Don't Stop The Rainbows

1:30
“Sheesh Rarity,” I say, “How long could you talk to that many ponies in such a little area and take up so much time?”
“Darling, fashion can do anything,” Rarity says.
“Also, weren’t you the one who was thirty minutes late Rainbow Dash?” Apple-Jack points out.
“Well, yeah,” I stutter out, “But that was on accident, Rarity didn’t have to talk to those ponies.”
“Any one of those ponies could have been possible customers,” Rarity points out, “I can’t afford to let a single one of them slip through my fingers. It’s just that simple, darling.”
“But would it kill you to do it when we get back?”
“It just might, what if they leave town?”
“Well, believe it or not, we’re leaving too. It all works out, see?”
“Girls, calm yourselves,” Twilight says, “You have a point Rainbow Dash, but so does Rarity, and as Apple-Jack said, you were half an hour late. So you’re really not one to talk for being punctual.”
“But I-,” I start to say but decide not to finish the sentence, “Ugh, okay, I guess you’re right. I guess I’ll just call it even.”
“Good, now let’s get moving, we have a lot of ground to cover before sundown,” Twilight says, pointing in the direction of the mountains way off in the distance. Wow, we do have a long way to go.

I look left and right at the surrounding sea of rocks and stones, confused on where to go, then look back at my map, “Twilight, have we passed the Pumice Head yet?”
“No, that’s ahead of us, why?”
“Because when we get there we have to make a right into the forest trail behind it.”
“Wait, but that’s in the opposite direction,” Apple-Jack points out.
“I know that, but if we continue on this mountain trail we’ll eventually hit a cliff face that will take all day to climb over. The forest trail just has a bit of a hill, it’s much easier.”
“And the easier it gets, the more fun we have,” Pinkie says.
I don’t think I could handle anymore of her “fun”. Just a couple minutes ago her “fun” resulted in us having to go rescue her, when she fell down a hill. Luckily two of us can fly or that would have been a really big pain in the flank.
“Hey Dash, is that what you were looking for?” Twilight says, pointing at an oddly shaped piece of rock in the distance.
“Yeah, that’s it exactly.”
I discovered Pumice Head and the shortcut a few days ago while I was surveying the area. Turns out its some sort of leftover molten ash from a volcanic eruption, and this volcano is dormant and we're walking on it right now. It's pretty shocking actually.
"Did you know that it was supposed to be used to make some sort of statue," Twilight asks, "But was abandoned after completing only the head for economical reasons."
"I think you told me that when you explained that it's origin from a volcano," I say.
"Granny-Smith told me the story about it when I was a little filly," Apple-Jack says, "But she always told me it was because the leader of the project left town and never came back."
"Really," Twilight says eyeing Apple-Jack, "Interesting, that's the first I've ever heard of that."
"I've never heard if any of this before in my life," Pinkie-Pie says, popping up out of a tree, “But I have heard that these pears are delicious.”
Where did Pinkie find pears, on a mountain, in a tree?
“Pinkie, I don’t think you should eat those,” Twilight points to the pear in Pinkie’s hoof, “We can’t know for sure if they’re edible or not.”
“A-a-also,” Fluttershy stammers, “That could be valuable food for the critters living on this forest, so y-you shouldn’t eat that.”
“Okie dokie lokie, if you say so,” Pinkie say throwing the apple over the ridge.
I never noticed how high we were. Fluttershy looks over the edge and after figuring out she can’t see the bottom jumps away and hides behind Pinkie-Pie. I should've know Fluttershy wouldn’t like this,
“Hey Flutters,” I say, poking my head around Pinkie and looking at her, “If it makes ya feel any better there’s a lot of downhill on the forest path, you won’t even be able to see how high we are anyways with all the trees surrounding you.”
“Th-thank you Rainbow-Dash, bu-but, I’m fine.”
“It’s no problem, hey guys we’re almost there.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of trees.”
“It rivals the ones at Sweet Apple Acres,” Apple-Jack says.
“Except these ones are all squeezed together,” I say, “It’s been kinda dark ever since we got in this”
So much for helping Fluttershy calm down. She’s totally freaking out.
“Meep,” I hear her squeak from behind me. I don’t exactly blame her though, this forest path isn’t exactly homely. All of the trees are dense and packed tightly together, their leaves blocking out any dwindling traces of sunlight. It’s almost as if all light has been sucked out of existence, devoured by the trees. The downhill path I was talking about does nothing more than bring my friends and I further and further down into the darkness. I’m obviously not the only person noticing this because Twilight says,
“Hey Dash, you sure about this path? There’s not much we can use for navigation. Also the overall lack of sunlight is going to be an issue.”
“Yeah, I’m sure about this,” I say, “Judging by how far we’ve walked we should be hitting the uphill again and be edging towards the sunlight. Besides, if it get’s too dark couldn’t you or Rarity light the way up with your magic?”
“Well, we could. But, we only have so much magic, I’d like to save the majority in case something happens.”
“Well then you have nothing to worry about, nothing is going to happen,” I’m going to make sure of that.

“I dun know ‘bout you,” Apple-Jack says as we walk out of the forest and back onto the mountain trail, “But I am sure glad we got out of that god-darned forest.”

“Me-Me too,” Fluttershy squeaks. I turn my head to look behind us a gauge the distance we covered in the forest. Wow, Pumus-Head is wayyyy behind us. We made good progress.

“So, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight says.

“Yeah Twi’?” I respond

“When do you think we’ll get to the campground? It’s getting close to lights out.”

“Should be soon, we’re at least two thirds of the way there. Should be no problem.”

“Okay, that’s good to hear. Anything we should look out for?”

“Another forest? That’s about it.”

“Really, that’s it? That’s not much to go off of.”

“Well, it’s more of a clearing off to the side of the path with a wall of trees around it. When we get there we’ll know.”

“I’ll take your word on it. I guess you have seen this all before so you would know wouldn’t you?”

“Thanks fo-,” I get cut off by a certain ecstatic pony.

“Heyyyyyyyy, every pony!," Pinkie says, "We should stop for lunch!"
"But we-," I get cut off again.
"Great idea sugarcube," Apple-Jack says, "I was getting kinda hungry. Besides, we cleared a lot of ground in that shortcut, so time isn't an issue."
"I- I agree with her," Fluttershy says.
"I forward this motion," Rarity agrees as well.
"Okay, I guess we'll stop for a while," Twilight says, she doesn't seem to want to stop though either. I reach around to grab my food out of my pack. When I pull it out and turn back around Pinkie is already done setting up for lunch.
“Wow, she’s fast,” I accidentally say out loud. Everyone looks at me like I’m crazy for not
realizing this before.
“Who was carrying the food?” I ask, trying to distract their attention.
“Ah was,” Apple-Jack answers shrugging the basket off her back.
“Cool, what’s on the menu?” I swoop around her to pick through the basket.
“Cheese sandwiches,” she slides my hoof off the basket and sits down on the grass. “Right Twilight?”
“Yeah that sounds correct,” she responds, she seems to in conversation with Fluttershy. I think their trying to decide if she’ll be okay for the rest of the trip
“Wait a second, I have an important question, Since we’re eating cheese sandwiches, does that mean we’re also eating tomato soup?”
“Yes, that’s exactly right,” Twilight says, judging by the look on Fluttershy’s face I think the conversation’s going well.
“Awesome!” I hoofbump into the air.
“I don’t know about you, but I won’t be eating of that soup darling,” Rarity says, “Red and white don’t mix very well. I think I will just stick to the sandwiches.”
“You’re giving up ponykinds best soup for good looks?” I say grabbing a can out of the air as Apple-Jack tosses it to me.
“Why yes, of course. It’s only natural isn’t it?” Rarity sets down a blanket and sits down on it. She can’t get her royal hindquarters dirty of course.
“In case you didn’t notice, we’re the only pony’s here and as far as I can remember none of us are very judgemental.”
I open the can and enjoy the aroma of tomato flavored heaven. I do not know how it stayed warm this long, nor do I care.
“But what if we run into someone who is?” Rarity questions, whipping a bit of bread from a sandwich off her face

“And where will that happen?” I say showing off the great expanse of nothingness with my hooves, “There’s no pony around for miles.”

“Well I do not care, I will at least amuse my own self.”

“Suit yourself,” I take a sip of the soup, “You’re missing out.
” Man, I love tomato soup, the stuff is so good. Normally I despise vegetables but this is an exception. Something about liquefying it and adding a few herbs and spices makes it irresistible.

“Dash, wana sandwich?” Apple-Jack asks, waving one in the air.

“Sure,” I say extending a hoof, “Toss it over.”

“Catch,” she throws it to me. It flies way up in the air so I fly up and catch it in mid-air with my mouth and float back down to the ground. Having wings helps when your friends screw up with a pass.

“Sorry about that,” she says, “I guess carrying the basket has screwed up my aim.”

“No problem,” I say, “If you’d like I’ll carry it for you the rest of the way.”

“Ah’ think Ah’’ll be fine, thank you though.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to carry the basket, it’ll be no sweat.”

“Well, thank you I guess. Why ya being so nice and considerate?” She doesn’t know about my mistake on the map on the map does she? I don’t know why she would, it’s not a very obvious mistake.

“Uh, no reason,” I say, trying to sound as cool as usual.

“Well okay then,” Apple-Jack eyes me suspiciously, “Your not getting any of mah soup if that’s what ya’ want.”
Oh, so that’s all she thinks it is. That’s good, I thought she knew about my mistake.

“No, that’s not it. I dunno know really, just kinda felt like helping y’know?”

“Sure Dash, I get it. You’re not getting any of my soup though.” She takes a sip of soup from her can.

“Is that ‘cause your cans empty?” I ask pointing to her now empty can of soup. She looks down at her can,

“Well, would you look at that, so it is. The stuff was so good I downed it all at once.”

“That’s the miracle of soup,” I say.

“I wonder if they have Apple Soup, I think everypony would love it,” Apple-Jack says.

“That’s called applesauce,” I point out

“Oh yeah,” she says, “And we already got that don’t we?”

“Yep,” I say, “We still love it though.”

“That we do, that we do.”

“So, how was everpony’s food? Cause mine was de-lish-ish,” Pinkie says over excitedly as always.
We’re all on a forest hill a little ways away from our mountain hiking path, we finally reached our camping spot. We’re all just chilling and talking about life.

“Mine was amazing, can’t get better than soup and sandwiches,” I say.

“Minus the soup it was rather spectacular, for an on-the-go lunch,” Rarity says.
“M-Mine was, good,” Fluttershy says almost inaudibly.
“Credits to the chef,” Twilight, “Because mine was spectacular,” Apple-Jack says.
“Thanks for the compliment Apple,” Twilight says, “Mine was quite good. I was surprised at my own cooking.”

“Well, that’s all good,” Pinkie says shooting us with snow white smiles, “Glad to see you liked it.”
She has something planned, I just know it.

“Yeah, that is great. Is that why ya’ gathered us all up on this hill?” Apple-Jack says, glad to see someone else is thinking that.

“Well, of course Apple-Jack,” Pinkie shoots us another grin, “This hill is perrrrrect for a game of Pinkie tag.”

“Pinkie tag?” Twilight questions.

“Pinkie tag,” another grin, “It’s like tag, except I’m playing.”

“And, what rule change does this make?”

“This,” she tags Twilight and runs away, “You’re it, come and get me.”

“Okay then,” she looks down the hill and sees Pinkie running away. She focuses her horn and a purple aura appears and envelops her and with a flash of light and she disappears.

“Hey!” Pinkie yells from down the hill, “No magic teleporting.”

“Well, shouldn’t your Pinkie Sense account for any magic I could use to give myself and advantage?”
I guess everyone’s is enjoying this one on one tag match, Apple-Jack is at least. Rarity and Fluttershy are just talking, probably about their next spa trip or something.

“My Pinkie sense doesn’t work on magic,” Pinkie says, “I’d be too busy jittering around to do anything anyhow. So no magic.”

“What about flying?” I yell down at her. She looks up at me and smiles.

“None of that either,” she appears behind me and tags me, “You’re it!”
And with that she runs away again.

“Wait, what happened to no teleporting?”

“That wasn’t teleporting. That was Pinkie Style.”

“Pinkie what?”
I run after her and pass Twilight who looks at me chuckles to herself. Apple-Jack is guffawing at me being tagged, can’t blame her though. I’d probably do the same thing if she was the one who got tagged.

“Good luck Dash,” she says, between bursts of laughter, “You’re gonna need it, she’s long gone.”
Holy, she is. For an earth pony she’s extremely fast. Pinkie Pie is becoming Pinkie Bye. I run off after her, I may not be allowed to fly but I’m pretty fast on the ground. The grass below nothing but shades of green speed lines. The air in my mane feels great, a refreshing breeze blowing in just the right direction. After hours of just walking this feels great, just running. I feel like I could go wherever I want to.

“Hey, what did I say about flying?” Pinkie says below me.
Wait, below me? I look down to see that not only have I caught up with Pinkie but that I had also become airborne in the process.

“Sorry about that,” I float back down, “I guess I just caught up in the moment. I haven’t done any real running or flying all day.”

“That’s okay. I was getting tired of running away from you anyways. Tag me, it’s equally fun to watch some pony get chased around than getting chased.”

“Whatever you say Pinkie,” I tap her forehead and she disappears off in the direction of the rest of us pony’s.
I turn around to follow her but spot an ominous light off in the distance. It’s coming from a circle of trees in the middle of a prairie. I wonder what it could be, we shouldn’t be close enough to the top to have reached any Crystal Monuments. But what else could make that shine? Well, no time like the present I suppose. I walk in the direction of the mysterious light, curious of what it could be. As the circle of trees get closer and closer I notice something mysterious.

“Well, can’t say I expected that,” I say standing over the edge of a crater.
Yes, a crater. You couldn’t notice it from ground level until you got as close as I am, but there’s a crater. The circle of trees is right in the middle of it and is poking up so it’s at ground level again. It’s like the trees are a castle and the crater is the moat around it, without the water. This hole looks pretty deep I’d say twenty through thirty at the center where the trees are. I don’t think my friends can scale a thirty foot wall of dirt, I don’t even think I could either. Luckily I have wings. I fly over there to check it out. Looking down into the crater I don’t see any signs off grass or anything else. That’s very strange. I bobble down in front of the circle of trees, which happen to be nothing more than a circle. They’re surrounding what appears to be a rock of some sort. This rock looks pretty strange; I reach out to touch it.

“Woah, they’re going to love this.” I say to myself, this is pretty awesome.

“So you’re saying that you found some sort of mysterious rock in a giant crater?” Twilight asks as we walk towards the crater with the rest of the ponies.

“Well, not exactly,” I say, “I found a mysterious rock in a circle of trees that was in a giant crater, but close enough.”

“I see. We shouldn’t be high enough to find any Crystal Monuments I don’t think.”

“This rock definitely had some Crystal sparkle though,” I say, “And it did some really weird things when I touched it.”

“Really?” Twilight asks, eyeing me suspiciously, “Like what?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see Twi’.” I say, “Trust me you’re going to love it. Though I have a feeling Rarity will like it more.”

“I’ll like what more?” Rarity asks, pausing her conversation with Fluttershy.

“Nothing, nothing.”
I’ve always wondered how people can talk about spas. I can honestly say I’ve been to one and kind of enjoyed it. But how do people talk about them? Do they like argue over the shampoo? The brand of towels? Maybe they talk about the temperature of the bath, I could see that becoming a hot debate. I’ve never really done the whole “spa experience” but I’ve done a few things at different times, so maybe I’m missing something.

“Yes, Pinkie. I’m sure we don’t have enough sandwiches for you to have another.” Apple-Jack says, “Besides, Rainbow Dash has the basket. I have no control over it.”

“Well phooey,” Pinkie huffs out, “They were so good too.”

“Well then wait until tomorrow. We’ll probably have sandwiches then.”
I guess Pinkie wanted another sandwich or something. I swear, that mare can eat anything. Good thing Twi’ put herself in charge of food and not Pinkie. Wait a second.

“Didn’t we bring soup from Pinkies house?” I ask out loud.

“Yeah, buh we already had some from Twi’s,” Apple-Jack says, “Pinkies was last minute.”

“Oh, okay. Just wondering.”
So we have a great multitude of soup. I guess if anything happens food shouldn’t be an issue. Besides, Twilight probably brought extra anyways. “Hey, Dash,” Twilight says, “That the big crater and circle of trees you were talking about?” she points to the big hole in the ground.

“Yeah,” I say, “That’s it.”

“Looks pretty deep from what I can see,” Apple-Jack says, peering down the hole, “Ya’ll sure we can make it ‘cross?”

“Well,” I say, “That’s what Fluttershy and I are here for.”

“M-m-me?” Fluttershy stammers, “What am I supposed to do?”

“Help carry our friend across the big hole in the ground of course?”

“Oh, I-I-I’m not sure I can do that.”

“Don’t worry about it, you’ve done it before haven’t you?”

“We-well I guess so.”

“Then you can do it again,” I say, “Don’t worry I’ll be right behind you.”

“If you say so…”

“You’re right Dash, that isn’t a normal rock.”
We have made it across the gorge, safely. Fluttershy had almost dropped Pinkie though after she freaked out over some sorta “Pinkie Sense Blizzard.”
But all in all we got across okay.

“So, uh. What’s so special about it?” Twilight asks tilting her head at the rock.

“This,” I fly over and touch it with my hoof. It is instantaneously covered in lime green crystals. They shift around and form a sort of armor around my left foreleg.

“Oh, that is pretty special.” Twilight says, her eyes bulging in awe, “But what could this be?”

“Who cares,” Rarity says, running up to the crystal “It’s marvelous. The perfect shade and glimmer of green. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen”

“Told you she’d like it,” I say pointing a hoof behind me, “What do you think AJ?”

“I think it’s all fine and dandy,” she says, “Though I would like to know what it is.”

“Same here,” I says. Twilights popping in, out and all around the rock, if anyone could figure out what it is it’s her.

“Ahhhhhhhh,” Rarity screams from behind the rock.

“What, what is it?” Twilight exclaims running up to her.

“My Lime-Green crystal hoof, is gone. The hoof is still there but the crystals, gone.”

“You got an explanation for this?” Twilight asks looking up at me.

“Actually yes, I do,” I say, “When I first discovered it I thought it was pretty flipping awesome so naturally the first thing I did was poke it. I was instantly, as you all could guess, covered in a crystal armor of sorts. It was like I was a Crystal Knight or something. But what’s a knight without a sword? So I went over a picked up a stick and poked the rock with it, hoping that it would also be crystallized. It surprisingly did, but after a while my crystal armor disappeared just like Rarity’s. But, the sticks crystal stayed there, and is still there actually.” Ugh, that was a mouthful.

“So, basically,” Apple-Jack says, “You’re telling us it’s temporary on living things buy permanent on the living?”

“Exactly,” I say, “Or at least from what I’ve discovered.”

“That’s amazing,” Twilight says, “I think I may have figure out what this is though.”

“Really? What is it?”

“Well, a couple of weeks ago while we we’re still planning this I talked to Princess Celestia about our trip to see the Eastern Lights. She’s the one who told me about all the Crystal Monuments that I had Dash go and try to fit onto our route map. After telling me about all this I wondering how they all go there, so I asked. She told me that many years ago a strange glittering rock fell from the sky and struck the mid-section of Mount Sol. A bunch of ponies from the surrounding area we’re very curious about what this could be and all came to see what it is. Princess Celestia herself came and was very surprised at what it could do. The big crater it had caused was a slight issue, but everyone was okay with it. Sadly, before anyone could do any real investigations on it a heavy storm came along and all the ponies had to evacuate into their homes. The storm was wild, a fierce thunderstorm. Many a ponies saw a great beam of lightning strike down at Mount Sol. Everyone was fearful, wondering where it had struck. To their dismay it had struck their beloved sky-rock, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes. They were all very sad about this until a little filly said she had found a tree covered in crystals farther up the mountain. They were all delighted to discover that their statute was not destroyed, but had been scattered along the mountain to create the Crystal Monuments.”

“So this thing is the rock the created all the other crystal thingies?” Pinkie asks

“Exactly, it’s actually just called the Crystal Source. I didn’t know they could grow back though.”

“Cool, we have a few of them on our route,” I say, “The Crystal Caves, Forest and now the Crystal Source. The caves and forest won’t be until later though.”

“Yeah, quite a nice surprise I must say,” Apple-Jack says, “Good job finding this Dash.”

“Yeah, good job,” Twilight says

“Th-thanks,” Fluttershy says

“Darling, I must thank you for finding this delightful surprise.” Rarity says.

“Terrrrrific, thanks Dashie,” Pinkie shoots me a big grin.

“Thanks, it was all just luck though,” I say, “We should get back to the campsite, we should get set up. It’s almost night time.”

“We have all our stuff,” Twilight says, “Why don’t we just camp out here?”

“Oh, good idea,” I say, “So who knows how to set up a tent?” Apple-Jack and Rarity’s hand go up, “Well that’s half of them.”

“Fluttershy, Pinkie and I could get dinner ready?” Twilight asks, “Would that work out?”

“Definitely! That would work out great.”

“Great.”

“Whoever designed this tent really should be fired,” Rarity says, “Such a lovely orange bag but what an ugly red tent.”

“It’s stable isn’t it?” Apple-Jack says, “Besides, we told you that the bag and the tents color don’t match.”

“Well, that is true. But first thing when we get back I am fixing this ugly tent,” Rarity says, eyeing it in disgust.

“Easy assembly should make up for any bad colors,” I say, “We’ve already set up two of the three.”

“But easy assembly could also mean easy unintentional disassembly Dash,” Rarity points out, “Maybe the red signifies its lack of stability.”

“I doubt that sugarcube,” Apple-Jack says evening out the rolled out tent, “But it is a possibility.”

“Maybe,” she responds. I take out the poles and put them together to form one big long pole. Whoever designed these compact tents is one smart pony.

“How’s dinner coming along?” I yell out loud to the dinner ponies.

“Quite well actually,” Twilight says, “Turns out that if you crystallize consumables the crystals become edible. They have a sort of sweet and salty taste.”

“That’s cool, whatcha gonna make with them?” I snap together the last pole and hand it to Apple-Jack.

“I was thinking of adding them to the soup.”

“Which soup? Because that seems to be a main dish for all our meals.” I walk over to the cooking area to see what they’re doing.

“Well, tonight we’re having the vegetable stew so I guess it’s not really soup. Also I don’t know how to classify the crystals I’m adding to it so I don’t even know if we can call it vegetable stew anymore.”

“Well,” I look down into her pot of broth and vegetables, “It looks fine to me. What’s Pinkie and Fluttershy doing?”

“Fluttershy is chopping vegetables and is preparing the appetizers of salted cucumber,” She responds, “Pinkie is trying to figure out other foods that taste good crystallized. So far the only ones that work well are carrots, apples and celery. Cucumber, broccoli, and squash are all quite revolting.”

“I see, so it’s not all the same.”

“Obviously not,” Twilight looks at Pinkie, “How’d the avocado work?”

“Great!” Pinkie says bouncing up and down, “It’s delicious.”

“Good, now the only vegetables left to test are cauliflower and asparagus.”

“Hey Dash, could you give me a hand, this pole doesn’t want to through properly.” Apple-Jack yells from the tent site.

“Sure thing AJ,” I yell back, “I’ll be right there. Tell me if anything else works out Twi’.”

“Can do,” I run back to the tents.

“What’s the problem?” I ask

“The poles snagged on something,” Rarity answers, “I told you the tent was faulty.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s normal for all tents,” Apple-Jack says. I see a little bulge in the lower mid-section of the tent. I’m guessing that’s where the issue is. Hmmm…

“It’s not snagged on anything,” I say out loud, “The pole came apart while you were pushing it through, that’s all.
” I reach over to the bulge and fiddle around with the poles. After a few tugs from the other ends and a click, the pole is fixed.

“Well, there goes the last tent,” Rarity says, “Our job is finished.”

“Anypony want to go check on the food?” I ask

“Sure,” Apple-Jack says, “You wana come Rarity?”

“I don’t see why not,” she says. We walk over to where Twilight is still working on the food.

“How did the cauliflower and asparagus work out?” I ask.

“They didn’t,” she responds, “Tasted like salty mud”

“Dang,” Apple-Jack and Rarity are looking at all the weird crystal vegetables that Pinkie has made.

“What is this?” they ask. Twilight explains it to them as I go walk over to Fluttershy to see how the cucumbers are coming along.

“Hey, Fluttershy,” she jumps in surprise, throwing the knife in the air. I fly up to catch it before it decapitates her.

“Uh, h-hi,” she says.

“Hi, try not to get stabbed,” I say handing her the knife, “How are the cucumbers coming along?”
“Th-they’re done,” she says, “I was just cleaning the knife” The image of Fluttershy and a knife form a disturbing image in my head.
“Oh, okay,” I say, “Good job.”
“Th-thanks”

10:30
“I’ve gotta say,” I say out loud, “This is some good soup” we’ve completely finished settting up camp and have sat down to eat dinner around a campfire. It’s gotten dark; Luna’s shift must be up.

“I agree with that,” Rarity says, “The crystal ingredients turned this whole thing into some sort of translucent watery substance. But I can clearly taste all the ingredients.”

“Also the cucumbers are great,” Apple-Jack says, “Thanks for that Flutter’s.”

“Y-You’re welcome.”

“The food sparkles!” Pinkie screams.

“That it does,” Twilight says, “I’m guessing from the crystals. Wait, I just realized. We don’t even know if this is safe to eat.”

“Oh, that could be bad,” Apple-Jack says, “So far so good though. I’m not internally combusting am I?”

“From what I see, no.”

“Then we should be fine,” Apple-Jack says, “Besides, even if it were something toxic it shouldn’t be to bad. I’m sure Celestia would have said something otherwise.”

“That makes sense,” Twilight says, “I trust Celestia would tell me that.”

“Good,” Apple-Jack says, “Now it looks like everypony is done eating so I think we should skip the formalities and go straight to ghost stories. Rainbow Dash, if you would have the honors.”

“My pleasure,” I say, “So how many of you have heard of the headless horsemen?”

“I gotta say,” Twilight says snuggling into her purple sleeping bag, “You sure know how to tell stories”

“I’ve been told that,” I say, I pull my sleeping bag out of my pack and lay it out on the tent floor. We had all decided to sleep in groups of two, since we had three tents. Fluttershy and Rarity slept together so they could discuss Spa’s or something. Apple-Jack and Pinkie to talk about apple-crystal foods. Twilight and I partnered up so we could discuss the Crystals; we had both become pretty interested with them.

“Is that a Rainbow Dash original?” she asks, puffing up her pillow.

“No, I heard from some pony a while back,” I say getting inside my green sleeping bag, “Can’t remember who though.”

“Oh, you still had quite the impression on us.”

“Yeah, is Fluttershy going to be okay? I had quite the effect in Scoot’s so I don’t know how she’ll react.”

“I think she’ll be fine. Rarity can probably calm her down.”

“That’s good, by the way. Do you have any idea what they talk about?’

“No, I always think it’s related to their spa trips though.”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” I say, “But what?”

“I have no idea… The temperature of the water?”

“Maybe.”

“Yeah, oh yeah. Rainbow Dash I have a question,” she says

“Yeah?” I ask.

“What Crystal Monuments are on the list for tomorrow?”

“Just the Crystal Forest, the caves will be the day after.”

“The same day we see the Eastern Lights.”

“Yep, that should be awesome,” I say.

“They only come once every two hundred years,” she says, “I imagine it would be.”

“Yeah, do you know exactly what they’re supposed to look like? I mean like what they’re supposed to actually be?”

“No, I don’t actually. I asked though but Celestia wanted to keep it a secret.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“Yeah,” she says turning around in her bag, “Now we should get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow.”

“Good idea,” I roll over in my bad, “Don’t snore ‘kay?”

“I won’t don’t worry.”

“Okay, G’night Twi.’”

“Night Dash.”

Tomorrow’s going to be awesome.