There was some relaxation over at Greg's carwash that morning. He had just finished up washing another car, though business had been rather slow, to say the least. Late in the morning, and he had only one car to clean up for that summer day. On the bright side, it was a nice day, not too hot with a nice breeze to balance it out. Greg settled down nearby his van, in a lawn chair, and actually began to snooze off. As he was, he was unaware of the company that was coming his way. While Greg was dozing away the morning for the upcoming afternoon, something began to block off the sun from his face. Upon opening his eyes ...
"HI!"
Upon opening his eyes, Greg was face-to-face with a pink mane and pink pony face, with a grin from ear to ear. Even with the friendly gesture, Greg ended up falling off of his seat, not expecting to see the pony around. He did see someone else though, someone he did know and liked to see.
"Dad!"
"Hey kiddo," Greg said, giving his son a fun-filled noogie to the head, Steven laughing himself silly. Pinkie happily hopped to Steven's side, after Greg gave Steven the second to fix his hair from his dad's noogie attack.
"See your ponies are still around with ya. How's it been?"
"Going absopositalutly great! I've made these great yummy treats in Ponyville for six hours straight, with so many blueberries, strawberries, oats, nuts, lots of bread, icing -" Steven covered her mouth so Pinkie Pie wouldn't get too carried away with her cooking. Pinkie eventually calmed down, and Steven spoke instead.
"Actually, I want to ask you something," Steven said. Steven then pulled out something from his pocket, and showed his dad a poster he found. The poster appeared to detail a event going on in Beach City, with a man on a pontoon boat, trying to reel in a huge tuna fish, a bit dramatically for effect. It didn't seem too hard to really figure out what this event is, being by the sea and all that.
"So, you want to fish with your old man, eh sport? Don't see why not," Greg said. Pinkie and Steven were very happy to hear that. Pinkie immediately bolted off, as Steven got a hold of Greg's arm, getting him up to his feet.
"Let's go now!"
~~~~~~
"Welcome, everybody, to the summer fish-off!"
Nearby the boating docks, many of the people were listening to Mayor Dewey, announcing the event. Mayor Dewey himself was up on the top of his van, with a megaphone so everyone can hear him. By the time Greg and Steven showed up (with their fishing gear), it was already a bit crowded with the fishermen and fisherwomen. When they did show up though with Pinkie, Garnet, Rainbow, and Twilight were there too. A bit odd to see them there as well, yet Greg didn't complain too much. He was a bit bummed out that he wasn't going to be just with Steven, but, it couldn't be too bad.
"Garnet! Twilight, Rainbow, you're joining us too?"
"Thought it would be good. I've heard of this, and wanted to learn how it works," Twilight said. Steven looked around, though looked a bit disappointed.
"Where's everyone else?"
"They're not coming," Garnet said, bluntly. So much for the whole group joining them.
"Aww, what about Pearl?"
"She's with Amethyst, getting her back into shape."
"Fulgurite?"
"Wasn't around to ask."
"Applejack?" Pinkie asked.
"Busy at the farm."
"Fluttershy? Rarity?!"
"Finds fishing horrible, and too busy with dress orders."
"... Not even Lapis?" Steven and Pinkie said.
"Same reason as Fluttershy."
"Eh, don't worry kid, we'll still have fun," Rainbow assured him, giving Steven her own little noogie to the head. The number of fishing teams looked pretty much as ready as they are, as everyone got out. For the contest in particular, they were allowed to rent a boat to go out to the sea to get some good fish. However, with many of the people fishing already out, many of the boats had already been rented out, leaving some smaller boats available for use. In their case, they had a old pontoon boat to use. It looked a bit dated, slightly rusty on the bottom rim, but other than that it was a regular pontoon boat, and apparently functional. It wasn't too much compared to the other boats, but, it was good enough to get them going. Pinkie landed in the pontoon boat first, as Rainbow flew around from above. Greg, Steven and Twilight got on fairly well, but when Garnet stepped on it, the pontoon boat leaned rather dramatically for the few seconds until Garnet sat down on one of the pontoon chairs. Mayor Dewey waited until everyone was on their boat before speaking again.
"Alright fellow fisherman of Beach City, you have until three o'clock to catch your fish. The one with the biggest catch wins! Good luck to you all," Mayor Dewey said through the megaphone, as the number of boats started to leave dock. Steven's group tried to get going, but, the pontoon boat had a bit of trouble starting up. They had keys, but, it won't start up really. Greg tried three to five times, without success.
"Come on, start," Greg said, trying to start the engine.
"Is there a problem?" Twilight asked.
"No, no, I got it," Greg said, trying a little bit more to start up the pontoon boat. Pinkie hopped to the back of the boat, wanting to start this fun game. Soon, Pinkie was at the back of the boat, and she began to twist her tail to look like a tight screw. After she finished doing that, it began to spin like crazy.
"Hang on, everypony!" Pinkie said, her tail going into the water. Suddenly, the boat surged forward, much to their surprise. Rainbow, who was flying, was actually left behind, and the Pegasus had to fly after the boat to catch up. It only took a good ten seconds, but, in that time they were far off from the docks, right in pure deep water. Rainbow landed back in the boat, as Pinkie got herself out of the water. She was a bit wet in the hindquarters, but, she was find apart from that. She got her tail twisted up, and it spun off the water. However, not only did it made her hover for a second or so, but, the water got onto the others.
"Oops," Pinkie said, as the others got themselves dry. Soon after that, Greg then started to get his fishing pole started. However, soon Twilight went over to him, as he pulled out a glove box with a various set of lures and hooks.
"You need any help with setting up?" Twilight asked.
"Don't worry, I got it. Just got to attach the ol' lure. Let's see ..." Greg continued looking over the options for the fish catching. Eventually, he found a very unique lure to use: a two hooked lure, looking like a small fish.
"You ponies ever fished before?" Steven asked.
"Yeah, but mainly for fun. I hadn't myself," Twilight said.
"Well, watch and learn," Greg said. He then got himself ready, rallied up the fishing pole with lure attached, and casted out the rod. The lure flew through the air, landing in the water a good twenty feet away from them. Steven looked out with a grin, while Twilight looked in intrigue. Twilight waited for something to happen ...
"So ... now what?"
"Well, we wait. Here, you try," Greg said, pulling out another pole for Twilight to use. Twilight levitated around the reel, and tried to mimic what Greg did. However, she couldn't seem to cast it out, the hook stuck on the other end. She can hold it, but, concentrating magic to get the multiple motions wasn't easy. First swing - nothing. Second - nothing. Third - the hook flew back, and got into Pinkie's mane. Pinkie yelped on feeling the hook got in her mane.
"Sorry, Pinkie," Twilight said, using her magic to get the hook out without pulling a chunk of hair out. When Twilight tried once more, she finally got a good cast out to the water. Not as far as Greg, but, pretty good for her first try.
"Nice cast, Twilight," Greg said.
"Thanks. So, do I stay like this or ..."
"Start reeling in the line when you feel a fish biting," Greg said. The others settled down, as Steven helped himself and got his own fishing pole out and casted off into the water. Rainbow, Pinkie, and Garnet just settled down, and waited ...
And waited ...
And waited ...
It was a little too long for everypony on board. Rainbow was feeling the most effected by the lack of activity, pacing back and forth on the boat. Garnet didn't really look much different, and Twilight leaned bored on the boat. She never realized how long fishing can be, especially with nothing biting. Steven gave a yawn, and looked over to another boat nearby. Over on the boat, the people were having a lot more fish than they did, a large bucket with live fish swimming amuck in it. One of them he and Pinkie recognized from Big Donut, actually, as they both waved to her.
"Hey, Sadie!" Steven called, his voice actually startling the bored people and ponies on the boat (except Garnet). Sadie, over on the boat, saw them both and waved back to them. Rainbow Dash looked over, and saw a large, feisty Dolphin fish, being reeled in by Sadie with the help if her mother. Seeing that huge fish getting caught when they got nothing made Rainbow a bit bugged.
"This is getting nowhere," Rainbow groaned, and suddenly started flying. Before anyone can stop her, Rainbow was up in the sky, like a hunting. While she was in the air, Rainbow was joined by a few seabirds, one of these was hovering over a particular spot. The bird, a gannet as it turned out, suddenly stopped flying, and dove head-first right into the water like a living dart, barely causing a splash upon impact. Seconds later, it came back up with a small tuna in its beak. Rainbow compared her wings to the gannet, and decided to try to dive for the fish. Her wings looked close to arrow-dynamic anyway, like a peregrine falcon, so she can try to be streamline in her approach like the gannet did. Soon, after seeing a good spot, she began to dive forward, hooves out in front. She folded her wings back, and she dove right into the water. The others waited for Rainbow, and she soon got back to the surface, the impact a little rough for her. The gannet next to her squawked in her face, and flew away with its own fish catch. Rainbow got back onto the boat, drying herself off, and acted like she didn't do anything.
"My turn!" Pinkie said, jumping off the boat, and diving in. Garnet just reached out, and grabbed Pinkie by the tail. Pinkie didn't get any fish, but, was soaking wet.
"Don't do that," Garnet said.
"There's a huge fishy over there," Pinkie said, pointing over to the open sea. Steven reeled back his own hook, coming up with nothing on his end.
"Really? Where?" Steven asked. Pinkie kept pointing over to where she spotted something large underwater. Eagerly, Steven quickly casted out his line and hook, landing nearby the thing. At first, the creature didn't seem to be noticing the hook at first. However, soon, the thing finally bit the hook, giving a powerful pull! The pull was extremely strong, the line reached its full length after a few seconds!
"Whoa!" Steven gasped, grabbing the reel so all the line wouldn't end up being lost. However, Steven nearly was pulled off the boat, caught by Greg to keep him on.
"Steven!" Garnet said, grabbing him too. However, suddenly the fish breached the water. However, the sight of the fish wasn't anything normal. For one thing, it was huge, nearly as big as the boat! It had lavender skin, not appearing scaly, and a long paddle-like bill. What caught Garnet's attention the most was the two gemstone eyes! In one quick movement, the Gem fish yanked the fishing pole out of Steven's hands. However, Garnet grabbed the pole, being pulled to the back of the boat. Garnet stopped herself, her feet slamming into the back of the pontoon boat, but this fish wasn't going down without a fight. Before anyone can realize it, the pontoon boat was moving very fast, the fish strong enough to move the boat around like it was nothing. Garnet kept her strong grip on the pole, which threatened to break apart under the pressure, as the Gem fish swam around the water as if there was no drag to speak of. Garnet eventually pulled hard, with some help from Greg and Rainbow, and the fish breached the water again, that time directly at them! The fish landed hard into the boat, thrashing around wildly, as Garnet tried to get the fish to stay still. Many of the others tried to help, but, the Gem-eyed fish was thrashing around so much, they couldn't grip it if they tried. Even Garnet was having some issue, as she kept punching at the fish while it thrashed, jumped, and flopped around on the boat. Eventually, Garnet finally got a firm grip, though the fish's strong tail kept whacking her in the face about ten times until it calmed down.
"You alright, Garnet?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah," Garnet replied, getting herself back up to shape before letting the tired fish go. The creature flopped onto the boat, too tired to continued.
"Uh ... Do all fish in this world have Gem eyes?" Rainbow asked, poking at them with little reaction from the fish itself.
"Not at all. Stand back," Garnet said, getting her fighting gloves out, and readied to finish off the giant fish. However, Steven suddenly got an idea, and got in the way.
"Wait a minute, I got an idea!"
"Steven, not now."
"But, can't we show the judges first? It is a big fish."
~~~~~~
"And the winner of this year's fish-off goes to ... Mr. Universe!" Mayor Dewey said, going over to the group. They all had the huge gem fish hanged up, like they caught a large shark in such manor. The fish was hanged upside down, rope around the tail and its head laying on the ground.
"Quite an impressive catch here, if not a rather special catch," Dewey pointed out, looking at the shining gem eyes.
"It was a hard catch," Garnet said, adjusting her shades.
"I'd imagine so. And here's your trophy, curtsey of yours truly," Dewey said, bringing over the prize-winning trophy for them. It was fairly big, pure gold, and had the same symbol as the poster it advertised earlier. Some people also showed up to take some pictures of the catch, seeing it as the best catch of Beach City. Rainbow flew over to the fish, leaning to it and giving a good smile, as everyone else smiled for the camera.
Many pictures were taken, and one was to keep for the Universe family too. After the whole thing, They were back home (both the ponies in Ponyville, and the Gems at home), as Steven happily was looking at the picture they took, laying on his bed with the picture held above him. It did look good, to say the least of the good shot. While he was, Garnet came through the door, with two signature gemstones within one bubble. Garnet looked over to Steven.
"Thanks again for coming with us, Garnet," Steven said.
"I'd come along either way," Garnet said, moving the bubble to one hand.
"Oh. Well, did you have fun?" Steven asked, before Garnet made the bubble disappear with the gems inside with a move of her wrist.
"Yeah, it was alright."