Author's Note

A lot of talking in this one, but it's needed. This was the bigger chapter to revamp as I had to change a lot of the original idea to one that just works better.

Off To The Ocean Blue (rewrite)

As the four walk onto the ship they are greeted by two rows of employees, one on each side with them walking through the middle as they enter the lobby. The lobby itself has a modern look, though aquatic theme. The elevator shafts looking like ocean waves with tinted blue and silver. The tile mimicking the waves with some tiles the look like coral and wildlife. Violet and Luna look around in awe as their eyes go wide and a large smile is on their faces as they make way to their cabin.

As they enter, the cabin is painted a light blue with white tile and sand colored grout. The two headboards of the beds are curved and fit the ocean wave theme along with the blue and white sheets and pillows. The space was limited, but it was big enough for everyone to move around without too much trouble.

Sunset and Violet set their bags on the near by couch and look out the window. Violet walks over and opens the sliding door and stands out on the balcony, though still at port, she can see the open ocean just in the distance past all the boats and ports. She lets out a relaxed sigh, followed by a soft smile.

“This feels, nice.” Violet mentions.

“Just wait until we get out to the open ocean.” Celestia teases.

Violet walks back in and shuts the glass door as she takes out a bottle of pills and taps a couple out before popping them in her mouth and drinking water.

“Well of course, haha.”

They all head out of the room and shut the door before going to the upper deck.

The upper deck keeps the theme of waves as the rest of the ship, though with much more color, the floor is pine, though cut and sanded to look more like the ocean floor than a wooden deck. People gather in the center of the deck, with some already dancing to the music playing through the speakers. Some are at the deck’s bar, while others are swimming in the pool. Violet and Sunset look in awe just as Luna and Celestia bump their elbows to the shoulders of their own daughters. Sunset and Violet shake their heads a bit and look at Luna and Celestia.

“Don’t take it all in at once, we got plenty of time, go explore.” Celestia advises.

They both nod and go off on their own ways, Sunset heading towards the pool, while Violet heads towards the back of the ship. As she makes her way towards the back, there are fewer and fewer people. She sighs and smiles a bit.

“Finally, I can hear myself think.” She mentions to herself.

As she turns the corner, she bumps into someone and falls down with a small thud as she hits the deck. She quickly gets up and brushes herself off before looking at who she bumped into and reaches her arm out to offer them an arm up.

“I’m so so so sorry, need help?” Violet asks.

“Yes, thank you.” The young woman says as she takes Violet’s hand.

Violet pulls back as the woman gets up.

“I’m Violet, Violet Rose.” Violet introduces.

“Cherry, Cherry Blossom.” Cherry Blossom mentions.

As she brushes her hair to the side, a mark of cherry blossom pedals run down the left side of her face and arm. Violet staggers back a bit.

“Nice tattoos.” Violet compliments.

“Thank you, I got them on my birthday. You got some nice tattoos too.”

Violet looks at her arm with a smile.

“Thanks.”

“So where were you going in a rush?”

“Somewhere more quiet, kind of noisy for my tastes.”

“Ah, don’t blame you, Was gonna head to the pool towards the back, wanna join?”

“Oh, sure, I’ll need to grab my swimsuit though, mind if I meet you there?”

“Of course, I’ll see you there.”

Cherry Blossom leaves towards the pool while Violet heads to the cabin.

On her way to the cabin, Violet's heart races as her breathing is now deeper and her eyes widened. She opens the door and hurries inside.

Violet paces around the cabin for a couple minutes. Her breath is quick, her eyes shifty, and her hands shaking. She grabs her swimsuit as her mind races and puts it on before looking herself over in the mirror. Her swimsuit is a modest purple two piece swimsuit with thick straps on the shoulders and is more form fitting. She twisted her body around, looking it over one more time.

“I just gotta play it cool, yeah, yeah, play it cool.” She assures herself as she puts on her flip flops and grabs a towel.

Violet leaves the cabin and shuts the door before heading to the pool.

When she reaches the pool, Violet sees a lot more adults and the pool is much deeper than the middle deck pool. She scans the pool and sees Cherry Blossom waving at her. Violet walks over to a pool side chair and places her towel on it just as Cherry comes over.

“Come in, the water is great.” Cherry invites as she crosses her arms on the ledge of the pool.

“In a second.” Violet says as she takes out the scrunchy in her hair and puts it on her towel.

Violet turns and sits on the ledge, putting her feet and legs in the water. She smiles softly as she slides the rest of her body in. A look of surprise appears on her face.

“Wow, I was expecting the water to be warmer than it is.” Violet mentions.

“Yeah, especially in the sun.”

“This beats Canterlot lake any day.”

“Oh so you’re from Canterlot?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Manehatten originally, now in Las Pegasus.”

“Ah, I’ve traveled with my family, so I’ve been around, my mom taught at the old high school.”

Violet and Cherry start to swim around the pool. Cherry has more form in the way she swims unlike Violet who is a bit more chaotic in her swimming.

“I heard about what happened there, it’s a shame.” Cherry mentions.

“It is, did you know anyone from there?”

“I thought I didn’t, but when I looked at who passed away there, I came across a name, Peanut Butter, I felt this sense of hurt and sadness wash over me for some reason, did you know him?”

Violet looks down and sighs. her eyes go narrow, with a bit of a soft smile on her face.

“I did, he and I were close friends, though he had his heart set on another at the time, along with other things.”

“Poor girl, sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks, yours too, even if you can’t remember him.”

“You're welcome, and thanks, I’ll remember him eventually, hopefully.”

“Yeah, I hope you do too.”

Violet sinks the bottom part of her face into the water, her eyes sticking above the water like a gator.

“So changing the subject, What do you plan on doing while we are at sea?”

Violet pulls her head from the water and looks at Cherry Blossom.

“Just hang around, relax, you can probably tell just from where I'm from, things have been, stressful as of late.”

“Same, maybe hit up some of the tourist spots that I haven't done yet.”

“Yet?, How often do you go on cruises?”

“More than I'd like to, sometimes.”

“First one, had to take sea sickness medicine as soon as I got on.”

“Well hopefully it works for you so you can enjoy the experience.”

“Well so far so good at the very least.”

"So how often do you do vacations like this? As in out of state?"

"First one, most of the time its just outings for the day or a weekend to the local park or beach."

“Ah, so what’s your family like?”

"We do okay, two incomes in one place helps while my cousin and I figure things out since we graduated shortly after the destruction of the school, what about yours?"

“Rich, Mom is an adviser on a few boards and Dad is a CEO of a tech company. So I get a lot of time to myself.”

“Nice, very nice.”

Violet looks down a bit.

Just then the ship shakes a bit. The water shakes a bit as Violet and Cherry hold onto the ledge. Once the water settles in the pool they look at each other and laugh.

“We must have set off.” Violet guesses.

“Must have.”

“So starts my first real vacation.”

"That this does."

Just then Violet looks up to see Luna walk towards them, waving as she comes closer. Violet waves back with a relaxed smile.

“Hey mom.” Violet greets.

“Hey Violet, having fun?”

“Yeah, I am actually, oh, this is my new friend, Cherry Blossom.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you, watch out with my daughter, she’s a wild one, haha.”

Violet blushes and hides her face.

“Moooom~” She complains.

“I’m just teasing, well you two have fun, I’m going to climb the rock wall.”

Luna leaves, though Violet doesn’t notice.

“Okay, have fu- wait rock wall?”

Violet turns her head looking for her and sighs.

“Hope she doesn’t hurt herself.” Violet complains.

“She’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Hey, I got something to go to so I’ll catch you later okay?”

Cherry gets out of the pool and grabs her towel and wraps it around her waist. Violet looks at her with a small smile on her face.

“Okay, I’m sure we’ll run into each other again soon.”

“Oh we will Violet, see ya later.”

Cherry then puts on her flip flops and leaves the pool. Violet sighs as she traces her finger on top of the water.

“Even as P.B., I probably didn’t stand a chance, haha.” Violet says to herself.

“Don’t stand a chance with who?”

Violet jumps and looks behind her to see Sunset in the pool.

“Did we forget personal space?”

“Oh, sorry.”

Sunset swims back a bit.

"You know my friend that you found out about, Cherry Blossom?"

"A bit yeah, why? Another flashback?"

"No, she's on this cruise."

Sunset's eyes go wide, then relax as she hangs out on the edge of the pool with her.

"Wow, did you tell her?"

"No, remember, Peanut Butter is supposed to be dead, besides, she doesn't seem to remember him for the most part."

"Is that so? Well, think of this as a new friendship with her. That's the whole point of all of this, isn't it? To start a new life?"

Violet sighs and swims to the ledge overlooking the ocean, crossing her arms on the ledge and resting her head on them.

"Yeah, it is, but at the same time......" Violet trails off as she just stares out into the now open sea, the city skyline fading away into the distance.

Sunset follows and copies her position next to her.

"I get it, shedding your old self is hard, remember all the times I told you about me shortly after the fall formal. All it takes is a leap of faith and good friends to help you on the way down."

"I know, I just don't know how."

"You'll figure it out in time, but in the meantime, this is a nice view, huh?"

Violet lets out a small chuckle. "It is, so vast and wide as the city gets smaller."

"Yep, so how about we leave those thoughts holding you down there and enjoy the time here instead?"

Violet sighs and looks out towards the shrinking city and softly smiles and nods gently.

"That's what I like seeing, let's check out the soda bar they got here."

"Sure, heard you can mix flavors too."

"Race you to the edge."

The two girls launch off the edge they were on and swim to the other side of the pool where their towels are before getting out and going to the soda bar a few feet away.