The summer vacation was here, I was never exactly a big fan of it, but this year would be different.

Aquamarine had convinced the other ponies in our little group to convince our parents to go on vacation together, and... Let's just say, this really got everyone excited, in the end everyone decided to go, we are going to Manehattan, the biggest city in this world, I was a bit excited, but I dreaded the long trip by train.

Now mom and I were getting everything we would need in the suitcase, it wasn't much as ponies didn't really... Wear clothes, but I still needed a towel, sunglasses, a hat, my toothbrush, claw file, scale polishing oil, hydrating cream, and all the products need to keep myself clean and well groomed.

Mom had it worse, she had a ton more of products to keep her fur soft, shiny and knot free, plus she needed regular brushing, and she had to deal with fur shedding all the time, I was used to it by now. Basically if you brushed her you would make a sweater out of her fur like... Every day.

"dearest mother, would you fetch me the claw file please? I don't want to accidentally slice open a pony if I forget to retract my claws when I play with them."

"Hah! Let me go get it, be back in a minute little mister." Mother was really permissive with me, wasn't she? Well it was better than me being stuck with a strict parent and have to grow up alone and sheltered, I had friends now, real ones who would actually show me affection and play with me without hurting me in any way, I had never been even pranked, which I greatly appreciated, I really really hated pranks, and I told them the first day I met them, they always respected that.

"Here it is lazy rump, make sure you let your claws as dull as day shift at the castle gates~" we both had a chuckle at that, I suppose that must really be boring and suck, having to stand like a statue for 8 hours a day and ignore everypony's words unless they were trying to get in or started to touch you, I didn't envy mom, not in the least!

"Thanks, someday I'll return the favor! You got the suitcase ready? I wanna take the toys too, who knows, we could do more play fights or just somepony may wanna play with the plushies." I got a small nod in return, did we have everything? Oh!

"Did ya pack me some snacks in the forms of gems? You know I love them~ I could eat them by the handful."

"Yeah we have about 3kg of gems packed, that will be more than enough, and also we have a good of bits in the inventory for expenses, so don't worry about it, we are ready, let's go!"

"Okie dokie, let's go meet the others ar the station, hope nopony is late and misses the train, because they'll have to wait a day to take the next one." I was surprised the ponies had trains, even once a day to distant places, it was extremely convenient, back home in my country, trains were extremely unreliable.

The walk to the station was uneventful, I waved at ponies, some waved back and some I recognized from previous walks around town, mom seemed to know many more, she greeted about a dozen ponies on the way, man was she nice... I honestly would have just waved and moved on, I wasn't that social like her.

At the station I saw a group of many ponies, well they were there, all my friends, and their parents, some even brought their sisters or brothers, but I didn't really want to meet all of them, I just went near with mom, waved at the parents, and hugged every one of my friends one by one, making sure to show each my love, the parents smiled, they were glad I was so friendly, maybe I changed the opinions of many on dragons, who knows?

I knew it seemed mean, but I didn't really feel like learning the names of every one of their parents, I was bas with names and honestly I already had a hard time remembering my friend's.

A loud whistle sounded off, meaning it was time to board, mom had already taken the suitcase to the cargo hold, and we just walked to the pony who took our tickets and cut them in half, gave us one half and let us into an empty train car, once inside, I headed to the largest seat and laid down on my back, stretching my tail to it's full length, I casually looked to the side, all the ponies were giving me playful glares.

Suddenly, Shining smirked and just jumped on top of me, laying his back against my chest, other ponies followed suit and did the same, Ruby followed, and Summer, Calm Breeze tried but she couldn't reach that height, it seems 3 ponies and a dragon was the maximum stacking height without toppling over, the rest decided instead to lay against my head, and stack on top of Silver Shield, who laid down first, then Sweet Orange on top, Aquamarine on top of her, and finally Calm Breeze above the other ponies.

I was more comfortable than I expected, even 3 foals on top of me didn't feel heavy, but it was comforting, like a nice weighted blanket, I relaxed and closed my eyes, the warmth of everypony and their proximity bringing me a peaceful feeling I rarely experienced, it felt like i belonged here, i wanted to be happy with them... Their parents all sat around us, giggling and talking about how cute we were and how fun and carefree foalhood was, some even thought this looked like fun, but they didn't dare try that in public, maybe adults were much more reserved, and also laying belly up was very exposing for a pony, as all the bits were in full display.

"So comfy n' warm~ I really hope we stay friends for life... Mrrr." I couldn't help but make my happy purr like sound, making the other ponies giggle and say they also wanted to be friends for life, which made me excited for our future, maybe... We could form a herd out of it? I didn't really mind the concept of herds, but I was definitively too young to think about this, so I simply decided to have a nap, the train had departed while we were busy stacking on top of each other.

After a while we fell asleep, at least I did, the feeling of the train moving and the click claks of the metal wheels against the rails was better than a lullaby to sleep to.

My didn't remember fully what I dreamt of, but it was a nice dream, imagining a happy life with my friends and Sylf, every day being an adventure, visiting places I never visited and having fun, playing and exploring nature, I hoped it would happen.

I woke up at some point during the trip, everypony had stopped being stacked up as for most it would be uncomfortable to be at the bottom of a pony pile for long, instead we had two ponies, one next to the other, and spread out more, cuddling and sleeping, Shining was next to me, sleeping soundly, the adults were mostly asleep too, some were having whispered conversations, some playing card games together to pass the time.

My mom was sitting next to Twilight Velvet, both were looking out the window to the mountains around, if I wasn't mistaken, we were next to the Foal mountains, from what I had seen on a map of the known world.

We were, more or less halfway there. Manehattan, the largest city in Equestria and also the second richest, second to Canterlot, what would the ponies there be like to me? And most importantly to my big and sweet wolf mom? Maybe they would be used to new creatures from it being a big city and all... Who knows!

A few more hours passed, during that time I got up and started to walk around the train, going outside and enjoying the rushing air, the cold mountain air felt wonderful! I sometimes has that reminder that I was, physically a dragon that had cold blood and affinity to the cold element itself, I was probably an alien by all intents and purposes.

The train started to slow down as we pulled into the big city, it was sort of bizarre, I have only been to a big city back on earth once, and this place was, bigger and more developed than even that, the skyscrapers in the distance were huge, I was not really used to seeing them, I looked out the window, forelegs holding me up, my friends all were impressed as we, living in Canterlot had only ever seen the castle and some towers that were not even a fraction of the height of this skyscrapers.

We then moved to the other side of the train car and on the distance, in an island on the river, a large pony statue of liberty was standing with its signature blue-green hue, the size was impressive, I had never been to New York so this was breathtaking to see.

My wolf mother was also impressed, looking outside like the rest of the foals, with the same expression on her face, I could help but walk to her side and give her headpats, which she appreciated.

Most of the parents have already likely seen the city, and weren't impressed by it, or at least didn't show it, but we foals were only about 3 year old on average.

The train eventually slowed to a stop, the station was a very tall and fancy looking building, it actually it had many clocks with different hours, showing the name of a different city in each, this world's timezones? many ponies going around wearing clothes, it was quite similar to Canterlot in that sense, with top hats and suit jackets to only cover the forelegs and upper back, pony fashion was... Quite revealing, for some reason no one seemed to want to cover their butts and private regions, I wonder why.

Our group was large and attracted some attention, but other than looking at us for a few seconds, all the ponies, seemingly earth ponies almost all, just shrugged and kept walking, not even Sylf's height and species gave them pause. We all grabbed out suitcases and carried them on their little wheels, it was a bit harder as we were than for humans but it worked.

We had to walk a fairly long distance to the hotel, there were pony pulled taxis but we wanted to travel as a group, and we were too many, we would need several taxis, so we walked and at the same time got to see the beautiful city, there were many interesting stores we stoped at, jewelry, saddlebags, fashion stores, if only I was old enough to wear clothes and look all fancy... I bet i would look very elegant in a tuxedo or some of this suits!

Sighing, I continued to walk, maybe when I was older and... More fit I would buy a pair of them, I also liked the jewels on sale, they probably could be enchanted with awesome effects, I had some ideas in mind already.

"Mom, you find something you like? I did but I think I'm still too young to benefit from any of this, getting something for my size would be a waste of money when I grow up in a couple of years..." I said with a resigned face.

"Cheer up my baby, we will come back here when we are older and you'll be able to get anything that fits you, I promise you that!" I slightly lifted my head, eyes full of hope.

"Really? I don't want much, just a nice suit and some jewelry, it's all very pretty! But I have to wait, so... Let's just move on momma" I said and headed her way, jumping on her back, then letting her carry me around, this made other foals want to be carried too, which most parents found delightful, for now.

I think I remember some of this from the show, but it had been so long since I watched this episode about Manehattan that I didn't have the slight idea where we even were, we didn't have a hotel reservation, I didn't think those existed yet, as there was no internet or computers, not even phones, only magic was used for long distance communication.

"Don't worry everypony, we are going the right away, I know the best hotel to stay at in Manehattan, it's just a few blocks away from here, I've stayed there when I was on a business trip, along with my sweet Twi" Night Light said confidently, hugging Twilight Velvet from the side, which she returned along with a kiss on his cheek, making him blush.

"Oh you two are so cute together! Shining you're lucky to have two wonderful ponies like then as parents!" I said with a genuine smile to show I was being totally serious, Shining came over and hugged me tightly in thanks.

"Thank you little Onyx, you and your mom are a joy to be around, and I think you're lucky to have such a good mother, she taught you to be the best version of yourself, full of kindness and empathy, I know you'll do great things in the future!" Night Light approached me and said kindly while sitting down in front of me and caressing my head with his hoof, then gave me a gentle hug, Twilight Velvet smiled warmly at me, then couldn't resist and came over to nuzzle me and pet me.

I had my eyes closed and was just enjoying the double headpats then we kept walking and crossed a few stores and businesses along the way, but not everything was as interesting.

We would have explored more if most of the foals weren't tired from the long trip here, but we had a good reason to get to the hotel first, mainly that we had a place to sleep when we were back.

The large building in front of us was the Manefair hotel, I was enjoying the petting so much I didn't realize we had arrived already. Wow this was fancy, good thing we brought a lot of money!

Everypony was carrying their suitcases or saddlebags, and those who weren't, were carrying a foal on their back, a bellhop was there and put our luggage on her tray.

We all got adjacent rooms for convenience, our stay was gonna be two weeks, each day costs 200 bits, mom paid with the money I handed her from her saddlebag, that done, the bellhop got his instructions and each suitcase was carried to the respective room, the rooms were already prepared.

Our room was 438, thankfully in this hotel there were actual elevators, which I didn't expect as I was used to the overly long stairways of Canterlot. Mom was more scared than everything, as she hugged me tightly when we started to go up, but did calm down after we got out

"T-those elevators.. they're very scary, I felt like I was floating, like we may go down any second! and then started to go up, I don't feel safe in them... I could... Take the stairs next time, I think I'll do that if you don't mind..." Wow, I didn't expect such a strong reaction, but it was understandable, she's never been in one before.

"Ill go with you on the stairs too, don't want you to feel left out, but the stairs will be much longer than what you're used to, even by Canterlot standards... Either way I'm with you mamma!" I pounced on her like a leaping tiger to catch it's prey, I latched on her neck and hug her tightly, licking her chin like a puppy.

"You're okay miss Sylf, we are here, let's go see our rooms." Twilight Velvet smiled and nuzzled Sylf as well, guiding her towards the room we were staying at.

We waved her goodbye at the door and headed in, the room was large, had a big window and had one bed large enough for both of us, the floor was covered in blue carpet with stars on it, it was pretty soft too, I loved the feeling of carpet on my paws, but it did get me electrically charged sometimes.

After the long train ride, we decided to take a shower, we took our grooming kit to the bathroom, where I turned on the cold water, I loved a cold shower, mom got used to them too, as I prefer it very cold, but regular cold was okay, as the helpful son I am, I helped rub she shampoo on her whole body, the fur was dense and hard to get into without help, so I had to use my claws and everything, she let out a content sigh as I massaged her under the water, getting her fur completely soaked and covered in the special product, her eyes were closed so it didn't get in her eyes, I also kept slightly away from her private parts, not wanting to get them irritated with the hair product, i honestly was not sure if it was irritating because ponies usually make everything safe and non toxic, they have a better sense of moral than humans, when it comes to industrial manufacturing.

Where humans would use chemicals that are irritating over safer options if it means bigger profit margins then they would do it, ponies on the other hand would not be allowed to use anything that was irritating, and they had other ponies who volunteered to test, of course once the product was magically tested first for any hazardous materials.

I scratched her head and neck, rubbed behind her ears and massaged and caressed her entire back and rump, her leg kicked out a bit at the last part, she is very adorable when shes happy, I couldn't help but let my human side see her as a sort of giant, super friendly and very good dog, but no, she was a sapient being, probably just as smart as me, and she was also my superior, I had to respect her.

"Mom, now it's time to get your underside, please lay on your back, and I'll get you fully washed and all your fur soft and fluffy, like you always are!"

"You're the best dragon ever, and there's no doubt in my mind that you will one day make your mares very happy with those claws of yours... They're perfect for massages when they're dulled like now, thank youuu~" Mom said in a very soft and peaceful tone, she was very relaxed, the then slowly moved and laid on her back, her large body using up all the extra large bathtub.

"Mooom, that's embarrassing, I'm not even sure which gender I like yet, I feel pretty much the same for everypony, they all look adorable to me, sure they're all hopeless nudists but I'm used to it by now." I answer with a pout, I really wasn't sure, I had not gotten any of the old emotions I felt when I was a human, not even a little, but that made total sense, I was three, my new body probably had not even made a single nanogram of testosterone since I was reborn.

"Oh I know dear, Its just a... Saying I got from hanging out with the guardmares, don't think too much into it, and I really will be happy no matter which gender you like most, or even if you don't want to be in any relationship, either way i just want you happy..." I started to rub the shampoo on her chest and belly now, while she spoke softly in a serious tone, she meant every word and that made me feel better than any massage, or even cuddles, knowing she will accept me no matter what.

"Mom, I love you so much... Those words mean a lot to me, really!" I hugged her across her chest and laid the bathtub on top of her, not wanting to let go, enjoying the water splashing on my back and how it gently tickled my scales, cooling my body down.

I eventually went back to washing mom, she was a big wolf and needed her baths, she couldn't wash herself well, at least not without a bigger space, bathtubs were restrictive. It didn't take much longer and she was fully clean, I cleaned myself too, rubbing my scales with a sponge to remove any grime stuck to them, then closed the water and we both dried ourselves, shaking off the excess water inside the tub, with the curtains closed to not splash all the bathroom.

"Now, time for scale polishing! This is gonna take a while..." I sighed and grabbed the polishing stone, it had two sides, one rougher and one smoother, I started with the rougher side and removed and large scratches, then using the smooth side I polished my scales to a shine, allowing me to look truly silver and pretty, it was necessary to use this sharpening stones because most materials were too soft to even scratch me, other than literally using knives which was slower and would dull their edges, so using sharpening stones was the obvious answer.

In the end, after half an hour of fussing over my scales, they were back to their shiny and pristine condition, I had to do this every week, or so.

Mom was brushing her fur with her special brush, made of metal that wouldn't get stuck and break, her hair was very resistant and would break anything that got stuck in it if you tried to remove it by force, it was basically armored, yet soft and fluffy, but you couldn't easily cut or pull her individual hairs, she was not defenseless at any point really.

In the end we cleared out the bathroom and left the room, carrying only my backpack with all the things I'd need for the day, like coin pouch and snacking gems, as my dexterous arms allowed me to hand mom money whenever she needed it.

We met up with the group at the hotel's restaurant, we were all starving, but didn't want to stop to eat earlier so we could secure a hotel room before nightfall.

We all were seated in a long table, that had just enough chairs for all, the restaurant was not very full at this hour, but we were hungry anyways so we grabbed a manu each and looked it over.

The menu had a large vegetarian section, probably for ponies, but I really craved something with meat, which right before the desserts on the list, they had chicken parmesan with fresh pasta, boar slow roasted over coals served with caramelized cabbage and red wine reduction, crab ravioli with onion cream sauce, and fried shrimp with homemade barbecue sauce as an appetizer, my maw was salivating at this menu, whoever came up with it was a true culinary genius, my belly growled loudly, causing everypony to chuckle, while I blushed at the attention.

"I-im starving, and this food sounds so good! You're all meanies... Hmph!" I said loudly with an obvious playful tone, this got another chuckle from the ponies, then I turned to mom.

"What if we both order a different dish and then let the other try some?" Mom, seemingly reading my mind, offered, I eagerly nodded, and chose the slow roasted boar, mom chose the ravioli which I recommended, we also got the appetizer, which was the first to arrive.

I grabbed one of the fried shrimp, they were covered in panko crumbs and served on skewers for easier handling, I dipped it on the sauce, and slowly ate it, the flavor was magnificent, the crunch of the panko, the firm texture and freshness of the shrimp, the flavor of it, and the sweet and tangy, slightly spicy sauce making my mouth water, good thing I closed it, all this combination of flavor and texture made me let out a soft, pleased moan.

Its been so long since I had proper seafood... They only have frozen in Canterlot, not even close as the freshness of the seafood here near the coast, this was probably caught today! Next time I needed to go fish on the ocean, sure it may be more dangerous but this was totally worth it.

"Ohh mom I love this! This place may be pricey but it's worth every bit, for this food..." Mom raised an eyebrow at me and did the same, dipping the shrimp in the sauce and then eating it off the skewer, her eyes dilated and she looked completely perplexed, chewing slowly, then nodded dumbly at my words, seems she was out of it, a quick snap of my fingers broke her out of her trance, she blinked and looked at me with a confused expression.

"Oh? Oh, oh! Y-yes now I see what you mean... I have never tasted anything quite like this, it's much better than our home cooked food... Isn't it? Be honest dear." I nodded, but patted her reassuringly.

"There is a reason for that momma, we don't have the best ingredients, we also don't have a whole team cooking with us, and we don't have the necessary kitchen apparatuses, like a deep fryer, but we could make this recipe if we had at least fresh shrimp back at our city's markets, so it's not really because of lack of skill..." My explanation was taken well, as her tail wagged in response, good, because she has skills even if she has a hard time cooking because lacking hands or claws with good flexibility.

A while longer passed, we had already finished the appetizer, and were sipping on some water while they brought out the main courses, the smell was the first indication, both of us seemed to smell it at the same time the delicious aroma of slow cooked meat, the ponies were not seemingly bothered by it, maybe it was just odd for them, but they still had no interest in even trying the shrimp, despite us offering to the nearest ones.

The ravioli with sauce had a more subtle aroma, more noticeable was the onion on the sauce, the herbs and spices from the sauce, the raviolis were covered in it so it made sense.

The waiter served us and gave us a jar of apple juice to drink for free, which we thanked him for, the service was excellent too, we dug in, this time going slower and savoring the food, and what flavours! The savory, meaty and fatty boar, the sweet cabbage, and the slightly acidic red wine reduction sauce made for a balanced, if slightly heavy meal, but absolutely fucking delicious! I didn't finish it all, left a good quarter for mom, and she left a few raviolis covered in cream sauce.

We ate in silence, only noises that came out was soft happy moans of delight at the flavors, then we switched plates and tried each other's dishes, my maw had... Some good experience when it came to judge flavors and textures, as I used to cook a lot and loved trying new foods as a human, I've had something similar to this pasta before, and I gotta say, I liked the first one more, but this was a close second in terms of flavors, quality and overall enjoyment of a dish, the crab was tender, tasted amazing, and was perfectly cooked, the pasta itself was fresh, very well seasoned and had the right texture, the sauce combined with both, harmonized the plate in a beautiful way, but what was missing in this plate was an extra element, something to accompany the crab perhaps, I understand not wanting to bury the crab under another flavor, but adding extra texture to the ravioli would be a good compromise to make the whole dish more interesting.

Overall I'd give it a 9/10, the appetizer was perfect, nothing to improve, the boar was perfect too, good balance of flavors and textures, but the ravioli lacked something, so I deducted a point, all in all, I would eat here again any day of the week!

Mother was completely impressed with the food, seems like she had a whole new world open up for her, and she was pretty happy, and so was I to be honest, the ponies seemed also pretty satisfied with their vegetarian food, which I honestly didn't pay much attention to, I was... A very avid meat eater myself, whenever I could get my paws on some good... You know what, nevermind what I was going to say, i just wished they had this quality of seafood out there in Canterlot!

Once we were doing eating lunch, crunched on some tasty assorted gems, handed mom the money, and we paid and left, I left a pretty good tip for the delicious food.

Our group took the metro towards the coast, yes there is a metro in Manehattan, it looks oddly normal but has a more girlish appearance, and has magical engines instead of electrical like the ones in New York, also it's impossible to jump or fall into the rails as there are magical barriers that only go away when the train is stopped at the station.

I was not really surprised or even amazed by the metro, I had been to a city with one and stayed there for weeks, using the metro every day, but it did surprise me how clean everything was, and so many ponies too!

Once we got out of the station, we were at a street that was next to a large beach, finally there, and with our bellies full and feeling clean and content, we went down the slope that headed there, I had my sunglasses on, my sun hat was also on, I was ready, we stopped by a stand that rented umbrellas, long chairs and even surf boards and got one of each, all of which mom carried on her back, with no effort.
The ponies who had magic carried all this for the ones who couldn't and some earth ponies carried their umbrellas and chairs themselves too, they were heavy, for a normal pony to carry, a pegasus for example, as they were made of wood and fabric.

The sun was high in the sky, it was around 3pm, maybe 4, I wasn't sure, and the beach had a few ponies in it, but none wanted to get into the water for some reason, we set up our chairs a good 20 meters away from the waterline, the highest points the waves would reach, and stuck the umbrellas on the sand, I helped doing ours then we went and sat down for a while, looking over the distant horizon on the sea, the waves and the smell of salt water, it was quite nice, the air had a certain energy to it you usually don't feel inland.

Mom laid on her belly, her front paws out in front and her hind legs folded under her, she really looked like a dog now with her slightly open maw, and tongue partially out, while she looked at the horizon as well.

"I have never seen this... The sigh of the vast open sea, stretching into the distant horizon, the waves making it seem like it's all alive, it's beautiful isn't it Onyx?"

"Yes... I've seen it before... A couple of times, you know... Well, back then, it was not much different than now, I bet the water tastes just as salty as it did back then too... Do you ever wonder what's under the water? Living in the deep blue sea? I'm curious to find out here... Do you give me permission to go for a swim? I can hold my breath for a long long time... Plus I can use water breathing, you know... The spell, but maybe I should ask why nopony is out in the water.

"Sure son, but if you go in, I go in with you! Let's go ask the ponies who rented us this chairs." We both headed there, the pony waved at us and mom asked politely.

"Hello gentle colts, do you know why there is no..pony swimming in the sea? Seems like it's the ideal summer day to go for a swim and even surfing, right?" One of the two stallions that was an orange earth pony spoke up.

"Ohh that, it's nothing serious really, the water is just really, really cold here, Manehattan is close to the frozen north and most of the sea is pretty cold, that's why ponies just prefer to lay down and enjoy the view, and the breeze, even in summer the water is way too cold to swim, unless you're really into surf, ponies usually use special suits to surf here, then the water's bearable." Happy with the information, we nodded and waved goodbye, which both waved back, then left and went to the waterline, I ran in and stared splashing everywhere, running on the shallow water while mom followed, we grabbed our surf boards, mom used her maw and i used both arms, and we jumped into the water.

I had never tried surfing before, but with pretty much no risk of drowning, I had no fear, hugging my board with my forelimbs, I used my tail and hind legs to propel myself forward, but upon realizing mom had trouble following at my speed, I went around and stayed next to her, she had to doggie paddle slowly because wolves didn't exactly have any other way of swimming than doggy paddle, I could tell she felt frustrated by this.

"Mom... You're not gonna really be able to swim very well, are you sure you wanna stay? Or you can hang out around here if you wanna, don't try diving, I don't know if you'll be able to hold your breath for long, I'd rather not have you drown! In fact just..." I booked her on the snout.

'Water breathing' I mentally activated the spell on her, she saw my paw glow a dark blue, her eyes crossing and looking at it.

'Now you'll be able to breathe underwater for one hour, please, DO NOT go deeper than about 20 meters, if you go too deep you get very sick even with the spell, when you try to surface again, in short, going too deep underwater and then surfacing causes your body to suffer terrible damage from decompression sickness.' i mentally told her with a serious expression, she nodded and thanked me mentally in her usual soft, caring mental tone but with an edge of seriousness.

Good, mom was not dumb and she took my warnings seriously, while I had not exactly done the same before, she always takes my word as fact when I'm serious, and I'm glad she does, as much as I hope that the bends don't happen in Equestria for some weird magic reason, I'm going to take precautions.

'Now I'm going for a swim and even a dive, don't worry about me mom, I can basically breathe underwater, and swim much better than you, I won't go too deep too fast either, I know about the dangers!' I gave mom a brief nuzzle of reassurance.

'Okay son, but be careful, I'll be up here to check on you, and if you seem to be in trouble I'll go and help, but retreat if you can, okay?' My mental acknowledgment was her answer.

I left the board there, and jumped off it, diving headfirst into the clear waters, the cold completely enveloped me instantly, I feel as if I was not aligned with the element, it would have send a shock through my system that would have even caused me to drown, or at least gasp involuntarily, my old human self would have probably swallowed a good lungful of water, and be desperately trying to surface for air, but i felt energized, my long tail knew what to do.

I swam almost as if It was an instinct, my tail moving like a snake, side to side, propelling me forward while my hind legs kicked, propelling me faster, my forelegs gave me control to turn faster, the webbed toes being extremely efficient to move.

I looked around me, there were many fishes, most of them looked blue, and were around the size of sardines, swimming in tight groups and around them there were bigger fish that tried to eat them, at the bottom there was sand and some small clusters of coral, I guessed the depth was about 10 meters, but I wasn't sure, I slowly headed down towards the bottom, trying to keep in mind to not go too deep, I reached in and tried to walk around down there.

Crabs were walking around the sand here, grabbing particles from the water and putting them in their mouth, they didn't seem to care about my presence, a few larger fish approached me, seemingly out of curiosity, I wondered if they were just thinking I was some food, my shiny metallic colors attracted fish, slowly but more and more were closing in, mostly predatory fish that seemed to be enticed by the silver shine of my scales.

I simply stared at them as they approached, none were big enough to eat me, but they could probably try if I let them, for some reason one fish in particular seemed interested in my tail, it tried to eat it but the tail was... Not edible, it was just sucking on it like expecting it to go into his fish stomach, most fish had no teeth, so it didn't really hurt, I could barely feel it.

I shook my tail making it let go, and it got the hint and left, the rest of the fish gave up after a while, I knew not to offer then my paws or something that... Protruded because some did have teeth and they probably could... Maybe? Bite a toe/finger off.

A small shark approached me as the other fish left, I decided to risk it and gently patted it on the back, it's scales were sort of rough, like sandpaper, but it didn't bother me, it seemed to enjoy being petted and allowed me to do it for a little more, then swam off.

Now free from all the curious animals, I was free to explore once more, walking to the nearest patch of coral, there was a group of different coral, one was red and shaped like a tree, with many flower like leaves that stretched and had tiny tentacles to catch organic mater or plankton from the water, there were other that sort of looked like small colorful bushes made of feathers, there were orange, yellow, red, gray and other various colors, with colorful fish camouflaging inside the corals themselves, small shrimp like creatures were also walking around them, cleaning them or eating then, I wasn't sure.

I really wished I had a camera with me, one that worked underwater, this was beautiful! I could barely imagine all the coral reefs that would thrive in warmer areas where there was a more dense population of fish and marine animals, above me I could see some more animals, swimming around, even what seemed like a beluga whale and other small sharks, the seas it seems, were much more biodiverse than the land.

While down on the ocean floor, I caught a few animals that I seemed useful to keep around, at first I tried to store them in my inventory alive, but they just wouldn't go in, I had to kill them, so I used my claws to stab into them, even while dull, my claws would easily go into a crabs body and end it, same with a few clams, I sliced open their bodies with my claws and once I did that they just went in like normal, this was perfect because getting this animals back on Canterlot was a pain, they cost a lot and are very rarely even in stock, I went around looking for more, a few lobsters, any edible animals I knew were edible, i killed and stored in the inventory, they would not spoil there, as i had confirmed before by storing toast and it came out still as hot months later, almost burned my paws.

I hooked up, looking to where my surf table was floating, it had drifted closer to shore, so I slowly swam towards the shore, following the gentle slope up of the sandy sea floor, when I came across a fish camouflaging in the sand, it tried to run but I caught up to it and grabbed it with my superior speed, stabbing it with my claws and causing it to bleed out, right in the gills, it died shortly after and disappeared in my inventory, I knew this fish from a video I watched once about cooking, but now i had a fresh one, perfect!

I then headed up the last few meters, popped my head out the water and greeted mom, who was holding my surf board and sitting on hers, she heard me come out of course and her face showed relief.

"About time you came back Onyx, it's been a full hour of you diving, you worried me! I was gonna go look for you but I didn't wanna lose our boards, I was about to go anyway, let's go and hang out with the others, I'm sure they'll wanna know what you saw down there, and what it's like underwater." After that we swam to shore together, mom had to shake off the water clinging to her fur, but I just had the water slide off me quickly, my friends were playing around with a beach ball, some of the parents had joined in, I went near and they waved at me, telling me to join them.

We played for an hour longer, and had some ice cream too from a vendor who came by, I got vanilla and coconut, my favorite ice cream flavors, and sprinkled some gems on it before started eating.

"So how was underwater Onyx? Some of us saw you head ways away into the sea and dive in, how can you even... Stand that cold? It's basically ice cold!" Little Sprout asked, both curious but also very confused by my lack of even the slight sign of being bothered by the cold.

"Yeah Onyx how are you so... Calm after being underwater for an hour, in like... Freezing cold water?" Shining asked as well, everyone nodded in agreement, even the parents.

"Uhm... Well, I'm honestly not sure, I think it's what dragons do right? They can withstand very high temperatures, and even... Swim in lava, right? So why not some cold water? And I am very good at holding my breath... I have always been like this...?" I answer not very sure myself.

"If you're not even sure... Then I suppose it wouldn't be fair of us to want an explanation, you're fine and calm, so what did you see? Underwater I mean, any sea monsters? Or... Merponies? I've read stories about them in a book!" Red Ruby asked with an excited tone, I simply shook my head at her who seemed to make her a bit less happy, but still intrigued.

"Honestly? There is a bunch of fish, mostly small fish that swim together, and big fish that follow them and try to catch some, the big fishes came to see me, but they left after a while, some tried to eat me a little bit, but they weren't able to, most fish eat by just sucking other fish into their mouths, then just closing them fast to prevent them from escaping. One tried with my tail but... It didn't do anything for it heh~ it was very funny honestly!" I giggled at the thought of the fish trying to eat me by the tail and just getting the scaly appendage stuck in its mouth.

"Hahaha that would have been funny to see, they didn't try attacking you more? Fish don't seem to be so bad, then." Night Light answered this time, seems like he's also interested to know about my little adventure. "What else did you see? Anything bigger than a fish?"

"I saw... I think a dolphin like creature, but it was far away, much deeper and further than I dared to swim to, and it seemed to be going further out, so I didn't try to interact with it, it was white, and large, but not much bigger than my mom, just longer tail and body, I also went to the bottom of the sea, it's not too deep where I was, and I looked at corals and small fish there, they are veery beautiful!" This seemed to catch everypony's interest.

"Really? You went to the bottom? How deep do you think it is where you were?" Twilight Velvet asked this time.

"I think it may be around... 10 or so meters deep, definitively not very deep but also not that safe unless... You are very good at holding your breath."

"I think I can speak for everyone when I say... None of us are that good at resisting the cold and holding our breath that long, so let's relax and enjoy the beach." Everypony nodded at those words from Night Light.

We decided to make some sandcastles, sometimes a pony would volunteer and we would build it around then, and then have them emerge from the sand and destroy the castle, it was pretty fun and epic, I also got fully buried by the others, with only my head outside, it felt oddly comforting to be like this, I wasn't sure why, but it felt familiar, i ended up digging myself out and then we chased each other across the sand, we tried to do long distance jumping to see who would jump the furthest, I let the others win, and little Silver Shield was the highest score followed by Shining, pretty close all in all.

After all that playing, everypony was exhausted, we headed to our beach chairs, I laid down and closed my eyes, enjoying the shade and the fresh evening air, it was not as sunny now, the sky was slowly darkening as the sun approached the horizon, we had been a few hours here by now, and we arrived pretty late.

I was watching the sunset, already getting a bit sleepy and tired from all the swimming around and play, so I moved to the wolf lady next to me and slowly climbed on top, then went to sleep right on her fluffy chest.

The vacations continued like this, every day, something fun and every day we visited new places, had more lovely meals and even went to the famous Bridleway Theater, we watched some fun shows and musicals, I didn't expect to like them as much as I did.

Author's Note

The next Chapter may or may not be a large time skip, because I don't want this story to become a slice of life more than it already is hopefully this doesn't piss off too many of you, but writing more with 3 year old Onyx & friends is getting a bit old