As Twilight and her friends hopped off of the train at the station, the first thing to greet them was the invigorating smell of the sea being carried on a light breeze. Everypony stopped what they were doing and took a moment to appreciate the salty, refreshing scent under the warm sun.
Everypony except for Spike, of course. The luggage wasn't about to carry itself, now was it?
The group made their way down the charming and old-fashioned main street, tourists flooding the sidewalk as the occasional cabbie trotted by with a loaded buggy. Fillies and foals grasped balloons and begged their parents for sweets, the distracted adults too preoccupied with purchasing overpriced seashells and shirts sporting pineapples and dolphins.
Seagulls squawked and circled in the breeze overhead, next to their pigeon brethren, both of whom took endless enjoyment out of snatching hapless tourists' meals and defecating on everything in sight (the sidewalk was practically paved with the white stuff. Unsurprisingly, Fluttershy could tell which bird's excrement was which.)
Despite the commotion from crying children, bickering adults, barking salesponies, and shrieking sea-fowl, the relaxing sound of a big band playing a slow tune somewhere by the beach could heard in the distance.
If one focused hard enough and pushed everything else aside, they might even have heard the ocean's waves crashing into the sandy shore.
Rarity let out a high-pitched squeal, barely able to contain her excitement.
"It is soooo gorgeous here! I... think I might be at a loss for words!" she sighed, dramatically fanning herself.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and smirked, "Yeah, if we should be so lucky."
Rarity turned to the sarcastic pegasus, brushing her fabulous mane away from her face. "I'm sorry, darling. I couldn't quite make out what you were saying, care to repeat it?"
"Girls, hush," Twilight scolded, pointing a hoof at the bustling little town before them. "We came here to relax and have fun! Absolutely no fighting!"
She furrowed her brow and sternly glanced at each of her friends, just to be sure they'd understood her.
Blank stares were all that the group returned to her. With the exception of Pinkie Pie, who hopped up and down with an impossibly large inner tube around her middle and a snorkel in her mouth.
A big grin on her face, the pink mare enthusiastically shouted, "C'mon, girls! Enough gibbering, time to go SWIMMING!"
As if on cue, the group of friends felt their spirits lift again and excitedly raced off in the direction of the beach, leaving Spike alone in the crowded street.
"Wait!" he called in vain as he struggled with the mountain of luggage heaped on his back. "Wait for me!"
- - - - - - - -
"Yippee!" a little pinto foal joyfully yelled as he charged into the awaiting surf. His short, skinny legs paddled and carried him out into the water with the numerous other ponies enjoying the cool ocean.
The beach was packed, with hundreds of ponies stretched out on the warm sand or playing a variety of games. Lively conversations, joyous laughter, and the music of the band filled the crisp summer air.
"Whoo-ee!" Applejack exclaimed. The cowpony pushed her weathered hat back and looked at the sight before her, shielding her green eyes from the glare of the sun against the sand.
"I declare, I ain't seen nothin' like that before! Why, this here town is busier than a cow's tail in fly season! Ponies actually come here fer relaxin'?" she chortled, jabbing her elbow at Rainbow Dash's ribs.
Rainbow rubbed her side and grinned back at Applejack. "You better believe it! I've been dying to come to this place for, like, ever! And now that the fate of Equestria isn't in the balance for once, we're gonna have some fun!"
She flicked her tail at the group and took off like greased lightning, splashing into the cold surf with an impressive dive.
"BEACH PARTY!" Pinkie Pie shrieked as she blurred through the crowd and - as only she could - rocketed high into the air and crashed into the ocean in a ludicrous cannonball.
The others laughed as they watched the colorful pegasus and the excitable party pony frolic in the crashing waves. Fluttershy set her towel over the warm sand and stretched out on it, letting out a relieved sigh as she did so. Twilight and Applejack did the same, while Rarity turned and trotted off towards the changing rooms.
"Where are you going?" Twilight inquired, lifting up her sunglasses.
"Oh, I'm just going to slip into my bathing suit, darling. You needn't worry, I shall return shortly."
Applejack stared unbelievably at the unicorn for a moment before busting up laughing, snorts and hiccups escaping uncontrollably from her.
The fashionista crinkled her muzzle at the farmpony's most un-ladylike outburst and asked in an unamused tone, "Whatever do you find so funny, dear Applejack?"
"Are you serious, Rares?" Applejack wheezed as she desperately clutched at her sides. "It's apple-pickin' hot out here and you're gonna go put on clothes?!"
She burst into a fit of laughter again, drawing more than a few glances from curious vacationers.
Rarity huffed and flicked her mane to side as she continued trotting to the changing rooms. "Well," she said, her perfectly powdered nose in the air, "somepony around here has to conduct herself with dignity and grace!"
- - - - - - - -
Just a few short miles away from the tourist-occupied beach, a buoy gently rocked back and forth to the serene rhythm of the sea.
For the briefest of moments, it suddenly jolted to the side, as though something massive had just moved past it underwater. It clanged in response to the minor disturbance, but nopony was close enough to hear it.
The buoy quickly settled back into the ocean's familiar ebb and flow, cool waves softly beating against a rusty metal hide.
- - - - - - - -
The breeze felt good. Not strong enough to take away from the sun's radiant warmth, yet just enough to keep one from being baked on the sand.
Twilight smiled and closed her eyes as she lay on her beach towel.
Fluttershy had joined Pinkie and Rainbow in a game of water tag, squealing in the most adorable fashion every time she got splashed. Applejack and Rarity had been the only ones immune to the ocean's call besides Twilight.
Applejack seemed to be struggling with the idea of a body of water larger than the duck pond back on Sweet Apple Acres, only responding to Twilight's teasing with, "I'm buildin' up to settin' hoof in that there salt water, don't rush me!"
Rarity - naturally - just didn't want to get her gold-trimmed swimsuit wet.
Twilight sighed in contentment as her soft fur absorbed the summer sun and her nostrils gladly welcomed the salty scent of the sea. She had definitely needed this vacation!
Her ear twitched slightly as she heard two ponies break into a heated argument a short distance away.
She turned and caught sight of the participants in said scuffle, both stallions. One was middle-aged and considerably fat. The bulk of his cream-colored, pudgy form was stuffed into a ridiculously expensive suit, with a white mane and tail cut to short perfection.
The other was a skinny, tired-looking police officer in a tan uniform with a light grey coat, his brown mane and tail cut to professional lengths. He pushed a large pair of glasses back up onto his muzzle as the fat one started lecturing him in a hushed voice.
Whatever they were arguing about, they didn't seem to want it overheard.
Twilight wasn't able to make out much of their conversation and she really didn't feel comfortable eavesdropping in any event. However, just before the two parted ways, she did happen to hear the fat one firmly declare, "We are not closing the beaches. Is that understood, Chief?"
He turned and waddled away, leaving the frustrated police chief to fume amongst the merry beach-goers.
After staring down the ocean before him for a moment, the disgruntled stallion started walking up and down the shoreline with a pair of binoculars at the ready.
Twilight shrugged it off and went back to peacefully lying against the warm sand, listening to Applejack and Rarity bicker and pick at each other.
Presently, she heard the familiar sound of exhausted huffing and puffing and lifted her sunglasses to see Spike wearily hobbling up to her under his load of stuffed suitcases.
"Thanks for waiting for me," he grumbled as he set his burden on the ground. He flopped down onto the sand and let out a tired sigh, while Twilight rolled her eyes.
Silly dragon was always making a scene.
"Finally, I can relax!" he happily sighed into the sand.
At that exact moment, a collective gasp of shock reverberated through the surrounding crowd. Twilight sat straight up and lifted her sunglasses in curiosity to see what the commotion was all about.
Startled ponies were pointing to the ocean with perplexed looks on their faces and Twilight looked just in time to see an enormous, violent fountain of seawater erupt as a whirling flurry of large fins disappeared below the surface a short distance from shore.
"Sweet Celestia, did you see that?!"
"Aaack! What was that?!"
"-just came out of the water and disappeared!"
"The horror, the horror!"
"Get out! Get everypony out!"
The relaxing calm of the beach quickly vanished, replaced with the sound of terrified screams as the crowd panicked and ponies dashed into the surf to retrieve their loved ones. Some just threw their hooves in the air and shrieked, frantically running in circles like rabid rubber chickens.
Twilight's mind swirled as she tried to comprehend what was going on and she sprang to her hooves, looking desperately for her three friends among the chaotic mass of ponies. Rarity and Applejack rushed to her side and did the same, while Spike simply buried his head in the sand.
"I'm on vacation!" he furiously screamed at the top of his lungs (though it came out somewhat muffled as a result of his ostrich impression.)
Once everypony had cleared out of the water, a tense silence hung over the huddled crowd as the police chief darted back and forth in front of the water, his steely eyes searching the shoreline.
"Whoo-hoo! Let's do that again!" Pinkie Pie giggled as she, Rainbow, and Fluttershy rushed towards Twilight and the others.
Upon seeing her friends safe and unharmed, Twilight broke into a large smile and threw her hooves around them. Squeezing them tightly, she sighed in relief, "Thank Celestia you're alright! I was so worried!"
"Goodness, so was I!" Fluttershy squeaked back, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.
The crowd started to settle down and a few anxious laughs were heard.
But then, the police chief jumped in fright, yelling, "Alright, everpony back! Get back!"
Fear returned to the faces of the ponies as they obeyed and quickly retreated from the shoreline.
However, determination filled Twilight's fierce, violet eyes and she trotted towards the chief to find out what was going on. It was her duty, after all.
Seeing her approach, he thrust his hoof forward and barked, "Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to stay back!"
Twilight stopped in front of the stallion and narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't about to be deterred.
"Excuse me, but I happen to be Twilight Sparkle and, as Princess, I need to know what in Equestria is going on." Her tone was respectful, but firm.
It seemed to work. The chief's professional demeanor didn't drop as he straightened up before her. "My apologies, Princess. But... I don't think you want to see this."
He swallowed reluctantly as he pushed his glasses up and tried to block her view of the incoming waves.
The sound of hooves splashing in the wet sand behind her told Twilight that her friends had joined her.
"Oh yeah?" Rainbow said as she gave the chief a suspicious glance. "See what?"
The stallion started sweating and tried to keep them all from looking, but a terrified gasp from Rarity told him he'd failed.
Carried on the waves rippling against the shore, a little head bobbed in the water and washed up onto the sand. The decapitated head of a pinto foal.
The tip of his tongue drooped from the corner of his mouth and two large x's where his eyes used to be.
The chief uttered something under his breath and raced to control the crowd while Twilight and her friends stared slack jawed in horror. Rarity turned pale green and quickly swiped Applejack's hat off of her head, galloping away with it at breakneck speed.
"Hey! You ain't relievin' your innards in my hat!" the farmpony angrily called. She darted after the traumatized fashionista while Spike leaned down to examine the head.
Much to the disgust of the startled mares, the inquisitive dragon carefully picked the head up and started looking it over.
"You know, it's funny," he said while squinting at it, "he almost looks familiar. Do we know him?"
"That's enough, Spike!" A disapproving Rainbow Dash stepped in front of Spike and punched the head out of his scaly claws. "Have some respect for the dead, for pony's sake!"
The head sailed over the crowd and more than a handful of screams were heard.
Twilight felt her stomach make knots as she tried to make sense of what had happened. Fear, anger, and curiosity rushed through her, the rest of her friends trading uneasy glances.
Twilight gazed out upon the shimmering surface of the sea in all of its blue serenity. It was as if nothing had happened at all.
What could have possibly done this? And would it happen again?