//------------------------------// // The Beginning of Something // Story: G 4mat- The Island // by AmpUpHeart //------------------------------// "Come on, girls!" Apple Bloom cheered as she and her two friends raced from the train, "Maybe we can find our cutie marks here!" "I totally want to try surfing!" Scootaloo declared. "Maybe I can get my cutie mark in hula dancing!" Sweetie Bell replied. "I wonder if we could spread the Cutie Mark Crusaders here! I bet there are some blank flanks here!" Apple Bloom said. "Hold your horses, girls," Applejack said, "Ya just can't wander around here without supervision." "Thank you for inviting us, AJ," Twilight Sparkle said, strolling down the short flight of stairs. "No problem, Twi," Applejack replied, "I received a letter from the granddaughter of an old friend of Granny Smith, and she's a resident here." She quickly glanced over her shoulder to make sure that the young trio accompanying them wouldn't hear, and added, in a whisper, "She said that her younger sister is being teased for her blank flank. During a visit to Ponyville, she saw that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo had formed their little club." "So she wants your sister to meet her?" Spike asked. "In a nutshell. But she also said that there were a lot of interestin' things to see here. That's why I decided to bring you two along." "What kinds of interesting things?" Spike asked. "Any libraries?" Twilight asked. "She never mentioned anything about libraries, but she did talk about a large observatory." "Really!?" Twilight asked, ecstatic. "Talk to her, not me," Applejack replied, "We should get going. Girls!?" She called out, "GIRLS!? Oh, sweet Celestia, where in the hay did they run off to?" She was answered with a series of screams. "What in tarnation!?" The farm pony asked, galloping through the station, with Twilight and Spike close behind. When they found the fillies, they realized that the screams were of delight. The trio were jumping around with another filly: a white unicorn with a dark brown mane and tail and green eyes. And no cutie mark. "Hey, Applejack!" A voice said. Applejack, Spike and Twilight turned around to see a coral-colored unicorn behind them. She had a tropical green-and-purple mane and tail and purple eyes. Her cutie mark was two coconuts, one of which was sliced in half, on a palm leaf. "Ya must be Coconut Grove," Applejack said. "Yeah," the unicorn replied, "and that's my sister, Coconut Cream." The fillies had all calmed down, somewhat. They bounced up to Grove. "I'm Apple Bloom!" "I'm Sweetie Bell!" "The name's Scootaloo!" "I know. Applejack told me about you three," Grove said. "Wait, these are the visitors?" Cream asked. "Applejack and I arranged the trip. Do you have any issues with it?" "Of course not! This is the best surprise ever!" "Okay," Grove said, "I should show you guys where you're going to be staying." "It IS getting late," Spike said, yawning. Twilight could just tell from the light that the sun was setting. "Awwww, come on!" The four fillies whined. "You've had a long day just coming here, and I've been busy getting ready. Now come on. You guys will get to sleep in the same shack." "A shack?" Scootaloo asked. "Almost all of us sleep in shacks," Cream said, "It never gets cold here and there is always a pleasant breeze." "Sounds a bit like tha barn," Apple Bloom said. "Rarity would never have agreed to come," Sweetie Bell said, "She's not exactly one for roughing it." "That's a shame," Cream said, "This is far from roughing it." "Come on!" Spike said, "Some of us are actually getting tired!" The foursome raced up to the mares, and they walked toward the station's exit. Twilight could not help but admire the architecture. It wasn't anything fancy. It was a large building made of planks of palm wood with a grass roof. Rather than concrete or tile, the floors were covered with rough granite. But from what she heard of the island, the building captured the spirit of the place perfectly. And from what she saw a few seconds later, she believed that even more so. Grove pushed open the door and showed the girls their first look at the island. The setting sun casted the entire island in a golden glow. The beach sparkled with pink and orange. The palm trees swayed gently in the wind. Flat, brown stones made a series of roadways. Strange white Flowers that faded into yellow at the center drifted to the ground from large trees. "What flowers are those?" Sweetie Bell asked. "Plumeria trees," Cream replied, "Aren't they beautiful?" "I'm starting to take back what I said about Rarity not wanting to come here." The group continued to a series of houses. Like the train station, they were crafted of palm wood and had grass for roofs. Many of them had paths to one another covered by more wood and grass. "What are those?" Apple Bloom asked. "Shacks," Grove answered, "We generally keep them small and one-room to provide maximum air circulation. If we want to expand and add another room, we build another one nearby and make a covered path to it." "So much for me taking back what I said about Rarity," Sweetie Bell said. "Here we go!" Cream said, "Home sweet home!" The group approached a small cluster of shacks, arranged in a ring and a small garden at its center. "You can enter from any one of these rooms, but this is the mane room," Grove said, leading the group into the largest hut. "Woah," Twilight said. The room didn't have much, but it was a decent place. There were enough chairs for everyone to sit down and relax if they wanted to, but it was no place for sleeping. "You three, come with me," Grove said, "Cream, could you show the others where they'll be sleeping?" The filly nodded, and took her new friends to the next room to the left. "This is my room!" She exclaimed. "Wow," Sweetie Bell said, trying to be polite. The room was much smaller and plain than her room at the Carousel Boutique. "I understand if it's a bit iffy," Cream said, seemingly reading Sweetie Bell's mind, "But it's what I call home." "I feel right at home here!" Apple Bloom said, "But I do have one question: where do we sleep?" "You have a choice," Cream said, pulling out four large pieces of fabric with a green aura, "You can sleep on the floor," held the cloths just above the ground, where it was made evident that it would be a tight fit, "Or in the air," and hung the cloths on hooks, making hammocks. "Come on!" She said, jumping in one of them. The others quickly followed. "Ah, this is the life," Scootaloo said. "I know," Cream replied, "I just know that we're going to have so much fun together. I know I probably should have told you this before, but welcome to Haywii."