“It’s nice to meet you, Cam,” I said as we resumed our walk. I was a little wary of her, naturally, but she appeared to be our only hope at the moment. “I kinda wish it was under a little better circumstances, though.”

“Nah, then I wouldn’t have come out to talk to you,” Cam said, waving a paw. “The Wandering Wolves generally stay away from other races. I’m not normal, though.”

“Is that what you are?” Tranquility asked. “A… Wandering Wolf?”

“Bingo!” Cam shouted cheerfully.

“I’ve never heard of those before,” I muttered, wracking my mind for a memory of that name.

“What did I just say?” Cam replied. “We tend to stay away from other races. I’m fairly sure that nothing knows about us but us. And you guys, of course.”

“Then why did you come out at all?” Tranquility asked. I could tell her wariness was fading and being replaced with curiosity.

“Because screw the rules, that’s why!” Cam yelled happily, startling a few birds from their resting places. “Oh, and also because of the song.”

Tranquility tilted her head to the side in confusion, while I was overtaken by a sudden giggling fit. “Cam, how old are you?” she inquired.

“Seven.”

My mouth dropped open. She was seven?! She acted like a teenager!

“How long do Wandering Wolves live?” Tranquility asked.

“Eh, same as ponies,” Cam said dismissively.

“Do your parents know you’re out here?” Tranquility asked, shocked and a little worried. I was too. There’s no way a seven-year old should be out in the woods alone.

“My parents left me to fend for myself when I was two,” Cam replied carelessly. “I’m on my own out here.” She didn’t notice, but I felt Tranquility flinch when she said that, although I wasn’t sure why.

“That’s… not right,” I said, feeling a little sickened by the prospect. Or that may have just been my head bothering me.

“It’s normal for us,” she said. “I’m still here, ain’t I? What’s the big deal?” Another flinch from Tranquility. I thought it may have had something to do with her status as an orphan. We never really talked about her parents, though.

“I… okay,” I said, still a little confused. Tranquility remained silent.

“Oh!” Cam exclaimed. “I almost forgot! What are your names?”

“Fall Streaks,” I said.

“Tranquility.”

“Nice to meet you guys!” Cam said. We didn’t reply to her, still processing what she’d said. It was a lot of information to take in. It’s not everyday you meet an undiscovered species that can speak Equish and offers out of nowhere to help you. And there was what she said about her parents… it was confusing, to say the least.

The rest of the walk passed in silence, except for Cam softly humming the melody of the song Tranquility sang (of which I had yet to name). Our path led deeper and deeper into the woods, taking us off any game trails and into the rough undergrowth. I heard Tranquility gasp a few times as sticks and branches poked her, sometimes in her wounds. I was protected because I was on her back, but it was still unpleasant to hear.

Cam didn’t seem to be bothered. She would push through anything without a second glance, still humming. At times she’d pause and look around, and then set off again, still humming. It showed exactly how well she knew this area. It was actually rather impressive to me, as I couldn’t even keep track of three turns before I lost how we made it to where we were. That may have been because of my concussion, but it was still much better than I could have done.

“What’s with the- ah! turns?” Tranquility gasped, wincing once more. “The fastest way to get to any place is a straight line!” I admit that I was curious as well about that.

“Okay, do you want to run into dragons?” Cam said. “‘Cause that’s how you run into dragons. And I can’t fly, so this is how we’re doing this.”

“Dragons?” I whispered, but no one heard me. I was TERRIFIED of dragons. I’d never encountered one before, but I had a deep-rooted fear of them. I remember seeing one at a distance, when it burst through the roof of a building in Canterlot, and I think that’s what did it for me. If I had seen a dragon in my state… I would have probably keeled over from the panic.

“Not to mention the quicksand, manticore, and poison joke!”

Okay, those I could deal with.

We continued to walk for some time. I rested my head in Tranquility’s mane and closed my eyes, her scent and the rocking of her walk starting to lull me to sleep. I was about to drift off to an unpleasant slumber when Tranquility suddenly gasped and stopped abruptly, squishing my nose into her neck and jolting me back to a nauseous awareness.

I raised my head with a groan, only to have my jaw drop. There were numerous glowing plants scattered all around us, with glowing motes floating around a few. It lent a soft, warm light to the area. This illuminated an entire grove of other plants, some flowering, others not.

“What is this?” Tranquility gasped.

“Ingredients,” Cam said.

“Huh?” I stuttered.

“I make potions,” Cam said. “It’s sort of a talent for me. I’ve always been able to do it, and I’ve conducted a few productive experiments. I grow all of the ingredients I use here.” She gestured around the grove, smiling. “I’ve been growing things here for four years.” That was really impressive.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.

“I kill it all!” she said cheerfully, startling me.

“She’s so cute, and yet she’s as shocking as a lightning bolt,” Tranquility remarked. I had to agree with her. Cam was shaping up to be crazy, or at least a little abnormal. “Just like a young foal,” Tranquility said, smirking. “At least we can assume that she’s being truthful with her age.”

“What?” I said, my own logic derailed. “But foals…”

“I’m the one who grew up in a family with younger siblings,” Tranquility explained. “Trust me, foals are scary. Once, my little brother was playing the game ‘Mousetrap’ and when he trapped the mouse, he shouted ‘I’M MURDERING! I’M MURDERING!’ He was five. Foals are scary.” That statement wasn’t actually too hard to believe. Her foster brother was rather violent to the point of hilarity.

“He sounds pretty great!” Cam said, starting to move through the grove, motioning for us to follow. “Come on, we’re really close to my home! Watch out for the golden flowers, they’re highly venomous, and trust me, you don’t need any more health problems right now.” We continued on, staying well away from the aforementioned plants.

In just a few moments, we made it to her… camp. I’ll call it a camp, because that’s what it looked like to me. It was in a small clearing, surrounded by thick brush and tall trees, effectively hiding it from both the ground and sky. There was a small tent-thing over in the corner, where I assumed she slept, with another, smaller, box-like structure next to it. There was a pile of sticks in the middle of it, and… that was pretty much it. I supposed it was… enough, but it was a little underwhelming.

“Welcome to my house!” Cam said, trotting over to the small box-thing. Tranquility set me down and walked close to the center of the clearing. I immediately lay down and sighed, not wanting to put weight on my battered legs.

Cam let out a squeal. “HEADS!” she shouted, grabbing something in her paw and tossing it behind her. It landed directly on the pile of wood, and almost instantly, it burst into flames. Tranquility, who had made her way over to pile, gasped and bolted to the edge of the clearing next to me, tail between her legs, eyes wide with fear, and ears pressed tightly against her head.

“Tranquility?” I asked, worried.

“I don’t like fire,” she whispered, voice shaking.

I lifted my head and gently nuzzled her chest, trying to provide some modicum of comfort (although I’m not sure exactly how well it worked) as Cam ignored her discomfort and continued to rummage through the box, muttering things like “Nope,” and “Don’t need that” and “Save that for later,” and “I forgot about that! Hehehe…” Eventually, though, she pulled her head out of the box, holding two ceramic jars. “You two, get over here,” she said, waving the jars. “Healing balm. it’ll seal those cuts right up, no scarring at all. I’ve used it many, many times.”

That sounded good to me, so I got up and walked over to her. She smiled and began to spread the balm over me. I started to feel a weird, tingling feeling, as well as the unsettling sensation of my skin regrowing and knitting back together. In the firelight, I got the first good view of Cam. She looked a lot like a golden-blonde wolf cub, with a tuft of hair similar to our manes swept back around her ears. She had a long, foxlike tail that ended in a tuft of white. Her paws appeared to be quite dexterous.

Meanwhile, Tranquility hadn’t moved from her spot, a scowl crossing her face.

“It’s working, Tranquility,” I said. “Come on!”

“I don’t trust healing spells,” she hissed, her wings fluttering.

“It’s a good thing that this isn’t a spell, then,” Cam said. “It’s an all-natural potion that I made myself. Get over here or I’ll throw it at you.” Tranquility didn’t budge, frowning even more. Cam sighed and walked back over to her box, grabbing something. She stuck it in the second ceramic jar and rolled it towards Tranquility. It stopped about a foot away from her.

“Some throw,” Tranquility snarked. A second later, the jar exploded, flinging the balm everywhere and all over her. She shrieked and fell over, eyes wide with panic once more. Cam fell over as well because she was laughing so hard. I just sorta stared at her in shock, the strange feeling of the balm sealing my wounds fading to the back of my mind. Cam is insane, I thought.

“AIROTE!” Tranquility yelled, her shock turning to anger as she got back to her hooves. “Dae ungar ga FEIROTE rou-”

“Mhm, yeah, you’ll thank me later,” Cam said, turning back to me and continuing to apply the balm.

“Paraite dae,” she hissed, sitting down and starting to scrub the balm off her fur, her cat-like eyes brimming with anger. She then launched into a series of startled exclamations at the feeling of the concoction working.

In just a few minutes, all of my wounds had faded, and Tranquility had calmed down enough to start speaking Equish again, although she was still clearly stressed. Cam walked over to her and began to use her paws to clean the balm off her.

“It’s odd, it didn’t fix your ear,” she remarked. “It closed the wound, but the chunk is still missing.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had a permanent reminder of a grievous injury,” Tranquility muttered.

“What?” I said, confused. She’d never mentioned something like that before to me. She didn’t respond to me, instead looking away from me. Whatever happened must’ve been painful (in more than just the physical sense) to her if she didn’t want to talk about it to me. We’d always been very open with each other, talking about secrets freely and trusting each other with most everything.

“Everything else healed nicely, though,” Cam said cheerfully. “That wasn’t so bad, was it? Do you want a sticker and a sucker for your good behavior?”

“Don’t patronize me,” Tranquility responded coldly. “Do you have anything for Fall’s concussion?”

“He’s concussed?” Cam said, a flicker of worry passing over her perpetually cheerful face. “Um… coffee to keep him awake?”

“Airote,” she hissed.

“Coffee?” I questioned curiously.

“How did…” Cam began, before shaking her head. “No, scratch that. How did you guys end up here, in the state you did? Where are you from? Ack, I have so many QUESTIONS!” she yelled, startling me. She then began to push me towards the campfire. “Okay! Let’s all tell campfire stories! You guys first, then me!” She then pushed Tranquility right next to me, ignoring my blush and her obvious fear of the flames.

“What do you need to know?” Tranquility said nervously, leaning away from the fire.

“Did you listen to what I just said?” Cam replied, annoyed. “Explain your situation!” So Tranquility did.

She told Cam everything, and I got another glimpse at exactly how terrified she was. Throughout the story, her voice got more and more strained, until at the part when I got hit with the rock she started crying. I wrapped a wing around her and she continued, but her voice was broken up with cries. It got me to the brink of tears, both at our situation AND at how distressed she was. I tried to provide comfort, but it didn’t do anything, and that bothered me.

Cam wasn’t unaffected either. Throughout the explanation, her face slowly lost its smile, and I saw her eyes become filled with concern and worry, emotions I didn’t expect to see on her given how callous she’d been to us since we’d met her. She slowly scooted around the campfire and hugged Tranquility’s other side. I could tell that she was also tearing up.

Eventually, Tranquility finished her explanation, crying silently. I pulled her into a hug, wrapping her in my wings and letting her cry into my chest. I needed to ask about why her cries were silent, but now wasn’t the time.

“So… you guys have no idea where you are, or how to get back home?” Cam whispered.

“Pretty much,” I said.

“That’s so sad…” she said, before her ears perked up. “You guys are gonna have to go on an adventure to get back home!”

“That’s really not-” I began, before I was cut off.

“An adventure!” she squealed. “That’s so cool!”

“I really don’t think-”

“And you’re gonna see cool things and do cool things and it’ll be great!” Cam said, positively squealing with excitement. She then froze and turned around and stared at me. “And I’m coming with you.”

“What?” I said, shocked. “But you’re just a foal!”

“Pup,” she corrected. “And I know how to handle myself out here, unlike you. And besides,” she said, standing up and beginning to pace around us. “I’ve lived in this area all my life. I have a grove for potion ingredients that I’ve grown, after all. But I’m not supposed to do that,” she said with finality. “I’m a Wandering Wolf. It’s time to put the wandering part to use.”

“While that speech was impressive, isn’t it you who said, and I quote, ‘screw the rules’ earlier?” Tranquility inquired, her sorrow fading.

“Yeah, but I’d like to try this one,” Cam respond.

“I’m not sure-” I began before I was cut off again.

“Even if you say no, I’ll follow you,” Cam said, grinning.

“That’s a bit hard to refuse,” Tranquility replied, smiling softly.

“But everything you did here…” I said weakly.

“I’ll just dry out my stores tomorrow, pack up, and leave,” Cam said. “Simple!”

“Okay,” I responded with a sigh. I wasn’t sure exactly how to feel about this development. On one hoof, we would get a skilled member into the group who could help us through tough situations. That would be amazing for us, and would DEFINITELY help us get back home faster. On the other hoof… Cam was that member. A young pup who didn’t care to be respectful, took delight in being shocking, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. And we still didn’t know much about her, although we did get a little bit of backstory from her little speech.

“I’ll be okay with this… I think,” Tranquility added, clearly unsure about what to do.

“It’s settled then!” Cam said. I nodded sleepily before a huge yawn crossed my face. Cam and Tranquility both noticed.

“Maybe we should sleep,” Tranquility said.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“I don’t have any spare bedrolls,” Cam said sheepishly.

“That’s fine,” Tranquility replied. “I can sleep on pretty much any flat surface.” I snorted with laughter at that. I’d seen her passed out in the bathtub before, along with the kitchen floor and the banister on our stairs. It was rather impressive.

“Well then,” Cam said. “I guess you guys’ll be fine, then. See you in the morning!” And with that, she ran over to the box, tossed something on the fire that snuffed it out, and ran into her tent, leaving Tranquility and I alone.

The second Cam left, Tranquility’s mood shifted from happy to scared and sad. She leaned on me again. I didn’t do much, but I let her. For a while, we stayed like that, thinking about what was going to happen to us. Even if we had Cam, we were still in danger from monsters and just our simple inexperience in the wild. I began to feel scared for us. I rested my head on Tranquility’s and sighed. She let me, troubled as well. We stayed like that for a little longer.

I slowly lay down, and she followed me, pressing up against my side. “Tranquility?” I whispered. “What are you doing?”

“Some of the things that happened today reminded me of something terrible…” she whispered back. I didn’t pry into it more, it was clear she was VERY troubled by whatever happened. “Can I… sleep by you?” she asked softly, strain evident in her voice. “I need some sort of comfort…”

Instead of answering, I turned on my side and pulled her into an embrace, tucking her head beneath my chin. I blushed, but she couldn’t see it. We drifted off to sleep like this, worried about the future, but comforted in the fact that we had each other to lean on.

Author's Note

Cam is scary. Foals are scary. Everyone is scary. I'm gonna hide now.

So yeah, new chapter! As you can probably see, I'm having WAY too much fun with this. Cam is such a fun character to write! We get a hint of backstory for Tranquility (what secrets can she be hiding?). And also, yeah, yeah, the name Wandering Wolf is stupid, deal. With that out of the way, its time for THE THESTRAL LANGUAGE GUIDE!

“Dae” - You

“Ungar” - Scared

“Ga” - The

“Feirote” - The direct translation for this swear is unavailable, as there is no Equish translation. It refers to the worst afterlife a thestral can have, which is nothing after death.

“Rou” - Out

“Paraite” - A swear referring to the act of sexual intercourse.

In other news, politics happened. Please don't comment on my story about it. Instead, go to my blog post to discuss it.

Buuut yeah! If there's anything I typo'd on, let me know!

-Pyrepinna