Lure of the Flower

by Impossible Numbers

…The Day They Planted the Seeds…

Every day was going to be sunny. That’s what they’d believed, on that first day, when they’d stood outside the florist’s for the first time. Not even the sun was shining as much as the lights in their eyes.

Daisy hopped forwards and beamed at the other two, rearing up to sweep a gesture over the building. “Well girls, did I deliver or did I de-li-ver?”

“Don’t get cocky. We haven’t even moved in yet,” Lily said, but more out of habit than actual animosity; her lights dimmed for only a moment. “For all we know, it could turn out to be a death-trap. Why’s it black-and-white?”

“I’ve heard of that,” piped up Roseluck. “It’s because it’s… what was the word…? Ah! Wattle-and-daub! That’s it. They used to make it using a load of cow manure, and –”

“Forget I asked,” Lily said quickly.

“Come on,” said Daisy, who fell back down onto all fours. “We’ve got all the time in the world to spruce up this place. At least the thatch is holding up well, and it’s very close to the Ponyville market.”

“I still say we should’ve bought a stall,” said Lily.

“Maybe later,” said Roseluck. She tapped her chin. “Although we must make this place look more… flowery.”

“Go on, Rose.” Daisy nodded to show willing. “I’m open to suggestions.”

Lily opened her mouth.

“Maybe later, we said,” muttered Daisy.

Lily glared and shut her mouth.

“As I was saying: go on, Rose.”

“Well…” Out of sheer nerves, Rose glanced at Lily and Daisy again before continuing, “Black and white isn’t really our colour scheme, is it? I was thinking a lovely mix of greens and pinks. Ooh, ooh, and I liked Lily’s idea about having a sign over the door.”

“Uh huh? Hanging off that balcony thing, you mean?”

“And,” said Lily, desperate not to be left out, “maybe we should hang some baskets there, and there, and just over there. Don’t simply put stock out the front on a boring display. Show the world the florist’s will flourish.”

“Yeah!” Roseluck’s front rose off the ground in excitement. “And, and, and we could twine some vine around the balcony rail. Nothing, you know, over-the-top. Keep it subtle. Delicate, even.”

Breathing the sweet country air, full of rich meadow perfumes and the lush scents of rain-kissed grasses, Daisy wiped her eyes. “Lily. Rose. You don’t know… how long I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

“Oh, Daisy. Please don’t.” Roseluck cooed and stepped forwards to pat her on the shoulders.

“I mean, we’ve talked about it for years, and I was starting to think we’d never do it. Us. All three of us. Our own florist’s.”

“They were some pretty good years,” Lily said. Following Roseluck’s example, she went to stand by Daisy’s side and rubbed her from neck to flank gently. “Think of it this way; we’ll be doing the exact same job we’ve been doing since school together. Only this time, we’re indoors and not standing outside on a street corner.”

“Or at that home-made stand that kept falling over when the breeze picked up,” said Roseluck.

“I know, I know.” Sniffing, Daisy wiped her nose on the back of her hoof. “I’m being ridiculous.”

“No, Daisy, please don’t think that.”

“There, there,” said Lily brightly. “This is your big moment, fair enough, but we got this, all three of us. And this is just the start! We’ll get so used to the new place, we’ll forget things were any different!”

“And,” said Roseluck, “we’ve still got some of my bouquets left over from the Summer Sun Celebration. That’ll keep us going while we set up shop.”

“All I have to do is wheel the garden plants over, do a bit of digging out the back, and voila! Or ‘voi-lets!’ if you like. Our brave new world begins!”

The two of them simply patted or rubbed while Daisy tried to climb down from whatever heights her mind had soared towards, far up high and lost for breath or words.

“Brave new world?” Daisy sniffed damply.

“I’ve been doing some reading,” said Lily in what she clearly thought was a casual voice. “Classics, mainly. That was from The Turbulence. Oh, and I’ve almost finished Core of Shadows, at the moment, actually.”

Eventually, Daisy took a weak breath and nodded. As one, the others stepped aside to let her have room.

“You’re right…” she mumbled. More eloquently, she continued, “You’re right. But I feel as though I’ve taken my first step, on… on this grand adventure.”

“Whoa,” said Roseluck, chuckling. “Trim that particular branch, Daisy. We’re only opening a shop.”

Lily snorted. “Don’t tell me you’re not excited?”

“Excited? Of course I’m excited! This is the greatest moment of my life!” Hastily, Roseluck coughed and shrank back down. “I simply don’t get carried away. That easily. Not me.”

“Right. Not you.”

Shaking her head at them both, Daisy stepped away to take in the entire front of the cottage. No, correction: of what had once been a cottage. The last owner was merely another pony among ponies. They, however? They were going to turn this place into an emporium of colours. A home for Celestia’s gift to the world. The sanctuary for sun-soaked leaves and complex petals, mazes for the eye to run through, and galleries so rich any visitor would lose themselves…

Roseluck backed into place beside her. “Our brave new world. Like Lily said.”

“Yeah,” was all they could get out of Daisy.

“We’re gonna be the greatest florists Ponyville ever had.” Lily took her place on the other side.

“Yeah.”

They bathed in the moment, warmed by the sun, and cooled by the flow of the breeze like water seeping through their limbs to quench their hearts.

“How many’s that, exactly?” said Roseluck.

“Oh,” Lily said with a tut in her voice, “trust you to ruin the mood.”

“Do you hear something?” said Daisy. She cocked an ear.

They raised an eyebrow each at her, and then did the same. Nothing at first…

“I must have imagined it –” Daisy began.

“No, I hear it too.” Roseluck’s ear swivelled, aiming down the street. “It’s coming from over there.”

Lily copied her, but with both ears and a frown of concentration. “Well, I don’t hear anything – wait! Now I hear it! That thundering noise.”

As one, they looked up.

“No storm clouds, though,” said Daisy. “And is it me, or does it sound like it’s getting closer?”

“It kind of does, doesn’t it?” said Roseluck.

Rumbles suggested themselves as the tremor slowly crept up their stiffened limbs. Peering down the street, they saw the distant haze of brown against the endless green of Ponyville’s vegetarian-inspired lanes and streets. Possibly a pony shrieked or yelled: hard to tell from here.

“Uh… girls…” Lily gulped.

Daisy sidled up to the cottage’s front door. Unspoken, and yet spreading among them loud and clear, the panic played over their faces, and they met each other’s eyes.

“That brown thing…” Roseluck bit her lip.

“It looks exactly like something that’s coming this way, doesn’t it?” said Daisy. “Not that it is, of course.”

They watched it for a while. White shapes faded and grew into existence among the oncoming dust cloud. Faint moos heralded them.

At which point, Lily jolted into life and threw herself at the door. “Stampede! STAMPEDE!”

Neither Daisy nor Roseluck waited. The door slammed. The dark interior cradled them. All three pressed their faces against the window, and the glass hummed with vibrations.

Cows. Thundering, bellowing, lowing, mooing, stamping, mud-churning cows. Splattering soil bounced off the windows. Dust outside hid everything below a fleet of boxlike torsos. Ponies opposite peered out of cottage windows or drew back curtains. All three of them yelped as a wide-eyed specimen crashed into the side of the shop, denting the wall, cracking the timber, bulging the wattle-and-daub filling.

Overhead, a trio of pegasi kept pace with the herd. One of them stopped, glowered at the stampede, and then vanished in a flash of rainbows which, on any other day, would have left the beauty-conscious mares fanning their faces out of sheer admiration.

Instead, they huddled together and closed their eyes.

Eventually, the cows’ cacophony swept by. The thundering lowered to a dull silence. Vibrations and tremors died away.

All three of them crouched further. Since they still clung to each other, the result was that Lily rested on Daisy, who in turn rested on Roseluck.

Eyes opened. Now they didn’t have to look at the road outside.

“Daisy?” said Roseluck.

“Y-Yeah?” said Daisy.

“Are you… OK?”

Only brave enough to shake her head, Daisy refused to speak further.

Lily broke ranks; she shot up and gasped. “Oh my gosh! The road! Look what they’ve done to the road!”

“I’d rather not,” whimpered Roseluck. Humming in agreement, Daisy clung tighter to her midriff.

In the end, they did look. It was not a pretty sight.

“Oh my gosh!” said Roseluck. “Those gardens! Look what they’ve done to those gardens!”

“The gardens!?” wailed Lily. “Look what they’ve done to the street!”

As one, they glanced at the dented wall. Fresh screams broke out between Roseluck and Lily. Daisy shrank back, breaking out of their scared scrum.

“Just like that…” she breathed.

“Look what they’ve done to our shop!” the other two shouted, right in each other’s faces.

“The horror! The horror!” cried Lily, and she curled up on the floorboards.

Around them, the interior was nothing. Empty as a crate, throwing their voices back at them, and smelling of disinfectant and cleaning fluids: their cottage left them abandoned amid dead timber and lifeless dust.

“What?” said Daisy. Her voice echoed woodenly amid the caged silence.

“It’s what Ivory Curse said near the end of Core of Shadows.” Lily spoke through her curled-up forelimbs. “This is it, girls! This is the dark heart of Equestria! There we were, thinking we’d have our best chance in Ponyville town, and now BOOM! The shadows found us! We’re doomed! Doomed! Oh, the horror! The horror! The horror!”

“D-Don’t t-t-talk like that, L-L-Lily…” Roseluck gripped her and tried to curl up beside her. “It’s n-not that b-b-bad.”

“We’ll get trampled on! We’ll get squashed!”

“Squashed!?” squeaked Roseluck.

“We’ll get annihilated!”

“Annihilated!?” squeaked Daisy.

“And the flowers!” Lily wailed. “Those poor flowers! What if we’d brought them today!? We nearly brought them up here, today, when that happened!”

Suddenly overcome, they all slumped onto the floor. Three thumps rang on through the ensuing silence whilst they lay there, dazed by their own nightmares.

“‘Horror’ is right,” groaned Roseluck into the floorboards. “This world wasn’t meant to have us in it. No matter where we go, something dreadful is gonna happen sooner or later.”

“Monster attacks,” whispered Daisy on her back.

“Deadly diseases,” whined Lily on her side.

“Overcrowding ponies,” moaned Roseluck on her front.

“Tight deadlines.”

“Ruined flowers.”

“Evil curses and wicked enchantresses!”

Lily sat up. “Hey, that’s not fair. You just said two things. Give us a fair turn.”

“Sorry,” said Roseluck, raising her head off the ground.

Both of them flopped and groped and eased themselves off the floor, standing shakily on all fours. Enclosed within these four walls, they could forget the world outside for a moment.

Daisy rolled and turned her back on them. Hooves clopped over to her.

“Er…” said Lily.

“Daisy?” whispered Roseluck. “Are you OK? You’re usually up first.”

Sighing, Daisy slumped and fell onto her spine. Her curls bunched behind her head as the only cushion she was likely to get in life. Her limbs stuck straight up as though in rapid rigor mortis.

“Who are we kidding?” she said. “In a classroom, on a street, outside our own shop… It doesn’t matter where we are. We don’t change. We can’t change. ‘Delicate little flowers’, they said.”

The other two exchanged blank, careful faces.

“We’re getting better at it,” Roseluck said. “After all, we didn’t pass out that time.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Lily said.

“Yeah, and where does that end?” On the floor, Daisy’s head sank further until it tilted up and she stared at the untouched ceiling, seeing nothing. “Let’s face it; even among other ponies, we’re jumpy. We’re just jokes.”

“Please get up,” said Roseluck, nudging her leg.

“I don’t want to.” Daisy’s eyelids began to creep over her eyes. “I just want to lie here, where it’s nice and peaceful, and just… rest.”

Lily gave her leg a kick. “Oh no you don’t. You’re not leaving us to do all the work. Come on, Daisy. This isn’t funny.”

“You don’t have to work,” Daisy snapped. More calmly, she said, “Why not take a nap, though? After all, nothing bad ever happens to you in a dream. No one laughs at you or makes comments about what a coward you are. Left alone in your own world, where there’s nothing horrible, and there are no consequences. No responsibilities. Only you, your mind, and your own place, where no one can –”

“Look,” said Lily with teeth-clenched sympathy, “I get it. We’re all scared. But with the three of us together –”

“Scared?” Daisy sat up so fast she almost rocked herself forwards and onto all fours; the other two stepped smartly out of range. “Excuse me? I just want a timeout, that’s all. ‘Scared’. Pfft.”

They didn’t say anything else, but Daisy rolled onto her back again and the three of them glared at each other.

Sadly, it was all true. For each of them, from sunrise to sunset, the nostalgia when they rose out of bed matched only the relief when they got into it again. Dreams were soft. Dreams flowed. Best of all, dreams weren’t real. They didn’t hold the girls’ reputation like a limp flower between hooves, all too easily snapped or plucked or dropped and stepped upon.

At least this was Ponyville. The town was so full of weirdoes that three more – even three scaredy-cats who were the first indoors if it so much as rained out of schedule – didn’t draw much comment. No one was rude, per se, except for Shoeshine, who seemed constitutionally incapable of not being rude.

But the instant the three ponies screamed or fainted or yelled terrible things, anyone nearby would whisper, or glance sidelong, or shake their heads meaningfully. Daisy, Lily, and Roseluck, they’d say: those three could make a murder inquiry out of a dead magnolia. They’re like overgrown breezies in a gale.

Why didn’t they just hide from the world, for their own good?

And it was no good whatsoever pointing out that the destruction of a flower – the desecration of beauty – was indeed a high crime. That kind of response did nothing to stop the whispers and the glances and the head-shaking. Eventually, it became normal. Three cowards, trapped between the pages of a popular book, their cowardice preserved in the public consciousness. Even other flower ponies, like Junebug, thought they were drama queens.

Worse, they’d objected when they were foals once. They’d said they had other interests. And…

Well, at least their cowardice got them some kind of notice. Otherwise, they were just another bunch of earth ponies. Nothing special. Nothing remarkable. All as ephemeral as spring crocuses.

So they’d become the Flower Trio. They had to. They lived on their nerves so often that sooner or later they’d need new ones, and thus they lived on each other’s nerves too. Years had passed before they could even afford this place.

“All right,” said Daisy, defeated. She scrambled onto her four hooves again. “Now what?”

“Erm,” said Roseluck. “I was kinda hoping you’d tell us.”

Daisy looked from one concerned face to the other. “Why? You don’t want to change the plan?”

“Do you?” said Lily.

“Me? I hadn’t even thought about it! Why me?”

“Well, you are the one who bought this place,” said Roseluck, blushing.

“So what? It’s our place, not mine. Look, let’s get the stuff and set up, OK? I’ll feel better in a minute. Just give me some time… to steady myself… and then we’re good.”

“See? You always know what to do!” said Roseluck brightly. “You’re so can-do about everything! If there’s a smashed pot to pick up, or a tally to take, or a corsage to consider, you’re there!”

“Um…” said Daisy. “Well… I suppose the plan hasn’t really changed. Don’t leave anything outside, in case of – Well, just don’t leave anything outside. We’ll have to get someone to look at that wall… Big Mac might do it, and we will pay him for his trouble Lily yes I’m looking at you.”

“What!?” Lily spluttered. “But he always says ‘No charge!’”

“And I say we uphold trading standards, and if Big Mac takes time and effort to fix that wall –”

“He’s built like an ox! Time and effort do not apply!”

“– then we will give him something for his trouble.” More gently, she added, “It’s the principle of the thing.”

Roseluck flapped a foreleg with excitement. “Or, or, or we could do it ourselves? That’d save on money and get our wall back into shape quick as a wink.”

Not for the first time in her life, and definitely not for the last, Daisy sighed in the wake of Roseluck’s enthusiasm. “No, Roseluck, because Lily knows nothing about wall repair, I know nothing about wall repair, and the only thing you know about wall repair is when you’ve done something that needs it.”

“I’ve been really good about that lately,” said Roseluck, and there was a yip of pain in her voice. “I’ll find something I’m good at other than botany.”

“And I’ll be right there behind you –”

“With a hard hat,” muttered Lily.

“– and so will Lily –”

“Also with a hard hat.”

“– but until then, we’ve run out of walls to safely demolish. So please, please, please just keep to the schedule? And no more interior decorating, OK? Please?”

Some ponies used the puppy dog pout, others used the watery eye treatment, but Daisy managed the same effect with a smile like a… well, like a daisy. Small, pretty, requiring little effort to find, and more effective at melting Roseluck’s heart than a dragon going against a shield made of chocolate.

“Oh all right,” said Roseluck.

“I admire your drive and passion, Rose, but there’s a time and place to experiment, OK?”

“OK.”

Satisfied, Daisy nodded and turned to Lily. “As for you, Lily, I think we’ll take care of that digging –”

“Excuse me,” said Lily at once, “but I don’t remember electing you President of the Flower Nation.”

“No,” muttered Daisy, but not quietly enough. “You’d vote for yours truly.”

“Well, you’d vote for yours truly too!”

“I’d vote for a coalition!” said Roseluck brightly. Her “brightly” was a warning light, cracking slightly.

“I have a much better idea,” said Lily – her pink face reddening as she spoke – and she stormed over to the window. “After that, we ought to do a risk assessment. List every little thing that could possibly go wrong, and find some way to anticipate each one.”

“Like what?” snapped Daisy.

Dramatically lit by the sunlit cottages through the window – and almost certainly why she’d chosen to stand there in the first place – Lily spun on the spot, face about to explode. “Meteor strikes.”

While the ponies outside left their doors and chattered and milled about doing something, Daisy waited before speaking. “Oh, for Pete’s sake…”

“No, it’s a very serious and highly relevant issue! According to several files from the Royal Astronomer’s Society of Canterlot, the likelihood of a meteor strike is always at the soonest possible time, with the probability getting lower the further away from now you are and the further into the future you go. It’s science!”

“Oooh,” said Roseluck, impressed. “Science said that?”

“Yep,” said Lily smugly. “Therefore, the only sensible course of action is to act today. Now. While you still have a chance.” She looked Daisy up and down. “I notice you didn’t put the survival kit on the list of things to pack, by the way.”

“Lily!” snapped Daisy, and when she snapped a carnivorous flytrap couldn’t have moved faster or snapped louder. “Your conspiracy books are not scientific! They’re written by hacks!”

“Daisy, for shame! I thought you weren’t prejudiced!”

After their lips had moved quietly working this out, Daisy continued, “I meant the other kind of hack. Are you taking those pills Nurse Redheart gave you?”

Lily took a step forwards. “I told you: I don’t trust pills! There could be anything in those little capsules!”

Daisy took a step forwards. “Lily, listen to me: this is a fresh start, and I’m not having you going off on one of your nutty moments ruining it!”

“Well, excuse me if I’m not lackadaisical, Daisy Flower Wishes! You come see me when a meteor flattens the building, and then you can tell me I’m having a nutty moment!”

“Lackadaisical!? This is exactly why they call you ‘Lily-Liver’, did you know that!? This is exactly why they think we’re more highly strung than a grand piano! For once, I want to walk down the street without someone making a comment about my fainting habits!”

“You mean you want to be a boring wallflower no one notices! Just like that pegasus Fluttershy!”

At this Daisy’s mouth was knocked into a little “o”. “Who’s Fluttershy?”

“Exactly my point!”

“Girls, please!” wailed Roseluck.

The two of them blinked, face-to-face and literally so. As one, they backed off.

Daisy’s body went through a series of spasms trying to find something to say. Her mouth spluttered. Then she straightened up.

“Lily, please…”

“All right, all right.” Lily rounded on the door. “I’m going to get the pots. For the good of the Flower Trio: I got it. I’m going, OK?”

There was no bell to jingle. Hinges simply creaked; the four-by-four simply slammed.

Daisy slumped and groaned on the floor, keeling over. Her curly mane cushioned her head again. Taking tiny steps, Roseluck shuffled over to look down at her from the side.

“If I have to go one more round with her…” moaned Daisy.

“Then I’ll know your friendship’s still going strong,” said Roseluck.

“You think that was friendship? I was horrible to her!”

“You work hard. It’s natural to feel a bit stressed when someone starts arguing with you. Just promise me you’ll go easy on her, OK?”

“Lily? Dear gosh, Rose! She’s so utterly sure she’s right all the time –”

“That’s because she’s nervous. She’s worried about us, Daisy, even if she has a weird way of showing it. I’ve heard her go on late at night in her sleep, the poor thing. Trust me, she’ll be feeling as guilty as you right now.”

Daisy’s mouth twisted up with the strain of trying to believe that. She’d never been invited to Lily’s place after dark; much less had she eavesdropped on her in her sleeping bag. Even among the three of them, there seemed to be limits, lines they couldn’t cross, invisible “KEEP OFF THE GRASS” signs, and secret gardens hidden behind gigantic, forbidding walls covered with ivy.

So it was only with a flicker of remorse on her lips that she parted them and asked; “Rose, can you keep a secret?”

“No,” said Roseluck miserably. “I’m terrible with secrets. Mouth like a leaky bucket.” Daisy’s glare prompted her to add, “But I can make exceptions.”

If Daisy had been building up to something, then she clearly wasn’t finished yet; she fidgeted where she lay, twining her hooves with worry, chewing her cheeks and lips. She rolled onto all fours again and headed for the backroom.

“Where are you going?” Roseluck’s voice echoed up the stairs after her.

“I wanna show you something. I moved it here earlier.”

“Moved what here earlier?”

“It’s in the bedroom.” Door creaking, Daisy turned and beckoned her up. “Won’t take long.”

It wasn’t much of a bedroom: one iron bedstead, one stained mattress, and scraps of blue wallpaper in all the corners. Roseluck cringed at the sight of the damp.

“Wow,” she said, “we seriously need to redecorate. Give me five hours and I’m sure I could whip up –”

“Roseluck? Not the time. Ever. Come over here.” Daisy leaped to the bed’s side. “I put it here earlier before fetching you two. Lily shouldn’t need to see this, but I thought you’d understand where I’m coming from.”

“What is it?”

Daisy grinned and fished under the mattress. “You’ll see.”

With a moment to herself, Roseluck took in the rest of the bedroom. Or rather, didn’t: she cringed from it instead. It had all the charm and finish of the room downstairs, crying out for remedy. Damp, dust, and a dismal sense that the last owner had done away with anything too extravagant for a prison cell…

When her gaze fell on Daisy, she stopped cringing. Daisy’s cheeks made roses look pale. Her one foreleg hid something behind her back.

“Rose,” she said, her voice steady for the moment, “we’ve known each other a long time, right?”

“Well, sure, we’ve been friends since the first day of school.”

“Right, right. Um.” She coughed, and now her gaze darted about the room. “Only… you don’t know everything about me. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have even thought about showing you this, and I’m definitely not showing Lily. She’d take it the wrong way.”

Her gaze darted about the room, sure, but definitely not at Roseluck, who pouted suspiciously.

“What’s this leading up to?” she said.

Daisy swallowed. “Don’t laugh.”

“Why would I laugh?”

“Promise you won’t laugh.”

“Well, if I don’t know what the joke is, how can I promise I won’t laugh?” At Daisy’s sharp look, she added, “OK, I promise not to laugh. What is this all of a sudden?”

“I’ve never shown anyone this before now,” continued Daisy, and her voice shook. “Up till today, it didn’t matter, because – we – were like – schoolfillies. Only now we’ve actually got a place – I think – before we officially leave – fillyhood – er, um – I should get this out of the way and wave goodbye to it.”

By now, Roseluck was staring at her, stretching her face as though uncertain whether to take a bombshell or take a running jump out the window.

“What –?” she began.

Fluidly, Daisy’s forelimb flexed forwards, and, nestled between hoof and ergot, was a book.

Thump! Onto the floor. Smack! Opened the cover. Daisy rustled through a few pages and then her hoof came down with a slap.

“I’ve had this since I started school…” she said.

Roseluck squinted.

“It’s a picture,” she said. “Of a flower.”

Disappointment crushed her voice. Desperately, the hoof slapped the page again.

“Not just any flower,” said Daisy, tumbling over her words. “This beauty is the Dream Lotus.”

Roseluck shrugged and, typical of her mindset, contrived to add some stoop to it at the same time. “Sorry. It looks like a mauve carnation to me. What is this book?”

“Oh, Lotophagus nozickii,” said Daisy with a shiver of delight. “This, Roseluck –” she tapped the page faster and faster before letting go “– is one of the rarest, most magical, and most unmanageable plants ever known. It’s said that if you infuse a body of water with the crushed petals of the Dream Lotus, a horse hair dipped into it will turn into a snake.”

“Er… is it mythical… or…?”

Daisy tittered. She was not one of nature’s experts in that area, but the tinkling sound sent a shiver of a wholly different kind down Roseluck’s spine.

“You’d have to travel far and wide to find this species,” continued Daisy. “Harder to seek than the four corners of the world. More powerful than the princesses themselves. Wilder than all the mindless monsters combined. Can you imagine how famous someone would be if they succeeded? Found it? Brought it back? Kept it alive and cared for it?”

“Why’s it called the Dream Lotus?” Roseluck leaned sideways trying to read upside-down.

“That’s one of its special powers. You see, legend tells us that anyone who eats the flower will gain the power to enter the world of –”

“And come back?” said Roseluck with sudden sharpness. The voice was a jab with a needle; Daisy jumped.

“Uh…” she said. “No…”

“Why would anyone want that?”

Daisy shrugged. “I don’t know. Not like I – Not like anyone has to eat it. Think of how famous you’d be if you had one, though.”

“This is a real flower, is it?” said Roseluck, narrowing one eye.

“Well, I mean,” said Daisy over her own resurrecting blush, “I was very young at the time, and now – now we’re basically mares – I thought I’d tell someone about… about something secret. I loved the idea. The story was OK, but the idea? That was my childhood dream, to find one of those!”

Showing natural showmareship, she reared up and spread her forelimbs wide. Her smile, for a moment, was a memory of a foal.

Yet Roseluck scowled. “And knowing this, you’ve been picking on Lily the whole time?”

The foal’s memory dashed back into Daisy’s depths. Her widely spread forelimbs inched downwards.

“I, uh… I just…”

“That’s really unfair, you know. How would you like it if I told her what you used to believe in?”

“Don’t!” Daisy lunged for the book, bringing her kneeling before Roseluck. “She wouldn’t understand!”

“I don’t think I do either.” Roseluck shook her head, a pitying crease surrounding her gaze. “What was that, anyway? Sure, it’s a nice story, but it’s not like the flower’s real.”

“Of course… it… isn’t. Just please, please, please don’t tell anyone!”

“What? That it’s not real?”

“No!” Daisy struggled back onto all fours. “That I told you about all this.”

Fortunately, Roseluck decided to back off; she giggled and covered her mouth. Around them, the empty room flatly slapped the echoes onto their ears.

“Daisy, you surprise even me,” she said. “I won’t tell anyone. If you don’t mind me saying so, that’s really cute!”

Daisy’s ears drooped. “I just thought… Well, I wanted to say… Oh, I don’t know. Someone else had to know besides me.” More brusquely, she straightened up and snapped the book shut. “Never mind. The past’s the past. We don’t have time for this. Right now, I’m getting the bit between my teeth.”

“Eh?” said Roseluck, who hadn’t pushed herself in the literary department.

“It means we’ve got work to do!” Daisy’s smile peeked through the clouds again. “Woohoo! I’ll be relieved once we get all this malarkey out of the way, I can tell you that much.”

“Like a hen laying an egg!” said Roseluck, who really hadn’t pushed herself in the literary department.

“Eh?”

“Oh, nothing. Just trying to be smart, I guess.”

Yet on her way out after Roseluck, Daisy stopped, and turned, and took in the room. Bare, except for the bed. The bed: bare except for the book. The book…

Had once been full. But now was bare too.

Roseluck peered over her shoulder. “What is it?”

There were more pressing issues, they knew. Flowers and furniture were only the top of the mountain; holding them up were the lesser figures of their budget. Sure, this budget had come from their child selves, but they were adults, and adults did not hang about when the shop didn’t even have a bell.

Still, Daisy did not move.

When Roseluck opened her mouth to ask, she finally heard Daisy say, “Just give me a minute. I’ll catch you up.”

Astonishingly, the mare followed this up by striding over to the bed, cradling the book to her chest, and flinging herself onto the mattress, which, against all dramatic appropriateness, squelched.

Yet again, Daisy did not move. She merely stared at the ceiling.

“You OK?” said Roseluck. The bed-flinging and the staring were old acquaintances; Roseluck had always shut the door behind her before she ever had a chance to ask what they did for a living. Somehow, it didn’t look right seeing a grown-up Daisy reunite with them.

Daisy hummed in a monotone.

“Well, OK. If you’re sure.”

Another unwavering hum.

“By the way,” said Roseluck on her way out, “here’s some good news I forgot to mention; I heard on the grapevine they’re hosting next year’s Summer Sun Celebration right here! In Ponyville! Think of all the flowers we could sell! That’ll see us shooting to the top, won’t it?”

Daisy hummed without enthusiasm. “Just so long as it’s less rowdy than this year’s. Thank goodness hardly anything happens around here…”

Before she guided the door shut, Roseluck’s last image was of Daisy, lying on the bed: an unsmiling child again.

---

Comments

[Impossible Numbers]

Might be a bit of a gap before the next chapter comes out, just so you're kept in the loop. This one was a biggie, and there are a few later scenes that need a bit more attention. For now, enjoy flashbacks with flowers!

[Whinifree]

8822995
Weird. I didn’t get a notification you’d replied to my comment. Anyway, I’m really enjoying this story. Keep it up!

[Impossible Numbers]

8824149

Oh, that happens occasionally. I've been surprised a couple of times that way by replies I didn't even know I'd received. Not sure why it happens, though.

And thanks! Will see what I can do, now we're well and truly past the halfway mark, to make it a big finish.

[Whinifree]

8824275
Still got a ways to go on mine, but I’m doing better with getting more written more quickly. Just a matter of waiting on edits. And I got a notice about this reply so

[redmar]

Daisy really tempted fate with that last statement and she should know better giving that the village is right next to a monster infested forest of death.