Quick Time sat in the sand under a large umbrella, enjoying the sights and sounds of the local beach. The waves crashing gently against the shoreline, foals playing in the surf, and the sounds of other ponies out and enjoying the day, all floated around her in a pleasant haze. She clutched a drink in her hoof, taking an occasional sip as she watched her friends play a game of hoofball. She wasn’t very good at that game and didn’t enjoy it. Thankfully, she was able to sit out with the excuse of balancing the teams.
Normally she wasn’t a beach goer, never having particularly enjoyed it, but her friends had convinced her that she needed to get away from things for a few days. It was true that her boss had decided to up and go on vacation, leaving her in charge for two weeks. And her coltfriend had broken up with her as soon as she got back from practically living at the office. Despite those things, she didn’t feel any more stressed than usual. But her friends had insisted and so she’d joined them on this little outing, despite them hinting at finding her a colt to “shack up” with.
They’d taken a sleeper train the day before from Canterlot, ending up on the beaches outside Manehatten this morning. The plan was to spend all day at the beach, though perhaps with some shopping on the side, before heading back to Canterlot on an overnight train again.Quick Time approved of this plan, but that was because it meant only one day at the beach.
She leaned back, almost laying on her back, letting the warm air fall over her stomach. Despite her misgivings, she did have to admit that she’d been having a good time so far today. The beach wasn’t near as crowded as she thought it’d be and she had only caught one stallion staring at her flank.
Sitting back upright and taking another sip of her drink, she contemplated getting in the water. It would be a shame to come all the way out here to the beach and not go swimming at least once. And the ponies already out there looked like they were having fun.
Her thoughts were rather rudely interrupted by a yelling voice. “Look out!”
Huh, that sounds like it’s directed at me. No sooner had she thought that, than something hard collided with the back of her head. She jolted forward, her once wonderful drink now spilling everywhere as stars burst forth in her vision.
Steadying her shaky world with all hooves on the ground, she looked around for what had rudely struck her. Nestled smugly in the sand was a small, round object, a ball. She tried to glare at it, but her throbbing head meant it came out as a wince. I take it all back. Beaches suck, she thought.
“Are you okay, miss?” asked a voice.
Turning her head to figure out who spoke to her caused her world to spin once more, this time more violently. She would’ve fallen over if a strong pair of hooves hadn’t kept her upright.
“Easy, miss. You better sit down.” Gently the hooves helped her find a seat, though she mostly just plopped her flank down and waited until she stopped seeing double of everything.
When everything came into slightly clearer focus, she slowly turned her head, seeing two hooves attached to her side. Following the hooves up, she saw a unicorn stallion peering at her with a worried look. He had a shockingly bright blue mane, contrasting nicely with his green coat. Wow, somepony hated him even before he was born.
“Are you okay?” he asked again.
She nodded, slowly. “Yeah, just fine.” Her statement was ruined when she winced, another jolt of pain breaking through the steady throbbing.
“You don’t seem fine. Here, let me help.” The slight pressure of his hooves vanished from her side as he trotted out of her vision. Moving her head to follow him seemed like a bad idea at the moment, so she just sat in the sand, waiting for him to show himself.
Sand muffled hoofsteps quite nicely, so tracking where he was based on sound was pointless. That didn’t stop her from trying. Her ears swivelled around, attempting to pinpoint where he’d gone.
A creak from her left alerted her to somepony getting into their cooler, the lid slamming shut causing her to wince. After a short moment, something very cold, and very welcome in her current state, was being pressed to the back of her head.
“Here, this should help.”
“Thanks,” she said. The icy coolness of the bottle, it felt like a bottle, helped to numb the pain in her head. She reached up a hoof, taking over holding the bottle against her head. The garish stallion walked back into her field of vision, sitting in the sand, his head held low.
“I’m really sorry about what happened,” he said. “My friend has rather bad aim and a strong arm.”
Quick Time looked around, her eyes shifting back and forth. “Your friend?”
“He ran off. Back to the hotel would be my guess.”
“Ah. Some friend you’ve got.” She was able to pull off a successful glare this time with her head being numbed from the pain.
He winced. “Yeah, sorry about him, too.”
Her gaze softened. Despite her anger at being assaulted, it wasn’t this stallion’s fault, and he was helping her. “Thanks for the help,” she said.
“You’re welcome. My name’s Fine Tuning.”
“Quick Time,” she said. “I’d shake your hoof, but...” she shrugged.
“Your hooves are full, I understand.” He eyed her flank, briefly, getting a glance at her cutie mark. Fair was fair, as she was staring at his flank, doing the same. He had a picture of a guitar on the side of his body.
“A clock,” he said, indicating her cutie mark. “Interesting...” his voice trailed off.
“My special talent is scheduling. I make sure everypony is where they need to be, on time, and that there’s no conflicting appointments.” The response was automatic and lacking any inflection or tone. It was unfortunate, but she was one of those ponies whose special talent wasn’t readily apparent from her name and cutie mark. She had grown used to having to explain it almost every time she met somepony new.
“Hmm,” was his response. Silence fell over them. She had expected him to go away now, taking his Tartarus-damned ball with him, but he seemed determined to stay. Not that she resented him, he was only being nice and trying to make up for his friend’s carelessness. It just seemed like she was fine now, he could leave her to her receding agony.
When it looked like he was going to stay, at least until she could stand up without shaking, she opted to open up a conversation with him. “So, you’re a musician?”
He shook his head. “Not really. I can kinda play some instruments, but only enough to do my job.”
“Which is?”
“I specialize in instrument repair. I own a little shop in Canterlot.”
“Oh. You’re from Canterlot? So am I,” she said.
A single eyebrow rose on his face. “So what brings you here?”
She inclined her head towards the hoofball game still in progress. “My friends. They took it upon themselves to drag me here.”
“Surely they had a reason to do so. I’ve found that friends rarely ponynap somepony without provocation.”
She sighed. “Well, there was my boss just up and leaving one day, leaving me in charge of the entire company for two weeks. And my coltfriend broke up with me right after that.”
He winced. “Ouch. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Eh, I don’t think it would’ve lasted much longer anyway.” Which was true. Like a typical Canterlot stallion, he was dating her for one reason: her flank. He’d started trying to pressure her, which only made her mad.
“Oh,” he said, trying to find something to say in response to that. “Umm... So, who or what do you work for?”
“Fancy Pants. I’m his personal assistant.” And here it comes. The wide eyes and the staring.
“Oh, no wonder you were stressed.” His face never changed. No wide eyes, no staring.
Huh. That wasn’t what I expected. I wonder why he isn’t that interested? She had braced herself for the typical reaction, but Fine gave no sign of it. He seemed almost nonchalant about the reveal of who her boss was.
Her confusion must have shown on her face, as he spoke up. “What? Is something wrong?”
She shook her head. “Nope, nothing,” she said quickly.
“Okay,” he said, clearly not believing her.
“So, what brings you out here?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Kinda the same reason as you. My marefriend broke it off with me, so my best friend dragged me out here to get over her.”
“Oh. Sorry to hear that,” she said.
She shifted the bottle, which by now had warmed up considerably, to her other hoof, bringing it in front of her. “Sweet Apple Cider,” she read off the label. “My favorite.” The pain in her head had subsided enough to where she didn’t need the bottle anymore.
She popped the cap, taking a sip. Even warm the cider still tasted great. Setting the bottle in the sand, digging it in to make sure it stayed upright, she tried standing up again.
Her hooves were more sure of themselves this time. There was only minor shaking in her stance. She could see Fine standing up as well, ready to help her if she started to fall over. With care, she placed one hoof in front of the other, testing out walking.
After several steps and she didn’t fall over, she was ready to declare herself as fine. Speaking of fine, he was smiling at her. “Glad to see that knock to the head wasn’t permanent.”
“Ha, ha,” she said. She walked in a wide circle around the umbrella, Fine’s eyes following her the whole way. Arriving back where she started, she sat down again, rewarding herself with another sip of her drink.
“Well, seems like everything’s fine here,” she said.
He chuckled. “I guess so.” Pausing a moment, he spoke again. “Hey, let me make this up to you. I’ll buy you dinner tonight. I’m staying at the Manehatten Beach Hotel, just up that way, the green building.” He pointed to a green building several hundred yards down the beach.
“What?” she said, not quite sure what to make of his previous statement.
With a smile, he continued on. “Meet me in the lobby at six tonight.”
“I...” she faltered. He was being rather forward in his actions. Perhaps she had misjudged him and he was indeed after her flank or some in-road to her boss. Or maybe he was just trying to be nice, like he’d been doing ever since they’d met. As her thoughts swirled around each other, she sought anything to say. “Our train, tonight-”
“Leaves at like eleven, you’ll be fine.” Quick looked around, trying to see where to new voice had come from. She spotted a purple pegasus over by the cooler.
“Swift, don’t sneak up on me like that,” Quick admonished her friend.
Swift only grinned, grabbing a couple drinks from the cooler. “I wasn’t sneaking, just heading over here.” She walked over to Quick and threw a wing over her. “She’ll be there,” she told Fine.
He brightened up. “Really?”
With a nod, Swift confirmed. “Yup, even if I have to drag her there myself.”
Quick made to object over being promised into something she wasn’t sure she wanted, but was silenced when Swift shoved her hoof in her mouth. Instead all that came out was something garbled and unintelligible.
Raising an eyebrow, Fine regarded the two of them for a moment. “Are you sure she wants this?”
“Yup. She’s sure, aren’t you?” Swift removed her hoof, letting Quick speak.
A sharp reply of “no” on the tip of her tongue, Quick held it back. Actually taking a moment to think about it, she weighed the pros and cons of the situation. Well, I am technically on vacation. And if I look around the color scheme, he’s kinda cute. Plus he did help me when his friend threw that ball at me.
But, on the other hoof, do I really want to go on a “date” right now? I did just kinda break up, even if he was a jerk. Ugh, why must things be so complicated!
Her thoughts switched back and forth, unable to land on a clear answer. Getting frustrated, she pushed everything aside, focusing only on the one thing that mattered: did she want to meet Fine Tuning for dinner?
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, I’ll meet you at six.”
His bright look returned. “Great, see you then!” Scampering off in the sand, she watched him head towards the green building.
“Oh Celestia, what have I gotten myself into?” she asked herself.
“Hmm, did you say something?” Swift asked.
Sighing, Quick replied. “Nope, nothing.”
“Oh, okay.” The pegasus turned to face her friend, a bright smile on her face. “Now come on, we need to find a bathroom so we can get you looking presentable for tonight.”
“What? But that’s not for another two hours!”
“Which is why we need to start now. Time’s wasting.”
Quick planted her hooves in the sand, but Swift just grabbed onto her and with a few flaps of her wings was carrying the unfortunate pony across the beach.
With a final sigh, Quick resigned herself to her fate. This had better be worth it. Wait, what am I saying? Nothing’s worth being stuck in a room while Swift tries to give me a makeover.
“Hey Honey, get over here. Quick’s landed herself a date tonight,” Swift called out, causing many heads to turn in their direction.
Oh sweet Celestia, no! Quick was now genuinely afraid for her life. When Swift Bloom and Honey Blossom got together, no mare was safe from a makeover. A very extensive, very painful, makeover.
The golden mare rushed over, already chatting excitedly about manestyles and makeup opportunities. Grabbing her saddlebags from under the umbrella, which Quick knew was full of makeup, brushes, and more devices of torture, she quickly caught up with them.
Together, the two ponies dragged their unwilling companion towards her certain doom. Quick simply crossed her forelegs, a single thought filling her mind.
The Summer Sun Celebration had come and gone. Even without the excitement of the Princess visiting Ponyville, the town had been busy and festive. There had been all sorts of events, culminating in a weekend carnival, complete with a ferris wheel. Scootaloo had ridden it fifteen times. It was kind of like flying, if she really used her imagination.
But that was all in the past. True, it was only a week past, but to a filly, a week might as well have been a year.
The Summer Sun Celebration not only served as a celebration of the summer, it was also a signal to families that it was time to go on vacation. Sweetie Belle and Rarity had been gone the longest—they had gone to Baltimare to watch the festivities there. The Apples had taken the train to Appleoosa to visit Braeburn. Dinky's family had left shortly after, bound for Manehatten to visit their more distant relatives. Rumble and Thunderlane went to Los Pegasus.
In short, the park was mostly empty, save for a single orange furred, purple maned pegasus filly lying listlessly on the green, green grass of the park. Her scooter was tipped over beside her, with her helmet tossed carelessly to one side. All of her friends were gone on vacation. Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were gone. It was a testament to her boredom that she included her sworn enemies on the list of ponies who were absent.
She looked up into the perfectly cloudless blue sky. It wasn't the first time she had, and it wouldn't be the last. Naturally, she wanted to get a glimpse of her idol, but any pegasus would have been better than the vast blue emptiness.
She vaguely remembered hearing something about a weather conference. It seemed an odd time to hold it, since there wasn't any weather, but maybe that was the point.
She sighed deeply. What fun was summer if there wasn't anypony to spend it with? For a moment, she longed for school to start again—she could play with her friends at recess, and—
School was not to be thought of. She clamped down on the notion. Rainbow had told her that if she paid too much attention in school, she might wind up an egghead like Twilight. She didn't think that was true—Apple Bloom said that an education was valuable, but it was the words of a filly against the words of a mare.
She flopped over on her back. The vast openness of the sky beckoned to her, but it was unreachable. The best she could manage was falling through it. Deep down, she knew that there was something fundamentally wrong with her inability to fly, but she didn't know what. It wasn't a subject she normally dwelled on. After all, her best friends were ground-bound.
Scootaloo sighed again. So much free time. So much crushing boredom. She closed her eyes, desperately wracking her brain to come up with something to do.
"Vat do ve haf here?"
Scootaloo tilted her head back and snapped open her eyes. Even before she spotted the octet of upside-down legs in her vision, she knew who was talking. Aloe—or was it Lotus?—was the only pony she'd ever heard with that kind of accent. Sweetie Belle said that Rarity had told her once that the spa twins came from somewhere far away, although she couldn't remember where.
"Is sad pony." The blue one looked down at her. "Tell me, mazs pony, vy you is sad."
"All my friends are on vacation," she said. "There's nothing to do."
"Hmm." The twins shared a look. "Ve haf something mazs pony can do. You vait here. Ve vill be back."
Scootaloo rolled over onto her barrel. "Um, ok. How long will you be?"
"Ve von't be many time." They flicked their tails and trotted off towards the town proper.
Watching the pair exit the park, Scootaloo frowned. The twins were a little weird, and it wasn't just their accents. The blue one did all the talking—she'd never heard the pink one say anything at all. Not that she spent much time around them, of course. Rainbow told her that only fussy ponies went to the spa, not cool ponies. Scootaloo desperately wanted to be a cool pony. Still, she'd seen Rainbow there a few times, although the pegasus usually came and went rather quickly. Maybe it was still cool to visit the spa if she didn't enjoy the experience. She'd had to go the the dentist before, and that wasn't fun. Especially since the doctor gave out lollipops, but the dentist handed out toothbrushes at the end of an exam, which was just cruel.
"Ve is back." If anything, Aloe or Lotus' voice was even more incomprehensible, no doubt because she had a letter clamped between her teeth.
"Ve see you haf a scooter, vich is gut. Ve vant you to take letter across town to Fluttershy. Is important. You know vere is Fluttershy house?"
"Yes, ma'am." Scootalloo slipped on her helmet. "I'll be there in a flash."
"You must not let anypony delay you, is important." She hoofed over a half-bit coin. "For zis errand. Now go!"
With a furious buzzing of her wings, Scootaloo rocketed across the park, weaving around bushes just because she could. She had the letter clamped firmly in her teeth; the coin was tucked into the liner of her helmet.
As she rode, she wondered what the spa twins had to do with Fluttershy that they would need her to rush a letter across town. She could come up with nothing. But it was kind of exciting to have . . . a mission! She swerved around ponies going about their business in the market, imagining that they were all trying to stop her. Maybe the twins were spies. They could pass messages along to . . . well, to anypony at all. Most mares visited the spa . . . it was hard to imagine why else Fluttershy would spend so much time there. And Photo Finish had had a funny accent, too. What if Fluttershy was . . . a secret agent!
She dodged Berry Punch, envisioning her hooves reaching out to wreck the scooter. A quick buttonhook around Carrot Top's stall avoided an imaginary beam of magic from Pokey Pierce's horn, and her dart through a covered alleyway would get any pursuing pegasi off her tail.
She shot clear of town, blasting down the dirt path that led towards the Everfree—and Fluttershy's modest abode. Barely ten minutes after she had left the spa twins, she skidded to a stop outside the treehouse. She leaned her scooter against a wall and began pounding her hoof on the front door.
"Message from the spa twins," she muttered as the door opened.
"Oh, um, I wonder what they want." Fluttershy gently took the letter. "Um, you can come in. Let me get you a drink of lemonade. You look thirsty."
She led the filly over to her small table, pushed aside a half-prepared salad, and promptly set a tall glass in front of her. She carefully filled it from an ewer she had in her icebox, then sat across from the pegasus and opened the letter. Scootaloo noticed a small piece of paper fall out, which the pegasus quickly slid aside, blushing slightly. When she had finished reading, she looked up at the filly wide-eyed.
"Oh my. Um, as soon as you finish your lemonade, I have something for you to do, um if it's okay with you."
"Sure." Scootaloo nodded eagerly. Maybe it would be something cool. On the other hoof, this was Fluttershy, so probably not.
"I . .. um, I need you to go to the vet. She . . . er, she has a, um, medicine that I need. I mean, um, she doesn't have it yet. But she can make it, um, if she knows I need it."
"Medicine?" Scootaloo looked skeptical. "What kind of medicine?"
"Oh, it's . . . um, for a ferret. He's . . . sick. He coughs. It's cough medicine. For a ferret." As she spoke, her eyes darted around the room, looking at everything except the orange filly.
"Does he have a cold?" Scootaloo looked outside skeptically. "It's the middle of the summer."
"No . . . I mean, yes. Yes, he has a cold. It's a summer cold. They're the worst kind. That's why he needs special medicine. Um, from the vet."
"Oh. Well, I better go tell her, then." Scootaloo drank the rest of her lemonade, then headed towards the door. "Do you need me to bring it back?"
"Um . . . no. It has to be prepared first. She just needs to know that I need her to make it."
"That doesn't sound too urgent."
"Oh, but it is," Fluttershy insisted. "If his cough gets any worse, he could . . . um, he could not be able to eat."
At those words, Scootaloo's stomach rumbled. She suddenly remembered she hadn't eaten yet, either. Maybe she'd get some fries with the half-bit Aloe—or Lotus—had given her.
She jumped back on her scooter and headed towards town. Had she looked back, she would have seen Fluttershy take to the sky with a determined look on her face, but she never turned.
The vet's office smelled funny. There were weird potions arranged on the walls. Scootaloo tapped her hoof impatiently—the receptionist had muttered something about the doctor being in the middle of a procedure. Scootaloo wasn't sure what that was, but it sounded important.
Finally, the vet came out after what seemed like an eternity but was really only five minutes. "Hello, Scootaloo," she said warmly. "What brings you by?"
"Fluttershy said she has a coughing ferret with a summer cold. She said that you would know what kind of medicine it needs."
"I do." The vet looked at her thoughtfully. "Would you like to help me make it?"
"Sure!" Scootaloo brightened. Maybe she could get a cutie mark in potion making! True, they had made the love potion which had turned out to be a love poison, but she hadn’t done much of the work herself. “The formula doesn't call for a pegasus feather, does it?"
"Nope! Come on, I'll show you the lab."
An hour later, Scootaloo finally emerged. The time had just flown by, and the vet had even ordered them a pizza to share. She'd even let her pick the toppings. Oddly, the vet hardly ate any of it, stopping at a half-slice, but that was just more for Scootaloo. True, she didn't have a cutie mark, but her belly was full of free pizza, and that was nearly as good.
On top of that, the vet had given her a jug of scale polish, which she was supposed to take to the pond and dump into the pond. Apparently, it made the fish shiny—at least, that's what the vet said, and vets knew things like that. It was perched carefully against the steering shaft of the scooter.
She moved slowly through town. The jug was precariously perched, and she didn't want to spill it. Normally ponies were yelling at her to not be underhoof; she hardly ever got to do cool stuff with mares. This day was shaping up to be a pretty awesome day, after all.
Finally arriving at the pond, she grabbed the bottle with her teeth and dragged it down to the water's edge. She examined the note tied to it. The vet had told her that she had to carefully follow the instructions.
"Step one: pour contents of bottle into water," she read aloud. "I can do that." She tugged the cork out with her teeth and tipped the bottle over, listening to the faint glurping as the viscous liquid poured into the lake.
When the bottle was finally empty, she read the second line. "Step two: mix thoroughly in lake. This is best done by splashing around in the water for a while." She frowned. That seemed like a rather . . . odd instruction. Still, it was hot, and a dip in the water would feel nice. There was a tree hanging out over the water with a rope she'd never noticed before tied to a branch—it would be the perfect thing to splash a little water around.
With a gleeful cry, she soared briefly through the air, before splashing down in the center of the pond. A confectioner's dozen cannonballs left her bruised but happy, and probably mixed the scale polish in the water well enough. She ponypaddled to shore, then shook her fur dry. Next, she stretched her wings out, flapping furiously to dry them off.
"Hey, Scoots, can you help us out?"
She snapped her head up and clamped her wings against her side. She hadn't seen the two silvery pegasi who were fluttering just above the lake. She recognized them, of course. Scootaloo knew every pegasus who lived in Ponyville or frequented the market. It was Flitter and Cloudchaser. The former was missing her usual pink bow, and the latter was wearing a strange vest.
"What do you want?"
"Thunderlane stole Flitter's bow and hid it," Cloudchaser explained.
"I thought Thunderlane and Rumble were in Los Pegasus."
"Oh yeah. I meant Hoops. Hoops stole her bow and hid it."
"Yeah. I want it back," Flitter added. "He said he hid it in Ponyville, but we've been looking, and we haven't seen it anywhere." She looked at the filly sadly. "Maybe you could help us look. Three pairs of eyes would be better than two."
"What do you say?" Cloudchaser landed lightly on the sand. "I just happen to be wearing my papoose vest, so I could carry you along with us! We could fly over Ponyville and see if we can find the bow!"
It took Scootaloo only a fraction of a second to decide that this was a grand idea. While they weren't as cool as Rainbow Dash, flying was flying—besides, Cloudchaser had been at the Wonderbolts Academy, so she was pretty cool. She quickly rolled her scooter over under a tree, but decided it might not be a bad idea to take her helmet, especially since it had her bits inside.
In less time than she had imagined possible, Flitter had helped strap her into the vest, and the pair of pegasi took to the sky. They glided on thermals and dove between trees in what was undoubtedly the least efficient search pattern ever devised, but Scootaloo didn't care. She was flying! The vest kept her legs free, and she held them out, mimicking how Flitter was doing it. She could almost imagine she was flying on her own, especially if she looked down just enough to avoid catching Cloudchaser’s neck and chin in her peripheral vision.
They skimmed low over the river; Cloudchaser dropped down low enough that Scootaloo could trail a hoof in the water, leaving a trail of spray behind them as they passed under the bridge. As soon as they were clear, she pulled up quickly, spiraling upwards in a heart-stopping vertical climb. She finished with a quick victory loop at the top, before diving back towards the ground, hot on Flitter’s hooves.
Scootaloo was having so much fun that she completely forgot she was supposed to be looking for Flitter's bow. Instead, she watched wide-eyed as the ground twisted and banked below them. This was the best day ever.
"Hold your hooves up, Scoots, we're gonna land." Cloudchaser looked down to make sure the filly was following her instructions, then dove towards the market. She rocked above the stalls, twisted through an alleyway, did two barrel rolls, and finally came to a stop just shy of the town hall. She gently dropped to the ground, a winded Flitter landing beside her.
"I . . . think . . . I . . . saw . . . it . . . over . . . there." Flitter pointed towards the ice-cream shop.
"That was awesome," Scootaloo said as the two pegasi helped her out of the harness.
"Oh, hey, it was nothing. Come on, it's hoof power now."
The three ponies trotted towards Lickety Split’s, walking slowly since Flitter was still pretty winded.
"Yup, that's it." Flitter looked slightly relieved as she pulled her bow off a bush outside the shop. Scootaloo’s eyes narrowed—it was hardly hidden; anypony should have been able to find it with just one pass over Ponyville—but the next words out of the mare’s mouth caused her to instantly forget how convenient the bow’s hiding place had been. "Come on, let's have some ice cream. I'll buy."
As soon as they stepped into the shop, Scootaloo paused. The spa twins were sitting at the counter, sharing a tall milkshake. Lotus—or was it Aloe—looked up at her and smiled. "Ah, did you haf a gut day?"
"It was awesome! I got to help the vet make medicine, and I got to put fish-polish in the pond, and I flew around with Flitter and Cloudchaser!"
"Ah, zat is gut." She took another sip of the milkshake. "Venefer you is sad, you come to spa. We make something fun for you."
Scootaloo frowned. Did they make all this happen, just for me? Fluttershy seemed a little . . . weirder than usual. Almost like she was making something up, and she's not good at that at all. I've never heard of scale polish before. And how would Cloudchaser and Flitter not know that Thunderlane and Rumble were out of town—they foalsit Rumble all the time! She’d felt as if she was on the verge of some important discovery all day, ever since she’d first encountered the spa twins.
But her thoughts were interrupted by Flitter gently nudging her withers. Cloudchaser was proudly setting a huge banana split on the table, and it would be the perfect finish to a fantastic day. She eagerly eyed the three different flavors of ice cream, trying to decide where to start. She was so intent, she didn’t notice Aloe slide two small pieces of paper over to Cloudchaser, who carefully tucked them into her vest.
It was a sunny day at the newly opened Ponyville Pool, and with the annual closing of schools for summer vacation, the pool was filled with fillies, colts, and their families. They filled the pool with the sound of laughter, the wet slapping of hooves as ponies exited the pool, and the yelling of the lifeguards to stop running.
However, up on the diving board, the sounds of the pool were merely buzzing in the background for Pinkie Pie, who stood, simply waiting. Not many ponies knew this, but being The Principal Pink Party Pony of Ponyville was more than just streamers and popping out of random apple barrels. Sure those were part of the responsibility, but equally important was knowing when to wait. A concept Pinkie had struggled with before, but she was determined to cultivate that patience to make her an even more unpredictable force for fun.
But Celestia knows it was hard. She desperately wanted to just dive down, make a big splash, elicit laughs, splash around maybe, anything other than standing up on the high board, freezing her poofy pink tail off. But no, she just needed to wait. She knew that if she just waited, an even bigger chance for fun would present itself. She wasn’t quite sure in what form it would be in, but it was going to be there. It was just torturous waiting on the high board for an opportunity at one big burst of fun when she could be down in the pool enjoying her time, but no she just — had — to — wait.
Never mind she felt like she was— wait, what was that? Itchy shoulders, tongue swelling by 1/57 a centimeter, a nigh irresistible urge to tap dance, a combo, and, unless she was mistaken, it signaled a particularly strong updraft. That was what she was waiting for, it must have been! Not a moment too soon either, now just to take advantage of it.
She bounced once, her hooves barely leaving the board before coming down again. She bounced again, getting a foot more of airtime, another time, she heard the heavy thrum of the diving board, one last time, and she finally leapt off, waiting for the updraft. A second later she felt the wind tussle her mane and she could also feel her descent slow, stop, and then reverse.
She could only stare down as swimming ponies started to shrink in size and the noises of the pool faded. As she stared, one thought crossed her mind, ‘This is going to be the best dive ever!’ When she finally felt the updraft falter, she looked around, just to see how far she could see (from there to Manehattan for those wondering). She happened to spot a certain chromatic Pegasus napping on a small cloud.
“Hi Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie called, waving. Rainbow’s head snapped up, glancing around bewilderedly. When she finally did find the source of the greeting, her eyes widened and she could only stare as gravity finally came back into effect for Pinkie. “Okay, see you later!” Pinkie called again as she disappeared from Rainbow’s sight.
Pinkie returned her gaze to the rapidly approaching pool, and decided that she couldn’t just belly flop during what would have to be the dive to end all dives. There was only one thing that would be fitting. She tucked herself into a ball, hugging her knees close together.
A couple of the swimming ponies happened to glance up, and could only stare gormlessly as a pink mortar shell hurtled towards the public Ponyville pool.
There was one last thing Pinkie needed to do to make this the best dive ever in the history of Equestria, all she need to do was shout one phrase.
“CANONBALL!”
Finally her flank met the water annnnnnnnnd......
The resulting tower of water could be seen for miles around and there was an unscheduled thirty minute rainstorm for the surrounding areas.
