Pixel at the Beach!
7:00 AM
‘PONI Radio! Poniverse in the morning!! Pure Azure and the Starfish! 74.6 FM!! Pure talk radio!! All morning long!!’
As usual, Azura Peavielle, who goes by Pure Azure on 74.6 FM on the Poniverse network of media, can’t help but grin at her usual introductions. A chorus of upbeat yet calming mares serenading her radio name in electric chants that could awaken a pony from a coma…or so the station liked to claim…
Azura holds the microphone firmly with a hoof and adjusts the headset pressing against her ears comfortably with the other. “Welcome to Pure Azure and the Starfish!” she begins, her confident and energetic voice radiating far and wide from the radio station in northern Los Pegasus. “This is your host, Azura Peavielle, and in the booth is our very own filly foolin’ producer, the Starfish!” She turns in the booth, her wide sparkling green eyes looking over through the glass window dividing her from her longtime producer. “I hear you’ve been quite busy lately?”
The mare, her coat a shade of light rose, elegantly controls the sound equipment, making sure everything, including the sound effects, are just right every single day with those pudgy but surprisingly lithe hooves of hers. Her name is Filly Stars but ponies call her the Starfish because of the smiling star on her flank. She doesn’t skip a beat and her puffy cheeks smirk.
“Oh, you!” she says in her usual flattered tone. And with her normal heavy mouth breathing, she almost sounds sultry. “You know I don’t kiss and tell…unless it’s my birthday!”
Azura plays a sound effect of a mare swooning. “If we wait that long, they’ll be none left!” she says, laughing. “How about this weekend though? It’s already in the 70’s and just warming up! But don’t worry…we’re coming at you live all weekend long to keep ponies cool all across Equestria’s Golden Coast, from Los Pegasus to Sweetie Shores!”
‘Pure Azure and the Starfish!! 74.6!! WEEKEND MARATHON!! In the morning!’
“So…Starfish, we’ve been around for a few years right?” Azura asks playfully.
“Oh, we most certainly have. I actually stopped counting the days until we fail,” Starfish retorts, her voice ironically chipper.
“Oh? When was that?”
“Hmm…Last week.”
Azura plays a thunderbolt sound effect. “Ouch…I deserved that. But at least you have a reason to use that calendar. With your relationships, you just need to use a watch, right?” A boing sound effect plays. “And…now she’s sticking a needle into a little doll that looks like me.” She plays a horror film style effect of a mare screaming. “And we’re moving along.”
“We got something special lined up this weekend, don’t we?” Starfish mentions.
“Thanks for reminding me!” Azura says in mock surprise. “As our listeners know, the just amazing mare, Pixel Wavelength lives in Sweetie Shores. She, being the mare of the ponies, is going on a little vacation this weekend from her home in Sweetie Shores!”
Click! ‘Sweetie Shores! The caffeine capital of Equestria!’
“She is rather famous but does everypony know everything about our illustrious founder?” Azura continues. “I’ll ask a bit of trivia. The first caller to answer gets some awesome PONI merch for that hot weekend! What do we got to give away, Starfish?”
“Um, pens, umbrellas, satchels, shirts,” she lists off.
Azure chuckles. “Hurry it up, Granny Smith! What are you reading off, your phone contacts? So callers, answer this for me. Pixel is a bit of a…well, let’s admit it, a nerd. Hey, don’t shoot the messenger! But…we like to call her the ‘Princess of the Internet’ which is still a bit stuffy for my tastes. So what is one thing she actually likes to be called? Remember…first correct answer wins!”
Azura doesn’t wait long before Starfish announces the first caller of the day from the city.
“Hey there, caller. You’re on the air! You got that answer for us?”
The caller laughs nervously. A filly obviously. “Yeah, guys. Like, she calls herself a mad scientist, right?”
Azura plays a winning ding sound effect. “Wow, on the first try! She doesn’t call herself that but she supposedly had been called that since high school. Anyway, it counts so you’ve earned yourself a prize! Enjoy it.” She clicks off the call. “So the next question is…what is the technology that Pixel is most known for in the tech world?”
Starfish feeds her a new caller, a surfer colt from the sound of it. “Well…she totally invented smart phones, right?” the colt guesses.
“Ooooh…sorry. While she did invent smart phones as we know them, that’s not the answer I was looking for. But great try! Who’s next, Starfish?”
A few seconds pass. “C’mon guys. Do none of our callers know the answer? I know it’s early and all.” Azura looks at Filly Stars who shrugs. “Well…why not? I’ll remind our listeners about our amazing founder. It’s easy to just forget all about the ponies behind our many technological accomplishments. The foals especially, am I right? But Pixel is best known for coming up with compatible tech to work with every kind of pony. It’s how a Pegasus can give her phone to her Earth pony friend without there being any problems with weight or pressure that usually made things like that harder. But I’m not bringing all this up just to boost our own egos or anything. This weekend, we’re actually going to go into a day in the life of our local princess. Our amazing mare on the streets, who’s going to be undercover out there, will be the one covering this awesome event. Lots of ponies are all about princesses these days from Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville to that new foal…um…what’s her name again?”
“Flurry Heart,” Starfish says. “From the Crystal Empire.”
“I would hate to live a day in the life of her parents. Like imagine a baby but with off the walls powers! That would kill me. Anyway, princesses are huge. In fact, polls show that Princess Twilight is the most popular monarch in the whole of Equestria these days. But I think our own polls in the Golden Coast would tell a different opinion, right, Starfish?”
“It’s just been a long time since there has been a princess native to this area,” Starfish adds.
“Absolutely. Well, we want our listeners to keep voting in the best princess poll all throughout this weekend,” Azure says excitedly. “Before we kick things off with our mare on the ground, let’s start with some of our favorite summer tunes.”
Azura clicks off her microphone while Starfish starts up the song, Foals, by a famous Los Pegasus artist. She gets up and walks into the producer’s booth.
“This is going to be interesting,” Azura says amusingly. Her huge silver tail swishes behind her as she walks.
Filly Stars stirs her cup of coffee. “It better be. We’ve been banking on this princess thing for a while. But the way we decided to do it, I’m sure nopony saw it coming.”
“Yeah, our ratings are going to soar,” Azura says confidently before giving her producer a hoof bump.
Meanwhile:
The ‘princess of the internet’, Pixel Wavelength, is driving her electric carriage down the historic coastal road going south towards the white sandy beaches. It’s little more than a dusty old strip that cuts around mountains and along tall cliffs but her advanced car handles it well enough. Her best pony pal, the mare who has her hoof dangling out of the passenger’s window, is the purple haired Buffy. The mare’s eyes are often as wide as her mouth and Pixel can notice when she’s about to start a one-sided and sometimes never-ending conversation.
“Can we listen to something else?” she asks in a kind of half pout, her voice running through her white teeth. “I think we can get PONI out here, can’t we?”
“I like my classical,” Pixel reminds her. “It helps me concentrate.”
Buffy melts into her seat. “We should be flying anyway. It’s such a long drive and I hate sitting all day.”
“Unless you wanted to jump on my back, I don’t see how. Sweetie Shores doesn’t have an airport.”
“While blowing chunks all over your mane would be pretty fun to explain, at least we got a nice view of the ocean.” She sticks her muzzle out and sniffs deeply. “And the salty air telling us how close yet so far we are from the surf and lying on the sand!”
Pixel concentrates on the road for the most part but glimpses from time to time over at the beautiful sea. She can’t wait to dip her hooves in the sparkling waters. Buffy takes her phone out and photographs things at random, whatever catches her eye.
“OH MY GOSH…look at those little sailboats!”
“I’m driving,” Pixel says.
“Wow…what a pretty cloud.”
“Still driving.”
“Ahhh! A dead cat! Wait…nope…it’s a ferret or something! Eww!”
“What are you even taking all those photos for?”
Buffy flips through her photos while resting her hooves on the dash. “Why do you need to ask? My internet friends got to know everything I do. It’s a rule.” She says the last bit as if it’s obvious.
“A rule I don’t remember…unlike my rule against hooves on the dash,” Pixel hints, her voice stern. Buffy slowly slides her hooves off, her eyes still glued to that tiny screen.
“Yeah…so are we there yet?”
Pixel sighs. “About twenty minutes left. You can wait to stretch your legs until we actually get to the beaches.”
8:00 AM
Later, Pixel parallel parks her white carriage along a beachfront avenue lined with identical cottages that have nice lawns and picket fences. Down a hill, the beach stretches down for miles where the morning sun lights up the boardwalk with its many thrill rides that rise over the white sands.
They get out of the carriage. As Pixel opens up the back hatch, she notices Buffy doing a kind of tap dance on the sidewalk.
“Are you okay?” Pixel asks, taking out their towels and beach bags.
“I just…HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!” She grunts and kind of loud too.
Pixel sighs in annoyance while taking more things out. “You should have gone before we left like I suggested…but no, you had to drink that forty ounces of fizzy drink with breakfast.” She does worry about Buffy but her ability to care is strained when her advice is so easily disregarded. She makes sure that everything is accounted for: her towels, umbrella, sunscreen, snacks, glasses.
Buffy frowns. “C’mon! Hurry up at least!”
Pixel tosses one of the bags over and Buffy catches it, falling on her flanks. “Don’t be bossy. We got a long day ahead of us.”
The two march down the hill. The breeze plays with their manes and it feels cool. Pixel takes a delightfully deep breath. To her, the beach is like what a quiet garden is to other ponies. She can relax and feel at peace no matter how many ponies are around her. Just her, the sand, a book and maybe a friend. What could be better?
“I can’t believe we have to walk like a mile to the boardwalk. What the hay, Pixel?” Buffy complains.
Pixel huffs incredulously. “Oh, you’re right. I should have just gone to mane street in my car on the busiest weekend of the year and shouted ‘make way for the princess’ and smashed everypony else out of their spots. And you know, it’s hardly a mile. You could stand to walk more instead of being on the computer all the time.”
“What I do with my free time is hardly your concern,” Buffy says, irate.
“If you say so.” The two of them finally arrive at the boardwalk and poor Buffy trots to a line of portable toilets, unloading everything beside Pixel as she flings a door open and goes inside.
As if validated, she looks at the tons of ponies already arriving at the beaches from towns all over. The streets are packed with pony drawn carriages and the train that comes to tour the area steaming away, its whistle sharp. She adjusts her wide brimmed hat and smiles. What a wonderful place to seek out a sense of peace. There are so many ponies around her that some might recognize her but they’re all there to enjoy the beach and so is she. As the train passes, foals wave to tourists from one of the open cars. She beams and waves back.
Buffy bursts from the toilet and, while shaking paper off her back hoof, inhales deeply. “Let’s go, Pixel.” She has already whipped her phone out and is texting rapidly.
They walk towards the beach. Pixel sees foals clad in sleek wet suits and with surfboards on their heads trotting over to the waves.
“What are you even texting?” Pixel inquires, her eyebrow raised.
“Talking to the ponies on our forums, Pixel,” Buffy says. She’s almost like a zombie on the phone, her voice near monotone, her eyes unblinking.
“You’re looking at that phone more than the thing we’re here to see.”
Click…click…click. “Almost done. Smells worse…than any bathroom ever. And sent!”
Pixel frowns, her voice reserved. “You sent a text about a bathroom?”
“Yeah…why not? Take a look.” She raises the screen at a sighing Pixel who gazes at it awkwardly. She notices that the picture of the dead thing on the road was posted too.
“I can’t believe you posted that too!”
“Hey…I totally POST EVERYTHING!”
Pixel squeezes her eyes shut for a moment, trying to erase that from her mind. “Ponies share way too much. There has to be a limit.”
Buffy laughs. “Nah, nah, nah…I’m like doing a public service because somepony ran that thing over. We need to make sure that nopony runs animals over when they can avoid it.”
“That almost never happens. Electric carriages are rare.”
Buffy smiles. “Yeah, but some ponies do. I mean, like that one over there!” She points at a pink rich filly with a crown on her flank step out of a car with gems studding the same mark on the door like a giant notebook.
“I can’t believe they let fillies drive,” Pixel says, her mouth hanging open.
The two walk to find a spot amongst many others who have found their spots on the beach already. It’s so crowded that there are many a ‘sorry’ and ‘excuse me’ as the tall princess and her friend steps over stretched out legs on towels and avoid getting smacked in the face with a beach ball. Buffy is tap dancing again but from the hot sand this time, already heating from the morning sun which promises to be quite the scorcher. But it doesn’t bother Pixel. The walk alone is calming and she finds the spot she was looking for, a perfectly smooth stretch of sand claimed by nopony. She plants her umbrella like a flag and sits in its shade and wonders once more what could be better than this.
8:30 AM
“And we’re back on our special weekend coverage of Pixel Wavelength, our famous princess founder and friend.” Azura can still taste coffee on her breath from her last break as she waited in anticipation for word to arrive about the princess. She is a bit jittery and her nerves are on edge even as she forces herself to focus on the air.
“I got a magazine from a couple months ago about Princess Twilight.” Azura flips through the pages. “Anypony remember that princess dress craze up in Canterlot? It just reminded me of how relevant the princesses are in our lives yet so often we know very little about them. Something candid like this is exactly what we the ponies need.”
“When do we need justification for what we do?” the Starfish butts in annoyingly.
“We usually don’t, filly fooler, but I guess we all feel sentimental from time to time. I saw Princess Celestia once when I attended one of her summer sun celebrations years ago and seeing it in person is way different than just knowing it’s being done from afar.” Azura realizes that her voice is waning in excitement and leans upwards to perk up. “So anyway, Princess Wavelength is at the beach or that’s what we’ve heard. Quite the hot ticket.”
“She has a companion, a mare by the looks of it,” the Starfish says.
“By the looks of it?”
The producer shows Azura a picture on her phone that was taken of the two at the beach. Azura recognizes the pony immediately and laughs. “Starfish, is your filly radar malfunctioning? The mare in that picture is our very own Buffy on the Poniverse social media wing!”
Filly Stars looks impressed, her lower lip tucked in a half smirk. “Really? I never saw her in person.”
“This is getting more interesting by the hour. Well, listeners, don’t forget to vote in the best princess poll. Also, don’t approach the princess if you see her at the beach. Until then we got Equestria’s greatest summer hits coming at you!”
8:45
“Hurry it up. You’re hogging up all of the sunscreen!” Buffy protests. Despite her hat and umbrella, Pixel doesn’t take any chances when it comes to the health of her coat or skin. She loves the sun but too much sun means a diminished luster. And she suggested, no, demanded that Buffy use sunscreen too instead of running out and getting all dried up. And even her impatient friend knows that there’s no getting out of receiving Pixel’s caring touch.
“I’m just about done.” Pixel smooths out the last bit of her coat, her left cutie mark which has a neat sheen to it now. “There! Ready, Buffy?”
“I’ve been ready.” She sits down and accepts the bottle. Her hooves squeeze the middle and she grunts, her pressure increasing with each attempt. “You used it all, didn’t you?”
“No, I’m pretty sure there’s some left,” Pixel professes with a blush, knowing that her body is larger and requires a lot more lotion. “You just got to try harder. It’s like trying to open a pickle jar.”
Buffy tries again but gives up. “This is stupid. Just use your magic.” She thrusts the bottle out towards Pixel.
“Fine. I shall.” The princess levitates it so that any lotion would go on Buffy’s waiting hooves. With one solid ‘press’ of her magic, the bottle releases air and hisses. She tries it even harder the next time and a huge glob of white lotion explodes all over her friend’s face, making it look like an impressionist painting. Pixel is super embarrassed but can barely stop from chuckling at Buffy, who can basically only growl her annoyance if she doesn’t want lotion in her mouth.
Buffy soon wipes the lotion over her body and stands up.
“C’mon…let’s go.”
“No, it’s not time yet,” Pixel says near anxiously. “We have to wait at least half an hour before going into water.”
As usual, Buffy rejects the rules. “I don’t think so…Buffy decides when Buffy’s ready. Here, keep this safe then while I’m gone.” She tosses her phone to Pixel who barely catches the slippery thing. By the time she looks up, the mare is wading in the surf.
Pixel relaxes and takes a book from her bag. It’s one of her novels that she bought recently. She looks at the cover, a picture of a lonely but peaceful old rural farmhouse. She loves tranquil stories like that because her life has been anything but quiet. She was born from a brilliant scientist father who taught her what became the building blocks of her future: electronics, technology, and her love for other ponies. The mare she became grew up, went to college, invented things and became an overnight success. She wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world. Yet, past the hustle and bustle of being princess of the internet, sometimes the little things in life passes her by.
That’s why she loves stories like this. Mares who sip tea and have the kind of challenges that can be contained in a couple hundred pages, not a couple hundred years. She reads the first page fast enough but feels compelled to reread it. It’s a delightful introduction. She sometimes thinks about writing from time to time but the only thing she ever writes is code. It’s a beautiful language in its own right, she supposes. She’s been at it her entire life, her childhood spent tinkering with electronics, out of sight from the world.
When she was Buffy’s age, she did things at her own pace too so it’s hardly possible to find fault with that purple haired filly sometimes. Could it be that she even thinks of Buffy almost like a daughter? They’ve known each other for years after all. Planned things when her Poniverse was just starting up. And she’s even half Pixel’s age. A flush spreads on Pixel’s face thinking about such silly things. Oh, Pixel…what are you doing?
Her mind is distracted. She doesn’t pass the first page even after several more tries. She looks up, stealthily scanning the ponies around her, almost expecting some of them to be watching. Surprisingly, it is almost a bother that nopony is looking her way. They’re all doing their own things as if they’re all at peace and she is the only one who isn’t. Why does she suffer from that contradiction? She came to the beach for rest but her mind won’t let her feel at ease with her popularity as it is. She thinks that at any time, somepony will notice her and break her out of what brief serenity she might acquire here on the sands.
9:15
‘PONI Radio! Pure Azure and the Starfish! In the morning! 74.6 FM!’
“So…filly fooler, how would you rate that perfect sunscreen blast to the face? Don’t tell me you don’t have an opinion. I won’t hear any cop outs from you,” Azura prods.
“Oh, I’m the expert now?” the Starfish says, her heavy voice breathing into the microphone. “Well, her form was pretty good if stiff and I wouldn’t know too much about sunscreen. A filly like me doesn’t use protection.”
“Some fillies just like to get burned!” Azura exclaims.
The Starfish chuckles. “And you’re the cautious one?”
“I wouldn’t be Pure Azure otherwise,” Azura says with a wink. “I remember going down the wrong street in Sweetie Shores. Never again!” ‘Sweetie Shores! If you see the double wides, you’ve gone too faaarrr!”
9:30
Pixel has managed to get up to page fifteen in her book. Other than some wind and sand blowing on the book and in her face, it is a fully relaxing experience and the anxiety over her magazine worthy face has slowly faded away for now. Suddenly, she hears a buzz on Buffy’s phone. Curious, she turns it on and, levitating it in the air, sees that the buzz was a signal of a response to something Buffy posted on social media. Pixel likes to read what Buffy is into and wonders what she has been talking about as she checks it out with a flick of her hoof.
But when she does, her stomach churns uncomfortably at the headline, ‘Sharks sighted off Equestrian Golden Coast’ by the Los Pegasus Times…dated yesterday! Did all this time, Buffy knew about sharks and didn’t mean to tell her about it? Her motherly instincts start to kick in and she begins to fret over Buffy immensely despite the fact that she should be peeved off at her silence on the subject. Buffy’s posts even read like a foal who considers herself to be invincible, saying things like “Sharks are nothing…you have a better chance of meeting the spirit of chaos than getting attacked in the ocean!”, debating with other ponies in the forums.
When Buffy trots over, Pixel is rather relieved to see no bite marks on her coat, even if what she said was technically true. Shark attacks are super rare but statistics alone can’t assuage those feelings that can so easily spring out.
“Pixel…you ready to try the water? It’s really good right now,” Buffy says happily, shaking water from her drenched mane.
Pixel hardly wishes to go in the water now but she has to come up with some kind of excuse. She is unsure what to say at first but suddenly, it clicks. “Well, the water is good and all but perhaps we can do something else at least until it gets warmer?”
“Okay…like what?”
Pixel smiles confidently and starts packing. “I know exactly what. Just follow my lead.”
After packing, Buffy reluctantly joins Pixel in walking along the beach, sometimes walking through a group of seagulls or around piles of knotted seaweed. Soon, they are nearing the cliffs when they come across several white nets strung up between wooden poles.
“Here we are,” Pixel declares with a raised hoof. “I know you love volleyball so much, Buffy. Let’s play!”
Buffy doesn’t look convinced. “Are you sure? I never even saw you so much as play ping pong.”
Pixel grins. “Oh, you must have not seen my old college pictures of me. I played all kinds of sports.”
“If you say so,” Buffy says, shrugging. “I’ll go to the tourist shack and get a ball.”
When Buffy returns, Pixel is applying a fresh coat of sunscreen. Buffy stops and stretches her legs and even cracks her neck. Pixel notices and has to silently gulp down some of her reluctance. In her bid to avoid the water, she has overlooked the fact that Buffy is extremely competitive and will probably mop the sands with her. But Buffy is very nice. Maybe she will take it easy on her?
“You ready?” Buffy shouts, her eyes glaring competitively from across the net.
Pixel’s only response is a nervous nod. She’ll take that as a ‘no’.
Buffy throws the ball straight up. “Hiiii – yaaahhh!” Her legs shoot her up like they were springs and ten feet in the air, she sends the ball rocketing across the net into her area before Pixel could even budge. Point: Buffy.
Pixel turns her head to look at the ball, settled out of bounds. She isn’t able to control her body until Buffy tells her to get the ball. I need to get my head in the game, she thinks.
Buffy serves again, this time sending the ball in a high arc over the net. Pixel intercepts it this time, although her stroke is much weaker and easily sets Buffy up for a counterattack. Luckily Pixel’s large body hops over to the other side and smacks it beyond Buffy’s reach. Point: Pixel.
The game continues with Pixel somehow able to keep up the pace although Buffy doesn’t seem to be trying as hard. Pixel’s lungs ache constantly like she’s breathing through a paper bag and she has made a few mistakes as a small group of ponies have come to watch them play. A little filly even cries out, “go princess!”
Buffy is far too ahead to lose though so she poses for a few photographs before ramping up for her final serve in the game. Pixel readies herself, her hooves dug in the sand, her nostrils flaring. The ball is spiked high. Without thinking, her wings launch her upwards for a quick counter.
“Hey!” Buffy exclaims, barely recovering the ball with another spike but falling on her side in the sand. “Cheater! No wings!”
Pixel sends it back with a loud grunt. Buffy doesn’t hold back this time and does another deadly downward slam but this time, it lands right between her friend’s eyes.
10:15
“I keep telling ponies, the princesses are usually pretty strong but they can get hurt too just like anypony else,” Azura says. In the last half hour, her pep has dropped a lot after an influx of calls came in about Pixel. Apparently, an Alicorn getting hurt is a huge deal because nopony can stop talking about it. And honestly, none of it is sitting right with her now. Has this whole thing been a bad idea from the start? She wanted a day in the life of a princess. That’s all, really. The last things she wanted was to ruin it by throwing all kinds of attention her way. And yet, she knows that sometimes the best intentions and a few bits are only worth a cup of coffee. Nopony is listening to her and with things as they are, it might turn into a media spectacle before long. She swears to Celestia that she’s never been more conflicted about something than before now.
“Look, let’s agree to disagree. Anyway, let’s continue our summer hits.” Azura, for once, is relieved to actually put her headphones down. She walks into the producer’s booth at the same time as their manager, a weedy business stallion wearing a suit, enters from another door.
“What’s up?” she says. The two of them aren’t exactly friends so she always makes it quick and to the point in his presence.
“The info coming in is rather exciting to hear about. I mean, what happened to our boss is of course unfortunate but the ratings are great so just keep the pace up,” he says. He can barely bother to look concerned. It always disgusts her how he only cares about money. He’s one of the few ponies that Azura, and probably her producer too, doesn’t like.
“Sure thing, boss,” she replies. When he leaves, she leans against the console.
“You sure look deep in thought,” Filly Stars says. She looks up, a trace of concern showing in her eyes.
“Somepony has to around here.” Azura doesn’t smile and returns to her booth.
10:45
Pixel feels a tingling numbness but also a dull pain throughout her muzzle and seemingly going into her brain somehow. She’s lying back on a picnic bench while a mare with a white coat and pink hair tied loose in a ponytail touches her nose delicately.
“It’s definitely not broken,” the mare who calls herself Mrs. Redheart says with the dignified authority of a head nurse. “But there will be soreness and inflammation for a few days.”
Pixel gets up and settles in a sitting position. “Thank you for being here. You’ve been a great help.”
“It was my pleasure. Please take care,” Redheart says before leaving to her waiting husband.
Pixel sighs and looks up at the thatched roof of the cabana where she somehow arrived in a blur of tears. She can’t believe her nose wasn’t broken. It hurt and still hurts like a dozen bee stings. She hears a rough voice telling the few ponies that still linger like flies that the show’s over, sometimes waving them away like annoying children. That’s her Buffy.
When Buffy returns, the cabana owner comes with free food and drinks for the princess and her friend. When Pixel says that it’s not necessary, the owner mentions her own admiration for what princesses like Pixel does for ponies everywhere. Pixel accepts the gifts but with some reluctance. However, Buffy doesn’t hesitate from blowing through her fried potatoes.
“C’mon, Pixel. Please eat,” Buffy urges.
“I’ll try but I’m not that hungry.” Pixel sips her frozen pineapple drink then nibbles on her carrot dog.
“Don’t let what happened ruin your day. We still have lots to do,” she says. She is somehow still super enthusiastic but then again, she wasn’t hit in the nose half an hour ago.
“It is easier said than done.”
Buffy shakes her head. “Don’t be like that. I know something that I always like doing and it’s fun.”
She cups her hooves around the snack and lifts it to be bitten as it hurts a bit to use magic. “I’m not sure. It’s at least nice and shaded here and my eyes feel sensitive to the light right now.”
“Don’t worry, this place won’t have much light,” she says, chuckling.
Usually that means she’s up to something but Pixel is still too tired to question her. But perhaps Buffy is right and whatever she has in mind will get her back into the spirit of wanting to do things.
11:30
“This is going to be super fun!”
Buffy leads, or practically forces as it were, Pixel down the congested tourist alley where dozens of trinket shops, food vendors, and ticket booths line each side. Posters of famed Rainbow Dash for ten bits each, surfboards, souvenir hats, ice cream…all expensive and very tempting even to a price conscious mare like Pixel. However, she has no time to stop anyway, at least until Buffy suddenly halts next to some old worn down wooden building next to the roller coaster.
“What’s this?” Pixel says, looking nervously at an old sign saying ‘Haunted Mansion’.
Buffy goes into the back of the line and Pixel follows. “You never been in a haunted house, I imagine. They’re all over the place at amusement parks.”
“No, I never have,” Pixel admits. She turns around, thinking to maybe sneak off and find something else to do. Going into a haunted house of all places isn’t her thing. They’re dark, and well…creepy. But she quickly notices that more and more ponies are looking in her direction. The foals don’t seem to care much but the adults seem especially interested in her presence and gravitate closer. She steps back and feels a tug on her arm. Thinking it’s a stranger, she pulls back forcefully.
“Hey, careful. I was just saying that we’ll be at the front sooner than you think,” Buffy tells her.
“I’m sorry about that…yes, let’s go. I’m sure it will be fun,” Pixel says.
Despite the sinking feeling in her stomach, Pixel makes it inside the haunted house with Buffy and a ride attendant who leads them to an empty rail car. She hears some muffled grunts behind her and a pony hurries in the car behind them. The attendant lowers metal bars over their laps, telling them to enjoy the ride.
No sooner than it starts does a shiver of fright shake Pixel’s nerves. Knowing the ins and outs of the animatronic zombies and ghosts popping in and out of the fake model houses doesn’t do anything to make it any less a turbulent rocking of her senses. Buffy’s screaming disorients her even further. Pixel feels what she thinks is a hug at first but it’s just her frightened grip. The scariest part was when a bunch of bats flew overhead and Pixel was worried of one being caught in her hair.
After being scared for a good five minutes, the two of them reach the end. Pixel gets out first, followed by Buffy. At the exit, Pixel goes into a washroom and heads to a sink to splash cool water on her face and her still sore nose. Meanwhile, Buffy waits outside. She whistles absentmindedly then searches in her bag for her phone but after a minute realizes that she hasn’t found it yet. Getting more desperate, she pours everything out on the ground. But it’s no use. Her phone is gone!
12:00 Noon
Buffy is so mad that she throws her bag against the wall. She snorts and stomps her hooves. She has never had anything stolen from her before and the thought of something of hers that’s so precious in the hooves of another pony makes her gaze at anypony around like they’re all suspects. Who could have done it? When could it have happened? During the volleyball game? No…she was changing her status during that time. Afterwards? She swore that she took a photo of Pixel’s hearth’s warming eve colored nose. No…it was after!
She then notices that pony who was sitting in the car behind them. She looks like a regular mare with a clean cut mane, a tourist t-shirt, and sunglasses. The standard, the kind of unassuming pony forgotten in ten seconds. But there is something that’s capturing her gaze. The mare doesn’t leave but lingers near the ice cream stand, fiddling with her own bag and looking around at nothing in particular but maybe not so much. Buffy thinks that out of the corner of her eye, she’s looking over at the exit to the haunted house. Buffy considers that she’s just a fan looking for an opportunity to see the princess but something’s bugging her. The mare was also near the entrance of the amusement park when they entered. Buffy would remember anypony being so interested in the help kiosk. Then that pony was the same as the first pony watching the volleyball game too. Buffy reaches around, picks up her things and walks around a fence blocking her from the mare.
She sneaks around a row of hedges until she spies the unassuming mare. The mare looks around more purposefully as she obviously can’t see Buffy anymore. She’s scanning the exit. Silently, Buffy reaches over and taps her shoulder.
The mare leaps forward in surprise and turns around. “Hey, ever hear of personal space?”
“Shut it. I know you’ve been following us,” Buffy says angrily.
“No, I haven’t.” The mare’s voice has the quiver of somepony found caught red hoofed at something.
Buffy points an accusing hoof. “What are you, a stalker?”
“I am no such thing!” She takes off in the other direction but Buffy cuts her off near the popcorn stand. The mare yelps and goes into an alley but Buffy’s waiting at the end behind a dumpster and tackles her.
Buffy pins her down hard. “I bet you stole my phone too! Looking for candid photos no doubt, you freak!”
The mare squirms, tears welling in her eyes either from guilt or sadness. “Fine. I admit it. I was watching you two. Please let me go!”
“You better not run again.”
“Fine…fine. I won’t.” Buffy lets her up slowly.
The mare blinks quickly then lifts her hoof defensively. “But I’m not a freak. I was just hired to follow you guys around, okay? It’s what lots of ponies do with royal celebrities these days. You got to understand.”
“What gives you the right to do that? Celebrities are just ponies too like you and me,” Buffy says. The pleading in the mare’s voice almost pisses her off more than it should.
The mare avoids her gaze, her ears folded in embarrassment as she’s being called out but yet, she stands her ground. “You don’t have to believe me but I am sorry. It’s just my job to do it.”
“Whatever. Empty your bag.”
Sensing that she has no choice, the mare does so and in the mess of papers, memory cards and pens is Buffy’s sticker covered phone.
“Aha, I knew it! You are a thief!” Buffy declares. She quickly seizes the phone, her precious phone, and holds it close so her electronic companion can be safe.
“I wasn’t stealing it. I was going to put it in the lost and found as soon as I had the chance. You’re the one who left it behind at the cabana earlier,” the mare says.
“You’re just full of excuses. Well, it doesn’t matter. Go away. If I see you again, I’ll kick your flank!”
The mare hurries off, her tail practically between her legs. Buffy sighs, the adrenaline leaving her as she walks back to the haunted house. Trying to focus on something else, she thinks about her growing hunger but decides to ask Pixel first if she wants to get anything to eat.
At the exit, a group of fillies exits, their manes on end and laughing hysterically. But no Pixel to be seen. Buffy scratches her mane and wonders where she could be.
1:00
Azura puts on a jacket and zips it up before going upstairs towards the helicopter pad. Filly Stars follows frantically, nearly knocking over an intern.
“You can’t just leave! What about all the fans?” she protests.
The two go outside as the helicopter starts up, the engine whirring and the blades spinning. Filly Stars holds a hoof up in vain to protect her hair.
Azura turns and pats her friend’s side. Ever since she got the call from her reporter on the ground, she knew that their plans, as ambitious as they were, has come to an end. She has to go there in person, to make things right or as good as they’re going to be. To her, it’s the right thing to do.
“You’ve always known what to do, filly fooler,” Azura says with a wink. “Don’t disappoint me.”
Azura hops in the helicopter and locks her belt in place. She thinks she hears a faint voice telling her to get a souvenir but she ignores it as the machine lifts off and takes her to the north at top speed.
2:00
It’s been an hour and no sign of Pixel. Buffy can’t believe that the princess of the internet decided to forgo taking her own phone out of some commitment to “downtime” or whatever she was calling it. Now they’re apart in a huge seaside tourist trap and she has no idea where her friend could be. Buffy can’t shake the feeling that she’s failed Pixel in some way but she doesn’t know how. She tries not to consider the worst…that Pixel abandoned her because she finds the things she does annoying. That would be the most terrible day ever.
But that can’t be true. She can’t believe it. Pixel and her are best pals. There has to be another reason for her sudden disappearance, something important perhaps. Buffy just has to keep her chin up and her phone at her side and she’ll find out what it is.
As she searches, the hunger pangs tighten and she walks the seaside arcade, looking around. Vendors sell roasted almonds in a hundred different flavors and delicious caramel. Her mouth drools and she looks side to side. Pixel isn’t here but there’s no harm in getting something really quick to recharge. After all, there’s no use in pushing herself so hard that she faints.
After buying a carrot dog, she goes towards a bunch of tables where ponies are sitting. As she approaches the only one with a spare seat, she stops in her tracks. The weird stalker mare from before is sitting in a pathetic looking slouch, drinking a foamy tall cup of coffee from a straw.
Buffy frowns sympathetically. She recalls how she acted earlier and thinks that maybe she was being too harsh. It’s really just a stupid phone and she was the one who lost it so if the mare hadn’t picked it up, it might have been lost forever. Buffy inhales sharply and as much as she doesn’t wish to, she decides to bury her pride for once. If she wants to find her friend, she is going to need some help. She approaches the mare and once again, taps her on the shoulder.
2:15
It’s been quite the roller coaster ride for Pixel. Metaphorically of course since she is far too scared to go near a real one. The day took her from the beaches to the boardwalk and back again. As she walks on the sand, her wide hooves leave behind deep prints which are wiped away quickly by the surf. Beside her is another pair of prints, much smaller made by delicate hooves of seafoam green. The foal who is making them is quite the chatterbox like Buffy but Pixel enjoys listening as she does to every young foal who speaks to her.
The foal leans down and picks up seashells as they walk. She takes a look at them and then tosses them away. Pixel doesn’t want to interrupt her young voice which talks of all sort of things about life on the coast. They’re all common things to Pixel except for what brought them together on that beach. The filly likes to talk of her mother. The filly is lost and can’t find her. The best she could say when recalling the time of their separation is that it was “very early and she lost her mother after finding a rainbow shell on the beach”.
Pixel didn’t expect that she would find a lost child and more than that, the filly refused to be taken to the boardwalk security! She said they can’t help which is a strange thing to say but Pixel has never been lost herself so she has no idea how a lost child would behave. She does feel immensely sorry for the filly and wants to find her mother right away but the filly herself walks with an unusually serene air down the beach, distracted by playing and shells.
“Isn’t this fun?” the filly says happily. She trots some ways off and looks under seaweed.
“It sure is,” Pixel mutters to herself.
Pixel goes towards the foal as she is digging in the sand and pats her head gently. “This isn’t helping you look for your mother.”
The filly continues. “I know,” she says, her emotion unchanging. She remains focused at the task of searching for shells.
“Well, let’s go elsewhere. Your mom must be worried.”
The filly lifts her head and waves a few errant strands of hair aside. “Mommy is a bit loopy so she’s always going places and forgetting me. I saw her here last.”
Pixel sighs. What a strange foal. “So she’ll be back?”
“I dunno…maybe.”
“I’m sure we’ll find her.”
“That’s because you’re amazing, princess.” The compliment makes Pixel smile. She thinks about when they met at the haunted house exit, the filly suddenly approaching her and calling by her royal title. When it happened, Pixel wavered at first, not knowing what to expect from the bundle of energy. Another fan of hers? But something was different. The filly wasn’t looking for anything but her help and that is something that Pixel will provide without question.
“I want to go into the water now,” the filly says.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Pixel says. She grips the filly’s shoulder gently and notices how brittle and harsh the hair under her hoof feels as if the filly goes out all the time but never wears sunscreen. “We shouldn’t go into the water. I hear it’s dangerous.”
“But I love swimming,” the filly pouts.
“I’m afraid there are sharks in the water. Do you know about them?”
The filly nods and then grins proudly. “I do and so does mommy. She gave me this necklace that has a special stone to make them go away if they’re near.” She flashes the metallic sphere hanging around her neck and presents it to Pixel. Looking at it closely, Pixel cross-references it with many metals she knows in her mind and it appears to her as a rare earth metal. Interestingly enough, she remembers reading an article once about those metals repelling sharks but didn’t think much of it then. Perhaps her mother knew enough about it to give that necklace to keep her safe?
“Well, if you go in then I must follow. The tide is strong,” Pixel warns.
“I know!”
The filly wades into the surf and Pixel has no choice but to go in too despite her original judgment. The cold water quickly goes up to her belly, her pulse quickens and by that time, the filly is already paddling. Pixel stays beside her and keeps a hoof outstretched to keep her near. Her limbs feel stiff from the exertion. The entire time, Pixel thinks of sharks roaming freely in the water, their eyes stealthily watching them. She keeps her eyes on the filly and tries to drive those concerns away.
“So your mom came up with a nice name for you, didn’t she?” Pixel says.
“Oh, yeah…my mom. I like the name, well, most of the time,” the filly replies while gulping air.
“I tend to like it.”
“Me too. Seashell is pretty cool. But sometimes other fillies make fun and call me shell-fish because I keep my shells safe in a box.”
“Some fillies are mean.”
“But I live with them.”
“Did you hear about me from them?”
“The girls keep a radio on sometimes when doing their manes. I listen and sometimes I’ll hear about you. You’re always doing something amazing and you’re a princess which means you can live wherever you want and you don’t have to worry about other mares being mean to you or ignoring you.”
It’s so cold and it’s a tough swim but Pixel enjoys going along the shore. The filly, Seashell, is a decent swimmer and Pixel could even see her handling the water on her own…not like she would actually let go to find out. Before she knows it, the two of them are almost at the pier, a jutting extension of the boardwalk covered in expensive restaurants and boutiques. Pixel is done.
“Let’s return to shore. I’m getting tired,” Pixel says.
“Aww…”
3:00
Later, Pixel spends a few bits getting Seashell an ice cream. She licks it as they sit at the edge of the pier, looking over at sailboats so far away and getting warm again. As wonderful as that moment is, Pixel feels as though this is a final chapter to their brief time together. It’s the way neither of them wishes to move from that spot on the pier. It’s almost evening. The sun will dip below the horizon, the tourists will move on and their search is in vain.
Pixel isn’t sure when she figured things out but it probably wasn’t just one thing that tipped her off. It was after she helped wipe those dirty cheeks or after the filly blended in with the crowd to avoid the gaze of a security guard. She wonders where Seashell lives; she’s thinking a group home perhaps. Either way, the filly isn’t that good at hiding things.
“Princess, where do you come from?” Seashell asks.
“I live in a town to the north. It’s very quiet. Not too many tourists.”
“Do you have lots of friends and ponies who care about you?”
Pixel smiles. “I do. Many friends. Actually, one of my friends is probably wondering where I went right now. She doesn’t know that I’m helping you.”
“That’s okay. She doesn’t need to know.”
Pixel stoops lower and thinks that’s a terrible thing for a filly to be learning. “That’s not true,” Pixel says. “The ponies closest to you are very important. Even the ones who we aren’t related to.”
“I knew I was special. I met you for a reason, princess, and that was for you to take me far away. We’ll live together in your castle.”
Seashell spreads her hooves and gives Pixel a hug around her middle. Pixel is in a tough situation. The filly thinks she’s in some kind of fairy tale where a princess has come to save her from her problems but sadly, there is no way that could be true. What was the filly expecting by doing that act earlier about her mom? Or does she really think that she’s looking for somepony out there who could replace her? The truth can be so harsh sometimes. Pixel gives Seashell a firm pat on the back and then looks her in the eyes.
“I don’t even have a castle,” Pixel says. “But still, I meant that you should return home and talk to the other fillies and get them to understand what you’ve been feeling lately instead of hiding away from them.”
Seashell backs away and crosses her hooves. “That doesn’t work. Even the good fillies end up going away and I’m left with mean ones. I’ll rather live outside with the cats and the raccoons. At least they care…kind of.”
“I promise we’ll find a way. But what you are doing is not the right way because you thought you could make up a story about being lost so that I would believe you and feel sympathy for you. There are so many foals in your situation and they all have to find their own path and you do too. I’m sorry but yours can’t be with me.”
Seashell becomes irritated. “When I heard that you were coming on the radio, I thought you came for a reason. But I was wrong, wasn’t I? Why don’t you care?”
“I do care!” Pixel shouts before lowering her head. Her sudden incredulity at the foal’s attitude makes her tremble and her face flush for even getting into it with her. “I’m sorry but I can’t take care of a foal. I work night and day and travel all the time. You would be lonely in my house. Even more so than here.”
Seashell sobs quietly. Pixel runs through all the options in her head and all of them seem incompatible. What can she do? There’s no going back on her decision and there’s no way she could take in a foal. That would be foolish. But she could hardly just leave her there and do nothing. As she racks her brain, suddenly it all falls into place. One of her oldest friends lives in the city! Surely she would love Seashell since she’s always going on about wanting a foal these days. She should give the mare a call but she didn’t bring her phone. Where is that Buffy?
3:15
As if her desires have been answered by Celestia herself, Pixel spots her friend trotting over alongside some mare she doesn’t recognize.
“Pixel! Over here!”
“Buffy!”
They meet for a hug and Pixel keeps a hoof around her friend to rub the back of her mane. “We looked all over and finally somepony pointed us in this direction,” Buffy says.
“It’s great to see you too,” Pixel says, beaming. “Sorry about losing you earlier.”
“Yeah. Same here.” Buffy blinks in surprise. “Who’s that?” Seashell looks at Buffy shyly as if sizing the purple haired mare as Pixel’s daughter. Pixel can’t be surprised if she thinks so. They do very much act like that in public sometimes.
“That’s a little fan of mine who looked towards me for a little advice. Her name is Seashell. Looks like you found a new friend too?”
The two of them turn to face the mare. “Hello, princess. My name is Field Report,” she says. Pixel notices that Field is rather shy too, biting her lower lip when not speaking and keeping her two front hooves crossed.
“No need to be nervous. I like meeting fans,” Pixel says enthusiastically. “Oh, Buffy. I need you to do me a favor.”
“Okay, what?”
“Do you remember my old friend, Diamond, from Los Pegasus?”
“I think so.”
“Please send her a message on my behalf. Tell her that it’s about a filly who would like to meet her.” Pixel turns and winks at Seashell who makes a light effort at smiling back.
3:20
Contacting Diamond turns out to be a great success. Her mare friend is very much interested in meeting Seashell and will come down to the town to visit the group home very soon.
As the group is laughing and celebrating such good fortune, a helicopter swoops in from above and lands on the pier, scattering confused tourists. A thin blue mare with a flowing mane jumps out and approaches them.
“Azura? What are you doing here?” Field stammers. She obviously has no idea why her boss has suddenly shown up.
“Azura? Azura Peaville?” Pixel says, raising an eyebrow.
Azura bows lightly and takes a deep breath. “That’s me, princess. It is wonderful to see you again.”
“Wow! You’re Pure Azure!” Buffy fanboys loudly, stars practically forming in her eyes.
Azura shakes her head free of loose strands. “Yes, yes. But I don’t come under such great circumstances. I’m afraid that I wanted to apologize to you in person, princess. You see, what I was trying to do was to let my listeners get a glimpse into your life since that is such a privilege but we messed up. I came to realize that ponies like you don’t get enough privacy and it’s not cool to cut into your life like we do. So, from one pony in the spotlight to another, I’m sorry.”
“Wait, what? You were responsible for all this?” Buffy says, a very annoyed frown forming.
Azura raises her hooves defensively. “We had good intentions, Buffy.”
“I can’t believe it. You wait there…I’ll be right back!” She stomps off.
Pixel then starts to giggle at how amusing the situation is to her. “Poor Azura…you’re in for it now it seems. Never get on Buffy’s bad side. But with what time you have left, I must stay that things are perfectly fine between us. Maybe at first, I would have been disappointed with how things turned out but it’s only after my experiences here that I’ve remembered that fame is a bit of a fickle thing. It’s hard to get used to, yes, but it can be used for good and not just for myself. I can help others and it’s a fine thing for ponies to recognize me when I’m out and about. I’ve perhaps got you ponies in our wonderful Poniverse media to thank for it.”
Azura is taken aback…perhaps she was expecting irritation or even anger. “Well, how do you like that? You’re the best, Pixel! And it’s not just me saying that because you actually won the best princess contest over at PONI radio…if you must know.”
“Give my regards to your listeners when you can!” Pixel says.
They all start laughing until Buffy returns, wielding a huge plastic hammer from one of the carnival style games nearby.
“BANHAMMER!”
She whacks the hammer into Azura, the bounce causing her to be flung into the sea with a yelp and a splash. Buffy leans over the side and photographs the famous DJ multiple times, each more embarrassing than the last.
“I hope you like this shared!”
“No, not with my mane like this!”
Everypony laughs hysterically. It’s amazing how much a couple ponies can do in just one day and yet, it is very much far from over.
The End
Author's Note
Well, that's all. If you liked the story then that's good. If not, please post why below and have a good day.
