Amateur writer, help me improve. Anyway, I don't know how I ended up a brony or how I even ended up deciding to write a fanfiction on it, but its happening, I have entered the 9th layer of brony fandom.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the canon characters. They are property of Hasbro.
Chapter 1: Departure
Travis was on a family vacation to Yosemite, he had always enjoyed the outdoors, although his mother on the other hand, not so much. Most trips he embarked on were usually for those who preferred to be close to creature comforts. For example, the last three places Travis had visited were particularly boring for him because those places happened to be one place, Vegas. His mother was obsessed with gambling and she would go at almost any opportunity leaving Travis at home or stuck in a hotel room. This trip to Yosemite was a breath of fresh air, literally. The 15 year old teen was sitting in the back seat of the car enjoying the natural scenery along the road to his destination. He was picturing himself in the outdoors mountain biking or hiking through the forest.
He opened the window letting the cool air rush into the car. Travis took a deep breath and smiled. Moments after opening the window his mother turned back and shouted "Close that window! You're going to let some nasty bug in!" The teen was immediately put back into reality. He closed the window and let out an annoyed grunt. "I forgot I was with HER." There was a reason why this family hadn't taken many trips outdoors, Maria, Travis's mother would always ruin the trip, refusing to leave the car or lodge. Not to mention she was overprotective and didn't let Travis leave either. His father, John, wouldn't even stand up for him, he would just listen to his wife complain and command the family around, it was always Maria's decision. She was the tyrant of the Newman family.
After a 9 hour drive, they had finally arrived at the lodge. The sun had already set and it was almost midnight. They unloaded the baggage and began bringing it in, but Travis was nowhere in sight. Immediately after getting off the car, he had left the light from the building illuminating the nearby ground outside. He found a small patch of grass and laid down, staring at the sky. It was getting close to a full moon, and not many stars were in sight due to the bright moon. Even though there were few stars it was more than he usually saw back at home. Travis lived in the city where there was too much light pollution and stars wouldn't be able to be seen. It was truly a beautiful sight but it was ended when he heard his mother shouting at him to help with the luggage and how awful the cold was. He stood up and looked at the silhouette of the trees and listened to the crickets for a second. The teen let out a sigh and began heading back to the car.
After checking into the lodge Travis picked up a few trail maps and headed to the room with the rest of the Newman family. Upon entering their room he hopped onto the bed and rested on his back. "Man I am tired, let's get some sleep for tomorrow; I planned out a hike already." He pulled a map out of his pocket which had been marked and tossed it on the table next to his bed. His sister, Jessica picked it up and opened it. Jessica was Travis's twin sister who was neutral on the entire outdoors or indoors situation. She was open minded but naïve compared to her ignorant mother. "Looks like a long hike, are you sure we can handle this?" Travis sat upright, "Of course sis, we'll just have to pace ourselves and we have enough supplies, so" She thought for a second, "Okay, whatever you say, you are the expert on this stuff." Maria walked over to Jessica. "Honey, may I see the map please?" She handed the map to her mother.
She looked at the map for a few seconds then flipped out. "Ten miles? Travis are you sick in the head? How are we ever going to complete this! We're going to have to revise this." Maria took a sharpie and began drawing a line. Travis sat on the edge of the bed frustrated but quiet. His mother then walked over to the table. "Okay everybody, come over here! This is the new plan!" She laid the map out and Travis began following the line. "Mom, this line is along the highway." He said blatantly.
"I know that. We're going to drive through Yosemite, it's still ten miles and it's about the same as hiking." She responded confidently.
"You're kidding me!" Travis was about ready to punch someone. The trip he had been waiting for the past year had just been ruined by his mother.
"You do realize this is going to be at most a thirty minute drive?"
"There's a pool here! You still have something to do when you get back."
Travis let out a frustrated scream. "Ruined again! This is the fifth god damn time! Fifteen years and I have never been able to enjoy the freakin' wilderness the way it was meant to be." He slammed the table and jumped onto the bed. "I'm going to sleep! Nothing to look forward to now."
Maria smiled, "Alright then! So we'll wake up early tomorrow and this'll be the first thing to do. Also Travis, you know the bed is for John and I. Sleep on the floor."
He let out another frustrated scream and kicked the sheets off of him and pulled out the sleeping bag. He then spread it out and crawled into it and ducked his head into it. Soon everyone was asleep.
The Newman family was woken by an alarm clock set at 12 PM. Travis grudgingly crawled out of his sleeping bag. They got ready and Travis put on his hiking boots. "Wait, what am I doing?" He took those off and put on some sandals knowing he won't be going anywhere. The car ride was dull and Maria was making futile attempts of lightening the mood. "Hey look, birds!" she would say, "Isn't that a pretty waterfall?" Travis muttered "Would be a lot better if we were actually there."
John pulled over to the side of the road, "Bathroom break!" and Maria quickly responded. "What? You're going to do your business out here? Have some humanity John!" John was about to continue driving but Travis had an idea.
"Wait, mom, I really have to go. I can't hold it any longer."
She looked at Travis with an angry stare.
"Go. Fine. Be quick, I don't want you getting dirty and coming back here."
Travis exited the car and looked at Jessica and scratched his ear. Jessica picked up the cue and also gained permission to leave the car. The siblings had always had a cue when the other was planning something, it was one of the few ways they could exchange their mischievous plans in private. They both disappeared into the nearby bushes. "Strange…" Maria thought, but she didn't want to investigate because they went into bushes.
"What is it Travis?" Jessica asked.
Travis was trying to keep his excitement under control. "Jessie, we happened to stop at the trailhead of the originally planned hike. We could just sneak off for a little while."
"Won't mom and dad be worried sick about us?"
"Don't worry; they'll realize it too once they look at the map. Then mom will be forced to go hiking for us." Travis laughed a bit. "It's a perfect plan! I still remember the route, but we're not going to be well enough supplied but I remember enough of the map so we can plan a shorter route."
"Okay I guess." Jessica said hesitantly.
"Follow me, the trailhead is this way."
"Hold on, you're in sandals, that's not the best thing for walking here."
Travis looked down, "Your right, let's go back a few eras." He took off his sandals and pocketed them. The brother looked at his sister's feet and said "You too." Then he pointed to her feet.
"Oh! What do you know?" Then Jessica also took off her sandals and giggled a bit. By now the plan started to sound good for her, "This is going to be fun."
The siblings headed onto the trailhead, the dirt under Travis's feet felt relieving as the cool texture massaged them every step he took. "Now this is the way Yosemite is meant to be experienced." He was walking down some switchbacks with the beautiful scenery to the left of him. The skies were a crisp blue unlike the smoggy gray of the city. As the hike continued they found themselves surrounded by forest, the way the sunlight bled threw the canopy of the trees was mesmerizing. "Wow," Jessica said looking up at the colossal trees. "Pretty huh?" Travis said looking back at Jessica. She only nodded in response.
The pair stopped where the trailhead split.
"Which way now Travis?"
Travis looked at both signs and talked to himself a bit. "If I remember correctly, we make a left here and that trail should take us back."
They took the left trail which seemed to go deeper into the forest. It was another half hour until they hit a clearing and another fork in the road. Slightly alarmed, Jessica asked "I thought you said that trail brings us back to the car."
Travis thought a bit, "No no no, my bad there was one more fork. We make a right here." He said nervously, it was a blind guess but he didn't want to make his sister worry. Another half hour later the trail became very obscure. Jessica was now very concerned. "Travis, I don't think we're going the right way,"
"I think your right." He said with a trembling voice. This was not what Jessica wanted to hear.
"Ha Ha, this is a joke right?" She said seriously.
"Okay, I don't want you to panic, that is the last thing we need. The sun is going to set soon, and we're going to need shelter."
"Oh my god you're serious." Her eyes began watering up. "Why did I decide to come on this stupid trip?" She sniffled. "I should've stayed in the car, why did we leave." Jessica began rambling on about what they should and shouldn't have done. Her heart was pounding, she began pacing around anxiously.
Panic set in, "I think we were that way. Let's go Travis, we don't have much time." Jessica was obviously not thinking straight, her voice was trembling as she said that. The sister began running and Travis began chasing after her instinctively.
"Jessica! No! This isn't the right way! We're not even on the trail!" He shouted at Jessica some more but nothing would stop her.
Finally, Jessica regained her thought process and stopped. "Oh crap. Why did I just- we're screwed right now, I'm never going to make it back, I'm going to die out here." She thought. Her nose reddened and tears began rolling down her eyes.
"Jessica! We are in some deep stuff here now that you just ran off!" He stopped and noticed his sister crying. Travis sat down with her, "Don't worry, we'll be okay. We can get out of this. We'll be okay sis." He continued comforting her until the tears stopped rolling. Jessica sat there distressed. Travis began thinking "Okay, at least we made it to a clearing, we have…" He stretched his arm out in front of him and stuck out his thumb. "About an hour left of sunlight. We can't be too far from the trailhead, and I guess we can survive without a shelter for one night."
He walked over to his sister, "Okay, we're going to go find a campsite hopefully or at least the trail, we're going to take this slowly."
Jessica nodded her head and stood up and began walking with Travis the direction at which she had just ran. The sun set earlier than anticipated, leaving them under the illumination of the full moon. Travis's sister began crying once again, "We're not going to make it out here are we… face it, we're done."
Travis hugged his sister and at that moment, the moonlight struck something shiny and reflected into Travis's eye. He let go of his sister and signaled her to follow him. By then Jessica had also seen the shining object. "What is that?" Jessica asked They walked closer, it was resting on an ancient crumbling pedestal. Travis reached out and picked it up. There was some sort of foreign writing on it, but it was using the Latin alphabet. He held it up to the moonlight to see it better and read it out loud. "Lex kutis arova, I wonder what that means." Just then, a blinding light began to emit from the rock, Travis dropped it and covered his eyes and so did Jessica. They began feeling dizzy, lightheaded, and then they fainted and fell to the floor.
Alright, so what do you think? This took me awhile to write actually. :p I know there isn't any mention of the MLP: FIM world YET but this was just a chapter introducing some of the characters. Send me some feedback, I'll appreciate it! Thanks for reading.