//------------------------------// // Prologue: The Holiday Dream // Story: Vacation for Three Please // by Blues Rider //------------------------------// It was six years after the coronation of Twilight Sparkle, and in the little town of Ponyville, a holiday was brewing. Rarity and Applejack made their way into the Ponyville Cafe. As they took their seats at the table, the waiter came over from inside with menus for them. "Oh No need for a menu this morning please. Just an espresso for me." Rarity chimed in before he could get to the table. The waiter kindly obliged. "Of course Miss Rarity. And for yourself Ma'am?" He turned to Applejack. "Ah just a regular glass of cider for me please Dusting." Applejack replied. Fine Dusting - their waiter - well dressed in his usual shirt and waistcoat, bowed pleasantly to the two ponies, and then proceeded back inside. Applejack turned back to Rarity. "So have you been thinkin about where we might be goin this time?" She asked, knowing full well that Rarity would have been on planning mode for the past two weeks. "Well quite frankly Applejack, darling, I'm a little stumped. All the holidays we've taken since Twilight's coronation have ended up rather.., well rather tiring if I'm quite honest. I haven't had a peaceful getaway in years, and with managing the opening of my latest boutique in Las Pegasus, I need a break now more than ever." Rarity disclaimed. She was exhausted. Applejack took in the sight of her friend, her mane seemed slightly askew and she spoke with a lot of weight to her words. Rarity pulled a map from out of her purple satchel and unfurled it onto the table in front of her. Just a regular map of Equestria and its allies, nothing magical about it. The brown paper seemed a little worn at the edges. 'vintage' Applejack thought, chuckling internally. "You see," Rarity said, flattening the map with her hooves, pointing to the locations as she ruled them off. "When we took our first friends holiday after Twilight's coronation, remember we visited the outskirts of Jamereca?" She pointed to a smallish town the size of Ponyville. "Ah I remember." Applejack reminisced un-delighted. "We were recognised so, that us seven didn't get a chance to relax." "Exactly, everypony there wanted to learn about friendship from the group. As much as I appreciate that we were like celebrities there, I don't really wish to spend my time teaching friendship magic again." At that moment Fine Dusting arrived at the table with Rarity's espresso and a glass of cider for Applejack. He carefully placed them around the map. Rarity and Applejack politely waited for him to finish his round of the table before they continued talking. "Thanks yall." Applejack spoke up. "Yes thank you." Rarity chimed in. Fine Dusting bowed his head with gratitude. "You are most welcome. If you need anything else, I'm just inside." Then he turned his attention back to the customers inside the restaurant and left the two planning ponies alone. "From what I could tell, your holiday with Rainbow and Spike in Mt Aris didn't go so peacefully either." Applejack reminded. "Indeed no. We thought going out of Equestria might take some of the heat off our visit, but it felt like an ambassadorial mission. The hippogriffs were so pleased to see us that I had barely settled into the blissful peace of sunbathing under the tuneful winds of the Harmonising Heights when we were whisked off to see all the other wonderful parts of Mt Aris. "From boating and bricklaying, even to an official tour of Seaquestria. It was a lovely visit but it wasn't exactly a 'relaxing" getaway'." Rarity sank her head into her hooves as she floated the small cup of espresso over to her. She took a small sip of the hot, rich liquid before putting it down again. "Last year I even tried taking a vacation to Manehatten. An UN OFF-I-CI-AL vacation. And what happened?" "Well judging by what Rainbow told me, you were either busy havin your photo taken by press or taking a bath in the hotel room." Applejack was joking, but Rarity looked up scowling at the comment. "If I am on official boutique business to Manehatten, then I am OH-KAY with my picture being taken. But on a vacation? We couldn't leave without being tormented by onlookers. Starlight threatened to teleport the press to Ghastly Gorge. Luckily we dragged her inside before the press heard that. But keeping Pinkie entertained inside a hotel with only spa facilities for release was a challenge to say the least." This bought a natural stopping point to the conversation. Both ponies stared at the map trying to figure out a possible and viable destination. Without being able to visit cities, villages, or other lands it seemed like they were at a bit of a loss. "We could go camping?" Applejack suggested. "Darling, it'll be winter. As much as I enjoy camping with our sisters, I'm not camping in the cold." She sighed. "I would just like to go away somewhere where I could be treated like a normal pony again, instead of royalty." She couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. Being a royal associate was very different to the dream she had always sought after. At that point, Fluttershy approached the table with angel bounding alongside her. "Oh Rarity you're back from Las Pegasus!" Rarity turned to face her and gave her a sad welcoming hug. "Oh no, did it not go well?" Fluttershy asked confused. "No darling, no it went great." Rarity said, picking herself up from her headachy slump. "It took a few months to find the right staff. Finding a generous manager in Las Pegasus was a challenge, and the staff have to be more efficient than Manehatten. It was a big contrast in philosophy let me tell you!" She laughed a covering smile with Fluttershy. "Oh but you did find somepony in the end? I haven't seen you since our last friendship council." "Well, one day I found a pony who was looking for a job. She didn't have much and she had just moved from Cloudsdale. At first she didn't understand why I had given her the job, or how to sell clothes. The other employees didn't get why I had hired her. But I just saw something in her, and slowly she learned the Rules of Rarity and started paying close attention to her job, giving the boutique her time and love. "The trick in Las Pegasus is understanding when to be generous, and when to refuse help. It's a tricky line to learn, especially with so many fraudster ponies living there. I will take Sassy Saddles back there next week to introduce her to Blossom White. Sassy will run my business while I'm on holiday so she's acquainted with the shops she hasn't helped manage. Just in case." Rarity explained. "Oh wow, well congratulations Rarity." Fluttershy replied. "She also spent the last two weeks of her time tryin' to figure out where we're gunna go holiday. Everywhere we've been in the past has been a disaster." Applejack chimed in. "Oh I know," Fluttershy replied. "Me and spike and Twilight last month tried to take a sightseeing holiday to the Crystal Empire. I was so looking forward to seeing all the little yews bouncing around the fields. But they were all scared away by the crowds of ponies asking for Spike's autograph and taking our photos." "Oh Fluttershy how awful for you. How did you cope?" "It was horrible. Shining escorted us to the castle and then Discord showed up with a surprise gift for me." She pointed to the silver and pink necklace she had been given by the draconequus Discord that day. "He heard us struggling from his void, and he went on a quest to find this crystal, which didn't take him very long because he's the lord of chaos and all. Then he infused this with some of his magic. So whenever I think about the most random thing in the universe, this happens." Fluttershy let her imagination take her away to the most random thought in the universe. The image Discord had shown her. Her crystal disappeared and a flash of a second later, Fluttershy did too. Rarity was shocked, "Fluttershy!" She called, scanning the environment around her frantically. "Where is she!" Relaxed, Applejack cooly quelled her worry. "Nowhere, she's still there, just invisible." A giggle came out of thin air. "Oh good," Rarity sighed. "Wow, what a gift." She exclaimed. "Yeah," Fluttershy blushed. "But I'm only to use it when I'm in serious danger, or on holiday. He asked me out on a date too." She giggled. Rarity could not believe it. She gasped a small squeal. Applejack sat back and watched it all unfold before her. Rarity congratulating Fluttershy, then telling her to 're-visable' herself so that she could hug her. And of course; she 'must know everything.' "I just knew you too would get together at some point. Well I know you were always like together, but not, officially together together you know." Fluttershy reappeared behind Rarity, who hadn't expected her to move. Rarity gasped and then jumped round to hug her. Angel sat on the wall unimpressed. "Hang on," Applejack interrupted, "but it wasn't just like that now was it Fluttershy." "Oh no, well, see, because we were having such a crowded time in The Empire, he did the sweetest thing. He made us a sandy beach in his realm. Spike went gem diving, Twilight slept on pillow coated books on the beach, and I got to spend time playing with a flock of crystal yews. It was perfect. That's when he asked me." "Fluttershy, that's so wonderful. I just wish we could plan a trip to a far away void." Rarity hinted. In fairness, Fluttershy gave her the idea, and if Discord would let them, it would be an ideal getaway from other ponies. "He was just the sweetest. But he's accompanying Big Mac and Spike to the Dragon Lands for five weeks on a diplomatic errand for Twilight. He keeps threatening that he's going to spread the love of Ogre's and Oubliettes, but I think he's actually going for a deeper reason. "See, he never says it, but he does have a big part to play is Equestria's history besides chaosing Celestia and Luna. There used to be other mythical creatures just like him, like Tirek, Scorpan and Grogar. I think he's going to see if he can learn about any of them. There's a lot of ancient history we've never had the chance to learn about before in the Dragon Lands." Fluttershy explained. "While that's great for him, it's a shame for us and our getaway though. If Rainbow comes back and we haven't found a location, I guarantee she will drag us to the theme parks in Las Pegasus again, like she tries to every year." Applejack retorted joking. She took a sip from her cider as Rarity stared at the map of Equestria deep in thought. "An' ah bet Rarity wants a break from Las Pegasus more than ever this year!" She said. Fluttershy giggled at the comment. "What if we do have a far away void where we aren't too known AND we can act like normal females." Rarity perked up. It was a light bulb moment. A Eureka moment. She felt so excited and energised, more than any holiday idea she had before. "Why do you say females, like it's something specific...?" Applejack replied cautiously. "Right, come with me, there's no time to lose." She beaconed suddenly. "Fluttershy thank you so much for the idea darling but I MUST see Twilight, and if we don't get that next train we'll miss her lunch break." She got up, and left a small pile of bits on the table. She took an estimate as to how much their drinks cost and added extra for security. Applejack realised what she was doing and attempted to down her cider as quickly as possible. "Oh okay. well I hope I can see you soon and have a proper catch up with you Rarity." Fluttershy called softly and sadly. "Darling, YES, yes of course. Wait just a second." She pulled a calendar out from her satchel."Oh my, I'm so sorry, I'm in Canterlot next week, then Las Pegasus, then holiday, then Las Pegasus and then Manehatten. I'm not going to be around Ponyville at all! I'm so sorry Fluttershy. I'll still see you at the friendship council." She tried to console her friend. "That's okay, I can come for dinner with you in Canterlot. I will get Dr fauna or Zecora to look after my sanctuary for one evening, and we can have dinner and a catch up." She said offering an alternative. "That's so generous of you, yes of course! I'll make sure I get at least one evening free." Rarity promised. "That's okay Rarity, I know you'd do the same for me if you could." Fluttershy replied, giving Rarity a big goodbye hug. She waved to Applejack who was concurrently dragged by Rarity to the train.