Why’re you even applying at the dojo? You know Will has his favourites already and you aren’t one of them. Why would he pick you, the new guy nobody listens to, over them? Face it, you’re not getting the job.

I shot upright in my bed, and I swore I could hear whispers. I took a moment to let my breathing even out as my heartbeat steadied and the weird terror subsided. “Ugh, what was that about,” I muttered to an empty room as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I took a look at my phone and, to my annoyance, I found that I had woken up only five minutes before the alarm was set to go off.

Tuesday morning

I dragged myself out of bed and went to the kitchen for breakfast. As I went through my morning, I tried to remember what it was that I had dreamt throughout the night but found that my memories were fuzzy. By then, Dad had already left for work, but he had left a hand-written note on the kitchen table, that read: Had to go in early. Please water the garden as soon as you can, and make sure the apartment is clean.

Without anything else to do, I went up to the rooftop garden, passing by and greeting a few neighbors as I made my way over. Twenty minutes later, I had watered every plant. While I wrapped up the hose, I noticed that the sun was barely peeking out over the horizon.

As I headed back to the apartment, it occurred to me that the last time that I contacted Heavyweight was to let him know when our camping trip was. It might be a good idea to check on him, actually.

“He should be here sometime today,” I mused, hoping that he hadn’t had any problems on the way into town. I decided to head down to the front of the building and see if Heavyweight hadn’t arrived during the night.

There was no sign of him, I found while peeking over the rooftop. I shrugged at the sight and went back to the apartment to get my chores out of the way as quickly as possible.

I was finishing up around the apartment, dusting a windowsill, when I heard a few knocks on the door, so of course, I dropped what I was doing to check it out. It turned out that Sonata was waiting on the other side along with, and a bit surprisingly, Aria.

“Hey, Sonata. Hey, Aria. What’s up?” I greeted them with a hint of concern. “Did something happen? You usually call ahead.”

Sonata nodded her head and answered with a concerned tone. "Yeah, when we got back from our walk a little while ago some guy drove up to us and asked if he was near the apartment's address."

Aria then chimed in. "He also said he was looking for you, but Sonata didn't tell him anything. So what, do you owe him money or something? Would be a real shame if Sonata couldn't find you tomorrow." She said with a smirk.

A bit bewildered by her remark, I shook my head before addressing her. “Okay, exactly why'd you come up here?”

Aria stroked her chin. “Well I would've set up a chair down there and gotten some popcorn to watch you get beat up, but figured I might as well watch all the drama unfold.”

“Uh-huh. I think I've figured out why Adagio has such a short temper.”

She crossed her arms. "Consider it payback for that day under the stage."

“Sure, for something I didn't even start. Anyways, did he give a name?”

Sonata then spoke up. “I think he said his name was Heavyweight.”

I couldn’t help smirking. "Ah, okay. Sorry, Aria, I think you're going to have to find your cheap entertainment elsewhere. Turns out he's one of my friends. You know you could watch random fights on the internet, right?"

“Not with Adagio constantly nagging me.”

I crossed my arms and just replied with, "Hmm, sounds like karma."

Aria just grumbled under her breath.

I then asked, “So did he take off or is he still down there?”

Sonata placed a hand to her chin. “I think he might still be down there.”

"Well, I better go check it out." I went and picked up my keys from the counter. "Care to join me?"

Before Aria could give a snarky remark, Sonata spoke up. "Yeah, let's go."

The three of us headed down to the first floor. Upon going out the door, Aria blurted out, "There, that's the car." She motioned to a silver, mid-size sedan. And it appeared that there was an occupant, so I walked on over to check. When I got next to the passenger side door, I saw a husky guy sitting in the driver's seat scrolling through something on his phone. I tapped the window to get his attention to which he looked up, and the flustered look changed to one of delighted recognition.

He hopped out of the car and greeted me with, "Slate! It's been way too long, man." He came over onto the sidewalk and gave me a firm bro-hug. Compared to him, we were about the same height, but he had me beat in terms of width. Quite the hefty fellow. It was all muscle though; he could outlift me as well any day to boot. Then Heavyweight noticed Aria and Sonata. "Oh hey, it's those two girls that I spoke to earlier. So you do know each other then." He mentioned, as if it was more an accusation than just an observation.

"Heh, yeah about that, long story short, there've been a few instances of shady people causing problems, so they were just being cautious. But this is Aria and Sonata," I pointed to each of them respectively.

I then turned to the girls. “This is the friend from my hometown, Heavyweight.”

He walked up to both of them and offered an outstretched hand. "It's very nice to meet both of you."

Sonata shook his hand and with a smile replied, “It's nice to meet you too. Especially knowing that you aren't out to get anyone.”

Aria, on the other hand, gave a slight huff and aloofly mentioned, "Great, another one."

Sonata shot her a look of annoyance which she promptly ignored. I could only shake my head as Heavyweight stared at me in confusion.

Trying to gloss past Aria’s negativity I spoke up, “So, it must have been a long trip. Feel free to come on up to my apartment and take care of anything you want done.”

A look of relief washed over his face. “Thanks, man. You wouldn't believe how many of the rest stops along the way were disaster zones. Kind of a nightmare.”

"Yeah, sounds almost like our trip out here," I recalled my and Dad's road trip to move into Canterlot with a slight shudder. "Well let's head on up." I said.

"Alright, just give me a sec." He opened the passenger side door on his car and pulled out a backpack. "Okay, ready."

As I got the door to the building, I asked Sonata, "So, I suppose I'll catch up with you a little later if you're not busy?"

Sonata nodded. “Yeah, we were going to get to practice soon.”

Aria added, “I’d rather not, Adagio always sucks the fun out of it. Like if she sucks hard enough, she’ll get her magic back.”

Sonata then offered, "Well, I guess the first part’s true, but we wouldn't have made all the improvements that we have without her constantly pushing us. She really does care, you know."

“Still pretty annoying.” Aria retorted.

Sonata shrugged and turned back to me before saying, “Either way I’ll see you after practice.”

With that, she came up to me and planted a quick kiss on my cheek before both of them headed up the stairwell. I then turned back to my friend. "Well come on let's head on up."

As we climbed up the steps Heavyweight, incredulously asked, “You’re going out with Sonata? That was her name, right? The blue-haired girl?”

With a slight grin I replied with, “Yeah, I wouldn’t have ever figured it would work out like this either. I’m not complaining though.”

"One thing's for sure; I thought Aria might have been the girl you were going out with at first," he mentioned.

“If I'd met her first, things might've been drastically different,” I explained.

Once we arrived at my apartment, I gave Heavyweight a good tour; I was relieved that I’d finished most of the work around the place before he showed up. Dad hates it when we have visitors round and the place isn’t totally immaculate.

“It’s pretty nice here, man,” he said with a slight smile. “So is it cool if I use the shower? It was a really long trip.”

“Yeah. Its no problem at all.” I grabbed a towel out of one of the closets in the hall and handed it to him. “Have at it.”

While he scrubbed the stench of a week’s sweat and a few beers out, I made sure that the apartment was spotless so that Dad wouldn't have anything to object to later. Just in case.

When he finally finished, and probably used up all the hot water for the month, Heavyweight met me in the living room. After getting him a soda, we both took a seat on the sofa, facing the tv.

A bit curious I asked, “So, how are things back home?”

"Well, the family's doing well, and the rest of the guys have been alright. Although, a few of them got bummed out that you didn't let them know you were taking off," he explained, after taking a sip of his coke.

I breathed out a sigh at that last part. “I know that, man. It’s not like I wanted to up and disappear without a word. And to top it off when I did try getting in contact with the group some of them wouldn’t even reply.”

He steepled his hands toward the floor. "I don't know maybe they took it a bit personally."

"I guess so," I replied contemplatively. "Well, in that case, can I ask you just to let the guys know that I'd really like to get back in contact with them when you get back?"

“Sure, Slate.”

“Thanks, man.”

“No problem. By the way, just out of curiosity, when did you meet that girl?” he asked, “She doesn’t really seem like the type you’d run into at a dojo. Her sister, maybe. But not her.”

“You mean Sonata? Hm, I met her right around the time that we'd gotten settled in actually.”

He nodded. “So what, like you met her while moving into the apartment, or was it over at school?”

I almost laughed when I heard the question. “Heh, no. It was more along the lines of when I rescued her.”

He was a bit thrown off by that. "What do you mean? Like you saved her life or something?"

“That’s exactly it.”

“Really, well don’t keep me waiting. What happened?” he asked, disbelief flashing across his face.

“Some of the local wannabe tough guys cornered her near the dojo that I had enrolled in right when I was leaving. Luckily I was able to stop them before things got ugly.”

Now with a bit more skepticism, he replied, "Oh yeah, sure. Mr. Superhero saved the day and got the girl."

"Well, whether you believe me or not, that is what happened. Even got a little bit of proof." I showed him my right palm which had a scar across it. Granted, Aria gave me that one but I thought it would lend some credence to my story.

His eyes went wide. “Holy crap, I thought you were joking.”

I shook my head and shrugged it off. “Nah, man. Still, I can't believe that I’ve gotten into more fights around here than back home.”

“Guess it's the whole new guy thing,” Heavyweight suggested.

We continued to chat while I waited for Sonata to finish up with practice, him and I just catching up on each-other’s lives. After a while, Heavyweight and I decided to play each other in a few matches of King of the Iron First 6, one of our favourite fighting games. As we neared the end of our eighth bout, I got a text back from Sonata.

Practice is over, mind if we hang out at your place?

Not at all. Head on up whenever you want, I sent.

As I was sitting there I wondered about the ambiguous wording. Did she mean just us hanging out or was she bringing her sisters along? I don’t really think introducing Heavyweight to Adagio would exactly help either party. I guess they’re pretty similar in how much they train, but too much intensity can be a bad thing, especially after I just cleaned the house.

My thoughts were cut short when Sonata showed up, knocking a tune into the door. For better or for worse, she had decided to let Aria tag along.

“Hello again,” I greeted while leading them into the apartment. “How’d it go?”

“Boring.” Aria growled.

Sonata replied in a better mood, “It was alright. I mean we’re still improving.”

"Still boring and thanks to Miss Perfectionist, annoying as hell," Aria added.

“Huh, oh yeah. Where is Adagio anyways?” I asked, genuinely curious as to the girl’s absence. I hoped saying her name didn’t jinx it or anything and she wouldn’t pop out from under the seat cushions the moment I looked away.

Sonata quickly explained, “She felt like going out, so she headed to the mall. She said she wanted to clear her head or something.”

“Well, whatever makes her happy.” I gave a quick shrug.

Aria furrowed her brow in thought. “I don't think happy is in her vocabulary. You know she was probably just going to mooch cocktails off people.”

I just responded with, “Eh, probably. Anyways, make yourselves at home.”

They went and took a seat on the sofa while I picked up my controller to put it away. As I did Aria noticed the tv screen and spoke up.

“Either of you any good at that?” I wasn’t sure but it sounded condescending to me.

Heavyweight gave a bit of a snort as he replied, “I like to consider myself decent at it.”

“I'm no professional if that's what you're getting at, but I think I’m alright.” I took a seat next to Sonata. “Care to play a few rounds?”

“Yeah, I don’t mind” Sonata chimed in.

“This should be fast, sure,” Aria said smugly.

“Oh really, I call first round.” There was a fire in Heavyweight’s eyes at that statement.

“How about this?” I suggested. “The winner stays in, while the loser switches out. First one to three consecutive victories against everyone else wins.”

They all nodded in agreement as we kicked off our little competition, starting with Heavyweight vs. Aria. He managed to win the first round but lost the following two by a large margin. Next, Heavyweight passed the controller off to Sonata who, unfortunately, promptly got demolished in all three rounds against Aria. It was my turn, with the first round going to Aria with half a life bar intact. I barely managed to win the next one with a pixel of health. And our final round, I'm ashamed to say, ended in a win for me by sudden death. I went on to lose to Heavyweight, which led to us swapping out for a good while. Laughs were had, slight raging on all our parts happened now and then. It almost seemed like there was no end in sight to all the matches, but Aria did indeed win against the three of us eventually.

“Damn it!” Heavyweight exclaimed in frustration.

I turned to Sonata and mentioned in confusion, “I thought you said your sisters didn’t play any games.”

Sonata became defensive and corrected me. “I said Adagio hates video games. And this is the reason why.”

“Heh. Lame. I thought you guys would have been more of a challenge.” Aria gloated with a smirk across her smug face.

“Pfft, whatever,” Heavyweight retorted. “It’s not like you beat us right off the bat.”

“Still mopped the floor with the three of you,” Aria mentioned.

“Good for you” Feeling a bit fed up by her remarks, I decided to head to the kitchen. “I’m going to get some water. Do any of you want anything?”

"I guess some water would be fine. I’m out of coke anyway." Heavyweight huffed.

Aria, of course, had something else to add. “I’ll take some too. Need to rehydrate after all that salt.”

Plastering on a forced smile, I just responded with, "Sure, be right back."

“Let me give you a hand,” Sonata offered as she followed me to the kitchen.

I pulled the fridge door open and pulled out a few water bottles, and another soda for Heavyweight, before Sonata took a couple of them into her hands. She let out a light sigh before replying, "Sorry, about Aria."

I replied, “Sonata, you don't have to apologize for her every time she does something rude. Besides it was just trash talk, even if it was getting a bit grating.”

“Even so, I brought her along, so…” she said abashedly.

“Trust me, it's not a big deal,” I reassured her. “She does seem to be coming around more often now though. It's a little weird to me.”

Sonata tilted her head and briefly mentioned, “I guess she just got bored with what she does to pass the time.”

“Hmm, maybe,” I mused aloud as we headed back to the living room. We passed the bottles to everyone and sat back down.

Heavyweight, having cooled off from our little tourney, asked us, “So, are you guys looking forward to tomorrow?”

"Yeah man, I've been anticipating it since last week," I answered.

“It will be a nice break from the day to day grind.” Sonata took the opportunity to recline back into the sofa.

Heavyweight nodded before replying, “I just hope it's more manageable than camping out near the mountains back home.”

"How was that anyway?" I asked.

"Hmm, the setup and hiking were alright. Got a few good shots of the scenery out there too, but with it being the desert and all that, it wasn't exactly great for a stay longer than a couple of days."

"Weather-wise, it should be slightly better out here, even if it is the start of summer," I mentioned.

“Yeah, now you've got a better chance of becoming a bear’s lunch,” Aria said mockingly; it seems she likes trash talking even when the game’s paused.

"Well, it's a shame that you won't be gracing us with your presence. Would've helped us save on bear repellant," I replied disinterestedly.

“You wouldn’t want to join us out there would you?” Sonata asked Aria.

She smirked and then shook her head before responding, “Sure, stranding myself in the wilderness with a bunch of losers sounds like fun. Yeah right.”

“Good, I think I’ll count that as a freaking huge bullet dodged in my book.” Heavyweight retorted.

“You read?” Aria jabbed. “That's a shock.”

Not wanting an argument to break out amongst my guests I feigned a loud yawn. "Okay. This is some great parlor talk and all, but it's getting late. We really should get ready for tomorrow's early start. Right guys?"

“You're right Slate,” Sonata replied in agreement. “Gotta make sure we have everything ready to go as soon as we get up.”

"Speak for yourselves." Aria was still trying to put up an air of aloofness as she headed over to the door. "See you when you all get back if you get back."

Heavyweight and I shook our heads, but Sonata got my attention. "See you guys tomorrow," she said sweetly before giving me a quick kiss and leaving out the door with Aria.

“Huh, and you're sure that they are related?” Heavyweight asked.

“You think they clash, you should meet their other sister.” I closed the door and took my seat once more.

“Nah man, if she's anything like Aria, I’d rather not.” He looked at the entryway nervously as if Adagio just might show up.

I could only respond with, “Good call.”

We relaxed till Dad got back. He was quite nostalgic about greeting my friend; he and Heavyweight’s parents had been good friends too.

“Heavyweight, it's good to see you again. How are things going? How’s the family?” dad asked as if he had run into a long lost relative.

Heavyweight a bit more bashfully answered, “Hello, Mr. Steel. Everything’s been going great, and the family is doing fine too.”

"Ah, good to hear. Well, give Slate and me a bit to get dinner ready then. I hope penne ala arrabiata sounds good."

Heavyweight just grinned. He’d eat anything, but after a week on the road, I’d imagine that real, home-cooked, food tasted like heaven.

The prep time for the meal was relatively short, penne cooks fast after all, and we got to eating dinner along with some banter not soon afterward. We mainly discussed everything that we had already explained earlier, mostly so Dad could catch up on our old town's news. When we finished, Heavyweight and I washed the dishes, before he left to go and find a place to sleep.

You know for wanting to teach others how to defend themselves, you sure couldn’t do so against two girls. Didn’t think to call for help or plan out before leaping into a bad situation. And the Games, you were useless while everyone was in danger, especially to Sonata. How do you even expect to defend others if you can’t protect yourself?

My eyes shot wide open, but I fought the urge to jump out of my bed. I looked all around my room and found it to be as dark as the night before.

"Another nightmare," I muttered as I rubbed my face. "What is with these dreams?"

I tried to see if I could make any sense out of the dream, but it was a pointless endeavor. The details were too blurry to get any real value out of them, and I was too tired to spend that much time obsessing over that right now. I glanced at my phone and found out that I had woken up an hour earlier than I expected. I tried closing my eyes but couldn't fall back asleep either.

Wednesday morning

The day of the trip had arrived. I helped Heavyweight pack our things into the back of his car. Between his and my stuff, there was still plenty of room in the trunk for Sonata’s own things, whenever she decided to come down anyway.

"Okay, all that's missing now is your girlfriend, and we can get on the road." Heavyweight took a moment to push the luggage closer together, freeing up as much room as he could.

“Yeah, normally she would have already been out here.” I surveyed the front of the apartments. “Wonder if I should go get her?”

Speak of the Siren, Sonata then pushed the foyer doors open, backpack and sleeping bag in hand.

“Ah, there she is.” Turning from Heavyweight back to her I asked, “Are you ready to head out?”

With an enthusiastic nod of the head, she replied with, "Yup. Um, you guys weren't waiting long were you?"

“Nah, we barely got out here a few minutes ago,” I said, before taking her things and placing them into the trunk.

Right before I closed it though, Aria walked out of the front doors. She stood there, leaning against the wall, arms crossed and glaring uncomfortably at… something.

“Morning, Aria,” Heavyweight greeted, unable to properly hide the displeasure in his voice. “Come by to see us off?”

Aria sighed before answering in an embarrassed tone, “I wanted to ask you guys something.”

“What is it, Aria?” Sonata asked.

Aria sighed. “Is there room for one more in that car?”

Heavyweight, now far more than just skeptical, asked, “Are you serious? Didn't you say yesterday that you weren't interested in camping? Is this some kind of joke”

She rolled her eyes and shot back, “Well, between the local wildlife and Adagio, I think I would rather take my chances with grizzly bears and rattlesnakes than trying to survive her pestering me to master singing. Again. Especially when I know Sonata’s goofing off.”

Sonata, taking offense at the insult, retorted, “Oh yeah, I asked her ahead of time.”

I shrugged over to Heavyweight and asked, “I don’t know, shall we show her a little mercy?”

He sighed heavily and turned to Aria. “I hope you brought down everything you’ll need out there. We’re on a bit of a schedule.”

“Yeah, no. Give me like two hours,” Aria snarked.

Without skipping a beat, Heavyweight told us, "I'm leaving her. Let's go."

Aria quickly pulled out a sleeping bag and backpack from the entrance. “Relax, I have everything here. How about learning to take a joke?”

“If you ask me, you need better material,” I responded as I gestured to the open trunk.

She frowned a bit as she brought her things over and chucked them in. With a slam of the trunk we piled into the car, Sonata and Aria in the back, and me and Heavyweight in the front.

We made our way to Sweet Apple Acres and eventually came to the barn where Big Mac was loading an ice chest into his truck bed. We parked right next to him, and I called to him through rolled down windows, "Morning, Big Mac. Are we ready to go?"

“Almost,” He replied. “Still waiting on Maud.”

“So much for being on a schedule,” Aria muttered from the back seat.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” I replied from the passenger side seat. I then turned back to Big Mac and asked, “So, do you need help with anything else before we go?”

“Could use a little help with the last ice chest.” He pointed over his shoulder to the large container near the barn doors.

"Sure thing" Between Heavyweight and myself, the box was easily loaded onto the truck.

On closer inspection, we saw that besides from the more obvious camping gear, like his tent and a coil of rope, Big Mac had packed a hand ax, as well as a fishing pole.

Heavyweight then asked, “So, is there good fishing up where we're going?”

He then nodded giving a brief, “Eeyup.”

“Neat,” was all that I could come up with, having never actually fished myself.

“A stream flows from the mountain and feeds into a small lake near the campsite,” he added.

Scratching my chin, I added, "Sounds a bit crowded setting up camp right next to a mountain."

Big Mac just shook his head, “Nope, the mountains are several miles away from the lake.”

"Oh, well that sounds a bit better." I closed the liftgate.

Just then a small car rolled up and parked behind us. Shortly after a girl stepped out and in a genuine monotone greeted us with, “Hello everyone. Sorry for running late, Boulder had to make an emergency stop on the way over. I’m really looking forward to this trip.”

Honestly, I had no idea whether or not she was sincere.

I'm pretty sure at that moment I wasn't the only one who was hoping that Aria wouldn't give any attention, but I guess that would have been asking for too much. She smirked. "Woah, gonna need you to reign in that enthusiasm." She said.

"Sorry, I'm just really excited," the girl droned.

Trying to keep Aria from going overboard with the taunting, I then spoke up. “Hi, I don't think we've met before, I’m Slate, this is Heavyweight and the two girls over there are Aria and Sonata. You must be the Maud that I’ve heard Pinkie talking about. No offense, but you’re not what I imagined her sister would be like.”

“Oh, yes. Pinkie also mentioned you guys a few times. Nice to meet you all in person.”

Big Mac then jumped into the conversation, "Welp, now that everyone's here we should really start heading to the campsite. It's a bit of a ways off."

“Right. We’ll follow your lead then.”

With that, we piled back into the car, backed out of the farm and were soon following Big Mac along the highway, trees and strip malls flashing by as we drove.

Heavyweight flicked on the radio. None of us felt like talking.

Sonata suggested a pop station, Aria slapped her head with a palm. I soon learned why. I don't mind most pop artists like Sapphire Shores or Countess Coloratura, but there's only so much a man can take. After an hour I started to reach for the stereo, aiming to throw the thing out the window.

Only then did Aria speak up, and request a different station.

I didn’t like rap much better than pop, not at all really. But Sonata did at least. Neither Heavyweight nor I were too happy after the first song came and went, and I thought that the steering wheel was going to crack with how hard the guy gripped it. I guess it was his stereo after all. He probably did not want it smashed on the side of the road.

I flicked it over to a rock station around when I heard the plastic frame creak.

Thank god I did because I think I was about to have an aneurysm. Canterlot 409 played a good mix of classic and modern rock, like Cheval. At this point I was convinced that Sonata had an eclectic taste in music since she was rocking out to it; Aria seemed a bit tortured. At the three hour mark, our train of vehicles had finally reached the forest's edge and the radio signal had become dead air and feedback shortly afterwards.

Finally we reached a compromise on the radio. Nobody liked static. Everyone liked silence. At least, more than the 18th pop ballad in a row anyway.

Even though the sun was making its way up into the sky, the height of the gigantic red-wood trees managed to block out most of its rays. One thing was sure, it was a pretty scenic route, if not a tad intimidating.

We had followed Big Mac for a while down the main road past the point that we could see where we had entered when he turned down an unmarked dirt road. Heavyweight then gave me an anxious glance. “Hope we don't wind up getting lost out here.”

Aria sarcastically added, "Come a few days from now the newspaper headlines are gonna read 'Teens found gruesomely murdered by mutant hillbillies.'”

I turned back to Aria with a raised eyebrow. “Wasn’t that the plot of a movie like several years back? How original.” I honestly thought it was a good movie, but basically being in the exact same setting was not the place I wanted to be reminded of it.

She smirked and replied, “So? It'd make the whole trip more interesting.”

Sonata, on the other hand, didn't seem all that thrilled with the subject matter of the conversation. "Do you have to bring up those horror movies?" She grimaced.

Aria, seeing that she had struck a nerve, decided to tease Sonata a bit. “Aww, what's the matter Sonata, are you s-scared? Need a blankie?”

Sonata after becoming more flustered shot back, “NO! That movie just sucked, like you do at practice.”

Aria grinned defiantly and proclaimed, “Them’s fighting words!”

I was about to facepalm. "Really?" I then took notice of Sonata who was getting ready to smack Aria. "Oh come on!"

All I can say is Aria takes pride in making others drop to her level.

Finally Heavyweight announced, “Kids! Don’t make me turn this car around!”

Aria then shot back, "Who are you calling 'kid,' I'm older than you!"

“Could've fooled me.”

Everyone calmed down after that, leaving only the muted radio to fill the silence. At nine-thirty we finally came to a stop on the side of the dirt road. Everyone scrambled out a second afterwards to stretch.

Big Mac asked us, “How’re you all holding up?”

Maud answered in the usual monotone, “Pretty good. I liked the basalt formation along the way.”

I responded with, “Other than a little cabin fever, okay. We’re all getting along pretty well.” Oh man, I couldn't help feeling that was a bold faced lie.

Aria then stated, “I blame the company.”

Sonata pouted, “You would.”

Tensions were still running high from the car ride over and I'm sure it was written all over mine and Heavyweights' faces. "Well it's a good thing that we aren't cooped up in there anymore, so why don't we start unloading the supplies. Right, Big Mac?"

"Uh, eeyup."

Before long we had unloaded all of our supplies and followed Big Mac on a short hike away from the vehicles; he ensured us that they’d be fine locked on the roadside. It wasn’t like anybody would try to steal a car out here, in the middle of nowhere. About half an hour later, we came to a small clearing in the trees that seemed to be the site of multiple excursions, judging by the spot in the rough centre stained dark with ash. Just after I had set my stuff down, Big Mac called me and Heavyweight over.

“You guys mind helping me get the ice chests over here?” He asked, pointing to the chest. For the amount of hauling I’ve done for those, I sure hope that there’s something good inside them.

“No problem,” Heavyweight answered.

We walked back to his truck and got the chests out of the truck bed. To save a bit of time, Heavyweight got between both of them and took hold of the handles while Big Mac and I grabbed either end. After another short trek back, we were able to start on the camp set up.

“Best to start pitching the tents while the sun's still out,” Big Mac suggested.

While the instructions blatantly lied about the ease of assembly I managed to put together Sonata’s tent. Everyone else had finished setting up before I did. I blame the fact that I can’t speak Flemish, which the instructions were written in. For some reason.

Heavyweight stood back as he held back his laughter. “I thought you might wind up needing some help with that.”

Aria snidely remarked, “I was preparing to sleep under the stars tonight anyway.”

I could feel my face burning up with embarrassment. “Aria, for you that can still be arranged. As for the tent, I'm a bit rusty.”

“Whatever,” Heavyweight replied.

I rolled my eyes and asked, “So, should we be getting some stuff for tonight?”

Big Mac hemmed and hawed for a while before he started listing off duties. “Well, we’re going to have to make a fire pit; gather up plenty of firewood and find some large logs to sit on, unless y’all don’t mind sitting on the floor.”

Maud spoke up and dryly stated, “I’ll find us some stones for the fire pit. And some to keep Boulder company. He gets lonely outside the city.”

Aria walked over and stood next to Maud before saying, “I think I’ll join the statue on her rock hunt.”

I slapped my forehead with a smack while Heavyweight let out a sigh. Sonata scolded her sister, “Aria, knock it off!” I'm not sure what Big Mac was thinking but based on his annoyed expression it probably wasn't anything flattering.

To our surprise, however, Maud in her signature dry tone just replied with, “I’ve always seen myself more as unworked granite, thanks for the compliment.”

Aria shot Sonata, Heavyweight and me a triumphant grin. “Don’t mention it.”

Heavyweight, shaking his head in disbelief just replied, "Okay, fine. I guess I'll help bring some logs back to the camp."

Big Mac nodded in agreement. “Eeyup. We’ll get that done in no time.” He then hung the hand ax on his side and patted it. “Just in case we need to cut them smaller.”

I looked over to Sonata and then back to the rest of them with a shrug, "I guess we'll get the firewood then."

She gave me a quick smile. “It’ll be easy.”

“Alright, let's get to it,” Big Mac announced.

Before Sonata and I began our task like the others, I rummaged through my backpack and retrieved a survival knife along with some parachute cords and our compass.

We started heading away from the clearing all the while picking up decently sized sticks along the way. It was probably going to take a good while to find enough good kindling, and within several minutes I noticed that we were barely able to see the campsite.

“Whoa, hold on a second, I think we may be getting too far away from the camp.”

Sonata looked up from a stick on the ground and surveyed the area around us. When she saw how far we had gotten, she stammered, "I didn't even notice, good thing we stopped. Hmm, I guess we should stick around here then."

I wiped a bead of sweat from my brow before I noticed the disappointed look that she had at the thought of merely staying near the camp the entire time. Admittedly playing it safe was my intention but figured maybe we could ignore it just this once. No harm in living dangerously, once every so often.

“That would be the safe thing to do, but I think we could go a bit further. That way we can see a little more of the forest.” Sonata immediately cheered up at that. “Just need to do one thing.”

I quickly got behind a tree and checked to see if the view of the camp was blocked by it. I then pulled out my knife and started removing a chunk of bark from the side of the tree. Sonata simply watched in confusion.

“What are you doing?” she asked as I removed one final piece and placed it in my pocket.

Turning my attention from the tree to her, I explained, “Just making a mark to tell where we've been. This way, the further we go we can follow them back, kind of like a trail of breadcrumbs.”

“Oh, that's really clever,” she said with a smile.

“Well, as long as it keeps us from getting lost, I guess it is,” I joked before gesturing to the way ahead. “Shall we?”

Every so often, as we grew our firewood collection, I would check the compass and debark a tree every twenty or so meters. The ambiance of woodpeckers drilling away at the trees every so often and chirping insects accompanied our walk. Eventually, we got up to our eighth tree when we couldn't hold the wood properly anymore.

“Hey, Sonata. Bring the sticks you've got over here," I huffed out as I laid my pile on the ground. She put hers right next to mine.

“Why, what's up?”

“I'm gonna make this a little easier on us.”

I got out the role of cord and wrapped it around both piles of sticks until it was a single large bundle. Once it was tied, I held it under my arm.

“There we go,” I declared while adjusting the sticks. “Pretty sure we have enough for tonight.”

“Okay, so should we head back now?” she asked while shaking off the soreness from her arms.

I nodded, “Yeah, it'd probably be best.”

It was a good thing that the markings on the trees were distinguishable enough from a distance; otherwise, we might have wound up going in circles.

When we arrived back at camp, we found a half completed ring of rocks and a log big enough to seat two. I placed the bundle next to the trunk and the bark shavings I had collected in the soon to be completed fire pit.

Sonata took a seat on the log and pulled her foot onto her knee as she rotated her ankle. “Do your feet hurt as much as mine?”

“I don't know, I mean they're a little sore but nothing some rest can’t cure.”

“I guess you're right, thanks for carrying my load by the way.”

“It was nothing,” I smiled back, taking a seat beside her. Once done, I pulled out a whetstone and started sharpening my camp knife.

Sonata brushed her bangs into place with her hand as she watched me work. “It’s pretty calm out here.”

"Yeah, it's got a serene vibe to it." I finished up with the blade and putting it away. "Nothing but birds from what I can hear." Almost as if on cue a bird sang a short tune as it flew overhead.

Sonata looked up to catch a glimpse of the bird which had already flown away, but could still hear an echo. She then asked, “I thought that we would've seen more animals around, though.”

“I guess not. Then again I’m not familiar with the habits of the local wildlife,” I shrugged a bit. “I'm not even sure which particular animals live in these woods.”

Sonata then began to look uneasy. “What if there's a bunch of wolves or bears nearby?”

“I mean that's a possibility,” I hesitantly chuckled. “But I'm sure that Big Mac and his family wouldn't have made this their go-to camping spot if it was full of predators."

*snap*

Hello, Murphy, my old friend. Why'd I even open my mouth?

Sonatas eyes went wide at the sound. Before either of us could ask what that was, a blur came rushing out at us from behind one of the tents with a loud “RAAAAHHHRR!!!”

Sonata managed to deliver an equally loud, "AAAAHHHHH!!!" Right as she threw herself onto me and clung on for dear life.

I might have screamed too had Sonata not been crushing the wind out of me as she sent me toppling off the log. I gasped out, "Sonata... can't breathe…" but she remained hugging onto me with her eyes shut tight until we heard some laughter coming from over the log.

Sonata opened her eyes and sat up on top of me. Looking over the log, she pointed accusingly, "Aria, you jerk! You always have to do this kind of crap!"

Aria walked closer, still laughing. “True, heh heh, but it isn’t all bad. I mean you do seem to be pretty comfy where you are. Right?” She then waggled her eyebrows at Sonata.

Sonata, a bit confused, looked down at me.

“Not that I'm complaining but maybe let me up before you start arguing with someone else,” I mentioned uneasily, knowing that my face was slowly getting red from being in such a compromising position.

Sonata quickly got up looking beet red herself. "Sorry, Slate." She quickly offered me her hand back up.

Taking her hand, I reassured her, “ It's fine." It was impossible not to notice Aria still snickering at the both of us, and so I gave a defeated sigh. "As annoying as you're being, I have to give it to you. When you got us, you got us."

Aria, still grinning at us merely replied with "Thanks."

A brief moment later everyone else came running back with legitimate concern strewn on their faces, except for Maud who was stoic as ever.

Heavyweight hurriedly asked, “What happened? We heard a scream.”

Aria right away answered unceremoniously, “Just pranking a few love birds, or should I say chickens? That's all.”

“We thought someone was seriously hurt,” Maud droned to Aria.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac added.

“Yeah, it was definitely convincing, but it was a joke. No one was hurt. Right Sonata?" I asked hoping she would be willing to let this one slide.

She was still miffed but managed to at least give a brief “Right.”

I nodded at her and then turned to Aria, “Besides, Aria was going to reel it back on the pranks for now.”

Almost as if to sabotage my attempts to keep things amicable Aria responded with, “Can't make any promises.”

I couldn't help shooting her glare at that point even if it was for the briefest moment. Luckily she caught it and proceeded to roll her eyes before conceding with, "Fine. I'll stop with the pranks.”

At the very least I could feel that Maud and Big Mac were satisfied to hear her say that.

"Okay, now that that's over and done with, perhaps we should finish with the camp set up," Heavyweight suggested.

Big Mac agreed. “Eeyup. We were pretty close to bringing the second log into camp when we heard that scream. Mind giving us a hand with the third log, Slate.”

“Not a problem,” I agreed. “Hey, Sonata, will you be okay here?”

She narrowed her eyes at Aria and replied, “I should be.”

Maud then tapped her on the shoulder. “You can come with us if you'd like. We only need a few more rocks for that fire pit.”

“Sure, I’ll help with that.”

Big Mac, Heavyweight, and I headed east and found the log that they had been lugging towards the camp earlier. Between the three of us, it was hardly a challenge to get it back to camp. The last log that Big Mac decided to bring back, however, was a different story. It was bigger than the other two logs and was quite a distance away from camp. At first, we tried to lift it completely whole, but the weight and our growing fatigue, forced us to stop not even halfway back.

“Hold up,” Big Mac told us, “Might be a good idea to lighten the load.” We let the log drop to the ground with a thud against the soil. He then took his ax and started hacking off a section of the log. Heavyweight and I stood there watching as Big Mac cut into the wood for about ten minutes when he got to the center.

“If you want, I can take care of the chopping from here,” Heavyweight offered.

“I’d appreciate it.” Big Mac passed off his ax to him.

Another ten or so minutes had passed before Heavyweight finished cutting through the log. “There. Let’s see if we can get it back without as much trouble now.”

We lifted the log onto our shoulders and continued back to the camp. Thankfully, it was a bit more manageable that time around, even if it did take a while to get back.

We placed the log down near the completed fire pit, and by that time the sun had already begun its descent from directly overhead.

The girls sat nearby, while Sonata came over to me and asked, “What took you guys so long?”

“Eh, long story short: that log was a bit too heavy, so we had to cut it," I explained.

Heavyweight then interjected, “You mean ‘we’ had to cut it,” all the while pointing his thumb between himself and Big Mac.

“Okay, still helped to carry it before and after you guys cut it,” I replied with a shrug.

“The main thing is it's here.” Big Mac stated while wiping away some sweat from his forehead. “Anyway, we should probably stop for lunch.”

“Finally!” Aria exclaimed. “Took you guys long enough to decide on that.”

“Alright, alright. So I take it that the coolers have all the food?” I asked Big Mac.

As per usual he gave a concise, “Eeyup.”

I nodded and headed over to the ice chests to check what there was. Heavyweight walked up behind me and said, “So, looks like we can make some sandwiches right now.”

We took out some packets of cold cuts, cheese slices, bottles of condiments, and a loaf of bread and placed them all on the other ice chest. We got a few paper plates and handed them out to everyone so they could make their sandwiches. While it wasn't anything too fancy, we enjoyed the meal and made small talk.

Maud pulled out a pebble from her pocket before tearing off a piece of bread from her sandwich and placing it next to that rock.

With the others around I asked, "What's with the rock?"

She simply told us, "Making sure Boulder is fed." She proceeded to gently pet it.

Heavyweight and I shared a confused look before he gestured to her with his thumb as if asking for an explanation. All I could do was raise both hands in an equally confused shrug. When we turned back the piece of bread was gone.

She then pointed over to firepit and said, "I don't feel that any of the rocks would get along with Boulder."

Heavyweight still unsure of how to respond said, "Sorry, to hear that?”

She tore off another piece of bread and said, “Perhaps the ones near the lake will be more friendly.”

While we were still perplexed by Mauds’ odd behavior I overheard Aria teasing Sonata about her reaction earlier. “You know, had something been going after you earlier you would have been a goner.”

Sonata then muttered to Aria, "It's not like I came out here for a survival show, you psycho."

Their conversation soon devolved into bickering between the both of them.

Big Mac whispered to me and Heavyweight, "They always like that?"

Heavyweight answered with, "I have no clue."

I replied with a hushed, "It's a safe bet."

Big Mac shook his head as he recounted about his family. "They remind me of a few of my relatives that butt heads whenever they're together. Wound up forcing us to cancel one of our family camping trips."

"That's rough, man. I'd hate to have to bail on a planned trip because of a disagreement." Heavyweight then turned to look at Aria and Sonata still going back and forth.

I sighed, "Well, they argue often, but I've seen them come to agreements when it counted."

When we finished, Big Mac got a plastic bag and gathered up the used plates into it. He then placed it into the ice chest.

“So, any reason why you stuck the trash in there?” Aria asked.

"Eeyup" he answered. "Just making sure we don't leave any trash behind." Then while Aria and Sonata weren't listening, he whispered to me, "and to keep away any varmints.”

With a raised eyebrow I whispered, “What kind of ‘varmints’ live in the area, by the way?” I can’t believe I used the word varmints. Even Heavyweight gave me a strange look.

He listed off quietly, “Raccoons, foxes, bears.” Big Mac noticed my look of concern as he continued with, “but those are few and far between. Hardly ever seen any in person on my camping trips.”

Heavyweight quickly quipped, “Hope that doesn't change this time.”

I nodded as I got up and helped get everything else put away. With the campsite prepped for the night, Big Mac decided to take all of us to the lake before it got too late and show us around.

The hike over to the lake took some effort since the path that he lead us through was partially crowded with a slightly denser growth of trees. But it was well worth it. The expanse of the water made it easy to see beyond the trees and catch a glimpse of the mountains in the distance. The mouth of the stream that flowed into the lake even revealed a winding path further into the woods. We took some photos and explored around the lake for a while.

After a while, we returned to camp with the sun already on its way over the horizon.

The first thing I did was untie the cord around the bundle of wood and arranged some of it in the middle of the fire pit while everyone one else put away their things.

Big Mac got some lighter fluid and a lighter to start the fire. Once that was going we gathered around and made ourselves comfortable on the logs to have dinner that consisted of hot dogs, chips and sodas. Truly a meal for the health conscious.

Big Mac sat next to Maud on one log, I sat with Sonata on another, and Heavyweight sat as far as he could away from Aria on the last available log. Big Mac then said, “It’s been a pretty good first day of camping. There weren't any problems with the setup, didn't have to worry about the night sneaking up on us, and no camping trip would be complete without a fire.”

“True, but there's nothing special about that,” Aria mentioned with hardly a shred of interest.

Big Mac taking Arias attitude in stride smiled before answering, “Eeyup. But maybe the surprise I brought along for the occasion will make up for that.” He then reached around to pull out a couple of large bottles from his backpack. He also pulled out some plastic cups from one of the coolers.

“What is that?” Sonata asked.

Big Mac poured some of the liquid into a cup. “Apple cider.” Upon hearing that I began to feel a hint of apprehension as he handed off the container to Sonata. As soon as it was in her hands, she took a huge gulp from it before tearing up and coughing.

We all turned to look at Big Mac who was now wearing a bashful grin as he explained, “It’s of the hard variety.”

“Extremely hard apparently,” I posited.

Sonata catching her breath barely managed to get out, “I’m good. Wasn’t expecting that though.”

Aria then replied, “And this is why Adagio and I only let you have fruit punch.”

“Well, I’m learning a whole bunch of things during this trip,” I mentioned awkwardly as Big Mac had poured out enough cider for the rest of us. He handed me a cup, which I took hesitantly while examining the liquid.

Aria seeing my reaction to the drink decided to point it out in an annoyed tone. “What’s the problem, boy scout? Not going to let that go to waste are you?”

I glanced at everyone else who was sipping their drinks except for Sonata who was swirling it around in the cup not really showing any interest in it and Heavyweight who gave me a shrug. He then replied with, "Well, when in Rome,” before taking a swig. “Not like we’re going to be on the road right now or anything.”

I quickly mentioned, "It's never really been something on the top of my to-do list." Aria was about to give me more flack on my remark, but she stopped when I took a drink. I cleared my throat and nudged Sonata. "Oof, this stuff is strong."

She replied, “Yeah, I’m not sure I like it all that much.”

“Heh, glad there aren't such things as undead murderers, otherwise we might have been on the top his list,” I mentioned as I contemplated whether to finish my drink.

Heavyweight scratched his chin and asked, “Well, now that you bring it up, anyone know any good ghost stories.”

"I don't know about any ghost stories, but I've heard about a strange meteorite found a couple of years back," Maud mentioned.

Sonata seemingly relieved to hear that sighed, “At least it isn't anything creepy.”

Maud continued, “The team of researchers that went to collect some samples of the space rock went crazy and began to turn on each other. It got to the point that one of them cannibalized the rest of their colleagues, all while offering pieces of them up to the meteorite.”

“That got intense,” Heavyweight added.

“But the worst part is that some scientists believe that there are other meteorites with the same properties that have landed all over the world. And they figure those meteorites could be anywhere.”

Sonata, now a shade paler, weakly mumbled, “This is gonna be a long night.”

I leaned in and wrapped an arm around her. "It's part of the camping experience. But it's all made up, and besides, I'll be right here next to you."

Big Mac cleared his throat. “Not bad, but I think this one will be a bit scarier.” he leaned forward as he prepared to spin us a yarn. “Everyone knows that every national park and forest has had cases of people going missing. And this forest is no different from all the others.”

Aria chimed in, “Well, yeah it's bound to happen, especially if people are unprepared for the outdoors.”

Big Mac nodded, “Eeyup, ‘cept in recent years a lot of the people that disappeared had been very experienced outdoorsmen and women and left no trace of themselves. At least according to the ones who reported them to be missing. And most of those times they were in these woods all by themselves. Although a few lone campers that have stayed by themselves and made it back to civilization have said that on nights when there is hardly a sign of wind and the moon cannot be seen, voices could barely be heard calling out to them in the darkness of the woods and shadows could be seen at the edges of their camps.”

“Hold it,” I interrupted. “So you were planning on coming out here by yourself before AJ invited us to join you?”

He shook his head, "Nope if you guys had canceled I would have just waited for another chance to go with someone else. In all honesty, I've never been in these here woods without a few family members or friends to join me. I think those people who say they heard or saw something were enjoying themselves something quite a bit stronger than apple cider."

Heavyweight then joined in, “Well, what if there is something in the woods?”

“If there is I’ve never noticed,” Big Mac replied.

“Still, I wonder what it could’ve been,” Heavyweight pondered.

Aria then said, “Well it couldn’t have been timber wolves. Those wouldn’t have hesitated to rip every single one of those campers to shreds if they could and leave massacres to find.”

Heavyweight then retorted with, “That’s pretty obvious. Besides, plain old wolves couldn't imitate voices like Big Mac said was heard.”

She rolled her eyes and started to explain, “I wasn’t talking about normal wolves. Where Sonata and I came from there were these wolves made out of fallen tree branches, bark, and other pieces of wood. No matter how much you managed to harm them they would just pull themselves back together and chase down their prey until they gave in to exhaustion, not that we ever had to deal with them.”

Heavyweight got my attention before subtly making a smoking gesture and darting his eyes from me to Aria. I gave him a smirk and slightly shook my head. When Aria saw me shaking my head, she asked in an accusing tone, "Oh what, not scary enough?"

“I didn't say anything,” I remarked. “It would definitely be pretty strange to have something like that right on my heels, but I don’t know. It seems a bit far fetched to be believable.”

Aria raised an eyebrow before asking, “Oh really, then what would you say would be more 'believable.'”

“I think it could have been a skinwalker,” I offered.

“That sounds familiar,” Big Mac thought aloud.

Aria then stated, “What a terrifying name. What does it do, trace its fingers over your back when you aren't looking.”

“According to some native peoples, they were either human witch doctors that gained the ability to take the form of animals and other people or an evil spirit that inhabits the forests,” I explained.

“Still not seeing what's so scary about that,” Aria said while crossing her arms.

"Yeah, it doesn't sound so bad, that is until you hear what people claim to have seen when they've come face to face with a skinwalker. They say that when skinwalkers disguise themselves as animals, there's always something unsettlingly off about them. Then when they go to get a closer look at those so-called animals, they find them to be a horrible rotting amalgamation of man and animal. Sometimes it's a deer that started chasing someone while running on its hind legs, other times what appeared to be a roadkill coyote got up and attacked a passerby who went to check on it. But the worst incident that I heard about was when a group of friends went out into the woods to camp. While they were sitting around the campfire, they realized that there was a stranger among them. When they confronted the stranger, it went running into the forest letting out a scream, which was followed by whispering voices that surrounded their campsite. The thing had impersonated a camper, and there were more of them just out of sight trying to lure them away from the group into the woods."

Aria looked a bit unsettled at that point. “Heh, and you said what I brought up was farfetched. That’s got to have been the lamest thing…”

She stopped mid-sentence and went almost completely pale right before she leaped off of the log. “SOMETHING CLAWED MY BACK!!!”

While almost everyone else was looking at her with concern Heavyweight was snickering while I couldn’t help doing the same. “Calm down everything is okay.”

Still, in hysterics, Aria yelled at him. "What part of clawed don't you get?!"

He smiled and replied, “Well it might have to do with the fact that I barely even brushed these against your back.” He then raised three sticks spread out like a hand for her to see. “Sorry, I couldn't resist.”

She angrily snatched the sticks from him and threw them into the fire. “Stop being an idiot.”

“Well, glass houses and all that, “Maud pointed out.

Aria huffed out, “Whatever.”

Sonata realizing what had happened spoke up. “It was deserved.”

Before anything else happened, Big Mac said, "Alright, I think we've all been wound up by those stories. Maybe we should call it a night."

"Before we do, does anyone want some of these marshmallows?" Maud asked while holding up a bag full of fluffy treats. "Pinkie Pie insisted that I bring them along, otherwise it wouldn't be an official camping trip, but I'm not all that into sweets."

We all shared perplexed looks at her seemingly silly question before accepting her offer. Several minutes later we were toasting marshmallows over the dying fire before we put away the leftover snacks into the ice chest. From there we got ready to sleep.

“G’night. See y’all in the morning,” Big Mac then slipped into his tent.

“Good night,” Maud replied as she entered hers.

"Goodnight, Slate," Sonata said as she came over kissed my cheek.

Aria, of course, had to comment. "Gag, well if monsters don't kill me, the both of your PDA will." The both of them went into Sonatas tent.

Heavyweight shook his head. “Well guess we should try to get comfortable, just let me douse the fire. Don't need any accidental blazes torching down the whole place.” Once he finished, we both got into his tent and slid into our sleeping bags before we finally nodded off.

Author's Note

As always, feel free to leave any kind of feedback.