When I first moved into town with my dad and enrolled at Canterlot High School, my only concerns were to settle in and try to fit in. That changed, however, when I met a girl named Sonata Dusk. As we got better acquainted, we became inseparable, in spite of a crisis that we barely averted.

Jumping ahead to the last weekend before school let out for the summer, Sonata and I had made it our routine to train together on Saturday mornings. This time, however, her sister, Aria Blaze, decided to join us that day.

“Alright, let's finish up with some blocking drills," I said to Sonata and Aria.

“What? Seriously, that’s how you’re going to end class?” Aria nagged as she placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. “Lame. When are we going to fight?”

“Sorry, but this was just drill training," I offered, trying not to let her get under my skin. "Besides, it's a bad idea to ‘practice' without the right gear. You know, on account of injury."

As we were going back and forth, Sonata seemed uneasy, almost as if she was waiting for all hell to break loose.

"Heh. You're just afraid that I'll whup you," Aria said smugly.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I exhaled profoundly trying not to lose my patience. "No. Not particularly."

Sonata then stepped in and scolded Aria, “You know, you could’ve just stayed back at the apartment if all you wanted to do was be a jerk.”

Aria narrowed her eyes at Sonata without breaking eye contact for a while before she started cracking up. When she saw the confused looks on our faces, she laughed even harder before she addressed both of us. "Heh, you guys need to lighten up. I'm just messing with you two. Anyways, I'll see you back at the apartment. Don't take forever though, unless you want Adagio to throw one of her hissy fits because you missed practice.” She gave a quick nonchalant wave to the both of us before she turned back towards the apartment building and began walking away. All the while we stood there still unsure of what exactly happened.

I shook my head in exasperation before glancing at Sonata. The bright red flush on her cheeks betrayed her attempts to hide the embarrassment as she rubbed her forehead. She then turned to me and apologized. “I'm so sorry about that, Slate. When she said that she was bored and wanted to join us today, I didn’t think she’d act like that.”

“It’s alright," I reassured her. "No harm no foul. Still, I have to ask. I know Aria acts like that around us and our friends, but is she always like that?"

Sonata rubbed the back of her neck before replying, “She's always liked to push everyone's buttons. Since she started doing that program that Celestia had the three of us do, Aria had to stop being as aggressive as she used to be. I guess this is how she lets off steam now. But at least she hasn't done that to strangers, recently.”

“Well, at least there's that. We can only hope Aria doesn't get any ideas. I'd hate to have to bail her out for something as dumb as that.”

“Yeah,” Sonata agreed with a nod.

With our Saturday morning training pretty much derailed, we decided to take a seat at one of the benches before continuing with our conversation.

I took a deep breath and exhaled. " I can't help thinking that there might be some students like that when I start helping out at Mr. Will’s dojo this summer."

Sonata thought about that for a second and then replied, "Well, you've done a great job teaching me, and you didn't blow up at Aria when she kept on trying to get on your nerves, so I think you’ll do fine. If it had been Adagio, she would've let her have it.”

"Thanks, Sonata, I appreciate that, "I offered with a smile. "By the way, since you mentioned it, how’re things going with Adagio?"

“Well she still has kind of a short temper, but she’s trying.”

"Hmm, yeah I've seen how quickly she gets upset, especially whenever our friends bring up past events.”

"That's true, but they kind of do that regularly," Sonata added. "I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but it seems like they do it on purpose."

I thought about it for a minute or two. "Well, unfortunately, I think it's more of a bad habit of theirs, but I'm pretty sure that our friends aren't doing it to put anybody down. Still, it does seem like that sometimes."

"Yeah. They even do it with Twilight ever since the Games." Sonata pointed out.

"Huh? Oh yeah. That's true," I said remembering just then about that day.

Asides from Sonata and her sisters, I had gotten to know a group of girls who were very involved at the school. They competed against our rivals, Crystal Prep, in an event called the Friendship Games, which was an oxymoron in itself since both schools were kind of at each other’s throats. As it turned out though, Twilight had been going to that school. Although according to our friends this wasn’t the same person that we had initially met. Asides from that, this Twilight caused a bunch of crazy stuff to happen during the games. Regardless of that, however, when everything came to a close, she transferred over to our school and thus became part of that group.

I couldn't help asking Sonata out of curiosity, "Hey is it just me or does this school seem to draw strange things to it?"

Sonata just shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe. Wait, are you calling me strange?”

"Well if I am, that’d include me too."

"You did stick around me when no one else would, so kind of," Sonata said with a smile while she played around with the necklace I had given her a while back.

I gave her a sly look before replying, "But in all honesty, you are a bit strange." I then raised my hand with the index finger and thumb just half an inch apart for her to see.

She giggled before lightly shoving me. “You jerk.”

I couldn't help cracking a smile, and replied, "Hey, I meant in a cute way.”

We shared a kiss right before we heard a familiar voice. “Aww, you two are adorable.” Thoroughly startled, we turned to find Rainbow Dash standing there as she realized just then that she had interrupted us.

She sheepishly asked, “Is this a bad time?”

I just sighed. "No."

She rubbed the back of her neck and could only offer an apology. “Heh, sorry.”

Sonata then spoke up, “It’s okay. So what’s up?”

"Not much really," Rainbow answered. "But, I wanted to let you guys know everyone else was going to meet up at the mall to get a few things for the camping trip. Wanna come?”

Sonata thought it over before asking me, “What do you think?”

“Sure. I'm up for it. At what time, Rainbow?”

“We were going to meet up at around two o’clock.”

“Yeah, that works for me. What about you, Sonata?”

She took one more moment to think it over before replying. "Yeah, I just need to take care of a few things before then."

Rainbow nodded. “Well, then we’ll see you there.”

"Okay, see you then, "I confirmed before she headed off towards the other end of the park.

Sonata then turned to me. “We should probably get back to the apartment and get ready for that.”

“Alright then, let’s go.” With that said we began the walk back to our apartment building so she could get to her singing practice with her sisters.

When I made it to my apartment, I let Dad know about my plans right away. Without wasting any time, I helped him with whatever needed to be done around the apartment and we finished the chores by noon. With nothing else to do but wait till Sonata was ready to go, I decided to get showered and changed out.

Having freshened up, I looked over at an application that I had on my desk. Mr. Iron Will had given it to me when I asked about helping out around his dojo over the summer. He said it would take a week at least to figure out if I was cut out for becoming an assistant. So I felt that I had to impress him with whatever I put onto that sheet. It would be great if I knew what he was looking for exactly. Well, I have to put something, I thought.

I began filling out the form but didn't complete it. I wanted to make it as impressive as possible to give me the best chance.

My phone suddenly blinked to life with a text from Sonata. “Hey, Slate. We finished our practice session. Are you ready to go?”

With some quick tapping of my phone, I sent, "Yes, give me five minutes, and I'll meet you down by the entrance. See you soon."

I said bye to Dad as I headed out the door and raced down the stairwell, skipping steps so I wouldn't be too late. Shortly after that, I burst through the entrance door. Sonata was standing there, shifting her weight between her heels and toes, seemingly out of boredom before she saw me.

“Oh, there you are. Ready to go?” She asked.

"Yeah, sorry to keep you waiting," I offered.

“It’s alright,” she said as we started down the street towards downtown. “Still, what were you doing?”

"Just working on my application for the dojo," I explained.

“Oh. I really hope that you get the job,” Sonata reassured.

"Thanks, I do too. But anyways, how was practice?"

She seemed to be concentrating as if to recall what they went over precisely before she replied. "Well, for the most part, it went well. Although I don’t think Adagio or Aria had been expecting me to be back so soon for our practice. Either way, we got through a few scale exercises and part of one of our older songs.”

"Hmm, it sounds like things are improving. Then again, I don't think I've heard Aria or Adagio sing before. At least not consciously.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, they don’t like having an audience unless they sound perfect.”

I raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Then how do they do it to practice at the school's music room along with the Rainbooms?”

Without even a bit of hesitation, she said, "It's a necessary sacrifice."

I wasn't sure how to react to that and just replied, "Wow."

Upon hearing my response, she waved her hands in front of herself in a desperate attempt to clarify what she meant. “Aria’s words, n-not mine!” Her face began to glow bright red in embarrassment as she continued. “I actually do like practicing with them."

Unable to suppress a slight chuckle I replied, "Heh, I figured that's what you meant. I didn't think that either of your sisters thought that exactly."

“Ahem, yeah. I don't know, Adagio and Aria never liked letting go of grudges." Sonata rubbed the back of her neck.

"Eh, don't worry about it too much. It just takes time.”

Her only response to that was, “Hopefully.”

We continued with our conversation, eventually arriving at the mall with a few minutes to spare.

As we walked in through one of the department stores, I realized that we hadn't asked where they wanted to meet. Oh well, pretty sure we will run into them, I thought as we continued into the main mall with its brightly lit interior.

I hadn't been to that mall more than maybe four times, but every time it seemed like new stores replaced the ones I saw previously. I could only assume that most of the mall's patrons were a fickle bunch and went along with the trends, but I guess that's just business. The only part that seemed to have remained unchanged was the food court. Coincidentally, that was where we found our friends waiting.

“Slate. Sonata. There you guys are,” Rainbow called to us as we made our way over to where she and Sunset were seated. “ I was starting to think that you two probably had other plans.”

"Nah, we just weren't sure where you all were going to meet, "I offered in response. "My bad."

Sunset shook her head. “It’s alright. The point is you guys made it.”

Sonata then asked, “So, what’s the plan?”

“Lunch, for starters,” Applejack said as she set down a tray with a couple of pizza slices from the nearby pizza parlor. “Everyone else is picking out what to eat. Ain’t you two getting anything?”

“Yeah. We’ll be right back,” Sonata nodded.

We looked around and tried to decide on what we felt like getting. Eventually, we had settled on Tex-Mex food and made it back to the table. As everyone ate and conversed, Sonata turned to me.

“So, after this, we’re going to be looking around for camping gear?”

"Yeah, I guess there's an outdoors store here or something for that," I replied.

Rarity upon hearing our conversation joined in. “Actually, darling, we were planning on looking for suitable outfits and clothing for the camping trip. There isn’t any real need for a lot of the usual camping supplies.”

A bit confused, I asked, "Really, how so?”

AJ then answered. “‘Cause we’re going to a campground that already has everything.”

I turned to Rarity who nodded at AJs statement. She then added, "Since it's for the school camping trip, it makes more sense to have it at one of those campgrounds. Besides, it’s a bit of a school tradition to have it at Camp Everfree.”

AJ then retorted, "Well if you ask me, it kinda takes the fun out of camping."

Rainbow Dash leaned back in her chair with her hands behind her head. “As long as they have plenty of cool activities, who cares that we don’t have to rough it.”

Fluttershy then softly added, “I just hope we get to see all the cute animals out there."

Sonata nodded and then turned to our other friends before posing a question. “What about you three? What do you guys think about the trip?”

Twilight a bit caught off guard sheepishly replied, “Well, it might be fun. I'm not all that fond of the outdoors.”

Pinkie Pie in her usual excited tone answered with, "Ooh, ooh, I'm looking forward to the campfire songs and scary stories! And I'm especially looking forward to roasting marshmallows!"

Sunset, still smiling at Pinkie's comment, added, “Personally, it’s a first for me.” She then asked us a question of her own, “And what about you two, what are you looking forward to on the trip?”

Sonata and I shared a look before I turned back to Sunset. “Oh, um, the funny thing is neither of us signed up in time to go on the trip. Not that we didn’t want to, just that the list filled up pretty quickly.”

Rarity apologetically offered, “That is a shame. It would have been nice for all of us to have gone on this trip together.”

"Yeah, it would have been an experience," I said with a slight hint of disappointment.

Sonata, trying to keep a positive outlook, then spoke up, " I'm sure that we can find something to do here in town."

A few of our friends thoughtfully nodded while AJ seemed to be mulling something over. Either way, we finished up our lunch and started walking around the mall. We browsed a few clothing stores as the girls looked for stylish summer wear. In all honesty, since most of the stores that we checked out mainly catered to girls, it wasn't all that interesting to me. Still, Sonata seemed to be enjoying the shopping, so I endured. I guess that AJ noticed my mild disinterest because she came over and began talking to me.

“You know, Slate, if you and Sonata are still interested in going camping, Big Mac was thinking of going on a trip of his own for a couple of days while we were out at Camp Everfree. He would have signed up for the school trip too, but he prefers actual camping trips in the woods instead of the whole campgrounds sort of deal.”

"Huh, well that's a nice offer. I wouldn't want to impose though."

AJ just shook her head and reassured me. “It isn’t a problem at all. Big Mac prefers to camp with others since it'll make the setup and teardown go a bit more smoothly. Plus it's always better to go in a group."

Right at that moment Sonata and Pinkie Pie came strolling up to us with a couple of bags in hand. With a bit of curiosity, Sonata asked, "Hey, What are you two talking about?”

Applejack took the opportunity to tell her herself. “Just letting Slate here know that Big Mac wanted to go on a camping trip of his own and seeing if you two would like to join him.”

Just then Pinkie interjected excitedly, “Hey, do you think maybe Maud could join you guys? She was saying that she’d like Boulder to ‘get some fresh air’, so why not have her meet some friends as well.”

Applejack shrugged and replied, “I'm pretty sure he wouldn’t mind.” She then turned to Sonata and me and asked once more, “So, whaddya say? All you’d need to bring is a tent and your sleeping bags.”

Sonata gave me an uncertain look. “Well, it’s a bit sudden. Can we get back to you on that?”

I had to agree with Sonata. "Yeah, I think we need a little time to decide for sure. You understand, right?”

AJ nodded and said, “It’s alright. If you do decide that you want to go, let me know sometime this week.”

With a nod, I told her, "Will do."

For another half hour, we checked out a few other stores before everyone had found the clothes they wanted. Shortly after that, we said our goodbyes.

As Sonata and I left the mall, she turned to me and spoke up. "So, what do you think of the whole camping thing?"

I adjusted one of her shopping bags that I was carrying over my shoulder while putting together my thoughts on that. "Well, I'd like to see what the local forest is like first hand. It would be a good way to clear my head about starting work. What about you?”

She seemed a bit uncertain. " I'd like to, but it also depends on what Adagio says. Our singing hasn't been improving as fast as she had wanted, so she has her mind set on making us practice harder while we’re out on vacation."

Thinking quickly I suggested, "I guess I understand what she's trying to do, but there is such a thing as overdoing it. Taking a break for a couple of days from practice can be helpful. Either way, I get how you feel since I have to let Dad know about this if we want to go on this trip. So here’s hoping that he isn’t going to say no.”

Sonata looked up at the sky before replying. “I just hope that she sees it that way."

When we got back to the apartment building, it was nearly five o'clock, so we quickly took the stairs up to her floor. She got the door open before turning back to me. I handed back her bag, and she leaned in to give me a quick kiss. She then said, "Wish me luck. I'll let you know what happens in a while.”

“Let him know about what?” Adagio said surprising Sonata.

Still trying to gather her wits about her, Sonata turned to meet Adagio who was standing there with her arms crossed. “Hey, Adagio. What brings you over?”

"Well, I saw the door open and you two just standing out here, so I decided to see what was going on," Adagio said in a deadpan manner.

“Oh, well we can talk about that inside.” Sonata slipped past her into the apartment. “Talk to you later, Slate.”

"Alright, talk to you then, Sonata," I replied to her as she shut her room door. I then turned to Adagio. "So… how have things been?"

“They could be better.” She frowned.

"Um, why's that?" I asked, wondering if she was upset.

“Because our singing is still awful.”

“Hmm. Sonata said that your rehearsals were starting to sound better.”

She then furrowed her brow and in a huff replied, “Well, if we are improving, we’re doing it at a snail's pace.”

Seeing that she was frustrated by the situation I tried to offer some encouragement. "Well, you know what they say, ‘Slow and steady wins the race.' I know the feeling of not seeing the results that you wanted right away."

She rolled her eyes. “Easy enough for you to say.”

As soon as she said that Aria walked out from the living room and loudly announced, “Adagio’s just upset that her voice was cracking during practice today. Like a guy hitting puberty.” She proceeded to head to the kitchen.

Adagio, starting to blush, yelled back at Aria, “Shut up!”

Her voice cracked as she raised her voice, to which Aria replied, “Just like that.” Adagio could only rub the ridge of her nose in frustration.

"So, that barely started today?" I asked trying my damnedest not to smirk.

Still visibly annoyed, Adagio replied, “Not exactly, my throat was bothering me earlier yesterday. Why?”

I cleared my throat and tapped my chin, trying to decide whether or not to tell her what I thought. "Well, um, you may not want to hear this, but you might be coming down with something." I paused to study her expression and see if she wasn't going to fly off the handle. Luckily she seemed to be listening intently. “It might be a good idea to dial back your rehearsals, at least until you’re feeling better.”

She narrowed her eyes at me before replying with, “Is that so?”

I sighed and continued, "C'mon, Adagio. I'm not trying to keep you and the others from improving. All I meant was that it doesn't help to push yourself while you are sick. That might make your condition worse.”

Adagio crossed her arms in contemplation of my advice. "Well just for the sake of argument say I was getting sick. So what if I keep on practicing while I'm sick? What's the worst that would come of it?"

"Well," I began, "You could strain your voice and put yourself further back than if you had just given yourself time to recuperate. Like I said before, I'm just trying to offer some advice."

She raised an eyebrow and then said, "Hmm… I'll keep that in mind."

It became awkwardly silent, so I decided to shove off. "Well gotta get going. I hope you feel better. Later."

Her only response was, “Later,” as she went inside and closed the door.

Well, I can only hope that this plays out well, I thought as I went up to my apartment.

When I got in, Dad was in the kitchen preparing dinner. "Hey, Dad. I'm back.”

“Slate, perfect timing. Come over here and help me finish this up.”

I washed my hands and got to cutting up some of the ingredients that he had set out on the counter before tossing them into the pan. We set the table with a couple of plates and sets of silverware so we could start eating as soon as the dish finished cooking.

As I got us some glasses for our drinks, Dad asked, “So how was it at the mall?”

I thought about it as I handed him his glass. "It was alright. We were mainly there for some window shopping.” Or at least I was, anyway. Rarity bought about three pairs of shoes.

“Oh, sounds a bit boring,” Dad replied.

“No. Well, maybe just a bit, "I reasoned as we began to eat. "But one of our friends was telling me that her brother was going on a camping trip. She asked if Sonata and I wanted to join him."

He wore a quizzical look as he set aside his fork. “So, do you want to go along with them?”

“It crossed my mind. But I wanted to make sure it'd be alright with you if I did."

"Well, that depends on when that trip takes place."

“It’s supposed to be during the first week of vacation. Y'know, to kick off the summer.”

Dad pondered that a bit before finally saying, "Well if it's while you're out for vacation, I have no problem with you joining them."

I breathed a sigh of relief as we finished up our dinner. I washed the dishes before I retired to my room where I found that I had a text from Sonata.

“I hope it went well,” I thought aloud.

Sonata: Adagio said I could go.

I sent back: Glad to hear it.

Sonata: Yeah, but she said that I should be looking forward to long practice sessions when I get back.

Slate: Oh, sorry about that part. Not quite what I expected.

Sonata: Yeah. I'll let you know if anything else changes.

Slate: Alright, talk to you later.

I put up my phone and started surfing the internet. I decided to go online one last time before going to bed and check my emails. To my surprise, there was a message that had been sent earlier that morning by my good friend from my hometown, Heavyweight.

"Huh, wonder what he sent.” I wondered out loud, thinking back to the times we would hang out with our circle of friends after school and over at karate practice. We were extremely competitive, but we never let it get too out of hand, for the most part. On top of that, he was always reliable and happy to help out with any problems that any of our other friends were going through.

I clicked the email and found a brief message. Hey, Slate, you still alive? Haven't heard anything from you in a while.

I wrote up a quick message of my own. Yeah, sorry about that. Things have been pretty crazy around here. Mainly with school and getting ready to start at a new job.

I wasn't expecting any response right away but was pleasantly surprised to find a new message of his within a few minutes of sending mine.

Well hope the job pans out. Also, you're still in school? We got out last week around here.

I typed up, I'm in school for one more week, and then I'll be heading out on a camping trip with a few other people from around here to kick off the summer.

Neat, I made plans to go on a solo road trip. Maybe I might stop by to catch a few days out in the wilderness with you. When exactly are you going camping?

You know what? I'm not entirely sure. I can ask so you can know more or less when to come by.

Sounds good. I'll be waiting on that message. Talk to you later. Heavyweight signed off, leaving me to contemplate the last week of school.

Since it was already getting late, I just turned in for the night.

My vision slowly came into focus, and I found myself standing in front of someone. I wanted to rub my eyes and hopefully be able to see better but couldn't even manage a twitch.

Hmm, mmm, err. Why can't I move? I can barely see anything. Is this a storage room? Wait a minute; Sonata's been right in front of me this whole time?

“Slate, you've got to snap out of it!” She shook me by the shoulders frantically, but my whole body was numb. I couldn't feel a thing she did to try and get me to move. She then looked past me and that look of panic slowly crumbled into one of despair as her eyes were watering up as she looked at me directly once more. “I'm sorry, Slate.”

She then planted a kiss on my lips, and to my surprise, I felt the warmth of it. Not only that but I could feel a jolt that surged through my body. Then just as suddenly as she had kissed me she shoved me to the ground. And when I hit the floor, I was suddenly back in bed.

"Hah, ah. What? Uh, why did I dream of that night again?" I thought aloud as I sat up.

I've tried not to dwell on past events, but that night was something entirely different that forced its way into the forefront of my mind. Still, I suppose it pushed me to train as hard as I could.

Well, at least a little good has come of it, I thought.

Skipping ahead to Monday we went through our morning classes like normal, although for the most part every teacher was pretty lax about us just talking amongst ourselves to pass the time. There never was that much to do on the last week anyway. At lunch Sonata and I found AJ as soon as we could.

"Hey, Applejack," I greeted.

“Hi, AJ. How was your Sunday?” Sonata asked as we sat at the table.

“Hi, Slate. Hi, Sonata. Sunday was alright. Had to do the usual chores around the farm but it wasn’t too bad.” She took a bite out of her lunch before continuing. “What about you two?”

"Well, I practiced with my sisters for a few hours."

I then spoke up. "Pretty much just went grocery shopping during the afternoon. Nothing too exciting."

AJ smiled. “Sounds relaxing.”

I gave a slight shrug. " I suppose."

She then asked, “So, have y’all settled on whether you’re going to go camping? Big Mac said that he was fine with having a small group go with him. Maud is going too.”

“Yeah, we’re good to go,” Sonata said.

"Pretty much, "I added in agreement. "Just one thing."

“Sure, what is it?” AJ asked.

“An old friend of mine from out of town was coming to visit. Would it be alright if he joined us? Pretty sure he’d be able to help with the transport as well.”

She quickly responded, “Big Mac won’t mind. I'll let him know. He also said that he wanted to head out on Wednesday next week.”

"So, next Wednesday. That’s plenty of time to gather what we need."

“Yeah, it works out perfectly,” Sonata agreed.

Applejack smiled. "Well, I'm glad to hear it."

With that, we finished up our lunch and eventually headed on to our other classes. The day continued as usual, so by the time school ended I met with Sonata and her sisters. By this point in the year, they had managed to work off their detention requirements through community service and were able to do whatever they wanted after school. Of course, this meant that Adagio saw it as an opportunity to get in more practice. It had pretty much become a routine for the three former sirens. That still did nothing to keep Sonata from speculating how the trip was going to go. We discussed how we were hoping we’d be able to see some great views out there and enjoy the beautiful landscape.

When we made it to our building, I gave Sonata a quick hug before all three sisters went to their apartment and got right to work. I usually would have left them to it, but I decided to stick around their hallway to see if I could hear how they sound together.

As it turned out, they didn’t sound bad at all, even if there was the occasional out of tune note. Still, I only heard two voices for the most part and occasionally a third.

I guess Adagio took my advice, I thought as they continued. I stuck around for a few more minutes before deciding to head up to my apartment where I found that Dad hadn't arrived back home yet. Upon that discovery, I took the opportunity to message Heavyweight.

Hey, dude, the camping trip is going to be on Wednesday next week, so bring a sleeping bag for sure and maybe a tent if you have one.

It took him a while to respond, but eventually, I got back, Cool, I guess I'll be there a day early so we can take off in time.

We messaged back and forth for a while, and I also gave him the exact address of the apartment building, before I took off to help around the apartment and update Dad on the plans.

I carried on with rest of my week as normal. I went to school, I went to karate a few times as well as turning in my application, and Sonata and her sisters stuck to their scheduled rehearsals. The last Friday of that school year was extremely laid back, although the anticipation of the upcoming holiday bubbled just underneath the surface.

At the end of the day, while all the other students were leaving, we met up with our friends and hung out for a little. They discussed what their plans were for their trip before Applejack talked to me and Sonata.

“So, just to let y’all know, Big Mac wanted you guys to meet up at our house before heading out on your camping trip since we’re closer to the edge of town.”

Sonata excitedly said, "Alright, I can't wait."

"Thanks again for extending that invitation to us," I added. "We'll see you guys later I suppose. But in case we don't, have fun over at Camp Everfree."

Applejack smiled and replied, “Thanks. Take care you two.”

"You too," Sonata said as we began heading back to our apartments.

Hey, the school seems a lot more crowded than usual. They even pulled out the auxiliary bleachers to the front courtyard. Hmm, and Twilight’s walking out into the middle in her old school uniform.

"What's she doing?" a student asked as Twilight stood in the middle of the courtyard, holding up a dark, round locket in both hands.

I suddenly felt a slight nudge on my side. Sonata had been next to me when she whispered, "Something's off about this Twilight. Maybe we should go."

Her sisters who were sitting next to us kept watching the lone girl along with everyone else in the stands until Twilight opened the locket. Suddenly she became enveloped in a ball of light. The next thing I knew was that she had turned into some winged creature. Everyone was in an uproar as she began blasting beams of light and tearing holes into another world.

The first thing to go was the statue of our mascot sending rubble flying into the crowd. I couldn’t tell if anyone had gotten hurt but there was no time stick around, we had to move or be trampled by the crowd.

Soon everything became a blur of motion and pandemonium as I could feel my heartbeat soar in fear.

My eyes shot open to a dark room. Another memory played out like a dream. I had no explanation for why it was happening so frequently. Maybe it was stress related, but I couldn't say for sure.

The next day Sonata and I went to the mall to pick up a tent along with a few other things. Mainly a couple of flashlights, a survival knife, compass, parachute cord, and a first aid kit. All in all, it wasn't too bad since we split the cost.

On Monday morning, our friends left for Camp Everfree while Sonata and I met up with Big Mac to go over the details. When we arrived at the Apples’ farm, we found him preparing some tools for a few chores that day.

“Hey, Big Mac." I called to him, "How's it going?"

He looked up from the equipment and greeted both of us. "Morning. Doing good. And yourself?"

“It’s going well," I offered, Sonata nodding in concurrence.

“That’s good. Say, mind giving me a hand with a few boxes before we get to talking?” He asked, gesturing to a pile of empty cider crates lying beside his pickup truck.

I gave a shrug. "Sure."

Thanks to my training and his sheer size, we got those crates moved to the barn in no time between the two of us.

He wiped a few beads of sweat from his brow before turning back to us. “Thanks. So, what brings you out here?”

"Well I take it you heard about my friend joining us on our camping trip, right?"

He merely answered with, "Eeyup."

“Since he’s bringing his own car, we can help carry any other things that you may need for the camping trip. That way you don’t have to cram everything into your truck.”

He rubbed his chin before responding with, “Sounds good.”

I nodded and asked one final question. "So, do you need help with anything else right now?"

He shook his head. “Nope.”

“Then we will see you on Wednesday,” I replied.

“See you then, Big Mac,” Sonata said as we were getting ready to head back home.

“See ya.”

We went to catch a bus back to our apartment. On the bus ride home Sonata pointed out, “He seems nice, although not very talkative.”

"That's true," I agreed.

As we neared our stop, Sonata spoke up with an idea. "Hey, Slate. Want to go to the rooftop today?"

I gave a quick nod while we got up and exited the bus. "Yeah, there's nothing else going on."

A short walk home and a quick climb up the stairwell and we had arrived at the top of the apartment block. Ever since we had begun living in that building, the other tenants, along with my dad, had put together a small garden area up there to add some color to an otherwise unremarkable rooftop. I'd even gotten involved with its upkeep by taking care of watering the plants when Dad wasn’t able to help with that.

Anyway, Sonata glanced over a few of the blooming flowers while I stooped down to check if the plants had enough water. When I saw that nothing was needed, I got up stood next to Sonata.

“It looks good so far, and I think a few of our neighbors were going to expand it a bit more though."

“For realsies?” she asked. “What do you think they are going to plant?”

I hemmed and hawed for a bit before replying with, “Not sure. Probably vegetables.”

“Oh, that sounds boring,” Sonata said disappointedly.

"Maybe, but it would mean fresh ingredients without having to go to the store." That didn't seem to satisfy her, so I offered, "Still I think it would be kind of neat if they set aside a spot for a few more flowering plants or bonsai trees."

“What are those?” she asked.

"They are those miniature trees that you can shape however you like.”

“Oh. Hmm, that would be pretty cool.”

We took a seat up there for a while before she asked me something else. “Hey, Slate. Could you tell me how my singing sounds?. Adagio said that I was a bit off the last time that we practiced."

“Sure. I don't mind." I offered. "Start whenever you're ready."

“Okay, I hope it doesn't sound too bad." She hummed a few notes anxiously as she tried to gauge the right pitch before she started singing. It had a nice rhythm and didn’t sound bad in the slightest. The only time that it might have been off was when she reached for notes of a higher register, at which point she sort of strained to sustain them. But all that was overshadowed by the fact that it was a love song. She finished up and looked to me expectantly. “So what do you think?”

“I liked it, "I replied. "I honestly don't know what Adagio is talking about. It was beautiful, really romantic.”

“Oh,” A rosy tint began to fill her cheeks, “Thank you.”

"Hmm, I wasn't expecting something like that," I admitted to her starting to get the same color in my face. "Um, it isn't really my thing but would you mind if I show you how my singing has come along?"

She had an intrigued look about her when she heard my offer. “You’ve been practicing too?”

I shrugged and replied, "It was more along the lines of shower singing. Probably won't sound as great as you guys but I've taken some time to improve on the off chance that I get asked to do some karaoke."

"Well, now I really want to hear you." She leaned forward attentively.

"Alright," I exhaled trying to get rid of the jitters before I started singing for Sonata. I had decided to sing a rock ballad that I had heard last week. Unfortunately, since I still wasn't all that great at singing, I would drop from the higher octaves to keep it sounding passably decent. Nevertheless, I managed to remember all the lyrics, so at least there was that. By the end of it, I was glad that it was just both of us up there.

Quite frankly I was expecting to hear a bit of laughter from her, but she never did. Instead, she was giving me a very enamored look.

She scooted closer to me. “I loved it. Thank you."

Author's Note

It's been a while but I'm looking forward to posting this story.