The afternoon sun bore down hot on the Campsite with not a single breeze to help alleviate the heat. It certainly didn’t help that it was crowded with foals running to and fro with their parents, eager to show them their bunks or macaroni lanterns. Twilight looked all around her, from the tables covered with food that some devious colts were sneaking snacks from, to the stage where a band of old looking stallions was playing a riveting folk song on banjos and guitars. It was all very distracting and with the crowd constantly shouting and moving, Twilight couldn’t pick out her own foal from among the group.
 
She was just about to fly up for a birds-eye view, when all of a sudden, a tiny, high-pitched voice called out in the midst of the confusion, “Mommy, Mommy!”
 
It didn’t matter how boisterous and noisy it was, Twilight would recognize that voice anywhere. Looking in the direction from which she heard it, She was barely able to make out her little green filly from among the crowd. Twilight waved eagerly, hoping Pansy would notice, but it seemed the filly had already seen her and was heading straight for her……pulling along a stallion behind her?
 
Before Twilight could realize what was going on, Pansy came running up to her, joyfully screaming, “Mommy! Mommy! You’re here!”
 
Within a flash, Twilight scooped up her filly into her arms and snuggled her tight, kissing her head over and over again.
 
“Oh, my little Pansy, I’ve missed you so much! Too much. You never allowed to be this long away from me again, you here?” Twilight teased, bopping her filly’s nose and making her giggle.
 
“But I like it here, Mommy! I even made a new friend!” She smiled proudly.
 
“You did!” Twilight gasped, setting her filly down. “Pansy, I’m so proud of you! Can I meet this new friend of yours?” She asked, maybe a little too enthusiastically.
 
Pansy eagerly pointed to the stallion standing awkwardly off to the side, saying, “He’s right here, Mommy. This is Timber Spruce, he’s my new friend!”
 
Twilight glanced up just in time to see the stallion jump out of his skin at the mention of his name, before giving a somewhat uneasy smile. She was stunned, and looking him over- a tall, twenty-looking, bushy-browed stallion wasn’t exactly what Twilight had in mind when picturing a friend for Pansy.
 
Since both adults seemed incapable of starting a conversation at the moment, Pansy pipped up, “Timber, this is my Mommy! Mommy, this is Timber!”
 
“Oh, right!” Timber exclaimed, as a look of realization struck the stupid grin off his face. Making a clumsy, half-hearted, hurried bow to Twilight, he said, “How do you do…your a….highness?”
 
yeah, I totally just flunked that.
 
It was now Twilight’s turn to be startled out of her stupor, and waving a hoof, she quickly reassured him, “Oh- you really don’t have to do that. Like I told your sister, you can address me as just Twilight. “
 
Timber rubbed the back of his neck as he awkwardly stuttered out, “ Oh yeah, sure, n-no problem, totally cool, I understand yeah I….yeah….heh heh.”
 
Yep, totally flunked.
 
“Mommy, guess what! Timber taught me how to start a fire using just two rocks! “Pansy chimed in, consequently saving the converstation from an awkward silence.
 
“Oh, did he now?” said Twilight, secretly relieved.
 
“Yeah! And yesterday, we went out on a canoe together and he helped me steer it! We even went over a waterfall and I got scared, so Timber held me so I would fall out. And-and then, we went on a scavenger hunt and Timber and me, we won and got a pretty blue ribbon that he let me keep, and we also played checkers and sang songs and caught fireflies and-and we even found a baby deer!” Pansy finished her rambling, bouncing up and down excitedly.
 
“Well, it sounds like you and Timber had a good time then, huh?” Twilight said, giving Timber a knowing smile.
 
Timber said, smiling sheepishly back, “ Heh heh, yep. We sure did.”
 
“Oh! Oh! And Mommy, Mommy, we even got to see the…the…con-sel-lation Orion! I even drew a picture of it and-oh!” Pansy stopped, her eyes going wide with realization. “I almost forgot, Timber and I made you a gift, a surprise gift, I’ll go get it for you-be right back!” Pansy barely finished her sentence before darting off into the crowd and was gone before Twilight could get a word on.
 
The stallion and mare turned to look at each other, stupefied. After a moment, Twilight smiled before bursting into a fit of giggles. Timber couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit himself.
 
Catching her breath, Twilight said slightly embarrassed, “I’m so sorry about that; I didn’t expect her to run off like she did,”
 
Timber shrugged casually, without the slightest trace of nervousness since Twilight had met him. “Eh, it’s no biggie, “ he said, “I know she’s been dying to give you her your gift ever since she started working on it, which if I recall correctly, was about three weeks ago.”
 
“Three weeks ago!?” Twilight cried out in surprise. “ What could have possibly taken so long for her to make?”
 
“Sorry, can’t tell you. Pansy swore me to secrecy,” he said slyly, pretending to zip his lips shut.
 
The alicorn smiled smugly in return. “Oh? Well, can you at least tell me were the drink stand is? Or is that a secret as well?”
 
“Oh no, the drinks are no secret at all- only the ingredients inside them are. Would you allow me the pleasure of escorting you there?” Timber asked with a dramatic, royal air as he imitated a mock bow, this time much more gracefully.
 
Twilight snickered. “The pleasure is all mine,” she said, before heading through the crowd with Timber leading the way.