Casualties of War

by Deathscar

Chapter 3: The Campfire

“I-I-Incapacitated!?” Fluttershy asked, her whole body shivering violently.

“Who do those griffins think they are!?” Rainbow shouted out in anger. “I’m going to go there and show them a piece of my mind.” Rainbow tried to fly away but was held back by Applejack, Rainbow’s rainbow colored tail in her teeth.

“Now hold up there, Rainbow.” Applejack spoke through Rainbow’s tail in her teeth. “Only thing you’ll accomplish by doing that is getting yourself killed.”

Rainbow landed back down with her front hooves crossed as she sat on the ground. “Fine.”

“I thought we had clearance to enter this place!?” Rarity cried out.

“We do!” Twilight answered.

“Then why would they attack little old us!? Much less want us to be incapear-incapa-in-… hurt!” Pinkie Pie looked at Twilight for an answer but none came.

“So…what do we do now?” Fluttershy asked meekly.

Twilight closed her eyes, thinking over the choices she had, her friend eagerly awaited her decision.

“We walk to Gryphus.” Twilight said sternly, watching her friend’s shocked reactions.

“W-walk!? To Gryphus!?” Rarity shouted in disbelief.

“It’ll take days! Maybe even a week!” Rainbow shared Rarity’s complaints.

“We have no other choice. Going back to Ponyville would take too long, we’re already in the Griffin Kingdoms, we need to keep going. Equestria is depending on it!” Twilight said.

“Twilight’s right ya’ll. We ain’t got no time to go back to Ponyville. Our only choice is ta walk to Gryphus.” Applejack supported Twilight, walking beside her.

“What about food!? And water!?” Pinkie shouted out in despair.

“Don’t worry about that, I brought enough food to last all o’ us a few days.” Applejack said confidently.

“I brought some too…if all of you… want some…” Fluttershy turned her head away from the group.

“I always pack provisions for a trip! And fabrics!” Rarity proudly spoke, causing the other ponies to stare at her oddly. “What? It’s in case of emergencies…” Rarity’s voice became softer as she finished her sentence.

“Then we have no worries about surviving through the jungle, lets go.” Twilight immediately turned around and started to walk away.

“Wait! Jungle!? We aren’t taking the roads!?” Rarity asked, her mouth wide open.

“We can’t. If those griffins were looking for us, going by the roads will almost guarantee our capture…” Twilight gulped before continuing. “…and you heard what they plan to do with us…”

“I suppose you’re right…but the jungle is so, how do I put this nicely… icky!” Rarity’s face showed her disgust.

“I’m sorry Rarity but your mane isn’t as important as Equestia.” Applejack replied bluntly.

“No… you’re right, Applejack. Let’s get going.” Rarity nodded in agreement.

“Okay girls, stay close, we’ll try to go as fast as we can.” Twilight proceeded to trot through the jungle in front of her, the others following closely behind.

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An hour had since passed since the carriage attack. The moon had risen up to the middle of the sky. Twilight was at the front of the pack, pushing apart leaves and vines as a path for the other ponies to follow. Applejack was behind Twilight, every so often turning back to make sure the others were following as well. Rarity was trotting along, her eyes not focused on the path in front of her, instead watching her mane with each minute that passed by.

Pinkie bounced beside Rarity, telling the pearl white mare about her experience with “that time I misplaced the oven.” Pinkie chatted loudly, laughing to herself, a big grin plastered on to her face. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew slowly behind the others, a look of boredom shown on Rainbow’s face. Fluttershy was whispering to herself, questioning everything that could go wrong in the small cottage of hers.

“What if Spike forgets to feed the animals!?” Fluttershy drew a big gasp. “What if they starve!?”

“I don’t get why Fluttershy and I can’t just fly over the forest and scout out the area…” Rainbow Dash complained.

“If you take to the air, those griffins would spot you and hunt you down. We’re safer together.” Twilight explained as she continued to lead the group through the thick forest. Reaching a large clearing, Twilight turned around to the other ponies. “I think we should set up camp for the night, we need some rest.” The other ponies nodded in agreement.

“So… Twi, how exactly are we suppose to set up camp?” The other ponies eyes widened as they realized what Applejack said. “We ain’t got no camping equipment…” Twilight lifted her hoof to her chin, thinking of a solution.

“Rarity! Pass me one of your fabrics!” Twilight asked, a ‘Eureka!’ smile on her face.

“Twilight… you aren’t going to…” Rarity reeled back in disgust.

“I’m sorry, Rarity. We’ll get you new fabrics as soon as we get back to Ponyville but we need a shelter!” Twilight pleaded.

“Ugh… fine.” Rarity’s horn glowed a bright purple as she lifted a wide, rectangular piece of fabric out from one of her saddlebags and floated it to Twilight.

“Thank you.” Twilight quickly got to work to build a makeshift shelter, consisting of the fabric supported by four short but thick tree branches. “There. Now about fire…”

“Oo! Oo! I know! I know what will make fire!” Pinkie jumped up excitedly, reaching into her saddlebags, she pulled out several sparklers, bouncing towards Twilight

“Pinkie… you brought… sparklers?” Twilight twisted her face in disbelief.

“Well of course silly! What’s a party without sparklers?” Pinkie cheerfully laid the sparklers down on the ground before hopping around the nearby forest, gathering fallen tree branches and leaves, laying them down right beside the sparklers and in front of the shelter. Biting the non-chemical part of the sparklers, Pinkie drew them across the ground in one swift motion, causing the sparklers to release bright, firework-like effects from its tip. Pinkie quickly laid them down in the middle of the dry branches and leaves and almost immediately, a fire started to appear.

“Pinkie! You’re a genius!” Twilight shouted in elation.

“No, I’m a pony!” Pinkie replied, a ear-to-ear grin was sprawled on her face.

“Come on girls, lets get some warmth and grub in our bellies!” Applejack said as she made herself comfortable beside the fire.

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Fluttershy sat beside Rainbow, a soft smile on her face as she watched the other ponies quickly devour the hot vegetable soup placed in front of them.

“Fluttershy, this soup is simply delightful!” Rarity complimented her and quickly went back to slurping up some more soup.

“Yeah Fluttershy.” Applejack continued the compliments with a full mouth. Quickly swallowing the contents in her mouth, she continued. “This recipe is mighty tasty!”

Fluttershy’s cheeks started to grow bright red as she stared at the bowl in her own hooves. “It’s…It’s just a simple recipe…” Fluttershy gently lifted the bowl and sipped lightly from it. “I can teach the recipe, Applejack. If… if you want to know that is…” Fluttershy’s voice trailed away before she resumed taking sips from the bowl.

“That would be mighty kind of you Fluttershy. Thanks.” Applejack expressed her gratitude.

“Its no problem…” Fluttershy’s voice was barely audible, speaking with her head pointed downwards to the ground.

“Unlike somepony I know who couldn’t even cook an egg…” The rest of the ponies, except for Fluttershy, threw their gazes at Rainbow Dash, who had her face covered with the blue bowl. Noticing the sudden silence, Rainbow Dash slowly lowered her bowl, revealing the 4 pony’s angry gazes.

“Hey! I thought I explained it to you guys! The egg was stuck to the pan! I had to do something!” Rainbow Dash yelled defensively.

“Right… and I suppose getting the egg stuck on Applejack’s face was part of your plan?” Twilight asked, a smirk on her face.

“Okay,” Rainbow slammed her bowl down on to the ground, causing Fluttershy to let out a frightened squeak. “That was an accident! And I thought we promised we’d never mention that again!?” Rainbow stood up, flustered. Upon seeing Rainbow’s reaction, all the ponies laughed loudly around the campfire. Even Fluttershy couldn’t stop giggling at the sight of Rainbow’s frustration.

“Lighten up, dear.” Rarity managed to speak through her laughter. “Its all in the name of fun! We honestly didn’t think you’d be so worked up!” Rarity couldn’t contain her laughter any longer, chortling loudly.

Rainbow slumped back down on the ground. “Well… I mean… Its getting late. I’m gonna go to bed.” Rainbow made her way to the shelter, not giving the others a second look as she laid straight on the ground.

Managing to regain her composure, Twilight sat up straight, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Rainbow’s right. We’re gonna need all the energy we can get for the journey ahead.” Twilight stood up as she approached the small shelter. “Let’s all get some rest.”

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Rainbow opened her eyes as slowly as she could, as if she was afraid that opening her eyes too fast would wake the others. The snoring of ponies filled the usually still night air. Gradually, Rainbow sat up, trying to get her eyes adjusted to the darkness all around her. Soon, she could make out the outline of objects. The fireplace had since long died out somewhere in the middle of the night. To her right slept five ponies, all deep in their dreams. Fluttershy slept closest to her, her light pink mane drooping to the side of her face. Rainbow pushed herself lightly off the ground, walking stealthily away from the shelter. Gazing up into the night sky, she saw thousands of beautiful, sparkling stars hung amongst the purple backdrop and a lovely crescent moon. Turning back towards the sleeping ponies, her mind contemplated the decision she wanted to make.

“You’ll thank me later, guys.” Rainbow Dash whispered under her soft breath before spreading her wings, blowing a small gust all around her.

The gust of wind blew into Fluttershy’s face, causing her to scrunch up and wiggle her nose. Her eyes opened a sliver, expecting nothing more than a glance of Rainbow’s back. However, her eyes threw themselves open when she saw Rainbow, staring at the sky, her wings spread out wide.

‘Rainbow!?’ Fluttershy yelled in her mind. ‘This… this must be some kind of dream…’ Fluttershy shut her eyes tight for a few seconds before opening them again, just in time to see Rainbow take off. Fluttershy started to panic, trotting quickly to where Rainbow took off, she gazed at Rainbow, who had already flown pretty far away.

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy shouted with restraint, not wanting to wake up the other ponies. “Rainbow!!” Fluttershy tried shouting louder but it was as good as a whisper. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear….” Fluttershy immediately took off after Rainbow without a second thought, hoping to catch up with her best friend…

Comments

[emberghost]

Oh Luna...
This cannot end well

[Vinyls_Account]

"That time I misplaced the oven... Perfect title for your next fic