A Human's Views on Camping In Equestiria

“Ugh! Why, Celestia? Why do you have to make the sun so bright?” I groaned as I pulled the covers over my head.

Hi. I'm Anon and it had been like that every morning for a year, since I had awoken in the pony-populated world of Equestria.  Each day, I would awake to the unreasonably bright sun. But, hey, I couldn’t complain. It was a great place: the environment was clean and almost everybody- excuse me “everypony” was nice. But I will admit it had taken me a long time to get used to the world of talking multicolored ponies. And, I can’t say my heart wasn’t torn to shreds when I learned I would never be able to see my family again and live like a normal kid.  Heck, it took two weeks for them to coax me out of the bathroom (I was in Twilight Sparkle's house at the time). Still, I got used to it and even managed to get back to school and make friends. So, I’m not going to lie. This place had become my home and I basically had my own family.

There were only a few things I truly disliked, one was the early wake-up call.

“Anon! Get down here! It’s time for breakfast!” I grabbed a pillow and smashed it on my face, trying to block out the sound.  It didn’t work.

“Anon! It’s 5:00am. We need to get the day started!” the voice whined again.  I still did not respond.

“Anon, your breakfast is getting cold!”

The pleasant aroma of pancakes and bacon wafted over me, tempting me.   No doubt she had a fan down there with my breakfast in front of it.

She finally got a response from me.“NO!”

I heard hoof steps coming up the stairs and felt the pillow being lifted off my head.  I looked up too see the mare that had become my big sister: Twilight Sparkle, the Alicorn Princess of Friendship.  She was not amused. “Come on, Anon. Spike and you have to get to school.”

I sighed in defeat. “Fine.” I rolled myself out of bed.  Twi, being the nerdy perfectionist she was, had already laid out clothes for me to wear: a red shirt, jeans, red Converse sneakers, and a jacket.

As I put them on, Twilight began speaking to me about something. “Now, I know you’ll be gone for a few weeks, but don’t worry. You’ll have your friends there, so this camping trip will be a blast! Oh, and I already have this list for things you need to do…” I stopped listening after she said trip.

Oh, right. I have the camping trip for the next few weeks… I guess it’ll be fun. Who knows? I might be sharing a cabin with Spike, Rumble and Pip. They were my best friends. Spike was a teenage dragon and the same age as me - fourteen. He had been the first pony/dragon here that I could relate to with the hands and all. It went the same for so him, so we hit it off from the start.  Also, living together helped.

Pipsqueak and I had shared a love for the sea and since he was from Trottingham, he had been through that “person from a new place” biz, too. Despite his name, Pip wasn’t that small anymore. He had a major growth spurt during Hearthswarming break, so when we all got back to school, we were surprised to see him standing a few inches over a few colts and fillies.

Rumble and I had barely anything in common, but I guess that was what made our friendship work: he was sporty while I was artsy. I think we balance each other out.

I was deep in thought when I noticed Twilight was talking to me “…and that’s what you’ll do on this trip.” I nodded my head trying to look like I had heard what she said.

She gave me a deadpan look. “You weren’t listening, were you?”

“Nope.”

She sighed. “Just get downstairs and get ready.”

I jogged down stairs where Spike was waiting for me. He only came up to the my chest, but was just as old as I was. The same went for most fillies and colts, but they usually were at my hips. “Dude. Come on! I’ve been waiting forever.”

I smirked. ”Yeah, right. Twilight always wakes us up like an hour before school.”

Spike, knowing I was going to win this argument, turned around and mumbled something about a monkey and me.

“ I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Nothing.”

I smirked, grabbed the pancakes from in front of the fan and began eating.

Spike and I grabbed our permission slips and bags, said goodbye to Twilight, and were walking toward the school with our backpacks when FWUMP! I found myself on the ground, being bombarded with a string of words and a blob of pink.

“HINONYHOWAREYOUI’MGREATAREYOUGOINGTOSCHOOLBECAUSEI’MGOINTOSCHOOLEVENTHOUGHI’MTOOOLDTOGOTOSCHOOLBUTMISSCHEERILIEWANTEDMETOGOTOSCHOOLSODOYOUMINDIFIWALKWITHYOU?”

That blob of pink being Pinkie Pie, the logic-defying party pony.

“C'mon, Pinkie. Get off of him. He’s gonna suffocate.”

She looked down at me, noticing her hoof was on my face. “Oh! Sorry, Nony.” She jumped off and I gasped for air.

Spike stood over me. “Geez, you OK?”

I got up. “ Yeah. I’m fine. Thanks for not killing me, Pinkie.”

Spike looked over at her. “Why are you going to school?”

She smiled, standing on her hind legs. “I’m going to be a counselor for the camping trip!”

We both laughed. “Well, come on or we’ll be late.” She grinned and we headed toward school.

As we were walking, I heard the signature accent of Pipsqueak one of my best friends. We turned around and saw him come running to meet us.

“S'up, Pip.” Spike said, giving him a hoof bump.

“Hey, guys. And Pinkie.” He chirped cheerfully “You as excited as I am for the trip? It’s going to be awesome.” He began hopping around like the pink pony next to us “I’ve never gone camping! Oh, I’m so exited.”

“Join the club. The only person here who has gone camping is Anon.” Spike said.

Pip turned to me. “Is it fun?”

I thought back to my time as a boy scout.  We would always go camping twice a year and most of the time it was pretty fun. “Yeah. It is pretty fun canoeing, telling scary stories, making S’mores, and playing Capture the Flag.”

Pip squealed and turned to Pinkie. “Are you excited Pinkie?“

Pinkie made another creepily gigantic smile. “ARE YOU KIDDING? OF COURSE I’M EXCITED! I’M ONE OF THE MAIN COUNSELORS!!!!”

“Well, you guys don’t have to wait long. We’re here.” I chuckled as we stopped in front of our one room schoolhouse; Pinkie zipped inside like a little school filly. Actually, now that I think about it, she is kinda like one. As we looked at the school, I remembered the day that my education began in this unusual world. Man, was it hectic.