Saturday afternoon in Ponyville. The small town was bustling with activity. Little fillies and colts were out playing in the streets, some ponies were out running their weekly errands, and others were simply happy to be out and about on such a beautiful day with their friends. Then there were the shop owners.

The streets were practically packed with vendors, selling a wide variety of items. From the smallest of fruits to the largest of plants, you could find close to anything. Of course, a day like this was perfect for the town’s local flower ponies. They had picked up somewhat of a reputation around town as being overdramatic, but one thing was certain. Nopony could cultivate a garden quite like they could.

And on a day like this, that meant that their business was better than ever. A multitude of colts and stallions alike had already visited their stands. Some for their significant other, and some in the hope that the flowers would earn them a significant other. “Boy, we’re really raking in the bits today, girls!”

Roseluck and Daisy giggled at their younger sister’s exclamation. She was something of a joker among the trio, and had a reputation among town as being able to make just about anypony smile. Roseluck smirked at her. “Oh, Lily, your puns are going to get you into trouble one day, you know.”

Lily rolled her eyes and shifted her attention back towards the streets as a young colt trotted his way over to her stand. With an unwavering look of determination, he slammed a few bits down in front of her. “Hi, Pipsqueak! How are you?”

Pipsqueak smiled. “I’m great, Miss Valley!”

“Aww, you’re making me feel old calling me that,” Lily laughed. “You know you can call me Lily. Now, what can I get for you?”

“Do you have any black lillies… Lily?” He asked. The youngest of the flower sisters smiled, and ducked down behind her stall for a moment. When she popped back up, she had just what he had asked for. “Whoa, it’s even prettier than I thought it would be!”

Lily giggled, sliding the bits he’d offered towards herself. “And just who’s the lucky lady that’ll be getting this flower?”

“I-I don’t really wanna say…” He blushed.

“Oh, come on, we won’t tell anypony! Promise!” Daisy called out from a few stalls away.

Roseluck covered her mouth with her hoof, and laughed nervously as she regarded the little pony. “Don’t listen to her, Pipsqueak, you don’t have to tell us if you’re not comfortable.”

“Well, I guess you three are pretty good at keeping secrets. I got it for Scootaloo,” he spoke softly, embarrassed.

“Well I’m sure she’ll love it,” Lily smiled at him, ruffling his mane with her hoof. “Now run along, and tell your mom I said she’s lucky to have raised such an upstanding young colt.”

Pipsqueak gave a little salute, turned heel, and galloped off. Roseluck tilted her head towards Lily once he was out of sight. “I didn’t know you had any black lillies.”

“I decided to try and grow some new species for this month.” Lily smiled. “What about you two? Got any new flowers up for sale?”

“Nope.” “Same old, same old.”

“Oh, well I’m sure you guys will come up with something to…”

Roseluck zoned out as her younger sister spoke, focusing her attention instead across the town square. Ponies basically swarmed around Applejack while trying to buy some of her Red Delicious apples. Her eyes settled on the creature that had come to call Ponyville home for the past few months. What had Princess Twilight called him. A ‘hyooman’?

Whatever he was, he didn’t look nearly as lively as he had the last time she’d seen him. As he examined the apple in his hands, she could see that Applejack was trying to offer him some words of comfort. Why, though, was a mystery to her.

“Rosie?”

“H-huh?” Roseluck shook her head, and turned towards Daisy. “What is it?”

“You’ve been staring at Clyde for like two minutes.”

Roseluck’s cheeks burned a bright red. “O-oh. Sorry, I was just a bit distracted is all.”

“It’s a real shame about him,” Lily spoke sadly. Daisy nodded in agreeance.

“What’s wrong?”

“You didn’t tell her?” Daisy frowned at Lily, who chuckled nervously. “Princess Twilight wasn’t able to find a way for him to get back home.”

“S-so he’s trapped here? Like, forever?” Rose asked, turning to look at him again. That was definitely a cruel fate, being ripped away from his home and family forever, just like that. “That’s… horrible.”

“Yeah, he hasn’t really been taking it well. In fact, just the other day, he…”

Roseluck zoned out again, regarding the human with a sad look on her face. She watched as he slowly walked away from Applejack’s stand, an apple in hand. She had never actually spoken to him, not even in a passing situation. She had, admittedly, been terrified of him for the longest time. It was only when he had helped rescue one of Fluttershy’s animals from the Everfree Forest a few weeks ago, that she had begun to see him in a different light.

But even then, she never really had any idea of how to approach the much larger bipedal creature. Still, she wanted to at least try something to lift his spirits. She never liked to see anypony sad, so she settled on grabbing a bouquet of flowers from under her flower stand. With the bouquet held tightly between her teeth, she quickly trotted off after him, ignoring her sisters, who tried to get her attention.

Clyde let out a sigh as he approached Applejack’s apple stand. He still had a few bits left over after paying the rent on his home, and he wanted something to snack on. He had heard that she had just gotten some Red Delicious apples in stock and was intent on getting one. They had been his favorite fruit back on Earth, and somehow they were even better here.

“Well, howdy, Clyde. You here to buy some apples?”

Clyde didn’t reply, instead grabbing an apple from one of the many baskets she had on display and inspecting it.

“I heard about what Twilight told ya. Is there anything I can do?”

He shook his head, his wavy hair flopping from side to side as he did. “It’s… fine, Applejack.”

“Are ya sure? ’Cause you know, we were all planning a little trip down to the spa later today if you wanted to join us?” Applejack offered him a smile.

One that he had trouble returning. “I’m sure,” he replied, trying his hardest to smile graciously. “So how much are your Red Delicious apples?”

“Just a bit each,” she answered. “But you can have that one for free.”

Clyde finally managed a smile. “A-are you sure?”

“I’m sure. It’s the least I could do after hearing about your situation.”

She tipped her hat at him, and he thanked her before walking off. He was intent on getting back home before the mailmare got there. Last time she had beaten him, his mailbox had somehow been broken in half, and he didn’t feel like buying another one.

It was a hot day, though, and he eventually resigned himself to finding a nearby empty bench to sit down on. He wiped a bit of sweat off of his forehead and plopped down on the bench, crossing his left leg on top of his right. He looked at the apple Applejack had given him again. There were no bruises, and it was one of the shiniest apples he’d ever seen. How her family was so good at farming them, he had no clue.

He was about to take a bite out of the apple, when he heard a voice to his left. “U-um, hello.”

Roseluck followed Clyde for a few moments, coming to a stop as he took a seat on a bench. They had wandered quite a bit aways from the town square, and she gulped as she thought of just how she could approach him.

‘Okay, Roseluck, you can do this. Just walk over to him, say hi, and give him these flowers…’

Trotting over to him was no problem, and he hadn’t seemed to notice her yet. She wasn’t sure why, but that made her feel a bit more comfortable. Once she was within a few inches of him, she took the bouquet out of her mouth and into her hoof and spoke. “U-um, hello.”

He turned towards her, closing his mouth as he did and lowering the hand holding his apple back down. “Um, hi?”

‘Okay, Roseluck, just hoof him the flowers now!’

“Th-these are for you,” Roseluck stammered out nervously. She looked away from him as she held the flowers out towards him. To her surprise, she felt the flowers leave her grasp, and she managed to look back towards him.

“Um… thanks, I guess? Why’d you get these for me, though?”

“O-oh, well I heard about you being stuck here and I thought that you might need some cheering up,” she replied softly.

“Ah,” he nodded. “Well, thank you.”

“Y-you’re welcome.”

The two remained quiet for a few moments, not quite sure what to say. ‘Dang it, I knew this was a bad idea! We’ve never even met, and here I am giving him a bouquet! He probably thinks I’m the weirdest pony in town now! Oh, the horror, the ho—’

“Roseluck, right?” He broke the silence and took her away from those thoughts. She nodded, and he smiled at her. “Truth be told, Roseluck, I was kind of expecting Twilight to come up empty. Heck, I don’t even know how I got here. I’m sure I’ll be fine… eventually.”

That was a bit of a relief. Maybe he wasn’t as sad as everyone thought he was? He was smiling, which was a good sign. Still, it begged a question that she wasn’t sure she wanted to ask. “D-don’t you miss your family, though?” She regretted saying that almost right away, as she watched his features fall. “O-oh gosh, I’m so sorry! Gosh, stupid, stupid Roseluck!” She scolded herself, smacking a hoof against her forehead.

“Hey, no worries, you don’t need to… hit yourself,” He finished, staring at her with a bemused look. She paused for a moment, looking past her hoof at him. He set the flowers he’d been given down on his lap. “Why do you care so much, anyways? We’ve never even met before, I only know your name because of Twilight.”

Roseluck blushed, falling down to her haunches on the ground. She gave a little nervous cough, rubbing the back of her head. “I’m… not really sure. I guess I felt bad that nopony was even trying to talk to you, aside from Applejack.” She was expecting Clyde to give her another strange look, but he surprised her by chuckling, a tiny smile meeting his face. “W-what?”

“You ponies are just too nice.” He paused for a second, patting the empty spot next to him on the bench. “Why don’t you sit up here? I’m sure it’s better than the ground.”

Roseluck was hesitant, but the look he was giving her said ‘you have nothing to fear from me’. She smiled warmly and hopped up next to him, falling down onto her rump again. “S-so, what do you do for a living?”

“That’s a silly question to ask someone you just met,” he laughed. “But if you must know, I work at the Carousel Boutique.”

Roseluck’s eyes lit up at that. “No way! Do you make clothes like Rarity does?”

“Oh, no, I just take measurements for her,” he blushed. “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wanna know how to.”

Roseluck paused for a moment, wanting to get a better look at Clyde. Like her, his brown hair stopped just short of going over his eyes. His face was clean-shaven, and his blue eyes shined brightly in the sunlight. It almost made her wonder just why she'd been so terrified of him only months before. “Have you made any friends?”

“Aside from Rarity and Applejack, not really,” he shrugged. “Princess Twilight is always too busy to chat, and that yellow one seems really scared of me.”

“‘Yellow one’...?” Roseluck repeated quietly. “Oh! You mean Fluttershy? Yeah, she can be pretty timid,” Roseluck giggled.

“That’s it. I always forget it, because as soon as she sees me, she just flies away.” The two shared a short laugh. Once it died down, he gave Roseluck a warm look. “Thanks for talking with me, Roseluck.”

“It’s nothing…” She shook her hoof limply at him, blushing. “So... do you live around here?”

“I actually live just down the street from here,” he pointed with what she recalled being known as his ‘thumb’, and her eyes followed his directions. “See that little house down there, right before the last one?”

“The one with the little blue shutters beside the windows?”

“That’s it,” Clyde nodded. “I actually rented it out a few weeks ago. I was living with Rarity until then, but her sister is just so messy. She actually left a pair of her socks in the sink.”

Roseluck giggled. “That sure sounds like Sweetie Belle. She’s a little mischievous, but she’s a sweet filly.”

“Yeah, she’s something else alright,” Clyde laughed. With a sigh of what Roseluck assumed to be disappointment, he pointed back to his home. “Well, I need to go ahead and get home. I’d love to talk to you some more tomorrow, though, if you’d like.” He smiled. “It’s a bit unfair that we only talked about me.”

Roseluck found herself nodding eagerly, beaming a bit as she replied, “Okay! I’ll be at my flower stand if you want to chat while I work!”

She watched as Clyde got up, bouquet in hand, and walked down the street towards his home. “Okay, see you then.”

‘Wow, that went a lot better than I thought it would! He’s not scary at all!’ Roseluck exclaimed to herself. Then it hit her. ‘Oh, ponyfeathers, I need to get back to my stand!’

With that, she galloped back towards the town square, eager to let her sisters know that she had made a new friend.

I hope you guys liked this intro.