Topaz began his quest to find the ingredients for Minty Gold's potion. Looking back at the book that she had loaned him, there were some rather bizarre items on the list. He decided to begin his quest at the only shop in town that he thought would have at least some of them. He also decided to bring Citrine along so he wouldn't have to go it alone and because he needed a ride.
When the two siblings entered the shop, they were met with a strange smell that neither of them was could quite recognize. It wasn't a horrible smell, but it wasn't very pleasant either. Just looking around at all the strange objects lying around the shop, Topaz was sure that they could find at least some of the things they were looking for there. The pony behind the counter was a green earth pony with maroon dreadlocks and a bandana on her head. She seemed to be in the middle of some deep meditation, as she had her eyes closed and she kept saying "Oommmm" repeatedly. Topaz figured it would be rude to disturb her, but they did have a job to do.
"Um, excuse me? Hello?" Citrine said carefully, trying to get the pony's attention without shocking her. She didn't respond. Topaz decided to try again a little louder.
"Hello! Miss? We need to..." That seemed to work as the mare snapped out of her trance.
"Huh? Wha? Who's there?" she blurted out in confusion. Then she noticed that she had customers. "Oh hey!" She greeted them. "Welcome to Tree Hugger's All Natural Emporium. Blessiiiiings." She waved her hand in front of them as if casting some sort of enchantment on them.
The two siblings exchanged a confused look before Tree Hugger continued.
"So, like, how can I help you?"
"Well, we're looking for some ingredients to make a potion." Citrine explained.
"Righteous."
"You wouldn't happen to have any of these things in stock, would you?" Topaz inquired, showing Tree Hugger the page with the recipe on it. She examined the list carefully, trying to remember if any of the things were in her store.
"Hmm... I'll have to check. These are some really groovy items. Let's see what we can find."
Tree Hugger stepped out from behind the counter to begin her search. When she did, however, Topaz and Citrine were totally unprepared for what they saw. This pony was completely naked except for the smock covering her front. They tried to avert their eyes.
"WHOA! Whoa!" The two kids exclaimed in shock.
"Y-You are not wearing any clothes!" Citrine pointed out obviously.
"Oh yeah," said Tree Hugger. "When I say 'all natural,' I mean, like, 'all natural.'"
"But you can't just walk around butt naked in public with nothing but a smock on!" Citrine argued. "It's illegal!"
"Whoa. You're really starting to harsh my mellow. Besides, it's, like, my shop and if you don't approve of the way I choose to live my life, then you can just, like, leave."
Citrine was about to do just that, but Topaz stopped her.
"This could be the only place to get what we need. Just suck it up for a little while and we'll be out of here in no time. Please."
Looking into her little brother's eyes, Citrine decided to swallow her discomfort for his sake and let them stay, knowing how important it was to him that they get those ingredients.
*Sigh* "Okay. For you, bro," she conceded.
"I'm sorry, Miss Hugger," Topaz said to the naked mare. "Can you please help us?"
She gave them a blank look, but then smiled and said "Sure. Why wouldn't I?"
Citrine and Topaz looked to each other with confusion and concern, but then just shrugged it off.
"Now let me see," said Tree Hugger. "Where did I put that volcanic charcoal? Oh yeah! I think it was over here." She turned around and walked over to a shelf on the far side of the room, revealing her unclothed backside to her reluctant young customers. They both covered their eyes in sheer embarrassment to avoid direct eye contact as she looked across the shelf for the jar of charcoal. Fortunately, her tail covered up the most private part of her bottom, which helped a little, but not much.
Having no luck finding the charcoal on the top shelf, Tree Hugger decided to bend down and search the bottom one. Unfortunately, when she did, she bent her back more than her knees and her bare bottom stuck out even more. Both of the kids' faces grew extremely red as they tried hard not to look. Topaz couldn't help but take one little curious peek between his fingers, but then his sister covered his eyes for him.
-----
After about half an hour or so, they had already found most of the things they were looking for. Topaz was starting to think that this whole quest might be easier than he thought. When Tree Hugger was done ringing up the items one by one, she tallied up the total cost.
"That's 38 bits," she said. The siblings started to sweat. The cost was a little more than they had expected.
"Well, Citrine? Pay the nice mare," urged Topaz.
Citrine rummaged through her bag, but she couldn't find enough cash to cover the bill. "Do you take credit cards?" she asked.
"Uh, I don't really know how those things work," Tree Hugger replied, "but I do accept hugs as payment."
Both kids were stunned at such a proposal, especially Citrine. She stumbled over her words trying to come up with a counter offer.
"U-Um, no thanks. Can't we just work it off or trade or anything else? Please? HERE! PLEASE JUST TAKE MY CARD!"
"Are you sure? Everypony needs a hug once in a while."
Topaz grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear. "Just close your eyes and it'll be over before you know it."
"I am NOT hugging a naked mare!"
"Look, I'm sorry, but I don't have enough money either and I don't think she's gonna let us pay any other way. Besides, she's not totally naked. She's got the smock on, doesn't she?"
The yellow drake mare cringed and groaned at the thought of having to hug a naked mare for who knows how long.
"Please, Citrine?" pleaded the blue colt. He then held up a fist to signify their bonding handshake. Citrine decided that her hands were tied and, reluctantly, she pounded his fist back and agreed.
"I really hope you appreciate what I do for you!" she whispered angrily.
Swallowing her pride and with tremendous hesitation, Citrine lifted up her arms and invited Tree Hugger in for a hug, which Tree Hugger gladly accepted.
"Just pretend it's Mom," whispered Topaz. Finally, Tree Hugger made contact and the two mares embraced each other. Citrine kept here eyes shut tight waiting for it to be over. The hug only lasted five seconds, but it felt like five minutes. When Tree Hugger finally let go, Citrine breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"See? I told you," the shop owner bragged. "Don't you feel much better now?"
'Better' wasn't a word that Citrine would use to describe how she felt. 'Sick,' 'dizzy' and 'violated' all came to mind, though.
"Your turn, little dude," Tree Hugger said pointing to Topaz. The young colt felt his face get really hot all of a sudden. He was really embarrassed at the idea, but to be honest, a part of him actually wanted this. The green mare held out her arms and pulled the little colt in for his payment. His face landed right between her breasts, but he turned his head sideways so that he wouldn't suffocate. He eagerly wrapped his arms around her waste.
"Okay, I think that's enough," Citrine said with a grimace as she pulled her little brother out of the green mare's arms and chest. "Can we just take our stuff and go now?"
"Totally."
The two siblings each grabbed two bags full of random and strange items, plus the book, and headed out the door.
"Thanks for shopping with us and have a blessed day," the shop owner wished them as they exited the store.
After they put their bags in the trunk of their car, they climbed into the front seats and prepared to drive off.
"Don't you EVER make me do that again, Topaz," growled Citrine, buckling her seatbelt.
"Sorry," said Topaz. With that, his sister started the car and they drove off.
-----
There were only three things left on the list. In order to find two of them, Topaz and Citrine had to take a little trip into the woods. The recipe called for pedals from a Poison Joke blossom and lucky for them, there was a whole patch of Poison Joke not too far off the local nature trail.
When they reached the flower patch, it was like hitting the mother load. There were flowers stretching on for at least a yard. It almost looked like a big blue pond. There would have been enough to make the potion a hundred times over, but Topaz only needed one. As he prepared to take what he needed, he put on a pair of latex gloves and pulled out an empty glass jar.
"You know, there's no telling what those flowers will do to you," Citrine expressed with concern. "Are you sure those gloves will protect you?"
"Not entirely, but I don't really have a lot of options," Topaz responded. "Cheap cleaning aisle latex, don't fail me now."
Topaz approached the flower patch and ever so carefully bent down and reached for two flowers. He grabbed them by the stems and gently yanked them out of the ground. After placing both flowers in the same jar, the young colt did a careful inspection of his person, checking for any anomalies caused by touching the touching the enchanted plants.
"Do I look any different? Do I sound any different?" Topaz asked as his sister examined him carefully.
"Hmm. No. You seem fine to me," Citrine replied.
"Success!" Topaz proclaimed as he turned around and threw his hands in the air. Just then, however, there came a *poof* from behind him.
"Oh! Wait a second. Strike that," Citrine snickered, barely containing her laughter.
"What? What is it?"
"Look at your tail."
Topaz looked down and saw that his normally long, soft, purple tail had shrunken in size and turned brown and ropey. It looked just like the tail of a dog.
"Oh man," the blue colt said, blushing with embarrassment. "This is just great."
"Aw, it's not so bad. It's kinda cute, actually. Especially when it was wagging a minute ago."
Topaz glared at her as she let out another giggle. "Come on. Let's just go get the next thing," he said leading them onward.
-----
The next item was phoenix egg shell and getting that would be no easy task either. The two siblings spotted a phoenix nest high up in a tree. They couldn't tell exactly what was in it, but it looked like the parents weren't home, which was good since phoenix's were notoriously protective of their children.
"Hopefully, I can find some broken pieces up there," said Topaz.
"No way," Citrine protested. "You're out of your mind if you think I'm letting you climb all the way up there. Give me the bag. I'll do it. I'm a better climber anyway."
Topaz thought about it for a second. "No arguments there," he replied. "Okay. Good luck," he said, handing her the plastic bag to carry the shells in.
Citrine dug her claws into the tree trunk and began climbing. It was a bit of a workout, but it wasn't too long before she made it up to the nest. When she got there, she was greeted by seven little phoenix chicks, who all looked at her with curious eyes.
"Aww. Hi there, little cuties," she cooed. "Don't mind me. I'm just here to borrow your-" When she reached out her hand to grab the shells, the chicks all started chirping loudly like crazy, fearing danger.
"No no no! It's okay. See? I just need some egg shells. That's all." The yellow mare started collecting as many pieces as she could and put them in the bag. Before long, though, two great flaming balls of feathery fury came flying right at her. The phoenix parents were home and they were not happy to see an uninvited guest.
"Oh crap!" Citrine exclaimed. The two angry firebirds swooped right past her head, knocking her off balance and sending her plummeting toward the ground. He brother rushed to catch her, but when he did, she was so heavy that they both plopped onto the ground.
"Sorry. Are you okay?" Citrine asked.
"Yeah, I think so. How about you?"
"Fine."
"Good, 'cause here they come!" Topaz pointed as the two phoenixes flew after them. They picked themselves up and ran for their lives with the angry birds close behind them.
-----
There was only one more ingredient to get, but it was by far the most unpleasant. At the very least it could be obtained right in their own home. Topaz had insisted that he could get this one on his own, to which Citrine didn't argue since she didn't want any part of it anyway. Even though objectively, it may have been the easiest item to obtain, compared to everything else, it was the hardest thing Topaz had ever had to do. Just thinking about it made him sick to his stomach.
As the young unicorn looked around the house, he found his dad resting in bed. The last ingredient had to be from a dragon and he sure as hay wasn't going to ask his brothers for it. He girded his loins as he prepared to do something he really, really didn't want to do. 'It's for Minty! It's for Minty!' he told himself, which somehow only made it sound even worse. Nevertheless, he entered the bedroom and did what had to be done.
"Um... Hey, Dad?" he said meekly, getting the adult dragon's attention.
"Hey. What's up?"
"Uh... well...... Look this is gonna sound really weird, but.... I need you to do something for me."
"Sure. Anything."
After Topaz explained his request to his father, the dragon didn't know what to say. "Wow... That's, uh.... That's quite a request."
"I know and I wouldn't be asking this of you if it wasn't super important. I swear," Topaz defended. "It's the last thing I need and then I'll have everything for Minty's potion."
"Hey, hey. It's okay. I understand," Spike said, giving his son a comforting smile. "Of course I'll do it. For you, kiddo."
"Really?"
"Of course."
"Thanks, Dad. You're the greatest," Topaz praised, feeling a little better.
"I just need to get a jar and a good picture of your mom."
Aaaand there was that sick feeling again.
Thirty minutes passed before Topaz finally got what he needed. The last ingredient for Minty's potion. Finally, he had everything on the list and he could return to Minty's house a hero. He even had the mental battle scars to prove it.