The Comfort of a Snuggle Buddy

It is a warm summer evening in the town of Ponyville. The faint chirping of crickets can be heard in the distance, Princess Luna rose the moon only an hour ago and the stars are shining ever so brightly in the sky. To be put in short, it is an absolutely beautiful night.

There is one house in Ponyville that has some moderate activity inside. “And that’s gin,” the mare inside proclaims, placing a card on a small, face up deck. “I win!” she says cheerfully. Her name is Roseluck. She is a florist who owns a flower shop with her friends, Daisy and Lily.

“Son of a gun!” Her roommate and friend somewhat shouts, but in a jokingly manner. The moderate activity is a card game between Roseluck and her teenage roommate, Troy. He is generally very positive, happy and social. He gets along with all of ponies in Ponyville. “Every time I play this game, you always get gin. I think you rig the cards,” he jokes

“Oh I rigged them? You were the one who shuffled and dealt the deck.”

“Hmm…” Troy takes a minute, thinking over what she said, stroking his chin. “I still think you rigged them.”

“Shut up, shuffle and deal. We’re going another round,” Roseluck demands lightly. Troy rolls his eyes, shuffles and hands seven cards over to Roseluck, then gives himself seven cards. He places the deck down on the table and picks up a card from the top of the deck. After doing so, he places it next to the deck, face up. “Okay, I’m first.”

Troy has been living with Roseluck for almost five months now. He is a little different from most of the townsfolk. Is it because he is a griffon living among ponies? No. Is he a buffalo? No. Yack? Not even close. He is a bipedal creature known as a human. Humans aren’t native to the land of Equestria. In fact, they are not even native to this world. He was whisked away to this place and he doesn't even know how. The only thing he remembers was falling asleep on his couch in his home world and then waking up in the outskirts of Ponyville. When Princess Celestia and Princess Luna heard the news, they welcomed him to the land with open arms and told Troy that they will work on a way to send him back. And since then, Troy has been, and still is, residing in Ponyville.

“Hey, remember when I first came here?” Troy asks.

“How could anyone forget?” Roseluck says, picking up the face up card and putting it into her set of cards. “I remember you walking into Ponyville all scared and confused.” She places three sevens on the table. Then, she places a King next to the face down deck. Troy draws a card from the face down deck and chuckles to himself.

“Ponies were everywhere! I couldn’t believe it.” Troy chuckles again. “I mean, back home, ponies buying stuff, playing hopscotch, baking, flying in the sky is something impossible. I didn’t know how to wrap my head around it. Four queens,” Troy says placing four queen cards down with a smug grin.

“I remember how awkward it was. The entire town was staring at you, you were staring at them and no one said a word. Someone had to break the ice.”

“And that someone was you.” Troy discards a six card. “You walked right up to me and introduced yourself. I’d imagine everyone would be too nervous to introduce themselves.”

“You kidding?!” Roseluck says somewhat shocked, picking up the six. “I was nervous beyond belief. I just didn’t show it.”

“Great poker face than.”

“Thanks. Four six’s by the way.” Roseluck places the four cards down on the table and then discards an ace. “And then after I introduced myself, everyone in else in town did.”

“I wonder if it was because you were able to prove to everyone that I was harmless in such a short time?”

“Probably.” Troy picks up a card from the face down deck. He stares at the card for a second or two, then raises a brow. He places the card in his hand and discards a Jack.

“I remember after everyone introduced themselves to me, you offered me to live here.”

“I remember you saying how you felt that it was unnecessary and it was too big of an offer.”

“I still think it its.”

“But you accepted anyway.”

“It’s because you couldn’t take no for an answer.”

“You were just whisked into a world unknown to you. Someone had to open their doors to you and I was the mare to do so,” Roseluck says proudly.

“I still thank you for that.”

“It’s nothing really.” Troy does a double take at this statement. What did she just say?

“Nothing?! You gave me a roof over my head and food to eat for five months now. I’m in your debt.”

“Just think of it as a lengthy sleep over.” Troy chuckles at her statement. Roseluck picks up the ace from the face up deck. She takes three cards from her set and places down three aces on her side of the table. There are only two cards left for her. She discards one face up then the other, face down. “And that’s gin my friend.” Troy stares at the setup of cards that are on the table. Everything was set for her to win!

“How’d you win so fast?” he asks.

“I’m just that good.”

“I still think you rigged it.” Roseluck just chuckles to herself and rolls her eyes playfully.

“Hey, why the sudden nostalgia?” she asks leaning back a little. Come to think of it, the memory of Troy arriving to Ponyville and talking about it was kind of sudden.

“Well, I remember when you took me here, you prepared a delicious meal and then, you taught me how to play Gin Rummy afterward. I guess just playing this game brought back a good memory.” Troy smiles, looking off to nowhere in particular. He more than likely has the memory replaying in his head again and again. It’s a fond memory for him.

“And since then, you still haven’t been able to kick my flank,” Roseluck says with pride. Roseluck isn’t the type of pony to be competitive, but when it comes to card games, she gets a huge ego.

Troy snaps out of his nostalgia and looks at his roommate and friend. “One day, I will.”

“We’ll see about’-” she is cut off mid sentence to yawn, “-that,” Roseluck concludes.

“Somepony’s getting sleepy,” Troy says sing-song like.

“I guess so.” Her mouth lets out another yawn. “Yep, I am.” She rubs her eye with her hoof to wipe away a tear.

“Okay, let's get you to bed.”

“Carry me…” Roseluck says tired and droopey eyed, opening her forehooves. Troy lets out a sigh and walks over to Roseluck. He places one hand on her farther shoulder and slips his hand under her hind legs. Troy gets a good grip on Roseluck and picks her up with ease, carrying her bridal style. “You’re getting stronger.” In a joke like way, Troy takes offense to this statement.

“Getting?! I’ve been strong! I’ve able to lift one-ten when I was fourteen, and I’ve been getting stronger since.”

“You were barely able to lift me up the first time you tried to carry me.”

“It’s because I didn’t expect you to be that heavy the first time. From then on, I knew what to expect.”

“Sure. What ever makes you sleep at night Troy.” The human just shakes his head as he continues to carry his friend to her bedroom.

This isn’t the first time one had to carry the other to the bedroom. There would be times one of the roommates were so wiped out, they would carry the other to the bedroom. That’s another detail that has not been made clear: Roseluck and Troy share a bed. The two are good friends and share a bed. Why? The answer is quite simple, they’re snuggle buddies.

They started doing this about four months ago. Now at the time, Troy was sleeping on the couch in the living room and Roseluck was sleeping in her room. One night, Troy came back home from supervising the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Those three fillies loved being with Troy and Troy loved being with them. He was always playing with them, helping them with homework assignments, helping them find their cutie marks, they did so much with each other. But they took a lot of energy out of Troy that day. He only took ten steps inside, and started to pass out from exhaustion. Before his energy drained body could even hit the floor, Roseluck was able to catch him on her back and carried him to her room.
She did make it to the bedroom and plopped Troy onto her king sized bed (even to this day, she’s surprised that the bed is the right size for him). She saw Troy’s face light up in his sleep. She knew he was content and cozy being on a soft, fluffy mattress instead of a living room couch. She even tucked him in and she could tell he really enjoyed that too. After Troy was all nice and snug, she got on the other side of the bed and went under the covers. Roseluck would have just gone to sleep on the living room couch, but she was tired herself and didn’t want to take the trip. She looked over to her human friend and saw that he looked happy and peaceful. Smiling at her deed, she drifted off to a peaceful slumber.

By the time she woke up the next morning, Roseluck felt very warm, snug and embraced. Opening her eyes, she gained notice that she was snuggled up against Troy’s chest. She also took notice that they both wrapped each other up in a hug. Roseluck had her forelegs around his torso while he had one hand, as he called it, on her back and the other on the back of her head. She kind of wanted to get out because it seemed to be a little awkward, but at the same time, it felt really nice. She hasn’t had a good snuggle since she was a filly living with her mother. Though it was a tad weird, Roseluck decided to stay that way until her friend woke up.

When Troy opened up his eyes, he was surprised to find himself snuggling with his roommate and friend. Though he wasn’t sure if it was he who was snuggling against Roseluck or vice versa, he apologized anyway. She told him it was alright and she actually enjoys the snuggly feeling. And from that point forward, the two would always snuggle up with each other before going to sleep. Both were very happy with this choice and it even made them closer friends.

Troy and Roseluck make it to the bedroom and the first thing Troy does is lay Roseluck down on the bed. He makes sure to place her down as gently as possible. “Let me get changed. I’ll be back in a minute.” Troy heads to a near by dresser to get a shirt and some shorts. He proceeds into the bathroom that adjoins to the bedroom for some privacy to change and Roseluck anxiously waits. She wants him to hurry because she feels that she is about to fall asleep and doesn't want to be asleep until her snuggle buddy comes back.

Fortunately, Troy was quick as lightning with getting changed and emerges from the bathroom wearing a white t-shirt and black, what he calls them, basketball shorts.

He gets on the other side of the bed and gets under the covers. Roseluck follows in suit. Once they are snug as a rug, they scooch towards each other and embrace for the snuggles. When the two snuggle each other, it is almost nirvana. All warm and snug with each other, it is complete ecstasy.

“So, what are your plans for tomorrow?” Roseluck asks, nuzzling the top of her head into the lower part of Troy’s chin, causing him to giggle at the tickling sensation.

“Well,” Troy starts off, “I’m going to get some exercise with Rainbow Dash after breakfast, then I’m going to come back here to ice my muscles, then head over the Sweet Apple Acres to see if the Apple family needs help with anything. Following that, Rarity, Fluttershy and I have spa appointments, and afterwards, it’s dinner at Lyra and Bon Bon’s. What about you? What are your plans?”

“Another day at the flower shop for me. I have a good amount of orders to take care of tomorrow and we are expecting that order of rare tulips from the Crystal Empire to come in. Lily, Daisy and I have to make sure we properly and carefully stock them. And then after the shop closes for the day, me and the girls are heading to the diner for dinner.”

“Seems like both of us have pretty eventful days tomorrow.” Troy tightens his embrace of Roseluck a little bit.

“It appears so.” There is a pause. “What time is it now? I don’t really feel like moving from this spot.” Troy playfully rolls his eyes and glances at the clock on the nightstand that sits next to the bed.

“Fifteen ‘til ten. Let’s get some sleep.”

“Yeah, good night Troy,” Roseluck says closing her eyes.

“Good night Roseluck,” Troy says, slowly shutting his eyelids for sleep. “Have a good night’s rest.” Roseluck nuzzles her head into Troy’s chest a little more and falls asleep in a matter of seconds.

Roseluck slowly opens her eyes. She is still snuggled up against Troy, and can see it is still dark. It can’t be morning. So why is she up from a peaceful slumber? She heard some whimpering and it woke her up. Using only her eyes, she looks up at Troy. He is breathing a little heavy and sees tears falling from his eyes, landing on either her mane or the pillow. The slightly heavy breathing causes his chest to rise and fall uneasily, and it isn’t a good feeling against Roseluck’s head. Troy crying in his sleep hasn’t happened before, so why is it happening now? Rose doesn’t know. Could it be a bad dream? Dream or not, she has to calm him down.

Roseluck tightens her embrace of her human friend. “Shh, shh, it’s okay buddy. Relax,” she whispers lightly, using a mother like tone. She continues to talk to Troy for another minute or two and Troy’s crying slowly eases to a stop. He tightens his embrace of Roseluck and nuzzles the right side of his face into her mane.

“What was that about?” she thinks to herself. “Why was he crying? I can’t recall the last time he cried in his sleep, or cried at all!” She looks back up to see her friend and sees that he looks a lot more peaceful now than he was a short while ago. “Hopefully it was just part of a dream and nothing serious. I guess I’ll see how he feels in the morning.” Roseluck buries her face back into her friend's chest and drifts off to sleep.

By the early hours of morning, the birds were singing their song and the rays of the sun were making their way through the windows of Ponyville houses. One of those rays happen to rest upon Roseluck’s face, causing her to grimace in her sleep. She can tell in her current dream state that the sun is rising and it wants her to wake up. She didn’t want to lose this battle to the sun, but she did. Upon opening her eyes, she sees something that startles her. It made her jump so much, she fell out of the bed. What “slightly” scared her was Troy looking at her, dead in the eye, wide-eyed, with a stupid grin saying “hello” in a more than ridiculous voice.

The second he got a reaction from Roseluck, Troy bursts into laughter. He is laughing so hard, tears are coming out of his eyes and it sounds like he is gasping for air. Grumbling a little, she gets off the floor, hops back on the bed and pins Troy’s shoulders.

“What was that for?” she asks, half humorously and half seriously. Troy takes a few seconds to collect himself and regain his breath before he can reply.

“I got up a minute or two before you and thought, ‘What would be a good way to surprise Roseluck?’ and the idea to make a goofy face and talk in a weird voice came to me a second later. And so, I kept my face like that until you woke up.”

“How long were you up before me again?”

“Only a minute or two. I honestly didn’t expect my glorious plan would come to action so soon. Would you say it worked?” She hates to admit it, but he did get her good. She lets out a sigh before responding with a smile.

“You got me fair and square, you silly human.”

“Why thank you my good friend.” He places his hand on the top of Roseluck’s head and ruffles her mane a little. “So, I’m in the mood for breakfast. What about you? Hungry?” Roseluck opens her mouth to answer, but a rumbling noise from her tummy seems to do if for her. “I was asking her, not you,” he says to the stomach of the mare who is still pinning him down.

Roseluck giggles at Troy’s excuse of being funny. “To answer your question: Yes, I can eat.”

“Alright. I’ll make breakfast, my treat. Scrambled eggs and toast sound good?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, I just have to get up and...ahem.” Using his eyes, Troy tells Roseluck to look down. Doing so, she sees that she still has her hooves on his shoulders.

“Oh, hang on.” She lifts her right hoof off of him and then her left. Now having freedom to move around, Troy gets off of the bed and so does Roseluck. The two head for the door, but Roseluck stops herself. “Actually, Troy, I’m going to take a quick shower first.”

“Sure, I’ll have your breakfast ready by the time your done.”

“Okay.” Troy proceeds to walk towards the kitchen, while Roseluck stays behind. Before she even steps hoof in the bathroom, she takes a minute to think to herself. “He seems to be like his happy, usual self. I guess last night isn’t anything to worry about.” Satisfied with her conclusion, she makes her way to the bathroom.

After lathering, rinsing, repeating, washing and drying, Roseluck steps out of the bathroom feeling like a new mare. There has always been something about hot showers that just rejuvenates her. After giving herself a quick stretch to loosen her joints, Roseluck trots to the kitchen to see Troy carrying two plates of eggs and toast to the table.

“Like what I said, I have breakfast ready the second you are done,” He says in a chippy way.

“Breakfast looks good Troy. Can’t wait to eat it up,” She says to her human friend.

“Well grab a seat and dig in. Don’t worry about getting the silverware, I already set those up.” Eager to eat up the food Troy prepared, Roseluck sits down at a chair by the table. She grabs her fork using her right hoof and stabs the eggs. After moving the fork a little, she brings a small chunk of the scrambled eggs to her mouth and chews it up, taking in the flavor.

“Mmm, tastes good bud!” She says to her friend who is scarfing down his meal. “Oh my...”

“What?” He asks with a mouthful of toast and eggs.

“You’re horking your food down...again.” This isn’t the first time this happened. Once every here and there, Roseluck will catch Troy eating his meals like he’s a freed hostage. She finds it a bit humorous, but a little uncivil at the same time.

Troy takes a second to swallow his food and then says, “Well excuse me if I’m hungry.”

“I’m hungry too, but you don’t see me craming my food down my throat. What would Princess Twilight say if she saw you eating like this?”

“I’ve seen her at Hayburger. She crams the food down her throat like it's her job.” Roseluck rolls her eyes at Troy’s statement and goes back to eating her breakfast at her own pace.

After five minutes, Roseluck finishes her meal, and at the same time, a knock is heard at the front door.

“Yo Troy, you ready?!” says a scratchy, tomboyish voice at the other side of the door.

“Three guesses on who that is,” Roseluck says humorously.

“I’ll get it,” Troy says, getting up from his seat. He walks to the front door and opens it to reveal Rainbow Dash on the other side. “Hey RD! Just give me a second to get ready!”

“Alright bud. Hurry up.” Troy doesn’t bother to close the door, he just runs to another part of the house to get changed from his sleep clothes to his athletic clothes.

Roseluck didn’t hear the front door close, so she trots to it and sees Rainbow Dash waiting. “Hey Rainbow Dash,” she says.

“Hey Rose! How you doin’?” the blue pegasus asks.

“I’m doing alright? How about you?”

“Doing good! Can’t really complain.”

“Well that's always good to hear.” Hearing Troy's steps approach her, Roseluck turns her head to see Troy in a sleeveless red shirt, black athletic shorts and, what he calls them, running shoes.

“Alright RD, whats on today’s agenda?” He asks his exercise companion.

“It’s leg day buddy. So we’re going to be doing some laps around Ponyville. Ready?” The pegasus mare turns around and gets in a starting position.

“Yep,” is Troy’s response. Before he gets going, he turns to Roseluck. “I’ll see you later today.”

“Okay,” the florist says. “Don’t strain yourself.” Troy chuckles at her remark and then turns back around to nod at Rainbow Dash. She nods back at him.

“Alright, ready...set...GO!” The two take off for their run around Ponyville. Rainbow Dash starts off with a sprint, but Troy only starts with a light jog. “Bye Rose!” He calls back to his friend.

“Like what I said, try not to strain yourself!” She calls back. She closes the door of her home and takes a look at the kitchen clock to see that it is eight forty-five in the morning. “The flower shop opens in a bit, I should get going,” she says out loud. Roseluck heads to her room to grab her saddlebag. Using her mouth, she grabs it by the belt and she tosses it over her shoulder, successfully mounting it on her back. Checking the clock again, she heads off to her shop.

By the time she goes through the door of her place of work, Roseluck sees her pink and yellow friend, Lily, looking through a glass case, resting on a counter. That container has yellow, opaque tulips in it that seem to shine and sparkle in the light’s glow. “Are those the tulips from the Crystal Empire?” Roseluck asks her friend. She waits a moment for a response, but doesn’t get one. “Lily?” She calls out. Roseluck walks up to her friend and physically shakes her out of some sort trance. “Lily!”

“Huh, what?” The pink and yellow mare says confused.

“You okay?” Roseluck asks. Hearing her friend’s voice, Lily turns her head to see her friend and colleague.

“Oh, hey Roseluck! Yeah, I’m fine. The tulips arrived when I did, and I haven’t stopped looking at them since. They look amazing!” Roseluck looks at the flowers herself. No doubt that these flowers are beyond pretty in her opinion.

“I can understand why you would want to keep staring at them. These are the nicest flowers we have in the shop now, but we have to get these planted as soon as possible. They can’t stay in that glass case for long.”

“Right! I’ll take these to the back, plant them and give them a good drink.”

“Remember Lily, you need two cups of water exactly for each flower. These are highly delicate and rare. We want the supply to last and be customer ready.”

“Don’t worry Rose, these flowers are in good hooves.” Gingerly, Lily lifts the glass case and slowly places it on a nearby dolly. “We got a quite a few orders today. I’ll be back to help you as soon as I’m done with the tulips.

“Okay...hey where’s Daisy?” It is only now that Roseluck realizes that it is only her and Lily in the store. Daisy seems to be absent.

“She’s out posting some flyers around town to promote the new flowers. She should be back before I’m done taking care of these little guys.” Lilly gestures her hoof to the case of Crystal Empire Tulips. She takes hold of the bar attached to the dolly and starts pushing it to the back room, which is a green house area. “Alright Rose, lets get to work.”

“Right.” Now that her mind is set on work, she sets herself up by a nearby counter and takes a look at an index card that has an order on it.

One dozen red roses
Card will be purchased and made upon pick up
Pick up order on August 20th, three days after order was made
Purchase made by Dr. Hooves

“Something for Derpy I assume,” Roseluck thinks to herself. Smiling, she heads back to the greenhouse to get the roses.

Smiling at her work, Roseluck places the bouquet of roses into a glass refrigerator to preserve the roses until they are ready for pick up.

“Hey Roseluck,” a chippy voice from the front of the store says. She turns her head to see her pink and green friend, Daisy, at the front of the store, putting a staple gun away.

“Hey Daisy! How are you?”

“Good! I saw Troy and Rainbow Dash running around Ponyville. Leg day?” Roseluck nods. “How is Troy anyway?”

“He’s good. Positive and happy as usual.” For some reason, she felt a rock sink to the bottom of her stomach. Was it the feeling that it may not be a complete truth? He was crying last night, but he seemed to be okay in the morning. Roseluck is now starting to wonder if he is actually “good”.

“Well that’s always good to hear. Is Lilly taking care of the tulips?” Daisy asks. She doesn’t get a response because Roseluck is looking at the ground. The face she is making looks like she is contemplating her own thoughts. “Rose?”

“What?” she asks, snapping out of her thoughts.

“I asked if Daisy is taking care of those tulips.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. She’s in the back planting and watering them.”

“You okay? You seemed fine a minute ago, and then you looked like something was bugging you.” Daisy is onto her. Should Roseluck tell her?

“Well...”

“So something is on your mind. Rose, you and I have been friends for Celestia knows how many years. You know you can tell me anything.” Roseluck knows she can trust Daisy and Lilly with anything. It’s not that she doesn’t want to talk to someone about what happened last night, it's just that it may not be her business.

“I don’t know if I should-“

“Rose...”

“...” She doesn't want to, but she has to talk to someone. Troy’s crying has been bugging her and she needs to talk about it. “Okay, I’ll tell you. It’s about Troy. You see, last night, I was asleep and I woke up because I heard whimpering. I soon found out that Troy was crying in his sleep. I have never heard him cry at all in his time in Equestria. He’s always been a happy, positive guy who gets along with literally everypony. I don’t think anyone could name a time when he cried or was sad. I was able to calm him down though. I’m not sure if he was just having a bad dream or what. What ever the case may be, I’m worried for him.”

“Hmm...” Daisy rubs her chin with her hoof, trying to figure out a solution. After a couple more seconds of thinking and going over what Roseluck said, she reaches a conclusion. “Okay, here’s what I think, I’m no psychiatrist but I think this is what you should do: Maybe you’re right and it was a bad dream Troy was experiencing. If, however, you see him doing something a bit abnormal for him, I would recommend talking to him or someone about it.” Roseluck thinks about what her friend says. To her, it does seem like a reasonable idea. And it's not a terrible idea either.

“Okay, I’ll do just that. If something like that happens again, I’ll talk to somepony about it. Thanks Daisy.” Roseluck takes a couple steps towards her friend and wraps her forelegs around her neck.

“Aww...” The two friends turn to see Lily tilting her head a little and placing her hoof where her heart is.

“How long have you-“

“The whole time.”

“So you heard-“

“Yeah. But I agree with Daisy. If something like what happened last night happens again, just talk to us about it. Or talk to him. I think he’ll give you a more precise answer.”

“You guys are right,” Roseluck says.

“Excuse me,” a stallion’s voice is heard. The three friends see that there is a customer at the front of the store in need of service.

“Hello sir! How may we help?” Daisy asks.

“-and then she says ‘horticulture, I came for the plants!’” Roseluck says, delivering the punchline to her joke, almost making the other two mares fall out of their seats from laughter. The work day for the three florists has come to a close. After working on orders, arranging and maintaining the flowers, they have worked quite an appetite. The three planned to go the diner after work, and they did so. They have just finished their dessert course.

Daisy wipes a few tears from her eyes. “That was, haha, that was good.” She takes a few deep breaths to collect herself. “I haven’t laughed that hard in a while.”

“Excuse me ladies,” the unicorn waiter says, walking over to the table the girls are sitting at. “Is everything to your satisfactory?”

“Oh, yes sir, everything was great! Compliments to the chef!” Daisy says. “Can we have our check please?”

“Sure thing. Let me take these plates off your hooves.” Using his magic, he surrounds the plates in a magical, grey aurora and levitates them off the table. “I’ll bring you your check shortly.” He walks away with the dirty dishes to take them back to the kitchen for cleaning.

“It’s on me tonight girls.” Roseluck says.

“Oh, Rose, you don’t-” Lily starts off, but then is cut off by Roseluck.

“I insist and I’m not taking no for an answer.” Daisy and Lily look at each other, then back at Roseluck.

“If you insist.” Reaching into her saddle bag, she pulls out a coin purse, just in time for the waiter to lay the check on the table. Roseluck sees the price and brings out the appropriate amount of bits to pay for the meal. The waiter shortly returns.

“Thank you for dining with us. Have a good night,” the unicorn says happily before walking away.

“You too!” The flower mares say in unison. Before getting up from her seat, Roseluck leaves five bits on the table for a tip.

“You girls ready to get going?” Roseluck asks. Her friends nod. The three get up from their seats and exit the diner. “I’m heading home. Good night girls!”

“Good night Roseluck!” the other two say in unison. The three part ways and head to their respectful homes. Roseluck’s house is only five minutes away from the diner. Within those five minutes, she thinks about what has happened in the past twenty-four hours.

She thinks about Troy and what her friends have said. She doubts there is something wrong, but she can’t shake off this weird gut feeling. She is definitely going to talk to someone if something does seem off with Troy.

By the time Roseluck makes it to the inside of her home, she sees Troy sitting at the sofa, playing Solitaire on the coffee table.

“Need a seven of hearts or diamonds, c’mon, give it to me,” he mumbles before drawing three cards. He draws three cards and fist pumps. “Yes! Lucky seven pulls through!” He picks up the seven that lays on the top of his drawn cards and places on at the bottom of a section of cards. “Hey Rose,” Troy says, not looking up from his game.

“Hey Troy,” Roseluck responds. “How was your day?”

“Very good! Got a good workout in, got some bits for helping the Apple family, got rejuvenated at the spa and had a lovely meal at Lyra and Bon Bon’s.”

“How’s Lyra and Bon Bon anyway?”

“Real good. Bon Bon is thinking about doing an extension to her candy store!”

“Extension?”

“She wants to make the store a little bigger.That way, she can stock more supply and, hopefully, make more bank with her having more variety of candy.”

“Seems like an interesting business move.”

“How was work today?” Troy asks changing the subject to his roommate’s workday.

“Good. You know, the usual.”

“How’s Daisy and Lilly? They doing good?”

“Good as usual. You know, you should have seen Lilly when the tulip order came in. She looked like she was in a trance.”

“Were they that pretty?”

“Oh they were more than pretty, Troy. They were breathtakingly beautiful. The light through the window made the tulips sparkle and shine in a way that it can not be put into words.” Roseluck places a hoof over heart and looks off to nowhere in particular, having a nostalgic moment to this morning. After a few more seconds of gazing off she lets out a tired yawn.

“Uh oh, somepony’s sleepy,” Troy says, putting down his cards and rubbing her head, talking to her like she was a young child.

“Really? What time is it?” Troy glances at the living room clock “It’s three minutes to nine. You have work tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah.” Roseluck’s eyelids are looking heavy. She is practically in a zombie state now. She could fall asleep at any given second!

“Okay Roseluck, let’s get you to bed, upsie daisy.” Troy scoops up Roseluck and carries her, bridal style, to her room. Roseluck nuzzles the side of her face into Troy’s chest, getting a little more comfortable

The two make it to the bedroom and Troy lays his pony friend down on the soft bed. “Don’t get snug until I get back. I just need to brush my teeth and change clothes. Be right back.” Troy heads to a nearby dresser to gather some clothes and heads into the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Roseluck decides to disobey Troy’s request, and gets all snug under the covers. Her comfy bed is practically crying out for her to get in. Sleep is knocking at her door and she wanted to make sure she was ready to answer said door. She wiggles her body a little to show that she is cozy.

After less than two minutes of waiting for her snuggle buddy, she feels nice, warm, and cozy. The bathroom door opens to show Troy wearing athletic shorts, but no shirt.

“You’re not wearing a shirt?”

“I’ve been feeling little hot when I have slept these past few weeks. If I have a shirt on, I’ll wake up all sweaty and...hey, did you get snug already?!” Roseluck smiles and giggles at his humorous and fake scolding.

“Sorry,” she says giggling a little. “The bed looked so tempting to climb into. I just had to get cozy.”

“You need to learn how not to give into temptation.” Troy gets to the bed and crawls to the head. When he reaches that point, he goes under the covers, and turns his body to face Roseluck. “Come here snuggle buddy.” Not having to be told twice, Roseluck scooches herself over to her friend. Just like last night, she wraps her hooves around Troy’s torso and nuzzles her head into his bare chest, feeling his warm, soft, and somewhat squishy skin against her face.

“You’re so warm!” She coos.

“I never realized how soft you are,” Troy says stroking the back of her mane and rubbing his other hand up and down her back. Troy can draw the conclusion that snuggling a pony feels just like hugging a huge teddy bear. She may not be as puffy as one, but she is warm and cuddly like one.

“I can get used to snuggling you shirtless Troy. If you’re okay with it that is?”

“Oh, it’s fine. I really like this myself. I can get used to it.” He brings Roseluck closer to his chest, bringing her warmth closer to him. “This is nice.”

“It is.” Roseluck is really contempt on her snuggling now. She lets out another yawn. “Okay, I’m ready for sleep.” Troy yawns himself.

“Me too.” He brings his arm over to a lamp that sits on a nearby nightstand. He flicks the switch off and brings his arm back to Roseluck. “Good night Rose.”

“Good night Troy.” The two close their eyes as they drift off to, what they would hope to be, a peaceful night's slumber.

Something is moving and fidgeting near Roseluck. She can feel it in her sleep. Her eyes open from a wondrous slumber that only lasted a few hours. She sees that these movements are being done by Troy. He’s heavily breathing again, but this time, he isn’t crying. Instead, he is moving in his sleep. He keeps readjusting his head, arching and moving his back, it almost looks like a demon has possessed him.

“No, please,” Troy says in his sleep. “I’m here...I’m here...please listen to me….” These cries are sounding like Troy is desperately trying to get someone's attention. What type of dream is he having?

Roseluck is not sure what to make of the situation. Before she can take any sort of action, Troy shoots his eyes open. Roseluck, in that same moment, closes her eyes, pretending to sleep. She doesn’t want Troy to think he woke her up.

Troy takes a look around the room, heavily breathing at a very quick pace. Realizing it was only a dream, he lets out a huge sigh of relief. He looks down at Roseluck, who still has him in an embrace. He strokes the back of Roseluck’s head and then gives the top a slow nuzzle. He doesn’t think she’s awake, but mumbles “I’ll be right back” anyway. Being careful not to disturb his snuggle buddy, Troy slowly removes himself from Roseluck’s embrace and heads to the bathroom. When he gets in, he turns on the sink and starts to splash cold water on his face.

Roseluck opens an eye and turns her head ever so slightly. She sees Troy at the bathroom sink, splashing water on himself.

“Now I know for sure something’s bugging him,” she thinks to herself. “What that something is, I don’t know. Should I talk to him now or should I-” She sees Troy making his way back to bed. She brings her head back to its original spot and closes her eye. Hopefully Troy didn’t notice. Luck was on Rose’s side because Troy doesn’t notice anything upon returning to bed.

He gets back under the covers and embraces his snuggle buddy again. This time, he brings his face close to Roseluck’s forehead to give her a kiss. He moves his head back after doing so and says, “You’re such a great friend.” Troy closes his eyes and almost immediately, falls back asleep.

Roseluck opens both eyes this time and looks at Troy. “What was that?” she wonders. “I have to talk to somepony about this!”

“-and then he said, ‘You’re such a great friend’, right before he fell back asleep,” Roseluck says to Daisy and Lily. The flower shop is closed for lunch now. The three decided to go to Sugar Cube Corner for their meal and here, Roseluck told her friends what happened last night. “I’m starting to get worried girls,” she continues. “This is the second night that something like this happened.”

“I think it’s an opportune time to talk to him,” Daisy suggests. Lily nods in agreement. “When you get home tonight, make sure you two talk before you guys go to sleep. It’s crystal clear that something is bugging everypony’s favorite human. If there is something wrong with Troy, and you talk to him about it, he may have some closure on it and won’t have another bad dream...hopefully.”

“It does seem like a reasonable plan,” Lily adds. “I’d say give it a shot. I mean, you’re his best friend. If he were to talk to anypony about anything, he’d go to you first.” After hearing what her two friends have to say, Roseluck knows what needs to be done.

“You know what? I’m going to do that!” she says with dedication, slamming her hoof on the table. “I’m his friend and it’s my job to make sure he is not upset and to make sure he's happy!”

“Here here!” Pinkie Pie shouts from the other end of the building.

“You girls are great,” Roseluck addresses her two friends again. “What would I do without you two?”

“We’re great aren’t we?” Daisy says to Lily.

“Yeah we are!” Lily says back. Roseluck rolls her eyes at the fake ego those two are giving off. “So...we should get back to the flower shop, our lunch break is almost over.”

“Okay, let's go.” The three get up from their seats, thank the Cakes and Pinkie Pie for the lunch and head back to the shop for work.

It has been a long day at the shop. For the first time in nineteen months, there has been a complaint about an order. And the client was not much of a calm mare. She was seething mad! One could practically see steam coming out of her ears. All because there was one flower out of place in the bouquet. And the worst thing about it is near the end of the work day! So now, the thought of an upset customer is fresh in her mind.

But Roseluck tries to get the unsatisfied customer out of her head. She needs to have her mind set on Troy. Whatever has been making Troy cry or struggle in his sleep, Roseluck will find out. She just hopes Troy will be okay in the end.

By the time she reaches her house, she stops herself just at the door, hearing something on the other side. She can’t exactly make out what that something is, so she puts an ear to the door to listen.

“Please don’t go....please….” a voice says. It’s Troy’s! It sounds like he’s both begging and crying. Without hesitation, she swiftly opens the door and rushes to the source of the noise, which is the living room. She quickly makes her way into the room and sees Troy on the couch, eyes shut tight and water coming out of them, flowing like a river. It’s apparent that he might have tried to take a nap earlier, and the dream he is having is another bad one.

Roseluck rushes over to Troy and violently shakes him by his shoulders. “Wake up! Troy! Troy wake up!” After a few more shouts and few more shakes, Troy’s eyes shoot open. He looks scared and pale. He turns his head to see Roseluck.

“Rose….” he whispers. In one quick motion, he wraps his arms around her neck and hugs her tight as he could.

“Shh, there there. It’s okay bud. It was just a dream. I’m here, don’t worry.” She hugs her friend back, trying to comfort him.

They remain hugging for about ten minutes. That’s the amount of time it takes for Troy to calm down and stop crying. The two let go and Troy uses his index finger and thumb to wipe both eyes.

“We need to talk Troy,” Roseluck says in a light but serious way.

“I’m fine Roseluck. I’m rea-”

“No you’re not. The same thing happened last night and the night before. There’s something wrong and you need closure on it.” Roseluck hops up on the sofa and sits down next to her friend. “I’m concerned Troy.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

“I’m your friend! I should be concerned. If something upsets you, I want to help you. So tell me, what’s wrong?” Troy looks at the floor with a sad face. He keeps his head down for a few seconds and then lets out a sigh. Troy knew he had to open up. He just didn’t expect to today.

“Okay Rose, I’ll tell you. You know how I’m usually a positive person here?” She nods “Well, back home, I wasn’t. I was sad and miserable back on my home planet. It was because I have been neglected and ignored almost my whole life and I have been having flashes of these memories in my dreams lately.” Roseluck takes a moment to let that sink in. Neglected? Why would anyone neglect or ignore a great guy like Troy? “My mother never really cared for me, I wasn’t bullied, but at school, no one really bothered to talk to me. And when I tried to talk to anyone else, they just ignored me. I tried to become friends or get along with others, but they would never let me.”

“For...for how long?” Roseluck asks in a pitiful and sad tone.

“Almost my entire home life. But it gets worse. I also have abandonment issues too.”

“Wh...what?”

“I’ll start from the beginning. When I was three, my father got me a puppy. He was a cute little guy. I named him Sparky. I loved that dog like he was a brother. We’d always play fetch, run around the back yard, go the park, we did everything with each other. One day, about two or three years later, he went missing. I couldn’t find him. I put out posters, asked my parents to tell their co-workers, told my teachers, I asked anyone that would listen to me to get the word out. And after a month, no word on him. I was told Sparky ran away. I was so upset when I heard that he ran off." Troy's eyes are starting to well up again, voice getting more somber. "My little buddy left me. And it gets even worse.”

“What can be worse than your pet running away?” Roseluck thinks to herself.

“My father left me when I was nine. I loved my father to death and he loved me too. He spoiled me a bit. We’d go get ice cream all the time, go bowling, go fishing, he taught me how to play football, baseball, and so many other sports. I thought he was the best man in the entire world.”

“Why did he leave you?”

“He and my mother argued a lot. They argued about everything from favorite sports teams, what restaurant to go to, bills and expenses, literally everything.

“One day, he couldn’t take it anymore and just left. He left me with a mother who never bothered to care for me. I waited by the door for days, hoping he would come back...he never did. I lost two things that I have loved in my life. I kind of distanced myself self from others for a while. I felt that if there was something I loved, it will go away.”

“Oh my… wait, what about what you said about trying to talk to others?”

“I am still afraid of that. You see, I tried to conquer that fear by trying to talk to others. But neglect was all I got. You know, I am still afraid that if I do love something, it’ll go away. Hell, I don’t have any doubts about you, but I just have this fear that you or anyone else would leave me.” A few more tears were forming in Troy’s eyes. His voice is cracking a little. “I know you wouldn’t, I mean, you’re my best friend, I wouldn’t want to even think about it. But that fear of you leaving me is still there. I just can’t-” Before he could finish his sentence, Troy feels a tight embrace. He sees Roseluck embracing him in a bear hug, resting her chin on his shoulder and even crying into it.

“I cannot say that I can relate to you, but I understand what you’re feeling.” She removes her head from Troy’s shoulder and looks at him square in the eyes. “I’m going to tell you now Troy, I would never even dream of abandoning you or neglecting you. I’m your friend and that is the exact opposite of what a friend would do. I can vouch for everyone you have come close to in this town that they wouldn’t even dare doing any of those things to you. Everyone in this town, especially me, loves and cares for you.” Troy has not let out even a whimper. He was so enticed to listening to Roseluck and what she had to say. She genuinely meant every word she said, he could tell. He feels touched. He brings her back for a tighter hug, resting his own chin on her shoulder and letting more tears fall there. But not tears of sadness, tears of joy.

“Th-thank you Roseluck! I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you. You have done so much for me. I needed to talk about all of what has been happening in my sleep the past couple of days.”

“How do you feel?”

“It’s like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It’s like I needed-”

“Closure?”

“...Y-yeah.” Troy lifts his chin from Roseluck’s shoulder and looks her in the eyes. He then gives her a small kiss on the forehead. “Thank you,” he whispers.

“Anything for a friend,” she whispers back. She lets out a yawn after her statement. “I feel tired, I’m too lazy go to the bedroom.”

“Me too. Let’s just sleep here for the night. You okay with that?” Roseluck nods her head. Troy lays down on the couch and Roseluck is about to get on top of him, but stops herself. “Ahem.”

“What?” Using her eyes, she tells Troy to look down. He does so and looks at his shirt. “So? It’s just a shir….right.” Remembering what they had said the previous night, Troy takes off his shirt and tosses to a nearby armchair. Satisfied, Roseluck lays herself on top of Troy. Her fur gives Troy warmth and comfort, two things he needs in his life.

“So…” Roseluck starts off, “are you going to go back to your home world.” Troy shakes his head as he wraps his arms around his best friend.

“No. I am happy here in Ponyville, Equestria. I don’t think I’d want to leave any time soon.”

“Good. Because I’d miss my snuggle buddy,” Roseluck (somewhat) jokingly says as she wraps her forelegs around Troy’s neck.

“I’d miss you too.” He pauses and to take a breath and tightens his grip a little. “Good night bestie.”

“Goodnight buddy.” The two close their eyes and with each other, as snuggle buddies, they find comfort.

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