//------------------------------// // 3. Rainbow Wallflowers // Story: Rainbow Wallflowers // by Sunsets and Storms //------------------------------// ❀ ❀ ❀ 3  ❀ ❀ ❀     “I hope this blue crap doesn’t stain my hair,” Rainbow complained, raking her fingers through her bangs and coming away with fingernails full of blue pollen.     Wallflower glanced over, equally coated in the stuff, and shrugged. “I’m surprised you’re worried about your hair. I didn’t think that was your thing,” she said.     Rainbow scoffed. “It doesn’t matter if it’s clean, dirty, brushed, or messy. But if it’s not rainbow, we have a problem.” She shook her head. “Can you imagine me with blue hair? What would you call me then? Blue Dash? No thanks, totally not awesome,” she said, still scraping at her head.     “It is kind of your trademark. Very eye-catching,” Wallflower agreed. She guided the car into a turn lane and tapped her chin. “I wonder if I would’ve had less problems being remembered if I had brighter hair, too.”     “Ha! Well, if you want me to help you dye your hair, I will. Not rainbow, though. Like you said, my trademark.”     Wallflower laughed and shook her head. “No, no that’s okay. Not gonna change my appearance for attention. I’ll figure it out the hard way,” she said. “I like me.”     “Me, too,” Rainbow said, softly. She glanced at Wallflower. Wallflower heard, and they shared a smile. Then, Wallflower sighed. “Wish I could’ve got one of those blue flowers, though. They were pretty. Instead I just got enough pollen samples to kill a thousand allergy sufferers.” Rainbow grimaced.  “Well, I would say ‘next time’, but I’m hoping we don’t have another trip to Everfree for a while. That was. . . well, it was awesome, but that place is scary every time.”     “I feel like ‘scary’ doesn’t do it justice. I don’t know if I’ll ever trust vines again.” Wallflower shivered as the image of the plant-thing clambering up the cliff toward Rainbow replayed in her head.      “You won’t. I haven’t trusted vines since the Friendship Games, and it just keeps getting worse,” Rainbow confirmed. “This is like the third time I’ve run into evil vines. I’m cursed.” Wallflower laughed as the car trundled to a stop in front of Rainbow’s house.  “Here you are, home sweet home,” Wallflower said, throwing the car into park. Rainbow started to get out. Seized by a sudden reluctance to see Rainbow leave, Wallflower pointed into the passenger side floorboard. “Wait, hold on, let’s look at these flowers we almost died for!”     “Oh, right!” Rainbow leaned down, unzipped the backpack and pulled one of the bagged flowers out. The large rainbow-petaled climber was still bright and colorful, though the sparks that had danced on the stamens had ceased. “Here ya go. They’re really pretty, aren’t they?” she asked.     Wallflower gasped and clapped her hands together with a grin. “Yeah, they are! Wow, they’re actually prettier than I even imagined!” she said. She glanced at Rainbow and pointed at the flower.“They’re not from around here, are they?”     “Probably not,” Rainbow confirmed. Most of the other plants that had been growing out there were Equestrian in nature, so the rainbow flower likely was too. Maybe there’s a portal out there, like there was out on the island? Before she could voice the thought, Wallflower shifted in her seat.     Grinning devilishly, she plucked the bagged flower out of Rainbow’s hands. “We should name them!” She looked too excited. “If they’re ‘not from here’, they probably don’t have a name here, so we get to pick!”     Rainbow grinned back. “How about ‘awesome rainbow zap flowers’?” she suggested, pulling another one of them out of the bag. “They got all sparky when the storm rolled in.”     Wallflower’s crafty grin didn’t fade. “We could. . . but I had an idea.” Her shoulders shook with a suppressed laugh, and if anything her grin grew.     Rainbow made a twirling ‘get on with it’ motion with her hand. “Lay it on me,” she said.     “Well, they’re rainbow flowers. . .” Wallflower began.     “Yes?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her.     “. . . and they grow on walls. . .”     Rainbow’s face fell. “. . .No.”     Wallflower’s grin was massive and utterly cheesy. She nodded once.     “Ugh. Ugh. I’m leaving. Let me out, I’m leaving, this is over.” Rainbow pulled the handle and pushed the car door open.     “Oh, come on! It’s perfect!” Wallflower protested, still grinning madly. “I’m absolutely labeling them that in the garden,” she insisted.     “Never speak to me again,” Rainbow joked. Stifling a laugh, she clambered out of the car. She paused before she shut the door, though, and leaned back in.“Um,” she lingered, leaning against the car as she searched for the right words. Crap. I hate sappy stuff. What do I even say?     Wallflower raised an eyebrow at her. “What’s wrong?”     “Nothing wrong! Just--I did have fun,” Rainbow admitted, as much to herself as to Wallflower.“This was really cool. You’re cool. And I hope you like the flowers.”     Now, Wallflower beamed. Her whole face lit up in surprise and she gave the biggest smile Rainbow had ever seen her wear. “Thanks, Dash. And, I love the flowers. They’re awesome. Maybe even radical.”     Rainbow snorted, nodded, started to say something more, then shook her head and ducked out of the car. Enough sappy crap for one night. “G’Night!” She turned and jogged up to her front door, smiling the whole way.     “Good night!” Wallflower called after her.  The car door swung closed with a thunk!, and Wallflower couldn’t stop grinning as she shifted the car into drive and pulled away from the curb. What a trip! ❀ ❀ ❀     Wallflower carried her backpack into the house and laid it out on her desk.  She pulled the flowers out, unbagged one of them, and lowered its viney stem into a vase filled with water. On contact with the water, the flower’s stamens flickered with a faint blue spark of energy, and the petals twitched and opened wider. These are amazing! She stared at it, awestruck.      Her phone buzzed twice in her pocket before she could walk away, and she pulled it out to check the message. It was from a number she didn’t know, but the message made it pretty clear who it was from.  She grinned at the sight of it, and had to press her knuckle into her mouth to keep from laughing.  Rainbow Dash had sent a picture of herself. She was still raking blue pollen out of her hair in front of the bathroom mirror, with a big pile of the stuff in the sink already. She had scraped it away from her eyes, too, creating two small circles of lighter blue skin in the middle of her face. She looked absurd.         ‘Hey, Wallflower! This blue crap is like glue, I think the rain made it all sticky. Good luck with your hair, you’re gonna need it. I’m going to be here all *night*. I got your number from Sunset! I just wanted to say that this was a *real* adventure! I’ll garden with you any time. If you have another job like that one--or you just want to grab a soda or something--give me a call! Don’t be a stranger! Oh, and I totally left my freaking hiking bag at the base of the cliff. Bummer, right? I’m just gonna chalk that one up as a loss. The vines can keep it. Talk soon!         -R.D.’     Wallflower pressed the phone to her chest and bounced on the balls of her feet, glowing with delight. She wasn’t sure, but she was pretty sure she had made a friend. A friend she very much wanted to see again, and soon.     She read the message and then re-read it, struggling to decide how best to reply. She wanted to sound cool, or at least clever, but she was drawing a blank. Glancing around the room for inspiration, her eyes eventually settled on the vase again.     She grinned, struck by sudden inspiration, and yanked open her desk drawer. She pulled out a roll of masking tape and a marker, then tore off a strip of tape. She scrawled the name she’d come up with earlier onto the tape and plastered it to the side of the vase.     Wallflower picked her phone back up, centered the vase in the camera, and snapped a photo. She added a quick caption and sent it to Rainbow Dash. With her job done, she shrugged out of her blue-stained sweater and made for the nearest shower, whistling a Rainbooms song.         ‘Hey, yourself, Rainbow!         I named our flowers! I hope you like what I picked!         Call me tomorrow! We’ll hang out and see whose hair looks worse! :)         -W.B.’ ❀ ❀ ❀ Rainbow Wallflowers ❀ ❀ ❀