A bright swirl of green fire burst out of Spike's mouth, the flames rippled and twirled in the air before shrinking to virtually nothing, with a flash and in it's place was a scroll. The scroll glowed with a purple aura as Twilight brought it over to herself.
"I wonder what this is...I'm not expecting a letter from the Princess...at least, I hope I'm not"
She unraveled the scroll with curiosity. Tucked safely away inside it was 6 shimmering silver tickets.
"What? What are these?" Twilight pondered taking the tickets aside to read the note.
My faithful student Twilight,
As I'm sure you are very aware, Hearts and Hooves Day will be upon us tomorrow. I was informed by your friend spike that you had not planned anything for this occasion. So, taking this into consideration I decided to give you and your six friends tickets to an overnight cruise. You'll spend the night out at sea, I can assure you the moonlight on the ocean is something to behold. The boat is will be yours for the night, it'll be for you and your friends only so please enjoy your time out there.
Yours truly
Princess Celestia
Twilight read the letter twice over to make sure she didn't miss anything. Her cheeks filled with a bright pink.
"A trip...with just the six of us?" Twilight questioned herself "Why would the Princess give this to us?"
She lowered the scroll down to her bench.
"I dunno" Spike grumbled as he slumped back down in his basket.
"Well...I guess it does sound like fun, and I'm sure the sunset over the ocean would be a nice sight to see as well"
Twilight's horn glowed yet again as she brought the six glimmering tickets to her face. Each ticket had their names printed on them, which meant they were the only ones who were able to use them. Even if Twilight had decided not to go, she couldn't give the tickets to someone else.
"Well, I guess I better get everyone to meet me here so we can talk about this" Twilight talked to herself.
"Yeah, yeah, just try not to make too much noise" Spike muttered from under his blanket.
Twilight gave him a stern frown, which was disregarded by Spike, being buried in his 'cove' the way he was.
---Later That Day---
"A trip? Sounds like fun. I'm in, I'm sure everyone else is too!" The blue pegasus gestured from her position in mid flight.
Twilight's library was occupied by 5 familiar ponies, ones she knew well. They all stood around each other discussing their plans for the vacation trip that the Princess herself had given to them.
Each of them nodded, some with a smile, some with nothing more than a blank face. The 6 friends exchanged glances with each other, looking forward to the vacation that awaited them.
"It's gonna be so much fun!" Pinkie squealed giving a leap into the air.
"It should be quite interesting, if I do say so myself" Rarity brought a hoof to her cheek.
"Perfect! So we'll all meet at the docks tomorrow then? I know it's very short notice but the tickets only arrived not long ago" Twilight explained slightly distressed.
The lavender pony was one for organisation, having to plot out a vacation for the 6 of them on such short notice was a nightmare. However she'd managed to gather all 5 of her friends in time to sort out the details of the trip.
"Aw, it's no problem Twi, just be thankful none of us had anything planned already" Applejack took a few steps forward in an attempt to comfort Twilight. She'd obviously been stressing out a little too much over the whole thing.
"Um, excuse me, Twilight, where exactly are the docks? I don't think I've ever been there before"
Fluttershy had been quiet almost the whole discussion, no surprise really, though Twilight had wondered if she really did want to go. Something like this felt like it'd be pushing her out of her comfort zone. She had asked several times, to which Fluttershy responded positively every time. She'd have to take her friend word for it.
"It's just outside Ponyville, south side"Twilight wavered her hoof in it's general direction.
Fluttershy gave a silent nod affirming that she understood where Twilight was talking about. There was a brief moments silence as the 6 ponies did nothing but look at each other with awkward glances.
"So...everything's set then I suppose" Twilight's voice shattered the silence before it carried on too long. "So I'll meet you all at the docks tomorrow afternoon?"
"Mhmm" all 5 ponies simultaneously nodded their heads in agreement.
They each gave one another friendly smiles and before long, each of Twilights friends had left her, heading to rest up before the big night they had tomorrow.
--------
The day was long and arduous. Each of the 6 ponies went about they day thinking about nothing more than the night that lay ahead of them. Both excited and nervous, they had no idea what to expect. Being together as a group was not something new, however, the way things had been set and on Hearts and Hooves Day no less, got them on edge to say the least. As the sun crept slowly across the sky, ponies pairing off enjoying their day together with the special somepony they had chosen. Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack went on with their days as normal, trying not to get hooked up in all the commotion outside.
The sky slowly began to shift to shades of orange, one star finally managing to show itself in the darkest ends of the empty space above. That star was the first of many the 6 friends would be seeing.
Twilight approached the docks with a frown, her mind full of worry. She'd felt nervous almost all day and she couldn't quite put a hoof on why. Sure enough all five of her friend were already there and waiting at the gates, they didn't seem to be saying anything to each other. As she got closer, she noticed that both Rarity and Fluttershy had decided to wear scarves, she figured they must have thought it'd be cold out there. A fair assumption to make for ponies who have never really been out to sea.
"Hey guys!" Twilight attempted to greet them without awkwardness.
Each of them turned their heads to give her a warm smile.
"Hi Twilight!" Pinkie jumped in her place waving one of her hooves around frantically.
"You all ready?" Rainbow flew over the top of them as though she were talking about a race.
Twilight approached the fencing, looking out at the boat. It looked magnificent. The outside was painted a light shade of purple and was decorated with fine white patterns all over. Almost as if it were the Princess's private boat. It was a small cruise ship, but definitely big enough for 6 ponies. It seemed to be decorated with food and drink all set and served even decked with some comfortable looking chairs. The Princess had really gone all out on this.
"Yeah, what about all of you?" Twilight said
The other five ponies gave a modest grunt of approval.
"Well then, shall we?" Rarity took a few steps toward the gate that lead to the docking platform.
One by one they each followed her though, showing their tickets to the white unicorn the stood behind the gate. As the last of the six ponies stepped onto the boat, the docking board was pulled away as the cruise ship slowly began to set sail off into the distant empty space that was the ocean.The six of them fumbled at the sudden movement of the boat.
Twilight leaned on back railing of the boat. The sun was setting just behind Ponyville. The town glowed with a mysterious aura, the sun aiding the brilliant lighting perfectly.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Twilight whispered to the pony sharing the view behind her.
"You know Twilight...yeah, it kinda is" Rainbow Dash replied
The rest of the ponies joined in the sight seeing as they crawled further and further away from land, until the town was no more than a smudge of black and orange in the distance. The sunlight reflecting off the waters surface quickly faded as the sun slipped out of view.
"Not something you see everyday I assure you" Rarity murmured in admiration
"So have any y'all every been out in the ocean?"
"Nope!" Pinkie answered abruptly
Despite it being there all this time, not many ponies visited the shoreline too often.
"I've been here a few times but I've never gone out this far" Fluttershy's voice was easy to hear against the humming of the boats engine and the gentle laps of the water below them.
Pinkie spun herself around and headed for the snacks table before anyone else could take anything. The other five simply sat by the back end of the boat, looking out at the water.
"So...does anyone actually have any plans on what to do on this here boat?" Applejack questioned
"I think, we should all just sit back, relax, and simply, enjoy each others company. It's peaceful enough out here to do so, is it not?" Rarity explained as she trotted over to one of the chairs.
Rarity kicked back and laid herself out on the chair, letting out a sigh.
"Sounds like a fine plan to me" AJ responded.