Summertime was here again, thank Celestia’s mane. After a tough year like this, there was nothing that could delight ponies around the world like the hot summer air, wide open beaches, and knowing that there wouldn’t be school for a long while for the colts and fillies alike. It was music to everypony’s ears, but for mares and stallions, it offered them something they needed most of all: A simple break from the chaos and disorder of their adult lives. They needed it bad, maybe even more than any filly or colt.
That was the case in a port just south of Canterlot. Many cruise ships were docked in there for the day, and some of them were loading up with passengers for the voyage later that afternoon. While there would be a few families, the majority of the ponies boarding the Equestrian Breeze were adults, roughly in their twenties and thirties. They were all wound up, and the deck already felt like a party with a lot of festivities and dance music blaring on deckside.
Well, save for one. By the boarding entrance, one member of the crew would be accepting tickets to board, noting that every pony, consisting mostly mostly unicorns, were ready for a party. On the other hoof, a pink mare unicorn came to the boarding checkpoint with a different dune. Her green mane was usually long and straight, but it was frazzled and standing upright in many spots. There were a few bags under her eyes, and she yawned while she waited to be checked in.
With another heavy yawn, she reached into her bag and pulled out her ticket for the staff member to see. He examined it with his magic and chuckled from the sight. “Lucky you, Miss Ember Spark, getting a hoof onto a first class ticket. That’s exactly what I could use right now, a trip full of luxury on the way to Equus Beach. How did you get one, anyway? They’re usually sold out the minute they go on sale.”
“My...my….” Ember had to fight off fatigue just to stay awake. “My cousin owns the ship line. Sapphire Shard, you probably heard of him. And yeah, that’s just what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna crash...and get drinks...and I’m gonna go swimming for days.”
“Well, don’t let me stop you.” He punched out her ticket, gave it back to her, and let her continue. “Lucky mare…”
She was too exhausted to laugh on the outside, but she made up for it by laughing on the inside. Knowing what she was in for gave her the energy to board the ship, and she was right on deckside before she knew it. Oh sure, it was loud and there were excited ponies everywhere she looked, but the feeling of the ocean breeze on her face was like a warm blanket.
Even her bags, both of them, felt light on her back while she got a good look around the deck. Just as she was hoping for, there were long chairs for her to rest her weary head on. She helped herself to one by the deckside pool and pushed in a couple of earplugs in her ears, and she was already relaxing by the time the ship-wide announcement was made.
“Thank you for boarding the Equestrian Breeze with us today. Our final passenger has boarded for the day, so we will be departing for historical Equus Beach in five minutes. One of the earliest towns to be formed in Equestria, Equus Beach retains its popularity by being one of the best rated beach towns in the world…”
She was already tuning it out in her mind. No matter how bright the sun was above her, she stretched out all four hooves and took it easy on herself. The earplugs let her hear the announcement, but she was able to ignore all the rest. The next thing she knew, she could feel the ship depart from the port.
Everypony on board cheered from the departure, and Canterlot would slowly but surely turn into a blot of land at their backs. In due time, the only thing that would surround them would be nothing but sea, and the smell of it all was the perfect change of pace for Ember…
...only thing was, she wasn’t really relaxing like she thought she would. It was the damndest thing, like when she was ready to pass out an hour before bed, but she would be wide awake when she actually tried to sleep. “Ah buck it…”
She pulled out the plugs, and the deck wasn’t as rowdy as she feared. There were a lot of ponies in the pools and the deckside restaurants would be busy, but it was surprisingly quiet for so much activity. Ember would glance around the sea, and there was an unsettled feeling deep into her stomach.
It made her feel like an idiot to feel like that. There would be dolphins floating around the surface and delighting the fellow passengers, and that was the thing. The sight around the ship was the kind that could be put in the dictionary underneath “serene”. “Calm down, Ember,” she told herself. “You’re okay. You can rest all you want. Just...rest, damn it!”
Frustrated at her inability to do so, she went down to one of the restaurants. There would be drinks around the bar for everypony, and given her first class status, she didn’t feel the least bit bad about grabbing a margarita and enjoying a sip. “Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff.” Some of the anxiety left her hooves, and her flank sank deep into the seat. “Just what I needed.”
“We’ll be arriving in Equus Beach shortly after sunset this evening,” the announcer would speak up. “Until then, all services are open until further notice, including the spa, the restaurants, and everything else you can imagine. Thanks again for sailing with us.”
It brought a small smile to Ember’s face, but she swore something wasn’t right. To her left, she could see a school of dolphins fly above the surface of the water. She was seemingly the only one that saw them...along with a dark yellow, humanoid figure, flying in the air with them.
The sight startled her, and she wiped her eyes clean with a napkin. She turned her attention back to the dolphins, and they splashed across the water. The person she thought she saw, there were no signs of them at all. It was just the usual bunch of fish coming up to delight the ponies.
She shook her head and saw all the other passengers enjoy the sight, wondering if they saw what she saw. Nopony else was acting like something was off, and she pondered if she ordered an especially strong drink. “What the hay is in this?”
The only conclusion she could come up with was that it was all in her head. It wouldn’t take long for her to soon forget her worries, though. There was a mountain to their right, and it was swarming with dragons. Given recent breakthroughs between Equestria and a certain Dragon Lord that shared the same first name, there wasn’t a sense of dread over her like there would have been a few months ago.
In fact, a lot of ponies were cheering from the sight of the dragons. “Hey, look over there! Now it’s really a party! Woooohooooo! Fly over here!” In due time, pretty much everyone on board was shouting it at the same time, practically begging the dragons to fly on by.
A lot of the smaller dragons, around teenage sized, heard the siren’s call. They looked at each other and asked themselves if the ponies were actually serious. “DRAGONS! DRAGONS! DRAGONS!” they heard from the ship. That little chant alone sealed the deal for them, and they started to fly over to the ship’s deck, much to the delight of the patrons.
“We at the Equestrian Breeze welcome visitors of any species, as long as they follow the same rules as the guests,” the announcer blared out. That was enough for them, and Ember soon found herself sharing a deck with a handful of dragons.
It was actually quite nice to see this, in her opinion. She had heard that the newest princess of Equestria was practically siblings with a dragon for years, but seeing this in person was something else. One dragon, obviously, had to spew fire into the air to signal that this was a real party. Of course they acted like the frat boys at her college. Practically everyone here was like that.
Still, the margarita wasn’t doing it for her. She nodded to a dragon right before he sat down on the stool next to her, and she carried her drink while she carted off the bags to her room. At the very least, if she couldn’t relax down there, she wouldn’t have to worry about the bags for the next few hours.
“Hey, less dancing and….I dunno...I just gotta get to my room,” she said, finding her eyes twitchy after a dragon and pony blocked the way between her and the way to her room. “You can even have my drink if that gets you out.”
“Your drink? Nah, you can have mine!” The dragon handed her a drink, some kind of lemon shot. She didn’t mind it, but she used her magic to lightly push him aside. “What was that for?”
“All nighter at my job. I need some sleep…” Any other day, she might have been entertained by the dragon’s antics. She needed the sleep more than the companionship, though. At long last, she was off the deck and towards the way to her room.
There were roughly three floors of rooms on the ship, and Ember’s room was on the second floor. She went down the steps along the way, and she got a closer view of the ocean from there. The sea breeze was practically in her face, and it stayed refreshing to her senses. Along the way, she swore she could see dolphins and other fish swimming along with them…
...and she dropped the lemon shot when she swore she saw the orange fish lady again. Okay, that has to be real. I've seen it twice now… She hung her head over the ocean, and it was gone. That was it for her. If she saw anything more concrete, she was going to go down and deal with it herself, or she was going to contact one of the security unicorns that a ship like this usually had, in case of magic emergencies.
Still, she didn’t think about it for a while when she arrived in her room. Ahhhh, the joys of first class. There was a little plate of fresh fruit to eat on the table, the living room was almost as big as hers, and there was a luxurious bed waiting for her to rest on. For one moment, she was going to turn off her brain and let poor old Ember enjoy things.
As anxious as she was, all of it melted away when she pushed her head into the marshmallow pillows she would call her own for all of a few hours. Who cared how short it was? She was feeling something resembling life coming back to all four legs. That was enough.
She tilted her head enough to sip her drink, and she groaned from just how tired she was. “I needed this. This is all for you, Ember Spark. Enjoy it.” A grape levitated with her magic to her lips, and it had been years since she had something that good to eat. And that was just one grape she could have.
With all of that surrounding her, she was prepared to rest, relax, kick back with her hooves and have the time of her life. But it never happened. She was pampered, loving life like it was right then and there, but the fish lady remained in her mind all the time. She couldn’t escape the feeling that something was off about it. It would have been one thing to see something like that one time and pass it off as a mirage. To see it twice, she knew something was up about it.
Just a little more time to rest first…