//------------------------------// // Adventure #11: Beach Bummed // Story: Adventures In Babysitting // by TheNewYorkBrony //------------------------------// “You can’t be serious.” Twilight deadpanned, looking back and forth between Cadence and the atrocious swimsuit she had picked out for the younger girl. “You really can’t be serious.” She repeated. They were in the mall looking for bathing suits because later on that day they were going to the beach with Shining. “What?” Cadence asked innocently, almost defensively. “What’s wrong with it?” She twirled it around so that Twilight could see the other side of it. “It looks perfectly fine!” “I am seven years old, about to be eight in less than two weeks, and you expect me to wear a My Pretty Pony bathing suit,” Twilight looked up at her with a bored look. “Have you lost your mind?” Cadence's eyebrows furrowed. “I thought that you liked My Pretty Pony?” She asked, bending down to her level, momentarily forgetting that the child detested when people did that. “Did you suddenly out grow it to appear grown up or something?” Twilight flipped her hair, ignoring Cadence’s insulting mistake. “No. I still like it. It’s just that bathing suit looks like it was made by a three year old for a three year old. Especially since it’s the Rainbow Force one. It looks like a rainbow threw up on it.” The younger girl made a sound of disgust as she put the monstrosity back on the rack. “Why don’t you go look for one for yourself, and I’ll go pick out one?” She offered. “I’m smart enough to do it myself.” Cadence tapped her chin. “Hmm. Alright. Meet me at the register.” Gladly, Twilight skipped away from the older girl and deep into the girls’ section of the children’s department. She flipped through the racks of ridiculously bright bathing suits until she found a purple one with white sparkles. “Perfect.” She mused, reaching for it, failing to see another hand reach for it too. “Oh dear,” The other girl sighed. “It appears we’re both interested in the same outfit.” She said in a faint British accent. She was tall and fair skinned, with wavy dark purple hair that fell down her face in loose ringlets. She had on a white sundress, and ridiculously large sunglasses perched on top of her head. “Yeah.” Twilight nodded in agreement, staring up at her. She had grown a few inches since October. She was now able to reach most things now without her step stool, and it was easier for her to climb the kitchen counter. (Even though she really wasn’t supposed to, but she didn’t care.) But she still had to crane her neck a bit to look at this girl who was clearly older than her. “No matter,” The girl said with a smile. “You can have it. I’ll just go look for something else. After all darling, you did reach for it first.” She squeezed Twilight’s hand in a friendly manner before plucking the swimsuit off the rack and handing it to the younger girl. “It really suits your eyes.” She scuffled Twilight’s hair before walking away. Twilight just stared after her, astounded. Normally, because she was so small, older and taller girls would have easily knocked her down or pushed her out the way. But this girl was kind, and generous to boot. Just exactly who was she? “Ready to go?” Cadence asked, jarring Twilight out of her inner thoughts. “Oh, yeah,” Twilight answered distractedly. She mechanically hefted up the bathing suit to show her. “Good pick, Squirt! It’s actually pretty adorable!” The older girl praised, patting Twilight on the back. She showed what she chose to Twilight. “Cute, huh?” It was a pink and lilac striped string bikini. It was the kind that the person wearing it would have to tie the sides of the bottoms. “That is going to give my poor brother a heart attack.” Twilight deadpanned. “Or is that your plan? Give him an early grave with your some how perfect body?” “Why would you think that I’d want your brother to have a heart attack?” Cadence asked her, genuinely confused. “I mean, I know he really isn't used to seeing a girl’s body up close and personal, but it couldn’t possibly have that much of an effect on him.” “Are you forgetting who the heck Shining Armour is? This is the the same guy who- Ah, ya know what? I don’t think I’m classified to tell you that.” Twilight told her smugly, folding her arms with a smirk. “Tell me what?! What?! Twilight!” Cadence whined, stomping her foot. She rarely ever called Twilight by her name, (only when she was feeling loving or angry with her) So to hear her whine it made Twilight nearly snort. Especially since her childish behaviour was drawing the attention of a few bystanders and parents. “Oh this is too rich.” Twilight mused, her arms still folded. “Though as much as I’m enjoying you making a complete fool of yourself, people are starting to stare, and I’d rather not end up on the Internet as ‘The kid who was being sat by the bigger kid’.” Cadence frowned. “Whatever.” She growled, flipping her blonde hair and stepping up to the register to pay for their things. “Why would you even bring it up if you weren’t going to say anything about it?” “Because I’m a seven year old evil genius. I mean c’mon, you’ve known me for eight months now, this should be nothing new to you.” Twilight responded, dismissing her suddenly sour attitude. She laughed when Cadence purposely hit her with the shopping bag. “I’m hungry...” Twilight groaned, banging her head against the back of the backseat. “Ah’m hot...” Applejack complained, fanning herself and wiping the sweat off her forehead that accumulated under the brow of her Stetson. “I’m a little squished...” Fluttershy squeaked, wiggling around until she was sure she could breathe properly. “I’m so excited!” Pinkie bubbled, bouncing up and down. The other girls stared at her incredulously. “What?!” She asked with a laugh. “Your cousin is very...uh, happy.” Fluttershy said, turning to Applejack, trying to be as polite as possible. They had been in the car riding for almost an hour now with Shining in the front and Cadence driving. They were hot, cranky, and worst of all sweaty. Pinkie’s cheery attitude didn’t help in the slightest. “Calm down you guys, we’re almost there.” Cadence reassured. Twilight wanted nothing more than to walk the rest of the way herself. She couldn’t stand happy children. Especially younger children. They irritated her. She was only quiet because it was too hot to come up with an insult. If they were in colder weather....well, than they would have a crying six year old on their hands. Twilight wouldn’t call herself mean spirited, just easy to aggravate. Applejack was used to it. She’d know the child since she was a tot, and knew how to handle her obnoxious personality. “Pinkie, if ya be quiet for the rest of the ride, Ah’ll bury ya in the sand.” “That’s child abuse. Isn’t that child abuse?!” Twilight said to Applejack and then shouted towards the front. Shining Armour chuckled and then rolled his eyes. “Have you never been to the beach before, Squirt?” Cadence asked, giving her an amused smirk through the rear view mirror. “People bury people in the sand there all the time.” “Do you see how pasty and pale I am? The closest to the beach I’ve ever been to is that half deflated kiddie pool in the backyard!” Twilight exclaimed, waving her arms. Which made Applejack and Fluttershy uncomfortable because she was sitting in between them. “Hey, watch the hands!” Applejack barked, pushing her. “Don’t push me!” Twilight shouted back returning the favor. “Oh dear!” Fluttershy gasped as the two started slapping at each other. Pinkie snorted with laughter. “It’s like we’re a family or something!” She bubbled happily, kicking her feet and bouncing her stuffed alligator on her lap. Cadence coughed at that. They did kind of look like a family. She looked over at Shining, who was staring out the window, watching the birds fly by. She began to think about the possibilities of her and Shining starting a family. Did she want to marry him? They were kind of young to be thinking about that. And would they even stay together long enough for that possibility to even come up? Cadence shook her head. She shouldn’t be thinking about things like that in the first place. They weren’t even out of high school yet. As Cadence turned the car into the beach parking lot, both teenagers sighed in relief once the bickering in the backseat had subsided to gasp at the view. “Wow! Look at all the birds! I’m gonna go kick ‘em!” Twilight shouted, clamoring to open the door. “Yeah, and watch all of ‘em poop on ya. That pretty little purple suit of yours is gonna be white striped.” Applejack warned her. Twilight stuck her tongue out at her in response as Cadence unlocked the jeep. The girls piled out, hopping excitedly as Cadence unlocked the trunk to retrieve the shovels and pails and other various beach toys they had bought on the way. When everyone had at least one toy, she said, “Have fun guys! And don’t go-” Before she could finish her sentence the girls took off running down the boardwalk. She frowned. “Far.” She mumbled, finishing her sentance. She felt Shining put an arm around her and peck her on the cheek. “Why don’t they ever listen to me?” She whined, leaning into his chest. Shining chuckled. “Because they know you’re a softy.” He teased. “Am not!” Cadence protested, shoving him away playfully. “Just for that, I’m going to go ahead. You can take care of the rest of the stuff, Lover Boy.” Bonking him on the head with a laugh, Cadence ran ahead before he could protest. “When my brother sees what Cadence has on, the sand by the water isn’t going to be the only thing that’s hard.” Twilight joked, patting down a side of the sandcastle she, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Applejack had started to build. Applejack whistled. “Twi, you know too much. Even for a genius. That’s why you’re always on punishment.” She shook her head with a mock condescending look. “You knew what I was talking about so you’re just as bad,” Twilight shot back, kicking some sand at her. “Quit it!” Applejack shouted, kicking back. “Girls, please, no more fighting?” Fluttershy asked pleadingly. She honestly just wanted to spend time with her friends. Their constant fighting was making their time together less enjoyable for her. Both girls mumbled their agreements. “My, I never thought I’d see you again so soon.” A voice gasped. Twilight looked up to see the girl from the mall standing above her, a giant sun hat on her head blocking out the sun and casting a huge shadow. “Oh, it’s you,” She responded, kind of surprised. The odds of her seeing the girl again, especially since they hadn’t exchanged names, would have been very unlikely. “I knew I recognized you the minute I saw your hair.” The girl smiled. “Oh, good heavens! How rude of me! I haven’t properly introduced myself. My name is Rarity.” She stuck out a hand and Twilight shook it. “My name’s Twilight. That’s Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack.” Twilight said, pointing to herself and then the others. “You talk like a rich person.” Pinkie told Rarity with a head tilt. “Very good deduction there, Sherlock,” Twilight snipped, rolling her eyes. She growled when Applejack smacked her in the back of her head for the rude remark. Rarity laughed. “You could say that. My father is the CEO of a tv network.” She responded, sitting down next to them, and picking up some sand to stack onto the castle. “Oh? Which one?” Applejack asked, passing her a shovel. “Oh, I can’t really remember. I believe it’s the one that airs that My Pretty Pony show.” She answered dismissively. Twilight dropped her shovel, staring into space. “Uh, you alright there sugarcube?” Applejack asked, putting a hand on her. “You kinda just, zoned out.” Mechanically, Twilight turned to Rarity. “Your dad owns the Wub Network?!” She half shouted. Suddenly she grabbed Rarity’s hands. “We’re friends now. We have to be. It’s like law.” “Did she just ditch us right in front of our faces?” Fluttershy asked with a confused expression. Applejack shrugged. “Believe so.” Pinkie giggled. “Why don’t we all be friends?! I like My Pretty Pony too! My favorite one is the pink one that throws all the parties!” She snorted with laughter. “You know what, that actually explains so much.” Twilight nodded. “Yep.” “Indeed.” Just like Twilight had predicted, Shining had fainted when he saw Cadence. She was the first to laugh at him to his face too. Cadence scolded her for being so cruel, but despite her stance on the matter, she ended up laughing herself. Cadence explained to the girls what had taken them so long was the fact that since they had run off so quickly, it took them a minute to spot them. They quickly apologized, to which Cadence said was completely fine. They were kids after all. Twilight introduced Cadence and Shining to Rarity, making sure to note that she had met her in the mall earlier that day and that she was loaded. Cadence smacked her in the back of the head and said it was rude to go telling everyone she had a rich friend. Rarity giggled and said it was not a problem, she understood Twilight’s excitement. Honestly, Cadence was just glad she had made another friend. After the sun had set, they all sat around a makeshift bonfire, (Put together with sticks that were collected by Applejack and Shining.) Roasting marshmallows and talking and laughing. The girls left the couple at the fire to cuddle and walked up a little ways to have their own conversation creating a circle around a flickering lantern. “You actually fell off a roof?” Rarity asked in disbelief, stifling her laughter after Twilight finished recounting her story. “Why were you even up there?” “She was tryna play Cupid,” Applejack explained, popping open another bottle of fizzy apple cider. “And it backfired on ‘er. Though, Ah can’t say it didn’t work.” She added with a smile, nodding in the direction of the distant bonfire. Twilight shrugged. “He’s my B.B.B.F.F. I want him to be happy.” She said with a smile, glancing back at the fire too. Rarity put an arm around her. “I think that’s very generous of you, Twilight.” She complimented. Fluttershy smiled. “I knew everything would work out just fine.” she mused with a content sigh. Her happiness was cut short when she heard Pinkie screaming. The youngest girl can running up to them bleary eyed. “Oh dear! Pinkie Pie what on earth is the matter?” Rarity asked her with out stretched arms. She encircled the girl into a comforting hug. “We were playing by the water, and Gummy got washed away!” She wailed into Rarity’s chest. “How did she get close to the water anyway? Weren’t you supposed to be watching her?” Twilight asked, pointing to Applejack. “Ah told you she had the attention span of a fish!” Applejack shouted back in defense. “Ah told her to sit here, an’ it ain’t my fault she didn’t listen!” “Maybe that’s where she truly belongs, in the sea.” Twilight quipped. “Stop talkin’ about her like that!” Applejack snapped. Fluttershy frowned as the two girls started to bicker again. She picked up a fizzy apple cider and downed most of it. Wiping her mouth with her hand, she sighed. At least it was nice while it lasted.