Rosa

by awf

Chapter 73: A Camp Full of Ponies

The camp's cooking wasn't exactly the greatest, but they had a type of hard bread which was delicious while it was hot, and there was butter and jam. Rosa and Sky Light even got a cup of coffee each. With their meal mostly devoured, the two mares remained sitting at the end of the long, mess-tent table. Sky Light was zoned out a little and kept staring off into the distance as she swirled her coffee around the cup. Something was bothering her, and Rosa had a hunch it had to do with a certain captain.

Rosa opened her mouth to ask, but Sky Light spoke first, not noticing her friend had been about to say something: "Rosa, do you believe in love at first sight?"

It was such an unexpected direction that Rosa just gaped for a few seconds. She'd never heard her friend talk about love. "Oh! The captain? Love? Really?! You just met him! I thought you liked him for- y'know."

Sky didn't seem to notice Rosa's incredulous tone, nor the fact that she hadn't really answered the question. She switched her gaze to the open door flap and the forest outside, then heaved a sigh. "I dunno," Sky answered the question she imagined Rosa had asked. "There's something about that stallion. And I'm not saying it's just looks, though he is kinda cute, especially in that camouflage uniform. I- think this may be it, you know?"

Those weren't words Rosa would have expected to hear from the pragmatic, sometimes cynical pegasus. "So you are in love?"

At long last Sky Light looked at Rosa and blinked in confusion when she saw her face. "Huh? No. Um, yes. Wait! Maybe?" she completely failed to explain herself. "I don't know what this is, Rosa, but Zephyr is a really sweet colt, even if he plays this tough captain type."

"You've only met him once for a few minutes!"

"So?" Sky Light burst out, giving Rosa a rather hard look. "Why not? Sometimes you just know, you know?" She pointed a hoof and gave Rosa a knowing smile. "I knew about you in the first minute too! I knew we'd be friends!"

Rosa shrugged a little to herself. Why not, indeed? If Sky Light could find a bit of happiness in this crazy world, why shouldn't she? The captain was probably young enough to be her son, but did that really matter? Forcing herself to smile, Rosa decided to be supportive. Her friend needed her and she had just poured her heart out. "Okay, okay. I'm just saying to think it over and not rush into things," Rosa assured her.

Sky Light's feathers settled back as the mare relaxed and Rosa realized she hadn't even notice them bristle. For that matter, she hadn't even known pegasi could do that.

"Just tell me this: are you sure this isn't just... physical?"

"It isn't!" the mare almost snapped back. A moment later she was sorry and looked away. "Well, maybe a little, but I still think he's a sweet guy!"

Ultimately, it was cute, Rosa decided. Sky Light with a crush on some poor, hapless colt was cute. Captain Zephyr didn't even realize what was about to hit him. She stretched out her legs and a yawn took over before Rosa could fight it off. Sky Light saw and grinned at her.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. Zephyr said he'll need a few hours to fly over, we can go take a nap."

"Pfft, nap! I'm going to sleep!"

Sky glanced around the tent, where the tables were slowly filling up as ponies came in to start their day. "I don't see Cadence or Starlight anywhere. Or Luna for that matter. They said they'd get us a tent..."

That was worrying and Rosa wondered how they were supposed to go about finding one of them. In the end she shrugged a little to herself and slipped from her chair. "Let's go out and ask someone."

Rosa took the lead and Sky Light followed close on her hooves until they both emerged into daylight, blinking. It hadn't seemed that bright from inside the mess-tent, but it looked like the sun would be up pretty soon. A group of ponies were standing a short distance away, all of them wearing dark green uniforms. They looked very attentive, so Rosa didn't like the idea of bothering them. Instead she waved to another mare who was strolling almost leisurely toward the mess hall. She had a similar, dark green uniform, but she didn't seem to be concentrating as fiercely as the other bunch.

"Um, excuse me! We're looking for, uh, Princess Cadence!"

"That tent," the mare replied curtly and pointed a hoof.

Rosa took a good look at what she was showing them so she could find it, then turned back to say thank you. The soldier was already walking away, so Rosa didn't bother. Sky Light grinned at her and shrugged, then headed to the indicated tent. Rosa wondered if they should knock, then she tried to come up with a way to actually do that, but the pegasus just brushed the flap aside and slipped inside. Rosa followed, feeling a tiny bit guilty for just barging in.

There was a desk inside and a unicorn, shuffling some papers with his magic, but no sign of the Princess. He looked up, but quickly dismissed the pair as unimportant. It was a bit strange that they weren't worrying about unknown ponies walking around. Maybe they just really trusted the guards around the camp to keep unwanted people out?

"Um, we're looking for Princess Cadence," Rosa told him, the title rolling more smoothly off her tongue with practice. She couldn't keep her eyes of the stallion's horn, which was glowing a faint yellow. It would take her some time to get fully accustomed to childhood legends just walking around like that.

"Medical tent. She's seeing to Princess Luna," the unicorn replied, breaking Rosa's train of thought.

Sky Light stepped closer and forced a smile. She was starting to get annoyed by being sent here and there. "Which way would that be?" she asked and Rosa doubted anyone except her would notice that her voice was a bit testy and her smile a bit forced.

"Turn left when you get out, it's the largest tent, you can't miss it," came the smooth reply.

"Thanks!"

Rosa followed her friend out and saw that the clerk was right. It really wasn't very inconspicuous. Sky Light set a brisk walk and Rosa had to hurry her own steps so she didn't lag behind.

"That was a unicorn!" Rosa whispered to her friend.

"Yeah. So?"

Rosa glanced around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear. "How are you so calm about this whole thing? Pony resistance and magic and unicorns and stuff!?"

Sky Light stopped and turned to face Rosa head-on. "Shock, mostly. Besides, they're ponies. I think I'm okay with magic, if it's ponies."

"That doesn't make sense," Rosa spluttered, "ponies can be bad too!"

"These are different. Look around."

At her prompting Rosa shuffled around in a circle to take in the camp. Small details caught her eye now that she was paying attention. A pony stopped to let another pass. Elsewhere a mare greeted a friend with a smile. A couple of uniformed pegasi were chatting, a steaming cup of coffee grasped in a fetlock. They didn't stop in a guarded silence when a unicorn passed by them, but rather gave him a friendly nod.

There was a sense of belonging and something told Rosa that this was a safe place. It could have been her imagination, but maybe that was what Sky Light had also picked up on.

"I think I see it," she finally said.

Sky Light poked her in the side with a stiff wing feather. "Besides, you're pretty calm about the whole thing too!"

It was true and Rosa didn't have a good answer, other than falling back on some subconscious understanding that she could trust this group of ponies, not much different from what Sky Light had said. She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe I'm in shock, too."

"Good," Sky said with a nod and turned back to the medical tent. "We can have our freak-out later. I'll be there for you if you're there for me."

They both chuckled at the absurd proposal and started walking again. "Deal," Rosa said.

A few paces later they both stopped again, as if frozen to the ground.

"Was that a human?" Sky Light said quietly.

"I know, I saw him too!"

"Wait, didn't the Princess say there's a few around? Sympathizers? Didn't look like a captive to me anyway."

They'd both seen a man exit the medical tent, head down between two rows of tents, and out of their sight. Like Sky Light had said, he really didn't seem like a prisoner. If anything, the man had looked just like a regular guy. If Rosa had seen him in the street she wouldn't even have noticed, most likely. The other ponies didn't seem to be perturbed, not even the guards, so Rosa swallowed and tried to make her voice light.

"I think you're right. Maybe he's helping out or something?"

Sky Light visibly relaxed and then gave Rosa a slight smile. "Yeah, that's probably it. Just took me by surprise."

She started walking again and Rosa followed. That would be another question to ask Cadence. Once again there was no obvious way to knock, so Rosa just followed her friend inside. They immediately relaxed when they saw the familiar pink unicorn on a chair, looking like she was half-sleeping.

For a moment Rosa felt like the inside of this tent was a lot smaller than the outside, but then she realized it was split into two distinct 'rooms' by a cloth wall down the middle. The part they were in looked like a regular office with a filing cabinet and a writing desk.

"Hi Starlight!" Rosa greeted.

The mare in question jerked up, then blinked a few times before she could work out what was happening. "Oh, it's you," she said finally. "How was breakfast?"

"Good," Sky Light said, even though Rosa suspected she hadn't truly tasted it.

"Yeah, Princess, um, Cadence said there'd be a tent."

Starlight nodded a little as she remembered. "Yeah, she did. Hold on, I'll ask."

Rosa was grateful that she would be the one to disturb whatever important work the Princesses were up to, and not herself. Despite that, she still watched with some curiosity as the mare went to a slit in the fabric 'wall' and pulled it aside with her magic.

Sky Light and Rosa looked at each other in amazement at what they saw. There was a hospital-type bed in that room, which wasn't too weird, especially considering that this was called the 'medical tent'. There was also a chair, unoccupied, and an end table. The unexpected part was that there was a black woman in a white lab coat standing beside and apparently talking with Luna. She was referring to a clipboard in her hand and explaining something, while Cadence sat on her haunches at the foot of the bed.

It looked like the resistance had a human doctor, for some reason, which made very little sense to Rosa. Surely ponies from Equestria would be better at pony medicine, no? She was really starting to get curious about how things worked here and what was what, but it didn't seem like a good time to go bother either of the alicorns.

They both looked their way when Starlight cleared her throat and spoke up: "They need a tent to sleep. Sorry for disturbing."

Cadence gave all three of them a smile, but it was plain that her heart wasn't really in it. The Princess looked a bit worried and tired, now that Rosa could observe her in daylight streaming in from a window cut into the far 'wall'.

"Oh, yes, that's right. I almost forgot, sorry," the Princess apologized. "Thirty-five is empty right now and it has two cots. Can you take them to Supplies and get them some blankets, Starlight?"

"Sure!" the unicorn nodded and let the cloth flap slide shut. She walked past the two mares to the main 'door' and then looked back. "Come, I'll show you," she invited.

Both Rosa and Sky Light followed her out and neither spoke up. They understood it would be rude to ask about the human doctor when she was on the other side of a cloth wall and could probably hear everything. It'd have to wait a little bit. Right at the moment, the past few, hard days were catching up to Rosa and she was about ready to fall into a bed. Any bed. Even 'cot' sounded delightful.

"Okay, let's get you some basic necessities," Starlight announces. "I'm guessing a couple of blankets, some sheets, toothbrushes, a towel each."

"Yeah, that'd be perfect!"

Sky Light didn't say anything. She didn't need a toothbrush, something Rosa still had to help her change, but now was not the time.

"Okay, I know the quartermaster and none of that should be a problem. If you need anything else, just ask around. Most ponies here are quite friendly."

"Um, what about the humans?"

Starlight looked at Rosa strangely. "Humans?"

"There's some humans here..." Rosa pointed out, in case Starlight hadn't understood.

The other mare blinked, then her face split into a grin. "Oh, you mean Dr. Marley? She's alright. Good medic!"

"There was also another guy who came out of that tent just before we came in," Sky Light explained.

Starlight had to think for a moment. "I think his name is Gottlieb or something like that. Karsten Gottlieb. From Australia or some such."

'Australia' and 'Gottlieb' didn't quite make sense to Rosa, so she made an educated guess. "You mean Austria?"

Starlight shrugged. "Yeah, one of those."

It made Rosa giggle and even Sky Light chuckled, but Starlight didn't seem even slightly perturbed. "I'm just not good at human geography," she explained with a small shrug.

Rosa couldn't really fault her. She'd gone to school in Equestria, after all, probably before they even knew Earth existed. She pressed on with the more interesting question: "Are there any other humans working with the resistance? How did that even happen?!"

The mare leaned her head to one side as she thought about it. "One or two more, unless there were a few fresh ones while I was gone. There's Ethan - a computer hacker. He helped a lot when I was preparing to get into that secret facility. Then there's this girl who helps in the kitchen, I don't remember her name, really. Before you ask, there's also a griffin helping out, but he's out on patrol right now or you'd have seen him in the mess hall."

Rosa glanced at Sky Light once more, but she just gave her 'I don't know' expression.

"Why are they helping the pony resistance?" Rosa asked.

"That you'll have to ask them directly," Starlight said with finality and stopped. "We're here. Let's get you those necessities and then I suggest you get some sleep. I'm probably gonna do the same."

She was right. Rosa didn't have to worry about any of the members of this group - after all, their main goal was to help ponies on Earth. She and Sky Light were probably as safe as they'd ever been in their lives, especially with two alicorns thrown into the mix. That thought still felt surreal, but Rosa pushed it down. She'd deal with it after a good sleep.

Suddenly that couldn't come quickly enough, so she gladly followed the unicorn into a plain-looking tent where there was presumably a quartermaster. Hopefully they could grab the stuff and get themselves to bed before long. Everything would probably make a lot more sense after some shut-eye.

---

Rosa woke up to quiet murmuring behind her. For a few minutes she attempted to just ignore it and try to get more sleep, but the chatter was persistent with occasional giggles thrown in for good measure. The tent was supposed to be for her and Sky Light only! Rosa sighed and rolled on her back to have a look and give them a piece of her mind, but she ended up staring in surprise instead.

Sky Light was sitting on her cot and chatting quietly with... Zephyr Gale? Rosa didn't recognize him at first because he wasn't wearing his uniform, but after hearing him speak she was certain it was the captain. They hadn't realized yet that Rosa had woken up.

"... well yeah, two sisters," the stallion was explaining. "They stayed at home with Mom and Dad and I went to Canterlot to join the guard."

"Wow, that is so interesting," Sky Light simpered. There really wasn't another word for it, not the way she was batting her eyelashes and smiling coyly. It took all of Rosa's concentration not to burst out laughing.

"You said the city is built on a cloud?" Sky asked and now her voice was full of awe.

Zephyr was only too happy to explain: "Yeah, sure is! Well, on a few clouds, but they're all kinda joined together."

"B-But you can't walk on clouds! They're just water vapor!" Sky Light complained.

The stallion's wings rustled a little as he laughed. "Ever tried it?" he asked.

This made Sky Light lean her head to one side and stare. "Well, n-no?" she admitted. "But it just stands to reason! No way a cloud could hold my weight!"

For some reason, the captain found all of this incredibly funny and he put a hoof carefully on Sky's shoulder. "Oh my," Zephyr was finally able to say, "you've seen magic, right? Well, we got tons of that in Equestria. Walking on clouds is actually pretty unremarkable."

Sky was completely bewildered by all of this and looked around for inspiration. That was when she noticed Rosa looking at them and started. "Oh! Did we wake you up, Rosa?"

"Yeah, kinda," Rosa said, but she was smiling at the pair.

The captain pony stood up and started backing to the tent door. "Uh, I didn't mean to wake you, sorry about that..."

"It's okay."

"It's okay."

Both mares answered at the same time, then Sky Light chuckled a little. "See? Rosa doesn't mind."

The stallion was still shaking his head uncertainly. "No, no, you've had a tough couple of days, you really need to rest."

"Actually," Sky Light replied, giving Rosa a quick grin, "I could use a bite to eat first. How about we grab lunch and talk some more?"

The captain rubbed the back of his head with a hoof and looked everywhere except at Sky Light. "Um, sure? I mean, if you're hungry. Yeah, I could do... um, lunch."

Before they left, Sky Light came over to give Rosa a brief nuzzle. "It's okay," she told her. "Go back to sleep. I'll just be... around."

Shrugging a little to herself, Rosa nodded at the pegasus and then curled up again on the cot. "You two have fun," she told the departing pair over her shoulder.

Her blanket had slipped off, but Rosa just left it there. It was warm in the tent and it was bound to get warmer as the day went on. A quick glance through the flap as the two pegasi were leaving had told Rosa that it was still early afternoon. The night-time escapades had knocked her sleeping schedule completely out of whack, it seemed. Maybe going back to sleep wasn't the best idea. Rosa considered staying up until sunset and then going to bed at a normal hour. The nap had done a lot to refresh her and now she was feeling a bit hungry anyway.

Thirty minutes, she decided. A short extension of her nap and then she would go look for some lunch. Besides, Rosa thought Sky Light wouldn't really appreciate her butting in on the private time with the captain.

Heh. Private time with the captain. Rosa wondered if there was a pun in there somewhere, but then a yawn forcefully blanked her mind.

Thirty minutes....