~ II ~
Gold on the Shore
Mornings on the resort had been peaceful, not needing an alarm as the blanket of sunlight, washing over the bed, was cause to wake the mare. Shifting beneath covers as limbs bulged in different directions beneath the density of the blanket. The mare groaned, rolling to the arching of her spine, legs kicking, her system coming alive.
It didn't take long for her eyes to open to the scene. The small though open room, with a bed tucked in a corner, a desk against the wall, two cabinets on either side of the door, the planked ceiling above, slanted in design, with a fan, turning slowly, hung from it.
The mother waved her forelegs underneath the sheets, looking for her son, only to discover an empty bed. With a groan she rolled over, legs falling over its edge, a light creaking to the wood as she stepped down onto all fours upon it.
First instinct was to deal with the blinding at the side of her face. Walking to the window consuming most of the back wall, she rose on it, pushing out the doors, inviting in the sweeping breeze of the sea. Fresh and calming and cause for a deep inhale.
Then another at truly seeing the sight.
The resort opened to a near hedge maze below, a cobbled path down the middle, leading to an active water fountain in the middle, which it curved around, rolling out further, dipping steps in its trek, to the opening width of the beach situated a few feet beyond the place.
It was a breathtaking sight, sure, but that hadn't been the thing to steal the mare's breath.
Rather it was things.
Out on the water loomed the floating objects of gold. Glinting brightly with the glare of the morning sun. Dots of ponies swam around the monolithic objects. Those pieces swirled, rocked by waves, but always keeping afloat.
And it didn't take her long to rush to the beach, assuming the worst on several things, about something not listed in the resort's package. Her hooves sunk into the warmed sand of the beach as she could better look out to the items.
Waves lazily lapped at the bottom of the polished objects. Four of them floated out into the waters. Tall with a sloped wall shooting high. Slowly it turned on the water, showing a cavity at its middle, a dome within, a round ground, revealing the shopping center where countless ponies gathered.
The mare blinked in stepping onto the shore, feeling the water rush over the edge of her hoof, comforting her on the strange change from the night. Booths and stands had been set up and scattered throughout the thing, drinks and meals, served and cooked, across the platform. Controlled swarms of ponies strolled through the aisles, heads looking to the different attractions, deciding on what they wanted to settle on.
Is that... a giant... horseshoe?
Another floated next to it. Tall enough as to block out the sun, but carried its glow, on its side, across its curve. It turned on the water to show a different sport. Pegasi flew up and down its inner-wall, etching and painting into the gold, personalizing the thing. Earth ponies played on the platform below. Tossing water balloons and running like fools.
What is... going on here?
There'd been four in total, each, beneath the water, strapped with weight around its circumference, to keep them afloat. Except for the forth. It was like a blond pad in the distance, only its rim above the water, countless waves on it, pushing and rocking on it, everything fighting, stumbling, to ride the tides and not get knocked from it.
Many were. Pushed or thrown off. Splashing into the water with laughter. Swimming to it to be helped back on to enjoy the ride once more. Despite the strangeness, ponies were having fun, not intent on asking too many questions.
“Mom mom! You're awake!” The mare turned to her right for a bolt to slam into her chest. Her foreleg wrapped around the colt's neck and pulled him close at once. “You missed it you missed it! The princess left her things for us to play with.”
So many questions flared in her head, and for the stunned mother, she focused on the present subject first. “C-Come again sweetie?”
“Look! Don't you see!? That's always the stuff she's wearing on her forelegs—except really big now!” The mother looked back to see the items floating and twirling on the water, reminded of the princess, but that answer flushing even more confusion. “And there! That's the thing she's always wearing on her chest—right?”
His tugged forced her to turn right. Seeing afar the chest-piece of the princess. It drifted across the waters like a ship, keeping full course to the leg, bobbing and rising to the waves beneath it—never losing its calm speed.
Mouth openings and jaw droppings were to be expected at this point. Squinting revealed the chasm of the piece composed of rows of ponies, on towels, lying on their fronts and backs, suntanning as they were caught adrift. On its far corners loomed lifeguard towers and benches from which ponies watched from.
“And there! Look over there! Left, mom, left!”
She didn't need to be pushed to see it either. Eye sockets stretched to the extreme as the shadow of the thing passed onto the beach. In the distance was a tiara. Its beams shooting higher than could be seen. Most of the crown fit in her view. But seeing that which belonged on a princess's head, now crowning the water, was a whirl for something more.
Much so on the ponies climbing it.
Some lounged on the rim of the crown. Most, though, hugged the base of the beam, going up and across it, reaching the round perch at the top. Pegasi looked over the edge to the water far below. Step back and jump forward, wings flapping slightly, slowing their fall before the numerous and joined crashings into the water below.
“Sweetie? D-Darling dear?” The mother turned away from the outfit of a princess floating on the waters of the beach. She looked down at her son and held him an inch out. “Just how long have you been out here?”
“Just a little bit before morning!”
“Deary!”
“Mom! I tried waking you up! Me and the other colts saw something on the water but none of you would wake up!” The colt broke out from the grip as he backed on the stand, trotting in place, jumping high on every step. “When we got out here the princess was here! And she was huge! Like, really big!”
“Really big huh?”
“Yeah! Bigger than the ocean and all that!” The colt stopped running in place, and instead, swiped a clump of sand. “Though she started getting smaller when we came out here! Left all of her stuff for us to play with. We wanted to check it out so we swam and—“
“You swam without someone watching?!”
“The princess was watching! You should have seen her mom! Most of us made it to that golden floating thingy, and the whole time, she was underneath us. She took up most of the water! Watching her swim under—it was crazy!”
“You are so in trouble.”
“None of us got hurt! Well, one of the other colts didn't make it right away—but I was going to jump back in under him! All of us were on the floating things and coming to its edge when we saw her in the water.”
“And this is?”
“Princess Celestia! She was really big mom! Like her whole face was under the water and you couldn't see anything around or past it—besides her mane. It was also huge! It looked really cool floating underwater like that.”
“Sweetie... are you... are you sure this really happened!”
“You can ask the other colts! When she came to the surface, she had that colt on her muzzle—it was like he was in a bubble or something. The princess nudged him with the rest of us. You should have seen her swim! We had a lot of fun!”
“What... what did you and the princess do?”
“Everything! Sometimes she'd swim underneath and around that thing we were on to make it turn around and around! Then we got to ride her back to that chest piece thingy! She would bob up and down in the water so we got to ride some waves.”
“She was watching over you?”
“She only left once the other adults started showing up.” The colt pouted and looked to all the other ponies out on the water. “But we still had a bit more fun before that. Sometimes she'd dip her muzzle below the water and we'd climb onto it, then she could lift it, then we would run and jump from it like a diving board.”
“...anything else?”
“The princess laid on her back on one point! We ran across her tummy and fought through great white bushes! She's really fluffy on her chest. Sometimes she dipped below the water and would come up to make things fun! She always watched from above though. It looked like she was having a lot of fun!”
“I guess... I guess.. I don't know what I guess.”
“We can go get some food from that stall at the back of the shoe? It smelled really good when I was on there with dad earlier.”
“How come he didn't get you some?”
“He said that if I was a good boy, waiting for you to wake up, that you would buy me even more.”
The mother grinned. “Is that so?”
“Yes!”
“Very well then... only this time, you'll be riding my back there.”
“Can I get a milkshake as well?”
“Now you're pushing it mister.”