Chapter 7: Going With the Flow
Aptitude
MLP:FiM
By: Kestrel
Both Blizzard and Flathoof departed from their bedroom in the morning having showered and prepared themselves by dressing in their swimwear. Despite having more clothes on than usual, Blizzard felt more exposed as a result, possibly because it drew more attention to the tone of his flank and made the extra point that he wasn’t wearing anything else.
Mares looked their way, with Flathoof giving winks and waves, turning them away. His reputation as a somewhat creepy, extremely observant pony disturbed ponies, and Blizzard could understand. Even though Flathoof thankfully scared away those ponies in short order, Blizzard still felt hot under the skin whenever somepony looked at him in his swimwear.
They had a quick breakfast consisting of some toast and jam and began to wait by the front of the school. Within a few minutes, Merry Weather and Strata came dressed in their own swimwear. Both mares looked exceedingly cute in their swimsuits, hugging their flanks tightly. Blizzard quickly closed his hanging mouth before anypony noticed him staring. As his gaze drifted back to the mares, he noticed one of them had a beach ball.
“Yay! A beach ball!” Flathoof exclaimed. “This’ll be awesome! Colts against fillies!” Merry growled and Strata flattened out her face.
“Wow, what a gentlecolt…” Strata remarked.
“That’s so unfair!” Merry Weather complained. “You guys have Double Dose! He’ll be able to spike the ball like nopony’s business!”
“Too bad! Already called it!” Flathoof exclaimed, not missing a single beat in his happy attitude.
At this rate, Blizzard was hoping Double Dose knew CPR, because he wasn’t sure Flathoof would get out of this venture without some mild drowning. His train of thought went off the tracks as the last member of the group marched toward them.
Double Dose was all decked out and ready to have a day on the water. He was wearing his swimming trunks, goggles, snorkeling mask, and had packed at least four different sunscreens. He also had an umbrella with a cooler for drinks, a beach chair, a book, and finally a rubber ducky personal floatation device.
Merry Weather and Strata tried their hardest not to laugh at the serious, no-nonsense stallion carrying so much swim items. Especially the rubber ducky ring! Seriously? Merry Weather couldn’t hold back and flopped onto her back laughing while Blizzard couldn’t stop a hysterical tear from flowing out of one of his eyes.
“Well,” Double Dose said through a full mouth. “Are yew gonna stand dere laffing like a village idiot, or are we gonna go?” Merry Weather had started to hiccup as her laughter hit an uneven pace, rendering her unable to speak.
“Y-y-yes!” Strata answered, desperately trying and failing to contain her laughter. “Come on everypony.”
Blizzard offered to help lighten Double Dose’s load, but the earth pony refused, not wanting anypony to mess with all of his stuff. The smaller colt shook his head thoroughly entertained by his friend’s antics.
After a small trek of about ten minutes or so, the group had to take a little hike over a nature trail to reach a part of the river that flowed slowly into a large natural river basin which was equipped with a nice little wooden dock for fishing. Everypony laid out their towels and rushed the water while Double Dose took his time carefully setting up his beachhead base.
Nearly ten minutes of playing in the water and floundering around later, and Blizzard stole a glance at Double Dose, who had succeeded in perfectly setting up his area. The beach umbrella stood proudly above the beach chair with the cooler resting beside it. He laid his own towel over the chair before slathering on some sunscreen and putting his book down.
Finally, with the ritual complete, Double Dose started to charge toward the water, but instead of running into it like the rest had, he barrelled for the dock and ran speedily across it, jumping at the end and tucking in his legs.
As his body broke the water, large waves rose up high and dwarfed the exposed heads of the other ponies in the water. Merry and Flathoof instinctively tried to fly to escape the deluge, but with their wings soaked, they couldn’t fly anywhere. The water came down and the four ponies were washed away several feet.
Coming out of the water left Blizzard’s mane sticking to the front of his face as he broke into a huge smile. That was awesome!
“Nice cannonball, DD!” Blizzard congratulated the blood red mass of mane that was visible on the other pony. Double Dose smiled before getting blasted by a wave of water from Merry Weather.
“It’s on!” she shouted. “Water fight!” Blizzard tried his best to backpaddle out of the ensuing chaos to get a more tactical view of the battle before joining, but he was too slow and got hit with a splash from Strata.
Water flew relentlessly from all parties as Blizzard tried his best to target the other four while avoiding getting splashed. Merry was having an epic duel against Flathoof, with both pegasi using their wings as extra tools to lop water at one another, until Double Dose came up from under the water and grabbed Merry, tilting her over and letting her fall back into the water.
After a moment, she floundered back up to the surface, coughing up some water she swallowed and mercilessly assaulted Double Dose with waves upon waves of water, ignoring the brunt of attacks from Flathoof. Blizzard was doing his best to remain undetected, by ingeniously sinking his head under the water to where nopony could see him, except for the white horn protruding like a periscope.
Strata caught onto his presence before he could surprise her. She decided to stop him in his tracks by waving a hoof underwater right where his nose was, forcing water up his nostrils. The startled colt broke the surface of the water sputtering for air to come back through his nose while he breathed from his mouth.
The unicorn filly took the chance to take advantage of his exposed state and clung to his back, riding him around while he flailed. She made a big deal about besting him, flaunting her victory by waving to the others and cheering. Eventually, she lost her balance under the flailing colt and was sent beneath the water.
Soon enough, the water war died down and Double Dose was floating around in his rubber ducky floatation device, continuing to earn laughs from his classmates and friends. Though laughing ceased as he produced the beach ball and tossed it up high.
The ball fell toward Merry Weather, who spiked it hard, smacking Flathoof in the face and rebounding to Strata, who bumped it back to Double Dose. Receiving the ball again, Double Dose gave the ball a light hit, easily sending it to Blizzard, who barely reached it in time to send it back toward Flathoof.
Flathoof was ready this time and swiped at the ball with a wing, sending water into Merry’s face as the beach ball made its way to Strata.
Splashes, laughs, and the sound of hooves hitting the ball rang through the area for what felt like an hour. At one point, the game of catch had turned into a focused, continued volley. The group had managed to keep the ball in the air for over sixty passes before messing up.
Later, they tried to play a makeshift game of water volleyball, though it didn’t last long. Double Dose was playing referee while Strata and Merry played against Blizzard and Flathoof. The boys were awful, plainly said, having no teamwork and not a great deal of accuracy.
That said, Strata and Merry weren’t much better. They played a better game, but they didn’t have an overwhelming team presence either. Every time Strata tried to set up a team play, Merry spiked the ball hard to the other side. Flathoof and Blizzard yelped each time the ball sped toward them, yielding a point for the mares. Sadly, the game had to be called off early after a particularly unlucky incident involving Merry’s penchant for spiking the ball.
After a particularly heavy spike from Merry, Blizzard hadn’t been fast enough to get out of the way and he cringed, his horn skewering the ball. On impact, the ball let out a dying squeak of expelled air. Though disappointed at first, the other ponies found humor in the accident since it involved Blizzard now toting around a multicolored horn sock.
The sun now hung high in the midday sky, coaxing the mares to leave the water and set out their towels for sunbathing. Flathoof and Blizzard continued to swim for a little more while Double Dose lazily floated in his innertube reading his book.
Soon enough, Blizzard was ready to leave the water for a little bit, wanting to snack on some of the food they had brought. Once on the shore, he wiped himself clean of the water for the most part, letting the sun air dry him. With a rumbling stomach, he opened the cooler and carefully selected a fresh banana and peeled it. Taking a satisfying bite, he slumped into the beach chair that Double Dose had brought, and he didn’t seem to mind, not taking an eye off of his book.
“Hey Blizzard!” Merry called over to him. Blizzard looked over to her with his cheeks still stuffed full of banana. She waved a hoof over at him with a contented smile. Clearly, the sun was doing a lot of good for her usually rambunctious personality. “Can you go grab the sunscreen?”
Blizzard nodded and swallowed the banana he was chewing. Fishing around for the sunscreen took longer than expected, being beneath a seemingly endless pile of random beach items. Just how much stuff did Double Dose pack!? Good to see he had managed to pack a first aid kit equipped with biowaste bags. How thoughtful… More bandages, a flashlight, some glorious food, another bottle of antiseptic— aha! Sunscreen!
Waving the sunscreen around proudly in a hoof, he trotted over to the prone form of Merry Weather. The pegasus had almost nodded off to sleep when he arrived.
“Here’s your sunscreen, Merry Weather,” he said with a smile, holding the bottle out gingerly. Merry returned the gesture with a yawn.
“Blizzard…” she moaned. “I’m so tired. Can you rub it on me please?”
The young colt’s mind broke as his face began to feel very hot, and not from the warmth of the sun shining down. He cursed his snow white coat as the blush showed through like a ketchup stain. Merry Weather giggled softly and wiggled her swimsuit clad plot at the stallion, egging him on further.
Blizzard had to swallow his nerves to just move a single step. He never responded vocally to her request, but his answer was pretty clear. Merry turned her head away and let out a sheepish grin as she felt Blizzard rub some of the cool lotion on her back, doing his best to coat the filly’s body without getting too adventurous.
Flathoof floated by on a log that he had found floating in the lake, followed by a slowly spinning Double Dose still reading his medical drama book.
“Oooh, looks like somepony’s getting extra friendly with Merry Weather today!” he jeered, forcing Blizzard to turn away and blush even harder. The moment he turned back, he still saw Flathoof sniggering at him until Double Dose was right next to him.
Putting a hoof on the log, Double Dose gave it a mighty twist, spinning Flathoof around on the log, coming intermittently in and out of the water while he held on for dear life. The earth pony never even looked up from his page.
“Let the kids have fun,” he said, reprimanding the other colt.
“They’re only a year younger than you…” Flathoof replied, showing his best sarcasm as he clung to the log which had stopped rolling.
However, Flathoof had gotten the message and left the filly and colt on the shore to their own devices.
Turning back to Merry, he rubbed more sunscreen on her, coating the same exact areas as before. Merry huffed at his reluctance, but didn’t actually say anything, understanding his predicament in a rare showing of mercy. Suddenly, she flopped over on her back, exposing her belly.
“Well, I think you got my back well enough, so get my other side, Blizzard.”
Instead of the blush that had been provoked each time he had rubbed the sun lotion into her skin, he returned her request with a deadpanned look of dread. Great, there was more?
As he rubbed the sunscreen into her belly, her smile increased in length and her tongue started to loll out and one of her hind legs started to kick out, reminding Blizzard strangely of a dog.
The moment he finished, he threw the sunscreen bottle into the sand near Double Dose’s chair and dove straight into the water, wanting to find a nonexistent piece of ice to camouflage himself with.
A mess of blue and white mane was all that was visible to the other ponies as Merry Weather yelled out to him.
“Thank you, Blizzard!” she bellowed from the shore. “I loved your massage, you’re really skilled with your hooves!” She was doing her utmost to embarrass him, and it was working.
Even Double Dose managed to look up from his book and cast a withering glare at him before going back to dutifully reading and floating around. Flathoof bounced his eyebrows up and down.
Blizzard sank further into the water, completely submerging himself beneath the current. Suddenly, an idea came to him to shift attention off of him. He broke the water with a small gasp.
“Hey, where’d Strata go off to?” he asked. Everypony looked about, but she was nowhere to be found.
Blizzard and Double Dose agreed that they’d go off looking for her while the others stayed behind in case she came back.
Sopping wet, Blizzard shook his coat out, drenching Double Dose. Not skipping a beat, he promptly wiped himself off with his towel and then wound it up, whipping the younger colt’s flank sharply with the now heavy towel.
Blizzard winced and threw a hurt look at Double Dose as they trotted into the forest surrounding the riverbed.
A short hike later, all uphill, the now wheezing Blizzard climbed a ledge with Double Dose’s assistance, the earth pony spryly jumping up afterwards. From their vantage point, they could make out a light blue mass in the distance, near a large rock.
Both colts ran up to the lone filly who was digging around for something.
“Strata! Why’re you way out here?” Double Dose called out. “We’ve been looking for a while, the others are gonna get worried about you. You shouldn’t wander off on your own.”
The unicorn turned around, hiding part of her face with her braided mane. She bent down and picked up a crystalline structure. It sparkled with a dull sheen in the light.
“Look,” she said. “Quartz crystals. It’s not a relic or anything, but it’s still a cool find, right?”
Blizzard cocked his head inquisitively, trying to figure out what was so special about a shiny rock, while Double Dose stared at her, waiting for an answer.
The first-year slipped the crystal structure into her saddlebag, shifting her weight slightly to her right, causing her to tip slightly. She blew her mane out of her eyes and looked off to the side, grinding a hoof into the ground.
“Listen Double Dose,” she began. “Can I talk to you about it alone?”
Blizzard suddenly felt hurt as he was singled out to be excluded from a conversation. Double Dose sensed his attitude as he gave him a pat on the back, passing off his sunglasses to him.
As the two ponies retreated behind the rock formation, Blizzard felt extremely curious, and a little self-conscious. He really, really wanted to eavesdrop, but decided against it. If it was important, he’d know in time, or just ask later.
He could overhear some faint snippets of phrases, but not enough to truly piece together a coherent thought. Overwhelmed by curiosity, he crept closer, keeping his noise to a minimum by stepping on flat ground that didn’t have leaves or sticks littered across it.
“So again, it’s just that I still feel a bit out of place still,” he heard Strata say.
“Look,” he heard the strong, deep voice of the colt say. “You don’t have to do everything everypony else does. That includes what Merry wants. Do what makes you comfortable.”
“Right… she’s been so nice to me, but today after we got out of the water, she wanted to talk to me about colts… and… I don’t really want to, it’s embarrassing!”
“It just means she trusts you. But if you need to have some personal space from topics like that, you should tell her.”
“Thanks, DD.”
Rocks and gravel shifted on the other side of the rock wall as the other two ponies finished conversing. Blizzard panicked as he swiftly and silently moved back to his position and took up a pose as if he had been twiddling his hooves the whole time, staring in the other direction.
Once the noise of two sets of hooves came closer, he turned around, pretending to have just heard them coming.
“Hey guys, what were ya talking about?” he questioned innocently. Despite having heard a lot of it, there were still parts of the conversation he had missed and wanted to know. Asking couldn’t hurt, right?
“Nothing,” Strata answered quietly. “Don’t worry about it.”
Double Dose gave a head motion to Blizzard for him to get up and follow them. The three ponies started making their way back to the lake.
At the shore, both Flathoof and Merry Weather were having a little conversation while looking at things floating on the water. They turned around as the search group returned. Merry flew up to Strata and hugged her, asking about where she had been. She covered by saying she got bored and wanted to look for stuff, pulling the crystal out of her saddlebag. That was a lie, well, only kind of, but Blizzard knew the truth… or some of it.
Merry Weather gasped at the sparkling rock, picking it up and holding it up to the more intense sunlight out in the open.
“It’s so pretty!” she exclaimed. “Take me with you next time! Maybe I can find a ruby or something.” Soon enough, Merry was lost in her own dreams of luxury and fairytale.
The fillies started talking like as if Strata never had a problem. Blizzard smiled as they looked so happy, until he was pulled back by Double Dose’s hoof.
Blizzard only put up token resistance as he was taken away from the rest of the ponies.
“Hey…” Double Dose began. “You shouldn’t eavesdrop on other ponies’ conversations.”
Aghast that he had figured it out so fast, Blizzard’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
“What!? How the— How’d you know?” he asked in disbelief. Double Dose’s serious face melted into a wry smile.
“I didn’t. You just told me.”
Now it was Blizzard’s turn to exchange expressions with Double Dose, both colts having on the opposite expression of their usual.
“Look, just try to leave things like that to solve themselves,” Double Dose suggested.
After nodding his head in acceptance and agreement, Double Dose let Blizzard go.
With the sun setting fast in the sky, the five friends made a point of packing up quickly and heading to dinner. Just as when they had arrived, the shore was totally clean, with all evidence of their being there loaded up on their current beast of burden: Double Dose. Flathoof, Merry Weather, and Strata all walked ahead while Blizzard and Double Dose lagged behind.
It was hard not to try to listen to that conversation. He had just been so curious! But… if Strata was feeling lonely, then maybe they should all do something special for her. That would be really cool.