The six ponies gathered up inside of a wagon. Two Pegasus stallions had straps around their bodies that were attached to the wagon. Within a few moments, the ponies were airborne.
Fluttershy peeked over the wagon and then let out an "Eeep!" She grabbed a hold of Rainbow Dash and burrowed her head into her.
"Uh, what are you doing, Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm just afraid of heights remember? I don't like to fly too high and if I fall, my wings could lock up and I might not be able to fly."
Rainbow Dash sighed and slid her sunglasses that were sitting on top of her head, down onto her nose. "It's ironic that a Pegasus is afraid of heights, but don't worry. I'll save you if you fall."
Fluttershy let go of Rainbow Dash and smiled at her promise.
Rainbow Dash looked over at Rarity and rolled her eyes. "You got enough stuff packed there, Rarity? It almost looks like you're starting to hoard things like Fluttershy."
Rarity frowned and replied, "A true lady must prepare herself for such an occasion." Rarity took out one of her most favorite hats and placed it gracefully on her head.
"I reckon fussin' with her ain't gonna make our day any brighter. Ya know she's gotta make a fashion statement every where she goes, R.D." Applejack said.
Rainbow Dash shrugged and said, "Whatever."
The girls continued to converse with each other until they felt the wagon land on the ground.
Rainbow Dash stood on her back legs and peeked over the wagon. "Looks like we're here everypony!"
The two Pegasus stallions unstrapped themselves from the wagon and opened up the gate for them.
All of the girls hopped out.
"That will be one hundred bits please," one of the Pegasus stallions said.
Twilight Sparkle began to sort through her saddle bag for the money, until Rarity stepped in front of her and said, "No, no, my dear. I will pay. This was my idea and I am the element of generosity here." Rarity pulled out a bag of one hundred bits and gave it to one of the Pegasus stallions.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you all. Enjoy your day at the beach," the other stallion said.
Rarity and her friends walked onto the boardwalk and began to look around at the sights, listened to the sounds of the ocean, and smelled the many scents from this place. It was a beautiful day and there couldn't be a more perfect day to go to the beach.
All four hooves from Pinkie Pie left the ground and she shouted out, "I see a candy shop!" She zipped away from them in an instant.
Twilight giggled and said, "Well, I guess we'll know where to find Pinkie Pie when we're ready to go home. I think I'm going to check out some of the novelty stores. Maybe they have a good book I can buy and read it on the beach." Twilight Sparkle also walked away from their group of friends.
Applejack looked around a few times and said, "I hear they got fun games and good food 'round here. I wanna test my luck with some of the games. I'll catch ya'll later." Applejack turned her back and headed on over to a game where you bucked the target and a weight would shoot up and hit the bell at the top. Applejack grinned an evil grin because she knew she was one of the strongest buckers out there and she would easily abuse this game and win all of the prizes.
Rainbow Dash sighed as she looked around for something to do. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she said, "Oh my gosh! There's an arcade! You'll know where to find me. See ya!" Rainbow Dash sped off and that left Fluttershy and Rarity together.
"Come on dear. Let's just go relax on the beach," Rarity said.
Fluttershy sunk low to the ground and said, I think I'd rather just spend some time walking alone on the boardwalk for now."
Rarity smiled and said, "You'll know where I'll be then! Toot-a-loo!" Rarity put on her sunglasses and said, "It's stallion gazing time!"
Fluttershy watched her friend walk off onto the beach and then turned around. She began to head all the way down to the very end of the boardwalk. She didn't find anything very entertaining, but she kept walking until she saw the very last shop. They happened to sell different kinds of novelty items like so many other ones, except there was something different about this place. There was a cage and there was something inside of it. Fluttershy quickly walked in to discover more information about what was inside this cage.
A few moments later, she walked back out of the shop carrying a small cage. Fluttershy walked over to a bench and sat down on it. Whatever was inside that cage had her captivated and she couldn't take her eyes off of it. Fluttershy's stomach began to rumble and she felt it would probably be a good time to find her friends. She unzipped her saddle bag and carefully placed the small cage inside of it. She made sure not to zip her bag up all the way.
Fluttershy was able to gather up all of her friends and they went back to the spot where they had originally left each other. They were only missing one pony. Rarity. It didn't take long to find her. She wasn't too far away and was flirting with a stallion on the beach.
Twilight Sparkle and her friends walked up to Rarity. Twilight tapped Rarity on the shoulder with her hoof and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt you, Rarity, but it's getting late and we all need to eat before we have to go home."
Rarity quickly turned her head to Twilight and whispered through her teeth, "Not now, Twilight! I have serious potential here with this stallion. Can't this wait until later?"
Twilight Sparkle shook her head no and said, "We don't really have time to wait. Why don't you just tell him you'll come back after we eat?"
Rarity shut her eyes tightly and said, "Ok, fine. I'll meet with him again later. I just hope some other mare doesn't catch his attention. Rarity turned her back on her friends and looked at the stallion. She had a warm smile on her face and she closed her eyes affectionately at the stallion as if she were drunk with pleasure. "Oh, how I hate to leave you right now, but I have to grab something to eat, and I'll be back for you later, handsome. Don't forget about me!" Rarity put her hoof to her head in a rather dramatic manner.
Rainbow Dash's eyes widened and she turned her head away. She put her hoof to her mouth and puffed her cheeks out. She was trying not to vomit at the sight of Rarity swooning over this stallion.
The stallion said goodbye and walked away from Rarity. Rarity kept her eyes glued to his body as he walked away.
"I ain't got no stop watch on me, but I think ya were just a wee bit over the line over the so called lady-like glance of three point forty two seconds," Applejack said.
Rarity shook her head quickly several times and turned back to her friends. "I-I-It's just that there can be exceptions to the glancing rules and they are a bit more complex for all of you to understand. There are some minor strings attached."
Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes and blew upwards at her mane to get it out of her eyes. "Rarity, I think you need to be reminded that for everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not from the Father but from the world. You seem to forget about that one a lot don't you?"
Rarity closed her eyes shut tightly and said, "Ok, I know it's wrong of me, but that's what I have you girls here for. We keep each other in check. Thank you for reminding me. I don't know what came over me. I just have a weakness for stallions sometimes. I think I should take a break from borrowing all of your romance books from your library, Twilight. They might be getting to my head." Rarity extended her front hoof out and asked, "Sisters in Christ?"
All the other girls piled their front hooves on top of hers and said, "Sisters in Christ!"
Twilight smiled and said, "Come on, let's get some food!"
The girls went to the nearest place to eat on the boardwalk and picked out a table to eat at.
Applejack had to put all of her prizes onto another table because she just kept beating the target bucking game, until she cleaned out all of the prizes and had to force the game to be shut down because they had to go out and buy more prizes.
Fluttershy took off her saddle bag and hid it under the table hoping that none of her friends would notice her newest fascination.
There really wasn't much conversation, most of the ponies were starving and focused more on eating their food than conversing. They wanted to get back to what they were doing before it got too late and had to go back home. After they paid the bill, they were off again doing what they loved to do.
Fluttershy hit the beach and began collecting the prettiest sea shells that she could find.
The other ponies did their favorite things for a few more hours until the sun began to set.
Twilight Sparkle was able to gather her friends up when it was time to go. The only other pony that was missing was Rainbow Dash. They checked every arcade, but she was gone. The ponies made it to the far end of the boardwalk and saw two ponies sitting on some rocks watching the sunset together. Upon closer inspection they realized it was Rainbow Dash and some stallion.
Rarity's jaw hit the boardwalk. "Why that no good lying pony. She said that she would never care to find herself a somepony special. She's now sitting with some stallion and it looks like they already look really close to each other. Why, I'll go over there and show her a thing or two." Rarity began to walk over to the couple, but Twilight put her hoof to Rarity's chest and blocked her.
"Just let it go, Rarity. It's not a terribly big deal," Twilight said.
Rarity put her front hoof to her head in an overly dramatic manner. "But of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE.....WORST....POSSIBLE.....THING! It's not fair that Rainbow Dash finds a date when she doesn't even try to look for stallions, or doesn't wear any make up, or even comb her mane. Ugh! I deserve to get the stallion, not somepony like her! That stallion who I was talking with earlier ditched me for another mare too! Can this day get any worse!?" Rarity whined.
"Rarity, remember what you learned a few hours ago? Jealousy will also get you no where and is dangerous. A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot," Twilight said.
Rarity calmed down and sighed at the reminder. "I guess you're right. It just doesn't make sense in my mind and I should be happy for her."
The girls got a little bit closer to Rainbow Dash, but stopped when the stallion got up. He gave her a ticket and a hug before he left.
Rainbow Dash shoved the ticket into her saddle bag and turned around. She was horrified that all five of her best friends were standing behind her. She was so startled that she dropped her ice cream cone on the boardwalk and let out a high pitched squeal. She stood there in shock and began to stutter. "I-I-I It's not what it looks like. I was just..." Rainbow's words trailed off and she stood there with red cheeks that spoke of embarrassment for her.
Twilight smiled and said, "It's ok, Rainbow Dash. None of us are going to judge you. We figured that there would be at least one stallion out there in the world that would be able to reach into your heart. He looked really familiar. Was that somepony we have seen before?"
Rainbow Dash nervously dragged her hoof across the wooden boardwalk. "Yeah, that was Soarin' from the Wonderbolts. I couldn't believe that I saw him here. I saw him at the arcade playing games. He recognized me and asked if I wanted to play his two favorite dance games with him, In The Hooves two, and Pony It Up. He also bought me an ice cream cone and gave me a backstage pass to the next Wonderbolts show. I-I-I hope you all think I'm still tough and not a softy. Do you all still think I'm cool?"
"Being a bit on the romantic side doesn't make us think any differently of you Rainbow. You might not be as tough and as strong as Applejack, but you'll always be the coolest pony out of our group," Twilight said.
"And, you'll always be the fastest out of our group," Fluttershy added.
The lavender mare paused for a moment and then giggled. "Just don't be so speedy with him and remember to take things slow, Rainbow. I get the intuition that Soarin' really is a good guy though. We just don't want you to marry him overnight. Dating is one of the few things that shouldn't be like a race."
"Gee, thanks for not thinking any differently of me, girls. I never realized how much I like him until I had some fun with him today. I'll take thing slow with him. Don't worry," Rainbow said. "I was just worried that this might ruin my reputation somehow."
"Not a chance, Rainbow Dash. Come on. We have to catch a taxi and get home before it gets too late," Twilight said.
The ponies made their way back and found another taxi to hitch a ride in.
Applejack was barely able to fit in the entire bag of prizes that she won. She planned to give them to her little sister, Apple Bloom and to have her share some of the prizes with her friends.
On the ride home, Applejack became curious about the bulge that was inside Fluttershy's saddle bag. "Whatcha got there, Fluttershy? It looks as if you got some small crate or cage inside yer saddle bag."
Fluttershy straightened up and said, "Oh, it's nothing important. It's just a little treat I found for myself."
Applejack watched as she pushed her bag out of view from and some sea shells fell from the bag. She watched Fluttershy quickly pick up the sea shells and shove them back inside. "Say partner, ya ain't hoardin' anythin' new now are ya?"
Fluttershy shook her head no and said, "Of course not, Applejack. I'm pretty sure that I learned my lesson and I will never do anything like that again."
Applejack nodded her head ok and then leaned back against her giant bag of prizes. She tipped her hat and covered her face with it. She began to fall asleep.
Neither pony really said much. They were all exhausted and couldn't wait to get home and into bed.
When the wagon landed, the Pegasus stallions who were pulling the wagon, unstrapped themselves. They came over and opened the gate. Out stepped the six ponies.
"That will be one hundred bits please," one of the Pegasus stallions said.
Rarity began to dig into her saddle bag for her bag of bits, but Twilight Sparkle stepped forward and said, "Rarity, we know you're a very generous pony, but please, I've got it this time." Twilight Sparkle used her magic to levitate a bag of bits out from her saddle bag and gave it to one of the Pegasus stallions.
The two Pegasus stallions thanked her and headed back to the wagon.
"Well, I think it's safe to say that I think we all had a good time, right girls?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie Pie giggled with a mouthful of candy that she bought from one of the candy shops at the beach. She swallowed it whole and said, "That was the best candy shop I've ever been too. We need to take another trip back sometime soon."
All of the girls agreed and headed back home.