When Sunset and Twilight were finished swearing under their breaths, the trio mosied on over to rest on the towels under the umbrellas, trying to decide how to spend their temporary banishment. Predictably, Moondancer was the least bothered about the situation.
"So," she said with a smile, "anypony want to... um..." She drew a hoof to her chin in thought. "Huh. I can't actually remember what we did last year."
"Yea," snorted Sunset as she flopped over on her side, "I'll bet."
"Huh?"
"Nothin'."
Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Eh, well, whatever it was, I'm sure you had fun."
Moondancer beamed. "I probably did! So what do you guys wanna do this time?"
Taking a minute to scan the beach, Twilight compared and contrasted the options that first sprung to mind. They could go swimming, but with that came a chance of not-necessarily-hostile, but no less hazardous oceanic life, such as jellyfish and stingrays. Along with that was a certainty of saltwater in their manes and coats, which carried that weird, sticky feeling until it was adequately washed away.
No part of it sounded enjoyable.
Then there was... sand. Much sand. And the aforementioned sea water. Used in unequal proportion by foals and bored adults that wished to test their ability in sculpting the two into small-scale constructions, to test the structural integrity of the mixture, often with additional components such as stones and wayward sea shells. There were a lot of foals and what may have been older siblings doing so in that very instant, actually.
Twilight felt a pang of nostalgia. "My brother and I used to build those all the time..." Then she got an idea.
The undertaking of an extensive effort at one such project may prove adequate to consume a considerable portion of time, and perhaps, through careful documentation, even provide insight into the architectural workings of the long-lost city of Coltlantis! Indeed, working to build a small city out of sand and water may even directly explain how the entire city thought to have been assembled in a similar way came to be destroyed.
Standing up, she beamed. "I know what I'm gonna do today! You guys wanna build a city?"
Sunset didn't even roll over to snark at her. "No."
"It doesn't have to be a city."
"No."
Twilight shrugged, trotting happily toward what would be the site of her miniature revival of Coltantis. "Suit yourself!"
Moondancer tilted her head, regarding her lazy friend curiously. "You don't wanna prove you can build a bigger, better sand castle than-"
"No," answered Sunset, "I don't care about making something that won't last more than a few days even if nopony kicks it over when I'm gone, I'm not gonna put in the effort for something with no real benefit, I'm just gonna be the odd mare out here and actually try to relax." There was just long enough a silence that she had to fill it herself. "Shouldn't you be, I don't know, rolling in the sand with some surfer?"
Moondancer beamed. "And leave a friend to be all sulky by herself? No, ma'am!" She all but skipped around Sunset's trying-to-sleep body as she laid on the towel. "Wanna go for a long walk on the beach?"
"No."
"Go fishing?"
"No."
"Find seashells and possibly try to make a quick bit selling them right around here?"
"I see what you tried to do there, but no."
And then it was quiet, no sound of Moondancer even skipping around her. Sunset sensed death. Rapidly sitting up, she barely got up in time to extend a hoof to stop the dreaded Public Moon-Glomp. "Alright, alright, I'll... do, something with you!"
Slightly disappointed she wouldn't be cuddling a snoozy Sunset after all, Moondancer shrugged a little and smiled. "Okie, dokie!"
The two settled on wandering around at random for a while.
---
So many little castles, thought Twilight as she paced through the sand, and so many siblings!
They were all around, foals and what looked like ponies a bit closer to her own age helping them along, digging little moats, compacting sand into buckets to be upended and made into a structure, relishing the simple joy of making something together, smiling and laughing, just like she and Shiny would.
She approached a little colt sitting by a plastic bucket containing two little plastic shovels, patting the sides of a recent creation for stability, and smiled. "Hello there young sir! Could I requisition use of one of your digging and construction implements?"
The colt, a light-beige, dark-brown-maned earth pony whose name she didn't know was Salty Spade, looked up at her, bewildered. "Recky-what?"
Remembering that few foals possessed extensive vocabularies, Twilight giggled with a hint of a blush. She didn't notice the effect this had on the colt's older brother, sitting nearby. "Sorry, I meant, may I borrow one of your shovels, please?"
The little one smiled, offering a miniature, green spade for her use. "Sure!"
Twilight smiled gratefully. "Thank you!" And then she set off to start drawing out the site of what would be Tiny Coltlantis.
Meanwhile, Salty's brother, a dull-blue earth pony, felt a sudden spike in affection for his sibling. Part of it was that he had just shown kindness to another pony for little more than its own sake, a much larger part of it was that he may have just given him a chance with a purple cutie with a very shapely flank. He hopped up. "I'mgonnagohelptheniceladyyoubegoodokay?okay!"
Pacing backwards while telekinetically dragging the tip of the shovel through the sand, Twilight felt somepony tapping her shoulder. Turning, she saw a smiling stallion.
"Hey, I'm Salty Spade's older brother. Need any help with your construction?"
Putting a hoof to her chin, Twilight thought about it. She could use a little help getting the project done before it was time to go. Not that they were strictly expected to go back to Canterlot soon, having been kinda-sorta banished for a day, but she figured the others (or at least Sunset) would want to go back as soon as possible. She kind of did too, sand city or no sand city.
"Okay," she replied, "do you think you can pile up sand along the outer perimeter of this line? It's fine if you end up making a moat in the displacement of terrain."
Nodding once, he got right to work, already dreaming of spending a cool evening on the beach nestled with the lovely architect in the center of their creation, not a sound but the gentle ebb and flow of ocean waves and each others' breathing…
He didn't even notice another stallion approach Twilight to make roughly the same offer. And another. And another…
---
They hadn't even been walking for fifteen seconds before Moondancer started eyeing up random beach-goers. That would have been fine, if not for her insistence on pointing out the 'finer specimens' to Sunset in the raciest terms she could find wording for. Clearly, if she wanted any peace today, she would have to get rid of her lusty friend. She knew just what to do, turning to Moondancer with a smile.
"You know, you're right, there are a lot of attractive ponies around here." Moondancer smiled at her like a cult leader with a brand new convert. "Why don't you go grab us some cool drinks, while I see who I can wrangle?"
Moondancer got as far as the 'O' in 'Okay' before she stopped and gave Sunset a scrutinizing look, an eyebrow raised. "Waaaait a minute, what's the catch?"
Sunset gave her a confident smirk. "That you get back before the whole beach only has eyes for me." The she struck a sultry pose, one hind leg bent as that hoof rested against the other, arching her back as she flipped her mane to leave it resting over one eye, and called out to anypony that might have been listening. "Ohh, this surfing stuff is so interesting, I really wish somepony could explain how a longboard backslide works..."
Beaming with hesitantly-cautious pride as about twenty different heads whipped Sunset's way, Moondancer trotted off to the nearest place to grab a drink.
Internally, Sunset grinned with evil delight. Which was weird, because she wasn't going to do anything that Moondancer wouldn't approve of, or be thankful for later.
---
Four and a half minutes later, Moondancer returned with two slushies in her magic to find Sunset surrounded by well-built stallions. And a few mares. Ohh, Sunny. Almost all of them had long manes and cutie marks with things like surfboards, waves, and life rafts, which likely answered 'Do you come here often?' all by itself. The way they were looking at Sunset, especially the ones standing behind her, they probably weren't much like her fan club back at the Enlightenment Center.
Giving a few of her admirers a coy grin, Sunset then ignored them to focus on the next phase of her plan. "Oh, Moondancer, welcome back. I was just talking to my new friends here, have you met Beefy Cake?"
She gestured to her right, a huge, dark-red wall of bulging muscle obscuring Moondancer's vision. Taking a step back, Moodancer could see the hulking stallion in greater detail; his ripped, massive legs leading up to a raw, sinewy body, his thick, veiny neck connecting to the strong, chiseled face at the top of it all.
How did I not notice this guy a second ago?
Moony liked. "Holy moly, he's a... wait a minute," she gave Sunset another suspicious look, "is this a ploy to get rid of me? You're gonna need to try better than that!"
"Did I mention-" grinning deviously, Sunset gestured to her left, indicating another, identical stallion, "-his twin brother, Buff Cake?"
"T-t-t-t-twins!" Moondancer's nose was bleeding, though she did wonder how she didn't notice two of these guys. "Well played, Sunny. Well played."
Sunset let Moondancer offer the slushies to her new playthings to break the ice, the feeling of triumph as they walked away sweeter than any flavor slushie Moondancer could have brought her!
That in mind, she turned to the first thrall she saw. "You, bring me a slushie."
He smiled. "Ch'ya, I'll get'cha a real mean tasty-slush, babe, back in a sec." Then he bumbled off in completely the wrong direction, unless he was hoping they had cool beverages in the depths of the sea.
Sunset shrugged, turning to the next one. "You, bring me a slushie."
"Huh, totally on it!" That one actually went in the direction of the boardwalk, possibly with the capacity to remember her simple order.
Either way, she glanced around to the fifteen-or-so others still nearby. "The rest of you, your usefulness has ended, bye." Casually cantering back to the towels and umbrella to lie in the shade, Sunset couldn't help but notice the sound just behind her didn't really resemble a crowd of ponies dividing and returning to their lives, but just a crowd. Still following her. She stopped, about-faced, and glared. "That means 'go away,' you idiots!"
"Nah, it's cool," one piped up, "we'll chillax with you for a while."
"Yur real hot," said another, followed by yet more.
"Sure ya don't need like, another slushie?"
"I could get ya like, TWO slushies, gorgeous!"
"NO," shouted Sunset as sternly as possible before the group could get too loud, "I don't need anything else, now stop following me!"
A few voices called out at once. "Okay!"
Giving a sharp nod, Sunset turned, started on her way back to the shade, and stopped again. "What did I just say?"
The swarm of stupid behind her muttered amongst itself in uncertainty.
"Okay, new order," she said loud enough to be heard by all of them, "stand right where you are, don't move a muscle." One step forward. Two. Three. She kept moving, a new wave of irritation rolling through her mind as she heard the rest still following. She whipped around to face them, livid. "What part of stand the buck still did you not understand?!"
"We are," one answered, "see? Not movin' at all!"
"Ch'ya, I'm great at standing! Wanna see me do it closer?"
"I can stand better than he can!"
"Nu-uh, dumbflank!"
"I can shred way gnarly waves! Standing on my board the whole time!"
"Can I touch yur flank?"
"No way, brah, she said she'd let me touch her-"
That last one had his head telekinetically buried in sand with considerable force, in a manner that looked like he tripped. Very hard and very suddenly. On nothing. Ordinarily it might have been 'set on fire' or 'beaten to a pulp', but there were far too many witnesses here. "I don't care what you walking mounds of failure do," announced Sunset, "just do it away from me."
She moved. They followed. She turned and shouted. "WHAT?!"
One chuckled in a laughing-at-their-own-joke kind of way. "It's cool, I totes get'cha babe, yer one'a them mean-nasty chicks that dig guys who stick around." There were several nods, murmurs and eyebrow waggles of assent.
"Nnno," growled Sunset, "I'm one of those easily-pissed-off unicorns that turns idiots into snails and throws them into salt piles."
"Wicked," commented an idiot. There was not a single ounce of comprehension in the lot.
She stood glaring at them, calculating the exact probability that she'd be able to avoid jail time...