May Flowers
Cuddles IV
May Flowers
Admiral Biscuit
Spring was in the air, that was obvious as soon as I got out of bed and threw open the window. The air was fresh, birds were chirping, the sun was already warm and invigorating . . .
And then off in the distance I saw a grey cloud slide into place. I could faintly make out a pegasus pushing it. Still, it was a beautiful morning I could enjoy while it lasted, and the plants would appreciate the rain.
•••
The rain came just after I arrived at work, gently at first, perhaps a reminder that stragglers ought to hurry up and get in their offices lest they be soaked. Mitzy was caught out, and started her day swearing that a pegasus had a personal vendetta against her which seemed unlikely but who knew? She wasn’t all that wet, anyway.
Did pegasi even go for personal vendettas?
It was an interesting change of pace; the office windows had been open since Winter Wrap-Up, and now they were pulled almost all the way shut to keep the water out. It did give the office a kind of gloomy air, especially with Mitzy occasionally glaring out the window, as if daring whichever pegasus might have gotten her wet to come down and fight.
By lunchtime, she’d focused back on her work, and office harmony had been restored. At least until she remembered she’d forgotten to pack a lunch and it was still raining and her bow had just dried out.
I’d packed sandwiches and offered her one, to at least keep the peace in the office. Plus, I could sympathize, back on Earth I’d been caught out by the weather a time or two and had to make the decision to risk the rain or go hungry.
Earth ponies were passing around seed catalogs and discussing their gardens, and a few unicorns and pegasi joined in on the conversation. We’d gotten our own seed catalog and also a Steers and Roebuck catalog as well, offering all sorts of gardening tools and homeowner tools, available shipped right to your house or the train station, depending on size. Some of the material was at least passingly familiar to me, and then I got to the section on harnesses, each one of them superior to the last, if the descriptions were to be believed.
Orders over a hundred bits included a free hoof-pick.
Larger implements were available, too; they offered wagons and hay rakes and treadmills which were for power, rather than exercise.
•••
The weatherponies gave us a break around quitting time. Clouds got broken up or consolidated over farm fields, leaving the town in afternoon sunshine. Mitzy gave me a nuzzle on her way out of the office and apologized for being grumpy in the morning, and promised that she’d bring in something tomorrow to make up for the sandwich I’d given her. I hoped it would be cookies.
There wasn’t a market day when there was rain, but there were always enterprising ponies wanting to tempt pedestrians with their wares. Maybe it was the sunshine sparkling off the grass, or the heady smell of fresh earth, but I couldn’t help but stop as I passed by a battered farm wagon laden down with pots of flowers, and a mouth-painted sign that said “May Flowers.”
She could have painted the wagon, too, but then that would have distracted from the riot of colors. Instead, it sort of faded into the background, a vaguely earth-toned display.
I didn’t know much about flowers, although I knew more than I had when I came to Equestria. I ran my finger across a daffodil, then sniffed it while the salesmare watched attentively.
“Trying to impress your special somepony?”
“Maybe,” I admitted.
“Unicorns love yellow and gold,” she said. “Daffodils are a good start, and then you can have daisies and carnations and chrysanthemums for later in the year . . . those are tasty, too. And yarrow and goldenrod, too, although some ponies don’t like goldenrod ‘cause it’s feral. That pot you’re looking at, they’ll start blooming even before the snow’s melted.”
“Well, why not?” I picked it up. “How much?”
“Two bits, and a bargain at that price.”
“Sold.”
Her ears dropped for a second before perking back up. Too late I remembered that ponies loved to haggle. “Uh, do I get a deal if I buy two pots?”
That got her back on track, and she nodded. “Three and a half.”
“How about three?”
“Three and a quarter.”
“Three and a quarter, and you tell me which is the best to go with the daffodils.”
“Hmm.” She frowned, then brightened back up. “This is gonna be unconventional, but snowdrops. They’re also early bloomers, and they’re almost the same color as Cami. She’ll like them.”
As I forked over the bits and took possession of my new flowers, I wondered if we had a shovel at home. If not, I could borrow one from the neighbor.
•••
I’d planted them on either side of the front door, and I’d washed up and considered making dinner, rejected that idea, and still there was no Cami.
It was hit or miss when she’d arrive home; depended on the day. For her sake, I hoped it was soon—the weatherponies had decided that the evening commute was nearly over, and had begun to push clouds back over town again.
Maybe she’d been called off on a special mission.
We generally had dinner together, although it was understood that if I was hungry and she was late, she wouldn’t be mad if I ate something first. And I’d offered one of my sandwiches in the interest of office harmony, so I was hungry.
I didn’t really understand the intricacies of her job, but it often enough involved magic gone rogue or summoned monsters and I couldn’t help but wonder how dangerous it was. She just played it off as if it were nothing, but was that true? Was some magical beast one day going to get the better of her?
Best not to think about. I kept the front door open and paced around as the first patters of rain fell, then distracted myself by trying to make some kind of a dinner for when she arrived home. There was a lot I didn’t miss from Earth, but the easy contact a cell phone offered would have set my mind at ease.
Or made it worse, if she didn’t reply to a text right away.
A flash of lightning, and I heard hoofsteps before the thunder and the deluge that followed. Cami was covered in mud, her legs and her barrel all coated, her tail heavy, some of it still damp.
“What happened to you?”
“This is going to sound so silly,” she said, kicking her hooves against the door sill to knock some mud off. “But I found a great puddle and just had to roll in it.”
“A puddle.”
“Yeah.” Her eyes were bright, sparkling. “It’s spring after all.” Her horn lit and she lofted a carryout bag. “Don’t worry, I set the Hayburgers aside before I did. Oh, and I hope you don’t mind that you’re going to have to brush me after we eat, I’ve got mud everywhere.”
“Sure.” I was still considering what she’d said about rolling in a mud puddle, but that could wait until we’d eaten.
•••
Spring was hit or miss when it came to a fire. Most days, it was warm enough to not need it, although the nights would be cool. Still, the sunshine and the greening grass and the buds helped offset it most days, but today was a rainy day, a thundery day, and a little bit of extra heat in the evening was welcome.
Cami had covered the couch and my legs with a sheet from the laundry hamper before settling in, and even after eating dinner she still had damp spots where her coat or the mud was thick.
“So you just rolled around in the mud?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“Because I could. Because it was there and it’s spring.” She levitated the brush in front of me and wagged it encouragingly. “Gotta pay extra for mud at the spa, and it’s not as good as when it’s natural, I don’t know if I can really explain why to a human, but if you were a pony, you’d know. Best stress reliever ever.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” But as I touched the brush to her muddy coat, I thought about splashing in mud puddles when I was young, the feel of mud between my toes. Maybe she was on to something after all. I’d never rolled in a mud puddle, nor had I ever paid extra at the spa to get the almost treatment.
She pressed her head against my chest as I ran the brush down her back, mostly clear of the mud so far. “I saw the flowers, they look nice.”
“I got them from May . . . “ My voice trailed off. “April showers bring May flowers.”
“What?”
“It’s a saying on Earth,” I said. “But I bought the flowers from a mare named May Flowers, do you think she got them from April Showers? That sounds like it could be a pony name.”
“It is, but April works weather and doesn’t have a garden as far as I know.” She glanced out the window at the rain. “Sometimes I think she’s got a vendetta against me, seems like this time of year whenever I’ve got to be outside, I get rained on.”
“Pegasi don’t have vendettas, do they?”
“You have no idea.” Cami shifted around on my lap and used her magic to pull a throw pillow under her chin. “Every spring and fall, the taxmare’s house gets drenched. Sometimes a pony gets herself a personal raincloud and if they’re feeling really vindictive, it gets pushed in through a window. And lightning strikes can be aimed, too. Celestia help you if you live in a village cursed by the pegasi, it’s going to be flooded or in perpetual drought. Possibly with frequent tornadoes if they’re really feeling frisky.”
“Is that much of a problem?” The brush snagged as it hit dried mud, but she didn’t complain so I kept working.
“Not so much any more, we’ve got treaties and Harmony and special weather teams at the Agency if things get out of control. Not only specialist weatherponies, but also negotiators. Not my job, but I hear stories. Everypony likes to gossip over lunch.”
“You’d already mentioned surprise gardens,” I said. “With earth ponies.”
“And humans, it seems.”
“Nothing magical about the daffodils or the snowdrops, I put them in with a shovel.”
“Just the same, I’ve got my eye on you.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I ran my finger up her horn, a sure way of distracting her.
“Dude.”
“You’re the silly pony who had to roll in the mud.”
She turned her head and looked me in the eyes. “You try it and you’ll swear by it.”
It had been too long since I’d splashed in a mud puddle, and I’d forgotten what I’d once known.
•••
The rain sluiced down, the cloud greyed out the fading light of day. Cami, half-groomed, twisted on her back in a puddle in the low spot in the yard while I stood in the ankle-deep water, splashing it around, feeling the wet grass and muddy soil oozing between my toes, feeling a connection with the earth wanting to be made, and it wasn't that much more of a step to join her in the mud, to shed my human sense of propriety in favor of the pony way, and I briefly wondered how many of my office-mates had done the same or were doing the same right now.
Then I just enjoyed it for what it was, cold and wet and muddy and wholesome, we were both giggling and both soaked and splashing each other, and I was shivering as we finally went back inside.
Now the fire was necessary; even with a change of clothes I was cold and soggy, and Cami couldn’t do much but shake herself off and drape a towel across her back.
And settle on my lap.
“You’ve got a spell to dry yourself off, don’t you?”
She nodded. “Of course I do, but you said it before, this is the best way to warm up.”
“The clothes do help . . . wet fur isn’t as good as clothes. Let me get up, let me get a hoodie.”
Cami shook her head and snuggled down, just like a cat, immovable. Then her horn lit, and one of my hoodies appeared, twisting in the air before she dropped it on the couch.
“Now sit up, just for a moment.”
“Are you going to make me wear it?”
“You don’t have to,” I admitted. “I just thought it would help.” And you look adorable in a hoodie, I didn’t add.
•••
“You’re a silly pony.”
Cami stuck her tongue out at me. She’d pulled the hood as tight as she could, leaving her horn and muzzle poking through, her eyes deep in shadow. “It’s like having a private cave,” she said, her voice muffled by the tight string around her chin. “No wonder wizards love hooded robes, they can just pull them shut when they want to think. Hmm.” Her horn lit again, then poked through the hood and she pulled it tighter. “There, that’s better. Can you see me?”
Just her nose was sticking through. “Not really.”
“Perfectly hidden, as good as being invisible.” Her magic twined around the strings. “Where’s Cami?”
A second later, she folded the hood back. “There’s Cami.”
“You must have been a hit in magic kindergarten.”
“You have no idea.” She folded the hood back, leaving it loosely draped over the top of her ears. “I could do TK before most of my classmates, and it was always fun to hide the chalk when the teacher looked away. Or other ponies’ quills and pencils . . . I was only good with light stuff back then. And I got detention a lot and I thought I was smarter than I was and got a spellbook from the library, that was the first time I saw ponies from the Thaumic Scrutiny Agency—”
“The Ministry of Magic.”
“—and that’s how I knew what I wanted to be.”
“All I ever accomplished in kindergarten was eating paste,” I admitted.
“And look at you now.”
•••
Outside, the last vestiges of the rain dribbled on the window, and a few distant flashes of lightning could occasionally be seen. Inside, the fire had burned down to nothing but shifting embers. And stretched out on my lap, fast asleep, was Cami, still wearing my hoodie.
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I had an April Showers with a sister May Flowers in one of my stories.
Rain in the springtime, mud puddles, and ponies in hoodies; this is what is good in life.
A cute. A. Cute.
tempt
pots of flowers
I must admit, I'm confused that she didn't shower off the mud when she came in.
And I just moved out of my Sears and Roebuck home too. Oh well, life goes on.
"Glüüüüe-*coughing*"
Bruh, are we ever gonna see them kiss?
yES
10814998
Lets hope it wasn't pony based, he might have gotten a taste for them and gone feral.
10815285
Oh sh**, I totally didn't realize how dark that was until you brought it up.
Cu...Cuddles IV?!
*nervously presses upvote and fav* Okay... now that the paperwork is done, let’s get our fix...
Pony: *offers fair price*
Human: *accepts fair price*
Pony: *sad pony noises*
Occasionally after a fierce battle concludes the pony and the monster decide to hit the bar together, sharing a drink (battling makes thirsty, after all). That's why she is sometimes late.
A silly filly doing silly filly things?
I see nothing out of the ordinary here.
Fair enough.
And Twilight once tried to tell me invisibility would be a master-level spell...
Good story!
I enjoyed reading it.
Ok this is very cute indeed. And also amazingly heartwarming
Are they in a small town? I can't remember. I guess then everyone would know who the resident human is living with.
That reminds me of the couple in The Haunting.
There's nothing like the lovely feel of mud squishing between your toes. We should all endeavor to remain children at heart, just for that particular sensation.
This was the blast of silly pony cuteness that I needed.
10814902
That seems like a common combo of pony names, TBH, especially if you’ve got a pegasus and then an earth pony.
But a good pair, nevertheless; they’ve got the symbiotic relationship all worked out.
10814907
It really is
10814931
Thank you!
10814964
Corrections made, thank you!
I mean, that is kinda canon with the tatzulwurm or Flowey or whatever that thing was.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/12/5/1037663.jpg
I might be mixing up canon with fanon. . . .
Then you defeat the purpose of it. Mud doesn’t work right if you just wash it back off right away, you gotta let it dry and then brush it out.
10814992
Shame . . . I was going to include mention that you could buy houses and have them delivered from the Steers and Roebuck catalog . . . I think the one I have predates houses (it’s a reprint of a 1902 catalog), or else you didn’t order them from the normal catalog.
10814998
Fun fact, many school glues are wheat-based, thus making them non-toxic. And tasty!
10815038
I think they did in the second one, not entirely sure.
10815158
10815285
It was probably wheat based, ‘cause that’s non-toxic and you know kids are going to eat the stuff. PVA, the other common craft glue type, is also (mostly) non-toxic and not made from hooves. Elmer’s school paste is currently corn-based.
10815304
Theoretically, the spa or the farrier could keep hoof-trimmings and sell them to a glue-maker for some side income. I think some barbers used to do something like that with human hair (the barber also could have been pulling my leg; either way, I no longer trust barbers).
Anyway, if one really wanted to run with that idea, perhaps the kind of hoof would change the properties of the glue; perhaps earth pony hoof glue is the strongest.
10815590
One can never have too many cuddles.
10815606
Like, you gotta haggle or else the pony is sad.
Reminds me of the old Warner Brothers cartoon with the sheepdog and the wolf? Where they’d greet each other, punch in, spend their shifts fighting each other, then be civil at the end of the day.
It is Equestria, that’s very plausible.
Like, it’s a fresh mud puddle, of course it needs to be rolled in.
Obviously, Twilight doesn’t know the power of the hoodie.
Thank you!
10815900
Thank you!
10815901
Yes, they are, so everypony knows everypony’s business.
The difference is that Milfoil is a sensible earth pony doing sensible earth pony things, whereas Cami is a silly fluffy unicorn.
10816068
Totally agreed. We haven’t had a proper rain in a while, but I think the next time we do, I need to squish around in a puddle.
10816104
Thank you!
Hoodies make everything better.
10816178
Do I need to commission Cami this time? XD
10815606
10816175
I wonder what would happen if he purposely haggled the other way...
"Two bits is a fair price!"
"I dunno'... They can't possibly be worth less than three bits."
thats it i need a origin story for how these two met and became roommates like the details
I just binged through all the "Cuddles" stories. They were exactly what I needed to help stave off this mild funk that's been creeping in. Thanks Admiral Biscuit!
I will see your mud puddles Cami and raise you stretching out in a bed of blossoming clover on a warm, sunny sunset surrounded by blooming honeysuckle and wild rose
1 out of 1 Celestias agree!
derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/12/4/1600271.png
Oh boy, what a treat! More Cuddles, huzzah!
This is why as Celestia's student, Sunset Shimmer had more suitors than she knew what to do with. Or really wanted.
In any case, wonderfully wholesome little story. Thank you for it. (And Cuddles III, which I hadn't read until now.)
10816178
Silly fluffy unicorns are, after all, the best.
10816317
They do, indeed.
10816689
I could contact the artist I yoinked the coverart from and ask if he/she would draw the rest of the unicorn . . .
10816933
Poor May Flowers would be so confused.
Heck, if someone did that to me, I’d be confounded. I always ask more than I want for a car and let myself be talked down, I don’t know what Id’ do if they offered more. Midwestern nice, I’d probably refuse to accept it or give them something else as well.
10817078
Either in the line at Cheerful Cow-Bear, or else it involved a magic spell gone wrong and Cami showing up to fix it.
I kinda like the second; maybe one of the typewriters at the office went rogue.
10818479
Yay, Cuddles made it better!
(seriously, though, most of these get written when I need to decompress; helping others in the same boat is a fantastic side-effect)
10822169
can you put it in story form please
10819024
Ohh, yes, that is nice too. (also the pic is gorgeous)
There can be only one!
derpicdn.net/img/2016/10/30/1284964/large.png
10819512
Yay! Cuddles are the best!
10819766
In all seriousness, though, and I realize that this is a very loaded question, but is there an ideal pony color in every tribe?
You’re welcome!
And good news to the Cuddles fans, the broken Ford and the work to fix it that brought y’all this is still broken, which leaves open the possibility of Cuddles V following faster than anybody would expect.