“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Are we there yet?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“No.”
Twilight was getting a headache. Her and her five closest friends- Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were all in one of Princess Celestia’s private carriages heading to the beach for a week. Sort of a getaway from Ponyville; something they all sorely needed. Twilight had told this to Celestia and she immediately recommended her summer beach house to her star pupil (Spike didn’t want to go because, as he put it, did not “want to be stuck on an island with six crazy mares for a week” and thus elected to spend his time off in Canterlot). Celestia hadn’t been there in years but it was always maintained as if someone had just cleaned it. Magic, Twilight figured. Currently however Twilight was trying very hard to get Pinkie to stop asking for their current position from the house hoping they were the same.
“Twilight dear, could you tell us more about the Princess’ beach house?” Rarity asked, strategically getting Pinkie’s attention off of where they were and thus salvaging the lavender unicorn’s last shred of patience.
“Certainly,” Twilight responded, exchanging a glance with the fashionista that conveyed eternal gratitude. “Well, apparently nopony has set hoof in the beach house in over twenty years, but because of Celestia’s magic it always keeps maintained and clean. Also it’s also on an island in an ‘undisclosed location’ according to the princess. The whole island is completely run by magic too. The weather is supposed to be completely random, sort of like the Everfree Forest. So it could be clear one day and stormy the next.” Twilight had asked her mentor what purpose this served and the princess stated that she liked not having the weather controlled by ponies sometimes; that it adds a sort of excitement to things.
“That’s weird,” commented Rainbow Dash, obviously not too excited about being in a place where she can’t change the weather on a whim.
“Well that’s how the princess set things up. Besides, we should be grateful that she even offered us this in the first place,” Rarity rebutted.
“Yeah, whatever.”
“But wait. What about FOOD? I can’t live without food. Specifically cupcakes and muffins and cake and pie and ice cream ooh! Especially ice cream. I mean, without food we ca-“ Pinkie’s rant was cut short by Applejack’s hoof in her mouth.
“Ah’m a bit concern’d about this mahself Sugarcube. What are we goin’ to eat?”
“The princess said that the entire kitchen is magically connected to the palace’s pantry. So whatever food we want, we have it. We just have to cook it ourselves…” Twilight mumbled that last part.
“I’m sorry, did you say ‘cook ourselves’? As in by ourselves?” Rainbow asked.
“That tends to be what ‘by ourselves’ means Rainbow,” Rarity said caustically.
“Aw don’t you get yer tail in a twist Rainbow,” Applejack consoled, “why, Ah’ll cook. It’d be a good ol’ fashioned Apple family dinner every night.” The cyan Pegasus perked up at this, as she enjoyed Apple family cooking just as much as the next pony.
“Um…” Fluttershy spoke up for the first time since they departed, “will there be animals there?”
“More animals than you’ll know what to do with Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “The island is split up into quarters, which is great because the island’s round: the first quarter is the beach house, the second is the beach, the third quarter is a jungle with trotting paths, perfect for you Fluttershy, the last is a small mountain with a trail that goes all the way up to the top where a small clearing sits; a perfect picnic spot Celestia said. She also said that you can see for miles at the top and that the sunsets are breathtaking, if she did say so herself.”
“Oh, that sounds wonderful,” the yellow Pegasus stated dreamily.
“I hate to interrupt you Twilight, bu-“
“WE’RE HERE!”
Rarity glared at Pinkie who was too excited looking out the window. Looking out the window at first glance one would only see the every expanding emptiness that is the ocean. However, upon closer inspection one could see a small brown dot standing out amongst the deep blue. Getting closer to it the ponies could see that it did indeed look as Twilight described it. The whole island was maybe three square miles and taking up a good twenty percent of it was- compared to the princess’ usual domicile- a moderately size beach house. A large beach wrapped all the way around the island with a noticeable part where it stretched further inward on one quarter of it. This quarter had large dunes that created a spotty landscape of shadows across the sand. The other half contrasted with the sand by means of lush green foliage. True to the description it a moderately sized mountain stretched to the sky, opposite the beach house. On the last quarter was a rather flat looking plane; albeit every square inch was covered in trees and other green flora.
The carriage lowered onto the patio of the beach house. While the six stepped out their luggage was carried out by the two Pegasus drivers who promptly dropped it lightly in front of the mares and, bidding them a good day and a wonderful vacation took off with the carriage back into the sky until they were merely a speck in the sky.
The whole house looked like some kind of compound of geometric shapes. It was pure white with a lot of windows, but since they were completely isolated they really didn’t have to worry about privacy. The patio was a light grey square shaped stone with several lounging chairs scattered about and what looked to be a fire pit in the center. There we large glass doors that seemed to swing in leading into the main room… whatever that was since the blinds were currently drawn.
“Well,” Twilight said, breaking the silence, “let’s see what this place has in store for us.”
Walking inside, Twilight was stunned. All six were standing in a large living room that stretched all the way to the roof of the house; at least three stories. Beams of light shone in through the countless windows that surrounded the upper half of the room. They were on one side of the room with a wall directly across from them taken up mostly by a large brick fireplace that two ponies could comfortably stand under. On their left was what would’ve been a wall, but was instead a wall with a slit cut in it and a large wooden bar stretching almost it’s whole length but with one fifth of it actually a doorframe. On the other side of this bar though one could see the kitchen, so it was meant to act sort of like a breakfast bar. The final side of the wall was actually a large metal spiral staircase that went to the roof but instead of stopping kept going. The whole room was either glass windows or white modern-esq walls. All in all, it looked very,
“Cool,” declared Rainbow Dash.
“I concur,” agreed Rarity, “and these pine wood floors go magnificently with the natural light. It’s simple but elegant look is simply divine.”
“Yeah yeah, let’s see where this ‘ere doorway goes,” Applejack suggested.
Walking through the door near on the wall with the bar, one would see a hallway that stretched about thirty yards in front of them until it met another doorway on the end. Each wall had two doorways on either side. The ones on their left had doors while only one on their right had a door. Directly adjacent to them on the right side was the entrance to the kitchen. Inside they found a fully stocked pantry and fridge, while the countertops were made with white marble and the floor and walls were white with chrome appliances and copper pots and pans. Applejack was impressed.
The final door on their right- the one with the door- was a bathroom.
“That’s good to know,” Twilight said.
“There’s no windows. That’s good to know,” added Applejack.
On the other side of the hall each door actually went to the same room: a large sun room that looked out over the beach and the ocean. The most interesting thing though was the floor: it was made of glass. Looking through it Twilight could see fish swimming about amongst sea flora in this little aquarium.
“Ohh. How very nice,” said Fluttershy.
At the end of the hall, the final door actually led out of the beach house and onto a raised deck with steps leading down to the sand and to the beach. Near those steps was the edge of the forest with a large path cutting into the thick brush.
Walking back inside the group went back into the main room and up the stairs to the second floor which actually wrapped itself around the living room. Most of the doors were magnificent guest rooms with large windows that each had its own spectacular view of the island. Each one was also themed a little differently too. One room overlooked the jungle and had a green hue to it that was covered in paintings of animals. Another overlooked the ocean and had a blue-ish tint to it with pictures of high winds and hurricanes and other radical weather phenomena. Oddly each room seemed to reflect a familiar pony’s personality. There were only five rooms though and Twilight didn’t seem to fit in any of them. There was one other door and this one led to a large gaming room, believe it or not. Apparently the princess loved games as this room had games filling the walls with pool tables and air hockey tables too. Arcade machines also lined the new favorite room of a certain pink pony. They had to drag her out of there and make her promise to not stay cooped up in there. Twilight still didn’t have a room though but she didn’t give up because there was still one floor left…
“Wow,”
“Woah nelly,”
“Oh my,”
“You’re so lucky Twi’,”
“Twilight… this room,”
“Oh come on girls it’s not that impressive… oh alright it actually kind of is. But that doesn’t mean it’s my room.”
“C’mon Twilight it’s the only bedroom left in the whole house. And if you ask me it’s actually pretty appropriate.”
The third floor only had one door on it and now it was pretty apparent why. They walked right into the room of the one Princess of the Sun and promptly agreed it was the best room in the house. The bed was a large round bed that was at least twice the size of the princess. The comforter was white with hints of pink and the princess’s cutie mark right in the center. The walls were lined with bookshelves and in one corner a large writing desk overlooked the entire island. Globes of all eras hung from the ceiling and the nearby bathroom was large enough that Twilight could swear that Celestia must have been much bigger years ago. It was completely breathtaking.
Reluctantly Twilight agreed to sleep here and after bringing up their bags to their respective rooms, the six met in…Twilight’s room, as loath as she was to call it that.
“I vote that tomorrow we should explore the island first, you know, get a feel for where everything is,” Twilight recommended.
“I agree… um if that’s all right with you that is,” Fluttershy squeaked in.
“As do I,” Rarity said.
“Yeah,”
“Alrigh’,”
“Oh goody!”
“Then it’s settled,” Twilight concluded, “we’ll explore first,” she yawned, “Goodness, I didn’t realize how late it was. How about we all go to bed?”
They agreed and went to their rooms. Twilight laid in the bed; this was what it was like to sleep in a cloud. Shortly thereafter she was asleep.
As the sun’s rose red fingers poked out over the horizon Twilight woke up. She was used to waking up this early most days but today all she wanted to do was sleep in. She knew the others weren’t going to get up this early and probably weren’t going to be up for another few hours. But try as she might, she just couldn’t get to sleep. Sighing she got up out of bed. She felt really rested actually; that bed was like sleeping on nothing, not even a cloud could probably compare she thought as she walked to the bathroom. Looking for a mirror she was startled to see that a whole wall of the bathroom was actually a mirror. Staring at her reflection she brushed her mane and straightened her tail and walked back into the bedroom.
About thirty minutes later she was restless. There were a lot of bookshelves, but most of the volumes Twilight had read already. She checked out the globes that she realized were maps of the world as Equestria saw it so each miniature earth had more land than its predecessor. She was on the third floor, she thought. She wouldn’t wake any of her friends if she went downstairs and made some coffee. She quietly walked to the steps but something gave her pause. The staircase continued upwards into the ceiling. Curious she walked up them and was surprised to see a hatch at the top separating the stairs from whatever lay above. Determined to see what was up there she opened it as quietly as possible and slipped inside.
Twilight almost dropped the hatch in amazement. It was a round room about as large as her room. However the ceiling rose as high as the living room’s but had a glass dome. From the ground all the way up was books. Books of all size and shape and colors. However the wall of books broke in one part and there instead of books was a telescope; a really big telescope at that. Twilight figured if she aimed it right she could see all the way to Neptune. The point was though that Twilight was in an observatory. An observatory and a library. The purple unicorn bounced around the room looking from book to book. Some of these she’d only read about in other books or heard about. Not even the Royal Canterlot Library- the largest library in the world- had these. Twilight smiled: she knew what she was going to do for the next few hours.
“Twilight? Where are you? What? Was this hatch always here?” Twilight could hear a voice outside of the room but barely registered it; she was engrossed in this book. Behind her the hatch glowed with a blue aura and as it opened a blue Pegasus raced in followed by a bouncing pink earth pony and the rest of Twilight’s friends.
“Twilight dear? We were looking for you and you weren’t in your room…” Rarity trailed off as she finally observed her surroundings.
“Girls look,” Twilight said turning around, “I’ve found what can only be Princess Celestia’s private library. Isn’t it amazing?”
“Yes, quite. Listen dear we were just about to head down to breakfast and then we were going to explore the island. Are you ready to go?”
“Uh yes,” she responded hesitantly, not wanting to be pulled away from her book but not wanting to miss out on today’s activities, “I’ll finish this later, let’s go.”
After they had all eaten their breakfast, a surprisingly delicious western omelet (sans meat of course) with diced apples added in, they set off, ready for a new day of vacationing. They all figured that if they walked through the forest then approach the mountain, they would be at its top by the time lunch rolled around. They all figured it a good plan; all except of course Rarity.
“I will not be subject to this. I have no intention of getting dirty.”
The group took a collective groan. They weren’t going to force her as it was her vacation too and she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to. However,
“Well I guess you’ll just miss out on the gem mine then,” Twilight said mischievously.
“The what?”
“Apparently the mountain is a whole gem mine filled with gems of unimaginable shape, size, and beauty,” Twilight said.
“Oh my.”
So off they were, nicely trotting through the woods. They were teeming with animal life of all kinds. Fluttershy was completely awestruck. The trees created a green canopy over the forest with rays of light poking through in various places. Vines hung from the trees like drapes and little creeks and streams could be seen all around them. Fluttershy had disappeared somewhere, no doubt talking and playing with all her new friends. Twilight just chuckled, carrying the picnic basket for their lunch later on; of course that still wasn’t for a few more hours. Walking into a clearing they stopped. Standing before them was a… apple tree? This one was different though. It was about twice as tall as any other apple tree and the light hit the leaves so they twinkled. The apples on them were huge too: at least the size of a filly’s head. Their aroma could be smelled from here and the sight alone made Twilight just a little bit hungry even though she just had breakfast not two hours ago.
“Woah nelly,” Applejack exclaimed, walking up to the tree, “them there are some big apples. Why, just one apple could probably plant enough seeds to fill an orchard. D’ya think the Princess’d mind if we took some Twi?”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t, but they look really heavy; why don’t we come back for them?”
“Alrighty then.”
Continuing on, they had gone completely through the forest, even as far as the coast that split it from the ocean. Walking back towards the mountain they rendezvoused with Fluttershy being followed by several animals. It took a few minutes for Fluttershy to convince them to leave her and her promising to come back to finally get them to leave. As the six mares walked towards the base of the mountain, Twilight could see a path that wrapped itself around the mountain steadily going up. It was well past noon now and all the ponies were hungry but Rarity still had yet to see the mine.
“Twilight dear I’m beginning to think you lied to me to get me to come with you five,” she said apprehensively.
“No Rarity I’m pretty sure that the mine is around here somewhe- AH!” Twilight was busy defending herself when she tripped and stumbled, about to fall over the side of the mountain. But Applejack grabbed her and pulled her back… right into Pinkie Pie. The three of them fell head over hooves crashing right into the side of the mountain, and going right through it. What had one seemingly been a solid rock wall was now a gaping hole. Coughing could be heard inside and Rainbow wasted no time flying right in after them.
“Twilight? AJ? Pinkie? Are you okay? Can you hear me?”
Twilight coughed, “Yeah Rainbow where are you? Ugh I can’t see a thing.”
Rarity popped in, carefully avoiding the dirt and debris, “Here sweetie let me shed some light.”
Using her horn she cast a light spell. The entire room lit up in multicolored paradise. Gems the sizes of ponies were stuck into the walls of the cave that they had fallen into. And the walls themselves; they were pure gold. Veins of silver and onyx laced them but only seemed to intensify the cave’s beauty.
“Oh… my…” Rarity trailed off.
“Wow, the whole mountain must be hollow. We must have fallen in the old entrance,” Twilight said, “the entrance was just made out of wood but there was probably an illusion spell cast there. Probably to keep nosy ponies out.”
“Yes well, I’m sure the Princess wouldn’t mind if I took one…”
“Yes well, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind if you waited until after our picnic,” Twilight suggested.
“Oh all right.”
Onwards they continued up the mountain until they came to the top of it. Looking off the six could see everything for miles. Most of it was nothing but the big blue waves of the ocean but there was something soothing about it all. Opening their picnic basket Twilight took out six plates, a few bottles of assorted fruit juices, a pie (apparently Applejack was also up early), six grilled alfalfa sandwiches, and a few other snacks. For the next couple hours the group of friends were content to just sit and talk to each other about everything and nothing. It was getting to be around three in the afternoon when they decided to head back down so they could still have time at the beach. Standing up to go the long way back down the path that went through the woods and eventually back towards the beach house Twilight noticed a small stone path, eroded over time by weather, that led to some bushes on the opposite side of the path; the side that faced the beach. Curiously walking over to the bushes she saw a long line of snow that went about halfway down the side of the mountain before ending in a drop whose point of impact was a deep pool of water. Twilight smiled: she found a better way to get down the mountain.
Running over to Applejack and Pinkie Pie she quietly whispered her plan in their ears. Needless to say they were game, and the pegasi of the group could just fly down, but that still left one particular pony.
“Rarity!” Pinkie screamed running towards the unicorn in question, “You would not believe what I found over by the bushes. You have to come see it.”
“What is it? Is it a diamond?” she asked, already thinking of the possibilities.
“Even better!” the pink pony said.
Better? What could be better than a diamond? Rarity just had to find out. Quickly trotting over to the bushes she could not obviously see what Pinkie was pointing out. All she saw was some snow. Behind her appeared Applejack who smiled at her and promptly shoved her off the mountain.
“Sorry Sugarcube!” she yelled after the screaming unicorn. Rarity blended into the snow really well actually, so much so that you could really only see her purple mane as she skidded on the white slush, before being launched off of a small ramp, right into a pool of water. Behind her followed both earth ponies and finally Twilight who was giggling like a filly.
“Twilight…” Rarity asked through clenched teeth and drooping mane, “did you have something to do with this?”
Behind them Rainbow and Fluttershy glided down, with the cyan Pegasus whooping loudly.
“Oh man, you should’ve seen the look on your face Rarity, it was priceless.”
Rarity just stood up out of the water and walked towards the beach house when a low rumbling sound was heard. The sky grew dark and winds started kicking up sand and other debris.
“What is it?” Fluttershy asked.
“It must be one of those random weather occurrences the princess told me about,” Twilight said as lightning cracked through the sky. “We’d better get inside the house.”
They all made a beeline straight for the house and once inside they breathed a sigh of relief; it was really coming down out there. While it was only mid-afternoon the cloud cover made it look like night. So Twilight used her magic and lit the lights in the house.
“So…” Rainbow said, looking around, “what do we do now?”
The storm showed no signs of slowing its torrent upon the island. The six friends sat around a table set out in the center of the living room while a fire roared in the fireplace. On the table sat a game of Monopoly; they had found it up in the game room and with nothing better to do, decided to play it (Twilight’s idea of having a slumber party was promptly shot down even before she managed to pull out her book, 101 Things You Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties But Were Afraid to Ask). Currently Rarity was losing; only wanting the most expensive properties as nothing less would suit her. Fluttershy quickly went bankrupt after having only bought one property, the Royal Zoo and then nothing else. Over time when all the other properties were bought up she lost her money through rent. So she just watched. Pinkie Pie was second to last solely because she had no monopolies. Her strategy, or lack thereof, just caused her to buy a property from every color and just sit there. This posed a problem to the remaining three who had the remaining properties split amongst themselves as they couldn’t build houses and thus couldn’t make money. This lasted maybe another hour before the clock struck eight in the evening.
At some point before that Applejack had gone bankrupt and went into the kitchen. When she came back out she carried six apple fritters and six mugs of hot chocolate on her back with astounding skill.
“Soup's on everypony,” she said walking towards the table that had recently been cleaned of the game (amazingly Pinkie ended up winning somehow). Twilight packed the table up and moved it out of the way, freeing up room in the living area. Everypony took their treats and retired to various couches and other furnishings around the room. While they snacked they discussed their plans for when the storm let up.
“I’m going to go shred some waves,” Rainbow said laying back on her recliner.
“Ah’m going ta go get us some of them giant apples,” Applejack said, finishing off her fritter.
“I for one am going back to that mine for some souvenirs.” Rarity looked off, probably already picturing her next dress.
“I promised my new friends I would go back to see them,” Fluttershy stated, looking at Pinkie Pie who spoke next.
“Ooooo…. I wanna go make a sand castle. Not a small one but a BIG one!”
Twilight chuckled, “I’m quite content sitting on the beach reading a book.”
They talked for a while about what they were going to do for the next week when Rainbow got up and stretched her wings.
“I dunno about you guys, but I am tired,” she said groggily.
“Me too,” Fluttershy agreed.
“Let’s go get some sleep then,” Twilight suggested, “We’ll start bright and early tomorrow if the weather permits.”
They all went their separate ways to their rooms and when Twilight fell into her bed she was quickly asleep.
Twilight woke up to the sight of the sun shining in the cloudless blue sky. She couldn’t deny; there was something beautiful about seeing the morning after a storm. The birds were out and though the beach was strewn with sticks and leaves from the forest, there was something tranquil about it. The unicorn smiled; it was a new day.
The aroma of breakfast wafted up to the third floor and Twilight found herself very hungry. Trotting down to the breakfast bar she was greeted with the sight of her five best friends sitting and chattering away blissfully.
“Mornin’ sleeping beauty,” Applejack greeted, “Here’s your breakfast.”
After a delicious breakfast the six walked outside to see the calm tide lapping against the shore. Twilight had a book and a lounger and was happy setting it up on the beach and reading it. Rarity liked that idea and joined her while Fluttershy and Applejack went into the woods to do their respective things. Pinkie and Rainbow had disappeared but Twilight wasn’t worried; they were grown mares and could take care of themselves. Sitting down on her beach chair she cracked open her book and started to read; Rarity was sitting next to her doing the same. This was going to be a good vacation…
“Ready?”
“Let’s do it!”
“Okay. Look out below!”
“What the-?”
SPLAT!
“RAINBOW DASH! PINKIE PIE!”
Twilight looked to her side to see a boiling furious Rarity, who was covered head to tail with sand. Looking directly above her she could see Rainbow holding Pinkie holding a bucket that was presumably until recently filled with a significant amount of sand. She could hear them laughing but it was cut short in the form of a blue aura that grabbed the two and pulled them to the ground. Rarity walked up to them, her sanity holding on by a fraying string.
“Ohwouldyoulookatthetimegottagobye!” Pinkie said quickly before zooming off across the sand to avoid the Wrath of the White Unicorn. Rainbow followed shortly after and Rarity soon after that.
Twilight just shook her head and returned to her book. As the sounds of her laughing and shouting friends died down, Twilight smiled. This was going to be a very good vacation…