Praising Daisy

by Lockstep

The Nonissue

“These stems are short,” said Lily impartially. She set the bundle of roses on the counter beside the register. “You want me to cut some new ones, or will you take a discount on these?”

The colt shuffled his hooves, afraid his order might cause trouble in the small flower shop. “No, um, these are perfect,” he stammered. “Really. I’ll just pay full price, if that’s okay.”

“That’s twelve bits,” Lily rung up the order without a second thought. The customer raised an eyebrow and placed a small bag of coins on the counter. Lily’s face was deadpan.

“Here’s your change,” she said. “Please come again.”

“Uh, thanks.”

He trotted away with the roses in his teeth, and Lily stared after him until he was out of earshot. When the coast was clear, she hallooed into the wide, open-air garden to the shop’s rear. “Hey Daisy, can you come in here for a second?”

Unlike her friend and the shop’s owner Lily, Daisy possessed a dazzling smile that almost never failed to adorn her features. She had just begun the morning’s work in the shop’s garden filling orders for the early customers, and was savoring her time among the flowers. She padded over to Lily’s post, her green eyes wide and cheerful, and the day’s first beads of sweat glistening on her brow.

“That last order had short stems,” Lily stated as Daisy sat beside her. “I almost had to give the guy a discount.”

“Oh, Lily!” Daisy sighed enduringly. “If his order was wrong, he should have gotten a discount! I hope you said you were sorry at least.”

“Yeah, I did, he was okay with it,” Lily brushed off her concern. “But why were the stems weird? Too much of that and we’ll start losing customers.”

Daisy rolled her eyes. Her friend’s demeanor behind the counter would drive away more customers than any number of shoddy stems could. It was a good thing Lily was only filling in for Roseluck, who had taken the day off to celebrate a cousin’s birthday.

“I’ll be more careful next time,” Daisy apologized with a resigned grin. She stood and started toward the garden, asking “Anything else?” for politeness’ sake.

“Yeah, actually,” Lily said, motioning for her to sit. The shop was empty; Lily wanted to take advantage of the lull in business, and her old friend was happy to oblige. “How’s it going with Colton?” she asked.

Daisy blushed and brought her hooves to her face, and Lily laughed lightheartedly. “You’re still blushing?” she teased, “Hasn’t it been a month since you guys started going out? Talk about head-over-hooves.”

“I can’t help it!” Daisy whined, her smile widening. Admittedly, she had been thinking of him only moments ago in the garden, which was likely the reason behind the shabby order. She thought the world of him, and everypony in Ponyville knew; sales had risen lately just from ponies visiting the flower shop to congratulate her. Apparently, she and Colton had become a regular topic of the town’s gossip circles in the last year. Even Rarity, the most prestigious designer (and most esteemed gossip) in Ponyville, insisted on smartening the dress Daisy wore on their first date free of charge. She was living in a dream, and nopony wanted to break the illusion. Yet there was something…

“He’s in your head!” Lily warned. The young filly struggled to maintain the subject with a straight face, as familiar as she was with Daisy’s charms. The older mare’s smile was dangerously infectious. “That’s why the roses were short—I’m gonna make Colton pay for all these discounts we’re handing out.”

“Very funny,” Daisy taunted. “With you at the register, everypony will pay full price even if we give them lumps of dirt!”

The two burst into giggles just as another customer approached. They settled down long enough to fill her order and then returned to the subject.

“So, what’ve you guys been doing so far?” Lily asked. “Hit any milestones yet?”

“Oh no, Colton’s a very safe driver.”

“What? No. What?” Lily shook her head with her hoof on her face. “I’m asking if you’ve had any important ‘firsts’ yet, you know? Like going through the haunted house at a festival or making a promise on the beach at night. I guess giving you a carriage ride is something, but what else?”

“Oh!” Daisy turned her eyes upward in thought. “Well, we already did the ‘first date’ thing…”

Lily’s face fell to its familiar deadpan. “Are you joking?”

“And we gazed at the stars over his vineyard last week, but you already know that.”

“Yes, go on.”

“And we…made dinner together last night.”

“That’s what I was looking for,” Lily stomped a satisfied hoof. “How was it? What’d you make?”

“Well,” Daisy mumbled, “He brought a bottle of sparkling grape juice he said he’d been saving for the occasion, but—”

“Aww!” Lily interrupted, “I bet he prepared it before you started dating and kept it special, the sappy colt. Does that mean you made the main course?”

“Yeah,” Daisy whispered, and Lily watched in shock as her lovely smile faded. “I made Daisy Surprise, because you’ve always liked it so much, but he…” her eyes shone with tears as they met Lily’s. “I don’t think he liked it.”

“Wait, what?” Lily leaned forward, astonished. “He didn’t like it? How? Why? What did that jerk say was wrong with it?”

Daisy nervously tapped her forehooves together. “He said he loved it.”

Lily cocked her head and breathed dramatically, “The horror!”

“It’s petty of me, I know!” Daisy dithered. “He said he loved it, and he said it was good, and when I asked him again he told me he liked it, but other than that he kind of just…ate it.”

Lily’s frown deepened with worry. “Are you feeling okay, Daisy? Is having your head in the flowers making you woozy? Because this really isn’t adding up.”

“It’s probably nothing,” Daisy admitted, though she was anxious to voice her pent-up concerns, “but he’s always saying that things are ‘good’ or ‘great’ or ‘nice.’ I’m just not sure if he means any of it! Here, wait a second.” She dashed into the garden out back, plucked a daisy and spat it onto the counter. “How would you describe this flower?”

“Wet.” Lily wiped her friend’s saliva off the counter with a rag and set the flower down again.

“No, see, you’d call it gorgeous or magnificent!” Daisy heaved, and her blush returned. “You’d say, ‘Why, that is the most wonderful flower I’ve ever seen!’ You’d say, ‘This flower is incredible, Daisy; I’ve never beheld anything so perfect. It’s soft and pure and delicious, just like your—’”

“No, I wouldn’t!” Lily cut her off. “Who’d say something like that?”

“Colton!” Daisy shouted passionately. Ponies walking on the street outside the shop overheard, and they turned about to look for the colt in question. “Colton should say that! I mean,” she lowered her voice as the passers-by stared, “he would say that if it was what he really thought, right? But I think if I showed him this flower, he’d just call it ‘pretty.’ Whether he loves me or loves me not, sometimes it’s hard to tell, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” Lily said tautly. “I know that you’re half crazy all for the love of him, and all that craziness is messing with you when he’s not around.” She reached a foreleg over her friend’s sagging shoulders, which was quite a stretch for the shorter pony. “You’re making a big deal out of nothing. Trust me, I’ve known him forever and he’s an idiot—he doesn’t even know he’s doing anything wrong.”

Daisy sniffed. “Thanks, Lily. I bet you’re right. I guess I don’t understand colts very well, huh?”

“That’s right, I’m right.” Lily sat tall and gave her a confident smile. “You just need to stay busy so you don’t overthink things.”

“That sounds good.”

“That’s why I’m leaving the shop to you today.”

“What.”

“Yup,” Lily shrugged a saddlebag onto her back. “After all the hard work I’ve put in, I’m off to treat myself to a new game or six. It’s a slow day for some reason; don’t worry, I think you can handle it.”

“No, please Lily!” Daisy begged, “You can’t leave me here alone!”

“Then I hope you get lots of customers,” Lily called over her shoulder as she stepped out of the shop into the morning light. “You gotta stay busy, right?”

---

Colton’s vineyard wasn’t very distant from Ponyville, but the walk was longer than Lily was accustomed to making, sedentary as she normally was. The sweet aroma of his crop hung softly in the air, and her stomach rumbled. She’d have to ask for a drink when she arrived.

The cobblestone path out of Ponyville transitioned into a narrow dirt road surrounded by wide, grassy planes and low hills speckled with wild flowers, and the vineyard rolled into view in the distance. The property was small, but its product was quality: Colton often had trouble meeting demand for his grapes because he refused to consider raising his prices. To Lily, it seemed as if he was actively avoiding his own success—not a quality she admired in a colt dating her best friend. She had lectured him on the topic before, and she intended to do so again today, but a closer look at the nearing vineyard distracted her from these thoughts. A heavy cloud of dust was slowly rising from behind the modest wooden house seated among the grapes.

Lily closed the remaining distance at a trot and knocked on the front door. Colton was in the back, obviously—the agitated rustling and dust confirmed that—but she wanted to be able to say she tried the front door before intruding. After a moment of patience, decorum satisfied, she hustled around the side to discover the situation.

She found Colton shuffling back and forth between the crops and his home, mumbling frustratedly, his hooves scraping trenches in the soft earth. Intermittently he stamped the ground and bucked the side of his home, breaking off ancient layers of dry soil that erupted into the air. His head hung low, so he didn’t acknowledge Lily’s arrival. That wouldn’t do.

“HEY, COLTON!”

The colt jumped in surprise and attempted an awkward turn in midair, which caused him to land heavily on his side. Winded, he stumbled up from the ground to welcome her. “Oh, hello Daisy—I mean Lily. Hello, Lily. Sorry.”

“Got a problem?” she asked bluntly.

Colton shook the dust from his coat and coughed. She was charming as ever. “I guess so, yeah. I’m actually glad you’re here. Would you like to come in for a drink?”

“Lead the way.”

Lily and Colton knew each other from their early lives in Manehattan, where they had lived in the same neighborhood until he moved to Ponyville to establish his vineyard. He was older than she by more than a few years, so their groups of friends never really mixed, but their families moved in the same social circles. It wasn’t exactly true that she had known him before the last year or so—they had been briefly introduced only once, even before she had met Daisy—but having this in common led them to become better acquainted when they met once more through Daisy, to Lily’s overt disappointment. He poured white grape juice into a broad-rimmed glass, from which the filly drank gratefully, and they sat at opposite ends of his tiny, hoof-carved table.

“So you have problems,” Lily smacked her lips. “Daisy, right?”

He nodded. “Yes, that’s right. How did you know?”

“Easy—she’s got a problem with you, too.”

His face was almost comical in its injury, but Lily regretted her phrasing immediately. Today was one of the rare days that she didn’t want to make him feel bad. She hastened to fix her mistake. “No, see, that’s good because it’s not really a problem,” she babbled. “It’s nothing. I just came here to tell you so we could have a laugh or…or something.”

She finished lamely, and to her dismay, Colton looked as if he would never laugh again. He nuzzled the rim of his glass dejectedly and watched as its contents settled. Part of Lily found this funny, but another part wanted to hit herself; why didn’t she think before she spoke? At last, the colt broke the silence that had been slowly suffocating his companion.

“It’s about last night’s dinner, right?”

“Yes!” Lily was eager to attack the tension. “From what I hear, it went fine. Daisy was just a little confused, that’s all. She was confused—she’s not anymore. Was.”

Colton’s voice was soft. “She has every right to be angry. After the way I behaved, I’d be surprised if she wasn’t.”

“Are we talking about the same thing?” Lily wondered warily. They couldn’t be; there was no way Colton would beat himself up over something as small as what Daisy was worried about.

Colton’s spirit sunk even further. “Aren’t we? Oh Celestia, did I do something else?”

“No, of course not!” she began, desperate to salvage his mood. “Or…well, maybe, but even if you did it’s no big deal.”

Colton stared at her. She could almost hear the sound of his heart falling into his stomach.

“Okay, let’s just stop for a second.” The filly took a moment to clear her head, her hooves at her temples. She was determined not to make it seem any worse than it was; when the facts stood on their own, everypony would finally see sense. She said at length, “Daisy was a little distracted this morning because you said you loved her dinner, alright? You told her it was great, but you didn’t say it was ‘a super-amazing delicacy fit for the table of the princess,’ and she also wants you to compare her to flowers and stuff. She’s got you on a pedestal, Colton, and that’s all there is to it.”

Relief mellowed his expression, but only in part. “Thank you, Lily…I’m glad at least that I know what I did wrong.”

“Are you serious?” She asked, bewildered.

“Of course I am.”

“Are you stupid?”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“I mean it’s a quick fix!” said Lily earnestly. “Just gussy your words up a bit and you’re golden!”

“It’s not that simple. I can’t—I simply can’t do it.”

Lily was nonplussed. In front of her was the tamest relationship problem in Equestria, and its solution on a silver platter. How could there still be an issue? Regardless, she gave him the benefit of the doubt.

With an impatient sigh she said, “Okay, big question here: Why can’t you say something nice?”

Colton breathed deeply to calm himself; this was the topic he had hoped to discuss with her in the first place. “It’s not about being nice,” he said steadily, “as much as it’s about being sincere.”

Lily waved a dismissive hoof. “So you didn’t like her food much. Just find something else to verbally drool over.”

“No, I loved it, but…you see? I keep doing THAT!” he barked in frustration. “I could describe her dinner the way you described it before—‘fit for the princess’s table’—and it would be sincere, but it doesn’t sound sincere. It sounds forced when I say that kind of thing, so I’m afraid even to try. I’m afraid to give Daisy compliments. That’s my problem.”

He looked hopefully to his old acquaintance for advice, his burden relieved at last. But her face was inscrutable. Lily stood from her empty glass and strode to the front door.

“This town is full of crazy ponies.”

“Wait!” Colton jolted up and threw himself at her hooves. “Lily, I really need your help. I want to tell Daisy how I feel, I want to make her happy, but the words come out like lies no matter how honest they are! Imagine how terrible she’d feel if I said something the wrong way—it would be as bad as insulting her!”

Lily opened her mouth to speak, but thought better of it. How would she feel if she was given a backhooved compliment? Multiply that feeling by ten, and it’d be Daisy’s reaction. Not pretty at all.

“Okay,” Lily said hesitantly, shaking the colt off her hooves. “I’ll help you out.”

Colton, still sprawled across the doorway, smiled at last. “You will?”

“But I want you to do something first.”

“What is it?” he pleaded, “I’ll do anything!”

“I want you to tell me about my eyes.”

Colton’s brow ruffled in confusion. “You want me to—”

“Quick!” she snapped.

“They’re yellow!” Colton blurted hastily, and then understanding dawned on him. “Your eyes are very, uh, yellow. Like…like gold?”

She lifted her head proudly and glared down at him. “‘Yellow like gold’? Seriously? How am I supposed to work with that?”

Colton shuffled up onto his hooves and blushed, mumbling “It didn’t help that you were scowling.”

“Well, try again.” Lily slipped her saddlebag on in preparation for her walk back to Ponyville. It would be sunset by the time she got there—just in time to close the shop.

“Your eyes are like…” Colton searched the ground for inspiration. Lily caught a hint of how difficult it really was for him. “…golden pools of, uh…of radiant sunshine…and, er, flowers, and…and that’s it.” He smiled vaguely up at her.

He was serious.

“Okay, that’s a little better,” Lily lied. This was going to be a real project. “You just need to get rid of the pauses and…stuff. I want you to practice that a lot, and think of a few more about my mane or something, and I’ll be back here tomorrow afternoon. How’s that sound?”

“Good, thank you,” Colton nudged the front door open for her. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me, Lily.”

“Don’t bother trying.”

She stepped past him into the rows of grapes that wound toward the path back to Ponyville. Her stomach rumbled. All this drama and exertion on other ponies’ behalf was making her hungry; maybe she should ask Colton to pay for her services in juice. He called out to her as she reached the edge of the plantation.

“Lily! Lily, I don’t want to tell Daisy about this, alright?”

“Fine!” she shouted back without turning. The more she considered it, the wiser she thought it was to keep Daisy in the dark. Colton would be worse off than ever if Daisy thought Lily was training him to say what Daisy wanted to hear. This was a complicated issue that only a logically inclined and emotionally distant pony like Lily could resolve, she thought none-too-humbly.

Comments

[nemryn]

I know that you’re half crazy all for the love of him

I see what you did there.

This was a complicated issue that only a logically inclined and emotionally distant pony like Lily could resolve, she thought none-too-humbly.

Hooray for logically-inclined and emotionally-distant ponies!