Unforeseen Consequences - Getting suit up

“So… yeah, that’s the plan, Thorax will use his transformation skills to scout the camp for whatever we can use to assemble the radio dish. Cherrywood and Pearl will gather info so we can know if more ponies have seen the shadows. Meanwhile, I’ll warn the teachers so they hold everything off until the chaotic cavalry arrives.”
>The atmosphere in the cabin had become much more relaxed. Cherrywood was still sitting by your side, gently cuddling on your shoulder. Thorax was sitting in the couch closer to the fire, warming his hooves, while Pearl was in the last couch, resting her head on her hooves.
>Cherrywood lowered her head and sighed in disappointment “AWWWW! I wanted to be on the team that steals stuff!”
>“I will agree with Bellemare there” Pearl said “Sneaking around the camp and stealing stuff sounds more like my kind of fun than just going around and asking around.”
>Ah, that kind of sounded… wrong, maybe if you changed the terminology a bit, it would make things better, so you rubbed the back of your head and said.
“Err… we ain’t stealing anything, it’s more like we’re borrowing it, yeah…”
>Man, you could be so pitiful sometimes…
“Ugh, who am I kidding? Yes! We’re stealing a bunch of stuff, but it’s for the greater good, okay?!”
>Pearl giggled as she rolled on her back and said “I don't really care how you call it as long as I have my fun and it’s not something stupid, and your little plan is not fun and is kind of stupid too.”
>That… that took you by complete surprise… and it made you absolutely mad! Who was her to tell you how stupid your plans were?! Err… that didn’t sound good… but whatever, man.
“Wha-? Oh, now you just want to try and make me look like an idiot who overlooks everything!”
>“Well, the fake princess is kind of right, your plan is boring and you’re a dummy” Cherrywood said “The teachers are not going to cancel everything just because you saw some shadows in the forest and had a bad hunch.”

>Oh, screw this! At least there was someone here who would see how totally right you were!
“You know what?! Fine! You can doubt my speech skills all you want! Look how much I care! We will pull this off, isn’t that right Thorax?”
>Thorax then looked at you and sighed “I-I’m sorry, Anon, but they’re right, your teacher made this trip to sound like a very important event, and I don’t think it would be a good idea to tell them that you just called a platoon of Royal Guards here AND that you’re planning to bring the spirits of chaos to boot…”
>… Dang.
“R-Really? You too?”
>Cherrywood shook her head and placed her hoof on yours… and then she crushed it with all her strength “Anon, listen to me you big dummy! It doesn’t matter that Celestia herself is your mother! If you tell the teachers what we plan to do, you’re only going to get everypony here sent to Canterlot before you can say Manticore!”
>“That is, after we all get expelled of course” Pearl added “Thorax and Bellemare are totally right, this is a big event for both schools and they REALLY want it to be a success. They are not going to believe you”
>… Dang, you really had no argument against that. It made you feel, well, annoyed.
“Fiiiiiiine! I get it! The teachers are a bunch of stubborn idiots! Whatever, I can work with this. Thorax, you will still scout the camp to see if something can be of use, Cherrywood, you will go with him, your job is to make sure that Thorax ACTUALLY brings something that we can use.”
>“Woo-hoo! Now we’re talking!” Cherrywood hugged you and rubbed her cheek against yours “I promise you, I won’t let Thorax to pick any random piece of garbage that he finds and I won’t let him to be caught!”
>Pearl raised an eyebrow and looked at you with certain caution “Wait, if only Bellemare is going to steal stuff, then that means…” Pearl’s cheeks puffed like balloons as she gave you a murderous glare “JERK!”
>The only thing you could do was to honestly shrug at her anger.

“What did you honestly expect? You’re the perfect pony for this job!”
>“KeKeKe~!” Cherrywood smugly grinned at Pearl “Now you know why I don’t want to be a Ms. Popularity like you”
>Pearl narrowed her eyes and replied with a growl “Oh, but you will be, Bellemare… just wait and see…” She then turned her attention at you and angrily said “And what are you going to do, huh? Do nothing and wait for everypony to finish their job?!”
>You shook your head and let out a sigh.
“Nope! I’m the Prince, remember? I’m also prime material for gathering info and after we all do our part, me and Cherrywood are gonna build the radio dish”
>“And how do you plan to power up that thing?” Pearl asked with half sarcasm and half curiosity “Because I don’t think that it will run with the power of friendship and glitter”
>You smiled, like really smiled. Pearl walked right into one of your super cool and detailed technical explanations, and boy, you sure loved to do those! Hmm, maybe it would be better if you start with the concept of-
>“You see all of those funky crystals that Anon brought with him?” Your moment of glory got cut off by Cherrywood… dang that was depressing.
>Pearl glanced at the crystals that popped out from your baggage “Yeah, I thought they were some exotic jewelry”
>Cherrywood looked at Pearl with a stoic face and said with a similar tone “Sometimes you can be as dumb as my Anon…” she then shook her head and pointed at the crystals “No! These crystals have a lot of magic stored into them… and they can do other stuff… but it would be too boring if Anonny explained it”
“I-It’s actually very interesting, you see, with the right treatment, these crystals can…”
>Pearl quickly interrupted you, or rather, completely ignored as she deduced where Cherrywood was going at “Oh! I get it! You two are going to hook them to the radio dish! Gotcha!”
“… D-Dang.”

>Cherrywood jumped out of the couch and stretched her limbs a little before saying “Okay! Me and Thorax are gonna start scouting. Anonny, I have some scrolls and quills in my baggage, so take those and start working on the radio dish’ blueprints. Fake princess… you do you. Let’s rock and roll!”
>Everyone got out of their seats, the exciting was now completely shared and an all-time high. Everything was going on so well, that of course something had to ruin everything.
>Because at that moment, you heard an announcement being played across the entire camp.
>“*DING DONG* Hello, everypony and welcome to Camp Crystal Lake. The welcoming meeting will begin in thirty minutes. This will be a formal event, so please adhere to the etiquette code that your school provided before the trip.”
>“Uhm… Maybe this is just my bad sense of time” Thorax said “But it doesn’t feel like two hours have passed already.”
“It’s because it has only been like an hour since the cabin assignment…I don’t think this is something we should worry about though. My bet is that the teachers want everyone to be punctual.”
>“Still, this is all shades of weird…mmm” Pearl rubbed her chin before shrugging and walking to her baggage “But I agree with you cousin, maybe they want us to be punctual or maybe this is a case of bad scheduling.”
“Or maybe it was both, whatever the case, we must postpone our plan until after the meeting and dinner, and on that note. Thorax, you don’t mind that I go through your luggage, right? I need to take out my suit.”
>Your friend had already transformed into his Crystal Hoof disguise, with the difference of course, that his mane was now groomed and wearing a fairly plain black suit with a red tie

>“Nah, it’s not like I packed anything” Thorax shrugged as he gave you a wide grin “So you can suit yourself!”
>You slapped your face and groaned
“Thorax, I swear for everything that is science! If you do another pun like that it will be me who’s going to have an indigestion!”
>Your friend giggled and rubbed the back of his head “Sorry… I really wanted to say that”
>“Ugh… I hate these dumb formal events” Cherrywood’s ears dropped as she flew to open her luggage, she then took out her uniform and looked at it with disgust “And I hate wearing this stupid thing too!”
>Oh… oh, the memories of seeing Cherrywood dressed with that red sweater, the subtle make-up… it all kept coming back, making you feel butterflies in your stomach and your face to go as red as a dying star.
“Y-You are gonna wear that? AWESOME!”
>Cherrywood glared at you, her face filled with anger “*HISSSS* Shut up and go dress up in the bathroom! Thorax! You look at the fireplace, and if I see you taking a single peak, I WILL GRIND YOU INTO ITTY BITTY BITS! Fake Princess…! You do you.”
>You didn’t say anything in fear of angering your bat even more, so you teleported yourself and Thorax’s luggage into the bathroom and, well, followed Cherrywood’s instructions.
>It didn’t took you long to finish dressing up and storing your jacket and white goggles inside Thorax’s baggage. It was one of the perks of having to endure so many etiquette classes from your mom Luna.
>When you looked at your reflection in the bathroom’s mirror, you couldn’t help but to give a wink to yourself.
“Oh yeah, baby! I’m looking like a frickin’ billion bits!”

>You were wearing the same suit that you used during Rarity’s festival… well… more like an exact replica, the original one got ruined thanks to Chrysalis and her stupid cocoons. Nothing you could do about it though.
>You gave yourself a last wink before coming out of the bathroom, where the very first thing that caught your attention, was of course how beautiful Cherrywood looked while she applied the finishing touches to her mane. Dang, she really rocked that style!
>Oh yeah, Pearl looked good too, and the perfume she was applying to herself certainly smelled nice and Thorax was still warming his hooves by the fire but… meh, who cares? Your attention was entirely on your bat.
>Seriously, those kind of looks never failed to make you fall in love with her again, but… uh… it would be probably for the best if you kept your composure.
>After all, it would suck if you showed up to the meeting with a black eye and bruises all over your body.
>So you took a deep breath and exhaled, shook your head, stretched your limbs and finally walked to the two girls.
“Alright, if everypony is ready, then I think it’s time to go.”
>“We’re not finished, dummy!” Cherrywood said as she continued to groom her mane “We still need to… to… whoa!”
>When she landed her eyes on you, Cherrywood dropped her hair comb as her eyes went wide open.
>“Anonny…I… I…” Cherrywood gulped, her face was now of a crimson color and her hooves shaking “I’m not sure what to say… y-you look…wow!”
>You walked to Cherrywood and held her hoof before winking at her and saying with a dashing tone.
“A Prince has to look his best for his Princess.”

>Cherrywood placed her other hoof on her forehead and groaned “And you had to ruin the moment with that dumb cheesy stuff” she then sighed and rolled her eyes “At least I can think straight again… you still look good though. I would say that you should wear suits more often but I’m sure you would say something dumb like “only if you wear uniforms more often” so let’s leave it at that”
>You dropped your head and kicked the dust.
“Aw, dang… I was sure that line would do the trick”
>“Not in a million years, dummy” Said Cherrywood with a shrug.
“Yeah… I totally blew it up”
>“Eh… I wouldn’t say totally, it’s just that cheesy stuff makes me wanna puke, but you know what doesn’t?” Your bat gently placed her hoof under your chin and raised your head to see you right in the eye. “A certain weirdo Prince who always makes my heart race”
>Cherrywood quickly leaned closer to her face and have you a tender kiss on the lips. She then giggled and touched your forehead with hers “Now, go with Thorax and wait a bit until me and the fake princess are done with this silly stuff.”
>You gave her a quick peck on the lips and chuckled
“You know that waiting while doing nothing is not my style. I’ll try to start the first draft on the radio dish’ blueprints and think on a strategy to save everyone’s flanks in case the shadows attack the camp”
>A warm smile appeared Cherrywood’s face as she caressed your cheek “Of course you will. You’re Luna’s son.” She then gently pushed you away “So go and do what you do best… we won’t take long.”
>That last statement turned out to be an utter lie, geez, how takes 20 minutes to groom their mane?! Ugh… needless to say, the four of you had to gallop at top speed to reach the mansion at the end of the road in time.
>There was a little detail you noticed along the way. The blizzard on the other side of the lake looked like it had gotten worse and you’d swear that it had swallowed part of the forest.

>But there was no time to stop and smell the roses, you had to rush past everything in the hopes that you would get to that stupid meeting without leaving another mark on your already bad historial.
>Which of course you didn’t, the welcoming meeting had already started and to make things worse, the one who greeted your group was Sunny Hill who didn’t hesitate to add an extra month to your already long detention… dang.
>That said, you were kind of impressed by how gaudy the interior of the mansion was. A super thick red carpet covered the black and white ivory tiles that made up the floor. Lots and lots of golden ornaments covered the walls and the ceiling.
>The furniture and the jewelry, statues and other silly stuff placed on them had this old fancy style which was very common among the elite ponies… or that’s what your mom Celestia told you once.
>Even the staircase in the lobby followed these cheesy design. With the rail being of a pure golden color, and… ugh, everything made your eyes hurt. It tried to be spectacular and high class, but lacked the elegance and restraint from the Crystal and Canterlot castles.
>Heck, it was uglier than Twilight’s castle and that place would make even the Everfree Forest to look like a five star resort.
>The only place free from this horrible style was the hall were the event was taking place, and it was only because they made an exact replica of the hall from Canterlot castle… just, smaller.
>At the very least, the seat assignment didn’t suck. The hall was filled with round tables where everyone had to seat with the ponies they were sharing a cabin with… and of course, you couldn’t avoid curious looks when the other foals noticed that your cabin was the only mixed one.

>On the main stage, there was a very gaudy podium, and behind it, there was a very pompous looking earth-pony stallion who was giving a speech about how this place was designed to be the most exclusive thing for the most exclusive ponies and blah, blah, blah!
>Just listening to this mate made you had even more respect for your mom Celestia, she had to endure this kind of garbage as her daily routine! And it also made you understand a bit better why she always looked so happy by just seeing you after a long day of work.
>You would honestly fall asleep if it wasn’t because your mothers had told you like a million times that while boring and redundant, listening to this torture was part of your job as a Prince…. And the fact that he said something that made you feel honestly scared.
>“As many of you know” The pompous stallion said “Princess Twilight Sparkle won’t be joining us thanks to unforeseen complications. That said, Princess Celestia herself sent us a letter this morning. In it, she details the importance of friendship and understanding and the importance that you apply these values during this experience. I’ll be reading the letter to all of you know.”
>You felt your head aching and your heart racing a mile per hour as cold sweat ran down your forehead.
>Thorax was the first one to notice your worry, he placed his hoof on your shoulder “Anon?” He whispered “I feel a lot of fear coming from you. What’s wrong

>As you kept your gaze fixated on the pompous pony who was reading a fairly stock letter from your mom, you leaned back and whispered to him.
“My friend… I-I made a terrible oversight in our plan, do you remember what happens when I tap my necklace?”
>“Yes” Thorax nodded “It sends a help signal to the Princesses, right?”
“It’s not just any help signal, it basically tells my moms that my life is in danger. So think about it. Why mom didn’t send a letter that tells the teachers to pack everything, get everyone in the carriages and go to the Crystal Empire the moment I used my necklace?”
>Thorax tapped his chin “Uhm… Maybe she doesn’t want to scare anypony?”
“And put everyone here at risk? That’s not how my mom roll. Thorax… I think something or someone blocked the signal from my necklace… and most surely the radio too”
>Thorax looked at every direction before turning to you “So what does that mean, Anon?”
“It means that we are trapped in this place with whatever those shadows are.”
>“Oooooh…!” Thorax whimpered “I feel my indigestion coming back”