Perennial Problems

"Can we gather enough of these flowers?" Luna asked with her strong voice.

"Yeah, we only need one of them....." Lily said, still shaky from our high speed ride into the forest.

We were somewhere in the east side of the forest, and were pretty deep in. Sun light barely snuck in through the forest's thick canopy, and there was no snow on the ground, due to the leafy shield. Despite the lack of light, all sorts of flora decorated the floor, and trees formed a labyrinth that was very difficult to navigate, even if there was light.
Daisy and Luna tried to find the Forget-me-lots within a small brush, but Lily had found them in a small patch of sunlight.
"They need sunlight to thrive." Lily explained as Luna nodded her head.
"Yup. Now lets get down to business..." I wanted to get out of the forest, and so did everypony else.
"Yes, Lets." Luna said, raising her eyes.

I spoke up. "We need to poison 3 mares. A unicorn named Colgate, an Earth pony named Cheerilee, and her sister Berry Punch. One of them works at a school and will be going on a lunch break soon,"

"Superb." Luna said, kneeling down so as to let my friends and I soar back into the sky with her. Daisy leapt on with out hesitation. I climbed on carefully so I didn't hurt the princess. Lily shivered and glared at the Princess.
"I-I don't wanna..."
Suddenly, a squirrel came running out of the bushes, making a rustling sound that startled Lily. Lily sprung onto Luna, eager to escape the dark forest. Luna was kind enough to take flight and exit the Everfree before asking for the destination.

We told Luna that Colgate was scheduled a lunch break from work at this time, and I found that Colgate really enjoys the hot chocolate from sugar cube corner when I met her. Luna set the course accordingly, and she didn't feel the need to fly as fast as she did earlier.

As we landed in-front of the confectioner's shop, I quickly paced in. I didn't see Colgate in the homely pink room until I fixed my gaze at the counter. I had made it just in time. I got back outside to climb the building as quick as possible. I then tip-trotted along the roof and above the door. I ground the forget-me-lot leaves in my hooves and waited.
About five seconds later, I saw the top of Colgate's head and the brown, steaming liquid in a white mug being levitated besides it.
I saw my opportunity, and took it.

I gently blew the leaves into the air and hoped they reached their destination. Sure enough, they did. Flawlessly. I was actually kinda stunned, and apparently, so was Lily and Daisy because they applauded Luna quickly teleported onto the roof with me, so as to not be discovered.

"Oh hai, girls!" Colgate looked over to Lily and Daisy.

"Oh...uh, hey Cole." Daisy mustered while Lily waved.

"Are you guys going to Sugar Cube Corner? I recommend the hot chocolate!"

"We'll keep that in mind." Lily said very calmly, with a bit of a crack in her voice.

"Hey, where's Lucky Rosie? Ha! Hey, that works as a nickname for her."

Daisy then said something inaudible, however I caught my name in the clause, and the three of them laughed. This gave me an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Did Daisy just do something that she'll regret? Acting on impulse, I dropped down easily from the roof, calling attention to myself.

"Hey there, Colgate!" I waved to Colgate and quickly paced over to her.

"Oh hey, Lucky Rosie!" She giggled. "Wow what a trooper. Coming to visit your friends while your sick."

I shot a death look at Daisy.

"Yeah..." I muttered.

"I don't mean to sound like a doctor, Lucky but you really need to lay off on the dandelions if they're causing you irregularities."

I got the sudden urge to punch Daisy in the throat. I mulled the thought over in my mind as I gave my reply:

"Yeah. You should drink your hot chocolate."

"Oh! You're right."

Colgate magically floated the cup over to her mouth and hugged the porcelain rim of her cup with her lips.
I only knew Colgate since the party, but I was very upset that she would forget me. Actually, my heart sank when I heard the chocolate run down her throat.

Almost instantly, the magic keeping the mug afloat dissipated and the cup crashed on the street, splashing steaming hot chocolate on the ground. Steam arose from the liquid due to the frigid weather. Colgate had a pretty average look on her face when she looked around slowly.

"Where am I?" Colgate whispered under her breath. She was about to walk away when I stopped her with my hoof.

"Do you remember me?" I asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"No, I'm afraid I don't...Should I?"

"You must have been around some 'forget me lots'"

"What're those?" Colgate looked a bit trippy, but she was just quizzical.

"They grow around here and the tend to fog out memory. I met you yesterday. "

"Fog out memory?" Colgate was now very concerned. "Oh crap! I've got work!...Right?"

"Take a day off." I suggested. "I'm RoseLuck. Call me Rose." I patted her on her forehead.

"Heh,can I call you 'Lucky Rosie?'"

"Not at all." Then I walked away, Daisy and Lily following me, probably unsure of how angry I was. I could tell how they were walking.

"You've wasted precious time, fool." Luna said, unpleased as she floated above me. The wind her wings were kicking up messed up my mane more than it already was.

"Sorry, princess. It won't happen again."

"See that it won't." Luna swooped down and grabbed the three of us with magic, very abruptly causing us to scream a bit.

@->-,->'->______________________________________________________________________________________________

Luna had found herself a nice rest spot on an oak tree infront of the School Lily and I were infiltrating. Daisy stayed behind with the princess, due to fear.

"It's here, I think." Lily stated, but unsure of herself. She was very tired, and didn't want to think. About anything. I walked up to the door that I hopped to be Cheerilee's class room. I looked at the number on the door. 13. I have a huge fear of superstition, and magic. Unicorn magic, I'm now okay with, but other kinds tend to scare me. That Zecora incident last year made me look like a fool. I continued to gaze at the door when suddenly it opened, causing me to jump back.

"Oh!" It was Cheerilee. "Didn't mean to frighten you." She had a paper airplane in her hair, and it told me that her class was in session, and that made me question how long I've been up.

"Hi Cheerilee..." just before I could strike up a conversation, my hooves acted on their own. I had zero control. I grabbed Cheerilee's head and threw it into the wall. Before she could get up to defend herself, I grabbed the emerald-green forget-me-lots flower and smothered her with it. My hooves held the flower on her face until she took a big gasp of air. Her eyes rolled to the back her head, and she blinked furiously.

"Ugh......whoa." She stood up quickly , and darted back into her classroom, slamming the door behind her. I stared at my cream colored hooves and wondered with grave worry, and wondered why I did what I just did. Then a thought popped into my head.

"Lunaaaa..." I moaned, in defeat as I paced slowly outside.

"You've taken too long." Luna lectured as she fluttered down from the tree.

I didn't bother to argue. I just climbed on her back and waited to be brought over to our final target. My body longed for sleep. This day was going by so slowly. It felt like yesterday I was in Canterlot running from an imperial guard when really that was just this morning. My body ached and my eyes stung. My head had a vacillating pain that beamed angry messages to my body: GO TO SLEEP. I simply could not sleep, not matter how comforting it was to soar on Luna's back. My legs were stiff and the vision in my left eye was blurry.

After what felt like an eon, we arrived at the bar. I found it funny that we landed at a bar to locate Berry Punch. The laughing made my body feel a lot better, but it soon returned to it's pained state.

"Be swift." Luna commanded.

I leapt off her back and lost my balance, causing me to land on my face. I heard Lily and Daisy gasp, but I didn't have the energy to tell them I was alright. Perhaps my body didn't want me to lie to them. I stumbled carelessly in the bar, looking drunker than everypony in their. Ponies tend to drink at this time of day. It only took me 3 minutes to locate Berry punch. She was drunk off her plot and was sitting on the counter.

"Hey, Berry..."

"Came to get wasted?"

I didn't, but I quickly grabbed the glass besides Berry and downed it to numb my pain. It was hard liquor mixed with some type of rum. It didn't taste too good.

"Berry, do you remember what we celebrated about yesterday?"

"No. Funny you brought that up, Rose...I wanted to tell everyone but the thought slipped my mind. Was it a birthday?"

"It was my aunts birthday." I lied.

"Okay! Now I remember! I think." Berry sat up and blinked. She was sobering up pretty quickly. She's probably such an alcoholic, she needs double the amount to stay tipsy.
"Yeah, a birthday, that must've been it."

On that note, I just left. I wanted sleep. Badly. I walked outside and climbed on Luna for a ride home.

@->-,->'-> ______________________________________________________________________________________________

I woke up the next morning...er...afternoon on my bed. I awoke very abruptly, and felt extremely comfortable. With very little investigation, I saw that I was snuggled under Luna's wing. She was sleeping soundly. I was stunned by her essence and was confused as to why she felt the need to sleep in my house. As honored as I was, I couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable.

I smelled something awesome cooking in the kitchen. Normally, you wouldn't smell anything cooking out of my kitchen but tea. I can't cook at all. I once burnt myself preparing ice cream. I wanted to get out of bed and see what was cooking, but Luna's wing held me close. I laid back down and listened to Luna's breath.
I laid there for a good hour 'till Luna woke up. She lifted me with ease using her magic and threw me softly on the bed. She walked into the kitchen without saying anything.

I writhed on my back, struggling to get back onto my hooves, and set for the kitchen myself to see what was cooking.
When I got there, I saw a bowl of hash browns in the middle of my table, and they were very well cooked. I also saw a plate of biscuits and honey roasted pineapple crisps. There were a bunch of other bowls with steam rising from a few of them, but I couldn't tell what their contents were. It all looked delectable.

Sitting at the table, I was surprised to see Colgate. She was munching slowly on a biscuit drizzled carelessly with maple syrup. She was using both her hooves instead of her magic and stared into blank space. It was an odd sight. Lily and Daisy were also in the kitchen and they were carrying a conversation with her. Colgate answered questions, but seemed as if she were in another world. Cheerilee was also there. She was eating toast and looked pretty happy with it. I would have asked what was going on, but if I did, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the morning as much as I did.