Blooming Fabulous

Aloe pulled a black scarf out of her wardrobe and wrapped it around her head. She poked her head out of the spa and glanced around furtively before trotting out onto the street. She was on a mission.

Well, technically, two missions, but she didn't want to admit the second one to herself. First thing first: she had to find a new business partner.

A good masseuse was hard to come by these days, and Lotus was the best around. But Aloe had given her a week, and she still couldn't see sense. Aloe needed a new partner, and fast. It was just as busy as ever at the Perfection Spa, but it seemed doubly as busy without a partner. Aloe let out a long, sad, sigh. What had that ridiculous Lotus gotten herself into this time?

That, in fact, was her second mission. She wanted to figure out what Lotus was doing. She cared deeply for her former partner. They were like sisters. It could be expected that they insulted each other now and then. That was how sisters worked, wasn't it?

As it turned out, Aloe's second mission was completed before her first. She spotted Lotus standing happily behind her cart. A new flock of ponies had replaced the last one. As Aloe stared at the scene, a tear rolled down her cheek. Lotus looked so... independent. Aloe had always felt like the older sister, looking out for Lotus when she made a mistake. But there was Lotus, on her own, just fine, or even better, without Aloe. Aloe's heart began to crack. She turned away before she could be hurt anymore. Besides, she still had to find a partner.

Lotus watched the pink pony trudge away. A tear fell from her eye to mirror her ex-partner's. She wiped it away and looked back to her customers.

Rose and Daisy were sent out on advertising duty. Both ponies wore sandwich boards around their necks. While Daisy rang a bell that she held in her mouth, Rose shouted advertisements to passersby.

"Ponyville Flowers! For all of your flower needs, come to the best flower sellers in Ponyville!"

As Lotus had done to them, they did to Lotus: they had chosen to advertise right in front of her cart. Lotus growled in frustration as more and more ponies streamed into Ponyville Flowers.

"Hey! Stop stealing my business, losers!" she shouted, waving her hoof at the two advertisers. Rose stuck out her tongue in a childish manner.

"Why don't you stop stealing our business instead?" She continued shouting out advertisements. Lotus glowered at her from behind the cart.

"GET OUT OF MY SHOP!" roared Lily from inside the shop. All of the ponies on the street turned to watch as a young colt ran out of the shop, tears streaming down his face. Lily chased him out.

"AND DON'T YOU EVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN!" she screamed. Suddenly, she seemed to notice the ponies all around her, staring at her silently. A forced smile came onto her face, and onto those of her fellow shop owners.

"Lily! What was that for? Nopony likes a pony who's mean to foals!" hissed Rose out of the corner of her mouth. Lily's smile grew wider.

"He said my mane looked funny," she hissed back. Rose rolled her eyes. Lotus saw them at a loss for words, and took her opportunity.

"Here at Lotus's Fabulous Water Flowers, we are kind to all ponies! Unlike these three cruel mares!" The crowd began murmuring and smiling at Lotus. The crowd around her cart grew larger than it had ever been before. Lily facehoofed.

"Why must I be so impulsive? Whyyyyyyyyyyy?!" she wailed. Rose snorted in disgust.

"Girls," she growled, "this means war."

Daisy nodded, and the bell in her mouth rang like a call to arms.

When Lotus arrived at her cart the next morning, she found half of the buckets of water tipped over, and the plants they contained shriveled and dried. Lily grinned at her from the doorway of Ponyville Flowers.

"Hi, two timer!" she beamed, "I noticed that you had some water lilies there. You see, since my name is Lily, I'm in charge of all of the lilies in Ponyville, and I didn't like those ones. So I just killed them. Hope you don't mind!" Lotus gritted her teeth.

"Well, I'm in charge of all of the lotuses in Ponyville, so I demand you bring the ones in your shop out here right now!" The smile dropped off of Lily's face.

"We don't allow those horrible, ugly, vulgar things in our shop." Lotus glared at her.

"Okay, I get it, you hate me. But here's something to consider: you'd probably pay better than my own business. So. You give me a job, I stop stealing your business."

"Like I said. No horrible, ugly, vulgar things in our shop," Lily sneered. She turned and stalked back into the shop. Lotus began wracking her brain for revenge plots.

Later in the day, Daisy heard a commotion coming from the back garden. She emerged from the shop to find Lotus covered with dirt, digging up their newly planted dahlia bulbs.

"What are you doing?! Get out of our garden!" she shouted. Lotus shook the dirt out of her mane.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't want these ugly excuses for flowers that you sell in your shop tainting the background of my cart. I took the liberty of eliminating the problem before it arose." Daisy began shaking. Whether with anger or frustration, Lotus couldn't tell. Either way, she didn't want to be there when the emotion showed itself. She quickly trotted back to her cart.

Daisy's emotions became apparent when she burst into tears.

Rose and Lily burst out of the shop at the sound of her wailing. As they moved to comfort Daisy, they glared pointedly at Lotus. Lotus ducked her head. She felt a bit bad for Daisy. She didn't have any real quarrel with the green-maned pony. Just with the other two. But all's fair in love and war, right?

She would apologize to Daisy after she had run their business out of town.