Road Trip!
It was a lovely sunny day in Scotland, something that didn't often happen, especially in summer, and the town of Fort William was bustling as usual, ready and waiting for the tourists to arrive as they did year after year. And no surprise too; the lakes and hills were immensely popular with walkers and backpackers, or people who just wanted to sail or travel about the region. Ever since trade with Equestria had started in the late 1990s, the area had even seen plenty of pony clientele, as well as some rather exotic creatures visiting the region too, with all sorts of plumage and colours.
This year, however, the town would play host to some rather unusual specimens indeed. One Friday afternoon, one of the travel portals that enabled people and ponies to move between Earth and Equestria rumbled into life, the same as it always did when somebody wanted to travel across dimensions. After wobbling for a bit, as it often did whilst processing its load, the portal spat its passengers out onto the pavement.
All on top of each other.
"Maybe all going in at once wasn't the best of ideas," Sandbar groaned, hemmed in at the bottom of the pile of creatures.
"You really think so?" Gallus grumbled, trying to shift himself out of the mess, the griffon flapping his wings as he did so. "We seem to be very stuck!"
"Having Yona on top weighing us down doesn't really help either!" Smoulder complained.
Yona took offense. "Smoulder think Yona fat?"
"No, you're just weighing us all down!"
Silverstream finally popped out from under the pile, and they all fell in a heap. "YAY! she said. "We're here, and I LOVE any place with easy access to lakes!"
Gallus trotted forward. "Really?" he asked. "There's a lake right next to the school, Silverstream. You can jump in that any time you want."
"Not during classes or when I'm asleep!" the hippogriff replied, smiling from ear to ear in a somewhat ludicrous manner. "I love it in the water!"
"Were you born underwater?" Smoulder asked her.
"Yes! Given how long we were trapped in Seaquestria and the fact that the Pearl could not be used on seaponies or hippogriffs under 5 years of age, I was born a Seapony."
"That explains so much," Gallus sighed, now really understanding why his grifffriend was a bit loopy.
"Friends not care if Silverstream is hippo or seapony!" Yona proclaimed, as she headed forward into the street. "Friends love Silverstream for who she is!"
"Look out!" Gallus shouted, as a car sped by.
"Watch where you're going, you cow!" shouted a passing driver.
"Yona Yak, not cow!" Yona shouted.
"He must've thought you were a Highland Cow," Smoulder sighed. "Come on, let's find out where we're staying tonight."
As all this was going on, Sandbar was helping Ocellus to her hooves. The Changeling wasn't used to interdimensional travel, and as a result was a little wobbly on her legs.
"There, does that feel better?" Sandbar asked her gently.
"Yes, thanks," Ocellus replied, a small smile forming on her face. "This place looks amazing! What's the local history?"
"Three days without studying or classrooms," Gallus drawled. "How in Equestria will Ocellus survive?"
"I think she'll do fine," Sandbar replied. "To answer your question, Smoulder, the place we're staying is down to the south, and in a small copse of trees next to the lake."
Smoulder unfolded some instructions and looked at them. "Go down the loch," she said, in confusion. "What's a loch?"
"It's a Scottish term for a big lake," Ocellus explained. "It's a corruption of the Latin word 'lacus', which is also the route of the English word 'lake'."
"Of course the Changeling would know," Smoulder sighed. "Come on, let's get going! All this travel has left me tired and in need of a rest!"
"OK then," Sandbar replied. "Take a left."
Smoulder, Gallus and Yona set off, turning to the right.
"Your other left!"
The three creatures roamed off down the street in the other direction. Silverstream glanced to Sandbar and Ocellus. "I'll go by water!" she said, diving into Loch Linnhe and changing into a Seapony along the way. "If this place is on the waterfront, I can get there very quickly indeed!"
Sandbar nodded. "You can fly if you'd like. I'll walk."
"Then you'd be on your own!" Ocellus exclaimed. "I'd never want that!"
Sandbar smiled. He sure was happy that he and Ocellus had started dating. She was one of the kindest and sweetest creatures he knew, and the exact opposite of what most people thought a Changeling was. "Lead the way, Celly."
"You have the directions!" Ocellus giggled. "You lead the way!"
"Sure," Sandbar replied. "Away we go!" And off the two creatures trotted, heading for the residence at the edge of the lake.
The house that Sandbar had somehow booked was made of wood, and built on a single story with large, wide glass windows facing the water's edge. It looked like a paradise to stay in, and the six friends all took to the living room first whilst Smoulder opened the fridge and took a look through the contents.
"Oh, really?" she asked. "There's no Inferno in here!"
"Yona wonder what Inferno is," Yona asked.
"Only the most popular drink in the Dragonlands!" Smoulder explained, as she closed the fridge door. "Torch popularised it and the rest is history."
"Torch was the previous Dragon Lord before Ember," Ocellus quickly explained.
"We all did that module on Dragon history, remember?" Gallus pointed out. "Admittedly, it was a compulsory module, but it was still interesting. So much more interesting than that one on cupcakes."
"Yeah, I'm still not sure why Pinkie insisted on teaching that one in her basement."
The chatter was interrupted by a sudden, and loud, rumbling coming from outside. The five turned to see Silverstream had just emerged from the water, dripping wet and only just turned back to a hippogriff. She walked indoors and closed the door behind her, water dripping onto the hardwood floor as she stopped. "The water here is amazing! It's so clear, and smooth, and it's full of fish!"
"It also sounds like somebody is hungry," Gallus pointed out.
"Aw, Gally, you really know me too well!"
"You're stomach is rumbling."
"Oh."
Sandbar took up the conversation, keen to avoid further interruption. "Does anybody else want to head into Fort William to get a bite to eat? If it's fish you want, there's a good chippy."
"What's a chippy?" asked Smoulder.
"A place that serves fish and chips. I was thinking the griffon and hippogriff would probably prefer that."
"How about we go to a place where we can all eat together?" asked Ocellus. "I thought this was meant to be a friends holiday, right?"
"Quite right," Sandbar answered. "Well, the Grog and Gruel is the best rated on TripAdvisor, so how about we go there?"
Having made the equally long trek back into town, the Young Six stood in line at the Grog and Gruel's main desk.
"How many, sir-" the waiter looked down, and did a double take. "It's been a while since we had ponies here! Most of them go to London."
"Well, I suppose we're unconventional tourists," Sandbar replied. "Table for six, please."
As the waiter led them upstairs, Silverstream chatted with Ocellus. "I'm still trying to figure out who Anne was."
"Anne who?"
"You know, the woman this town is named after. Anne Garasden?"
Ocellus giggled. "It's not a person's name! An Gearasdan means 'the garrison', which refers to the fact it was originally built by the English to control the neighbouring Scottish clans. Hence why some have called for the English name to be changed to Invernevis, as William of Cumberland wasn't a very nice chap."
Silverstream was silent. "I suppose in future I'll start by asking what you don't know."
After being seated and ordering their food (not surprisingly, Silverstream and Gallus ordered seafood and Smoulder went for a steak, whilst the rest went with vegetarian options), several other patrons took interest in them. They seemed to be familiar with ponies, but of all the creatures, Ocellus and Silverstream attracted the most fascination. Ocellus gave them a demonstration of her shapeshifting abilities, whilst Silverstream had to explain to one little girl that, no, she wasn't a mermaid.
After a long, relaxing, and very refreshing meal, the six friends returned home and relaxed on two couches. "Remember, we need to be up early tomorrow," Sandbar explained. "Our train leaves at 10:15, and we have to be on the platform an hour in advance to they can check us all in."
"Does it have to be that early?" Gallus asked, yawning as he did so. "Last I looked, this stuff takes a while to digest."
Silverstream sat forward. "Maybe flying back on a full stomach wasn't the best of ideas."
"Is food provided?" Smoulder asked.
"On our tickets, yes, we get a full meal."
"Sounds good."
"Yona heading off to bed. Good night!"
The friends said their goodbyes and headed to their respective rooms. The place had six bedrooms, so they could each sleep on their own, similar to their own dorms. Sandbar was the last to head off to bed, and as he did so, he closed the door and switched the light off.
"See you in the morning, my love," he whispered absent mindedly as he drifted off into the world of dreams.
Stats
Page generated in 0.021 seconds
Total duration
942 users online
500,106 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Which generation?
10454437
Generation 4.
Epic start. :3
Love the picture. I'll put this on my read later list
Huh very interesting so the young six Basically kind of went to our World ( aka equestria girls ) But they visit Scotland I never been to Scotland before But it looks like the people got used to creatures coming back and forward between our World and equestria ok thats cool So I wonder how were their trip gos Can't wait to see how this will work
Oh God.
Well this was definitely an interesting start. I’m excited to see what happens next.
To quote our pink party pony queen, “I’m intrigued.”
10454437
10454458
G4.
10454459
Thanks bud. Anything standing out so far?
10454468
I hope you enjoy reading.
10454477
10454485
Well spotted.
10454496
I couldn't write an anniversary story for MLP without referencing once of its most infamous pieces of fan labour, could I?
10454645
Thanks.
10454674
I aim to update this fairly regularly, so keep your eyes peeled.
It was also bookings-only when I was there (like virtually everywhere else) so both nights I went to a chippy. (Never knew deep-fried Haggis and Black Pudding was so good)
At least Sandbar didn't book The Berkeley.
Huh very interesting start to go on a vacation and wait a minute how come the young six are still like them self and not as humans or cats or dogs or whatever and why does the people are perfectly okay seeing mythical creatures walking among them unless this city particularly seems some sh
or something because they didn't freak out.
11066071
In this world, Equestria and Earth have been conducting business for some time, so are used to seeing mythical creatures. On top of this, this human place is separate to the EqG world.
11066148
Hmm interesting dude but isn't it Equestria Girls part of the human world and how long the humans and ponies and creatures connected with each other is it when the Magics seeped through during the episode Equestria Girls spring break