Gossip Spreads Quick

Roseluck yawned as she pulled on another weed with her hooves, Daisy and Lily repeating the actions Roseluck did as the three worked on cleaning up their garden.

“So how’s your whole exploring the nearby area going for you?” Daisy asked finally and glanced at Lily. “You’ve been outside up in the mountains a lot more or camping.”

“It’s amazing!” Lily gushed and her eyes lit up, a large smile spreading across her muzzle as Roseluck chuckled. Lily had been in a better mood ever since she and Roseluck went up there. She even was more friendlier to the customers and a few times went to dinner with her sisters and their friends. They hadn’t had a single argument since the dragon incident.

Roseluck had been pretty happier with the turn around. Lily being happier naturally made her happy. She wanted the best for her sisters, after all. If Lily wanted to stay out late camping or having fun, Roseluck certainly wasn’t gonna stand in her way.

“Let’s just I got a whole new appreciation for the outdoors. More than I ever did before,” Lily chuckled and tossed a weed into a bucket. “You two should come with me some time. We can travel and have fun. Like when we were fillies. There’s more out there to see than just these four walls and garden.”

“She’s gonna sing, isn’t she?” Roseluck sighed and Daisy rolled her eyes as Lily nodded enthusiastically.

“Yep, yep she is.”

The rest of Roseluck’s day went thankfully without any more singing. Lily was a decent singer but she didn’t like hearing it all the time.

“Hey Junebug,” Roseluck paused as the mare drank from the fountain in the center of Ponyville.

“O-o-oh hey,” Junebug waved and Roseluck ignored the stutter the other mare had. She was used to it along with the town. A good majority never brought it up and that was how Junebug liked it. “How are you?”

“Good and yourself?”

“G-g-good,” Junebug answered and briefly nuzzled her fellow flower pony. While she may not be related to Roseluck or her sisters, Junebug did have a flower cutie mark of her own and most of the town considered her a flower pony. The four often met up at Daisy’s for coffee early in the morning. “How’s Lily and Daisy doing today?”

“Fine. Lily was even singing today for crying out loud!” Roseluck threw her forelegs up in the air before the two giggled. Junebug was fairly fond of the the mare. Roseluck never brought up her stutter unlike kids did when she was in school.

“W-w-well at least she’s feeling nicer these days?” Junebug offered and Roseluck nodded, the two glancing at Sunset talking to a purple earth pony in the shadows of an alley way next to some trash cans and mice as Sunset gave a mouse a disgusted look. Roseluck and Junebug both could relate to that. They hated mice. Nasty, disease carrying creatures. “What is she doing?”

“I have no clue. Probably Sunset things.”

What that entailed, Junebug had no idea and a part of her felt like she was safer not knowing.

“Are you out of your bucking mind?” Lily View, a orange earth pony mare hissed at Veronica as the two mares sat next to Randolph around the table in the servants quarters. “Do you know what she would do to us?”

“Listen-” Veronica started and Lily sighed.

“Fine. But this better be good. We don’t even know Sunset!” Lily whispered in case any of the family was up.

“I know. But she genuinely seems to care about us and have a good heart. When was the last time you or Randolph or me got genuinely cared about anypony inside this house?” Veronica pointed and Randolph coughed into a hoof.

“Mr.Rich is quite nice to us,” Randolph pointed out and Lily rolled her eyes in frustration.

“Sure, he’s nice and stands up for us but he still is married to her.”

“That’s not necessarily fair of you, Lily. We can’t expect him to up and leave his wife, especially with Miss Tiara in the picture.”

“Okay fine. Carry on,” Lily grunted and waved a hoof before returning to her dinner, a daisy sandwich with mayo and other various vegetables.

“All we have to do is find something related to their finances that might seem shady and deliever them to her. She said she will take care of us once it’s over. You think Mrs. Rich is scary? I asked around. You haven’t seen nothing according to Lyra. She doesn’t hold a candle to Sunset. Sunset has more authority than her and is related to Princess Celestia. She could easily remove Mrs. Rich and nopony would bat and eye. Hell, I’m pretty sure the Mayor would give Sunset an award.”

“Hmph.”

Veronica sighed and resisted the urge to slam a hoof against her face.

“Look at my cutie mark. It’s a mop. I got it when I was a filly cleaning. Sure, it could mean I’m destined to be a servant for the rest of my life but it could mean that I could run my own cleaning company. Possibilities are endless. Sunset told me that the other day. Lily, you have a frying pan. You could be a cook. And Randolph, you have a...?”

“Feather duster, Veronica. I was born for this. There’s no spinning that. I promised Mr. Rich I’d work for his family as I did his father before him. I will not say anything to anypony for your sake. I wish you both well in life if you do choose to leave the employment here. You are good friends of mine,” Randolph patted them both on their hooves and they smiled sheepishly. “You two are young, you have your whole lives ahead of you. Do something you’ve always wanted, don’t be stuck doing a job you hate.”

“Thanks Randolph,” Lily blushed and rubbed the back of her head. “Alright, so you said Sunset promised to take care of us? All of us?”

“Mhm. Jobs and everything working for her. Running messages, helping Silverspeed with paperwork occasionally. We get paid days off Lily. You gotta admit that is tempting,” Veronica grinned and wrapped a hoof around Lily.

Lily had to admit, that was tempting. It’d be nice to spend some time with her son. More than she already did. Snails was a pretty good boy but she was a bit biased and even she knew that.

“Alright tell her I’m game.”

Lily just hoped this didn’t come back to bite her in the flank and remove her only income.