“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.
“You’re gorgeous.”
“No.”
“You’re gorgeous!”
“Nope.”
“Your mane is so fluffy! Er, uh, and I love fluffy stuff.”
“Nice ad-libbing, Romeo.” Lily reclined in a chair with her rear hooves on the table while Colton read down a list of simple compliments she had assigned him the day before. They had been at it for nearly a week now, and his progress was negligible; yet she was now hearing the sarcasm Colton heard in his own voice. Was that a good thing?
“You’re amazing.”
“No.”
“You are so amazing.”
“Almost.”
“You are filly-tastic!”
“Tell you what,” she interrupted twenty minutes of non-stop praise for her own sake as well as his. “I’ve got something that might help.” She scooted away from the table and dug through her bag; with her teeth she pulled out a framed picture of Daisy, taken from her own nightstand. Colton raised an eyebrow.
“You want me to talk to the picture?”
“Can’t be worse than talking to me, can it? And I was surprised you didn’t have one of her already.” She flipped the picture into his hooves. “So far all I’ve been hearing is words without any meaning behind them, and it’s terrible. But I figure I’m not the one you want to be complimenting anyway, right? Give it a shot.”
Colton squared the picture between his hooves and squinted hard. His eyes crossed slightly.
Lily slapped his flank. “Relax, you dope! You don’t need to think she’s real.”
“Fine,” said Colton. He closed his eyes. “Okay. Just tell her how you feel.”
“Is it just me,” Rose said as the latest of a wave of customers exited the store, “or has Lily been especially lazy lately?”
“She’s been skipping work every day since your day off,” Daisy panted thickly from the garden. Her teeth were throbbing from the sheers. “Maybe you’re a bad influence on her.”
“No need for that. She hardly works when she’s here, anyway.”
“I’m sorry,” Daisy giggled humorlessly. “It’s just a lot of work sometimes…It gets quiet back here.”
“I miss her too,” Rose agreed.
“But it’s worth it!” Daisy skipped up to the counter and rustled underneath. “She’s been paying us extra this week, so I bought a little something special. I’m going to visit Colton tomorrow and ask if he wants to see—” she unfurled a poster held in her teeth, “—this!”
Rose’s eyes wandered down the page. Her envy positively glowed as she reached the bottom. “Oh, Daisy!” she breathed longingly, “How could you afford tickets to—”
“—the Gelding Choir, yes!” Daisy squealed in delight. “It’s the concert of the year—no, the decade! And Colton and I will be right there in the audience. The back row to be exact, but still! Won’t it be spectacular? Do you think he’ll go with me?”
“You are dating him, Daisy.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
Rose shook her head and laughed. Despite being the eldest of the flower shop ponies, her friend was acting like a giddy schoolfilly. “You’re the only pony in Ponyville who still doesn’t know you’re going out with Colton!”
“I haven’t seen him all week,” Daisy sighed. “He’s been busy with his vineyards, and I’ve had my hooves full with the shop, but that’s okay. This weekend is going to be perfect.”
Seeing the joy shining in her friend’s eyes, Rose was genuinely happy for her.
It had taken focus, but Colton’s work with the picture exceeded Lily’s wildest expectations. After a few hours he would have been able to charm the wings off a pegasus in flight. He was a natural—all he had needed was the right kind of practice. Brimming with pride, Lily decided that he would graduate from her program after one final task.
“Today, good sir,” she announced with the morning sunlight following her through the front door, “I’m going to give you your toughest challenge yet.”
Colton swallowed.
“You’ve got your compliments down pat,” she marched regimentally in front of him. “You’ve mastered ‘gorgeous,’ ‘stunning,’ and ‘cute;’ your praise of coat, mane, and eye is first-rate; you have the gist of tone, volume, and context; but I’ve been avoiding teaching you one thing.” She stomped to a halt in front of him. “Rejection!”
“Rejection?”
“WRONG!” Lily shouted, and he cringed. “Actually you’re right, but did you feel that just now? That’s what it feels like to be shot down, you know.”
“Daisy isn’t going to reject me.”
“Of course not!” she dismissed, “but there’s a good chance she’ll reject your compliments. Mares do that all the time. For example, you’ll say she’s pretty or something, and she’ll say, ‘Oh, no, don’t say that! I’m not pretty at all!’” she raised her pitch mockingly. “You know how it is. She’ll be embarrassed, but you have to push forward! Don’t take no for an answer—praise her without mercy!”
Colton nodded, his jaw set. He wouldn’t let Daisy think for even a second that she wasn’t the most magnificent mare in Equestria. “Let’s do this.”
“I’ll only be gone for a few hours,” Daisy cheerfully assured Roseluck after having finished the morning’s chores. “Definitely in time for closing. I don’t want to come back from Colton’s in the dark…well, unless he walks me home under the stars. Do you think he’ll offer to walk me home?”
“I know he will,” Rose tiredly waved her on her way. She was missing Lily more than ever now. At least the little pony brought some variety to the conversation, if only in rambling about different video games. The charm of Daisy’s love-struck silliness had worn off a little; maybe that was why Lily was avoiding the shop. Rose resolved to appreciate Lily a little more when she returned.
Unaware of this and almost everything else, Daisy practically skipped out of Ponyville, reveling in the afternoon sunshine that glittered modestly over the wide, grassy planes. Not a thing escaped the transforming powers of her romantic eye: every dandelion seemed a field of beautiful flowers, and the dirt path may as well have been paved with gold. She had forgotten completely about the anxieties of the week before, having put her wholehearted trust in Lily’s reasoning.
Was it her, or had the smell of Colton’s grapes grown sweeter since her last visit? She would say that to him, definitely—you couldn’t fail with a line like that. A dozen such phrases rolled through her mind as she trotted through the humble vineyard up to Colton’s home. She raised a hoof to knock on the front door, but stopped short: Colton’s voice resounded clearly from inside, and he was speaking emphatically with somepony. She listened closely for a moment and…was that Lily’s voice? No, it couldn’t be; Lily hated Colton. Why would she be here? Baffled, Daisy pressed a curious ear against the door.
Without an inkling of shame, Lily sat holding Daisy’s picture in front of her face, slowly turning from side to side to follow Colton’s nervous pacing. As the smug grin behind the frame declared, she was quite proud of herself. The idea for practice that had come off the top of her head was turning out to be sorely needed: however good Colton became at giving one-off compliments, he had been awful at stringing them together without being discouraged—at first. They had begun that morning with simple ‘no’s and ‘stop it’s, but quickly advanced into more treacherous territory.
“You don’t mean that, Colton!” she whined coyly, imagining a reluctant smile to match. Of course, the picture wasn’t accepting requests for expressions, but Colton wasn’t looking directly at it anyway. “Oh, please don’t say any more!”
“How…how can I keep quiet?” Colton stammered, sweating slightly with concentration. “I mean every word I’ve said, but it still doesn’t feel like enough. Don’t ask me to stop so soon…when I can go on forever.”
“Oh, but what if somepony overhears? It would be so embarrassing!”
“Then let them listen!” he said boldly, “They should feel lucky to hear the truest words anypony’s ever spoken—to hear my love for you!”
“Oh, oh, please,” Lily gasped theatrically, “I don’t deserve all of this! Oh!”
“You’re right; a mare as wonderful as you deserves so much more.”
“Wonderful?” she scoffed, “I’m just a regular pony working at a flower shop. There’s nothing wonderful about me.”
Should he laugh? or would that be condescending? Colton risked a soft chuckle. “What about you isn’t wonderful?” Suddenly he ceased pacing and stared directly into the picture’s eyes; his voice dropped to a murmur. “It cannot be your eyes—your warm, gentle, enchanting eyes. Nor is it your gorgeous, flowing mane; or your velvety pink coat. You are clever, graceful, hard-working, selfless…and patient enough to love a colt like me. Nopony—not the princesses themselves—could ever be more wonderful than you are.”
Lily graciously conceded her defeat. “Do you…really think so, Colton?”
“I do. I truly, sincerely do.”
It had taken all of Daisy’s willpower to tear herself away from Colton’s home. She was furious, shocked, confused—but worse, she was heartbroken and afraid of what she might have done had she opened the door. The two ponies she trusted most had betrayed her; it felt as if the world had turned upside-down and landed on her chest. What little sense she maintained in the storm of emotions told her to run, and to cry, so she wouldn’t do something else—or worse, do nothing, and become trapped with only her thoughts.
Lily, on the other hoof, was in the throes of the laughing fit of her life. Colton might have joined her, but he wasn’t completely sure that it wasn’t at his expense. Instead he prepared a pair of glasses for the table and waited the filly out.
At last Lily dragged herself, still shaking with mirth, to the table and took a grateful swig of juice. Her face was controlled, deadpan, when she lowered the glass. “I think my heart skipped a beat.”
Colton gave her a worried look.
“That last line,” she half-sighed to prevent herself from laughing again, “That delivery was just…” her mouth twisted; she was fighting a losing battle, “w-what if I had…d-d-died!” she snorted loudly and fell into hysterics once more. Colton wasn’t sure what to make of it, but he was smiling as well.
“Are you feeling alright, Lily?"
The filly breathed deeply. “No, I’m—I’m not. That was really scary. When you said you were sincere, I kind of choked—I couldn’t breathe for a second, and I swear my heart stopped. I’m so sorry Daisy; I’ve turned your boyfriend into a monster!”
“Do you want to see a doctor?”
“No! I’m fine,” she quickly returned to herself, “but I think we’re done with practice for today. In fact, we’re done forever. Some of your compliments sounded like they were said by somepony a hundred years ago, but they were solid otherwise. Besides, I don’t think Daisy will put up half the fight I did.” She lifted her glass ceremoniously, and he followed suit. “Consider yourself a graduate of Lily’s Compliment Academy!”
They drank, and then Lily slipped into her saddle bag. “It’s been a while since you last saw Daisy, right?” She pushed open the front door; the sky outside was a deep, comfortable blue. “I’ll order her to work past closing hours tonight so you can stop by and surprise her. I’ve been throwing some extra bits her way, so maybe you two can do something special. Take some time to get ready.”
“W-what?” stammered Colton. “Tonight? That’s, uh, a little soon to be making plans, don’t you—?”
The door slammed shut behind her.
“He s-said he… he l-loved her!” Daisy sobbed unreservedly into Rose’s shoulder. “What did I do, Rose? What did I do? What did I do wrong?”
Dusk was falling over Ponyville. It had been a few hours since Daisy had galloped across the town in tears, burst inside the little flower shop and insisted to a startled Rose that she return to work in the gardens before closing. Daisy’s entire body had shook with such intensity, from exhaustion both mental and physical, that Rose feared she would collapse at any moment. So the shop was closed and Daisy was cautiously escorted to Rose’s home, which was free from prying pony eyes.
“He s-said…no-nopony was as wonderful as her!” Daisy choked.
Rose stroked Daisy’s mane comfortingly, quietly, equally at a loss for an explanation. However silly she may have seemed, Daisy always hesitated and considered before accusing other ponies of wrongdoing. Yet she insisted she had heard Colton confess his love for Lily, and more eloquently than he had ever done for herself.
The friends sat together on Rose’s bed, one of them openly despondent and the other quietly growing furious. If Rose despised anything in the world, it was betrayal. She felt ashamed of her annoyance with Daisy’s fawning over Colton. She wondered if he had been after Lily all along, if he had any idea how attached Daisy was to him. Rose scoured her memories for hints that might have forewarned this, but came up with nothing; and the less sense it all made, the more anger she felt toward the unfaithful colt.
And as for Lily—
At that moment, the final dregs of sunlight at her back, Lily trotted into Ponyville town center without a care in the world—save for her stomach. The introduction of exercise to her daily routine in the last week had left her almost perpetually hungry, even to the point that she could reluctantly bear to eat at a table without any electronics to hold her attention. It was a strange new life—a mature life?—that she had been falling into. Feeling very grown up, Lily strode up to the little flower shop prepared to give orders like an adult. Except it was closed.
What?
An airy voice hailed her from behind. “Lily! Lily, thank goodness. How is Daisy feeling? Is she any better?”
“Hi, Fluttershy,” Lily turned around to greet her politely. “I’m sorry, but what did you say about Daisy?”
As always, concern lay heavily in the tender pegasus’s eyes. “Oh, um, I was just wondering how Daisy is feeling. Everypony’s been so worried about her.”
“Worried? Why? Did something happen?”
“You didn’t know?” Fluttershy’s eyes flickered unsurely. “I’m sorry, but just a few hours ago she came running through Ponyville crying, and everypony says she was coming from the path leading to Sir Colton’s house. I saw her go into the shop myself, and it closed just a moment later. The poor thing must have had her heart broken.”
Lily’s stomach clenched. This didn’t bode well at all. “Whe-when did you say she came running through town?”
“And crying?”
“Yes, running and crying, thanks.”
“It must have been at least three hours ago.”
There was no way around it: Daisy had overheard their practice, and now she knew Colton was being trained to compliment her. Lily’s expression darkened; all their hard work had been rendered pointless—or worse, would create the opposite effect. Now no matter what he said or how well he said it, Daisy wouldn’t trust a single kind word out of Colton’s mouth. She gave Fluttershy her halfhearted thanks and then proceeded cautiously into the darkened building.
Lily quickly searched their home above the shop but, not finding her, quickly determined Daisy must be with Rose. The thought of having Rose for support gave Lily confidence: nopony was more dependable in an iffy situation. Surely Rose would recognize how benign the whole affair was. She might even have the problem resolved before Lily arrived.
But the look in Roseluck’s eyes as she answered the door to her home told a different story.
Whatever Lily had planned to say, whatever excuses or buck-passes she had prepared to make, they all disappeared under Rose’s oppressive gaze. It was totally unfamiliar, unnatural to the face Lily knew: an expression full of contempt, dominance, intensity—an expression alien to Ponyville. How could Rose make such a face?
Her name was all Lily could manage to say.
Rose spoke coldly. “Oh, I thought you were Colton.” She scanned the street behind Lily. “Where is he?”
“Rose,” Lily repeated, “What’s happened to Daisy?”
“You don’t—?”
“No,” Lily caught herself, “I know what happened, but can I see her? She’s here with you, isn’t she?”
“No.”
“She’s not? Rose, this is really bad, we need to find her quick. She’s been—”
“She’s here. I said you ain’t gonna see her.”
‘Ain’t gonna’? The phrase caught Lily’s ear. “Rose, please. I’m really sorry about what I’ve been doing with Colton, so I just want to tell her—”
“To tell her what?” Rose jerked forward a step, and Lily flinched. It was a threat! “You gonna say sorry just like that? ‘Sorry I took your boyfriend’? Well, she don’t want your excuses! Your sorry ain’t worth nothin’ no more. I thought you were her sister—our sister—but you never thought of us like that, didja, princess? No! Daisy’s just a servant to you, so you take what you want from her. That right?”
Lily only stared. She had never heard Rose speak this way, never even imagined it. She hardly caught the words’ meaning for the sheer force behind them.
“She don’t need you!” Rose spat, nearing a shout. “She don’t need Colton, neither. There ain’t a thing you have to say to her, got it? Not-a-thing! So get your midget flank outta my sight ‘fore I kick it, and tell your little lover-colt to watch his plot around town, ‘cause I don’t plan on givin’ him the royal treatment I’m givin’ you!”
Her eyes burned, wild, yet more intent than Lily had ever seen. This wasn’t the Rose she knew—not the charming flower shop employee, not the patient and teasing mare Lily admired so much and so quietly.
This was the Rose that Rose never wanted to talk about.
