Luxury

Today, I've included an illustration that perfectly fit a scene I was trying to describe. Many thanks toCaumenfor letting me use it. The full size version is here.

“What do we have, Gurney?” asked a white mare, quickly trotting alongside a large unicorn stallion. As the stallion walked, his horn emitted a pale green aura, pulling along a metal-framed, wheeled bed. Resting upon his namesake was an earth-pony mare. Her form shifted as the medical table passed over a small bump in the otherwise smooth white floor; the sudden shift sent the pony’s sweat-filled orange mane flying in front of her face.

“The patient is an earth-pony mare, she was found collapsed in her garden barely breathing—” Gurney spoke quickly. A passerby would wonder how he could talk so fast, seemingly taking no breaks to breath, and still enunciate so well. The white mare rose up to her rear legs, letting her fores rest over the bed’s metal railing, yet even on two legs, she kept pace with Gurney as he moved towards their destination.

“Upon arrival I began bagging her immediately and haven’t stopped since, I also noted that she was tachycardic and her pupillary response was non-existent or highly degraded—” Reaching down, the nurse pony grasped a small black flashlight in her mouth. Then, she brushed the orange forelock away from her patient’s eyes before using her hooves to pull one open. Depressing the pressure-sensitive switch with her tongue, several slow flashes of light shot forth, shining into the unconscious pink pony’s eye. Upon the last flash, an unintelligible mumble came from the supine mare.

“She has been in an out of consciousness and seems to be hallucinating—” he added as an afterthought to the pink pony’s vocalization. “And her name is Lily.” Gurney finished just as they arrive at a set of electromagical doors.

“Sweets…”

The gurney stopped in the center of the room, and immediately, a group of three nurses surrounded it. Each mare moved quickly. One applied small circular pads to various points on Lily’s chest while a second followed behind, clipping wires to each contact. A green and blue nurse took the ventilator from Gurney’s magic, allowing him to leave.

He didn’t though. As the white mare gave orders to her staff, he retrieved a small jar from a side compartment of his namesake; inside of it were two brown spheroid objects. Gurney unscrewed the jar’s lid while a soft plastic tube levitated over to him. He took one of the spheres and placed it into the tube, immersing it in a clear liquid. Gurney quickly closed the container and began to shake the container back and forth. After a few moments, he levitated the tube, now filled with glowing blue liquid, over to the head nurse.

“Redheart, take a look, I found her surrounded by seeds, I did not think much of it since she was in a garden but I took a few and tested one, it looks like she might be OD’ing.”

Nurse Redheart simply nodded in agreeance.

“Nurse Bubbles, could you go and fetch the doctor? We will need his anesthetic spell.” Without response, one of the mares trotted out of the room at a quick pace. “Coldheart, prep the stomach pump. Joy, go ahead and intubate the patient.” Redheart flipped her pastel pink forelock before looking down at her charge. Lily let out a quiet whimper just before her eyelids cracked open ever so slightly. Her golden eyes were nearly unrecognizable under the silver haze that resided in them.

“Sweets… Tell her, sorry… Love h…” Just as the nurses returned, Lily’s eyes slid closed and her voice trailed off. The doctor pushed through the doors a moment later, and acting quickly, he checked Lily’s vital signs before his horn lit up. A soft, silver glow surrounded her head and a light chiming sound filled the room. Just before the aura receded, Lily’s weak voice was heard.

“Tell her, goodbye.”

***

Yet another sleepless night passes you by. You find no comfort in your bed, so no matter which way you lay it feels as if your body would simply fall apart if you stay like that for long enough. So, toss and turn, you do. Around three or four in the morning, you get fed up with the rigmarole, climb out of bed, and leave the house.

You trot along the same path out of town as you always do, mind still brimming with the previous days’ events. When you reach that special spot, marking your starting point, you stop and take a deep breath; you’re determined to not let your mind ruin this again. You were here for solitude, for a break from the troubles of your world, and you’ll be damned if you’re going to bring those troubles with you again.

Breathing slowly, you close your eyes and listen to the night around you. In the distance, crickets chirp softly, and a soft breeze rustles leaves of tree and shrub alike. Even through your eyelids, you notice the world about you get darker as a cloud passes over Luna’s low moon.

Only opening your eyes after you've set off, you break into a steady gallop. All sorts of fauna pass you by as you go, and you even manage to see a few bats and owls flying and perched, respectively. The night air has a slight chill to it as it passes into your lungs and over the light sheen of sweat that is forming on your coat.

Passing a loosely knit stand of trees, a glint of white light catches your eye. You slow to a trot and make your way through the trees. As you do, the sight before you is wonderful. A small pond lies in the center of a clearing. Its surface ripples gently, causing it to gently shimmer with the light given off by Luna’s moon. Your ears perk at the sound of gentle splashing of water, drawing your eyes to the far side of the small oasis.

Your breath gets caught in your throat when you see what else lies within this clearing. Lotus sits in the water, up to her barrel. She is surrounded by sea of white, pink, and blue flowers that float precariously on the water’s surface. With her eyes closed, she submerges a chalice into the water, lifts the filled vessel above her head, and pours the water over her pink mane. It quickly rolls downward, lightly splashing and sending ripples rushing across the pond. As she brushes a sodden lock out of her face, her eyes open, staring blankly at the flowers in front of her. Even from here, you can see a hint of red against the deep blue of her eyes.

Suddenly, she looks directly at you; your eyes lock for a split second before a single, surprised word comes from her mouth.

“Sweets?”

Without waiting, she stands, whirls around, and darts off into the forest. Her quick movement sends a shower of small droplets into the air. The gentle sounds of their tiny splashes accompany your cries as you call out in an attempt to halt the fleeing mare. Even so, there isn't another sight or sound of Lotus.

Slowly walking towards the pond, a stinging sensation builds behind your eyes. With your mind still reeling, your legs carry you into the water, where you take up the exact same position that Lotus had and lie down. The cool water ripples over your legs and just barely kisses your body. Your eyes fall shut, and tears begin to stain the fur around your eyes.

Moments pass like this, with only the sounds of night and the gentle trickle of water accompanying you. Something bumps into you, just below your rib cage; a small yelp escapes your lips, and your eyes rocket open. You quickly blink away the haze and turn to look upon your attacker. Floating next to you is the small cup that Lotus had been using. Letting out a relieved sigh, you prod the chalice as it floats idly about.

Somehow, you feel sympathy for the abandoned vessel. To you, its glaring emptiness seems a great analog for what you feel every time you happen to think about the long-running friendship with the spa sisters - the one that, no doubt, lies in unsalvageable ruins.

Looking out at the sea of gently colored lotus blossoms, your hope for love dwindles, but a glimmer of hope rekindles in your heart when your eyes lock onto a piece of yellow and blue foil floating amongst the flowers.

Perhaps, your friendship with the spa sisters isn’t as damaged as you think it is, and maybe, just maybe, you can put in enough hard work to save it. Snatching a particularly perfect lotus blossom between your teeth, you climb from the water and shake your limbs dry. Taking off in a steady gallop, you begin the trek back to town.

***

It took hours, but it’s finally finished. You might have finished sooner if Bon Bon didn’t keep eating your work. Well, almost finished. It still needs to be floated in the display bowl, and then, the hard part will be delivering it to Lotus.

From the freezer, you retrieve a large bowl that is full of ice water. You carry the cold vessel back to your work station, carefully controlling your hooffalls to keep the liquid from sloshing about. You take a hoof full of colored chocolate shavings and sprinkle them lightly over the water’s surface. The pink, blue, and white flakes float across the water’s surface as your hooves reach for the centerpiece. Ever so carefully, you lift the light chocolate sculpture into the air, and slowly, you lower it into the water, hoping you whipped enough air into the chocolate mixture to allow it to float. With the moment of truth upon you, your hooves pull away, and you watch as your creation remains afloat.

Taking a step back, you take in the sight of what an entire morning’s worth of work has yielded. Colorful flakes of chocolate float across the surface of the frigid water, and in the center lies a deep brown flower. Its chocolate petals are sculpted into a near perfect recreation of a lotus blossom. Below the edible flower, three stems intertwine. One is a milky white color and leads up to a second white-chocolate flower. The other is a green tuber, leading up to the blue lotus blossom that you had taken from the pond.

Looking down at your creation, you can only hope that it’s enough to let Lotus know how sorry you are – not for kissing her, you’d never be sorry for that, but for how poorly you did it.

It’s good to have hope, even when things seem hopeless, right?

***

It takes quite a bit of concentration for pony to carry a delicate chocolate sculpture floating in a bowl of ice water halfway across town. As such, your journey to Aloe and Lotus’ spa is arduously slow, and as each step lands in front of the other, a tight knot began building in your stomach. Though, you can’t pay much attention to it, as all of your concentration is on not dropping your morning’s work.

In time, you make it past the throngs of ponies that are making their way through Ponyville and come nose to nose with the inviting, tropical architecture of the spa. Taking a deep breath, you push the door open with your nose and move into the waiting area.

Looking around, you find yourself alone in the building’s foyer. A small sign indicating that Aloe and Lotus are currently taking lunch rests check-in counter. It’s not the first time that you’ve dropped by during the girls’ lunch break, and it’s certainly not the first time you’ve brought sweets with you. So, you barely think twice when you begin to make your way down the hallway towards the spa’s small kitchen. After passing a few doors, you can hear the soft notes of two mares’ voices, and you easily recognize them as that of your friends, the spa sisters. As you draw closer, your heart begins to beat wildly in your chest.

You hear lotus speak as you approach the doorway that leads into the kitchen. Though, for some reason, her voice is muffled enough where you can’t manage to understand any of it. You lift a hoof to knock on the open door just as Aloe responds.

“You’ve got to do something. It’s just going to get worse until you talk to her—” Aloe’s voice was cut off by the soft knocking of your hoof against wood. Much to your butterfly-filled stomach’s chagrin, you take a step into the doorway, allowing yourself to see the sisters and, conversely, them to see you.

Both of the mares’ deep blue eyes lock onto you as a timid “Hi” escapes your mouth. Almost instantly, Lotus’ ears drop, and a simple, white hairbrush falls from her mouth. A few beads of sweat form on the back of your neck as you walk towards the center of the room and the round table that rests there. Aloe rises from her sitting position and trots over to you.

“Let me get that,” she says, lifting the covered bowl off of your back and resting it on the table.

You mutter a quick “thanks” and stretch the tense muscles of your back.

Aloe nods towards you before speaking again, “I’m going to open up, again. Take as much time as you two need. Today has been slow, anyway.”

Lotus’ pleading look is obvious even to you, but regardless, the Aloe makes her way back towards the waiting area. You lift the lid from your creation and let out a small sigh, grateful that everything is just as you left it. As you stare at the three floating lotus blossoms, a stressed silence descends on the room. After a few moments, a blue hoof gently prods the white chocolate flower making waves in the bowl as the trio bobs up and down.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you last night,” you state, finally having plucked up the courage to speak. “I hope you don’t mind that I took a flower from the pond, it seemed special to you.” A long yawn overwhelms you and you politely cover your mouth with a hoof.

“It was where my sister and I got our cutie marks,” Lotus offers, quickly returning to silence afterwards.

“I spent the morning making this to show you how much our friendship means to me. I don’t want my other feelings for you to ruin that, but I don’t think they’ll just go away, either.

“I cried a lot over the last few days because of you, Lotus,” you say, bringing your eyes up to hers, and only then do you see it. Her coat, mane, and face show no signs of wear – no doubt thanks to the skills of her trade – but her eyes are haggard and tired looking. “but standing here, I still have butterflies in my stomach.” You take a deep breath before finishing, “I’m sorry I forced myself on you, but I’m not sorry that I kissed you. I could never be sorry for that.”

Another bout of silence overtakes the room before Lotus takes a deep breath, seemingly regaining some of her confidence. “It took me a couple days before I fully understood what had happened.” Lotus pauses, nibbling her lower lip.

“I’m not a fillyf—… I don’t like mares that way.” You can feel your eyes widen, your hooves begin to shake, and a knot form in your stomach, knowing what comes next.

“Please, let me finish before you jump to any conclusions.” Her words are accompanied by her forehoof gently resting against yours. The contact nearly makes you jump out of your coat.

“But the more I reassured myself that I don’t like mares, the worse I felt.” The hesitance is completely banished from her voice once again. Though, it’s replaced by sadness. “I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed at all Saturday. I did figure something out, though. I don’t remember anypony else that I treat quite like you when you come in. Nor do I remember anypony else I enjoy working with quite so much as you.”

A smile begins to tug at your lips for the first time in days.

“That still doesn’t mean that I like you, in that way. Actually, I haven’t really figured out what it means, but if you still want to take me out, I don’t think I’d be averse to that idea anymore.”

Her admission leaves you dazed. You can’t manage to formulate any kind of complex sentence, so you opt for simply saying “yes” while your brain attempts to restart.

“I’m sorry about Saturday. I wasn’t really myself,” Lotus says, pulling you into a friendly hug.

Before you respond, you steal a quick sniff of Lotus’ mane. The scent of her shampoo is something you can never get enough of. “It’s ok. It was my fault.”

Lotus’ hooves press against a tender spot on your back, and a groan escapes your lips. Hearing your discomfort, she quickly lets you go.

“Come on, Sweetie. I’ll get that knot out of your back.” When she starts speaking, Lotus begins to walk out of the room, and you follow her without even thinking. Though, you bang into the doorframe when you realise that she used that nickname again. She looks back with a sly smile, and when she sees the deer in the headlights look on your face, she giggles into the flat of her hoof. Unable to think of anything to say, you slide past her and lead the way to your usual room.

As you make your way into the room, Lotus walks past you and softly pats the padded massage table with a forehoof. You oblige her, pulling yourself up onto the foamy bed with little effort, and as soon as you get situated, Lotus’ hooves gently prod and slide along your back. A few minutes pass where she only gently presses into your sore muscles before moving on and searching for the next pressure point.

You let out a sigh of relief when she begins to coax the tension out of your back in earnest. Soft warmth spreads through your back and down to your hooves. You never paid attention to the science behind it, but you knew it was from some chemical that your brain released in times like this. Regardless of why, you love the sensation that the mare’s ministrations bring to your body.

“So,” you say, trying to strike up a conversation, “you got your cutie mark at that little pond?”

“My sister and I both did.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how?”

Lotus takes a moment, firmly working a particularly painful piece of flesh between your withers before she responds.

“It was just after my family moved to Ponyville. My mother was an herbalist, and one day, she decided to let my sister and I go into the Whitetail Woods with her.”

Two inversely colored fillies bounded through the grass just outside of the Whitetail Woods, laughing as they did so. Only quick glimpses of their bright blue and pink manes could be seen above the greenery.

“The grass tickles!”

The words made their way to the ears of a fully pink mare just before a high-pitched fit of laughter erupted from the grass. She quickly moved to the quivering portion of grass from whence the laughter came, all the while keeping an eye trained on the short glimpses of her merrily bouncing filly.

A shadow loomed over Aloe, darkening the rich tone of her mane. Her blue eyes curiously searched for the sudden darkness’ source, and they quickly alit on the dark shape of a large pony. For a moment, the little filly’s stomach tied itself in a knot, ceasing her laughter, but when the shadow gave way to a mare’s smiling face, she let out a sigh of relief. The filly watched the mare’s forehooves gently press into her ribcage. Before she knew what was going on, the hooves began to move rapidly.

“Pff Hah-ahah Mommy tickles!” shouted little Aloe just before she was reduced to a fit of laughter once again.

“Look what I found, Mommy!” The mare’s attention was drawn away by the voice of the pink filly’s twin, giving the laughing little one a respite from her mother's tickling onslaught. Proudly held out in her hoof was a small, brown spheroid object.

“Do you know what that is, my little Lotus Blossom?” The filly’s giant blue eyes looked down to the gnarled surface of the egg-shaped object for a moment before she shook her head. “It is a walnut. They grow on the trees around here. May I?” asked the joyous mother, holding out a hoof towards the nut. Lotus quickly passed it over, interestedly watching as her mother smashed the shell. After a bit more work, little Lotus was given back a smaller, lighter brown object. She looked at it carefully, taking note of every detail. “Eat it,” her mother encouraged.

So with much gusto, Lotus put the entire nut in her mouth and chomped down on it. A few moments later, she spit the half-chewed and fully saliva-soaked nut out, letting the mangled mass fall to the ground. Looking down at Lotus, Surprise could barely contain her laughter.

“That was icky, Mommy.”

Just as Surprise opened her mouth to respond, Aloe jumped onto Lotus’ back, sending both sisters to the ground.

“Rawr! I’m a Walnut monster and I’m going to eat you, just like you ate my brother!” Aloe croaked, taking a tuft of Lotus’ pink mane into her mouth. Surprise simply smiled at her fillies, but when the she saw the abject horror in Lotus’ eyes, she quickly pulled Aloe off of her sister.

“Mo-mommy, why did you want me to eat that? It just made that monster m-m-mad at me.”

“Shhh, honey. That was no monster, it was Aloe.” Surprise wrapped her Lotus in a gentle hug, making small, comforting noises every so often. When the little filly’s quivering stopped, Surprise continued to speak. “And to answer your question, you will never know if you like something, unless you try it.” She held her daughter up at shoulder height. “Climb onto my back, little one.” In a matter of moments, Lotus was situated atop her mother’s withers. As she was taught to, she tightly held on to her mother’s mane.

“Mom,” said a timid voice from the mare’s side, “did I hurt Lotus?” Aloe's blue eyes glistened as she looked up at her mother.

“Don’t worry, Aloe, you just frightened her,” Surprise said, gently patting the filly on the head. “Come now, we need to find a healthy willow tree.”

They trekked on. Before long, Aloe began pointing at trees, asking if nearly every one was a ‘willow.’ In response, Surprise confidently told her the species of each before moving on. Through all of this, Lotus just tried to hide her sniffles by burying her face deeply into the straight, pink mane of her mother.

Soon, the trio emerged from a tree line and passed into a clearing. Before them laid one reason why Surprise loved her job. Nothing could really beat the beauties of the natural world. Plants or animals, ponies or foals, she loved them all. The light tug at her mane reminded her that some, she loved more than others. She watched Aloe bound towards the edge of a small pond.

“Can I go in the water, Mommy?” Aloe asked, prodding the calm water with a hoof.

Surprise slowly trotted over to the water’s edge, surveying it with critical eyes. It wasn’t more than a hundred feet across, and though the water looked crystal clear, its surface was spotted with both lily pads and an assortment of lotus flowers. A moment later, Surprise saw the characteristic droopy branches of the tree they had been searching for. She began skirting her way around the pond, her eyes trained on Aloe.

“We can play in the water later, Aloe. Would you like to help me gather some bark from this willow tree?”

Nodding furiously, Aloe asked “Why do we need the bark?”

“Ponies use it to help with pain.”

“How does bark make things stop hurting?"

“It’s just part of the magic of Equestria.” Surprise said, knowing full well that it is actually a complex chemical reaction.

“Oh. What do you want me to do?”

Surprise led the way to the floppy-branched tree and reached into her featureless, brown saddlebags, coming out a moment later with a small glass jar. “We want to take the tree’s bark without harming it. So, find small branches that don’t yet have leaves and break them off.” Grabbing a small twig in her mouth, Surprise twisted it, pulling it free of its much larger brothers. She continued to demonstrate the process as she spoke again. “Then just scrape off the bark with the tip of your hoof and put it into the jar.”

“That sounds easy!” Aloe said, rearing up on her hind hooves to grab at the low-hanging branches. Though she was straining every muscle in her body to reach them, she couldn’t quite make it, and so, she decided to try another method. With a hop, skip, and a jump she leapt into the air, chomping down on a branch in the process.

Surprise couldn’t help but laugh, watching Aloe hang from the branch with her hooves mere inches from the ground. A moment later, Aloe's grip failed, letting her fall and land on her hooves. With the tension relieved from the branch, it snapped upward quickly before coming back down. It lightly bumped Aloe on the head, drawing out a small squeak. Laughing once again, Surprise bent down, patted her, and then kissed the top of her head.

“Why don’t I choose the branches and you can peel them, hmm?”

“Ok, Mommy.”

A fair amount of time passed without further speech. Aloe scraped the bark from small twigs while her mother searched for more.

As Surprise reached for yet another twig, she was stopped short by loud sniffle emanating from her mane. She sighed deeply, trying to think of a way to cheer her little filly up.

“Lotus, would you like to help us with the willow bark?” Without even pulling her face out of her mother's mane, Lotus responded by shaking her head, causing a frown to tug at Surprise's lips.

Even with only two ponies at work, the jar was soon filled, sealed, and stowed in the Surprise’s discarded saddlebags.

Motioning Aloe over, Surprise said, “Climb up, Aloe. We’re going to go into the water for a little bit.”

“Yay!” Aloe easily climbed onto Surprise’s back, once she dropped to her knees, and soon, the two fillies were carried into the water. Their journey was followed by the gentle swishing made by Surprise’s legs. When the water was just above her shoulders, she stopped moving further towards the pond’s center. At this depth, Aloe and Lotus could easily splash and play without a risk of falling from her back. As one, they made their way over to a particularly beautiful clump of floating flowers, where the matron swept her mane away from Lotus’ face. A short sigh escaped her lips when she saw that Lotus’ eyes were tightly shut.

“Lotus, open your eyes, honey.”

“B-b-but you’re mad at me,” Lotus said, turning her nose downward.

“Why on Equestria would I be mad at you?”

“Because I didn’t help Aloe and you with the bark.”

“I asked you because I thought you might want to, not because I wanted you to, and I brought you two out here because I wanted you to have fun.”

“I’m sorry, sis,” Aloe broke in, “I didn’t mean to scare you.” Aloe laid her head across Lotus’ withers, nuzzling her warmly. “Please, look at the beautiful flowers. I promise you’ll love them.”

Much to the Surprise’s satisfaction, Lotus finally brought her eyes open. Spread out before her was an array of flowers; they were mostly white, but some seemed to share the same hues that made up her mane and coat. As her eyes traveled farther towards the edge of the pond, more and more of the flowers came into view. A few moments passed where she sat, awestruck by the beauty of it all.

Lotus sniffled one last time before asking, “What are they?” Surprise smiled a little wider, she had been hoping that Lotus would ask that.

“They’re lotus blossoms, hundreds of them.”

“You named me after them?”

“We did.”

“They’re beautiful!”

Smiling, Surprise looked upon those whom she loved so very much, and after a moment, she said, “And now, you know why we did.”

Silence once again filled the air as the Lotus took in the beauty around her. Surprise was content enough to simply admire the beauty of her daughters, but a small jet of water splashed against her side, breaking her reverie.

“Mommy, can I get in the water? It feels nice.”

“It’s too deep here, but I think it looks much better over there.” The three steadily made their way towards a small clearing at the edge of the pond where the water’s depth was safe for Aloe and Lotus. The wake created by Surprise’s legs was reduced to little more than ripples when it passed through the thick ring or lotus flowers that separated the clearing from the rest of the pond.

“This is much better,” said Surprise, carefully lying down atop her legs. Not a second later, Aloe leapt into the cool water with a small splash. She quickly bounded over to a group of small lotus blossoms before pulling them back towards her sister.

“These flowers are so cool, they float!” Still a few body lengths away from her family, Aloe lifted her forehooves and pushed the bundle towards them. Lotus saw this, leaned off of her mother’s back, and pushed the bundle back towards her waiting sister. They giggled, watching the flowers bob up and down in the water as they floated back to her.

A few more repetitions of this played out before Aloe got bored and moved over to her mother, whom had bent her neck down towards the water.

“What’cha doin?” Aloe chirped, watching her mother’s hooves run over the tip of her mane.

“I must have gotten some sap or something in my mane. I was just washing it out.”

With a smile, Aloe asked, “Oh, can I do it?”

“If you want to, you can.” When Aloe was given the length of her mother’s mane, her smile grew tenfold, and she dipped her mother’s mane under the water’s surface, kneading it gently.

“Uh, Mommy,” said a tiny voice from the Surprise’s back.

“What is it, Lotus?”

“I’m sorry. When I was crying, my nose was running, and I didn’t have anywhere to wipe it.” Standing up, Lotus nuzzled her mother’s neck lightly. The small amount of annoyance that Surprise had felt was washed away instantly, leaving a smile on her face. After a moment, Lotus leaned over and ran her face over the other side of her mother’s warm, inviting neck. Without knowing it, Lotus’ hooves kneaded a taught muscle in Surprise’s back. A moment later, a groan crept from the mare’s lips.

“D-did I hurt you, Mommy?” Lotus asked.

“Hmm? Oh! No, Lotus, that felt really nice. Do you know what a massage is?” Lotus quickly responded with a sound that could only be interpreted as ‘no’, so Surprise continued. “Well, it’s where a pony uses their hooves to try to relax another pony’s muscles by pressing and rubbing them.”

“Oh. Like this?” Lotus once again started to shift on her hooves, like she did earlier. A moment later, Surprise rest her head against a hoof, letting her eyes slip closed.

“Yes, just like that.”

As she pulled it from the water, Aloe tugged gently at her mother’s mane. Her hoof ran through the wet strands, feeling for the inconsistencies of dirt, and when there were none, she moved upward. This process was repeated, dipping and kneading, until she got too high on her mother’s head for the silky, pink mane to reach the water level. When this happened, her body slumped over and her smile slipped into a neutral position.

Something bumped into her side, causing Aloe to nearly jump out of the water, but when she saw what had bumped into her, she quickly calmed again. It was just the bundle of flowers she had been playing with. She began to push it away, but when she looked into the water-filled recess in the center of the flower, she got an idea. Lunging towards the plants, her face disappeared below the water’s surface. A moment later, she emerged from the water holding one of the three flowers by its severed stem.

A second satisfied groan crept from Surprise’s mouth, coaxed by Lotus’ continued movement. Aloe dipped the makeshift vessel into the water, letting the blossom fully fill before lifting it out of the pond. She raised it up to the highest point of the pink pony’s mane and poured the flower’s contents out. Using her hooves, she guided the water’s flow away from her mother’s face.

“Aloe!” Lotus shouted. She leapt from her mother’s shoulders, landing in the water with a splash.

The sudden movement broke Surprise’s relaxed state; her body snapped to attention, heart beating wildly, ready to defend her foals to the death. Though, she quickly saw the source of Lotus’ excitement and relaxed, watching the scene play out before her.

Lotus’ nose was mere inches away from her sister’s pink flank, staring. One blue hoof snaked over Aloe’s haunches while the other moved towards the white figure providing a stark contrast to the pink coat around it. Lotus furiously rubbed her hoof over the new addition, and when it didn’t rub off, she wrapped her sister in a tight hug.

“You got your cutie mark!” Lotus shouted. Aloe simply sat, starkly staring at her side while her sister vibrated with excitement.

Moments later, Lotus’ attention was pulled away from her sister by a prodding hoof. She was being poked in the flank, and she was going to get to the bottom of it! Though, she forgot all about that when she saw what was being poked.

It was a cutie mark, and it was just like Aloe’s!

Lotus’ daze was broken when her sister’s hooves wrapped around her neck. “We got our cutie marks!” Surprise scooped both of her daughters out of the water, wrapping them in a tight hug.

“I’m so proud of you two,” She said, spinning around on her rear hooves.

For some time, absolutely nothing could stop the three mares from laughing, squealing, and crying joyous tears. At some point, Surprise fell into the soft grass at the pond’s shore. The impact was jarring, but the unstoppable warmth that had spread across her body dwarfed any pain she might have felt. She couldn’t be any happier about the fact that she got to watch both of her precious daughters get their cutie marks in one day. At the same time, no less. Her golden eyes filled with tears, as she looked down at Aloe and Lotus. They simultaneously hugged each other and nuzzled against the soft fur of her chest.

For the next few minutes, the fillies constantly repositioned themselves. They moved from one test to the next, still unable to accept what had happened. They tired out soon after the fourth or fifth time they tried the ‘rub it so hard it comes off’ test. The shock of it all seemed to wear off at about the same point.

Aloe was the first to voice her rationalized thoughts. “They’re lotus flowers, right? Does that mean we get to be florists?”

“I don’t really like gardening,” Lotus mumbled.

“Girls, you can still do whatever it is that you want to. Your cutie mark simply represents something that is important to you, something that you’re good at. Though it normally is, it doesn’t have to be your job when you get older. Take me for example. Look at my cutie mark.”

Surprise twisted her body a little, showing her cutie mark. Over her pink fur rest the image of a stork carrying a yellow-pelted foal suspended in a white cloth.

“I didn’t get it until I was nearly a year older than you are now, and I already knew that I liked taking care of foals. Foalsitting is something that young mares do, and you don’t really see ponies who do it as a living. So, I was sad that I wouldn’t be able to do what I loved all my life.”

“But you take care of us now! You aren’t sad about that, are you?” Lotus butted in.

“Of course not,” Surprise said, running her hoof through her daughter’s pink locks. “I love you two more than anything.” She paused for a moment, smiling widely. “My point was that what I do now is still something I love, despite the fact that it’s not what I got my cutie mark for. I find plants that help both ponies and foals get better when they’re sick.”

“So, I could give ponies massages? You made funny noises when I smushed on that lump in your back, it was fun! Can we do it again?” Throughout her outburst, Lotus’ body shivered in excitement.

Surprise let out a quick laugh before she responded, “We can. Though, I think we should head back home, first. I’m sure that Daddy will be excited as you were to see what we’ve got.”

“What we’ve got?” Aloe repeated under her breath. She looked around, and when her eyes locked onto the white and pink lotus that adorned her sister’s flank, she nearly shouted, “Oh!”

“Ok, girls. Let Mommy up, so we can go.” Doing as they were told, Aloe and Lotus moved off of their mother’s chest, and as soon as they did, Surprise rolled over to her hooves, positioning her saddle bags over her back. “Hop on and you can ride home.”

“Yay!” the two fillies shouted in unison. Climbing aboard, Lotus’ noticed another lump in her mother’s back muscles, and without thinking, she began to rub it. Once her daughters were safely aboard, Surprise started rising to her hooves, but her knees began to shake and she nearly fell over, right there.

“Lotus, can you stop, please. Mommy’s legs don’t like to work when you do that.”

“Oh, Sorry,” Lotus said. Settling herself down on her mother’s withers, she affectionately nuzzled the much larger mare.

“It’s ok, little one. You can massage Daddy’s back when we get home. He’s always sore from working so hard. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.”

“Yay!” Lotus yelled just as the trio disappeared into the tree line surrounding the pond.