[A/N] Chapter Edit:
I have rewritten the WHOLE chapter, and plan on doing something similar to the others. In my opinion, the old version of this chapter was simply horrid, so I decided to remake it, though it took me a while. I'll usually put original Author's Notes on edited chapters though, because they might have relevant information, but the edited Author's Notes take precedence and have updated info, so any disagreements are to be settled by the most recent one.
[A/N]:
Hello everypony! Welcome to my first story. Standard disclaimer: I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (at least yet :) ), so I don't own most of the characters here, though the plot is mine as far as I can tell... Any ideas mentioned in this story are okay to be used elsewhere, but the only group that can copy most of my work would be Hasbro, in which case I would be honored (as unlikely as that is to happen). Basically, borrowing ideas is fine, but copying is only allowed for Hasbro :)
I hope y'all enjoy this story, and comments/favorites are greatly appreciated! Have a fun read!
Chapter One: Preparations
Bright early morning sun shone through the windows of a library, which also happened to be a living tree. Its owner, Twilight Sparkle, was patiently awaiting her friends inside, reading a book. The bookworm read whenever she had the time to spare, and this was no different.
She left Spike to pack the few materials she was going to take with her to the hiking trip. Recently, not much has happened in Ponyville, so she and her five friends decided to organize an event for themselves, plus Spike. Twilight doubted Spike would appreciate her leaving him alone in the library, so when the question regarding Spike came up, she insisted that they take him as well. However, when the Cutie Mark Crusaders asked to join as well (Celestia knows how they found out), the group had to object, saying things along the lines of "it's too dangerous". The three little fillies pouted, but at least they seemed to agree to stay back.
Their destination took them through the Everfree Forest, but the parts that they were going to go through were not as tainted as the rest of the forest. While most sections of the Everfree Forest were corrupted by Nightmare Moon's first appearance and battle, some were spared from the frightening effects. Fortunately, the path through those segments was rather breathtaking, but unfortunately (according to somepony's opinion, at least), the path was long and slightly strenuous.
After their trek though the greenery, the group planned to arrive at the Two Royal Sisters River and make a small boat from natural supplies around them and magic. Afterwards, they would swim downstream the somewhat turbulent river (the turbulence is what makes it fun, though, again, somepony found it rather uncouth), and, when they stopped, they would set up camp for the rest of the day and night. The return journey would mostly be the same way, except that no boat would have to be built, and it was going to swim upstream. Rainbow Dash had a plan reserved for getting the boat to do what was otherwise unnatural, and Twilight was going to help as well, but with her horn instead of her rather new wings. In fact, Twilight rarely used her wings, but she did find them somewhat useful, sometimes. Rainbow Dash was averse to Twilight's opinion of wings, but Twilight just shrugged at that. She simply did not find them that thrilling.
Like always, Twilight made a list describing they adventure, though through many and many trials she found out that things like these almost never go according to plan. She wasn't sure if she was excited, upset, or afraid of the possible distortions in her plan. On one hoof, the whole point of the trip was to do something out of the ordinary, but, on the other, trouble usually was trouble. On the third hoof, she was simply disappointed that another organized event would probably be ruined, but she shoved that part of her into the back of her mind. Twilight was going to have fun, and not spend time lamenting the loss of order.
Finally, Spike came from upstairs with Twilight's saddlebag, and quickly prepped it on her back. Twilight slid open one side of the saddlebag to make sure everything was in place, and something glittery caught her eye.
"Spike?" she said in a humorous scolding voice.
"Yes Twilight?" Spike responded back, innocently.
"Why is there a pile of gems in my saddlebag?" Twilight spent half an hour pondering on what were the most effective items to bring with her, but it seemed that Spike had plans of his own as well.
"Well, I really like gems and I thought I'd bring a few along?" Spike said tentatively. He wasn't sure of Twilight's opinion, but he really hoped she would agree.
"You know I carefully chose what items to bring, don't you?"
"Please? Pretty please?" Spike begged on his knees.
Twilight chuckled at his shenanigans. "Oh fine, I suppose I have some room, but this doesn't mean we'll always bring them, understand?"
"Yes yes yes!" Spike jumped up and hugged her on the neck, inducing another small laugh. Twilight loved Spike for many reasons, and his shenanigans were one of those reasons. Once in a while, Spike would do something silly or adorable, eliciting smiles from those around him.
"Howdy Twiligh'! Ya ready?" Applejack calmly, but enthusiastically trotted in. Spike jumped down from Twilight's neck in the meantime.
"Yes, almost, just need to perform some last checks. How are the others?" Twilight continued checking her saddlebag, but kept an open ear to hear the orange mare's response.
"The other's are fine, though I think Rarity might 'ave some problems, knowing her... uh, obsession with fashion," Applejack waved her hoof while describing her purple-maned fashionista friend. She wasn't really against her friend's talent and hobby, but it still made little sense to her.
However, to her surprise, Rarity showed up before she could finish her sentence completely.
"What about 'obsession with fashion' now?" Rarity was pretty sure of her conjecture about the meaning behind the phrase, but for the sake of knowing the truth and not simply assuming, she asked anyways.
"Oh, uh, Rarity, Ah see you've made it! Hmm, record time too..." Applejack avoided answering the question, but it wasn't that important anyways, so Rarity didn't press on. "So, ya know how the others are doin'?"
"The rest should come along soon, darling. I saw Fluttershy on her way here already." Ten seconds later, the yellow pegasus gently floated in, followed by a bouncing and energetic Pinkie Pie.
"Hello girls," Fluttershy spoke softly.
"Hi!" Pinkie Pie still bounced, but remained mostly in one place. All of a sudden, she stopped mid-jump, and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, I forgot something! Gotta dash!" With that, she rushed out the door, though she didn't seem to need to touch the ground first to do that.
The others, by now used to pinkie's sense of randomness, didn't really bat an eye, though a new question formulated itself in Twilight's brain.
"Hey girls, where's Rainbow Dash?"
...
Rainbow Dash slept lazily on a lone cloud above Ponyville. She loved taking mid-day naps, especially after her exercises. Somehow, she managed to sleep through the whole night after a set of experimental tricks she has practiced the day before, and although she got plenty of sleep, nevertheless, the sun did not wake her.
A sudden thump alerted the cyan pegasus. Her mind was slowly entering the state of consciousness, but a second thump quickened the process.
"Good morning Dashy. Wakey wakey!" Pinkie Pie announced to the sleepy head. After a second of no response, she raised her hoof to throw another piece of her ammo: a cupcake.
Rainbow Dash finally stood up, yawning, when a cupcake landed forcefully in her mouth. Choking, she got most of the cupcake crumbled onto her beautiful white fluffy cloud. Five seconds later, she cleared her throat.
"What the hay?!" Rainbow Dash screamed. One simply does not expect to be woken up by a cupcake projectile.
"Oh Dashy, you're awake! Quick, you gotta hurry! The others are waiting for you!" Pinkie Pie whisper-yelled for a non-apparent reason.
"What, huh?" Then memory of yesterday's meticulous planning session came back to her. "Oh yeah..." She looked at the sun for the time. Seeing it already completely up and about, she augmented, "Oh horseapples!"
The both of them took off in the direction of the library, Pinkie Pie just barely staying ahead of Rainbow Dash. Sometimes, Pinkie's speed amazed Rainbow Dash. Sometimes she wanted to ask Pinkie how she was so hasty, but she was either rather embarrassed to do so (after all, who could possibly beat Rainbow Dash?), or expected a simple Pinkie Pie explanation, which usually turned out complex and nonsensical.
The two ponies abruptly entered the library.
"There you two are!" Twilight looked over all of them, and noticed Spike yawning in the corner. Still sleepy... Twilight thought. "So, now is everypony ready?"
Most of the Mane Six carried a saddlebag, except Rainbow Dash; she didn't have anything to carry, and she would be pulling the boat later on. After nopony objected, Twilight assumed all was ready, and led the ponies outside to venture into the forest.
"Excuse me, girls," Rarity turned to walk behind the library, and upon shortly returning with new luggage, heard sighs emitted by both Applejack and Twilight.
"Not again..." Applejack shook her head.
[A/N] Chapter Edit:
Every time I make a major edit on a chapter, I plan on leaving at least a notification of such actions. They'll be identified with "Chapter Edit" instead of just simply "Edit", to clarify things. Original Author's Notes may be tweaked a little as well, though they'll mostly stay intact. If I change them around too much, I'll probably label them with an "Edit", who knows...
Anyways, I also want to mention that I may slowly port to FimFiction. This story is not yet up there (at the time of October 30, 2013), but I will likely post my stories involving MLP: FiM there as well. In fact, I might post chapters there first! The website is really awesome, and has more features than FanFiction. For those of you who don't know what FimFiction is, it's a website similar to this one, but has stories only about MLP: FiM. It also has, as previously mentioned, some additional features, and is more user friendly. Author's Notes there might differ, though, since it is a slightly different audience.
I hope to get some practice writing stories. Lately, I had the urge to become Sweetie Belle the Dictionary, since I noticed that my vocabulary started to lack (that was one of the reasons I was partially afraid to write). Of course, vocabulary isn't the only thing lacking, there's plenty of things I need to practice. For one, the whole structure of the story is important, and I'd like to find out if I'm doing a good job at building a proper atmosphere and mood.