Every Thorn Has Its Rose
Written & Edited by Seven81493
Preread by Garbo802
Every thorn has its rose.
A mother had once said that to her filly. It had meant that no matter how bad things seemed, something good was bound to come your way. It was strange motto, but it certainly got its point across. So why am I telling you about this? Well, let me tell you a little Hearts & Hooves Day story...
Today was a busy day for Roseluck. The cream colored mare with the rose colored mane had been spending the past few hours selling bouquet after bouquet of flowers to mares and stallions alike. Hearts and Hooves day had once been her favorite day of the year. But nowadays, she just wished she could hide under a rock on this accursed day. It was still going far better than last year, though. The year that some drunk stallion had tried to take advantage of her in front of everypony.
She had been lucky that Twilight Sparkle had been there to knock some sense into him. Literally. She had taken a bottle and used her magic to wallop him on the back of the head. But she was getting off track. It looked like one of her closest friends was approaching her stall, and here she was, mulling over how unfortunate her life had been up to this day.
“Hey, Roseluck!”
It took a second for her to form a smile at her friend’s greeting, and she couldn’t blame herself either. Her friend was here to get something for her marefriend, while she was stuck alone on a day that was meant to be one of love.
“Hello, Lyra. What can I get for you?”
Her aqua colored friend put a hoof to her chin in thought, before giving a wide smile. “Can you give me some pink and purple roses?”
It took a second for the realization to hit Roseluck. “Oh! For Bon Bon?”
“Yep! We’re celebrating our third anniversary today, and I wanted to get something that matched her to a T.”
Roseluck gave a forced smile, and grabbing some pink and purple roses, hoofed them to her friend. “There you go! Have a nice date, Lyra.”
“I will, and thanks, Roseluck!” yelled Lyra as she galloped off, leaving a few bits behind in her wake. No doubt to another date she was late for, Roseluck joked to herself. Lyra always had issues being on time, and she suspected today would be no different for the lazy unicorn. She could only imagine the fierce yelling her friend was going to endure from her marefriend. But once again, Roseluck was getting off track. It looked as if another mare was making her way to her stall. This time though, she gave a legitimate smile to the pony who had saved her flank the previous year.
“Hey, Twilight. What can I get you?”
“Well, Luna and I have an anniversary dinner set up for tonight, and I need some flowers that would match her personality,” the lavender mare explained.
Roseluck nodded her head before the realization came upon her like a brick to the head.
“Wait. You’re dating Luna? As in, the princess of Equestria?!”
Twilight gave Roseluck a smile, and she couldn’t help but return it. She had never heard anything about the relationship, but maybe that’s because Luna didn’t exactly visit Ponyville all the time. In fact, the last time she had even come to Ponyville was more than a year ago. It had been the first Nightmare Night since she had returned. So it was safe to say that that was when Twilight had picked up a mare as lovely as Princess Luna.
“Yeah, she was really grateful that my friends and I had freed her from herself. So a little over a year ago-”
“On Nightmare Night?” Roseluck interrupted, certain she was correct.
“How did you-?”
“Well, that was the last time she came to visit, so I just put two and two together,” Roseluck swiftly explained, leaving Twilight stunned.
“Yes... well, anyways. After the festivities came to an end, she said she wanted to thank me personally. So I took her to my house, and she thanked me. A lot,” she finished with a smirk.
Roseluck couldn’t help but giggle at Twilight’s vague explanation.
“So I waited a few months, and then last year on Hearts and Hooves Day, I asked her on a date,” Twilight continued. “She said yes and well, here I am!”
“Here,” began Roseluck as she took a bouquet and hoofed it to Twilight, “give her these.”
“What are these?” the ever inquisitive mare asked as she placed a few bits on the stall.
Roseluck gave a smile at the lavender pony before replying, “Dark Blue Summer Nights. Give her those, and you’ll be set.”
“Alright, thank you, Roseluck!” Twilight yelled back towards the stall as she galloped away from it.
Yet another mare gone to see her significant other. If jealousy were a disease, Roseluck would have spread it to everypony she knew by now. But that was going to change, she finally decided. She was going to get a date, no matter what it took. But first, she had to finish her work for the day...
“Miss? Are you alright?”
Roseluck was broken out of her stupor by the masculine voice, and looking up, she saw an unfamiliar pony.
“Hello, sir. How can I help you?”
“The name’s Davenport,” he responded curtly, but not before continuing with, “what’s yours?”
“R-Roseluck,” replied the stunned mare. Somepony actually wanted to know something about her? Maybe he was just being nice, she concluded.
“Well, Roseluck, I’d like to buy a bouquet of red roses,” he said, placing a few bits on the stall, which Roseluck collected with a sigh.
She was right. It was just another stallion buying something for his marefriend. So she simply grabbed a bouquet of red roses and hoofed them to him.
“Here you go, Davenport. You have a nice day.”
Roseluck watched as Davenport span the bouquet around in his hoof, most likely making sure there was nothing wrong with it. She was still watching when he hoofed the bouquet back to her. Great, there had been something wrong with it, she thought to herself.
“For you, Roseluck. Happy Hearts and Hooves Day.”
Had she just heard him correctly? Had a pony actually bought a bouquet of flowers just for her? That had to be the nicest thing anypony had done for her in a long time.
“But... why?” she questioned, immediately feeling very stupid for having done so.
“Because nopony should feel alone on Hearts and Hooves Day, and well, because you’re really pretty,” he finished lamely, getting a giggle out of her.
“T-thank you,” she replied tearfully through her giggles, incredibly happy that somepony had done such a thing for her. “Say, would you like to go out for some dinner later, Davenport?”
“I think I’d like that,” he replied with a huge smile adorning his features.
Roseluck gave a contented sigh, and smiled right back at him. “It’s a date then!”
“Alright, just come to my store, ‘Quills and Sofas’, when you’re done here.”
“I’ll be there,” she replied ecstatically as Davenport trotted off.
Roseluck looked to the sky and silently thanked Celestia. Maybe what her mother had told when she was little had been true all along.
Every thorn has it’s rose...
