//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Confessions // Story: When a Tree Blooms // by Betty_Starlight //------------------------------// I stood there with the white unicorn at my left, in the darkened clearing deep inside that forest. I looked at the heavens and couldn’t help but notice that branches were now overlapping the entire area overhead and I could no longer really see the sky anymore… Sweetie Belle says, “Well uh, guess we shouldn’t have trusted Zed then?” I lower my gaze and turn my neck left to face her as I say in an agitated voice, “You think, Sweetie Belle?” She widens her eyes, “I suppose now’s a bad time to ask for sex?” I narrow my eyes at the unicorn, “Seriously, Sweetie Belle?” She corrects her pupils, “No! Not seriously! Was trying to lighten the mood!” she frowns, “Uh, I guess I didn’t succeed?” I frown and squint back, “You think?” Suddenly, we both hear a rustling in the brush behind us both beyond the clearing and I turn my head to look over my left shoulder towards it and call out, “Anypony out there?” Suddenly, we both witness a blue pegasus pony with a distinct rainbow mane appear amidst the trees beyond the darkened clearing and she looks at me and says, “Hiya!” I widen my eyes, “Oh, gosh! Rainbow Dash! What are you doing here?” She smiles and widens her eyes, “Well, I died! Duh!” I frown, “How did a pony as tough as you die?” Her mouth straightens and eyes normalize, “It was a flying accident! Look! I can see the forest and how it moves from the sky and guide you two out of here! You trust me, right?” I widen my eyes, “Well, of course! Why wouldn’t we trust you, Rainbow Dash?” She looks off to the right nervously, “Well uh,” she looks back at Apple Bloom. “Of course! Um, hang on!” she points at the forest to my right, “You need to head that way! I know the exit is that way, but you’ll have trouble finding it unless I guide you!” She spreads her wings. “You two start trotting that way and listen for when I shout instructions down to you about which way to go! After you escape, we can talk outside the forest! Alright?” I nod towards the pegasus, “Sounds good, Rainbow!” I turn to Sweetie at my front. “Come on, SB! Let’s get out of here!” She turns her neck to me and smiles, “That’s the spirit! Let’s go!” We both turn to take off down the trail to my right and we also hear the distinct woosh noise of Rainbow taking off with her powerful wings as well as the clip clop of two sets of hooves, now hammering away at the dirt as we both take off with velocity. We’re approaching a two way fork in the trail and I hear a familiar raspy voice from above me yell, “Take the right path! That’ll lead you to another clearing!” I move my head down as I force a determined gallop from all four of my legs and veer right down the gloomy trail to reach another clearing that looks oddly familiar… I hear Rainbow again from overhead, “Turn left and hurry, before the forest shifts again to mirror itself and trap you!” I try to muster as much speed as my legs can handle because I can’t help but see sunlight peeking out from just beyond this clearing, even if the rest of it seems identical to the area we just left! We make it past the treeline into the clouded plains beyond the Forest of the Lost, and we both start coming to a skidding halt when we witness the same rainbow maned pegasus landing in front of us with a resounding thud as all four of her hooves hit the hard dirt of the grassy field… She smiles as I say, “Thanks a lot Rainbow Dash!” Suddenly, Rainbow’s eyes flicker a green color and both me and Sweetie on my forward left are now encased in a blue glow and we both begin levitating off the ground! I try to scream, but blue energy soon covers my mouth and all I can do is stare at Rainbow Dash with my eyes as my ears raise in alarm! She smiles and soon, her body is enveloped by white energy coming from the earth and it dissipates to reveal a familiar large black changeling there with a gnarly holy horn on her head and holes all throughout her black legs as she brings her insectoid wings inward and smiles at both of us, presently encased in force fields. My eyes widen in alarm as I recognize that changeling as Queen Chrysalis! She says in her distinct vocoder voice, “Yes, I am Queen Chrysalis and yes, I will take your love, but, what you need to understand is that I’m still your friend… I’m only taking some of your love simply because I need it to survive and to use my magic, but please believe me when I say that I want to help you!” She raises her snout and opens her mouth to begin drawing ethereal blue energy from the two of us, and I can feel some of my energy being drained as she feeds off of us… I widen my eyes in quiet shock when I feel that she didn’t really take everything! She still left me a considerable amount of energy! She raises her neck and brings her face to the sky as she purrs with delight from the new love energy within her… Then she lowers her gaze to the two of us and smiles before saying, “Thank you so much! in her strange voice… She sighs and adjusts her gaze to the two of us, still trapped within the blue energy with azure energy bands around our mouths… She narrows her eyes and lowers her gaze before saying, “I’m going to remove your gags now… You may speak, but please be calm, okay? I assure you that I mean you no harm!” My gag disappears and I gaze down at this familiar changeling and begin screaming! “AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” Suddenly, another blue energy gag goes over my mouth! Sweetie Belle can only glare at the creature with wide open green eyes as her now open snout quivers in fear. A small smirk forms on the changeling’s mouth, “If you’d known who I was, would you have allowed me to help you?” Sweetie Belle keeps her eyes wide at the sight as all I can do is stare on with my own enlarged pupils before she simply stammers, “Well, truthfully, n-no! No we wouldn’t have!” Chrysalis sighs and nods her head, “Exactly! I still wanted to help you, but what choice did I have but to use subterfuge? You wouldn’t have believed me, otherwise!” Sweetie blinks before turning her head to me at her right, still with the magical gag in place over my mouth and says in her feminine sing-song voice, “I hate to admit it, but Chrysalis has a point! If we had known earlier, we wouldn’t have done what we did!” We suddenly both hear the changeling’s voice reverberate over us, “HEAR ME FOALS!” We both adjust our gaze to the changeling before us… She sighs and widens her eyes as she calmly says in a lower tone, “Being trapped in stone gives you a lot of time to think… I thought about what I did… I thought about the way I used to live… I thought about how I had used, not only you, but practically everypony and changeling I had ever met… I thought about my veneer… I thought about the many facades that I had put up… And I thought about what I had told everyone…” she blinks before clearing her throat. “I’ve decided that I don’t want to be that way anymore… Please let me be your friend?” before blinking with all the sincerity she can muster in her slitted green eyes. Sweetie frowns and says, “Well, sure! Why not? You’re only gonna hold us hostage until we agree to it! I mean, we have all kinds of options right now!” with her voice now dripping with sarcasm. Chrysalis squints her eyes, “If you had known my identity, would you have stayed to talk with me or ran the other direction?” Sweetie lowers her head to give an exasperated sigh, before adjusting her gaze back up to the changeling, “Okay! You make a point! And I guess, if Apple Bloom here agrees to it,” she glances momentarily in my direction, “we can try being your friend, or whatever…” she blinks. “But I just have one condition!” Chrysalis raises her left eyebrow, “Oh?” Sweetie lowers her neck a bit to shout, “Stop making so much sense!!!!!” <*****> And so, I, Apple Bloom the earth mare, have been trotting with Sweetie Belle, the lesbian unicorn mare and Chrysalis, the changeling for hours now… We think this direction is north, but with the cloudy sky overhead, it’s impossible to see the sun or even get a feel for what time it was! I gazed up at the heavens and briefly wondered how long it had been that way when Sweetie Belle says to me, “Oh, gosh! This is SO FAR! How big do you think this grassy plain is, Apple Bloom?” I adjust my gaze to Sweetie at my right as we both hear Chrysalis clopping behind us, “How would I know?” She sighs, “Ugh! Uh, who do you suppose Zed was?” I frown, “I don’t know? An evil spirit, I guess?” She wistfully looks at her left, “Yeah! Was probably a lawyer or politician or something in life, you think?” I grin, “Well, he’s obviously somepony who has no problems screwing other ponies over!” She smiles back at me, “Yeah!” she gulps. “So, anyway, I first realized that I was a lesbian in my early 30’s when it occurred to me that I didn’t really like any of the stallions that I had been with...”* I widen my own eyes as I can’t help but notice that the other mare is slightly closer to me at this point. With my snout just 6 to 8 inches from Sweetie’s, I reply, “Well, that’s fine that you’re a lesbian Sweetie Belle! I respect that and love you anyway!” She blinks and raises her gaze slightly, “Yeah, I love you too, Apple Bloom!” I take note that we’re now maybe just 5 or 6 inches apart and say, “Yeah and even if you do just happen to like other mares, that’s fine too!” She continues grinning as she gets within 4 inches of me, “I’m glad you think it’s okay for me to like other mares, Apple!” I frown, “Well, why wouldn’t I?” She gets maybe 2 inches from me now and I can suddenly feel the radiant heat from her nostrils as she smiles and says, “Well, I’ve been toying with my prey for a bit now, and there were just a couple of things I needed to make sure of…” “Uh, make sure of?” I feel her nose nuzzle mine as she leans closer to press her lips upon mine and we both abruptly stop trotting… Suddenly, we both see a bright light flashing behind us! … And so, that’s how my first lesbian kiss reformed a changeling... (To be continued...)