Starshine Summer Camp

“Come on, Rainbow Dash. It won’t be that bad.”

Rainbow Dash humphed, resting her head on the glass window and watching all the pine trees pass by. “It’s eight weeks, Fluttershy. That’s all summer. I didn’t wait to get out of flight camp just to fall into the evil clutches of summer camp.”

“Evil?” Fluttershy held back a giggle.

Rainbow’s glaring eyes flashed with misery as she caught sight of the turquoise sign saying ‘Starshine Summer Camp’. After the three long hours on the bumpy old bus, they were finally here. She sighed as the machine halted too quickly and sent her smacking into the seats in front of her.

“Who dares kick the Great and Powerful Trixie’s seat?” A white-maned light blue unicorn filly turned around to glare at her.

“What, you mean this?” Rainbow gathered all her strength, and with a loud thump, bucked the seat in front of her. The filly fell onto the cold metal floor and shouted, “Hey!”

“That’s enough,” the bus driver twenty seats away scolded. “Now, all of you, get in a single filed line–” The rest of her sentence was drowned out by excited chatter as all the other foals pushed and shoved one another out the door.

Even the bus driver had climbed out, leaving Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as the only ponies still aboard.

“I’m not moving.”

Fluttershy looked with concern at the cyan pony. Rainbow and her had been friends for years now, and their friendship was strong. She didn’t want to see her hurt. “Before we know it, we’ll be back in Cloudsdale.”

“Eight weeks. Fifty-six days. One-thousand, three-hundred, forty-four hours.”

“Hey, are you kids getting out or what?” They turned to the grumpy pink mare who was climbing back on. Fluttershy mustered some confidence and nodded, hopping off her seat. Taking one last glance at Rainbow, she realized that the only way to get the pegasus to move was to leave. So she did.

With a roll of her eyes, Rainbow scooted off her seat and stomped down the hallway, passing by the driver’s glare as she glided out.

The bus had parked in a large dusty clearing surrounded mainly by pine trees. The sweltering sun hung high in the sky, beating down on her neck. Foals were everywhere, playing games or sports, hanging out, or waiting in the check-in line. She was about to climb back on the bus when the door snapped shut in her face and the yellow contraption rolled away.

It wasn’t until a thud beside her did Rainbow look away. Fluttershy had just dropped Rainbow’s luggage beside her. She relentlessly picked up the purple case and strolled over to the check-in line, complaining to her friend all the way.

“Name?”

“Rainbow Dash.” She watched impatiently as the tan unicorn stallion flipped through the pages of his clipboard, blowing brown and black mane out of his face. “Sequoia,” he stated firmly. “You’re counselors are over there.” He nudged his head toward two mares resting in some shade. Rainbow stepped out of the line and waited for Fluttershy. She knew that her butter pegasus friend was in the same cabin as her; she requested it. “Fluttershy? Let’s see...Sugar Pine.”

“What?” Rainbow interrupted, a bolt of anger and shock coursing through her. “No, she’s in Sequoia.” The stallion double checked his paper and shook his head. Rainbow flopped onto her hindquarters, dumbfounded, as Fluttershy shuffled towards her, carrying only two saddlebags on her sides.

What was she going to do? Fluttershy was surely the only filly Rainbow Dash knew there. They had to be in the same cabin, otherwise she would demand to be sent home. Her mom had paid good money for this, and it wouldn’t be returned. She could only go back if she was really having the worst time of her life.

“Maybe there’s somepony we can talk to?”

Rainbow pondered on the thought. Suddenly, a wide grin appeared on her face. “No, I’ve got a better idea.” She dropped her stuffed duffle bag and sneakily crept over to the stallion. Without looking suspicious, she glanced at his list, under the cabin ‘Sequoia’. Besides her name, there was ‘Trixie Lulamoon’. There was no checkmark by her name, meaning she hadn’t arrived yet. The name also founded familiar, and that was when she remembered the unicorn filly on the bus. That snooty girl wasn’t getting anywhere near her, nevertheless in her cabin. Just maybe, her plan might work. She snuck back over to Fluttershy and picked up her bag. “You’re name’s Trixie Lulamoon, got it?”

“Wait, what?” she asked softly.

“Pretend to be Trixie. We’re in Sequoia. Now, come on. Our counselors are over there.” Ignoring Fluttershy’s worried expression, Rainbow dragged her bag over to two mares chatting idly in the shade. “Hey there, we’re in Sequoia. Are you our counselors?”

“You bet,” replied the mare on the left. “My name’s Sunshine, and this Peppermint Swirl.” She motioned to her friend. Sunshine was a sunset orange pegasus with a flowy white mane and big blue eyes. Her smile was genuine, as well as her cutie mark of three smiling suns. Unlike Sunshine, Peppermint Swirl was an earth pony. She was gray with a swirly red and green mane that matched her emerald eyes. The image of peppermint bark took place on her flank. Both of them looked very excited to be there. “What’s your name?”

“Rainbow Dash, and this is Trixie,” she answered for her friend, considering she might be too shy to say anything, especially a lie.

“Nice to meet you. Come along, our cabin is this way.” Peppermint Swirl started trotting over to a mini village of wooden cabins, Rainbow and Fluttershy following, as well as Sunshine. Rainbow’s curious eyes absorbed the forest known as ‘White Tail Woods’. A few wisps of clouds swirled in the sky, but they weren’t enough to block out the beating sun. It was never this hot in Cloudsdale.

“Here we are, girls.” Peppermint waved her hoof to a large square-shaped cabin. A small leaf-shaped sign hung above the green door that read ‘Sequoia’. There were no windows, but there were nets all around, acting as such. When the counselor opened the gigantic door for the two fillies, Rainbow found four other girls unpacking their belongings. “Two of the last three campers in our cabin, everypony. Rainbow Dash and Trixie.”

“Hey y’all,” greeted an orange earth pony unpacking a roller bag. She put down the apple she was munching and shook hooves with the two foals. Her mane was blonde and flowed over her emerald eyes. “My name’s Applejack, pleasure to meet ya. Now, who is who?”

“Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow stated. She nudged Fluttershy, who looked up from the floor for a few moments to meet eye contact with Applejack.

“Um...Trixie.”

A white unicorn who was sitting atop a bunk climbed down to meet the new ponies. “My name’s Rarity. Is it your first year too?” she asked. Her mane was curly and purple, and her eyes gleamed sapphire.

“Don’t be silly, Rarity. You know that all of you are first years because you’re all just old enough to join,” said Sunshine, who made her way over to a lower bunk.

Rainbow scanned the cabin. It was fairly big and held eight beds, six for campers and two for the counselors. She was disappointed to find that the framed were made of wood instead of cloud, but then again, non-pegasi would just fall to the floor. The white mattresses were thin and bumpy, and the ceiling was covered in spiderwebs. The sight was very unappealing, but that was camping for you.

“Why don’t we all play a game to get to know one another?” Peppermint broke the silence. She stood near the center of the room and motioned for everypony in the cabin to get in a circle. They all did so, leaving one certain purple pony left. She was too distracted by a read to know what was going on.

“Twilight, Dear,” Sunshine whispered, lowering the filly’s book. Twilight looked up into Sunshine’s eyes. “We’re playing a game, care to join?”

Twilight wrinkled her nose. “I’d like to read, please.”

Rainbow Dash strained to hear what they were saying next, but their voices had dropped too low. After some persuading, however, Twilight climbing down from her bunk and joined the circle. “Wait, isn’t there one more camper left to–”

“OH WOW THIS IS SO AWESOME I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS!” A voice boomed, matching the slamming of the green door. An beaming pink earth pony with a frizzy magenta mane gazed at the cabin with her sparkling aqua eyes. “Hey guys, my name’s Pinkie Pie! This is  my first year, although I know it’s yours too. What are your names? Do you like parties? Oh my gosh, I should totally through a welcome party! Oh, but what if I didn’t pack enough streamers? Is there a party store nearby?”

Everypony watched silently, struck by the energy of the hyper filly. When somepony answered, she shrugged and thrusted a tiny pink bag onto the wood floor. It was hard to imagine what she could actually fit in there, but no pony asked as she bounced into the circle. “Are we playing I spy? Oh! Oh! I spy, with my little–”

“Actually, we’re just playing a simple game to get to know each other,” Peppermint replied with a nervous smile. “Why don’t you start off by telling us your name?”

“Oh, that’s easy, it’s Pinkamena Diane Pie, although most ponies just call me Pinkie Pie. Actually, everypony calls me Pinkie Pie. Except for my mom.” The words were spoken so quickly that it was hard to understand what she was saying.

“Alright, where are you from?” Sunshine asked.

“A rock farm.” The answer was short enough to tell them that she’s rather not talk about it.

“And lastly…” Peppermint trailed off into thought.

“What’s your special talent?” Rarity was the one who spoke this time, peering at the pony’s balloon cutie mark and realizing that all of them had theirs already, including herself.

“Oo, guess!”

“Is it...having fun?” Rainbow Dash guessed.

“Mmm...sort of. Kind of. Not really.”

“Is it...blowing up balloons?” Fluttershy asked meekly.

“No, silly. It’s parties. My special talent is making ponies have fun.” The game continued, Sunshine following next, then Peppermint Swirl, Rarity, and Applejack. Fluttershy was standing to go next, but under the stares of six strangers, she quietly asked Twilight to go first.

“Alright, well, I’m Twilight Sparkle, I’m from Canterlot–”

“Canterlot?!” Rarity interrupted. Her eyes widened at the very mention of her dream town. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to see Canterlot.” The conversation continued. Twilight tried to say as little as possible and managed to keep her studies a secret so that she could return to her book ASAP.

Fluttershy was the only pony left to go. “Um...my name’s...Fluttershy…”

“Fluttershy?” Sunshine asked, surprised. “I thought you were Trixie?”

Rainbow Dash elbowed her friend and whispered an excuse in her ear. “You see, Fluttershy is my nickname…”

“Okay, cool. Where are you from?”

The timid pegasus was about to answer Cloudsdale, but a light nudge from Rainbow reminded her that she was supposed to be somepony else. “I’m from...Manehatten.”

“Really?” Pinkie Pie furrowed her brows. “You’re an awfully quiet pony coming from a big city. No offense.”

“N-none taken.” As if on cue, the door peeked open once Fluttershy had finished explaining her special talent.

“This is Sequoia, right?” The filly walking into the room was the light blue unicorn from the bus, otherwise known as Trixie Lulamoon. Trixie remembered Rainbow Dash upon locking eyes with her. She pointed an accusing hoof at the pegasus. “You!”

“What are you doing here?” Rainbow asked. “We already have six campers, there’s no room for brats like you!”

“Hey now, we don’t call others names,” Sunshine scolded. She met Trixie’s glare with a welcoming smile. “Yes, why?”

“I’m assigned to this cabin. Trixie Lulamoon.”

Fluttershy’s heart skipped a beat. She always hated getting into trouble. Once, she broke down in class when she was caught talking to Rainbow Dash. It was a couple years ago, but still. She could feel tears well up in her eyes as everypony but Rainbow Dash and Trixie stared confusingly at Fluttershy.

“Will sompony please tell me what in the hay is going on?” Applejack asked, glancing back and forth. “Which one of ya is Trixie?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie, you mean. That is me. She,” Trixie began, motioning to Fluttershy, “is a fraud! A fake. A liar.”

“Hey! Nopony calls my friend names!” Rainbow retorted, standing in front of Fluttershy. Her loyalty helped ease the tears rolling down Flutter’s cheeks.

“It looks like there’s been some kind of misunderstanding. Fluttershy is actually your real name, isn’t it?” Peppermint asked. She nodded. “Easy enough, we just need to find out which cabin your supposed to be in and you can transfer.”

The amount of tears doubled, streaming like rivers down Fluttershy’s face. Peppermint looked with concern while Trixie looked with disgust. “Do I...have to?” she asked between sobs. “I...I don’t want to leave...I want...to be with...Rainbow Dash and...you guys.”

Sunshine bit her lip. It was her first time dealing with the youngest of fillies, and so far, it was entirely different than the big fillies. She wasn’t so sure she liked dealing with younger ones. “Trixie, is this your first year?” Trixie nodded, her curly mane swishing. “Would you mind switching with Fluttershy?” Fluttershy looked up between her two hooves covering her face. With a glance at the crying yellow filly and the obnoxious cyan one, Trixie huffed.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t want to be in this cabin anyways.” With a loud slam, Trixie was gone, and so was the lie. Fluttershy stopped crying and rubbed away the tears with one of her hooves.

“So, where are you actually from?” Twilight asked curiously. She hated talking to other fillies and wanted nothing to do with them, but the scene was so interesting that her curiosity was too much to handle.

“Cloudsdale. I go to flight school with Rainbow Dash,” she whispered, sniffling.

“Alright, well,” Sunshine murmured, looking at the clock hanging above the door. “It’s a little past 4:30. Dinner is at 6:00. Why don’t you girls get unpacked while Peppermint and I clear this all up?”

“Okay,” the six fillies answered in unison.

With the counselors gone, they set to work. Sunshine and Peppermint had already unpacked their belongings onto the front two lower bunks. Rarity and Twilight had called the bunks above, leaving two bottoms and two tops available. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie all exchanged glances before galloping to the top bunks. Rainbow and Applejack both climbed upon a top bunk at the same time, while Pinkie scored the back right top bunk. Fluttershy patiently waited for Rainbow and Applejack to stop arguing so that she could pick a bottom bunk. She didn’t want a top as much as the others.

“Ah got here first!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Fillies, please,” Rarity shouted back, putting her unpacking on pause. “Just play two of three of Nightmare, Celestia, Luna.”

“Nightmare, Celestia, Luna?” Twilight asked, her curiosity once again getting the better of her as she placed books into her cubby. “What’s that?”

“Oh, I love that game,” Pinkie cheered. “It’s when two ponies sit across from each other and chant ‘Nightmare, Celestia, Luna’. After saying Luna, they make a motion with their hoof representing either Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia, or Princess Luna.”

“Whose Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna?”

“Some ancient alicorns from an ancient book,” Fluttershy replied. “My mother tells me the bedtime story some nights.”

“So anyways,” Pinkie said, her patience running thin, “if you move your hoof upward, you play Celestia. If you move your hoof downward, you play Luna. And if you move your hoof in a circle motion, your play Nightmare. Whoever’s play is more powerful wins. Basically, Nightmare beats Celestia, Celestia beats Luna, and Luna beats Nightmare.”

“What happens if they both play the same pony?”

“Then they do it again and nopony wins that round.”

“Enough chitter-chatter,” Rainbow commented, eager to win the bunk. “Nightmare–”

“Celestia–”

“Luna!” Both fillies rose their hoof upwards, playing a tie of Princess Celestia. “Nightmare, Celestia, Luna.” This time, Applejack played Luna and Rainbow played Nightmare, giving Applejack a point. Rainbow Dash licked her lips. “Nightmare, Celestia, Luna.” It was then that Rainbow played Luna and Applejack played Nightmare, causing a tie. Whoever one next got the bunk.

“Nightmare.”

“Celestia.”

“Luna!” With a swift motion, Rainbow’s hoof rose, and Applejack’s lowered. “Yes!” Rainbow Dash cheered. “Celestia beats Luna, I get the bunk. I never lose in a game.”

“Ah wouldn’t be too sure of yerself,” Applejack mumbled as she crawled down. She picked up her saddlebags with apple symbols and laid them on the bunk below Pinkie’s. Fluttershy set down her own items on the last available bunk beneath her friend.

It didn’t take long for a conversation to start up as they placed down their sheets, pillows, and sleeping bags. By the time the clock ticked 6:30, nearly everypony was chatting on their bunks, including the counselors.

“Good afternoon campers. We hope you’ve had enough time to unpack. Now it’s time for lunch. Everypony, to the dining hall.” The announcement over the obnoxiously loud speakers crackled to an end. Rainbow Dash glided down to the floor and opened the door. She opened her wings, about to take flight, when the speakers crackled back on.

“And to all the new year pegasi, all flying must be taken with caution. Do not fly over 5 wing power.” The speaker crackled back off. Rainbow grunted and decided to run instead.

Rainbow’s speed made up for the long distance between her cabin and the dining hall. She skidded to a halt at the doors, the smell of apple pie and cloud cake filling her nostrils. With an exhausted sigh, she grabbed a plate with one wing and a cup with her other. After a good five minutes, she was at the buffet table. Piled high were apple desserts and sandwiches on her plate. Upon reaching the soda fountain, she filled her cup to the brim with orange juice. It only took a few moments to find the table labeled ‘Sequoia’. There, she sat down with her meal and her juice, licking her lips. She ate her delicous meal and talked with her cabin mates. Maybe, just maybe, camp wasn't going to be that bad.

The smile perched upon Rainbow's face was matched with one of a mare's who lurked in the shadows. "Excellent," she whispered, before disappearing back into the forest.