I felt myself slipping out of my unconscious state at some point, but my eyelids were still closed. I didn't feel awake enough to open them right away. In fact, I felt the strong need to keep them shut for as long as I could. It hadn't occurred to me that I had been someplace else besides my bed at home until I kept quiet for some time to subtly recollect my thoughts.
Despite the circumstances, I couldn't keep my eyes closed or my body still because I unexpectedly realized that the position of my body felt a little awkward and uncomfortable. It was like I was only taking up a small portion of my bed when there was much more space I could have freely used.
Finally, I pulled out of my lazy mindset for a minute and began to shift myself to where I could lay more comfortably, but it suddenly felt like there was no more room. It was almost like I was squeezed between two walls. Maybe it wasn't that bad, but it certainly felt like there was something blocking my path.
Upset and bothered by this blockage, I opened and squinted my eyes and took a look around me. From what I could see, there was this huge lump right beside me. My vision was still a little unclear, and at what I could only assume was during an extremely early time, my thoughts still weren't the smartest or well-thought out.
Despite whatever it may have been, I began pushing this lump away, possibly believing it may have been some kind of pillow for whatever reason. Instead, the lump was practically planted on top of the bed like a sandbag, and strange noises actually began to come from it.
"Mmm! No!" A voiced whined like a child unwilling to get up from bed.
At that point, it was pretty easy to see what had been going on. Confirming my suspicions by taking a gander at the empty bed across me, I sighed as heavily as I could and somewhat surrendered by laying back down. Although the circumstances hadn't been the same, it wasn't exactly the first time that this kind of situation came to be.
I woke back up again in what I could only assume was a few hours later. I could see light peeking out from underneath the flap that covered the window, but just as I was about to reach out to pull it up, I was stopped by the same bump on the bed from earlier. Sitting at an upright position, I took a glance at the figure with somewhat heavy eyes.
The comforter we ended up sharing reached up to just about below her shoulders. She laid on her side with, what appeared to be, her phone right beside a slightly outstretched hand. At that point, I found that it was slightly odd how I had been the first to wake up before she did. My only guess was that she possibly didn't get as much sleep last night. Did those stories from the campfire really get to her?
I lightly shook my head as I made an attempt to find a way out of the bed without disturbing her. I didn't know what the deal was with our counselors and if they were able to sort of walk in whenever they wanted, but Faith could be so innocently careless sometimes. If either of the camp counselors saw us like that, it could probably mean bad news for us, not to mention all the rumors that would most likely surface because of it. At any point, I could only hope we had some sort of privacy in order to dispel any chance of something like that happening.
I finally raised the flap and felt my eyes painlessly burn due to the volley of light from outside. At that time, I began hearing faint chatter coming from outside the tent. I almost wanted to zip open the tent flaps, but seeing as Faith was still soundly asleep, I made do with observing what I could through the only window we had.
I began wondering if we had wake-up calls at Camp Everfree, but judging from what I could hear from the sounds and voices outside, it didn't seem like any of the counselors were going around and waking people up. In fact, Gloriosa seemed very keen on the idea of giving us the "best week" of camp, and I suppose a part of that dealt with allowing campers to get up whenever they wanted. At the same time, I'd have to admit that there's really no point in being at camp if you're just going to sleep through it.
I searched for my phone near the bed and picked it up once I found it. Briefly turning on the screen, I noticed the time was a little after ten. Glancing over at Faith, I found that it was especially weird that she hadn't been up yet. I decided I would sit at the side of her bed and just wait for a bit before I'd try waking her up.
A fairly distinguishable buzz arose in my hand, accompanied by a subtle and brief shake. Having had nothing else to do, I pulled up the screen of my phone to find an unread text message.
Twilight and I are heading out on a boat right now. You and Faith wanna come with? I think she's been feeling pretty down lately. You guys are pretty close with her, right? Maybe she'll feel better with you two here.
Sunset Shimmer had sent that.
I don't know, Sunset. Am I close to her?
Reading that message made me recall the sight of her with that particular camp counselor, Timber Spruce. Honestly, the whole reason why I tried to forget and ignore it in the first place was that I didn't want to get any kind of negative feelings like jealously. She may have said hi to me on the bus, but seeing her talk to someone she just met yesterday more than someone she's known for a few years really bothered me.
I shook my head almost fervently.
I need to get back on track on tossing those thoughts.
"Mmm." I heard a soft moan in front of me. I looked away from my phone and found Faith dragging her hand across the portion of bedsheets in front of her closed eyes. Her eyebrows occasionally furrowed and softened as if she was fighting to stay asleep. Nevertheless, at some point, her hand stopped once her fingertips reached the top of her phone screen. She began to tilt the screen towards her as her eyes lightly opened. After a second or two, they immediately widened open. "Huh?!"
"Hm?" I casually responded.
She immediately tossed the blanket away from her and swung her bare feet over to the floor of the bed. It was only a matter of time before her eyes caught wind of mine, and she nearly threw herself at me as a result.
"You were up and you didn't even wake me?!"
"What are you so worked up about?" I asked calmly. "It's not even noon. Besides, I just got up a few minutes ago."
She turned away from me and began rummaging through her bag. "We're only going to be in the camp for a week. That means we only have seven days to do all the cool stuff they have here!"
"I don't think we need every entire day for that…" I answered, lifting myself from her bed and digging my hands into my pockets.
She pulled out one of the camp shirts and lightly tossed it somewhere nearby before pulling the ends of her own shirt up. However, she immediately paused in the middle of her action and slowly turned towards me with scarlet scribbled over the surface of her cheeks. I, myself, was embarrassed that I hadn't even realized what she was trying to do until she gave me that look.
"Right…" I said as I started heading towards the zipped entrance of our tent.
I practically already had on what I was going to wear today, so I decided to wait for her outside.
I didn't notice it at first, but I found myself standing in front of the tent as if I was some kind of guard. I didn't think anyone else would try to walk inside for whatever reason, but it seemed to provide some kind of use in the end in regards to what Faith was doing inside. Meanwhile, I remembered about the text Sunset Shimmer had sent and pulled up my phone. I decided it would be best to respond as soon as I was able to since it was entirely possible that they were waiting for our answer.
Faith and I sort of just got up a while ago. I'm waiting on her to finish getting ready right now. I'll see if she wants to go out on the boat. I'm kind of guessing she does.
I sent that message out and dug my phone in my pocket. Several seconds later, my phone vibrated in response.
Looks like we won't be going out on the boat after all. The dock is totally trashed.
I felt my eyebrows shoot up as I nearly started to intensely tap sections on my screen.
Trashed?! What do you mean?! Like it's broken?! We just started working on that yesterday!
A few more seconds later…
Something really strange happened. It's better if you come to see it for yourself.
I continued to stare endlessly at my phone even after hearing movements coming from the flaps of our tent.
"So, what's first on the agenda for today?" I heard. "Hm?"
I became startled at the feeling of something pressing up against me. Over my right shoulder, I found Faith taking a look at my phone out of curiosity. It felt as if my heart skipped a beat at the sight of her. I couldn't help but reveal my initial reaction to her.
"Don't scare me like that!" I stated after spending a second to catch my breath.
"Scare you?" She asked a little worriedly. "Just what were you looking at?"
I shook my head. "There's something we should probably check out. I heard something happened to the docks."
"The docks? You mean the one we were rebuilding yesterday?"
"The one and only. Come on." I guided her. As we began walking, I remembered about something I had actually wanted to ask her. "By the way, I meant to ask you something. Were you really so spooked up about that Gaea Everfree story that you felt the need to slip into my bed last night?"
Heat visibly rose up within her cheeks.
"…s-so what if I was?" She averted her eyes away from mine and crossed her arms behind her back.
I sighed lightly in response. "Look. If that story really was true, do you really think this camp would still be open? Not only that, if there was a real monster on the loose, you don't just tell everyone like that. It's all fake. It's just like those 'creepy' stories you read on the internet."
"But, don't you ever get creeped out by those stories too?" Faith asked, leaning towards me with her fists lightly clenched.
"Sure, by the idea of them. They're nothing to lose sleep over though."
"Well, to be fair, Chase, after what happened at the Friendship Games, I don't know if you can still think like that." She reminded.
Our conversation ended by the time we arrived at the docks to see the big commotion around it. Just from having a glance, I could see the major damage that Sunset had texted me about. Somehow, pieces of the freshly placed wood were scattered over the lakeside. Over at the docks, I found the girls appearing to look over the damage that had been done. Feeling a little frenzied, I nearly jogged over to where they were to get a better look for myself. Based on what I saw, it looked as if something heavy had crashed into the docks.
"What happened?!" I asked a bit bitterly, frustrated that all of the work we had done yesterday was practically ruined.
"A couple of the campers were out on the boat, and then all of a sudden, they just rammed straight towards the docks." Sunset Shimmer summarized after finding me behind her.
"Are they okay?" Faith asked worriedly.
"They're fine." Sunset assured. "We're all just wondering how it happened in the first place."
"I'm telling you! It's Gaea Everfree!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
"Oh, don't even bring that up." I requested sourly.
"Well, there is that strange glow from that water." Rarity mentioned.
"'Strange glow'?" Faith repeated before she turned over and gasped sharply. "How did…?"
I turned and had a look for myself, but what I saw was hardly anything that was as so much convincing. "Are you kidding me?" I asked. "Somebody's playing a prank. You guys are really convinced by that? Looks like a bunch of food coloring and glitter to me."
"…I don't think someone would go as far as to break the docks for a prank." Sunset pointed out.
"We all saw it happen." Applejack added. "Boat just swooshed in and slammed into the docks. No doubt about it."
I crossed my arms and bellowed out a heavy sigh with a furrow of my brow. "Look, I don't know exactly what happened, but thinking it's because of some creepy magical monster from a stupid campfire story is insane. I'm no detective, so I'm not interested in finding out what did this as long as it doesn't happen again. All I'm saying is that it's definitely not 'Gaea Everfree'."
"I don't think it's Gaea Everfree either." Sunset Shimmer agreed. "But, let's try to calm down a little, alright?" She offered a hand on my shoulder with her sympathetic suggestion. "The damage doesn't look too bad. We may need to replace a few boards, but I think that's it."
I looked over the damaged area and figured that she was right. "I guess you have a point…" I answered in a calmer manner, but I was still a little bitter over the fact that something came in and ruined what we had been doing practically all day yesterday.
"Mind giving us a hand with getting the stuff out of the water?" She asked.
I didn't really think I had a choice. "Sure…" I accepted. Taking another look over at the girls that were gathered, I realized that someone was missing. "Twilight's not with you?"
"Huh?" Sunset Shimmer answered with surprise before she turned back and looked around. "That's weird… She was here a minute ago."
"C'mon." Applejack stood at the edge of the partially destroyed dock and bent over in an attempt to fish out for the pieces of wood floating on the water. "Let's get to picking up these pieces and see where we go on from there."
"Hey, hey." Faith grabbed my hand and began pulling me toward her. "Let's go in the water and get some of the pieces out."
"Huh? Really?" I felt the need to question her on the matter as she sat and began taking her shoes and socks off.
"How else are we going to get those pieces that are too far off from the dock?" She asked.
"But our clothes are going to get all wet." I argued with. "…unless you plan on going—"
"Shut up!" She quickly intervened with flushed cheeks. "We're not going that far in. Hurry up and take your shoes off, or I might just drag you in anyway."
She didn't look like she was taking no for an answer, so with yet another light sigh, I quickly tore off my shoes and socks and carefully began following her into the water.
"Oooh. It's cold." She shivered lightly.
"That's how it usually is at first with the swimming pool…" I reminded, hoping for my body to do its thing and warm up.
"Mmm." She mentioned as her height began sinking down, her legs disappearing into the water rather quickly the more she walked out. "Now, I'm starting to wish I brought my swimsuit so I wouldn't have to worry about getting my clothes drenched."
"You'd be the only one out here in a swimsuit though…" I mentioned.
Faith shivered once more, but it didn't appear to be because of the temperature this time. "Yeah, never mind. I'd feel so weird being out here in a swimsuit while everyone else wasn't. I'd feel like everyone was looking at me…"
"Well, let's just hope this dock doesn't get destroyed again." For some reason, I felt like I'd be eating those words soon enough, but it was probably just the pessimistic mood I was currently in. "Maybe we'll actually be able to use it at some point during our time here."
Faith and I began gathering stray pieces here and there. After we would pick up a handful, we'd walk over to the others at the docks and drop them off there before we'd go out and look for some more. However, at one point, I felt something hard press against my foot. In an alarm, I quickly removed my foot off the object, and in a subtle fit of rage, I dove my hand into the water to find the culprit. Whatever it was, I was ready to wind it up and throw it as far as I could over the water.
Once I found the out of place figure in the land, I caged it with my fingers and drew it out of the water. From what I could feel within my hand, the surface felt surprisingly smooth. In fact, I had calmed down a little when I realized that it wasn't anything sharp that could have really hurt my foot or Faith's. Nevertheless, I unraveled my fingers and had a look for myself. To my surprise, I found a couple of extremely beautiful rocks nestled together on the palm of my hand.
Both of them were really shiny, but one was almost completely black. However, the most eye-catching part of the black one was that there was still some vibrant color spread all over. It looked there had been splotches of green, yellow, red, and blue paint on this rock, but rubbing my finger over the surface confirmed that it had actually been a part of the rock.
As for the other rock, it was the polar opposite of the dark one for the most part. By polar opposite, the next one had been white instead of dark. Looking over it for some time, I found its design familiar. I remembered the gemstone that had been in our tent and came to a wild conclusion.
No way… Could this actually be an opal?
"Chase? What's wrong?" I heard Faith ask behind me. "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"
I shook my head and quickly dug the rocks into my pocket. I didn't believe they were exactly anything rare or important. Someone could have very easily bought these at a shop and happened to lose these in the lake sometime ago. Nevertheless, they were too attractive to ignore. After all, finding these rocks reminded me of the old days when I used to collect cool-looking rocks when I was super young. Although, I never did find out what happened to my collection…
"Don't worry. I'm fine." I replied and began walking over to Faith.
For some time, we continued to pick up pieces in the water, but thankfully, it wasn't for too long. After we had finished finding all the pieces we could see and get a hold of, we returned to the docks and dried ourselves until we were able to cleanly wear our socks and shoes again.
"Oh, my. This is troubling indeed." We heard our principal comment on the sight of the docks. She held her chin with her index finger and thumb for a moment, but she soon replaced that expression by placing her hands on her hips enthusiastically. "However, it's nothing Canterlot Wondercolts can't handle."
I felt my shoulders drop as my posture wilted. I know we pretty much had to patch this up again, but did we really have to spend two days in a row doing this kind of work? Besides the campfire stories, we hardly touched on anything else that people usually did at a camp.
"…but, there's so much Camp Everfree has to offer that you've yet to do. This can wait until tomorrow. You all go ahead and spend the day trying out different activities here at camp." Principal Celestia added.
Everyone seemed to come to a unanimous decision regarding her suggestion, and I was just glad I could actually do something else besides woodwork that I could've easily done at home.
"Ooh! Rock Climbing! I'm calling it!" Rainbow Dash swung her arm in the air violently before running off.
"I want to try that too!" Faith excitedly called out. "Come on, Chase!" She grabbed my hand and began driving me in the same direction that Rainbow Dash had taken off to.
It wasn't long before the wall had come within in my view, but Faith had suddenly stopped for some reason before we even got close to it. I turned my head to find her holding her hand against her mouth for some reason as if she had witnessed something unpleasant.
But, then I heard her snicker.
"F-Flash? What are you doing?!" She asked through stifled laughter.
He had been staring intently at someone else in particular with a huge grin plastered all over his face. He looked as if he had been observing something that only happened once-in-a-lifetime, but it had actually only been the biggest dude that had attended this camp. Another girl hung around his unnaturally huge biceps as if he had been some kind of swing. Nevertheless, he easily picked her up like a toothpick.
"Are you seeing this?" Flash kept his eyes glued onto him. "This guy is unreal! You should totally go next!"
"Hehe. No thanks." Faith politely declined. "Chase and I were about to try the rock climbing wall. Besides…" Her voice unexpectedly lowered as she began prodding the tip of her index fingers with each other. "I already have someone who picks me up when I'm down…"
I felt my heart jitter when I noticed her pupils point straight towards me from the corner of her eyes. The last thing she said was an immediate reminder to what I did for her at the Friendship Games. Even now, it was extremely difficult to not be embarrassed about it. All I could do was turn my head away and unnecessarily rub the back of my head out of habit.
When we finally arrived at the wall, we found Principal Celestia standing there with a couple sets of harnesses in her possession. By her side, Rainbow Dash heavily tossed and turned as if she was desperately searching for something. Surprisingly, she stopped at the sight of me, and she quickly called me over. "Hey! Spot me! I wanna go up!"
"Sorry, I'm taken." I semi-jokingly responded.
"What?!" Rainbow Dash strained out past her lips as if she was feeling an overwhelming amount of disbelief or if she just didn't catch onto the meaning of the joke.
"Who's the lucky gal?" Faith seemed to play along.
"Who do you think?" I replied with.
"There are a few things I have to go over with you if you'll be spotting." Principal Celestia held out a set of harnesses for Faith and me.
"Count me in." Applejack joined us with Rarity walking behind her.
"AJ! Great timing!" Rainbow Dash shouted out in glee, her eyes glimmering at the sight of her. "I knew you'd come up and spot for me!"
"Actually, Rarity asked me first." Applejack corrected, wiping the cheerful grin off Rainbow Dash's face.
"What?!" She repeated, her arms swinging forward along with her slouched figure.
Our principal went over a few things that sounded all confusing at first. It was how to operate the harnesses and ropes we'd be using to "spot" the climber. Listening to how much she stressed her instructions began making me nervous. However, once I was able to get a feel for how spotting worked, some of those nerves eased. It was quite an easy system, and it was somewhat similar to using an old-fashioned pulley method when it came to lifting something heavy. As long as I paid strict attention to my job and nothing else, I believed I'd do well.
"You ready, Faith?" I asked. "I just hope I'm a good spotter…"
"I trust you." She lightly surprised me as she seemingly said that in full confidence. Afterward, she began fumbling around with her own harness. "On the other hand, I hope I put this on right."
"Let me see." I drew closer to her and immediately began pulling on her straps to make sure they were as tight as they could be.
"C-Chase… You're a little…" I heard her mumble softly, but I was too busy focusing on her straps. I found that there were still some slightly loose straps, so I made them just a little tighter so they were practically hugging her body. Once my inspection was complete, I lifted my head and found myself so much closer to Faith than I had originally thought.
I immediately stepped back and felt the unusual need to apologize. "Sorry. I just wanted to make sure that…" My voice trailed off.
"It's okay." She gently responded. "Worst case scenario, you'll catch me, right?"
I honestly didn't even want to think about the possibility of somehow losing control of the rope or her safety in general, but I nodded either way. Strangely enough, I found comfort that I would be right underneath her. I never actually tried catching a girl like her from a height as tall as the rock climbing wall, but I knew in my heart that I wouldn't falter from stepping in and trying.
"Don't worry." Principal Celestia assured as I watched Faith give the wall a thorough look. "I'll be right here to supervise you both."
Faith slightly adjusted the helmet on her head and appeared to give a firm nod before she began gripping the rocks in front of her with both her hands.
"Applejack, darling, you'll keep an eye on me at all times, right?" Rarity faced her body towards the wall but sent an anxious look back at Applejack. "I'd be deeply scarred if I so much broke a nail."
"I've got your back, Rarity. No worries." Applejack responded with confidence.
"Remember:" Principal Celestia directed towards each of us. "Rock climbing is all about perseverance and trust. Rarity, you can trust that Applejack will spot you."
At this point, I immediately ceased looking at any other direction besides the one that Faith was in. She was starting to climb up, so I needed to fulfill the trust that she had in me and not take my eyes off her. To be honest, it felt a little weird for me when she was all I looked at, especially when I observed every slow and careful step she took to rise up on the wall.
"Yeah, so you can totally go faster than you're going." I heard Rainbow Dash behind me.
"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack scolded.
"Sorry. I've been waiting to do this since we got here." Rainbow impatiently explained herself.
"Well, you have to wait a little longer, darling." Rarity contrasted Rainbow's rudeness with her own tact response.
"You doing okay, Faith?" I asked calmly, even though I felt like I had been walking on thin ice.
"Mm-hm." I heard as she continued to make her way up. Her response sounded a little strained, and I assumed it was because of the energy she had been exhausting in climbing the wall. Taking that into consideration, I decided it would be best if I kept the talking to an absolute minimum.
"Oh, good!" Rainbow exclaimed happily. "Twilight, if you spot me, I can finally go. I'll go get another harness."
I felt my eyes shoot open and my heart jump when I heard her name. I had been so tempted to take a glance around and find her, but I couldn't. It was honestly probably safe to look around for just a second or two, but I wouldn't ever be able to forgive myself if something happened when I had least expected it, especially if it was from being selfish.
"I'm not sure—"
"I better make sure my sister doesn't need anything. See you later?" I heard Timber's voice accompany Twilight's.
At this point, I was heavily conflicted. She had obviously spent some time with him again today, and figuring that out now was the worst. All I could do was shake my head and tell myself to ignore anything having to do with her.
Keep your eyes on Faith. Keep your eyes on Faith.
"Twilight, there you are! I was looking for you!" Sunset's voice now filtered in.
I suddenly felt the ground underneath me shake fairly violently.
"Aah!" I could hear Faith cry out among other soft and small screams that came from others around me.
Fortunately, it only lasted a few seconds, but I quickly called over to Faith. "You okay?! You want me to bring you down?!"
Despite the situation, I was surprised to see Faith stiffly shake her head. "N-No… I'm almost at the top…!"
She really sounded exhausted, but she was still willing to go on. As much as I admired her determination, I was still hoping that she'd ask me to lower her down soon. After, whatever that was, I nearly pleaded for the opportunity to bring her back on the ground.
"Was that an earthquake?" I believed Spike had asked.
"We aren't near any fault lines." Twilight answered.
"Hey! Who left this crystaly dusty stuff here?!"
My palms felt like they were getting sweaty. So many new voices were popping in, especially after what had surfaced from the ground for some reason. It was making me really nervous, yet Faith continued on. From what I could see, her arms appeared to be trembling as she slowly hoisted herself up and grunted with each move she made.
I clenched the rope with all I had.
"Aah!" I suddenly heard Rarity yelp now. "I-I believe I'd like to come down now!"
From what I could tell in my peripheral vision, she had appeared to stop a short distance below Faith.
To my right, I could hear Applejack struggling and fumbling with something. "Sorry, it's a little bit stuck."
All of a sudden, the sound of a rope hoisting something up at a great speed rang in my ears. Next thing I knew, I found myself noticing Rarity's figure zooming towards the very top of the wall. Out of instinct, her fear-ridden scream caused me to look directly at her. She had been pulled to the very top, and it was only a second or two before she came falling down as if the rope holding her had snapped.
I was absolutely frozen. I knew I couldn't do anything since I had been watching Faith, but during the time she had been falling, a million thoughts scurried around in my head. To summarize them, I was afraid that some horrid accident was about to occur in the next minute, and despite my circumstance, I was scared to death of the thought of not being able to do anything about it.
To my great relief, Applejack pulled on her rope as much as she could and brought Rarity to a stop just before she hit the ground.
"Applejack! What are you doing?!" She cried out, clearly shaken up after the incident.
"Is everything okay over there?" Principal Celestia's voice returned in a worried state.
"Uh, I don't know what happened!" Applejack responded, dumbfounded. "I didn't even pull the rope that hard! It's like she was light as a feather all of a sudden!"
"I was scared half to death!" Rarity released through heavy breaths, fidgeting with her harness in an attempt to get it off.
"It wasn't my fault! Let me help you get your harness out."
"No, thank you!" Rarity refused as Applejack began walking over to her, but some huge shiny thing came out of nowhere and pushed Applejack away. It forcefully pushed her past the bushes until she was seen coming back out completely drenched and spitting out water.
"What in the world just happened?!" Principal Celestia asked, rushing over to her.
"Oh, dear! I am so sorry! I think. Did I just do whatever that was?" Rarity asked.
"I don't think it was your fault. I'm gonna go get Applejack a towel." Twilight mentioned a bit depressively behind me.
"Me, too." Sunset said before footsteps walked away from me.
The rope in my hands shook and jiggled, which led me to widen my eyes.
"…Faith!" I tore my head away from the ground and turned up. However, what I witnessed caused me to nearly drop my jaw from astonishment. Even through all that, Faith was slowly attempting to reach the top, but seeing her in her current condition and speed, I wasn't sure if she could last any longer.
"…almost…!" I could hear her say as she stretched out her hand as far as she could to reach the end. I noticed her begin to lift herself up by her toes, but then her foot suddenly slipped. "Ah!"
With clenched fists, I kept her at her current height, my heart pounding especially after what had just happened.
"You okay?!"
Panting, she managed to respond.
"…I…was so…close…"
"Maybe it's best you come down." Principal Celestia suggested, stepping by my side. "At least until we get things settled here."
Faith sighed heavily. "…okay."
I began carefully bringing down Faith, hoping for the best that what happened with Rarity didn't happen to Faith as well. Thankfully, she was back on the ground with no issues whatsoever. With a relieved sigh, I began removing her harness for her.
"Man, I was really worried, you know?" Once the harness was off, I switched over to take off her helmet next. "But, you…" I stopped when the helmet came off and her slightly disheveled hair lifted freely. She had been staring back at me with a reddened face. It took a second to realize that I had been up and close to her yet again. However, I stepped back more slowly this time, lightly tossing her helmet away. "Well, it looks like you're fine…" I ended up with.
Nevertheless, she didn't answer or at least try to answer back right away like last time. Her fairly flushed face remained, and the only movement she made was slightly turning her head away from me. I wasn't sure if it had been something I said or did besides taking off her equipment that made her react like that unexpectedly, but all I could do at the moment was listen in on the conversation the others had in regards to the earlier incident.
After removing the equipment I had been wearing, Faith and I were allowed to return back to our tent. From what I heard, Principal Celestia and the others never really figured out what had caused the situation from earlier, so she advised the students to keep from using the rock climbing wall for now. Either way, Faith looked exhausted, so I figured she could use a break and relax.
"I wasn't expecting you to go so high…" I sat beside her on her bed and mentioned. "Are you sure you're okay? You looked like you were giving it your all…"
She had been surprisingly quieter than usual, which was something that made me worry even more for her, but then she began chuckling softly for a moment. "I'm really going to feel that tomorrow, huh?"
"I saw your arms shaking up there. That was your first time rock climbing, wasn't it? You didn't need to push yourself so much for your first try…"
"…I…I just thought that I could get it on the first try." She explained a little gloomily. "I was so close too…"
"Come on." I stood up and continued to face her as I dug my hands into my pockets. "You should be proud of yourself. You especially went above and beyond…for a girl."
She blew out a soft air of exhaustion from her mouth.
"…so…how am I 'for a girl'?" She strangely asked.
"What do you mean?" I returned, deeply puzzled.
"Well, you know, how do you…" She paused and seemed to take some time to think for herself. "Actually, never mind, ignore that question…"
She definitely looked down all of a sudden, and I couldn't completely understand why. Did it have something to do with being unable to finish climbing the wall?
"Are you okay? You look…down."
She had laid her hands flat on top of her bedsheets. Her fingers curled up and gripped the bedsheets tightly. I was seeing the whole other side of her. The side of her that was pretty much completely serious when it came to certain topics. I had to admit it; this side was rare to see.
"Hey. I can tell you anything, right? I'm not talking about your usual gossip or dumb secrets. I mean anything. And…you won't judge me for it, right? We'll never stop being friends because of it, right?"
It almost sounded like she had committed a crime or something worse. Knowing Faith, I didn't believe she'd ever do something illegal per se, which is what made me all the more worried yet curious. What exactly could be worse than what she's already told me before?
"Y-Yeah…" I answered a little nervously. "I don't think you could dig yourself out of the hole you already have in me." I stopped myself, feeling that my response was a bit out of place. "Wait. That probably came out kind of weird. Sorry."
Nevertheless, she shook her head. "I get it."
I continued standing in front of her, unable to take my eyes off her as I waited to hear what she wanted to tell me.
"Well, I…" She started saying, but then she paused. "Um, I think I…No, I know I…" Her lips soon brought themselves together, but she didn't finish saying what she wanted to say. I continued wordlessly watching her. "Urgh! Why is this so hard to tell you?!" She suddenly snapped. "I just…I just don't want…"
"I don't want you to feel like you have to tell me." I said. "If it's too hard for you, you don't have to."
"But, I want to. So bad." She practically whispered.
I wasn't even sure if I heard her right.
"Well, I'll be here whenever you think you can say it." I sat on the side of my own bed in front of her.
"I know…"
"Attention, campers!" A voice from the P.A. system outside called out. "Anyone who's interested in making floating paper lanterns, please meet us by the picnic tables."
"We've haven't really been able to do much all day. You want to check that out?" I asked.
Faith had been silently averting her eyes to the side as she fumbled around with her fingers. "Yeah, sure…"
By the time we made it over to the picnic tables, a lot of them were pretty much already packed. I began searching for an empty one for us to sit at, but then I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Hey, Twilight's sitting all by herself." Faith pointed her eyes in the direction of a particular table with only one person. "You want to go sit with her?"
I figured that Timber Spruce would be sitting with her, considering how often I had been seeing them speak with each other, but for some reason, he wasn't this time. I didn't know how I felt about sitting with her now, but I supposed that I couldn't just ignore her. She was still my friend…
"Sure." I answered.
We began stepping over to her table, and it wasn't until we were close by when she heard us and looked up from the lantern she had already started working on.
"Hi, Twilight." Faith greeted softly. "Mind if we sit here?"
"O-Oh… I don't know if that's a good idea…" She mentioned oddly.
"Why? You expecting Timber to come here?" I unintentionally slipped out with a bit of an attitude.
"H-Huh? Timber?" She questioned in confusion.
I didn't want to let my attitude get the better of me, so I tried to soothe my voice a bit. "Nothing. If you don't want us here, we can leave."
"Wait." Twilight called out just as I was about to turn back around. "…you don't have any magic, right…?"
"Magic?" I couldn't answer properly for a second as I tried to process the meaning of her question. I had almost entirely forgotten about the kind of "magic" Sunset Shimmer and her friends had. I didn't hang around with them as much as they did with each other, so I still wasn't really used to the idea that that kind of magic was actually real. "You mean like the kind of magic from the Friendship Games? No. Nothing at all."
Twilight lowered her eyes for a short moment before she brought them back up to me. "I guess it should be fine."
"Huh?" I questioned.
She shook her head. "Don't mind me. Go ahead and sit."
She was definitely acting all weird, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to ask about it. I'd been feeling a lot of emotions, especially with Twilight. I didn't think I was in the position to ask her what had been going on with her.
I took my seat with Faith. Unintentionally, I had taken the seat across Twilight while Faith sat across the spot that Spike had been on. Spike placed his front paws on top of the table and hopped on. "What are you guys going to make?" He asked with a wagging tail.
"Oh!" Faith exclaimed at both the sight and sound of the talking dog in front of her. "I forgot you could talk." She giggled softly. "Um, I don't know. I don't even know how we're supposed to do this."
"Here, I can show you." Twilight leaned over to Faith and began moving around the materials that had already been on top of the table. She gave a few short and simple instructions before she let us figure out the rest on our own.
I had quietly gotten started on my lantern, focusing the majority of my attention on my work especially since Twilight had been right in front of me. At some point, I heard Faith lightly groaning. In response, I turned my head towards her to see what the issue had been. The problem was easy to see when compared to what I had been doing.
She had been working on the base of the lantern, but I could immediately tell it was pretty crooked and easily falling apart. Even if she did manage to barely keep it upright, it would no doubt break apart when she releases it.
"I'm not good with this kind of stuff." She admitted after noticing me take a look at her work. Afterward, she turned her head and looked over mine. "Yours is so clean and cool. How do you do it?"
I simply shrugged my shoulders. "Compared to screwing and nailing wood together, this is a piece of cake. You just have to be patient and stuff."
She pouted her lips and looked over her lantern of dismay for a bit until she returned another glance back at me. "…hey…"
"Hm?" I replied.
"Do you want to, um, make one together?" She asked.
"Huh?" I returned and observed the progress I had been making with the lantern. While it was neat-looking and stable, there was something easily missing about it. I took a quick glance at all the lanterns everyone had been working on and found that they had all added a unique touch to each of them. I didn't have the faintest idea of what I'd do to the one in my hands, so I figured Faith's proposal wasn't exactly a bad idea. "Yeah, sure. You want to do the design?"
"Yeah!" In a matter of seconds, Faith's frown lifted up widely.
"Just give me a few more minutes. I'm almost done building it." I mentioned.
"You two really are in sync, aren't you?"
"Huh?" Faith and I turned towards Twilight and slipped out simultaneously.
"I'm just admiring how well you two work together." She said. "To be honest, I'm a little jealous."
I had no response towards Twilight's sudden and bizarre analysis, and judging by the blank look on Faith's face, I guessed that she didn't have one either. I never really expected someone as smart and talented as Twilight to be jealous of anything.
"Wh-Wh-What do you mean by that?" Faith averted her eyes and began making a stroking motion down her hair with her hands.
"She just likes your friendship and all." Spike answered for his companion.
Twilight briefly looked at him for a moment and then silently nodded.
I didn't look too into Twilight's comment and ignored it for the most part as I worked on finishing the construction of the lantern. Afterward, I passed it on over to Faith for her to express her creativity on using the supplied tools.
"Oh, um…" She looked over the lantern for a bit, carefully turning it around as if she was handling something fragile and expensive. "…what should I draw on it…?" She sounded like she asked herself. A short while later, she stopped the movements with her hands and stared quietly at the lantern, similar to what she did just before asking me if I wanted to work with her on the project. Eventually, she gave an odd and light giggle. "I'm sort of blanking out right now. Maybe we should just draw ourselves on it."
"Ourselves?" I asked, wondering if she'd had the time to do that considering how everyone around us was practically done with theirs.
"It'll be easy-peasy." She replied as if she could read my thoughts. "I'm not going for anything fancy. Just little doodles of us, you know?" She positioned the lantern in a way that she was able to work with and began scribbling at it.
I honestly didn't really care about what she wanted to do to it since I didn't really have the same kind of creativity that she did. Instead, I calmly waited for her to finish as I rested my cheek against my fist. In another few minutes, she was done.
"Ta-da!" She turned over the lantern and allowed me to have a look at the finished result. On the front, she drew extremely simplistic versions of our faces. We were grinning widely like an expressive cartoon character, and the two of us appeared to be obviously enjoying our company. In fact, it kind of reminded me of the pictures we'd take together. I wondered if she had used that for reference.
"It looks good." I returned, almost as if she had been a little girl that was showing me her crayon drawing.
"Okay, everyone! It's time to watch your lanterns fly!" Gloriosa Daisy called gleefully from the docks.
I began getting up from the table we had sat on until I noticed Faith quickly pull the lantern close to her and hastily scribble onto it.
"I thought you finished." I said.
"Just a sec!" Her hand made swift dashes as she seemed to focus on a particular part of the lantern.
Twilight had already left towards the group that was already gathering all together by the docks.
"Uh, Faith…" I said uneasily, my calm demeanor slowly diminishing.
"Okay, done!" She picked up the lantern and held it closely to her chest as she began standing up from the table.
"What did you do?" I asked curiously as I followed her towards the docks.
"N-Nothing! It's a secret!" She quickly responded.
She did not once lessen the grip she had on the lantern. It was like she had seized my land and claimed it for herself. Either way, it was just a floating lantern, and I didn't really care much for it anyway.
We had just made it in time for the candles inside to be lit. Faith stepped forward as she presented it towards the lighter. I simply watched the fire lightly light up the interior of the lantern from behind Faith. It wasn't until at this moment when I noticed the color of the sky had significantly changed compared to when we first started this project.
The sun was just getting ready to dip below the horizon, and the stars above our heads were just beginning to come out. I continued wordlessly watching the stars until I suddenly got the feeling that someone was looking at me. I tore my eyes away from the sky and found Faith gazing back at me with a warm grin. Unless it was somehow a trick or illusion by the slowly darkening sky, I believed a shade of red had been glowing on her cheeks.
The two of us stared motionlessly at each other until Gloriosa's voice rang out from the front of the group.
"Ready? And... go!" She announced.
Faith finally turned around and gently threw the lantern upwards. As I watched it float upwards within the mass of the other lanterns, I felt the unexpected need to find it and see what "change" Faith had made to it just before she kept it away from my sight.
Unfortunately, it disappeared behind a bunch of the other lanterns, and it wasn't until it was fairly far out into the lake where my eyes caught sight of it once again. I could see something miniscule around where Faith had drawn us, but it was too small to see any detail of it. Unless I could magically draw it back to us, there was no way her addition was coming to the light of day. It was now long gone in the sea of growing darkness.
Once the lanterns were completely out of sight, everyone began walking off the docks. However, I had remained standing there for a good while as if I was expecting our lantern to turn right back around.
"It's not coming back, you know." Faith's voice approached me. "Looks like the mystery will never be solved."
Her voice sounded a bit giddy, and it actually seemed like she was poking fun at me.
I finally turned my head away from the sky and looked at my mischievous friend. "You could always tell me, you know."
"Maybe I will. Maybe I won't." She teased, stretching her hands behind her back. "If you're extra good to me, I just might tell you."
I crossed my arms and lightly scoffed. "It was probably something dumb. Did you make me say something stupid on the lantern like 'I love you, Twilight' or something?"
She stared back at me with a dumbfounded face as if I had gotten it right, but just when my eyes began widening in the realization of the supposed truth, she immediately began laughing out loud. "That was a good guess."
"So, did you?" I hurriedly asked as I felt my cheeks flare up.
"Ask me again tomorrow." She raised her feet from her toes and lightly yawned. "I'm a bit sleepy."
I sighed heavily as she walked past me. If she had never made a big deal about it in the first place, I wouldn't have ever been so interested as I, unfortunately, was now.
Once Faith and I showered, we walked back to our tents and decided to call it a day.
An electronic sound woke me up all of a sudden. It was extremely brief and short, and my instincts told me that it was simply a notification on my phone. As much I leaned against the idea, I decided to push myself up from my bed and reach over to my phone.
My eyes extremely narrowed from the sight of the screen turning on. I was virtually blinded by the brightness before my eyes grew resistant to the light. I had received a text message. I swiped and tapped various times on my screen before I brought up my messages.
I was half-expecting it to be Sunset Shimmer, but I was surprised to find a sticker instead of any words. There had been a cutesy picture of a bunny cautiously peeking around what appeared to be a corner at me. It had been zoomed in on its face, allowing me to clearly see the nervous expression it had.
I stared at my phone for a good while with squinting eyes. I couldn't piece together any reason why I would receive such a message at this time of night, and I didn't even know who it was from. Despite the unfamiliar greeting, I noticed that there had actually been a name on the sender, telling me that I had added this number before.
It took my tired self a good while to read the name, and I was then left rubbing my eyes thoroughly to make sure what I was reading was actually for real.
It had been from Fluttershy.
I didn't know how to respond to this text, seeing how it was only an oddly placed picture on my phone. It especially didn't help that it was from someone I had hardly talked to ever since I was first introduced to her. I figured that she probably sent the message to the wrong person. I didn't want to just leave it unanswered, so I decided to give a straight-forward reply.
?
I texted back a couple of question marks.
A set of dots appeared on my screen. She was typing her response.
Oh. Uh, hi…
I was still clueless. I wanted to ask her the reason why she had sent me the message from earlier, but I didn't want to scare her away. So, I settled with a similar answer.
Uh, hi.
She began typing back her response, but I was surprised yet again when I only received another copy of the same picture from before. I stared blankly at it until she began typing again several seconds later.
Did I wake you? She asked.
Kind of, yeah. I returned a bit bluntly.
Sorry. I'll let you go back to sleep.
I wasn't going to let it go at that for a variety of reasons, so I decided to pursue the reason for the first message.
It's fine. What's going on? I wasn't expecting a text from you all of a sudden.
I'm sorry. She apologized again. It's just…out of every one of the girls, I've hardly said a word to you ever since we met. I thought it might be rude if I didn't say anything at all.
And you had to do it through text? I guess her friends were right about her being extremely shy at times.
Don't worry about it. I answered. Thanks for thinking about my feelings, but you didn't need to do that.
The set of dots appeared on the screen again as usual, but this time, they disappeared out of sight for a moment. They reappeared, and another message popped up on my phone.
Actually…I have a favor to ask of you.
Huh? A favor?
What is it? I inquired.
The dots repeated their prior motion before I received another message.
I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go on an early morning nature walk with me tomorrow.
I tried asking the others, but they all already had plans or didn't want to get up so early in the morning.
I don't really want to go alone, so if you're not doing anything tomorrow morning, do you maybe want to come with me?
If you don't want to, that's completely fine too. I understand.
She sent her request through four separate texts for some reason instead of just putting it all together in one.
To be honest, I really didn't want to get up early in the morning either. As a matter of fact, the time Faith and I had been getting up so far was already too early for me to begin with. Nevertheless, I couldn't imagine how much courage Fluttershy had to build up and break out of her timid shell to ask me for a favor like that.
I couldn't bring myself to say no to someone like her. Besides, I ended up convincing myself that it could be a good time to bond with her and get to know her a little more. I also decided that Faith would probably like something like that.
Sure, I'll go. I answered.
Really?! She nearly instantly replied back. Okay, then! Meet me outside my tent at 7 AM. I'm in the Amethyst tent.
Alright. I'll set my alarm. But, just in case I don't show up, don't think I bailed on you. I'll more than likely be sleeping. If that's the case, don't hesitate to come and wake me up. I'm in the Opal tent.
I didn't plan on oversleeping, but you can never predict the temptation of sleeping in.
Okay. I'll see you tomorrow.
Afterwards, she returned a different sticker of the same bunny jumping for joy.
Finally, I went ahead and set an alarm before I shut off my screen and allowed my hand to carelessly fall back on my bed with the phone beneath my curled fingers. I closed my eyes and was ready to drift off back to slip until I felt an odd vibe.
I hadn't even realized that there had been a small amount of light slipping into the tent from the outside. I had zipped shut the tent flaps before going to sleep, so obviously someone had opened them back up. I turned to my right and locked eyes with Faith's bed.
Her blankets had been pulled aside.
She must have gone to the restroom or something.
I yawned and smacked my lips a bit as I sat up on my bed.
I then decided to make a stop at the restroom myself before I would head back to sleep.
I was still feeling a little disoriented as I walked out of our tent and towards the building where the restrooms were. I was looking forward to heading straight back to sleep, but I had to admit that I wasn't looking forward to waking up super early at all. Nevertheless, it wasn't as bad as waking up for Crystal Prep, so I took that into account. Even so, I didn't know anyone who was willing to voluntarily get up so early while being on break from school.
Well, maybe Fluttershy.
Nearly dragging my feet across the dirt path, I reached the entrance to the camp bathrooms and began passing by the girls' side until I unexpectedly heard a distinctive voice.
"…I just don't know what to do, Sunset!"
"Huh?" I turned towards the opening where the sound came from.
There were no doors for these public bathrooms. They were completely open, but any look at the inside was covered by a couple of sharp corners past the doorway, similar to locker rooms you'd find at a public pool.
"Why don't you just tell him then? What's the worst that can happen?"
"A lot can happen! And that's exactly what's keeping me back!"
"Faith…?" I mumbled underneath my breath, finding myself much more attentive as I instinctively drew my head closer to the doorway I was prohibited from entering.
"He's your best friend, isn't he? To be quite honest, I don't think I've ever seen anyone as close as you two are. You should tell him. You can't just keep hiding it from him."
"Best friend"? Hold on. Are they talking about me?
"But I'm so scared… I don't want things to end up like they did last time." Her voice nearly whimpered worriedly. "There's no way I can tell him that I like him. The first time nearly crushed me to pieces. I thought Flash would hate me after what I did to him. Not to mention the feeling of my heart being torn to pieces when I found out he was with you. I didn't even get to tell him how I felt. I don't know if I want to do that again. The thought of everything tearing apart scares me to death."
She likes someone? First time? Flash?! Wait a minute. Is she saying that she has a thing for Flash?!
"Stop it. You can't let what I did keep you from doing what your heart wants. I made a horrible mistake and I totally blame myself for what happened. Don't let what I did stop you from following your heart. I can tell you know it's something you need to do, but you need to let go of the negative thoughts in your head. Chase will understand. I haven't known him for as long as you have, but I can tell he's a good guy. There's no way he'll hate you for the way you feel."
There was a long silence after, and with the silence, I was able to think for myself. I couldn't stop wondering what the heck they had been talking about, and for some reason, I felt a mixture of emotions rise up all at once.
First, what exactly was it that Faith was talking about, and why was she talking about it to someone else like this? I didn't understand. Usually, she always came to me when she needed someone to talk to about her problems. She'd even get into topics that were best left between girls, but despite all that, she still talked to me because she trusted me. What exactly happened that led her to go to someone else? Did I do something to her? Did I say something that made her feel uncomfortable? Is she…losing her trust in me?
If I understood the private conversation correctly, I believed it was clear that Flash was on her mind. If she started liking him again, then why couldn't she tell me about it? Hate her for the way she feels? What kind of trash is that? What made her think like that, to begin with? Why did she feel like she had to come to someone else instead of me? I want to know!
What? Did she think I'd be jealous or something? Did she think that if she started dating Flash that we wouldn't hang out like we usually would anymore?
The more I thought about it, the more I began pondering about it myself.
If Faith did date Flash, and we stopped seeing each other as often because of it, I wasn't sure what I'd do or how I'd feel.
I had been pushing this into the closet of my mind for some time now already, but I couldn't help but feel like Twilight was avoiding me for some reason. After my time with her in Crystal Prep, it honestly hurt to see things like that. I didn't want to believe it. I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt somehow. But, it was hard to deny how she seemed a lot more interested into talking with the camp guide we just met a couple of days ago than the friend that's tried to stick with her during her years in Crystal Prep.
Now, similar thoughts began swirling in my head in regards to Faith.
What are you so afraid of, Faith? Why me? Did I do something to you? You wanted to tell me something earlier today, but why did you feel so scared to tell me? Did I somehow lose your trust? Faith…
I found myself leaning against the wall right next to the doorway. If the two girls talking inside walked out and managed to find me, I'd be in big trouble, but I was thinking too intensively about baseless theories to care about that.
"I won't give up, Sunset." I heard her say inside. "It's going to be really hard, but I'll try." There were a few sniffles coming from inside, and soon after, I heard what sounded like her voice breaking. "I just…really hope…Chase will—"
"Star Chaser?" I heard another voice intervene, causing a sharp gasp to bellow out from me.
At the same exact time, the voices I had been listening to inside the restroom ceased immediately. They had to have heard whoever called me out. This is bad…
I turned to the person responsible and found that it couldn't have been anyone worse for the occasion.
"Uh, hey, Flash." I tried to say as softly as I could in hopes that the girls wouldn't hear me.
"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" He asked. "The dude I'm rooming with snores crazy loud."
"Oh?" He looked like he was heading to the restroom, so I began walking to our side of the building, hoping that he wouldn't figure out or question what I had been doing standing around near the girls' side in the first place. "Sorry to hear that."
He followed me inside, where we each did our own thing momentarily.
I remained standing in front of the sink with the water running out endlessly. I had already finished washing my hands, but I couldn't stop thinking about what had been going on just a short while ago. I couldn't hear anything from the other side anymore, and I wasn't sure if it was due to the conversation completely coming to an end or if the wall between us completely blocked any noise.
I didn't want to be in this stupid restroom anymore, but I suddenly felt fear rise up my spine. I was scared that if I walked out, they'd be waiting out there and accuse me of eavesdropping or something. To be honest, it sounded really unlikely, but I still couldn't bear the thought of it happening. I figured if I waited for Flash to walk out with him, I'd seem a lot less suspicious if they were out there.
I sighed heavily as the sound of water raining down the drain continuously rung in my ears. After a moment, I lifted my head up towards the mirror and wordlessly stared at myself for what felt like a long time. Finally, I heard a loud flush before the stall door behind me opened up.
"Gah… I wonder if it was the sauce or something…" He mentioned, holding a hand to his stomach. He stepped over to the sink next to me and proceeded to wash his hands while humming some kind of tune softly.
He was definitely a little weird, but he didn't seem like anyone that would intentionally want to hurt someone else. I guess I can see why Faith would like him. He's a little weird just like her. Still, I didn't expect her to like him again all of a sudden after what happened. Maybe the feelings for him never went away, to begin with, and now that all the drama from CHS was finally behind her, she could finally "follow her heart". But, why couldn't she tell me?
"Did the food from today get to you too? I've got some medicine that can help." He noticed me quietly eyeing the water running down the drain.
I shook my head and actually felt the need to laugh. Here I was thinking so seriously about something and he thinks I've got a stomachache. He's considerate. I'll give him that. Maybe Faith liking him isn't such a bad idea…
"I'm good. Thanks." I finally shut off the water and dried off any moisture on my hands.
I released a sigh of relief when I walked out and didn't notice Faith or Sunset hanging around outside. I wasn't sure if they were still inside the building, but I wasn't sticking around to find out. I ended up walking with Flash all the way to the housing grounds where we went our separate ways to our assigned tents.
I hadn't even realized about something until I was right in front of our tent. What if Faith was waiting for me inside? Would she want to know why I was outside the restroom building? No, that's stupid. If she's in there, maybe she's already asleep.
I swiftly shook my head and forced myself to walk in. To both my surprise and some kind of relief, her bed was still empty. I simply sat on the side of my bed, but I found that I was no longer in the mood to fall straight back to sleep. In fact, I was wide awake for the most part.
Thinking to myself for a short moment, I felt the strong urge to talk to someone about what just happened. However, that in of itself was a major problem. I usually told everything to Faith, but in this particular instance, I obviously couldn't.
I turned my head to the nightstand and found my phone sitting there. I grabbed it and swiped, looking at my contact list. The next person I could probably say something to was Sunset, but for the same reason with Faith, that was impossible.
I then looked at my recent messages. There was Fluttershy. But, no. That was also incredibly dumb. We were barely just getting to know each other. I don't think she'd be able to handle me spilling my worries to her out of nowhere.
I continued scrolling through my fairly short contact list, every name I came across being reasonably unfit for the job. Finally, I stopped at a particular name. A girl I hadn't really spoken to for a good while now.
Sunny Flare.
I stared at the name for a few seconds until I practically slapped my forehead with my hand. Am I really considering telling Sunny Flare about this? The same girl who previously fought with Faith because Faith refused the idea of her dating me? Would she even understand me?
I thought seriously for a long moment.
She did confide in me at the end of the Friendship Games. She isn't all bad. If there's a chance she'll be able to give me some kind of advice on how to feel or what to do, I want to take it.
I tapped her name and went on to type her a message.
Are you up? I asked.
However, I hesitantly held my thumb over the send button. It wasn't until I took in a deep breath and virtually forced my thumb to press down. Once the notification appeared that the message had been sent, I set the phone down by my side on the bed. I covered my face with my hands and leaned over slightly.
Is it possible that I'm just making a big deal over nothing? Even if I was, why would I be? After all, I never really concerned myself with anything like this…
I heard buzzing coming from my bed. I had only expected it to sound once, but it continued on as if I was either receiving a phone call or a bunch of texts all at once. I brought the screen towards me and found that it had been none of the above. Sunny Flare was reaching out back to me, but it was…a video call?!
I was afraid of what was in store the moment I'd answer it, but I figured it'd be worse if I just let it go. I cautiously accepted the call and allowed the video to load up on my screen. In the next moment, I saw a pair of eyebrows drawn together, narrowed lips, and glaring eyes that appeared to be fixated right at me. I felt like I was just about to quickly end the call until the girl on the other side began speaking in a tone of frustration.
"Now, you call me huh?! Who do you think you are?! You expect me to come crawling to you or something?!"
Yeah. Talking to her was probably a huge mistake…
"I woke you. Didn't I?" I answered in an unenthusiastic tone.
"No, you didn't. I just can't believe it took you this long to say something!"
Super unwilling to get into an argument at this time of night, I went on ahead and apologized, even if I shouldn't have. "Look, I'm sorry. I've just been…busy."
"Uh-huh, sure." She crossed her arms with a clear look of skepticism on her face. "Forget all that. I'm over it. What are you doing?"
"I'm kind of at a camp." I told her.
"A camp? Blegh." She briefly stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Maybe you really weren't kidding about being busy."
Now that the "argument" was over, I was able to have a comfortable look at her, and it didn't even occur to me how different she looked compared to when I'd see her at Crystal Prep. Instead of her usual uniform, she wore a white T-shirt and what seemed to be a pair of sleeping short shorts. It was actually similar to her gym uniform, but it was a lot less…athletic. Besides her bedwear attire, a white towel hung around her neck, and she used it to occasionally pat-dry her hair.
"…I should probably let you go…" I said, deciding that starting this conversation was a mistake.
"What!?" Her face lurched forward to the camera. "So, that's how it's going to be, huh? Fine, then. I don't care. Bye."
"Could you calm down for a freaking second? Geez." I faced the screen angrily. "What do you want from me?"
"You can at least stay and chat for a while…" She averted her eyes and lightly puffed out her cheeks. "I didn't think 'friends' just say hi to each other and leave it at that for another few months."
I squeezed the spot between my eyes with my fingers in frustration and silently exhaled a heavy breath.
"Yeah. Speaking of 'friends', that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about in the first place…" I responded cautiously. "…I wasn't sure who else to turn to."
"Oh?" It sounded like her interest had peaked. "I guess you're not so bad after all. So, what's going on?"
She didn't seem like she was all that interested in wanting to know how I had been doing, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt and believed it was just the way she was.
"To tell you the truth, I wanted to…um…well…hear your thoughts about something." I noticed her position herself a little closer to the camera, but she remained silent, waiting to hear what I had in store for her. "You see…something's bugging me really bad right now, and…"
I suddenly stopped myself and looked up from my phone.
"What?" Sunny Flare asked as if she had been furiously waiting for me to spill the beans.
An intimidating thought crossed my mind, so I quickly jumped off my bed and poked my head outside of the tent. There was no one in sight, so I pulled myself back inside and brought the flaps of the tent closer together while leaving them unzipped.
I heard a subtle groan or growl from the speakers on my phone.
"Sorry." I apologized. "Just had to make sure of something. Anyway…I…"
I stopped myself again once I realized what I was just about to tell Sunny Flare. I was on the verge of telling her something that I'm intentionally keeping from Faith. She and Faith weren't exactly the best of friends. Could Sunny Flare possibly tell Faith everything out of spite? Should I trust her not to?
"Ughh. What is it now?" She asked impatiently.
"On second thought…I don't know if I should tell you." I mentioned bluntly.
"What? Why?" She nearly demanded with an offended look on her face.
"It's about Faith. And I don't know if I can trust you to keep it a secret."
"Come on. Who do you think I am? I'm not going to go and blab about it to everyone, you know."
My eyelids lowered in response. I wasn't quite willing to believe her based on her word. "Last time you two talked to each other, you got in a fight that you didn't need to get into. Is it really so surprising that I'd think twice about telling you something pretty personal?"
"You called me, jerk. What do you want from me?"
Something that I know that'll keep you from telling anyone else about it, that's for sure.
"Well, if you can somehow prove that you'll keep what I tell you a secret, that'd be great. I don't know. Maybe give me something you don't want anyone else to know about? Like a secret of your own?"
"Are you for real?" She asked a bit bitterly.
"It's not like I want this." I explained. "It'd just make me feel a lot better trusting you."
She sighed heavily and averted her eyes to the side. She remained silent as if she was seriously considering my offer. Meanwhile, I noticed her thumb and index finger grab a spot of her shirt and nervously massage the area.
"Fine." She surprisingly agreed. "I'll do it."
I decided to keep my mouth shut and wait to see if she'd start telling me some kind of deep or embarrassing secret. However, what she did next shocked me to no end. Words couldn't describe it, and my mind had completely blanked out until I realized her part of the deal had already been kept. I didn't think I needed confirmation on how embarrassing it was for her, based on how she turned her head away from me and blushed heavily from it. I had to be honest when I never expected such a thing as that coming from Sunny Flare out of all people.
"Now, hurry up and tell me before I die of embarrassment!" She demanded.
"R-Right…" I awkwardly answered and cleared my throat, attempting to forget what just happened so I could fulfill my part of the deal properly. "Well, I'm…kind of scared right now."
"Scared?" Her voice seemed to calm down a bit. "Of what?"
"Well, I overheard Faith talking with another friend of mine about something serious a while ago. Apparently, she likes this guy I know, and what's really bugging me is, for some reason, she couldn't tell me. The thing is, I'm always the one who hears her out when it comes to practically anything. But, this time, she had to go and feel like she needed to tell someone else. I don't get it all. I don't even get why I'm getting all upset over it. My emotions are a mess right now. I don't understand why."
"Are you serious?" Sunny responded with. "That's what you were afraid of telling me? Ugh! That so wasn't worth it!"
"Sunny!" My hands clenched as I angrily faced her, extremely unwilling to deal with her attitude during a time like this.
It appeared as if she noticed how serious I was about the talk since she immediately backed off. "S-Sorry!" She exclaimed out an apology and slightly turned away. "Look. I'm not good with this stuff, alright? So, I'll try to…listen." She took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled it out. "Alright. So, is it jealousy you're feeling?"
"Jealousy?" I asked cluelessly about.
She nodded. "You pretty much said that she went to someone else but you. Are you feeling angry because she didn't come to you instead like you said she normally does?"
"I don't know…" I turned my eyes away from the screen. "Maybe… After all, there's this other girl that I kind of have a thing for. She sort of told me that she wanted to get to know me better, but for the entire time at camp here, I've been seeing her with someone else she just met. I don't want to be that guy, but I can't help but feel angry about it all, you know? Now, it feels like something's going on with Faith too. It's just freaking ticking me off."
"Hmph." I heard from her end. "It sounds like something I can really relate to." It sounded like she was trying to give me a bitter hint, but in order to keep my sanity, I decided to ignore it for now. "I don't know about your other 'lady friend' there, but if you ask me, you should talk to Faith about it."
"'Talk to Faith'?" I repeated, fairly surprised by her suggestion.
"Well, what else can you do it about it? If it really bothers you, are you just going to ignore it forever? Look at me. I told you all those stupid things back at the Friendship Games and everything seems okay…for the most part. Anyway, I don't have any regrets. At least we aren't really strangers to each other anymore like we were before. In fact, I'm surprised you actually came to talk to me about something like this. I guess you can say…it makes me a little happy to be needed." Her voice unexpectedly softened, but she shook her head and snapped out of it soon after. "Point is: you shouldn't keep something like this to yourself, especially if it involves her. You guys have been friends forever. It almost makes me sick, actually."
"But, I can't tell her…" I replied. "I can't tell her that I overheard something she meant to keep private. In fact, I've never even listened in onto something like that before. I wouldn't have to. She'd just tell me…"
"If she's really your best friend, then you'll tell her." Sunny stated frankly. "And don't worry, I'm not trying to 'ruin your relationship' or whatever. I'm being serious. The earlier you tell her, the better. Otherwise, if she finds out months down the line, things are just going to be even more awkward than they would be right now. You should just get it over with."
She had a point. I couldn't deny that. Now that I think about it, even if something like this was hardly worth worrying about, it wouldn't feel right keeping it from the one person I could rely on when it came to anything.
"Yeah… I guess you're right." I said and then sighed. "I just hope this all blows over soon. I'm on break. I don't need things like this stressing me out."
"Let's hang out sometime. Seriously." Sunny offered. "I promise I won't bug you about things. Well, I'll try not to."
I felt like I needed to repay her back after taking the time to listen to me like this, not to mention that I told her we could be friends in the first place. However, I didn't know when I could take some time to hang out with her as she wanted. I'm pretty sure she'd prefer if Faith didn't tag along, lest they got into an argument or something.
Either way, I nodded. "We'll see about that soon." I took a glance at the corner of my phone and noticed the time. "It's pretty late, plus I have to get up early tomorrow…"
"I guess this is goodbye for now then?" She mentioned oddly. "Well, good night, I guess."
Before she could end the call, I called out to her. "Hey, Sunny."
"Hm?" She answered back.
"Thanks for listening to me. I really appreciate it. Really." I told her.
"Yeah. Thanks for letting me listen." She returned. "I was pretty bored before you messaged me anyway."
"I'll try looking into finding some time to hang out with you. I'll treat you to something for taking the time to hear me out and stuff."
"Oh? Is that a date I hear?" Before I could give her a response, she chucked lightly. "I'm just kidding. I know you don't want to date me. Oh, but do me a favor, will you?"
"What is it?"
"Forget about earlier, okay?" Her face visibly grew flushed. "It's going to feel weird now that you…"
"You didn't need to remind me…" I told her. "It was actually already out of my head until you went and brought it up again."
"Oh, whatever!" She heatedly responded. "Talk to you later, kay?"
"Yeah, night."
She ended the call, allowing me to release the grip on my phone and let it slip and fall into my blankets. I sighed heavily and lightly massaged my face. I almost couldn't believe I had spent all that time talking to Sunny Flare. Either way, I actually didn't regret it. I felt as if she and I grew a little closer from it. After all, she seems so much more different than the way I used to see her back at Crystal Prep. It seems like there's a lot more to her than meets the eye.
Honestly, I felt a lot better, but I was still feeling a little awake. Nevertheless, I decided to start slipping into my covers to try to get some sleep until I heard the front flaps of the tent rustle. I turned my head in the direction of them to find someone in the middle of slipping through them. Eventually, she noticed that she had been spotted and found herself staring back at me.
"Oh. Uhm. Hi. Did I…wake you?"
Sunny's words crossed my mind. I did indeed already began to feel a bit awkward around Faith knowing what I did. Despite that, I decided to act as normal as I possibly could. For now, at least.
"No, not really." I answered.
"Sorry." She apologized and zipped closed the tent flaps. Then, she made her way over to her bed. "Goodnight…"
"Night." I repeated, lying back down on my bed and tossing the covers over me.
To be honest, it was definitely the weirdest way we've ended the day together, but there was nothing I could really do about it. She hardly made a peep after settling herself in her bed, and everything was soon completely still and quiet.
In fact, it was almost as if she wasn't here beside me anymore.
