March 22-23
When we finally arrived in Los Angeles, everyone was exhausted except Gusty, who was still staring out the window like a filly on Hearth's Warming. Cayenne offered to pack up her clothes, 'cause it was pretty obvious that we'd have to drag her out of her seat kicking and screaming. She just nodded, and that was that.
I wondered if she was going to run around on the platform like she had in Oakland. And I wondered if Mister Barrow and Miss Parker were any good at chasing down a unicorn. Maybe if they had a golden bridle with them.
Since I didn't really have anything to put away, I helped Cayenne pack up Gusty's stuff. Gusty hadn't been too careful with her clothes when she was unpacking her suitcase in the morning, so we had a bit of work to do, but we got it done before the train stopped, and Cayenne carried everypony's bags to the entryway, where the conductor helped us put everything on the platform. They were kind of in a hurry 'cause the train was running late.
Mister Barrow herded us all to the parking area where there was another white Econoline van waiting for us. This one had a driver already in it, so Mister Barrow didn't have to get the keys from behind the fuel door.
We were almost to the van when the front doors came open and a man and a woman got out. The woman hugged all of us, and the man did too, and then they introduced themselves as Maggie and Peter. They told us a little about themselves as they loaded the van; they were looking after Sunrise Song, who was studying at UCLA. I hoped that we'd get to meet her—I didn’t remember her from the train ride—but they said she was on a spring break trip just like we were.
They helped put all our stuff in the van, and then we climbed in. I was glad that the van was big; with the four of us and our four helpers and everyone's baggage it was pretty crowded.
I dozed on the way to the hotel, 'cause I wasn't as impressed with Los Angeles as Gusty was. There were a lot of people who were going to have to scrub muzzle-marks off windows by the time we were done with California, that was for sure.
Miss Parker shook me by the shoulder and I discovered that we were at our hotel. I hadn't thought that I'd fallen that far asleep, but I must have. I was the only one still in the van, and I yawned and went to get my saddlebags but they were gone, and she told me that the bellhop had taken them.
I followed her into the hotel and into the elevator and I was so tired that I just leaned up against her legs and let the elevator take me upstairs.
Everypony else had already settled in a bit. Well, Gusty wasn't settled; she was standing at the window and looking at a big white sign in the distance that said Hollywood. Cayenne was stretched out on the bed nearest the window, which left the other one for me and Aquamarine.
We were all going to do different things tomorrow, which would be strange. I wasn't sure that I wanted to be split up, but I really did want to go flying because I thought my wings might shrivel up and fall off if I didn't, and tomorrow was going to be my opportunity. And it wouldn't be fair for everyone else to have to come along with me. I'd been a little worried 'cause there were four of us and only two of Mister Barrow and Miss Parker, but Miss Parker was coming with me. Mister Barrow was going with Aquamarine, and I guessed that Peter and Maggie would be with Gusty and Cayenne.
Once I brushed my teeth, I went straight to bed and slept like a log.
March 23
When I woke up, Gusty was still standing at the window. She was wearing her sleeping clothes, so she must have spent at least some time in bed, unless she got dressed for sleeping and then forgot to actually sleep. I was actually starting to get a little bit worried about her; if she went too much longer without getting a proper night's sleep she was probably going to collapse on her hooves.
I still hadn't figured out what she found so exciting about California, and I was kind of afraid to ask her. One of my friends back in flight school had really, really wanted to be in the Wonderbolts and if you ever asked him about the Wonderbolts, he'd bend your ear back with stories about how great they were until you really regretted asking at all.
I waited until Aquamarine was awake, too, and then we got out of bed and took a shower together. When Cayenne woke up, the three of us managed to pry Gusty away from the window and shove her into the shower. I made coffee for her, so that it would be ready when she got out of the shower, and then after she had her coffee she started tearing through her bags until she found the perfect outfit for the day.
Even though I knew better than to ask what she was doing today, Aquamarine didn't, and she told us how she was going to see Hollywood and that she even was going to get a tour of a studio and she probably would have continued in that vein forever, but there was a knock at the door and when we opened it Maggie was standing there with a big smile on her face and she had a gray stallion beside her who seemed awfully familiar to me, but he was also wearing clothes so I couldn't see his cutie mark.
Then he introduced himself as South Pole, and that didn't really mean anything to me, but I shook his hoof politely anyway—we all did—and then Gusty gave him a great big hug and the three of them left.
When he was gone Cayenne said that he was an actor and she'd seen him in a movie but he hadn't been all that good. She told us that she'd heard that he'd come to Earth to try his luck here, and she said that her friends had taken her to see a movie he had been in but it wasn't all that good. She didn't think that the screenwriter had known what to do with him other than have him be a token unicorn character and that there had been some stuff that she thought was pretty offensive.
I was worried that she'd wind up giving a long rant against Hollywood, but she just sat in a chair and looked out the window and poured herself a cup of coffee.
Peter arrived and took her away, then a few minutes later Mister Barrow and Miss Parker came along to take us where we were going.
It was a little nerve-wracking to leave Aquamarine behind, especially since the city was so big I got disoriented really quickly. But I really liked our car: it was silver and the roof folded into the trunk and it had been so much fun to watch that I had her do it again before we got out of our parking space.
She drove me to a beach called Santa Monica Beach, and told me that I could fly to my heart's content as long as I kept it over the ocean and below five hundred feet. She pointed off to the south and said that there was a really big, important airport there and that the airplanes wouldn't know to watch out for a little pegasus.
That was okay by me; I didn't need a lecture, I needed to go flying. I could stay low and stay out of the way of big airplanes.
She got a portable icebox and a duffel bag out of the trunk and rolled them down to the beach, setting up a spot right next to a white tower that she said was a lifeguard stand. She said that she had food for us, showed me where the public bathrooms were, and said that I had to be back by four so that we would have time to eat dinner and then get on our train.
The beach was already filling up, even though it was pretty early. A couple of people came over and greeted me and I had a feeling that I was going to become a spectacle pretty quick but I knew that they couldn't follow me in the air, so I took off and flew maybe a decameter off the ground over the beach and then over the water and headed out to sea.
Once I'd gotten a little ways beyond the beach I picked up some altitude and looked around. To the south of us was a big pier with a giant ferris wheel on it, and of course Los Angeles was behind me. I could see big airplanes landing and taking off from the airport—it was a little too close for comfort, but I knew that airplanes had to go where they were assigned, and that close to the airport they wouldn't be allowed to sneak around low.
I made a bunch of broad circles over the water, maybe a mile in diameter, maybe a bit more. Down below me when I got close to the beach I saw some people on long waterboards who were riding breaking waves and that looked like it would be a lot of fun.
When I'd had my fill of flying for a bit, I went back to the beach and landed beside Miss Parker. She had taken off her clothes and was wearing swimming clothes called a bikini, which is almost like a bra and panties.
I sat down next to her and let the sun warm me up—it was a lot warmer here than it had been in Michigan or Seattle—and then played around in the surf.
I mostly dried off while I was eating lunch, and then I went back in the air again. Rather than make big loops, I flew parallel to the beach, going up and then diving down parallel to a wave. I tried to get as close to them as I could without getting wet, and I was mostly successful. Then I flew with the surfers for a while—they call themselves that because they ride the surf.
One of them said that I could use his board for a bit if I wanted to try it, and I discovered pretty quickly that riding on waves was different than riding on snow and fell off the board a lot. Still, it was a lot of fun, and I bet with practice I could get pretty good at it.
I rinsed off in the outdoor shower they had, to get all the salt out of my coat and feathers, and then walked back to the towel that Miss Parker was on and sat down beside her. I asked her if it was okay if I stretched out my wings to let them dry quicker and she said that she didn’t mind, so I laid one across her belly and let the other one drape in the sand.
I kinda dozed off, but it must not have been for too long because my wings were still damp when I woke back up. Miss Parker said that it was almost time to go, especially if we wanted to get something to eat on the way back.
So I took one final flight up and down the beach, and we walked back to the car. She opened the doors and folded the top down first so that all the hot air inside it would get out, then put the portable icebox and her duffel bag in the car, and we went to a restaurant called Sugarfish and I had sushi, which is raw fish. It was really tasty, and I got all the energy back I’d spent flying.
But it took longer than we’d hoped (I’m not sure why; how long does it take to prepare raw fish?) and we had to rush a bit on the way back because we didn’t want to be late and miss our train.
As much fun as I’d had, I was looking forward to seeing my travelling companions again and finding out what they’d done for the day, so I had pretty mixed feelings when we stopped in the parking lot at the train station.