Persona EG LTE | Mythril Moth Creations

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Turnabout is fair play.

Early Morning

After breakfast, we load up the SUVs and head to the train station. Once we find parking spaces in the long-term parking garage near the station, we haul our crap to the station proper. Shining Armor is coming with us this time.

"I don't think I've ever actually gone anywhere by train," Sunset says cheerfully. "This'll be fun!"

"Not that fun," Pinkie says.

"What, do you get trainsick?"

"I think she means that this isn't like Neighpon's super-modern trains with all the bells and whistles, or the Warthog Express," Twilight says. "This is just going to be a boring, noisy two hour train ride."

"But then it'll be a whole day of fun in the sun!" Rainbow cries excitedly.

Twenty minutes after we get to the platform, our train arrives. One boring, noisy two hour train ride later, we're in Canterlittle.

Daytime

When you live near the coast, you'll often hear people say "I don't wanna go to that beach, let's go to the good beach!"

In Canterlot, when they say 'that beach', they mean Canterlittle.

Unlike Haytona, which is a massive tourist draw and has an entire industry dedicated to maintaining the pristine white postcard beaches, Canterlittle is what you'd call "just a beach". It's not a tourist destination. There aren't fancy beachside restaurants and beach houses and big resort hotels. Rather, Canterlittle is a small, middle-class suburb that just happens to have about three miles of beach.

Of course, there are facilities for people who come to Canterlittle just for the beach. Our budget hotel is pretty much designed with beachcombers in mind and has shuttle services to the beach road, and there are more than a few restaurants that serve freshly caught seafood. There are even some snack bars and rental shops scattered along the beachfront road, as well as a mini-mart which is obviously geared towards people who want to buy snacks to take down to the beach.

Once we've checked in at the hotel and stowed our stuff in our rooms, we all meet up in front of the hotel with our tote bags. Pinkie, Rainbow, and Sonata are already wearing their swimsuits with shirts or light jackets over them and flip-flops; everyone else is dressed lightly. Shining Armor and I are both wearing board shorts and open shirts with flip-flops.

"I'll be keeping an eye on everyone's stuff once we're on the beach," Cadance says. She's wearing a breezy, flowing skirt, a loose T-shirt, and sandals. "I don't think I'm going to be doing much except reading and enjoying the air."

"You know, we could probably take a boat out one day while we're here," Shining Armor says. "I wouldn't mind doing a little fishing. How about you, Flash?"

I shrug. "Maybe."

Once the shuttle drops us at the beach road, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Shining Armor, and Sunset all run off to rent surfboards while the rest of us grab a bunch of snacks. Predictably, Twilight quickly fills two entire hand baskets with junk food. Cadance shakes her head and smirks; we buy a styrofoam cooler and a bag of ice, as well as a couple bags of bottled drinks.

It's a really good thing there's a lot of us here to carry all this shit...

The beach isn't too busy when we arrive. There are only about ten or twelve other people within eyesight, scattered up and down the beach. Cadance, Shining Armor, and I stake out a spot and spread out several blankets while the girls who aren't suited up yet head for the changing rooms. Rainbow and Pinkie head straight out to the water, laughing all the way.

"I think I'll join the girls as soon as we have everything situated," Shining says. He grins. "I haven't gone surfing in a long time."

"What about you, Flash?" Cadance asks. "Aren't you going to do anything?"

"Probably just relax for a little while," I say. "Things have been so hectic lately, I'd honestly just like a day to unwind."

"I can imagine." Cadance sighs and stretches. "If I wasn't already showing, I'd be sunbathing in a bikini."

"You're not showing that much," Shining Armor says.

"I'm showing enough to know better than to wear a bikini." Cadance pops open a grape soda. "Besides, I'm with Flash on the whole relaxing thing. The...stuff we've been dealing with...it's not as physically stressful for me since I'm not actually fighting the Shadows, but the mental stress plus my job..." She sighs. "My job. I'm gonna miss working at CHS next year."

"You're taking the year off for maternity?"

Cadance nods. "Yeah. Actually, I might...not go back." She sighs. "I mean, I can keep being the dorm manager for Applewood Dorm, that's actually not much work. But if Celestia finds a good replacement for me, I'll probably stay home full-time from now on." She smiles. "I'd rather focus on raising our child, and I don't really need the money."

Shining Armor frowns. "I need to do more to provide—"

"You're doing fine," Cadance says. "Really. We're in good enough shape that you don't need to do anything more than you're already doing." With a teasing smile, she adds, "Except maybe sell some of those silly toys of yours."

"Hey!" Shining cries indignantly. "My models are—"

"Worth a fortune on uBuy," Cadance interrupts. "Seriously, you've got what, six, seven hundred bucks' worth of model kits you haven't built yet? The ones you've built and painted are worth ten times what you paid for them."

Shining blinks. "Huh." He shakes his head. "Huh," he repeats.

Sunset and Applejack come charging out of the changing rooms, surfboards in hand. Applejack is wearing a dark orange one-piece with royal blue diagonal stripes. Sunset...

Well...

What little she's wearing is red. I think. It's kind of hard to tell. I shake my head and cover my face. "Yep, she's definitely up to no good."

Shining watches her jiggle. "Okay, she may be an evil bitch who's put us all through hell, but damn."

"Hey! Eyes over here," Cadance says. She watches Sunset run, shaking her head. "But yeah...if she wasn't the queen bitch of CHS, she'd have every boy at school eating out of her hand."

"Or other places."

"SHINY!"

"Oh look! I think I'm done setting up. I think I'll go surf now." Shining Armor hastily grabs his board and runs off.

From where she's rubbing suntan lotion on herself, Sonata snickers. I'd almost forgotten she was there...

The rest of the girls soon arrive at our camp and began rounding up their own sunscreen. Fluttershy is wearing a green-and-white one-piece. Rarity is wearing a royal purple strapless bikini that's almost as revealing as Sunset's.

Twilight, on the other hand...

Twilight is wearing a navy blue one-piece that's at once modest and concealing and so skintight she might as well not be wearing it. It's high-cut on the hips and shows off every curve of her body to spectacular effect.

My jaw drops.

Cadance blinks. "Twilight? Is...is that a...?"

"Neighponese school swimsuit?" Fluttershy finishes, smirking as she begins rubbing sunscreen on her arms.

Twilight sits down and starts lotioning herself with a catlike smirk. "Sunset Shimmer can run around with as much of her butt showing as she wants. I know how to keep Flash's eyes where they belong."

Sonata makes a strangled cat noise and swipes at the air with her fingers curled into claws.

I shake my head and put on my own sunscreen, then sit down beside Twilight on the blanket. She's already gone through three bags of chips and a liter of soda...

"Why don't we play some beach volleyball?" I suggest.

"Sure, that sounds like fun," Twilight says.

"I'm in!" Sonata rasps.

"Sure, why not," Fluttershy agrees.

"I'll pass," Rarity says. "I'm afraid I'm a bit too jiggly in this for beach sports."

"Isn't jiggling around the whole point?" I ask. Twilight thumps me.

"What about you girls?" Cadance asks Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

"Ah think Ah wanna build a sand castle," Apple Bloom says cheerfully. "Ah ain't never done it before."

"Ooh, that sounds like fun," Sweetie Belle says. "Let's go down by the water." They run off, giggling.

We grab a ball and find a decent stretch of sand to play on. We spend about an hour playing; the surfers have long since returned by the time we're done and are sitting around snacking and enjoying the warm sun and ocean breeze. We stop to rest and eat for a bit, then Twilight and I walk down the beach to look for seashells. Every so often, I look around to see what the others are up to; as the beach has become slightly more crowded, Rainbow and Pinkie are getting into volleyball games with other beachgoers, Sunset and Rarity are both flirting with guys, and Sonata's swimming around in the sea.

It's past five when we pack everything up and go back to the beachfront road to return the rental boards and catch the shuttle back to the hotel. Once we're all cleaned up and change clothes, we all head out to explore the town on our own until dark.

Evening

Twilight, Pinkie, and I end up at a small, slightly run-down seafood place about a mile from the hotel.

"Do you think we'll have to deal with another one of those creepy Shadows anytime soon?" Pinkie asks.

Twilight frowns. "It should be...tomorrow, right?"

"Or Monday," I say, nodding. "We'll worry about it when it happens. For now, we need to focus on enjoying our summer."

"I'd enjoy it more if my brother wasn't ogling Sunset Shimmer like...like..."

"A piece of bacon?" Pinkie suggests.

"She's noticed, too," I say. "I saw her watching him watch her." I sigh and break apart a crab leg. "I wonder..."

"You don't think she'll try to do to him what she did to you, do you?" Twilight asks with mild horror.

I shrug. "She might." I shake my head. "Or she might just go for straight-up seduction. Weird that she's turned her attention to him, though."

"I think she figured out you're not twitching," Pinkie says. "And, well..." She frowns as she dips a shrimp into cocktail sauce. "Not to be mean about it or anything, but...she does know Cadance used to be all slutty-slut. She might be thinking of, you know..."

"Giving him a chance to get even?" Twilight finishes, shaking her head. "Shining Armor isn't like that. I know he isn't."

A gloomy pall falls over our table, and we finish eating in silence. We head back to the hotel; I'm sharing a room with Twilight. As she's getting ready for bed, I get a text.

Twilight looks up at the sound of my text notification. "What's up?"

I frown at my phone. "Zecora," I say. "We've got a battle tomorrow."