怪談とポニー Ep3 - Wet job

The cheerful warbles of the birds were flowing into the cabin through the barely open window, pulling Misty Lagoon from her dreams, as the pegasus twins predicted the day before. The girl spent a few more minutes half asleep, squinting funnily from the sunlight and shadows dancing on her face. It took her a moment to remember how she had got there when Misty opened her eyes finally – the image was different from the usual of her room at home, even if the birds’ concerto sounded almost familiar. Yet the awakening felt very similar to her home: the lush mane was tickling Misty’s neck, her left breast was tenderly cupped by a warm palm and somepony’s breath kept teasing her right nipple – Misty could almost feel the soft lips next to it. However, when the girl lifted her head a bit to look, there was no horn in her view, and the mane on her shoulder was violet instead of the usual black with greyish strands. Then she recalled.

‘Summer camp!’

The mane on her shoulder moved a bit, revealing the sleepy face – the earth filly cooed something, nuzzling Misty’s neck tenderly. The thin palm squeezed the breast lightly as if to check the presence of the one the sleeping girl was cuddling, tearing a tiny gasp of pleasure from Misty’s lips.

“Good morning, Lacy!” Misty softly brushed her palm through the ruffled violet mane, sending the fingers to travel tenderly across her friend’s cheek and cuddling Lacy with the free arm.

“Mhhhm…” the green eyes opened wide, then squinted, trying to focus on Misty. “Good morning, Misty!” sounding a bit hoarsely, Lacy cleared her throat, murmuring. “I slept so nicely…”

Before Misty could comment on that, the earth filly raised on her elbow and gave the unicorn girl a long sweet kiss, her hand giving Misty’s breast a tiny stroke. Then, throwing aside the blanket, Lacy sat in bed, squinting around for her glasses. She froze for a second; a short, sweet shiver came through Lacy’s body, making the girl stretch with pleasure. With a yawn, Lacy arched her body so hard that it took Misty quite an effort not to send her hands to examine all those tempting curves and dimples, feeling with the tips of her fingers all the muscles strained under the silky skin.

The glasses were found on the nightstand, and so was the hairbrush; regaining the depth of sight, Lacy addressed her bedhead, slowly brushing through the tips first.

“How was your night, Misty?” the emerald eyes glanced at the girl still lingering in the bed and caressing her friend with her eyes.

“Warm and… cuddly. Thanks!” Misty’s palm lay gently between Lacy’s firm round breasts, giving a stroke and ending its journey above the girl’s navel. The pattern of sunlight and shadows, formed by the slowly waving branches with leaves behind the window, flickered on the earth filly’s body. With a smile, Misty looked up into Lacy’s big eyes, shimmering behind the glasses. Quickly sitting up in the bed, she reached to her friend, returning Lacy’s kiss with extra tenderness.

“Although… Did it wake you?” Misty suddenly got lost in thought. “That noise…”

“Noise? I was sleeping like a foal,” Lacy glanced at her friend with an uncomprehending half-smile.

Misty remembered that the noise waking her that night, shortly after all the girls went to sleep, was the peculiar sound of scotch tape torn off some smooth surface. The memory made the girl break into a wide smile and share it with Lacy, who slept through the entire incident.

On the eve, Flaunty and Windy – who definitely had not their first camping in such conditions – supposed that some colts, just any from the present in the summer camp, might find it funny to try to scare some fillies during the first night. Especially, considering the evening thunderstorm and the atmosphere it might have created. Thus, if the Curious Four (and their two neighbours) were specifically “lucky”, the colts’ shenanigans could have easily affected them in the case when their cabin turns up the first on the hooligans’ way. Windy always preferred the simplest solutions. Thus the pegasus filly locked all the windows except for the one next to her side of their with Flaunty joined beds. Misty vividly saw her friend’s mischievous smirk when after a short digging in her bag, Windy took out a scotch tape roll, sticking a small piece onto the barely opened frame and its fixed part.

Windy saw through everything. Shortly after the lights were off and the silence enveloped the camp, including their house, Misty was awakened by the recognizable synthetic screech and pop. Going to prank the girls, some colts – whoever they were – tried the windows, naturally finding the only one unlocked. Perhaps, they were already triumphant, anticipating the scare they were about to bring into the fillies’ ranks.

Some head light-coloured in the soft moonlight appeared behind the opening and cautiously started forcing the frame up, as Misty could see, raising her head a little. It was unclear if the pegasus tomboy was only feigning the sleep, expecting the guests, or Windy was sleeping lightly, awakening like her friend. In a blink of an eye, the sporty winged figure sprang out of her bed, grabbing the glass of water prudently put on the nightstand in the evening. The silhouette behind the window froze dumbfounded.

Not for long, however! With a loud splash and a shocked scream, somepony nearly fell back flat from their window, crashing into the low bushes. Two girls could hear rushed receding footsteps, accompanied by muffled swears and giggling – the unfortunate prankster’s companions quite appreciated the outcome even if their plans got turned upside down.

“Makes them think next time… probably!” muffling the laughter with her palm, Windy glanced at Misty. Nevertheless, she rearmed the scotch trap just in case.

Inwardly shaking from carefully held back laughter, Misty dropped her head on the pillow. Fortunately, none of the rest woke.

“I wonder if it was that hay-head again. Serves him a lesson perhaps!” with a quiet laughter, Lacy appreciated the story.

“It served Windy better than any sleeping pill for sure,” noticed Misty, taking the hairbrush from her friend when the latter started braiding the combed mane. “I bet she got to sleep satisfied!”

Hands over mouths, the girls started giggling again when the thin alarm beep broke out.

“Ooooh!” The slightly ruffled chestnut head rose from the opposite bed; pushing aside the blanket, Flaunty Mane sat and grabbed the cell phone from her nightstand, shutting the signal. “Morning, girls!” she stretched hard, spreading her arms and almost making the t-shirt crackle on her chest. “What’s so funny?” she glanced at still giggling Misty and Lacy, taking a look over herself then.

“Let Windy tell you about that small night incident,” Lacy winked, fixing her braids.

“Windy? Night incident?” Flaunty blinked several times. “Did those morons really come?”

“Come one, sis! It’s time to wake,” she accurately poked Windy into the butt cheek when both girls nodded with another snort. With no other reaction than muttering something illegibly, the redhead pegasus simply nested her head on the pillow with more comfort. Flaunty threw a meaningful glance at Misty and Lacy, who kept having fun quietly.

“Well, okay!” Flaunty’s fingers went travelling across sister’s ribs, going up from Windy’s waist and finally diving under the girl’s small breasts.

“Oh! Come on, Flo!” But Windy opened her eyes at once. “Have mercy!”

“It always works!” Dropped Flaunty to the girls with a mien. “No mercy! Time to wake it is!”

“Morning already?!” a half-inquiring, half-affirmative voice reached their ears from the last joined beds on the right. The two sleepy heads emerged from the covers, yawning. Probably, it took a moment for the sisters as well to remember where they found themselves. Ruffling her cinnamon mane, Reona was stretching, displaying the mysterious stripes again. Ola rose her small fists, rubbing her eyes in the cutest way imaginable and shaking her fluffy head to dispel the slumber; the four friends gave an unwitting smile at that sight.

“Morning everypony!” The younger girl announced in a ringing voice, then suddenly noticed flatly. “I’ll get first dibs on the bathroom visit!”

Making everypony freeze from that peremptory statement, the filly jumped out of the bed with a sly grin, skipping to the shower in her state of nature. The girls exchanged slightly bemused glances, then turned to Reona, who shrugged with an apologetic look, following her unceremonious sister with a loving glance. With a laughter, Misty made a wide gesture, welcoming the stripy filly to share the won queue to the shower with the perky chick.

The first day in the Trishores passed rather slowly: some teachers needed time to tune into the slightly different kind of work; for some others – it was all new, at least in that camp and under that direction. As for the students, Misty suspected that nopony from the current age group had been to the camp before due to the delay in its work – the reason for which was still a mystery for the Curious Four. Thus the colts and the fillies needed some time to discover the place anew and accommodate.

Waking that early, the girls finished their compulsory morning procedures even before the official rise. As they had hardly gotten any impression of the place on the eve because of the sudden rainstorm, the four friends decided to have at least a short tour across the camp before breakfast to complete their inward image of it.

Nodding goodbye to both Tetra sisters and leaving them in the cabin – Misty reminded them of the extra two keys on the table – the friends headed for a slow walk, planning to reach the canteen in time but not earlier than they took a look at most of the camp. By the mutual decision, that could have helped greatly in their further shenanigans if those would have been forced to happen eventually.

“Mmm… The air even tastes differently here, compared to the city!” Misty stretched, coming down the porch. As it was quite fresh outside because of yesterday’s rain yet the surviving mosquitoes already looked for the careless prey, the filly decided for cargo pants and a shirt instead of more open clothes. “Perhaps I’m starting to miss the travels I took part in with my parents,” a tiny smile lit Misty’s face.

“That was before us!” snorted Windy categorically, habitually jerking the collar string of her sports jacket. The twins realized that Misty was joking, but decided to play along. “Wouldn’t you miss your friends?” added Flaunty with a sly smirk.

“I wouldn’t mind taking you all on a travel, mates!” Misty gave a laugh, shaking her gathered into a ponytail mane. “Those I remember were hardly more dangerous than the last few episodes we came through together…”

“It depends on the circumstances of the travel,” noticed Lacy guardedly, zipping her tight-knit sweatshirt to the throat from the morning breeze. The girl couldn’t hold back a yawn and stretched, making Windy lose the thread of thought. “Don’t think ahead, Misty. We tend to dig out adventures everywhere,” Lacy checked her key to be in the jeans pocket, pulling up the strap of her unfailing bag.

“Yeah, who knows…”

In the daylight, the girls noticed something that they completely missed on the rainy evening – the approximate scheme of the camp with the key buildings marked and directions shown. However, even without the map, the girls could easily tell the direction they came from yesterday. Contrary to their idea of the summer camps with the more regular and strictly delimited territory, the cabins in Trishores looked scattered among the vegetation, thus blending into that part of the forest yet easy to find at the same time. Meandering between the trees and bushes, the subtle gravel path branched into many leading to houses similar to theirs, as far as the girls could see through the sparse growth of the forest. Taking a diagonal walk on the grass, they assumed that there were easily more than two dozen cabins only in their part of the camp. The entire facility, as the friends were to admit, could accommodate half of the school indeed.

The girls exchanged glances – a camp of that scale called for supervision by significant teaching staff; each of the fillies seemingly came to the same single conclusion – it wouldn’t turn out as simple as going whenever and wherever they wanted. On the other hand, the entire structure of the camp hinted at the lowest intrusion into their recreation possible.

“Hmmm… Keeping in mind that miss Singularity is in charge this time,” muttered Misty pensively. “I don’t know if that’ll be a blessing or… if we start investigating just anything.”

“I think I understand your concern, Misty,” Lacy let out a tiny smile. “After the Canterton case, I’m still undetermined if she simply knew about our involvement all the time, or… wanted us to go in.”

“Yeah, don’t forget her words about Fran in the end,” Flaunty shook her head slowly, “I wonder if she actually knows everything, and what she doesn’t – she is guessing!” Windy only nodded in agreement.

Talking that way, the friends soon came to the wider gravel road, remembering the place where the bus driver got them off yesterday. Straight as an arrow, the road was cutting the forest and giving a clear view from the camp gate at one end to some building at another – most likely administration, judging by the large clearing in front of it and the flag fluttering on the flagpole. Wishing to have a full image of the camp, Misty pulled them to the gate first and the girls followed obediently. The friends passed two rows of trees with slim, tall crowns, planted by hand on both sides of the road. More gravel tracks parted from the main road, diving between the trees, which were defined as Reinbardy poplars by Lacy, and leading to more cabins hiding in the green. In a minute, the girls spotted a clearing ahead – the road opened to some broad space without any vegetation; that had to be the parking lot they passed upon arrival.

Before they reached the clearing, Misty’s attention was attracted by the last row of houses, if the irregular chain of them could be called such. These were slightly different from their cabin: a bit smaller, the neat square houses likely supposed fewer roomers to reside in each of them. The girls exchanged meaningful glances – these cabins were likely occupied by the camp staff, including Pinewatch teachers. At that side of the camp, the staff cabins were practically separating the rest of the area from the camp borders and the Shimmermist forest behind.

“I wonder if the similar placement persists around the entire camp,” Lacy pensively verbalized the question bothering everypony. “Or there are some surveillance cameras along the border…”

“So far, I haven’t spotted any, except the one at the entrance gates,” noticed Flaunty, throwing back her long chestnut mane. “But you’re right – if we need to sneak right under the teachers’ noses each time, that could turn out problematic.”

Misty and Windy looked at her with unconcealed admiration – yesterday, through the pouring rain, spotting something at the camp gate, except the gate itself was quite an achievement.

The door of the nearest cabin opened, and the girls’ suspicion got a confirmation in the face of miss Lerie with a hairbrush in her hand and a dreamy expression.

“Don’t linger too long!” the mare called somepony in the house, then addressed her mane, brushing through the short, wet after the morning shower hair. “Oh! Good morning, girls!” one fluffy ear perked; she spotted the girls, waving to them with her free hand. “Early birds, I see! Are your new friends also roaming around already?” miss Lerie looked them over with a smile. “Well, try not to miss the breakfast as well,” winked she when the girls greeted her.

“So, the teachers live by one or two in the cabin most likely,” drawled Windy when the friends reached the parking lot. The pegasus filly bit her lip, habitually pulling the collar string, the left end of which looked twice longer than the right already. “That gives…”

“…some problems,” Misty finished for her with a nod. “If there are many and the staff cabins are spread across, we’ll be in constant sight of them. I’d like to know one thing,” added she slowly, “was it always that way here?”

Fenced only from one, the outer side, the broad, gravel-covered square was almost empty. Made specifically for the buses parking there during the campers’ arrival or departure, it could be easily used for jogging or badminton play the rest of the time. Only three cars shimmered with sun glares, resting on the grey surface pierced here and there with some fresh grass growing through the gravel. Standing out against the background of two more modest sedans, the large off-road vehicle looked like a black whale thrown on the shore by the ocean, leaving the girls guessing, whose transport that could be.

Guarded by the small gatehouse, the camp entrance was closed – the large heavy metal leaves were shut without a visible lock, operated by an electric engine most likely. Here the girls could see that camera Flaunty mentioned earlier. Looking at the gates, it was giving some confidence that nopony could at least drive on the Trishores territory unnoticed.

The fence itself gained the girls’ attention: presented by the metal grating on the brick pillars only as wide as the parking lot spread, it provided some sort of noticeable façade around the gates. However, further on into the forest on both sides of the camp, the fence turned into a large metal mesh. Fixed on the metal poles and painted green, it subtly blended into the surrounding vegetation, making it feel from some distance as if the camp wasn’t limited by any borders at all. That fence looked as if it was rather used to denote the territory that to restrict the campers as even the earth ponies would have hardly faced any trouble overcoming that symbolic barrier, let alone pegasi or unicorns.

“Hmm… I think we need to take a run around the territory later,” muttered Misty when they turned back. “To look at the perimeter closer and check if there are more cameras around.”

“Yeah,” chuckled Windy, kicking a pebble with the toe of her shoe, “we all know what the visible absence of any security could mean!”

Lacy and Flaunty nodded, agreeing with them – the girls already saw on the example of the factory in Baltimare that enthusiastic ponies were the best kind of security. And even then, it could turn out nothing against some sophisticated intrusion.

Back on the road to the administrative building, the girls started running into more awakened students heading the same way. According to the camp scheme, the canteen was in that direction as well. Greeting the familiar faces, Misty and her friends let them go ahead, scanning the surrounding woodland attentively and noticing nothing else than more cabins among the trees.

“I wonder how fine the camp territory is lit at night,” smirked Windy. So far, the girls saw only lamps at the cabin doors and rarely along the paths. The central road had larger lamps on the posts placed in regular intervals.

The smaller square in front of the administrative building was already crowded by the arriving Pinewatch students. Stretching and yawning, weaned off the early rise during the few summer days, the fillies and colts headed somewhere right. Remembering that they heard the morning rise signals from some loudspeaker on their way to the gates, Misty, Lacy, Windy and Flaunty followed the stream of schoolmates. Connected to the administrative, a lower, longer building had to be the canteen, forming with the main body the semblance of mirrored letter L.

Another surprise awaited around the corner. Standing a bit rarer there, the trees revealed more of the familiar square cabins scattered across that edge of the territory. It likely was the edge, judging by nothing else seen nearby, except the silhouette of the stadium with its light metalwork stand and sports equipment further to the right.

“Yeah,” chuckled Windy, putting her hand on Misty’s shoulder. “We’re practically surrounded by the teachers from that side also! Misty?” She pulled her frozen on the spot friend lightly.

Following the direction of her gaze, the three girls saw a large cargo truck parked at the opposite corner of the canteen building. Standing its trail to them, it showed only the rear doors being closed by somepony of the camp staff at that moment. However, the large high cabin stood at some angle to the trailer – as the driver was to carefully taxi in and out on the narrow road – boasting the sparkling-clean metal of its hull and two long vertical pipes behind. The company name on its side could be hardly distinguished from that angle.

“What’s up, pal?” Windy looked into Misty’s face with a concerned smile; Lacy glanced up into the girls’ eyes from another side.

“They delivered some goods for the camp canteen…” Flaunty watched the large truck pensively, alternating between it and her friends.

“Hmm… Maybe…” Misty finally shook her head and woke, giving a smile. “Okay, let’s go, mates! I got hungry.”

Coming among the last, the girls occupied the still-free table near the entrance. While Flaunty and Misty went to get the meals, Windy and Lacy kept looking around the hall.

‘What a crowd! And there are so many teachers indeed…’ seemingly having the same thoughts, the fillies exchanged glances. ‘Well, it’s only natural, as the camp was reopened after a long forced break,’ Lacy was sure somehow that the break was exactly forced.

The girl’s eyes hooked on the familiar haughty face; however, this time it was also sad and grumpy at the same time. Feeling the foreign glance, the straw-haired unicorn colt raised his head. Meeting Lacy’s, his eyes narrowed at once and the entire face grimaced with resentment. Without a redundant word, Lacy nudged Windy lightly, marking the direction with her glance. The pegasus filly couldn’t hold back a snort, making both of them giggle in a second; the colt flared from his helplessness even brighter, failing to hide his feelings from his friends around.

“What’s so funny, mates?” Misty and Flaunty returned with the breakfast for four, looking puzzled as their friends kept giggling.

“Our night guest!” Windy poked with her thumb over her shoulder, still snorting. “I could bet it was him trying to scare us!”

Under the four laughing glances, the unicorn colt preferred to look away.

The breakfast went calmly as only one could with that number of students at the same place. Closer to the end, their teachers passed through the hall, handing out some papers to each table. Peeking into them, Misty and her friends discovered the daily schedule accompanied by an extensive list. Naturally, all the students needed to determine, which activities would fill their time for the next four weeks. Like every summer camp, Trishores wasn’t held to let the youth loaf around but to keep them occupied with some useful disciplines at least half of their time, thus combining entertainment with education. Naturally, every student had to choose one or several – depending on their eagerness and determination as well as on their personal preferences.

Having familiarized themselves with the daily schedule, the girls huddled around their copy of the list. A glance around the canteen showed that the absolute majority of their schoolmates were busy with the same, gathering in groups by their interests or friendly relationships.

“Well,” Flaunty spread the list of offered disciplines on the table, leaning closer to her friends, “it would be smart to choose those keeping us all busy at the same time and leaving us all free simultaneously as well. Right, girls?”

“Sounds reasonable,” Lacy adjusted her glasses. “Unless something happens when we all are busy.”

“That’s something we can’t predict for sure!” Under her friends’ glances, Misty raised her eyes from the list. “What? I can feel things sometimes but never tried to predict the events. Anyway, let’s not think about problems beforehand; if we’re going to initiate the investigation, we must indeed have a free hand simultaneously.”

“So, it crosses out all the sports games,” Windy fumbled with the collar string while her eyes scanned the list of courses, “which schedule may vary, depending on many reasons. Leaving effectively only individual disciplines and studies with fixed timetable,” she looked at the girls. “What do you say, pals?”

“Hmmm… They have even that. Cool!” Pensively looking through the courses, Flaunty clicked her fingers. “I’ll probably take bullet shooting, girls.” Seeing that her friends stared at her a bit dumbfounded, Flaunty elaborated with a smile. “Always wanted to try. A pony must be comprehensively educated. Besides, the last encounter at the factory showed that we could come across just anything, including some thugs with guns. I would really like to have the ability to defend us all!” finished she fervently.

“Nopony lets you own a firearm before coming of age anyway,” squinted Windy sceptically.

“Knowing how to use properly is not the same thing as owning!” Flaunty shrugged. “Being prepared never hurts.”

“She is right, Windy,” Misty nodded. “If you learn to drive early, you’ll have fewer problems after getting a car, even if nopony lets you own one prematurely. I, for example, can’t… and sometimes it looks like an oversight on my part.”

“If you want to try, why not?” The green eyes smiled behind the glasses; Lacy patted Flaunty’s arm encouragingly. “Besides, it usually takes time in the first half of the day according to the schedule.”

“I’ll take a self-defence course then,” Windy made a mien, propping her chin on her fists. “Don’t know if I want to shoot a potential enemy, but kicking an offender’s butt is always a nice option. And as I noticed, it can be continued during the academic year… just like bullet shooting, by the way.”

“I think I’ll take the same,” said Lacy. “More strength in my arms won’t hurt.”

Windy’s ears perked; her breath stopped for a second and the girl swallowed. Clearly seeing the image of Lacy taken into a tight grapple in Windy’s widened eyes, Misty did her best to hold back a smile. Flaunty, on contrary, was openly smirking.

“And what about you?” the fillies turned to Misty.

“I’d better take the generic physical training, mates,” the unicorn girl shrugged. “Running and swimming will perfectly fit my needs and our plans.” Misty poked her finger into the list.

“Excellent! No eggheads for the next month!” Windy let out a wide grin, making all the girls smile. “It may take additional efforts and take more time than stated in the official schedule, so not now!”

The entire decision process took several minutes only. Alternating from one foot to another, Misty was to spend some time in front of one of the staff tables while, with strangely high spirits, miss Singularity personally signed the girls for the chosen studies.

“You, girls, are going to boost your physical training!” The smiling glance of her dark eyes slid from the unicorn girl to her friends waiting behind their table.

“Yes, ma’am!” Poker-faced, Misty was the epitome of cautious diplomacy at that moment.

“Why do I always have a feeling that she knows everything?” complained Misty several minutes later when the girls were leaving the noisy canteen.

“Because it’s miss Singularity, no?” Flaunty gave a laugh, hugging Misty’s shoulders with one arm.

Naturally, the large truck wasn’t there when they exited the building. That didn’t prevent Misty’s thoughts from returning to it persistently, frantically digging in her memory.

“I heard that the courses will take place only tomorrow,” Lacy’s cheerful voice pulled her from the musings. “They left the day for the students to accommodate, join the courses and so on. So, I thought… Why don’t we go and take a look at the lake then?”

“Nice idea!” Windy ruffled her red mane. “And we can examine the camp perimeter after,” added she with a meaningful wink.

Taking south from the administration and canteen buildings, the girls came to another forest clearing in a couple of minutes. If the parking lot was big, this opening was huge, but its purpose was just as obvious. The stadium met the friends with silence – the light wind travelled freely across the metalwork tribunes, barely whistling on the high flagpoles and metal cables and flapping the edges of sun shades mostly installed above the seats. The seasonal preparations were almost finished as the girls could notice, but the flags and banners – if any to expect – were not placed yet and with nopony using it, the stadium looked deserted. However, despite the modest open tribunes, the stadium offered all the imaginable sports facilities. The large freshly marked-up field was spreading the smell of recently mowed grass, the elliptic jogging tracks boasted the renewed tartan cover and the variety of sports equipment pleased even a sophisticated eye. In addition to the main field with gates, there were volleyball and tennis courts, and standard-size basketball hoops; on the far edge of the field, under the more capital sun shade, numerous bars, power benches, ladders, rings and some sports simulators gleamed with the fresh paint. A small flat building behind that area was probably intended for some indoor training if anypony would have preferred such during an awesome summer day.

By their wide anticipating grins, Misty concluded that the pegasi twins were already imagining how to put all that to good use. Lacy was looking around a bit confused as if searching for something.

“I can imagine the absence of showers here,” she answered Misty’s inquiring glance, “as every cabin has its own. But… where are we supposed to perform that self-defence training? Being thrown to the ground, even if grass-covered, isn’t the safest thing in my mind.”

“Relax, bud!” Before Misty could think about that concern, Windy wrapped her arm around Lacy’s shoulders. “See that building over there? I bet they have some sort of more springy flooring inside for the contact training.”

However, the most inspiring thing reputedly was the absence of living buildings – be it regular or staff cabins – at a considerable distance around the stadium. Naturally, nopony would like to be neighbouring the noisy place as the campers’ schedules may vary. A wide stripe of forest separated the field with tribunes from the nearest dwelling, making the friends exchange meaningful glances. Straining their eyes, the fillies could see the mesh fence behind the stadium – the edge of the camp territory was close.

“It looks to me the easiest way to leave the camp unnoticed so far,” chuckled Flaunty, summarizing everypony’s thoughts. “At least toward the lake or coast…”

“Yeah, if we plan to visit the riverside, it’ll be another half of a mile around the camp,” sighed Windy. “We need to look for a similar path on the northern side.”

“Later, okay?” Lacy gave a smile. “I’d like to see the lake, Windy, if you don’t mind.”

Heading to the fence, they prepared to overcome that subtle obstacle by the most natural means they had; the pegasus girls would have carried their two friends over that mesh barrier. Surprisingly, their eyes met a simple narrow gate in the fence. The girls walked on the grass, but approaching the gate, they saw a gravel path coming from the stadium. A small tablet said “Lake Sire, 0,5 mile”; the gate leaf was unlocked and easily opened with the first touch. Apparently, part of the lake was used instead of the camp’s swimming pool indeed, as miss Singularity mentioned at the meeting; thus visiting the lake shore was a routine thing there.

“I suppose, there is only one path here,” chuckled Misty when, passing the gate, the four friends stepped onto the simple dirt track, which snaked away to the south through the thicket. The old trees were coming closer to the narrow path; growing freely on the openings between the large trunks, smaller vegetation formed the denser undergrowth. It quickly became muggy there compared to the camp territory, maintained and easily blown through by the wind. Although, the heat and the sunlight occasionally reaching them through the crowns were rather a blessing at that hour, making the unavoidable mosquitoes hide in the humid, more shady places, waiting for the better chance at dusk. Thus instead of the expected annoyance of the mosquitoes’ squeak, the girls were constantly followed by the chorus of the birds galore. Mostly invisible to the friends, the feathery forest soloists competed in tones and melodies each in their own way, celebrating the first days of summer and wonderfully forming a quite pleasant sound palette from the seeming cacophony of their voices. Needless to say that the road to the lake took twice more than the distance implied – the girls stopped every now and then, trying to see the next singer through the flickering medley of leaves, shadows and shimmering sun glares playing in the tree crowns.

“Next time, buds, remind me about the binoculars!” Windy made a funny face. “We didn’t take it from Yuki for nothing.”

“If it can comfort you, I’ve left my camera in the cabin also,” Misty spread her hands with a smile. “Although, I doubt that the standard lens can take a decent photo of a small bird at such a distance. We could probably try to come closer as they seem to be quite unbothered and trustful.”

Meanwhile, the trees became rarer and more light started dawning ahead; the girls fancied dampness in the air – not the heavy humidity of the woods, but some freshness they didn’t feel before. A few more yards and the forest parted; the narrow path lead to the opening, letting the girls out of the green embrace one by one.

This lake bank was high; running down between two cliff walls, the long gentle slide widened, descending to the water. There was no distinctive path as the entire part grassy part sandy slope, studded with sparse shrubs and young willows, offered a safe way down for anypony, regardless if the latter preferred to run with whooping or walk calmly. A golden stripe of the beach peeked between the islets of vegetation at the foot of the descent.

However, a totally different image made the girls freeze on the spot, exiting the forest and leaving the birds’ warbles behind. Below, after the cliffy shore, there lay the Sire lake – a large water body spread as widely as their eyes could see, reflecting the rare clouds lazily floating across the sky and shimmering with myriads of sun glares in the tiny ripples on its calm surface. The stronger wind from the lake took away the forest mugginess, fanning their manes and bringing freshness instead. Smiling unwittingly, the girls watched how it was playing with the black-headed gulls circling in the sky and diving to break the water mirror and grab an unsuspecting fish or water bug. Far, far away, at the very horizon, a thin stripe of the southern, low shore, bristled with the harsh, green brush of the forest, could be barely seen in the morning haze.

“Have I mentioned we need to take the binoculars and camera next time already?” muttered Windy, watching the scene like enthralled.

“Yeah, kinda!” Closing her eyes dreamily, Lacy put her face under the sun and wind, inhaling the full chest of damp freshness.

“Let’s go say “hello!” Misty looked back at her friends with a wide smile. Not waiting for an answer, she rushed down the slope skipping. Laughing and squeaking, the girls followed suit, manoeuvering between the bushy willows on the run.

Reaching the bottom of the slide, the girls found out that Misty’s words surprisingly had a more direct meaning. Already warmed by the sun, the narrow stripe of soft, golden sand hinted at its artificial nature. The beach there was specifically poured as the rest of the shore was rather stony with pebbles peeking from the sandy tongue entering the lake and large stones scattered along the shoreline. One of those cliffs was already occupied by somepony; the girls spotted another figure on the beach nearby.

“Hmm… And this photo would make a bomb cover for any colts’ magazine,” said Windy from a corner of her mouth when the girls came closer – her friends stifled their snorting with an effort. “I wonder if there are colts in her art class. I feel for the poor unsatisfied dudes already!”

Reclining on the large smooth stone in the most relaxed and picturesque pose, their art teacher miss Aime Lerie sported only a modest solid colour bikini. With her eyes closed, putting one arm under her head and outstretching another, miss Lerie was exposing her more than entrancing curves to the caressing warmth. The wind playing with her short wet hair and the sunlight brought a content smile to her face. However, “modest” was the term referring directly to the amount of cloth and nothing else. That scarce piece of nylon was perhaps the single reason to not call that the nude art study, as another pony sitting on the light foldable chair leaning over the easel was undoubtedly miss Lerie’s student.

“Good morning, Momo!” Flaunty appeared to know the little earth filly. “Already practising?”

“Oh! Hi, Flaunty!” The silvery head turned; a bit startled at first, the girl broke into a smile of recognition. “Well, practice makes perfect…” she downcasted a bit, seeing the bigger company.

“As if you needed to be more perfect than you are,” Flaunty gave a laughter; she shook her chestnut mane. “Do you know our friends, Misty and Lacy?” she gestured towards the girls, adding when Momo nodded. “Won’t you mind if we have an early peek?”

“Not at all!” the filly shrugged with an agreeing nod. She turned on her chair, burying her bare feet into the warm sand again and catching the jacket, sliding from her thin shoulders. Misty thought that Momo was near Ola’s age if not younger. The jacket draped over her to protect the ivory filly from sunburn was too large and likely belonged to miss Lerie. The thin fingers put the pencil away on the easel, welcoming the friends to have a look. At a closer look, her miniature and lean frame, foalishly sharp elbows and knees (the latter were mildly scratched in addition), however, were surprisingly complemented by small yet round and firm, well-formed breasts, thus telling that Momo was far in her teens. The girl was packed in the deep blue with lighter stripes bikini, which easily competed with her mentor’s one in explicitness, which could probably cause uneasiness in some others but not in that truly artistic soul.

Approaching from the side, the four friends noticed that Momo had recently started her delicate work, the very first glance on which removed the involuntary smiles from their faces, causing an expression of surprised admiration instead. Even on Flaunty’s face, despite the filly knew well, what the little artist was capable of. Naturally, the main focus was given to the model, accurately – even lovingly, as glimpsed in Misty’s head – conveying each line, curve and dimple of Aime Lerie’s promising physique. The thoroughness in outlining the eyes, cheeks and lips of the reclining mare told Misty that the sight of the filly travelled down the face of her model. It descended to the gracious neck, then shoulders and gorgeous breasts, sliding along each muscle and joint prominent under the silky (even on the drawing) skin down to the toes of the long fit legs and guiding the tool of Momo’s art as if it were her own fingers lovingly caressing every square inch of Aime Lerie instead. Even so, the little artist already managed to capture some small details of the shore, sketching the water mirror and even the distant coastline.

“Will you work in your usual style?” Flaunty kept examining the meticulously built piece, which could hardly be named a sketch now. “Or try colouring it after?”

“Don’t know yet,” the narrow shoulders shrugged as Momo looked up into Flaunty’s eyes, which scanned attentively the unfinished artwork. “I need to make the best drawing I can. Then probably try different variants.”

“I see you’ve made some already,” Flaunty’s attention shifted to the smaller sheet pinned in the upper right part of the easel. The girls could see an image presented by the almost exact copy of the main work; the smaller sketch was focused on the model figure only. However, the round alluring hips of the latter turned not into the shapely legs of miss Lerie bent at an expressive angle, but into some semblance of a strong, long fishtail with large blade flowing down the barely outlined rock, additional side fins and scales drafted on its surface.

“That’s just… some doodling,” muttered Momo, her cheeks flushing gently with embarrassment. “For practice…”

“Oh, girls! You also came to try the water?” Hearing the new voices, miss Lerie opened her eyes. Picking herself to sit on the rock, the mare stretched, making her figure arch in the most graphical way.

Raising her eyes at her teacher, Momo blinked; the thin fingers quickly pulled a clean sheet from the bag at her feet, placing it on the easel right above the main sketch. The girls watched, enthralled by the pencil flying over the paper and drafting the upper torso with the new pose purely from the memory of the little artist.

“As you can see, I have a level to aspire,” Flaunty shook her head with a smile.

“Beware, the water is a bit cool after last night’s rain! Still pleasant contrastingly,” added miss Lerie, leaning on her elbows and watching the company appreciating her apprentice’s work. “Didn’t you take your new friends with you?”

Something crackled dryly.

Pursing her lips crossly, the earth filly put away the broken pencil with a sigh, reaching for the new one.

“We wanted to see the lake, to roam around a bit…” Misty threw a meaningful glance from under her palm along the shoreline. “Not planned to be much of a distraction for you, ma’am.” She pulled the girls subtly with her, smiling at Momo apologetically. “We’ll just take a look around.”

Waving to miss Lerie, the girls took off their shoes and headed along the small waves splashing on the shore slowly.

“Okay, see you then,” straightening on her rock throne, Aime Lerie waved in reply. “Careful on the slippery cliffs over there, girls!”

“Ai… M-miss Lerie, please, could you,” drowning out by the hubbub of gulls, the pleading voice of Momo reached the friends’ ears. “We would never finish that way.”

“Okay, okay,” with laughter, the mare leaned back on the rock, taking the same pose as when Misty and the girls ran into them.

“See, I was not joking, saying that Momo is the best student of Aime,” stated Flaunty when the girls distanced a bit, wading in the lake water which was slightly cold indeed. “Just wait till she finishes – you’ll mistake the entire piece for a photo from a little distance!”

“So, she prefers it hyper-realistic,” smiled Lacy.

“I was thinking,” Misty stopped, pensively digging a pebble from the sand with her toe, “it appears, the teachers can take their most promising students here, ignoring the age, right?”

“What?” she raised her glance at the giggling twins.