I Am NOT Twilight Sparkle!

Today was a nice calming day in Ponyville and for its inhabitants, and for Zack she was enjoying the peace and quiet. In fact recently she’s started to feel more, calmer, and less jittery or worried, which has improved her mood greatly. And today the alicorn actually ventured out of the castle she stays hauls up in, and had a little sight seeing tour of the town. During her little escapade of visiting shops, and actually meeting ponies other than Twilight and her friends, Zack bumped into Rarity and Applejack who invited the alicorn to join them for lunch.

“You want me to go on a camping trip, with you two and Rainbow Dash?” Zack said to Applejack and Rarity as the three of them sat at a table at a diner.

“Yes darling we figured that a nice little trip in the woods would help you relax. Get away from all your troubles for at least a few days.” Rarity said to the alicorn sitting across from her.

“Plus a nice change of scenery wouldn’t be too bad right?” Applejack added as she tried to coax Zack into joining them on this little escaped of theirs, and it was actually sounding really good. Zack always loved going on camping trips whenever things in her life get to, stressful. After giving the proposal a little thought Zack looked towards her two equine friends and gave them a pleasant smile.

“You know, that sounds nice actually.” Both mare’s cheered as Zack gave them her answer. “So when is this little Camping trip going to take place?”

“Tomorrow.” Applejack blatantly stated. “And don’t worry, we already have a spare pack for you, so you didn’t have to rush back to the castle and pack things up.”

“You guys already had stuff packed for me?”

“Yes. We had it packed in case you did say yes. If you said no, then we could just un-pack it when we get back.” Rarity explained after taking a sip of her glass of water.

“Well in any case I’m looking forward to this trip, by the way where would it be?”

“It will be further into the White Tails Woods.” Applejack said as she takes a bite out of the sweet potato pie she’s having.

“So where we’ll we be meeting to start the trip?”

“At my place.” Applejack said as she finishes her pie. “The White Tails Woods is just a hop skip and beat from the farm. So Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and you will meet me and Apple Bloom at the farm.”

“Oh, so Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom are your sisters?” Zack asked the two mares who both nodded in confirmation.

Zack and the others continued to make small talk and finish their lunch, and once they were done Rarity and Applejack bid Zack goodbye and left to go and finish their packing. As for Zack she just waved her friends goodbye, and started to fly off in no particular direction as she just flies about. But as she does she started to think about the upcoming camping trip, and memories of her old life started to flood her mind once again, and this time it was the memories of her going camping with either her friends, or her own family.

A smile then graced the alicorns muzzle as a particular memory of camping with her family came to mind, it was the one that Zack and her family made when Latina was only five years old, the memory of her old self and her baby sister playing in the river with their parents. while recollecting the memory the smile on her muzzle grow more widely. But as per usual, any thoughts or memories of her old life brought a melancholy feeling to weigh on the alicorn, yet that sensation has certainly lessen from when it usually popped up. As the alicorn continues to fly she eventually came upon Twilight’s castle, where she landed on the second floor balcony and entered the castle where she went on auto-piolet as she heads to her room, while still recounting the memory.

“Hey there Zack.” The alicorn was brought out of her reminiscing when the voice of Spike called out. Turning to where the dragon’s voice came from, Zack found her little friend in the kitchen.

“Hey there Spike, what are you up to?”

“Just making some lemonade.” Spike said as he stirs a very large pitcher of lemonade with ice in it, while two other pitchers sat close buy, one being blue, and the other being pink.

“So how was your walk around town?”

“It was good. I even meet up with Rarity and Applejack, and they asked if I want to join them, and their little sisters on a camping trip.” Zack said as she trotted to the counter and Spike, and started to pour a glass of the blue lemonade in a glass she grabbed.

“They invited you to go camping with them?”

“Yeah. They thought a change of scenery would really help me just relax, and re-charge my batteries from everything that has happened to me.” Zack explained as she took a drink of her glass of blue lemonade.

“Sounds like a great idea, and from the stories you told me when we hangout you like camping.”

“Yeah. It’s a good way to get away from large crowds, and just get a chance to power down from your troubles in life.” Zack said before an idea comes to her.

“Say Spike why don’t you come with us. I bet you could use a break from everything you do in this castle, I mean, for gods sake you manage to clean EVERY square inch of this castle. On top of the stuff that Twilight has you doing, plus other things. You literally do an entire castle staffs work.” Spike seemed to think the offer, and facts that Zack listed off, over in his head and it seemed like he’s came to a conclusion.

“You know what, your right!” the little dragon said as he stopped his stirring and hopped off the stool. “I haven’t had a vacation from work in a long time, so why not go camping. When is it?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Alright. I’ll let Twilight know that I’ll be gone tomorrow.”

Spike then started to quickly store the three pitchers in the fridge, and once they were put away the little dragon waddled out of the kitchen. Finishing her glass of blue lemonade the alicorn washed her glass and left the kitchen, and continued to trot towards her room. but before she got to far into her journey, Zack bumped into Thorax, toppling the small changeling as she lands on top of him.

“Crap! Sorry Thorax wasn’t paying attention.” Zack said as she gets up, and uses her magic to lift Thorax up.

“Naw its fine I wasn’t even looking where I was walking.” Thorax said as he brushed himself off with a hoof. “So how was your walk?”

“It was good, I even got invited to go camping with Rarity and Applejack tomorrow.”

“That sounds nice.” Thorax said in a cheerful manner. “Where are you and the others going to camp?”

“The White Tail Woods.”

The two friends continued to talk with one another as they trot through the castle, until they reached Zack’s room where the changeling bid the mare goodbye, and flew off back from where the duo came from. As Zack enters her room she makes her way over to her bed, and just flops onto it to relax and ponder on what the camping trip is going to be like.

~~~~~

It was the next morning and as the ponies of the town were getting things set up to start their day, Zack was flying over the town with Spike riding on her back, the both of them heading towards the main shopping district. In the distance the pair spies Carousel Boutique, they could even see Rarity walking out of the door, but she wasn’t alone. As the duo closed in on the boutique Zack could see a familiar foal next to Rarity, the foal was also white coated, but her mane looked like a two-tones violet swirl of ice cream.

“Is that Rarity’s sister?” Zack asked Spike as she pointed with a hoof.

“Yeah that’s Sweetie Belle.” Spike said simply. “She often lives with Rarity when their parents are to busy with work, or are out of town.”

“I know the feeling.” Zack said jovially as she touches down in front of the boutique, surprising Rarity, and her little sister. Who seemed really surprised to see Zack, even looking a little shock. “Morning all.”

“Well this is a surprise darling? What are you doing here, we were going to meet up at Applejack’s farm.” Rarity says to the alicorn.

“I figured I could fly us all there, by carrying you and your sister to the farm.” Zack explained to the older unicorn, before noticing Rarity’s sister look up at her with curious eyes. “Hey there.”

“Hi Zack, are you ready to go camping today?” The filly asked as she circles around the alicorn who then stopped when Spike and Rarity started to chuckle, while Zack gave a brief confused moment to the older unicorn, before the mare spoke up.

“I am, what about you?” Zack asked the excitable filly as a smile touches her muzzle.

“Yeah! I’ve been waiting for this for days.” Sweetie Belle says as she hops in place in excitement.

“Clearly.” The alicorn said to the foal who couldn’t resist chortling at how excitable the filly was, which brings a smile to the alicorn as the filly was starting to remind her of Latina.

The group chatted for a bit longer, mostly Zack and Rarity trying to reel in the excitable filly. Once Sweetie Belle was calmed down, somewhat, Zack used her magic to levitate both Rarity and Sweetie Belle, and the few packs that the seamstress have hauled out of the store. the group then took to the air and started to make their way to the east side of the town, where they will be picking up Sweetie Belle’s friend who will be joining them. the flight didn’t take too long, and like with Sweetie the new filly Scootaloo was excited to meet Zack again. After picking the pegasus up, and her own camping pack, the group then started to fly off towards the Apple family farm, with Rarity guiding the alicorn as Zack has not explored the outer region of the town. Aside from her little quite spot.

Five or so minutes of flying later the group spies the farm off in the distance, and as they fly closer Zack takes in the picturesque farm land and noting how nice it looked. Although as the alicorn and her entourage close in on the farm, she noted just how empty it was. Not empty of farm animals, but of ponies on the property. With such a large land with various amounts of produce and animals, Zack thought that there would be a least a dozen or so ponies out and about, being a mixture of Applejack’s family and hired farm hands. But the only ponies that Zack can see is Applejack and the third member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders waving up at them.

“Morning everypony gotta say ah wasn’t expecting ya’ll to be flying in to get this whole thing started.” Applejack said as she greeted the party as they land.

“Zack was generous enough to fly us all here to save time.” Rarity explained to her friend, while Zack continues to scan over the farm still puzzled on why its so vacant. But her observation was cut off when Sweetie Belle and her friends just running around the group as a whole, with Spike joining in on the fun.

“Are you all ready for adventure!” Sweetie asked.

“Heck Yeah?” both Scootaloo & Spike added.

“This is going to be the best camping trip ever!” Apple Bloom shouted as she jumps up into the air and pumps a hoof, while the three adults just shared a laugh at the young ones exuberance.

“Now, now fillies there will be time for you all to get to have fun, but for now we need to get going.” Rarity says as she tries to dose the fillies uncontrollable boundless energy.

“Rare’s right.” Applejack said as she nudges a small wagon with camping gear and supplies in it. “We need to get going to the camping sight, Rainbow’s already there getting the place set up.”

The fillies relented reeled in their excitement, and the group started to get things ready to leave. Zack then enveloped Rarity, Applejack, and the fillies and the camping supplies in her magic aura, the whole group then flew off into the air and heads towards White Tail Woods.

~~~~~

The sound of a train whistle roared out as an early morning train comes rolling down the tracks, coming to stop as the train pulls into the station. The doors of the train then slid open allowing the ponies standing on the station to enter, and the passengers already aboard to exit. Amongst the departing crowd of ponies was a group of stallions, all of them having slightly paled colors and a far off look in their eyes. As the last of them exited the train, and said locomotive starts riding off once the last new passenger boarded, a dull blue unicorn then stepped out from the group, and faced his fellows.

“Remember, we are here to find a pony named Zack and a changeling named Thorax.” The stallions voice sounded hollow yet still held a firm tone, which caused the other stallions to nod.

“Spread out, act normal, and after an hour meet back here to discuss what we have learned.” The stallion then narrowed his tired and exhausted eyes. “Then we will processed from there. Now move out.”

“Yes sir.” The other stallions said in perfect unison, before they all started exiting the station and go separate ways as they enter the town. Ready to gather information about their targets, and then implement their queens plan.