Chapter Fifteen - I don't bite... Much...

“Ok.” Fluttershy hummed.

“I’m sorry…” I mumbled guiltily.

I felt terrible, the poor mare must be horrified, and must hate my guts; out of all the ponies, it had to be Fluttershy who found out first…

“What for?” Fluttershy quizzed.

“What do you mean, ‘what for’? You know exactly what I’m sorry for.” I answered.

“It’s ok, I’m not angry at you.” Fluttershy said calmly.

“What?” I said, astonished.

“I’m not angry at you. You have canine teeth, I figured you were an omnivore from the first day we met, when you let me into the house and smiled at me.” She explained.

“So… So, wait, you don’t hate me? You’re n-not going to yell at me? N-Not even berate me a little bit?” I stuttered nervously.

“Of course not, all different kinds of animals have different diets. I need to help the ferrets catch fish, and I even know a bear that eats other animals. It’s the natural way of life.” She said.

“B-But, they have feeling and emotions back in Equestria, don’t they feel guilt and sadness?” I asked.

“Well, the bear does a little bit, but he only hunts on the Everfree Forest animals, where they have no consciences; the fish don’t remember things, and are just as simple as the animals in the Everfree. It’s over very quickly; I find it sad to watch, but it’s just their way of life. There’s nothing I can do to change it without changing the animals’ diet, which is unfair.” She said, sighing.

“So let me get this straight… You don’t mind, that I eat meat?” I asked, trying to keep calm as I talked about the subject.

“As long as the animal feels no pain, and you are not cruel to them, and that you respect the natural balance of life, I don't mind, no.” She said, smiling at me reassuringly.

Like a cool breeze in a hot room, I felt a huge wave of relief and relaxation; the fear of Fluttershy knowing about my diet and taking it the wrong way was very prominent, so this new turn of events was really beneficial.

“You have no idea how much that means to me Fluttershy, I’ve been worried about the subject from day one.” I said, taking another sigh of relief.

“I noticed; when Pinkie asked what food you ate, I saw the look of fear in your eyes.” She told me.

“You’re quite the observer aren’t you?” I said, chuckling very lightly to try and relax.

“I did a lot of social work at one point.” She admitted.

“So, you’ve been a nurse, a country heroine, an animal expert, a babysitter, and a therapist?” I asked, laughing.

She blushed and started giggling.

“Don’t, really, I’m not that special.” She squeaked.

“Not that special? Fluttershy, you’re one of the kindest ponies I know.” I said.

“How many ponies do you know?” She retorted.

“Seven actually.”

“Who’s the seventh?” She asked.

“A pony I used to look after once, Gitano.” I answered.

“Oh?” She tilted her head on one side.

“A farm pony, I used to go to the stables once every other week to tend to the animals, and I always gave Gitano a lot of attention, so we kinda bonded.” I explained.

“So, you have ponies on Earth?” She asked, now very interested.

“Yeah, horses too. But they’re not exactly like you Equestrians.” I answered.

“How so?”

“Well, they’re not sentient, they’re no more intelligent than a dog.” I explained.

“I see…” She hummed, thinking about the new information about fellow equines.

“We should get moving before we get lost.” I said.

“Good idea.” Fluttershy agreed.
I stood up and put my rucksack back on, and then turned back to Fluttershy.

“Hey, thanks for talking to me, I’ve felt a little stressed about the matter.” I said, dipping my head respectfully and giving her a little smile.

“It’s ok.” She replied happily.
She then got up and put on her saddlebag, and we both headed after the others.

It was quite a long trek before we caught up, not too far ahead we saw them all sitting in a circle talking amongst themselves.
Before we reached them, I tapped Fluttershy lightly on the shoulder.

“Can you not tell them yet? I don’t feel comfortable with them knowing for a while, not until I’ve gained their trust a little more, I have a hunch they won’t take it as well as you have.” I asked.

She gave a little hum and nodded her head in response, showing she completely understood and empathised with me on the situation.

“Thanks…” I said quietly, before we both walked to the others.

“G’day g’day ladies!” I said in an Australian accent as I merged with the circle.

“There you are! We assumed the jungle had eaten you up by now!” Rarity chuckled.

“Nah, I don’t taste that good.” I replied.

The ponies all laughed and I entered the circle and sat down, Fluttershy joined me and sat right next to me.

“So, what were you two talking about?” Rarity asked.

“Oh, um, nothing important…” Fluttershy whispered.

“I reckon they were making out.” Rainbow Dash said, chuckling.

As if she had been punched directly in the clitoris, Fluttershy screamed in shock and jumped about five feet in the air, and then hid under her tail.

“Well, that was a reaction and a half…” I mumbled.

“Rainbow, you know full well that’s not funny.” Rarity frowned.

“Oh come on, it was just a joke.” Dash answered back.

“It’s not a funny one, you know, and have been told many a time about how fearful Fluttershy is about relationships.” Rarity hissed.

“Oh really, then what about ‘Middy’?” Rainbow teased.

“Stop it! Stop it!” Fluttershy wailed and ran behind a nearby tree as she started to cry.

I simply raised an eyebrow in confusion, then looked to Rarity, who was now glaring at Rainbow Dash.

“You spiteful, inconsiderate-”

“Stop.” I ordered before Rarity can finish.

She turned to me, as did Dash.

“But she-”

“I’m not having you two fall out; Twilight and I is conflict enough for this group.” I said.

Rarity grumbled under her breath, and Rainbow Dash smirked, thinking she’d gotten away with it.

“And you.” I pointed at her.

She gulped.

“You know you’re in the wrong; sort it out.”

She nodded, for some reason, she really didn’t like getting in trouble with me, it seemed she really liked me, so getting in my bad books was distressing for her. Perhaps that’s to do with the My Little Dashie incident?
I stood up and began to walk to the tree Fluttershy ran to.

“Where are you going?” Rarity asked.

“To see if Fluttershy’s alright.” I answered.

She nodded, and the group went back to chatting about random stuff.

I reached the tree to hear very faint sniffles, I walked around it to find Fluttershy rubbing her eyes.

“Hey…” I whispered.

She looked up and me and then looked back down.

“H-Hi…” She stuttered, sniffing.

I walked next to her, sat down, and gently put my hand on her shoulder, feeling her soft fur and warmness beneath it, I was once again reminded how real these ponies are. I mean, I know they are real now, but I still hadn’t quite gotten over the whole ‘I’m on an adventure with the Mane frickin’ Six!’ feeling yet.

“Care to tell me what that was all about?” I asked.

“It- It’s fine, really…” She answered.

“You ran away crying, you’re crying now; therefore, it’s not fine, come on Flutters, you can tell me.” I replied, rubbing her shoulder slightly.

“Well, it’s just… It’s just that I get really shy about relationships, I have a really vivid imagination, when somepony says something, I can picture it in my mind, and when Dash said that, well, yeah…
But I don’t think of you like that, I promise, I really don’t, please don’t think I do…” She explained.

Without control, my face lit up into a great big grin, not because Fluttershy pictured us kissing, as I really wasn't into that.
I was smiling because of two reasons…
Firstly, I found her extremely cute, being so shy about relationship and all that, the way she constantly tried to tell me she didn’t think of me in a romantic way, desperate to make sure it didn’t get awkward, was simply adorable.

The second reason, was because I had discovered yet another thing I had in common with the six; much like Fluttershy, I have a vivid imagination. If someone says any sort of action or scenario, I can instantly visualise it. Heck, once upon a time, my friend Jacob told me about a talking toilet, and I was able to picture myself having a full conversation with the bloody thing!

I brought myself back to Earth, looked at Fluttershy and smiled at her warmly.

“Fluttershy, I wouldn’t ever think of such a thing.” (Although I sort of did, damn my vivid imagination…)

I then remembered what Dash had said in regards to Midnight, so I brought that subject into the conversation.

“Besides, I know that you like this Midnight character, honestly Fluttershy it’s fine.”

“O…Okay…” She whispered.

“Speaking of, what’s Midnight like? He must be pretty special to get the one and only Fluttershy to fall for him.” I said, nudging her shoulder in an attempt to brighten the mood, which it did.

Fluttershy looked up dreamily, and then closed her eyes to think about her crush.

“He’s just, so sweet… He’s shy like me, he loves animals and he has his own aviary. He is so kind and caring, once, I ran home crying because I cut myself by accident, and he followed me the whole way just to make sure I was ok.”

She blushed, and then cleared her throat.

“Um, anyway… I’ve known him from a young age, then we parted as he went to a private school, and I went to flight camp. When I moved to Ponyville with Rainbow Dash, I found out he lived nearby in a cottage just over a mile from my place, not far outside the town.
So I sent him a letter and we met up again, and it was really nice; he’s just like me, he loves animals, he can communicate with them, he’s amazing. He’s really cute too, he is quite ditzy, but not in a crazy way; when he talks about something, he never stops talking, but it’s nice. Sometimes I don’t take in what he says, I just listen to the sound of his voice…
Every time I see him I get butterflies in my tummy and I get all flustered.” She said, blushing even deeper.

{By Celestia’s beard, this is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life… Fluttershy has a crush... This is cuter than any fan-fiction, shipping, or fan art I’ve ever seen!} I thought to myself.

I had to use all of my will and might to prevent another ‘hnng’ heart attack, which was quite a challenge with the given circumstances.

“That’s really sweet Fluttershy. He seems like the perfect guy for you.” I told her with a smile.

“Perfect doesn’t even explain him…” She sighed.

“N’awww……”

“Eep…” Flutters squeaked.

“Look, Flutters, I know you’re all nervous about all those sort of feelings, but I honestly don’t think you need to react like you did just now, because Rainbow Dash loves to tease; if you have a big reaction like that, she’ll do it more to see that reaction.
You have a crush on somepony, so what? I’ve had crushes before; heck, I’ve even felt a touch of real love for someone once, but you’ve got to keep it to yourself, or you’ll get poked at for it.” I explained.

She sniffed once more, before raising her head.

“You’re right; it’s hard for me though, I get so nervous, my heart just-”

“I never said it was easy…” I quietly said, interrupting her.

“You’re right… I’ll try not to let Dash get to me.” She said.

“Atta’ girl.” I said gruffly, grinning and nudging her shoulder again.

This made her giggle, a lot. Call it a hunch, but I think I’d really been able to hit it off with Fluttershy, it’s only been a couple of days, yet we were already good friends.
The both of us got up, and we headed back to the group; upon nearing them, I heard their conversation.

“They’re nice and all, but I doubt I’d ever want to date one.” Applejack said.

“I’ve never really been fond of interspecies relationships, so I’d have to pass.” Rarity joined in.

“What about you Dashie? Would you ever try ‘em?” Applejack asked.

“I think they’re pretty awesome, I wouldn’t mind trying it out with human at some point, experimenting is cool.” Dash admitted.

“What about our new two legged friend?” Applejack chuckled.

“Seriously? We just met the guy, I want to get to know him before I decide on that.” Dash giggled back.

“Why would you even think of that thing’s lips on you?” Twilight spat, gagging slightly.

“Well unlike you egghead, I think he’s cool.” Rainbow retorted.

I got down low and crept behind Rainbow Dash, and then crawled into sight.

“Mind if I… Slither in…?” I said in a deep voice.

Rainbow Dash yelped and jumped back, saw me, and punched me in the arm. The others all started laughing, besides Twilight of course, who simply scowled and looked at the ground.

“Dude, don’t creep up on my like that!” She growled.

“Why not?” I chuckled back.

“Because it’s pervy.” She answered, sticking her tongue out.

“Says the one talking about ‘experimenting’ with me.” I retorted.

Her face went dark and her eyes widened with sheer terror, and then she gulped.

“Yeeeaaah… I heard that.” I said.

“I… I… Um… Was… Kidding?” She said nervously.

“If you say so.” I smirked back.

Dash took a few steps back, and sat down, and went very quiet; Fluttershy then came and sat next to me, giggling slightly at the scene.

“What goes around, comes around.” I whispered to her, giving her a little wink.

“I am so bored…” Pinkie moaned.

Come to think of it, we hadn’t actually done anything fun since the game of hide and seek.

“How about we play a game?” Fluttershy suggested.

“I like your thinking!” Pinkie squeaked, “What game shall we play?”

“No wide games, before you get any ideas, this place is dangerous, we need to stay put here.” I reminded the group.

“What can we play then?” Pinkie asked.

“I don’t know.” I huffed.

“Let’s just sit back and see what idea comes up first.” Rarity said.

“Yes! Great idea!” Pinkie cheered.

Rarity hummed in confusion and tilted her head on one side.

“See! See!” Pinkie giggled.

The whole group, Twilight included, hummed in confusion and tilted our heads on one side.

“I Spy! We can play I Spy!” Pinkie piped.

And of course my vivid imagination would cause me to visualise the Spy from Team Fortress Two running through the jungle, snorting as he went.

“Well, congratulations Rarity, you’re a victim of Pinkie logic.” I told her, chuckling.

“I… Figured…” Rarity replied, flabbergasted.

“I spy, with my little eye… Something… Green!” Pinkie said.

“Fucking everything around us…” Rainbow Dash mumbled from behind us.

Nopony heard her besides me and Fluttershy, who cringed at the language.
I turned around, looked her in the eyes, glared at her, and then looked back to the group.

“Leaves?” Applejack asked.

“Nope.” Pinkie squeaked.

“The trees?” Fluttershy quizzed.

“Nope.”

“Grass?” I asked.

“Nope.”

“Birds?” Rarity questioned.

“Nope.”

“Frogs?”

“Nope.”

“Nope.”
“Nope.”
“Nope."

About five minutes later, we all gave up.

“Are you sure you give up?” Pinkie asked.

“Yes!” We all shouted for the fourth time.

“It’s Callum’s eyes!” Pinkie squealed, before rolling onto her back with a fit of giggles.

“You’ve got to be kidding…” I mumbled.

Everypony didn’t want to play after that, the joy of the game had been entirely spoilt, upon first try we’d all been beaten, there wasn’t much point in playing.

“Who’s next?” Pinkie asked.

“No one, we ain’t playing.” Applejack huffed.

“Aw… Well, it was fun while it lasted.” Pinkie squeaked.

“If you say so.” Applejack mumbled.

“Why so down Applejack?” Rarity asked, prodding her friend in the arm.

“Well, if you hadn't noticed, my hoof’s in a lot of pain right now, I don’t want to play some stupid game at the moment, if that’s alright with you, your ladyship!” She grunted angrily in reply.

“Come on now, don’t fight.” Pinkie pleaded.

Applejack took a long sigh.

“Sorry Pinkie. I’m just stressed.”

“No need for a sorry. Just don’t fight ok, everything’s ok, so why make a problem out of nothing?” She said, smiling.

“The problem is not the problem. The problem is just your attitude about the problem.” I said in a deep, gruff, yet friendly tone.

Everypony looked at me with a look of confusion, besides Pinkie, who understood it perfectly.

“What?” Dash asked from behind me, who had moved a lot closer to the group.

I moved to the side and let her back into the circle, before explaining.

“Basically, you can have a problem; but if you have a good attitude towards it, it doesn’t actually need to be a problem, it’s something you can sort out easily. If you have a bad attitude about it, it becomes an actual problem.
So if you have no bad attitude about the problem, it’s not a problem.” I told the group.

They all hummed and understood, besides Dash.

“I still don’t get it…”

“Sounds fine to me!” Pinkie squeaked.

“Right, let me use an example.” I said.

“Me and Twilight. She doesn’t like me. To her, I’m a problem, because she has a really bad attitude about me.
Therefore I am a significant problem to her; if she were to be positive and nice to me, then suddenly I’m not a problem anymore.
So her attitude, about me, is the problem.” I explained.

“Hehe, I get it now.” Dash chuckled.

“Once again, he poisons your minds with his words…” Twilight sighed.

“Twilight, please don’t start…” Rarity pleaded.

“Start? I never stopped; but you won’t listen, his forked tongue has already wormed into your brain.”

My left eye twitched a little.

“His filthy little lies have corrupted you…”

I bit my lip.

“His kind is the darkest-”

“Stop!” Fluttershy shouted, cutting Twilight off.

All of us, Twilight included were all taken aback.

“If you can’t say anything kind to him, don’t say anything at all! Every time you open your mouth I hear bad things! Horrible things! I’m stressed enough as it is being in this world so far away from home! And I can’t cope with it anymore Twilight! I just can’t! You’re breaking this entire group with your opinion of Callum! Just keep it to yourself!” She screamed.

She suddenly burst into tears again and ran off into the jungle and disappeared behind a large arrangement of tall grass and plants; we were all left speechless.

“Whoa…” Dash breathed.

{Bloody hell…} I thought.

Twilight looked to where Fluttershy had gone with a look of regret, she then huffed and lay down, looking at the ground.

“I’ll talk to her.” Rainbow Dash said and stood up, stretching.

“Is that wise?” I asked.

“Dude, I’ve known her longer than you have, I know that girl inside and out; and right now, she’s alone and needs somepony to keep an eye on her.” She answered.

“Alrighty then.” I replied, taking a respectful nod.

Dash trotted after Fluttershy and we were all left in silence, nopony really knew what to say.

“Well, I gotta take a wizz! Don’t you go anywhere!” Pinkie squeaked as she stood up and bounced away out of sight.

Thankfully Pinkie had broken the ice a little bit, Applejack shuffled closer to Twilight, and I moved over to Rarity.

“Well… That escalated quickly…” I said quietly to her.

“That poor mare is struggling to cope; this whole experience is just too much all at once, and Twilight keeps pushing her over the edge.” Rarity mumbled, more to herself than to me.

I imagined what it must be like for them right now. To have a happy home, being well known across the country, to be popular and respected. Just living a good life in general, only to be chosen for a mission that takes you away to an unknown place where the chance of death was unbelievably high.
These poor mares must be up to their necks in stress and anxiety, it was no wonder Fluttershy just broke down.

“I understand. This must be pretty hard for all of you.” I sighed.

“Very.” Rarity replied, “My entire business is on halt now, and poor Sweetiebelle-”

“Sorry to butt in Rare, but if you remember correctly, a day at home is a year here. Heck, we’ve only been gone a few seconds! The Princesses probably haven’t even left the room we last saw them, to them, the portal we came through is probably still closing.” Applejack interrupted.

At this, Rarity hummed.

“Now that Pinkie’s brought it up, I could really use the toilet…” I mumbled, more to myself than anyone.

“Yeah, me too.” Applejack responded.

I stood up and headed off away from the group to ‘do what I gotta do’…

One first use of my toilet paper later, I re-joined the group to find Fluttershy had come back, her eyes were slightly bloodshot from the crying.

“He returns!” Rainbow Dash cheered.

“Indeed he does.” I replied with a grin.

I sat down to find the group had opened a small bag of marshmallows, Rarity kindly levitated one over to me.

“Aww, how generous of you Rarity.” I said thankfully.

“I see what you did there!” Dash chuckled.

“Well, to be honest, I saw it as well.” Applejack joined in.

“Really though…?” Rarity sighed.

At this, Pinkie started to laugh.

“Do me! Do me!” She squeaked, still laughing.

“You’re doing it already!” I shouted back and began to laugh with her.

All of us laughed together after that, the tension beforehand had now completely evaporated.

“Has there been any luck with your device?” Rarity asked when we had all calmed down.

“I completely forgot, I’ll check now.” I replied.

I put my hand into my pocket and withdrew my phone and held down the on button, and much to my relief it vibrated. A few seconds later the screen lit up with the Sony Ericson Xpeira logo and made the little start-up jingle

“Are we in?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We’re about to find out, but the phone itself works, which is a good sign.” I answered.

The others all crowded around me, besides Twilight.

“Twilight, come here and participate, this is important to the mission.” I commanded.

At this, the paranoid, pessimistic, pedantic pissy purple pony huffed, before standing up slowly, she eventually came over to watch; the others kindly made room for her right by my side. She reluctantly stood by me and looked at the phone, I unlocked the device and went to the home screen, before swiping to my Maps app, I tapped the app and the screen went black.

“Is it broken?” Dash asked.

“Your technology is pathetic…” Twilight mumbled.

I had to sustain a laugh at that, but I was not able to retain a small splutter and a chuckle, causing Twilight to growl.
Luckily the situation was dismissed as the app turned on, and showed my house back in England.

“Now what?” Rainbow Dash quizzed.

I put my finger on the screen and the whole map started glitching out before being replaced with static.
When the screen went back to normal, it showed treetops, in Brazil.
The phone was focusing directly on us.

“Whoa…” Applejack breathed.

I tapped the screen and it started to flash blue, and then a white arrow appeared from our location, the map then slowly zoomed out to show more of Brazil, it kept zooming out until the arrow’s tip formed a red circle around a certain location to the west.
The app then switched off and went back to the home screen.

“Why’d it do that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Not sure.” I replied.

I scrolled back to the app and tapped it, and the phone went black, and then reopened at the home screen again.

“Ah… I know what that is…” Rarity said.

“How could you know?” Twilight scoffed.

“Because I cast the enchantment.” Rarity snapped back suddenly.

Twilight was taken aback by Rarity’s sudden attitude, she wasn’t angry or anything, but the way she responded was powerful and dominant.

“Care to tell us then?” Twilight asked, not so aggressively this time.

“Well, the enchantment is based from my old experience with my cutie mark story, along with my gem finding spell, I basically strung the two together; the thing about my gem finding spell, is that it always needed a recharge, regardless of my mana. No doubt the spell’s effect, now in the phone, needs to recharge, and your map application won’t work until then.” She hypothesised.

“Great, so we now need to wait longer before we can move out.” Dash moaned.

“Nope! We go that way.” Pinkie squeaked, pointing back the way we came.

“What? Why?” Twilight questioned.

“West.” Pinkie simply replied, before diving onto the ground and rolling around like a puppy.

“How do you know that way is west?” I asked.

“On the map, the big flying thingy port was in the west, and the shardy thing was further after that, meaning we need to go that way to get to it, in the westy west west!” She explained, pointing a second time to the direction we needed to go.

“Pinkie, the pony compass…” I said quietly, smirking.

I looked up to see the sky was becoming a dark navy blue, the sun was out of sight thanks to the trees, meaning it was going to be nightfall soon.

“Right, the sun’s setting, we’ll head that way at dawn. Let’s all find a place to camp.” I ordered.

“Who are you to give out the orders?” Twilight questioned.

“Well, unless you want to get ripped to shreds by savage animals whilst travelling through a dark jungle, and never see the light of day again, I suggest you take my advice, as your guide, proclaimed by Princess Celestia herself.” I said, putting a lot of emphasis on the word ‘princess’ just to annoy her.

“Fine…” She hissed, glaring at me.

With that, we all left the clearing and found a more secluded part of the jungle, where we stopped to make camp.

“To minimise the chance of being seen, shall we set up just one tent?” Rarity suggested.

“I don’t think we’d all fit.” Applejack giggled.

“Fatty.” Dash giggled.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that…” Applejack said aggressively.

We all chuckled for a bit, Applejack clearly knew that Rainbow was only bantering.

“I’ll sleep in a tree, I love tree naps.” Dash stated after the laughter settled down.

“I’ve done a little bit of tree sleeping in my time, I’ll join you.” I said enthusiastically.

“Awesome!” She replied merrily.

That was two bodies out of the single tent, so the other five could quite easily sleep in a single tent if they used the biggest one. They’d just need to squeeze together a little…

After a few minutes of setting up Rarity’s tent, (the largest one, being bigger the other two tents put together), we all sat down and relaxed, Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack went inside the tent, and the rest of us stayed out the front.

“So, what can we do to pass the time?” Rarity pondered.

“Provoke the egghead? That’s always fun!” Rainbow Dash giggled.

I suddenly gasped, causing everyone to look at me with confusion.

“Rainbow Dash… You used a big word!” I cheered, and started clapping.

The pegasus frowned, while Rarity, Fluttershy and I burst into laughter, which caused Dash to smirk at the joke and not take it to heart.

“Don’t get used to it dude…” Dash said, chuckling.

“Shame, you’re cute when you act smart.” I teased.

Dashie blushed and looked away.

“Oh Callum, you are such a tease.” Rarity giggled.

I looked to her and raised my eyebrows.

“Am I now…?” I asked in a deep seductive tone.

Rarity, too, blushed and nervously giggled as she bit her lip, I looked to Fluttershy to find she was desperately trying to hold in a fit of giggles.

“Moving on!” Rarity laughed.

I chuckled and pulled out my phone again to look for an app to pass the time.

“So, what sort of stuff can you do on this little thing?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Quite a few things.” I said, scrolling through my apps. “You can play games, write notes, call people, send people messages, listen to music. Oh, it can work as a light as well.” I explained, tapping the LED light.

“That reminds me of something I wanted to ask you!” Fluttershy chirped.

I tilted my head on one side.

“What sort of music do you listen to? What music do humans make?” She asked.

“A very fine question to ask!” I replied with a grin. “The wonder about the human race, is that we make all sorts of things, including a wide range of musical genres.” I answered.

“Can we hear some?” Rainbow Dash asked enthusiastically.

“Sure!” I agreed merrily.

This to me would be a really good moment for some more bonding with the ponies, and I already had a rough idea of what genres they’d all like, so I took out my headphones and plugged them in and then scrolled to my ‘Walkman’ app.

“I’ve got some certain music types that I think you’ll individually like, who wants to hear first?” I asked.

“Me! Me! Pick me!” Rainbow Dash asked excitedly.

“I can’t wait, please may I have first listen?” Rarity pleaded.

“And this year’s prom queen is… Fluttershy!” I announced, handing the headphones to her.

“She didn’t even say anything!” Rainbow huffed.

“Exactly, she was patient.” I replied, sticking my tongue out at her.

Fluttershy giggled and shuffled closer to me, clearly excited to listen to her first piece of human music. Knowing Fluttershy’s kind nature, I had a feeling that I had a song just for her.

“Just take these and pop them in your ears.” I instructed, offering her the earphones.

“Dude, we know how earphones work, we have them at home.” Dash told me.

I shrugged and then looked back to Fluttershy, who now had the earphones in; I went to my artists and selected Newton Faulkner, who was one of my favourite artists for mellow and heartfelt songs. I scrolled through his songs and found ‘People Should Smile More’, and tapped it.
I could tell the song had started playing, as Fluttershy’s face lit up, her little smile grew and grew into a massive ear to ear grin.

“Well, you seem to have Fluttershy’s taste spot on.” Rarity said with a warm smile.

A couple of minutes later the song ended, and Fluttershy took the earphones out, and beamed even more.

“Oh Callum, that song was just simply wonderful…” She said dreamily.

“My turn!” Rainbow Dash shouted, full of excitement as she shifted over next to me.

“Rarity! How wonderful of you to volunteer next!” I cheered.

“Wha… Oh come on!” Rainbow growled.

Rarity giggled at Rainbow’s annoyance, and used her magic to plug in the earphones. I then scrolled through my music to find something for her. I had a feeling that she’d enjoy the classical pieces, but I settled on something more modern and selected another one of my favourites, Jason Mraz.

“I have a feeling you’ll enjoy this.” I said happily as I selected ‘I’m Yours’.

Rarity’s face first showed confusion as the song started, as it included the sound of an aeroplane, but as the music started, she began to smile, much like Fluttershy.
When Jason Mraz started to sing, Rarity closed her eyes and phased out.

“Is it the same song as my one?” Fluttershy asked.

I shook my head and waited for Rarity’s song to finish.

When the song ended Rarity smiled like never before.

“That was simply divine… His voice is so melodic…” She sighed.

“Yeah, Mr Mraz is pretty good.” I agreed.

“Who?” She quizzed.

“Jason Mraz, he’s the singer in the song.” I explained.

“Oh I see.” Rarity chirped.

I looked over to Rainbow Dash, who was looking at me, prodding the ground with her hoof.

“Would you like your turn Rainbow Dash?” I asked.

Her face brightened up and she looked at me with glee, before nodding frantically. I passed her the earphones and scrolled around while she put them in.
It didn’t take me long to find a song just of her taste.

“This, you are going to just love.” I said as I selected the artist ‘P!nk’.

Initially I was going to introduce her to the song ‘Bad Influence’, but after a few seconds of thought I decided to settle with ‘So What’.
I tapped the song, and it didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to stick her tongue out with a big grin.

“Yeah heh heh… Now this is awesome music!” She said gruffly.

As the song got to the chorus, she shut her eyes and started to nod her head to the tune.

“This is awesome!” She squealed.

After the song ended, she took the earphones out and grinned.

“You have some awesome music dude.” She chuckled.

“I agree, well, I wouldn’t call it ‘awesome’. But your music is indeed very spectacular.” Said Rarity with a smile.

“I would love to listen to some more…” Fluttershy sighed.

“You can all listen to one more, then we go to bed.” I said with a warm smile.

“Yay…” Fluttershy squeaked.

{Oh no, she did not just do the Flutteryay!} I thought, holding back a ‘hnng’.

I passed Fluttershy the earphones and selected some David Bowie, and played her ‘Golden Years’.

Upon a song and a giggle later, it was Rarity’s turn, who was given ‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’ by ‘The Beatles’. Which was really funny to watch, as Rarity began to nod her head much like Dashie had.

When the song finished, she looked around, rather embarrassed.

“It was very catchy ok?” She said defensively.

For Rainbow Dash, I decided to give her a little more of her spicy tastes, and put on 'The Fear', by Lily Allen.

“I can’t choose which is better!” Dash moaned when the song I had chosen had finished.

“That’s the wonder of music Dashie, you don’t need a favourite, love it all!” I cheered.

The ponies now loved the wonder of human music, and couldn’t wait to hear more, but for now, it was time for bed.

“Come on y’all, we have a long way to go tomorrow, get yourselves sorted for sleeping.” Applejack said, sticking her head out of the tent.

“Party pooper…” Dash groaned.

I stood up and took a stretch, before looking around for a nice tree to join Dash in.
Near the tent was a big tree with a lovely big branch sticking out near the top, big enough to fit me and Rainbow Dash together.

“Night Callum.” Rarity said kindly.

“Goodnight.” Fluttershy beamed.

“Nighty night.” I replied to the both of them, smiling back.

I picked up my bag and jogged over to the tree, Rainbow Dash followed.

“How are you going to get up there?” She asked.

“Well, if you’d be so kind as to hold my bag, I can climb this.” I answered.

“You sure? There’s no branches.”

I pretended to clear my throat as I pointed to a huge web of ivy on the tree, Dash merely hummed, not convinced that I could climb it.
I took off my bag and grabbed onto the largest ivy stalk and began to scale the tree. The ivy had a very nice grip, and I was able to climb it with ease.
With all my upper body strength, I hauled myself up the tree slowly.

“Goodness! Look at him go!” I heard Rarity shout from the tent.

This put me off, and I lost my grip with my left hand and almost fell, I was left dangling by my right hand.

“Dude look out!” Rainbow Dash yelped.

I regained my grip and continued to climb until I reached the big branch.

I hoisted myself up and lay on my stomach, the branch was coated in soft dry moss, which was a very lovely coincidence.
Seconds later Rainbow Dash raised to my level and hovered next to me.

“Heavy bag. Take it. Now.” She ordered, tossing it to me and flexing her tired forelegs.

I just caught the bag by one of the arm straps and was almost pulled off the branch by its weight, causing me to freeze in temporal fear.

“Jesus fucking Christ Rainbow Dash! Be fucking careful!” I yelled angrily.

“Now who’s a potty mouth?” She teased.

“This is not funny! Remember that I don’t have wings, if I fall from here, you’ll be scooping me up of the ground with bloody garden tools!” I growled.

“Alright, chill dude.” Dash said calmly, helping me lift the bag onto the branch.

I opened the bag and pulled out the rock climbing rope I had packed.

“Where’d you get that from?” Dash asked.

“I always come prepared.” I replied, tying the rope to my waist.

I then passed the rope to Rainbow.

“Would you be a lamb and wrap this around the branch?” I asked.

She simply nodded as the rope was in her teeth, and she whizzed around the branch a few times before giving me back the rope end.

“Cheers.”

“No problem.” She said, smiling.

She landed next to me and curled up, and was asleep in minutes; I closed my eyes and tried to sleep on the soft moss.

A minute or so later, I felt something hard and rough poke my face. I opened my eyes to see a glowing blue biscuit.

“The fuck…?” I mumbled.

I looked off the side of the branch to see Rarity looking up at me, her horn glowing. I took the biscuit and took a nibble, it was vanilla flavoured. As I began to chew it, it tasted like marshmallows; I swallowed and instantly got a taste of rich chocolate.

It was a Threezie…

I looked over the branch to thank Rarity, to find she had already gone…