I gasped awake.
I flailed my legs, splashing warm water with my rear hooves, hitting a tile wall with my right forehoof and something softer with my left.
"Oof!" a pony cried, but was fast and grabbed me before I could back-hoof him with a return sweep.
He released my leg instantly, as if he'd trespassed.
I'd woken in a humid room that smelled heavily of honey. I lay on my back floating in a porcelain slipper tub. Tan travertine tile lined the walls with wavy lines of rust color, interspersed with gold accents. Somepony had lit a dozen fat candles to illuminate the room with flickering light that cast mesmerizing shadows. Sitting beside the tub sat Blueblood, his golden hair limper than usual.
Soap foam dripped from his chin. It explained much.
Moisture glistened across the lower rim of his eyes. Unless he had experienced my dream, those could not be tears. Likely soap in his eyes. He blinked even now.
I remembered the green nightmare.
Why? The only redeeming aspect of a nightmare was that you forgot it moment you woke!
I shuddered, then hugged myself in a shiver that made it to my lips with a burr.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
I studied those eyes. Multiple flames made his irises resemble smoothly ground sapphire, glinting with clear concern as they shifted, taking me in, looking for hurt. I sniffed the air. The candles were honey-scented, but something exuded cinnamon. Him. That made me remember what he'd done, all he'd learned, and what he'd taught me I could feel.
That simple four letter word, feel, did no justice to those sensations. I put my right hoof to my heart. Internal thunder grew, overwhelming my nightmare memories as my breathing grew rapid. I couldn't blush more because I lay in tub of hot sudsy water. My heart expanded to touch my ribs. It felt that way. It was as if my reactions worked overtime to counter the worry in his face; I expanded with relief and remembered joy.
I whispered (huskily, because what I felt took over my vocal cords): "Very much okay."
I directed all the intangible and indescribable overflowing in me—at him.
He staggered, despite sitting. His hooves slipped and skittered from under him, clicking against the grout. He teetered, unbalanced, his chin descending toward the cast-iron porcelain-encased tub.
I thrust myself forward, ejecting a great wave of soapy water as I twisted to catch him in a hug. I banged my ribs. Suds flew through the air. Candles hissed out, or doused themselves splashing into the tub to float and bob. The scent of paraffin combined with the honey, cinnamon, and soap.
He weighed... quite a bit more than me, so I quickly rested him on the edge, steadying him, studying his stunned features as I blurted, "Are you insane?"
"You fill me up," he said.
That again. I didn't understand—or maybe didn't want to understand. The implication exceeded friendship. It implied love— "But, but! Are-are you ok?"
He nodded once, blinked twice, then finally hooked his front hooves over the edge of the tub. His hooves splashed in. His mane dripped. "What's Equish for beyond ok?"
I grabbed with a hoof on either side of his head and kissed him as deeply as I could, employing everything we'd learned that we liked.
He breathed heavily and moaned. While he reciprocated better than I expected, it did not revive him to the extent that he took over. Was he rattled? Had I done something wrong? Why was he worried?
In the end, my mind decided that he humored me in some way.
I asked, "Are you alright?"
"You fill me beyond full."
I grinned. He wanted another kiss! I said, "Then give me back all that I've given you, you foal!"
"Can I do that?"
"Sure you can. Share it all with me!" I ordered, tilting my head and closing my eyes in expectation he'd kiss me.
Instead, a flood of magic pressed against me. Pulsing pink and white light blinded me, even through my eyelids, rumbling through the bathroom and rattling the apothecary jars, glasses, and the flower vase on the sink. I squinted and that didn't help, reflexively hugging the stallion, splashing more water. I hit my hips to keep from toppling over, but got myself repositioned so I hugged him more firmly despite the brightness, despite the magic.
As the magic streamed through me, only then did I realize it came from him.
Whatever the magic was, it felt good.
Really good.
Like...
For a moment...
Everything was right in the world. (As if that were possible...)
Contentment flooded my awareness, overwhelming every sense— including a burst of scent which went from cinnamon and honey to Nirvana in an instant...
I hugged harder and heard a crisp plink, like the pop of a delicate glass Hearths Warming Eve ornament made when it broke. Then...
Silence.
#
I shook myself awake; I'd momentarily drifted away. I held Blueblood. The darkness of the night had returned—except for the greenish negative afterimages of his pink flare, the flicker of four candles on the sink that had survived the tub tsunamis, and the drip-drip-drip of splashed bath water from a tub now scattered with red rose petals.
"I did that," he murmured.
"You did that," I said, petting the side of his neck because I wanted to assure myself he really was there, before rubbing my frog along the line of his jaw, and finally feeling his very sharp horn—mostly to check if it were hot. I grinned and smirked at the same time. "Too bad I didn't catch the numbers in that little magic storm you unleashed." I shivered, remembering, smiling. "That gift of magic you gave me, it would make even the worst day better."
"I—I did... what you asked. I had hoarded every little bit of what I got from you. I know that now. I shared, like you told me to, something I was told I could not—must never do. I gave it all away, but now..."
His voice cracked, then caught. He blinked. As I watched a tear run down his cheek, my feelings for him doubled, then doubled again.
"...it's coming back!"
"Of course it is, silly colt" I laughed, feeling an uncanny truth falling into place. "It's something I'm learning, too. Ponies are like this, apparently. They give and other ponies give in return."
"That's... extraordinary!"
"Here's some more—!" I splashed more water as I hugged him, kissed his cheeks, his nose, then his lips (with a nibble) once again.
When he pulled back and I relaxed into the water, a grin grew over his muzzle. He said, "I think I would like to share some more."
Blue nebulosity pulsed around his horn and I floated into the air, dripping water and suds that splatted on the floor. He trotted us both toward the adjacent room.
"I'm wet!" I squealed and mock flailed.
"That's even better!"