Luna sat on her throne looking extra bored, her electronic game controller dangling from one hoof.
Celestia studied the grumpy looking alicorn carefully before asking; "Holiday?"
"A what?" stammered Luna. "What manner of thing is a 'holy day'?"
Celestia chuckled. "A vacation of course. A chance to go out and do what you want to do for a whole day."
Luna blew a raspberry. "Okay, I'm in." Standing up she made a royal decree; "All my staff are dismissed for the day, go have fun. Your princess is making for the seaside with all haste."
With a leap from the seat of power the dark blue mare bounded out through the jewel encrusted doors and into the courtyard. Celestia's surprised expression was left far behind as Luna made for the carriage house.
Looking at her chariot she soon realised her first impromptu decree of the day had left her without Royal transport. Now she could see why the clatter of her own hooves had been accompanied by so many others. Everypony in her service had clearly made for the exits before the order could be reversed.
Luna sat back on her haunches with a dejected expression. Idly rolling the chariot about with her magic it began to remind her of a toy she liked as a filly. Her train of thought was broken as a cough came from behind her.
"Would her highness like a picnic basket?" asked a pale blue mare. "I put many of your favourite things in it."
Luna smiled, rolled the chariot over toward them and levitated the basket inside. "Thank you, that is very thoughtful of you. It's contents will be greatly appreciated today".
At that moment Luna knew exactly what she wanted to do next. Everypony knew a vacation was about having fun and trying new things, right? Leaping into the chariot with a flick of her wings she detached the yolks and balanced it on its two wheels. With a determined stance and a soft purple glow of her horn she pushed it forward and out onto the palace drive.
She soon had the measure of the beast and decided to wind it up to flight velocity. Speeding through the streets while honking like a goose and shouting "Make way for the princess!" Luna shot toward the main road. The gravel parts of the street were especially fun with the large golden wheels throwing up long rooster tails at every sharp turn.
Once out onto the wide Inter-Equestria highway she really let the magic take them forward. Wind tugged at her mane as she sped past other road users. There had never been a need for a speed limit in a land limited by a ponies natural gait. It was a lucky detail, because Luna was now traveling well above any speed that could legitimately be called 'socially acceptable'.
Fields and forests sped by as the smell of fresh air and salt began to filter through her nostrils. It was nice to travel at ground level and experience the scenery up close. She had traveled along all these roads a thousand times, but always at cloud level. This was definitely new and exciting!
No sooner than Luna had brought the chariot to a halt upon the beach she began to attract the attention of sea gulls. These feathery beasts knew all about pony newcomers and how they would be offloading picnics! This was an ideal time to pounce! Although they were quite large and feathery they were no match for the princess of the night, so she simply ignored them.
Digging around in the large whicker hamper she found some apple sauce sandwiches that were to her immediate liking. Unfortunately her new entourage were becoming even more persistent with every flap. Releasing a deep sigh she opened up one of the breaded delights and licked off the delightful apple contents. With a bright glow of her horn she enchanted the bready remains to act as royal guard. The slices of bread immediately took to the sky to chase off the feathery snack thieves.
Luna happily rummaged around to see what else she could enjoy as squawks of protest rang out from above. The cooks produce was clearly winning and leading the battle out toward the cliffs. Luna congratulated herself on an excellent piece of magic. She was sure that Celestia would have simply fried them or teleported the beasts inside out. Her solution was way more subtle.
At the bottom of the basket was a stone jug of cider (by the sniff of it). It had made a lucky escape indeed given the amount of 'air' she had got on the last hump back bridge. Pulling the cork she took her fill in very princess unlike manner and wondered what was next?
After staring at the waves for a bit she remembered her prison survival kit which; was mentioned earlier in another story written by an entirely different author. Reaching into her mane she removed a brightly coloured beach ball with a giggle before inflating it with a single goddess like breath. Then she kicked it high into the air and watched it bounce on the sand further down the beach. Luna immediately galloped after the spinning yellow and red inflatable as the breeze made off with it.
"Oh no you don't!" She laughed, teleporting every other stride to gain ground on the errant globe. With one last flash she was in front and gave it a mighty kick to send it back towards the chariot.
She played this game for a bit, with the ball landing occasionally in the sea. Jumping from one wave crest to another as though she was light as a feather Luna felt several pairs of eyes gazing upon her? Turning she saw that a few young ponies had gathered on the sand to stand open mouthed at her gravity defying game.
"What manner of foe are you?" She winked, walking toward them with the ball in magical tow.
"You're a princess," said a small colt open mouthed.
"No she's not!" said a filly. "Princesses have guards and mares in waiting. They don't play on beaches by themselves?"
Luna laughed and floated over some cherry-cakewells from the basket before passing them around.
"How good are those?" she asked with a smile. The foals smiled between mouthfuls.
The small filly was first to comment. "She must be a real princess, these are amazing!"
"Excellent," said Luna. "Let's play hoof ball." Pointing her horn at the beach ball she reduced it to a suitable size for little ponies. She magically dug out two goal pits and marked the outside of their field with a swishy tinkly noise.
With shouts of glee the small ponies proceeded to chase the ball up and down the beach with Luna cheating periodically to kick the ball into each goal alternately to even the score. It was very difficult to tell who was on who's team, but this mattered not one bit!
Soon it was time for little foals to go home, but not before they had insisted on seeing their princess raise the moon. They oohed and ahhed as the bright disc climbed lazily into the sky.
Once they had trotted off Luna returned the beach to its former flatness with only a ripple or two in the sand. Happily she climbed back into the chariot.
She would soon be missed at Night court and so decided to speed things up a little. With her horn glowing a beautiful purple the chariot took off slowly into the air. The princess pointed it towards the palace and jabbed the magical accelerator hard. Lurching forwards it was soon speeding along at just above tree top level with Luna wearing a huge grin on her face.
"I wonder just how long I have to wait before I can legitimately call another holiday?" She pondered.
The End :o)
TeamIdris
Author's Note
I fancied a sillyfic with the 'kind' but funny Luna.
