The Fire: Campfire Tales

Over the crashing of a waterfall can be heard gleeful young shouts as two pegasi roar into view, racing the glittering chromatic mist of a rainbow that ends in the azure of a river below.

The turquoise pony lands behind her pink rival, but the latter’s hooves, slick from the watery descent, skid on smooth rocks, depositing her in the river with an unceremonious splash, and she disappears into the churning deep blue of the plunge pool. The former also slides but is more sure-hooved, barely stopping at the edge of the bank; she flicks the wet green of her mane from her face and looks into the roiling waters.

With a splash, a pink muzzle emerges a little way down-river, as the ‘winner’ finds her footing in the current of white-flecked rapids. Eventually, like a salmon, she flops herself ashore, draped in her blue mane, panting from the exertion. Her friend is waiting for her and chuckles musically, “Well, I have you beat for style anyway, Firefly.” She offers a hoof.

“Stupid slippery rocks!” Firefly takes the proffered blue-green hoof and hauls herself up. “You were right behind me, Medley—how come you didn’t fall in?” she complains, before spreading her wings and shaking herself, duck-like, wetting her companion.

The two banter back and forth and trot along the river until a shadow falls on them from above and both look up. A pale pink pegasus glides easily down away from the mist from the waterfall — her feathers light and fluffy, unlike the sodden down of the pair on the ground. Beneath the blue of her tail ribbon, a starred compass symbol states that she is a fated explorer, just as the turquoise pony’s musical notes speak to harmony and the pink pony’s thunderbolts to energy.

“I think I saw a clearing up ahead where you can dry those wings while we set up camp. I’ll guide from the air,” the mare calls down to Medley and Firefly, who thank her in turn, calling her 'North Star'.

The trio weave away from the river and into the surrounding forest. Soon, North Star’s hooves are brushing the deep greens of a summer canopy, while Medley and Firefly are pushing through underbrush, wet green and blue manes becoming tangled with foliage. Eventually, however, the grounded ponies are halted by a thicket. The two cry for help, but the voice and wing beats of their aerial companion have already disappeared, leaving only the crunch of hooves on leaf litter, chirps of birds and creaking of forest trees stirred by the early morning breeze.

As the two try to find a way through, their ears prick up as something large appears from an unfamiliar direction, obscured by the brush and trees of the forest. They whinny in shock as a sudden piercing whistle sounds closer to them than expected.

The noise comes closer. “This is why playtime proceeds from work concluded,” sounds a matter-of-fact voice, seemingly without an owner until its source manifests out of the greenery: a light-blue, high-held head accompanied by piercing orchid eyes. The mare sports a mane of salmon-pink, pulled tight to her nape. “These woods are unfamiliar and if I had been a hungry wolf…” she chides.

The damp duo follow the pony through a hitherto unperceived gap in the thicket, still bantering with each other as the other, whom they call ‘Wind Whistler’, trots tight-lipped in the lead.

In another part of the forest can be heard piercing shrieks, whoops of laughter and the cawing of startled birds in response. Underneath the canopy are blurs of green, orange and white, which gallop and leap merrily through spacious undergrowth skirting a wide path through the forest. With a start, two of the ponies fall back, eyes flitting to something above which seems to drop like a stone, while the teal unicorn continues unawares. There is a momentary hush as the latter’s hoof-step falters, before the shape cries, “Surprise!”.

The creature's wings flare, revealing to the astonished ponies on the ground that it is a startlingly white pegasus!

Shocked, the teal unicorn wickers and rears up, wind-milling her forehooves as her pink-gemmed eyes glint in the midday sun; her four-tone light/dark pink, green and white mane is momentarily silhouetted before she keels over and rolls down a mossy incline, ending up in a ditch next to the path. The orange and white earth ponies who had fallen back previously prance after her, giggling, to help her up, while the teal unicorn gives a little huff and pokes her tongue out at her assailant. As she does so, her horn lights up and a stream of bubbles flies towards Surprise, the assault causing the pegasus to loose her balance, whereon she too slides into the ditch, colliding with the others, to more laughter.

As they dust themselves off, they chatter, each competing with the other for excitement.

"Last one at the camp is a rotten egg!" the teal unicorn, whom they call 'Fizzy' shouts.

The white earth pony calls out, “Applejack!” to her orange earth companion, before the other, engrossed in a conversation about pies with Surprise, trots into a low hanging tree branch.

“Thanks, Sundance!”

Merry fates mark the teal, white and orange flanks of these four ponies: sodas on Fizzy, balloons on Surprise, pink petals on Sundance and apples on Applejack.

Later that day, as the summer sun is leaning westward towards afternoon, a babble of voices rises from a large forest clearing, punctuated by rhythmic thuds. The glade is filled by dozens of ponies, above which rears a bipedal creature, a ginger-haired, ruddy-skinned and freckled human boy who wields the source of the sound — a small axe, which he is using to strike a felled log. This is being steadied at either end by a burly, light-orange earth pony and a white, orange-maned pegasus with striking green eyes.

A unicorn mare, dark-pink fur stained from recent exertions, is standing beside a recently erected tent, looking over it with an expression of one satisfied with a job well done. Content, she turns her penetrating ruby-gemmed eyes, which are set in a head framed by a red, pink and white mane, towards the trio. “Need a hoof?” she offers, breathlessly.

The boy pauses, wipes his brow and shakes his head, before returning to work. He puts extra heft into his next strike, and the two holding the log cheer as it is cleaved in two.

“We’re building the fire here, Cherries Jubilee,” instructs the dark-pink unicorn, pointing towards a partially formed ring of stones.

“No problem, Galaxy,” the hefty earth pony responds as she rears onto her hind hooves, forehooves free to roll the heavy log. The white pegasus tries to copy her, but hers does not budge.

Galaxy shakes her head. “It’s too big, Paradise—Danny!" She gestures to the human. "Help us, please.” Together, the three manage to roll the log to the fire, positioning it against the tip of Cherries’ log, forming the beginnings of a ring of log-seats around the makeshift firepit.

“Excellent, thank you," Galaxy pants. Suddenly, she yelps and skips to the side as a tent pole clatters down on the spot where she had been standing.

“Sorry, Galaxy!” yells a white unicorn who is holding a teetering tent frame in her hooves.

“Gusty! I told you to hammer the pegs!” cries a golden-yellow pegasus above the tent, trying to steady it.

Picking up the pole, Galaxy hurries to help. Once the tent is stable, the pegasus flies a canvas over the frame and the dark turquoise and pink-streaked mane of the white pony disappears inside to tie it. The olive-emerald gemmed-eyes of the golden-yellow pegasus carefully survey the tent canvas from within the tousled frame of her teal, light blue, green and olive mane. Once satisfied, she lands, and all three peg it down.

“Good job, Masquerade,” Galaxy says to the pegasus, before turning to the unicorn and adding, “You too, Gusty, but try to be more careful next time.”

This group of industrious ponies wear varied fates: the log-rollers, Cherries Jubilee and Paradise, have cherries and a tropical scene respectively, while those working on the tent, the unicorn Gusty who dropped the tent pole and the pegasus, Masquerade, have leaves and masks, while the helper, Galaxy, has stars.

At the same time as the aforementioned work, at the other end of the clearing, a ring of soft-coloured ponies are watching the antics of foals, who are squealing and shouting.

“My turn on Molly!” the little ones chorus, as they clamber over the pink-clothed legs of a small, blond female human who is seated on the ground. She lifts each in turn and gives them a spin, to chirrups of foalish delight from her playmates.

Among the onlookers is a blue unicorn with a majestic white ribbon on her tail, matching the fate on her flank, as well as a warm neon blond mane streaked with a playful orange. Her careworn muzzle crinkles and green eyes narrow with concern as she sees a seemingly innocuous patch of empty ground behind the girl. She calls out, but her soft voice is lost in the noise. Her brows furrow with concentration as she focuses on one of the mares, a green-maned, yellow earth pony with a magic wand on her flank. As her horn sparkles a soft blue, echoing sparkles dance over the yellow-furred head of the other mare, who immediately ceases her activity of braiding daisies into the mane of her companion.

The braider looks towards the ribboned unicorn, nods, and gives the braidee, a yellow earth mare with a pink mane and flowered mark, a nudge; this latter, in turn, gently prods the pink star-marked unicorn next to her, who rises quickly to her hooves, nostrils flaring and two-tone white/purple-streaked mane swishing.

“Baby North Star!?” she calls out, loudly, in a voice full of concern.

The others in the circle go quiet.

“What is it, Twilight?” Molly asks, and soon she and the foals are joining in the call for the missing baby. None, however, turn towards that one exploratory babe, whose unsteady hooves have taken herself now all the way to the underbrush at the edge of the clearing.

The blue, white-ribboned unicorn rises to her hooves, searching the late afternoon blue of the sky above her, until they find a shocking white pegasus—the merry pony from before: Surprise. In a second, the unicorn's horn lights up again and Surprise stops mid-flight and waggles her silly head, before flapping over and joining the calls. Just as the light pink hooves of the little foal disappear into the forest, Twilight, noticing the tiny hoof-prints, shouts and points towards the wayward infant.

Once the foal is safely returned, the happy play resumes.

The unicorn trots up beside the two yellow earth mares who resume their activity. "That little one gave me such a fright. Are you okay, Magic Star?" she asks the green-maned pony with the wand symbol, who nods.

She turns to the pink-maned, yellow, rose-marked mare. "And you, Posey?"

"Yes, Ribbon," the two reply, demurely.

Some time later, the dipping sun paints the sky orange over the heads of the ponies in the clearing. Paradise and Cherries Jubilee, Gusty and Masquerade, and Danny, led by Galaxy, have assembled a large pile of chopped wood next to the ring of logs. Another human, like Molly, though bigger, is gently petting the pink mane of Sundance with one hand, while her other is gesticulating at the boy.

“You can’t build the fire until you clear the ground and make a ring of stones.”

"'Course you can, Megan!" Danny shakes his head impatiently. "It’s getting late. Let's get the fire going!"

The dispute prompts various responses from the ponies, who gather round them.

"C'mon! I'm freezing my fur off!" complains Firefly, the pink, racing pegasus, whose mane is ruffled after her dunking in the waterfall earlier.

"Yeah! Some of us are only wearing ribbons," huffs Gusty, the white unicorn who had previously dropped a pole on Galaxy.

Danny gives Megan a smug look. However, the girl is soon joined by a chorus of pony voices supporting her view.

"What Megan proposes is the logical order of things," comes the firm tones of Wind Whistler, the pegasus scout who had escorted the two racing pegasi back from the forest.

"And clearly the safest course," adds Ribbon, though her soft voice barely carries over the noise of the discussion.

"Don't be so impractical, girls. If the fire were to spread, we would have far more to complain about than a little chill," warns Galaxy, the gem-eyed unicorn who was helping with the tent and fire assembly.

The latter's wisdom carries a number of ponies, who murmur their assent.

Megan raises a quizzical eyebrow at Danny, who scowls, but does not immediately respond.

During this, unbeknownst to the debaters, Fizzy, the teal gem-eyed unicorn from among the giggling ponies on the path earlier, had gone to whisper something into the upraised ear of her shocking, white-furred friend, Surprise, who now chuckles, nods and flaps over to Megan. After taking in the excitedly gabbled idea, she nods.

Megan stands, making a gesture to Wind Whistler who, with a shrill blast, calls for silence. "Listen, everyone! If we just pitch in together, then the task will be a breeze," she addresses the perky ears and sparkling eyes of the herd. "All that's needed is to collect rocks to form a ring around the fire, and for the area around the fire to be cleared of any leaves or twigs or anything else that might burn."

"Sounds borrring!" Danny heckles.

"Yeah!" Gusty and Firefly cry in unison, prompting disapproving tuts from Ribbon, Galaxy and Wind Whistler.

Megan raises her hands for quiet. "But it needn't be a chore; as a little birdie just told me—" She winks at Fizzy, who blushes. "—it can be a game! Using your pony-tails, sweeping can be a dance!" she explains to upturned quizzical pony faces, with a little twirl to illustrate.

"Yeah, well I've got four left hooves, so that's me out," grumbles Cherries Jubilee, the burly earth pony who had been rolling logs. This complaint is echoed by a number of the bigger, louder ponies. The suggestion is, however, greeted by a soft murmur of agreement from Ribbon and the quieter ponies in the group.

"Or," Megan continues, "stone-collecting could be a race!"

This suggestion is greeted with more enthusiasm, until Danny caterwauls again. "You're just tricking us into doing chores!"

Irritated, the girl stomps her foot and shoots him a look. "There will be prizes."

This is met with general approbation, and just as Danny is about to continue barracking his sister, he is interrupted.

"Come on slow-pony, or we'll never catch Firefly!" Surprise shrills, giggling, gesturing at the fast-disappearing, blue tail-ribbon of the competitive pegasus.

"I'll show her!" Danny growls, and sets off running, joined by Cherries Jubilee, Gusty and a number of other louder, more high-spirited ponies.

Once they have gone, Ribbon turns to Medley. "Not chasing after her?"

The pegasus looks ruefully after her bestie's receding withers. "Nah, the prize is as good as hers. Anyway, I'd rather stay."

Ribbon nods. "Please could you sing for us, while we dance?" The sentiment is echoed by a number of the others.

Medley smiles and nods. As she begins to sing her favourite song, the notes on her flank shimmer. Megan, familiar with the tune, joins in with her own strong, young voice, and soon the two are soaring together.

"Somewhere, over the rainbow..."

The motherly unicorn unties her tail ribbon and leads the dance, twirling the white fabric in the dusk to the melody. Eventually, all the remaining ponies, even the quiet Magic Star and Posey, are swaying, brushing the floor with their long tails.