Restless in Hoofington

Saturdays are, for most ponies, a day where they can relax and sleep in. However, two ponies find themselves up and on the streets at barely half past eight, heading towards their friend’s house with large packs on their backs before Celestia’s sun is even all the way up in the sky.

“Night? Niiiiiiiight.” Alloy waves her hoof under the thestral’s muzzle. “Wakey wakey. You’re slowing down again.”

The emerald-maned mare jerks up. “Oh, sorry…” She yawns, her wings stretching out as she does so. “Don’t worry, I’ll be awake by the time we get to Autumn’s place.” She opens her eyes just in time to dodge around a sign.

The pegasus shakes her head playfully. “You really know how to put the ‘bat’ in ‘batpony’. Next you’ll be using echolocation to get through the city.”

“...” Nightshade doesn’t meet her friend’s eyes.

“...Night? Hello?” Alloy raises an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re falling asleep again.”

“No… I’m awake.” The thestral gives a small smile, but there is a bit of nervousness to it.

The pegasus tilts her head before giggling. “You do use it, don’t you?”

“...yes.” Night giggles quietly. “It’s not exactly something we spread around…”

“Don’t be embarrassed about it. It sounds really cool!” She smiles. “Besides, unlike bats, you can still see fine, right? So it’s not something you have to use to get around.”

“Yeah, I mostly use it to ‘see’ things I can’t actually see.” The grey mare nods, but a small blush still comes to her cheeks. “Still, it’s the sound I make when I do it that’s embarrassing…”

Alloy slowly smirks. “Now that you’ve said that, I have to hear it.”

“Not now!” She looks at the empty street around them. “Maybe later.”

“Fine...on the camping trip, then.” The pegasus grins as they approach their friend’s house. “Then Autumn can hear it too.” She lifts a hoof and knocks on the door.

Night’s eyes go wide. “... I walked right into that, didn’t I?”

“Yep! Too late to back out now, though.” Her wicked grin fades into a softer smile. “Don’t worry; we’re friends. We won’t make fun of you for it.” Not hearing any noise from inside the house, she knocks again, a little louder.

“Maybe she sleeps in on Saturdays?” The batpony offers.

“If that’s the case, I’ll just keep knocking until she wakes up,” Alloy replies. She knocks a third time, much louder than before. “Wish she had a doorbell...”

“Won’t she be mad if we wake her up?”

This causes the pegasus to pause. “...I...didn’t think of that.” She takes a step back from the door, looking a little nervous. “Do you hear anything?”

“Hmm…” Night steps up to the door and puts her ear to it. “There’s… something maybe… but it’s slow and muffled… I can’t tell what it is.”

Alloy shuffles in place. “I hope she’s not too angry...”

The door suddenly opens, revealing a very nonplussed Rune. Her stare is bleary as she stands before them in white socks and an overly large white shirt that hangs off her loosely. Her mane is a rough bedhead style, and the fur on her face can be seen going every which way; a far cry from the cheery, self-employed business owner they’ve seen before.

She blinks once at the two of them, the words taking their time coming from her. “Hello… why were you banging on my door this early?”

“We’re really sorry, Mrs. Rune,” Alloy apologizes immediately, looking sheepish. “We wanted to ask Autumn to come on a camping trip...I guess I kind of forgot that it’s the weekend...” She scuffs the ground with a hoof.

Blinking once more, the corners of the mare’s mouth twitch upward in what may be an attempt to smile. “She’s sleeping in her room… be gentle when you wake her.” Without another word, she leaves the door open for them, trudging toward the kitchen muttering incoherently.

Sighing, Alloy steps in. “Now I feel bad...”

“Looks kind of rough in the mornings, doesn’t she?” Night comments. “Still, I’m not really one to talk about that.”

“I’m pretty sure she only looked that way because she woke up a couple hours earlier than she intended to,” the pegasus points out as she starts heading for the stairs. “Autumn mentioned her mother likes sleeping in.”

“Unlike a certain pink pegasus,” the thestral remarks, giving said pony her narrowed gaze, “who wouldn’t let me snuggle her for five more minutes this morning.”

Alloy rolls her eyes, but giggles. “We can snuggle at the campsite. Besides, if I let you have those five more minutes, I’d have gotten comfy again and fallen back asleep.”

Night sniffs and holds her nose up. “My point exactly. I have a cuddle quota to keep and you are endangering that.”

“Maybe, but in doing so, I’m giving you the chance to cuddle with two ponies at once.” The pegasus is about to knock on Autumn’s door, but thinks again and instead bites down on the door handle and slowly begins to open it. “Hofully ish wurf if.”

Whispering now, Night replies. “I accept your trade. Now the question is, how do we wake up…” She trails off when she looks into the room and sees Autumn, still fast asleep under her covers. Closer inspection reveals her to be wearing a set of purple pajamas with white dots and holding a teddy bear under one foreleg. The batpony’s hooves immediately go to her mouth to stifle a squeak at how adorable the scene is. Even so, one can see her wide smile.

Alloy has trouble holding back some aww-ing of her own. She whispers to the thestral, “Do we even want to wake her up?”

Night shakes her head quickly as she slides off her bags. “I must cuddle her. That bear can’t have everything.” She starts slinking across the room towards the bed, her hoofsteps completely silent.

The pegasus quietly closes the door behind them and trots over as well, just as quietly. “I didn’t think she still slept with one...” She giggles as she slips her own bags off onto the floor beside her friend’s.

“I’m glad she does… it makes it so much cuter…” Nosing her way under the blankets, the thestral slides her way into the bed, a smooth-moving bump that soon aligns itself next to Autumn’s body bump. Somehow, she worms her way under the unicorn’s hoof so that the bear is between them as they lay face to face. Movement under the covers shows her hooves and wings getting into position as well. The unicorn just smiles in her sleep and snuggles closer.

Alloy paces back and forth next to the bed, pouting. “There’s no room for me...” Huffing, she sits on the floor beside the bed instead.

Speaking in the quietest whisper, Night calls to her. “You could snuggle her back…” She goes back to facing Autumn, her expression soft as she looks at her. Smiling, she gently touches their noses together.

Deciding to try this, the pegasus scoots over to the foot of the bed and crawls under the covers, carefully worming her way beneath them up to the pillow, managing to not jostle the other two the whole way. Her head pops out the other side, Autumn between her and the thestral, and she slowly puts her hoof around the unicorn to join in on the cuddling. “Imagine if Mrs. Rune came in and saw us like this...”

“Right now, I don’t think she’d care…” The batpony sighs happily, closing her eyes as she nuzzles their sleeping friend.

However, as much as the unicorn enjoys sleep, she can only sleep through so much. Her muzzle twitches from the nuzzling gesture, and as she begins to stir, she feels the presence of two other bodies. Her eyes flick open, blinking as they try to clear some of the blurriness. “...huh?”

Seeing the green eyes in front of her open, Night only has a few options and quickly picks one that seems promising. “Morning, you. Have a nice sleep?”

“...Night? Is that you?” Autumn yawns, covering her mouth with the hoof not currently around the batpony. “...why are you in my room?”

“We came to get you!” Alloy replies, announcing her presence as well.

“And you were far too tempting not to join.” Fangs show briefly as she giggles. “I mean, you, PJs, a teddy bear? It was too much.”

The unicorn flushes red and pulls her teddy bear closer, mumbling. “Don’t laugh at me...”

“Why would I laugh?” Night pulls all three of them tightly against her. “You’re adorable. I like adorable.”

“I’m not adorable...” She tries to bury her face into her pillow, but having Alloy hugging her back greatly restricts how much she can turn.

“Yes you are. You are the cutest thing since puppies and you are mine-” she chokes on her words a moment. “I mean ours.”

Alloy lifts her head, raising an eyebrow. “You okay there, Night?” Autumn, for her part, just stares at the thestral like she’s lost her mind.

“...so does he have a name?” Night asks suddenly, pointing to the bear and smiling a bit too wide.

Autumn blinks, glancing down at the bear before curling around it as though trying to hide it, looking embarrassed. “...I call him Dizzy...”

“Awww… cute…” The thestral giggles, nuzzling her embarrassed friend.

“Well, he can come too, if you want to bring him,” Alloy adds, smirking a bit to herself.

“Come?” Autumn asks, glancing back at the pegasus. “Come where?” She looks between the two, seeming both confused and worried.

“Camping!” Alloy grins. “Night and I are going on a camping trip today. Wanna come with?”

The unicorn blinks. “Um...well…” She tries to sit up, but finds herself held in place. “...can you two let me go, please?”

Night whines, holding them tighter. “But I wanna snuggle and Alloy was being a meanie and not letting me…”

“Night...” Autumn whimpers a bit, trying to get free. “I just woke up...I need food...and the bathroom...”

“Oh… right…” Blushing, the thestral releases her hold on all of them, sliding out of the bed and standing awkwardly.

Autumn is the next to climb out of bed, pausing only to carefully place Dizzy on her pillow. “I’ll only be a minute.” With that, she trots quickly off to the bathroom just across the hall, shutting her bedroom door on the way and leaving her two winged friends alone.

Alloy, who hasn’t budged from the bed, looks at Night and smiles. “At least she didn’t scream, right? I was kind of expecting her to when she woke up, honestly...”

“That wouldn’t have been nice to do or experience.” The batpony flicks her ears a few times. “I don’t want to make her to scream…”

“She’s fun to scare, though.” The pegasus snickers before lying back down on the pillow, sighing. “Her bed’s comfy...”

“Yeah… yeah it is…” With a small growl, Night pounces onto her friend, snuggling up to her and giggling happily.

Alloy doesn’t even fight it, instead happily cuddling up against her after moving Dizzy out of the way. “I think she’ll be a while...maybe this will help get you to forgive me for earlier?”

As she settles down against her friend’s warmth, the thestral mutters quietly, “...maybe.”

Rune walks down the hall in her home, looking much brighter and better than she did earlier. Amazing what a glass of milk and a little time will do for some ponies in the mornings. Curious as to why she hasn’t heard anything from back here, she only gets a few steps forward before the bathroom door opens ahead of her.

Coming out of the room is Autumn, who has showered and cleaned up, now looking almost the same as she typically does during the day; all that’s different are her lack of glasses and her mane and tail, still damp. She stops when she notices her mother out of the corner of her eye and turns, smiling a little tiredly. “Morning, mom.”

“Good morning, sweetie.” She tilts her head. “Letting the mane and tail air dry today?”

“I still can’t get the inversion signal down properly,” the younger unicorn explains with a sigh. “I’m afraid if I try it, I’ll just rip my tail hairs out.”

“A fair worry; it’s fine, I’m sure you’ll get it.” She leans down, nuzzling her softly. “Maybe you can impress your friends with it at some point. Speaking of which, where have they gone to?”

Autumn nuzzles back, smiling a bit more now. “They’re probably still in my room. I was about to go talk to them about this camping trip they invited me to go on.”

“Camping trip?” Rune raises an eyebrow. “I suddenly have questions for them as well.”

“So do I.” She giggles, nodding to the door to her room. “Should we go interrogate them together?”

“I think you can start and I’ll just pop in when I have a question.” The mare walks to the door as her magic grabs the knob. “The first being: do they want breakfast?” She opens the door, pausing and smiling softly as she sees the two cuddling in Autumn’s bed. “Aww… that’s adorable. Don’t they make a cute couple?”

Autumn peeks in and rolls her eyes, smiling. “Guess Night really needs to fill her snuggling quota.” She looks at her mother. “What do you mean, ‘cute couple’?”

“Oh, sorry, slip of the tongue.” Rune shrugs. “It’s just that you usually only see snuggling that cute between either lovers, or siblings. I suppose they are just that good of friends, though.”

The blue unicorn looks back at the pair, her expression twitching a bit before she averts her gaze to the floor. “Yeah...I guess so.”

Her mother looks down at her curiously. “Go on and wake them up; they can’t sleep all day if they want to go on their trip.”

“R-Right.” Nodding, Autumn trots over to the bed and starts gently shaking Night. “Hey, you two...wake up...”

The thestral cranes her head around, her slitted emerald eyes blinking. “Oh, hey you. What’s up?”

The unicorn smiles weakly. “You two, if you want to go on that camping trip. Mom and I wanted to ask about that.”

“And I wanted to ask if you wanted breakfast,” Rune adds.

Night nods, shaking Alloy with a wing. “Sure!”

The pegasus, for her part, sits up almost instantly. “Huh? Breakfast?”

“Yes, breakfast.” The socked mare, having discarded her shirt a while ago, smiles softly at them. “It’s the most important meal of that day, you know.”

Alloy quickly hops to her hooves, only to stumble on both the soft surface and the blanket tangling around one of her hooves, causing her to nearly topple off. “J-Just give me a moment to escape this...”

Night giggles, jumping easily out of the bed. “Quick! Get some markers so we can draw on her face while she can’t stop us!”

“Don’t you-” The pegasus yelps as she falls right back onto the pillow, flailing her hooves wildly and only getting them more tangled. “...dare.”

Autumn, giggling, looks at her mother with a hopeful yet mischievous look in her eyes. “Can we?”

Rune just giggles, turning around and walking out of the room. “That’s between you three. You know where the office supplies are, sweetie.”

The younger unicorn grins. “We’ll be down in a few minutes~!” She looks to Night. “Keep her from getting away. I’ll be right back.” With that, she gallops out of the room.

“I hate you both,” Alloy pouts, her chin on the table as she slumps in her chair. Around her left eye is a crudely-drawn monocle in black marker, and on her upper lip is a scribbling of a scraggy mustache. Across her forehead, somepony has written “DAT FLANK” in large letters.

“What?” Night smiles mischievously as she takes a drink of her orange juice. “All we did was make you fancy… and wrote a compliment to either you or everypony who reads your face.”

Alloy huffs. “I don’t want to look like this on our trip...”

“Oh, quit whining,” Autumn interjects, putting down her glass of milk. “It’s washable marker. Just rinse your face before we leave. It’s not the end of the world.”

The batpony giggles. “Maybe she’s just worried about having flanks on the brain.”

Alloy blushes and sinks lower in her seat. “Niiiiiiiight...”

Said young mare blinks. “Wait… I was right?”

“What? No!” She blushes further. “Just...don’t say things like that.”

“Our little Alloy is more sensitive than she lets on,” Rune offers, taking a bite of her own breakfast. “Don’t let her confidence fool you into thinking otherwise.”

Autumn nods, grinning. “It’s really easy to get her face red. Only reason you barely see it is because she’s already almost that colour as is.”

The pegasus flops to the side, lying on her stomach sprawled over the chair. “Leave me alone...” she whines, staring down at the floor.

“Maybe ease up a bit,” the oldest of the four remarks, looking at the pegasus, concerned.

“She knows we’re just teasing her… right?” Night looks down at Alloy for confirmation.

“Yeah...” she reluctantly agrees, not moving from her position. “But why all of you at once?”

“Because it was fun to see you react,” the batpony answers. “We didn’t think you’d take it so hard…”

Alloy groans and sits up straight again. “At least when you got tangled in the sheets, I just laughed before letting you out,” she grumbles to Night, eyes narrowing. “I’m cutting your snuggle rations for this.”

“Aww…” Night pouts, her ears folding down as she sullenly goes back to her food.

Rune clears her throat as things quiet down. “So about this camping…”

“Oh, right!” Alloy suddenly perks up. “Night and I were planning to go camping today, and we wanted Autumn to come along.” She hesitates for a moment before smiling sheepishly. “I-If that’s okay with you, I mean...”

Rune looks to her daughter. “Do you want to go, sweetie?”

“Well...” Autumn sighs and puts her fork down. “I’ve never been camping, before...I’ve heard it’s basically like a sleepover outdoors, which sounds fun...I just don’t really know what to expect aside from that.” She pokes at her plate with a hoof. “As long as there’s nothing big I don’t know about...sure, I’d like to go.” She smiles.

“That’s about it, yeah,” Alloy agrees. “You have to pack more stuff, but Night and I already have most of the big stuff taken care of. All you’d need to bring is a sleeping bag, a blanket, toiletries, and anything else you feel like taking along.” She grins. “Like Dizzy, for example.” Autumn’s face reddens slightly at this and she quickly becomes very interested in her food again.

“Now do you actually know where you’ll be going?” Rune asks. “No dangerous places by either pony, animal, or environment?”

Alloy nods. “I already know of a good place, in the forest just outside the city.” Her eyes widen and she backpedals. “The regular one, not the Everfree! The most dangerous thing in there would be an angry bird.” She pauses. “...or a couple of the plants, but they’re easy to recognize. And the worst harm they can do is give you a rash.”

“And you have everything packed? Food, shelter, bug spray, first aid kit?” Mom mode is fully engaged.

“I already packed us a tent for shelter and some bug spray. Night and I are both bringing food, and Autumn can bring some too if she wants.” Alloy smiles. “Our first aid kit is basically empty, but I know a few tricks on how to use some of the plants around that area for medicine if something happens. And if any of us are in major trouble, Night can fly back and get help.” She chuckles a bit. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Rune. My father and I used to go camping all the time. I know all the basics. I even packed matches for starting a fire.”

“Hmm…” She pauses for a moment. “And how long will you be camping?”

“Just overnight. Depending on when we left, we’d probably get there at about four or five in the evening, and we’d start heading back home at nine in the morning.” The pegasus taps a hoof in thought. “It’s about a twenty-minute walk from the outskirts of the city to the campsite, if I recall.”

Rune hesitantly nods. “Alright… it’s fine by me I suppose, as long as you girls are all careful.”

“Awesome!” Alloy cheers.

Autumn grins and jumps up, running over to hug Rune. “Thanks, mom!”

Night smiles as the two hug. “You’ll see Mrs. Rune, this will be a great trip!”

Alloy giggles. “I can tell it’s gonna be really fun.” She frowns for a moment as she seems to remember something, then hops down from her chair. “Now I need to go wash my face before I forget.”

Much later that day, the three girls have left the house and begun their walk to the forest. A now-clean Alloy leads the way, knowing where the campsite is, and Night glides leisurely just above and behind her. Autumn trails along last in the line, now with her own large bag on her back and slight difficulty in carrying it. She wonders how her friends are able to handle the weight without having to go any slower.

It doesn't take long for the trio to leave the city, as Autumn's house was already on the outskirts. Their path to the forest is a mostly straight one, just over a couple of hills, leaving them time to chat without worrying about getting lost.

"Doing alright back there, Autumn?" Night asks, slowing down her speed until she is flying next to and just above the unicorn.

Autumn looks up at her and nods. "Yeah...just not used to carrying this much." She shifts her back to move her bags into a more comfortable position.

"Let us know if you need to rest or something; it's no fun of you get there and just go to sleep because you're tired." Angling herself so that her wings give a breeze to her friend, she adds in a teasing tone. "And don't forget what your mom kept saying when we were trying to leave: remember to stay hydrated."

The unicorn groans. "I know, I know..." She smiles as the breeze hits her face. "I'll get a drink when we reach the campsite. My hooves are kind of busy right now, and I don't remember where the water is in my bags, so I can't grab it with magic."

Nodding, the thestral calls forward to their pink guide. "Hey  Alloy, this spot we're going to has a lake, right?"

"Um..." The pegasus slows down a bit as she remembers. "There's one nearby, but we'll have to set up camp a little ways away. There's not enough room right by the lake." She speeds back up. "I can show you where it is after we get there."

The batpony goes quiet for a little as they walk, but eventually the silence beyond hoof steps is too much and she speaks once more. "So, have you ever camped before, Autty?"

Alloy snickers. Autumn stops in her tracks and looks at her flying friend with a raised eyebrow. "'Autty'?"

Landing, Night scuffs her hoof against the ground. "Look, I'm trying my best okay? Your name is hard to make a nickname out of..."

She sighs. "I told you that you didn't have to..." Shaking her head, she smiles. "Anyway, no, never been camping before. My mom sent me to a summer camp a few years back, before I got my cutie mark, but it wasn't really the same as camping." Her smile fades. "Wasn't really fun either."

Her friend extends a green wing over her comfortingly. “What happened? What kind of camp was it?”

“Just one of those little activity camps for colts and fillies who don’t have, or just got, their mark. Problem is, for somepony who doesn’t have their mark, it’s hard for them to figure out what to have you do. So they just assign activities to you based on your race.” She rolls her eyes. “And because I was one of about fifteen unicorns at the camp, they threw me into every magic-involving activity there was, even though I wasn’t fully developed yet. So the entire experience was mostly me giving myself headaches and getting treated like a baby.”

“A whole summer of that?” Night says in awe, pulling Autumn close. “You poor pony…”

Autumn stumbles from the pull, nearly losing her balance. “I-It was only a month, actually...only half the summer, not the whole thing...”

“Whoops, sorry.” Righting her friend with her wing, Night giggles sheepishly. “Still though, what did you mom say once you got back? Well, I mean I guess one thing I can bet she said is how much she missed you. She seems like that type.”

The unicorn nods, smiling thankfully for the help. “That was definitely one of the first things. When I told her how it went, she basically apologized a lot and promised never to send me back there.”

“Yep, pretty much what I expected. She’s nice and doting like that.” Giggling for real now, the batpony inquires, “Did Alloy already hear this story? She hasn’t said anything in a while.”

“She has.” Autumn looks forward. “I think she’s just focusing on getting to the site.”

“Pretty much,” the pegasus replies without turning around, smiling to herself. “Besides, I don’t want to interrupt your bonding experiences. Don’t mind me.”

Blinking, the thestral looks at the unicorn a moment before looking back at her pink friend. “Nothing says we can’t do three-way bonding…”

Alloy waves a hoof. “I’m already good friends with you both, but you two just met. I don’t want to be a third wheel.”

Autumn pauses her walking for a second before hastily continuing, glancing to the thestral. “...what?”

Tilting her head at the blue pony, Night responds. “What do you mean ‘what’?”

“I thought...” The unicorn looks ahead at Alloy for a moment, then sighs and shakes her head. “...never mind.”

“...okay…” Shrugging, Night continues with them, walking now. It’s not like she can’t fly more later anyway.

After another while of walking, the three reach the entrance to the forest. Once inside, Alloy stops facing straight ahead and begins looking around above them at the trees. “Won’t be long now...just don’t get separated. It’s easy to get lost in here.”

The second she says that, Night hugs Autumn to her with her wings and grabs Alloy’s tail in her mouth. “Gosha!”

Alloy freezes in place. “...Night, let go of my tail.”

The playful pony opens her mouth and lets the strands fall from it. “Sorry… did I pull it accidentally?”

“Yes.” The pegasus tucks her tail between her legs before continuing to walk, shivering a bit. “I really don’t like that...”

“Don’t worry, Night,” Autumn says with a smile. “I don’t mind the hugging.”

“Yeah… guess I don't have to bite your tail, huh?” She tries to make a joke to lighten the mood.

The unicorn smirks. “Unlike Alloy, I don’t mind having my tail pulled a little. So even if you did, there wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Oh really?” Night smiles wide, her fangs showing as she nuzzles her friend. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Alloy glances back. “Careful, Night. There’s a bit more to that than just her ‘not minding’.” She faces forward again, missing Autumn’s glare.

“Oh really?” The thestral grins wider, giggling mischievously as her own tail swishes back and forth. “Now I have to try it… but when you’re not expecting it.”

Autumn sighs. “This isn’t gonna end well...”

“We’re here!” Alloy announces, picking up her pace. A few seconds later, they reach a large clearing, the faint sounds of a lake off to the left. “Get your bags off. Time to unpack and set up.”

With a small ‘thump’, Night simply sits, her bags sliding off onto the ground. “Done!”

Autumn, meanwhile, grunts as she uses her magic to levitate her bags onto the ground beside Night’s. “Now I need a drink and a bathroom...”

“Well, your canteen is there.” The batpony points to the top of a flask the can be seen poking out of one of Autumn’s bags. “As for the second, umm… there’s bushes over there.”

“Right. That first.” Quickly, the unicorn gallops off to the bushes, disappearing into them away from view.

Alloy, having already dropped her bags, has begun work on setting up. “Night, think you can help me pitch the tent?”

“Sure!” She bumps her winged friend’s hip as she passes her. “Sorry for the tail thing.”

The pegasus smiles. “It’s fine. Just don’t do it again.” She pulls out some wooden stakes from her bag. “Start hammering these into the ground where we’re putting the tent.”

“On it, boss!”

Several minutes later, Autumn comes back from the bushes at a much more relaxed pace, blinking in surprise at the tent already standing up. What surprises her more is the sight of Night lying on the ground, ears plastered against her head and eyes shut. Worried, she trots over quickly. “Night? What’s wrong?”

Alloy pokes her head out from inside the tent. “Oh, Autumn! Don’t worry about her.” She climbs outside. “She has to use the bathroom too, and she was waiting for you to get back. The sound of the lake wasn’t helping, so she kind of just shut out all the sound she could.” She walks over and nudges the thestral. “Night, you can go now.”

Opening her eyes and peeking around, the batpony sees Autumn. Springing onto her in a sudden hug, nopony has time to blink before she zips off into the woods, leaves swirling and falling to the ground in her wake.

“...okay, that was not something I expected.” Autumn glances at the setup. “I see you got the tent ready...just unpacking now?”

“Basically. When Night gets back, I’ll show you two the safest way to the lake. There’s a few plants along the way that you need to avoid.” Alloy returns to her bags, taking out a blanket and bringing it into the tent.

Autumn nods, following her in. “Anything else we need to do? What about the fire?”

“We don’t need that until the sun starts going down. It’s just for light, warmth, and cooking food.” She finishes straightening out her sleeping bag. “We don’t need any of those just yet. Besides, once it starts, we need to keep it going until we go to bed, which is just unnecessary work at the moment.”

“Oh.” The unicorn goes quiet for a moment. “...I’m really not used to this...”

Alloy smiles. “Don’t worry about it. Every experience has a ‘first time’. For now, just focus on getting yourself unpacked and re-hydrated.”

“Got it.” With that, Autumn exits the tent.

After a few more minutes, Nightshade comes back, though much slower than she left. Her wings are folded in front of her, cradling something in them that she looks down at with a smile. “Hey girls, you’ll never guess what I found!”

Autumn looks up and Alloy sticks her head out of the tent. “What is it? A bug?” the unicorn asks.

Shaking her head with a small frown, Night walks closer and tilts her wings toward them, revealing a bright blue plant from stem to leaf tip. “It’s this plant I’ve never seen before. In fact, I’ve never seen anything close to it; not even in my garden!”

The two other girls peek at the flower, Alloy humming and poking it. “I haven’t seen anything like that either...feels like a normal flower, though.”

Autumn smiles and pokes it as well. “I like the colour.”

“I had to take a sample of it!” Going over to her bags, she digs around a bit before coming up with a jar and placing the plant in it like a vase. “I’m gonna see if I can make it grow well in my garden at home. It’ll be a really nice splash of colour even when the rest of them aren’t blooming.”

Alloy smiles. “Well, I hope you have fun with that. For now, on the topic of plants, let’s get going to the lake so I can show you which ones to avoid.” She gestures with her good wing for them to follow and begins heading off in the direction of the splashing sounds.