Vacation is Elation

by Super_Big_Mac


Chapter One: Preparation for Vacation

Chapter One: The preperation for vacation


"C'mon, Twi! Everypony else is going!"

"No, Spike. I already told you. We can't go! I've got too much to do right now to go on a 'vacation' to some island in the middle of the Tropic Ocean." Twilight was currently up to her neck in books on different naturally occurring maladies, remedies, and temporary enhancers.

Spike sighed, scuffing the ground with a small kick. "Fiiine... I guess I'll just get back to cleaning..." He looked up. Twilight wasn't paying any attention to him. Sighing again, he clambered up the stairs to write a letter.

*~*~*

"Well, c'mon now, Applebloom! Ah ain't gonna wait no longer, ya hear? We're leavin' soon!" Applejack sighed, stomping her forehooves in impatience.

She triple-checked her saddlebags and small toting cart. She had apples. A couple hooffulls of bits. A pair of sunglasses Rainbow Dash had let her borrow. Some sunscreen, in case it was a mite too hot. Some towels. An extra pair of horseshoes. A pair of throwin' shoes. A hoofball. A beat-up soccerball. A beachball. And... "Gosh, darn'dit! Big Macintosh, Where'd mah rope go? Ah had it right here!"

Big Mac cantered in, his eyes half lidded as he lazily chewed on a barley stalk. "Ah believe that you used it in the southern field ta tie down that row a saplin's we planted after those brothers pulled up most our stock." He chewed on his stalk for a second. "Didja check there, yet?"

Applejack nickered in contempt. "Ugh, Ah guess I'll use a dif'rent rope, then. Don't got the time ta go git tha' one." She started trotting towards the barn, muttering "Golly, an' if tha' weren' mah fav'rite rope, either..."

*~*~*

"Ohhh, Sweetie Belle, at this rate, 'fashionably' won't be a part of our efforts, we'll just be late!" Rarity galloped around her boutique, preparing it to be ready for her week long vacation.

"Sorry, sis! I- grunt just- ugh wanted- woah!" CRAASH, THUMP, THUD. "... Owww..."

Rarity tsked, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Really, Sweetie, what am I to do with you?" She shook her head sadly as she lifted the various poorly packed suitcases off of her sister and onto the main floor of the shop. "Okay, these go here... This can fit in there, and these will do nicely in here..." Rarity quickly unpacked and repacked all of her younger sister's things into half the number of travel bags, leaving her sister at two bags to her own three.

"Ready to go, Sweetie?" Her sister extricated herself from the bottom step of the stairs, shooting off a small salute.

"Yeah! I can't believe Mom said I could go!" Rarity giggled at her sister's energy as they left the shop.

*~*~*

"Okay, squirt. I still don't understand how you got your parents to let you come with me, but they put me in charge of you, so you'd better be ready to do whatever I tell ya to do!"

The small orange pegasus squealed in excitement. "I'll do whatever you want, Rainbow Dash!"

The cyan mare smiled, closing her eyes as she laid back on the cloud she had brought to ground. "Good. Get me a soda. A cherry one."

Scootaloo zipped off to get the cherry soda as Dash yelled after her, "and make sure it's cold this time!"

"Hi, Dashie!" Rainbow Dash groaned as the most extravagantly hyper party pony to ever curse Equestria hopped up in front of her, blocking the sun.

"Hey, Pinks. What's up?" Dash groaned. She had just invited Pinkie Pie to talk.

"Ohh, is this a trick question? Well, there's the sky, that cloud, Princess Celestia, The sun, ooh, a leaf falling from the one of the Library's higher branches-mmf!"

Dash looked around, scanning the sky as the pink pony continued to babble even with the rainbow maned pegasus' hoof in her mouth. "Pinkie... Did you just say Celestia?"

*~*~*

knock knock knock

"Coming! I'll be there in a second!" A little bipedal form padded up to the door of the Books and Branches Library.

"I'm sorry, but we're clo-oh, Celestia!" Spike jumped back in surprise.

"Please, Spike. I ask you not to say my name in vain when I can hear it?" The Royal Regent of the Sun chuckled at the baby dragon's flabberghasted look.

"Oh! Princess! Excuse me, come in, come in!" The purple dragon ushered the white Alicorn into the library. "... Did you get my letter?"

"Yes, Spike. And that is why I am here. I agree with you, and I believe that Twilight would only take advice like this if it were delivered in person. Where will I find her?"

"She's in the annex, checking the index on insects without a thorax," Spike replied.

The princess blinked, wondering how Spike could say that without at least cracking a smile.

Shaking her head, she went to coax her student into a vacation.

*~*~*

"Where's Twilight?" Rainbow Dash sighed. First, Pinkie. Then Scoots. After that, Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Now, it was Applejack asking, and Dash was sure that any second now, the younger Apple would parrot her older sister.

When it didn't come, she relaxed a little. "I. Don't. Know. Check the Library." And, just like everypony else, AJ just muttered about being late, and sat down to chat with somepony. 'And everypony's always sayin' that I take a long time getting ready! I mean, come on! I was the first one here, and I had to carry Scoots!' Dash grumbled to herself, shifting on her cloud.

Another shadow fell across her, and she waited for the inevitable question. "Oh, um, sorry to bother you, Rainbow, but, um, I was wondering..." Oh, boy. Here it came... "Did... did you make sure to pack wing cream? I know it might sound a little narsacistic, but I don't want my feathers to become bleached from over exposure to the sun, and-" Dash groaned.

"Awww, dammit!" Jumping off her cloud and into the air, she took off for her house to get that one thing she'd forgotten. Sun cream for her wings.

Fluttershy looked around at everypony else, as her body stopped twitching in fright. "... Where's Twilight?"

*~*~*

"But, Princess-"

"Twilight Sparkle. Please. If not for yourself, then the least you could do it for is your friends. They have all expressed interest in this venture, and I do beleive that you had signed up for it as well." Sighing, Celestia draped a wing across her pupil's withers. "Little one, please. A bit of relaxation and recreation can do wonders for anypony. My sister is a prime example of this."

"She is?"

"Yes, my student. During her Hiatus after the Summer Sun Festival when she was freed, she has done her fair share of learning, but she has also gone to great lengths to stay. In. Shape." She punctuated her last three words by poking Twilight's belly which was, admittedly, becoming a little rounder than was entirely pleasant.

Blushing, Twilight looked at her teacher. "But, but Princess-"

"Twilight. If my sister- who had been trapped on the moon for a thousand years- can get my guards- my very well disciplined Royal Guards- to participate in a childish game of snowball fighting, then you should be able to play a game of volleyball, or, at the very least, lay down on the beach and get some sun. You are rather pale."

Twilight's ears folded back, her head dipped down in embarrasment. "Yes, yor Majesty. You're right."

Celestia smiled. "Good. Now, you'd better get going, the train to the coast is leaving soon."

"But I don't-"

"Come on, Twilight! I got our bags packed already! Let's go!" Spike dashed out the front door, a small bag tied across his back.

Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes, sending books flying back to their proper places as she placed the prepared saddlebags on, barely fastening them over her girth.

Blushing slightly at her mentor's chuckling, she mumbled to herself, "a bit of time away from Sugarcube Corner might well be a good idea."