It was the day of the Championships. I woke up with Wave, it was really early but we had a wakeup call from the reception desk, I imagined all the surfers had this. "Wave Pool? Are you awake?" I tapped on her shoulder, her eyes immediately snapped open and she bolted upright. "What time is it?" she tapped frantically on the bed frame. "It's 5:33. We've got seven minutes to get our boards and get downstairs for breakfast. The competition starts at 9:00, but I figured we should be up early for a warm-up." Sighing that we had some time, she lay down softly and tapped on the headboard, "I've got all the warm-up I need." She skimmed a hoof across my chest; I tried as hard as I could to keep my wings still. She smiled and hummed a few bars of "For a United Equestria" to me, and tapped, "Come with me, Wind. I have something for you."
We walked over to her suitcase; she opened the outside pocket and pulled something out. She gave it to me, and signed to me by tapping on my shoulder, "It's a pair of goggles. You can use them when you surf… to keep the spray out of your eyes. You have gorgeous eyes; they match your mane…" I managed to put them on with some assistance from Wave. "How do they look?" I signed to her, tapping her forehoof with mine. "They look great, the gold rims really suit you," she tapped back.
"You've got your board?" she signed me. I nodded, pointing my hoof to the board tucked under my wing. I noticed how huge my wings were, rather belatedly. "You have yours?" I asked with no rhetoric whatsoever, given that I couldn't see it. She brushed her cheek against mine and nodded. "Yeah," she signed, confirming that. "Let's go to breakfast, then," I tapped to her. "Good idea," she tapped back. Then I leashed up Wavy and she led me to the elevator, we rode down to the first floor and hung a left into the dining room. There was a breakfast buffet that had been set up; it was 5:40 when we walked out of our room. That gave us 20 minutes before we should be up at the shore, which was less than a minute away from the hotel. I grabbed a bagel and a glass of orange juice, Wave coincidentally did the same. We sat down at a table for two near another couple tables, almost all of which were full with surfers talking. "Isn't it funny we got the same thing for breakfast?" Wave signed to me under the table, tapping her back hoof on mine. To this I responded by simply smiling, that seemed to be enough for Wave. Wavy was sitting near the table, eating a half a biscuit I'd given her for her breakfast.
After breakfast, Wave, Wavy and I walked out to the shore with our surfboards. "You said last night that you wanted me to hear the new surfing moves once we were in the ocean. Well, here we are," I tapped on the rocks to her. "I know," she tapped back, turning around, "Here you go." She jumped on her board and paddled out using her wings. She pushed off and stood up, caught a large wave and deliberately caught herself in the undertow. She let her board go under, jumped off, and once her board surfaced she landed back on it. She rode back, and then paddled out again for another trick. This time, she stood up and caught an even larger one, that kind where it crashes over you and you can ride through the tunnel. She rode through the tunnel, but not on her back hooves. She rode on her board upside-down, on her front hooves. She balanced pristinely, and she then, finally, rode all the way back in.
"How was that?" tapped Wave. "It was amazing!" I tapped back, giving her a hug. "Can I show you something I learned, too?" I tapped to her. She tapped out a quick, "Yes," and out to sea I paddled. I got up with my wings, but instead of getting all the way up I flapped my wings and took off. I let the surfboard ride the entirety of the wave, then I dropped back onto it toward the end and steered it out of the tunnel the wave had created. I heard Wave whistle loudly, and once I got back she tapped, "That was AMAZING!" "It was nothing compared to yours, you had the call to stand on your front hooves and balance through that entire wave. That's what I call impressive," I tapped back. Wave was rather happy about this, and she hugged me. "Do well at the competition, okay?" she tapped. "Break a leg," I tapped. We giggled to each other, and she gave me a kiss. Then I heard some hoofsteps, but they definitely weren't Wave's.
"Look what we've got here," said the gruff voice, "a couple of fillyfoolers." Although Wave Pool whimpered a bit, I stood up for her. However I knew that protesting would only make things worse, and winked to wave with the eye that I knew the stallion couldn't see. I tapped on her front hoof, "Play along. I'll sign everything to you." She gave a small nod.
"Aw, you found out already?" I started, turning to face the stallion and tapping the entire thing out with my back hoof, "It was supposed to be a secret!" The stallion looked confused, and then I continued, "Well, I guess our secret's broken, Wave." I used a morose, almost fully depressed, tone, and Wave hung her head and nodded. "Well, that's all right, we were going to tell them anyways," I said. The stallion was even more confused, Wave tapped that all to me gently on the rocks, but it must have looked to them that she was simply being either sad or shy, or maybe both. Then I stood up on my back hooves and motioned for Wave to do the same, and we kissed. By now the stallion was incredibly confused and a bit grossed out, Wave knew this and told me through her squinted eyes. He walked off; I heard his hoofsteps and his mumbling, although I barely made out an "Okay, sheesh," from him as he trotted off.
"Thanks, Wave," I tapped to her. "No problem," she tapped back to me. "It's almost 9:00. Our event's at 9:45, do you want to surf until the competition starts at 9:00?" I tapped. "Good idea," she tapped back. She gave me a small hug, tapping on my shoulder, "That's for standing up for me. Remind me to remember how to do that later, I'll probably need it." Then she paddled out for another round of moves.
"Wind!" I heard Wave shouting out to me. I knew it was time to get off the sea, the competition probably started soon. I did one last move and then rode back to the shore. "Thanks for calling me back, Wave," I tapped. She smiled and hugged me, tapping, "No problem," on my shoulder, "Now, let's do some stretching and warm-ups. We should do some running to get our heart rates up." I nodded, and we galloped back and forth along a few miles of surf, did some push-ups and wing-ups, and then stretched out.