//------------------------------//
// 12: Pulled In Two Directions 
// Story: Blooming 
// by Bookish Delight 
//------------------------------//

Wallflower walked the streets of Canterlot with wide, curious eyes, while also humming the theme song to Wyldmares. She'd always found it catchy, but this was the first time she'd ever ventured into the territory of voicing that fact anywhere outside the recesses of her mind. 

She kept track of her surroundings as she walked. She passed by people, people passed by her, and as both happened, she did her best to meet their eyes.

After some time, she finally realized what she was doing—as in, everything she was doing.

This is... wow, okay, this is different. And I... like it.

It'd only been a week since her date with Juniper at the mall. The school week had flown by in a blink, except for, ironically, evenings with her homework. Not that the homework had been particularly challenging, but it had been a lot tougher to concentrate on while constantly slipping into daydreams about her and Juniper's date at the mall, and the smiles and embraces that had come with it. 

Smiles and embraces that were all for her. None were accidental, none were out of pity, and none were unwelcome in the least.

Wallflower was still getting used to that fact. They happened. They'd actually happened. So many years of just screwing up the slightest attempt at putting herself out there—who knew that the secret lay in someone screwing up first? Even if it worked out in her favor, she couldn't help but giggle at the irony.

During their Cinnamon Paradise dessert, the two arranged—over massive cinnamon buns drenched in sweet, dense, creamy frosting—to have a more traditional "hangout" today: specifically, dinner and a movie. Except since both of those things played to their strengths, they wouldn't have to go out to do it. 

The plan was already set: Wallflower would come over to Juniper's house with a load of fresh-grown fruits and veggies from her backyard garden, along with a bunch of spices, and she'd get her Awesome Garden Stew(tm) going. She'd never cooked it for anyone else before, much less shared the recipe, but this certainly seemed like the best time to finally give said recipe its first field test.

And after dinner, they would go watch movies on Juniper's home theater. Except, Juniper had told her, it was a real cinema auditorium in her basement. With the real seats, and a film projector, and everything! How amazing was that? She wouldn't even care what they watched—the experience would be enough.

And in the middle of all of those activities, or before, or after? Who knew what they'd get up to? Wallflower's grin slackened, and she stared off into space, as her daydreams persisted. Slowly, her detailed plans transformed into fluid fantasies of Juniper cuddling up to her while she cooked up her stew in her favorite apron, then the two of them snuggling together in a shared theater seat— 

A horn blared as its car screeched to a halt next to Wallflower. She jumped back, realizing that she'd taken a couple of steps too many past the curb during a red light. Waves of shock coursed through her as she caught her breath.

Okay. No more daydreaming, Wallflower chastised herself. No matter how... constructive.

She looked down at her phone to make sure her GPS application was taking her in the right direction. Fortunately, she hadn't wandered completely off course—she was only a block away from her destination. She continued along her way, still no longer looking at the ground, still meeting peoples' eyes and flashing greeting smiles to whomever she could. Some of them smiled back. Not all did. It was fine either way. 

Before she knew it, she arrived. 

Carousel Boutique was an ornate lavender-and-white building which stood proudly atop its foundations, outshining the two drab green and brown buildings beside it with a confident, attractive air of style. Not bad for something that was technically an inanimate object. 

Wallflower looked inside the windows to see two mannequins—one wearing a bold blue denim ensemble featuring a rhinestone-lined vest and form-fitting jeans; the one in the other window wearing a professional white blouse and black skirt, with ruffles on the former. Again, confident and fancy, respectively. Wallflower approved, while at the same time deciding to play it as safe as possible when it came to professionalism. She walked up to the front door and rang the bell beside it. 

The door opened, and Wallflower found herself face-to-face with a lemon-hued, freckled redhead, wearing blue jeans, a red-and-white striped t-shirt, and a nonplussed expression. "Uh, hi," she said, raising a hand in greeting. "I'm here to see Rarity? My name's Wallflower Blush. She asked me to come here today."

The redhead's face instantly brightened. 

"Oh, Wallflower, sweetie, hi! Come on in, Rarity's absolutely been expecting you! I'm Sour Sweet. It's so nice to meet you," she said, holding out her hand.

Wallflower shook it. "It's nice to meet you, too." She smiled, glad to be able to make yet another new friend, just like that, with no catches whatsoever.

As they shook hands, Sour Sweet turned her head. "Hey, Rarity!" she called into the boutique, with a gruffer voice than she'd sported only moments ago. "Your emo classmate finally showed up! And holy crap, the legends were true!" Sour laughed. "She totally looks like a walking, talking plant!"

Wallflower's hands flew to her mouth as she flushed from head to toe. Before she could reply, however, Rarity joined Sour at the door. "Sour, dear," she said in a stern voice, "what have I told you about manners?"

"They... maketh... something?" Sour shrugged. "Hey, I'm working on 'em."

Rarity rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Not fast enough if I can't even have you greet customers safely. Honestly, if I wanted someone to scare off patrons at the drop of a hat with their personal quirks, I would have asked Rainbow Dash to be my protege."

"Meh." Sour leaned against the door, gesturing for Wallflower to walk inside. "I'm hotter."

"You're frecklier," Rarity countered.

"Yup, like I said. Hotter. Everyone falls for the freckles." Sour looked at Wallflower with a sly grin. "Back me up?"

Wallflower blushed, coloring her own freckles in kind. "Until two weeks ago, I probably would have disagreed," she said. "But, you know, new evidence."

"I suppose." Rarity rolled her eyes again, this time with a chuckle. "Sour Sweet part-times with me here at Carousel Boutique. We discovered a shared love for fashion a few months back, so I recommended her for a position here." She cast Sour a sideways glance. "Now we work together to get on the same page regarding decorum.

"Anyway," she continued, leading the other girls back into the boutique proper, "it is so good to see you again, Wallflower! I love working with dresses, especially now with Sour's... colorful commentary to keep things lively, but the minutae of measuring and trimming is such drudgery sometimes. You came just in time to bring some fun back to my day! It's time for hairdressiiiiiiiiiiing!~" she trilled, fluffing up Wallflower's locks with both hands.

"Isn't that just drudgery of a different kind?" Sour said, rolling her wrist. "Smear, wash, dry, roll, fluff..."

"When you get settled far enough into your occupational roles," Rarity said, "you take your fun where you can get it." She turned to Wallflower. "Any special requests for your special night tonight?"

"Nothing too different from how my hair usually is? If you can manage it," Wallflower said.

"I believe I can, yes. All right, then." Rarity gestured to a nearby seat in front of a hairdresser's sink. "Please, step into my parlor..." Rarity's eyes glinted. "And tell me all about last week."

Sour raised her eyebrows. "Ohhhhh. That's where your fun is."

Rarity winked back at her. "At last, you're catching on."





"Oh, my absolute goodness," Rarity said as she combed her fingers through Wallflower's damp, newly-shampooed hair. "A music video creation booth? In this day and age? Are there not phone apps that do such things nowadays?"

"Pretty much," Wallflower said. "Trust me, I didn't believe it either when I saw it."

"Pfft. I believe it completely," a nearby Sour Sweet said as she walked through hanging garments, and made checks on a clipboarded inventory list. "Leave it to Zesty to come up with all the crazy ideas. Though I guess this is the first one I actually almost like."

"So, what did you and Juniper do there?" Rarity asked. "Did you actually... 'make your video'?"

Wallflower shrugged as best she could just before Rarity ran water over her hair again. "I tried it just to try it. I, uh..." Wallflower decided to hold back the full details of the event, including her and Juniper's bonding moment. "I did a nature concert. Vinyl says I sing really well."

"Yes, Sunset told me the same," Rarity said with a knowing grin. "She says your singing voice can be very... distracting."

Wallflower exhaled through pursed lips. "More like I'm distracted whenever I sing. But it was fun. And yeah, having someone really like my voice, much less when I sing, was something I never would have seen coming."

"Oh come now, darling." Rarity nudged Wallflower's head out of the sink and wrapped it with a fresh towel, dabbing where she could. "Ever since being introduced to your dulcet tones over this last half-month, I've been pondering the best way to leverage them. One always needs an edge in this world, and I've already noticed a couple that you possess."

"You know, the more you and I talk," Wallflower said, "the more scared I am that I'm going to wake up one morning on a fashion runway, without a clue as to how I got there."

Sour Sweet chuckled. "Yeah, you should probably listen to those instincts."

Rarity giggled, smiling into Wallflower's eyes as she continued drying. "Well, never say never, darling. But, pray tell, what happened after your little video escapade?"

"Oh, right," Wallflower said. "Well, after that, Juniper treated me to these massive cinnamon buns at this place in the mall called Cinnamon Paradise, which were amazing, and—" 

Both Rarity and Sour gasped and jumped back. Wallflower blinked. "What? Did... d-did I say something wrong?"

"S-Sour and I have a... pact," Rarity said in a solemn voice. "That being, we never, ever mention that place within earshot of each other."

"Oh. I-I'm sorry," Wallflower said, sinking in her seat. "I-I didn't know it was something you didn't like."

"Are you kidding?" Sour Sweet exclaimed, with shaking, clawed hands. "It's the opposite! Just thinking of that place is instant craving!"

"Pinkie Pie and I once gave..." Rarity looked at Sour, who nodded somberly, before continuing. "Cinnamon Paradise a test drive. It was everything I ever hoped for and wanted in a confection—nay, in life—and as such, I instantly vowed never to go there again." She ran her hands down her figure. "Love it as I may, I'm sorry, but I have dresses to fit into."

"Yeah, and I have to keep Sugarcoat away from that place using rabid dogs," Sour said. "Well, not really, but that's pretty much what it takes. And she always makes me go with her! Heck, I think she does it out of spite. She eats and eats and eats and never gains a stupid pound!" She huffed through pursed lips. "Sure, she also never eats more than a third of a cinnamon bun, and also vaccums broccoli and organic stuff like there's no tomorrow," she muttered, "but that's beside the point."

"Oh-kay," Wallflower said with a nervous giggle. "Well, sorry about bringing up bad memories. Good memories? I think I'm lost."

"Oh, no worries at all," Rarity said. "If anything, it's our fault for not preparing you. It's just that, unless Pinkie visits the shop, we rarely get to hear about that establishment anymore. The others have seen our reactions already."

"And when Pinkie plans to show up here, we make sure she warns us," Sour said. "So we can be ready for her dessert rants."

"Indeed," Rarity said. "But yes, you're a recent inductee into the circle. Completely understandable, and we apologize for scaring you."

"This time," Sour said.

Why don't I feel any better about this? Wallflower thought as she looked back and forth between Sour Sweet and Rarity. "It doesn't matter much anyway. Still, while we were eating, we decided to get together again today. Which is where you came in. You know, the bit where you practically dragged me here through the phone?"

"For purely altruistic reasons, of course. Speaking of which," Rarity said, taking off Wallflower's towel, and fetching a blow dryer to finish the rest of her remaining damp hair areas. After some minutes of drying, and several spritzes of hairspray, Rarity stepped back. 

"There, all done." Rarity took handed Wallflower a mirror. "Meet the new Wallflower, same as the old Wallflower—except ready to knock even a movie star off of her feet," she said with a giggle.

Wallflower took a look. Just as requested, her hair looked much the same as when she'd come in—except it was now a little shinier, and a lot bouncier. Wallflower flipped her hair back and forth with a few snaps of her head, and couldn't help but giggle at the sight herself. "It's perfect! Thanks, Rarity."

"Absolutely," Rarity replied, as Wallflower got up out of her chair and stretched. "And before I say anything else: good on you for allowing things to progress this far. Even dipping a toe into the waters of relationships requires courage and love in your heart, both for yourself and for who you're stepping into those waters with."

Wallflower blinked. "Wow. You sound super-serious about this."

"I'm always serious about matters of the heart," Rarity said, placing her hands on Wallflower's shoulders. "But, allow me to ask: how do you feel? About where you are now, that is? You've been through quite a bit since only two weeks ago, yet I've noticed you smiling more already at school. As has Sunset, and others we've asked. We've seen the progress, but it's only truly progress if you're not putting forth some kind of outward facade." She tilted her head. "I honestly hope you're not."

Wallflower sighed, thinking back over the last two weeks. Walking with her head held high. The smiles. The ability to greet certain people in the hallway at school, and have them genuinely greet her back, even if it was just a half dozen—and on the street, even if it was just three or four. 

The only downside was that she was talking to her plants less, but even that was because she'd been texting her human friends more. Which was leading her to feel sorry for the plants. But she'd deal with that at some point.

She shook her head. "It's not a facade. I've definitely had to deal with new feelings, but they're better, happier ones. I'm glad this is all going so well." She looked away. "But."

"Buuuut?" Rarity led her on.

"But I'm also really confused. All my life I told myself, if I could have just one friend, I'd be happy. But I had none for years. Now after just two weeks, I've made a whole bunch, and believe me, I'm not dumb—no matter how we word it, I'm fully aware that I'm about to go on my third real date." Wallflower flopped back in the salon chair. "Rarity, what changed? What did I do differently? What did I do this time to get people to finally..." Her voice grew quiet. "...not hate me?"

"Meh," Sour Sweet's voice cut in at that exact moment. "Who cares?" she said with a scoff and a dismissive wave of her hand.

"What?" Wallflower didn't expect her head to turn quite as sharply in Sour's direction as it did, nor for her teeth to clench, but both of those things happened, very quickly.

"Seriously, who cares?" Sour repeated. "That's what you should really be asking yourself. I don't know everything, but Rarity's told me you've had it tough. And I bet you did." Sour sauntered over, standing in front of Wallflower. "You said you never had friends, right? So why are you looking gift horses in the mouth?"

"I-I just want to know what I did differently this time, from all those other years," Wallflower said.

Sour shook her head. "Nah. That's dumb."

Wallflower gripped the chair's armrests, holding herself back, looking up at Sour with defiant, narrowed eyes. "It isn't dumb to me. Or I wouldn't have said it."

"Yeah, I've got ears," Sour said with a cocksure grin and hands on hips, leaning down and getting into Wallflower's face. "And you know what I hear? Dumb stuff with no good reason behind it!" 

Wallflower shot up out of her seat. "Because I don't want those friends to go away again at the drop of a hat, like all the other times! Is that enough reason for you? Or is that still too 'stupid'?"

The two stared at each other silently, with unwavering expressions for several moments... until Sour's grin returned. "Finally, some honesty." 

"What?" Wallflower said, doing a double-take. "You're not making any sense."

"You think you're the only one with friend problems?" Sour scoffed again. "You've already seen my winning personality. But I managed to make friends, too. Four of 'em, in an entire school of hundreds, before Rarity here years later. I'm one of the lucky ones, though—Crystal Prep's got a million sob stories just like you."

Wallflower's eyes widened. "Wait. You are Crystal Prep, aren't you? You were at the Friendship Games! Though I didn't recognize you without the uniform."

Sour sneered. "I was surprised when Rarity told me you weren't one of us! But after meeting you, now I get it. Everyone at your goody-good high school is allllll about the friends. But CPA isn't so lucky."  

Sour walked to the nearby dresser, placed her hands on it, and closed her eyes with a sigh. When she spoke again, she did so towards Wallflower's reflection. 

"Crystals are taught to be the best, and shine brightest. And we've always done that by focusing on ourselves. Hilariously, it's the only thing we're all ever on the same page about. Then we saw Twilight Sparkle, the smartest girl in our school, and one of the best examples of what a Crystal could be, turn into a monster in front of us, because of us."

Sour wrung a nearby towel as she spoke. 

"Which scared the heck out of all of us. After that, it got us thinking that, you know. Maybe we were doing it wrong. That maybe we should lean on each other. But we didn't know how. Everything we tried in the name of us sticking together only drove us apart even more." Sour turned her head back to look at Rarity. "Until some crazy girl pointed us in the right direction."

Rarity shrugged. "I simply did what anyone would."

"Anyone from your school, maybe." Sour walked back to Wallflower and Rarity, the latter of whom draped her hand on Sour's shoulder. "You know what we found out? That it's way easier when you're not doing the tryhard thing all the time. Putting yourself out there is one thing, but after that, you just... pick up on people who find you cool, too, and let stuff go from there.

"And sheesh, you don't sulk about 'em coming into your life. That's what me, and Indigo, and Sunny, and even Lemon did for the longest, and all it did for us was waste time. Time we could have spent being happy. There's no way to make 'making friends' easy. But once you learn to tell yourself you're able to do it, just like anyone else, and believe it... it just is."

Wallflower slowly nodded as she contemplated Sour's words in the ensuing silence—which lasted exactly as long as until Rarity asked, "Wait, what about Sugarcoat?"

Sour rolled her eyes. "She's stubborn. But she'll come around. She likes you as much as the rest of us do, but if you thought I had problems with words..." 

Sour Sweet held out her hand. After much hesitation, Wallflower took it. Sour then took Wallflower's other hand was well... and lavender eyes gazed into brown.

"Sorry about earlier. But you sounded like me for a second there, and I hate the sound of my own voice." Sour said, rolling her eyes. "I know what it's like to have given up on people because people weren't into... you know, me. So now, if I ever feel myself clicking with someone? I go ahead and click. And it just seems insulting to ask someone why they want you around, right?"

Wallflower nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry, too. I... I just wish all this friendship stuff was easier to figure out."

"I know so many who do," Rarity said, stepping to the side of both girls. "But people are messy and flawed, as a rule. That includes you, me, Sour..." Rarity put a hand on Wallflower's cheek. "And all the rest of this world's artistic creations."

Wallflower clasped Rarity's hand, then let go of hers and Sour's, and stepped back, exhaling. "All of that makes sense. Thanks a lot, you two. What you said makes more sense than where I was originally going with things."

"Don't thank me," Rarity said, turning to Sour Sweet. "Thank Sour here. Though I must say, darling, that was a shockingly heartfelt display, to a degree that I've never seen you even approach before." 

"Oh, you don't say?" Sour looked straight at Rarity, with a cutesy smile and fluttering eyes. "You know what else is high in degrees, darling?" Sour said in a syrupy voice and clasped hands. "A hair crimper on your tongue if you don't bite it right now."

Rarity giggled. "Oh, Sour, never change. Except in front of the clientele, of course."

"I don't plan to." Sour turned to Wallflower. "What are you waiting for? Go on your date already."

Wallflower giggled as well. "Yes, ma'am."





They're right. They're blunt—especially Sour, wow—but they're right.

Wallflower sat in the backseat of her Hoofer taxi, on its way to Juniper's house, with an assortment of vegetables and spices in a bag next to her. She took her pocket mirror out of her purse and took one more look at her self—her hair was still clean, still a little bouncier than normal, and she was wearing a striped green-and-white shirt with her blue jeans instead of the usual brown. 

For some reason, she was still self-conscious. Had she gone too far? She knew she was still in casual wear, but she'd never... put this much thought and preparation into meeting someone. Usually because meeting people wasn't a thing she did often, no matter how much she'd dreamed of doing so. No matter if it counted as a 'date' or not. 

Just what was a date, anyway? Why did people give that word so much weight?

Calming herself down, she took out her phone, and brought up Juniper's text message window, idly deciding to start with her soup recipe tonight—her full-on Garden Stew would have to wait for a another day since it required slow cooking. "Hey, I'm on the way to you," she typed. "With my ingredients and everything. Totally ready for tonight. How about you?"

Juniper's answer wasn't immediate. Wallflower didn't mind. Juniper was often busy. Usually their conversations started quickly, but every once in a while, they didn't, because Juniper was on shift, on a shoot, or decompressing from either. 

Wallflower scrolled up to the conversation they'd had on Thursday, skimming across the memories. They'd talked about Wyldmares some more, the latest Daring Do book, and Wallflower had even given her some sewing tips. She was no Rarity, but the symbol on her backpack—a wilted potted flower—was of her own design. 

The way her life was going, she might have to get a new bag soon.

After the last bit of skimming, Wallflower arrived at the end of the conversation, where, after Juniper took a few minutes to check her mail, she'd come back and typed: 

"...I'm really happy you're here to talk to me."

The sentence made Wallflower feel as warm now as when she'd received it two days ago—and also as curious. "The feeling's mutual," she'd typed. "Everything all right?"

A few more minutes had passed in the timeline before getting her answer. 

"I think everyone needs someone in their life who's good at reminding them that they're just fine, the way they are. Especially when the world brings you reminders every day, that that someone's hard to find."

Wallflower sighed. Juniper really loved being dramatically cryptic sometimes. 

She looked outside. The skies had been gray and overcast for the last hour. Wallflower did not like this fact, especially after she'd just gotten her hair dressed along with the rest of her—but soon she'd be inside, and not have to worry about her hair, or anything else.

Wallflower's eyes furrowed upon realizing that Juniper still hadn't answered her last text. She took a look at the Hoofer's GPS—Juniper's house was only a minute away. Soon, it'd be a moot point, but still she did her best not to worry. 

Just like Rarity and Sour said.

All we have to do is make it to seeing each other. Then it'll be fine. No matter what the world throws at us.