The Halcyon Days

by Ivo

Episiode 4 - The Language of Flowers

“Okay, let´s start…” a silver filly meant and trotted through rows of potted plants. “We have mandrakes…” she said, pointing at one of the plants of the small winter garden at the school´s third floor.
“Mandrakes…” a white colt, who levitated a small piece of paper and a pencil in front of him, repeated slow and wrote the word in one of the gapes on the paper.
“Night-blooming jasmine…” another filly shouted from between the plants on the room´s other side.
“Night-blooming jasmine…” the colt repeated again.
“Aaaaand…hmm…where are they?…”

Scouting, Silverleaf searched the room for the last plant she needed.
The small winter garden at Celestia´s School for Gifted Unicorns was a big room of peace and quiet. The sky-blue walls with the painted trees and animals set everypony at ease and made everypony feel as it would be in the middle of a deep forest. Only the big windows and the dark green carpet-flooring, though in a fitting color, dimmed the forest-feeling a little bit.
Also the wooden tables with the pot plants on them and some wooden benches didn´t really fit in.
But, after all, this was a winter garden and no forest. And at the current season - which was winter - a forest surely would appear in another shape.

Anyhow, Twilight, Bleach and Silverleaf didn´t care about the room´s design very much at the moment. They still searched for…
“AHA! Found it!” Silverleaf suddenly shouted. “The angel trumpet!” she announced and reared on her hind legs, playing an imaginary trumpet with her fore hooves and shouting out a loud ‘Traraaaa!’

“Angel trumpet…” Bleach noted with a chuckle about his friend´s behavior. “Okay, that´s it! Three flowers of the nightshade family.”
“Perfect!” smiled Silverleaf. “And now the last worksheet!”
“Are your teachers giving you always that much homework?” Twilight frowned about the now fifth worksheet. Maybe helping Silverleaf with her biology-homework hadn´t been such a good idea. After all, she and Bleach could be outside now and play in the snow.
The silver filly anyway just blushed about Twilight´s question and smiled slightly ashamed. “No… Truth told, only two of the worksheets had been my homework…”
“Say what now!” Bleach uttered with a mix of surprise, confusion and slight anger. “And why are we wasting our free lesson here when we could´ve been finished within five minutes? We are now nearly half an hour in this green jungle and I just want to throw a snowball sooo desperately!”
“I´m sorry I didn´t tell you. I just like botanic! And I wanted to use diligence and earn a good mark. We could solve one of the three additional sheets as voluntary extra task, but it just made that much fun, so I decided to solve all three!” Silverleaf explained.
Bleach only snorted. “And why you had to involve us into it? Sure, we are friends and we help each other, but you did nearly everything on your own! You wouldn´t have needed our help!”
“Well…I didn´t wanted to be so lonely during doing my homework…I´m sorry if I wasted your time…” she apologized and lowered her head, her ears folding down.

“Nah, it´s okay. We forgive you.” Twilight soothed her. “Just tell us the truth next time. We would have comprehended it, right Bleach?”
“Right!” he nodded and smiled.
Silverleaf now raised her head again and faced her friends with a beam. “Thank you! You two are the best friends a pony like me could wish for!”

They shared a moment smiling at each other, until the colt announced: “Alright, let´s finish that last sheet and get outta here! I have some snowballs to throw…”

“Achoo-Achoo-Aaaachooo!”
“Gesundheit, Gesundheit aaaand Gesundheit!”

The white colt sniffed and sipped at his hot chocolate.
It was lunch time and the trio sat together in the cantina. It was obvious, that Bleach´s outdoor-activities after finishing Silverleaf´s homework had some side-effects. He was sneezing all the time, had a running nose and was slightly nasalizing.

“Achoo!”
Twilight´s look was a little bit disgusted when her friend sneezed again, covering her salad with one of her fore hooves. “Gesundheit. Could you please cover your mouth with your hoof when you´re sneezing? I don´t want to have your germs in my salad!”
“Sorry…” he apologized snuffling and gave his nose a wipe with his hoof.
“And please could you use a tissue?”
“Sorry, again…” he replied and took one of the napkins on the table, blowing his nose into it.

“That´s your own fault. Why did you have to start a snowball fight against our whole class? And why hadn´t you worn a scarf?” Twilight asked annoyed and sounded like a mother telling off her son.
“Hey, it was really funny and-aaaa…aaaaaa…AAAAAAA…”
Silverleaf and Twilight, sitting on the other side of the table, took shelter. Bleach´s muzzle was wide agape, prepared for a big sneezer. But in the end, he only sighed smiling.
“Phew…Misfire…”
The two fillies exhaled and went back to their meal. Silverleaf had a bowl of soup in front of her and Twilight a bowl of mixed salad. Twilight picked a piece of tomato with her fork and opened her mouth wide to eat it.

”AAAACHOOO!”

Bleach´s sneezer was strong. He rapidly covered his mouth with his hoof, but, thanks to the fact of being a unicorn, his horn glowed faintly and a small amount of magic loosened, sending a small pulse of unbridled magic across the table and flung the purple filly´s bowl of salad with a ‘clong’ into her face.
No one of them said anything. Silverleaf´s and Bleach´s gaze only wandered to Twilight, which slowly moved her hooves to the bowl in her face and removed it. She revealed a face where her eyes were replaced by two big pieces of tomato, big lettuce leaves created a big mustache and eyebrows and a gherkin created an overstated grin.
The rest of the salad was on the ground.

“Ou! Edible art!” Silverleaf grinned cheeky. “Interesting, but one thing could be better…”
Her horn glowed and she moved the lettuce-eyebrows a little bit and turned the gherkin to create an angry expression.
“Perfect! That should catch her mood better, I guess! Now we can frame it and send to the Museum of Equestrian Art here in Canterlot. Or to the one in Manehatten, whoever pays more.” she snickered.
Twilight only shook her head, removing her ridiculous look, and stared angrily first at Silverleaf and then at the black-maned colt across the table.
“SILVERLEAF! BLEACH!”
“He…Sorry?...” he asked ashamed.
Twilight only growled. “You owe me a lunch now!”

“You should go for the school-nurse.” the silver unicorn meant with amicable care. “Sounds like you caught a bad cold. She´ll send you home.”
“Thank yaaachooo!” Bleach sneezed more than he said it and blew his nose again, holding his head with his hoof. “I´ll go for her immediately! I´m really feeling unwell. Maybe you were right Twi, I should´ve worn a scarf…”
With that, he stood up from the table and left the canteen, saying good bye to his friends.

“Poor Bleachie-Weachie…” Silverleaf meant, sipping on her tea.
Twilight only snorted. “It´s his own fault! Why he hadn´t heard at me? I told him he should wear a scarf!”
Silverleaf snickered.
“What is so funny about that?” the purple scholar snapped.
“You sound like his mother!” she giggled.
Twilight´s face softened and she had to chuckle, too. “Yeah, you´re right…” she took a sip of her tea and sighed. “Though, it´s just annoying! He wanted to help me finding a present for my mom´s birthday today!”
“Oh, today is your mom´s birthday? Tell her ‘Happy Birthday’ from me!”
“I will.” Twilight nodded.

“So…what do you have in mind for her?” the silver filly asked.
Twilight only sighed. “I don´t know. She already has everything! Maybe some flowers?”
“Well, flowers are always a good idea - at least for mares. You know what? Our last lesson ends at the same time today, right? Why we don´t meet at the florist´s at the City Center after school?” Silverleaf suggested
“You mean ‘Symphonia´s Harmonic World of Flowers’?”
“Exactly! She´s an old friend of my parents and makes the best bouquets of all Equestria! So what do you think?”
Twilight mused a while about the idea and finally made a decision:

“Alright, after school at Symphonia´s florist´s!”

Symphonia´s Harmonic World of Flowers was a small but nice store at the huge City Center with its lots of stores.

The streets of the City Center were very busy as always. Everywhere, ponies bought presents for Hearts Warming Eve or sundry other things for their personal usage.
Twilight noted mentally to visit Joe´s donut shop again. It was a long time since she and her parents had visited him the last time. Trying to remember when that had been, she trotted along the busy roads, a plushy light green scarf wrapped around her neck and a big dark green bobble cap on her head. She also wore a dark green winter jacket, which kept away the cold winter air.

It was snowing and each step left slight hoof prints of her in the snow behind. Some ponies tried to clear the streets with big snowpushers, but within the next half hour, the street would be white again.
Many houses were decorated with holiday lights and shone in all colors of the rainbow.

Finally, Twilight reached the store she was searching for and entered it. The smell of hundreds of different flowers greeted her. All around, there were small rows of colorful flowers in big and small pots, finished bouquets and flower seeds, potting soil and empty flower pots.
At the backside of the white-tiled store with the yellow green walls was a small wooden shop counter. Behind the counter was a light green mare with a curling blue mane, chatting with a smiling and waiting Silverleaf in front of her. When she eyed Twilight, she pointed at her and told something to the mare while she waved the purple filly to her.

“Ah, you´re finally here! Great!” Silverleaf greeted her and pointed at the mare behind the counter. “Twilight, this is Symphonia. Symphonia, this is Twilight.” her friend introduced her to the owner of the shop.
“Hello!” Twilight greeted the mare smiling.
“Hello. So you are here for some flowers for your mother´s birthday I heard?” she asked and walked around the counter.
Twilight only nodded.
“Well, I have a plentiful choice for you. Together we´ll surely find something your mommy will like.” Symphonia meant and showed her around her store. “Do you know which flowers she likes? I got roses, lilies, violets, pinks, tulips, carnations…”
Twilight could only shake her head. “No, I´m sorry.”
“And what´s her favorite color?” Silverleaf helped asking.
“Oh, that´s easy: red! She likes red. Ou, could we make her a bouquet with a red rose?”

“Well-“ Symphonia began, but Silverleaf instantly cut in.
“Nonononono! We can´t make her something with a red rose! A red rose stands for deep burning love! I know you love your mom as well as I love mine, but a red rose is more something your dad should gift her!”
“Hmm, you´re almost right, but there is a possibility: A combination of several white and red roses means ‘unity’ and ‘warm-heartedness’. That would be possible.” Symphonia suggested.
“Yeah! And gerberas! That says ‘You make everything look even more beautiful!’ Ou, and tulsi! Do you have tulsi, Symphonia? That says ‘Wishing you all well!’”
With big sparkling golden eyes, she looked hopeful at the florist who could only laugh.
“Silverleaf, sometimes I´m asking me if I shouldn´t hire you! Anyhow, of course I got some tulsi. I´ll make a bouquet with these flowers, of course only if you want, Twilight.”

The purple filly was only stunned. She knew her friend Silverleaf loved biology, but now she also knew that she was tailor-made for a florist!
She only nodded and agreed to her friend´s suggestions.
And with that, the green earthpony mare trotted around, took the flowers she needed and vanished in a small back room behind the counter.

As soon as the door was closed, Twilight twisted around to face her silver friend.
“Where do you know all these things about flowers?” she asked amazed.
Blushing with a smile, Silverleaf answered: “Well, I always liked flowers. I mean their smell and their colors and all! So my parents one day bought me a book with all flowers and their different meanings.”
“And you remember them all?”
“Oh no! Do you know how many pages and flowers are inside there? I only know a few, maybe thirty or so!”
“Thirty? Wow! That´s really impressing!”
“Nah, that´s nothing compared with your magical knowledge!”

Twilight had not the same opinion as her friend but didn´t say anything. If it was about something she was good at, Silverleaf always was modest.
“Anyway…” the silver filly finally broke the short silence between them “…I think I´ll buy a small bouquet with a few red roses and violets.”
“What do you need it for?” Twilight wanted to know curious.
“For our poor Bleachie-Weachie. I´ll visit him this afternoon. He looked a little bit harassed and needs someone to cheer him up.”
“As you may suppose, but...didn´t you say a red rose means ‘deep burning love’?” she smirked with a cocked eyebrow and leaned a little bit closer to her friend. “Or did I miss something there? Is it may true that you only tease me with having feelings for him just to cover your own ones?” she batted her eyelashes.

Instead of withdrawing and flushing as the scholar expected, Silverleaf reacted in another way.

“Oh no, silly! I would never challenge you for your Bleachie! No, no, no, instead of taking him away from you, the roses and violets should remember him at you!”
“And how?” she frowned, having no plan what the filly in front of her meant with this.
Silverleaf rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on! You know he likes the fragrance of your perfume! Do you remember how he reacted when he smelled it while he was blindfolded at the meadow? He likes it, there I´m sure as death! And your perfume was a rose-violet-mix, or am I wrong?”
Not waiting for an answer, she leaned over to Twilight, took a sniff and withdrew from her. “Nope, I´m not wrong!” she announced smiling.
“Ugh, you are impossible!”

“Okay, here we are, little filly…” Symphonia´s voice suddenly came from the counter. Both fillies turned to her and recognized the floral arrangement in front of her, wrapped in sheer gift wrap with green flowing gift ribbon and a white bow.
The arrangement for itself was a big round fictile pot, filled with dark brown earth. Three big red roses created the centre, encircled by several smaller white roses. A mix of white and red gerberas was on the pot´s edge and encircled the roses. And between these three parts, where the red roses were the highest and the gerberas the lowest flowers, there was the tulsi, creating the picture of a small, clearly structured forest.
Twilight´s eyes sparkled when she saw the flower arrangement. This was just perfect for her mother! She would love it!
“Wow, it looks awesome! Thank you!” Twilight leaped for joy.
“You are always welcome.” the florist meant with a wide smile and placed the gift in a bag.

She took it in her mouth, paid it with the bits she had saved for it and happily left the store, saying good bye and thank you to her friend, which followed her also happy with her gaze, before she turned back to Symphonia and began to create the arrangement she had in mind for Bleach...

“Aaaaachoo!”

“You brought it all on yourself!” the pale pink mare with the long black mane chided her son for his foolishness while she came to his bed with an angry look. “Why hadn´t you worn that scarf I gave you? You know it´s cold outside! And you know that you´ll become ill if you don´t protect yourself! I´m very disappointed from you, young stallion!”
“But mommy! I-achoo hate that scarf! It…“ he coughed “…it scrapes and itches! And it is pastel pink!” he complained with a sore throat.
“But it is also warm!” she meant adamant and placed a tray with a hot broccoli soup and a big cup of chamomile tea on his lap.

Bleach was snuggled up in the warm red blankets of his bed, sitting up and leaning against his also red pillow and the wall when his mother brought the soup. He took the cup with his fore hooves, since his magic was unsteady in his actual state, and took a nip. He made a disgusted face because of the tea´s bitterness and placed the cup back on the tablet.
“Can I have some sugar for the tea, please?” he asked.
“No.” his mother simply answered and he hung his head.
“But-“
“And no ‘But mommy’s! You´ll eat your soup and drink your tea without sugar! Sugar isn´t good for your throat!”

He hung his head even lower, his black mane covering his face. He coughed again and something nuzzled his cheek. He looked up and faced his mother´s caring sky-blue eyes. “You may think I´m unfair now. But I just want you to recover as fast as possible. And the tea and the soup are healthy for you. And I am only scolding you because I´m worrying about you. Luckily, it is just a cold. But there are worse maladies you could have gotten and then, we would have to get you to the hospital and you don´t want this, do you? Can you understand me?”
“Yes, mommy…” Bleach replied and coughed again. He knew his mother was right. Never in his life would he submit that she would be unfair. She was just worrying about him and he never could be bad with her when she told him off. Truth told, he loved his mother for her care for him and never wanted anything to change that.
She smiled and pecked him on his forehead. “Alright. Now, be a good son and eat your soup and drink your tea. And then, rest.”
“Okay…”

She nodded with a soft smile and left his chamber, closing the door behind her. Slowly, Bleach ate his soup and drank the bitter tea. Usually, he liked chamomile tea, but only with some sugar or honey to compensate the bitterness. He asked himself how Twilight managed to drink that tea without both things and love it! She even drank black tea, which was even bitterer than chamomile tea!
After he had finished, he put the tray on a small table next to his bed and snuggled up in his covers. He felt how the cold got the better of him. Cuddling with two small stuffed animals, a white pony with a daisy-flower garland in its yellow mane - a hoof-made gift from his grandma - and a blue dragon - his favorite - he soon fell asleep.

After some hours of sleeping, the doorbell forced him to wake up again. He yawned and stretched himself, paying attention to the voices he now heard on the floor.
First, there were some clip-clopping sounds when his mother headed for the door, then the door opened and he heard two low female voices.
“Hello, Miss Auraknight!”
“Oh, hello.”
“Is Bleach at home?”
“Yes, he is in his room.”
“Can I visit him?”
“Well, he has a cold and…”
“Pleeeeeaaaaase…”
A sigh.
“Okay, but be silent. He may is sleeping.”
“Okay. Thank you!”
Again some clip-clopping sounds and then, the door to his room opened slowly.

And it revealed…
“Silverleaf?” Bleach frowned and sat up in his bed.
“Hi!” the silver filly with the green mane beamed and closed the door behind her, depositing a strange bag on the floor.
“What are you doing here?”
“Visiting our ill Bleachie-Weachie.” she replied grinning. “I thought you could need somepony to cheer you up and since Twilight is on her mom´s birthday party, it was left to me.”
“Oh! Right, today wa-achoo-s her mother´s birthday. And I wanted to help her searching for a-aaachooo present…” he snuffed and coughed slightly. “Was she…very peeved?”
“Oh no. Well, of course she was a little bit angry first, but I helped her instead and shall tell you ‘Get well soon!’ from her.”
“Thank you…” Bleach meant with his sore throat and coughed again.

Silverleaf meanwhile walked a little bit around the room.
“So this is the kingdom of a young Auraknight…”
The white colt´s room wasn´t very impressive. There was plenty of room to play, on the right side was, beneath a big poster of his family, a wooden bed where the room´s ill ruler was lying in, covered in his blankets. Next to the bed was a small table, the tray with the empty cup and plate on it, with one chair. On the opposite side of his chamber, there was a wardrobe with his bedding and clothes, right next to two cupboards and a toy box which contained his games and playthings.
The walls were, just like the whole cottage, sky-blue and the ceiling was white. The soft red carpet was also the same in every room.

“It´s…nice.” Silverleaf meant after a while.
“Thanks. I like it, too.”
“Would be bad if you wouldn´t.” she giggled and he could only reply with a chuckle. After a while, his ocean-eyes wandered and fixated the strange bag the silver filly had brought with her.
“What´s in that bag?” he asked curious.
Silverleaf, just inspecting his toy box and holding a chess game in her hooves with a wrinkled nose, put it back and turned around at the question. “Oh, this is just a small gift for you.” she said, took the bag and produced something out of it.
“A gift for me?” Bleach questioned with a cocked eyebrow. “What is it?”
“Oh, nothing very big. Just this...” and with these words, she put the gift on the small table. It was a floral arrangement.
A very beautiful floral arrangement!

The colt just looked at it in awe, his eyes sparkling.
Inside of a big round fictile pot, there were four red roses, standing straight out of the dark brown earth like pillars, surrounded by many violets. Some chamomile blossoms created a big cross and four individual small rose-violets-forests. Two little wooden ladybugs ‘crawled’ along the way and on one of the roses´ petioles. He smelled the scent of the flowers and took a deep breath, as deep as his cold allowed him. He smiled.

“This is just wonderful, Silverleaf! Let me guess, the roses and violets are standing for Twilight? Her perfume always smells like that.”
“I knew you would recognize!” she cheered with a jump.
“Well, I´m sitting right next to her in school. It´s very hard to not recognize!” he explained grinning. “Anyway, and the chamomile? I can´t say this would be one of my favorite flowers since it isn´t my favorite tea.”
“It stands for ‘solace’ and ‘hope’. It is a way to say ‘get well soon’.” she expounded.
“Aha-achoo! Well then: thank you very much! This is such a cute present…did you made it on your own?”
“Almost. I know a good florist at the City Center. I told her which flowers I wanted to have for your arrangement and how it should look like. She also created a floral arrangement for Twilight´s mother. It also turned out very beautiful!”
“And of course you also helped with that arrangement, right? It´s impressive how much you seem to know about flowers and their language!” Bleach meant.

Now, she giggled. “Everypony tells me the same! And I am really starting to believe it! I mean, I love to work with flowers and to create arrangements and bouquets with them! I always loved it!”
“Uhm…Silv?”
“I mean, it´s the only thing I am really good at! Breeding plants and decorate something with them. And I have a great knowledge about their language!” she continued, ignoring him.
“Silverleaf?”
“Hey, maybe I am a tailor-made florist! I mean, my name is Silverleaf after all! Don´t you think that has a meaning? If you ask me-“
“SILVERLEAF!”
With an asking look at her friend, she broke her monologue.
“What is it?”

Bleach only smiled. “Well…Did you look at yourself in the mirror - achoo - for the last two minutes?”
“Of course not!” she frowned. “I was talking to myself, if you can´t remember! Why should I?”
“Just do it…” the colt meant and covered his ears with his fore hooves.
Frowning about her friend´s behavior, she trotted to the mirror which was on the front of his wardrobe. Ill colts are just strange… she thought for herself and walked in front of the mirror, looking at her reflection.
Searching for the colt´s source of excitement her golden eyes wandered along her body. Her green mane with the white streak was brushed and neat as ever, the silver barrette over her left brow was where she belonged, her face the same as always, her throat and chest clean and shining silver, just as her - and there it was, the source!

She blinked one time and then, her eyes shot open with surprise, sparkling with happiness and an ear-to-ear grin appeared on her lips.
“MY CUUUUUTIIIIIIIEEEE MAAAAAARK! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my GOSH!”
Her joy sounded at the top of her lungs throughout the cottage. Her frisks so high that Bleach feared she would reach the ceiling and hit her head!

Laughing, the white colt removed his hooves from his ears and watched his bouncing friend who now had the picture of a flower arrangement on her flank. It looked like a combination of the ones she had made for Twilight and Bleach, revealing a colorful mix of red and white roses, violets, gerberas, chamomiles and tulsi.
“Oh, this is so awesome, awesome, awesome!” she meant still bouncing.
“Well, what did we tell you? One day, you´ll find something you´re good at. And now, you found it! Congratulation, Silverleaf!”
“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!” she shouted and jumped onto the bed, hugging him tightly in her joy. “You have no idea how happy I am right now!”
“Tell it my lungs…” he managed to say in her breathtaking embrace.
“Oh, sorry…”

She released him and sat down at the bed´s foot. “I got a little bit carried away.” she meant awkwardly with a smile and a blush.
“No problem…” Bleach meant, taking deep breaths to get some air back into his lungs.
With time, she settled down and her joy turned into a steady grin.
“So…we still have a lot of time before I have to go. Why we don´t play something? I found some interesting games in your cupboards.” Silverleaf suggested.
“Great idea! But first, I want to make you a gift, too.” he meant.
“Me? What should it be? You don´t have to gift me something only to make my present up to me. We are friends, you don´t have to make me a present just because I made you one. That´s not how friendship works!” she explained.
“Oh, I know, but I want to make you a present! Just take it as a Hearts Warming Eve-gift, even if it´s still some time till then.” he insisted.

Silverleaf sighed and rolled her eyes. “Okay…what is it?”
“Well, you remember back when you told us that you just have that old boring and stuffy plushie to cuddle with?”
“It has been a while, but…yes, I remember. And nothing has changed since then.”
“Now, seeing your cutie-mark, I want to give you…” he grabbed behind him and took one of his stuffed animals, the one with the flower-garland on its head, and turned back, showing it to her “…this! My grandma once made it for me, but it fits better to you and that is why I want you to keep it.” he explained.
Smiling, she took the fluffy toy and hugged him. “Oh, you are a real cutie, do you know that?”
He blushed chuckling. “Yeah, my mom says that very often, too…”
She giggled. “Hey, can you keep a secret?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“But you mustn´t tell Twilight, okay? She´ll only be jealous of me. And I don´t want to disgruntle her!”
“Okay, I´ll tell nothing. What is it now?”
And with that, she pecked him on his cheek.

Grinning wide, Silverleaf released the now very confused and dumbfounded colt from her embrace. “And no word to Twilight, promised?”
“Uh…sure…” he just said, rubbing his cheek where she had kissed him and focusing her with his dark-blue eyes.
“Great! And now, let´s already play something!” she meant and jumped from the bed, inspecting the toy box again.

Bleach only sneezed again and finally simply shrugged, joining her.
Sometimes I wish to know what´s going on in these fillies´ heads, especially in hers…and in the end, I´m glad I don´t know it…

“Oh, look who we have here! Our ill colt is finally back!” Twilight cheered when her purple eyes found her friend with the white coat and black mane in the threshold of their classroom. He slowly approached smiling his seat next to her, looking fit as a fiddle with no trace of his cold left.
“Hey, it was only one weekend. Technically, I missed not one day at school! Only the last two lessons at Friday. By the way, can you borrow me your notes from these lessons?”
“I knew you would ask! That´s why I have them already with me!” she answered smiling and levitated a folder with the notes out of her saddlebag to Bleach.
He took them and put them into his own saddlebag. “Thank you!”

After preparing himself for the lesson, Twilight asked him: “So…how was your afternoon with Silverleaf? She told me she wanted to visit you…”
“…and she did so.” he finished her sentence. “We played the whole afternoon and chatted and after dinner, she left for her home.” he reported, omitting the cheek-kiss-part as promised and that she had gotten her cutie-mark. The latter should be a surprise.
“And did she make you that floral arrangement she told me about before I left the florist´s?”
“Yep! And it looks awesome! The roses and violets she had used for it instantly remembered me at you.”
“Oh…really?...” she asked smiling and lowered her head a little to hide her faint blush.
“Uh-huh. Your perfume after all has the same fragrance. I would recognize it everywhere!”

“Aaand…your cold is gone completely? No more sneezing in my salad?” she awkwardly tried to change the topic to not blush any more.
He chuckled. “Thanks to my mom´s forced alimentation with pottage and chamomile tea - yes. No more sneezing, no more coughing. Completely cured!”
“Well, that sounds good! And I hope you´ll wear a scarf in future!”
“Since my parents had a heart to buy me a new one that doesn´t scrapes and is black instead of that awful pastel pink - yes, I´ll wear one.” he assured her.
“That´s good. Now, I´m satisfied with knowing that.”

“Yeah, but there is still one thing you have to know. But it´s a surprise and we´ll have to wait until we´re all together…”

“You got your cutie-mark? Oh, that is sooooo awesome!” Twilight shouted in surprise when she saw her silver friend.

They were at one of the lounges on the fourth floor and sat down on one of the red couches around, Twilight staring amazed at the flower arrangement on Silverleaf´s flank.
“How did you get it?” she asked her.
Silverleaf grinned at her and brought the events of the last Friday back. “Well, when I visited Bleach and gave him his arrangement, he also told me how great it is and all and how amazing my knowledge about flowers is, so I thought: ‘If everypony thinks I am good at botanical things, it may is truth and this is really what I am made for!’ And then, Bleach showed me my cutie-mark in his mirror.”
“That is so awesome! I´m so delighted for you!”

“Thank you! But without you two, I would´ve never experienced what I am good at! I have to thank you, too! Thank you!”

They all smiled at each other and stretched their right fore hooves.
“For our hearts!”
“For our souls!”
“For our friendship!”

”From the ground
our souls fly high!
Together they´ll reach the sky!”