Camping (13)
Camping
Nightshade, Spike, and Luna all stayed awake that first night, while Dash fell asleep, being her lazy self. Luna still did her duty of raising the moon, which Diamond and Silver were quite impressed with. The fillies tried warming up to Blueblood, who acted like they had a plague. Twilight and Big Mac shot glances at each other warily. Nightshade rubbed his eyes and sighed.
"What is it Shady?" Luna teased.
"I'm not sure, I just have a feeling that this trip is going to either go extremely well, or be a total failure. I don't mean dying, I mean I think they won't be able to work out their differences. They'll either get along fine, or they'll split camp. Then again, that's kind of the point of this camp, and I guess I did it again didn't I?" He replied.
"Did what?" Asked Spike.
"It seems that whenever I come across anyone, I bring out their true self. I always change them for the better, but only after enduring their worst. This was supposed to be a simple camping trip, but I couldn't help myself when the opportunity arose to help everyone become better people, ponies, whatever. If I had a cutie mark, I wonder what it would look like? I already know my special talent, it's helping everyone else find theirs. Even those who have already found what they are good at, learn something new about themselves. Blueblood is Dash's team's only magic user, he's gonna have a lot of pressure on him, but much less than trying to run a country. Diamond and Silver have Luny and Twilight to look up to as role models, and I'm hoping each of the griffin twins will look to Mac and Dash as their role models, while making relationships with the fillies. I'm not sure what Firebolt is going to learn from this, while Twilight is learning to do more and think a little less. To accept things, even if they're not perfect. I'm not sure what Mac is going to learn either. As for us, Spike, you've already learned your lesson a while back, I'm not sure what else you can learn, but you never know. Dash is gonna have to learn the same lesson as me, we can't do everything ourselves." Nightshade explained.
"But if you already know the lesson, isn't it lesson learned?" Spike asked.
"I may know the lesson, but that doesn't mean I've accepted it. I have yet to take it to heart." He said sadly. They knew what he was talking about. He needed to accept that there were things he couldn't do, like saving Scootaloo. You can't be everywhere at once.
"Except this time, you're having them help each other bring it out, instead of doing it yourself. Quite clever." Luna smirked, giving Nightshade a strange look.
"Well, we have to stay up all night and watch the camp. Anyone got a deck of cards? No? Okay, then how about we wake Dash up and go over what we're gonna do tomorrow?" As he said it, Luna levitated the sleeping pegasus to them, and dropped her.
"Ow, hey what's the big idea?" She nearly yelled.
"We're going over how we're gonna torture the campers tomorrow. We figured you might want to be in on this."
Morning
Luna lowered the moon, and at the crack of dawn, buckets of water were promptly dumped on each sleeping camper's head.
"Gaaah!" Screamed Twilight, Diamond, Silver, and Blueblood. The griffins shook themselves off, Firebolt lit up and evaporated the water off of her. Big Mac, Nightshade, Luna, Spike and Dash were already up.
"Come on campers, sun's been up for five minutes already, get your lazy flanks out of bed." Dash barked. All the wet campers simply glared at her.
"When's breakfast?" Asked the twins.
"As soon as you find it." Spike answered. "Split up into your groups, and follow your team leader, after you dry yourselves off that is. While you're doing that, Shade will go over the rules."
"Okay, here's how this game will work. No interfering with the other camps. No stealing from the other camps. If you run into a group from another camp, you do not talk to them. If for some reason they are alone, that is the only time you go up to them, because being alone is dangerous. Spying on the other teams is allowed, and each day we will meet at this spot, talk about stuff that happened, trade goods if we want, what ever. We are simulating three small communities. For example, if Spike's team finds a lot of fruit, and Dash's team find a lot of vegetables, you may want to trade so you have some of each."
The campers had each 'fire capable' member dry the rest of them off, then split into their groups, and headed into the forest in different directions. They all traveled a ways, before finally stopping.
"Alright, this looks like a good place to set ourselves up." Nightshade said to his group. They looked around.
"But, there's nothing here!" Twilight and Silver cried.
"To the untrained, yes. Just sit here, and listen. For a moment." He told them. Big Mac was already doing that.
"What do you hear?" He asked.
"I hear birds." Twilight said.
"And?" He asked in turn.
"Ah hear runnin water." Big Mac replied.
"Good. Birds means that there is something to eat nearby, as they won't nest far from their food source. Running water means just that. A river nearby. I chose this spot specifically because it's near the river. The other campers probably did the same. Since I'm the only member of our team that can fly, we won't be sleeping in trees, so we need a nice hidden area. There is an empty cave 500 meters away. We'll sleep in that, and store our food there as well. Twilight, since you and Mac have to most muscle, magical or otherwise, I'll need you two to pull up some trees. Silver, you're with me getting food. Remember, if you're not sure what something is, don't go near it. We'll meet back here in an hour."
Spike's group settled in a little further up the river. Switch was sticking close to him, not wanting to get near the 'icky' girls. Diamond was sticking with Luna, seeing as how Luna was royalty, she was the only one 'worthy' of being in her company. Luna didn't like that.
"Alright, we're here." Spike said.
"Um, shouldn't we be in a clearing or something? You know, open space?" Diamond asked.
"Under normal circumstances, yes, but this is hardly normal. You see, three of the four of us can fly, and you're light. Instead of clearing out a place for us, we'll sleep in the trees. We'll put everything we gather up there." He explained.
"I am NOT sleeping in a tree." Diamond fussed.
"Would you rather sleep in the dirt, where monsters can get at you?" He raised his eyebrow. She gulped.
"Trees sound great."
"Good, now me and Luna will get the area ready, while the two of you look for food by the river." In hindsight, leaving the kids with each other may have been a bad idea, but Spike knew better, and left Luna to do the work, since it was easy, and she was more than capable. He followed and hid in the trees so he could keep an eye on the junior campers.
Rainbow Dash and crew settled downstream from Nightshade's camp.
"Okay, we gotta sleep on the ground, since we don't want to burn down the Everfree, me and the griffin will get some branches and stuff for bedding, Firebolt and Blueblood, you go look for eats."
"That's Prince Blueblood." He stated.
"Nope, in here, titles are nothing, so we get rid of them. Shade didn't go calling himself sir Nightshade, and Luna hates formality. Once we entered the forest, we dropped all that, so you're just Blueblood in here." She explained. He just gave a huff.
"Well, since umm, Switch?" Dash looked confused.
"Scratch." The griffin corrected.
"Since Scratch is the only one that can even eat meat, we're not gonna get any, and focus on foliage. Since he's a griffin, he can't eat just leaves, so we gotta get fruit or berries too."
They all went about their specific chores. Nightshade caught fish, and explained that he, Spike, and the griffins could eat them, so he'd trade with them for other things they needed, as well as the fact that since he was the only omnivore in the group, he could eat fish, so she could just focus on getting pony-specific food, and didn't have to go for fruits at all.
Firebolt and Blueblood found some berry bushes, but she wasn't able to pick them with her magic. This meant Blueblood had to do all the work. Picking them with hooves would crush the delicate things, and they wouldn't be able to eat them. Firebolt instead got the more durable leaves and such, remembering what Dash had told her about which ones being good and what not. She was accidently poisoned by a couple, but a flare up now and then would neutralize the organic poison by burning it out of her system. "Well, that's useful."
Blueblood on the other hand, being used to lifting no more than a teacup or crumpets, was having a very difficult time lifting the multitude of small items. His concentration had to be everywhere. In the end, he wound up just taking the whole damn bush, and was sweating profusely in his attempt.
Arriving back at Twilight and Mac, they had uprooted four medium sized trees. These would be used to barricade the front of the cave to protect them from predators, as well as for fire wood. Nightshade, Twilight, and Mac each got a hold of one, and began hauling it to the cave. Silver, try as she might, using physical force combined with magic, simply could not get hers to move. Big Mac walked over to her, and she looked like she was going to cry, she had failed them.
"Ah'll pull yers if ya make sure that none o the food falls offa them." He offered with a smile. This was, she would be doing something useful, and contribute to the team. He had fully taken into account his own weakness, of being a little clumsy with his strength, and since they were pulling the logs with the food on them to save making multiple trips, he thought he would probably drop some of what's loaded on his log. She could use her magic to make sure the logs didn't turn. Twilight and Nightshade didn't have this problem, because she was skilled in magic, and he could just carry the log on his shoulder.
Reaching the cave, Silver rubbed up against Mac's leg.
"Thanks."
"Don mention it." He replied with a smile.
"You sure are good with foals." Twilight commented. Since Big Mac is already red, she didn't see him blush.
Diamond and Switch were going about their jobs, trying not to look at each other.
"Up there, there, and there. Hurry up! I don't want to be here all day." She bossed.
"It would go faster if you did something you know." He responded with snark, flying up to the various tree tops and taking food down.
"I can't reach that high up with my magic. Good, we have enough, now haul it all back." He raised his eyebrow, and dropped the round fruit as her feet. She gasped.
"I picked it all, you gotta bring it back." The griffin said.
"I am NOT carrying all that. You should be chivilrous and do it for me." She put her nose up in the air.
"So, you think you're above work then, is that it?" He stared at her.
"I am Diamond Tiara, daughter of Filthy Rich, the business owner." She stated proudly.
"And I am Switch. Me and my brother Scratch are the heirs to the northern most province of the griffin alliance. You don't see me flaunting it. Did you not see how we arrived here, riding WITH the prince? Just because we're privileged, doesn't mean we can slack off. It's even more of a reason to work, so we can maintain the empires of our fathers. I'll split carrying it with you, but you heard the camp leaders, there won't be any free rides here, we all have to pull our own weight."
Switch picked up roughly half the food he had taken down from the trees, a strange mix of an apple and an orange, and began carrying it back to camp. Diamond just sat there.
"Well, come ON! What are you waiting for?" He asked annoyed.
"I.... I can't okay? I've never had strong magic. I can barely lift a filled water bottle. My horn is so tiny, it hides under my hair. Half the time, the others think I'm an earth pony." She said, starting to cry. "I get along with Silver so well because she's the same way." Switch just groaned.
"You know, maybe if you stopped crying about what you can't do, and started trying anyway, you wouldn't be in this situation. Instead of stopping at an obstacle, you should overcome it, and become stronger. Look at my wings. They're smaller than normal. The doctors said I'd never be able to fly, and yet here I am, flying, carrying twice my weight in fruit. We're two different sides of the same coin, you and I. If you cant pick it up with magic, then I'll load it on your back, and drag you back to camp if I have to, but you will carry it. Otherwise, you'll never learn." He dumped the fruit into a basket on her back that he had her weave together with blades of grass. Then he picked up his share. She began to buckle under the strain, and dropped it several times as the basket unweaved under the strain. He'd have her put it back together, and he'd load her up again. Progress was slow, but they made it back in time.
Diamond was sweating, complaining about being achy and sweaty, but Switch just laughed.
"Next time you do it, it will hurt a lot less."
Spike had been watching them the whole time, and just smiled.
Scratch and Rainbow went to work getting branches to use for bedding. Rainbow worked quickly, but the griffin seemed a little shaky.
"What's the hold up squirt? We gotta have our job done by the time they get back, so we can rub it in their faces!" She yelled, losing her sensitive side.
"It's just, I've never gone this long without Switch. We always did everything together, and, I'm barely going to see him this whole week." He said, eyes quivering.
"Yeah, I had someone like that. A griffin named Gilda. We met at flight school, became the best of pals. We pranked everypony, all the time. We did everything together. We were inseparable." She looked a little down.
"What happened?" The little griffin asked.
"She changed. She became cruel, and didn't care about anyone else, then left. We met up years later, and she couldn't stand to see me with other friends. Saw her again some years ago, this time, she was a criminal. It hurt, knowing one of my friends went down such a bad road, until she wasn't a friend anymore." She said, near tears. He began crying too.
"I don't want to lose Switch!"
"You won't. Just always remember to listen to each other. Keep each other in check. Friends don't let friends do bad things. You may not always be with him, but as long as you're there for him when he needs you, you'll never lose him. I learned that the hard way, and swore to always be there when a friends needed me." Rainbow Dash smiled, as did Scratch.
"Alright, now let's finish this up!"
Nightshade, Twilight, Big Mac, and Silver Spoon arrived at the cave. Nightshade entered first, to make sure that it was bare of anything living. They dropped their loads in front of the cave. Silver looked nervous.
"Alright, let's bring everything in."
"WAAAAIIIT!" Silver yelled.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"You said you know the forest like your own face, what about this cave?" She asked.
"Well, no. I've never had a really good look around it." He said, scratching the back of his head.
"Twilight, can I have some light?" The lavender mare obliged. The filly took a close look at the walls, and traced her hoof along a crack, her eyes following it up into the dark expanse above.
"There's a reason this cave is empty. It's unstable. Look!" She bucked the wall as hard as she could. She wasn't very strong, but it caused a cave in part ways in. Rocks tumbled down, sealing them out of the back of the cavern. if they had been inside, even with Nightshade and Mac's strength, and Twilight's magic, they wouldn't be able to get out.
"If we had been in there, we'd be done for!" Twilight yelled.
"I had no idea. I almost lead all of you into a death trap. We could have been trapped inside, or crushed by the rocks." Nightshade was wide eyed. "It's a good thing we had you with us, or we'd likely all be dead. You've definitely earned your keep, just like the rest of us. There are many ways to be strong, you've just showed yours." Silver blushed, and Twilight gave her a pat on the back. She smiled, happy to have been of use.
"Knowing me, ah probably woulda been the one ta cause the cave in." Mac said sullenly.
"I guess we're even then." Silver said, jumping playfully on his back.
"Okay, now we know that even if there was another entrance to this cave, nothing can get at us now. Let's split this wood up, make a barricade, and get a fire going."
"I'm here!" Blueblood said panting. Firebolt was strained as well, not from having to carry her load, but from concentrating on not catching it on fire.
"About time!" Dash yelled, as it was nearing nightfall. Scratch popped out from behind her shoulder, like pikachu riding Ash. They had been getting along rather well, and having completed their jobs ahead of time, spent the spare time chatting, going over game plans, getting to know each other. After dropping her load, Firebolt dug a hole in the ground, and Blueblood dropped the bush in it, to stop it from falling over.
"Well, that's one way to do it. Thankfully, this bush is full of berries, so rather than picking them all, we can just take what we need from the bush. That'll keep it fresh longer, and save from having to get more so often. Tomorrow, show us where the bushes are, and we'll haul a couple more over here. We won't have to worry about food for the rest of the week that way, and can focus on other stuff. Nice one, princy." She was clearly teasing him, but he was so exhausted, he didn't care, and just collapsed.
"Ahh, that's better." Firebolt shuddered in delight. Now free of her load, she finally let go of concentrating, and became engulfed in flames.
"Hey, get your flaming flank over here so we can roast some marshmallows. With you around, we don't NEED a campfire." Scratch said.
"Hey, where'd you get marshmallows?" Dash asked as the griffin pulled out a bag of the sugary white puffs, which in this forest, were certainly a rarity.
"Old Shady said we were supposed to find our own supplies in here, and tossed away Bluesy's stuff. I hid em. He just said he wanted us to find it ourselves, he never said bringing stuff in was against the rules." The child griffin snickered.
"You know, I think I'm starting to like you kiddo." Dash said, eating a burnt marshmallow.
Switch and Diamond arrived at camp, to find that Luna had used her magic to set up some very comfortable nests in the trees for them to sleep in. They were immaculate, fit for royalty, and Diamond had no qualms about sleeping in them. Switch hoisted her up, but as he was about to leave for his own nest, she stopped him.
"I know I don't have any right to ask this, but, maybe you could sleep next to me? It's probably going to get cold, and I really don't want to be alone out here."
Being chivilrous, the griffin laid down in the nest, and she snuggled up next to his warm feathers. It wasn't anything 'adult', just two kids trying to keep warm. They fell asleep with smiles on their faces. Luna d'awwed, and raised the moon, before heading off to sleep herself.
Spike, Nightshade, and Dash flew into the sky, and met above the clouds. They didn't stray too far from the camps, lest a wild animal approach.
"So, what have we learned today?"
Marshmallows are a rarity in the forest. Get it? Because Rarity is white and puffy? Oh come on! You know it's funny. The griffin kids are nobles, bet you didn't see that one coming did you? Well, there was a reason they arrived with the prince after all. Also, I got a few comments about how Diamond and Silver were earth ponies, not unicorns. Well, you got me. I had always thought they were unicorns. I made a MAJOR oversight there. Not sure how I missed it. So I gave the explanation of 'They have small horns which are normally hidden by their hair, and it makes them weak at magic.' Then I worked it into the plot, making it part of Diamond's lesson. Oooooooh I'm good aren't I?
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So you turned an oversight into a plot point.... cleaver. What were you planing on their lesson being before you found out they were unicorns?
good indeed sir and FIRST
Yes. Yes you are.
265025dammit not first
Marshmallows are a "rarity" I see whatcha did there!
P.s first!!!
264997 Honestly? I got nuthin. Seriously, I added everyone other than Shade, Firebolt, Spike, Big Mac, and Blueblood randomly.
The griffin kids, Diamond and Silver, and Luna were totally just an after thought that I liked, and I rolled with it. I plan as much of the chapters as possible, then I just let inspiration take it's course with the details. I keep jamming the puzzle piece in till it fits, basically. This chapter was really hard to write, as I had to think of so many different character details, and try to find an extremely large number of believable interactions. Also, if you couldn't tell from the hints I was dropping,
^ NEXT CHAPTER. Don't worry, it's nothing big, and it is once again setup for further plot, which I have planned already.
"Marshmallows are a rarity..." t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQB-gfW5Bde6-LAJJGWJazP5qYl3zDpsXZF08gqkVgI_1P7GwThBw also i like what is going on so far. keep up the fantastic work.
awsome chapter brohoof anyone?
fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/192/5/e/marshmallow_rarity_by_stabicon-d3n6ciu.png
you know you want it
The other thing about Diamond and Silver, is that, in my story, as unicorns with very low magical ability, they need to feel superior to everyone else, and they pick on other's to distract them from their own weakness and insecurity. It explains why they're so bad, not just because they're spoiled rich kids. Even their cutie marks show that they are meant to be spoiled, useless. Classic 'My parents have loads of money, so I never need to do anything.' Their special talent is being heiresses to their parent's fortune, which they will proceed to use to wipe their 'plots'. They can't fly, they can barely use magic, and they aren't strong like earth ponies. They literally have NOTHING going for them, other than that their parents are rich. I mean, how would you feel if a mark appeared on you, telling the whole world that you're useless? You'd do ANYTHING to prove it wrong, to defy your fate. They just went about it the wrong way, making themselves appear important, rather than actually becoming useful.
Ooh, this is getting fun! Keep up the awesome!
i lold for 20 minutes straight.
atleast we know what spikes favourite food is
*finish reading update* Ah, and he didn't even make me think about...dammit. *sobbing continues profusely*
265189
So delicious, I MUST OM NOM NOM IT!
Well done dragging our attention away from the death, anyway, LOVED THIS CHAPTER! anything to do with camping and or character development, learning lessons or revenge? You can count me in, no matter how cliche it is.
hmmmmmmm i wonder if those are Griffins kids, is he high king in this story? hmmmmmm.
derpicdn.net/media/W1siZiIsIjIwMTMvMDQvMjgvMjJfNDVfNTRfMjMwXzMxMDkxN19fVU5PUFRfX3NhZmVfcmFyaXR5LnBuZyJdXQ/310917__rarity_questionable_plot_human_human%2Bon%2Bpony%2Baction_butt%2Bgrab_artist-colon-full%2Bstop.png
2794582
O_O WOAH. DAT PLOT.
693562 well since Gilda obviously isn't with him and hasn't gone all mushy, I dare say that if Griffen came to this world, he died a day or two later without meeting her.