//------------------------------// // Reflection // Story: Rose and Sam // by Admiral Biscuit //------------------------------// Rose and Sam Chapter 9: Reflection  Admiral Biscuit I waved goodbye as we parted ways, hoping I hadn’t kept her too long and there were still jobs on the board. Even though I wanted to, I couldn’t justify keeping her another day. Not to mention what Lily would say when she found out, and I knew she would. Even if I didn’t tell her or she somehow didn’t smell Sam in the house, other ponies would gossip. The breakfast dishes only needed to be put away, and I could do that after lunch. There was no hurry. Maybe Lily or Daisy would do it, to make up for going out of town and leaving me alone. I could work hard, and then I could go over to Sam’s in the evening, find out what kind of flowers she wanted around her house. I’d already imagined what I’d put there if it was my flowerbeds, but of course different ponies had different tastes. At least I wouldn’t have to work around her coat color, it was all pretty neutral shades of pink to tan and browner for her hair. Unless she wanted flowers that matched her complexion, in which case I’d have to do a lot of work. There weren’t any normal cultivars I knew of that grew in those colors. Which reminded me that it would be a good idea to weed and trim the flower beds along the street. They’d gotten overlooked with all the other spring planting we had to do, and the weeds were taking advantage of our inattention. I scuffed my hoof on the kitchen floor as I considered it. I should have thought of that yesterday, that would have been a good thing to start Sam out on, even if it wasn’t urgently necessary. If she hadn’t been any good with flowers, that would have been the place to start out. But that was all water sunk into the soil; she’d done a good job. I flicked my tail and blew out my nostrils: I felt on edge, unfocused, tense. It wasn’t helped that the kitchen still smelled like her, and that I had to keep reminding myself that there was nothing different from having her work yesterday than all those other days where we’d hired a pony to help out. She looked different and sometimes acted strange, but she was a pony where it counted. ••• It was shaping up to be a beautiful day, and there was no reason to not enjoy some of it out in front of the house. The flowers didn’t need all that much attention, a few trips with a watering can and a few sprinkles of fertilizer here and there, and most of the weeds had barely gotten a root-hold. I was fighting a burr plant—which was doing its best to put burrs in my muzzle—when Apple Cider greeted me. “Hey, I heard that you had Sam helping you out at your house.” I nodded, and dropped my trowel. She wasn’t wearing saddlebags or towing a cart, and it wasn’t a market day. “And you didn’t get gobbled up.” She must have seen me tense, because she held up a hoof. “I didn't think you would, but Florina and Apple Top were talking and you know how Apple Top gets worked up over nothing, so I said I’d check on you. Just in case I was wrong, too.” “I’m a big pony, I can take care of myself.” “Whoa, never said you couldn’t. Fact is, everypony who’s hired her has said she’s a good worker, and I’ve been thinking of giving her a chance, but the press is a one-mare job and Florie likes pouring in the apples and watching them get squished.” She moved in closer to me. “I’d give her a chance to run the mill, but she’s got more enthusiasm than weight, you know?” I nodded. Plenty of fillies and colts were like that. She’d gotten her mark and asked a lot of questions and helped out for a while, and we were talking about taking her on as an apprentice—seriously enough that Daisy had broached the subject with Apple Cider—and then she had decided that feral flowers were more her calling. “Sam did a good job,” I said. “As soon as I saw her chopping wood for Ginger Gold, I knew. You can always tell. No wonder the miller swept in so quick to hire her.” Apple Cider ducked her head down in the flowerbed and came back with a weed in her mouth, which she spit onto my pile. “You coulda gone for the burr,” I said. “What, and have to pick burrs out of my muzzle? That one’s all yours.” Apple Cider leaned in and gave me a nuzzle. “Sorry to trot off, but I got to report back before Apple Top decides Sam ate me, too, and needs to fortify the neighborhood.” I suppressed a snicker as she left, then went back to work on the burr plant. It only stuck one burr on my cheek before it was vanquished. ••• The first thing I noticed as I set hoof into the greenhouse was that we’d forgotten—I’d forgotten to put away our tools last night. They were still laid out where we’d stopped working. I guess I’d been more flustered than I thought. The second thing that I noticed was that I could still smell her in the greenhouse. Doing the flowerboxes and border hedges had gotten her scent out of my nose, and now it was back. There was no way that Lily or Daisy wouldn’t notice it in the house, and that was sure to be grounds for a fight. I could already hear Lily complaining that I’d let the monster into our house, I’d let it touch our flowerbeds and spoil the soil. I could leave for Sam’s house before they got back, leave the two of them to figure it out on their own. And if Sam was serious about letting me stay the night, not have to worry about it until tomorrow morning. But that was the coward’s way of dealing with problems, and who knew how worked up Lily might get? Especially if they smelled her and I was gone. If Apple Cider’s surprise visit was any indication, Lily would assume the worst, and by the time I came back she’d think I was a zombie pony or something.  It was smarter to wait for them, let Lily have her freak-out, and then go and see Sam. She could see with her own eyes that I was fine, and that the two of us had gotten plenty of work done.  With that idea in mind, I started to work, already missing having Sam as company. It was always nice to have somepony else with you when you were working, it wasn’t the same working alone. At least it was a familiar task, and I could let my mind wander as I kept trying to figure her out. In so many ways she was like a pony. When we were just talking, I almost thought that she was, and then I’d turn and realize the truth. Even after she’d become at least grudgingly accepted in town, some ponies still went out of their way to avoid her, although I’d never heard anypony who’d hired her for a day’s work complain. And when anymare hired a bad worker, the whole town knew about it in a few days, complaints would get passed on from pony to pony. Sometimes it wasn’t fair, especially if it was just fillies and colts trying their best. Whenever we got an apprentice I’d always go easy on her, explain things carefully, and not get mad if she didn’t know something I should have taught her but forgot to. I thought I had been as fair with Sam, even though she wasn’t a pony. I hadn’t had to correct her after I taught her something, she picked it up right away, and that was more than I could say for some. Plus, she wasn’t lazy. Admittedly, clearing the beds and filling starters wasn’t the most labor-intensive task, it just took a long time, but I hadn’t heard anypony complain about her slacking off. Even some of the Apple clan had started to warm to her, and they were really smart about things like that. If they hired her and she did a good job, everypony in town would know about it. It seemed unlikely they would, the family was big enough that kin could cover for each other if needed. I dug my trowel into the dirt and tried to focus on that, and I did for a while, then returned to the quandary of Sam. Ponyville was usually welcoming to newcomers unless they were weird. Sam was weird in many ways. Not much she could do about the fact that she wasn’t a pony, but I thought if she acted even more like a pony, her neigh-sayers would have no choice but to accept her. I could tell just by the way she acted that she didn’t have any real friends. Maybe if I was being generous, she had Berry Black, but he was a donkey and didn’t really count. Other than that, nopony.  Did she want to be my friend? I thought that she might, and I wasn’t opposed to it. Daisy would understand, and Lily would eventually come around. ••• I must have lost track of time as I was working in the garden. My stomach was grumbling and I thought it odd that I was hungry and then I realized where the sun was in the sky. It was past lunchtime already. Silly filly. Two days in a row I’d lost track of time, although at least yesterday I’d had an excuse. Breakfast felt like it had been only a moment ago, and also like it had been so long that I was in danger of collapsing from starvation. I’d just made it into the house and started to rummage through the icebox—we hadn’t eaten all the casserole last night and that would be a perfect lunch—when I heard the front door open. I didn’t remember hearing the train whistle at all, and for a moment I froze up, then relaxed as I heard Daisy’s voice. “—out back in the flowerbeds.”  “What if—” Lily’s voice trailed off as Daisy poked her muzzle into the kitchen. “Hey, Rose.” Daisy’s nostrils flared, and for an instant I saw a green flash just under her forelock. “You, uh, is that—what kind of casserole is that?” Lily poked her head in the kitchen before I could answer, her eyes darting around the room and her lips pulled back as she took another deep breath. “What did you do?” I’d known this was going to happen from the moment I’d realized that the greenhouse still smelled like Sam, and I’d spent part of the morning while I was doing familiar, repetitive tasks, considering how I might reply, or broach the subject if somehow neither of them noticed that the house smelled different than it had when they left. I’d thought that I was ready, but I wasn't; Daisy was more confused than anything, and Lily was already dancing on her hooves. She hadn’t placed the scent quite yet but it was only a matter of time. “You were gone, we had a lot of work, and I needed help.” That was true, and it bought me a moment’s reprieve. “So I put a flier on the job board.” Daisy nodded. We hadn’t discussed that before they left, but it wasn’t the first time we’d been shorthooved and needed some help. Even Lily relaxed, briefly. “And I hired Sam to help out.” There was a moment as my words sunk in. Daisy’s eyes flicked between the two of us and her ears went back, while Lily’s eyes shrank to pinpricks.  “You did what?”