“I sure hope Nightshade finds your home,” Sugar Crush said.
“I gave Rasberry my address to give to your sister,” Mineral Water replied. “Besides, if Morganite is with her, Morganite will know where the Emerald District is.”
Sugar nodded to appease Mineral, but she couldn't help but worry if Nightshade wouldn't find her way. “So, would you like a bubble bath or a simple shower?” Mineral Water asked as he opened the door to his home with a magical twist of the knob.
Sugar Crush paused at the doorway and turned her head. “What’s a… bubble bath?”
Mineral’s jaw went slack. “You've never heard of a bubble bath?”
The mare gestured to the rising moon. “You forget I've been trapped on the moon for most of my life. I don't know a lot of things.”
“I've noticed,” Mineral jabbed as he walked passed his friend. In response to the stallion's comment, Sugar made a grab for him. However, one quick duck was enough for Mineral to dodge Sugar’s “loving” embrace. He fled toward the dark kitchen in a brisk walk.
“Don't think you can hide in the dark!” Sugar called, her grin only known to herself. “I'm nocturnal!” She made for the kitchen like a lioness on the hunt. “Where, oh where, has my little pony gone?” Sugar sang in a low tune.
“Over here,” Mineral said to her left. Just as she spun around to see the crystal pony made no attempt to hide, a white light engulfed the kitchen. A nasty hiss slithered through Sugar’s teeth, and she wrapped her wings around her eyes.
“That was mean!” she complained.
“But this isn't.” Stunned by the light, Sugar wasn't ready for a pair of arms to be wrapped around her neck. She gasped, too surprised to do anything. “I had fun today,” Mineral Water said in her ear.
Giggles bubbled in Sugar Crush's belly. “Me too.” She simply leaned her head into Mineral and made no attempt to embrace him. “It would be great for me to give you a niiiiiice long hug. But no. You just want to deny me for no reason.”
Sugar felt her friend remove himself. “To tell you the truth… Well, do you honestly want to know why I don’t like hugs?”
The power of excitement took control of Sugar Crush’s arms and wings, and she removed them to look at Mineral Water with excitement. The light was not as blinding, but her eyes were not fully adjusted and they fluttered a bit. “Please tell me why you hate being hugged. I'd love to know.”
“I'll tell you…” Mineral booped Sugar on the muzzle; the thestral scrunched her nose in protest. “...after we leave for our date.”
“Can't you tell me just a little bit?” Sugar complained with a stamp of her hoof.
Mineral gestured his snout to the hallway, “Why don't you look at a picture of Nebula instead? That may hold you over until later.”
Sugar Crush spun around and noticed two pictures hung on the walls. The light was dim in the hall, a blessing for Sugar. And it was enough for her to see Nebula’s smile from her self-portrait.
“She…” Sugar’s face reflected off of the picture frame glass. “...really does look like me.”
“Why else would I get so emotional about her when I first saw you?” Mineral stood in the light of the kitchen, his body glittering from the artificial glow. His expression, however, did not shine like his fur. Thankfully, Mineral Water did not cry, but it didn't please Sugar Crush to see him upset.
The mare looked down the hallway, the rest of the pictures leaning against the walls created a depressing air. Sugar didn't want to dwell in the darkness for long and came into the kitchen light. She lowered her head while stretching out her neck and said, “It’s okay.”
Mineral’s dipped head didn't move as Sugar gently rested her forehead upon the stallion’s cranium. His moan of distress forced Sugar to press just a little more. Their eyes locked, the moment very intimate. He needed her.
“Think happy thoughts, Mineral.” Sugar’s voice was at a near whisper. “Whenever I was sad on the moon, my sister would tell me to think happy thoughts. It was hard to be happy because Nightmare Moon was so… unhappy and jealous of her sister, Princess Celestia. However, despite the challenge of finding joy, I was able to find it.”
“And what happiness was that?” Mineral asked.
“My family.” Sugar backed up to make sure Mineral saw her smile. “What makes you happy?”
Two purple ears fell back, but Mineral did not hesitate to answer, “You.” A little smile grew on Mineral, enough to show Sugar’s words got to him.
The thestral looked away, worried she was blushing. “What else makes you happy?”
“Our eventual date we are about to have.”
“Then think about how much fun we are going to have while I wash up.” Sugar gestured her arm down the hallway. “But first, show me where the bathroom is.”
***
A bottle of bubble bath mixture hovered over to Sugar Crush as she stood by the intricate bathtub. “Just follow the instructions on the bottle,” Mineral Water said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Sugar grabbed the plastic bottle and read the title aloud, “Vanilla Bubble Bath Soap.”
“For mares exclusively,” the stallion added with a nod.
Still curious about what strange concoction she was holding, Sugar asked, “So, what makes a bubble bath better than a regular one?”
“A few things actually: aromatherapy, helps keep a coat healthy, and is very relaxing.”
“But… doesn't regularly bathing help do all those things? I don't see the point in using…” Sugar pointed to the bottle, “...this if I can do all those things you just said with a regular bath.”
Mineral chortled, “Just give it a try and don’t question everything.”
Instead of further arguing, Sugar gave up and chose to take a bubble bath. “Okay. But only because you asked.” Sugar twisted the knobs to the tub, and water began to gush forward.
“Oh, and if you want, there are some buttons on the wall that will activate various jets inside the bathtub.” Mineral pointed to six rubber buttons that all had a number that went from 1 to 6.
“What's a ‘jet?’” The idea of a bubble bath was becoming more of a struggle to understand. “Are they necessary for a bubble bath?” More laughs left Mineral Water, further upsetting the confused mare. “Don't laugh at me!” she pouted.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” Mineral smirked, making his apology seem very fake.
Sugar rose her nose, “I wish to have my privacy now. Unless you want to be weird and stand there while I take a bath.”
Mineral dismissively rolled his eyes, “Fine, fine.” As he walked out, the stallion said, “I'll be in my workshop doing a little bit of work. Just call me when you are done with your bath.”
As Sugar tested the water’s heat with a hoof, she said back, “You still want to do work after today’s crazy bake sale?”
“What can I say? I love work.” The door closed, cutting off any other questions Sugar Crush may ask. Part of her was a little concerned after Mineral had finished what he had said. She knew he had a workaholic attitude, but what worried Sugar was how hard does he work himself. More questions surfaced more than the bubbles being created by the cascading water. Sugar dismissed the questions, allowing them to be placed in her vault. The intricate task of taking a bubble bath was about to take place.
Happy with the water’s temperature, Sugar plugged the hole to the tub. The bubble bath soap looked at Sugar, waiting to be used. She took up the bottle and looked at the instructions. “To ensure you enjoy your bath time, just pour one cup of the soap into the tub and mix the water around to evenly distribute the soap.” A smile rose Sugar’s cheeks. “Sounds easy to me.” But then a question arose in her head. “How can I get a one cup measurement for this soap?” Sugar opened every cabinet in hopes to find a measuring cup. Her efforts were in vain. Mineral Water stored no measuring cup in his bathroom.
“I guess… I’ll just go downstairs and get a measuring cup instead. I’m sure Mineral wouldn’t mind. I am following the instructions.” She looked back at the tub. “I just need to hurry and not let the water overflow.”
The hallway light was on as Sugar Crush quietly made her way downstairs. The trip began to upset her as most of the pictures rested on the floor. Only a few remained up on the walls. One was a handsome photo of Mineral Water dressed in fancy attire while holding a glass of champagne. Another was a younger looking Mineral Water with a mare clutching him close; Sugar assumed the mare was his mother. There was still so much for her to learn about her friend’s secrets. Sugar was very tempted to look at some of the pictures that faced away from her, but she felt that would be an intrusion of Mineral’s personal life. They were off the walls for a reason.
Another question to ask Mineral was suggested to Sugar Crush’s brain.
Finding the measuring cup was not as difficult as Sugar was expecting. A few pull of several kitchen drawers and the thestral found what she was looking for. Just before retreating back upstairs, Sugar was snagged by the picture of Nebula and Mineral.
It warmed Sugar’s heart to see her friend look so happy. But something unexpected happened as she stood in front of the picture. The smile of Nebula infected Sugar’s emotions. And Sugar Crush began to let a few tears loose. Nebula looked so much more beautiful than Sugar Crush could have ever wanted to be. The gravity of the absent Nebula reminded Sugar Crush the pain of loss. The pain of separation. The pain of sadness.
“No wonder Mineral cries so much over her. She looks so… They look so...” A nasty snort gurgled in Sugar’s nostrils as she sniffed up gross mucus. She then gasped, remembering the running water, and ran back upstairs.
***
It was strange for Mineral Water to be unable to get himself to work. Sure, he had a long day of working with Sugar Crush and her bake sale. But Mineral knew he had some energy left in him to continue the rest of his orders. His mind, however, was too clogged with the eventual date.
He sat at his workspace, the glaring yellow halo from above glared down at the crystal pony’s head. A face-down picture frame rested on the wooden table’s ledge. Lost at finding a solution, Mineral Water levitated the picture over to himself and propped it upright.
Nebula was clad in armor with a heavy-looking jousting lance in her left arm. She lacked the traditional helmet of a Crystal Empire jouster, but Mineral preferred her lovely mane to not be ruffled by the headwear. The look of determination she gave made no effect on Mineral’s mood. Soon, the picture began to move and Nebula dropped the weapon. “Thanks for seeing me again,” Nebula sighed. “That thing was getting heavy.”
“I always wondered how jousters manage to hold onto their weapons for so long,” Mineral Water said.
“And I wonder how you can still want to work after today’s events.” The stallion broke eye contact with the mare, and Nebula was quick to correct herself, “In a good way! In a good way!”
Mineral returned his attention to the picture. “You know how I am, Nebula. I’m willing to do what I can to be most productive.”
“And I am proud of you for helping out your friend,” Nebula beamed. “Too bad the poor mare gets overwhelmed by doubt. Good thing you went when I convinced you to go see her.”
“Me too.” Mineral looked down at his chair as both of his ears sagged. “Good thing I didn’t let my work blind me again. I wonder what would have happened if I didn’t show up.”
“Hey! Don’t be like that!” The outburst jolted the stallion to attention. Nebula’s slit pupils rammed into Mineral Water’s eyes. “You did a great thing today. Don’t bring yourself down like a depressed teenager. Think happy thoughts just as Sugar Crush instructed you to do.” The lightbulb’s buzz over Mineral’s head rang in his ear, the silence too afraid to be present. “Now,” Nebula said in a much less aggressive tone, “what about Sugar makes you happy?”
“She… is fun to be around,” Mineral smiled. “And it makes me really happy that I inspired her to make such a successful product.”
“Her Mineral Milk Cookie, right?” Nebula asked.
“Yeah…”
A giggle erupted from the picture. “You’re blushing, Mineral!” The stallion wanted to argue that he wasn’t, but his faint reflection in the frame’s protective glass proved him wrong.
“And what if I am? Can’t I be happy the way I want to?” Mineral laughed alongside the illusion of Nebula’s existence. He shrugged at his insanity; as long as no pony knew of his private talks with himself, Mineral had nothing to worry about.
“What else makes you happy about Sugar Crush?” Nebula knocked on the glass to return Mineral to the topic at hoof.
“She likes to try and hug me,” Mineral said. “I’m starting to really enjoy our little game.”
“Maybe a little too much than you are willing to admit?” The sly Nebula was able to fish out more info as the stallion continued to look away. “Do you think she is cute? Does that make you happy?”
The talking picture was beginning to overwhelm Mineral Water, so the stallion levitated Nebula and placed the image face down. “Don’t try to hide from me!” the frame rattled. “There are more pictures of me to haunt you!”
“Yes.”
The lightbulb buzzing rang as Mineral Water and Nebula’s conversation went to intermission. Curious to what the picture was up to, Mineral levitated it back onto its leg. “Yes,” he repeated. “I do think Nebula is very cute.” Both ponies smiled at one another, Nebula’s grin much stronger than Mineral’s flimsy, nervous smirk. “Now don’t get jealous because I told you that.”
“Psh!” Nebula spat, her eyes rolling at such a claim. “I can’t be jealous of you and her. I’m already dead!” Mineral Water couldn’t believe how joyful she sounded as Nebula had to remind him of her fate. All happy thoughts were gone in an instant, and the bulb buzzing interrupted the talk. The stallion stared at Nebula’s hooves, preparing himself to be scolded by her again.
Instead, the memory got onto her belly to enter Mineral’s eyes. “Mineral…” Nebula sighed as she stared at her lance. “Why do you cling to the past so much? It’s been a year, and still you torment yourself.” The stallion gave no response. His mind was, once more, lecturing himself, so he chose to listen to it. “I know you lament what you did to me. It was a mistake. Learn from your error while you enjoy the presence of a mare who wants your friendship. I mean, really! Sugar is your friend, for one. She’s a mare, a very cute one. And, is thestral! That’s a win, win, win in your book.”
Mineral rubbed at an irritation on his brow. “It is. And I want to make Sugar Crush just as happy as she wants to make me.”
“Then go and do that!” Nebula exclaimed as she jumped on all fours. “And please! Move on from me! You don’t have to forget all about me; just remember the good times. Okay?”
Temporary positivity settled in Mineral’s bones. He knew the eventual past will come back to haunt him as he slept. But at least the present was much more real than old memories.
“Mineraaaaaal!” Sugar Crush called aloud.
The stallion almost jumped out of his seat, startled by the outcry. Nebula looked back at him with the same amount of confusion. Without being told by his crazy imagination, Mineral Water ran out of his workshop and up to the second floor.
He began to knock on the bathroom door. “Is everything alright?” Mineral asked, his heart pounding from the brisk jog.
“Can you come inside?” Sugar replied with a crack in her voice. “I need to know if this is what you call an enjoyable bubble bath.”
Mineral creased his brows, curious what she meant by that. The moment he opened the door, the stallion was greeted by a tower of suds that nearly touched the ceiling. “Holy hay!” Before he could grasp how ridiculous the scene was, Mineral looked around the bathroom. “Where are you, Sugar?”
“In the bathtub…” she said, lost in the sea of bubbles.
“What did you do? Use an entire bottle?”
A silver face popped through the bubble fog. “It said to use one cup,” Sugar whined.
“No,” Mineral shook his head. “The instructions say to use one cap.”
“What!” Sugar Crush hopped out of the tub with a very bothered bend in her brow. A large mass of suds clung to her coat, further upsetting the displeased mare. Mineral didn’t care about the water dripping of Sugar’s body; it could be easily cleaned. Sugar snatched the bottle off the counter and glared at it. “I know it said one cap!”
As the thestral’s eyes quickly fanned over the instructions, Mineral walked over to her, curious if the instructions actually called for one cup instead of a cap of bubble bath soap. “Let me see it, please.” Sugar’s eyes slowed down from reading, and soon, her ears fell back. Shame glimmered in the thestral’s eyes as she forfeited the bottle. Mineral could tell she knew she messed up, but he needed to read the instructions himself. “To ensure you enjoy your bath time, just pour one cap of the soap into the tub and mix the water around to evenly distribute the soap.”
“I thought it said cup…” Sugar Crush’s voice cracked as she shivered off the suds. Suddenly, a flurry of emotions erupted from the mare. “I’m sorry I messed up!”
The outburst almost made Mineral slip from the soapy water that pooled around himself and Sugar. “It’s okay. It happens.”
“But look at what I did!” the mare exclaimed, her arm flinging to the crime she had committed. Several tears added to the water that dripped from her body. “I just had to mess up big time after you kindly let me into your house to bathe for our date!”
“It was a mistake,” Mineral said, trying carefully to defuse the upset mare. Sugar began to shiver in place as her head looked at the tile floor in defeat. He levitated two towels over to his soaked friend and wrapped her up without lifting a hoof.
“Thank you…” Sugar’s voice tried to speak louder, but it came out as nothing more than a whisper. She cleared her throat and managed to speak normally. “It’s been a long day… As great as it was to have the sale be very successful, it was very stressful, too. All day, I have been worried about messing up; worried about something going wrong. And just when I was looking forward to our date, I just had to screw up and make a mess… It’s my fault for misreading the bottle.”
Words of advice tried to piece itself in Mineral’s worried head, but nothing sufficed what was needed to assist the sobbing pony. Sugar’s shivering returned in full force, and Mineral worried she may catch hypothermia, even though the bathroom was lukewarm.
There was only one thing that could be done.
“If… if I… let you hug me…” Mineral Water stuttered as he shuttered along with his friend. At once, Sugar Crush froze, her eyes wide with disbelief. “...just this once… it… doesn’t count. Okay…?”
Sugar blinked at the stallion. It was her turn to be concerned. “What do you-”
The thestral squeaked as Mineral Water pulled her close against him. “Just do it!” he whispered. “I’ll hold you, and you can hold me!” Mineral braised himself for the tickling sensation of a hoof running across his torso. Not to mention, he was allowing a mare in a towel who had just gotten out of the tub to embrace him.
A hoof touched the back if his neck. Mineral gasped, the feeling uncomfortable, yet gentle. His reflection in the mirror showed just how red in the face he was. Instead of being claimed by Sugar Crush’s signature hug, her cheek brushed against the stallion’s face. It was not what he expected, and it didn’t cause his body to twitch with discomfort; the feeling did make him want to melt.
“If I hugged you now,” Sugar Crush said into his ear, “it would be way too easy; no challenge at all.”
“That’s why I said if you hugged me now, it wouldn’t count.” Both ponies looked at each other, left in an awkward silence. Neither of them smiled, but Mineral couldn’t deny how close he was and felt as Sugar’s hoof rested behind his neck. A smile bloomed on Mineral's lips. “Are you at least feeling better?”
Sugar flushed, her eyes refusing to look up at him. “You sure know how to take a mare’s breath away by surprising them with a hug.” She quickly rose her nose but ended up bunching it up against Mineral’s soft muzzle. “S-sorry!”
She said she was ‘sorry.’ However, the thestral didn’t remove herself. Mineral made no attempt to pull away from the magnetic muzzle; it was too warm and comfortable. “Like I said before, ‘It happens.’ There’s no reason to be sorry.”
Sugar Crush giggled, her voice vibrating Mineral Water’s skull. “Yeah, things do happen…”
The scent of vanilla began to intoxicate Mineral’s senses. Taking the initiation, the stallion gently placed his forehead on Sugar’s little head. Her blue eyes were no longer cursed with tears. Instead, Sugar’s pupils were invested into staring into his very soul. Mineral had to remind himself that his friend was a thestral and not a unicorn. He didn’t want her to peer into his mind and read every vulnerable part of himself.
“Are you going to answer my question?” Mineral Water asked.
“If I am feeling better?” Sugar Crush replied.
“Yes. The one you keep avoiding.”
The hoof behind Mineral’s neck began to rub his sensitive fur. He couldn’t stop himself from breathing heavily or halt Sugar from pressing her chest against him. Even she let out a short pant. “I think… I’m about to find out…”
A gravity Mineral Water knew nothing about weighed down on him. It was a gentle pull, but the drag was impossible to stop. Sugar’s hoof began to press down on Mineral’s spine, his hooves slipping along the tile.
Simple questions entered his mind. Is this really happening? Do I really like Sugar Crush? How does she feel about me? Mineral was about to be smothered with the slumber of a kiss. He just knew it. His eyelids slowly began to close. They stopped halfway just to be sure Sugar was partaking in the activity.
A giggle from nowhere cracked the silence. Mineral rose his head to see somepony peeking through the round window. The sight startled him, and the stallion tried to backpedal away. However, the world he knew suddenly spun around as Mineral Water slipped backwards, pulling Sugar Crush along with him.
The thestral’s scream shattered the stallion’s eardrums as she fell on top of him. As his body stung with pain, he saw Nightshade’s and Morganite’s head stare at Sugar and him. Mineral immediately regretted giving his address to Raspberry.