A Relaxing Vacation
“A vacation.” Sonnet echoed dumbly, “We’re going on a vacation. For the solstice.”
“Yes,” his grandmother confirmed that he did indeed hear her correctly, “We’ll be heading to Vallis tomorrow! We’ll pick up Barricades and Percy, and then we'll head straight for..!” Radiance trailed off, shooting a quick look to the space beside her, as if she was expecting a Quirlicorn, approximately the same size as Psychomyth, to be standing there.
“For where?” Sonnet asked.
“For wherever we decide!”
Sonnet narrowed his eyes, “Exactly why are we going on this vacation?”
“You see, this stallion came by earlier, carrying Anevay’s instructions to spend this solstice on vacation!” Radiance explained, “And something about ‘morning do’s’, I believe? I think he was referring to rising up nice and early in the morning, to enjoy the sunrise and all the lovely things that happen at dawn! So that is exactly what we’re going to do!”
“Lovely,” he intoned, “And what about Candentia?”
“Martine and Faven volunteered to watch over Candentia in our absence. No need to fret, Sonnet, everything will be perfectly fine without us!”
Sonnet wondered if Martine had truly volunteered to deal with Candentia for the Solstice, or had simply acquiesced after hearing his Regent’s plans. He briefly entertained the thought, before shoving it away, to deal with the more pressing concern of how he was going to survive this solstice.
-:-
Sonnet pulled his satchel shut with a sharp tug. Magic had been woven into the satchel, making the small bag much larger than its outside appearance would indicate.
Generally, Sonnet found the magic satchel to be quite pointless, given he never needed to bring much with him. This time, however, Sonnet found himself quite appreciative of the ample packing space the satchel afforded him, as it allowed him to fit everything he needed to bring with him.
(Yes, he needed to bring ten different cloaks, two pillows, seven and a half books, along with an extra pillowcase, ten rolls of parchment, and three pairs of sunglasses. That, and everything else, were all strictly needed.)
“Come on, Dummy,” he muttered to his griffin, pausing for a moment to allow his griffin to hop onto his back. Instead, his griffin opted to stare at him.
While the griffin stared at him, Sonnet briefly entertained the idea of plucking his griffin off the pillow with telekinesis, and simply letting the griffin trail behind him, all four feet dangling in mid-air.
As the griffin continued to stare, Sonnet gave in to the impulse, and reached out with his magic. He felt the magic in the air shift, bending as his own magic grabbed onto the griffin. The magic let out a low crackle.
The griffin let out a very indignant squawk, wiggling about as Sonnet floated him through the air.
-:-
The moment Sonnet followed his grandmother and twin sister through the wormhole, stepping hoof onto the other side, he noticed the aura of power that greeted him, recognizing it instantly. Yet he couldn’t see the massive Desert Deity anywhere in his line of sight, despite slowly scanning the mountain outlook his grandmother had brought them to.
“Anevay?” Sonnet thought, briefly activating his telepathy.
“I can feel her magic here, too.”
Minuet’s answer that, yes, this was Anevay’s magic, confirmed that Sonnet had indeed remembered correctly what the Deity’s magic felt like –wild and chaotic. But now he knew Anevay’s fire magic was also warm, bringing to mind rays of sunlight casting a soft glow across the lands.
Yet, Sonnet’s own magic lacked that gentle undertone that Anevay’s had. Ever since he had learned to wield some of the Desert’s magic, he had never felt any sort of tender warmth when he used his magic, no matter how hard he tried to search beyond the burning fire his magic was.
“Behind you,” his grandmother Radiance said, laughter in her voice.
Sonnet turned around, and then bowed down to the white mare with flames in her mane. “Anevay.”
Beside him, Minuet had done the same, echoing Anevay's name.
“I’ve already met you before, Sonnet,” Anevay said, “And I presume this is Minuet? Your other grandfoal, Radiance?”
“Yep!” Radiance replied, “Now you’ve met all three triplets!”
“That I have,” Anevay answered. “Now, I’m sure the three of you have heeded my words, and are going to take a vacation?”
“Correct again,” his grandmother Radiance answered, “We’re just waiting on Barricades and Percy to come, and then we’ll be off to some beach Barricades wanted to go to!”
“Ah, you’re going with Barricades? In that case, just ask her to repeat what I told her, and I’ll be off to go see more Quirlicorns!” Anevay said. "I gave her plenty of morning do's, she can share them!"
Moments later, the Desert Deity disappeared from sight.
Thankfully, they didn’t need to wait too long, for Barricades and her daughter, Percy, to arrive.
-:-
As Sonnet stepped through a wormhole for the second time in a day, he found himself at the edge of a cliff. Waves gently pounded against the sandy beach below him. The water was a rather magical color, the surface shimmering as the reflections of the sun and clouds moved slowly across the surface.
“I hope you enjoy treasure hunts,” Percy said, the sunlight catching on the foxfire on her coat.
“Why do you ask?” Sonnet asked in reply, pointedly not narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
“Ma and Regent Radiance are talking about one!” she said, excitedly.
Oh no. Anything would have been preferable to a treasure hunt in the middle of the day, with the sun at high noon. Even indulging his grandmother’s desire to play hide and seek, with magic allowed, might have been more fun. (At least with hide and seek, he could hide behind a rock and rest in the shade for a bit.)
“Bet you I’ll win,” Percy said.
Sonnet narrowed his eyes. She just had to prod at his competitive side, the part of him that wanted to prove that he was better than everyone else.
“You must admit I’m better at treasure hunts,” she added.
“Absolutely not, I’m far better,” Sonnet found himself retorting.
“Then prove it,” Percuka egged him on, the smirk on her face daring him to accept her challenge.
“Oh, I will,” he promised, holding his head high as he returned her smirk.
-:-
Sonnet stared at the map hovering in front of him, silently begging the map not to catch on fire, as he held onto it with his telekinesis.
Minuet and Radiance volunteered ideas as to what the clue meant.
Sonnet wondered what, if any, excuse he could offer Percy, on the off chance that he somehow lost this treasure hunt to Percuka and Barricades.
Sonnet had a feeling blaming his loss on his griffin, for abandoning Sonnet for Percy wouldn’t go all too well.
He had to win this.