//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Beginning // Story: When a Tree Blooms // by Betty_Starlight //------------------------------// I stare deep into her green eyes as I stand there before her on the grassy trail and she just simply smiles back at me… I finally ask her, “How long have you felt this way?” We both hear a familiar vocoder-like voice from behind us clear its throat, “Ahem!” She frowns, “Well, more or less my whole life! But you got turned into a tree before I realized everything I was feeling and um…” she sighs. “By the time I knew, it was too late!” “Um, ahem!” I blink, “I uh, don’t know what to say?” She smiles and moves her right forehoof over my face and lightly caresses my left cheek and looks into my eyes, “Don’t say anything, Apple Bloom… I bet this is kinda sudden and you don’t know what to think, right?” The changeling clears her throat a third time, “AHEM!” I finally stare back at her over my left shoulder and ask her, “What?” I behold a mauve creature standing there on four bluish-violet legs and hooves staring back at me with large blue insectoid eyes and a single curved horn jutting roughly 7 inches out of it’s forehead with a light blue mane over everything and fly-like insect wings at its sides, “Um, I just got reformed!” I sigh, “One moment at a time, Chrysalis! We gotta deal with our first kiss and then we can get to you!” She blinks, “I had been evil for centuries and caused a lot of pain and misery over the course of my life…” she raises her gaze. “But by all means, please continue your lesbian romantic adventure!” I smile and nod, “Well, right! After hundreds of years, is a few minutes really gonna matter?” I see Sweetie gazing at her as well over the opposite shoulder in my periphery before she finally asks in her sing-song voice, “Um, well, is there anything you wanna say?” Chrysalis shakes her head and frowns as she lowers her gaze slightly and says, “I uh, don’t know? I mean, when I witnessed Cadance kissing Shining Armor all that time ago, that didn’t reform me!” she raises her neck. “And yet, somehow, this did?” I adjust my gaze right to Sweetie, “You think it’s because it’s a gay kiss this time?” She looks back at me, “Um, nah! Love is love! I think it has more to do with the fact that she actually wanted to be reformed this time?” I raise my left eyebrow, “Oh?” She nods, “Well, yeah! Remember what she said about not wanting to be that way anymore? Well, what if she was telling the truth?” Chrysalis frowns and angrily shouts, “I never once lied to you fillies!” Sweetie gazes back right towards Chrysalis, “Hush, Chrysalis! We’re talking about you now!” before looking back at me. I gulp, “Well, I guess she wasn’t lying? I mean, she did get reformed, right? But um,“ I blink. “Why was it when we kissed and not before?” Sweetie raises her gaze, “What do you mean?” I nod, “I mean, she said what she said, earlier, and even though she was apparently sincere, that wasn’t enough to reform her… And yet, you kissing me did the job?” Sweetie smiles, “Because I love you, Apple Bloom!” I squint my eyes and grimace back at the white unicorn, “You’re a jerk, you know that?” “I love you!” Sweetie repeats before moving her face towards mine and nuzzling my snout lightly as her eyes close slightly and she has a big dumb grin on her face… I frown and withdraw my head, “Hey! I still don’t know how comfortable I am with this!” She moves her neck back and widens her eyes, “W-what?” before her mouth goes agape in shock and disappointment. Now, in that split second, I honestly thought about it… I witnessed Sweetie’s genuinely dashed hopes as her eyes and mouth both sunk… And at that point, I somehow just knew I needed to make this okay again as I raise my vision and say, “Well, w-what I mean is, this is new, okay?” I smile. “I mean, I wouldn’t be totally opposed to the idea, but we need to take this slow, okay?” Chrysalis clears her throat. I turn my head back left towards her, “I’m sorry! Is this boring?” She frowns while looking on with her new shimmering solid blue eyes, “Uh, after all that nothing for seventy years or so, I must say that the drama is refreshing! Although I truly wish I had popcorn and a soda!” I frown and turn my head back to Sweetie, although I’m not sure if Chrysalis was being sarcastic or not? “Well, what do you think?” She smiles broadly and simply replies, “I think I’m grateful?” I widen my eyes while leaning towards her, “What do you mean?” She lowers her gaze slightly, “I mean, when you went away, there was a new hole in my heart…” before sighing and glaring wistfully to the left, “At first, I thought it was just because you were my friend, but then when I finally figured myself out as a lesbian seven years later, it suddenly made a lot more sense…” she corrects her gaze to me and smiles wider, “I never thought I would ever get this chance, Apple Bloom…” she raises her gaze to meet my eyes as she scrunches her brow in determination. “And you’re not gonna get away from me this time...” I widen my eyes back to her, “Y-you’re serious?” She frowns, “Why wouldn’t I be?” “I uh,” I shake my head, “it’s just all so sudden, you know? I mean, I just uh, never really thought about you like that! And yet, here you are, kissing and nuzzling me and being all affectionate-like towards me and trying to make me feel good and such…” I blink.” I mean, out of nowhere, too!” She smiles lightly as she lowers her gaze slyly and says, “Oh, I can make you feel a lot better than that, baby!” I furrow my brow and lean towards her slightly, “Sweetie Belle, this is serious!” “I’m being serious, Apple Bloom! I would like to have sex with you!” I can’t help but hear a faint snickering coming from behind us as I keep my gaze left at this other pony and reply, “Is that all this was about, Sweetie Belle?” She visibly gulps before frowning and saying, “Well, no! Uh, that’s certainly not all of it… “ she blinks.”If you want me to be honest though, yes I would very much like to sleep with you one day, Apple Bloom…” she smiles slightly as she stares up at me with those same pretty green eyes of hers, “But I understand that you probably need more time?” her shoulders loosen and she relaxes while staring at me with a half-dreamy glazed look in her eyes. “I mean, I’ve waited this long, right? What difference is a few more days gonna make?” I eyeball this unicorn very carefully… I see a sincere look in those familiar cerulean eyes, but I can’t help but notice a different sort of glow deep within them now… Something new that I never noticed before… I turn my body left to her and take a step towards the white unicorn with her adorable two-toned mane and lovely smile that can light up a room underneath those pretty green eyes of hers… “What are you doing?” Sweetie asks as her eyes widen and mouth straightens as she’s now a mere foot away from me... Just two mares standing there in the wide-open empty field with the reformed changeling on one side of us… I frown as I lean forward for a cautious and timid nuzzle and reply, “I-I have to know now…” She frowns and timidly replies, “What?” I lean ahead just a little bit further and tilt my head to the right as I place a soft kiss upon her lips and I witness her green eyes beginning to close just above the front of my snout as I feel my heart fluttering in my chest and there’s definitely some sort of spark there, that I don’t recognize… I release her from my lips and draw my head back a few inches as I stare into her eyes and ask her, “Is that what you wanted?” She can only stammer out, “Um, y-yeah! Yes! Yes it is! I uh…” before moving her face towards mine to plant a reciprocating loving kiss upon my lips. I immediately feel that same fluttering sensation in my heart as before, but I still can’t help but think about how new this is and a smile slowly creeps up on my lips, still locked with the unicorn’s, when I realize that this poor lesbian mare is at a loss for words and has no idea how to respond to me! I have no response either… All but one… I wrap my forehooves around Sweetie Belle for a tender embrace… Reformed changeling or no, this was our moment! <*****> We both trot across the grassy plains with the reformed changeling behind us… She finally asks, “Is there a destination to this journey, or are we all traveling together, just for the sake of traveling?” I reply with my country twang, “Well, Chrysalis, we don’t really have any defined purpose, if that’s what you mean! Truth is, we’re just heading out there to see what’s out there!” Sweetie interjects from my left, “Um, isn’t that kinda dangerous?” I turn my gaze right to the unicorn, “Well, yeah! But what choice do we have?” “Well, we could just stay where we are?” “And do what, Sweetie Belle?” She frowns back at me, “Uh, good point!” Suddenly, we both hear the changeling behind us scream, “What is that?” I gaze back to see her pointing at the sky in front of her, and so I crane my neck to where she’s pointing, just in time to see a large red bird-like creature swooping down at me with its massive orange talons! “AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!” I scream as I bolt to the right and take off as fast as my hooves can carry me! I see Sweetie in my periphery taking off the opposite direction, but I have no idea what happened to Chrysalis until I turn my body around to behold a large blue carapace covered insect where she once was, with large clear wings and big green eyes and ferocious looking mandibles on its face. The new creature yells in a familiar changeling voice, “Leave my friends alone!!!!” before flapping its wings at near supersonic speeds to raise its body into the sky and fly towards the avian threat, who was now circling back towards us in a counterclockwise direction… The insect crashes into the bird, who squawks aggressively and attempts to fend it off in midair with its talons… The insect doesn’t relent and the bird is pushed further back! Finally, it turns and gives a surrendering SQUAWK in the air before turning its body around and proceeding to fly away! The insect stops flying with its wings flapping at hypersonic speeds before turning towards us and flashing brightly pale blue before that flashing shape takes the form of a familiar recently reformed changeling, when it stops shining brightly and becomes back to Chrysalis’s form as she descends. She lands and says, “That was a roc! Are you two okay?” I look at her direction to my right from Sweetie Belle, “Roc? That doesn’t look like any stone I’ve ever seen?” Sweetie looks at me and says, “No, a roc! It’s a type of bird-of-prey that stalks larger animals. Like ponies!” I adjust my gaze to the unicorn at my front, “Oh, okay!” and then back to Chrysalis at my right. “And yeah, we’re fine Chrysalis! Thanks for protecting us! You really have changed, huh?” She turns her head left towards me, “I don’t understand! I had so much more power than before, and yet, I didn’t really feed off of you two that much! I,“ she shakes her head. “only took what I deemed was necessary to gain my strength back.” She leans forward and widens her eyes. “I really didn’t think I could so easily dispatch my foe!” Sweetie turns her gaze left to the changeling and leans forward interestedly, “Well, I guess you’re like the other reformed changelings in Equestria, then?” Chrysalis turns her head to the unicorn, “What do you mean?” Sweetie nods, “I mean, they didn’t need to feed either! They just shared love instead and they had plenty! Kinda like you do, right now! And that’s just from two friends!” Chrysalis raises her gaze, “Interesting! So you might say that friendship is power, then, yes? Perhaps Cozy was right?” Visions of a certain demented pink pegasus filly fill my head as Sweetie widens her eyes, “That’s not what I meant!” Chrysalis can no longer contain herself as giggles slightly begin to escape her smiling visage and her new opal blue eyes begin to narrow in delight! Sweetie turns her head right towards me and frowns, “It’s almost like she’s trying to mess with us, here?” I turn left to the unicorn, “Yeah, like she’s our friend or something?” Chrysalis raises her gaze, “What? A changeling actually becoming friends with two annoying lesbian ponies? Impossible!” I widen my eyes and say in my Southern Equestrian drawl, “Wait! I’m a lesbian, now?” The unicorn widens her eyes, “Well, let’s see now! Are you going to be with me now, Apple Bloom?” I frown, “Are you asking me to make a choice?” Sweetie gulps as that visibly off-put her before frowning, “N-no! Well, that’s not what I meant!” I raise my gaze, “What did you mean, Sweetie Belle?” She blinks and lowers her gaze, “What I mean is, do you want to try being with me? I mean, I already said I love you and stated my case… What do you say to that, Apple Bloom?” before gulping and eyeing me back nervously… At that point, I couldn’t help but smile slightly as I witnessed sincere anxiety and apprehension in her sparkling green eyes and I calmly reply, “Well, yes Sweetie Belle… We can try this if you really want to…” She frowns, “You act like you don’t want to, though?” “I…” I blink, “I never said that… I…” I gaze into her eyes once more… I realize that I need to reassure this mare before suddenly wondering exactly why that is? I give her the biggest and most genuine smile I can muster, “The truth is Sweetie Belle, I never really considered it until just now… But now, after that, and what you said and did, I…” I blink. “I’ll be with you, Sweetie Belle… As best I can…” She grins again and leans forward to chance another nuzzle on my snout and I see those shining eyes grow half closed again as she soaks up my love from my moving snout against hers… She brings her face back a few inches to continue smiling at me and says, “That’s really all I can ask for…” Suddenly, we here the same insect creature coughing from our side and I grin as she quickly yelps, “Lesbian!” before coughing again! (To be continued...)