“Rapier, you are Shining Armor’s second in command, a novice to be exact. Why should I let you take charge?” Celestia asked, however her directness did not faze Rapier in the slightest. 
“Because, I deserve a chance. Let me show you, and Shining, and everyone else in this castle that I deserve to be here.” Wait, what did that mean? Deserve to be there? Of course she deserved to be there! What would make her think otherwise? Sometimes on our routine patrols, I see some guards snicker or scoff behind our backs, but I do not believe it was not because of me, but her. You see, having higher ranked guards, especially a second in command, that is female is a very rare thing in the castle. I stood up tall and said my words with grace:
“Celestia, I think this may be a good idea, in all honesty.” I said. Rapier smiled at me, pleased with that fact that I was actually on her side. Celestia looked at me, then Rapier, and then the ceiling before letting out a royal sigh. Maybe I underestimated just how tired she was.
“Alright, Rapier. Please, do investigate, then…”

***

Day 1
10:32 PM
“Firework”

Why?
It was the only question that ran through my head for the rest of the evening. Why? Why did this happen? There are so many other ways this all could have happened. We could have actually reached our destination in the ship, and not crashed. We could have all painfully died. Why did fate choose this course, instead of that least traveled by? I don’t know if there is a higher power out there, or if the world is simply dominated things such as fate, karma, and chance, but right now I decided to just forget them both. At this point, they were both just meaningless.
        We’re stuck here, and while I was practicing my walking I finally realized it. My mind had been numb for the first few hours, still ridden with nausea after waking up from the crash. Now, however, I’ve awoke into a possible nightmare. There were eight of us, strangers, stuck in some sort of different world. What were we going to do? How would we survive? I didn’t want to die here, I didn’t want to die at all! I did not go through Hell on Earth just so I could die miserably in a place of which I’d rather not be.
        I sat in the middle of the clearing with seven other bodies, all huddled around a campfire that, unsurprisingly, I had to make. It was incessantly crackling, somberly gaining in intensity as the wind only provided fuel for it to grow.
        We all sat in a circle, staring at the fire. None of us spoke. Inside, we were all lost in thought. I let out a soft yawn, a little leery to disturb the peace that had finally been brought upon us. Luckily, I had not been the one to break the silence, as Jolly Rogers was slowly losing his patience, surcumbing to the awkwardness.
        “So… pretty interesting day, am I right?” he said over the rich cackling of the fire. No one replied. Everyone stayed silent, most of us looking down at the ground. Well, except for Tome, who was busy reading that one fancy book he had been reading in the military facility earlier. Surprisingly enough, it hadn’t gotten eviscerated in the crash. Which reminded me, neither did my gunpowder, thank God. Imagine my excitement when Omega cantering up to me with it in his hoof. It’s strange, I didn’t take much for gunpowder to explode, so you could correctly guess that I was curious about why it didn’t. Oh well, at least I had it. I needed to make it count, as I doubted I could find the right materials to make more in this environment.
        After doing all of our duties, we learned a few valuable things. The ship was unrepairable, even for Jolly Rogers. The metal was all molded and bent, and without some sort of melting pot, he couldn’t bring them back to their original shape. We only had about four days worth of food, even if we split it generously. However, most are in cans. Unless we find a can-opener somewhere, or figure something else out, we’re kind of screwed in that department.
        Nautics and Spades did a good job getting all the water. Apparently there was a magnificent lake about a mile out that harbors clean water. Must be the same source of water from the stream I drank from earlier. Or that’s what I hoped, at least.
        
It must have been about twenty minutes until someone else opened their mouth. “Do you think we’ll ever get out of here…?” Nautics asked, rather meekly. He lied on his belly, staring nervously around the circle that we had formed. In an effort to actually not leave someone hanging, I opened my big mouth.
        “Who knows? Surely someone will send help eventually,” I told him. Nautics frowned, looking down at the dirt. Apparently, that answer had not made him feel any better. Thinking back on it, I probably would have been upset as well. I noticed Tome about to open his mouth, but instead, he grunted and went back to his book.
        “It’s not like NASA will just let a huge spaceship go off the map without so much as a search party, right?” I wasn’t sure if Windstrom was serious, or if the realizations were finally starting to creep upon her. It was that comment that made everyone go quiet again, confirming Windstrom’s fears.
        
A few moments later, Turbo’s ears poked up. Oh boy, I wondered what it was this time. “Hey, you guys got any good jokes?” Half of the group stared bewildered at him while a few, including me, were mildly smiling. Looking at the various facial responses, Turbo sat on his haunches, clasping his hooves together as if he was a mad genius. “Okay, what’s a karate experts favorite beverage?” There was another silence among us, before someone finally responded to Turbo’s question.
        “What is it?” Jolly Rogers asked.
        “Kara-tea!”
        So there everyone sat, staring at the extremely dumb smile on Turbo’s face as he anticipated everyone’s laughter. One by one, a few ponies began to crack up, sniggering quietly as Turbo readied his next joke.
        “Did you hear about fire at the circus?”
        This time, I chirped up, a bright smile on my face as I called over to him. “No, what about it?”
        “It was pretty in tents!”
        Upon hearing the crude joke, I bursted out into a controllable laughter, throwing my head backwards, as well everyone else. Even Spades and Tome couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I got one!” Omega said, finally speaking up for the first time in the last few hours. “What did the plate say to the other?”
“What did it say?” said a voice of whom I didn’t figure out, however it was strained, as if they couldn’t stop laughing for two seconds to actually say what needed to be said.
“Lunch is on me!”

With that, everyone erupted into laughter, verbally exploding at how dumb the jokes were. I guess that what tends to make them funny. We spent the next hour simply going around the circle, sharing horrendous amounts of bad jokes, and practically dying upon hearing them.
        It was a good night, surprisingly. I hadn’t expected to go to sleep with a smile on my face. We had all dispersed a little while before what I believed to be midnight into one of the huts scattered around the clearing, becoming quaint neighbors with both Windstrom and Spades. How grand.
        For a while, it was a sleepless night. Horrors had a way to find themselves back in my mind, but I managed to push them out. Even after all the laughing and such, I was still scared. I was afraid that we would never get out. As much as it surprised me to say it, I wanted to go home. I wasn’t even sure if I trusted the ponies around me, well, except Turbo.
        As more thoughts clouded my mind, sleepiness began to do the same.