It had only been a day since Roseluck had asked Clyde if he’d be willing to attend Celestia’s brunch with her. To her surprise and delight, he had been quick to agree. From there, the two had finished up their little outing at the Coffee Bean and headed their separate ways. Well, not before Flitter had come over to thank Clyde once more for assisting her. Roseluck had felt just a tad jealous at the time, but thinking back on it, that was a silly feeling to harbor. Any pony would be grateful for the help he’d provided.

If only he’d been there to provide her with some relief from her sisters that same night. Telling them about their venture to the coffee shop had been one of her worst mistakes yet.

“You two went on a date!?” Her sisters shrieked.

“Tell us everything about it!” Lily demanded.

Roseluck sighed. It had been foolish of her to expect anything other than an interrogation when she decided to tell her sisters where she’d run off to that afternoon. Plopping down on the sofa, she took a sip of water. “There’s not much to tell. We had some coffee, and it wasn’t a date.”

“Oh, puh-lease! Not a date?” Daisy said. “You, a mare, went to a coffee shop with Clyde, a stallion.”

“Yeah, and nopony asks to have coffee without some sort of underlying romantic intent!” Lily added. “Things like ‘coffee’ and ‘tea’ are just code words for pursuing that pony!”

“First, he’s a man, not a stallion. Human, remember?” Roseluck corrected her older sister. Turning to face Lily, she continued, “Second, you can totally have coffee or tea with somepony without it being a date! What about that time you had tea with Golden Harvest?”

Lily’s cheeks flushed at that question. “W-well…”

“You’re kidding me,” Roseluck deadpanned. “You like her?”

“Just a little!”

“Okay, enough about Lily and her unrequited love of Golden Harvest,” Daisy interjected, clambering onto the couch next to Roseluck. “This is about your very-much-mutual crush on Clyde.”

“I don’t have a crush on him!” Roseluck exclaimed. “I-I mean, look. I feel… something. I’m not sure what it is, but I can assure you it’s not a crush. Why would he even have feelings for a pony like me anyway?”

Roseluck didn’t know it, but that last sentence was the golden opportunity her sisters had been waiting for to prove her wrong. Quickly, Lily bounded forward, placing her forehooves on her sister’s flank for support. Her face was close enough that she could see the sweat beginning to form on Roseluck’s fur. “Why would you care if he has feelings for you, Rosie?”

“Well I—”

Daisy cut her off. “Yeah, unless you want him to have feelings for you. Which you totally do, we can tell.”

“I do n—”

“And not to mention,” Lily interrupted her in turn, “you literally gave him flowers the first time you met.”

“I sell flowers!” Roseluck shouted. “What else am I supposed to give him, chocolates!?”

Daisy shot up in her seat. “Aha! And why would you give someone chocolates and flowers and ask them for coffee unless you were interested in them!”

Lily nodded. “She’s right, Rosie! We have you pegged. It’s sooo obvious that you have feelings for Clyde.”

“And you’re having trouble coming to terms with them,” Daisy continued.

“Because he’s a human, I bet!”

“ENOUGH!” Roseluck shouted, jumping from the sofa. Lily, who had been using her for support, was knocked backward onto the floor. She landed on her back, her legs splayed out at her sides, but that didn’t stop her from breaking into a fit of giggles. Daisy, still on the couch, was grinning from ear to ear. “You two weren’t there, so you don’t even know how our date went!”

Wait, what had she just…

“Oh, hay.”

Daisy and Lily jumped right back in front of their sister. “We knew it!” They cried out together.

Roseluck groaned. “Ugh, fine! I think I might like him, alright!? I don’t know yet, but I just… I want to.”

“You want him to like you?” Lily asked.

“No,” Roseluck shook her head, falling to her haunches. “I want to know if I really like him, or if these feelings are just because…”

The two leaned forward intently, desperately wanting to hear what she had to say. “Because…?”

“Because… I’ve never really had somepony interested in me,” Roseluck finished morosely, tears welling in her eyes. “You two have been on tons of dates, and even if they haven’t always ended well, at least you’ve gotten that experience. I’ve never even had a stallion ask me out or tell me I was cute. I’m just not worth dating, I guess.”

Her sisters sat down across from her. Reaching a hoof out and placing it gently on Roseluck’s shoulder, Lily offered her a gentle smile. “Rosie, there’s no way you really believe that, right?”

“Yeah,” Daisy nodded. “That’s a bunch of baloney. You’re one of the prettiest, sweetest, kind, and PRETTIEST mares in all of Equestria.”

“You said ‘prettiest’ twice,” Roseluck deadpanned.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Daisy waved her hoof dismissively, “anyways, the only reason a stallion wouldn’t want to be with you is because he’s not the right one. Or stupid. Actually, scratch that, both.”

“Daisy’s right,” Lily said. “You’re not just a wonderful mare, you’re also an amazing sister!”

“Yeah, to hay with anyone who wouldn’t want to date you. They’re not worth your time anyway!”

Roseluck brought a hoof up to her face, wiping away her tears, and brought her head up so that she was eye level with her sisters. “T-thanks, girls. You two are the best sisters a mare could ask for. Even if you treat me like a suspect being interrogated,” she giggled.

The two joined her in laughter, and she felt compelled to continue. “Besides, I’ll get a better idea of how I feel after our date in a couple days.”

Roseluck felt her sisters’ grasps disappear suddenly, replaced by the two leaning back with mouths agape. Uh oh.

“YOU’RE GOING TO THE ROYAL BRUNCH WITH CLYDE!?” Daisy shouted so loudly it practically shook Roseluck’s eardrums.

“And you waited until now to tell us!?” Lily cried out incredulously.

“W-well…” Roseluck started chuckling, nervous to tell her sisters anything else. Though if she didn’t, she’d certainly be grilled once more, and knowing the two of them, she’d crack before long. “Yeah, I guess. Heh.”

“Okay! Okay! Calm down, Lily!” The pink mare spoke aloud to herself, eyebrow twitching.

“Um… are you alright, Lily?”

“Fine, I’m fine!” Lily shouted. After a moment, she seemed to have settled down, but she was still staring so intently at Roseluck that the cream-colored mare almost wondered if her very soul was being examined. “Alright, whew. So he said yes?”

“Sure did,” Roseluck replied, the corners of her mouth tilting upwards ever so slightly. “He said yes.”

“Was it an excited yes?” Daisy asked, now lying on her belly. Her forehooves supported her head, digging into her cheeks, while her hind hooves playfully waved back and forth in the air. “Or was it more of a yes but only because he felt obligated to say yes?”

“Or maybe it was a yes, but just as friends,” Lily added.

Choosing not to feed into what her sisters were saying this time, Roseluck continued on. “Well, whatever kind of ‘yes’ it was, it was still a yes. So now I need to plan out what we’re going to do tomorrow and hopefully, I can get the answers I am looking for from myself.”

“But do you even have a dress for the brunch?” Daisy asked.

“Yeah, and are you really going to just go with your regular manecut?” Lily scoffed. “Forget about planning what you’ll be doing tomorrow, it’s time to plan what you’ll be looking like tomorrow.”

“Lily is right, Rosie. If you’re going to go with Clyde to this event, you need to make sure you dress to impress!”

“And we know just the mare who can help you do that!"

“W-who?” Roseluck asked, feeling so taken aback by how invested her sisters were getting that the most obvious of answers slipped her mind.

“Why, Rarity, of course!” They shouted in unison.

“Oh. Yeah.” Roseluck facehoofed. “That should have been clear. But there’s just one problem: Clyde works there and takes her orders.”

“So then we do it… in secret!” Lily exclaimed.

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be too hard to get an order to Rarity without Clyde being wise to it,” Daisy said. “And it’s imperative that we do! We can’t let him know, because you need to see his face when he sees you in your dress for the first time.”

Roseluck felt her cheeks warm up at the thought. “Well… that does sound like it would be pretty great. … You really think he’d find me cute?”

“Duh!” The two responded together yet again.

“You know, you two would make a great stage act with how well you can read each other’s minds,” Roseluck giggled.

Daisy gently pushed open the door to Rarity’s boutique, and a bell chimed overhead as she stepped through the boundary into the fashionista’s business. It had been a while since her last visit, the prior Grand Galloping Gala to be exact, so she was unfamiliar with the changes Rarity had made in that time. It may have had something to do with Clyde being available to help her, but the main room was bursting at the seams with dresses just begging to be worn. The colors, the patterns, the gems adorning them, they were just so…

“No,” she said, steeling herself, “you’re here for Rosie. Stay focused.”

The sound of Rarity’s voice calling out from the back room helped her do just that. “Just a minute~!”

The door opened, much swifter this time, and Daisy turned and looked over her shoulder to see her youngest sister galloping into Carousel Boutique. She came to a screeching halt just before impacting Daisy, and the grin on her face told the eldest sister that things were going just according to plan.

“Okay, Clyde should be busy with Pinkie Pie for the rest of the day!” Lily exclaimed, her voice positively brimming with excitement. “So that means we’ll have plenty of time to get Rarity to make a dress just for Roseluck!”

The sisters each lifted a hoof up and smacked them together in celebration. Everything seemed to be going smoothly so far, and that meant that there was nothing to worry about.

“Hay yeah!” Daisy shouted.

The sound of Rarity’s voice calling out to them drew their attention back to the front counter. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is— Oh, hello Daisy and Lily!”

“Hey, Rarity!” The sisters said together, smiling widely at her.

Rarity couldn’t help but suppress a giggle. “What brings the two of you here?”

Jumping right in front of her, Lily shouted, “We’re here on behalf of Rosie on a top secret mission! It’s suuuper secret, so you can’t say anything!”

“What Lily is trying to say,” Daisy added with a chuckle, “is that we’re here to have a dress made for our sister. Do you think you’d be able to fit us in?”

Rarity brought a hoof to her chin, pondering the idea. “Hm… Well… I would love to, girls, but I just have so many orders placed already for tomorrow’s event that I don’t know if it’s possible.”

The flower sisters frowned, their heads drooping low to the ground at the bad news. They had come up with such an intricate plan, going so far as to have Clyde leave work early, and it was all going to be for naught.

“I’m sorry, darlings,” Rarity spoke. “It’s just such a busy period for me, and while I absolutely adore Roseluck, I do have to stick to my scheduled dressmaking.”

“No, it’s fine,” Lily said, lifting her head up and offering a weak smile to the fashion mare. “It’s our fault for assuming you wouldn’t be so backed up given the event happening tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Daisy agreed, “we’ll just have to find another way for Rosie to impress Clyde.”

Rarity’s eyebrow rose at that information. “‘Impress Clyde’?”

“Well yeah,” Lily said, nodding. “She asked him to go to Celestia’s brunch with her, and he said yes so we figure that we’d have y—”

“Why didn’t you say so!?” Rarity exclaimed, her muzzle being dominated by the widest smile she could manage. The very thought of making a dress to impress her dear friend Clyde made her eyes sparkle with excitement. “It would be my absolute pleasure to design the most stunning dress imaginable for Roseluck!”

The flower sisters took a moment to look at each other, then back to Rarity with grins threatening to break free from their faces. Lily was the first to find words. “Oh my gosh, thank you so much! Are you sure!?”

“But of course!” Rarity assured the two. “Your dear sister will be the talk of the entire town if I have anything to say about it!”

The two beamed as she continued, “Now, you said something about this being a top secret mission? I take that to mean that Clyde has no idea about this?”

“Mhm!” Daisy nodded her head. “Lily and I actually convinced Pinkie Pie to get Clyde’s help with planning a party under the guise of it being somepony’s birthday.”

“Well in that case, how about the two of you remain here with me? I do so love creative input, and you girls would know better than anypony what Roseluck would like!”

“We’d love to!” They shouted.

Rarity giggled at their behavior, before turning hoof and slowly making her way to the back room where the magic happened.

“This way, girls~!” She sing-songed.

“So… who’s this party for, anyways?”

“Why, that’s for me to know and for you to find out!” Pinkie Pie answered, bounding around her bedroom as she gathered up party supplies. “After all, you might be a big ole’ spoiled sport and ruin the surprise, and we can’t have that now, can we?”

“Heh, well I guess not,” Clyde said, rubbing the back of his head and chuckling. “So what do you need me to do?”

“I need you to sit here and make sure nopony messes with the cake,” she instructed her human friend, motioning towards what looked like an octuple-decker cake You never know who might be out there listening and waiting for a moment to steal a bite before the party!”

“Wait, so I’m just gonna be—” Clyde found himself cut off as the party pony slammed the door to her bedroom shut, and he could faintly hear the lock click from outside.

“Have fun, I’ll be back in a few hours!” Pinkie Pie called out to him. With nothing else to do, Clyde sighed and sat down on her bed, staring intently at the cake like he was told.

Man, now I’m gonna be the one who wants to eat this cake, he thought to himself.

Roseluck came to a stop outside of the Ponyville Salon, taking a moment to examine the sign hanging overhead. Her sisters had been adamant that she should get a manecut, but as long as she’d lived that thought had never once crossed her mind. With trepidation, she slowly stepped forwards and placed her forehoof against the door. Ever so gently, she pushed the doorwards and stepped inside. The sight awaiting her was truly one to behold.

“Holy…”

The building was bustling with dozens upon dozens of ponies. Those seated in their respective booths were receiving some pretty intense manecuts, hooficures, eyelash curlings, and some were even having perms done. The stylists were sprinting around in what looked to be a mad panic, but from what she could tell it was obviously some sort of organized chaos.

“Hey there, welcome to Ponyville’s premiere spot for all your makeover needs!” A pony called out, trotting up to her. “What brings you in today, ma’am?”

Roseluck eyed the pony questioning here up and down. He was a very pale green, with a flowing turquoise mane. “O-oh, hello. My name is Roseluck.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Miss Roseluck! What can I do for you?”

“Um, well, actually…” Roseluck trailed off, momentarily forgetting exactly what her sisters had recommended.

“Oh my, the colors of your mane are just so gorgeous!” The stallion exclaimed. “I’m sure you’re no doubt here to have it styled and get our full makeover package! Am I right?”

Roseluck chuckled nervously. “Uh… hehe, I’m honestly not even sure what I want. I know I have the bits to pay for whatever you think would be best though.”

“Miss Roseluck, you just made my day!”

With a grab of her hoof, she was hurled towards a chair and the stylist, whose name she had yet to even get, was off to work.

“Rarity, it looks absolutely amazing!”

“Yeah, it’s like, so darn cute!” Lily added. “Rosie is gonna look so stunning!”

The fashionista beamed at the compliments her couture had received. The dress’s top half was a beautiful mix between Roseluck’s two mane colors, and was adorned with a lining of emeralds that shimmered. As the dress tapered off to her hindquarters and past her back hooves, it would transform into the same cream color as her fur in a gradient, and those emeralds were replaced by a stream of blood rubies that absolutely sparkled in the light.

“I’m so glad you girls like it!” Rarity cried out happily. Her horn glowed a light blue as she hoisted the dress away from the mannequin that had been adorning it, and she levitated it over to the front counter. “Allow me just a moment to bag it up!”

Daisy and Lily followed her to where she’d be ringing up their order, watching as she carefully fitted the dress into a plastic bag and set it down atop the counter.

“Alright,” she said, looking at the two of them, “normally I would charge about five hundred bits to make a dress in such short order, but since this is for Roseluck and Clyde’s benefit, I’m willing to cut you… a deal!”

The flower sisters gasped, then asked in unison, “What kind of deal?”

“You can have the dress…”

The two leaned forward with intent, waiting to hear just what Rarity had to say.

“For free!”

“FREE!?” They cried out. Before Rarity could add anything else, the two fell to the floor in a heap, Lily splayed out over her older sister. The business owner giggled. “O-oh. Well, I’ll just assume that means you two are happy.”

Clyde sat staring at the clock on Pinkie’s bedroom wall, the pony tail on the bottom swinging back and forth with each passing second. For the briefest of moments, a thump from downstairs roused him from his staring session. A few moments went by before he realized it wasn’t Pinkie, and he turned back to the clock with the same blank expression on his face.

Sigh…

And here we have it, the first 100% brand new chapter of Roseluck's Realization!

I wanted to spend more time exploring the sisterly relationship and bond between the Flower Sisters, and I hope I did a good job with them :)