When we arrived at the camp, I was not surprised by what I saw. It was an ordinary camp; three tents, a campfire, a creek behind the camp, and some lawn chairs. Lizzy’s husband was reading the newspaper, while their daughter read a My Little Pony book (Ironic, isn't it?).

“Hey honey.” Lizzy’s husband said flatly as we entered the camp, not even looking up.

“Hello, Carl.” Lizzy responded in the same tone of voice. She sat down her bags, and went over to her husband, where she whispered something in his ear. He kept reading, and she said something that made his head shoot up. He spotted us, and stood up.

“Well, let me-“He started. Lizzy put a hand on his shoulder, and looked at him with sorrowful eyes. Carl sighed, and sat back down.

---------

After we had settled in, and the daughter of Lizzy and Dashie were talking, I started unpacking our “things” into the tent Lizzy lent us. It was small, but it was something. I made my side on the right, and Dashie’s on the left. As I finished my things, and coming to realize Dashie’s bag was nowhere to be found, I left the camp and walked back to the car. After a quick search, I found her bag, and began walking back. I was stopped, however, as Twilight and the other four ponies teleported in front of me, making me jump back.  

“Rainbow Dash murdered Princess Luna, and you murdered Pinkie Pie.” Fluttershy began.

“We are here to take y’all to the princess for punishment.” Applejack finished for her. I had come unarmed, which was a terrible thing to do. I remembered reading a fan fiction where if you injured the horn of a unicorn, he/she wouldn’t be able to cast magic.

“Good luck trying to catch us.” I stated as I tackled Twilight. I bent her horn, causing her to scream in pain. I felt terrible having to do this, but I had to. Applejack bucked me off of Twilight, but I had already prevented her from casting magic. I scrambled up, grabbed Dashie’s bag, and took off for the forest, with the other ponies following. As I was near the entrance, Dashie came out of the forest. We made eye contact, and I saw her do something unbelievable. Instead of running away, she took the knife she used to fight back at the garage, and hurled it. The knife struck Applejack in her skull, and sunk in. I could hear the “thud” of her body as it hit the ground, and the other ponies gasp and give up the chase.

Dashie and I ran into the camp, out of breath. Lizzy came out, and looked worried.

“What happened?” She asked. Dashie caught her breath before I did.

“Long story short, the one named Applejack is dead.” She said solemnly. Lizzy looked at the ground, and approached us.

“Why in the world would you go back out there anyways?!?!” She asked in a frantic tone. I held up Dashie’s bag, and she nodded her head.

It was nice unpacking Dashie’s things. I saw what she had in ponyville, and what she kept. She had a blanket, a teddy bear that she slept with, (Dashie denied she slept with it, but I have photo evidence), An MP3 player with music, and a photo album of her life (I could see she removed the embarrassing pictures). After setting up her side of the tent we where sharing, Lizzy called that it was Dinner. We walked out, and saw it was Grilled Chicken, salad, and cake for dessert.

As usual, I didn’t allow Dashie to get the meat, for she was (Supposed) to be vegan. But I sometimes cracked and let her have a little cheese.

“How long will you allow us to stay here?” I asked the family. Carl looked at Lizzy, and then spoke.

“After speaking, we’ll allow you to stay for one month at the most, and then you need to leave.” He looked at his daughter who was eating cake. “Gotta protect her.” I nodded, signaling I understood.

---------

When we finished dinner, we all stayed around the campfire and told each other funny stories, and then we retired to our tents. As we got ready for bed, I saw Dashie, out of the corner of my eye, take the teddy bear, and stuff it under the covers of the sleeping bag Lizzy let her borrow. I got a smirk on my face, and let that slide.

“Goodnight Dad.” Dashie said sleepily as she rolled over. I knelt down beside her, and kissed her lightly on her cheek.

“Goodnight, Dashie.”

-----------

I was awoken suddenly by a loud sound and a foul stench. It was pitch black, and it took me a while to wake up. There was a groan, and I looked around. I had to grab my phone to see, and looked around. Dashie was still on her sleeping bag, sleeping peacefully.

Or so I thought.

Upon closer examination, I could see the sleeping bag was soaked in a substance. I carefully stood up, and walked over to her.

“Dashie?” I asked my voice barely above a whisper. I shined the phone light on her, and I saw what had woken me up. She was sweating, and her sleeping bag was soaked in her sweat. I could see she had vomited on her sleeping bag and on the ground next to her. Fear and concern had swept over me

“Oh God” I muttered to myself as I quickly crawled back to my bag and got out my flashlight (which was also a lantern). I clicked it on, and crawled back over to Dashie. I put my hand on her forehead. She was unbelievably warm. I looked at my phone, and I saw she has opened her eyes.

“W-w-wha?” She muttered incoherently. She looked at me, and opened her mouth to speak, but she instead turned her head and vomited up blood. I quickly and gently picked her up, and stepped out of the tent. The night was silent, except for the crickets. The cool fall wind hit my face as I looked around. Lizzy and her family were still sleeping in their tents. I began walking towards the river Lizzy had told us about during dinner.

“Where is it?” I thought to myself as I wandered around the forest with Dashie in my arms. I looked around a tree, and I saw it. “Yes!’ I whispered as I jogged towards it. I stuck my hand in the water. It was cold, almost freezing. I slowly got in, trying to ignore the coldness. I slowly lowered my arms, until Dashie’s body hooves were underwater. She squirmed, and fell out of my arms and into the river. I swooped down, and grabbed her, bringing her back into my arms.

“Where are we?!?!” She asked, clearly delirious from her unknown illness.

“Shh, it’s ok.” I quietly said as I tried to put her hooves in the water again. She retracted them, and looked at me.

“But I don’t wanna!” She exclaimed.

“I know, but it’ll help you.” I said as I stroked her mane. She looked at me, then at the water. Dashie let out a sigh, and dropped her head. I dipped her in the water slowly, until her entire body except her head was submerged in the water. I left her like that for a minute, and then I took her out and climbed out of the river.

---------

We were sitting against a tree with me legs crossed. Dashie’s rear was on my legs, while the rest of her body was leaning on mine and her head resting on my shoulder. I had my arms wrapped around her upper body as she tried to fall asleep. I felt a warm substance running down my legs, and saw that Dashie had urinated on my legs. The illness clearly had taken a toll on her, and she clearly had no control on her body.

“Sorry, daddy” She said as she groaned.

“It’s ok.” I responded quietly. We sat in silence until Dashie had fallen asleep. I grabbed my shirt which has been drying on a tree branch, and laid it out on the ground. I laid her down on my damp shirt, and then sat back against the tree. I gazed at the stars, until I drifted off into an anxious sleep.

Next Chapter: Chapter 8: Possession Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes