Writing is Magic

        *Sigh*

        "I know the princess means well," I said, "but I don't think this is what I need."

        The doctor was right, I had recovered physically, or at least enough to where they discharged me from the hospital. However, my magic had still not returned. Princess Celestia, meanwhile, had given the seven holders of the Elements of Harmony, as well as Spike, a paid-for vacation in Pensacolta Beach, the number one seaside destination in all of Equestria. Of course I appreciated the gesture, but it wasn't going to get me my magic back, which was at the forefront of my mind.

        "Next stop, Pensacolta Beach," the train conductor cried.

        "Well," Rarity said, "a little R-and-R never hurt anypony."

        "Right," Pinkie Pie said, poking her head between ours from the seat behind, "you get the sand underneath your hooves and feel the bright sunshine and you'll forget all your problems."

        I sighed again.

        The train station in Pensacolta literally sits right on the beachfront. Obviously, the seaside property is the selling point of the entire tourist town. We had the attendents at the station take all the luggage that we weren't going to immediately use over to the hotel while we all went down to the beach. I reminded myself to give them a big tip for having to haul all of Rarity's luggage away.

        "Last one in's a blank flank," Rainbow Dash yelled, speeding off toward the water with Applejack and Pinkie in hot pursuit.

        Rarity and I, on the other hand, took this opprotunity to claim our piece of the beach. In doing so, I instintively tried to use magic to open the umbrella and such, reminding myself of my current plight.

        "Just lay down," Rarity suggested, "trust me, a few minutes of lying in the sun will do you wonders."

        After throwing on a pair of sunglasses, I proceeded to do just that. Rarity wasn't wrong, the feeling of the warm sun on my body was uplifting in a strange sort of way.

        For a while, Rarity and I both laid there, soaking up the sunshine. I could hear Rainbow and Applejack horsing around in the water. Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Spike seemed to be building a sand castle, at least judging from what I could hear. I assumed that Twilight was reading a book, as she is wont to do.

        Eventually, I got to a point where I was on the verge of dozing off, and I probably would have if Rarity hadn't said anything.

        "Art, darling," she said in an annoyed voice, "you're in my sun."

        "That's not me, dear," I replied, not yet opening my eyes, at least that was until my own light got blocked.

        I removed my sunglasses and opened my eyes, to be greeted by a large pony hovering over me. He was wearing his own pair of dark sunglasses, which matched his coat color, his crew-cut white mane stuck out above everything else. Looking over to Rarity, I could see a similar pony standing over her.

        "What is the meaning of this," she snapped at them.

        Without answering, the one standing near me picked me up by my tail, holding me upside down for a bit before tossing me like a ragdoll all the way into the water. Since I didn't know how to swim, I flailed about for a bit before being fished out by Rainbow.

        Everypony on the beach saw the attack on me.

        "Hey, what'd you do that for," Pinkie yelled at the two assailants, showing no fear.

        "Just doing our jobs," the one who threw me answered.

        "Husky, Stout," a voice familiar to me called, "good work."

        The two big stallions walked over in the direction of the voice. There stood a unicorn mare, green in color, with a green two-tone mane. She was swathed in a very expensive-looking summer dress.

        "Emerald Elegant," I said, spitting out the last bit of salt water still in my mouth, "what a displeasure seeing you again."

        "Oh, but it's such an unexpected surprise to see you here," she countered in a voice that surprisingly wasn't filled with disgust, "just thought I would pay you back for what you did to me in Manehattan. You got me wet, so I got you wet."

        "A little petty, don't you think," I replied, motioning for Rainbow to put me down.

        "Not at all. You embarrassed me infront of my entourage. So since we're both here, I figured I would pay back the favor. Oh, and this one is just for fun."

        Her horn emitted a green glow, and before I knew what hit me, I was sent crashing right through the sand castle.

        "That'll be quite enough of that," Rarity snapped, getting right in Emerald's face, "I'm not going to stand here and let you toss him around like that."

        "And who might you be, one of Art's groupies," Emerald then paused in thought, "Do authors have groupies?"

        "It doesn't matter much who I am. The question is who are you to think you can come around and throw your substantial weight around?"

        I roared with laughter at Rarity's insult as Spike and Fluttershy dug me out of the sand castle destruction.

        "How dare you," Emerald gasped, "you're one to talk little Miss Arm Candy."

        Everypony got real quiet. I shot up from my prone position. Even from behind, I could tell Rarity was about to explode.

        "You asked for it," I yelled at Emerald.

        Now it was Rarity's turn to do some magic, picking up my beach towel and throwing around Emerald's head and mane. A few twists of the horn later, and Rarity allowed the towel to float away.

        We all stood there in shock at what Rarity had done, until Emerald's bodyguards began rolling in the sand in laughter.

        "What did she do," Emerald screamed, "what did she do!?"

        "See for yourself," Twilight said, pulling out the mirror from Rarity's bag and holding it up to Emerald.

        Emerald's mane is usually two-tone and green, a nice match with her coat color, but Rarity had certainly changed that. Now it was the ugliest shade of puke yellow I'd ever seen, not to mention being styled in a way that can only be described as a bird's nest. Emerald let out a scream on-sight.

        "Look what you've done," she yelled, "change it back, change it back."

        "I might change it back," Rarity quipped, "if you apologize to me, and to Art, and promise not to bother us again."

        "Ok, Ok," Emerald pleaded, "I went a little overboard, I'm sorry. I promise I won't do anything like that ever again."

        Rarity looked back at me, and I nodded. Rarity pulled in the beach towel for a second time, and a few moments later had Emerald's hair back the way it was, perhaps even better than how it was. Emerald, after confirming that her mane was OK, quickly trotted away, along with her muscle.

        "Are you Ok, darling," Rarity asked as I made my way back.

        "I'm fine. After what I've been through, no amount of being tossed around can hurt me that much. Although I think I should make it a point to learn how to swim when we get back home. You didn't have to do all that, you know."

        "Well I would like to think that if you could have done something about her you would have, especially after she insulted me like that. But since you couldn't, I thought I would make her think twice about doing such a thing."

        I smiled, "That I would have."

        After this, the rest of our little vacation went off without a hitch, and believe it or not, I actually felt relaxed. Perhaps this is a good sign, a sign of things to come.