//------------------------------//
// Sun, Surf, and Strawberry 
// Story: One Sweet Life 
// by Ice Star 
//------------------------------//

Apogee hadn't considered how awkward a wooden bench would feel with her ponytail holder and wriggled in place. Clutching her ice cream carefully, she was relieved the tasty treat didn't slip from her forehooves. Once she was in a much comfier position, she looked towards the sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight and clean air flooded her lungs while the taste of salt tickled the back of her throat. With Celestia's sun beating down on her, she could only crinkle her freckled muzzle. 

Next to her, Button Mash was occupied by his own ice cream and giving it lots of little licks. She didn't get how somepony could like vanilla ice cream so much, and especially not without some sprinkles. It didn't have the same sweetness that strawberry had. Nopony needed sprinkles for strawberry. Plus, some places had fruity bits in their strawberry ice cream, and that was way better than vanilla.

She elegantly mashed her ice cream cone to her muzzle, giving it big, long licks that left a portion of it smooshed on her face. 

Ppht.

Poking her tongue out, she wrinkled her muzzle up even further, licking her face and cheeks until she got everything. Maybe they should have accepted the napkins the ice cream vendor had offered to them. He probably could tell she was a messy eater. 

Instead of thinking about napkins that could've been any further, Apogee gave her ice cream one last sloppy lick. A smile burst across her muzzle as the sweetness touched her tongue. This time none got on her face!

Then came the brain freeze. She squeaked and next to her Button snickered. A passing seagull cried above and Apogee looked around, and a warm breeze teased her mane. None of the ponies on the beach were familiar. Cream Heart and her mom weren't anywhere in sight. Even the path behind them only showed the vast open ocean glinting in the sunlight. 

Hadn't Cream Heart told them to stay on a certain section of the beach? Apogee's focus drifted back to her ice cream and its muzzle imprint. 

"I hope our parents aren't too worried about us." Her expression didn't change into a frown, but her smile had slipped off.

Button's ears perked up. The propeller on his beanie spun faster, like it was thinking with him and Apogee liked watching it whirl. 

His eyes found her mid ice cream lick. From moment one the thing that had drawn her to this cute, friendly colt was the shared buzz of energy between them and the knowledge that they could talk until Luna raised the moon. Now his eyebrows were knitted with thought and he wasn't telling her all about the new game in the arcade he loved back home or asking her a cool question about rocket ships.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." 

Apogee made sure her posture was super straight. Did he know what it was like to have Boop O' Roops for dinner as often as she did? Or how good ice cream tasted after that? 

"My mom's always checking up on me," Button began, "and asking how I'm doing and where I'm going..."

Apogee felt herself deflate, but like any good friend she still listened. Button's mom did all the things that she did to her mom, not the other way around. If she thought about it too much, then that made it sound like she was the mom because when her mom retreated to her room, it was Apogee that went after her. 

Now she wasn't sure if the taste at the back of her throat was from the salty air, she just knew it wasn't from her ice cream. 

Button was still talking. "Not to mention telling me I can come to her with any 'problems' I may have."

There was a part of her lip just inside her mouth that was very good for biting when Apogee did not know what to say.

"But I'm sure you know how that goes, right?" Her new friend was looking at her with wide eyes and his ears perked forward. The seaside wind blew by again, with much more of a puff to it. It ruffled Apogee's chest fuzz and breezed by Button's beanie again, making the propeller whirl even more, like it wanted an answer too. "Your mom's probably the same way."

"I wish," Apogee said. She didn't realize a drop of her strawberry ice cream had fallen on her foreleg until after she spoke. They definitely should've accepted the napkins. 

She was surprised how lightly the words came out. Button didn't have to look in the trash can to see all the bottles and her didn't have to count them like she counted freckles, either. He didn't even have freckles. His mom looked like an old movie starlet, but Apogee would bet her allowance that Cream Heart didn't smoke like the pretty mares on the monochrome screen did. She didn't smell it on her. 

Button's eyes grew wider at her words. "You do?" The breeze tickled his ears because he flicked them. "What, is she worse?"

Apogee could not imagine how having a mom like that could be 'worse'. She'd give a hoofful of her freckles do have her mom do stuff like that, or to do more stuff with her general. Getting her to come to the beach with Button and Miss Cream Heart had been the best, not that spending time in the junkyard with her mom was bad, it's just that the beach was much more fun. 

Another drop of ice cream fell on her hooves. "Yeah..." she mumbled eventually, "something like that." 

Button gave her a curious sideways look. Dribbles of his own ice cream were already falling on his hooves, and maybe that was for the better. Apogee was kind of tired of sitting down. The wind was tempting her to fly and she might be able to talk Button into getting a better flavor of ice cream if they saw the vendor stallion again. 

Eventually, he shrugged clumsily. "We might be able to sneak away," he said, grinning.

That was the last thing she wanted to do. "Actually," Apogee said between a lightning-fast lick of her ice cream cone, "I think we should go find our parents."

Button blinked. Even his beanie seemed to have a way to spin quizzically. "Why would we wanna do that?"

"I want to build a sand castle," Apogee said, making sure to smile. She was going to try and have lots fun today, not worry about anypony or make them worry about her. "Maybe your mom and my mom can help us find some crabs to live in it. Oh!" She gasped, finally grinning again. "We could build a shell moat too!"

Button gave his half-melted ice cream a thoughtful lick. "That sounds great!"