I woke up to the scent of Tranquility’s mane filling my nose. Without thinking about it too much, I nuzzled deeper into her mane and pulled her closer to me. I blushed at the implications of our arrangement, and started trying to remember what had ended up with us sleeping together.

And then I remembered. I remembered how we fell into the tornado and ended up lost, battered and bruised on the banks of the river. I remembered Cam and her eccentric personality, along with her proclamation that she was coming with us. And I remembered we had NO clue where we were.

A wave of fear welled up inside of me, bringing tears to my eyes. I was still scared, even with what Cam brought to the table. I didn’t know if we would live to see our home again, our families, our friends… I pulled Tranquility a little closer to me, hugging her tightly enough that she squeaked and woke up.

“Fall… can’t breath,” she gasped. My face went bright red and I relaxed my grip on her.

“Sorry!” I apologized quickly.

“It’s fine,” she said. “I’m feeling like I need to squeeze something too. Just give me a little warning next time.” She pressed her muzzle up against my neck and sighed. I nodded and rested my head on hers. We lay like that for a few more minutes before I sat up and yawned. She followed, still leaning on me. I smiled and nuzzled her, failing to notice a certain pup sneaking up behind us.

“GOOD MORNING SLEEPYHEADS!” Cam screamed, causing both of us to jump and snap to full awareness. I yelled and flared my wings out in a defensive stance, while Tranquility hissed and bared her teeth. Cam broke out into laughter again. “You guys are too much,” she gasped through her mirth.

“You’re a jerk,” I mumbled, sitting back down. A headache started to build behind my eyes. I blamed her for it, wincing.

“Mhm, better believe it, boo boo,” she said, a huge, smug grin on her face. “I’ve been awake for hours. What took you guys so long?”

“Habit,” Tranquility said. She didn’t sound too pleased, as an undercurrent of annoyance ran through her speech. Her gaze was soured. She slumped back against me, ears pointed back in annoyance. It gave me a strange sense of deja-vu.

“Fine, sourpuss,” Cam grumbled. “Get yourselves up and moving, I need your help if we want to head out today.”

“With what?” I asked, my headache growing.

“Drying out and packing up the grove,” Cam said. “We’re picking everything and bundling it up.” With that, she left, bounding over the circle of brush that surrounded her camp. I sighed, and Tranquility did the same.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I didn’t sleep well last night,” she grumbled. “My sleeping habits still remained the same, even after the feirote we went through yesterday.”

“Oh,” I said. I didn’t understand.

“I still wanted to be nocturnal,” she whispered.

That would explain the deja-vu. This was what she acted like when we were in school together, always tired, annoyed, pissy. Because of her nocturnal habits, she never slept well, and always had to fight to stay awake in school, as she felt she should have been sleeping then. I didn’t mind it. It actually allowed us to get closer together, as I would be a pillar of support during her tougher times, but it was really hard on her. I gently wrapped my wings around her and nuzzled the top of her head. “I’m sorry…” I murmured.

“It’s fine,” she said. “I just need to push through… just like school.” The hurt was evident in her voice.

“Not alone,” I whispered. “You’re not alone. Not this time.” She didn’t respond, but I did feel her lean a little more on me. A few seconds passed, both of us thinking.

“I’m sorry,” Tranquility eventually said, bringing me out of my reverie.

“What?” I responded, confused.

“About last night…” she said, looking down. “I was weak… and I probably made you uncomfortable. When I woke up, I could see a blush on your face…” I tensed up at that, which was the wrong thing to do. “See?” she said. “It was unpleasant for you.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I quickly said. “I actually didn’t mind. It was really nice, actually…” And I wouldn’t mind if we did it all the time, I added silently to myself.

“Then why were you blushing?” Tranquility asked curiously, causing my heart to skip a beat.

“Um… w-well…” I began.

Cam jumped back over the brush. “Jeez, you guys take forever,” she remarked. “Do I need to break out more explosions?”

Saved by the Cam.

That’s a phrase I never thought I’d say.

“No, you don’t,” Tranquility hissed, a growl rising in her throat, giving Cam pause. I wasn’t fazed, I’d heard that before. I tightened my embrace a little.

“Oh-kay then,” Cam said. “Oh! You guys need food!” I nodded to that. Cam ran over to the box (I assumed it was her stores) and pulled something out, tossing it to me. I caught it. It appeared to be a mix of different leaves, an improvised salad. It had hints of orange and blue in it, so I eyed it warily. “Eat your veggies. They’re good for you,” Cam droned in an overly monotone voice, causing Tranquility to raise an eyebrow. “Oh, you wouldn’t understand. Now, I’ll be right back. I need to kill something for you and I,” Cam said, pointing at Tranquility.

“What?” she said, confused.

“Y’know, kill something for food,” Cam said, with a tone that sounded like she was explaining something to a young foal. To her surprise, Tranquility gagged. “What?”

“I don’t eat meat,” Tranquility responded, disgust laced through her words. “Whatever gave you the idea that I did?”

“Um… the fangs,” Cam said, as if that should have been obvious.

“Fair enough,” Tranquility conceded. “But I’m unable to eat meat.”

“Okay then,” Cam said, shrugging. She got out another salad and tossed it to Tranquility, then lept back over the brush. I looked at Tranquility, who was eyeing the salad warily. I shrugged and took a small bite. I chewed for about half a second before my eyes widened. It was good! I enthusiastically dug in, and soon, Tranquility followed my example.

We were about halfway through our meal when Cam returned with a dead rabbit in her mouth. I nearly threw up from the sight of it. It was repulsive enough on its own, but the fact that Cam looked so unbelievably pleased with herself didn’t help. She walked past both of us with her head held high, her eyes brimming with happiness, and a gigantic gleeful smile (that was dyed crimson red) spread across her face. Tranquility and I just stared in mild shock at her. She walked over to the site of the campfire, humming a happy tune, and spit it out.

She looked exactly like a housecat who had brought a little ‘present’ inside.

“What…” Tranquility finally managed to stammer, still in mild shock.

“My breakfast!” Cam squealed. “Isn’t it great?”

“Horrific,” Tranquility said, wrinkling her nose.

“Sickening,” I supplied.

“Repulsive,” Tranquility added.

“Bloody,” I noticed.

“Nauseating,” supplemented Tranquility.

“Dead,” I said.

“Great isn’t exactly the first word we’d use to describe it,” we finished.

“Rude,” Cam said, grinning even more. “I didn’t question your eating habits.” With an obviously exaggerated “Hmph!” she trotted over to her stores, grabbed something, and used it to light the fire again.

“What are you doing?” Tranquility asked, scooting away from the fire.

“Cooking,” Cam said, grabbing several plants from her stores, along with several crude knives and an improvised pan. Catching our incredulous glances, she shrugged. “What?” she asked, grinning. “I’m not a savage.” She then grasped two of the blades and raised them above her head. “You may want to look away for this part.”

I didn’t. I will never be able to unsee some of the things I saw that day.

Eventually, once she finished… preparing… the rabbit, she put it in the pan after sprinkling some of the plants onto it (or what remained of it). I leaned on Tranquility, shaken up, shaking, and nauseous. She had wisely looked away, but instead of making fun of my foolishness (which is what literally anyone else would have done), she provided silent assurance by gently nuzzling me.

“Jeez, you ponies are too sheltered,” Cam commented, idly leaning on her box as the rabbit started to sizzle.

“Cam, can you hush it for a moment?” Tranquility hissed. “Can’t you see he’s seriously bothered?”

“Yep,” Cam replied, lazily stretching over the box. “The difference between you and me is that I don’t care.”

“Why you little airotai…” Tranquility whispered, rage thick in her voice.

“What?” Cam asked, completely unconcerned. “It’s just life.” And with that, she slid off the box and walked over to the fire, ignoring Tranquility’s furious glare.

Silence reigned in the clearing as Cam finished cooking her meal and ate it. I could tell Tranquility was still angry, but I didn’t do anything, as I was still processing everything that had happened. At least I didn’t feel sick anymore…

“I need your guys’s help,” Cam said, extinguishing the fire once more.

“Why would we help you?” Tranquility grumbled.

“Because, whether you like it or not, you need me,” Cam replied. “And I wanna get the grove packed up by today.”

“I don’t give a flying-”

“Okay,” I stammered softly, shakily getting to my hooves. Tranquility turned to me with a shocked glance, while Cam gave her a smug grin. “What?” I asked. “It’s not like she didn’t warn me. It was my fault I saw that.”

“You can’t say that she didn’t take some perverse pleasure from watching your reaction!” Tranquility protested.

“Literally anypony else but you would have,” I said.

Cam giggled at that. “That is true, boo,” she giggled.

“You can’t just…” Tranquility stammered.

“I can,” I said, giving her an apologetic smile. “It’s what she had to do, and she did warn me ahead of time.”

“Fine…” she huffed. “Celestia, you guys are giving me a headache.” I leaned back down and nuzzled her, which she returned with a weak smile.

“So… are you two gonna kiss, or what?” Cam deadpanned, one eyebrow raised. My cheeks exploded with crimson, while a hint of ruby graced Tranquility’s own. She shrugged. “What? It’s a valid question! You two are so close to each other, both physically and mentally, that I’m a bit surprised you haven’t already.”

“It’s not like that,” Tranquility protested. “We’re just friends!”

Sadly, I added mentally.

“With benefits?” Cam wryly suggested. My blush spread to the rest of my face and I let out a strangled whimper, sliding to the clearing floor.

“NO!” Tranquility yelled, her blush growing as well. “Why would you-”

“You two were sleeping together last night,” Cam said, rolling her eyes. “I may be seven, but I have enough experience and have seen enough things to know what that insinuates.” A groan forced its way out of my mouth and I covered my face with my hooves. Tranquility sighed and shook her head. Cam giggled again. “Fine, fine, I’ll stop…”

“Thank you,” I whispered, mortified.

“Oh, calm down,” Cam said dismissively, waving a paw. “We still have the rest of the day for embarrassment.”

“Loving the headache,” Tranquility murmured, shaking her head.

It took me about five minutes to get myself back into working order, but a blush still tinged my cheeks. Tranquility didn’t help that much, as she spent much of that time giving me reassuring nuzzles while Cam watched and silently giggled. Eventually, though, I stood back up and smiled, showing I was all right.

“All right!” Cam said cheerfully. “Are we good?”

“Define good,” I joked.

“Great!” Cam said, cutting off Tranquility as she tried to form a response. “So, like I said before, we’re packing up the grove. If we all work together, we’ll be able to do it quickly. I spent the morning setting up several places to put the different plants. We need to set them in piles by species, so I can flash-dry them effectively.”

“Okay?” I said, a little confused. I blamed my concussion and the events of the day.

She sighed. “Put the similar plants where they’re marked to go,” she explained. “I’ve already taken care of the poisonous ones, so you can just uproot them- and make sure you get the roots- and stick ‘em in the marked pit.”

“Simple enough,” Tranquility said. I nodded to that, my confusion having faded. Instead of responding, Cam walked over to her tent and started to collapse it, compacting in into a small, long tube. She then proceeded to shove it inside the box.

“How…” I stammered, my jaw dropping.

“Bigger on the inside,” Cam explained, grinning. “A lot bigger.” She then hefted it onto her back and set off, expecting us to follow. We did, but my mind was elsewhere. That statement raised a lot of questions for me. Did the Wandering Wolves have magic? If so, how much? And if they didn’t, how did Cam manage to do that? I held my tongue, however. I had a feeling I would get the answer to those questions relatively soon, although I didn’t know why.

While I was thinking, we reached the grove. Several of the plants had been cleared out and placed in shallow pits, with small tunnels dug next to them. There were thirty other pits and tunnels scattered around the grove. Each had a plant already placed in it, marking what was supposed to go in the shallow excavation. I looked around and swallowed nervously, realizing that we had a lot more work ahead of us than I had anticipated.

“No use standing around,” Cam commented. “Chop chop!” And with that, she hopped into the grove, and we got to work.

Author's Note

CAM IS SCARY! EVERYTHING IS SCARY! I'm gonna hide now.

So yeah, new chapter! I originally planned for this chapter to span the whole day, but I wanted to get this out to you guys without taking any longer than I already had. And I'm not sure how great the latter half is (Some things went down in real life that threw me into a bit of a funk). We learn that Cam is... Cam is turning out to be a little bit of a bitch, isn't she? I promise I'll explain some of that (besides the fact that she's seven and sassy).
In other news, I finally have some idea of where I want this story to go! The problem is, it's really, really bad (in my opinion), and I'm not sure if it would get the best reception if I implemented it (but I really want to). So, if you guys don't mind some (possibly) MASSIVE spoilers for Cam and the story, then PM me so I could give you my idea and you could give me some feedback on it.
And with that, it's time for your edition of THE THESTRAL LANGUAGE GUIDE!

“Airotai”- The technical definition for this is “one who wastes” but has grown into a terrible insult between thestrals and a derogatory term that can mean “Deserter”, on the same scale as a pony referring to a thestral as a “batshit”.

Yeah, Tranquility got pissed at Cam.
So yeah! Let me know if there are any typos, and I'll fix them!

~Pyrepinna