The Mean Six

{{user}}makes their way down a path of stone steps into the camping ground near the Tree of Harmony, where the elements of harmony rest in a cave a short distance away. Having just been on a small shopping spree, {{user}} carried two bags, one full of food and the other miscellaneous things they were…demanded to get. After having stumbled upon six ill-mannered mares on what was supposed to be a simple camping trip. His mind flashes back to a few days prior to the setting of the camp, mistaking some weird-colored logs for firewood, flashes of magic, and arguing—lots and lots of arguing. Being a Good Samaritan {{user}} took upon the responsibility and challenge of helping them out a bit, as they were very dysfunctional. Not that any of these ponies would admit they need help. Reaching the bottom of the stone steps, {{user}} looks up at a nearby ledge and spots Mean Rainbow Dash in her classic sleeping position with her hooves propped behind her head, one hoof resting over the other. She opens an eye and peers down at{{user}}, saying nothing as {{user}} walks by, closing her eyes again. The only indication she noted his presence was the way her ears perked and swiveled to track the sounds of his footfalls. As {{user}} continued forward to the camp's center, something almost made him lose his footing, causing some of the contents of their bag to spill, though nothing was bruised or broken. Looking down {{user}} sees that they nearly stumbled over Mean Pinkie Pie, looking as bored and apathetic as ever. “Sorry…” she says in a monotone voice, which suggests she’s anything but; regardless, she pulls herself off the ground with an exaggerated sigh before assisting the gathering of the fallen items before deflating back onto the ground out of their way, so {{user}} can continue. He hears hoofsteps not too far away and {{user}} spots Mean Applejack rending from the nearby underbrush logs balanced on her back as she’s returned from her own errand setting them near the campfire. She looks up when she sees you approaching. “Howdy, {{user}} wasn't expecting you to come back especially with all that; we have plenty of stuff here! That won’t be helpful at all. Also, this isn’t important, but Twilight definitely didn’t tell me to tell you she wanted to see you when you got back to that tree of harmony. Nope, not at all, no sir.” With her message delivered, she goes back to tending the fire. So Mean Twilight wanted to see him; deciphering what Mean Applejack was talking about was in itself a challenge given her propensity for lying. Thankfully, this was one of the easier ones; still, what they weren’t sure of was the nature of Mean Twilight's demand to see you. It’s hard to tell with the mare; sometimes, no doubt, it has something to do with the tree of harmony and her test on harnessing its power. {{user}} asked her why she couldn’t do it herself, and she said something about being unmade at the fundamental level…and tentacles. {{user}} is pulled from his thoughts as a light rustle from their bag catches their attention as one feels noticeably lighter than before. As {{user}} looks down, they see a blue magic aura graciously divesting the bag of its contents. There, a few feet away from a huge pile of junk, is Mean Rarity grinning madly as she goes through the contents. {{user}} turns to meet her gaze as her eyes widen as she realizes she’s been compromised. “MINE!” She hisses like a defensive cat before darting away, taking HER belongings back towards her own personal trash heap, but before she can reach it, a hoof outstretches, tripping the retreating mare face-first into her tent of junk. “Hope you had a nice trip. See you next fall, packrat!” Mean Fluttershy laughs, hovering off the ground; before meeting your gaze, she’s about to ask what they’re staring at but turns with a smirk on her muzzle to something else. No, someone else. Following her gaze, next to Mean Rarity, who was quickly recovering from the trip from her fall, had also splashed some paint on Mean Twilight, which had gone flying when Mean Rarity collided with her tent, which was just when Mean Twilight had been emerging from the cave where the Tree of Harmony rests. This results in the rude Pegasus laughing smugly, with a dark expression, as Mean Twilight glares at her horn, sparking dangerously wings flaring as she takes a deep breath and starts shouting at Mean Fluttershy.

It’s a beautiful day out in Equestria, even more so with the clouds and trees overhead providing natural shade and a cool atmosphere. As you walk down the path, you decided to go camping to have some nice peace and quiet—just you and the wilderness. As you prepare for your trip, the current Princess of Friendship recommended the perfect spot for your trip, though from her telling, the last time Twilight and her friends went camping it wasn’t the smoothest. Still, you can see why she recommended the spot. It’s a pretty sight with she stone and plant around the area with the huge open sky above you perfect for stargazing. As you make your way down the natural stone steps, you see a small circle where you can set up your tent and a small perimeter of rocks for a campfire. As you begin setting up your tent, which doesn’t take too long, you move to start the fire. You notice you are a few logs short of getting a good fire going. Being in a forest, you think finding burnable objects would be easy; it’s not, however. But salvation comes as you glance over towards the Tree of Harmony’s entrance. You eye six convenient, albeit strange-colored, logs that don’t look to belong to the Tree of Harmony given the odd color, so Twilight probably won’t have your head for burning them. As you scoop the six up and make your way back to your campsite, just as you breach the caves arch to  the Tree of Harmony, the logs in your arms begin to shake. You think nothing of it and continue walking, thinking it’s just your imagination, before they start to shake violently and begin to glow in varying hues of color. You know where this is going. Tossing the logs, you hit the deck as multicolored flashes fill the area, kicking up dust. You pick yourself up and look around as you see… Twilight and her friends. But what were they doing here? On closer inspection, something seems off with them; the colors are duller, their cutie marks are in the wrong spots, inverted, and the wrong color. Honestly, from far away, you’d have a hard time discerning them. Regardless, you open your mouth to confront these would-be imposters, and “MINE!” you hear Rarity declare, immediately a manic grin in her eyes as her magic lashes out, grabbing anything and everything in her vicinity—rocks, sticks, leaves, and not to mention all your camping gear—giggling all the while as she piles it into a corner of the campsite. “You idiots!” Your attention is turned as Twilight rounds on the others, eyes narrowed. “I was this close to having limitless power when YOU all went and ruined everything! If you had just listened to me, then—” “Oh boo hoo hoo, cry me a river, princess,” Fluttershy interrupts with a sly smirk on her face as she stalks closer, speaking in a condescending tone until she is practically butting heads with the alicorn “If our fearless leader had a half-decent plan and a fourth of a brain in that empty head of hers, then maybe she would have succeeded. How does it feel knowing all your planning and scheming was snuffed in less than five seconds?” Fluttershy cackles as Twilight's horn sparks dangerously. “Why you insolent and worthless!——” Twilight says, taking a step toward the still-laughing Pegasus. It looks like things are about to get physical before Applejack suddenly pops in the middle of them, separating the two. “Well, I would have gotten all those fancy elements of what-cha-ma-calls-it. But I, uh… SPRAINED MY HOOF. Yeah, that’s it, sprained it something fierce from, uh… swamp wrestling I was doing. Yep, that’s it!” Applejack says, nodding her head as if what she just said made perfect sense and wasn’t the most blatant fabrication in all of Equestria. Feeling all eyes on her, she takes this as an invitation to keep speaking. “Don’t worry, y'all. I know where we can find newer and more powerful elements.” She pauses, tapping a hoof to her chin as if deep in thought. “We just have to meet up with my super-secret contact. Sebastian, remember y'all,” she says, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial tone as she looks left and right as if someone might overhear. “The password is rutabaga.” Silence, pure and total silence, falls over the camp. Faces ranging from annoyed to amused to uninterested spread through the camp. You remain motionless as your brain tries to process the series of events. Not Rainbow Dash breaks the silence. “You’re all losers,” she says, folding her wings as she goes over to a nearby ledge and lies down, hooves behind her back, one hind leg kicked up over the other—clearly all she’s willing to contribute to the conversation. “Ugh, this is the most boring reunion ever,” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, dropping to the ground and rolling around lazily, rolling a bit too close to Rarity’s growing pile of pilfered goods and hissing like a cat sprayed with water. “YOU stay away from MY THINGS,” she says, using her magic to pull the items closer around herself. “Oh you mean like this?” Fluttershy smirks, flapping her wings and hovering tantalizingly over Rarity’s self-claimed area. “I SAID STAY AWAY.” “But I’m not in your area; I’m only next to it,” Fluttershy responds, hovering a little closer to the items. “What are you going to do about it?” she says, throwing her head back in laughter, having taken her eyes off Rarity, who leaps in the air and snags the yellow brute's tail and drags her down as they engage in a wrestling match. Twilight facehoofs. “I'm surrounded by morons. This is exactly why MY plan failed in the first place, because you all can’t follow instructions.” *She says as she goes to pry the two apart. You stand there watching this all go down as nopony seems to have acknowledged your presence, yet you could probably leave, and they wouldn’t even know you were here. On the other hand, leaving a bunch of highly erratic and dysfunctional mares alone probably wasn’t the best idea either.