Violet spent much of the morning the next day reading on the balcony of her apartment after a luxurious sleep-in. Plenty of exercise before bedtime always resulted in a night of good solid slumber and she was ready to have a full afternoon with her new friend. They had arranged to meet at hir place at noon, by which time shi would have fulfilled hir obligation to Morningmist, freshen up, and prepare for the day’s activities.

Shortly before the appointed hour, the unicorn departed, carrying only a small pouch slung over her neck with her comm and key. Violet first visited a shop before heading for Tigerbright’s home. She approached it via the beachside entrance as she had been instructed, but before she could make herself known, the chakat’s voice came clearly from inside.

“Come in! The door’s open.”

Violet entered, grinning at the apron-clad chakat who was preparing food on the kitchen bench. “Sensed me coming with your empathic talent?”

“Yep. Got the burger buns, eggs, and lettuce?”

The unicorn held up a bag she had been carrying. “Sure did.”

“Awesome. I’ve got the onions chopped, tomatoes sliced, and burger patties prepared. Vege for you, meat for me.” The chakat put the onions into a plastic container which shi stacked on top of others. “Could you put these in the esky along with the stuff you brought while I wash my hands?”

Violet blinked in confusion. “What’s an esky?”

Tigerbright chuckled. “Sorry – Aussie slang for a portable cooler. My parents emigrated from Australia and I’ve inherited a lot of the lingo from them. Anyway, put them in the blue esky – the red one has drinks in it.”

“Okay. I suppose you’re not very familiar with Equestrian slang?” she asked as she raised the cooler’s lid and placed the containers in it.

“Not much anymore,” Tigerbright replied as shi cleaned hir hands. “I’ve been doing this job for a while now and have heard most of the idioms. I suppose there could be some I haven’t heard before though.”

“Probably. Anyway, I’m curious as to why you wanted eggs.”

“I guess you’ve never had a burger with a fried egg on it before?” When the mare shook her head, the chakat continued, “Again, Aussie style. You may have noticed the pickles, bell peppers, and sweet corn already in the esky – I’m prepared to accommodate a lot of different tastes.” The chakat dried hir hands and took off the apron, leaving hir nude. “Anyway, I believe we’re all ready now. Leave your pouch on the bench, grab one of the eskies, and let’s go.”

“You’re going unclothed?” Violet asked curiously even as she levitated the blue cooler.

“Yep. No point in wearing clothes on the beach. It’s not as if you ponies aren’t nude all the time.” Shi picked up the red esky and headed outside.

Violet followed, saying, “I noticed that the morphs I’ve seen on the beach were wearing bathing costumes though. I thought you all did?”

Tigerbright closed and locked the door. “That’s purely up to the individuals. Most feel more comfortable wearing something, and a lot of females like support for their boobs.”

“Boobs?” queried Violet.

“Breasts,” the chakat explained, hefting one of hirs with hir free hand.

“Oh. So why don’t you? Not that it matters to me.”

The chakat paused to pick up a large beach umbrella that shi had waiting outside. “I normally wear clothes only for protection like when I’m hiking, or my formal office gear. I prefer being nude most of the time. And FYI, while many planets have a nudity taboo, Chakona expressly forbids the making of any laws requiring the wearing of clothing outside of necessary protective gear, formal premises, or uniform. You can thank that law for not compelling you ponies to wear pants!”

The mare grimaced at that uncomfortable idea as they crossed the beachside path and onto the sand. “I’ve read about how our world came into contact with the Federation, and nowhere was there mentioned anything about requiring clothing. None of the photographs taken at that time showed ponies or griffons in anything more formal than a uniform jacket or such.”

“Oh, you can bet that there were plenty of people of several races who were offended by your ‘immorality’, as they would have expressed it. However, Equestria was the great shining hope for defeating the Swarm at the time, and no one, or at least extremely few, were stupid enough to jeopardize the new relationship between our worlds over that matter. By now though, it’s accepted that Equestrian species only wear clothes when they consider it appropriate. Just like me right now.”

Tigerbright had taken them towards a low structure partially under the shade of the trees. Stopping short of it, shi planted the umbrella’s pole firmly in the sand and opened it up. Shi placed hir esky in its shade and then inclined hir head toward the structure. “Bring your esky with us.”

As they trotted closer, Violet got a decent view of the picnic area. Four wooden picnic tables with benches sat nearby, three of them occupied. Between the seating and cooking areas rose a painted steel column that expanded into ribbed wings covered with thatched thin branches that provided rudimentary shade and protection from the weather. It looked somewhat like a strange umbrella tree.

As Violet could already tell from the smoke and smell, the structure covered several simple but sturdy wood-fired barbecues built out of natural stone. There were four of them, triangular in design with one of the points meeting those of the others so that it minimized the size while maximizing the area in front of each for the users. Several ponies, griffons, changelings, and the raccoon morph that the unicorn remembered seeing at the spaceport were already there and cooking their meals.

“Hi, Tiges!” a stallion called out, quickly followed by greetings from the others.

“G’day, everyone!” Tigerbright replied. “I’d like you to meet my friend, Violet Woods. We met while hiking yesterday. She arrived on Chakona just a few days ago.”

“So, you finally found someone to trudge through the forest with you?” the raccoon asked with a grin.

“Told you that I’d find one someday, Paul,” the chakat replied, sticking out hir tongue at him.

The morph smirked. “Yeah, and how long have you been saying that now? Two years or three?”

“Be grateful – I was this close to dragging you up there with me,” Tigerbright replied, booping him on the nose with hir finger.

The others laughed as the chakat turned back to the unicorn. “Violet – this pack of reprobates are my friends and colleagues who live in the area. We regularly meet up on the beach for a barbecue if the weather is fine.”

Violet looked up into the near-cloudless sky. “It’s been nice since I’ve been here, so I thought the weather ponies had been keeping it under control.”

A pegasus mare laughed. “Hon, there are way too few of us to control the weather here. Those of us in the Emu Island Bureau of Meteorology are more concerned with forecasts and mitigating extreme events.”

“Oh, I see. I should have realized that.”

The pegasus shook her head. “Don’t let it worry you. I’m Silver Nimbus, by the way. My hubby here is Sturdy Frame.” She indicated the earth pony stallion who had first greeted them. “And Zipper here is our herdmate.” She used a wing to hug a chrome changeling.

The others quickly introduced themselves. The griffon cock and hen were a mated couple too. They were named Gavin and Grace, indicating that they originated from Griffonstone with their love of names starting with the letter G rather than from Griffonia where they had more descriptive names like ponies. The raccoon introduced his fiancée, Maria, a female morph that looked similar to his species but Violet learned was a ringtail. The final two adults were a yellow pegasus mare and changeling couple, this time the latter hailing from the Green Hive. Unlike the others, Sunny Skies and Artax had no children, but the rest of the adults proudly indicated their offspring playing on the sand or in the water while their parents watched.

One thing that immediately struck Violet was that all Tigerbright’s friends were either mated or on their way to be. The chakat was the only one who was single. The mare chuckled to herself. ‘Looks like I’m hir designated date today,’ she thought. ‘Ah well, I only told hir not to line me up with any stallions.’

“I’ve finished cooking if you want to use this barbecue,” Gavin said.

“Thanks, Gav. Bring the esky around here, Violet.”

The mare brought the cooler to the adjacent bench and started unloading the ingredients while Tigerbright stoked the fire with some more wood. Shi then began putting the food on the grill to cook. Meanwhile, Violet looked for somewhere to put the buns other than the bare bench.

“Tigerbright – have you got any plates?”

“Whoops! Plates and utensils are in a bag in the other esky. I wanted to leave room for the food in this one.”

The unicorn trotted over to where the red esky had been left, opened it, and took out the bag, noting the assortment of drinks surrounded by ice. After replacing the lid, she took the bag back and extracted two reusable plastic plates. Violet used a knife to split four buns and butter them. She put on some slices of tomato, then tore off several leaves from the lettuce, adding them to the buns. She then considered the condiments.

“You want salt and pepper?” she asked.

“Yes, and barbecue sauce, please.”

Violet added them to two of the buns but selected ketchup and mustard for her two. Before long the patties were done and were placed on the buns, then a generous helping of fried onions before being topped off with fried eggs.

Tigerbright grinned when she saw the final result – four huge burgers packed with ingredients. “Are you sure you can eat two of those? Remember there are still sweet corn and bell peppers too.”

“I had a light breakfast anticipating this meal,” Violet replied.

“As long as you don’t get too bloated for the fun later,” the chakat replied as shi served up the foodstuffs.

The two settled down in the shade of their umbrella as the others coped with their children. Tigerbright fished out a couple of bottles of lemon drink to wash down the food.

“I have some alcoholic drinks too, but I was going to save them for later, unless you would like one now?”

Violet shook her head. “I don’t drink much alcohol, but when I do, it’s normally in the late afternoon at the earliest. I prefer this right now.”

“Me too.”

They both had good appetites and finished their food quickly. The mare had to admit that she had eaten a little more than she should have, but it was so good! Silver, Sturdy, and Nimbus came over to chat with them while they all let their food settle for a while. However, it wasn’t long before the children dragged everyone away to have a game of beach volleyball. Violet had never played the game before and had to be warned that she could not grab the ball with her magic, only hit it. She wasn’t very good at the game, but she had a lot of fun nevertheless. Then, it was time for a dip in the ocean to cool off.

That turned into another kind of exercise when someone brought out several gaily colored beach balls. A game of tag soon ensued. Violet was so focused on beaning Tigerbright with a ball that she failed to notice a rogue wave come up behind her. It struck her at the most awkward moment, flinging her to the seafloor. As soon as she could get her hooves under her, she rose to the surface, coughing and spluttering.

The chakat was laughing at her friend’s misfortune and the mare glared at hir. Then her frown turned sly. Her horn lit up and Tigerbright let out a squawk as hir feet were pulled out from under hir and shi plunged beneath the surface. Shi rose again a moment later, still chuckling.

“I deserved that. I think we’ve both had enough for one day. Want to relax on the beach and have a couple of drinks now?”

Violet nodded. “Yeah. I’m a bit tired anyway.”

They headed back to the shade of their umbrella where the chakat pulled out four bottles. “I have several flavors of vodka coolers. There’s raspberry, watermelon, guava, and pineapple.”

“They sound more like fruit drinks than alcohol. Surprise me.”

Tigerbright passed the raspberry one to the mare. “Maybe, but they have a bit of a kick to them. I wouldn’t advise you having too many too quickly.” Shi then opened the guava one and chugged half of the contents in one go.

Violet raised an eyebrow. “What about you?” she asked before taking a more cautious sip.

“Chakats are extremely resistant to toxins, and that includes ethanol. I’d have to drink buckets of these to get drunk.”

“That’s awfully convenient. I’ve never heard of any species that could imbibe that much alcohol without harm except dragons. They literally burn it off.”

“It’s not a coincidence. Like all morph species, chakats were genetically engineered. Unlike most others, we were designed to be survivors. We could go places where no other could do so safely. Eat and drink stuff that would kill just about anyone. We could flourish under conditions that would crush most. Even our dual sexual nature was intended to help as every chakat can be a mother and a sire.”

“Overkill much?” Violet asked.

Tigerbright laughed. “I suppose so nowadays. Back when we were first created though, the world was a very different place. Almost every country was still recovering from a global war. I’m grateful to be a species with so many advantages though. And it’s not like I can do magic like you can. That’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, I do like being able to utilize spells when I’m in a jam.” She took another swig of her beverage. “Mmm! I can tell why you warned me about these drinks.”

“Going to stick to just one then?” The chakat reached for a second bottle for hirself.

“Heck, no! I’m not a one-drink wonder.”

Violet did stop at two though while Tigerbright polished off a couple more. Then they lazed and chatted with the chakat’s other friends for a while. In what seemed no time whatsoever, the sun was setting and all the families needed to head home. The pair collected the remains of their food, packed up everything into the two eskies, then headed back to Tigerbright’s place. After a brief stop at the outdoor shower, they went inside and unpacked, putting the dirty plates and utensils in the dishwasher. With that out of the way, the chakat regarded hir friend.

“Got any plans? I could order pizza if you like?”

The unicorn looked thoughtful. “I dunno. My social calendar is very full.” Then she snorted with laughter. “Nah. Sounds good to me.”

“Great. What’s your preference?”

“Have they got a three-cheese one with olives and onion?”

“I’m pretty sure they could make it if I asked. Make yourself comfortable meanwhile.”

“I’m still a bit damp,” Violet pointed out.

Tigerbright held a hand to hir mouth and replied in a faux conspiratorial whisper, “Don’t tell anyone, but I sit on the government-issued furniture with damp fur too!”

The mare chuckled and chose a lounge chair while the chakat placed an online order. Shi then filled a kettle. “I’m going to make tea. Want some? Or coffee?”

“Don’t go to any special effort for me. Tea will be fine.”

“Okay, but I really don’t mind. Do you know how infrequently I have friends over?”

“What about the people we were with today?”

“Notice that most have children? Evening visits are difficult to arrange. With the way those kids were giving their all this afternoon, they’re going to crash and burn after dinner.”

“I guess you’re right. What about visiting officials? You mentioned the other day how you had plenty of rooms to put them up for the night.”

Tigerbright snorted. “I get maybe two visits all year, and sometimes they don’t even stay overnight. I love my job, but I often feel very isolated.”

Violet could sense the chakat’s mood swing and decided to cut it off before it got too depressing. “I have to admit that I did not expect to meet someone with whom I’m so comfortable so soon after arriving, but I’m certainly glad we ran into each other. I wouldn’t mind spending a few evenings with you. Probably all here though. My apartment is tiny.”

The chakat smiled and giggled. “I know! Places made for ponies are a bit cramped for chakats. At least I can blame the Equian authorities for that. They were initially built as barracks, not a hotel.”

After the kettle boiled, Tigerbright made two mugs of tea and brought them over to the coffee table before making hirself comfortable on the sofa. “So – what are your plans for tomorrow?”

Violet took a sip of her tea before replying. “I’m going back up to Tower Peak and taking my instruments with me to make some measurements.”

“Looking for something in particular?”

“Yes and no. My long-term goal is to uncover this island’s secrets but, to do that, I reckon I will need lots of data. Maybe I’ll find something significant up there, or maybe not. Won’t know until I check it out. Besides, I was hired to perform mineralogical surveys across the island. No reason not to start there, even if I officially check in with my supervisor next week. Actually, they’ve probably checked out that area already but I want my own data. You said you make the trek up there regularly – want to join me?”

“Sure! It’s a three-day weekend for those of us in the civil service. We can work on improving the trail some more along the way.”

“Great! When do you want to set out?”

The two discussed their plans until their pizzas arrived. Then they made small talk until Violet let out a jaw-cracking yawn.

“Sorry – I think I’m a bit worn out too. It’s been quite a day. I’d better head off now.” The mare slid off her chair and went over to where she had left her pouch.

“Okay. I think I’ll make tracks for bed too. Thanks for visiting, Violet.” Tigerbright led the unicorn to the front door to let her out.

“Believe me, it was my pleasure.” She then embraced the startled chakat. “Incurable huggers, remember?”

Tigerbright’s smile widened. “Looks like I owe you one next time.”

Violet waved as she stepped out the front gate. The chakat waved back before the mare set off at a trot for her apartment, both hugely satisfied with a day well spent.

# # # # # # #

Author's Note

Art by Foxenawolf.

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