Vacation

Chapters

Overworked
The Test
"I'd love too, but..."
Late
Stowaways
A New Fear
Iron Pony II
It's a Special Kind of Punch
Aftermath
The Perfect Date

Overworked

BANG!

Spike's morning started off like every other morning. Spike was rudely awakened, from probably the greatest dream he's ever had, due to Twilight making a ton of noise downstairs in the library. He's had enough of all this. He got up out of his basket-bed and marched angrily downstairs.

Books were scattered all over the floor of the library. Twilight was speed reading through a spell book, her hair all messy and her eyes were bloodshot red. Was she up all night? She looked like a wreck. Worry was painted on her face as she quickly finished the book and moved onto another.

The angry expression on Spike's face was replaced with a look of surprise. "Twilight?" The purple baby dragon said. Twilight paid no attention to Spike and continued to read. The lavender pony quickly left the book and moved over to a giant pile of books, which stood tall on the far side of the library. Her horn glowed a light purple and, one by one, the books levitated up to Twilight's face and then tossed away like trash.

"Where is it? Where is it?" Twilight said as she searched the pile.

"Twilight." Spike said much louder. Twilight took notice of her assistant, but before Spike could get another word out she began to speak.

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake. Help me find Advanced Spells of the Modern Day." Spike tried again to speak, but was once again cut off by his friend. "Come on, Spike."

The baby dragon gave up and just began helping Twilight rummage through all the books. It didn't take long for Spike to find the spell book. "Twilight, I..."

"Great, you found it." Her horn glowed and the book was forced out of Spike's hand. The purple unicorn immediately began flipping through the pages, and then instantly stopped at a page that showed a picture of a drawn pony with a speech bubble coming out of its mouth. Twilight closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Her horn lit up brightly.

"Twilight, what..." Spike began. The bright light, coming from Twilight's horn, blasted like a laser and hit Spike. "en Equestria estás haciendo?" Spike jumped at what he just spoken. What was this language he was speaking? It was nothing he had ever heard before, that's for sure. "Lo que el..."

Twilight looked quite proud of herself. Obviously the spell did what she intended it to do. "Well, that was easier than I thought." She said. Spike gave her an angry look, his arms crossed, and tapped his foot with impatience. "Oh, yeah. Sorry." The librarian began looking through passage in the book again. "Okay, just try to hold still." Her horn began to glow brightly, once again. Another beam shot out, from Twilight's horn, and hit Spike.

"At-il fonctionné?" Spike said, but when he realized he still wasn't speaking English, he grew even more irritated.

"Oops. Umm... let me try this again." She restarted the spell for a third time.

"Twilight, I need to..." Spike tried to speak, glad that he was finally speaking English again, but Twilight took off in search of another book. "Twilight!" He shouted. The unicorn stopped what she was doing and turned to Spike. "What in the hay are you doing? You're running around the library like a madmare, you look like you haven't slept at all, and you are being so loud, you woke me up from, what was, the greatest dream I've ever had."

"Sorry, Spike." The lavender unicorn said with a more calmer voice. "I have a very important test, tomorrow morning, and I desperately need to study."

"Well, can't you try an be a bit quieter, while I'm trying to sleep?"

Twilight nodded.

"Thank you." Spike headed back up stairs to his warm and soft basket. Unfortunately, for Spike, Twilight was not quieter. In fact, if anything, she was even louder that she was before. Spike groaned and moaned, trying desperately to block Twilight's ruckus from his head.

It was like déjà vu. Once again it was Applebucking Season and Big Macintosh was sick, with the flu. Applejack looked at the orchard, thousands of apple trees, all covered with ripe apples. She sighed, with anxiety, and began bucking the apple trees. Large wooden baskets were already set, underneath the trees, just at the right location, so when Applejack bucked the trees, the apples would just fall right into the baskets.

It wasn't too hard, especially for such a well fit and athletic pony, like Applejack, but she knew what laid ahead of her. She's already asked her friends for help, but they were all too busy too assist Applejack. Twilight was studying for that test, Pinkie Pie had to run the shop for Mr. and Mrs. Cake, one of Fluttershy's rabbits is about to give birth, Rainbow Dash was on weather duty, and Rarity has to make twenty custom dresses, by tomorrow, for a really important client.

For a split second, Applejack wished she didn't live on a farm. But this regret vanished quickly. She bucked a tree and dozens of red and yellow apples fell into the basket. She moved onto the next tree. She kicked her back legs at the tree and apples showered into the baskets, but apples weren't the only things that fell. A large bees nest came down on Applejack's head and broke into many pieces. Applejack began to panic as bees swarmed all around her, stinging her on every part of her body. She galloped through the orchard as fast as she could. Her hat fell of her head, but she didn't even notice at the moment. Up ahead, there was her sister's club house and nearly fifty feet from it was a small pond. She made her way towards the pond and jumped into it as quick as possible.

She stayed under water, with a large lung of air. She remained there for a good minute before bursting up for air. She breathed rapidly and heavily. The orange farm pony felt sore all over. She got out of the pond and went back to bucking apple trees. She was tired, from both the running and the bee stings.

It seemed that the whole town was in Sugarcube Corner. Pony's were shouting, foals were crying, and the mares and stallions in the front were all being very demanding. Pinkie Pie stood behind the counter, trying her hardest to take down everypony's order on the notepad. But there were just too many voices mixing together and the frustration and pressure was just too much for the pink pony.

Pinkie Pie tore paper, which was nearly filled with orders, from the pad and took it into the kitchen. The crowd in the bakery began to complain. "What in the hay you doing lady?" A stallion shouted.

"Come back here and take my order." A mare shouted.

It was a bit quieter in the kitchen, but the ponies' voices traveled through the walls. She looked at the list and read the first dessert on it. "Strawberry short-cake." Okay, not too hard. Pinkie Pie knew her desserts and nearly never failed at making them, unless she was working with a friend, then they are either made wrong or burned. She started off buy gathering up all the ingredients. Flour, eggs, sugar, strawberries, and everything else she needed. She poured the flour into a medium sized mixing bowl.

Pinkie Pie felt like cracking the egg was the most delicate part, when it came to baking. She picked up one of the eggs, with her hoof, and prepared to lightly tap the shell on the edge of the bowl. She brought it down gently. A stallion burst through the double doors and began yelling. "Where's my dessert?" Pinkie Pie was frightened and hit the egg on the bowl too hard. Yoke was leaking all over the counter and a large amount of eggshells have gotten into the bowl. "I've been waiting nearly an hour."

"Sir, look what you made me do." Pinkie Pie said to the Stallion with an assertive tone.

"I don't care what I made you do, I want my order, now!"

Just then the stallion was joined by six others, all were complaining about how long they've been waiting. Those six were joined by another four, and they were followed by ten more. The stress was unbearable, as Pinkie's brain started pulsating with an aching pain. The voices got louder and the customers only got angrier and angrier. Pinkie couldn't take it anymore.

"QUIET!" The pink pony shouted as loud as she could. The angry mob silenced and listened. Pinkie Pie took a moment to breath and then began speaking again. "I am just one pony and I'm working as fast as I can. Now get back in the bakery, get in line, and WAIT!" Within a blink of an eye the mob scattered out of the kitchen, back into the bakery. Pinkie Pie sighed with relief. She could feel some of the anxiety disappear while exhaling.

The pink pony went back to making the strawberry short cake. Pinkie Pie picked up the bowl and emptied it out into the trash. She put the bowl in the sink. It made a loud clank when hitting the dishes and silverware. She stood up on her hind legs and balanced herself on the counter. She opened the cabinet with her mouth and reached to grab a mixing bowl. It was just out of her reach, but Pinkie wasn't one to just give up so easily. She stretched out her forearm, feeling the edge of the bowl.

"Almost got it." The party pony grunted to herself. She almost had it, but before she was able to get a hold of it, the hoof holding herself on counter slipped and she fell, hitting her head on the counter. All the bowls poured out of the cabinet and landed on Pinkie's head.

Pinkie Pie woke up a minute or so later. It was dark, she couldn't see. She let out a scream and began to run, blind, around the kitchen. "Can't see, can't see." She said, bumping into and knocking over just about everything in the kitchen. The ponies in the bakery could hear Pinkie yelling and metal clanking, but they were to afraid to go check if things were okay.

This spastic moment lasted a good minute before Pinkie Pie stopped and removed the bowl off her head. She giggled at her own silliness and started back on the cake.

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness." Fluttershy galloped, quickly, from the living room into the kitchen. She grabbed a rag from the counter and then soaked it, in the sink, with warm water. Once the rag was wet, Fluttershy galloped back to the living room, where a pregnant rabbit was going into labor. All Fluttershy's animals were gathered around the rabbit. Fluttershy pushed through them all and began helping the bunny deliver her babies.

The first of the litter to be born was a tiny, white, male. Fluttershy has done this so many times before, but was always amazed at how small they were. In total there were twenty newborn baby rabbits. Twelve male and eight female. The mother rabbit just laid there, panting with exhaustion, letting her babies drink the milk from her breasts.

One of the newborns was in the back of the feeding, trying to get through to eat, but anytime it came anywhere close to getting in it was pushed away.

"Oh, you poor thing." Fluttershy said in a sweet hushed tone. Fluttershy walked into the kitchen and poured a small amount of milk into a tiny dish. She carried it, carefully, in her mouth back to the living room. She, with caution, placed the dish near the outcast newborn. "There you go, drink up, you're gonna need your strength." The hungry newborn turned around and sniffed the the dish with its cute little pink nose.

"Go on."

The bunny looked up at Fluttershy, with it's squinted eyes, and then back at the milk. It got up on the dish and proceeded to drink the milk. The yellow pegasus was so happy that she shed a tear.

"Aaaaaaaaannnnnd perfect." Rarity said as she added the final jewel to her third outfit. The outfit was white and sequenced in sapphires in a lovely pattern. "Three down," Rarity said and then let out a long and heavy sigh. "seventeen more to go." It was already three in the afternoon and she has only been able to make three out of the twenty dresses due tomorrow.

"Oh, how am I going to get these all done by tomorrow morning?" she said to herself. She was so overwhelmed, it was just unbearable. Of course she enjoyed making dresses, more than anything, but when there's a deadline Rarity can't help but stress over it. She breather in deed through her nose and exhaled through her mouth, letting out some of the stress that was consuming her entire well being.

Rarity froze in fear as smelled the stench of smoke. She began to panic and quickly galloped into the kitchen where she saw her sister and her sister's friends. The kitchen was completely destroyed. Splatter marks, of some kind of green liquid, covered the walls. Two or three egg yoked were bundled up in the center of the kitchen and there was a tiny fire on the stove. "Sweetie Belle, what are you doing?" Rarity shouted in surprise.

"We we're trying to earn out cutie marks in cooking." The white filly said, knowing she was in trouble.

"Didn't I tell you to never cook alone?" The older sister said.

"But I'm not alone. Applebloom and Scootaloo are here."

"I mean never cook with out me. For goodness sake, Sweetie Belle. I've got twenty dresses to make, by tomorrow morning, and I won't be able to make the deadline if you keep making a mess."

"But-" Sweetie Belle began, but she was cutoff by her older sister.

"No buts. Now, I want you and your friends to clean up this mess and then go outside or something." Rarity turned around and began heading back to her work. She head a loud explosion coming from the kitchen, which only brought more stress to the overwhelmed unicorn.

She was finally done. It took all morning, but she was done. The skies were now clear of all clouds and Rainbow Dash had the rest of the day to fly around Ponyville and practice her moves. She felt so free. The wind blowing through mane, the adrenaline building up in her body as she flew faster and faster. She did a nose dive, leaving behind her a rainbow trail. The pegasus pulled up ninety degrees, just inches from the ground.

"Ah yeah!" She said to herself. The excitement, the thrill, the adrenaline, she liked it. No, she didn't. She loved it. This was the very meaning of her existence, to go faster than ever before. To bend the very laws of gravity. What more can a pegasus ask for.

Right before she was about to pull up into the sky, she hit in the face by something. She couldn't see, nor shake the object off. She span out of control and crashed into a watermelon stand. Rainbow Dash and the stallion behind the stand were covered in watermelon. She groaned in pain. She slowly opened her eyes to see an open flier resting on her face. The pegasus grabbed the flier with one hoof and slowly got up off the watermelon covered ground. She felt sticky and dirty.

She read the flier.

Silverwing Beach
Where dreams of fun and relaxation become a reality

The Test

It was three in the morning. Twilight stood, alone, at the train station, blinding bright light beaming down on her, waiting for the train to Canterlot to arrive. Her eyelids mostly closed, feeling like they were ten pounds. In this situation, any normal pony would probably be sleeping as they waited for the train, but Twilight was not a normal pony. She was reading a spell book titled Star Swirl the Bearded's guide to Advanced Magic.

Her eyes were getting teary, blurring up her vision, and her body felt weak and achy. She needed sleep, the desire to do so only grew as time went by. Mustn't sleep, got to study. Got to... Her eyelids fell shut and she drifted off to sleep. Twilight did not dream and time seemed to have skipped half an hour, for she jumped awake due to the body rumbling whistle of the train. Her heart raced from the sudden shock, her body was shaking, and forehead sweating.

The train gave the appearance of being made from gingerbread. Each car was a different color (Blue, pink, and brown), one of the cars had second floor compartment which made the car look like a muffin.

Twilight got a hold of herself. Her horn glowed and the book levitated off the station floor and she moved with it into the car in the middle. She moved down the isle, towards the center and took a seat on the right side of the train. The train was completely quiet and empty, and the lighting was dim. Perfect sleeping conditions.

With in minutes the train departed from the station. The vibration and movement of the train soothed Twilight. She fell asleep peacefully.

Twilight stood in the center of the room. The sun was brightly shining through the windows, lighting up the room. Princess Celestia stood in front of the nervous unicorn.

"Are you ready, Twilight?" the princess said with much seriousness in her voice.

"Yes, Princess."

"Good, I want you to first perform life spell." Celestia looked down at the ground, Twilight did the same. There, just between the two ponies, was medium sized pot filled with black soil. Twilight continued to stare at it, Celestia moved her attention from the pot back to Twilight. "Well, I'm waiting."

"Alright, you can do this." Twilight whispered under breath. She began to focus on the pot, trying to picture the seed beneath the soil in her mind. Her horn lit up with a purple glow, the pot containing the soil was also starting glow. Celestia just stared, with little interest. Twilight's concentration broke and her horn stopped glowing. She opened her eyes and looked at the Pot filled with soil. Nothing had happen.

Twilight's stomach began to knot up. Sweat ran down her face. This was not good. Not good at all. She looked up at Celestia, who just stared back with a disapproving look. "I am very disappointed in you, Twilight." the sun princess said.

Twilight began to get all teary. She had failed, not only herself, but also her friend, her mentor, her princess. "I'm sorry." Twilight said, her voice was trembling and hardly translatable.

"In fact, I'm so disappointed that I here by banish you to the Everfree Forest, forever."

"Please, Princess Celestia. Don't banish me, please. I'll do better next time, I promise." the purple unicorn begged to her superior.

"I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle. But your laziness gives me no choice but to do so." Celestia's horn began to glow and shot out a bright beam of light at Twilight. Twilight screamed in horror.

"Noooooooo!"

"Miss," came an unfamiliar voice.

"I promise, I'll do better. No, No, NOOO!" Twilight screamed and was then shook back into reality by somepony standing by her seat.

"Miss," He said again.

Twilight quickly got up and looked at the conductor. "What's going on?" She asked him. "Where am I?"

"Well, you're in Canterlot. You were just having a nightmare."

"Canterlot?!" Twilight said. She looked out the window. Out the window she saw a the Canterlot Train Station, the sun hung low in the sky. "Oh my gosh, I'm going to be late." She took off down the isle and out the train, leaving behind her spell book on the seat.

The purple unicorn ran down Horseshoes Avenue and then turned onto Dodge Street, from there it was a straight run to the Canterlot Castle. She ran up the white concrete stairs. By the large wooden door, just up the steps, two white pegasi in golden armor stood guard. "Mornin' Ms. Sparkle." the guard on the right said in a very deep voice. Both guards pushed open the door, letting Twilight gallop on in.

On the other side of the room, right by the large white stairway, stood Princess Celestia. Her colorful, sparkling, hair floating in air, waving like ocean waves. "Twilight, my faithful student. How are you?" The princess said.

"Sorry I'm late, Princess." The lavender unicorn said as she knelt before her mentor.

"It's quite alright." Princess Celestia said with a gentle and kind voice. "Shall we go to the study hall and get started?"

Twilight nodded and she and Celestia headed up the large white stairs, turned right and headed down the hall. Twilight said nothing to Celestia, she was too nervous to speak. What if her dream wasn't just a dream? What if it was a vision? A vision of the near future.

Celestia could see the nervousness on Twilight's face, so she spoke to her student. "It's really nice to see you again, Twilight."

"Same here, Princess." Twilight said, her voice trembling.

"You shouldn't be so nervous. Try an relax."

"I don't think I can."

"Twilight, you'll be fine. You are the smartest student I've ever had the honor in teaching." Celestia said, truthfully.

The unicorn looked up at Celestia and smiled. They came to a stop at a door in the middle of the hall. Celestia's horn lit dimly and the door opened. Beyond the door there was a big open, almost empty, room. In the center of the room there was a small coffee table and on the table was a small object. Celestia walked into the study hall, but Twilight just stood there, still feeling nervous.

Celestia turned her head to look at the frightened unicorn. "You okay, Twilight?" Princess Celestia asked.

Twilight took a lung full of air through her nose, and exhaled out her mouth. "Yeah." Twilight moved into the room, legs shaking and heart racing. Once she was all the way in Celestia used her magic to shut the door, which added even more pressure on Twilight's shoulders. The unicorn moved over to the coffee table, next to Celestia. The object on the table was a grey stone.

"Alright, Twilight Sparkle, you are here to take the advance magic one test. After you pass you will officially be in advance magic two. Any questions before we get started?" Celestia informed Twilight.

Twilight shook her head.

"Good. For the first part of your test all you have to do is transform this stone into a sapphire." Celestia said with a smile.

Twilight just stared at the stone for a few seconds. Sweat built up on her forehead.

"Take your time." The alicorn said to the lavender unicorn. "There's no rush."

Twilight, then, forced herself to stop panicking. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate. In her mind she pictured the stone, on the wooden coffee table. She then imagined it transforming into a blue sapphire. She could feel the energy from her body going into her horn and after awhile that feeling disappeared. The unicorn opened her eyes and gazed upon, instead of a grey stone, but a stainless blue sapphire. She looked up at Celestia. Celestia smiled and nodded in approval.

The other three parts of the test were just as easy. All she had to do was start a fire and then put it out, then teleport from the castle to the garden and then back, and lastly she had to bring a dead flower back to life. She passed them all and was very relieved when it was all over.

"Well, congratulations Twilight Sparkle. I'm happy to welcome you to advance magic two."

"Thank you, Princess." Twilight said and then knelt before her princess. She rose back to her hooves.

"Well, now that we're all done here, should we celebrate?" Celestia asked.

"I'd love to, but my train leaves in less than half an hour. You understand, right?" Twilight said feeling guilty about denying her ruler's request. They've almost never hung out and when they did it was never just the two of them.

"I do." Celestia said, still smiling. "Well then you better be on you way."

"Yes, Princess."

"Say hello to your friends for me, will you?"

"Of course." Twilight and Celestia gave each other a farewell hug and then Twilight took off towards the train station.

It was around five in the evening when Twilight arrived back in Ponyville. She looked out the window and saw, waiting for her, Rainbow Dash with some kind of flier in her mouth. Twilight calmly got off the train and was then greeted by her daredevil friend. Rainbow removed the flier from her mouth and then began to speak. "Twilight, I'm glad you're back. I found this flier and..."

"I'm glad to see you too." Twilight said laughing. Rainbow Dash handed her the flier and she read the introduction aloud.

Silverwing Beach
Where dreams of fun and relaxation become a reality

Voted as the number one vacation spot in all of Equestria

"What about it?" Twilight asked Rainbow Dash.

"What about it?!" Rainbow said in total surprise. "I took the liberty in renting us a beach house for the weekend. You, me, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Spike."

"How were you able to afford a beach house in SIlverwing Beach?"

"I got a loan."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. A smile was plastered on Rainbow's face. "Have you told everyone else about this?"

"Not yet, I planned to do that after telling you. So, what do you say, Twilight? Wanna go on a vacation?"

Twilight's suspicious look changed to that of joy. "Why the hay not, lets go tell everyone."

"YES!" Rainbow said with much victory and then they headed into town together.

"I'd love too, but..."

"Twilight, what's all this about?" Applejack said. "I've got hundreds of more apple trees to buck and little time to do it in." Applejack pointed over at the many, unbucked, apple trees behind her. Twilight looked at them. Applebloom was over at one of the trees, trying to buck it with her hind legs, just like her big sister. But unfortunately for her, she was only able to get one or two apple out of the tree. Applejack waited, impatiently, for Twilight to respond.

"I've come over to tell you that Rainbow Dash has rented us a beach house at Silverwings Beach for the weekend." Twilight said. She began to think of a solution if her earth pony friend said no. Applejack was just so busy. She was almost always busy. She reminded Twilight so much of herself.

"A beach house?" Applejack said in a very suspicious and questionable tone. "How in the hay can Rainbow Dash afford a beach house, let alone a beach house in Silverwing?"

"She said she got a loan."

"For some reason I doubt it." Applejack spoke. There was a short pause between the two ponies. Twilight agreed with Applejack, Rainbow Dash is hiding something but it's probably not something she should worry about. Well actually it might be, but Twilight was done worrying for a while. "Well, I'd love to go, but I'm just to darn busy."

"What if we helped you?" Twilight suggested. "Remember how much faster it was last time we helped you? We could help you later today, after we all pack, and then tomorrow we all leave together."

"I don't know, Twi."

"Come on. We could really use a vacation. It'll be fun."

"Well," Applejack hesitated. "Alright, sure."

"Great, well I better go tell Rarity. We'll meet up with you in about an hour."

"See ya then, Twilight."

Twilight galloped away off the property and towards the Carousel Boutique.

"Come on Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash said. "You know how hard it was to get this place?"

"But I'm suppose to be watching the bakery while Mr. and Mrs. Cake are gone." Pinkie Pie said. She felt very pressured.

"They won't find out, we'll be back before they return on Tuesday."

Just then a miniature version of Rainbow Dash popped up on Pinkie's shoulder. But smaller Rainbow Dash looked a lot different, she had red horns coming out of her head and wore a black cape. "Don't be a party pooper, Pinkie." The small RD said in a squeaky high-pitch voice. "That Rainbow Dash had to have worked her flank off to get that beach house and you're just going to bail on her?"

Before Pinkie Pie could respond to the mini Rainbow Dash a mini Fluttershy poofed onto her other shoulder. "Oh no, you mustn't Pinkie Pie." The yellow pegasus said, her voice was the same as the normal sized Fluttershy. She wore a white robe and a golden halo hovered over her tiny head. "The Cakes put trust you to run Sugarcube Corner, you can't just abandon your post."

"Are you going to listen to a lame weakling, or are you going to listen to a cool, ultra awesome, super daredevil, like me?" mini Rainbow Dash said.

The mini Fluttershy whimpered in fright and sadness.

"Come on Pinkie Pie. There's going to be tons fun things for you to do and hundreds of different sweets for you to eat. Doesn't that sound like fun? Be game or be lame." mini Dashie said and then disappeared.

"This still doesn't feel right, I hope you make the right decision." mini Fluttershy said and then also vanished.

"Umm, who are you talking to?" the real sized Rainbow Dash asked Pinkie Pie.

"Alrighty Dashie, I'll go." Pinkie Pie said with such joy. A smile, from ear to ear, was pasted on her face as she jumped up and down. "I'm going to go pack." Then she took off, faster than a bullet and maybe faster than Rainbow Dash.

"I'll never understand that pony." Rainbow Dash said, more confused than ever.

Over at the Carousel Boutique Twilight was discussing with Rarity about the beach vacation. Rarity looked tired. No tired was an understatement, she looked exhausted, drained, worn out, undead.

"Oh the beach sound absolutely marvelous, but I'm afraid I must decline." Rarity said as she fluffed her hair with her left forehoof. "I'm suppose to watch Sweetie Belle this weekend, it's my parent's anniversary this weekend and I promised them I'd take care of them."

"What if you got somepony else to watch her?" Twilight suggested to Rarity.

"Hmm..." Rarity began to think to herself for a moment and then spoke once again. "You know that's not a bad idea. I'm sure Granny Smith wouldn't mind watching her, plus she'd be able to spend more time with Applebloom. Alright Twilight, I'll go. But I'll need some time to pack my things."

"Of course." Twilight said. "Me and the others are going to help Applejack with the apple trees in half an hour, so you can meet us later once you're done packing."

"Gladly."

At that Twilight left and Rarity went to got tell her sister what's going on this weekend.

"Oh, umm I'd love to go, but one of my rabbits just gave birth to a litter of bunnies yesterday and I can't just leave them." Fluttershy said in her sweet, gentle voice.

"Can't you get Angel to take care of them?" Rainbow Dash asked. Fluttershy giggled with much amusement but then realized that Rainbow Dash wasn't laughing.

"Oh, you're serious?" the yellow pegasus said.

"Of course I'm serious." Rainbow Dash snapped. Fluttershy flinched at the sudden rage brought by her friend.

"Well, I could ask him. But I can't make any promises."

"Great!" Rainbow Dash said, her rage turning into a smile, she took off like a rocket into the air.

"Oh my." Fluttershy said.

Rarity later joined the group of friends at the apple orchard with her sister, Sweetie Belle, by her side. Sweetie Belle took off towards the barn to meet Applebloom and Scootaloo. "Applebloom, Scootaloo." She squealed in excitement.

"Hey Sweetie Belle." Scootaloo said. "Man you're sisters are lucky, they get to go to the beach."

"Yeah," Applebloom said. "I can't believe they'd go to the beach without us though. It ain't fair."

"We can still have fun here in Ponyville." Sweetie Belle said to Applebloom.

"Doing what?" Scootaloo added.

"Umm..." Sweetie Belle began to think. The rest of the crusaders waited for her to respond. "You're right, there's nothing."

Late

The next morning wasn’t coming quick enough for Rainbow Dash. She lied awake on her cloud made bed. Her body jittering with excitement and impatience. The pegasus tossed and turned but nothing helped. She even tried racing through the night to tire herself out, but the excitement of the next day was too strong.

The night was warm. Rainbow Dash turned on her back, as she flew over Ponyville, and gazed upon the millions of twinkling stars in the sky. For a moment Rainbow Dash imagined herself flying up into space and visiting one of those stars. She recalled having a dream similar to that thought.

Dashie’s daze was broken by a familiar high pitch voice. “Hey, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow Dashed turned back over and looked down at the ground at her best friend, Pinkie Pie. The pink earth pony was waving her front hooves franticly in the air.

“Rainbow Dash, down here.” Pinkie yelled loudly into the night. The windows from the houses surrounding Pinkie Pie lit up and ponies began shouting out at her.

“Hey, be quiet out there!”

“We’re trying to sleep!”

“Some of us have work in the morning!”

Rainbow Dash flew down and landed in front of Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie Pie, what are you doing up?” The rainbow maned pegasus whispered.

“Well I tried to sleep but I couldn’t because I’m soooooooooo excited and…” Rainbow Dash shoved her hoof into Pinkie’s mouth.

“Shhhhhhh!” Rainbow Dash said to her pink friend.

“Sorry.” Pinkie said in a loud whisper. The sound of crying babies and yelling ponies filled the air. “Anyway, I just couldn’t sleep. I’ve tried everything, tossing, turning, pacing, warm milk, jumping, walking, galloping, singing…”

“Ok, ok, I get it.” Rainbow Dash said in annoyance. “Yeah, I can’t sleep either. I’m just excited to sleep, and there’s nothing to do at night to help pass the time.”

“You should come back to Sugarcube Corner with me. There should be all sorts of things to do. We could make cupcakes, tell scary stories, make cupcakes, jump up and down on the beds, did I mention we could make cupcakes?”

“Well, I don’t have anything better do, so sure.” Rainbow Dash whispered.

Pinkie Pie jumped into the air and shouted, “YAAAAAAAAAAAY!” Once again Rainbow Dash stuffed her hoof into Pinkie’s mouth and shushed her. At that the two friends walked down the road to Sugarcube Corner.

For the rest of the night Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash baked cupcakes, told scary stories, and even jumped up and down on the Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s beds. Before they knew it, it was sunrise. Rainbow looked out the window and saw the sun coming over the line of houses. “Oh my gosh, I totally forgot.” She said as she jumped in the air in worry.

Before Pinkie Pie could ask Rainbow Dash what she had forgotten, Rainbow dashed out of the bakery and into the sky. The party pony shrugged and headed up stairs to grab her suitcase.

Waiting up in her room was her pet alligator, Gummy. He gave the usual blank, emotionless stare. “Hey Gummy, you ready to go to the beach?” Gummy jumped and used his toothless mouth to latch onto Pinkie’s cotton candy-like hair. Pinkie Pie giggled.

Over on her bed was her light pink suitcase, filled with everything she will need at the beach. She picked it up with her mouth and went back downstairs. She locked up the bakery, as she left it, and then hurried to the Ponyville Train Station. Most of her friends were there waiting on the platform, with their luggage by their sides. Rarity was wearing a yellow sunhat and pinkish-purplish shades. Rainbow Dash wasn’t there, she was probably still trying to get…that thing she forgot.

“Hey guys.” Pinkie Pie said with a smile so large her friends began wondering how her jaw hasn’t broke yet.

“Hello, Pinkie.” Twilight said in response. She noticed Gummy latched onto her head like some kind of lamprey. “Umm Pinkie, you’re bringing Gummy?”

“Yeah,” Pinkie Pie burst out in a loud and joyful tone. “Gummy just loves the beach and I couldn’t just leave him home alone while I’m going somewhere super-duper-fun like the beach.”

“Oh, I do hope mother rabbit and her babies are ok.” Fluttershy said, her voice was low and nearly unheard.

“You worry too much darling.” Rarity said. “I’m sure they’re fine.”

“Here it comes, here it comes.” Pinkie Pie said with excitement, jumping up and down like a foal who ate way to much sugar.

“Where in the hay is Rainbow Dash?” Applejack asked.

“I thought she’d been the first to get here.” Spike said.

“She said she’s forgotten something.” Pinkie Pie informed her friends.

The train came to a halt at the station and all the doors opened automatically, releasing a rush of cool air. All the stallions and mares, waiting on the platform, stepped onto the train with their luggage either in their mouths or if they were unicorns, the luggage was levitating by their side.

“Oh, I hope she makes it.” Fluttershy said in worry.

“Come on everypony, we better get on the train.” Twilight said, stepping onto the train with her luggage floating by her side. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Spike followed behind her. Pinkie Pie was looking in the sky, hoping to see a stream of rainbow come heading her way. She turned and stepped onto the train.

The interior of the train was nice. The carpet floor was red with gold spiral designs, the seats were blood red, and each window had light blue curtains. Pinkie Pie found an empty row and sat there and gazed out the window. Every minute that passed by Pinkie Pie grew more and more worried about Rainbow Dash.

“ALL ABOARD!” The conductor called out from the station platform. Pinkie Pie and the rest of her friends groaned and then the train began to move.

She didn’t make it

The pink pony closed her eyes in sadness, but then there was a tap on her window. She jumped from being surprised. She looked through the window and saw, flying right outside it, Rainbow Dash. In Dashie’s mouth was a brown suitcase. She tapped on the window again and then yelled something that couldn’t be made out.

“Stop the rain?” Pinkie said questionably. “It’s not raining, silly.” The pink earth pony smiled.

“stppppp thhh trnnnnnn!” Rainbow Dash said.

“You want to play a game?”

Rainbow Dash brought a hoof to her face and flew over the train to the other side. “Rainbow Dash?!” Twilight said loudly. The rest of her friends all looked out of the window. Rainbow Dash repeated what she was trying to say to Pinkie. “I think she wants us to stop the train.” The purple unicorn said. The rainbow maned pegasus nodded with a small smile on her face. “Hold on Rainbow, I’m on it.” Twilight got out of her seat and made her way to front of the train.

The train was gaining speed. When she got to the conductor’s car the conductor turned looking surprised. “Miss, I’m going to have to ask you to go back to your seat.” He said.

“One of my friends was late and is now flying next to your train. You have to stop the train.” Twilight said.

“I’m sorry lil filly, but I can’t do that. We are on a tight schedule and I don’t have time to stop the train to let somepony on just because she’s late.”

“But…”

“No, buts. Now if you can be so kind and go back to your seat.”

Twilight gave the conductor an angry look and turned and left the conductor’s car. Her friends gave her a confused look. Twilight walked back to the window and yelled out to Rainbow Dash. “You have to find another way on, try the caboose. There’s usually a small deck in the back.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and flew away. The five ponies waited for a good five minutes before the door on the back of their car opened. The ponies turned and saw, standing there, Rainbow Dash with the suitcase in her mouth.

“Rainbow Dash!” the five said together with excitement.

Rainbow carefully placed her luggage on the red carpet. “Hey guys.” She said with a smile. Pinkie Pie pounced at the late pegasus, knocking her to the ground.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash I thought you weren’t going to make it.” Pinkie Pie spoke quickly with joy. “I thought you were going to have to fly all the to Silverwing Beach and I was so, so, so worried and…”

“Um, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash interrupted.

“Yes Dashie.” Pinkie said.

“As much as I like to listen to you rant about my lateness, could you please get off of me. You’re crushing my ribcage.”

“Oh, sorry.” Pinkie Pie got off of Rainbow Dash and the pegasus got up off the floor.

“Glad you made.” Twilight said to her friend.

“Yeah Rainbow Dash, if you didn’t go how would we be able to check in and get the key to our beach house?” Spike hypothetically asked. All of a sudden it went pitch black and Fluttershy let out a shriek of terror.

“Who turned out the lights?” The yellow pegasus screamed. Everything lit up again, Fluttershy was no where to be seen.

“Fluttershy?!” Applejack called out. Fluttershy poked her head out from behind one of the seats, she panted heavily and was shaking in fear.

“Wha…What was that?” Fluttershy said in a low tone.

“Fluttershy, ain’t nothin to worry about. It was probably just a tunnel.” Applejack said as she went over to help Fluttershy out from behind the seat.

“Oh, ok.” Fluttershy said.

“So, how far away is this Silverwing Beach anyway?” Twilight asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yes Rainbow Dash, how far is this place? I want to be able to collect some seashells before sunset.” Rarity said in a very sophisticated manner.

“Rarity, I didn’t know you collect Seashell.” Twilight said.

“I don’t, but seashells would look just fabulous on my dresses.”

“The point in going to the beach was to get away from work, not to do more.” Rainbow Dash said in annoyance.

“I know, but how often do I get a chance to use something other than jewels to sequence my creations?” Rarity said, looking as if she were picturing the dresses in her head.

“Whatever, it’s your vacation.” Rainbow said. “And to answer you question Twilight, I don’t know how far it is, but I did read that it’s just outside Canterlot, so maybe about a few hours.”

Applejack’s suitcase tipped over and for some reason made a grunting sound. Everypony looked at it for a second and then looked away.

Hours past before the train began to slow down. “We’re here, we’re here, we’re here.” The hyper pink pony said. The seven friends looked out their windows and saw the ocean. It stretched on, what looked like, forever.

“Wow!” They all said together in an impressed chorus. The six ponies and Spike could see about six boats in the water. All the boats looked to be fishing boats. Eventually the train came to a complete stop and the friends gathered up their luggage and stepped off the train. The station looked like a fancier version of the one in Ponyville.

Above the door to the interior of the station was a sign that read, “Ticket and Information Booth”.

“Come on everypony,” Twilight said to her friends. “lets go find out where we rent the beach house.” The seven friends moved into the building, carrying their heavy luggage.

“Sweet Celestia, I don’t remember packing such a heavy load.” Applejack said as she carried the heavy suitcase on her back. Her back ached and sweat ran down her face.

Inside the building there were about a dozen ponies. Some were in line to buy tickets and some were by the information booth.

“Wait here while I go get directions.” Twilight said. She dropped her suitcase onto the ground and walked over to the information booth. Applejack bucked her luggage off her back, sending it flying into the air and crashing to the ground. Many of the other ponies in the station stared at her as she panted like some kind of dog. She didn’t really care, she was just glad to be able to give her back a break from the darn case.

The line to the information booth wasn’t long at all, in fact it only took a minute or two. The stallion behind the booth was a quite old looking, but not Granny Smith old. He was a pegasus pony and his mane was short and white.

“Hello miss, how may I help you?” The stallion said.

“Yes you can.” Twilight said politely. “My friends and I are renting a beach house for the weekend and we were wondering where we would go to check in.”

“Oh, what you want to do is take a right onto Horseshoe Road and just keep going till you come across a building with a big yellow sign saying ‘Rent a Beach House’.”

“Thank you.” Twilight said nodding her head.

“Anything else I can do for you?” the stallion politely asked.

“No thank you sir.” Twilight walked back to her friends.

“So, did you get directions?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking anxious.

“Yes, we just need to go down Horseshoe Road and keep going until we see a building with a yellow sign.” Twilight spoke.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash said, picking up her suitcase with her mouth and then dashed, in air, out of the station.

The seven followed the directions given to Twilight by the old stallion, and with in half an hour found the building with the yellow sign. Rainbow Dash pushed open the door and a bell rung.

“Good day,” Said a young stallion behind the counter at the other end of the room. “Are you here to rent a beach house?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. She dashed up to the counter.

“Name, please” The stallion said.

Rainbow Dashed leaned over and quietly said, “Summer Breeze”.

“Ah, Ms. Breeze. I’ve been expecting you, here’s your house key.” The stallion grabbed a key from under the desk and gave it to Rainbow Dash. “The house is just across the street and if there’s anything I can do you, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

The seven made their way out of the building. Rainbow’s friends looked confused.

“Summer Breeze?” Rarity said to Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, yeah…umm…you see that’s my pen name.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Pen name?!” Twilight said confusedly.

“Look, there’s our house.” The rainbow maned pegasus said, pointing to the extremely large beach house across the road. It was about three stories tall and the closer the friends got to it the louder the sounds of waves crashing became. The friends then forgot about Rainbow Dash’s suspiciousness and gazed in awe at their weekend home.

Stowaways

Rainbow Dash was the first to enter the vacation home. The interior was just amazing. The walls were covered in sailor artifacts and fish trophies. There was a grayish-tan couch, a glass coffee table in front of the couch, and on almost every dresser was a model ship in a bottle.

The friends all gasped in amazement.

Pinkie Pie squealed. “I feel like a pirate.” She zipped over to one of the bottled ships and looked inside with fascination. “Arg me matey, it seems we’ve sailed off course, arg.” She and her friends laughed at this remark.

“Wow, this just incredible.” Twilight said.

“And the decorations are just fabulous.” Rarity followed up.

Rainbow Dash dashed up stairs. No pony, nor Spike, questioned what the rainbow maned pegasus was up too. Rarity went over to check out the wonderful detail on the wall decorations, Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down on the couch, Applejack was in the kitchen looking to see if their was any food, and Fluttershy and Twilight were looking at the other rooms down on the first floor.

They found one bedroom, which Fluttershy asked if she could have for she was still afraid of heights. Twilight nodded with a smile and the yellow pegasus smiled back. The blanked on the bed was light green with a darker green design pattern. By the bed was a wooden nightstand, on top of it there was a lamp that looked like a mermare.

“Oh, thank you Twilight, this room will do just nicely.” Fluttershy said quietly.

“You’re quite welcome.” Twilight said and then just turned around and walked out. Fluttershy followed behind her and grabbed her suitcase by the door. She brought it back into her room.

Rainbow Dash came flying, literally, down the stairs with much excitement. “You guys, come look at the bedrooms.” She dashed back up stairs. All the friends either lifted their luggage onto their back or used their unicorn magic and carried them up stairs. Fluttershy stayed in her room and began unpacking her things.

Just up the stairs Rainbow Dash stood with a large grin. She led her friends to the first room which was just across the stairs. There was a bookshelf filled with many books on local tales and legends, books on the history of Silverwing, and even books on the wildlife in the area, it even had a second bed for Spike.

“Oh my gosh.” Twilight said, over come with joy. “This is perfect.” She stepped into the room and placed her luggage on her purple blanket bed. She instantly began searching the bookshelf. The purple unicorn hardly even took notice of the framed pictures hanging on the wall.

“Alright Pinkie Pie, ready to go see your room?” Rainbow said to her pink friend.

“Oh my gosh!” Pinkie Pie said with unbelievable joy. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.”

“Calm down, Pinkie” Rainbow Dash said.

“Sorry,” Pinkie Pie said as the moved down the hall to the last door on the right.

“Here it is.” The pegasus said. Pinkie Pie’s smile was larger than ever. The excitement, the joy, the experience. Rainbow Dash opened the door and revealed a pink room. Pink bed covers, pink walls, and a pink nightstand.

Pinkie Pie squealed with joy and instantly zipped into her room and started quickly observing everything. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! It’s perfect, oh thank you Rainbow Dash. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Gummy, look at our room, it’s so amazing. Doesn’t it just make you want to party?” The pink earth pony said quickly.

“You’re welcome, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash spoke.

“It’s so…so…PINK!” Pinkie Pie squealed and then started jumping all over her room.

Rainbow Dash closed the door, leaving Pinkie Pie and Gummy in the room alone. “And Rarity, you’re just going to love your room.” Rainbow Dash said. She led her friends to a room just down the hall. In the room, the walls were decorated with hundreds of different kind of seashells and the blanket was made from very soft material. There was also another door which led to the room’s private bathroom.

“Oh my stars, this room is so…so…” Rarity tried to find the words to describe the room. “No words can describe how perfect this room is.”

“I knew you’d like it.” Rainbow Dash said with a smile. “Come on Applejack, yours is on the third floor.” The two athletic ponies went up the second stair case to the third floor. At the top of the stairs there was a hallway with only two doors. The two ponies walked into the one closest to the stairs and behind it was something very unsuspecting.

Apple wallpaper, apple lamp on an apple shaped nightstand, and a red blanketed bed. The suitcase dropped suddenly as Applejack’s mouth fell open in surprise. There was bunch of groans coming from the case and Rainbow Dash just stared at it questionably. Applejack didn’t even notice.

“Rainbow Dash?” Applejack said, still surprised.

“Yeah, Applejack.” Rainbow Dash said still looking at the suitcase.

“Why does our beach house have an apple themed room?”

“Oh, when I made our reservation, I requested a customized room just for you.” Rainbow Dash looked away from the case and over at Applejack who looked back at her with a very confused look.

“And how were you able to afford a customized room, let alone a beach house?” Applejack questioned Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow began sweating, trying to think of an answer to tell her friend. Not able to think of one she just said, “Don’t you worry about, Applejack old pal.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash, who had guilty written all over her face. Applejack then decided it wasn’t worth worrying about. She was on vacation, a time to escape worries, not bring more. “Whatever you say, RD.” Applejack said. “Well, I’m going to go unpack. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“Alright, AJ!” Rainbow Dash zipped across the hall, followed by the slam of a door.

Applejack let out a loud sigh, and then gave a slight smile. She picked up her luggage, with her mouth, and tossed it across the room onto the bed. The suitcase opened and her sister and her sister’s two friends were dumped off the bed. They were groaning with pain.

“Remind me to never hide in a suitcase ever again.” Scootaloo said with pain.

“Applebloom?” Applejack shouted in surprise. “What in the hay are you doing in my luggage?”

“Because it’s not fair.” Applebloom started. “Y’all were going to go to the beach for the weekend and leave me and my friends in Ponyville.”

“Well that’s no excuse. And, what did you do to my things?” Applejack said.

“There wasn’t any room, so we dumped it out.” Applebloom said. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were looking guilty and a bit scared. There heads were lowered to the ground, accepting the yelling they were being given.

“Applebloom, you have no idea how angry I am.” Applejack began raging. “I have half a mind to buy you three a ticket home.” Applebloom joined in on the guilt look. “But, lucky for y’all, I ain’t in the mood to be stressing over this. This is my vacation and I should not be stressing over something like this. So I guess you three can stay.”

The crusaders cheered and did their famous high hoof.

“But,” Applejack started, the crusaders looked at her waiting for the catch. “I get the bed. You three can sleep on the couch or something, just not my bed.” Applejack left her room and went down to the first floor to meet her friends.

"Hey Applejack," Twilight said. "What was all that yelling?"

"My sister and her friends dumped all my stuff out of the suitcase and stowed away inside."

"Oh, no." Rarity said, getting all over dramatic. "How am I suppose to relax and have a good time with my sister here?"

"Rarity," Twilight said to her fellow unicorn. "She's your sister."

"Yes I know, but she's always causing some kind of disaster, and I'm sure this weekend will be no different."

"Well I guess we'll all have to do our part in watching over them." Twilight said. Rarity and Applejack let out an annoyed sigh and nodded their heads.

A New Fear

Rarity was looking in a mirror that hung on the wall of the living room. She put on a yellow sunhat with a green nature pattern. “Hmm” she said questionably to herself. She switched the sunhat with another sunhat, but this one was white with a gold trim. She switched back and forth between the two hats. Eventually she pulled out a third sunhat that was green with small white daisies placed randomly, yet perfectly, around the hat.

“Perfect” Rarity said.

“Rarity” Sweetie Belle said with an impatient whine. “I want to go the beach.”

Rarity turned around to face her sister. “In a minute Sweetie Belle.” Rarity’s horn glowed blue and a tube of sunscreen levitated from her bag and opened. Her magic squeezed the tube and a pea size dab of white sunscreen was placed on her hoof. She began to rub the cream on her face and then got a little more on her hoof and started rubbing it on her fore and hind legs.

“Come on.” Sweetie Belle said, jumping up and down with anxiety.

“Here, put this on.” Rarity said, using her magic to toss the tube of sunscreen to her sister. The tube hit Sweetie Belle in the forehead and she caught it.

“Ouch!” She said, using her free hoof to rub her forehead. Rarity paid no attention to her sister as she was making sure the sunscreen was rubbed in. Sweetie Belle opened up the cap and began squeezing it. Nothing came out of the tube. She banged it against the floor and shook it but still nothing came out. She held up the tube to her eye to see if there was anything in it and, as she lightly squeezed it with her hoof, half the tube of sunscreen dumped out onto Sweetie Belle’s face. “Ah!”

Sweetie Belle began rubbing her eye with her right hoof. Rarity turned around. “Sweetie Belle, stop fooling around.” The fashion designer said.

“I’m…ah” Sweetie Belle’s eye was burning and watering. She continued rubbing it. “I’m not fooling around.” Sweetie Belle rushed over to the kitchen sink and began washing off the sunscreen from her face.

Rarity lifted a green sand bucket that stood in a corner of the living room, with her unicorn magic. “Sweetie Belle, you ready?” Rarity called out. She looked over at her sister, who was drying her face in the kitchen with a rag.

Sweetie Belle looked over at her sister and nodded.

“Well then, come on.”

Rarity and Sweetie Belle moved out the backdoor. Pass the backdoor there was a small porch with three wooden rocking chairs and two small glass tables. Pass the porch was a long deck that went past a small wall of dunes and down onto the beach. The two sisters walked down this deck and took their first steps onto the sandy beach.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle could see their friends, all doing their own separate things. Spike was resting on a beach towel with a pair of sunglasses on his face. Pinkie Pie was playing in the water with Gummy, Applebloom and Scootaloo were building a sandcastle, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were having a little race down the beach, and Twilight was, of course, reading a book.

Sweetie Belle made a dash towards her friends and instantly began helping them with the sandcastle. Rarity looked at the three friends playing so nicely together. Smiles on their faces, all was going well. Maybe she was wrong about her sister coming. Nothing has gone wrong yet, which Rarity began to believe was some kind of record.

Rarity began walking along the shore, with her bucket floating by her side, looking for seashells. It wasn’t long before she found a really beautiful pink one. It looked like some kind of spiral and had a small opening. “Now this is just gorgeous.” Rarity said. “Rarity, your outfits are going to be the biggest thing in Equestria.”

Just about five yards from where she stood she found another. Same kind of shell, only this one was a little bigger.

As she walked and picked up these beautiful pink shells, seagulls made their squawking sound in the air. It was so relaxing. The sun was low in the sky, but not setting.

Rarity stopped walking and took a moment to breath in the salty air. It wasn't the greatest scent in the world, but it sure was one of the most relaxing and opening smells. She wasn't use to such calm environments, the smell sea salt, the sound of gulls squawking and waves crashing, the sight of the sun glistening on the ocean, making the water shine.

A smile formed on the white unicorn's face. She continued walking. Up ahead there were about five or six of the shells. As she walked, the shells rustled in the bucket with every step.

"Oh, this is so wonderful." Rarity said to herself. She found many more shells, most of which were the same pink spiral ones.

It was just a small pile of sand. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, an Scootaloo all stared at their abomination of a sandcastle.

"Well Crusaders," Applebloom spoke to her friends. "It's official, we are not Sand sculpters, let alone sandcastle builders."

"I agree," Scootaloo said, pointing her hoof at, what was supposed to be, their sand castle. "I bet even a crab wouldn't even live here."

"It's not that bad." Sweetie Belle said and then the sand pile sunk into the ground, never to be seen again. "Ok, it's the worst thing we've ever created."

"Now what?" Scootaloo asked the group.

"Maybe we can get our cutie marks in snorkeling." Sweetie Belle suggested.

"We already tried that." Applebloom pointed out.

"Kite running?" Scootaloo said.

"Done it." Applebloom and Sweetie Belle said at the same time.

"How about sailing?" Applebloom said.

"Me and Sweetie Belle already tried that." Scootaloo said.

"How'd that go?" Applebloom asked.

"Let's just say the boat won't be turning up anytime soon." Sweetie Belle said.

"There has to be something we haven't tried." Applebloom said, throwing her body onto the sandy ground. "I mean if we tried everything then we should have gotten our cutie marks. Come on crusaders, we need to think."

" Hey, I might have an idea." Sweetie Belle told her friends.

"Well then tell us." Scootaloo said.

"Remember when we went searching for Black Mane's treasure?" Sweetie Belle asked.

The white unicorn's friends nodded.

"Well, what if our special talent is digging?" Sweetie Belle pointed out. Her friends' faces lighted up. "I mean, we definitely dug a mean hole."

"Sweetie Belle, you're brilliant." Applebloom complemented her friend. Sweetie Belle blushed and shrugged her shoulders.

"I think I saw some shovels inside." Scootaloo said.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, Hole Diggers" Applebloom said and the group did their high hoof thing.

The sky was orange and purple as the sun set down the ocean's horizon. Rarity had filled up the green bucket with the pink shells. She was so proud of herself. Instead of walking, she was prancing.

A perfect end to a perfect day. The ground vanished, or at least that's what it felt like, and Rarity fell down a fifteen foot hole. She and three other fillies were moaning in pain. Rarity opened her eyes to see that all her shells had spilled out of the bucket.

"How come every time we dig a hole somepony comes crashing down on top of us?" Scootaloo asked, hypothetically.

"Sweetie Belle." Rarity said in anger. "What is the meaning of this?"

"We're trying to dig a hole." Sweetie Belle said in a painful moan.

"For what purpose?" Rarity asked, still furious. She got up off the crusaders.

"Our cutie marks." Sweetie Belle said.

"Well I hope you're happy. Look at what you caused. You made me drop all my shells."

The four ponies looked at the shells on the ground, but something wasn't right. The shells were shaking in the sand.

"What in Equestria?" Rarity said.

Then, out from the small gaps in the shells, popped out red hermit crabs. Rarity was the first to scream. Her scream was so loud, so ear piercing, that her scream could be heard from miles.

The crusaders did the same. There must be about fifty crabs, crawling the deep pit. Rarity fought back as they attempted to crawl up her legs.

"Eww! Eww! Get off of me you...you filthy creatures." Rarity shrieked.

The crusaders were cornered by the little devils. The crawled closer and closer, their pinchers opening and snapping shut.

"Rarity!" Called a familiar voice. The four ponies looked up and saw Twilight looking down at them. "How did you get down there?"

"This is no time for silly questions." Rarity shouted. "Help us out of this hole!"

The crabs were nearly at the hooves of the crusaders. The three friends screamed.

"Hold on everypony." Twilight said. The purple unicorn turned around and galloped away.

"Twilight, you son of a diamond dog!" Rarity shouted in anger. "Come back and get us out!"

Minutes passed and all four of the trapped ponies were paralyzed with fear, they were covered in creepy, hairy, crawly, scary hermit crabs.

"You guys." Called their blue, rainbow maned friend. The terrified ponies didn't dare move, but they could tell Rainbow Dash was flying just above them. "Just stay calm, I'm gonna fly you all out of their."

Rainbow Dash got the three fillies out first and brushed all the hermit crabs off their bodies. "You guys ok?" Rainbow said.

"RAINBOW DASH!" Rarity yelled.

"Oops." Rainbow Dash said with a small smile on her face. She flew down into the hole and saw Rarity standing perfectly still, as two or three dozen hermit crabs crawled on her body. Rainbow Dash burst into laughter. Rarity looked furious at her but did not move.

"Hey, Rarity." Rainbow Dash said with much difficulty from her laughing too hard. "You're looking a bit crabby." Rainbow Dash began laughing even harder. Tears began running down the pegasus's face.

"Rainbow," Rarity said in rage and stillness.

"You should lighten up Rarity, but only just a pinch."

Rarity instantly forgot about the crabs and attacked Rainbow Dash. "Get me the buck out of here right now!" Rarity yelled as she was strangling the laughing pegasus.

"Ok! Ok!" Rainbow croaked. Rarity got off. Some of the crabs on Rarity had crawled onto Rainbow Dash and began pinching her. She yelped and brushed off the few crabs on her. She grabbed Rarity and flew her up out of the hole.

Rainbow Dash and the crusaders carefully removed the crabs from Rarity's body. Rainbow Dash notice a tear fall from Rarity's eyes.

"Hey, Rarity." Rainbow said. "We got them all off."

"Really, there all gone?" Rarity asked, sniffling.

"Yeah." Rainbow spoke.

"I...I think I'm going to go...take a shower." Rarity said, looking quite in shock. Rainbow saw Rarity's sunhat in the ditch, all covered in hermit crabs. Rainbow Dash was about to say something to Rarity, but Rarity was already gone.

Rarity turned off the water and removed her white bathrobe and stepped into the warm bath. Her eyes were closed as she just relaxed.

Hmm, this is odd. It was as if something was tickling her nose. She opened her eyes and saw, staring back, a medium sized Hermit crab. It just looked back, and nothing else.

Rarity screamed. She smacked the shell demon with her hoof an jumped out of the bath. She grabbed a towel, not taking her eyes off the crab.

Once she was dried she snuck back into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

It didn't take ling for her to fall asleep, but before she knew it she was awake again. Rarity looked at her clock and it said three AM. She looked at the shell covered walls. Just the very site of them sent shivers down her spine.

The white unicorn closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose and exhaled slowly out her mouth. There was slight sound of tapping.

Rarity opened her eyes to see the shells that decorated the room now moving. Oh sweet Celestia! It was horrifying, ever shell in the room had turned into hermit crabs and they were crawling all over the room like a web of baby spiders.

She screamed and woke up in her crab free room. She was drenched in sweat, her heart rate was abnormally fast, and in her mind echoed the loud tapping sound the crabs made as they crawled.

Iron Pony II

Rarity was downstairs, sitting at the kitchen table, with a cup of coffee in front of her. She usually doesn't drink coffee, but the smell and the steam helped clear her head. Her eyes felt heavy and her mind was all over the place. The sun has only just risen and even now, hours after the dream, she could still hear the tapping of the crab's legs on the wall.

Rarity jumped and shrieked in shock after she thought she felt something crawl on her back. She reached her hoof to her back and looked for a hermit crab, but there was none. Her mind was playing games, but this game wasn't fun. Not at all. She would see things moving at the corner of her eye. The paranoia was unbearable.

She took a whiff of the coffee and her mind felt a bit better. "Rarity," came a sweet gentle voice. "are you ok?"

Rarity looked up at her friend, Fluttershy, and forced a smile on her face. "I'm fine." Rarity said.

"Are you sure?" Fluttershy said, she walked up to Rarity and put a hoof around her. "Twilight told me about what happened, and it sounded just dreadful."

"I'm fine, Fluttershy. I just need some rest."

"Well, I was thinking, I mean if you want, we could, umm.... go to a spa. Just the two of us, like we usually do in Ponyville."

"That's sound lovely." Rarity said softly.

"Ooh, great." Fluttershy said, sounding very excited. "Well I heard there's a place just a few blocks down the road, and that they do it very differently than they do it in Ponyville."

"Sounds wonderful." Rarity said and then placed her head on the table and fell asleep.

"Well, ok then." Fluttershy said, backing up from Rarity. "I'll just let you sleep for right now." The yellow pegasus went back into her room.

"What do ya reckon it is?" Applebloom asked her friends.

"I have no idea." Scootaloo said.

"It's so...weird looking." Sweetie Belle said.

The crusaders were gathered around a strange gray blob that laid on in the sand. It was so odd looking, so gooey looking, like a gray snot ball.

"One of us should touch it." Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, but who?" Applebloom asked. Scootaloo and Applebloom's eyes widen in thought and then stared, with a grin, at Sweetie Belle.

"Um... Why are you guys staring at me like that?" Sweetie Belle asked, getting a little scared.

Applebloom and Scootaloo quickly got behind Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo gave her a nudge.

"Go on Sweetie Belle." Applebloom said.

"Yeah, touch it." Scootaloo said.

"Are you two crazy, what if it hurts me or eats me or absorbs me or hurts me then eats me and then absorbs me?" Sweetie Belle said with paranoia.

"You'll be fine." Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, we're right behind ya." Applebloom spoke.

"Are you sure?" Sweetie Belle said, looking over her shoulder at her friends.

"Positive." The earth filly said.

"Well, ok." Sweetie Belle said and she lifted her foreleg and drew her hoof slowly closer to the thing in the sand. Her friends stood behind her shaking in fear, but not as much as Sweetie Belle.

"STOP!" Yelled a voice. The three looked over at the beach house and saw Twilight galloping in there direction. Sweetie Belle's hoof was mere inches from the gray blob. "DON'T TOUCH THAT JELLYFISH!" She came to a halt, just in front of the blob.

"A what?" the group said in a kind of chorus.

"A jellyfish." Twilight said again. "It's a poisonous creature that floats in the water and stings anything that touches it."

"I told you guys, we shouldn't touch it." Sweetie Belle said, pulling her hoof back away from the jellyfish.

"They are very remarkable creatures, did you know..." Twilight spoke.

Rainbow Dash was on her rainbow designed surfboard, surfing the ocean waves. It was quite a skill for a pony to surf. Not only did ponies need to balance on the board, but they also had to balance on two legs. Rainbow Dash rode up the wave, like a ramp, and did a flip in midair and stuck the landing.

On the shore ponies were shouting, cheering, and clapping their hooves. Rainbow Dash could hear them over the roar of the waves and this made her feel awesome, well more awesome than usual. The rainbow maned pegasus did a grind on the edge of wave. The crowd went nuts.

Rainbow Dash came up to shore and encouraged the crowd to cheer louder.

"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!" The crowd roared.

"I can't here you." Rainbow Dash said, putting a hoof to her ear.

"RAINBOW DASH!" The crowd cheered louder. Rainbow Dash raised her hooves into the air and the ponies roared.

Applejack walked up to Rainbow Dash and put a hoof on her shoulder to get her attention. Rainbow turned to Applejack with a smile on her face. "You're doin' it again." Applejack said.

"Doing what? Being awesome." Rainbow Dash replied.

"No, you're gloating."

"So, you're just jealous that I'm a better athlete than you." Rainbow Dash said.

"Are we really doin' this again?" The orange farm pony said. "Alrighty then, what are we doin'? Another Iron Pony contest?"

"Oh, so you want to contest, huh?" Rainbow Dash said. She could already picture her self winning and proving to her friend that she was more athletic. "Alright you're on. Same rules as last time and the one with the most wins is the most athletic pony on the beach." Rainbow Dash spat on her hoof and Applejack did the same. They locked hooves in show of their agreement.

"And this time, no wings." Applejack said.

"No problem." Rainbow said.

Ponies of all genders, races, and colors surrounded the court as Rainbow Dash and Applejack were about to perform the first event of their second Iron Pony competition. It was the beach volleyball contest and it one on one. They each stood on their own side of the court, behind the net.

Applejack served the ball and the game and the tournament began. Rainbow Dash bumped the white ball, with her hooves, over the net. Applejack bumped it as well. The ball went much slower over the net and Rainbow Dash, without using her wings, spiked the ball. Applejack had no time to react and the ball bounced into the sand.

"You should quit now before you embarrass yourself." Rainbow said.

"Keep ya insults to yourself." Applejack said. It's just a game. Applejack thought to herself. No, she had to win or else Rainbow Dash will never learn.

Applejack Picked up the ball and served the ball and it flew over the long net, over to Rainbow Dash's side of the court. Rainbow Dash hit the ball with her wing as hard as she could and the ball just barely went over the net. This hurt Rainbow Dash's wing and lost her concentration on the ball. Applejack bucked the ball with her hind legs and the ball smacked into the sand.

"Hey, no fair. I wasn't paying attention." Rainbow Dash said as she rubbed her wing with her hoof.

"Can't take the pain, don't play the game." Applejack said as she gave a cocky chuckle.

"Alright, game point." Rainbow Said. She picked up the ball, tossed it slightly into the air, and hit it from the bottom with her right hoof. The ball went high into the air and the sun made it hard for Applejack to see the ball. The light from the sun burned Applejack's eyes and for a second she was sure she had gone blind. She took a random swing of her hoof and felt it hit something hard.

Applejack instantly began to rub her eyes with her orange hooves. Tears flowed down her face as her eyes burned from massive light of the sun. There was roar of cheering coming from all around Applejack.

I guess that's that. Applejack thought to herself as she whipped the tears from her face. Rainbow Dash is probably rolling in the attention right now.

Applejack's vision had returned and she gazed upon the dozens of ponies cheering and banging their hooves, not for Rainbow Dash, but for her. For a moment Applejack was in shock, but long after did her shocked expression turn into a smile. She had one the first round. She looked away from the crowed and glanced over at Rainbow Dash.

"You won this round." Rainbow Dash said. "But this was just the beginning."

Rainbow was very determined to win, even more so than usual. She was getting nasty towards Applejack. Applejack was worried for both Rainbow Dash and herself. Somepony could get hurt, or worst.

Rarity and Fluttershy laid in a saltwater hot tub in a salon called Silverwing Tropical Spa. Steam rose from the tub as the two friends sat back in total relaxation. Thank you, Fluttershy." Rarity said.

"Oh, it's no trouble." Fluttershy said happily and relaxed. "You needed it."

"I sure did." Rarity said. "This saltwater bath is to die for."

"I'm glad you like it."

A light pink pony with a curly yellow mane walked up to the two mares and spoke with a very strong accent. "How are you two doing? Relaxed?" although it sounded more like this, "Howz are yous twoz doeng?"

"Oh, I'm more than relaxed." Rarity said, sinking deeper into the water. "I feel like I've drifted into a section of my mind I never thought existed."

"Zat's Fanztastic." the spa employee said.

"Ah, I hope everypony else is having just as much fun as we are." Fluttershy said.

It was the second event of the competition between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The two ponies stood behind a line drawn out in the sand. There audience was much larger now, probably around the numbers a hundred and a hundred-fifty. Their cheer was loud and could be heard from a long distance. Spike was on the sideline, wearing a referee uniform and a whistle around his neck.

"Alright you two," Spike yelled over the crowd too the two competitors. "this is the mile dash and the object is to be the first to cross the finish line, which is exactly a mile down the beach. May the best pony win."

Here we go again. thought Applejack. It's the Running of the Leaves all over again. I gotta win though, I just gotta. Rainbow needs ta learn she isn't all high and mighty.

"Ponies, on your mark!" Spike yelled. The crowd roared with a cheer. "Get set!"

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were bent over, ready to dash down the beach as fast as they could. Both determined, both hungry for the win.

Spike blew the whistle .

Rainbow Dash and Applejack galloped into a full sprint. The race had begun. They were both neck and neck of each other. The roar of the crowd muted out the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore. Applejack turned her head at Rainbow Dash, who was staring back with intimidating eyes.

"You're going down AJ." Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh, no I ain't." Applejack said and started pulling ahead of Rainbow Dash.

"Not so fast." Rainbow said. She grabbed Applejack's tail with her mouth and then yanked. Applejack fell into the sand and watched as Rainbow Dash took the lead.

"That cheater." Applejack said. Rainbow Dash turned her head as she ran and looked at Applejack. She closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. The ground vanished and Rainbow Dash fell down into a fifteen foot ditch. Applejack ran around the hole with a grin on her face.

Rainbow Dash had an angry look on her face, but that soon disappeared as she felt hundreds of hermit crabs crawl onto her body. She shrieked with fear and flew out of the hole, covered in crabs. She zipped passed Applejack.

"Hey, I said no wings." Applejack said and then started running faster.

"Get them off! Get them off!" Rainbow Dash yelled, her voice cracking on every other word. Applejack watched, while she ran, as Rainbow Dash flew higher into the sky and began doing flips and turns.

"That little showoff." Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash came bolting down to the ground and then swooped up before hitting the sandy ground. Most of the crabs had fallen off, but four or five were still hanging on tight to Rainbow Dash's body. She got faster and faster, trying to get the little buckers off her.

BOOM!

Rainbow Dash was trailed by a stream of colors and the ground quaked and knocked Applejack off her hooves. The colorful blast could be seen from miles and the ground under where the sonic rainboom was performed was a giant crack that went a hundred feet into the sand.

Rainbow Dash passed the finish line and the crowd cheered louder than ever, to the epicness of the sonic rainboom. Rainbow Dash stopped flying and started waving her hooves all over her body, knocking off the remaining hermit crabs. She breathed heavily from exhaustion.

Applejack walked up to her, looking horrifyingly angry. "I thought I told you no wings." Applejack said.

"I'm sorry AJ, but I was covered in hermit crabs getting pinched to death." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yeah, right."

The two friends gave each other an hateful look.

Rarity and Fluttershy were walking out of the salon with smile on their faces. "Well Fluttershy, I can't thank you enough for bringing me here." Rarity said.

"Oh, you're quite welcome. I had a good time. It's a shame we couldn't stay longer but that earthquake apparently broke the heaters and made a real mess in the maintenance area." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah. But all the same it was a wonderful time. I feel like a completely new mare."

"Same here, and for such a good price. 10 bits for a hooficure. What a deal."

"Yes, and the service was excellent." Rarity said. "I mean look how fabulous they made my mane look." Rarity began touching her purple mane with her right forehoof.

"It looks gorgeous." Fluttershy said.

"Now, should we go back to the house or should we go somewhere for lunch?" Rarity asked.

"Lunch does sound good." Fluttershy said putting her hoof to her stomach.

"Because I saw this place on the way here that looked good. I'll pay."

Pinkie Pie stood in the center of the crowd on the beach, cheering for her two best friends as they competed against each other in tether ball. The pink earth pony was jumping up and down with excitement. "Go Rainbow Dash! No, go Applejack! No, go Rainbow Dash! No, wait..."

Applejack smacked the ball and it went around the pole twice before being intercepted by Rainbow Dash. A light bulb lit over Pinkie's head. She had an idea and she felt like it was a perfect idea. "I should through a party for them." She said. "There'll be balloons, cake, games, punch, music...ooh it's brilliant." She squeed and then bolted off to prepare the party.

Applejack bucked the ball with her hind legs as hard she could and the ball hit Rainbow Dash in the face. The white ball went around the pole around eight or ten times, giving Applejack the game winning point. The total score of the Iron Pony Competition was tied, 9 to 9, and it was time for the final event that will prove who is really the most athletic pony in Equestria. Surfing.

Applejack had a plain red surfboard, which she rented at a surf shop earlier that day. Rainbow Dash had the same rainbow designed surfboard that she was using earlier.

"Ladies and gentlecolts," Spike announced through a megaphone, where he found it no one knows. "This is the final event, winner takes all. We have with us Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, and Trixie who will be judging this final even."

"That's the Great and Powerful Trixie to you." Trixie said.

Spike paid no attention to her and continued talking into the megaphone. "The score is tied, nine to nine, and the winner of this event will be crowned this years Iron Pony. The contest is surfing, rules are simple. The one given the highest score by the judges wins. Rainbow Dash you are up first."

Rainbow Dash walked up to Applejack before getting into the ocean and said, "Hey Applejack, may the best mare win." in a kind voice. Applejack was shock by this, the entire time Rainbow Dash has been snotty and mean and competitive, and now all of a sudden she's being a good sport.

"Yeah," Applejack said with a smile and the two friends shook hooves. Rainbow Dash got into the water and got on her belly on the surfboard. She paddled for a good two minutes before she stood up on two hooves and began riding the waves. Applejack had to admit it to herself, Rainbow Dash could surf.

Rainbow Dash went up the wave into the air and did a double flip, sticking the landing perfectly. Vinyl cheered while Trixie looked unamused. "I, personally, could do better." Trixie said.

The wave grew taller, so Rainbow Dash hurried and hit it like a ramp and spun three-hundred-sixty degrees. The crowed went wild. Rainbow finished off with sudden shot up into the air and dived into the water, with her surfboard still under her. The crowd was on the edge of their seats, well if they were sitting they would be. It was a good ten seconds as everyone waiting to see what would happen next. Rainbow Dash burst from the water, still on her board, did a front flip and landed onto the shore.

The audience went insane. Fillies tried to reach out to Rainbow Dash as she walked by. She walked up to Applejack.

"Wow, Rainbow Dash that sure was incredible." Applejack said.

"Thanks" Rainbow Dash said to her orange friend.

"So what made ya have a change in attitude?" Applejack said.

"I don't know, I guess I just realized it ain't losing a friend over."

Applejack smiled, heart warmed from what Rainbow Dash had said. "You're a good friend RD."

"You're still going down." Rainbow Dash said with a friendly, but intimidating smile.

"Oh we'll see about that." Applejack said returning the same expression. They both shared a laugh before spike announced that the judges had finished scoring Rainbow Dash. The looked over at the judges table. Octavia held up an 9, Vinyl held up a 10, and Trixie (the Great and Powerful Trixie) held up a 6.

"Oh, I'd like to get my hooves on that Trixie." Applejack said.

"Hey, it's ok." Rainbow Dash spoke, putting a hoof on Applejack's shoulder.

"Applejack, you're up next." Spike said directly to Applejack.

"Good luck." Rainbow Dash said.

"Thanks" Applejack said. The orange earth pony picked up her surfboard and went out into the ocean. She paddled, for what felt like hours. Up ahead was the wave. The wave lifted her and her board up and she stood up on two hooves. She looked over at the shore and saw Rainbow Dash watching with a smile on her face.

I think she learned her lesson.

Applejack thought and just jumped off her board. The crowd and the judges gasped. Applejack and her board came up to the shore. Rainbow Dash galloped over to the orange pony. "What happened out there, you just jumped off." Rainbow Dash said, sounding concerned.

"Rainbow Dash, it's ok. You're obviously the most athletic pony." Applejack said.

"But, you didn't even try to win."

Applejack didn't say anything and just walked away. Rainbow Dash smiled as the crowd cheered all around her.

It's a Special Kind of Punch

"Balloons? Check!" Pinkie Pie said. In her hooves as a check list of things she had to have done before the party started. In front of her were a set of two types of balloons, a orange one with apples on them and another with rainbow designs. Pinkie smiled and moved over to a long buffet table, which was covered in different kinds of food such as salads, cupcakes, an apple pie, and a large chocolate cake that had "Iron Pony" written in icing. "Food? Check! Drinks?" She looked at the buffet table and saw that there were no beverages of any sort.

"Oh no, I forgot the drinks." Pinkie started panicking. "What am I gonna do? Can't have a party without drinks." Pinkie Pie began picturing the party without punch or cider. Ponies were coughing dryly, some crawling on the sand begging for beverages. Pinkie Pie saw a skeleton of a pony, leaning against the buffet table, covered in sand and crabs.

Pinkie Pie shook her head, bring her back into reality with a scream. "Gummy!" The party pony spoke, loudly. Gummy was buried in sand, except for his eyes and the tip of his snout, giving a blank, emotionless stare. "I need you to keep an eye on the party, while I go out and get some punch." Gummy blinked. "Thanks Gummy." Pinkie Pie took off to the road and galloped north.

Twilight was on the cove, which was on the other side of the beach. The entire shore seemed to be walled up by miniature rocky mountains. The lavender unicorn was looking into a shallow hole, filled with water. In the shallow water, Twilight could see a sea anemone and a white starfish.

Twilight's horn was glowing a light purple and levitating in front of her was a quill, a thing of ink, and parchment paper. As she studied the organisms in the small shallow pool, the quill would jot down her thoughts onto the parchment.

Up in the air a gray pegasus, with a chain of bubbles cutie mark and yellow walleyes, was calling out out to Twilight. But Twilight couldn't hear the pegasus. The pegasus called Twilight's name even louder, but still her attempt was futile. A seagull started flying up in the walleyed pony's face, squawking loudly as if behind defensive. "Get away." The pony was waving her hooves around, trying to shoo away the white bird. The gull squawked and began pecking it's yellow beak at the pegasus's light yellow maned head. "Ouch!"

The pegasus smacked the bird away and the bird came right back over to start pecking the poor pony. That bird was joined by three others. She was outmatched and began flying randomly through the air. The gulls chased her through the sky, squawking madly. Twilight paid no attention to the strange event that was taking place just above her.

The gray walleyed pegasus came crashing down on top of Twilight. The gulls came down, much more smoothly and began pecking the two down ponies. "Ouch!" The two said. Twilight's horn began to glow and a giant cloud of feathers covered the scene. Once all the feathers were down on the ground the walleyed pegasus saw that the gulls, just before they flew away, were bald. The pegasus giggled and then got up off the sandy ground.

"What in Equestria was that about?" Twilight said, she turned her head and looked at the walleyed pegasus. "Derpy?"

"Hey Twilight," Derpy said giving an adorable smile.

"What are you doing here in Silverwing?" Twilight asked, very surprised to see her Ponyville friend here.

"Hmm..." The grey pegasus said, putting a hoof under her chin. "You know that is a good question. Why am I here?"

"You mean, you don't know why you're here?"

"I guess." Derpy Hooves said.

"Any particular reason you're here at the cove?"

"Oh yeah!" Derpy said. She reached into her saddlebag, which was logo'd with a muffin, and pulled out an invitation. Derpy handed the invite to Twilight and the lavender unicorn read it.

Iron Pony After Party
Join me and all your friends in the Iron Pony After Party as we celebrate
the winner of the competition between Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
There will be free food and drinks, games, and cake.

Location: Silverwing Beach
Time: 6:30 PM

-Pinkie Pie

"Thank you Derpy." Twilight said, handing the invitation back to the walleyed.

"Aren't you gonna keep it?" Derpy said.

"No, just tell Pinkie I'll be there."

"Okie Doki!" Derpy took off into the sky and flew towards the beach.

Pinkie Pie was quickly wondering through the isles in the super market, looking for punch mix. Just up one of the isles Pinkie Pie saw an employee. She dashed towards him and quickly asked him where she could find punch mix.

"Oh, just follow me miss." The employee said. He wore a white apron and on the apron was a name tag. Pinkie followed the worker two isles down and towards the center. "There you go mam." He said. Pinkie Pie read his name tag. Grassy Field

"Thank you, Grassy." Pinkie Pie said and began looking through the many types and brands of mixes. Tropical fruit punch, original fruit punch, banana and strawberry blend punch. They all looked good. There was a very strange named punch mix. "Alcoholic?" Pinkie Pie said, questionably. She picked up the bag of mix and looked at the front. On the front there was a magenta pony with a strawberry and grape cutie mark. The pony held up a wineglass that was filled with the punch.

"Grassy," Pinkie Pie called. Grassy Fields turned around and looked at Pinkie.

"Yes, madam." Grassy said.

"What's alcoholic punch?"

"Umm...It's a special kind of punch."

"Special!" The pink earth pony shouted in joy and excitement. Pinkie took three to four bags of the alcoholic punch mix and rushed over to the checkout counter. Grassy met Pinkie Pie there at counter.

"So, are you having a party tonight?" The employee asked the excited pink pony.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Pinkie Pie asked in surprise.

"A lucky guess. That'll be twelve bits."

"Wow that's expensive." Pinkie said as she paid the stallion.

"Have a good day, mam." Grassy Field said as he handed her the plastic bag with the bags of mix.

"Thanks." Pinkie pranced out of the store with the plastic bag in her smiling mouth.

That evening everypony had arrived to the party, many of whom were complete strangers. Twilight was over by the punch bowl, drinking down a cup of punch. It had that after taste that one would find nasty. Twilight grabbed another cup, not understanding why after not liking the first cup. She chugged down that cup quickly. "Pinkie." Twilight yelled over the loud music, which was being played by the famous Vinyl Scratch.

Pinkie turned to Twilight. "Yes, Twilight?"

"There's something...different about this punch." Twilight said, grabbing another cupful of the punch. Why am I so hooked on this. Everything seemed to be spinning, yet it didn't make her sick.

"Oh that's because it's special punch." Pinkie Pie said with a smile on her face.

"Special punch?"

Pinkie Pie went back to dancing. Twilight chugged down the cup. Spike came up next to Twilight. "Great party, huh." Spike said. He reached to grab a cup of punch, but Twilight smacked his hand with her hoof. "Ouch, what was that for?"

"Don't drink the punch." Twilight said.

"Why?" Spike said but Twilight grabbed another cup and walked away. "I wonder why she doesn't want me to drink the punch. It can't be that bad." Spike grabbed a cup and slurped it down. He instantly began feeling tipsy. "Whoa." Spike said, rocking his body back and forth. He grabbed another cup and went to look for Rarity.

Not long after did Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy began hanging out by the buffet table, next to the punch bowl. They each grabbed a cup of the special punch and just drank and chatted.

"You girls really did a good job." Fluttershy said. The yellow pegasus took a sip of the punch.

"Thanks, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash said and she took a sip of her punch.

"Hey guys," Applejack said, looking into her punch. "somethin's ain't right with this punch."

"Yeah, there's something weird about it." Rainbow Dash said.

"I feel weird." Fluttershy said and she fell back and passed out. Applejack and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but laugh their flanks off. The two, conscious, friends chugged down the rest of their drinks.

"Hey, wanna write on her face?" Rainbow Dash asked Applejack.

"Darn tootin'" Applejack said. She grabbed a black magic marker from the buffet table and the two friends began their mischievous deed.

"Rarity." Spike said. He staggered over to Rarity, who was chatting formally with Octavia. "Rarity, I...I just wanted to..." Spike nearly barfed. "I wanted to tell you, I love you." Spike said drunkenly.

Rarity wasn't listening. "You are... the greatest thing to ever happen to me. I love you Rarity, I love you." Spike grabbed Rarity, lowered her down, and kissed her on the lips. Rarity pushed him off and then swung her hoof at him. Spike went flying and crashed into Trixie.

Trixie got up and began yelling at Spike. Twilight walked drunkenly up to Trixie and began speaking in a very drunk voice. "Hey, Trixie. You have no talent, you are just too self centered to realize that." Twilight spat at Trixie's hoof. "So, buck off." Trixie's mouth was wide open in shock.

"No one speaks to the Great and Powerful Trixie like that." Trixie said

"Oh, put a cork in it." Twilight called back as she walked away.

Trixie's expression went from surprised to angry. The light blue unicorn hurried up to Twilight and was about to through a hoof at her, but Twilight turned around and swung first. The Great and Powerful Trixie went flying backwards and ran into Pinkie Pie, who looked slow and loopy. Pinkie Pie threw up all over Trixie and everypony started laughing. No pony was laughing as hard as Twilight was.

Embarrassed, Trixie galloped away in tears.

Spike was laid out, unconscious, in the sand. Everypony would just step over him.

Pinkie Pie was over in the back, throwing up in a bucket. Every time her body gave her a break from spewing, she would lift up her head and yell out "Whoooo" and then vomit again into the bucket.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash had finished up writing on Fluttershy's face and walked away from her passed out body, laughing.

Vinyl Scratch flipped on a dubstep song. "Ah, hell yeah." Twilight said and she got up on the buffet table to start dancing. She kicked the bowls of chips and plates of cupcakes. The ponies on the dance floor were covered in food. They all started yelling at Twilight, angrily. "Buck you." Twilight shouted as she took another swig of punch.

"Ooh, my head." Fluttershy said as she got up off the sandy ground. "What happened?" She looked upon what looked like a natural disaster. Tables flipped over, one of the stereos was on fire, chairs snapped in half, food scattered all over the place. There were two ponies on the other side of the dance floor, who she recognized as Rainbow Dash and Applejack. She walked over to them, with great pain in her head, and shook them both awake.

"Wha...what's goin' on?" Applejack asked, looking at her surroundings.

Rainbow Dash got up off the sand. "What happened here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I don't know." Fluttershy said, her voice more quiet than usual. Applejack looked at Fluttershy and jumped in surprise. "What is it? What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked, getting a little worried.

"Nothing, Sugarcube." Applejack said with a fake smile. "Why don't you go back to the house and take a shower."

Rainbow Dash turned to Fluttershy and had the same reaction as Applejack. "Oh no." Rainbow said.

"Umm, ok." Fluttershy said and she made her way back to the house. Once there she went into the downstairs bathroom and started up the water. She looked in the mirror and was face to face with her face covered in black writing. She shrieked loudly.

On her forehead read "I LIKE FLANK" and on her left cheek read "Animal Lover". There was much more but the rest is way to hurtful and inappropriate to repeat. Fluttershy began to cry.

Aftermath

"Where...where am I?" Twilight mumbled. She was on a cold stone floor, slowly waking up to a gray environment. Everything was a blur, one minute she was by the punch bowl, talking to Pinkie Pie, and the next she was waking up on a cold floor. Her vision slowly restored itself, revealing what looked like a prison cell.

"Wait...what?" Twilight said. She got up off the rock-hard floor and looked around her. There were two very flat beds and on one of those beds was her assistant.

"Take my hand Rarity." Spike mumbled in his sleep. Drool ran down the side of his mouth onto the bed, making a small dark mark on the sheets. "Let us run into the sunset."

"Spike!" Twilight shouted. Spike jumped about three feet into the air and did a somersault off the bed.

"What was that about Twilight?" Spike said, angrily. "We're suppose to be..." Spike looked surprised. He looked around at the prison cell, more confused than ever. "Um... Twilight. Where are we?"

"I think we're in prison." Twilight said, looking past the metal bars at an officer pony, sitting at his desk, reading a newspaper. Twilight got a good look at the front page, but she didn't like what she saw.

Tourist Mare Assaults Celebrity and Vandalizes Public Property

Below the headliner was a picture of Twilight throwing a punch at the Great and Powerful Trixie.

"Oh no." Twilight said.

"Aww, that's so sweet." Sweetie Belle said to her pacing sister.

"Sweet?!" Rarity said. "The dragon just told me he loved me and then forced a kiss on me."

"So, you didn't enjoy the kiss?"

"Well, no." Rarity said thinking. "At least I don't think so."

"I think you did like it." Sweetie Belle said with a smile on her face.

"Ugh, I don't know. I... I... I guess I did." Rarity said. "I liked it a lot." Rarity dashed up to Sweetie Belle, looking scared and desperate. "Please, promise me you won't tell anyone about this."

"I promise." Sweetie Belle said.

"Spike did what?" Applebloom said, very surprised at what Sweetie Belle informed her.

"Spike kissed Rarity." Sweetie Belle repeated.

"And what happened?" Scootaloo asked.

"Then Rarity hit him and it caused this big fight between Twilight and Trixie." Sweetie Belle said.

"Wow!" Applebloom and Scootaloo said together and then started giggling. Once the two stopped laughing Applebloom spoke. "What did Rarity say?"

"She said she liked it." Sweetie Belle said.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Applebloom said, getting very excited. "We should totally set them up."

"I don't know," Sweetie Belle said. "I wasn't even suppose to tell you two."

"And remember last time when we tried to get two ponies to date?"

"Well that was because we tried to use a potion." Applebloom said. "This time we'll use all natural love."

"Sounds good to me." Scootaloo said.

"I'm still not sure." Sweetie Belle said.

"Trust us Sweetie Belle." Scootaloo said, putting a hoof on the white unicorn's shoulder. "What could go wrong?" Sweetie Belle looked like she was going to be sick. She looked as if she were regretting telling her friends about spike and her sister.

A loud, yet soft, cry could be heard through out the entire house.

"Please open this door, Sugarcube." Applejack said. She and Rainbow Dash stood outside of Fluttershy's room. Every time Fluttershy took a deep breath and sobbed, the two friends felt guiltier.

"No," Fluttershy shouted. "You'll just embarrass me again."

"Honey, we don't know what came over us." Applejack said. "If I was myself last night I would never even think of doing such a thing."

"Yeah, so quit being such a cry baby and come out." Applejack smacked Rainbow Dash on the side of her face. "Ouch, what did you do that for?" Applejack gave Rainbow Dash angry look which made RD shut up. They spent a moment listening to Fluttershy sobbing into her pillow.

"Please let us in." Applejack asked in a sympathetic tone.

"No!" Fluttershy snapped. Applejack and Rainbow Dash stepped back from the door in shock. "You humiliated me and now I'm probably the laughing stock in all of Silverwing. I thought you were my friends."

"We are your friends." Applejack said. There was a long pause. "Fluttershy?"

"Just leave me a lone." Fluttershy said, her voice sounded like she had her face in her pillow.

"But Fluttershy..." Rainbow Dash tried to speak.

"I SAID GO!" Fluttershy yelled and then burst into tears.

"Oh Nelly." Applejack said to herself.

Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack. "Can things get any worst?"

There was a knock at the door. Applejack let out a loud sigh and went to open the door. On the porch was a gray coated and yellow maned pony with walled eyes. In her mouth was a white envelope.

"Hey Derpy." Applejack said.

"Hey Applejack," Derpy said, keeping her teeth closed on the envelope. "I got a letter for you."

"For me?" Applejack asked, we confused.

"Well, not to anypony in particular. I was just suppose to deliver to this address."

"Well, thank you Derpy." Applejack said, staring at the envelope. "Would you like to come inside? Things are a bit depressing and we could use your bubbly personality right now."

"I'd love to Applejack, but I can't. I've got a lot of mail to deliver before the day's end."

"Oh, ok."

"I hope things get better. Enjoy the rest of your vacation." Derpy said and then flew off into the sky.

Applejack went back into the house, the letter in her mouth. Rainbow Dash was still near Fluttershy's bedroom door, but she did keep her distance. "What's that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I'm not sure." Applejack respond. The orange earth pony opened the envelope using her teeth and pulled out the letter inside. She laid it out on the wooden floor and read it. Rainbow Dash waited for Applejack to finish reading. Applejack went pale.

"What is it?" Rainbow Dash asked, getting a little worried.

"Twilight's in jail."

"Time for showers!" A police pony said followed by another colt with a night stick in his mouth, banging it on the iron bars of each cell. Twilight's cell door opened up and the unicorn and her assistant walked out of their cell. They followed the cop passed a cell with a very insane colt inside. The insane pony had a short white mane and a red eye that seemed to wonder off in different directions.

"Don't drop the soap." the nut job pony said to Twilight and then he laugh hysterically.

"Shut up you bucking nut!" shouted the cop.

"Whatever you say boss."

"Umm..." Twilight said. "You know I really don't need a shower that bad."

"Are you kidding, you smell terrible." Spike said and Twilight kicked him in the stomach with her back hoof.

"Your friend's right, miss." the cop said. "You stink and you need a shower."

Twilight gulped.

The Perfect Date

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were quickly galloping through the sand towards three fillies setting up, what looked to be a picnic. "Sweetie Belle." Applejack called. The white unicorn turned in time to see the two mares come to a stop in front of her. "Where's your sister? Where's Rarity?"

"She went collecting sea shells." Sweetie Belle said. "Why, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Rainbow Dash said immediately. "Applejack, I'll be right back." And Rainbow Dash took off like a rocket into the air and darted right down the edge of the shoreline. Applejack and the three young fillies stared for a moment at the rainbow trail Rainbow Dash had left behind.

"Applejack," Applebloom said. "what's goin' on?"

Applejack looked from the sky down to her little sister. She didn't say anything. She looked away from her sister and turned her gaze down the east side of the beach, waiting to see her rainbow maned friend to come flying her way.

"Applejack, why're you lookin' for Rarity?" Applebloom asked. "What's happened?"

"It's none of your business Applebloom." Applejack snapped. The orange earth pony turned back to the east side of the beach and saw, in the distance, Rainbow Dash flying in her direction. Below the blue coated pegasus was a white pony galloping along with her.

Rarity came to a stop in front of Applejack, panting heavily. "Applejack...I heard what happened and..." Rarity looked over at the three young fillies and their little picnic. "What in Equestria are you three up too?"

"Oh, umm...We thought it was such lovely day," Sweetie Belle started.

"So we thought it be a great idea to have a picnic." Applebloom finished.

"Truthfully, I don't believe you." Rarity said. "But there's no time for me to get involved with...with whatever you three are doing. Come on girls, we need to go."

"Wait a second, everypony." Rainbow Dash said. "Has anypony seen Pinkie Pie?"

Pinkie Pie slowly opened her eyes to a small red crab, that was looking straight back at her. She shrieked and screamed "SPIDER!" She jumped up from the sandy ground. "SPIDER! SPIDER! SPIDER! Wait, your not a spider." The crab raised its pincers in the air and clapped them together.

Pinkie Pie gave a little giggle. "What are you doing here?" Pinkie looked behind her and there was nothing but jungle. Tropical birds squawked behind the large mass of trees and bushes. She turned and saw nothing but the ocean. The was waves crashing and the tide lighting coming up onto shore. "Better question is, what am I doing here?"

Twilight and Spike sat at a metal table in the prison's cafeteria. The lavender unicorn was sorting and counting the peas on her tray. After sorting them into an evenly sided square, counting exactly 46 peas, Twilight looked up from her math/lunch. Ever stallion and mare in the cafeteria was staring at her with both concern and fear.

There was a female whisper coming from the back of the cafeteria which sounded like it said "What a freak."

Twilight gave an embarrassed smile and just began eating her peas. Everypony also went back to eating, but they didn't stop staring at this strange unicorn. After lunch all the prisoners were led out to the court yard. But before any pegasus could leave the building they had their wings tied to their sides.

One pegasus fought with the guards when they tried tying up his wings, but was hit by a stunning spell by a black maned unicorn. The stunned prisoner was dragged back to his cell.

It was hot outside. Celestia's sun hung high up in the air, beating its blazing waves of heat down on the ponies in the courtyard. One thing Twilight noticed was that non of the unicorns were using their magic, not even to play the activities the prison had set up.

Twilight glanced over at a unicorn that was over by the bricked walled building side reading a book. Twilight walked over to him, leaving Spike behind. Spike really didn't noticed Twilight's absents, he was more worried about the deed he had done that got him in prison in the first place.

The stallion looked up from his book at Twilight as she approached him. He breathed in and let out a sigh.

"Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said.

"Listen, lady. I'm pretty sure you don't want to get hurt," said the stallion. "so if I were you I'd turn around and go."

"Oh, well, I'm new here."

"I can tell."

"Yeah," Twilight said. "well anyways, I was wondering if you had any tips for me."

"You want my advice?" the stallion said. Twilight nodded with a small smile. "Here's some advice, stay out of everpony's way. If you don't bother them they might not kill you."

"Oh," Twilight gulped. "well, thanks for the advice." The stallion rolled his eyes and went back to reading his book. Twilight turned around and looked at Spike holding his tale, looking scared. Scratch that, he looked terrified.

"Look, I really don't want to be bothered right now, so if you could just go away."

"Oh, yeah. Sure."

Twilight made her way over to comfort Spike. With in an hour a pegasus guard blew a whistle loudly. All the prisoners dropped what they were doing and formed a line by the door to the building. They entered the building quickly and quietly. Twilight and Spike were in the back of the line, where they felt safest.

Twilight and Spike were all alone in their cell. Spike was on one of the beds, talking to himself. "What am I gonna do? What does Rarity think of me? Oh Celestia, she must think I'm some kind of pervert."

"Spike, can please be quiet." Twilight said. "I'm trying to think." Spike just began weeping into the pillow.

The metal door opened and standing there was a dark coated guard. "Alright come on, your bale's here."

"Oh, what a relief." Twilight said, making her way to the door.

The guard put up a hoof and then spoke. "Not you little filly, just your friend." Spike looked up at the guard. The guard stepped aside. Spike quickly jumped off the bed and ran out. Spike stopped dead in his tracks just outside the door.

"What about Twilight?" Spike asked. Twilight paid close attention to the guard.

"She's going to court tomorrow morning. Now come on, I don't have all day." The guard said.

Spike turned to look at Twilight for a moment. "Twilight, I..." Spike started but Twilight rose a hoof to silence the purple baby dragon.

"It's fine." Twilight said, trying to force a smile on her face. "We'll get through this." She looked over at her other three friends. She was going to say something to them but she noticed two of her friends weren't present. "Where's Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie?"

"Fluttershy is back at the house." Rainbow Dash said.

"But we ain't have any idea where Pinkie Pie is." Applejack spoke.

"Why didn't Fluttershy come?"

"Me and Rainbow kinda pulled a mean joke on her and now she's really upset."

"Applejack I'm surprised at you. This is not like you at all."

"I know, I don't know what I was thinkin'. I hardly even remember doing it. Me and RD tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't let us. I don't blame her though. Wouldn't be surprised if she never wanted to talk to me again."

"Applejack, it'll be alright." Twilight said. "We all make mistakes and I'm sure Fluttershy will forgive you. Just give her time to calm down."

"I hope so, Twilight."

Pinkie Pie sat on the sandy shore of the unknown island she was stranded on. The red crab stood on her head with a blank expression, which reminded Pinkie Pie of Gummy. There was cool breeze. The trees in the jungle behind her rustled and the waves crashed sending the tide onto the shore.

The cold wind caused the pink mare to shake. The sky had turned a light orange as the sun started to set in the horizon. It would be dark soon and sleeping would nearly impossible due to the wind. She needed a fire to keep her as warm as possible.

Pinkie Pie looked over at the jungle. Surely there were some large sticks and logs she could use to make a fire. But it was getting dark and who knew what kind of terrifying beasts lived with in the jungle.

"Come on, Pinkie, you can do this." Pinkie Pie said to herself. "Remember what Granny Pie used to say."

She gulped. She started walking slowly towards the tall tropical trees. Once she passed the first wall of trees a dark shadow cast over her. It was as if the sun had just burned out. The temperature felt like it had dropped another five degrees, but luckily the wind died down a bit.

Pinkie Pie walked cautiously through the dark jungle. She felt as if she was being watched by...by something. Watching her every move as she walked deeper and deeper into the dangerous jungle. All around her twigs cracked, bushes rustled, and the sounds of something breathing.

The pink earth pony started to gallop as fast as she could, trying to escape the terrifying sounds that followed her. Up ahead there was a orange glow. Possibly a way out of this horrifying place? Maybe another beach?

The mare stopped dead in her tracks and looked a large fire surrounded by a bunch of odd looking ponies. They looked at her with strange stares. Their bodies were black and white with a striped pattern and after Pinkie Pie noticed this she realized these weren't ponies at all. They were zebras.

There was a long silence. The pink pony stared at the tribe of zebras who stared back at her with the same expression as her. Confusion.

"Come on, Rarity." Sweetie Belle said. "Hurry up." The little white filly was shoving her sister towards the door with all of her strength.

"Ok, Sweetie Belle. I'm going, I'm going." Rarity said, annoyed. She started walking a little bit faster. The two white unicorns walked out the door onto the deck and down the boardwalk. "I don't know what's the big deal, we've been on the beach a hundred times."

"Just hurry."

"Alright." Rarity walked a bit faster to get her sister off her back. They moved down the wooden steps onto the sandy beach. Up ahead was, what looked like, a picnic of some sort. The two sisters made there way towards it. Standing on a red and white checkered blanket was Scootaloo, Applebloom, and...Spike?!

"What's going on here?" Sweetie Belle's sister asked.

"Wait, I thought Rarity knew this was a date." Spike said.

"Sweetie Belle, I thought I told you not to tell anyone."

"Ah come on, Rarity. Spike likes you, you like Spike. You two are perfect for each other."

Rarity blushed, as did Spike. There was a long silence between the group. Seagulls squawking and waves crashing were the only sounds being made.

Finally the silence was broken. "So, we'll just leave you two alone." Applebloom said. "Have fun, you two." At that the three fillies took off. Rarity looked down at the picnic that had been set up for her and Spike. There was a basket, which inside were daisy sandwiches and gemstones of all kinds. In front of both Rarity and Spike were plates and silverware and in the center of the whole setup was a dimly lit candle.

The unicorn looked up at Spike, who was avoiding making eye contact with her. "So..." she said. The moment was incredibly awkward to say the least. There was little to be said and what they both wanted to say was stuck in their throats.

"Rarity, about what happened, I..." Spike started but was cut off.

"It's quite alright."

"I just don't know what came over me."

"Spike, it's alright. Truthfully I...uh, kind of liked it."

"Huh?" Spike was confused. This was the last thing he thought she would say.

"Actually, I liked it a lot. I don't know why, it just felt so...so real. It was so passionate, it was like nothing I've ever experienced. I...I think I'm in love with you." Rarity looked down at the picnic, her face turning red with embarrassment.

"Rarity," the purple dragon began. "when I first came to Ponyville and laid my eyes on you for the first time I knew I wanted to be with you. Through these past few years I've been trying my hardest to show you just how much I love you. Every time you smile my heart begins to dance in my chest and though some days can be tough I am able to get by them with the thought of the possibility that one day we'll be together."

"Oh, Spike." Rarity said. She grabbed him from the other side of the picnic and pressed her lips against his. For a moment it felt like time had stopped. Every worry had disappeared as the two were locked in that kiss.

In the house, looking out a window, were Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. They watched as Rarity and Spike kiss for the the longest of time.

"Oh my gosh, we did." Sweetie Belle said. She began jumping up and down with a smile on her face. "I can't believe it."

"Yeah!" Applebloom and Scootaloo said together and then gave each other a high hoof.

"Now tell me again love, what is this party you speak of?" said the chief. Pinkie Pie and the whole zebra tribe were sitting around a warm fire.

"It's when you and a bunch of your bestest friends get together and celebrate." the pink mare said.

"Sorry, I cannot wait. What exactly do you celebrate?" said another zebra.

"Anything. Birthdays, holidays, achievements, or you don't have to celebrate anything. You can just throw a party just for fun. All you need is some decorations, cake, music, friends and you got a party."

"Please, we know hardly, will you help us through a party." said the chief

"I thought you'd never ask."