War of the Roses – February Write-Off Submission
It was the bitterest rivalry in all of Ponyville. Perhaps even in all of Equestria, although I haven't really spent much time in Canterlot lately so I'm not sure how the Wonderbolt Derbies are going. Maybe it was the bitterest in the whole world, but that would definitely be a guess.
Perhaps I should introduce myself before going into it all.
The name my parents gave me was Magnolia Rose – I was the first child to Mr & Mrs Rose in Ponyville. It was by coincidence, or whatever magic earth ponies possess, that my cutie mark came to be a white rose. My special talent was flower arranging of course, and I discovered this when I was quite young. The white rose on my flank has been my companion for as long as I can really remember.
The only memory I have of being a blank flank is of my sister being born. Mr & Mrs Rose only had two children, two girls, both earth ponies. I found myself staring at a newborn foal whom they had named Desert Rose before I could remember doing anything else. Desert Rose grew up with me and followed me everywhere. She was my most devoted friend and sister. I can honestly say that I could not have wished for a better sister.
A lot of ponies around Ponyville used to tell my parents how nice it was to see Magnolia and Desert together. Magnolia and Desert. If I hadn't been quite a bit older and taller people might have thought we were twins. Non-identical of course, although we do look like sisters. Her mane is straight and two-tone, pink and a sort of purply-crimson colour, a bit like a vivid sunset without all of the orange. Very regal looking. Our coats are the same colour, but my mane is wavy and red and white like a candy cane. Most strikingly, though, my eyes are blue, and hers are green. I have our father's eyes, she has our mother's.
We adored one another, until one particular day in mid summer. I know this is a cliché. Nothing suddenly changes over a single day. Perhaps you're right. We had been spending a little less time together beforehand, due to her starting school. She had new friends, which was good. We still played together at home, but I was already thinking about my special talent and looking ahead to the future. She was still a blank flank, and was having all of the acceptance issues that came with it.
I should have been happy when she got her mark. But nobody is perfect, and I'm definitely flawed. Some ponies say I'm narcissistic and boring, which might be true. Jealousy is an ugly trait though, and I don't often suffer from it. When other people come into money or find something beautiful, it really doesn't affect me. In fact, it makes me happier most of the time. That's why I'm a florist – seeing flowers bring so much joy to others is what makes it worthwhile. I'm never jealous that it's not me receiving the flowers, or that I don't have a coltfriend, or anything like that.
Plus, in case you didn't know, florists actually spend most of their time doing flower arrangements for funerals. But we don't like to talk about it, it's not good for business.
On this particular day, things did change. I came home from school to a rather nasty surprise. My sister had her cutie mark, and of course my parents were delighted. But I caught my father's eye as I came in and there was a glint of worry there, despite the smile. He knew something was wrong. And when I saw that glint, I knew something was badly wrong.
Desert Rose's cutie mark was... a rose. A red rose. Not a white one like mine, but still a rose. She looked so happy.
“Hey Magnolia, guess what! I have a rose too! We can do flower arranging together! It's my special talent too!”
Those were the last words I heard her speak for over five years.
I thought I was unique. Was it wrong of me to feel somehow... betrayed? Flowers were my special talent, a talent only I had. But now... another pony had the same talent. It was like finding out that somepony shares your birthday. It's your special day, a day only for you... but then someone else has it, and it's not so special any more. I mean, I knew other ponies in other places probably shared my talent, but everypony knows that other ponies have the same birthday. It's the fact that somepony you know shares it that seems to really get to you.
As I galloped away from our family home, that's how I felt. But a thousand times worse, a thousand times more jealous. I cried tears of sadness for the first time in my life. All foals cry attention tears. Tears of pain, tears of being upset that you dropped your ice cream. But I was crying in anguish, in sorrow... and those hot tears burned my face as I left Ponyville. I boarded the first train to leave the station and rode it to the end of the line, in the bustling activity of Manehattan.
As well as not seeing my sister for five years, I didn't see my parents. At first, it upset me that my sister would be getting all of their attention, but I soon got over it. Living in Manehattan, I soon got over everything. All my country attitudes to life were wiped out by harsh reality. I thought I could have a little house somewhere, grow flowers, run a florists in the big city. I ended up sharing a tiny apartment with an extremely untidy artist pony (every time I did the dishes, she claimed to 'owe me one'), and working in a huge flower shop which was heaving with customers every single day.
I didn't do any arrangements, I simply sold. I dealt with orders. Ponies came in, picked out a bouquet, and I wrapped it and sold it to them. “Fifteen bits please” was my catchphrase. I wouldn't say I hated it, but I didn't love it. They let me keep my hoof in with arrangements by practising on the off-cuts and wasted flowers, so I had a small repertoire that I hoped to one day use. But that one day seemed far-off. If Canterlot was the city for high society, and Ponyville was a friendly village, Manehattan was the city for getting lost in. If it hadn't been for the ocean, I might have gone mad.
I'd never seen the ocean before, and I often ate lunch as close to it as I could get. It kept me from feeling homesick. The quayside with all of the boats and dockworkers moving around, the crystal waves gently lapping at the side of the pier. Something about it reminded me of home, probably the way it was still natural. However large the ships were, the sea was always untamed.
Anyone who has ever moved from the country to the city will know how quickly you adapt, and how proud you are to suddenly be a city dweller. I could ride the subway without even needing to look at the map. I never even thought about which side of the escalators to stand on. When ponies spoke about districts of Manehattan, I could understand exactly where they meant, and I knew how to get there. I even gave directions to tourists who visited the flower shop sometimes.
In Manehattan, I was just Magnolia to everyone I met. Nobody knew I even had a sister, or a life back in Ponyville. Maybe leaving school so early was a bit of a mistake, but I had a job. I had money. I did the best I could for myself. It was a hard graft, but I did it. Five years passed and I went to the florists every single day, even on Hearth's Warming Eve, and not once did I speak to my parents. Or my sister.
It was a coincidence, as it often is, that finally broke the reassuring continuum of life in Manehattan.
Princess Celestia was behind it. She was making a royal visit to Ponyville, and the residents wanted flowers of the finest quality. Our florist had been chosen by the Mayor to do the arranging, and the flowers would be provided for us. Normally, the experienced arrangers would have assumed responsibility for a job as important as this. But the key thing was that in order to keep the flowers fresh, they needed the arrangements done in Ponyville. I was the only employee that had ever been to Ponyville before, so I was given a big break. I was allowed to help with the arrangements so long as I helped the Manehattanites navigate Ponyville. I jumped at the chance, despite the risks of bumping into my parents. With hindsight, I should have known that it was guaranteed that I would see my sister. She was of course Ponyville's resident expert on flowers.
The trip was uneventful, and I didn't think much ahead. I was just pleased at the chance for a promotion, and to be able to work with flowers once again. Impressing the Princess was important, of course, but what pony doesn't think of themselves first once in a while?
This was when the rivalry was born. And it has burnt just as fiercely ever since.
I was actually just going down the main street in Ponyville, taking my colleagues to their hotel, when I spotted my sister. She looked a lot older, but still had some of that childish look about her. She was running a flower stall – a stall! Not even a shop! I immediately felt a little arrogant and, I regret to say, pleased. My sister, the one they were all paying attention to, had managed nothing except a stall, while I was a city-dweller working in the biggest florist there was. And I was involved in the Princess' official welcoming decorations. Desert didn't even seem to have any customers.
I ignored her, quite simply. I didn't look back in her direction, but delighted in her low standing for the rest of the day. It was terrible of me, of course. I don't hate her. She's my sister, after all, and the memory of our earlier time together was still important to me. But I did feel some satisfaction, and that makes me feel guilty. I expect it always will, even if I do still love beating her.
The decorations didn't take long and the time flew by. I saw Desert a couple more times, but we never spoke. I don't know if she saw me. She just kept working on that stall, selling barely anything. So much for a special talent.
During the royal visit, literally hundreds of ponies complimented me on the flowers, including a large number of the Princess' escort. I blushed and thanked them, wondering why there had been such an impact. But of course, flowers were... well, let's say they weren't the 'in thing' in Ponyville. A lack of any flower providers had been the cause of this. My sister was failing to generate any interest.
I think I am really a businesspony at heart. I spotted the opportunity to make flowers fashionable and turn a huge profit, so I grabbed it. At the expense of my sister's stall. I withdrew all of my savings, moved out of the apartment in Manehattan, and put down a deposit on a small shop right on the corner of the town square in Ponyville. I found my old flatmate and got her to paint the shop front for me (finally repaying that everlasting favour), onto a piece of board I'd pinched from a skip near the docks. 'Magnolia Rose Florists'. Having my name on the shop made me feel... so happy. The happiest I'd felt for years.
The return was permanent, I was sure. And that meant I had to pay two visits.
The first was to the house I grew up in. And when the door opened, my heart broke. For all the hardening the city had done to me, nothing quite prepares you for your parents getting old. When you're younger you feel as if your parents are almost immortal. They know so much, they can guide you, that have ultimate power. But five years had irreversibly changed my perception of them. My mother looked tired, and my father looked... old. Older than he was when I left. In that instant, I saw my parents as just... ponies. And that's what broke my heart.
They were overjoyed to see me again, of course. My sister had moved out and they'd just kept on as they always had, but of course they'd missed me. A framed photograph of my younger self took pride of place on the mantelpiece. My heart broke again, if that was possible. Being more mature made me realise one important fact. When I was a filly, I had felt as if growing up was unfair. I was never allowed that extra ice cream, or to stay up a little later. But thinking back, it became obvious. I was my parents' favourite.
There were photographs of Desert, of course. But mine took precedence. My room was untouched, and almost twice the size of my sister's old room, now converted into storage space. When I left, all those years ago, I could only begin to imagine the pain it must have caused my parents. And Desert, of course. Her idol, her mentor... left her on the biggest day of her life.
I went to find my sister, to apologise. She would be at her stall, of course. Emotions churned inside me, and I wasn't sure how I would feel when I heard her voice again. I ended up wasting time, trying to calm down a little. Returning to my new shop, I sold a few flowers. Nothing fancy, just a few items I'd brought with me from Manehattan, ideas I'd basically borrowed from my old job. But working for myself, and doing something I loved, made me feel much braver. I went to find Desert.
Her stall was in its usual place. She was in her usual place, behind the stall. I walked straight towards her, casting my business eye over her wares. I just wanted to see what I was competing with, but that very action changed my life forever.
Up until that point, I'd thought of my sister as a little helpless. I had been cruel to her, but now I was going to apologise, and hope she forgave me. Perhaps we could even work together in future. But I learned that she was far from helpless.
Her stall looked like it normally did, but for a couple of recent additions. They were my designs. Well, I say mine. They were the ones I'd copied from my old job. But Desert had stolen them. She'd just gone right ahead and copied them while I was with our parents. The flowers were different, but the idea was... mine! The same ideas I'd just been selling to ponies in my shop.
“Hey! Those are my designs!” I shouted, looking straight at her. Her green eyes glittered back.
She looked at me with something verging between distaste and anger. “How dare you come back here and accuse me!”
“I'm not accusing you! I know you've stolen those!”
“You're trying to put me out of business! And to think I once... liked you!”
I was raging on the inside. If I had been of a violent disposition, the red mist would have descended. She was... bringing our childhood up! That was just low.
“We'll just see about that... Desert.” I spat out her name very angrily indeed.
“Yes we will. And people call me Rose now. Not Desert.”
They call her Rose? We were both Rose! Magnolia and Desert, not... Magnolia and Rose. That was horrible, like a knife being twisted in my chest. They might as well call me Rose. I was the original, after all. I'm older than her!
Unsure what to do, I went back to the shop. I needed to calm down, but not in the same way as earlier. Now I needed to stop thinking about ways of crushing my sister and concentrate on my new fledgling business. If I was going to put her out of business, I needed my wits about me. She was sure to be selling bouquets even as I was seething behind the counter.
I'd like to say that after the initial meeting, our emotions softened and now we just run rival businesses. But that would be a lie. That rage I felt at first... I still feel that when I see her. Our rivalry runs deeper than any normal business competition. And we had only exchanged a few sentences. This was... well, it was a feud. A full blown feud. I could understand how those mob rivalries in Manehattan had begun. I couldn't face my parents again. I felt as if I'd let them down, somehow.
The thing that stoked the fire of our relationship further was the annual Ponyville Flower Show. When I had been a filly, it hadn't existed. Apparently some enterprising colts had set it up as a way of attracting business to Ponyville whilst I was away. I think it was a thinly-veiled front for some kind of scam they were running, (no doubt selling the flowers for profit and tricking ponies into paying for sideshows,) but there was a generous cash prize for the winner and a lot of prestige. Desert had won the last three years running, according to some of my customers.
So to me, it didn't matter why it had started, only that I won it and Desert didn't. I put up a poster in my shop window as soon as it was announced, and I had daily customers telling me I would win it easily. I knew Desert would enter. But I couldn't let her win. It meant too much. I needed that trophy to prove I was superior. And maybe she would just leave town or something when I beat her. That would be perfect.
The way the flower show is judged is strange. Instead of coming up with a design for the day of the show, then the best one being picked, there is a week of entries. For five days, culminating in the show on the Friday, I had to submit an arrangement on a given theme. I knew the themes in advance and stayed up until dawn some nights working on my designs. The only problem was, this kind of running competition only ratcheted up the tension. It must have made good entertainment.
The sibling rivalry was common knowledge throughout Ponyville before the competition got started, but by Sunday evening, it was the talk of the town. Everypony was visiting the show of course, to see the wonderful flowers, but there could only be one winner. And everypony knew it would be Magnolia or Desert. Desert or Magnolia.
If nothing else, flower frenzy meant I had a bumper sales day on Sunday. Everyone wanted some last-minute flowers from the potential future winner of the Ponyville Flower Show, before I shut the shop for the week. Sales had to take a back seat so I could focus on winning. I even spent some time consulting a pony named Rainbow Dash about strategies, because she was supposed to be an expert in competition. She came into the shop looking for a bouquet 'to see what all the fuss was about', but florists know more than you think. Ponyville gossip said she'd been visited by a certain Wonderbolt just a few days earlier. But I didn't say anything of course. Florists are good at keeping secrets.
Monday dawned early. Normally I don't open the shop until mid-morning, but I was up as soon as it got light. Looking out of the window, I saw Desert already carrying some flowers towards her stall, since she was the only pony around. I needed to be earlier, I'd already lost precious hours.
The theme for Day One was Love. Now, I don't like to boast, but Love is perhaps one of my specialities. I mean, what self-respecting florist doesn't have a killer Hearts & Hooves arrangement up their sleeve? And Hearts & Hooves Day was big in Manehattan. I mean huge. Everypony wanted only the best for their special somepony. I'd seen the very best at work and knew what I was doing. Desert was an amateur at best.
I'd gone off red roses after seeing my sister again. What was wrong with a good old white rose, anyway? Sadly, though, Hearts & Hooves Day was all about red. Red hearts, red flowers. So I went with the red roses, determined to out-do my sister.
My own garden was only just sprouting, since I'd only recently moved back to Ponyville, so I got flowers from the huge meadows near the Everfree Forest. There were more than enough; I picked hundreds of roses and you could barely notice the gap they left. My design was about quantity. More roses, better. What pony wouldn't feel loved when they received an arrangement containing hundreds of red roses?
The roses are arranged into a large red heart on a stand, with plenty of greenery. I'd chosen to go with some leafy ferns, as they complemented the rather thin rose stems nicely. In my mind, I pictured the annual shop display back in Manehattan, which was a sight to behold. I was determined not to give up until my arrangement looked just as good.
It turned out that my first attempt was terrible. Not bad but terrible. The roses were fine, but they barely looked like a heart shape. And the ferns looked limp next to the roses. Try again, I suppose.
I had to go and get more ferns from the surrounding area, and I happened to glance over at Desert's stall. I didn't mean to spy on her or anything. Anyway, her arrangement looked naïve. Just a few roses, carefully placed. It was more like what the big bosses in the city had delivered to their wives while they were at work. Nothing like a display worth seeing.
My second attempt was perfect. The roses fell into place with the ferns, and the entire thing looked like... love. That's exactly what it looked like. The sun was actually setting by this point – I had always been able to get absorbed by arranging and lose track of time. I loaded it onto a wheelbarrow and sent it over to the judging area, where those ever-peppy colts who organised the show were singing about something yet again.
“Results will be announced tomorrow at noon. Please return here then.” They said, twirling their canes.
I couldn't see Desert's entry, so I just assumed she must still be working on it. Anyway, I was a mature pony, and I stopped myself spying on her again to see how it was progressing. Too late to change anything, anyway.
I woke up an hour before dawn. The first thing that popped into my head as I opened my eyes was 'Today's Theme: Beauty'.
Beauty was much tougher than love. Was it flowers that were beautiful? Flowers for a beautiful pony? A beautiful place? Something that looked beautiful? I supposed it was open to interpretation, and settled on beautiful flowers. Now there was something I was sure I could work with.
The only slight problem was finding the beautiful flowers. Of course, the most beautiful flower in the world was a white rose, but I wasn't keen on using roses two days in a row. I was nothing if not original. The second most beautiful, however, was the Crystal Chrysanthemum, which was non-existent in Ponyville. It needed to grow in wet places, like those by the sea. Like Manehattan.
The early train to Manehattan left exactly on time, and I spent the journey sketching the arrangement after double-checking that Desert wasn't on the same train as me. I didn't want her following me and discovering the secret. Even if she looked into my shop later on, it would be too late for her to go all the way to Manehattan.
I was going to miss the results announcement for Day One. Oh well, missing it would make me seem like a serious contender, which I was. Plus it would play on Desert's mind. She wouldn't be able to decide whether I was interested or not.
Manehattan was exactly as I had left it, except for one thing. It was ridiculously hot. The weather was coming from the sea and heading inland, which suggested it would hit Ponyville in the next day or two. Heat was not good for flowers, they just wilted so easily. Nothing I could do, at least. I headed straight for the docks, revelling in another trip on the subway even if it was sweaty and humid.
The Crystal Chrysanthemum was known by dock working ponies as the 'Blue Lagoon', due to the fact that it grew only in unreachable places, like the tops of cranes or walls of dry docks. It liked moisture and open space. This made it beautiful and rare, but difficult for a pony like me to actually get to without a very long ladder.
Once again, my Manehattan contacts came in handy. A few of the workers had lived in my apartment building, and were more than happy to fetch tiny bundles of my prized flower as they could. I spent the day rushing around, adding flowers to my saddlebag left, right and centre. I only needed a few dozen to complete the arrangement, so I wasn't going to turn even one of them down.
I collected enough and thanked everypony for helping. I paid a quick visit to my old artist flatmate then had a look around my old workplace for inspiration. All of my ex-colleagues wanted to catch up and have a chat, but I needed to get away. The designs were even better than I had remembered, and they reminded me what I'd been missing.
By midday, my mind was on the results, and I was on the way home. If I was going to meet the deadline for the day, I needed to hurry back to the shop and get started. The train suddenly seemed interminably slow as I double and triple checked everything. The thing about flower arranging is that it is an art. You can plan it down to the finest detail and yet if it doesn't look right in the end, it's not worth anything. I sat helplessly on the train, knowing that my success was going to be determined once I got back to Ponyville.
There was no-one around near the shop so I had no problem slipping inside unnoticed and getting straight to work. I was dying to know who had won the first day, but didn't give in. It didn't matter, so long as this day's work was as good as I could get it. I placed the Crystal Chrysanthemums onto a green, meadow-y texture, sprinkling them randomly. The beauty was in the detail – the flowers themselves were so small, and yet when you looked up close, they sparkled perfectly. Nothing more was needed – the beauty could be simple. I added a little foliage to complement the blue colour and tied it all up carefully.
I wheeled it over to the show once again, squinting in the dying embers of the day's sun to avoid hitting any bumps. I placed the arrangement carefully next to once made up of daffodils, bearing Desert's name. Unable to help myself, I took a close look. She had done a good job of it – the simplistic beauty was obviously also her angle, irritatingly. Yet, daffodils were so... plain. Uninspired.
“Hi there Magnolia. Be sure to be back for the results announcement at midday tomorrow. Looks like the competition is heating up.” One of the colts said, approaching me rather flamboyantly.
“Just be careful, because the weather will get very warm tomorrow.” I warned. “Make sure you keep the flowers nice and cool.”
“We will do, thank you. Commiserations by the way, for yesterday's theme. Your sister just did such an excellent job.”
Overconfidence made the fall yet more of a crashing plunge. If I'd been wondering which day was a guaranteed win for me, I would have said the first one. And now... Desert had beaten me. I was very upset, and headed straight home. Now I'd lost all confidence in the theme for today. If they liked her simple love theme, then they'd like her simple beauty theme. I would be two-nil down, needing a perfect trio of victories to stand any chance of winning the show.
Day Three's theme was a strange one; determination. How would you express determination through the medium of flowers? I still hadn't really worked it out when I got up, an hour before the sun rose. The lack of sleep was beginning to take its toll on my appearance, but it didn't matter. The flowers mattered. I did notice how warm it was as I brushed my hair. It was dark and yet the day already had the feel of a hot summer.
I spotted Desert out of my window. She was already up and about. My concern over my beauty sleep had let her get a head start, and I couldn't allow that. I rushed downstairs and began the design. Determination lent itself to something intricate. You had to be determined to work on something intricate and get it exactly perfect. But to make something perfect, I had to go with the flower I had the more experience working with. And that was, of course, the lily. Funerals again.
My arrangement was to be a lily pond, painstakingly reconstructed. It would be a show of determination to make it from scratch, as well as perhaps a reflection of the determination of the lily plants to grow even where it seemed difficult for flowers to grow. The thought made the corners of my mouth smile. I wasn't sure that the organisers of the show were really up to thinking that deeply.
Satisfied with my idea, I watched the sun rise as I made my way to a particularly large pond in Sweet Apple Acres. It had the best lilies I'd ever come across, even during my time in Manehattan. We'd imported a select few for the state funeral of an ex-mayor, and they'd looked resplendent. They had large petals, I recalled.
The sun was really getting quite hot by the time I'd picked the finest of the flowers I needed. My back was beginning to bake a little, which wasn't a good sign. Today was perhaps going to be the most difficult of the entire show, so I needed to be on top form. I splashed a little water behind my ears to cool down, then made my way back to the shop.
The only problem was, I had a visitor. An unwelcome one.
“I see you're collecting... lilies. Interesting.” Desert sneered, using her nose to shift some pots around on the shelves.
“Go away Desert. I don't want to talk to you.” I put the lilies carefully in some water.
“I'll go where I like. I hope you're looking forward to being beaten again today. Once I win the show overall, everypony will want my flowers, not yours.”
The look on Desert's face was making me uncomfortable. I hadn't spent so long with her since we were fillies, and yet she'd changed so much. She looked... fiendishly delighted. It was a cruel look and I didn't like it. It seemed a million miles from the looks of pure happiness she used to wear when we were younger.
“Ugh, and this shop is so... dirty. I could get a disease.” Now that was just childish.
“Please go away. You just want to distract me because you know I'm going to beat you.”
“No chance. When they announce me the winner at noon I'll be here, laughing at you. Go back to Manehattan, you foal.” With that she left the shop, leaving the door wide open as she did so. I wondered if she was a little afraid that I wouldn't go to the results announcement.
I immediately got to work on my arrangement, leaving the door open for ventilation. Building the pond out of metal was tough, but I managed to just use an old bath filled with water. It was on wheels, thankfully, otherwise it would have been too heavy to move. Adding the lilies would take all afternoon, so I left them and went to the results announcement. This way I would know exactly where I stood and what I needed to do. Not knowing the result would shred my nerves.
It was very warm indeed outside, and everypony waiting for the results was fanning themselves to try and keep cool. The flowers looked exceptional, though. Clearly the two colts knew what they were doing when it came to keeping flowers healthy.
“Welcome, mares and gentlecolts. I'll announce the winner of yesterday's theme, which was of course, Beauty. We have decided to award the prize to...”
Desert, stood in the crowd a few yards away, gave me a nasty glare. Those green eyes could slip into a cruel expression so easily.
“Magnolia Rose, for her beautiful meadow of Crystal Chrysanthemums! Very unusual to see them here in Ponyville.”
Delighted, I blushed as the crowd stamped their hooves in appreciation. Desert disappeared immediately, slipping away into the crowd and presumably heading back to her stall. Watching her go, I allowed myself a moment of triumph.
I knew I had to get started on the lilies, so I went back too. Thankfully, Desert hadn't wrecked the shop in a fit of rage or anything. Placing the lilies took all afternoon, then the finishing touches were horribly fiddly, which meant the sun had well and truly set by the time I was done. The deadline was a only few minutes away,so I hurried along, pulling along my arrangement behind me. I knew Desert would have been and gone, so I didn't bother hanging around, I just placed my arrangement and went straight home. I needed to sleep anyway, the hot sun had tired me out and I didn't want to be snoozing during the next day's competition.
I woke two hours before sunrise, not exactly feeling refreshed. The heat was oppressive. Desert didn't seem to be up, so I took the opportunity to remind myself of the theme.
Day Four: Wilderness
For wilderness, I wanted to do something... crazy. Wild, even (I chuckled when I thought this). Instead of trying to capture something like the Everfree Forest, which was the holy grail of flower arranging, I wanted to try something out of the ordinary. So I decided to gather every single different kind of flower I could find, and then place them all together in a random arrangement. It would look strange, but it would definitely be wild.
Searching Ponyville high and low took hours. I had hoped to be done before the sun rose, but there turned out to be so many more flowers than I had anticipated. Once my saddlebag was finally full, it was actually nearly midday again, and the results were imminent. My coat was sweaty though, and I wanted a bath. Sadly, curiosity got the better of me, and having placed my array of flowers in water, I simply freshened up and went to find out who'd won, feeling the cold water behind my ears evaporating uncomfortably.
“We have decided to award the prize to...”
Desert wasn't in the crowd.
“Magnolia Rose! For her amazingly carefully crafted lily pond, which really took determination!”
Two for me, I thought. And Desert was too scared to come and find out the results. Hah, score one for the older sister. Now I needed to win just once more to show her once and for all.
I found out where Desert had been when I got back to the shop. I'd spent a good fifteen minutes that morning trying to get a particularly elusive passion flower, which was located about fifteen feet high up a wall in an alleyway just around the corner. Now it was gone. Just gone. It was going to be a brilliant addition to my piece, yet Desert had just stolen it.
Enraged, I galloped to her stall, to find her busily working on her own arrangement.
“Give back the passion flower! How dare you steal from me!”
“I didn't steal anything, don't accuse me.” She looked genuinely confused, but I didn't let that stop me.
“Oh, of course you didn't. That doesn't explain why it's gone, and why you weren't at the results.”
“I've been working on my arrangement. Now go away Magnolia.”
“No, I won't. Not until you give back my flower!”
“I'm telling you, I don't have it. I didn't steal it, and I don't know what it looks like.”
“Liar!”
“You're embarrassing yourself.”
She'd just made me even angrier. She was lying right to my face! I just turned and kicked her stall, cracking one of the supports and causing the canopy to fall slightly.
“I never want to speak to you again!” I screamed, galloping away.
“Good” was all I heard as she disappeared into the distance. Last time I'd run though Ponyville, it was when I'd left. I'd cried then. I hadn't cried since. I wasn't crying now. I just wanted to beat her more than anything.
My arrangement didn't take too long. I just made a bed of assorted green plants, then put the flowers on at all kinds of crazy angles. Before long, the arrangement was an explosion of colour, contrasting with the near-empty shop. I thought it might end up looking like a rainbow or something, but it looked more like a piece of modern art – all blotches of colour scattered at random on the canvas. In Manehattan it would have sold for million of bits, I thought. Pleased with my work, I wheeled the arrangement out early. If it was done, there was no point staring at it. If I did, I would just keep moving the flowers around until I ruined it. As I left, I spotted a strange purple splodge in the alleyway where the passion flower had disappeared. Investigating, I discovered the flower, which had fallen down and been blown into a dusty corner, the petals wrinkled and dry.
I felt terrible for calling my sister a thief when she wasn't, but I wasn't going to apologise. She wouldn't apologise to me if the roles were reversed. I left the passion flower in the shop, because including it would make it obvious what had happened. My stomach churned with embarrassment as I headed for the show.
“You're here early! Please come back-”
“Yes, yes. I'll be back.” I wasn't in the mood for a pep rally.
I had an early night to try and get away from feeling so terrible. I didn't like my sister at all, but yet I felt bad for being horrible to her. I'd even damaged her stall, for no reason. Maybe feeling guilty meant I wasn't actually a bad pony. I loved my sister, very deep down, for what she once was. What she'd become was the part of her I didn't like, but it was no reason to be outright nasty to her. Npony deserved that.
The final theme was 'exotic'. Originally I'd planned to maybe import some flowers specially, but the heatwave, which was continuing with a vengeance, meant that flower prices had soared. I needed to find something in Ponyville, but I'd used up basically everything the day before. Ideas raced through my mind as I got up, feeling awfully damp with sweat. It was hours until sunrise.
I only had one option; the Everfree Forest. I had never liked going in there for flowers much, because it was dark and quite scary. But there were undiscovered species of flowers in there, which couldn't be more perfect for an exotic theme. I finally entered the forest once the sun was well risen, to try and make it a bit lighter for spotting priceless flowers. And because I was afraid of going into the forest in the dark.
Apparently the normally unpredictable weather of the Everfree Forest had succumbed to the intense heat, and most of the vegetation was quite dry. The long grass had turned yellow, and it seemed like healthy flowers might be at a premium.
I was planning to work on the arrangement after the midday announcement, but I could only find one, silvery flower in the entire morning, so I knew I'd have to go back. I left it in the shop, hidden so that it wouldn't be stolen, then went for the results.
“We have decided to award the prize to...”
If I won, then I'd be the overall winner in the show. Then the forest would be an afterthought.
“Desert Rose, for her magnificent selection of wild flowers.”
Irritated, I left straight away, not wanting to see Desert gloating again. Now it was on. Winner-takes-all for the final day, and I was not going to let her take it all under any circumstances.
I went straight back to the forest, despite the heat. To try and vent my frustration at not winning, I simply picked a direction and walked straight ahead, going much deeper into the forest. I needed some fantastic flowers, which I thankfully managed to stumble across before too long. A whole clearing of them. There was plenty of Heart's Desire, which I avoided because it had all sorts of unpredictable effects even in displays. But among them was gold, pink, yellow... all kinds of flowers I'd never seen before. I went for the bright, exotic colours, and packed my saddlebag, suddenly feeling better.
“Oh, it's you.”
The acid voice told me immediately that Desert had thought of the same idea for an arrangement as me. She was looking for exotic flowers too, and she'd found the same clearing.
“Why did you have to be here?” She added.
“I can go where I like.” I replied, covering up my bag so she couldn't see what I'd collected.
“You're stealing my idea. Because you're the thief, not me.”
“I'm no thief.”
“Neither am I.”
There was an awkward silence while we glared at one another. Finally she snapped. “Now I need a different arrangement! This is all your fault!” The anger in her voice scared me.
“It's not my fault we had the same idea.” Our glaring had reached a new level. I thought I could actually feel the heat of the anger radiating from the pair of us, above the intense heat from the sun.
“Thief!”
“Liar!”
“Thief!”
“Liar!”
The heat and the anger were very intense now. But I refused to look away from her strange green eyes. They reminded me of our mother. I hated the idea that our parents might see what we'd become. As it happened, I hadn't seen either of them attending the results announcements, or the rest of the show. Maybe they were deliberately avoiding it. Maybe our rivalry meant that our parents couldn't even be proud of our special talents. Not proud of their children... something was very wrong. I felt even worse for not thinking about them all week, even thought they only lived a short walk from the shop.
The exposed soil was cracked and hardened from the dry weather, but I knew I was close to softening. Giving in would allow Desert to win at last, but maybe it was for the best. But I'd been in the clearing first, and now I didn't know if I could win. If we both submitted the same idea, then it could even be a tie, which was ridiculous. Why did she have to be so stupid and annoying? I could feel an irritation blossoming into hate as I looked at her. Everything was her fault, all of my life it had been her fault!
Now there was a cracking noise, and I felt like cracking myself. Actually, it was more like crackling. And the heat seemed to be getting stronger. Then our heated glare turned into... a beam of fire, connecting our eyes. It just burst into life suddenly and blazed brightly, a dancing stream of red, orange and yellow that consumed my vision. I couldn't think about anything except how much I hated my sister, and my mind was closed to all other thoughts, like a blackness that close every other door.
Alarmed by this sudden consumption, I broke the gaze and looked straight into a fire that had broken out exactly halfway between us. My eyes widened suddenly in fear. This was... a forest fire. And we'd caused it. Somehow, through some strange magic, our rivalry had burst into a real flame. And it had happened in the worst possible place.
We both galloped away as fast as we could, not caring that we were going in the same direction for a change. The fire was not particularly threatening to us, as it would take a few minutes to really take hold. The problem was, when fires swept the Everfree Forest they could be devastating if left unchecked. The authorities, meaning the Mayor and weather ponies, had to be notified. They might be able to save the majority of the forest if they acted fast enough.
I knew Desert was thinking the same as me by her expression. We burst into the light at the same time, and charged towards the Town Hall. Realising it was pointless us both doing the same thing, I headed for Rainbow Dash's cloud home, hoping to inform her while Desert told the Mayor.
“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow!” I yelled, looking up. The blue mare's sleepy face appeared over the edge of the cloud.
“Oh hi, you're Magnolia right?” The blue pegasus said, a little uninterested.
“That's not important. There's a fire in the Everfree forest!”
Rainbow's expression changed to one that was purely serious. “Are you sure?”
“I was just in there looking for flowers. You've got to get the weather ponies together to put it out.”
“On it.”
Rainbow Dash flew off at top speed, leaving her trademark rainbow behind her. I panted a little, tired from the run. I didn't know what to do, so I went home to drop off the flowers, then went back to the forest outskirts. A crowd was already gathering in response to the plume of black smoke rising from the forest and the weather ponies towing the few clouds they could find over the fire.
Within a few minutes there were all kinds of animals fleeing the forest, from the tiniest rabbits and squirrels to huge beasts I'd never even seen before. It was actually very scary, seeing the dangerous animals like Timberwolves and Manticores sprinting past. The sky was red from the flames and the black plume was drifting towards Ponyville, creating a haze that cast a thin shadow over the town.
I felt terrible for causing this. A lot of ponies were in danger, not least the mild-mannered Fluttershy who never wanted to hurt anyone. She'd been following the flower show keenly for all of the right reasons. The weather ponies were managing to rain on the fire, but not very much, not enough. It was still spreading, according to the pegasi hovering in the air way up high.
“Does anypony know how it happened?” The Mayor asked, making her way through the crowd as a slight breeze blew a smoky smell into the crowd. “Anypony?”
I stopped her. “Mayor... I know.”
“Please tell me.”
“I'm afraid... my sister and I caused it.”
The Mayor seemed taken aback. “But I just spoke to Desert... how did it happen?”
“We were... glaring at each other angrily, and it just burst into flames... I can't explain it.”
Next thing I knew, I found myself in the elaborate Town Hall sitting opposite a very sulky Desert. The Mayor said she'd ask Twilight Sparkle about the strange beam of fire, and she was talking to the colts who were running the show as well, but they were doing it behind closed doors. We simply had to sit and wait for their verdict, and neither of us felt much like talking. Seeing Desert again, I felt shocked and embarrassed by the feeling of hatred I'd felt in the clearing. It was like something from a nightmare.
When they reappeared, Twilight Sparkle and the colts hurried away, clearly with somewhere better to be. The Mayor stopped to tell us our punishment.
“Twilight Sparkle says that she looked it up in one of her books, and what happened to you is called a 'fire connection'. It happens occasionally when two ponies are in competition, and it's not that uncommon, but you should have known better. This silly rivalry has caused a lot more trouble than you know. Now, I suggested disqualifying you both from the flower show, but the show has had to be cancelled.”
“Why?” Desert burst out, suddenly sounding childish and pathetic.
“All of the water that's being used to keep the flowers alive has to be given to the weather ponies to put out the fire” the Mayor said, sounding completely unimpressed. “You can consider yourselves directly responsible for that.”
That made me feel miserable. All of those beautiful flowers would die because we had been petty and stubborn. I would rather have lost the competition than let that happen.
“Now, instead of punishing you, I'm going to make you help out with the fire-quenching efforts. You can go and join the bucket chain from the town well. You're also each going to pick out your finest flowers and send them to Princess Celestia, apologising for what you did. Then you're going to do the same to the colts running the flower show. Okay?” The grey-maned mare adjusted her glasses.
We both nodded, feeling like scolded children. But this wasn't a playground telling-off. We'd actually committed... well, a crime, or something like that. We'd set fire to the Everfree Forest in the middle of a heatwave. I was afraid of what Desert might say to me, so I just went straight to the bucket chain without her and joined in. It seemed like the entire town was helping to correct my mistake, and it was humbling. I told the other ponies that the water on my face was splashes from the buckets, but it was tears of sadness.
***
I suppose you're probably thinking that Desert and I made up following this experience. Well, you'd be wrong. I still don't like her much. Perhaps our rivalry was dampened along with the fire, which was put out you'll be pleased to know. Only ninety acres were totally devastated, but no creature was harmed. Just thousands upon thousands of beautiful flowers, both in the forest and in the show. The next day, I sat and watched the sad brown petals floating down the river.
Afterwards I went and explained everything to our parents. I half-hoped Desert might come and help, but she didn't. Whether she was afraid, or just mean, I don't know. I don't think I'll ever know. My parents understood, if it's possible to understand that kind of thing. At least I feel that I can talk to them now without feeling guilty and ashamed.
I made up the three bouquets the Mayor had asked for. Four, actually, because I didn't want to make Princess Luna feel left out. I think they were my best work to date. When I started working with flowers, I heard a lot of ponies talking about putting your heart into your work. I've never done that, I don't think it's actually possible to put your very being into something inanimate. But it is true that when it means something to you, you do a better job. All of my remorse poured into those flowers, somehow. Once they'd been sent off I felt much better, like a weight had been lifted. I felt like I'd felt back in Manehattan – like someone to be proud of.
I never heard back from the colts, or Princess Luna, but Celestia sent me a card. I thought it might just be a courtesy card, written by one of her aides, perhaps. But it was very strange indeed. The card was actually singed at the edges, burnt black in some places. All it read was;
“Dear Magnolia Rose,
Thank you for the beautiful flowers. Don't worry, fires are very easy to start. Just make sure you can put them out.
Princess Celestia & Philomeena.”
Like I say, Desert and I remain rivals. But not enemies, as we perhaps were. I think she feels as if I betrayed her all those years ago. And I did betray her, there's no excusing it. I couldn't see past my jealousy and hurt to congratulate her, and I just ran away. I doubt she'll ever forgive me. We could have been a world-famous florist team, I think, with our talent. The Hearts & Hooves arrangement she did was better than everything I'd ever seen in Manehattan.
Speaking of Manehattan, a few weeks after the fire I left Ponyville again for the city. The flower competition had whipped up a frenzy that meant I'd put away plenty of bits, but everything that happened meant that nopony wanted to buy from Desert or I. A few customers came in, but it was clear that greener pastures lay elsewhere. Now I have a stall of my own on a busy avenue in Manehattan, a cart that I can push around. Every day I set up somewhere different and sell bouquets to businessponies and tourists. I keep the card from the Princess stuck to the counter, just out of sight of customers walking past.
Desert still has her stall, and my parents say that the sales have picked up again. But to get through the lean times, Desert decided to sell flowers for eating. My father sent me one in the post a few days ago, carefully wrapped. It tasted quite nice actually, but I think I'll stick to eating daisies.
And of course, I still mainly do funerals. Some things never change.