It had been a simple set up.
Patch wanted to go camping, Starlight had invited Ace and Ace had invited Melody (who only came because her friends were already going, not because he'd invited her). Teddy had come along when Sweetheart had decided to come and Lancer followed when Bright Eyes joined. And by that point, Bon Bon and Clover had decided to come along and make it the entire group.
Lancer's involvement was also needed because, while all involved were trusted by their parents, it was universally accepted the boys and girls mainly got along when he was present. Logan had been invited, but decided not to come. Sweetheart wished he'd come along with them more often.
“It looks like the Green Winged Song Birds are repopulating nicely,” Bright Eyes commented as they came back to their camp. It was evening and they'd set up the camp on arrival, three tents in place, one for the boys and two for the girls (Starlight, Bright Eyes, Melody, and Bon Bon in one, Patch, Sweetheart, and Clover in the other). Melody had wanted to bring this fancy self folding out tent she had for herself, but Starlight had convinced her that'd defeat the purpose of an outing of all of them together as friends. They planned to spend the night and do some outdoor activities in the morning since there was no school tomorrow.
Starlight nodded...as Patch went to preparing marshmallows while Ace, being the Pony Scout of the group, got a camp fire going. “Good to know.” She looked to Ace, who didn't seem to be paying her heed. She knew he'd invited Melody because, despite her attempts, he still had a crush on her. She was jealous, but not jealous enough to do something foolish. Especially given Melody didn't return his affections at all.
“Hey, Melody, mind checking the tent for more marshmallows?” Patch asked, having finished setting up that bag of them and handing one to Bon Bon, who licked her lips and starting to cook the sugary sweet. “I think I left another bag in there...”
“Sure, Patch,” said Melody, the star pony having been fixing her mane after their hike. Given this was Patch, she briefly considered the possibility of a prank...but Bon Bon was the more obvious mark for that bait. She got up and trotted over to the tent, reaching in...and screaming so loudly someone in Ponyville might hear it, falling on her back in panic.
“Melody! What's-” Starlight started...before they saw a small, black furred creature with a pair of white stripes down it's back emerge from the tent. “Skunk!”
“Good joke, Patch...” Teddy said with a chuckle.
“I didn't do that!...Though I wish I had...except not with a real skunk!” Patch replied.
Everypony reflexively fell back...except poor Melody who was in no position to do so with the animal's hindquarters pointed in her direction, tail raised like a flag. The mare scrambled to get back on her hooves. “Good skunk...Just let me-”
The teenager's eyes went wide as she was greeted with a burst of musk from the base of the skunk's tail right as she got all four hooves on the ground. Her nose twitched and the unmistakable, horrific stench of skunk entered her sensitive nostrils. Her eyes watered up as she was stunned for a moment with her face turning green. She'd never had the misfortune of smelling skunk before, and the awful scent she was now experiencing made her grateful for that.
“Gah! You little stinker!” Melody exclaimed, backpedaling from the skunk with both hooves over her nose, coughing and gagging.
“Ugh!” groaned the others, shielding their noses with a hoof as Melody got closer. The poor singer fell on her stomach, putting both front hooves over her nose.
“Please tell me this will come off before we get back, I have a gig on Monday...” Melody moaned, tears trickling down her face.
“Don't worry, we packed plenty of tomato juice just in case this happened,” Bright Eyes explained, the others all trying to get upwind of the skunked pony, all keeping a hoof over their noses.
“It was my idea...I'm honestly surprised with my luck it wasn't me...or maybe it was my luck it wasn't...” Clover admitted. “...Wouldn't be the first time...”
Sweetheart, despite coughing and tearing up a little from doing so, took out some paper towels and water to cleaned Melody's eyes to make sure they didn't get any of the musk in them. She shot Teddy a glare when he laughed at Melody's present predicament.
Lancer watched the skunk head back into the tent. “But now we've got a skunk in one of the tents!”
“We could always hare both the other ones...” Patch pointed out.
“Even if our parents would be okay with the boys and girls in one tent, there's no way ten ponies will fit in two tents, four is already a bit snug,” Bright Eyes wisely pointed out.
“Hey, clowns fit in a clown car all the time!”
“Plus a lot of the food is in the tent,” Bon Bon pointed out. “And my diary...”
“We wound't be having this problem if you'd let me bring my tent...” Melody managed to comment.
“It's a one person tent, we'd still be in the same situation...unless you'd like to put all your stuff on the ground outside,” Bright Eyes retorted.
“Okay, so we can't just let it stay in the tent, so how do we get it out? If it sprays in there we'll have to get rid of it for good,” Lancer replied. “I don't think any of the rest of us want to get sprayed like Melody.”
“Trust me...you don't...” the skunked pony muttered with a groan, trying to keep the smell out of her nose as best as she could.
“Well, good news is skunks only have enough musk for six shots, so four of us are safe...” Bright Eyes pointed out. “...But if the tent gets sprayed, we're in trouble.”
Patch tapped her chin, only to gag and put her hoof back on her nose nigh instantly. “I've got an idea!” The practical joker digging through their supplies and taking out a box that had contained some of them. She grabbed a marshmallow and a stick, putting the marshmallow on the ground and propping up the box with the stick, tying a rope to it. She then hid in a bush, eyes visible. “We trap it, then just let it go when we leave.”
“Sounds good to me...” Teddy replied as the group watched from safe distance.
“I don't know...” Bright Eyes replied, her and Lancer making sure 'safe distance' was indeed safe. Skunks had quite the range.
“Shush! Look!” Patch replied, pointing as the skunk slowly emerged, sniffing around. She waited until it'd come up to the marshmallow and opened it's mouth to grab a marshmallow before pull the rope, causing the box to fall on it. “Got it!”
Patch promptly ran over and tapped the box with a hoof. “See?! What did I tell ya!”
“Uh...Patch...” Sweetheart said, eyes wide as she saw the skunk standing very uncaptured directly behind her friend.
Patch didn't have time to react as the skunk blasted her with its musk. Her nose instantly burned and her eyes began to water as the overwhelming stink assaulted her nostrils, turning her triumphant expression into disgust as her face turned green.
“GAH! Peeyew!” The prankster exclaimed, staggering away as fast as possible and falling to the ground with her hooves over her nose, coughing and gagging. “And I thought some of my stinkbombs were bad!”
The skunk turned it's nose up and headed back to the tent, leaving the Earth Pony to suffer the results of her impulsiveness.
“Okay...ugh...that didn't work...” Patch groaned as Sweetheart again braved the stench to check on her...and give Teddy another glare to stop his snickering. “...Though if I could get that smell in a stinkbomb without sticking...”
“Don't even think about it...” replied Melody with a glare.
“Alright, any other ideas before the rest of us get skunked?” Starlight requested as Sweetheart helped Patch downwind join Melody without getting musk on herself.
“Should have asked me first,” Ace said, getting a cocky smirk. “Just pick them up by their tail, they can't spray then!”
“I don't think that's how it works...” Bright Eyes and Lancer both replied.
The sports pony merely rolled his eyes. “Who's the Pony Scout?” Ace used marshmallows to lure the skunk out again.
“I'm pretty sure your Pony Scout manual doesn't have a section on skunks,” Bright Eyes corrected.
“Ugh...what do you bet that egomaniac gets himself skunked?” Melody asked, keeping her nose covered.
Patch, doing the same, nodded. “You know it...maybe some humble pie will do him good.”
Once the little animal emerged from its 'den' and got a safe distance away, Ace leapt over and snatched it up by its tail. “Gotcha! See, I told-”
Ace didn't even get a sentence out before the skunk gave him a face full of musk. The sports pony barely managed to avoid dropping it, but staggered in surprise...then was stunned when the odor hit him, tears starting down his cheeks as it stung his eyes. The smell could only be compared to burning rubber mixed with who knew what else, and Ace was decidedly regretting his choices right now as his face turned green.
“Ugh, alright, that didn't work!” the colt exclaimed, covering his nose, coughing and gagging as the others couldn't help snickering. He dropped the now very angry skunk so he could use both hooves on his nose as he blindly tripped over the log and fell into the nearby bush.
Sweetheart gasped. “Ace!” she exclaimed and rushed to help him, only for the now very unhappy skunk to point its rear end in her direction. “Uh oh...um...we're really truly sorry we disturbed you...” she tried to say, but the skunk was too upset to listen.
Teddy gasped...and before the skunk could spray, threw himself between them. Knowing what was coming, the colt took a deep breath and held it, putting his sunglasses down as he was showered in musk. Knowing he wasn't going to have a pleasant experience when he took a breath, he got his most intimidating expression and stomped threatening towards the skunk. The bad boy got sprayed again, but finally got the annoying animal to decide the area was too much trouble and run for it.
“You better run!” he yelled...then took a breath and the stench hit him like a truck, face quickly turning green. The colt's legs wobbled and his eyes began to water, the smell even worse from the double dose and some flowers around him wilted as a few birds fell unconscious around him. “Oh man that STINKS!” he exclaimed, covering his nose tightly as he coughed and gagged. He fell to the ground, feeling a bit faint from the overwhelming stench.
“Teddy!” Sweetheart exclaimed, only not touching him to avoid getting the musk on her. “You...”
“You okay, Sweetheart?” the colt asked, doing his best to look tough, but his nose making that difficult.
“Yes...thanks to you...”
As he regained his footing with one hoof over his nose, Teddy blushed bright red with Sweetheart doing so as well. “Oh, it's nothing...ugh, but man do I reek!”
“Well, at least it's gone...” Bright Eyes pointed out, looking at the four skunked ponies doing their best to keep their noses sealed, the rest keeping a hoof over their noses. “...Should we get the tomato juice ready?”
“We should probably thank Teddy...at this rate it'd have been all of us getting tomato juice baths,” Bon Bon pointed out, checking to make sure the food, and more importantly her diary, had escaped the incident unharmed.
“Yeah...way to go Teddy...” groaned Ace, one hoof over his nose as he emerged from the bush.
“Not how I thought I'd be spending the evening...” muttered Melody with a clothespin on her nose. The mare sat in a pan of tomato juice, her fur covered in the stuff.
“Hey, look on the bright side,” said Patch, scrubbing herself in another.
“What bright side?” asked the cross rocker.
“We don't have white hair or fur,” Patch whispered with a snicker as she pointed over to Ace. The sports pony's light blond hair had unfortunately been a proper shade to get dyed pink by the tomato juice. Melody couldn't help but snicker in amusement.
“...Thanks Starlight...” groaned Ace, blushing slightly at his mane and tail as Starlight poured another thing of tomato juice on him.
Starlight, despite needing a clothespin on her nose, gave a smile. “Glad to help.” At least it was spending some time with him somehow.
Sweetheart helped Teddy wash himself off, giving her coltfriend a smile. Despite getting some on her white fur (though making sure the skunk spray had been washed off his face first), she gave him a nuzzle. “You're my hero, Teddy.”
Teddy blushed. “Aww shucks...”
The End
