Side note: The eight main characters (mane six, Spike, and Peter) speak in a very hectic way this chapter, so certain parts are recorded in a play-like fashion.

"So, how do I look?"

Twilight raised her eyebrows, forever logical.

"You look like you're ready to party, not to sleep."

Peter smiled, his sunglasses obscuring his eyes. Rainbow Dash walked in and sat next to Pinkie Pie, helping Rarity on her way in.

"I'll go change. I need to put some things in my luggage, anyway."

He picked up his iPod and went upstairs, white luggage on his shoulder, Rainbow Dash smiling at Pinkie Pie as the party pony bounced up and did what she did best.

"I think it's time for a song!"

Rainbow Dash was about to join the pink pony, ecstasy running through her at the thought of a vacation, when they heard Peter shout down from upstairs.

"Not without me!"

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash laughed heartily, anticipating Peters' singing with them.

They sat down and talked about what they would all do in the hotel, branching off into separate conversations.

T.S.: "I want to check out the Museum of Magic in Manehattan!

F.S.: "I'm going to go to the zoo. I've heard they have a bunch of cute animals!"

R.D.: "I'm so going to watch all the colts check me out!"

Rarity: "I'm going to get one of those divine massages in the spa."

A.J.: "Ah'm gunna check out that buckin' competition!"

P.P.: "I'm going to party all day, all night, and even when I'm not in a scene, I'm going to party!"

R.D.: "Uh...sure. I'm going to shred every wave I see! Helloo, surf boards!"

P.P.: "Oh, so am I! I love to surf!"

F.S.: "Oh, I can't wait to get a wing massage..."

R.D.: "Pinkie Pie, you surf?"

Rarity: "Fluttershy, maybe we can get massages together!"

T.S.: "Yep! She agreed to teach me how to surf!"

A.J.: "Rarity, you're not going to go to the beach?"

R.D.: "Pinkie, we can be surfing buddies!"

Rarity: "Of course I am! Oh, I hope I packed my sunglasses..."

P.P.: "Awesome, Dashie!"

T.S.: "Hey, Rarity, do you want to go to the museum with me?"

Rarity: "Why, of course, dear!"

R.D.: "Aww, yeah! It's gonna be awesome!"

F.S.: "Uh...what's that noise..."

Nopony heard Fluttershy's whisper, and kept talking, drowning out her voice.

Spike: "Hey, what's everypony talking about?"

R.D.: "About what we're going to do at the hotel!"

Spike: "Well, that's easy. I'm sleeping in!"

R.D.: "Ooohhh, good idea, Spike!"

F.S.: "Everypony, what's that noise?"

Once more, nopony heard her.

T.S.: "Spike, you've got to do more than that!"

Spike: "Nah. In fact, I think I'll go to sleep now. I'm tired. Wake me up when we have to leave."

Peter: "Hey, how do I look in this?"

Everypony looked up to see Peter, holding his speakers, white undershirt above grey sweatpants and ridiculously red feet.

R.D.: "Uh...wow."

P.P.: "Hey, Peter, wanna sing now?"

Peter nodded, shaking his speakers.

"Let's have some fun, everypony."

Rarity sighed. "If you insist."

Peter laughed, tossing the speakers down on the table, obviously having no regard for his belongings, raising an eyebrow at Rarity's incredulous look. "They're tough. They can withstand a fall down metal stairs."

He unzipped the speakers, taking his iPod out of the small pouch inside. He scrolled through his music, and finally found the song he wanted everypony to hear.

"Uh, sugarcube, Ah'm not sure we should have 'fun' this late."

Everypony looked at Applejack, then back to Peter as he agreed.

"Yeah. We should probably all get some sleep. I mean, we have to get up at five tomorrow morning..."

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash sighed. "Fine."

Rarity nodded, and Spike simply left the room. Twilight magically expanded several sleeping bags, one for each of them, Fluttershy yawning as she did so, Applejack smiling smugly.

"So, I'm guessing we're sleeping here tonight?"

Twilight looked at Peter, eyebrow raised. "What the hay do you think?"

"Uh...yes?"

The lavender unicorn nodded and lay down, tired from expanding her luggage and placing everything in it.

She immediately bolted back upright, even more grumpy than before.

"Ugh...I forgot to pack some things."

Peter chuckled as she got the essentials.

Yeah, some things...

He reached into his luggage and pulled out his noise-reduction headphones, unplugging the iPod from the speakers, too excited for the next day to fall asleep without music in his ears.

"Peter, just don' stay up too late, alrigh'?"

He rolled his eyes. "Applejack, I won't."

"Yeah, sure you won'."

Peter pulled his sunglasses off and put them in the white suite case, laying down on his sleeping bag, which was surprisingly comfortable. He put on his 'Dubstep, Techno, and Instrumental' playlist, starting on 'Levels' by Avicii.

He smiled as he tried to sleep, adrenaline coursing through him at the thought of spending time with his new friends on vacation.

This is gonna be awesome...I can just tell...

After about twenty minutes of listening to Dubstep, Peter finally turned off the music, but left his heaphones on. He set up an alarm on his iPod to wake him up at five o'clock.

He looked over at Rainbow Dash, and smiled, relieved to see that the cyan Pegasus slept soundly, her sleep apparently devoid of dreams. He looked up at the ceiling, listening to everypony's light breathing, the blue sheets covering him, the pristine white pillow and small blue mattress keeping his head and body off of the ground, not falling asleep for about two hours, energy running through him at the thought of going on vacation with his new friends.

Peter sat bolt upright, a ridiculously loud beeping harassing his ear, even as he tore off the Bose headphones.

Jesus...too damn loud...

He looked around to see everypony up and staring at him, eyebrows raised, Fluttershy next to a sleeping Rainbow Dash.

Peter smiled, seeing the cyan Pegasus sleeping. He cracked his knuckles.

Let's do this.

"Peter, Ah can't decide who's worse. You, or Rainbow Dash."

Peter smiled mischievously.

"Well, let's find out."

He crept over to Rainbow Dash, everypony watching in confusion as he placed the noise reduction headphones around Rainbow Dash's ears. She didn't notice the lack of sound, but rather, seemed to welcome it, her body relaxing even more.

"This is your way of finding out? By making her into a deeper sleep?"

He looked up at Fluttershy, smiling.

"I have a few...'methods' for waking people up."

He didn't explain any more than that, but rather, unplugged the headphones, still running off of their own battery, and turned the volume down to half way on his iPod. He then proceeded to open the app, Gun Club 2.

Man, this prank is gonna rock...

After about a half a minute of waiting, during which Peter huffed and puffed, his iPod taking 'too damn long', he swept across the screen until he found what he wanted, and tapped on it, smiling even more broadly as he imagined the look on Rainbow Dash's face.

Plugging in the headphones once more, he pulled back the slide of the Desert Eagle, causing Rainbow Dash to stir slightly.

"What...what was that..."

He looked up to see Applejack looking on, eager yet weary; Pinkie Pie holding a hoof to her mouth, anticipating the prank; Fluttershy slightly worried, but nonetheless smiling; Twilight raising an eyebrow, waiting patiently; and Rarity looking on with slight disapproval.

Peter looked down to Rainbow Dash, who closed her cyan eyelids, hiding the large, beautiful red eyes. A sudden pang of guilt for what he was about to do nestled in his stomach, but he threw it away, remembering that both time was of the essence, and that Rainbow Dash loved pranks.

He tapped the trigger of the digital gun, the screen lighting up, the blast audible by everypony, and especially by Rainbow Dash.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

She launched straight into the air, throwing off the headphones, wings spread wide, rubbing her ears. Everypony started laughing, even Peter. Pinkie Pie laughed harder as Peter greeted her with an air of nonchalance.

"Well, good morning, Rainbow Dash."

The cyan Pegasus appeared unable to hear Peter, still rubbing her ears.

"Uh...Rainbow Dash?"

The cyan Pegasus looked down at him, red eyes full of confusion, looking at Peter's moving mouth.

"You okay?"

"I can't hear you! I think I might be going-"

Suddenly, the world seemed to come back to focus as she stopped rubbing, blinking.

"Oh. I can hear now. My ears were just ringing. What was that?"

Peter motioned to his iPod. "That, my friend, was a prank I played on you. I pulled up a Desert Eagle and fired it. You should've seen the look on your face!"

Rainbow Dash smiled and released a loud, 'Hah!'

"Good one, Peter. I never would've thought you were a prankster!"

"I never was. I never had a chance to be. The first time I tried to prank my dad, he blew up over it instead of laughing. He took everything way too seriously..."

At the thought of his family, Peter blinked, a sudden home sickness leaving a pang in his heart.

Everyone must be so worried...I wonder how they're doing back home...

Just then, his spine was hit with what felt like two hundred amperes, his mind making connection with the Soul Gem fragments in his luggage, the crystallized memories glowing.

He ran from Grand Central Station as it burned to the ground, his burning sister holding a disfigured hand out towards him, his mother and father crying inside. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry..."

Peter opened his eyes, covered in a cold sweat, Rainbow Dash holding him in her fore legs, her red eyes full of worry.

"Peter, are you okay?"

He looked right into her eyes, the beautiful red circles helping his mind find secure footing on sanity.

"Y...yeah. I just need to...check something."

She nodded, helping Peter up, standing by his side as he walked over to his white luggage, unzipping it, all the other ponies looking at him with shock and concern.

He picked up the glowing Soul Gem shard, turning so that everypony could see it.

"I think that...there are memories in these things...and if they're what they appear to be..."

He let the red gem fall into the palm of his hand, shifting his gaze from the glowing red source of pain to the glowing red source of comfort that he found in Rainbow Dash's eyes.

"I want them gone. I'm going to throw them away on the cruise."

Everypony inhaled sharply, and he simply returned the shard to the pouch the other six rested in, the glow dying away at the same time as the images, leaving only that feeling of...fear, sorrow, and regret.

Twilight was the first to speak, always thinking on her hooves.

"Well, at least you can discard of them in a symbolic way."

Peter nodded, smiling, but everypony else looked between Twilight and Peter, confused.

"How is it symbolic?"

Peter looked directly to Pinkie Pie, his maturity passing his fifteen years of life.

"Because I'm throwing away some part of me that's from a past life, and replacing it with new memories of my new life. My life with all of you. My life with my new family."

He cringed as he dropped the word 'family', realizing that he had associated the mane six with family about...four days after his sudden arrival.

"Wow, Peter. That's...so nice. That you think of us as family..." they cyan Pegasus dropped her voice so that only she and Peter could hear what she said next. "Just like what you said to me in the hospital..."

Peter nodded, smiling at the Pegasus.

I feel so...protective of them. I know that I've felt this for a while now, but...they're about, what, twenty, twenty three years old, according to the wiki? And I'm only fifteen...it's going to be hard to explain it to them when I tell them how old I am.

"Well, I'm feeling...better now. Just, uh, let me pull on some clothes, and my shoes, and then let's get going, 'k?"

Everypony nodded, and Rainbow Dash pulled her cyan luggage over to the door. Peter opened his white luggage once more and pulled out his turtleneck, his 'thin-ass chain', his sneakers, and his sunglasses.

"Peter...are you sure you're okay?"

Peter turned around, sweater and chain over his arm, sneakers hooked in his fingers.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be ready in a few minutes, 'k?"

Rainbow Dash nodded, still worried, her friends slightly raising their eyebrows in her direction.

He smiled as he pulled the sweater over his head, the blue material covering his arms and body.

It feels perfect...like, not too light, so I can still keep some heat, but not too heavy, so I can at least wear it comfortably during the vacation...

He donned the chain, the links too small to make a noise, the cool metal flowing through his fingers as he adjusted it. Then, he pulled on his sneakers, not bothering to untie the laces as he did so.

And finally, he flicked the prescription sunglasses down over his eyes, darkening the world, while making it sharper and more definite, somewhat disorienting him, but at the same time, letting him see what the ponies really looked like that morning.

Rainbow Dash's mane and tail were even more unruly than usual, but she was wide awake, courtesy of Peter. Twilight Sparkle's horn was glowing, her eyes groggy as she frantically brushed her frazzled mane. Fluttershy's eyes were half closed, her pink mane and tail somehow orderly, yawn after yawn stretching her yellow muzzle. Rarity's mane and tail were curled and brushed, and a rather elegant hat rested upon her horn, her readied body in stark contrast to her eyes, which were half closed. Spike stood next to Twilight, wide awake, which was probably due to sleeping during all of the previous day.

The only two fully awake ponies were Applejack, whose eyes were wide open, golden mane and tail held in buns by the red bands, and Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down, her pink tail and mane flopping in her excitement. Peter assumed that the orange work pony was used to being up this early, as a result of living on a farm and everything. Peter didn't have to assume anything with the party pony. He knew that she was full of constant energy.

Damn, Pinkie Pie could probably power a city block or two, if someone tapped into her, more likely than not, high enthalpy...

Finally, he put the headphones around his neck, and he didn't even have to reach up to know that his hair was in a sorry state. He rubbed his eyes, the grogginess catching up to him after the short burst of energy he had had that morning.

He picked up his luggage, his iPod in one hand, the white bag on his shoulder. He was about to ask Fluttershy if he could help with her large bag when Twilight took all of the luggage, including Peter's, and stacked them, magically moving them into a pile, obviously set aside for telekinetic transportation.

Peter yawned, and sat down, leaning back on the table, everypony raising an eyebrow at him.

"What time is it? Does anypony know?"

"Uh, it's a quarter to six. Peter, I'm not sure you should be sitting down, what if you fall asleep again?"

Peter put the headphones over his ears, shaking his iPod as he did.

"I won't. I have some songs on here that actually wake me right up."

He didn't listen to whatever Twilight said next, already listening to the song 'Double Vision' by Foreigner. He counted the beats to each measure, determining that it was on a 4/4 tempo. As he listened to it, he bopped his head to the beat, counting the measures, gradually waking up as the music blasted in his ears. As he listened to the music, he got the strangest urge to play Tenor Saxophone.

He paused the music, taking off his headphones, a sudden idea presenting itself to him.

"Hey, Twilight?"

"Hm?"

"Is there a store in Ponyville where I can get a Tenor Saxophone? After vacation, of course."

The lavender unicorn popped up, mane now straight, eyes fully open.

"You play Tenor Saxophone?"

Peter smiled. I always seem to surprise her...

"Yeah, I play Tenor Sax. Three months after I started playing, I got into the Junior Jazz Band in my school. It's the...third best band?" He paused, thinking, then nodded, remembering the order. "Yeah, third best band. There's Junior Jazz, Senior Jazz, and Symphony."

"Really? That's great!"

Peter was about to answer when Rainbow Dash butted in, smiling

"Tenor Sax? What, with all that 'Smooth Jazz' stuff? It's all mushy and lovey-dovey! I never would've thought that you would play something like that, Peter!"

Peter looked up at Rainbow Dash, slightly offended by the attack on his favorite instrument.

"You serious? Smooth jazz is, like, one fifth of what jazz really is! There are hard rock songs that use Tenor Sax, and it sounds amazing! I mean, the song 'Smoke on the Water' has a variant that's played by Tenor Sax, Trombone, Trumpet, Alto, Baritone, Clarinet, and even Flute. And don't even get me started on the jazz from the '80s and late '70s, like the song 'Ça Plane Pour Moi', which is French for 'It Works For Me'. It's one of the most popular party songs in the world, and it uses Tenor Saxophone throughout the entire song!"

Rainbow Dash shrunk back slightly, argument defeated, but then came back with a retort. "Yeah, well, what about that song where you were all like, 'she's telling me we'll be wed?' You can't tell me that that song isn't all lovey-dovey!"

Peter chuckled, remembering all too well when he sang in front of Rarity and Rainbow Dash. "It's called 'Ain't that a Kick in the Head', first off. And while I admit, it's a bit lovey-dovey, the majority of jazz songs aren't like that at all. For example, the song-" He caught the words in his mouth, having almost blurted out 'Dick in a Box'.

"The song 'what'?"

Peter shrugged, lying to avoid what would inevitably be an awkward moment. "I forgot what it's called. Doesn't really matter, though. There are, like, fifty million more songs I can choose from to prove you wrong."

Rainbow Dash walked up to him, eyebrow raised. "Like what? I'm serious, I want to know how I could possibly be wrong!"

Peter scratched his head, thinking and smiling, enjoying the debate in spite of himself.

"Well, there's-"

Just as he was about to speak, there was a loud knock at the door. Peter looked to Twilight, who nodded. He stood, everypony else getting ready at the same time. Peter flicked his sunglasses down, eagerly looking forward to the ride on the train, despite being groggy as hell, and even more so towards the vacation itself.

Twilight magically opened the door, letting in the elegant unicorn.

"I'm assuming you're all ready?"

Everypony nodded, and Twilight remembered a part of the letter.

"I'm sorry for what happened in your family, sir."

The unicorn raised an eyebrow. "'Sorry'? Why are you sorry? It's wonderful!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow, taken aback. "What's wonderful about a family emergency?"

"My wife is going to go into labor next week!"

Peter clapped, smiling, and Twilight looked up, confused. "Congratulations! I'm sure that your child, or children, will grow up to be great people-er, ponies."

The unicorn smiled, thanking Peter, already picking up the luggage, and everypony followed him towards the train station at the other end of Ponyville, silent with anticipation.

When the seven friends finally arrived at the train, they all had butterflies in their stomachs, each of them looking at the oriental train with awe, the sun reflecting off of the golden corners, and the beautiful mahogany compartments, light streaming in through windows, gold inscriptions shining in the wood. They voiced their opinions of the marvelous train.

R.D.: "Pretty cool! I like the gold on it!"

Rarity: "Simply marvelous! Uh, Rainbow Dash, you do know you're still holding my arm, right? At least hold down your wings when you're holding me!"

T.S.: "Wow! It's...amazing!"

F.S.: "I bet that Angel would like this..."

P.P.: "Oh, it looks so fun to ride on!"

A.J.: "It's a wonderful train! Ah can't believe that we're ridin' this thing!"

Spike: "Imagine how good that gold would taste..."

Peter: "Damn, look at those wheels! They've got gold embedded in them! I wonder how that affects the gear ratio, seeing as how the gold could possibly create an uneven distribution of weight..."

R.D.: "Wow, you're right! The wheels are inscribed with gold! Everypony, look at the wheels!"

T.S.: "That's definitely inscription magic. Nopony has enough tools to do anything like that."

F.S.: "Wow, it is nice..."

A.J.: "Well, darn, that's just right down nice."

P.P.: "Yeah! The wheels are nice!"

Rarity: "They probably look so elegant when they spin..."

Spike: "Hm...that gold probably wouldn't-"

Peter interrupted him with a gasp, and a shout.

"Holy shit, forget the wheels, look at the size of the thing...it takes up the entire station!"

Everypony looked at it, gasping as they suddenly realized that what they thought was two cars very close together, was in fact one huge car. The locomotive whistled from outside, signaling them to get aboard. Their chaperone cleared his throat, having just loaded the first six bags of luggage into the ornate train car, now loading Spike's green suit case into the train, as well.

The eight friends looked at each other, smiling, all ready to board the train, even as a small group of ponies walked out of the train themselves.

"Uh...who are you guys?"

"Twilight Sparkle, good to see you are well. Princess Celestia sends her regards. We are here to oversee the care taking of your various pets. We already know what and where they are, and how to feed them. We are experts in this field, of course. Have a good vacation."

Twilight nodded, her question answered as all of the ponies walked away.

They all looked to each other, ensuring that they were all thoroughly excited.

Pinkie Pie jumped up and shouted, signaling for them to occupy the car.

They bustled in, grinning, laughing, rubbing their palms, bumping hooves.

Their vacation was officially beginning.