“Remind me again why we're going to the beach today.”
A dark red pegasus with wild dark purple hair and a cutie mark of lightning through a cloud gazed out the window with her chin in her hooves. The weather was cruddy and she'd much rather stay inside by the fire, reading her newest copy of Captain Marevel, her favorite comic book heroine. Turning away from the drizzle outside, she looked at the bright pink unicorn with three heart lollipops for a cutie mark across the room adjusting her saddle bags. “You guys can totally go without me you know.”
“Not a chance,” laughed the unicorn, shaking her crimson and white mane from her eyes. “It's not that bad out, Thunder Clap. Remember the last time we went? You ended up having a lot of fun.”
Thunder Clap sank down to the cushioned window seat and crossed her hooves in front of her, pouting slightly. “I guess so.”
Smirking, the unicorn crossed the room to stand in front of her friend. “Come on, Clap. I'm counting on your positive and upbeat spirit.” As the pegasus glared at her the unicorn faltered a bit. “You know how much Pinwheel hates the rain and if you're in a grumpy mood then she'll be in a grumpy mood which will make me in a grumpy mood and if I'm in a grumpy mood-”
“Are you finished?” The unicorn looked at her hopefully and Thunder Clap couldn't help but give in with a chuckle. “Okay, okay! Instead of Candy Pop your name should be Smooth Talk or something. I don't know how you do it but you always rope us into doing things we don't normally want to do.”
“You make me sound so conniving!” said Candy Pop as they headed down the stairs together. “Think of it more as me giving you a friendly nudge into an ever-widening circle of experiences.”
“Sorry, are you still talking?” Thunder Clap teased. “I stopped listening a few seconds ago.”
Mouth dropping in mock hurt, Candy Pop watched as the pegasus shot past her and out into the bookstore below Candy's apartment. As was usual for a rainy day in Ponyville there were ponies scattered throughout the various aisles. While Thunder Clap headed out into the dreary morning Candy stopped at the door to find the mare who owned the bookstore. When she spotted the pale blue pegasus she waved, then hurried out after her friend. Together the two mares made their way through the city, Thunder Clap making sure to walk under every bit of shelter she could find while Candy Pop laughed at her and walked happily in the drizzle. When they reached the costume shop Candy knocked and was greeted by a white pegasus with a tousled bright orange mane and a blue and purple tail a four-colored pinwheel on her flank. Her expression was one of dread.
“Remind me again why we're going to the beach today.”
“Thank you!” shouted Thunder Clap, waiting across the street under the canopy of a vegetable stall.
“Oh good grief, Pinwheel” Candy laughed. She trotted into the store to get behind the tired looking pegasus and push her outside. “You two act as though you're allergic to rain. Remember? We're going treasure hunting!”
Pinwheel's ears perked. “Oh yeah! There was a storm last night!”
“And when there's a storm...” Candy prompted, glancing at Thunder Clap as she joined them in the drizzling rain.
“There's treasure washed up on shore!” Pinwheel's moment of resistance was suddenly gone, green eyes widening in excitement. “Well come on! What are we waiting for?”
As Pinwheel shot ahead, Candy Pop draped a hoof around Thunder Clap's withers and gave her a warm smile. “I'll race ya?”
Thunder Clap looked at her askance, sizing her up. “For real?” When Candy nodded, Clap grinned. “You're on!”
Racing through the city, the three friends laughed and splashed through puddles left after a night of fierce weather. The rain was all but forgotten, the sound of their hooves echoing off the buildings that lined the familiar labyrinthine streets. They passed the fire station and the greenhouse, City Hall and the school. By the time they passed through the outer reaches of Ponyville and were rushing over the open plain the drizzle had stopped and the dark gray clouds overhead were slowly breaking up and passing.
“Come on!” shouted Candy Pop as she ran. “If we hurry we can catch the rest of the sunrise!”
Down the well worn path the mares ran, giggles on their lips. There was a dense line of trees they had to pass at the crest of a hill, then it was nothing but beach and the ocean for what felt like forever.
The sand was clumpy and made running hard for Candy Pop but the smile she wore never dimmed. She sat, her soggy mane clinging to her face and her neck, and looked out over the cool gray waters before her. The sky in the great beyond was on fire with color. When Thunder Clap landed beside her and Pinwheel on the other, all three sat speechless and in awe. Candy Pop closed her eyes and listened to the way the waves rushed to shore in fervent whispers, the way the air smelled like brine and left a taste of salt in her senses.
“It's going to be a beautiful day,” Pinwheel said quietly.
“I love how no matter how I'm feeling or what I'm going through,” added Thunder Clap, “I can just look at a sunrise and know it's all going to be okay.”
Moved by the words of her friends, Candy Pop threw out her hooves and pulled them both in for a tight hug, a feat which started with complaints but ended with giggles and laughter. “Now,” said the unicorn, a mischievous glint in her eyes, “who's ready to look for treasure!”
It had been a long standing tradition of hers, one that went back so far in her memory that she didn't know when it began. Candy Pop would come out to the ocean shore with her father when she was very young, always after a big storm, and see what they could find washed ashore from the high violent waves and fearful winds. Most of the time they found junk, scraps of wood and things that would be of no value to anyone. But every once in awhile they'd get lucky and find something really amazing. When she moved away from her family it was a tradition Candy kept up all on her own, until she met her two best friends. After only one excursion they were hooked on the adventure, though not so fond of the very early mornings.
The three broke off from one another, trotting down to the soggy line in the sand where the water stopped and the beach began. For awhile it was silent as they searched independently, digging when they found something half buried, standing still and trying to peer into the cold ocean water at their hooves, or simply watching as the others continued on in their search. As the sun rose higher and higher the air turned warmer, creeping under their fur to chase away the cold of the morning. It was quiet and it was peaceful. Until Pinwheel screamed.
Candy Pop's head jerked around to see the white pegasus scrambling up the beach, trying to get away from something crawling out of the ocean. It had a dark red coat suspiciously like Thunder Clap's and a head covered in seaweed. “I am the pony from the black lagoon,” she garbled, tottering after Pinwheel like some kind of zombie pony. “I have come to kidnap you and make you my underwater prisoner.”
“Oh no!' Pinwheel yelled, running away and trying not to laugh. “I don't want to live underwater! Somepony help me!”
Dropping the piece of driftwood held in her magic, Candy smirked and rushed over, putting herself between Clap and Pinwheel. “Have no fear, fair maiden! Candy Pop is here!” She lowered her head and pointed her horn at the slimy mess that was Thunder Clap. “Back, foul being!”
“My hero!” swooned Pinwheel, draping a hoof across her forehead and falling dramatically to the ground. “Ow!” The exclamation had the other two turning to see Pinwheel rolling to her side, eyes on the sand.
“Are you okay?' Candy asked.
“Yeah, I just landed on something.” The pegasus was on her hooves now, digging in the sand. Candy Pop joined her, Thunder Clap doing the same once she pulled the seaweed wig from her head. “Oooh,” Pinwheel exclaimed. “I think it's a necklace!” She'd found a black leather necklace with a shining silver bell attached.
“Good find!” Candy Pop exclaimed. “That will look really cute on you. Can I help you put it on?”
“Okay!”
With a soft pink glow around her horn, Candy Pop grasped the necklace with her magic and slid it around Pinwheel's neck, fastening it before taking a step back to look. “Yep. It's you.”
“I can't wait to get home and see it for myself.”
“Not before I find something cool, too!” Thunder Clap flew back down the beach to resume her search, the other two just sharing a smile before doing the same. As the morning wore on they found among them a weathered picture frame with broken glass and a picture of an older mare in it, some foam curlers, a lampshade, lots of driftwood, some sea glass, and five sand dollars. Looking at their collected booty, Candy Pop sighed happily. The sun was now fairly high above them and all traces of ill weather were gone. It truly had turned into a beautiful day.
Collapsing on the sand beside her, Thunder Clap lay spread eagle and looked up at the shifting white clouds. “Please tell me you brought lunch with you.”
“Sorry,” Candy Pop said. “I honestly didn't think we'd be out this long. But it was a good morning!”
Shrugging, Thunder Clap lifted a hoof to shield her eyes and grinned at her friend. “It really was pretty great. Do you ever get tired of being wrong?'
Candy Pop smiled gleefully. “Nope!”
“Hey you guys! I think I found something!”
Thunder Clap groaned. “Why is she finding all the cool stuff today?” With a shrug, Candy Pop helped her friend up, then ran with her down the length of the beach to find where Pinwheel stood over a sandy mound of something light green. “Bet it's more seaweed,” Clap muttered before they reached Pinwheel.
“Oh my gosh.” The two drew up short, getting a better understanding at what Pinwheel had found the closer they got. What was minty green was the pelt of an animal. And it wasn't moving.
“Get back,” Thunder Clap ordered the other two, pushing Pinwheel away. “We don't know what it could be.”
Pinwheel stood back a few feet with Candy Pop, eyes wide. “I think it's a pony!”
Moving slowly and carefully, Thunder Clap nosed around the sandy mound, pushing drapes of salty seaweed aside to try and figure out which end was up. She found a white snout and frowned, glancing at her friends. “It's a pony,” she confirmed grimly. “A mare by the look of it.”
“Is she breathing?” Candy Pop asked.
Thunder Clap lowered her head and put her ear next to the pony's snout, jumping in surprise when she both heard and felt the sharp, shallow exhale. “She's breathing!” The other two rushed over, ignoring Clap's instructions to stay back. They helped rid the strange pony's body of seaweed to get a better look at her. While most of her coat was minty green she had white fur around her hooves and her nose. When they found she had wings they also discovered the top layer of her plumage to be white as well.
“I've never seen a pony with coloring like this before,” Candy Pop whispered. The mare had a mane and tail the same color of the beach sand and a cutie mark of a green bow on a clip on her flank. “She's not from here I don't think.”
“What do we do?” Pinwheel asked tremulously.
“We have to get help.” Candy Pop looked at Thunder Clap. “You go and find somepony. We'll stay here.”
Thunder Clap shook her head. “No way. What if she's dangerous? What if she wakes up and tries to attack you gu-” A rush of wind flew past as Pinwheel shot through the air and back toward town. Thunder Clap looked down, ignoring the sour look Candy Pop was giving her. “I wonder who she is.”
“Or where she came from.”
Sitting, Thunder Clap frowned in suspicion. “I guess we'll have to wait and hope she wakes up.”
Candy Pop sat as well, watching the pony on the ground. “I guess so.”