So Much Stress

Leaf Gardens walked through Ponyville. It had recently rained yesterday, and as such, the grass was still wet. Her hooves were getting muddy, but she didn't care. She loved nature; it was the one way she could relax. Life had gotten busy for the past few months. She'd barely gotten any time to just chill.

And so, Leafy trotted, her hooves splish-splashing on the mud, her legs getting dirty. Her usually neat mane was messy, the same with her tail. "Yes..." she mumbled quietly; she was absolutely sure nopony would be able to hear anything beyond a short, gibberish whisper. She didn't know why she was saying, but it didn't matter. Some could glance at her and call her crazy, she understood that. She was a mare walking around Ponyville, getting herself dirty, and talking to herself.

Yet it didn't matter, she didn't care.

( Hope it's ok if I join!)

Aster looked sadly at a forbidden pot of flowers, crushed into the pot because of the rain. He wondered if there was hail, or maybe wind. The poor things certainly would never be the same. The guard was actually glad he was late. He would hate to be in the rain. He was terrified of rain. And thunder. And flying. And spiders. And scary ponies. And yogurt. And clowns. ( among countless other things) The shrimpy pegasus gave a shudder, then aimlessly trotted off. He had no idea where the town center was, but he was supposed to meet someone there so he could guard the new Starswirl exhibit at the museum.

Suddenly he caught sight of a mare, her hooves splattered with mud, and a terribly messy mane. Slightly intimidated, Aster straightened his crooked helmet, which was probably meant for a more beefy stallion.

" Uh... e-excuse me, could you tell me where the town center is?" he asked carefully.

(Yep! =D)
Leafy kept walking, the wind blowing on her mane, making it even messier than before.  She looked up at the sound of a masculine voice, asking about the town center. The stallion thought she was crazy; she could tell. Worried that he'd send her to a mental hospital, she stopped. Dragging her hoof on a patch of non-muddy grass to scrape the mud off, she ran said hoof through her mane to straighten it. It didn't help an awful lot, but it would do for now. At least it didn't get into her face.

The mint green pony nodded, pointing towards the town. "It's over there," she said, looking at the stallion. Odd for a pony of his gender, he had a daisy for his cutie mark. Really. A flower. Not even an armoured daisy (Though she was unsure how that was possible), just a completely plain daisy. Still, it was nice to know that it wasn't just mares who liked gardening. "Would you like me to show you the way?" she asked politely.

"It's over there," the mare said, gesturing in the direction of the town. Aster nodded, but perhaps she had noticed his perplexed look, as she soon asked him if he wanted her to show him the way.

The pegasus gave a sigh of relief. " Yes, please," he said anxiously, still eyeing the green pony in a somewhat cautious manner. She didn't sound insane at all, in fact, she acted rather polite. But you never knew, maybe she had escaped from a mental facility. The guard suddenly found staring at a nearbye rock very entertaining for a few awkward moments.

Finally, he cleared his throat. " So.... do y-you live... around... here... at all?" he said, attempting to make small talk.

Leafy was silent as the stallion spoke, walking along and leading the way. She didn't have anything to say. "Yes, I live in a cottage  around here," she answered. "If you ever passed by it, you couldn't miss it, what with the huge garden and all." She didn't believe that he had changed his mind about her being insane, but that was the consequences of walking around with a mane that she hadn't even bothered to try straightening, and muddy hooves. "Well, it was totally worth it," she thought. Relaxing with nature at the expense of a few ponies thinking she was mad.

Well, perhaps 'a few' was a minor understatement, judging by the stares she'd gotten as she trotted through the mud.

Aster's face brightened, and his cautious demeanor utterly dissolved. " You like to garden?" he squealed excitedly, causing him to hover slightly.

" I love gardening! I have a little garden of my own, with plenty of daisies of course, but I also have some carnations, some purple foxgloves, you know, pretty common ones. I've never grown roses, because the thorns scare me, but if you have such a big garden, maybe I could see it if it wasn't too much trouble I'm sure I have time!" the pegasus gave the mint green mare a hopeful smile, then noticed he was hovering, then quickly thrust himself on the ground. Flying terrified him, even if he was only hovering.

Leafy stepped back in shock at the pegasus's excitement, but quickly regained her composure and kept walking. "Yes, I do like to garden." She smiled warmly. "It is, after all, my special talent; what more could you expect from a pony with a leaf as a cutie mark?" She chuckled softly. Although her cutie mark was in fact rather generic, with not a clue as to the specific plant she was good at growing. "Even my name says it - Leaf Gardens." It appeared her parents had some magical sense to know what her talent would be. Or maybe they just called her that for her green coat. They never really were too clever with names.

"Indeed, I hope you can come to my house one day. I think you'd like it." This stallion was afraid of roses? That was... something she didn't expect. He also, by the looks of it, seemed to be a guard or something similar to that. How could he be one while being scared of thorns? She decided against questioning it, though, for fear of sounding rude.

Sorry for shortness!

Aster squealed excitedly. " Absolutely! We should go right now, right now!" he exclaimed, then his expression faltered.

" Unless you don't want me to. I would hate to intrude," he added quickly. He knew he was being rather rude, but this pony had a garden, and by the looks of it, it was a big one! At this point, whatever he was supposed to be guarding had completely slipped away. How could that be any more important than flowers?

(('Tis okay. I've encountered shorter. *Stares at one-liners in horror*))
"Uh, I guess you can," Leafy answered. Her home was nearby this part they were standing now. Although confused as to why the stallion could just randomly change direction to see a garden, she agreed - after all, who was she to talk? She'd gotten off track when trying to do things many atimes. Maybe he was just taking a stroll and was doing nothing in particular? She couldn't resist questioning, however, "Forgive me for asking, but weren't you supposed to be doing something else? I don't quite mind you visiting, just curious." She added this last part hastily, to prevent the thought that she wouldn't want the pegasus to come by.

Aster froze, then gave her a sheepish smile. " Uh.... well... sort of... but I'm sure it's okay if I'm a bit late!" he said hopefully.

To be honest, he usually was constantly late to any sort of thing involving his job, and the cause of this almost always had to do with flowers. But then again, his boss would be so angry...This is way too important to pass by! I'm sure the exhibit can wait, he reassurred himself. Besides, he never asked for this job, his parents did.

" And they better expect me to not like it," he muttered absentmindedly. He gave the earth pony one more hopeful smile. When it came to flowers, Aster never was willing to waste an oppurtunity with some.

Leafy nodded slightly. "Well, if you're sure," she answered with a slight shrug of her shoulders. Come to think of it, she was going off-track even now; she had came out here for relaxation, and ended up leading a pegasus to her house to see her garden. Odd how things worked out sometimes. The pony himself was one whom she did not expect to meet - a stallion guard with gardening as a talent, which she could have sworn was one that only Earth ponies had. That defeated the point of her teachers telling her that her species were special, that nopony else could do the same.

They approached the cottage, and in front of it was a yard, a rather large one at that, fully occupied with flowers and plants.

((Writer's block seems to love me, and I can't think of any good description for that garden of hers.))

( Lol, I get that feeling)

Aster's eyes widened at the yard. So many flowers! Beautiful, colorful, flowers! The pegasus stared at the plants, a huge smile on his face. Being near so many of the things he adored always made him seem distant and possibly even more strange.

" H...how long did it take you to... grow so many?" he finally whispered. The guard had a frumpy apartment of his own, and could grow nothing more than some house plants, most of them being dinky fake ones. It wasn't the same, but it was the closest he could get.

A silence started as the pegasus took in the scenery. When he spoke again, his voice was dreamy and soft, a mere whisper. Leafy strained slightly to hear him. "About a year or so." She shrugged. "Took quite a but of effort, but oh well, all worth it." She could remember some moments where she delayed her meals to tend to the garden, and equally as many moments when she made mistakes that caused her to cringe thinking of them now - planting them too close together, as well as several others she pushed out of her mind. "What about you?" she asked.  "Do you have a garden?" She was genuinely curious to know, not asking for the sake of politeness.

The guard's face immediately fell, and he gave a longing sigh.

" Oh.... no. All I have are a few houseplants here and there. I'm... not really supposed to be growing flowers and all that," he mumbled uncomfortably. This was all true, he had desperatly wanted to be a florist,or some kind of gardener, but his parents had forbidden it, wanting him to take after them. Which was obviously a lost cause, but they were utterly oblivious. Not that his job was all that bad... they pay was good, and sometimes he did less dangerous things.

He continued to awkwardly stare at the clear blue sky, then finally attempted to change the subject.

" I... er.... so...." Aster's voice trailed off as he began to poke the grass with his hoof.

Well, this was awkward. Leafy would hate to be considered a busybody (busypony? Whatever the term was), so asking why would make her a hypocrite, but on the other hoof, maybe he needed to vent? She pondered what to do for a minute or two. Or five. However much it was, it seemed to feel like quite a long time for the young stallion.

"So, um, what's your name?" she asked, realising the pegasus had not introduced himself. She mentally facehoofed herself as hard as possible for failing so much at conversation. His name didn't matter, she didn't expect to meet him again any time soon. Oh well, couldn't take it back now. She awaited his response, glancing around her garden.

uurrgh late reply! I'm really sorry about this, I need to start being better about replying on time!


" Aster," he said immedeiatly, grateful for the change of subject.

" What's yours?" the guard asked, his eyes now drifting to a huge bush of pink blossoms wrapping around her porch. Aster couldn't help but feel a little jealous of this mare- her garden could probably rival that fancy one in Canterlot- the one with all the animals. His couldn't be more depressing looking. In fact, he was sure that a desert would have better topography growing.

((Let us all go after writer's block with pitchforks and torches, shall we? No? Okay... ;-;))

Aster. That was the name of a plant, if she was correct. It had a nice ring to it, and it wasn't the name of something common, which would make some conversations awkward. It had happened to her multiple times before. 'Hey, Leafy, there's a leafy tree over there.' That was one example of several sentences made confusing due to her name. She could recall hundreds more, but she didn't want to think about them now. She had things to do. Plus she had quite a bad memory.

"I'm Leaf Gardens," she answered. "You can call me Leafy."

( Lol, sorry if I was sticking words in your mouth! And I have no idea if I used that phrase properly or not.)

Aster nodded in reply. He liked that name, it was nice and simple, although it reminded him of the "power salad" his parents used to make him eat. " You like plants, Aster? Here, try this! Get some muscles, eh?" The guard shuddered. He loved his parents, he really did, as much as any pony else would- but, then again, those ponies probably didn't have pushy bodybuilders who were bulding with muscles and yelled every other sentence they said.

" So... Leafy, h-how did you-" Suddenly Aster blinked in surprise as he heard a familiar, frustrated, shout.

" PRIVATE! WHERE IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA ARE YOU?" The pegasus squeaked in terror, and quickly curled into a ball on the ground.

" Hide me!" he whispered frantically.

A nod was the only indication that Leafy was listening, as she wasn't really even looking in his direction. She was more concentrated on the flora around her, as a matter of fact. He was speaking now, asking something.

An ear-piercing shout, cutting the question off, caused her to snap back to attention, and by the looks of it, the shriek was aimed at Aster. Clearly, somepony was angry. Wow, he must have done something really bad to get yelled at like that. And he seemed to be avoiding Celestia-knows-who for some odd reason. It was none of her business, she knew that, and she didn't ask. "Um, you could come into my house?" She spoke quickly, as he seemed to dread the pony finding him.

((Might i join?))

((I'm sorry Antivist, but before you can role play you must first create your character using this form: https://mlp-fim-oc-rp.rpg-board.net/t2-pony-creation-template and submit it in this section: https://mlp-fim-oc-rp.rpg-board.net/f4-submitted-creations then wait for approval from a mod or admin. Also, check out the rules which can be found here: https://mlp-fim-oc-rp.rpg-board.net/t1169-the-rules Happy Roleplaying and welcome to the site!!))

Holy cheesebits I need to reply! I pretty much made this thread dead, I'm really really sorrrrryyyy!


Aster stood for a moment, pertified in fear before responding to the mare.

" Come in your.... yes, yes!" he said in a panicked tone, standing up and beginning to turn the doorknob of her door before realizing she probably locked it. He gave her a meaningful look, gesturing towards her door.

" What are you waiting for? Unlock it if you haven't, please!" he urged. Usually Aster wasn't so... well, rude. However, when he was scared of something, he could run over a bunch of fillies out of terror without even realizing he had done a thing.

Sheesh, that pony going to kill him or something? Leafy wondered, as from his tone, he was seriously panicked. Even she didn't panic that much in the most horrible situation she'd faced. (Granted, the worst scene she'd faced was going to the Everfree forest armed, guarded, and protected, but still!) Reaching out a hoof, she turned the wooden doorknob - apparently her stupidity reached no bounds to the point that she forgot to lock it - and pushed it open. The pony whom Aster was scared of was approaching, she assumed, and ushered the pegasus in before shutting the door.

Her house was plain, walls painted dark brown, in the right of the living room was a sofa, in front of aforementioned sofa a simple wooden table.

((Wow, I should really just make a thread in that houses forum. Wait, have I already done that? Hmm... Whatever.))