Awry

I remember how worried my parents became when they heard where the freshpony camp shall take place. For some reason they believed it to be in the city and they plan to use the dormitory for hosting the camp. It would've made sense in some way as many of us came from outside of Canterlot, so this could've provided an opportunity for them to get know their new home. But the noname village - and by village, I mean homestead - they marked as destination on the eastern side of the range was an unknown territory for all of us. Maybe this was the point so it would be more exciting for us, canterlotians. Or they just wanted to give everypony the same experience that would, in theory, help us getting to know each other better.

I couldn't decide if i mind it or not. On one hoof I was still Mommy's little colt, even if i was a teenager. I didn't like getting far away from home and I never travelled alone to another city before with anypony else than my parents. Not that I had the affinity for it: I could find everything I ever needed in the capital... and those times I was wandering along the streets on my own and didn't need any more independency. On the other hoof I was very excited about the camp, if for no other reason, then because I had already two ponies there that I knew. Jasper and Wish were also allowed to come - just like anypony else by the way - so I didn't need to worry that I'll be left alone. Even if I wasn't particularly interested in the promised wooden cottages or in the few details they cared to share about the programs, it did give me a reason to remain optimistic.

I was also curious about the others. In the previous school I didn't really had friends, maybe just a few ponies I liked to spend time with. It was fun, playing games with them, we spent whole afternoons in the park or on the playgrounds - my favourite was the one next to the grocery because it had three double swing next to each other, so if there was no crowd, all of them could sit and I could push them with my magic... I always liked to brag about my abilities and also felt sick from the swinging. But I never was the center of attention in the group. We had too different interests for that. There was another unicorn in our team but he didn't possess the same dedication about learning spells as I did. If I was in the mood, I found that satisfactory to just levitate a leaf with my horn as the other foal were having a nice talk around me. Silence was not something I particularly liked and I wasn't a bother for them. And I gave up pretty fast on trying to bring up the things I was interested in. As I already kind of stuck out, the last thing I wanted to be shut out because of my love for magic. Most ponies found my ranting haughty, to be honest.

So I had big hopes about my new school, and my new classmates in particular. If I only take that as a basis that I could get along with two foals so different from me, I had a pretty good chance to meet ponies with the same interests in this 'elite' company. Maybe I won't even stick out with my tendency to use my magic so much, for even the most mundane of tasks.

As the time of the freshpony camp got closer, I became more and more excited. I even made my mom pack for me days before. And that wasn't enough in itself, I had to walk every day to the place of the entrance exam to have a good look at the bulletin board our dean mentioned. Usually, I had more control over myself but I'm sure, in that period I look as much ablaze as I felt. That emotionless expression that I perfected in my old school didn't work that time. It was useful when I tried to blend in a crowd and it worked almost every time. With my well-practiced bored face and almost colorless, beige fur, I could become practically invisible anywhere. Helped me a lot by repetitions, unless some felonious teacher caught the school diary in their hooves to read the death sentence from it directly.

The point is, I was unable to idly sit in one place, so I took it into serious consideration to try and find Wish's house or to help Jasper's family with moving their son to the dormitory. In the end I abandoned my plan although it was harder to convince myself than usual. Jasper's parents were just as weird and noisy as their son - no wonder where he inherited his personality from - and only one of him was more than enough, thank you very much. Just surviving that few minutes with them after the exam until the two families introduced themselves to each other was cringy enough. My parents didn't like folk like them, for example my mother was completely astonished by their extraordinary and no less ostentatious outfit of dolman. Luckily, she didn't say anything right away but she definitely didn't fail to explain to me at home that no pony in their right mind would put on something like that, and she really hopes that my new friend is smarter than his parents.

We didn't have the chance to meet Wish's relatives. Actually, even that didn't come to light where she lives in spite her mentioning that their house was near the domed building. That made it even more surprising for me that nopony bothered to wait for her, or at least come and pick her up after the exam. Well, she did mention that her parents were working right then, and she also politely refused when we offered to accompany her on the way home. Albeit I paid attention, I never ran into her on the streets by chance.

Next time I saw them was when my mother took me to the train station. At first, I was looking for Jasper and his family because they were impossible not to notice in the crowd. But as I didn't see hide or tail of them I asked for my mother's permission to scout between the groups standing on the platform. I didn't have any luck initially but as I began my second round, I discovered Wish. The little green mare was sitting between her two pony-sized suitcases, all of her own. She was resting her forelegs on one of them and wrapped her tail around the other, almost as if she was afraid that somepony would try to steal them from her.

I smiled as I recognized her and I started towards her. Before I could reach her, she turned around to face me. There was joy on her face and maybe a little relief, too. "Hi!" I greeted her happily. "What's up?"

"Hi!" she chirped happily, returning my gaze firmly. This time she didn't seem so embarrassed for which I was grateful - I wasn't in the mood for starting everything from the beginning with her. "I didn't know how much time will it take to get here, this is why I came so early."

"Why? When did you arrive, then?" I stepped beside her so she wouldn't have to break her neck looking at me. Watching the gathering ponies, I suspected that almost everypony got here by now.

"Maybe an hour ago," she replied, looking up at the sky in thought.

"Wow, that's cool!" I nodded in appreciation. "And nopony came with you this time either?"

"Canterlot isn't that big. I found my way around before, too," she shrugged, but she didn't pull her hooves away from her luggage for a second.

"And weren't they too heavy?" I pointed at the bags.

"No way!" she laughed merrily. "It's not much, it just takes up much space."

"By the way, have you seen Jasper?" I changed subject.

"I think he isn't here, yet."

"But you remember that way too, that he said he'll come, right?"

She nodded. Sighing heavily, I looked up at a clock nearby. We still had like a quarter left. And anyway, they surely won't get the train here in the last minute so that we must hurry with the boarding. "It would be nice to sit next to each other," I stated.

"Yeah, but I'm afraid the wagons will be packed," she grimaced. "We can't talk too much if there are no booths..."

"We'll reserve a seat for him. Or a bed, or whatever we'll have. But I don't think they would send one with sleeping wagons. According to the map, it should take only around an hour to arrive. Also, we could go to my mother as we wait, what do you think?" I had good intentions but I could clearly see it on her that she wasn't enthusiastic about the idea. "Or should I ask her to come here instead?" I offered.

"Eh, it's not important!" she smiled. "We shouldn't bother her for those few minutes..."

"Okay, then," I said, turning back to where I came from. "But I'll let her know where we are at least. Coming soon!"

This time it went slower to find my way through the tight lines of ponies, so by the time I got there the train was pulled onto the track. My mother was already searching for me with her eyes, but I managed to get to her before they opened the doors. Quickly, I picked up my saddlebags, which was resting on the ground, kissed goodbye to my mother and politely jostled my way up the car. The best way seemed to be to reserve the seats as soon as possible, and after that I could help Wish with her stuff.

Things worked pretty good as far as finding two unoccupied bed facing each other - not seats, but I didn't mind -, where I could spread out my luggage. When I trotted through two cars to find Wish, though, she was already climbing up the steps, floating her suitcases in front of her. I'd really like to offer my help but she clearly didn't need it and I didn't want to disturb her while casting. I knew it well, how much concentration was needed to levitate two items this big simultaneously from a pony of our age. She didn't seem to struggle, so I became a bit unsure if I underestimated her capabilities because of her looks. She was such a little mare, after all...

"I'm here, I can take one!" I said loudly when she got inside the train with all four legs.

The small filly looked at me from behind her bags and smiled at me with a slight blush. "I'm good, thanks," she said, almost apologizing for denying the offered help.

"You sure? Our places are not in this car." I saw her growing uncertainty so I added: "Don't worry, I didn't mean to take anything from you, just..."

"No, of course, here you go, thank you!" she said in quick succession, directing one of her bags towards me, and let me take over its levitation. I went ahead, leading her to the beds I reserved for us, but I almost dropped her suitcase when we got there. Where my saddlebags were just a few minutes before, now lied two plump colts. They wore loose casual clothes, which revealed their neglect of proper manners at least as much as the way my bag had been tossed to the other side, letting my stuff spill out - well, at least not onto the floor, but onto the bed. And they didn't even react when I cleared my throat loudly.

"I'm sorry, but I was here first," I said, confidently standing in front of them.

The two stallions stopped talking temporarily, eyed me suspiciously and the shorter, bright green coated one shrugged, clearly not caring the least. "You weren't here, 'twas just a bag lying around."

"Yes, because I was reserving it for my friends," I snorted more and more irritated. "It is customary to respect such things around here. And you're better off if you adapt..."

"Oh, come on!" the bigger one with red fur moaned. "Dude, we already had to get off another car because of this!"

"Yeah, and there is hardly any room left!" the other one joined. "Can we find a solution, somehow? How many more are you expecting?"

"Her," I pointed at Wish, who cautiously remained in the coverage provided by her massive luggage, "and another friend of mine, who didn't get here yet."

"Oh, then we can easily fit in!" lit up the green colt's face.

"It depends on how many bags Jasper carry with himself..."

"Come on!" waved the same foal. "There's still place for it under us, and there up it's still completely empty!" he pointed at the rack. "And the three of you can fit on that bed if you squeeze yourselves just a tiny bit, right?"

"How nice of you to think of it..." I snarled.

"Pretty please?" The green pony tried to give me an endearing grin. "We'll thank you later, somehow!"

"What do you say?" I looked back at Wish. "Do you mind?"

The little mare only blinked confusedly, sometimes at me, sometimes at the strangers, from which I concluded that she, for her part, would not complain about anything, even if she might be against the idea. There was nothing to do, so I nodded in agreement. If there are so many of us, sooner or later somepony would have tried anyway, so why not let these ones stay here?

"Thanks, dude! We won't forget!" smiled the red colt, and then they just continued their chat where they were left off. We tossed Wish's suitcases up onto the net that functioned as the rack and I stuffed my stuff back into my saddlebags and hid them under our bed. I made myself comfortable on it about a hoof length away from my friend. I leaned over the window to see Jasper as soon as he arrives, but all I saw was my mother, who waved cheerfully when she saw that I had found a place for myself. I waved back at her, then continued to scan the crowd.

I felt the mattress stir under me, but I didn't pay much attention to it for a while. Only when it started to become disturbing did I turn around to see what my companion was up to. For some reason, Wish was unable to sit still, as she was continuously adjusting her skirt. Now that it caught my attention, I noticed that it was not the same she wore for the exam, because no matter how she sat, it always wrinkled up. I probably wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been messing around so much with it...

Of course, she 'caught' me watching her in the end, so she shyly hung her head and pulled her legs under herself, slid one front hoof into her lap, and braced herself with the other so she wouldn't lose her balance in this quite un-pony-like position. I just looked around the rest of the car, as if I was just turning her way by chance, then without any comment I turned back to the window. I quickly got over this little 'incident', because within minutes Jasper and his parents appeared on the platform. Luckily, he didn't bring too much stuff so we shouldn't have problem with space. As this crossed my mind, I already pushed up the window and waved and shouted to them, trying to catch their attention. He didn't disappoint me as he almost immediately noticed me, and never breaking eye contact he jumped in our car. I watched as his father threw his luggage after him, but after that I could already hear the colt's voice, so I turned my back to the glass.

"Hey! Ouch... sorry... sorry..!" we heard him as he made his way towards us through the piles of ponies. "Yeah, I know, who sits in the middle, comes in last in the theater, too... Hello, there!" he exclaimed as he got to our bed.

"Hiya!" I greeted him with my hoof held up high. He considered our situation, then he basically jumped between us on the matrass. Sighing heavily he levitated his bags in front of our legs effectively occupying all the remaining free space between the beds and he threw his hind legs up on them comfortably.

"I was pretty sluggish, huh?" he asked squinting jovially. "'course it was because of the bedtime story..."

"What, it was too long and you couldn't wake up in time?" I snickered.

"Nah, but we left the hotel a long time ago. And it was far, far away."

It took me a little while, but seeing his grin made me realise, he was trying to make a joke. Emphasis on 'trying'. "Oh, my sweet Celestia, that hurts..." I moaned. "You're way too much in your element, huh?"

"Yeah, pony on fire!" he agreed and smacked my leg and Wish's which he could barely reach. "Y'know when this pile of rubbish starts?"

"Getting impatient already? You just got here!"

"But now everypony who matters is here! You havin' fun over there?" he added, addressing his question to the colts sitting on the other side.

"I just told Dulci that we really ought to find another bed," the shorter, yellow-white maned foal replied surprisingly honestly. "You blabber so much, I can't even hear my own thoughts!"

"Why, can you hear somepony else's?" Jasper replied without hesitation.

"Yeah, yours I can hear a little bit too loud and clear..."

Jasper leaned forward a bit, closed his eyes, and shortly after he sat back with a smug expression. "Doubt it!"

"What?" the big red colt joined in.

"Just sayin' you can't hear my thoughts! Maybe if I say them out loud."

"You're tiresome, kiddo, y'hear?" the green one said.

"Not always!" Jasper objected. "I can be a pretty cool guy too! Name's Jasper, Jasper Volley."

"Dulcimer," the bigger one nodded. "And my pal here is Cavernwind."

I exchanged a quick glance in front of Jasper's nose with Wish, and in a silent agreement we skipped introducing ourselves. Unlike Jasper, I didn't like to advertise myself to all kinds of strangers. I didn't even want to reveal my name, but I was quite sure, this will be nothing more than a passing acquaintance.

I was wrong, although I obviously couldn't have known it at the time...

* * *

After the ones organizing the camp finally decided to start the engine, the travel itself didn't took too long. Despite Jasper's persuasion, I refused to join the conversation that was developing next to me - although I found that the first impression of the two strange stallions might have been somewhat deceiving, as they didn't seem like complete jerks anymore. Regardless, I occupied myself with scanning the landscape from the window as we sped through the hills and valleys at a fast pace. My excitement rose again when the train started with a small push, and I waved goodbye to my mother for the last time: I realized again that this was the first time I was really traveling alone. A thorough assessment of my surroundings gave me a sense of security, even though I was sure that no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn't be able to find my way home on hooves. It was stupid, of course, because it would obviously be easier to follow the tracks, and only the distance itself would be a problem. Well, yes... I couldn't wait to finally learn how to teleport...

Only a few times could I tear away my eyes from the view outside. I didn't want to be rude to my new friends, but I must admit, it was more frustrating to watch the trees just slide by out of the corner of my eye. Jasper got along well with our neighbors anyway, and Wish and I sometimes exchanged glances, and it seemed that she was satisfied with only smiling at each other at the moment. The conditions for the conversation were far from as ideal as I had originally imagined.

The next time I thought of something worth sharing was when a senior, seemingly almost adult aged stallion, equipped with a huge guitar-case crawled through the narrow corridor of the train, asking everypony if they were all right. I brought up to the group that since I got on the train I hadn't seen a single teacher and, in fact, neither did I before that. Jasper just shrugged, but the colt named Cavernwind was kind enough to explain that the freshpony camp was usually supervised by seniors only. I found it strange that they dare to entrust so much responsibility to young ponies, but the green stallion convinced me that this is the custom around here.

Then, of course, later on I could see for myself that it was true. After we arrived at the final station and unloaded our bags, the guitarist and a few of his fellows tried to herd us into one place. They were nowhere near as efficient at maintaining order as the adults that was immediately apparent. While we stood in line among the slightly ragged-looking wooden houses, the noise of the foals grew louder and louder, although at least they showed enough discipline not to wander off.

The three of us waited in silence until we got to the table set up in front of one of the cottages, where some sort of schedule was being prepared. It soon became clear what the game was about: each room was for five ponies, with two bunk beds and a single one. Considering the large number of attendances, the places had to be fully utilized. Hearing this, Jasper's eyes immediately lit up, and he explained how lucky we were to meet the two stallions on the train, since this way we could have a room to ourselves. But then came the surprise! The organizers insisted that mares and stallions should not be in the same room. This made Wish a bit melancholic and she immediately asked if she would still be allowed to come to our place. To everypony's reassurance, they gave an affirmative answer to this, although I was more surprised that we barely knew each other, yet she was so attached to us.

After a quick discussion, we teamed up with Cavernwind and Dulcimer, forming a team of four. However, we were in trouble with the fifth member. None of us had any more acquaintances here, so we agreed with the guy with the guitar that they would send somepony who couldn't fit in anywhere else. The others left to occupy our accommodation, but I stayed with Wish. I wanted to wait until they found a place for her too. I saw it on her face that she was a little surprised that I paid so much attention to her. She didn't say anything though, but I felt like that grateful look was worth it.

It seemed, a lonely colt was harder to find than a group needing additional members for my friend. Just while we were waiting there, five groups of two or three fillies showed up, and they managed to get almost all of them together. After that, another mare came separately, so now Wish also had a couple of roommates. True, she wasn't too thrilled with her situation: the trio she joined seemed like a rather closed company, ponies who have known each other for a long time, and the fifth appeared to be even more introverted than Wish at first glance. I myself received a few strange looks from them for daring to accompany my friend to their cottage, so after that I just went about my business.

It didn't take long to find our own little wooden house. It was near the camp's center, just the room was on the opposite side. This also made me realise that we'll have neighbours that will be separated from us only by a thin board wall. I hoped they won't make too much noise at night and I would be able to sleep. Come to think of it there was no guarantee that my own roommates will keep quiet... Actually, I was pretty sure that they want to stay up late. Foals, without adult supervision... I really didn't want to spoil anything good, I myself enjoyed that kind of thing sometimes, but even before I entered, I had already decided that I would make it clear to everypony as soon as possible: they must respect my need for sleep.

When I stepped in, the first thing I realised that I lost the opportunity to choose my bed. I could either sleep above Jasper or I could target the single bed, standing separately in the other corner. I wasn't in the mood for the latter option so after a brief hesitation I pulled off my saddlebags, dropped them by the wall, then I climbed up to my designated level. I quickly made my bed to avoid dealing with such irritating chores later, and after that I could now freely join the others.

By that time they almost finished unpacking... or at least they reached a point from where they just didn't seem to continue doing so. Jasper barely touched his stuff as he was rather busily whittling our bed's leg with a huge pocket knife. On the other side Caverwind and Dulcimer already provided us with a healthy mess: the former colt completely rummaged through one of his packages, probably looking for that tiny yellow bow tie, which he was now carefully arranging on himself - but of course he didn't bother to pack back up. And the latter was already eating his second oversized sandwich sitting on top of their bed - this was clearly visible from the papers and crumbs lying on the floor.

Carefully, not to break his concentration, I flopped down next to Jasper on the mattress. I leaned a little closer to see what he was doing but by the time I realized that he was painstakingly carving the initials of our name into the wood, he was already done. Well, it took a little longer to piece it together because he marked me with an L, even though everypony in the world called me Thread...

"I left some space for our lonely wolf," he turned to me, merrily swinging his knife around.

"Gosh! Don't poke my eyes out with your thingy...!" I leaned back a bit from the dangerously swishing blade. "Are we even allowed to bring stuff like this here? You could kill a pony with that!"

"Before ya soil yerself, I'll let ya know, it's just toothpick!" he said and with sleasy movement he threw and stuck the knife deep into the wooden floor. "I have ten times more badass stuff at home. If we're goin' campin', I needed at least a junk like this."

"I'm... not convinced..." I eyed the knife warily.

"Hey, y'hear, the dorm is cool as buck!" he changed topic suddenly. "'t has tons of hooks in it so we could all hang out there!"

I just swallowed silently the fresh and horrible joke and nodded, smiling. "As far as I know, it's not too far away from us, so I don't see any obstacle. Which one did they place you in?"

"In the SS. Y'know..." He paused for a moment, then pointed out the syllables with his hooves. "Star. Swirl."

"Please tell me that you won't be like this the whole week!" I sighed. He just stuck out his tongue at me.

There was a quiet knock on the door and we all fell silent. We thought, of course, it’s to be our fifth roommate. Might I say, we got pleasantly disappointed. "Come in!" Jasper hollered.

A cute little green nose appeared in the crack of the door, quickly followed by the little mare's whole body. As it seemed, Wish was not much for socialisation and she came to visit us already. She probably didn't spend more time at her lodge than she needed to change clothes: she was wearing a skirt just a half hoof longer than previously and she took out the bow from her tail. She also switched her blouse to a more comfortable and less white one, so I suspected that it was her 'touring gear'.

"Am I disturbing...?" she asked, carefully turning away her head from us.

"Nopony is changin', chill!" Jasper answered. "That's it, got bored of the girls?"

"Well..." she began, but clearly without the intent to elaborate.

"Come on then!" he waved her closer. "Yer always welcome here, right, boys?" The response was an approving, if not very enthusiastic, murmur. "Yo, I can write ya up here as a bonus member!" Jasper leaned forward, took out the knife from the floor and scratched the newest letter into the wood. "So, waccha sayin'?"

"Uh... thanks?" she said with a face that made it clear that to desecrate the furniture in this way would have amounted to sacrilege in her eyes.

"So, what now?" the colt asked, swinging his blade left and right again, but he saw my grimace, so he put it back instead in its case and slipped it under his pillow. "Y'all wanna have a trot around the camp or what?"

"Absolutely, but we should wait and see, who we get!" I replied.

"Ok on my part!" Jasper shrugged then flopped onto his back and tried to reach the bottom of my bed with his hindhooves. He didn't spend too much time with this silly game, instead he soon joined in my conversation with Wish. I asked the filly what her cutie mark is, because her clothes always kept it hidden. I must add, in my time, we had other customs than ponies has now. For example, showing up completely naked somewhere was considered terribly impolite at best, and the more decent ponies always left their hind side, and thus their cutie marks, covered in public places. And of course, as a result, it was considered really elegant - or cool among young ponies - to walk the streets dressed from head to hoof. However, how and why this changed later on, I will probably never find out...

"It's three arrow crossin' each other for me, ya see?" Jasper jumped and turned his flank to us before Wish could answer. "Got it on a target shootin' competition. With two bows at once! I held one with a hoof and the other with magic, got the picture?" He reared up on his hind legs - likely to illustrate the event - but with the same momentum he bumped his head in the wood, and he fell back between us with a loud yelp. For a few second he was just clutching his head, whimpering, but before we could properly react, he gritted his teeth and raised again. With closed eyes he pushed his head to the bed.

"What the hay are you doing?" I asked completely flabbergasted.

"Just showin' my head not to fear this stupid thingy," the answer came without a second thought. "So it'll know that it doesn't have to signal with pain and it'll go away faster."

I exchanged glances with Wish and with a silent agreement, we left it to that. "So, what is your cutie mark, then?" I turned to face her completely again.

She just tapped her hooves nervously in front of her mouth. "I... well... actually... Can we talk about anything else, maybe?"

"A cutie mark reveals a lot about its wearer, so if we don't know it, it'll be that much harder to get to know you."

"Eh, don't be so shy!" Jasper joined in, still leaning into the bottom of my bed. "Just pull up your skirt and that's it, you don't even have to say it! It's just us, huh?"

Wish just slid her hooves down her dress and gently pressed the fabric against her body. She mumbled something, but I couldn't catch a word of it. However, her face slowly reached the shade of red like one of the components of her mane...

"I'm sorry, what was that?" I leaned toward her a bit.

The little mare took such a deep breath that even her shoulders rose a bit from it, then she looked with a mournful expression into my eyes. "I... don't have one..."

Hah, and you're not alone - I thought to myself, but I didn't want to spoil the surprise. Instead, I leaned forward and tried my best to look like somepony who had absolutely no idea how much foals of our age used to tease - or bully - each other for things like that.

"Yeah. And?"

With burning ears, she pulled her neck in, but she didn't lower her eyes. "You asked, I answered," she replied just a tiny bit more confidently than previously. Must've been a relief that she dared to say it out loud, yet nopony laughed at her.

"Yeah, but you did it as if you were confessing murder." I raised an eyebrow to which she cracked a smile. "Nopony here's gonna mock you for this. Am I right, Jasper?"

"Never said better," he agreed eagerly, sinking back to all fours. "Nice, got my ears flattened..."

"What about you, guys?" I looked back to my other two roommates who were apparently trying to pretend being preoccupied, but were actually paying close attention to our little discussion.

"You can believe me when I say, I'm not interested the least in the little lady's ass," Dulcimer waved and sent an apologetic smile to Wish immediately afterwards. "Not that I have any problem with you, mind you... I'm from a musician family, so it's nothing new somepony getting their mark long after me."

"I don't think it matters too much either," Cavernwind joined in. "It can be neat to know yourself, but that's it. It's just for show, but we don't show it around much, so who cares?"

"I'm glad we agree upon this," I stated with a neutral expression. "Because, just so you know, I am a blank flank, too."

Not waiting for response, I just turned back to Wish with a satisfied smile. The surprise on her face was unforgettable. It was just like as if I had admitted that I'm her long lost twin brother. Well, truth to be told, it was hard to come by a pony without cutie mark even in my old school. There were maybe four or five of us that I knew of...

"Seriously?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Should I show you?" I winked coyly.

"Oh, you don't have to!" she snickered and lifted a hoof as if she was about to poke me but she changed her mind.

We didn't have much time to talk after that because within a few minutes our last roommate arrived. To be exact, 'burst in' would describe better what he did, when he kicked in our door with a huge bang. With his very first appearance, he managed to destroy my preconceived sympathy for him, and I saw that the others had a similar attitude towards the colt. And looking at him didn't help matters much either. Burning red fur, disheveled black mane, torn crimson cloak, steel hoofguards... In other words, he looked like exactly the kind of pony I couldn't stand being around even in the short term. The organizers either 'loved' us very much, or they simply couldn't slip him in anywhere else...

"Hi there, bro! 'Sup?" Jasper shouted from beside me.

"I'm nopony's brother" he stated with a palpable air of superiority as he stepped in. He looked around all of us scornfully until Wish caught his eye. "What's a girl doing here?"

"She's Wish, my best friend!" Jasper hugged the filly as if he didn't even notice the offending tone. Maybe it was for the best that he answered because I couldn't get myself to act so kindly. Even if it would have been a surefire way to get an enemy... with whom I'd still had to stay in one place for a full week.

"Cool..." the red colt grimaced. He looked around in the room, stopping by the sole bed. "That's mine."

It was not a question and it didn't reflect recognition either. It was a statement so natural as if fate itself decided that he will sleep there, separated from all of us.

"Hello to you, by the way..." Cavernwind piped in from behind me as the new boy put down his saddlebags next to his newfound resting place and thrown up his cloak on the hanger, showing us his bizarre cutie mark of a skull. He completely ignored the comment, he just climbed up his bed and flattening his ears, he turned to face the wall.

"Now that we got over the introductions and this extremely... constructive conversation, I think we can go for a walk," I said loudly, but the real target of the comment didn't budge.

"Well said, mate!" Jasper was already on all fours. Wish also got up but before we could depart, Cavernwind and Dulcimer joined us, too.

"Is it okay if we go with you?" the green colt asked hopefully, nodding unmistakably towards our newest roommate. I nodded. It wouldn't feel right to leave somepony alone with this terribly dark looking pony.

* * *

The four of us had a stroll around the entire area of the camp, which consisted of a smaller part of surveying which buildings - washroom, kitchen - we could find, and a larger part of admiring nature. We were on the edge of a forest, separated from it only by a wooden fence that was designed to be easily jumped over, which was a serious novelty for me as a city pony. Obviously it was stupid, but as the aroma of fresh, living plants wafted through me, I could almost sense the call of the wild. Even alone, I would have gladly made a short trip to the shady forest, even though I was a homebody as default.

All in all, I loved the place, even though we weren't here for more than an hour. It was as if even the grass was greener here, I had to restrain myself not to bite into it every step of the way. Especially since I felt like I'll regret it forever if I don't try it, and when Jasper and I went around one of the wooden houses, I pretended to find something interesting on the ground and sneaked a taste of the crisp, juicy leaves. From then on, I really needed all my willpower to control myself. It's a good thing that it wasn't just my pride that held me back, but also that I was thoroughly taught at home that I shouldn't suddenly eat a lot of wet grass at the same time, because I could get bloated. And of course, I also expected the camp kitchen to serve edible food.

We wandered around until lunch time, then we joined the impatient army of foals. At first, I was happy to get my hooves on the large cucumber sandwich, which was given to me, and I devoured it in seconds, but soon after I had to realize that there would be neither second course, nor more of the first... And it certainly didn't cheer me up at first when they revealed the reason behind the poor menu.

As it turned out, they wanted to make us do some kind of team-building training, which consisted of the colts having to carry wood, branches, and twigs from the nearby forest for the campfire, while the fillies peeled and sliced vegetables for dinner, which, by the way, will practically be our reward if we complete the task. Then I thought I realized why the freshpony camp was free, and I found it outrageous that they wanted to save on just such things. And I wasn't alone in this. Many grumbled, and there was even one who threatened to complain about the organizers to Princess Celestia herself, but they were apparently not impressed in the least.

"Kiddos, the train is already gone" said the stallion with the guitar, who very much seemed to play the role of the boss, sitting comfortably on a stump. He was in the process of tuning his instrument and gently plucked the strings with his hooves. "I don't care what you do, but I would start working if I were you. We have a pallet of delicious vegetables and a pile of special spices; we could whip up a very mouth-watering soup if you do well! It will be fun, believe me!"

Reluctantly, we had to part with Wish again and ventured into forest with my roommates. Yes, I was attracted to the idea of going into the thick of the trees, but that was not exactly how I imagined it. It didn't even take a quarter of an hour, and all of us were dirty up to our necks - I was afraid in advance of what my mom would say if she saw my clothes - and our manes were also covered in twigs. I myself tripped several times in the loose undergrowth, and the others had a good laugh when once, trying to free my hooves, I fell into one of the large bushes. We were thoroughly tired, as we collected a sufficiently large pieces of wood, carried on our backs, with our magic or in our hooves. Afterwards, however, I must give it to them that we were able to sit down in front of our finished work with the joy of a job well done. In the end, I had to admit, it all made sense after all: we could do something together that was both challenging and useful. In some ways, we all have already become closer to each other as a team.

On top of everything, the deserved praise was not left out when Rasgueado - I heard several times when other seniors called the guy with the guitar that way - inspected the piles that we gathered in multiple places of the camp. Together with the other organizers he rearranged everything, forming two large stacks of them. They said that we even over-achieved the goal, which will come in handy, since we'll have materials ready for the fire for the next few days. And they didn't make us wait any longer: they immediately lit a bonfire under the huge cauldron and threw the ingredients into it, in spite of that it hadn't started to get dark. Soup takes time, right?

And what was even better than the promise of delicious food was that Wish could join us again. She wasn't nearly as dirty and exhausted as we were, but she chuckled at us when she saw us.

We snuggled up by the warmth of the fire and listened to what the guitarist played for us. He used quite a strange technique for making music, I've never seen anything like it before. He used both his hooves and his magic to play the strings, coaxing out of them something very special, strumming sounds. It caused a bit of an echo, as if he had plucked with several feet at once, although to be honest, I didn't understand it, and I haven't taken the trouble to ask about it since. Right then and there, I was only enjoying some very atmospheric music, and this feeling only intensified when the stallion started humming along with a slick expression on his face.

The foals around me burst into cheers as they recognized the tunes of the famous hit. It was interesting to hear it in such a rendition, I didn't even recognize it myself until the others started singing the lyrics... a bit falsely of course. After that, I joined them enthusiastically, although I tried to hide my disastrous singing voice in the chorus. And when we got to the end of the song, Rasgueado slyly asked what other songs we knew... and from then on there was no stopping... Famous songs came one after another, and as some of the other seniors joined in the music, we slowly even forgot about how hungry we were, so it was a particularly pleasant surprise when our dinner was ready.

In retrospect, it is difficult to judge whether it was our empty stomachs, our fatigue, or actually the skill of our cooks, but the soup was as good as it has ever been. It is certain, however, that despite the initial difficulties, our spirits soared.

As soon as we filled our bellies, our leader got his guitar again, but this time he taught us new camp songs until the sun went down. After that, however, the time for the indispensable properties of the campsites came: the horror stories. A dark gray mare with almost luminous blue eyes stepped out somewhere from the shadows and in her mysteriously raspy voice she told the story of the archaeologists trapped in the cursed pyramids of al-Manesura. She was quite a storyteller, I say; Jasper and Wish were already gnawing their hooves next to me even when nothing out of the ordinary had happened in the story, yet. It didn't have that effect on me but only because I've already heard the whole thing - admittedly, in a slightly different version - at least twice. Regardless, I also got chills when she got to the part where the unsuspecting ponies woke up the mummy...

The story had its effect as the foals simultaneously yelped in dismay as the characters in the story tried to get through the tricky and treacherous traps - with little success. The gray mare presciently skipped over the bloodier parts or shrouded them in sufficient balladic obscurity, but it still turned out to be terrifying enough. At least that's what I thought. However, when she got to the end, in the silence somewhere in the back rows, somepony laughed.

"Well, well, well!" the grey mare giggled in a strange display of cheerfulness. "Pray tell, which part you found so funny!"

"That was nothing, a sack full of horseapples!" a suspiciously familiar voice shouted back. "You know nothing about fear!"

The mare didn't answer right away, but then her expression turned into a playful grin. "Very well, your challenge is accepted! Come here, my little friend and tell your scary story, then!"

I thought the colt would lose his courage and he won't dare to stand up to so many ponies. But I had to admit, I underestimated him. The others gave way to him, and the red stallion - in whom I recognized now the fifth resident of our room - entered the circle of light of the fire and then slowly turned to face us. The gray mare gave him her place with a polite nod, and the stallion cleared his throat. He was clearly not at all flustered by having to speak in front of such a large crowd.

"The archeologists of al-Manesura were stupid, they looked for trouble for themselves" he began with a mysterious voice, playing quite skillfully compared to how much younger and more inexperienced he must have been than the previous story-teller. "But what do you do when Death comes for you personally?" The black-maned foal in the rugged cloak left the question hanging for a bit, looking around us grimly.

"There are many stories about the Headless Horse, but none of them come close to the truth. Most ponies think that the whole thing is nothing more than a legend, a fairy tale. However, those who survived the encounter with him can attest to his existence. Serious, scientific books confirm the existence of ghosts, which is why even great wizards often believe that the Headless Horse comes from the spiritual plane. They are very wrong! He is a fairy!"

A few of us giggled, and to be honest it took an effort from me to keep myself doing the same. But the colt in the center could keep a straight face. "That's right, he's a fairy..." he continued in a grave voice like somepony who knows exactly what he's talking about. "A dark, fallen, corrupted fairy from the depth of Tartarus. Princess Celestia casted him there a long time ago for the sins he committed, but his shadow, his soul comes out haunting at nights because an evil like this cannot be contained. Did any of you ever tried it? Try to ask the Princess about the Headless Horse? They say if somepony is brave enough to say his name in front of her, you can see the terror in her eyes, just for a moment. Because he was a foe she could never defeat completely..."

"There are many ways for murder. You can kill with traps, poisons and curses, as the ancients did in that pyramid. You can kill with or without a weapon. But the method of the Headless Horse is very different! It doesn't make any noise. It leaves no trace. You can't prepare for it. And you can't defend against it either." The stallion paused again, letting his words settle, then took a deep breath and continued with determination.

"It was a dark night... just like this one. Seven young ponies and one adult went camping in a dense, dark forest... It seemed like fun at first. They gathered wood, lit a fire, ate the potato stew they had cooked, and then they talked happily for a long time. One of the foals even brought his fillyfriend, and they cuddled up lovingly watching the dancing flames. All was calm and peaceful until..."

The fire popped loudly and I winced involuntarily. Somepony grabbed my leg, though I wasn't particularly happy when I saw it was Jasper. When he realised what he was doing he immediately let go, of course, although it looked more like he practically pushed my hoof aside, as if it was my fault, that he was clinging to me.

"Yes... that was a moment, precisely like this one," the red colt whispered ominously. "You all know it; you must have had a chance to encounter it. When you are talking calmly and cheerfully, and yet everypony fall silent at the same time. But after that, nothing continued as you might think! At first, they didn't even realize what had happened. The howl of a coyote pierced the night, and they were listening to that. The stallion who brought his fillyfriend wanted to ask her if she heard it too. But when he turned around, he only noticed that it wasn't his mare supporting his side, but only a piece of wood. He didn't even understand how it could happen, he was firmly convinced that his beloved was lying next to him. But as he asked the others if they had seen the filly, nopony could give him a meaningful answer. There were those who claimed that the mare might have gone for a walk. One of them said that he also remembered that they were lying next to each other the moment before. What was the strangest thing, several ponies remembered that way that the mare didn't even come with them in the first place!"

"The foal insisted that the mare was indeed there with him and persuaded the group until their leader agreed to go find her. They split into two teams and merged into the dense, dark forest. They called her name, flashed their magic lanterns, but got no response. They were just far enough away from each other and from the camp that they could not lose sight of the lights. And even though they couldn't find the mare, their strategy seemed to be efficient, at least for a while."

The red colt paused again as he picked up a stick from the ground. He closed his eyes and pulled it in front of his nose, whispering silently. His horn glowed for a moment, and a small, shiny sphere, a dancing tongue of cold flame came off of it and floated to the tip of the stick, clinging firmly to it. "And then, the voices died out. The colt's team that had the adult in it, noticed it quickly. At first, they thought, the other group has found something. So they trotted towards the light." The colt sent the stick flying into the air and as it spun, it dropped and stuck into the ground with its glowing end up.

"When they got there, they found only a lantern, swinging on the branch of a fallen tree. Just like what their peers had. Just like what they carried with themselves. But there was no sign of their friends. They yelled to them too. They asked their friends not to play such a wicked joke on them. But only the increasingly chilly whistling of the wind answered." Falling silent again, he slowly walked to the stick stuck to the ground, and without ever taking his eyes off it, he walked around it, then finally stopped and leaned very close to it and rested one of his hooves on it. The light of the cold flame danced on his face. "They didn't want to give up. They shouted restlessly to see if anypony could hear them."

He took a deep breath as if he wanted to continue the story, but instead he just blew, extinguishing the dancing flame. Now both of my companions were leaning against my side, and I just took a big gulp and tried to act like I wasn't affected at all.

"It took only a single gust of wind to snuff out the lights of the lanterns" said the red colt darkly. "A gust of wind, and a blood-curdling, ghostly whinny that it brought with it. Needless to say, the ponies didn't need more, they immediately ran headlong back to the campfire, to the warm flames that gave the illusion of safety. Four started, but only three reached the camp. They couldn't decide, they didn't even understand where their other companion could have gone, but they couldn't think about it for long. Because the forest was no longer quiet! A low scraping and rustling filtered towards them even through the howling of the wind, as if something at least the size of a pony was prowling the field, waiting for the right moment to pounce on them."

"Then something happened that nopony expected. There were only three of them left: the colt, whose fillyfriend had disappeared, the adult who looked after them, and one more stallion besides them. But suddenly, as if an invisible force was pulling him in that direction, that stallion started slowly, stumbling towards the trees. His eyes went glassy, as if hypnotized, and he just kept going and going, straight to where the terrifying rattle was coming from. The camp leader immediately jumped in front of him, screaming desperately at him, but he didn't even budge. Even that didn't stop him when the adult pony latched onto one of his hind legs. He slowed down a bit, but he still dragged the stallion one and a half times his size behind him."

"When they had almost reached the line of the trees, the camp leader realized that he would not be able to stop him. He was forced to let go and gallop back, scraping the ground, before he was dragged in, too, by his companion, straight to their mysterious attacker. And then... everything went silent. The wind stopped too, but even the rustling of the leaves died away, as if that thing over there had frozen in its motion. The two ponies waited with bated breath to see what would happen, but they didn't hear a single voice. Then the fire began to hiss softly, as if someone had sprinkled drops of water on it from above. There was a soft tapping of hooves, and the two ponies watched with bated breath as the distorted, dark figure was getting closer and closer beyond the slowly collapsing circle of light around the campfire."

"And then they saw it!" he suddenly raised his voice. Four hooves locked around my neck at the same time, as my friends clung to me, but I couldn't pay much attention to them, I was too engrossed in the horror story. "It was the Headless Horse, right in front of them! They had no other chance, they both jumped into a mad gallop, trying to get away from the otherworldly monster. They ran and ran, right next to each other, jumping over the fallen trees and brambles they were walking through on their way here. Behind them they heard the inexorable sounds of the wild gallop: it was not so easy to shake off their pursuer!"

"When the rustling of the leaves behind them finally stopped, they gasped for air and stopped to rest. The colt was already so tired, he could barely move his muscles. Helplessly, on the verge of losing consciousness, he lay on the ground, panting heavily. He heard the adult, who happened to be his best friend's father, walk up to him and felt him put his hoof on his back. He was still trying to rest a little with his eyes closed, then he struggled to get up on all fours. But as he slowly looked up, he saw not who he expected. The owner of the gray hooves was not his friend's father, but the Headless Horse!"

"He used every last bit of his strength to escape from the beast. He couldn't have guessed how far he could gallop, but by the end he thought he was going to spit out his lungs. And yet... he finally got home!" The colt lowered his head, pulled the branch out of the ground, and slowly swayed it on his hoof. I breathed a sigh of relief that, overall, the story turned out well.

They were already whispering here and there, probably starting to discuss the story, but our black-maned storyteller suddenly raised his stick and poked it towards us. "He thought he could get away with it!" he shouted, drowning out everypony's words. "But if the Headless Horse sets his eyes on somepony, there is no escape! The stallion ran home and collapsed on the doorstep. His parents were at home, so they brought him in, but they couldn't ask him exactly what happened, he was so exhausted and tormented. When they took him up to his room, he slept for three days straight. But when he woke up and his thoughts cleared, the first thing he has done was to go to his window. He looked out into the bright morning. His eyes swept over the beautifully manicured lawn, their well-kept garden and the hedge. He was looking for only one thing. He was almost relieved that he hadn't found him, when his eyes fell on a motionless figure with a flowing mane standing outside their gate. Because it was him, he recognized him immediately! The Headless Horse has come for him!"

"Terrified, he backed away from the window, calling out for his parents. They quickly came to his aid and asked him what had happened. When the foal mentioned the Headless Horse, they just looked at each other in disbelief. They tried to reassure him that such things do not exist, but the foal did not budge. At this his father went out into the garden, despite all protests and begging, to prove his point. And indeed, nothing happened. Then, for a short time, the foal believed that it was really just his imagination playing with him. However, when he went back up to his room, the Headless Horse was standing there again, as if waiting for him, mocking him for trying to avoid his fate."

"After that, the foal had to tell many, many times what happened to the other members of his group who disappeared in the forest that night. Almost nopony believed him. And none of those who were there did ever come back. The colt, on the other hoof, was haunted by the Headless Horse until the end of his life. It was as if he was always there behind him, but when he turned around, he could just see a shadow slip out of the corner of his eye. But if he was inside any building... and looked out the window... the Headless Horse was there, waiting for him. And nopony else could see him but himself. Yet he always, always felt that he was there."

Standing on his hind legs, the red colt reared up a little from the ground and began poking his hoof with the piece of branch. For a few seconds, the camp was silent, only the fire crackled softly. I felt an irresistible urge to check if my friends were still there. I was somewhat relieved that the two ponies clinging to me were still the same living, breathing creatures, and neither of them had been replaced by a piece of wood...

"The story is not so interesting from here on, but I can tell it for the sake of completeness," the foal finally said in a lighter tone. "The colt was hospitalized a few months after he returned home because he had a nervous breakdown. He was put under forced medical treatment and for a couple of weeks he was given sedatives so strong they would knock out a dragon. After that, they tried to reduce the doses, but the result was only that as soon as he regained consciousness, he hanged himself with an infusion set. His best friend found him when he went to visit him. The colt has since been buried, his parents have mourned him, and his best friend, whose father was last seen when he went camping with a couple of teenagers in a dense, dark forest, recently enrolled at the Canterlot Academy, and is currently in a freshpony camp, listening to all kinds of bullshit horror stories..."