Though it would still be another hour before sunrise, the early morning horizon was slowly beginning to fade from deep blue to a hazy violet. The air was soft and still, a perfect reflection of the tranquil ocean waters that were completely devoid of even a ripple. Only the screech of an occasional seagull broke the silence hanging over the abandoned beach just a short walk from town. Give it a few hours and this place would be packed.
Yep, you're a smart one! Gilda thought to herself as she ran at a steady pace. Get your exercise out of the way early and avoid the crowds of morons.
The female griffon came to a halt at the still waterline, huffing and puffing for breath. Inhaling the cool and salty air, she scratched at the top of her feathered head and began stretching. "Time for my five mile swim!" she said, a cocky glint in her eyes.
Charging into the frigid ocean waters, she started paddling. Adrenaline rushed through her as she swam, her heart pumping and churning like a well-oiled machine.
After a few minutes, Gilda looked over her shoulder and saw that she was a fair distance from the shore and adjusted her direction so that she didn't lose sight of land.
The cold, salty water splashed against her as she swam past a floating buoy that responded to her disturbance by tilting back and forth on the ocean's surface and clanging.
The griffon smirked as she paddled, but a nearly unnoticeable bump against her kicking hind leg caused her to stop. She looked behind herself and, upon seeing nothing, shrugged.
"Eh, whatever," she huffed as she resumed swimming.
After a minute more, she went to change course but felt another bump against her leg, stronger than the first.
"Okay," she yelled as she spun around, "who's the chump fishin' for a knuckle sandwich?!"
Again, she saw nothing behind her. Growling, she brushed the wet feathers out of her face and turned around to continue her swim.
A sudden, forceful tug against her same leg dragged her back through the water and caused her to sputter in surprise.
"Hey! What's going on?" she shouted. "Whoever you are, I'm gonna clean your clock when I catch you!"
She surveyed the calm surface of the ocean around her, still seeing nothing but the buoy and the distant shore.
Suddenly, she noticed that the water around her felt ... warm. She suddenly realized she couldn't feel her leg either.
Gilda reached down to rub her leg and her eyes widened in stark terror.
Where her hind leg should have been, her claw only swirled and clutched at increasingly warm water.
Her entire body went numb as her heart froze in her chest and she panicked. Frantically, she beat against the ocean's surface as her breaths came in hurried, terrified bursts. She paddled for shore with all of her might, but it was too late.
A wave of absolute fear hit her as she felt a powerful force latch onto her other leg. Gilda's mouth opened wide to scream. But before any sound could escape from her beak, she was pulled beneath the waves and disappeared.
The surface rippled for a moment more and became still. As the sun rose, it gazed out upon the peaceful, blue ocean.
Summer had officially begun.
- - - - - - - -
"What do you think, darling? Isn't it simply to die for?"
Twilight Sparkle pried herself from the engaging novel she'd been reading and looked over at the white unicorn sitting next to her. Rarity had just adorned her head with a particularly large sun hat, one she'd made just for this very trip.
Frankly, it looked rather ridiculous on her, but Twilight wasn't about to crush her friend with brutal honesty.
That was Applejack's job.
"It looks great, Rarity!" Twilight said, with all of the fake enthusiasm she could muster. It was really hard to not laugh at the fashionista some days.
Rarity giggled and cooed, "Why, thank you ever so much, Twilight! I don't believe it to be my best work myself, but I didn't see any reason to get carried away. This is a vacation after all, isn't it?"
"I think it's the most beautiful hat I've ever seen," a pathetically dreamy voice said from the seat behind, "but it's nothing without your head, Rarity."
"Yes, yes, thank you, Spike. Do be a dear and fetch me another glass of lemonade, please," Rarity impatiently stated.
The baby dragon was all too willing to fulfill his crush's wish and promptly hopped out of his seat to retrieve her refreshment.
Applejack leaned over and put her head in between the two mares in front of her and grumbled, "Now, why in the hay do I gotta sit next to him fer the whole trip? All he goes on about is 'Rarity this'n Rarity that!'"
Twilight sighed and facehooved. "We talked about this, AJ. The seats were divided fairly so that there are two of us in each... and one for Pinkie."
She looked over at the exuberant party planner who was excitedly bouncing around in her seat, singing a song expressing her love for travel via locomotive.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sat in the seat up from her, trying to make conversation in between the loud bursts of music from behind.
Twilight leaned back in her seat and tried to find her spot in the novel she'd been reading. Suddenly, the book was knocked from her hooves and she found her vision filled with a poofy, pink mane as Pinkie Pie wriggled across her and pressed her face against the window.
"Oooh, look girls! We're here!" she excitedly squealed.
Twilight dug her muzzle out the cotton candy-like mane and looked out of her window. Sure enough, the train was in sight of its destination: Maretha's Vineyard, the best little seaside town in all of Equestria!
Twilight smiled as she gazed at the quaint tourist spot in the distance. Saving Equestria time after time was exhausting work and being a princess on top of that didn't make things easier. So, she had been quite ecstatic when her friends agreed to go on a vacation with her (Spike had to grovel to come along) and everypony agreed that Maretha's Vineyard was the place to go.
Yes indeed, no better place to get away from it all than the beach...