Roseluck bit the handle of her watering can as she carefully started watering the potted plants she and her sisters had out near their store front as Daisy and Lily were snipping dead leaves off the various plants the three mares grew.
Roseluck inhaled as she stopped in front of a lilac and sniffed it, smiling contently before setting the watering can down under the table.
“How’s it going back there girls?” Roseluck called out as Daisy looked up and dropped her shears down on the table.
“Pretty good Rosie. Lily is going to deliver some flowers after to the mayor’s house. And then I have to check on the Princess’ flowers arrangement,” Daisy answered as Roseluck nodded in approval.
As the oldest sister, Daisy ran the books and made sure everything financial wise was in perfect order while Lily did the deliveries to ponies. Roseluck chose to alternate between the three jobs and spent most of her time at the front of the store.
While she did love being with her flowers, she liked being up front more because she got to greet each new customer personally. The three mares switched out who did what each day for fairness sake and all.
The door opened with a chime as Roseluck smiled at an amber unicorn with a fiery mane and bright blue eyes next to a grey pegasus with a grey mane and bright purple eyes.
“Hello!” Roseluck smiled warmly at the two as she leaned against the register. “I’m Roseluck, how can I help you?”
“Uhm hi. Here to check up on all the floral arrangements for the summer sun celebration,” the unicorn answered as Roseluck reached under the small table next to her for a clipboard.
“Name?” Roseluck asked as she examined the papers.
“Sunset Shimmer and this is Silverspeed.”
“Okay,” Roseluck hummed as Sunset glanced at the mares rose cutie mark on her flank. “I see you right here. The arrangements are coming along but you’d be better off asking Daisy for more information. She put them together.”
“Why don’t you know, isn’t this like your business?” Sunset asked as Roseluck took a startled step as Lily and Daisy both looked up from their flowers.
“Well yes but-” Roseluck started as Sunset cut her off.
“I have a lot of work to do and ponies to check up on, so can you just tell me if it’ll be ready or not?”
“Someponys got a stick up her plot,” Lily whispered to Daisy who stifled a giggle and forced a smile on her face as Sunset locked her teal eyes onto her. Inhaling, Daisy trotted up next to Roseluck.
“I’m Daisy. And yes, I can vouch that everything will be perfectly ready for when the celebration begins Miss Shimmer. We personally will decorate town hall with them ourselves for maximum perfection,” Daisy reassured the unicorn as she ran a hoof through her green mane.
“Good, see to it by at least three days from now,” Sunset remarked as she turned to leave.
“Wait!” Roseluck called out and Sunset paused to look at her with a bored expression.
“What?”
Roseluck looked around at the flowers around her and pulled out a bright orange and red rose, slipping her namesake into Sunset’s mane. The mare pulled out a silver lily and place it above Silverspeeds ear and smiled.
“There! Perfectly matches your coats and manes!” Roseluck beamed as the two gave tired smiles. “Free of charge as well.”
“Thank you Roseluck,” Silverspeed nodded slightly as the pair left.
“Talk about a piece of work,” Lily commented as she casually trotted up. “And that’s the princess’ student?”
“I guess so. Why in the wide world of Equestria did you give the pair free roses? You know we don’t have the bits to spare Rosie!” Daisy snapped as Roseluck rolled her eyes.
“Oh the horror, the horror. We lost five bits which will totally affect us in the long run,” Roseluck commented sarcastically as she leaned against the table and took a long sip of her water. “It’ll be fine, just you wait and see.”
“Wish I had your optimistism sis,” Lily shook her head and sighed.
“Alright you two back to work and then we can call it a day. We are supposed to have dinner with our friends and Lily, you are coming so don’t bother arguing,” Daisy said sternly as Lily gave a grunt in response.
“Joy,” Lily muttered under her breath as she picked up some shears. “Social interaction with annoying ponies.”
“I heard that!”
Lily sat next to her sisters outside of Berry Punchs tavern as she internally was cursing Daisy out. She absolutely hated social interaction and half of her sisters friends. She hated Bon Bon, she hated Sea Swirl and her wife Sassaflash, she hated Carrot Top. She practically hated the whole town except Derpy, Dinky, Sparkler and her sisters.
“Have you girls met the Princess’ student yet?” Derpy asked as she set down her wine glass.
“Yeah we did,” Daisy rolled her eyes. “She’s a character, that’s for sure.”
“She was a bitch,” Lily grumbled as everypony glanced at the mare. “Don’t look at me like that, she was and you know it.”
“She’s probably just stressed about all the planning,” Roseluck commented as she speared a piece of zucchini. “I would be. Hay, I’m stressed just planning out the arrangements with you girls. There’s so many flowers. At least royal contacts pay out the big bits.”
“I can drink to that,” Bon Bon said with a grin. “I think Lyra mentioned that Princess Celestia’s pupil was coming to town. Lyra seemed unusually not happy about that. Apparently this Sunset Shimmer is often at odds with one of Lyra’s friends. Twilight Twinkle I think it was?”
“Twilight Sparkle,” Shoeshine chimed in helpfully as Lily watched the blue mare quietly. She had a silver mane with two interlapping horse shoes for a cutie mark, one silver and one gold. Which reminded Lily she needed to get her horse shoes replaced soon. Shoeshine was probably the towns only real farrier. “Rarity is driving me up the bucking wall! No darling, those bows aren’t in the right spot! They go five inches above the blue ribbon and to the left. No, my left not your left!”
The mares excluding Lily burst out laughing as Lily rolled her eyes again. She knew just as well that Rarity was a pain in the flank and was grateful she didn’t have to work with her. Shoeshine had a better eye for detail and was often teamed up with Rarity for decorating the town hall and other areas around town for important events.
“I heard this Sunset Shimmer gave Rainbow Dash the what for today,” Carrot Top commented as she was known to her friends. “Might even get fired thankfully. My farm has suffered so much due to her laziness.”
“You’re piquing my curiosity,” Raindrops said as she tilted her head to the side and fluttered her wings slightly. “Tell me more.”
“According to Junebug, she and Caramel watched Sunset destroy her cloud, make her fall awake and screamed at her to quit being lazy and to get to work for a solid ten minutes at least in front of everyone. Rainbow was so red, she looked like one of Roma’s tomatoes!” Carrot Top giggled behind a hoof. “Strawberry Sunrise thought it was quite funny.”
“Can she even fire Rainbow Dash?” Derpy wondered aloud as Carrot Top nodded.
“I mean, if she is permanently in charge of the region, she has the crowns backing and has authority to do so.”
“So what happens to the Mayor then? Is she just for looks or something?” Daisy pressed as Carrot Top shook her head.
“Nah, she and the Representative would make decisions together but this Sunset Shimmer doesn’t really seem the type to work with others based on stories I heard. You, Berry and Cherry Berry watched her land this morning,” Carrot gestured at Daisy and the mare nodded rapidly.
“That’s right! I knew she looked vaguely familiar. She has that royal guard with her and all that fun stuff,” Daisy said as she bit into her eggplant lasagna.
“Now I’m a bit worried to deal with her and I almost never get worried,” Shoeshine muttered as she wrapped a hoof around her beer. “Here’s hoping.”
Lily grunted in response as she finished her dinner, slapped her share of bits down and left the table.
“I’m going home,” Lily announced as Roseluck rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration as Carrot Top face hoofed.
“Fine. Don’t get lost!” Daisy called out as Lily started trotting away. “And stay away from the Everfree!”
“Don’t get lost my flank,” Lily grumbled once she was a suitable distance away. “As if I could get lost when our house is right down the bucking street.”
The pink mare sighed as she straightened her blonde mane and looked up at the night sky and for a brief second, Lily swore she saw the stars moving closer to the moon. Lily blinked and shook her head before looking closer at the stars.
“What the buck was that?” Lily wondered aloud as she kept staring intently at the stars for a few more moments. When nothing else happened, she gave a shrug and continued home. “Probably just me being tired and seeing things.”
As the earth pony continued trotting home, she couldn’t shake the feeling how wrong she was.