Petal closed her eyes, lifting her scaly head slowly so she could drink it all in. She could hear the waves crashing against the sandy shore nearby, the seagulls squawking over the little ice cream parlor she sat in, warmth cascading over her as she felt the tension in her wings and limbs fade, happy to finally get a vacation with her person. Her owner, Flutter, worked most of the day, only leaving the morning for the two of them to talk and spend time together. While she was gone Petal would stay at home and relax, but she always longed to spend more time with her owner and now that the slow season had finally come she got some time off for a week-long vacation together. They simply rented a cheap apartment by the beach, bringing books to read while planning out something special for each day. Today was the night at the beach, the two of them grabbing some quick ice cream before heading down to the water.

The sound of flip-flops drew Petal out of her thoughts, turning her head to Flutter as she watched her bring over two waffle cones with mint ice cream. She was dressed in a blue one-piece bathing suit, Flutter being 18 and Petal's head coming up to her chest, the dragon about the size of a large dog. She sat down at the bench beside her, Petal sitting on the ground since chairs were hard for her to lay on, raising her tail to get her cone. "Here ya go. Sorry for the wait, they seem a little busy today."

The ruby-red dragoness curled her tail around the cone, bringing it to her lips as she softly lapped at it, trilling happily at the crisp flavor, "Mmmm! It's okay, I'm just glad to be here with you." Flutter looked over and smiled, leaning over the table to gaze at the beach not far beyond them, both of them remaining silent to drink it all in. Petal nibbled one of the chocolate bits in her maw, the ice cream feeling so nice, refreshing her more than she knew she needed.

"I'm glad you're here too." Flutter added, still looking towards the waves, "There's a lot of fun things I wanna do but I figured on our first day we could just relax."

"And I'd love that.~" Petal added, the two of them going quiet again as they sat there beside one another, happy to be in the moment. She hadn't realized how much time had flown by until her ice cream as gone, the dragoness munching on the cone before looking back to Flutter, watching her finish hers as well. She handed Petal a napkin to wipe her muzzle off, a white mustache on each of their faces.

They both giggled before cleaning it off, Flutter grabbing the napkins and throwing them away before nodding to her pet and best friend, "Come on, let's go to the water! I was wanting to take a quick dip."

"Only if we can build a sandcastle as well! You know how much I love building those!" Then the dragon suddenly crouched down, throwing her owner a playful glare before shaking her body, "Race ya to the water!" She bolted, jumping off the wooden stairs from the parlor before darting across the sand, Flutter chasing after her playfully as she followed the small paw prints she left in the sand. She didn't stand a chance though, the four-legged animal easily beating her, skidding to a stop at the water. The ocean wrapped around her ankles, Petal flexing her toes into the wet sand beneath her before yelling back with her head held high, "You're so sloooooo- Gah!"

Before she knew it Flutter tackled her, pushing her over and into the shallow water, the two of them giggling and rolling over for a moment before the salty water got into their faces, standing up quickly as a wave crashed over them. They backed off from the water, breathing heavily as the human spoke up, "Yeah, maybe it's not the best idea the wrestle in the water..."

"Yeah... Probably not." She pondered on that for a moment, raising one eye before looking around herself, twitching her tail. "Wait, I feel like I'm forgetting something... Wasn't there something I wanted to do..." She started turning around, squinting at the parlor behind them.

Flutter smiled, glancing at the sand before responding, "Well, you seemed really excited to build som-"

"SANDCASTLES! Yes! That's what I wanted!" Petal exclaimed, shaking herself happily before looking back to the chairs they had set up under the red umbrella further up on the shore, "Can you get the tools to build the castle? I'd love to carve some stuff into the side while you build the structure!"

"Okay, just give me a sec."

They spent the next hour gathering wet sand into buckets, forming round towers on the corners before grabbing the square bucket and creating the castle walls. They had nearly lost all their progress when the water began rising, Petal using her quick thinking to dig a large moat around the castle, creating a canal that would lead the water back to the ocean. While Flutter kept building, the dragoness used her claws to trace little markings and windows in the towers and walls, humming to herself while she wagged her tail.

By the time they finished the sun had already fallen below the horizon, casting a warm orange glow over the magnificent fortress they had created. They both stood back and admired it, Petal nudging her side affectionately as Flutter took a few pictures with her phone, "There we go! Look what we did! It's super awesome, you did great with the detail!"

"Thank you!" She paused, looking at the picture on Flutters' phone as she bent down to show her. Then, she jumped up, wagging her tail, "Wait, I have an idea!" She then moved forward, slowly rounding the castle before flattening herself on the ground behind it. The girl wasn't quite sure what her pet was doing, unable to see her for a moment before the dragoness's head suddenly reappeared from behind the castle, popping her head over a wall with her tongue out, crossing her eyes. They both laughed hard, blushing before Petal spoke up through it all, "Just, haha, just take a picture with me like that! I wanna see what it looks like!"

Flutter rolled her eyes, brushing some of the sand off her bathing suit as readied her phone again, "Okay, fine. Just hold still... Done!" With a flash from her phone, she withdrew it, Petal bounding around the castle to her before peering at the device once again.

"It's perfect! I can see the title now: Derpy Dragon Attacks Local Sea Village!"

"Do you want me to post this one as well?"

"Um, is that a question? Heck yes!" She laughed back, curling her tail around her human happily before watching her post it on her social profiles.

"Now everyone will wish they could be relaxing like we are."

The dragoness piped up, "Mhm! We gonna have the best time ever! I've been wanting to go and meet some other cool dragons as well if possible!"

Flutter nodded, pulling out her phone again, "Okay, we can write that down on the list of things to do. I'm sure they'll have some park where we can meet other dragons and stuff. But for today let's just lie down now. I'm kinda wanting to just sleep for a bit by the ocean if that's okay with you. The waves are really relaxing and I haven't gotten some good sleep in a while."

"Okay! I'll make sure to wake you up if you're still asleep by midnight. I like watching the stars so I'll be doing that till the moon reaches the top of the sky."

She reached down and rubbed Petal's head, smiling softly, "Sounds good." They then returned to their beach chairs, an extra-long chair for Petal to lie down on comfortably, the 'ness jumping onto it before slowly curling around herself to doze off for a moment. Flutter joined her, cuddling with her for a few moments, her chair next to her when she felt like sleeping. The seagulls had moved further down the beach at this point and she could see that the water would soon be knocking over their castle. It was weird to think they'd spent so long on it for it to only be washed away like nothing, but she knew it was worth it. It didn't matter if anyone else saw the castle too much, it wasn't important what they did but it was they were together. 'Appreciate the small things is what my mother would always say. I guess I don't do that as much as I should these days. I really need to spend more time with her...'

 She hadn't planned on falling asleep on Petal, but as she lay her head on her back, watching the sun fall underneath the ocean, she quickly drifted off into sleep, relaxing with her best friend in her arms. She vowed to try and spend more time with her during the day when they both got home, dreaming of the adventures they'd have in days to come before finally falling asleep, happy and at home.