Today, the mares decided, would be a nice day to go to the beach. As it was mid-summer, the timing was perfect. So the four of them gathered their things; a good lunch, and their towels, that sort of thing. Most of it was packed in a cooler, that was placed within Patch's Pocket. As that was part of her Talent, allowing her to carry almost double what the others could. Combined.

The beach was a touch far away, but little effort for a string of Ponies. After a couple of hours of walking, they made it.

Sweetheart sent Clover to find a nice spot, while the rest prepared to set down. When they saw Clover waving, they went over to that spot, setting their things down. Patch also (with some effort) pulled a couple of beach umbrellas from her Pocket.

When Sweetheart enfolded herself with one of the umbrellas briefly, before opening it again, she was revealed wearing a swimsuit. It was white and pink (or was it pink and white?) with heart patterns.

Bright eyes said, "You know, Sweetheart, we don't typically wear clothes anyway. Modesty isn't necessary."

Sweetheart blushed at that.

"But you have the right idea, I suppose." Bright Eyes brought out her own swimsuit, which was a solid cyan, matching her coat precisely. If you hadn't seen her put it on, you'd think she hadn't put a suit on at all.

Patch's was a red Tartan affair.

Clover's suit was a solid green, with daker green clover patterns. Back then, she'd added those herself, hoping it'd give her good luck. Naturally, it hadn't worked. Things were different now.

After putting her swimsuit on, Clover heard Bright Eyes gasp. "Clover! Your legs!"

Looking at her hooves, Clover found that, strangely, from her hooves to about a quarter of the way up her legs was blue, the same blue as Poison Joke. Around her hooves was a bunch of green hairs. Apparently pulling the swimsuit on had pulled off a layer of fuzz, revealing the blue tint underneath.

She shrugged that off. It was a small price to pay, in her opinion.

Anyway, Clover was eager to see how much her grace had improved in water. She looked around briefly before finding what she was looking for. A diving board! Nice.

A diving board at the beach is kind of unusual, but she went with it.

She was still a bit leery of this. Years of taking falls like that was, of course, going to affect you. However, she took a deep breath and held it for about three seconds before releasing it. 'You got this, Clover. You aren't the same klutzy Pony as before.'

She stepped onto the diving board. She jumped a couple of times experimentally. 'One for the money; two for the show; three to get ready...' With one more, much heavier jump, 'And four. To. GO!' she was launched with a surprising amount of force. She flipped twice midair, twisted thrice and entered the water smoothly.

There was a small chorus of cheers. Clover's three friends found that they were holding score cards. They read 9, 8.5 and 8 respectively. Beside them was Pinkie Pie, holding a 9.5 card. Once she found that she was seen, she grinned demurely. Pinkie then dug into the sand and disappeared. She left a sandy afterimage. This, of course, also was dispersed with a confetti explosion.

Clover, meanwhile, was fairly gliding through the water. Briefly, she dove under for about 20 seconds. She came back up wearing a pearl necklace and had a bunch of seashells in her mane.

"Very funny, guys." she said. "Back you go."

At that, several of the seashells dislodged and the creatures wearing them swam away.

Clover still had a pair of nautilus shells in her mane (1), and a clamshell was holding her mane in place in back.

Satisfied that the majority of the shell-based creatures had dislodged from her, she began to backstroke back to the shore, rather satisfied with what she'd found.

After having lunch (egg salad or tuna salad sandwiches, fruit cocktails, garden salad and even the pie she'd won just the other night (it turned out to be a mix of strawberry, raspberry and blueberry) , which was cut into four pieces, (naturally). They were invited to play a game of volleyball.

Clover had never been very good at that either. She kept tripping over her hooves trying to hit the ball. With her three friends accepting anyway, she was roped along by default.

The four of them took on a bipedal stance, wobbling slightly before catching their balances. Except, of course, for Clover, who got hers almost immediately, much to her continued pleasure.

Joining them were Bon-Bon and Lyra.

Playing against them were Octavia, Roseluck, Lily Valley, Minuette, Vinyl Scratch and Muffins, surprisingly enough.

Five minutes on the clock. The game began.

Roseluck took the first serve. Her hit easily sailed over the net, but Bright Eyes caught that and returned it. Octavia was quick to counter, sending it at Clover, who caught the ball on her head, bounced it a couple of times and spiked it. 1-0.

The next serve was Patch's, they decided. She aimed high and hit the ball. This allowed Bon-Bon to hit the flying ball midair and send it toward the other side. Lily Valley had this one. She sent it back, until it was intercepted by Sweetheart. it was sent back and was struck by Vinyl. The ball briefly took on a blue tint as it was sent to the other side at great speed, digging into the sand. 1-1.

Bright Eyes called out, "FOUL! I call FOUL!"

The game was interrupted thusly.

Vinyl argued, "I scored that fair and square."

Bright Eyes argued, "Nopony ever said that Power Shots were allowed!"

"It was never discussed one way or the other." Octavia put in.

Patch interrupted Bright Eyes' retort; "I think they have the right of it, Bright. Power Shot or not was never mentioned. They got the point, I'm afraid."

Patch looked to the other team. "BUUUUUT now we can presume that Power Shots are allowed, now that the precedent is set."

Roseluck sighed, but said, "In that case, we need more space."

Vinyl clapped twice and a pair of Ponies wearing black marked a larger area, erasing the old boundaries. They saluted before leaving as suddenly as they'd arrived.

"Roadies." Vinyl explained simply. "Nice to have around. Technically while I'm here they're on long-term break, but they seem to like taking orders for some reason." she shrugged. "Shall we continue?"

New rules and boundaries set, Octavia decided to take the next serve. She leapt and smacked the ball, sending it over. It was sent back by Clover, who had a huge smile on her face. She'd never been this good beforehoof. Win or lose, she was happy just playing and not tripping. That was enough for her.

Sweetheart concentrated her energy and smacked the ball that had been returned again. The ball took on a pink tint as it was sent over. Muffins was fast enough to send it back again. She stumbled before going to all fours. It took a moment, but she shook her head and stood up once more.

Clover had this one. She smacked the projectile and sent it back again, smacking the sand satisfyingly. 2-1.

Lyra gave Clover a pat on the back. "Nice one!" she said with a grin.

Clover smiled. A compliment! This was getting better and better. "Thanks."

Bon-Bon sent this one over. Vinyl bounced the ball to Octavia, who smacked the ball midair. Sweetheart bounced it to Patch, who had been prepared for this. She smacked the ball with her energy focused. It hit the sand right beside Lily Valley, making a small crater. 3-1.

Patch smiled smugly. "Turnabout is fair play."

Vinyl frowned slightly before grinning widely. "Finally, we have a challenge!"

'I'm not sure that I like the look of this.' Clover thought to herself. 'Luck, don't fail me now!'

The next two points were the other team's; Vinyl and Octavia made a surprisingly effective pair, at one point bouncing it between each other faster and faster before Octavia spiked that shot. 3-3. And time was running short.

Minuette saw that the game was almost over. "Match point?"

Bright Eyes agreed. "Match point."

This time Minuette served the ball, sending it toward Lyra. Lyra sent it to Bon-Bon, who smacked the round projectile back. Muffins sent it back again. She seemed a bit dizzy, but kept her balance this time.

Clover concentrated. Her hooves began to take on a greenish blue tint. She leapt and hit the ball with all four hooves, sending it to the turf, despite Octavia's dive. 4-3.

After the mares congratulated each other (especially Clover, having scored the winning point), Bright Eyes pointed at Clover. "Clover! Your coat!"

Before Clover's eyes, a strip of her lavender coat from her tail to her throat swiftly changed to blue. The same blue as the Poison Joke. If things kept going like this, she'd be entirely blue before long.

She shrugged resolutely. "It's helping me so far. I think it's a small price to pay for it." She then changed the topic. "Anypony wanna go surfing?"

Sweetheart and Vinyl grinned widely. "I am so down for that!" they said in unison.

"Jinx." Clover said. "Both of you owe me a soda." She then smiled smugly, much to the amusement of the others.

After such a tough game, surfing was just the thing, they thought. Bright Eyes, however, was inclined to disagree. "I think I'll stay here on the shore." she stated nervously.

Patch said, "Right. You've always had a thing with deep water, haven't you?"

Minuette decided to stay with Bright Eyes and watch the others. Leave the surfing for the sporty Ponies, she figured.

The others galloped for the Surf Shack to rent boards.

Author's Note

1: It created a princess Leia-ish effect.