Roseluck decides to try and befriend Equestria's only human.
Months have passed since Clyde, the first known human to pop into Equestria, appeared in Ponyville. The ponies had been reluctant to accept the strange creature at first, but had grown used to his presence as time flew by. Not that he cared. All he wanted was to get back home.
So when Princess Twilight told him that her research into the anomaly had come up empty, he was lost. Doomed to be trapped in a land of colorful equine creatures for the rest of his life.
Fortunately for him, a local flower pony decides to make it her mission to befriend him, and show him that maybe he'll actually like it in Equestria.
Saturday afternoon in Ponyville. The small town was bustling with activity. Little fillies and colts were out playing in the streets, some ponies were out running their weekly errands, and others were simply happy to be out and about on such a beautiful day with their friends. Then there were the shop owners.
The streets were practically packed with vendors, selling a wide variety of items. From the smallest of fruits to the largest of plants, you could find close to anything. Of course, a day like this was perfect for the town’s local flower ponies. They had picked up somewhat of a reputation around town as being overdramatic, but one thing was certain. Nopony could cultivate a garden quite like they could.
And on a day like this, that meant that their business was better than ever. A multitude of colts and stallions alike had already visited their stands. Some for their significant other, and some in the hope that the flowers would earn them a significant other. “Boy, we’re really raking in the bits today, girls!”
Roseluck and Daisy giggled at their younger sister’s exclamation. She was something of a joker among the trio, and had a reputation among town as being able to make just about anypony smile. Roseluck smirked at her. “Oh, Lily, your puns are going to get you into trouble one day, you know.”
Lily rolled her eyes and shifted her attention back towards the streets as a young colt trotted his way over to her stand. With an unwavering look of determination, he slammed a few bits down in front of her. “Hi, Pipsqueak! How are you?”
Pipsqueak smiled. “I’m great, Miss Valley!”
“Aww, you’re making me feel old calling me that,” Lily laughed. “You know you can call me Lily. Now, what can I get for you?”
“Do you have any black lillies… Lily?” He asked. The youngest of the flower sisters smiled, and ducked down behind her stall for a moment. When she popped back up, she had just what he had asked for. “Whoa, it’s even prettier than I thought it would be!”
Lily giggled, sliding the bits he’d offered towards herself. “And just who’s the lucky lady that’ll be getting this flower?”
“I-I don’t really wanna say…” He blushed.
“Oh, come on, we won’t tell anypony! Promise!” Daisy called out from a few stalls away.
Roseluck covered her mouth with her hoof, and laughed nervously as she regarded the little pony. “Don’t listen to her, Pipsqueak, you don’t have to tell us if you’re not comfortable.”
“Well, I guess you three are pretty good at keeping secrets. I got it for Scootaloo,” he spoke softly, embarrassed.
“Well I’m sure she’ll love it,” Lily smiled at him, ruffling his mane with her hoof. “Now run along, and tell your mom I said she’s lucky to have raised such an upstanding young colt.”
Pipsqueak gave a little salute, turned heel, and galloped off. Roseluck tilted her head towards Lily once he was out of sight. “I didn’t know you had any black lillies.”
“I decided to try and grow some new species for this month.” Lily smiled. “What about you two? Got any new flowers up for sale?”
“Nope.” “Same old, same old.”
“Oh, well I’m sure you guys will come up with something to…”
Roseluck zoned out as her younger sister spoke, focusing her attention instead across the town square. Ponies basically swarmed around Applejack while trying to buy some of her Red Delicious apples. Her eyes settled on the creature that had come to call Ponyville home for the past few months. What had Princess Twilight called him. A ‘hyooman’?
Whatever he was, he didn’t look nearly as lively as he had the last time she’d seen him. As he examined the apple in his hands, she could see that Applejack was trying to offer him some words of comfort. Why, though, was a mystery to her.
“Rosie?”
“H-huh?” Roseluck shook her head, and turned towards Daisy. “What is it?”
“You’ve been staring at Clyde for like two minutes.”
Roseluck’s cheeks burned a bright red. “O-oh. Sorry, I was just a bit distracted is all.”
“It’s a real shame about him,” Lily spoke sadly. Daisy nodded in agreeance.
“What’s wrong?”
“You didn’t tell her?” Daisy frowned at Lily, who chuckled nervously. “Princess Twilight wasn’t able to find a way for him to get back home.”
“S-so he’s trapped here? Like, forever?” Rose asked, turning to look at him again. That was definitely a cruel fate, being ripped away from his home and family forever, just like that. “That’s… horrible.”
“Yeah, he hasn’t really been taking it well. In fact, just the other day, he…”
Roseluck zoned out again, regarding the human with a sad look on her face. She watched as he slowly walked away from Applejack’s stand, an apple in hand. She had never actually spoken to him, not even in a passing situation. She had, admittedly, been terrified of him for the longest time. It was only when he had helped rescue one of Fluttershy’s animals from the Everfree Forest a few weeks ago, that she had begun to see him in a different light.
But even then, she never really had any idea of how to approach the much larger bipedal creature. Still, she wanted to at least try something to lift his spirits. She never liked to see anypony sad, so she settled on grabbing a bouquet of flowers from under her flower stand. With the bouquet held tightly between her teeth, she quickly trotted off after him, ignoring her sisters, who tried to get her attention.
Clyde let out a sigh as he approached Applejack’s apple stand. He still had a few bits left over after paying the rent on his home, and he wanted something to snack on. He had heard that she had just gotten some Red Delicious apples in stock and was intent on getting one. They had been his favorite fruit back on Earth, and somehow they were even better here.
“Well, howdy, Clyde. You here to buy some apples?”
Clyde didn’t reply, instead grabbing an apple from one of the many baskets she had on display and inspecting it.
“I heard about what Twilight told ya. Is there anything I can do?”
He shook his head, his wavy hair flopping from side to side as he did. “It’s… fine, Applejack.”
“Are ya sure? ’Cause you know, we were all planning a little trip down to the spa later today if you wanted to join us?” Applejack offered him a smile.
One that he had trouble returning. “I’m sure,” he replied, trying his hardest to smile graciously. “So how much are your Red Delicious apples?”
“Just a bit each,” she answered. “But you can have that one for free.”
Clyde finally managed a smile. “A-are you sure?”
“I’m sure. It’s the least I could do after hearing about your situation.”
She tipped her hat at him, and he thanked her before walking off. He was intent on getting back home before the mailmare got there. Last time she had beaten him, his mailbox had somehow been broken in half, and he didn’t feel like buying another one.
It was a hot day, though, and he eventually resigned himself to finding a nearby empty bench to sit down on. He wiped a bit of sweat off of his forehead and plopped down on the bench, crossing his left leg on top of his right. He looked at the apple Applejack had given him again. There were no bruises, and it was one of the shiniest apples he’d ever seen. How her family was so good at farming them, he had no clue.
He was about to take a bite out of the apple, when he heard a voice to his left. “U-um, hello.”
Roseluck followed Clyde for a few moments, coming to a stop as he took a seat on a bench. They had wandered quite a bit aways from the town square, and she gulped as she thought of just how she could approach him.
‘Okay, Roseluck, you can do this. Just walk over to him, say hi, and give him these flowers…’
Trotting over to him was no problem, and he hadn’t seemed to notice her yet. She wasn’t sure why, but that made her feel a bit more comfortable. Once she was within a few inches of him, she took the bouquet out of her mouth and into her hoof and spoke. “U-um, hello.”
He turned towards her, closing his mouth as he did and lowering the hand holding his apple back down. “Um, hi?”
‘Okay, Roseluck, just hoof him the flowers now!’
“Th-these are for you,” Roseluck stammered out nervously. She looked away from him as she held the flowers out towards him. To her surprise, she felt the flowers leave her grasp, and she managed to look back towards him.
“Um… thanks, I guess? Why’d you get these for me, though?”
“O-oh, well I heard about you being stuck here and I thought that you might need some cheering up,” she replied softly.
“Ah,” he nodded. “Well, thank you.”
“Y-you’re welcome.”
The two remained quiet for a few moments, not quite sure what to say. ‘Dang it, I knew this was a bad idea! We’ve never even met, and here I am giving him a bouquet! He probably thinks I’m the weirdest pony in town now! Oh, the horror, the ho—’
“Roseluck, right?” He broke the silence and took her away from those thoughts. She nodded, and he smiled at her. “Truth be told, Roseluck, I was kind of expecting Twilight to come up empty. Heck, I don’t even know how I got here. I’m sure I’ll be fine… eventually.”
That was a bit of a relief. Maybe he wasn’t as sad as everyone thought he was? He was smiling, which was a good sign. Still, it begged a question that she wasn’t sure she wanted to ask. “D-don’t you miss your family, though?” She regretted saying that almost right away, as she watched his features fall. “O-oh gosh, I’m so sorry! Gosh, stupid, stupid Roseluck!” She scolded herself, smacking a hoof against her forehead.
“Hey, no worries, you don’t need to… hit yourself,” He finished, staring at her with a bemused look. She paused for a moment, looking past her hoof at him. He set the flowers he’d been given down on his lap. “Why do you care so much, anyways? We’ve never even met before, I only know your name because of Twilight.”
Roseluck blushed, falling down to her haunches on the ground. She gave a little nervous cough, rubbing the back of her head. “I’m… not really sure. I guess I felt bad that nopony was even trying to talk to you, aside from Applejack.” She was expecting Clyde to give her another strange look, but he surprised her by chuckling, a tiny smile meeting his face. “W-what?”
“You ponies are just too nice.” He paused for a second, patting the empty spot next to him on the bench. “Why don’t you sit up here? I’m sure it’s better than the ground.”
Roseluck was hesitant, but the look he was giving her said ‘you have nothing to fear from me’. She smiled warmly and hopped up next to him, falling down onto her rump again. “S-so, what do you do for a living?”
“That’s a silly question to ask someone you just met,” he laughed. “But if you must know, I work at the Carousel Boutique.”
Roseluck’s eyes lit up at that. “No way! Do you make clothes like Rarity does?”
“Oh, no, I just take measurements for her,” he blushed. “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wanna know how to.”
Roseluck paused for a moment, wanting to get a better look at Clyde. Like her, his brown hair stopped just short of going over his eyes. His face was clean-shaven, and his blue eyes shined brightly in the sunlight. It almost made her wonder just why she'd been so terrified of him only months before. “Have you made any friends?”
“Aside from Rarity and Applejack, not really,” he shrugged. “Princess Twilight is always too busy to chat, and that yellow one seems really scared of me.”
“‘Yellow one’...?” Roseluck repeated quietly. “Oh! You mean Fluttershy? Yeah, she can be pretty timid,” Roseluck giggled.
“That’s it. I always forget it, because as soon as she sees me, she just flies away.” The two shared a short laugh. Once it died down, he gave Roseluck a warm look. “Thanks for talking with me, Roseluck.”
“It’s nothing…” She shook her hoof limply at him, blushing. “So... do you live around here?”
“I actually live just down the street from here,” he pointed with what she recalled being known as his ‘thumb’, and her eyes followed his directions. “See that little house down there, right before the last one?”
“The one with the little blue shutters beside the windows?”
“That’s it,” Clyde nodded. “I actually rented it out a few weeks ago. I was living with Rarity until then, but her sister is just so messy. She actually left a pair of her socks in the sink.”
Roseluck giggled. “That sure sounds like Sweetie Belle. She’s a little mischievous, but she’s a sweet filly.”
“Yeah, she’s something else alright,” Clyde laughed. With a sigh of what Roseluck assumed to be disappointment, he pointed back to his home. “Well, I need to go ahead and get home. I’d love to talk to you some more tomorrow, though, if you’d like.” He smiled. “It’s a bit unfair that we only talked about me.”
Roseluck found herself nodding eagerly, beaming a bit as she replied, “Okay! I’ll be at my flower stand if you want to chat while I work!”
She watched as Clyde got up, bouquet in hand, and walked down the street towards his home. “Okay, see you then.”
‘Wow, that went a lot better than I thought it would! He’s not scary at all!’ Roseluck exclaimed to herself. Then it hit her. ‘Oh, ponyfeathers, I need to get back to my stand!’
With that, she galloped back towards the town square, eager to let her sisters know that she had made a new friend.
Clyde opened the door to his home, flipping on the light as he stepped inside. The door clicked shut behind him, and he made his way toward the living room. It was still, for the most part, unfurnished. Just a couch, an end table situated on its left, and a coffee table that he never even used for coffee. To him, it had a much simpler purpose: being his leg rest. As he plopped down onto the sofa and helped the table fulfill that very purpose, he looked at the items in his hands.
His conversation with that cream-colored earth pony had caused the apple to slip from his mind entirely, and by now his appetite had subsided. With a sigh, he gently placed it down on the end table. That just left the bouquet Roseluck had given him. He wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to do with it. The idea of simply tossing it entered his mind for a brief moment, but he shoo’ed away that thought as being needlessly rude.
After a few moments, he settled on going to the kitchen and filling up a glass with some water. It would have to do for now, since he didn’t have a vase. Once that was finished, he crumpled up the paper the flowers had been wrapped up in and threw it out. With a little splash, he dropped the bouquet into the cup and placed it onto the kitchen counter. He’d find a place for it later. For now, he needed to shower.
“Roseluck, where the hay did you run off to?”
“Yeah, we were totally worried about you!”
Roseluck gasped for breath, putting a hoof around Daisy’s neck for support. Maybe galloping halfway across Ponyville hadn’t been such a good idea after all. “I… followed… Clyde…” she huffed, taking a deep breath when she completed her sentence.
Lily rolled her eyes. “Gosh, no wonder everypony thinks we’re overdramatic; Rosie can’t even breathe after a minute of running…”
Roseluck finally got her breath under control and shot her younger sister a look. “Hey, it was more like a minute and a half!”
“Nevermind that. You followed Clyde? Why?”
Roseluck turned back to Daisy and shrugged. Was it not obvious? “He looked like he could use some cheering up.”
“And? Did you cheer him up?” Lily asked. She and Daisy kept their eyes focused intently on the middle sister as she trotted back into place behind her flower stand. For too long, as far as they were concerned, she remained quiet. It wasn’t until the tiniest of smiles tugged at the corners of her mouth that Lily spoke up again, hopping behind her own stand. “Look, Daisy! She’s smiling!”
“Ooh, tell us what happened, Rosie!”
Roseluck giggled. “Nothing, girls. I just gave him some flowers, and we talked, that was it!”
“Oh, come on, you wouldn’t be smiling if that was it!” Daisy teased her. Roseluck ducked beneath her stand, grabbing a few flowers to put on display. At the same time, Daisy leaned over the stand, her and Roseluck’s snouts almost touching. “What did he say?”
Roseluck rolled her eyes and raised up a hoof, using it to push Daisy back. “He said he liked talking to me, and…”
“And…?” Lily leaned in towards Roseluck as well, who was beginning to feel pretty cramped. But she was used to her sisters’ silly behavior, and remained unwavering in the face of their onslaught of questions. “Aww, come on, tell us!”
“You girls are so nosy,” she tittered. “He said he wanted to talk with me more tomorrow.”
Her sisters remained quiet for a few moments. She looked back and forth between them, just waiting for one of them to continue their inevitable teasing. The next thing she heard was the sound of a mare clearing her throat, and all three flower ponies turned back towards the busy street.
“Sorry, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” the mare asked.
She was standing right in front of Roseluck’s stand, so the middle flower pony could only assume that she was speaking to her. She shook her head, and the mare smiled. “I was hoping to buy a bouquet for my husband today, Roseluck.”
“Well, I’ve got a wide variety of bouquets in stock today, Ms…?”
“Velvet,” the older mare finished for her.
Roseluck’s eyes lit up at that, and she clapped her hooves together. “Oh, you’re Twilight’s mother! She told me you’d be coming by later today!” she exclaimed giddily. “Like I said, go ahead and browse through my selection,” she said, raising a hoof and motioning towards all of the arrangements she had on display, “and let me know which one you’d like!”
Twilight Velvet did just that, looking around at her options. While she did that, Daisy and Lily turned their attention back to Roseluck. “You totally have a new friend, Roseluck!”
“What’s the big deal, Lily?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. It wasn’t out of the question for ponies to befriend one another. After all, they were one of the friendliest races on the planet, if not the friendliest. “All we did was talk.”
“The big deal is that he’s the only human on the whole planet,” Daisy scoffed at her sister’s nonchalant attitude. “This is huge!”
Well, she couldn’t really argue with that. Still, they were making it out to be a much bigger deal than it really was.
“I’d like this one.”
Roseluck was quick to turn back towards Twilight Velvet and took a quick look at what she had picked out. It was on the larger side, and featured an assortment of roses, carnations, and peonies. “Ah, the ‘Pretty in Pink’ arrangement. That one is very popular on weddings and anniversaries,” Roseluck beamed. “I’m sure your husband will love it. If you don’t mind me asking, though, why are you getting him flowers?”
“It’s our twenty-sixth anniversary, and we’re in town for the week,” Twilight Velvet smiled warmly. “We always surprise each other with bouquets.”
“That’s sweet,” Lily piped up.
“I have to agree.” Roseluck took the bits she was offered and gave her best wishes to Twilight’s mom. Once the mare had walked out of earshot, she placed the bits in her drawer and finally replied to Daisy’s earlier exclamation. “Daisy, you only think it’s a big deal because it’s someone other than you.”
Daisy feigned a hurt expression, one that Roseluck could see through right away. “I assure you, that’s not the case! I’m simply proud of my little sister for making friends with such a rare creature!”
“Yeah… sure,” Roseluck rolled her eyes again, something that was becoming somewhat common whenever she spoke with her sisters. “Well, he’s going to be coming over here to chat tomorrow. Maybe then you can talk to the rare creature.” She laughed at the expression her sister gave her. “Oh, lighten up.”
She could hear Daisy grumble, “You lighten up…”, but a pony walked up to Daisy’s stand, keeping Roseluck from replying. While her sister chatted with that pony, she looked up at the sky, finding herself wondering what the rest of the day would hold for her.
Clyde stepped out of the shower, quickly wrapping a towel around his waist. If there was one thing he was glad existed in Equestria, it was showers. The Sun was almost always beaming down brightly on Ponyville, as if Celestia herself was watching them. That meant that any time it wasn’t either raining or snowing, it was hot.
‘Hopefully Fall will be better, whenever that is…’
He had yet to grasp the concept of how exactly the ‘seasons’ in Equestria worked. He’d heard something about a ‘Winter Wrap-Up’, but had yet to actually see it happen. Whatever it was, he was sure of one thing. It had to be weird. But hey, with no possible way to get back to Earth, Clyde knew he would find out eventually.
As he began to dry out his hair, he thought back to his earlier meeting with Roseluck. The little pony had clearly gone out of her way, going so far as to leave her flower stand, just to try and brighten up his day. She had been a little weird, sure, but he was willing to talk with anyone by this point. Clyde had actually seen the flower trio a few times, rolling around on the ground and shouting about how terrible things were. They were definitely a dramatic bunch, if nothing else.
‘Maybe it just runs in their family,’ he chuckled to himself. With that thought in mind, he threw his towel over the shower rack and and pulled on his boxers, ready to lie down in bed and read a book before going to sleep.
Roseluck sighed as she went through her cart, getting all of her arrangements set up for yet another long day of work. Last night had been too long for her taste. Lily’s latest shipment of gardening supplies had come in late, and she found herself roped into helping lug all of them inside into the late hours of the night. Her back was sore, her legs were sore, and she was sore. If there was any consolation in all of this, it was that the weekend was over, and that meant business would be slow.
Gently placing one of her larger arrangements onto the uppermost rack of her stand, she glanced back at her cart with a tired expression on her face. She still had plenty of smaller bouquets to put on display, as well as some potted flowers. This was going to take a while…
As she went to grab one of those potted flowers, struggling to pick it up, she felt it leave her grasp. Looking up, she was surprised to see Clyde holding the plant with one hand. “Sorry if I surprised you. You looked like you needed a hand,” he said, smiling down at her.
To say she was relieved was a massive understatement. However, it was nonetheless early in the morning and there were only a few ponies milling around outside. None of them looked half as tired as Roseluck felt, though. “What are you doing here so early, Clyde?”
Grabbing another flower pot, Clyde replied, “My shift at the Boutique starts in ten minutes,” and walked over to her vendor stall. “Where do you want these?”
“On either side of the stand.” She smiled, rubbing her eyes and yawning shortly after. “Thank you. Lily kept me up all night to help with a shipment that came in late.”
“I can tell that you’re pretty tired,” he chuckled, placing the plants down at the sides of her stand. “You’ve got bags this big under your eyes.” He held his thumb and index finger a couple of inches apart, and she giggled.
“I guess I’m not really a morning pony. Do you like mornings?”
“Oh man, mornings are great!” he replied happily, grabbing a few more bouquets for her and placing them wherever she pointed. “There’s so much you can get done in the morning that’s just impossible to do once everyone starts getting up.”
“My sisters both adore the morning,” Roseluck said, placing a few bouquets in their spots before wheeling back around to face him. He seemed to be in a much better mood than the day before, which was improving her own mood a little bit. “They’re actually both sitting at home just to watch the sunrise.”
Clyde turned about to look at the sun, which was just about halfway above the horizon, then back to Roseluck. “Well, I’ll be gone by the time they get here.”
“Hasn’t it been ten minutes already?” Roseluck guessed.
Clyde lifted his arm up and glanced at his watch. His eyes went wide, and he immediately took off in a full-sprint towards Rarity’s home, shouting back over his shoulder, “I’ll have to meet them when I get off!”
Roseluck snickered as he ran off. It was definitely going to be interesting when he met her sisters later that day. But for now, she had to finish getting her own little shop ready for business.
Clyde burst through the Carousel Boutique’s front doors. They slammed against the walls, and Rarity looked up from the front counter in shock. “Clyde! Are you okay?”
“I’m… sorry I’m… late…” he panted out, hands on his knees. Much to his chagrin, Rarity simply chuckled.
“Dearie, you’ve been on time every day, I’m sure you can afford to be a couple minutes late once or twice.”
“R-really?” he asked, bewildered. He had never known the fashionista to be especially lenient since he started working for her, but he supposed that perhaps that just came with the title of ‘Generosity’.
“Of course, Clyde. You’ve helped me more than enough over the past few months.” Rarity nodded, giving him a warm smile. “Now, we have a few appointments set up for later this afternoon, so let’s go ahead and get everything ready.”
For the next few hours, the two did just that. By the time the first customer waltzed into the boutique, everything was ready. Clyde was quick to take the pony’s measurements, and then he was on to the next customer. Every so often, he found himself looking towards the clock in his area, counting down the hours until he would be done. The cycle continued like that until it was finally time for him to leave, and he waited at the front counter for Rarity.
“Alright, Clyde, here’s your pay for the day,” she said, tossing a sack of bits onto the counter as the last of her customers left the store. “If you don’t mind my saying, you’ve seemed a bit… distracted. Is everything alright?”
“Sorry, I’ve just been looking forward to meeting someone,” Clyde looked back towards the front door as he pocketed his bits. “Do you know Roseluck?”
“Of course! I often go to her for assistance decorating the boutiques I own!” Rarity’s eyes lit up at the mention of her name. Obviously, she was very fond of the flower pony. “Is she the pony you’re meeting?”
“Yep. I talked to her a bit yesterday and we hit it off, so I told her I’d chat a bit with her after work today.”
“Well then don’t let me keep you, darling. Go on, and have a good night!” Rarity bid him adieu as he left the store.
The door slammed shut behind him, and he shielded his eyes from the sun as they readjusted to the light outside. Once they had, he lowered his hands and looked around. Ponies were shuffling around outside and running all sorts of errands, and it looked like the sun was about an hour away from setting.
He set off towards the market, hands in his pockets the whole time. That was another thing he was glad the ponies of this world knew about. The moment Rarity had seen his original clothes, she had set out to make him a complete wardrobe, and the results had been spectacular. He had even managed to get her to make a shirt for his favorite band. It confused everyone, but to him, it was a reminder of something he’d never get to hear again.
The walk was an uneventful one, aside from a few colts and fillies approaching him, but he was used to that by this point. Many ponies would visit from other towns to trade, and they would often bring their children. To them, he was somewhat of a celebrity, which he certainly didn’t mind in the slightest.
“Whoa, you’re weird looking!” most of them would exclaim. Their parents would scold them, and Clyde would assure them that it was perfectly fine. They were just kids, and after all, he was weird for Equestria from what Twilight told him. He had grown used to this.
By the time he arrived at Ponyville’s town square, the crowds were beginning to thin out. He spied Roseluck in the very spot he’d helped her unload her stock that morning. Shuffling his way between a few ponies, he called out to her. “Hi, Roseluck!”
The ever-working flower pony, who had been readjusting her stock, lifted her head up and noticed Clyde walking towards her. “Hello, Clyde!”
To say he was expecting Daisy and Lily to practically fly out from behind their respective stalls and get in his face would have been a blatant lie. “Um… can I help you?” he asked.
“So you like Roseluck?!” “Is it true that you’re stuck here?!” “Why do you even wanna talk to her?!” “Is it true that human wear clothes because they can’t conceal their genitals?!”
“Lily!” Roseluck shouted, blushing madly. “That question is completely inappropriate!”
Lily scoffed, stepping a bit away from Clyde. “I only asked it because it’s what everypony has been wondering since he got here.”
Clyde backed away from Daisy, who was still right up in his face. Looking back to Roseluck, he asked, “I knew you and your sisters were odd, but is this normal for them?”
“I’m afraid so,” Roseluck sighed. “Why don’t you come have a seat? I brought a stool out here for you when I took my break.” She pointed to a stool right behind her stall, which would place him right between her and the one he now knew to be Lily. “Lily and Daisy thought you weren’t coming since it was getting late, but I knew you would.”
“Yeah, sure, just throw us right under the carriage, why don’t you?” Daisy replied, rolling her eyes. She and Lily both moved back behind their stalls, and Clyde hesitantly took a seat in the stool he’d been offered. “I still want you to answer my question, by the way.”
“I think Roseluck is alright,” he offered. “She didn’t try to get in my face the moment she approached me.” He chuckled.
Daisy was about to reply when Lily piped up with a question of her own. “Are you really stuck here? Like, for forever?”
Clyde nodded. “‘Fraid so. Twilight thought she might be able to find a spell in some old books written by this ‘Starswirl the Bearded’ guy, but she didn’t have any luck. That was her last resort, so… here I am.”
“If you had a choice, would you stay here?” Roseluck asked. Clyde didn’t even have to think about that and shook his head almost right away. “How come? Don’t you like Equestria?”
“That’s silly, of course I do,” he smiled. “But I’ve only been here for about four months. I left an entire life back on Earth, so it’s not really a contest at all right now.”
The girls nodded collectively in agreement at that, but they still had more questions for him. Daisy was the next to ask a question, one he knew was coming. “What’s that logo on your shirt mean?”
“It’s the logo for a band I really liked back home,” he answered. Man, he missed them. “Of course, I’m pretty sure their music wouldn’t be very popular here,” he laughed, “unless you like hearing songs about sex and drugs.”
“Yeah, but what do the letters mean?” She repeated. That was when Clyde finally understood that she was asking if it was an abbreviation or not.
“Oh!” He smacked himself on the forehead, chuckling. “Sorry. It means ‘alternating current/direct current’.”
“That’s a pretty dumb name,” Lily blanched at it.
“Well nobody actually called them that, they just called them by the abbreviation.”
“My turn for a question!” Lily shouted, seemingly having ignored his reply. “Is what I asked earlier true?”
“C’mon, Lily,” Roseluck scolded her, “he doesn’t need to answer that.”
“No, no,” Clyde raised a hand, “it’s fine. To answer your question, Lily, yes. That is why humans wear clothes.”
Lily’s face turned bright red at that, and she fell onto her haunches. Roseluck and Daisy couldn’t help but laugh and poke fun at their sister for being unable to handle the answer to a question she’d asked. As Lily sat back, embarrassed that he had actually answered her question, Roseluck took the opportunity to ask another question of her own. “So why did you want to talk to me? I mean, I’m just your average earth pony, I’m certainly not special like the Elements.”
“Everyone is special in their own way,” Clyde replied. “You struck me as someone, er, somepony, that would go out of her way to help others.”
“He’s right, just like last night,” Daisy reminded her. “Besides, you’re definitely special. You grow the best roses in Equestria!”
“Yeah, well, that sort of comes as a given with a name like Roseluck,” she giggled. “You think mom and dad knew what flowers we’d all end up being best at gardening?”
“Hay, no! They took a shot in the dark and got lucky!” Daisy laughed.
“But hey, enough about me,” Clyde spoke up, his eyes meeting with Roseluck’s. It wasn’t until now that he noticed how well their color went with the rest of her features. “How long have you been in Ponyville?”
“I think it’s been… eight years?” Roseluck asked, turning towards Lily, who, finally and hopefully returning to normal, nodded. She turned back to Clyde. “Yeah, eight years. We actually moved here together from Manehattan.”
“That’s a big city from what I’ve heard. Do you like it here more than you did there?” He asked.
“Uh-huh! The ponies here are a lot friendlier than the ones up North,” Roseluck smiled. “You’d never see somepony stop and ask if you need help like you did this morning. Thanks again, by the way. I was really out of it…”
“I could tell,” Clyde chortled. Who was he to simply walk past someone that needed help? He had been taught by his parents that if someone needed assistance and nobody was offering it, then he should at least try. “So how did you find out you liked gardening?”
“The funny thing is,” Roseluck looked to her sisters, then back to Clyde, “we all got our cutie marks on the same day. We found out there was a contest being held in our town for growing the best garden, and the three of us set out to do it together.”
“We totally owned that contest,” Lily boasted, making her sisters and Clyde laugh. “The next closest pony got like twenty points less than we did, and we got ninety.”
Clyde’s eyes widened at that. “Wow, and you were all fillies when you did that?” The trio nodded, and he took a moment to reorient himself on the stool and lean back against Roseluck’s stall. “That’s pretty impressive. What was the highest score you could have gotten?”
“There were three judges, so exactly ninety,” Daisy answered. “We actually got a perfect score.”
Clyde whistled, impressed. “Color me impressed. No wonder you three are the most renowned flower ponies in Equestria.” That led to another question. “How many ponies do you guys have come through town just to get some flowers?”
“I’d say about one or two a day for me,” Roseluck replied. Her sisters nodded; that seemed about right to them. “If it wasn’t for Rarity, we’d be number one in sales to ponies outside of Ponyville. But I actually had another question for you, if that’s okay?”
“Of course! We can’t get to know each other if we don’t ask any questions.”
“How old are you?” She asked. “ And I’ve heard that you age differently than ponies. Is that true?”
“On Earth, that’s definitely true,” he nodded. “But here, you guys seem to age at about the same rate that humans do.”
“And how old are you?” she repeated. He took a moment to answer, but she cut him off before he could. “Oh gosh, I totally crossed a line, didn’t I! I’m sure you don’t want to tell us how old you are, that’s why you didn’t answer it the first time!” To her surprise, Clyde laughed, and she felt a bit of pressure on her head. He was… petting her? “Y-you’re not mad?”
“Of course not. Gosh, I guess I wasn’t wrong to assume you three were over-dramatic,” he laughed, pulling his hand back from her mane. “Sorry if you didn’t want me petting you like that, but that usually calms down animals where I come from.”
“It’s fine. It felt… nice,” she admitted, a tiny blush forming on her cheeks.
Clyde, to his credit, decided not to poke any fun at the mare for that, no matter how tempting it may have been. “I’m twenty-seven, by the way. What about you girls?”
“Twenty-two!” Lily shouted. “Yay for being the youngest!”
“I’m twenty-nine,” Daisy smiled. “Boo for being the oldest…”
“And I’m twenty-six,” Roseluck answered. “Meh for being the middle child.”
That was… something, Clyde thought. These three could pass for frigging Powerpuff Girl clones back home, just in pony form. “Wow, so you didn’t get your cutie mark for a while, did you, Daisy?”
“Fourteen was when I got it,” she grumbled. Her sisters snickered, and that was when Clyde began to notice the sun setting on their conversation. “Looks like it’s about time to pack up, girls.”
“I can help, if you’d like,” Clyde offered. The three were more than willing to take him up on that offer, and the four of them spent the next few fifteen or so minutes loading up the cart with all of their supplies. Once they were done, he looked ready to head home himself. “Well, it’s getting pretty late, so I should probably head on home.”
“Actually, I was wondering if maybe you’d like to come home and have dinner with us?” Roseluck asked, her little blush returning. “N-not like, in a romantic way or anything! Just as friends!” She clarified.
Clyde tittered at her cute behavior. “No worries, I knew what you meant. I’m afraid I’ll have to pass for tonight, though. I’ve been itching to finish the first Daring Do book. Maybe tomorrow?”
Roseluck looked a little downtrodden at that, but managed a nod after a few moments. “Sure!”
The trio of flower ponies took that as their cue to begin their journey home, and Clyde did the same, wheeling around and heading towards the place he’d be calling home for a lot longer than he’d hoped he’d have to. One thing was certain, though.
Roseluck and her sisters were pretty cool girls, if a little crazy. The streets were now empty aside from him, and he laughed to himself. Tomorrow night was certainly going to be interesting.
It was cloudy. That was the first thing Clyde noticed as he stepped out of his home, and he wanted to cheer. It was definitely a welcome change from the constantly sunny weather as far as he was concerned. It had been a little over a week since he had met Roseluck, and it felt like every time they talked, it was in scorching heat.
Well, aside from that dinner offer that he had taken her up on. “‘I wanna read a book’,” he mocked himself as he closed the door behind him. He had felt a little bad after coming up with that lame excuse, but he just wasn’t in the mood for dinner. At the very least, he had come clean to Roseluck about that the next night, when he did have dinner with her and her sisters. She had laughed it off, thankfully, and they’d had a great time.
With the promise to do it again some time, Clyde had gone home for the night. It had been nearly a week since then, and now that it was finally his off-day, he was going to make good on that promise. First, he’d take her out for some coffee and just chat for a little bit, and then he’d see where the day took them.
Of course, he’d go say hello to Daisy and Lily first. While it was true that he had grown closer to Roseluck than her sisters, they were still great ponies to be around. The walk to the marketplace was quick, and the two noticed him as soon as he entered. They waved him over with smiles on their faces.
“Oh my gosh, Clyde,” Lily addressed him as he approached the pair, waving a hoof in greeting. “It’s been a few days since we’ve seen you! How are you?”
“I’m doing well,” he smiled, leaning up against her stall. Crossing his arms, he continued, “Sorry for disappearing, I’ve just been pretty busy helping out Rarity with a new fashion line she’s going to be debuting in Manehattan. How are you, girls?”
“We’re doing great,” Daisy beamed. “With Princess Celestia coming to town in a few days, we’ve gotten a huge influx of orders. Hay, all three of us have been working overtime just to make sure we can fill them all. Even some delegates from Canterlot are visiting and requested to have their tables decorated with ‘only your most elegant flowers’,” she said in a mocking tone, drawing a chuckle from Clyde.
Huh. That was certainly news. “Wow, that must be pretty great for your wallets, though!”
“Oh, for sure,” Lily nodded. “We may be able to take a week or so off after it all settles down.”
Time off was always great, and it was something Clyde could certainly use more of. Wait, what had Daisy said? Celestia was going to be in Ponyville the very next day?
“Princess Celestia is coming to town? What’s the occasion?”
“She’s meeting with Princess Twilight and her friends,” Lily answered. Clyde switched his gaze over to her as she continued. “After that, she’ll be hosting a public brunch at Sugarcube Corner!”
“We’ve gotta go, right?” Daisy asked, looking to her sister.
Lily nodded. “You are so right.”
“Right?”
“Well,” Clyde interrupted them, chuckling, “I’m sure Rarity will drag me along to that brunch. I actually haven’t spoken with Celestia since Twilight gave me the news that I’d be stuck here.”
“I’m sure she’ll be happy to see that you’re coming to terms with that.” Daisy leaned over the stall and pulled Clyde into a one-legged hug. “Call me crazy, though… you’re just hiding your sadness, right?”
“Well… yeah,” he admitted. “It would be pretty unnatural to just up and say I’m fine with it. I’m not from here, I’m from Earth. I had family and friends there…” He trailed off, tears welling in his eyes. Reaching a hand up, he quickly wiped them away, and offered a meek smile to his friends. “You girls are doing a good job of helping me adjust, though. So… thank you.”
“You’re just lucky you’re not a total bore,” Lily giggled. That got a slight chuckle out of Clyde. “Anyways… I’m sure you’re itching to go see Roseluck, right?”
“So I’m that easy to read, huh?” Clyde asked, giving a full-winded laugh this time. “And here I was thinking it would be harder for you to read a human.”
“Way too easy,” Daisy tittered. “But hey, you’re in luck! Rosie’s at home doing a bit of gardening. She wanted to help us out with the stall today, but the orders we got basically cleared out our entire inventory, so she’s working on refilling that stock.”
“Man, you weren’t lying when you said you had a massive influx, huh? Anyways, thanks.” Clyde said, stepping back from the pair. “It was good to see you girls again, hopefully we can all hang out later tonight!”
“We’d love to!” They both exclaimed. Clyde chuckled. It was certainly funny just how in sync some of these ponies were with one another. After saying his goodbyes to the flower sisters, he headed off towards their home.
Roseluck wiped a bit of sweat off of her forehead, taking a brief moment to glance up at the sky. It was nice and cloudy, and she silently thanked Celestia for that. Gardening could already be a pretty grueling activity depending on what she was doing, so the fact that it wasn’t sweltering outside like usual at this time of year definitely made this an easier task.
She looked back down to her next target, a small patch of weeds growing out from under the house. Getting them out completely was going to be pretty tricky. The last time this had happened, she and her sisters had had to remove some of the carpentry and work around it. That had been an expensive venture, and not one she particularly wanted to go through again. Thankfully, it was about to become apparent she wouldn’t have to.
“Need some help?”
Roseluck jumped straight up into the air and yelped. After a couple seconds, she crashed back to the ground on her back, looking up to see Clyde standing over her. His blue eyes met the gaze of her own, much larger, green eyes, and she gave a weak smile. “Oh. Um. Hello, Clyde.”
“If I had known you were this jumpy, I would have done this sooner,” Clyde laughed. Rolling her eyes, Roseluck grabbed onto his hand when he offered it. He pulled her up, and she quickly dusted herself off. “Trying to get some weeds out?”
Roseluck looked back to the weeds in question sticking out from under her home, and nodded. “Yeah, they’ve been growing out from under the foundation for a while now. Daisy wants to hire somepony to come out and get them up completely, but they haven’t reached out far enough to affect our flowers yet so I’m pretty hesitant to spend that kind of money again.”
“Well, you never know. Sometimes it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Clyde motioned towards the weeds Roseluck had been eyeing when he’d arrived. “May I?”
“If you don’t mind getting your hooves—” Roseluck cut herself off, looking down at those claw-like appendages.It was still strange just how long each of them were. “... Er, hands, dirty.”
“Not if it means helping a pretty girl,” Clyde grinned, chuckling as he also corrected himself. “Er… mare.”
He crouched down onto the ground, inspecting the weeds that she was intent on removing. “Crabgrass, huh? My dad showed me an easy trick to get rid of these when I was younger.”
Roseluck leaned over his shoulder to get a good look at what he was going to do. Her mouth formed a tiny ‘O’ as she watched him wrap the fingers on his right hand around the crabgrass, and yank it right out of the ground, roots and all.
“Whoa, that was incredible!” She shouted, a huge smile forming on her muzzle. In all her years of gardening, she’d never seen anything like that. Looking down at her own legs, she continued, “I’d never be able to do that with my hooves.”
“I’ve always wondered how you guys are able to hold anything,” Clyde said. “I wouldn’t lie if I said seeing a pony bend their hoof was a bit off since that’s impossible with the equines back on Earth.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well, they don’t have joints that can rotate as far as yours. It’s mostly just a forward and backward motion,” he explained. “Then again, I’m not an expert on horses and being here has made me question everything I thought I knew.”
“Oh wow. Every time I learn more about your home, I’m glad I was born in this one,” Roseluck giggled. “I don’t know how I could garden without being able to hold my tools!”
Clyde joined in her laughter. “Or talk!”
For the next few minutes, he pulled up the rest of the weeds as Roseluck watched. She was amazed at the ease with which he did it, and found herself looking down at her own forehooves every so often, wondering what it would be like to have hands instead. Eventually, she settled on… odd, but helpful.
“All done!”
Roseluck watched as Clyde got back up to his feet. The knees of his jeans had a bit of dirt on them, but he rubbed it off quickly. “Wow, you just did an hour’s work in fifteen minutes…”
“Heh, you sound a bit surprised. Didn’t expect these hands to actually come in handy, huh?” He said, ribbing his new friend.
“No, no! Thank you,” she smiled at him. “So what made you come over?”
“I can’t come just to see my favorite pony?” Clyde said with a grin. “Lily and Daisy told me you were working pretty hard today to refill your stock, so I was thinking you could take a quick break so we could go get some coffee or something,” he added.
She could practically feel her cheeks burning at his request.
“O-oh, sure!” she exclaimed giddily. She certainly wasn’t expecting that, but she was happy regardless. “Where did you have in mind?”
“I was hoping you might know a good place,” Clyde laughed nervously. “I would suggest Sugarcube Corner, but Pinkie is there today and I’m not sure I can handle her right now.”
Roseluck raised a brow at that, and began trotting down the trail towards the road. “Why? Do you not like her?”
“Oh no, I think she’s great,” Clyde replied, hurrying up to her side and settling into a speed that matched her own. “But every time I go there, she offers me some free cake. … Well, offers probably isn’t the right word. I’ve probably gained about fifteen pounds since I got here, because she basically force-feeds it to me.”
“I wish she would offer me some free cake,” Roseluck giggled. As the two turned onto a path that led them between a few buildings on the outskirts of town, she continued, “I hope you don’t mind taking a bit of a shortcut.”
“No complaints here.”
Roseluck glanced to her side, and her eyes met with Clyde’s for a moment. Her thoughts drifted off as they kept walking, to a conversation she had had with her sisters the day before.
“So what are you gonna do for your day off, Rosie?”
Roseluck, who had been digging a hole, paused for a moment and turned to her older sister. “I’m not sure, Daisy. I’ll probably just do some gardening.”
“Oh em cee, she is such a bore!” Lily laughed. Roseluck was about to reply when Lily suddenly rushed to her side, wrapping a foreleg around her neck. “You should totally go see if Clyde wants to hang out with you.”
“...”
“Aw, look, she’s blushing!” Daisy exclaimed, causing said blush to deepen. “Does little Rosie have a crush on the local human?”
“N-no!” She cried out, dropping the trowel she’d been holding. “Why would you even think that?”
“Just the way you looked at him at dinner the other night,” Lily chimed in.
“What do you mean?”
“Doy!” Lily, foreleg still wrapped around her sister’s neck, twirled her around so that they were face to face. She did her best to emulate the dreamy look Roseluck had had on her face. “You were giving him this look all night!”
“Th-that doesn’t mean I like him, though!” Roseluck stuttered. “M-maybe I was just interested in what he was saying! You know, about that uh… band he likes?”
“That would be true,” Daisy replied, stepping next to Lily, “if you hadn’t given that exact same look to that colt you liked back in school. What was his name, again?”
“Girls, please just—”
“Thunderlane!” Lily shouted.
“But I never ended up asking him out, it was just a crush!”
“Exactly!” Daisy beamed. “You see? You do have a crush on Clyde!”
Roseluck finally relented, her shoulders drooping a bit. “F-fine, I guess I think he’s… kind of cute.”
“Awww!” Her sisters both cooed.
“You should totally ask him out!” Daisy said.
Roseluck rolled her eyes. “No way am I going to do that, Daisy. You’ve heard what ponies were like where he’s from. There is no way he’d want to date one,” she argued. “Besides… I’m sure these feelings will pass. I’m sure it’s just because I’ve only ever hung around with ponies.”
“Suuuuure,” Daisy replied with an eye roll of her own. “Well, when it’s been a few weeks and these feelings are still here, you can bet your flank Lily and I are going to set the two of you up.”
“Go right ahead,” Roseluck replied. With a sigh, she picked her trowel back up and knelt to the ground, picking up where she’d been interrupted.
‘It’s not like that’s going to happen.’
“Roseluck?”
Roseluck shook her head, getting that memory out of her head. “S-sorry. What’s up, Clyde?”
“I was just asking if we were almost there, we’ve been walking in the same direction for like ten minutes.”
Roseluck stopped in her tracks and took a look at their surroundings. “Uh… this way!” She bounded off to her left, and could hear Clyde jogging to catch up to her yet again. This time, their walk lasted only a few moments before they finally reached their destination. “Here we are! The Coffee Bean!”
“Huh, looks pretty quaint.” Indeed it was. There was a little sign in the shape of a coffee bean hanging over the entrance, but that was the only indication that they sold coffee. Clyde pulled open the door, and motioned forward with his free hand. “After you.”
Roseluck smiled, trotting inside and right up to the front counter. The door slammed shut behind her, and she turned back to see Clyde eyeing the menu overhead.
“Well, I’ll be…” Roseluck turned back to the counter, and gasped when she saw who was behind it.
“Flitter!” Roseluck exclaimed. “You work here now!?”
“Yeah, I got the job a few weeks ago!” Flitter grinned widely, and her eyes went wide when she finally seemed to notice Clyde. “Whoa, you brought Clyde! Hi, Clyde!”
“Hi, Flitter,” he smiled. “How’s the wing?”
Roseluck looked between the pair a few times before settling her confused gaze back on Flitter. “Wing? What’s he talking about, Flitter?”
“Oh, it’s no big deal,” Flitter closed her eyes, throwing her hoof out in dismissal. “I clipped my wing on a tree branch a couple of days ago. Clyde saw me rolling around on the ground in pain, so he brought me to Nurse Redheart.”
“No big deal!? You hurt yourself!” Roseluck yelled. “What if Clyde hadn’t shown up to help you?”
“I know, I know… I should try to be more careful when I’m out night-flying,” Flitter groaned, rolling her eyes. “You’re such a nag, Roseluck.”
“A nag that you love,” Roseluck winked.
Flitter giggled. “Alright, alright. So what’ll you guys have?”
Clyde, who had been patiently waiting while they had been chatting, looked back up at the menu. “I will have… a medium vanilla coffee, decaf.”
“Oh, what a great choice! The vanilla here is to die for,” Flitter smiled. “And for you, Rosie?”
“I’ll get the same thing, but a small.”
“Alrighty, two cups of vanilla coffee coming up~” Flitter sing-songed, prancing over to the coffee machines. While she was getting everything ready, Roseluck led Clyde towards a booth in the corner of the shop. The two took a seat across from each other, and Roseluck watched with interest as Clyde did his best to position himself comfortably in the tiny booth.
“Hehe, you’re a little big for the booth, huh?”
“No kidding.” He moved his legs around for a few more moments before, finally, he seemed to be comfortable. Well, as comfortable as he was going to get. “So, what made you pick this place?”
“This was the first place I ever went to when my sisters and I moved here. I like to think of it as a second home, because I come up here a lot to just… get away from everything,” Roseluck explained. For a moment, neither of them said anything, and Roseluck blushed a bit. “You must think that’s pretty silly, huh?”
“Nope,” came the blunt reply. “I had a place like that back home, actually. But it was the local deli, not a coffee place.”
“Alrighty, two vanilla coffees! A medium for you,” Flitter said, placing a cup down in front of Clyde. “... And a small one for you,” she continued, repeating the action for Roseluck. “So, what made you two want to come here?”
“Clyde actually asked if I wanted to go get some coffee,” Roseluck smiled. “Well, after he helped me finish pulling up some weeds.”
“Ohhh, so you two are on a date? I’m so sorry, I’ll leave you alone!” Flitter yelped out, rushing behind the counter and through a door. Meanwhile, leaving behind two madly blushing individuals.
“Sorry about Flitter, she’s just—”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Clyde cut off Roseluck. “So, how has your week been?”
His attempt to change the subject didn’t go unnoticed, and Roseluck was more than happy to go along with him. “It’s been pretty good.” She paused, taking a small sip of her coffee. “Aside from helping Lily and Daisy, obsessing over the princess coming to town in a few days.”
“Oh yeah, they told me about that. She’s holding some sort of brunch, right?”
“Well, she isn’t, but yes. Ponyville certainly is” She took another sip, then looked at Clyde’s cup. “Are you not gonna have any?”
“Just waiting for it to cool off,” he smiled. “So where’s this brunch being held? I’m pretty sure they told me, but it slipped my mind. It’s been a pretty busy week.”
“Sugarcube Corner.” Roseluck answered, laughing at the disgusted face Clyde made. “Sorry, but there’s no escaping the free cake this time.”
“Ugh, damn it…”
Roseluck stopped her laughter, a confused expression replacing her smile. She tilted her head to the side a bit. “What’s that mean?”
“What?”
“You said ‘damn it’. What does that mean?” Roseluck asked, her eyes blinking curiously.
“It’s a curse word. You use it when you’re frustrated,” Clyde replied, looking just as confused as she did. “Does it not exist here?”
“The only curse words I know are ‘pony feathers’ and ‘horse-apples’,” she shrugged.
Much to her chagrin, Clyde broke out in laughter. “Seriously? Okay, that is way too adorable.” Finally, Clyde took a sip of his coffee before continuing. “Hey, this is actually pretty good.”
“Told ya!” Roseluck smirked. A question that had begun burning in the back of her mind caused her to change subjects. “So what was that whole business with Flitter?”
“You mean with her wing?” Clyde asked, and Roseluck nodded. “I had to stay late at Rarity’s a couple days ago. Something about a shipment arriving late from Saddle Arabia or something, I dunno. To be honest, sometimes I kinda zone out when Rarity is talking about where she gets her fabrics. I think that might be because—”
“Um, Clyde?” Roseluck interrupted him. “Flitter?”
“Oh, sorry! Speaking of zoning out, heh. Well, I was outside organizing the packages she’d gotten. She likes to have everything organized before we bring it inside. You know, to make things easier?” He paused, taking another sip of his coffee. When he put the cup back down, he was wide-eyed. “Wow, this is really good.”
Roseluck giggled cutely. “You’re really easy to distract, Clyde.”
“Sorry,” he chuckled. “Anyways, it was really quiet outside. So when I heard what sounded like wood splintering, I decided to go check it out. I ended up finding Flitter a few hundred feet behind Rarity’s boutique.”
“What happened? I mean, aside from her clipping her wing.”
“Well, I’m sure it was to maintain her pride, but she didn’t tell you the whole story. She flew straight into this little tree. Couldn't have been more than fifteen feet tall. It fell right down on top of her wing.”
“Oh my gosh!” Roseluck turned towards where Flitter had run off to, then back to Clyde. “Thank goodness she seems alright. How badly was she hurt?”
“Well the tree was pretty light-weight thankfully, so she just sprained it. She should recover within a couple of weeks”
“Well she’s lucky you were there to help her,” Roseluck smiled. The two each took a sip of their coffee, then she continued. “So you carried her all the way to Ponyville General?”
“Eh, it was no big deal. She was going on and on about me being her ‘hero’, but she was pretty out of it.”
A tinge of jealousy sprung up inside Roseluck upon hearing that, but she did her best to ignore it. “S-so, um. What happened after that?”
“I went home, and today’s the first I’ve seen her since then,” he shrugged. “Like I said, it wasn’t that big a deal.”
The cream colored earth pony definitely disagreed with that, but she knew that she wasn’t going to change his mind on the matter. Still, now she had a new thought burning in the back of her mind. Why had she been jealous when he’d mentioned Flitter calling him her ‘hero’?
She zoned out, all of her focus going towards that all-important question. It was true, what Lily and Daisy had said the day before. She did have a tiny crush on him. Was it possible that it was bigger than she thought?
Come on, Roseluck, she berated herself. That’s just silly. I mean, he’s not even a pony! Not to mention he’s clearly not looking for a relationship. He just found out that he’s stuck here forever, for Celestia’s sake! But then… why do I get a funny little feeling in my tummy whenever he smiles?
Roseluck let out a sigh, which didn’t go unnoticed by her human counterpart. “Is something bothering you, Rose?”
“N-no, I just…” She trailed off, her thoughts consuming her yet again. Wait, had he just called her ‘Rose’?
There you go again. You can’t even finish a sentence because you’re too busy thinking about him! She scolded herself. Deep down she knew she just needed to calm down, but for some reason she couldn’t. Okay, there’s only one thing to do. A surefire way to find out whether or not you actually like him.
“I, um…”
Come on, you can do it! She thought, her internal struggle continuing. She looked up at Clyde for a moment, only to be greeted with a look of what she could only describe as a mix of confusion and concern painted across his face. That was the last straw, and she knew she was going to do this no matter what. It was too late to turn back. Damn it, Daisy was right, she confessed to herself, using the phrase she’d learned from Clyde.
Roseluck took a deep breath, then bellowed out, “do you wanna go to Princess Celestia’s brunch with me?!”
It had only been a day since Roseluck had asked Clyde if he’d be willing to attend Celestia’s brunch with her. To her surprise and delight, he had been quick to agree. From there, the two had finished up their little outing at the Coffee Bean and headed their separate ways. Well, not before Flitter had come over to thank Clyde once more for assisting her. Roseluck had felt just a tad jealous at the time, but thinking back on it, that was a silly feeling to harbor. Any pony would be grateful for the help he’d provided.
If only he’d been there to provide her with some relief from her sisters that same night. Telling them about their venture to the coffee shop had been one of her worst mistakes yet.
“You two went on a date!?” Her sisters shrieked.
“Tell us everything about it!” Lily demanded.
Roseluck sighed. It had been foolish of her to expect anything other than an interrogation when she decided to tell her sisters where she’d run off to that afternoon. Plopping down on the sofa, she took a sip of water. “There’s not much to tell. We had some coffee, and it wasn’t a date.”
“Oh, puh-lease! Not a date?” Daisy said. “You, a mare, went to a coffee shop with Clyde, a stallion.”
“Yeah, and nopony asks to have coffee without some sort of underlying romantic intent!” Lily added. “Things like ‘coffee’ and ‘tea’ are just code words for pursuing that pony!”
“First, he’s a man, not a stallion. Human, remember?” Roseluck corrected her older sister. Turning to face Lily, she continued, “Second, you can totally have coffee or tea with somepony without it being a date! What about that time you had tea with Golden Harvest?”
Lily’s cheeks flushed at that question. “W-well…”
“You’re kidding me,” Roseluck deadpanned. “You like her?”
“Just a little!”
“Okay, enough about Lily and her unrequited love of Golden Harvest,” Daisy interjected, clambering onto the couch next to Roseluck. “This is about your very-much-mutual crush on Clyde.”
“I don’t have a crush on him!” Roseluck exclaimed. “I-I mean, look. I feel… something. I’m not sure what it is, but I can assure you it’s not a crush. Why would he even have feelings for a pony like me anyway?”
Roseluck didn’t know it, but that last sentence was the golden opportunity her sisters had been waiting for to prove her wrong. Quickly, Lily bounded forward, placing her forehooves on her sister’s flank for support. Her face was close enough that she could see the sweat beginning to form on Roseluck’s fur. “Why would you care if he has feelings for you, Rosie?”
“Well I—”
Daisy cut her off. “Yeah, unless you want him to have feelings for you. Which you totally do, we can tell.”
“I do n—”
“And not to mention,” Lily interrupted her in turn, “you literally gave him flowers the first time you met.”
“I sell flowers!” Roseluck shouted. “What else am I supposed to give him, chocolates!?”
Daisy shot up in her seat. “Aha! And why would you give someone chocolates and flowers and ask them for coffee unless you were interested in them!”
Lily nodded. “She’s right, Rosie! We have you pegged. It’s sooo obvious that you have feelings for Clyde.”
“And you’re having trouble coming to terms with them,” Daisy continued.
“Because he’s a human, I bet!”
“ENOUGH!” Roseluck shouted, jumping from the sofa. Lily, who had been using her for support, was knocked backward onto the floor. She landed on her back, her legs splayed out at her sides, but that didn’t stop her from breaking into a fit of giggles. Daisy, still on the couch, was grinning from ear to ear. “You two weren’t there, so you don’t even know how our date went!”
Wait, what had she just…
“Oh, hay.”
Daisy and Lily jumped right back in front of their sister. “We knew it!” They cried out together.
Roseluck groaned. “Ugh, fine! I think I might like him, alright!? I don’t know yet, but I just… I want to.”
“You want him to like you?” Lily asked.
“No,” Roseluck shook her head, falling to her haunches. “I want to know if I really like him, or if these feelings are just because…”
The two leaned forward intently, desperately wanting to hear what she had to say. “Because…?”
“Because… I’ve never really had somepony interested in me,” Roseluck finished morosely, tears welling in her eyes. “You two have been on tons of dates, and even if they haven’t always ended well, at least you’ve gotten that experience. I’ve never even had a stallion ask me out or tell me I was cute. I’m just not worth dating, I guess.”
Her sisters sat down across from her. Reaching a hoof out and placing it gently on Roseluck’s shoulder, Lily offered her a gentle smile. “Rosie, there’s no way you really believe that, right?”
“Yeah,” Daisy nodded. “That’s a bunch of baloney. You’re one of the prettiest, sweetest, kind, and PRETTIEST mares in all of Equestria.”
“You said ‘prettiest’ twice,” Roseluck deadpanned.
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Daisy waved her hoof dismissively, “anyways, the only reason a stallion wouldn’t want to be with you is because he’s not the right one. Or stupid. Actually, scratch that, both.”
“Daisy’s right,” Lily said. “You’re not just a wonderful mare, you’re also an amazing sister!”
“Yeah, to hay with anyone who wouldn’t want to date you. They’re not worth your time anyway!”
Roseluck brought a hoof up to her face, wiping away her tears, and brought her head up so that she was eye level with her sisters. “T-thanks, girls. You two are the best sisters a mare could ask for. Even if you treat me like a suspect being interrogated,” she giggled.
The two joined her in laughter, and she felt compelled to continue. “Besides, I’ll get a better idea of how I feel after our date in a couple days.”
Roseluck felt her sisters’ grasps disappear suddenly, replaced by the two leaning back with mouths agape. Uh oh.
“YOU’RE GOING TO THE ROYAL BRUNCH WITH CLYDE!?” Daisy shouted so loudly it practically shook Roseluck’s eardrums.
“And you waited until now to tell us!?” Lily cried out incredulously.
“W-well…” Roseluck started chuckling, nervous to tell her sisters anything else. Though if she didn’t, she’d certainly be grilled once more, and knowing the two of them, she’d crack before long. “Yeah, I guess. Heh.”
“Okay! Okay! Calm down, Lily!” The pink mare spoke aloud to herself, eyebrow twitching.
“Um… are you alright, Lily?”
“Fine, I’m fine!” Lily shouted. After a moment, she seemed to have settled down, but she was still staring so intently at Roseluck that the cream-colored mare almost wondered if her very soul was being examined. “Alright, whew. So he said yes?”
“Sure did,” Roseluck replied, the corners of her mouth tilting upwards ever so slightly. “He said yes.”
“Was it an excited yes?” Daisy asked, now lying on her belly. Her forehooves supported her head, digging into her cheeks, while her hind hooves playfully waved back and forth in the air. “Or was it more of a yes but only because he felt obligated to say yes?”
“Or maybe it was a yes, but just as friends,” Lily added.
Choosing not to feed into what her sisters were saying this time, Roseluck continued on. “Well, whatever kind of ‘yes’ it was, it was still a yes. So now I need to plan out what we’re going to do tomorrow and hopefully, I can get the answers I am looking for from myself.”
“But do you even have a dress for the brunch?” Daisy asked.
“Yeah, and are you really going to just go with your regular manecut?” Lily scoffed. “Forget about planning what you’ll be doing tomorrow, it’s time to plan what you’ll be looking like tomorrow.”
“Lily is right, Rosie. If you’re going to go with Clyde to this event, you need to make sure you dress to impress!”
“And we know just the mare who can help you do that!"
“W-who?” Roseluck asked, feeling so taken aback by how invested her sisters were getting that the most obvious of answers slipped her mind.
“Why, Rarity, of course!” They shouted in unison.
“Oh. Yeah.” Roseluck facehoofed. “That should have been clear. But there’s just one problem: Clyde works there and takes her orders.”
“So then we do it… in secret!” Lily exclaimed.
“Yeah, it shouldn’t be too hard to get an order to Rarity without Clyde being wise to it,” Daisy said. “And it’s imperative that we do! We can’t let him know, because you need to see his face when he sees you in your dress for the first time.”
Roseluck felt her cheeks warm up at the thought. “Well… that does sound like it would be pretty great. … You really think he’d find me cute?”
“Duh!” The two responded together yet again.
“You know, you two would make a great stage act with how well you can read each other’s minds,” Roseluck giggled.
Daisy gently pushed open the door to Rarity’s boutique, and a bell chimed overhead as she stepped through the boundary into the fashionista’s business. It had been a while since her last visit, the prior Grand Galloping Gala to be exact, so she was unfamiliar with the changes Rarity had made in that time. It may have had something to do with Clyde being available to help her, but the main room was bursting at the seams with dresses just begging to be worn. The colors, the patterns, the gems adorning them, they were just so…
“No,” she said, steeling herself, “you’re here for Rosie. Stay focused.”
The sound of Rarity’s voice calling out from the back room helped her do just that. “Just a minute~!”
The door opened, much swifter this time, and Daisy turned and looked over her shoulder to see her youngest sister galloping into Carousel Boutique. She came to a screeching halt just before impacting Daisy, and the grin on her face told the eldest sister that things were going just according to plan.
“Okay, Clyde should be busy with Pinkie Pie for the rest of the day!” Lily exclaimed, her voice positively brimming with excitement. “So that means we’ll have plenty of time to get Rarity to make a dress just for Roseluck!”
The sisters each lifted a hoof up and smacked them together in celebration. Everything seemed to be going smoothly so far, and that meant that there was nothing to worry about.
“Hay yeah!” Daisy shouted.
The sound of Rarity’s voice calling out to them drew their attention back to the front counter. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is— Oh, hello Daisy and Lily!”
“Hey, Rarity!” The sisters said together, smiling widely at her.
Rarity couldn’t help but suppress a giggle. “What brings the two of you here?”
Jumping right in front of her, Lily shouted, “We’re here on behalf of Rosie on a top secret mission! It’s suuuper secret, so you can’t say anything!”
“What Lily is trying to say,” Daisy added with a chuckle, “is that we’re here to have a dress made for our sister. Do you think you’d be able to fit us in?”
Rarity brought a hoof to her chin, pondering the idea. “Hm… Well… I would love to, girls, but I just have so many orders placed already for tomorrow’s event that I don’t know if it’s possible.”
The flower sisters frowned, their heads drooping low to the ground at the bad news. They had come up with such an intricate plan, going so far as to have Clyde leave work early, and it was all going to be for naught.
“I’m sorry, darlings,” Rarity spoke. “It’s just such a busy period for me, and while I absolutely adore Roseluck, I do have to stick to my scheduled dressmaking.”
“No, it’s fine,” Lily said, lifting her head up and offering a weak smile to the fashion mare. “It’s our fault for assuming you wouldn’t be so backed up given the event happening tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Daisy agreed, “we’ll just have to find another way for Rosie to impress Clyde.”
Rarity’s eyebrow rose at that information. “‘Impress Clyde’?”
“Well yeah,” Lily said, nodding. “She asked him to go to Celestia’s brunch with her, and he said yes so we figure that we’d have y—”
“Why didn’t you say so!?” Rarity exclaimed, her muzzle being dominated by the widest smile she could manage. The very thought of making a dress to impress her dear friend Clyde made her eyes sparkle with excitement. “It would be my absolute pleasure to design the most stunning dress imaginable for Roseluck!”
The flower sisters took a moment to look at each other, then back to Rarity with grins threatening to break free from their faces. Lily was the first to find words. “Oh my gosh, thank you so much! Are you sure!?”
“But of course!” Rarity assured the two. “Your dear sister will be the talk of the entire town if I have anything to say about it!”
The two beamed as she continued, “Now, you said something about this being a top secret mission? I take that to mean that Clyde has no idea about this?”
“Mhm!” Daisy nodded her head. “Lily and I actually convinced Pinkie Pie to get Clyde’s help with planning a party under the guise of it being somepony’s birthday.”
“Well in that case, how about the two of you remain here with me? I do so love creative input, and you girls would know better than anypony what Roseluck would like!”
“We’d love to!” They shouted.
Rarity giggled at their behavior, before turning hoof and slowly making her way to the back room where the magic happened.
“This way, girls~!” She sing-songed.
“So… who’s this party for, anyways?”
“Why, that’s for me to know and for you to find out!” Pinkie Pie answered, bounding around her bedroom as she gathered up party supplies. “After all, you might be a big ole’ spoiled sport and ruin the surprise, and we can’t have that now, can we?”
“Heh, well I guess not,” Clyde said, rubbing the back of his head and chuckling. “So what do you need me to do?”
“I need you to sit here and make sure nopony messes with the cake,” she instructed her human friend, motioning towards what looked like an octuple-decker cake You never know who might be out there listening and waiting for a moment to steal a bite before the party!”
“Wait, so I’m just gonna be—” Clyde found himself cut off as the party pony slammed the door to her bedroom shut, and he could faintly hear the lock click from outside.
“Have fun, I’ll be back in a few hours!” Pinkie Pie called out to him. With nothing else to do, Clyde sighed and sat down on her bed, staring intently at the cake like he was told.
Man, now I’m gonna be the one who wants to eat this cake, he thought to himself.
Roseluck came to a stop outside of the Ponyville Salon, taking a moment to examine the sign hanging overhead. Her sisters had been adamant that she should get a manecut, but as long as she’d lived that thought had never once crossed her mind. With trepidation, she slowly stepped forwards and placed her forehoof against the door. Ever so gently, she pushed the doorwards and stepped inside. The sight awaiting her was truly one to behold.
“Holy…”
The building was bustling with dozens upon dozens of ponies. Those seated in their respective booths were receiving some pretty intense manecuts, hooficures, eyelash curlings, and some were even having perms done. The stylists were sprinting around in what looked to be a mad panic, but from what she could tell it was obviously some sort of organized chaos.
“Hey there, welcome to Ponyville’s premiere spot for all your makeover needs!” A pony called out, trotting up to her. “What brings you in today, ma’am?”
Roseluck eyed the pony questioning here up and down. He was a very pale green, with a flowing turquoise mane. “O-oh, hello. My name is Roseluck.”
“It’s so nice to meet you, Miss Roseluck! What can I do for you?”
“Um, well, actually…” Roseluck trailed off, momentarily forgetting exactly what her sisters had recommended.
“Oh my, the colors of your mane are just so gorgeous!” The stallion exclaimed. “I’m sure you’re no doubt here to have it styled and get our full makeover package! Am I right?”
Roseluck chuckled nervously. “Uh… hehe, I’m honestly not even sure what I want. I know I have the bits to pay for whatever you think would be best though.”
“Miss Roseluck, you just made my day!”
With a grab of her hoof, she was hurled towards a chair and the stylist, whose name she had yet to even get, was off to work.
“Rarity, it looks absolutely amazing!”
“Yeah, it’s like, so darn cute!” Lily added. “Rosie is gonna look so stunning!”
The fashionista beamed at the compliments her couture had received. The dress’s top half was a beautiful mix between Roseluck’s two mane colors, and was adorned with a lining of emeralds that shimmered. As the dress tapered off to her hindquarters and past her back hooves, it would transform into the same cream color as her fur in a gradient, and those emeralds were replaced by a stream of blood rubies that absolutely sparkled in the light.
“I’m so glad you girls like it!” Rarity cried out happily. Her horn glowed a light blue as she hoisted the dress away from the mannequin that had been adorning it, and she levitated it over to the front counter. “Allow me just a moment to bag it up!”
Daisy and Lily followed her to where she’d be ringing up their order, watching as she carefully fitted the dress into a plastic bag and set it down atop the counter.
“Alright,” she said, looking at the two of them, “normally I would charge about five hundred bits to make a dress in such short order, but since this is for Roseluck and Clyde’s benefit, I’m willing to cut you… a deal!”
The flower sisters gasped, then asked in unison, “What kind of deal?”
“You can have the dress…”
The two leaned forward with intent, waiting to hear just what Rarity had to say.
“For free!”
“FREE!?” They cried out. Before Rarity could add anything else, the two fell to the floor in a heap, Lily splayed out over her older sister. The business owner giggled. “O-oh. Well, I’ll just assume that means you two are happy.”
Clyde sat staring at the clock on Pinkie’s bedroom wall, the pony tail on the bottom swinging back and forth with each passing second. For the briefest of moments, a thump from downstairs roused him from his staring session. A few moments went by before he realized it wasn’t Pinkie, and he turned back to the clock with the same blank expression on his face.
