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May First, The Alicorn of Chaos, WHAT THE HECK (Edited)
I tossed and turned in my bed; I couldn't sleep. One thought that popped into my mind was that I was laying on my wing wrong. Hey it's happened before! Then, strangely, I heard a... boys voice in the back of my head, it asked 'Wing?' that definitely confused me, the voice sounded like it thought I didn't have wings. Just to be sure I took a look at my back, sure enough they were there two light pink bumps on my side, just as they had always been. I looked down at my cutie mark: a bright red heart with white feathered wings to each side. I smiled as it reminded her about the first time I had ever flown as well as when my cutie mark had first appeared, when my heart had felt like it was soaring next to her.
When I was done smiling to myself through my memories I looked up... then screamed.
"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" the walls were closing in, not only that they were turning into the blue checkerboard... just like the...everything... had when Discord took over Ponyville. The walls were jerking in, going in far then coming out again in the time it took to blink. "Aaaahhhh!" the walls were coming in fast; the door was already gone. I had had dreams like this before but never this realistic, I was starting to contemplate whether or not it was a dream. Was Discord back? Is that why I was seeing this?
I woke up in the closest a pony can get to a cold sweat, panting, wide-eyed, and scared. Looking around I checked my walls, not a single trace of the checkerboard remained. If it was ever there at all, I was starting to dismiss that as a dream, let me correct that: Nightmare. I saw my flight goggles on the shelf across my room, I suddenly wished I was a unicorn so I wouldn't have to get up, then immediately dismissed the thought; what would I do with out my wings! I got up and walked to the other side of the room, stood up on my back two hooves and grabbed the tan leather strap. After I put the goggles on my forehead I felt much less... light headed, my goggles were worn and tattered but I refused to let anyone get me new ones: I'd had these since I first moved out of my parents house. Since I was already up, and knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep for fear of going back to that dream, I started to preen my feathers, then stretched. When I was done I looked out my window and suddenly felt a longing for the sky. 'Surely Soarin won't mind if I take a quick night-flight; he knows I'm claustrophobic,' Thinking that I opened the window and flew off.
The winds were smiling at me tonight, and I knew I shouldn't be worried; I was in the second most protected area in Equestria, the first being Canterlot. All of the thermals were out, making it easy and fun to ride. I tilted my wings so that I flew straight up without moving a feather. It felt wonderful, the sky and I were one, the stars guided my wings instead of me, and the moon controlled my mind. Then suddenly a strong wind sliced through the thermals and caught one of my feathers, which gave it the starting grip it needed to carry me.
I was tugged along, no matter how hard I flapped my wings I couldn't leave. I knew that this wasn't the time of year for the katabats to blow, so the back of my mind tried to tell me that it was what Rainbow Dash was worried about, the thing I had dreamed about: Discord. My worst fear.
"Hahahahaha, so Airheart second in command in the third squadrin of the Equestrian forces, is truly a Vivid Dreamer," I would know that voice anywhere, but now it was the embodiment of evil. It was not the laughing voice I heard three years ago. The voice of the old Discord was gone replaced with a cursed voice, strangely I saw a red glare of to the side of me, yet I couldn't move twords' it; my hooves were tied to the floor somehow. 'Buck,' I thought.
"Discord! Show yourself!" I yowled, not caring who heard me, in fact I would be glad if someone did.
"Ah, still as feisty as ever I see," he said without a hint of surprise in his new voice.
"Show yourself, NOW!" I yelled, making my wings to blow in the direction of the voice, making the fetters around my hooves come loose. That caused a dragoniquis to fall off a half hidden cloud.
"Now, now little one. Let's not get any feistier," he said, his red eyes glowing pits of hatred, still spewing the red smoke. I fell mid-flight after I felt a searing pain in my wing, after turning my head I immediately wished I hadn't, my right wing was spurting blood. Then I felt a wind as strong as the one that had brought me here. I quickly escaped this one however because I was caught off center then used the momentum of the wind that alowed me to peel off from the side. Using the speed boost it had given me I used my wings to propell me forward. I felt my eyes tearing up and debris flying by, I wanted to put on my goggles, as they were only on my forehead, but I knew I couldn't it would waste to much time because Discord might catch up to me. I suddenly ran into a wall, a wall that no one could see.
I woke up the way you do in the movie, popping up with wide eyes. I looked around my room seeing the familier lime green walls, I calmed down. Then became more worried as I realized I couldn't remember my dream; I always remember my dreams. I looked around a second time and decided to get a glass of milk, since from childhood experience I knew I wouldn't be able sleep until I walked around. The glass of milk was refreshing, but made me tired again. So I crawled back into bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
"Everyone falls for that trick, it's a very easy one to use as well," as if to demenstraight how easy the spell is I suddenly felt a wall pushing me into the ground.
"Stop... it ... Discord," I managed to say through the dust and graval. Suprisingly, he did, but only after he cut my wings up more.
"You were actually harder to catch than I had planned Missy," Discord started,"But when your gone taking over Equestria will be much simpler, not only will your worthless captain be an easy target, but I'll finally be able to try my new spell!"
"Soarin is not worthless!" I shouted through all my pain, then fell. That effort put a new light in Discord's eyes.
"Then why were you the one coming up with all the plans?" he asked, what he said was half true; most of the stratagies that Captain Soarin released were based off my plans, I shook my head, purging my mind of these thoughts. "I could let you stay you know," Discord said with a mischeivious look,"Once the last two Pricesses are gone I'll make you the alicorn princess of chaos." That was sure an offer, but I knew he was lying, it was then I noticed the Alicorn Amulet around his neck. "Ah," Discord said following my gaze, "Yes, I retreived this from the Everfree forest a while back, I need a boost for my magic you see. Although my magic is the strongest in the universe, this little gem helped me perfect my spell."
"No," I said struggling to stand. When I fianally managed it I had used so much energy that I could barley say what I had stood for, "No, no to everything you just said. Soarin is not worthless, I'm not an alicorn, I am not a princess of chaos, I am the pegasus Airheart."
"You lost your chance then," he said horribly as the red smoke streamed thicker from his blood red eyes, "You lost your chance." Suddenly I was in the air, but not because of my wings. My head was bursting with pain, not only because of my wings. Discord was crushing my face and muzzle between his paw and claw.
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I woke up the same way as I had at midnight, except this time I remembered my dream clearly, even before I had woken up the first time. That was strange. Then I looked at the clock.
"What the heck! It's 12:44! I was supposed to be ready to go by now!" I had absolutely no time to change my boxers so I just threw on my jeans, purple T-shirt, and lucky white nikes. As soon as I had finished I heard the roar of Erin's car.
"Coming!" I called out the window. I quickly grabbed my black sweat-shirt than ran outside.
"You over slept?" Erin asked, surprised obviously looking at my hair. Looking at my self in the mirror I laugh, my hair looks like a birds nest!
"Here," Ida giggled from the back seat, though to be honest I hadn't noticed that she was here, she searched through her bag until she finally pulled a brush from it. Why did she have a bag? I have no clue. After brushing my hair into its original style, which was long bangs over my face and the rest of it, well, not tangled, I asked Erin why his sister was coming.
"I have absolutely no idea," he said without looking back, which was a good thing since he was driving.
"Where are we headed?" I asked since I had not listened at all during our pant conversations.
"Just a restraunt," Erin answered. Ha, go figure. Quarter of a century and we are celebrating at a restraunt. It made sense though; none of us liked drinking... well except for Ida.
"Are we headed to Evan's to pick him up?" I asked absent-mindedly.
"Yeah," Erin replied turning the corner. I hated the part of town Evan lives in, though I guess if he can afford it it doesn't matter. Turning my mind away from that I focused on my dream. Why was I a stinking pink pony, and most of all why wasn't I able to change the course of my dream? That was the way it was with me, I was always changing my dreams for the better, but this time I couldn't manage it. Soon we pulled up in front of Evan's house, and I noticed he looked tired. 'I wonder if he had a disturbing dream as well?' I asked then laughed inside. Evan was always scared.
"Come on Evan!" I called out the window. After seeing us his expression brightend. I looked out the window at the sky... and suddenly felt a longing to be there. I blinked once, then twice. Wasn't that the same feeling the pink pony, Airheart, had? 'Hmmmm,' I decided to think more about that later, now it's time to enjoy myself.
The meal itself was pretty awkward, but while we were waiting the only brony of the group, that anyone knew of anyway, Erin, made us read his new fan-fic. I absolutely love reading Erin's stories; somehow he made each and every word he used come to life, sending pictures through the mind.
"Okay," he started, "What do you think?"
"I love it!" Evan said.
"What do you have planned for it?" I added.
"Well... saying it would ruin the story, but I guess I could tell you," Erin said, "Roseluck is going to be cursed by Discord, which sends her here, then she starts rapidly turning into a pony. That starts when she gets a Cutie Mark tattoo on her thigh."
When Erin was finished there was a strange silence at the table, from everyone but me. Though strangely I noticed that Ida seemed, a bit... paler than usuall, that meant she was scared, and Ida is never scared.
"Why is everyone looking so weird?" I asked cluelessly. That got me a bunch of looks from around the table. Then everyone sighed;
"Nothing..." Evan, Erin, and Ida said that at the same time, at that we started to get looks from the people around us
"Really, no thing," Ida said a couple seconds later.
After that awkward meeting I quickly got up, left the room, and hailed a taxi home.
"Okay," I said when I got home,"That was awkward..." I walked aroud for while then fianally noticed a stench,"Wow," I said, "Time for a shower." Do you remember this morning? When I woke up late? Well, I knew that I was starting to smell so I just jumped into the shower. As soon as I got in I started to wash my hair, but then I noticed a weird tattoo... it was on my thigh... and it was the winged heart from my dream... That alone worried me. I knew I couldn't have gotten a tattoo today. I never got drunk so I couldn't have gotten it then. 'When did it appear?' I asked myself, the voice of the mare from my dream whispered to me;
"When you first flew"... great, if it wasn't enough that I had a tattoo on my butt that had to have appeared between this morning and now, I had a talking pony in my head. My eyes suddenly opened Pinkie Pie wide with realizeation. My friends acted weird when Erin mentioned a tatto... on a thigh.
"What the heck!" I shouted, "I can bealive Ida and Erin did this, but not Evan, and he still looked strange at the restraunt.
I knew I needed to sleep now though. I needed to sleep now... but still; WHAT THE HECK!
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May Second, Same Old Same Old, MY HAIR IS BLOND
"Wait," I finished, cutting off my friend. It took another couple of minutes before Ida answered the call, which was filled with Evan and Erin talking while I resigned myself to just being silent. When Ida finally did answer I immediately exploded. "What the heck Ida!," I yelled through the phone. "What on Earth made you put a tattoo of a Cutie Mark on my thigh! What did I ever do to you!" I continued like that for a while, shouting at my other friends from time to time and ignoring their protests. "Why did you let her Erin? Why didn't you tell me what they were planning!" I could tell that Evan was going to hang up, very soon, but I had other things on my mind and wanted to vent my frustrations. That's when Erin finally decided that he wasn't going to put up with it any longer.
"Shut up!" he yelled, and I did so without thinking; Erin never got angry, ever. If Erin was yelling, you knew that someone had screwed up! Those to words were enough to get me back to reality. He had probably noticed, because he was already calming down again. "First off, Dale, I can promise you that my sister did not prank you! Second... what exactly is it that's happening to you? Is your hair changing color... or growing longer?" Hearing that sent a cold shiver down my spine.
"Yes," I whispered, so quiet that I actually wondered if Erin could hear me. I did hear a sharp in take of breath, though I think it was from Evan.
"Guys, come to my house as soon as you can," Evan said, then hung up. Erin only stayed a second longer, leaving right after saying he would pick me up, and Ida excused herself just as quickly, leaving me to myself. I knew that it would only take Erin and Ida a few minutes to get to my house, so I used that time to go into the bathroom, to check my hair again.
What I saw in the mirror didn't help to calm me down. Most of my hair was now ginger. Even more concerning was that my eyes had also changed colors. They hadn't exactly been normal to begin with, one being brown and the other being green, but now they had changed into a sky blue color that reminded me unsettlingly of one of Erin's ponies. Like Pinkie Pie, a voice at the back of my mind commented. I stood there for a while until my phone snapped me out of my thoughts.
I took the call and was greeted by Ida's voice coming from the phone. "Are you coming or not? We've been out here waiting for you for a few minutes now..."
"Oops." I would have laughed, but I was still dumbstruck; Hair could be dyed, tattoos could be done, but I was pretty sure that eyes could not just change colors like that.
During the car ride I was silent, just staring out of the window, wondering what the heck was happening to me? My friends remained silent as well. Erin just looked at the road, and Ida was staring blankly at her iphone with headphones in her ears. I noticed their hair and eye colors had changed, too. Ida's once aqua hair was... multiple shades of, blond? No, gold!? While her eyes had changed from hazel to bright green. Her brother's hair was dark brown, and his eyes had changed the other way round, from green to hazel.
When we got to Evan's house, he only opened the door enough to show one of his eyes, which was now the same blue as mine.
Ida gasped. "Why is you eye blue, why did they change color!" That caused a blink in surprise from my friends and I.
"You didn't notice yet?" Evan asked. "Your eyes are green now." He examined the rest of us. "Your sister's are brown and apparently Dale's match mine. They changed at about 2:00 for me."
Erin and I blinked. He had called Erin Ida's sister, not her brother. Ida seemed to feel a bit more awkward about the slip-up, but Evan didn't seem to have noticed. He ushered us in, and Ida immediately burst into laughter once she got a good look at him. Evan's hair was a light brown, with an even lighter brown streak, and it was all on end. What drew the most attention, though, were the pinkish-red ovals right beneith his now bright blue eyes.
"Oh my god!" Ida laughed. "Evan is wearing blush!" Though it seemed undeniably true, it still resulted in Evan slapping her. "Ow!" Ida shouted. "That smarts. Did your hand just spark?!" Evan tilted his head in confusion.
"I didn't feel anything," he replied, not noticing a last remaining spark tracing along his hand.
"Whatever!" I said, "We need to figure out what's going on!"
"Okay then," Ida started, "What is going on!"
"How are we supposed to know!" Erin shouted.
"We aren't the ones who did this!" Evan shouted.
"Neither am I!" I yelled back. "I didn't want anything of this!"
"That's not what I meant Airheart!" Ida called. The bickering continued, but I stayed silent; what had Ida just called me? Airheart? I thought back to the dream and the voice at the back of my mind.
"Oh no," I whispered.
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May Second, Our Last Moments, This Will Not Stop
The argument was basically just going in circles for a while; How was anyone of us supposed to know what happened? We weren't the ones who did this! I knew that all of this was happening, but I didn't really pay attention because I was too busy thinking about what Ida just said. How did Ida know that name? Did it link up with Evan calling Erin Ida's sister? I thought back to the dream I had first had on the night of my birthday and again last night. The sights all came back to me, right down the red smoke coming out of Discord's eyes. I slowly opened my mouth, but quickly shut it again: I didn't know what to say! Should I ask about the name specifically? Or maybe if any of them remembered a similar dream they might have had?
“Umm, guys?” I started. They all looked up, except for Ida, who was still glaring daggers at Evan. “Did any of you have a... um... dream about a,” I searched my mind trying to remember the name, “Droconiquis?”
Evan and Ida looked confused. Erin nodded, looking even more confused.
“What is a droconiquis?” Evan asked, a bit worriedly, at the same time that Erin said;
“Yes.” He turned around to Evan and explained, “A draconequus is a creature of chaos that showed up in season two of My Little Pony. They called him Discord. What he did in the last episode of the show was also the main reason why many fans… Well, we try to ignore that episode.”
“Oka-” Evan started before Ida cut him off:
“That’s interesting, but what does he look like?” Before Erin could open his mouth I started;
“He has the head of a pony and a body of all sorts of animal parts,” I explained to the non-bronies.
“How about we just watch some the episodes?” Erin suggested.
“I'll watch,” I stated, “but these two still haven't answered my question.”
“Yes,” Evan sighed, “I had a dream about something that matched that description.”
“Okay, what happened in it?” I asked both my friends. “Evan you tell us about yours first.”
“Well…” he started, “When I first fell asleep I seemed to wake up, but in a different place. I saw yellow, um hooves... I guess, and light brown hair covering my left eye. When I tried to move I couldn't, like I didn't have control over myself. Then the body that I was inside of moved, not of my will, of its own. It seemed like it had a purpose. After it got up it walked outside of its house, which looked backwards like a rather large Willow tree. The-”
“Ignore the small things and get on to the main one!” Ida said impatiently after cutting Evan off.
Glaring at Ida Evan continued, “After I left the house I walked into a field a little ways away and rubbed my hooves on the ground to charge it. I’m not sure how, but it caused an electrical current between the blades that didn't seem to affect me.” Evan blinked, realizing that he was telling the dream in first person, but he continued, “Then the big pink cotton candy cloud appeared, with that draconequus thing on top of it, laughing manically. I crouched and rubbed my hooves and tail on the charged up grass. I saw a whole bunch of tiny electrical sparks going through the hair in front of my eyes and I could feel it surging through my body. The creature tried to lift me up in the air with his magic, but I managed to shock him enough to make him drop me again.
“I tried to run, but Discord… I think I even called him Discord in my dream… he just laughed. It was a harsh laugh, filled with no happiness. He asked me, 'Charge, do you really think that you can outrun the spirit of chaos?' with that voice... it sent chills right through my still electrified bones. Suddenly I was on a cloud directly in front of him, a cloud that I couldn't move from. He laughed some more and started on another spell. I couldn't hear what he said, even though he appeared to be shouting… Made me feel like I was on fire. When I looked down all of my hooves seemed to be covered in raging white flames. That’s the last thing I remember before I woke up,” he finished.
“Okay,” Erin stated, “Ida you go, then I'll talk about my dream... I guess... Dale you can go last.” I nodded at the arrangement, glad I got to go last, though Ida didn't look particularly happy about the arrangement.
“Fine,” she mumbled angrily, then, a bit louder, she started, “I guess talking in first person would make things easier: I was in a room that looked like it belonged to the military; the walls were covered with maps, and the maps were covered with pins. I was talking to some other pony, 'We still don't know what to prepare for, Soarin. It's been a week and we still don't know what to get, and where to send our troops! How do we know who our enemy is, if they have changelings! We could be infiltrated already!'
I slammed my hoof on the table, but the pony just answered in a calm voice, 'You're right Lightning, we don't know, and that makes it all the more dangerous.' I sighed, knowing that what my friend said was true. 'What do we do then?' I asked him. Surprising me, he sighed as well, 'I don't know man, I don't know.' That was the first time I saw just how much stress he was under. I felt a bit of sympathy for him.
Trying to get him to think about something else, I offered to go for a little flight. We walked down a hall silently, until we came across a door. Right after he opened it I flapped my wings and raced past him, calling back, 'Race you to the flag.' I had no clue where this flag was, but the body I was in seemed to know. We flew neck to neck for a while, until Soarin seemed to slam into something I couldn't see.The other mind panicked: was than an invisible wall? I turned and flew straight down to get to him as fast as I could and I saw the same thing you did, Evan. Discord seemed to be casting a spell on my friend, and Soarin just stood there, letting it happen! When I got there, I saw one of our best strategists, a pink pony with a dark ginger mane, but something was off. That's when I noticed a long pink horn coming out of her head, the strange amulet that hung around her neck, that the other mind seemed to recognize as some Alicorn Amulet, and finally I saw her two giant blue eyes, had become yellow with red smoke streaming out. After that the same thing happened to me was what happened to you Evan. I tried to go down, to protect my friend, but the moment I landed I froze. I tried to move, but couldn’t. The only thing I saw was white.”
Erin nodded, then immediately started telling us his dream. “When I first fell asleep I woke up in a rather nice room in Princess Twilight's Canterlot Tower. My dark brown mane fell in front of my eyes. Something felt... off, but I couldn't put my hoof on it. And yes, that was a horse analogy. a Pony Pun, if you want. I jumped up when I heard a high-pitched scream, not even thinking, just running to that noise. My horn started to feel strong strands of magic, but I ignored them, I had to get to the pony who screamed. I ran through the hall, knowing that whatever had caused the pony to shout in fear like that, had to still be there. When I turned the corner I heard a bunch of bangs coming from Princess Twilight's room. Using my magic to push the door open, I arrived just in time to see the lavender princess disappear into a raging white fire.
I stood there frozen to the spot, then the spell caster turned to me; Discord . Swallowing my fear I crouched on the floor, and charged my horn, utilizing the large strands I felt a while ago. Discord just laughed, not even bothering to talk. He snapped and a couch appeared, as well as a box of popcorn. My horn glowed brighter. I waited until it felt like I was going to burst any second before I finally released the spell. A large blast of dark pink magic hit Discord, blasting him several feet away. When he got up, his red and yellow eyes gleamed with anger, and I felt like I should only run away and never look back. 'Fine then!' he shouted at me, firing back with his own magic. I cast the best protection spell I could manage in the short span of time. The shield only held up for a short moment, barely long enough to protect me from Discord’s attack. Before I had time to cast another spell Discord grabbed my front legs with his claw, then snapped and tapped my horn with his paw. The moment his paw was off I felt my internal magic shut down. Looking up I saw the evil black crystals that King Sombra used to control the Empire in the north, and it was slowly spreading across my head. Using the little strength I had, I kicked him. He dropped me, but I found myself glued to the floor. 'Ha,' he said, his teeth grinding. 'Now let me cast this spell.'
He began shouting something I couldn't hear, or couldn't understand. Then the crystals that had slowly spread across my body seemed to vibrate, it was then I noticed a strong white glow beneath the dark black crystals. Thinking I was saved I looked at Discord who, to my dismay, was smiling from ear to ear. That was when I felt the fire. I saw a blast of magenta light, a white unicorn. I knew who he was; Shining Armour, captain of the royal guard. I tried to shout out, to tell him that he was in danger, but I don’t know if he could hear me. That was all I saw before I woke up,” Erin finished. All of my friends looked at me expectantly.
“I'll tell you about my dream, but first let me use the bathroom.” It felt like an obvious distraction, but Evan nodded and pointed at a door. Walking over I suddenly felt an irritation at the base of my back. Itching there I felt something poking out from it, something that caused me to run the rest of the way to the bathroom. Quickly taking off my pants I turned around and gulped. Right at the base of my back started a long dark ginger tail. I slid my pants back on, but left my tail out and walked back out nervously, registering that it moved when I told it to.
“Okay now that you’re back you can-” Ida said stopped when she noticed my tail swinging from side to side behind me. Erin had already reached into his own pants and pulled out a dark brown tail that was the same color as his hair. Looking closer I noticed that all of our hair had continued changing color throughout our conversation. While I was thinking Evan had pulled out a light brown tail, though his was all zig-zagged and crazy. That just left Ida, turning my head to look at her she looked at us and slowly brought out a multiple shade golden tail. My story forgotten we all rushed to see if anything else had happened while we were distracted.
“Um,” Ida started, “You guys are walking on your toes.” Looking down at my feet I saw that she was right.
“Yeah,” Evan said, “Well, so are you.” Ida tried to walk normally, which resulted in a yelp of pain. When I tried to brush my hair behind my ears I panicked when I found that they were not where they were supposed to be. My hands fumbling all over my head, I noticed a silky peaked... ear atop my head. Swallowing I told my friends what I suspected;
“Guys, I think I have pony ears.” My friends’ hands immediately went up to their own heads. Nodding his head miserably Erin sighed.
“I don't think this is going to stop guys, we need a plan... Ida and I will go see if we can find a place to stay that isn't close to any big cities. Can you two go out to gather supplies and get any other things we would need?”
“Okay,” I stated simply. I knew that Erin was right. It was frightening, but I knew it. I also knew that for now we could do nothing except run away and find a better place to plan our next steps. “Come on Evan, let's go to a gardening shop first. Then head to a general store, a.k.a; Walmart.”
May Second, The Sisters!, MORE
"Hey... um, so do we have enough money for everything on the list?" Evan asked while staring at our already full shopping cart.
I stopped the cart and paused for a moment, then smiled, "Eyup!" I said, "We should have enough for everything, plus a bit to spare." Evan turned and looked at me.
"Are you sure?" He seemed really worried, "If y-we can't afford it what are we going to do?" His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out the list that Erin had written for us. It was crumpled in a ball, but he quickly smoothed the paper out. Evan then passed it to me.
Evan and Dale Please Buy the Following...
I laughed at that; Erin was always so formal and specific. Erin was sometimes, no, especially formal about things that no one needed to be formal about. It was as if he was going to give the paper to royalty!
"Just keep reading," Evan stated impatiently. I could tell by the look on his face that he knew all about our friend's quirky habit, but, unlike me, he chose to ignore it.
"Fine," I said, my smile sneaking into my voice.
1 Family-Sized Tent/ 2 or 3 Single Person Tent
Tarp
4 Lanterns, Batteries
Flashlight Head Straps
Lots of Canned Food
I paused and stared at that one word, lots. It scared me. If even Erin didn't know exactly how much to get, we were in trouble, and Erin knew it.
"I know, but keep reading," Evan sighed, "Please."
He'd said it so filled with emotion that I just nodded and focused on the paper once more.
10 Apples
2 Bunches of Carrots
4-5 Blankets
Swiss Army Knife
5 Radios
I stopped here for a moment. Five, why five, there are only four of us.
"You done?" Evan asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"Sorry, no, but almost," I replied as I started reading again.
Canteens
Apple Cider (Alcoholic)
I stared at the last item and asked the one question my confused brain could handle.
"Why did Erin let Ida write on the paper?" I asked.
To answer my question Evan just shrugged. "So, will we be able to afford all this?"
Oh yeah... I'd forgotten that was why I read it. "Yes," I said, my voice full of confidence. After that I just folded it up and passed it to him.
"Come on. We'll go to the camping section now." Evan just trudged behind me, confused.
I mean, I guess it made sense; I'd never shared my financial situations with my friends, so they didn't know how well off I was. My guess was that they thought I was Middle-Class, but they were probably just judging by my apartments.
When I got to the isle I went straight to the back; where the Family-Sized/Walk-In tents were kept.
"Hmmm... Wh-"
"Dale... look over there," Evan whispered, and through his quiet voice I heard something. Relief? Confusion?
I followed his finger, and my jaw dropped to the floor. Three girls were getting out of a car, one was staying in, and... I thought that they were going through what we were. The ones that were getting out of the car had lime green hair, red hair with a desaturated pinkish streak, and one that had blond hair. The one in the car, well, it was hard to say through the windshield, but I think they had white hair with an ice-blue outline.
After the green haired one turned around to shut the door I confirmed my suspicions, as she had a lime green tail sticking out of her shorts; they were going through the same thing as us.
"Go get them over here," I said. Secretly I was glad that it wasn't just me and my friends in this, but I was also aware that any chance of this being a prank was gone. "We'll find out wha-... well we'll find out if we can help." Evan just did what I asked.
While he was walking over to them I just stood by our cart and waited. I watched him start talking to them. Then I flinched; my back had gotten a searing pain.
"Ow!"I whisper-shouted.
It was then that Evan chose to walk up. "You okay?"
"I think so, my back just got a cramp." I said, still in a decent amount of pain. Then I turned to the new-comers. "My name is Dale, you?" I asked politely.
The girl with lime hair stepped forward, though a guarded look was set on her face, "I'm Reanne, this is my sister, Henrietta, our friend Regan, and our cousin James," She said motioning to the blond haired girl, the red head, and the white haired person in turn.
I sighed, Good, I thought, Now that that's out of the way...
"Okay, now that we know each other's names," I spoke with authority, but still sounding sincere, "May I ask where you got your tails?"
I'd thought about how I was going to phrase this, after all, I didn't want to start talking like everything was normal and have them call some insane asylum!
She gave the reaction I was looking, or even hoping for; a confused face with fear mixed in.
"Ummmm-" She spoke worriedly. Until I cut her of that is.
"Okay, sorry about that; just had to double check something."
"What?" Henrietta asked suspiciously, "I mean, what did you have to check for?"
I locked my blue eyes with her strikingly green ones, "I had to check that you were turning into something that wasn't you to begin with, say a pony?"
The one boy stepped in front of his cousin, James I think his name was. "Hello, I think my cousin here needs to be a little bit stronger to take lead of us, but I also think I qualify for the job." I raised my eyebrow at that statement, while the blondie coughed and Reanne looked ready to kill.
"Anyways," he continued hastily, as if sensing the danger he was causing for himself, "What makes you think that we should trust you?" James's voice sounded as if he was trying to cover up the fact that he cared for them, his friends, and family. Of course I saw right through the act, and I knew Evan did too. I was going to point it out, but Evan beat me to it.
"I understand that you're worried, James isn't it? But I can swear to you, Pinkie Swear even, that neither me, nor Dale, or Erin, or Ida will do anything bad to you." Evan's even blue eyes glanced at each of them. Then he froze, "Dale... Did I just say Pinkie Swear?"
My brain froze as I thought about what my friend had just stated, but, thankfully I was spared from what saying what I suspected. By what, you may ask, by the loudest phone ring coming from my phone.
It was my ringtone for for Ida, a very loud, very noisy, warning shout. I of course took the excuse and answered.
"Yes Ida?" I spoke without my usual trace of annoyance while talking to Erin's sister... This time only, I thought.
“No plane tickets, but for some reason my dunderhead of a siste- brother thought that a train ride was a good idea-”
“Of course it was a good idea!”
“Yeah right, anyways it leaves tomorrow at 3:00 A.M. Erin thought that not too many people would be out, the only good idea sh- he’s had all day!”
I’d been listening intently from the start, but I’d grown very stinking worried at how much Ida had been messing up. I mean h-she, I paused; I’d just done the same.