"Ow.... Ow.... Ow...."

Domino just kept trotting. He looked terrible. Limping, bloody and slightly annoyed, he caught the eye of many onlookers as he tried to make his way to Horsemart.

"Ow.... Ow.... Ow...."

A lot of mares seemed particularly worried. The stallions would just look on with mild concern whereas the mares looked on as if they were about to witness the death of a puppy. For as long as Domino could remember he would often get extra attention from mares. They would often smother him with compliments and favors he didn't ask for. Whether he was up for the attention or not really depended on his mood. Given the fact that he currently looks like he barely escaped a train wreck, he could tell he was going to get loads of it whether he wanted it or not. So it was in their best interest if Domino just rolled with whatever help was going to be tossed at him even though he was tired and groggy. But it was in HIS best interest to decline whatever help came his way. He still didn't know what the deal was with Floof. So Celestia forbid she was actually dangerous and a hazard to everypony. It was also possible that she was just misunderstood like a cute pitbull. Domino couldn't calm down until he was 100% sure of one or the other

He didn't have time to think about anything else before one of the faces of the mares of Ponyville totally obstructed his vision.

"Oh my Celestia! Domino! Are you ok?! What happened?!"

The mare that was obstructing his view with the worry levels of a mother thinking about her son was Roseluck. Roseluck was a mare with a pale yellow coat and a short and simple strawberry colored mane who ran the flower shop with three other mares; Daisy and Lily Valley.

"Hi Roseluck. What are you doing out here on the edge of town? The flower shop is nowhere around here." Domino's said between steps, doing his best to not verbally display the pain in his body in his voice. "I was on my way to Applejacks farm to see if I could pick up some manure. We just got some really exotic flower seeds and I want to grow them as soon as possible. But what happened to you?!" Roseluck was obviously very excited about the seeds but her concern for Domino would not let her show the tiniest bit of excitement on her face. She started circling Domino. Quickly trying to identify where he was hurt and what hurt him.

"No, Roseluck it's not really that-"

"By the goddesses, you're bleeding!"

"Yeah, but it's not really as bad-"

"You keep limping and you can't stand on all fours without holding your right front up!" She said, noticing that he was holding his hoof up while standing still.

"Roseluck calm down! It's not as bad as it seems and I can totally stand on all fours."

Roseluck narrowed her gaze at Domino. He was obviously lying and it was pretty annoying. Not that he was lying. He lies all the time. Everypony knew this. The annoying part for Roseluck specifically was that he was trying to shoo her away when she was trying help him. She'd have to use a tactic that she rarely ever uses to get her way for Dominoes best interest. As Domino tried to illustrate that he was fine by trying to stand on all fours but obviously putting more pressure on the left side of his body but the right, she sprung the pouty face on him.

"Bwut Dominoooo~~ I wanna make you better and you wunt let meeeee~"

Domino didn't know if all ponies except him just had the innate ability to inflate their eyes to the size of the moon and put on the most annoying whining voice of all time or if roseluck was just really really dramatic. She pleaded at him to at least let her look at his wounds. The 7th times the charm apparently because that's when she cracked him.

"Alright, Alright! You caught me. But just promise you'll make it quick? I have shopping to do and I want to get to the place before it closes."

What roseluck didn't know is that Horsemart is a convenient Walmart ripoff superstore on the side of Ponyville that the writer just made up in order to make the middle of the story work. It was open 24/7 so he just told her another lie just to get on with his day faster. What a dick.

Roseluck's eyes lit up like snow on the ground shimmering in the sunlight. She hastily tugged Domino twords the flower shop she just came from in an attempt to tend to his wounds.

Domino was sitting in a old wooden chair in the back of the flower shop with his head being moved around from side to side by the hooves of Roseluck and his front right hoof submerged in a bowl of ice sitting on a stool next to him. Roseluck found the source of the blood from earlier and wrapped a patch of gauze to the wound and tied it around his head with the rest of the gauze. Turns out Domino only sprained an ankle as far as his limping goes, so with part of his head taken care of she kept feeling around in Domino's mane for any other lumps or scratches. Daisy and Lily Valley were in the front of the shop tending to whatever customers might be out there.

"You were pretty banged up Domino. If you want I can give you a personal massage after I'm done checking for more lumps~"

Domino's eyes went wide. "Was this mare really offering me a happy ending at a time like this? Am I in a bad porno??" He thought to himself.

Attention from mares was frequent for Domino. But usually it would stay PG. Mares would often blush or, if they had the confidence of Rarity, flutter their eyelashes and insert a certain coo in their tone whenever they spoke to him. This mare just offered to give him a hoofjob right in the back of the flower shop. Which not only was he going to decline, but made him question how sanitary the back of the flower shop was.

"Uh... No thanks?" Domino said, flatley.

"Humff!" Roseluck pouted. "Suit yourself. But that offer is always on the table. Just so you know~"

Domino didn't say anything. He thought if he listed all the reasons why he didn't want to participate in that would just make the situation worse. So he just shut his mouth and let her tend to him. A few moments went by before roseluck decided to address the reasons behind his injuries again.

"So Domino you never really told me what happened to you." Roseluck stated while still feeling around in his mane. Domino had to make up a lie fast. There was no way in Equestria's green colorful horse utopia would Roseluck ever believe what actually happened. But at the moment he was drawing a blank. He couldn't sit there for long and not say anything either. So by default he started to mumble, hoping that something will come to him before it was obvious that he was mumbling.

"Well uhhh... Ya see the thing is-"

As if the horse gods of comedic timing we're watching over Domino and decided to screw with him, Roseluck came across a fluffy ball of mass that didn't match the color of Domino's jagged snow white/jet black mane. As soon as she touched it, the tiny mass lifted her tiny head up and looked down at Roseluck with a cute yawn.

"Squeak"

"AHHH!"

If that didn't serve as a cue that she was going to find out the truth soon, he wasn't sure what a cue was anymore. Her sudden scream was definitely loud enough for the other flower ponies to hear it from the front but nopony came back to check what happened. But given the request Domino was offered mere moments ago he came to the conclusion that maybe they thought their co-worker was getting laid and didn't want to interrupt.

Roseluck stumbled back a few steps, being caught off guard by her sudden discovery. Fluff stood up on top of Domino's head and stretched a few times before hopping out of his mane and into his lap. Domino sat completely still as all of this was happening out of fear. Roseluck watched on, her interest peeked. Fluff stared at Roseluck. Sniffing around in her general direction before she happily squeaked and threw her tiny hooves in the air towards her.

"Squeak! Squeak!"

"You. Are by far. THE CUTEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!!" Roseluck squealed. She was so excited about this bat pony that she bounced in place with the widest grin on her muzzle. Domino was quite taken aback by the response. Roseluck leaped up to Domino and held her hoof over Floof. Just like a cat, she nuzzled the edge of Roseluck's hoof until Floof eventually clamped down on the side of it with her tiny bat pony teeth. Roseluck lifted her arm as Floof clung to the her hoof. Nibbling it intently.

"Oh my gosh Domino, I didn't know you had a pet bat pony!" Roseluck exclaimed as Floof made her way on top of Roseluck's arm with great determination.

"Heh heh..." Domino chuckled nervously while rubbing the side of his head with a hoof. "This thing just appeared in my house. It has a scarf around its neck so it must belong to somepony and I'm trying to find them."

"Squeak"

Roseluck cupped the tiny bat pony in both of her hooves as she held her close to her face and nuzzled her. Floof returned the action. "Oh! She's so cute! You should have just kept her."

"Oh the things you don't know..." Domino thought to himself before removing his other hoof from the bowl and prying Floof from Roseluck and placing her back in his mane.

"Yea she's adorable. But the thought of her owner frantically looking around trying to find her would just destroy my conscience everyday I had her."

This was a lie. Originally Domino was going to keep Floof. Until his life was in danger that is. Upon hearing Domino's explanation, she began to praise him for his noble and selfless lie.

"Oooooo~ Not a selfish bone in your body~ I bet you'll be so good as a father of five foals~~" Roseluck batted her eyelashes like she was trying to blow him out of the chair with them.

"Roseluck..." Domino chimed in with a serious tone.

"Okay okay" Roseluck said, defeated.

"And ask for your question... I tripped on the stairs on my porch"

Domino never thought he'd have to pull a 'I'm the victim of a domestic dispute' style excuse. In fact the instant it left his mouth he was sure he was caught.

"...You tripped on your porch?"

"Yes..."

"..."

"..."

"...Well that must have been a pretty nasty fall then."

"PRAISE CELESTIA ROSELUCK IS DUMB" Is what echoed on the inside of Domino's head. He swore he even heard fireworks go off.

With all that finally established, Roseluck finished tending to Domino. Thanks to that bowl of ice, Domino wasn't limping is obviously as he was before and the gauze was holding up nicely.

"Domino before you go you want some lemonade?" Roseluck asked as Domino was putting on his hoodie. He got his head through the hole and then took her up on her offer. She brought him from the back of the flower shop to the front where there was a serving tray with nicely assorted glasses of lemonade on them off to the side. Each complete with their own wedge on the side of the glass.

Domino's mouth watered at the sight and he wasn't even thirsty. Roseluck handed him a glass but right before he was about to take a sip, Floof slid down the front of his muzzle like it was a slide in a fillies playground and fell right into the glass. She squeaked as she submerged and started drinking the lemonade from the inside of the glass.

Domino looked on as the flower ponies chuckled at him. He shot a stern look at Floof but she was too enthralled in the lemonade to care. Domino turned towards the flower ponies.

"Thanks for everything ladies, I got to get going now. Bye."

"Bye Dominooooo~"

Even though the flower ponies tried to make the goodbye seem extra friendly, as he watched Floof suck up the lemonade, it felt like a really weird trot of shame.

Author's Note

Constructive criticism is very much appreciated!