Tiny Coltantis was coming along nicely! There were so many foals that had come along to help her build it, too, quite a few older siblings joining in the effort. It warmed Twilight's heart, seeing so much love not unlike that between her and her own brother, not to mention the interest in the architecture of a neigh-forgotten civilization! She moved along one of the clear lanes that would later be part of the little city's market district when the residential area and public utility regions were finished. All over the area, foals with spades, buckets, and some genuinely impressive sand-sculpting skills worked to make sand models of Coltlantian housing, as outlined in Twilight's sand-sketched blueprints on the project's outer perimeter.
The exact specifications of the entire operation might be a little tough to remember by the time she found a notepad with which to write out the report, but she was reasonably confident in her memory.
Strangely, most of the older ponies were the ones that seemed to have trouble focusing, often glancing up at her whenever she came by. Twilight didn't want to come across as one of those cold, indifferent overseers, all these ponies were helping her out of the goodness of their hearts and the spirit of togetherness! So when they looked at her, she'd smile, nod, and say something encouraging, like "Keep up the good work!" or "Doing a great job!"
This did seem to result in more than a few those that established eye-contact involuntarily rerouting some amount of circulation to their heads, but maybe they were just too warm out in the sun? Idly considering the merits of having somepony bring refreshment to the famished, she paced over to inspect what would be the massive amphitheater easily a meter across. Four stallions were carving out the many arches such structures may have been best remembered for, one of them giving her a wave and a smile.
"Hey, I was thinking maybe after this we could grab a drink?"
She smiled back. "Great idea, you get beverages to everypony, I'll see if the compacting team needs anything." And off she went, humming merrily, oblivious to the dejected look on his face.
This was only exacerbated by the other three stallions being smartflanks.
"Ooh, tough break there, buddy."
"Maybe you can cool off by drinking your own tears?"
"I'll take a teardrop slushie!"
---
Moondancer was lukewarm. On one hoof, her time with Beefy and Buff Cake was great! On the other? Short. You'd think lifeguards would have more stamina, but she was sure they'd wake up before too long. It was while walking around looking for any sign that Sunset had actually done anything with the rest of her hunky harem that she heard somepony cry out.
"HELP! I'M DROWNING! NOT RIGHT THIS INSTANT, BUT SURELY IN SHORT ORDER!!"
"Damn," muttered a relatively short, green earth pony, lines of grey coloring his black mane and bushy moustache, "if only I weren't so old and feeble, I wouldn't have had to quit lifeguarding myself and hire those two other guys! Where could they be in this time of crisis?!"
OH, CRAP!!
Moondancer looked rapidly back and forth between the pony that wasn't quite drowning yet, but would be very soon, (if she was hearing him right) and the aged lifeguard, and she wasn't the only one. A crowd was gathering, foals and grown ponies alike standing by to watch.
"I SAY ALSO, I AM NOT YET SINKING, BUT LIKELY WILL AS SOON AS I CEASE TO FLAIL WILDLY IN THE WATER TO REMAIN AFLOAT! AND THEN I WILL BE IN A STATE OF DROWNING, AND THEN A STATE OF DEAD! AS SUCH, I ONCE MORE REQUEST HELP!!"
Other than commenting that he was pretty talkative for a dying pony, none of the onlookers moved to help him.
"I'm not a very strong swimmer..."
"I-I have a family to think about!"
"I kinda just hear what else he'll say before he goes under."
"Where are the lifeguards?!"
Helpless to do anything, the old lifeguard hung his head in shame.
Moondancer, however, grit her teeth. With the other two out of commission, there'd be nopony to help this guy, or anypony else that needed it! Making a snap decision, she charged out into the water, hoping she could remember how to do actual CPR and not that other kind.
---
She did remember, and after a valiant rescue, the formerly drowning pony, Quite Literal, was okay!
"I am okay," he announced just after coughing up the last of the sea water, "perhaps not in perfect health at this exact moment, but as I am only formerly drowning, I do believe I will make a full recovery! But now I must lose consciousness for a while." Then he flopped down, unconscious. Maybe it was because his cutie mark was a pony's hindquarters with the word 'symbol' on it. He had a cutie mark for a cutie mark.
Regardless, the crowd (barring the guy who wanted to hear what else Literal would have said) cheered, glad the near-drowned pony's narration a moment ago made it perfectly clear that that was what the situation called for. Moondancer blushed, unable to muster the courage to confess to her short, sweet sin and that this situation was technically her fault, accepting the praise with piercing shame.
The old lifeguard tapped her on the shoulder. "Great work there, lass but you could have been badly hurt or even killed. For your own safety, please leave this kind of thing to the professionals in the future. On that note, have you seen two huge meatheads lately?"
Moondancer felt something cold nestling her in stomach. "...Meatheads?"
He nodded. "Yes, two large, absurdly-muscled red guys. I'm the manager of this beach now and I hired those two to protect the swimmers. Seen anypony like that?"
She grinned nervously. "Uhm, maybe they got, uh, distracted by some cuties? You know how these beach guys can be, haha!"
"Nonsense, they're gay."
"...excuse me?"
"They're a gay couple. They're perfect for the job, unlike those sleazeballs before them, more interested in chasing flank than saving ponies." He shook his head ruefully, Moondancer sensing the disgust he felt for those that would prioritize carnal delight over the importance of safety! "I swear, those guys."
"B-but, aren't they...?"
"Twins?" He chuckled. "Nah, it's a common mistake ponies make. Imagine how creeped out I was when I caught them making out in the shower. There's a mental image I didn't need!"
Moondancer's eye twitched. After some thinking, she shrugged. "Eh, still a victory."
"What was that?"
"N-nothing!"
"Hm. Well, anyway, good job, lass, you did well." He raised a hoof over his eyes to scan the beach. "Now, where am I going to find a replacement lifeguard on such short notice...?"
Knowing the situation was mostly her fault, (Sunset may have introduced them, but nopony said she had to make them collapse from exhaustion like she did) Moondancer reluctantly raised a hoof. "Maybe I could help?" As the elder beach guardian turned to look at her, she couldn't help smiling sheepishly.
She found herself sitting in the tall lifeguard chair a minute later. And now I'm a lifeguard, she thought to herself. Wonder how Sunset is doing.
---
Lying on her back on one of the towels they'd started this forced beach vacation on, Sunset couldn't decide which was worse; that she couldn't get rid of her brainless fans, or that she had to hear them. All at once.
"-and I was all, 'nahh, bro, I got it' and then-"
"-totally ripped now, and chafing, but totally-"
"-I get all these feelings, y'know? Maybe I'd feel better if you'd-"
"-there were monkeys! Monkeys everywhere!"
Sunset grit her teeth, shouting through them loudly enough to be heard over the din of inanity. "SHUT. UP. YOU IDIOTS."
By some miracle, they actually stopped talking.
"Good, now all of you go away."
"Yes, ma'm," replied what might not have been a surfer, "I will PERSONALLY make sure nopony will bother you!"
"That means you too."
"You heard her," piped up another, "get lost already! Lady Sunset needs only one guardian and I was here first!"
"No way, I saw her first!"
Sunset groaned hard, hitting back of her head on the ground, which was sadly just soft sand. Maybe it was just dense enough anyway, because she remembered that she hadn't seen the two doofuses she'd sent to bring her slushies since giving the orders. That gave her an idea.
"OKAY," she cried out, sitting up to address the bickering crowd, "I know how to settle this; why don't all of you go get me a drink and the first one to bring it back to me wins. Deal?"
The crowd sped off, pushing and shoving and shouting in the direction of the boardwalk, leaving her temporarily alone. She said whoever got back with a slushie first won, she never said what they'd be winning. For the second time that day, Sunset found herself repressing an evil grin despite not being up to anything bad, but damned if deception didn't make her feel good! She didn't have a problem. Other than her least favorite admirers ever, which would likely be trickling back before long. She quickly trotted off, looking for anywhere on the beach to hide before they got back.
---
Progress was good in Tiny Coltlantis in the five hours since construction had started. A portion of the outer wall had to be rebuilt when somepony tripped into it, (maybe the moat just outside the wall wasn't a great idea after all) but other than that, things were going great! Little Salty Spade even earned his cutie mark in sculpting city hall, which made Twilight just feel all fuzzy! And then she went back to an air of professionalism, because miniature cities don't build themselves. It was while inspecting the arches of the amphitheater that something caught her eye.
She peeked over the rim to look into the center of the structure. "Sunset? What are you--"
"Be quiet!" She whispered. "Don't use my name here!"
"What are you doing in the amphitheater?"
Being so frank and blunt most of the time, Twilight very rarely saw anything out of Sunset that might be called a poker face. Until now. "Nothing. Just chilling. Oh crap!" She ducked down at the same time as a band of annoyed surfers stormed by not far from the sand city, many of them calling Sunset's name.
When they were gone, Twilight slowly turned to look at her with a smirk. "I never knew you were this shy, Sunny."
Scowly blushes were much more familiar expressions from her. "Shut up, Sparkle! And don't let them find me!"
Twilight giggled, leaving her friend and rival in whatever situation she'd gotten herself into.
---
Fact: being a lifeguard can actually be pretty boring. Moondancer had thought she'd be spending the day tearing through the water to reach ponies just before they went under, saving lives that she technically endangered by virtue of having incapacitated the real lifeguards. Shaking her head so as not to dwell on the specifics, she again scanned the beach for any sign of trouble, but all was peaceful in what was temporarily her sandy domain.
In addition to ponies sunbathing, playing volleyball, and general beach activity, she could see the construction site of Twilight's mini sand-city. It looked like quite a few foals and primarily older brothers working on it with her. The crowd she'd seen following Sunset earlier was now wandering about aimlessly, some of them carrying slushies. She couldn't hear them from where she was, but it looked like a lot of them were arguing as they combed the beach, some starting to shove the others.
Thinking that was probably something a lifeguard should break up, she hopped off the chair, the manager pony right next to her.
"Good news," he said with a smile, "found Buff and Beefy."
"That's great, but I should probably-"
"They said they got worn out by some unicorn filly, can ya believe that?"
Moondancer started to sweat, pointedly turning her head away to focus on the emerging brawl in the distance. "Haha, y-yea, that'd be something, Ishouldreallygetgoingokaybye!" She sprinted off, as much to escape the situation as to help defuse the other one.
Increasing amounts of beach-goer turned their heads at the sound of raised voices.
"This is all your fault, dumbweed!"
"Nuh-uh, I totally had her until you bozos showed up!"
"We all saw her at the same time!"
"Shut up, smart guy!"
"Shut up more, dumb guy!"
"She liked me best anyway!"
"Did not!"
"I'M HER FAVORITE!"
"SHE TOTALLY WANTS MY D!"
"LOUD NOISES!"
"I'M THE BEST AT STANDING!"
Somepony patting down sand on a guard tower of Tiny Coltlantis shouted in their direction. "Hey, keep it down, will ya?!"
One of the noisier crowd shouted back. "Ah, stuff it up your flank, sand-builder guy!"
At that point, about fifteen guys who were building with sand turned toward them, including one burly, grizzled dock worker named Lead Pipe that had come to help his adorable baby sister build sand houses with her friends. He glanced over at his tiny, pink, yellow-maned sister, her bright blue eyes tearing up at the sound of raised voices in her direction.
Lead Pipe leaned down to whisper to his sister. "Why don't you go ask the purple lady if she needs anything? I need to do some cleanin' over here."
Smiling up at him, she nodded a little, trotting off to see how she could help out.
Lead shifted the cigar from one side of his mouth to the other, his cold gaze fixed on the fool that made his Precious Pink Princess Friend Forever start to cry. "Boys," he gruffly announced to the rest of those working this area of the sand city, "looks like we got trouble-makers."
---
A few hours later, Twilight, Sunset, and Moondancer sat on the train headed to Canterlot, Twilight happily writing down everything she could recall about the sand city.
Finishing the slushie Moondancer had brought her, (it might have been the only time she smiled normally that day) Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Where'd you get that stationary?"
"At the station, of course!"
Moondancer giggled. "I kinda wish I had been there in time to stop the fight, but I did have some fun in the mix! Seriously, who'd have thought a billowing dustcloud would be a good place to get-"
"ANYWAY," cut off Sunset, "what happened with your sand thing, Twilight?"
The retired (for now) architect smiled almost sadly, not slowing her notation. "Well, the city was eventually destroyed, but not just by the brawling ponies. It turns out the foals had been working on compacted-sand-based artillary when I wasn't looking, and started using it on the invading forces when the outer walls were breached. In the end, the city was destroyed not by outside entities, but by its own overdeveloped military power." She shook her head a little, making additional notes on her paper. "War really is awful, huh?"
Moondancer smiled. "How'd the rest of your day at the beach go, Sunset?"
She folded her forearms. "Badly, they found me the minute the amphitheater crumbled. Still, I managed to get them to leave me alone a little after that, at least."
"But the fighting didn't stop."
"I know, I figured if they were going ballistic anyway, I might as well tell them that the last one standing would get to come back to my hotel room."
"What hotel room?"
Then Sunset's face began to shift. Not into a monstrous mask of wrath and (cold) flames, but an actual expression formed by an actual pony's face, expressing wrath and engulfed in (cold) flames. Sunset was smiling the most evil grin she'd ever made in her life, Twilight and Moondancer feeling shivers down their spines, only intensified by her maniacal giggles.
"Precisely."
---
Back at the beach, a dozen or so surfers were buried up to the neck in sand, sand-tombstones with words like 'Dummy,' 'Mean-Head,' 'Shouty-Face,' and other such monikers etched by victorious foals resting just behind them.
"Dudes," one said, "I think that sweet-flanked chick tricked us."
"Ch'ya, why does this keep on happening to us?"
"Okay gentlecolts, we need to promise each other, no more fighting over mares! This time for real!"
They called out in unison. "Deal!"
---
The next day, another pretty mare appeared on that beach. Seeing the nearby group of stallions admiring her tasteful sun-hat, Rarity smiled. She couldn't place it, but something about these fellows positively screamed Why yes, we'll gladly help you with your luggage!