Road Stop At Beach City
Beach City has always been the best place for anyone to enjoy a good time. Breadsticks being made at The Crab Shack, several types of donuts available at the Big Donut, and the exciting rides from the Beach City Funland park. When it comes to new visitors, all the options and activities await them in the city that’s two hundred years old.
A transit bus stopped at thebus stop to allow its passengers to disembark. When all the people got out, there were only two more passengers left. With some extra payment, the inconvenience of taking an hour long drive with no animals being allowed in the bus, two ponies disembarked. One who’s a young colt wearing a propeller hat, and his mother.
“I can’t believe we had to sit on the worst seats in that bus.” The colt said, rubbing his butt.
“Not in public, Button Mash!” His mother slightly slapped his hoof. “If it wasn’t for me paying the driver more money, we would’ve walked all the way here and arrived three hours later.”
As the bus leaves, Button Mash looks at Beach City itself. “I guess it would be close to midnight if we did that option. So what are we gonna do first?”
“Before we go out to eat and rent an apartment, I want to go to the beach. We haven’t gone to a beach since we began our road trip.”
Button Mash may enjoy beach time, but at this late point in the day, it really isn’t the right time. “What are we gonna do there?”
“We’re just gonna watch the waves together. I enjoy those sounds whenever I go to the beach where we live.”
The colt rolled his eyes, but still needs to appreciate her mother’s hobbies. “Alright, let’s go.”
As his mother smiled, they walked the streets of Beach City. Several citizens in the city took notice of the presence of the two ponies. They've been lucky that they’re never in serious trouble by evacuating during the whole Homeworld Gem War from before but seeing two ponies that have nothing to do with gem powers feels unusual.
“These people are staring at us.” Button quivered, looking at the humans.
“They’re just not used to new visitors like us.” His mother replied.
“But they’re human...and we’re not.”
His mother tried to look at the positives, outweighing the negatives. “Okay, they’re not like the humans from our last visit. But at least we’re not getting any restrictions this time.”
His mother looked for the cheapest motel in Beach City and saw the rules had a strict no pet policy. She needed to find a way for her and Button Mash to rest for the night before they spend the whole day exploring the city tomorrow. As they stepped onto the sand of the beach, there were only a few people either playing volleyball or sitting by themselves. Button Mash’s mother wanted to make sure she has more space for herself and her son. She takes her son to the other side of the beach where there’s no one around.
Button Mash looked at the ocean itself. Unlike the beach he went to from where he lives, this beach is a lot more beautiful with the ocean clear and blue. “I got to say though, we never had a beach that’s like this one.”
“I know, that’s why I decided this is our next stop.”
When they headed to the open arena, Button and his mother saw a beach house to their left. “Do you think the humans in the beach house would be okay if we stayed on their property?”
“Maybe? I’ve heard that the citizens are really respectful. If we respect them, and don’t touch anything that we’re not supposed to touch, we'll be fine.” As they sit together, hooves away from the water, they stare at the ocean together. But as for Button’s mother, she’s worried if there’s zero chance for her to rent an apartment for their stay.
Inside the beach house, a slumber party is going on with nine people and one other creature enjoying their time. Other than playing video games, a homemade pizza is inside the oven while the invited guests in the beach house are waiting patiently.
“So I was wondering Steven.” Connie walked down the steps with Steven in front of her. “Maybe we can go to the pier before you leave, you know just like old times when we were in a crystal ball.”
Steven remembers trying to get the attention from Connie since day one when she finally talked to him. “Well, we only needed help to get out of the bubble.”
“True, but I still remember you gave me my glow bracelet.”
“Yeah and look where we are now.” Steven laughed as they both took a seat by the kitchen table with Pearl and Peridot. “But at the same time, I don’t feel like going to the beach anytime soon.”
“Then what do you want to do?”
“How about you two go on a picnic?” Pearl suggested, with Steven and Connie looking at her. “That’ll be something you two can do before you leave Steven.”
“We don’t usually do that all the time.” Connie responded.
“Come on Connie, you know Steven would approve of that.” Peridot added.
“Actually Peridot, she’s right.” Steven turned his attention to the green gem. “Other than roller skating, me and Connie want to do something different for once. It’s not always the same when we try something new for a change.”
Both Pearl and Peridot look at each other from hearing the confession from Steven. “I guess you could be right, but rollerskating and picnics is what you do mostly.” Pearl turned back to Steven. “Is there anything you two haven’t done yet in Beach City?”
“We’re probably gonna drive around in his car with a map of the city so we can pick the place together.” Connie answered.
“I don’t know about you, but it feels awkward to see what you're gonna do differently tomorrow.” Peridot commented. “I mean what could happen that could be better than all the other activities you two did in the past?”
Steven and Connie looked at each other after listening to Peridot’s consideration. Just when they’re about to come up with a solution, Garnet was looking out the window. She usually expects something serious to be going on, but instead, she saw two ponies by the beach.
“Steven.” She spoke which caused her to turn her head to Steven. “Something’s outside and they're animals.”
“Animals?” Steven standing up and heading to the window with Connie following from behind. When he saw the two ponies sitting on the beach, he thought he was seeing things. He never came across ponies during any of his journeys with the Crystal Gems.
“Are those...ponies?” Connie looked closely through the window.
“Ponies?” Amethyst blinked as she placed her snack on her couch. “Do you mean actual ponies?”
“Probably.” Garnet responded while Amethyst also looked out the window.
“I got to say, every occasion like this just keeps getting stranger.”
Soon Pearl, Peridot and Greg all looked out from the window to see the two ponies outside. While Peridot and Greg are just confused like the others, Pearl however wrapped her fingers together, even without seeing the faces from the two ponies.
“Aww...it must be a mother and son bonding.” She commented.
“You really think that?” Greg wondered.
“I mean look at them, it’s always sweet to see this on the beach.”
“It looks like these two were from a different land or something. I don’t recall knowing a pony village having existed at some point.” Peridot said.
This gave Steven an idea, an weird idea, but a charming one still. “I’m gonna go outside to check them out.” He responded as he headed to the front door.
Button and his mom spent about eight minutes looking at the ocean. It’s always beautiful how it shines when the sun sets over the water. Button Mash may have found it wonderful, his mother adored it way more then he thinks. “How much time do we have left?” He asked.
“Only two more minutes.” His mother responded.
When Button Mash looked at the ocean again, he was wondering what he and her mother can do in Beach City tomorrow. But then again, he remembered how the other humans felt when they saw him as a colt.
“You’re not going to rent an apartment are you?”
This causes his mother to sigh. “No, because there’s a no pet policy at the motel.”
“Then where are we gonna sleep if it rains tonight?”
“I don’t know, I just thought this would be the best place for family bonding, but I never got this far before.” Button’s mother lowered her ears in disappointment in herself. “Will you please give me another five minutes to think of a solution?”
“Why?” Button whined. “Even if we go out to eat, what if they don’t allow us in?”
“OKAY! We’re only here so we can see the ocean!” She shouted in frustration. Button Mash placed his hoof on his face. To think he was expecting something awesome, all of that was a waste of thought.
“Soo, we’re just gonna leave to eat somewhere else?”
“Yes, I’m sorry.” His mother sadly said, calming herself down.
Meanwhile, Steven was out of his beach house, hearing everything of what Button and his mother said. He was surprised that they have the ability to speak. “This feels so unusual, it’s too awesome for me to care.” He thought as he made his first move.
After he got off the porch, he walked up to the two ponies. Button and his mother’s right ear perked up after hearing footsteps from behind them. They turned around which caused Steven to stop in place.
“Oh! Sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you.” He replied. Button Mash is stunned, not because he got caught from being on someone else’s property, but the fact the human is not taking it harshly.
“We’re also sorry, I just wanted to see the ocean here.” His mother grabbing onto his hoof.
“I can tell, the ocean is always wonderful to look at.” He turned his attention to Button Mash. “This is your son?”
“My one and only son. His name is Button Mash and my name is Cream Heart.”
This gave Steven an idea for what he can do during this opportunity. He turned around to look back at his beach house with none of his friends and family looking out the window. “So...what are you doing here?” He turned to the two ponies.
“We're about to stay here in the city, but…” Cream tried to be honest, but her son fills her in.
“There’s restrictions everywhere, so we can’t stay at a motel.” He rolled his eyes unhappy. “We’re on a road trip.”
“And it seems you're the first ponies to arrive in Beach City.” Steven smiled. “Do you want to spend the night at my beach house?”
Cream Heart was stunned that a human is allowing her and Button to sleep inside his house. “You’re...seriously willing to do that?”
“You two seem housebroken to me. Come inside.” Steven turned around, while leading the ponies to his beach house.
“I can’t believe he’s allowing us to have a place to sleep.” Button smiled.
“I know, it’s so unbelievable.” His mother responded in relief.
“Unbelievable huh?” Steven turning around. “Then here's a group of people you will never forget.”
This made Button and his mother confused. It’s one thing to meet so many humans during their road trip, especially the citizens of Beach City, but what they heard couldn't make the situation any more special. But Steven knows what he's attempting is simple, compared to the life he had when he was a preteen.
When he allowed the two ponies inside, Button noticed the amount of people looking at him. After the stops he took, looking at the humans, he always thought humans only had two skin colors. Although most of Steven’s guests aren’t human at all.
“Who are these people?” Cream looking in her surroundings.
“Other than my friend and father, these are the Crystal Gems.” Steven said, introducing them.
“That brown pony looks utterly adorable.” Pearl smiled.
“The pony with that baby bottle and heart must be his mother.” Bismuth commented.
“I got to say, she must be a very caring mother.” Greg added.
Steven allowed Button and Cream to sit on the white couch where Amethyst is sitting. As Steven headed to the refrigerator to give his two invited guests something to drink, Button looked at Amethyst, who was smiling the whole time.
“Umm....hello?” He smiled shyly.
“What? You never seen anyone like us?” She smirked. “Because we have never seen an animal like you.”
When Button looked at the other invited guests in the house, they all agreed on what Amethyst just said. “Are Crystal Gems that rare?” He asked.
“Oh trust us, there’s way more of us!” Peridot cheered.
“If they were here, we would’ve had our slumber party outside.” Lapis said, pointing out the window.
“You must be exaggerating.” Cream responded.
“Trust us, we went through a lot of adventures.” Steven took out two boxes of grape juice while closing the fridge door.
While he gives the ponies the drinks, Connie sat by them, placing her hand on Cream’s mane. “Your mane is beautiful.” She replied.
“Why thank you.” Cream blushed. “It was a good idea I took a shower before I left.”
“You can shower by yourself?”
Cream nodded which impressed the gems. “I always thought we had to give animals a bath.” Greg said.
“If you have the ability to learn the skill, anything is possible.” Cream laughed.
Button felt a little embarrassed from his mother’s sense of humor. “If we have a slumber party and you happen to arrive at our village, you would see the whole picture.”
“What do you mean?” Garnet wondered.
“Our village is completely populated with ponies.” Cream filling in. “Not only that, there’s so many creatures outside of our village.”
“Seriously?!” Peridot rushing up to the two ponies. “Are there like gem aliens there!?”
“Umm...no??” Cream said warily, getting slightly creeped out from the green gem.
“Gem ponies?”
“No, but there’s crystal ponies.”
Peridot started to become disinterested. “There’s no gem creature, isn’t there?” All that Cream had to do was titled her head in her response. “Well, that’s lame.”
“If our species had gem abilities in themselves, our visit would’ve been a little different.” Button said, walking up to Peridot.
“How are ponies different compared to other animals?” Connie asked.
“Well from what I’ve learned from school, there are three types of ponies. Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns.”
“What do they have?” Steven asked, sitting on the ground.
“Pegasi have wings, Unicorns have horns.”
“What do Earth ponies have?”
“Greater strength.” Button lowered his head. “I know it’s an ability we have so we can handle our chores and physical work better, but to me...it’s not enough.”
Steven and his friends became concerned from the way Button looked at the ground. Peridot backed away from the cushion upon hearing the opinion from the colt. Her emotions went from overwhelmed to surprised.
After hearing the colt’s confession, Pearl got up from her chair, making her way to Button Mash. She picked him up with her hands, looking at him straight in the eyes.
“Button, I know how it feels to have powers and I’ve learned how humans like Steven live their lives.” She took off his propeller and gave it to his mother.
“What do you mean?” Button blinked at the gem and rubbed his mane.
“Humans are just like you, if we’re talking about gem powers. If earth ponies are really ordinary with only greater strength as a defining trait, then they’re just like how humans expect their animals to be like.” She then placed him back on the cushion, whilst getting on her knees. “If your mother is willing to see the whole city first thing in the morning, I would be delighted to show you what the citizens in Beach City are like, all the while they’ll get to know you and your mother a lot better.”
This caused Cream Heart to get on her hooves upon hearing Pearl’s offer. “That would be great!” She cheered.
“And who knows, if you're willing to stay for a couple days, she might take you to Gem Homeworld.” Steven said, walking up by Pearl.
“Is she willing to do that?” Button asked.
“Why, yes.” Lapis chimping in. “There’s so much at the Gem Homeworld, it will take you days to see everything.”
Garnet knew that any newcomer who comes inside the beach house would easily have a ton of questions about the gems themselves. “I’m not going to show you a lot tonight, but there is one place where me, Pearl and Amethyst once worked together.” She picked up Button and Cream, talking them outside with Steven and the others walking from behind.
“We will be waiting here, the pizza’s almost done.” Greg looking at the oven. “I’ll get it out.”
“Thanks dad.” Steven responded, while closing the door. The group heads up to where most of the gems are coming from. Button also wondered why Steven has so many Crystal Gems as friends, although that’s only half of his friends list. When they enter inside Steven’s Conservatory where most of his plants are at, in the center of the room, they see a platform made out of crystal which made Button and Cream take notice.
“What’s that?” Cream pointed as Garnet placed the two ponies on the ground.
“That’s the Warp Pad.” Pearl answered.
“It only activates for Gems only. It allows us to warp to different locations in space.” Garnet explained.
“Anywhere?” Button walking onto the platform.
“Well there are setbacks. The gem people designed this for us to stop any crises.” Steven walked up towards the two ponies. “Even if we don’t do that anymore, we still take a visit to the other gem worlds.”
“Is this where most of you came from?”
“Well, Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst live here.” Connie added. “The others did come from this Warp Pad.”
Button and Cream looked at the crystal platform itself. To think Beach City was a one of a kind city during their road trip, they see a beach house that has a lot going on inside. “This is nothing like what we have back in our village.” Cream said, feeling the platform.
“Do you wish you had these?” Amethyst smiled.
“I would use these to make transportation a whole lot easier.”
“Well you still have to remember, Gems are the only ones who can use these properly.” Pearl pointed.
“Even if every creature on any planet would use this, it could lead to serious problems.” Garnet added. “But as long as we’re with passengers, everything will be fine.”
The two ponies looked at the Warp Pad again. If it was activated by their own will, they will get teleported to where most of the gems are at. “I still can’t believe this is actually real.” Button replied. “To think coming to this place was a mistake.”
“Hey come on Button.” Steven said, walking up to the colt. “Sometimes road trips aren’t always planned out. If we weren’t here, then coming here would definitely be a different story.”
“It’s true Button.” Cream said. “We may have other stops, but if this never happened, we would head back to our village without a second thought.”
“Oh please, when we saw you sitting together on the beach, we couldn’t just leave you there.” Amethyst crossing her arms with a smile.
“You two are so cute, it would be wrong for us to ignore you two.” Connie commented.
“So you’re actually gonna have us stay?” Button asked.
“Sure.” Steven said. “Even if I’m gonna move out, me and Pearl have no problem giving you two a tour of Beach City.”
“Including the Gem Homeworld.” Pearl added.
Button and Cream couldn’t believe that their road trip led them to this beach house. Which also has the Warp Pad where all the other gems come from. “Thanks Steven.” Cream teared up. “You saved our road trip vacation.”
“I’m always here to make anybody happy.” He smiled. “Just like what they did to me.” He turned to his friends, after they saved him from turning into a monster after the stress he went though. He picked the two ponies up and gave them a hug. “If I get the chance, maybe I might go to your village.”
“It’s kind of far away from here.” Cream replied.
“You made it all the way here, I can do the same since I got my driver’s license.”
His friends adore the hug he’s giving to the two ponies. With a full day tomorrow, they can’t wait for them to see what they have in store. They all head back to the living room where most of the other gems are eating their pizza. They gave Button and Cream a slice as they enjoyed the rest of the slumber party.
After they cleaned up everything in the living room, they all went to sleep in their sleeping bags. Steven and Connie take Button and Cream up in Steven’s room where they’re allowed to spend the night. When they walk inside the room, the two ponies witness a pink lion in the room.
“Is that? A lion?” Cream blinked.
“Who’s also pink?” Button added.
“Don’t worry, he’s not gonna hurt you.” Connie smiled.
“Me and Lion had been through a lot when I was little.” Steven placed the ponies by Lion. “If you take your time to get to know him, he may like you.”
Lion moved slightly after when he felt Button and Cream being placed by his body. He stared at the two ponies straight in their eyes. Steven tucked in his bed while Connie got inside her sleeping bag. “Good night.” Both Steven and Connie replied as they went to sleep.
Both Button and Cream didn’t move a muscle from the way Lion is staring at them, nor even saying a single word. But then he nuzzles into Button Mash, taking a liking to him while also licking his face. He does the same with Cream Heart afterwards.
“It appears he likes us.” Button said, getting the drool off of him.
“I know, he’s really kind.” Cream enjoying the treatment she’s getting from Lion. He then laid his mane on the two ponies, keeping them warm, like anyone else who treats him fairly.
“Mom.” Button slowly closed his eyes. “This is the best road trip ever.”
Cream Heart grew a smile while trying to get to sleep. “And you're the best son I ever had.”
“Awww…” Both ponies opened their eyes as they saw Steven and Connie looking at them which made them nervous.
“Did we ruin the moment?” Connie replied.
“Not really.” Cream responded. “Since we didn’t ruin your slumber party.”
“Touche.” Steven finished.