AN: I may have gone into full writer mode on this one. If you would like some backstory, read all of it. If you don't care about backstory, read only below the line. Thanks! 

Somewhere nearby, an alarm went off. Lunar Bloom opened her eyes quickly, looking over at the source of the obnoxious ringing. She was temped, as she had tried time and time again, to try and use her magic to shut it off, but she knew that it was still magic proof, and she would have to get up. She lay in bed for a few more seconds, before the ringing became unbearable. Finally, she threw off the covers and walked over to the alarm. she put a hoof up to it and gave the device a shove, which was more then enough for it to recognize her hoofprint and turn off. with a grumble, she walked into her kitchen, grabbing her coffee out of the cabinet, and pouring some into the machine that would soon be supplying her with liquid energy. She added some water, putting the rest of the coffee back in the cabinet as she turned the machine on. She grabbed a mug and slipped it into the machine just as it began spewing out delicious coffee. She waited for it to finish; but only just; before pulling the mug back out and taking a sip. She wandered with her coffee over to the back door of her house, the one that lead to her precious flowers. She glanced over at her precious lunar shard, the pride of her collection. After doing a double-take, she saw something wonderful.

"A seed! Oh my goodness, it's been months!" She dropped her coffee mug heavily on the counter, her excitement giving her all the energy she needed. She opened the door, rushing over to the mini-dome that held her most beloved plant. At first glance, you would think it a plant at all. At the base, dully glowing tendrils snaked their way around the faces of a crystal about as long and wide as her hoof. Above that, they all collected to a point, where they wrapped around a smaller crystalline mass. they then moved upward in an arc, connecting more crystal masses in an arc like a crescent moon. On each of the three outer faces of the crystals grew a single leaf, shimmering from the frost that coated it. It took years for a lunar shard to reach this size; but this plant wasn't for selling; this one was the mother of every other lunar shard south of the crystal empire. Hanging from the very top crystal in the moon shape was a single tendril that wrapped around a tiny crystal suspended in the center of the ark. This tiny seed, once planted, would eventually growing into another shard, ready to fetch nearly a thousand bits from somepony. The shard only bloomed at night when struck by moonlight, but when it did the sight just made her heart melt. The leaves would fan out, and the crystals would all start to glow a pleasant light blue, and the vines that bound the whole plant together would have little lights that traveled quickly up and down them.

Lunar Bloom shook her head; she had work to do. She couldn't afford to open the dome up even for a second, so she had to do everything with magic. First, she took a tiny pair of shears that were always kept in the mini-dome and trimmed off the seed, using her magic to catch it before it even took the tiniest bump from falling. Then she teleported the seed a few inches into the adjacent mini-dome, which was already at the proper temperature and climate for the seed. She settled it as gently as she possibly could into the snow, before pouring as much magic as she could without passing out into the seed. She was certainly no A-Class Mage, infact, she ranked at a high C, so it didn't amount to much, but she had just enough magic left after teleporting it to get it to latch onto the surrounding landscape. With a long sigh, she slumped to the ground, exhausted. She had other plant to take care of, but first, she needed a break. She stayed there for a few minutes, smiling happily as she though about her precious plant.

---

Eventually, however, she willed herself to stand up, go back into her house, and get the rest of her coffee.  She then walked through the bio-dome, into her shop, and flipped the sign at the front to 'open' before going back in and tending to the other plants. None of them were quite as rare or fragile as the lunar shard, and she had become adept at it all. Soon, she had a few of the more hardy ones ready for display in her shop, and the ones that were ready for sale but didn't want to get moved too much got a touch-up, encase she did sell some. She carefully carried the first bunch into her shop, placing them on shelves and on the counter for ponies to see. Then, she sat down in her chair to wait.

Octavia trotted off the train platform, looking around. She had visited Ponyville on several occasions, but never for this particular one, nor for this shop. She wasn't sure where it was, exactly, but she was told she would know it when she saw it. However, that still left her with the whole town to search. She would never actually do it, but sometimes she just wanted to slap her clients when they made silly demands and gave too little information. She shook her head, looking around for somepony who could possibly give her directions. She spied a brown stallion with a short mane and tail at the end of a nearby street, walking determinedly.


"He'll do nicely." She said, trotting over.


"Um, Sir? Excuse me, but I was wondering if I could get directions to 'The Lunar Exotic Flower Shoppe', I was told it was here in Ponyville." She said, stopping just in front of his with a smile. He paused, looked at her in what only could be described as confusion, before his face lit up as though he had remembered something important.


"Directions? OH! Directions, why, yes, of course. I think it's down that street there, all the way at the end, on the right." He said as he pointed to a street that ran along the edge of the town, before continuing on as though nothing had happened.


"Er, thanks!" She yelled after him as he disappeared rapidly. She made her way as he had directed, and to her slight surprise, it was actually where he said it would be. And she certainly couldn't have missed it. She pushed open the door, heading inside. Behind the counter sat a very light blue unicorn mare, who appeared to be asleep. Before Octavia could say anything, however, the mare woke with a start, shook her head, and stood.


"Hi, and welcome to 'The Lunar Exotic Flower Shoppe'. How can a help a fine mare such as yourself today?" She said with a smile. Octavia blushed slightly, before giggling and clearing her throat.


"Hi. I'm looking for Orchestral flowers, do you have any in stock? I was told this was the only place in Ponyville that sold them, so I really hope so because otherwise my trip would be a waste and that's bad." She rambling, still a little flustered by the mare's compliment.

Octavia opened her mouth to respond with the color, when the sales-pony spoke up again.


"I assume your client wanted a particular color, for some sort of event I presume. Judging by their choice in flower, I'm guessing... Wedding?" She asked, her ears perking up and curiosity showing on her face. Octavia reeled back slightly, shocked that this mare could read her so well. Again, she opened her mouth to respond, but before she could formulate a response, the unicorn cut her off.

"Right, sorry, it's none of my business." She said, her ears and tail hanging a little lower. Octavia blinked a few times, trying to process everything. Eventually, she shook her head, as if to reset her brain.

"You spend a lot of time on your own, don't you?" Octavia asked with a chuckle.

"Because I'm the same way when I meet new ponies, you just beat me to it this time. Anyway, let's see. White, and yes it's for a wedding. First my client has the nerve to tell me to get the flowers, then all he gave for directions to this place were, 'Oh, it's in Ponyville somewhere, you'll know it when you see it.' And that's probably because of the sign, not any distinguishing features. Ugh, stallions. Can't stand them." Octavia said, suddenly feeling very open with this mare, for whatever reason.  Which would probably turn out to be a mistake, but what's done is done.

"Not like us mares..." Octavia echoed, thoughts of her father coming to mind. She shook her head again, chasing away unpleasant memories.


"Right, back to business. Three dozen would be great, but if you don't have that many, then the closest multiple of three to that." She said, automatically doing the math for the nearest amounts in her head.

"Yes, that'll do just fine, thank you." Octavia said, watching as the mare nodded in response and opened the door behind her, heading into her greenhouse. Octavia looked around at the many different exotic flowers she had on display, amazed at some of the shapes and colors.

"Nope, that'll be all. What do I owe you?" Octavia asked, grabbing her coin-purse and opening it up.

"200?!" Octavia responded in disbelief. She was paid 375 for the whole deal, of which 75 was supposed to be for the flowers. The flowers, plus two extra train trips, left her with a lot less left then she was hoping. She looked at the mare behind the counter, who was still smiling pleasantly. She had already said she was giving Octavia a deal, and she just couldn't bring herself to haggle or even ask for a lower price. Octavia simply stood, trying to figure out what to do. Her rent for the month, which was due in a week, was 500 bits. Her sister's medical bills were another 1000. even adding what she had saved up during the month, If she didn't make more money by the end of the week, there was no way she was going to be able to pay both. She felt her eyes water up at the thought, and she quickly turned away from the counter so the mare wouldn't see.