An Azure Future: Moving On

by Krass McWriter

Yosemite pt. 1

“You sure you got everything?” John asked Azure, reading a long list of crossed out words. It was an exhaustive list of the items they'd need for the camping trip. From unexpected cold fronts to disasters he had made sure he was covered.

Azure looked over the three duffel bags and tent that were laying in an orderly row in the living room. "Uhhh, I think so, but we better make sure."

"Well, you should always double check your lists when going places son. Open up the first bag, and lets see what we got." John directed.

Azure obliged, unzipping the duffle bag and sorting through its contents. "We got a sleeping bag, three towels, a can of bug spray, two pillows and some clothes if it gets too cold." He listed, holding up each item as he called it out. John put a check next to each item on list.

"Seems good so far." John murmured around the pen in his mouth. "Next bag." John ordered.

Azure obliged, zipping up the duffle bag he had been going through and moving to the second one, unzipping it. "Lets see..." Azure trailed as he started rummaging through the bag. "We have another sleeping bag, both of our hiking boots, camera, both our saddlebags, a survival kit and a first aid kit."

"Alright, got it. Next one." John fiddled with the pen, rolling it around in his mouth.

Azure zipped the bag and moved to the last duffle. "We have raingear, rain boots, and the stakes, mallet, and poles for the tent." Azure shook the bag and the contents made a metallic clinking and a wooden clunking as they contacted each other. "Got a good bit of room still." He noted.

John flipped the pen around in his mouth with a flick of his tongue and tapped it against the pad of paper. "Hmmm... Something is missing..." John mumbled, thinking about what they could possibly be lacking. After several moments that lasted longer than John would care to admit, it struck him. "Food! We are missing snacks for the ride there and emergency rations!" John set off to the kitchen and began to rummage through the canned food.

"Uh... dad?" Azure attempted to interject his father's tangent,  following him into the kitchen and leaving the bag open.

John, however, paid Azure no mind and continued to look through his cabinets until he found his prize -three cans of chili-  "Here we go! Chili! Now all we need is a can open-" John turned about to a very confused looking Azure. "What?"

"We can't eat chili dad, it has meat in it." Azure replied.

John rotated the can he had on hoof to look at the ingredients, the second one proclaiming "Meat Products: Beef and Pork." "Well, would ya look at that." John huffed. "So you've never had chili?" John asked as he put the cans back.

"Uh, I had vegetarian chili once." Azure scratched his mane as he tried to think of any other instances.

This, however, made John realize all the meat related things that Azure would miss out on. Fishing, hunting, learning how to skin a buck, making traps, grilling, tuna sandwiches, how to make a thanksgiving turkey and many more. "Well, uh, why don't you go grab two vegetarian MRE's then."

"Dad, we don't exactly need emergency rations. We'll be in a forest, if push comes to shove, we'll eat the local foliage." Azure corrected his father once again. It had been less and less often recently, but sometimes John needed a reminder or two of his current species.

"Right, right... Well I guess grab some snacks for the trip there." John shrugged, still occupied on all the things his son would be missing out on. "Camping without fishing, or hunting, or hot dogs..." John whispered.

"Well, there is going to be plenty of s'mores." Azure scoffed as he gathered a bag of pretzels and a tub of red vines.

 Didn't say it quietly enough it seemed. John mentally scolded himself.

"I don't need to do the same things you did when you were my age to have a good childhood. I am allowed different experiences y'know." Azure added, taking a stab at the source of the troubles.

"Yeah, I guess you're right Azure." John sighed. Almost two months and I'm not entirely used to being a pony. 

Azure put the snacks in the duffle bag and zipped it up. "Aaand I think thats it." Azure declared the packing done.

"Well alright then!" John clopped his forehooves together in excitement. "Al! Lock the patio behind us!"

"Yes sir." The AI droned as John grabbed a duffle bag in each foreleg and the tent bag in his mouth, leaving Azure the lightest of the bags.

"Les gr!" John beamed from around the strap that was pinning his tongue down and cutting into his cheeks slightly. It was uncomfortable, but the flight was short. John took off and Azure followed behind him, each struggling slightly with their load.

It was more of a controlled fall than true flight as they glided over to the truck. Touching down, they dropped the bags in the bed as the passed over it. John commanded the truck to open and start. Once the course to the departure point had been plotted the pair relaxed, and shared plans for the trip ahead.

John's truck pulled to a stop about twenty meters away from the bus. "We're here buddy." He announced needlessly, as Azure was already hopping out.

"C'mon dad, we're almost late!" Azure urged, trying to move the two heavier bags by himself and utterly failing to do more than budge them as he strained himself.

"We have, like, ten minutes to go about twenty five meters. Calm down." John yawned as he exited the truck with a push of his wings and soared into the open. Relieving Azure of the bags and taking the tent bag in his right foreleg this time, he flew over to the waiting area where there was already nine foals and about three other parents chaperoning. The teacher stood in front of the entrance for the school bus holding a clipboard.

John noted that the amount of luggage he had was about average. Most of the foals had two bags each and a tent, with an adult having an additional bag or two.

He noted that Cream's twins, Sugar Dew and Sweetie Cane, were there. They seemed to be playing patty cake or some other such game. John also recognized The three colts that had attended his birthday party. He did however, note that Forest Mint was absent. There were several foals that John couldn't place names on off the top of his head. John shrugged, I'll learn them soon enough. He figured.

Azure dropped the bag he was carrying next to John's haphazardly, and rushed over to his friends. "Hey Rapids! Star and Clay, you made it!!"

"Hay yeah we did!" Beamed Clay, adjusting his slightly oversized stetson.

"I was able to fake my dad's signature, he thinks I'm at home while he's off visiting Equestria on a business trip." Blazing Star smiled slyly.

John felt a warm smile come across his face. Its nice to see Azure get along with foals his age. John thought to himself, then caught that he used the word foal. Geez, these ponyisms are brutal. I hardly notice when I do them anymore. Azure's right, I'm going native. John was about mid way through coming to terms with this when a tap on his shoulder interrupted his thoughts.

"Mister Norris?" A mare's voice queried.

"Huh?" John turned around to see yellow earth pony with a light green and peach mane that he recognized as Azure's teacher. "Oh yeah, thats me."

"Okay, just making sure." She put a check next to his name in the Chaperone list on the clipboard that hung around her neck. "Thanks for coming Mister Norris, we were short a pegasus chaperone when Mister Blitz cancelled and its so nice that we have a local on the trip!"

"Wait, so I'm the only newfoal?" John puzzled, tilting his head slightly.

"Oh, no, I meant the only one from California." She clarified. "You grew up here right?"

"Uhhh, yeah. Lived here my whole life." John nodded.

"So have you been to the National Park yet?" She asked, sizing him up; attempting to gauge just how helpful he was going to be.

"Uhhh, a few times before. Its been years." John stretched and cracked his neck, sometimes he got cramped up from being in his car.

Shale Quarry nodded and turned away, writing something on the clipboard. John felt his eye twitch, nothing he hated more than people talking about him behind his back, at least to his knowledge.

John turned his attention to the other two adults. He recognized one of them. Sweet Roll, Cream Baker's wife and mother of his twin. The other one was an Earth Pony with an orange coat and stoney mane.

 "Alright everypony!" Shale Quarry clopped her forehooves together, calling the group to attention. The class formed into a three even ranks in front of her and sat attentive."Can I get the chaperones up front?" John, and Blitz made their way from their bags and Sweet Roll from her twins. "Thank you, now as you all know, we are gathered to go on a field trip to the Yosemite National Forest." She paused, a habit she had as a teacher to allow the information to sink in, whatever it may be.

"These," she motioned towards John and the others with her right foreleg. "Are your chaperones. They'll be helping me keep things running smoothly and you lot safe. This is mister Norris." She put a hoof on John's shoulder. "He is Azure Wind's father." Shale Quarry moved away from John and placed her hoof on the earth pony next to him. "This is Stonebreaker, he is Lace Agate's father." She put her hoof on the Unicorn, "And this is Sweet Roll, She's Sugar and Sweetie's mother."

"Now, we have a long trip ahead of us. The sooner we get on the bus, the sooner we can go.  Form a single file line, Chaperones at the front." She signaled for the bus driver to open the doors and stepped inside.

John was nearest to the door and climbed into the bus, taking the window seat in front of the stairs. Stonebreaker followed, sitting next to John, The gargantuan earth pony slightly squishing him against the side. Sweet Roll sat herself down in the bench adjacent. She smiled and giggled at John, who was now writhing against the wall of flesh and pony and the wall of glass and steel in a futile effort to decompress his organs.

The bus loaded up, one by one. His son taking up the inside seat two rows behind him. The bus driver shut the door, started the engine, and they headed off.

The bus ride was long and very uncomfortable for John, though he did manage to finally doze off. His limbs had painfully fallen asleep long ago, and the sensation grew into an odd comfort allowing him to get his sleep. Azure however, discussed various plans with his trio of friends, each one more improbable than the last. Everything from telling spooky stories and s’mores to fighting the ghosts of Glacier Point and finding bandit’s lost treasure was talked about as they worked themselves into a frenzy of excitement.

Shale Quarry hopped out of her seat as the bus approached the campsite for the weekend. “Alright everypony, wake up! We’ll be reaching the campsite soon!”

The sudden increase in commotion made John stir. Groggily he tried to look around yet was rendered immobile between the pony on his left and the window and his right.

“We’ll be staying at the North Pine campground.” She continued, “Tonight we will be breaking camp and have Ranger West give us a safety briefing. You are free to explore the immediate area as long as you do so in a group of four or more, but not until we make camp.” She stretched, the long ride having taken its toll on her. “Tomorrow, we will be hiking to Glacier Peak, Half Dome, Mirror Lake and Yosemite Falls. The day after we’ll be breaking camp and heading to the Ansel Adams Photo Gallery, then we’ll start heading out of the park, stopping by Tunnel view and finally Mariposa Grove.” She finished, before turning to the bus driver and discussing the driving schedule.

Thankfully for John, Stonebreaker stood out of his seat into the walkway as soon as the vehicle had started to grind to a stop. However, spending the last six hours cramped had its side effects and John flopped about trying to get his legs to work. He eventually found his hooves and wobbled weakly out of the bus and fell down the steps. John quickly righted himself and hoped no one noticed the slip up.

One by one the group unloaded out of bus in roughly the same order they loaded in. John took his place in between the other two chaperones as Shale Quarry ushered them into a pseudo formation. John took a moment to appreciate the scenery, it was an open grove, redwoods two hundred  feet tall or more, with almost no other vegetation. The ground made of dry pines and dirt,

“C’mon ponies, if we hurry we can get the fire going before sunset.” She belted. “Hurry up! Alright, when I call your name, say ‘present’.”

“Blazing Star.”

“Here!” A tragically pink and yellow little colt called out. It took John a minute to recognize that he wasn't filly and he recalled that he was one of Azure’s friends.

“Clay.”

“Eeyup.” Another of his friends, the colt fidgeted with his hat trying to block out the setting
 sun with the brim of his hat, yet keep Shale in sight.

“Jet Blaze.”

“Present.” The black pegasus puffed out his chest.

“Lace Agate.”

“Present Missus Quarry.” She raised her hoof to make sure the teacher saw despite being in the front.

“Morning Rose.”

“Yeh, yeh, Ah’m ‘ere.” She cracked her neck and spat out the toothpick she had been chewing on, the end severely splintered.

“Sugar and Sweetie?”

“Present!” One started, stepping forward and beaming.

“And accounted for!” The other finished, moving to stand beside her twin.

“Sunburst.” Shale called, after a silent pause she called out again. “Sunburst!”

“Oh? Huh?” A distracted young filly tore her gaze away from the natural splendor around them. “Uh, yeah, I’m here. Kinda.”

Shale Quarry shook her head and murmured something John couldn't quite catch. “And WInd Rapids.”

“Present.” He stated lazily, yawning.

“Alright, thats everypony.” She smiled as she checked off the last name. She turned towards the chaperones. “Mister Norris and Mister Stonebreaker, if you would unload the bus?”

John nodded, opened the the undercarriage and started unloaded as Stonebreaker just grunted in approval and ponderously made his way over to help John. In short time, all the tents, camping supplies, and various other items paranoid parents thought necessary for their foals.

“Alright, We’ll be camping in this general vicinity,” She paused, allowing everyone to asses the area and plot where they’d pitch their tent. “The firepit is over there,” She pointed lazily at the large dug out pit encircled with large stones. “And the restrooms are over there.” She pointed the other direction towards a large brown building a small distance down the road. “Ok, Chaperones, Sweet Roll, you volunteered to do all the meals, we’ve already discussed your duties. Stonebreaker, you’ve got helping all the foals with setting up their tents.”

Stonebreaker nodded and set off to help Blazing Star who looked like he would have a very promising future in abstract expressive sculpture.

“Mr. Norris, you're responsible for collecting firewood and getting the fire started.” Quarry then went back to perusing her clipboard for other tasks that needed done.

John, looked about and saw that there was plenty of dry twigs branches and few large logs laying about and set out collecting them. He would pick one up with his muzzle, lay it across his back with his wings raised up in order to keep them from sliding off. After the load started to get a bit too uncomfortable, he’d drop them in a spot near the fire-pit. It was a slow process, but eventually, John had built up a sizable pile.

John took some light tinder, placed it on top of heavier tinder and selected two thin pieces of wood. He set the flatter of the two pieces at the bottom of the firepit and split it with a blow from his hoof. He set the tinder at the end of the long narrow crack and broke the other twig at an angle. John examined his handiwork with a grin, “Alright, lets get cracking.” John grinned as he began to rub the sticks together.

After about two or three minutes of stroking his wood, The tinder caught and John hurriedly lowered down to it blow gently and was rewarded with a small flame. He quickly jumped out of the pit to gather some of the small twigs he had saved for the occasion. Carefully placing them over the flame, he watched in hope. After a few agonizingly long moments, they too caught fire and the fire was stabilized. “Fires going!” He bellowed, grinning like a madpony as he relished in the rush of having created fire from nothing. He placed a pyramid formation around the growing flame to feed it as it needed.

By the time John had nursed it to its full strength, dinner was served. The plate consisted of sweet bread and carrots. John chewed thoughtfully and looked about trying to find his son, spotting him with his friends near one of the largest trees in their area. The group was laughing between mouthfuls of food about something, and it brought a smile to his face to see that Azure was having a good time. The food would have been pretty bland had he still been human, but he found it quite enjoyable and filling as a pony.

“Alright everypony!” Shale Quarry announced as a tan stallion in a park ranger outfit approached. “Ranger West is here! He’s going to give a speech on staying safe in the park so gather around!” Everypony slowly gathered up their meals and moved into a semi circle formation around the teacher.

“Thank you m’am.” He spoke in a smoky deep voice, “I’m Ranger West, and I’m going to be telling you about some of the dangers in the forest and how to avoid them. First and foremost, the wildlife. There are feral bears, cougars, coyotes and rattlesnakes. Now usually, they’re gentle and will leave you alone. However, if you are approached by any of these with the exception of the rattlesnake, make yourself look as big as possible. As a general rule, if you don’t mess with that, it most likely won’t mess with you. Also, you’ll want to put any food items in a tree away from the camp. If you get injured, we have capable medical staff in main ranger building back by the visitor parking.” Ranger West looked around at the vacant faces and sighed inaudibly, “Any Questions?”

“Are there any dragons? Or timber wolves?” Clay asked curiously, a tinge of worry in his voice.

Ranger West chuckled, “No, nothing from Equestria lives here.” He tapped his hoof to his muzzle as an exception came to mind. “Well, except for that crazy old gryphon, but he lives just out of the valley. Anypony else?” Silence answered him. “Well Missus Quarry, you know how to contact me.”

“Of course- How about a big round of applause for Ranger West?” Shale beamed and clopped her hooves together, everypony soon joining her as Ranger West turned and left. “Alright everypony, its time to clean up!” Shale exclaimed.

All the foals were gathered around the campfire which was now kept as small flames licking hot embers. John had volunteered to stay up and make sure all the foals got to bed. “Ooo, I know! Let’s tell scary stories!” Sunburst smirked. “I’ll go first!”

Scary stories huh? “I got next.” John grinned wickedly. This is going to be good.

“Okay!” Sunburst agreed, before darkening her tone. “It was a clear moonlit night, just like this one, in a forest just like this one. There was two ponies walking through this forest, a mare and a stallion. The ranger told them that there was, like, a killer on the loose.” Sunburst paused for dramatic effect. “So they were walking through the forest and they heard a loud crunch. They looked around and saw nothing but just the trees. They kept on walking through the forest and heard another loud crunch, closer this time.

“The mare got nervous, and asked the stallion if they could teleport away. He said it was probably just a deer or something and they continued walking. Then they heard another crunch, even louder! The mare begged the stallion to teleport them back home and stallion obliged. Just before his spell went off, there was another loud crunch, it was right behind them! He released his spell and they were at the ranger station. They looked behind them instinctively and there, on the ground...” She turned to her right and picked something off the ground. “WASABLOODYHOOK!” She belted, jumping up on the log with a prop pirate hook on her hoof.

John manage to stifle his chuckling as this elicited a scream from the twins and Lace. “That was pretty good,” John yawned and cracked his neck, “But now here’s one my father told me the first night I ever went camping...” John grinned maliciously, This is going to be good...

“... And the last thing she heard before she slipped into the void, never to wake again, was ‘as you wish.’” John looked up, he had been giving his best thousand yard stare to the fire in an attempt to add a bit of creepiness to the story. Not that it needed extra, but storytelling is largely in the delivery after all. All the foals were huddled together, mortal fear in their eyes. “Welp! It’s late, time to get to bed.” He stood up.

“D-did they ever catch him?” Sunburst managed, her voice wavering and on the verge of tears.

“Nope!” He beamed, trying not to laugh, “Now off to bed!” He ushered all the foals to their respective tents. Most were paralyzed by fear and had to be actually carried to their tents before they regained any control over their movements. After ushering off all the foals, John retired to his own tent, where he found Azure in a sleeping bag trying desperately to fall asleep. “Hey there little buddy, you doing alright?” John asked, concerned. Memories of just how terrifying the story was the first time he heard flooded back with a bit of guilt.

“Y-yeah, just fine.” He mumbled, his voice weak.

“The story scared ya didn’t it?” John asked. Between the ponification and his memory when he spent the night he had heard it sleepless as his father just called him a pussy for being scared, he felt terrible. Partially for not thinking of how the foals would take it, but mostly for not caring even though it was briefly.

“N-no...” Azure stuttered.

John hugged his son who shivered against him. “Look, it’s okay.” He said as he nuzzled him. An equestrian form of comforting one another. “My father, he was, well, a very special man. He told me that story when I was your age and I hardly slept the rest of trip. When I told him that I was scared, he kinda just called me a pussy and told me to ‘man up’.”

“Uhhh...” Azure squirmed a bit to face John, a hint of confusion on why such a thing was relevant just barely able to be made out in the darkness of the tent.

“Like I said, he was... special.” John shrugged, “One second, he’d be the crassest most base person on the planet, but there was a good in him too. But that’s not the point, the point is I want to be there for you more than my father was for me. I’m sorry the story scared you.”

“It’s... okay. I think I’m okay now..” Azure yawned.

“We should get to sleep, big day tomorrow.” John reciprocated the yawn grabbed his own sleeping bag.

Azure nodded and the duo set off to Luna’s realm together.

John’s head hurt. A lot. Must’ve slept on my brain funny... John’s sluggish mind managed to chug out as the gears in his mind ground back to life. A loud screeching was assaulting his ears, making him feel hungover, despite not having drunk since he ponified. Th’ hay is that?! He winced, folding his ears flat against his skull.

“...That you apologize to them all this second and tell them that it was a fictitious story!” Shale Quarry, the teacher, was berating John.

“What?” John blinked and stood up, the world seemingly wobbled under him as he tried to force his brain to work.

“Mr. Norris, you were supposed to look OUT for the children, not mentally scar them! Now you get up and apologize to them this instant!” She steamed, storming off.

John hesitated for a few moments as his brain caught up to current events. Oh shit, the kids.

Azure stirred, “Mornin’ already?” He stretched and yawned. “I’mma go get some breakfast.” He stated, as he trotted off.

John head out of the tent and towards where the food was set up. The other two chaperones cast him scornful looks as he approached. John sighed, Best just get this over with... “Ahem,” He cleared his throat. John made sure he had everypony’s attention before beginning, “Everypony, I’d like to... apologize for my behaviour last night. I was just sharing a story my dad used to tell me when I was a foal- er, kid. I forgot how scary it was the first time I had heard it. It isn’t real.” Everypony seemed to silently accept this and move on. He said sorry, meant it, and it was all in the past anyways, no reason for a grudge.

“Thank you John, now make sure not to do that.” Shale warned, before heading off to do some checks on various things.

Breakfast was a quiet affair after that. John put an apple, some oatmeal and a snagged a cup of orange juice from the table. He ate slowly, considering and appreciating the taste of each item. The apple was quite fine and more than likely imported from Equestria and the oatmeal had a hint of cinnamon that made it very pleasing to the palate. It was a modest offering, not very filling, but meant to stave off hunger for a long period of time.

“Alright everypony!” Shale cheered, clopping her hooves together. “Finish up, we got a busy day ahead of us! Today, we will be hiking to Glacier Peak, Half Dome, Mirror Lake and Yosemite Falls!” She reiterated the plans for the day for the sake of the forgetful. “So hurry up, the faster we get to the trail, the longer we can stay there!” She urged as Sweet Roll packed up the food and Stonebreaker helped clean up the camp.

John took the trash and flew it to the trash bins back at the entrance of the campgrounds. Upon his return, he put the extra food back in the tree as Shale finished taking the head count.

“Alright, everypony is here. Load onto the bus!” The foals went in first, filing from the back. John made sure Stonebreaker went in first this time. No compressed organs THIS time. After everypony had loaded up, they set off.

The drive had an air of drowsiness lent to it by the the barely lit morning sky, the faintest hints of the sun detectable as the bus arrived at its destination. It’s slow halt stirring the group, as they wiped remnants of sleep out of their eyes. Shale Quarry had them unload and made sure everypony had a water source before they headed off. “Alright, make sure to stay on the trail and keep up with the group. Stonebreaker, you bring up the back, John, you get the middle and Sweet Roll, you’re with me.” She declared before heading off, leaving the group to organize itself.

The trail was packed dirt, hardened by the increased heat and rainfall of the spring, with tall redwoods on either side. “Now, Yosemite has been a national park since nineteen sixteen, when the National Park Service was founded, but it has been protected federally since eighteen sixty four when President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill setting the land aside for preservation and was a state park in eighteen sixty two.” Shale Quarry recited, giving the educational part of the trip. She had waited until they were well on the trail to allow everypony to wake up properly. “But it has been receiving visitors since eighteen fifty five. Now, Yosemite was the first nationally protected park, but can anyone tell me what first official national park was?”

There was a pregnant pause before an answer came, “Uhm, Yellowstone?”

“Correct!” Shale beamed. “Yellowstone was first protected in eighteen seventy two, but was the first park to be declared a national park and Yosemite was declared a National park shortly after. More recently, preservationists persuaded Congress to declare a large portion of the park the Yosemite Wilderness, increasing the protection on those areas.” The rest of the short hike passed quickly, the only noise that of the morning forest.

They arrived at the cliff view of Glacier Point. Before them lay an awe-inspiring view of the valley, a deep dramatic cut into the earth. The mountains on either side were steep and dotted with a few trees. The valley snaked out of sight, the vastness of the scene and the rising sun casting long shadows and orange light across it. The wind howled softly through the valley. It was something straight out of an old epic.

The scenery elicited a few softly spoken words of bewilderment from a majority of the foals, but awe-shocked looks from all. They dispersed and the pegasus foals played over the drop off as the others looked upon the view. Wow, I forgot how scenic this place is... 

John decided to join the foals over the ridge, he was supposed to watch them, besides, it looked like fun. The view over the ridge was even better, above the cliff he could see the whole picture. It was a masterpiece that seldom few would ever observe. The earth bound colts however, seemed to have engaged in a game of seeing how could get closest to the edge. John flew closer, making sure to keep an eye on them. Eventually, Blazing Star went all the way to the edge, peered off it, and turned to stick his tongue out at Clay. Clay just shook his head and conceded defeat. Blazing Star went back to his friend and the danger passed.

After about twenty minutes or so Shale Quarry called everypony back in and did a headcount. “Alright, everypony is here. Same order as before, lets head back down.” She ordered, and they group hiked down the trail in file.

“So where are we going next?” Sunburst asked Morning Rose, the bus bounced jarringly on the dusty trail.

“Uhf, what did I tells yeh about being so upptiy in the mornin’?” She groaned in response.

“Well, gee, sure seems like Morning ROSE on the wrong side of the bed!” She giggled furiously at her own joke as Morning Rose just groaned again.

“Yer jokes’re almost as bad as yer taste in friends.” She smiled slightly.

“Ugh, I KNOW” Sunburst exaggeratedly flipped her hoof limply and adopted a lisp into her speech, “There’s tith won gurl, and, like, yaaah.” She crossed her eyes mockingly causing both of them to giggle profusely.

“We’re going to Half-Dome next.” Azure interjected.

“No one asked YOU, blank flank.” Jet Blaze spat, having waited a good deal of time already to pick on somepony.

“I’m not a blank flank Jet, I got my cutie mark two months ago!” Azure defended, slightly confused by obvious mistake.

“You may not be, but your dad is!” He sneered.

“At least I have a dad!” Azure decided to skip the semantics and go straight for the trump card. It was all John could do to not laugh.

“That’s quite enough, colts!” Shale Quarry frowned, intensely disappointed. “I’ll let you off with a warning this time, but if it happens again, you’ll be helping Sweet Roll clean the dishes.” Both of the colts murmured affirmations to themselves.

The bus bounced along for a while more before stopping at a clearing and unloading. “Alright class, we will be eating here. After, we will hike to the dome. We will not climb Half Dome, but we will approach the base.” Shale pointed at the cutaway mountain before them, ”Missus Roll, if you would.”

Sweet Roll beamed and pulled out a dozen sandwiches, peanut butter and banana, a dozen puddings cup and passed them out. “Eat up!” She cheered, taking a bite of her own sandwich. The twins somehow managing to eat, chew, and swallow their sandwich in unison caught John’s attention for a while until his ears caught the conversation Azure and his friends were having.

“So Azure, how’s Forest doing?” Blazing asked, mouth full of approximately half the sandwich, the other half trying to join it.

“Good. We hangout every now and then. Not as much as we used to, but I think we’re trying to figure out how much space we need.” He nodded.

“Thats good. My own ‘project’ is coming along nicely he he he...” He chuckled.

Clay rolled his eyes, “Ya haven’t so much as talked to Sugar or Sweetie the last few months.”

“H-hey, I’m just a few weeks away from real, audible, contact...” Blazing trailed.

“Well, I’m sure your master plan will work out fine, whatever it is. Just go a little light on the flash and boom, eh?” Azure comforted his friend.

“Pffft, like I was going to use any.” He scoffed.

“Alright Class!” Shale clopped her hooves together to call attention. “Lets head out, plenty more to do before the sun sets.“ She rushed about, cleaning up all the pudding cups and depositing them in the trash bin near the trail.

The trail was a bit looser than Glacier Points trail, and a sizable river ran on the right side of it. The pleasant warmth seeping through the pines of the redwoods and the cool breeze of the river made it almost heavenly. “Alright class, the trail isn't very long, so I thought’d I’d begin sooner. Most of the valleys were created about two to three million years ago by glaciers. The ice would grind against the earth in a highly erosive process. Erosion is kind of like sandpaper, no one brush does it, but hundreds of thousands of millions and even billions of years and you get beautiful scenery such as this. Land is created and destroyed by the planet itself. This is a sharp contrast to Equestria, where everything was created as-is or influenced by some sort of magic to be changed to what it is. Does anypony know the three types of erosion we went over in class?

“Oh, Oh! Ummm...” Sunburst called.

“Now now, lets let somepony else get one, hm?” Shale passed.

“Wind, water and ice.” Wind Rapids stated lazily.

“That is correct! Does anypony know which one is the most erosive?” She posed another question, seeing that they still had a bit of distance.

“Ice?” Lace Agate asked.

“Yep, it has tiny crystals which grind against the stone!” She nodded, then announced, “We’re here!” The large rounded rock that was the center of the view back on Glacier Point was even more astounding up close.

It was over four hundred feet tall, and the way the sun caught the shimmering particles trapped within gave it an enchanted look. The redwoods only ran a small portion of the way up it. The next fifteen minutes or so, John kept an eye on the pegasi, making sure they didn’t do anything stupid like knock rocks off the cliff face onto their classmates below.

Thankfully, no disaster had occurred by the time it came to leave. John did however, have to keep a Jet Blaze from slamming into the side of the wall when he wasn’t really paying attention. The foal just grunted at him and wriggled out of his grasp, acting as though it had never occurred. What’s that kid’s problem? Little punk. 

The class headed back with little commotion. However, a quick headcount showed that somepony was missing. “Where’s Jet Blaze?” Shale asked, looking around.

“He was wit’ us when we left. Musta slipped away when I wasn’t looking.” Stonebreaker spoke in his slow southern drawl.

“Mr. Norris, Stonebreaker, you two go search for him. Missus Roll and I shall watch the children. If you can’t find him or don’t return within the hour, I’ll contact Ranger West. “ Shale urged, opening the sliding doors.

John exited the bus and took to the air, flying along the path and scanning the the river. It was unlikely he fell in, being a pegasus, but not impossible. John kept scanning and eventually reached Half Dome. Maybe... John flew up to the top the dome and sure enough, the firey maned, coal black foal was there.

“Hey! I found him!” John belted as loud as he could, hoping his fellow chaperone that was searching the woods could hear him. “Why’d you disappear like that kid? You got everyone worried.” John drilled, but his question went unanswered. “Uhhh, you alright.”

“The scenery is nice, isn’t it?” Jet Blaze asked, staring past John.

John figured that whatever was going on, it was going to take a while and landed next to the kid.A commanding view of the area lay before them.  The mountains were laid out, like the waves of an ocean frozen in stone. “I guess so.” John paused before continuing, “You wanna tell me why you ditched the group?”

The colt looked at John, the scenery, the sun, and back to John before hanging his head. “C-can you keep a secret?” He sniffled.

“Sure, what is it?” John replied, How bad could it be?

“I... I think I have a crush.” He hesitated.

“Filly troubles huh? I had lots of crushes when I was younger, it’ll pass.” John puzzled at how such a trivial thing could cause the kid any sort of real trouble.

“It’s not a filly.” He stated, aiming for a deadpan but the cracks in his voice

“Oh? Oh! Wait youre a fa-”John managed to stop himself. “I mean, well, uh, who is it?”

Jet Blaze squirmed a bit before speaking a voice barely above a whisper. “A-Azure.”

“What? Didn’t quite catch that?” John grimaced, knowing it was probably a hard thing to do.

Jet took a deep breath, “... It’s Azure.”

CLIFFHANGER!

NOT REALLY!

But man, is John a dick.