Once the rather large group hug had broken up, the collection of girls took the opportunity to shoot the breeze for a bit in the wooden office, mainly to give Wallflower time to recover before having her face another Rainboom. Pinkie Pie was sitting on one of the extra chairs that Roseluck had managed to find and bring in soon after her outburst. She was happily tapping on her lap while humming a joyful tune to herself, as if the outburst had never occurred. The others were either standing or sitting down somewhere in the office, with Wallflower herself sitting on her office chair while staring at the desk in front of her in silent contemplation, a frown hinting at the struggle inside. Roseluck and Derpy stood at each of her sides, their presence soothing her mind as she processed what she had just endured. Trixie, who stood near one of the walls, was caught up on what had happened before her unfashionably late arrival. Learning of Pinkie’s enraged side, in particular, had left her feeling quite nervous around the peppy girl;

“Trixie thought that Pinkie’s hateful side was a myth... A scary story told to shock the younger students into keeping their Pinkie Promises!”, she declared in slow awe while looking at the pink girl herself with a hint of fear in her eyes. Trixie may have been great and powerful, and she would gladly make that clear to anyone. But, even she honestly doubted that she could contend with Pinkamena Diane Pie! Pinkie’s sweet smile from before refused to leave, seemingly unfazed by the magician’s comment: all the more proof that her bubbly nature had solidified its hold on her once again. With a giggle, she explained to Trixie;

“Oh, don’t worry, silly! Pinkamena only appears when my negative feelings are soooo strong, I have to bring out that side of me to get them out.”

She then held her chin with her right hand to ponder for a moment before adding;

“Hmmm, I've only had to do that two times when counting today. There was that whole thing I did with Wallflower and that time when some meanie made my sister Maud cry by kidnapping Boulder.”

She narrowed her eyes into menacing slits, clenched her fists, and declared with deftly contained anger;

She relaxed her hands and allowed her eyes to show her usual mirth once again. Everyone else in that office silently swore to themselves that they would be good to Maud Pie from that moment onward. Sunset took the opportunity to address the other elephant in the room while giving her pink friend a supportive grin;

“You handled yourself well, Pinkie, although I was worried for a bit that you were gonna take things too far out of anger.”

Every every Rainboom present felt an old tension in their chests rise to the surface. Pinkie’s response consisted of a short giggle fit that instantly released that tension for them all, an ear-to-ear smile that could chase away the whole world’s nightmares, and a warm dose of truth;

“Don’t worry, SunShim, I was trying to help Wallflower and me work through our past, not bonk her on the head with it like it was some baseball bat!”

She then went right into doing what she did better than anyone: go into one of her Pinkie Rants, which was basically her talking about stuff in a pace rapid enough to make it seem like she was in an endless sugar rush (which, frankly, was not too far off from the truth);

“I was doing a balancing act between expressing how Wallflower’s actions made me feel and not shoving them in her face as if I was saying ‘YOU DID THIS! IT WAS YOUR FAULT! SUFFER FOR IT!’! If I failed, I would have hurt her and she was already hurting to begin with and that would have made us all very sad! So, I had to be super-ultra-mega careful with what I said and did, which was reeeeaaalllly tough to do when I was in Pinkamena Mode! Buuuuut, I had to do it right, so that we can both heal, because if we heal, then everyone else heals, and then everyone will be smiling and happy and I get to throw a ‘Happy Trauma Healing’ party for all of us! Besides...”

Her facial expressions and vocal tone rapidly traveled between a wide variety of emotions to match up with her words as she spoke. Once she stopped speaking, however, a combo of seriousness and smiling pride beamed from her face as she shot up from her seat, stood at attention, and declared with utter surety while performing a confident salute like a dutiful soldier;

As Pinkie sat back down to return to her lap tapping, Sunset laughed a little before giving her pink pal some more props;

“You stayed in control of your emotions while expressing yourself to Wally and kept your promise at the same time. I’m proud of you, Pinkie.”

Pinkie’s smile grew just a bit wider upon hearing her friend’s kind words as she looked over at her with eyes filled with sparkling joy. Sunset then turned her attention over to Wallflower, who was still staring at her desk, and told her sweetly while maintaining her grin;

“I’m proud of you too, Wally. You could have run off or told her to stop. Instead, you faced Pinkie and your past with courage.”

Hearing Sunset’s words got Wallflower’s immediate attention, for she looked up away from the desk to see on her face the smile that always found a way to warm her troubled heart. With the tiniest of genuine smiles, she responded honestly and with a hint of relief;

“Thank you. I’ll be real with you: I was so terrified, not so much of Pinkie, but of the pain I caused her and all of you, that I was tempted to run and hide. But, I held my ground because I wasn't alone...”

She looked over at each of the Rainbooms and then at Roseluck, Trixie, and Derpy before adding;

Rainbow Dash gave Wallflower a confident toothy smirk that only she could deliver and told her;

The athlete gave the gardener a friendly pat on the back strong enough to make her upper-body tilt forward a little, which made her express a small cute yelping sound out of surprise, and added before she could respond;

Surprised by Rainbow's compliment and not quite knowing what to do with it or with herself, Wallflower’s sharply rising nerves caused her to blurt out;

She quickly covered her mouth with both hands out of sheer instinct as her nerves went through the roof. Oh, her mind had picked a bad time to overshare! She was about ready to apologize profusely and run out the door when Roseluck and Derpy gave her a double-hug from both sides, with the latter happily declaring with a voice as sweet as her heart;

Feeling herself being wrapped up in the arms of her two dear friends was enough to ease her nerves. This gave her the chance to shut her eyes and begin to perform the self-calming technique that Sunset had taught her a few days after the Memory Stone Incident. She remembered each step she learned from her by heart;

”Breathe in for five seconds... Hold for five seconds... Breathe out of five seconds...”

As Wallflower performed this technique in steady repetition, her body began to relax more and more, eventually sinking into her friends’ arms. They recognized what was going on and promptly gave her body a gentle squeeze to encourage her relaxation further. Before long, the plant-lover’s nerves had settled, her mind and body in a relaxed state. Every Rainboom present watched Wallflower closely, but they kept their mouths shut to avoid disturbing this moment. Even Trixie, who was also watching, knew better than to interrupt with her boasting, although this was a mighty challenge for her. After about a minute or so, the two friends released their grip on the club leader. Once Wallflower opened her eyes back up and looked at the other girls, Applejack asked with no small amount of concern in her voice and facial expression;

“Sugarcube, do ya’ need us to meet ya’ at another day and time, so ya’ can fully recover?”

Fluttershy took the chance to chime in with her usual soft voice that gave off fluffy vibes;

“Um, we’ll understand if you need more time before facing another one of us.”

The green-haired girl with freckles shook her head and told the girls with surety;

All of the other girls nodded their heads in agreement before Trixie, who could not contain herself any longer, declared with absolute gusto and dramatic flare while staring Wallflower in the eye;

“The Great and Powerful Trrrixie is proud of you, Wallflower Blush, for continuing to face the girls you once wronged!”

Every girl’s eyes were on Trixie as she finished whilst performing a theatrical bow;

A certain human-pony girl couldn’t help but smile on the inside upon hearing Trixie’s words. Wallflower was more than a little relieved to have such support, as she knew in her heart that she needed all of the help she could get! Without skipping a beat, the stage magician raised her upper-body back up, turned her attention over to each Rainboom, and threatened with seriousness in her voice and a narrow glare;

“You Sonic Rainbooms may have the right to be angry with Wallflower, but if you take things so much as a step too far...”

“Then you shall face the full brunt of Trixie's Great and Powerful wrrrath!”

Sunset could not blame Trixie for making this threat. After all, she had almost taken things several steps too far at best during the Memory Stone Incident, so it was understandable that her friend did not want history to repeat itself. It did help that Trixie forgave her for nearly physically lashing out at Wallflower in the yearbook room.

She did forgive her for that, right? Sunset decided in her head to check on that later.

Self-glorified braggart or not, the Rainbooms knew that Trixie would make good on her threat and they had their own reasons for not wanting to go too far. They all nodded their heads in response to her words, with Sci-Twi taking this moment to switch gears;

“Okay then, who else wants to talk with Wallflower?”, she asked while looking over at each of her friends. Pinkie, having already done her bit, was enjoying a bag of gummy bears that she had pulled out from her poofy hair, her mind having traveled to a sugar-fueled plane of existence that only Sunset could comprehend, albeit barely. Rarity decided to be the one to step up before anyone else could think to do so by walking gracefully over to stand in front of Wallflower at the end of the desk that was opposite to her. She asked her with the dignity and politeness of a royal;

“Perhaps you would like it if I were to be next to ‘settle things’, as you had so aptly put it earlier?”

Wallflower nodded her head, grateful that the ever polite member of the band was next in line to speak her mind. As far as she was concerned, this would make for a much more pleasant change of pace compared to the raw emotional intensity that was... Well, Pinkie! She couldn't help but think to herself;

She actually liked the idea of enjoying some tea with the sophisticated tailor, despite the topic that would be discussed. What she actually did was more than a little different by comparison. The fashionista asked Wallflower while maintaining her dignified demeanor;

“Wonderful darling! Do you mind if one of your fellow club members helps me find a suitable flower for me to pick?”

Utterly perplexed by what was asked of her, but seeing no harm in it, the gardener turned over to Roseluck and told her;

Visibly confused, but happy to help her friend out, Roseluck walked over to Rarity to escort her out of the office and into the garden. Before they left, however, Rarity told the other girls;

“Make sure to meet us at the center of the garden, as it is spacious enough for what I have in mind.”

With that, the two girls left the office, leaving behind a whole slew of perplexed students. Applejack adjusted her Stetson as she asked aloud out of sheer confusion;

It took a few minutes for the girls to reconvene at the noted location, with Rarity holding a single picked flower in her right hand, which was hidden behind her back. With everyone standing together in a circle, she looked over at Trixie and asked her politely;

Rarity’s behavior was becoming stranger by the moment, which did not go unnoticed by the shrewd and perceptive Trixie;

“Trixie wonders what you need a smoke bomb for.”, she told her purple-haired friend, who replied with a subtle showing of dramatic flair;

The large and undying ego of Trixie rose to the surface as she noted with a smirk while rummaging through her pockets;

“Well, nobody can do presentation better than Trixie, but Trixie sees no harm in letting a friend have a go at it.”

She pulled a smoke bomb out of one of her pockets and handed it over to Rarity, who graciously took it with her left hand. With a graceful curtsy, she told her;

They all did as instructed before Rarity raised her left hand to the sky while it held the smoke bomb and tossed the object onto the ground in front of her feet. She gave Wallflower a supportive smile as she did this, which was the last thing the gardener saw before a truly memorable performance began.

An explosion of smoke erupted around the fashionista, concealing her from sight for a good five seconds or more as the group of girls that stood a few feet away were glad to not have to worry about coughing up a storm. Amazingly, the well-dressed young lady did not feel the need to cough, even though she was at the epicenter of the explosion. Soon enough, the smoke started to dissipate. Once it cleared, it revealed Rarity clenching her left fist while holding an Eyebright flower in her right hand. Both hands were raised up to her chest as she looked at them with a most serious expression itched upon her face. With the skill and flare of a theater girl whilst imagining herself standing under a spotlight, she declared with dramatic solemness as she turned her focus squarely on the Eyebright;

She gazed up at the other ladies, who were confused and intrigued in equal measure;

She looked back down at her fist and flower repeatedly for a moment before she began to further vocalize her predicament with an added level of seriousness that got everyone's attention;

She looked up and gazed at the well cared for plants around her with gentle appreciation in her grin as she spoke before turning her focus back to her fist and flower, her mouth moved to express a frown;

She straightened her head and raised the Eyebright up to her face at eye level while placing her fist over her heart;

"On the one hand, my heart calls upon me to give to Wallflower Blush the generosity of a real chance; a chance to make amends for the heinous actions she committed out of fear, anger, and sorrow. Why shouldn't I give it to her? It is, after all, a similar chance to the one I had given to dearest Sunset long ago..."

Sunset wanted oh so badly to hug the shame out of Rarity's heart, but she knew she had to finish what she started without interruption. The other Rainbooms felt the exact same shame, so they watched in silent solidarity, driven to let her speak her peace. Rarity turned her back on the other girls with a short twirl and continued on, her arms not moving from their places;

"My life has taught me the importance of listening to my heart during times of confusion and strife. Normally, I would be remiss to not heed its sagely advice. After all..."

She did a pause for dramatic effect before asking herself with an audible sigh and a shake of her head;

The girls watching were utterly captivated by Rarity's performance, especially Wallflower, who was quite appreciative of the amount of thought that the keytar player was giving to the very notion of giving a girl like her a chance. She was, however, far from done, for she went on to consider another angle;

She lowered her flower-holding right hand over her heart and raised her left fist to hold it at eye level;

"My mind counters that while the Principal and Vice-Principal were quick to punish Wallflower for her actions, detention and a short time away from her beloved garden, it can be argued, might as well be several light slaps on the wrist compared to her taking from the entire student body the good memories we have of Sunset. To say nothing of her attempts at wiping away her numerous social faux pas, among other memories."

None of the girls wanted to admit it out loud, but she had made a fair point. Wallflower herself could feel her guilt's roots trying to squeeze the life out of her heart as Rarity asked herself aloud;

"Thus, I wonder: if she hasn't truly faced the music, as it were, then how can she be repentant?"

Those roots tightened their hold before Rarity, with a twirl as fierce as her uncharacteristic growl, stomped over to stand within inches of Wallflower's face while yelling out in a fit of fury;

She raised her left fist to the sky, preparing to strike the terrified and guilt-ridden freckled girl square on her skull, her eyes glaring at Wallflower fiercely like a lioness eying her prey. The tailor's face was contorted with intense anger that could scare Sweetie Belle on sight. Fluttershy held on to a shocked Rainbow Dash for dear life with a surprising amount of strength to keep her from doing something drastic as she tried to wiggle out of her grasp, while Applejack yelled out in abject horror while reaching out to her with her right hand;

Twilight was tempted to bring her telekinesis magic to bare, if nothing else but to stop a one-sided brawl from occurring. Pinkie looked on in surprise and horror, her bag of gummy bears having been dropped onto the ground at her feet. Sunset was about ready to intervene, worry oozing from her face. Trixie was simply stunned to the point of being frozen, for the perplexed yet still quite powerful Trixie did not expect something like this to happen, with Roseluck and Derpy holding Wallflower for dear life out of a quiet desire to protect their friend. Before anyone could react further, however, Rarity closed her eyes, sharply pointed her nose to the sky, and allowed her left fist to fall to her side instead of taking a swing while proclaiming in a far more dignified fashion that had little trace of the anger she had just shown;

She twirled again to have her back face her stunned audience. Wallflower was, to say the least, relieved to have been given a stay of execution as the roots around her heart relaxed their grip a little. Sunset was quite glad to not have to hold back a raging Rarity from pouncing upon the poor girl, while the rest of the girls were not too far off emotionally. Applejack, in particular, loudly exhaled and allowed her right arm to rest on her side whilst mentally thanking Rarity for not choosing the path of violence, relief being as prominent on her face as her freckles. Derpy and Roseluck, for the sake of safety, kept holding their club leader in their arms. The fashionista explained herself aloud with no small amount of certainty;

She opened her eyes and raised the Eyebright up to her face again as she took several steps away from the group to return to her previous position and stance;

"Exacting revenge upon Wallflower would bring not healing, but pain to both recipient and perpetrator. Not only that, but though her punishment was light compared to her crimes, has she not shown genuine remorse over said crimes?

She twirled again, this time to the right of the audience, before striking a dramatic pose fit for the theater, which consisted of her placing her right wrist upon her forehead with her eyes closed while holding the Eyebright tightly by its stem, her face and voice expressing sorrow;

She dropped the pose to look right at Wallflower, the freckled introvert's forlorn expression hinting at the conflict inside, before looking back at her flower and continuing;

"If one were to doubt that showing her mercy can help, they need only look to our beloved school's history for proof."

Rarity then turned to give Sunset and Sci-Twi a look of pure warmth and understanding, to which they responded in kind. She then returned her attention back to the flower and noted honestly;

"In fact, if Wallflower can summon forth the strength to call upon us, the girls who she had directly hurt, so that we may work together to resolve our issues surrounding her past misdeeds..."

She lowered her head again, only this time, she also moved both her left fist and her flower-holding right hand over her heart and spoke in a softer, more somber voice;

"If I, a lady who had hurt Sunset, my beloved friend, in a most despicable manner, can call upon that same strength to make things right with her and answer Wallflower's call for aid in spite of my own feelings concerning the flower-loving dear, then..."

She turned to face Wallflower and walked over to her with her right hand keeping a firm grip on the Eyebright as it fell to her side. Stopping at mere inches from her face again, she gracefully raised the flower up to the curious and nervous gardener to offer it to her as she declared with gentle sweetness and utter conviction, her wide grin as beautiful as the lady who bore it;

The two girls looked each other in the eye in silence for a few seconds. Rarity's eyes were filled with that unique spark that only appeared when she was being especially generous and loving every moment of it. Wallflower's eyes went from being filled with curiosity to shock and then to gratefulness as she gently took the flower into her right hand. She then told her with a voice filled with both nervousness and surety in equal measure;

"I'm sure you won't, darling.", was Rarity's heartfelt response, her voice loving like a dear friend. Both girls got big friendly hugs from the group after that, which made them giggle a little as they reciprocated the support they were receiving. The wound inflicted upon the hearts of every girl present by The Memory Stone Incident healed up just a little bit that day.

Of course, the day was not yet over, for the girls decided to chill out in the office for a spell to give Wallflower a few minutes to recover. After taking that time to quietly process the theatrical performance that had just been delivered, Sunset looked over at Rarity, who was sitting on an extra seat that was placed along the wall in front of the former while making minor adjustments to her hair, and commented on the fashionista's earlier behavior in a calm fashion;

"I gotta say, I expected you to add some dramatic flare to you opening up to Wallflower."

Rarity stopped with her hair adjusting, gazed over at Sunset, and gave her a confident giggle before explaining;

"Well, I did have the pleasure of partaking in the literary classic that is 'Hamlet', darling. So, I could not help but pull from such a marvelous piece, given the situation."

Hearing this got Sci-Twi's attention, who was sitting on the grass 'floor' while mentally checking all manner of scientific formulas when Rarity had spoken up. With excitement in her eyes and voice, she exclaimed to Rarity;

"I did not know you enjoyed Shakespeare, Rarity! I mean, 'To be or not to be" is a classic phrase that has been used on numerous occasions, so I figured you had put that phrase to use without knowing of its origin-!"

"At-tut-tut-tut!", Rarity promptly declared to Sci-Twi with a raised right index finger in an attempt to politely stop her from going into one of her rants. This time, she was successful, which gave her the opportunity to declare with dignity and a soft smile;

"I will simply say, Twilight darling, that one has not truly experienced Shakespeare until they have read his works in the original Prench."

As tempted as she was to correct Rarity in regards to the origin of the esteemed poet's work, Sci-Twi opted to kept that to herself for the sake of being polite to her friend. Wallflower, who was quietly watching the conversation play out from behind her desk, made the sudden impulsive decision to take a risk. A huge risk at that, for she had only done this once before in front of Derpy and Roseluck, who were standing with her at both sides. She wasn't thinking about the consequences, but she did think of one thing: a memory of what Sunset once told her;

"There's nothing wrong with taking a chance on yourself, even if things don't always work out for you."

Without hesitation and before terror could grip her, she delivered in accurate, beautiful, but not quite fluent, Prench;

Again, Wallflower covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes growing wide with shock over what she had just done. To say nothing of the ten other mouths gaping at her! Rarity was the first to respond after a few seconds of silence, albeit with a stutter, for she was recovering from the shock;

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to settle her mind. Once she was in a calmer state, she cleared her throat in a most dignified manner, gave the horrified gardener an enthusiastic glare before continuing the Shakespearean quote in Prench, only hers was much closer to being fluent and had a sprinkling of her typical grace added in;

Another one of Wallflower's tiny grins crept up on her face, although it could barely poke out from behind her hands on the sides of her face. She slowly lowered her hands, revealing the full force of the grin, however small it may have been. With a quick clearing of her own throat, she finished the quote out of appreciation and with more surety than she expected to bring forth;

All of this was enough to bring Rarity to tears of happiness as she stood up of her chair and walked over to stand in front of Wallflower's desk. After wiping her tears with a tissue she had taken from a thoughtful Pinkie Pie, who had kept a bunch of them stashed in her hair, she exclaimed with utter joy;

"Oh Wallflower dear, I did not expect you to be a reader of Shakespeare and a speaker of Prench, let alone speak the language with such confidence and grace!"

The poor green-haired girl couldn't stop herself from blushing if she tried, especially when she had gotten a round of applause from the whole group! Sunset, being more curious about her freckled friend's surprising ability to speak a second language, asked her with an excited smirk after the applause had died down;

With a nervous laugh, a sheepish grin, and a quick impulsive scratch of the back of her neck, Wallflower answered whilst the other girls looked at her with bated breath;

"You can thank my mom for that one. She's been teaching me Prench herself, since most of her side of the family insists on speaking it during those rare occasions when they visit the country."

She looked over at Roseluck and Derpy with friendly love in her eyes while adding sweetly;

"These two garden buddies of my mine were the only people in the school who knew that I could speak Prench until now."

She turned back to face Rarity, who had recovered enough to give her a beaming grin with warmth in her eyes. Without skipping a beat, she happily exclaimed to Wallflower;

"And you revealed that once-hidden part of yourself to me, to us, in what I'm sure was a spur-of-the-moment decision! Such heartfelt daring!"

She placed her right hand upon her heart and added while keeping her grin strong;

"I am truly touched, Wallflower Blush. Clearly, I will not regret giving you a fair shake, as it were."

With a sudden gasp and her eyes growing wide for a moment or two, she then announced dramatically;

"Oh my goodness, darling! You have not responded to my earlier performance yet!"

"I would gladly hear your take on the subject. Unless, of course, you wish to take more time to think of an appropriate response. I dare say, such a thing must not be rushed!"

The other girls made it a point to listen intently to Wallflower's response. The girl in question, appreciative as she was of Rarity being so considerate, could feel her nerves shoot up enough to threaten to hold her back from speaking at all. Her body began to tremble enough to prompt her to hug her arms out of reflex. Without skipping a beat, she closed her eyes and brought her self-calming technique to bare once again;

”Breathe in for five seconds... Hold for five seconds... Breathe out of five seconds...”

The room became silent, save for Wallflower's slow, deep, and audible breathing, which was hardly helping her that time. The other girls were visibly concerned for her well-being, none more so than Rarity. Even as the frightened gardener tried to calm down, she could hear the intrusive thoughts in her head, the kind that had been plaguing her life for a long time;

They're annoyed that you're taking so long to speak up!

They think your Prench sucks and you better believe it does!

You're nothing more than a punching bag for their anger!

You'll always be hated, like an unsightly weed.

They'll never forgive you. You don't deserve forgiveness!

You don't deserve friends!

You don't deserve to-!

Before that last, most dreadful thought could be finished, she found herself suddenly wrapped up in a gentle set of arms that gracefully pushed her onto someone's chest, the act knocking that vile thought out of her head before it could sink its teeth into her heart. This hug, to her, felt very much like a warm blanket she would snuggle into during a cold Winter night with a cup of hot cocoa. She opened her eyes to find that those arms had alabaster skin! The resulting closeness and warmth helped a ton with soothing her mind, but Rarity's soft voice and kind words sealed the deal whilst she hugged her with the tenderness of a caring mother;

"Oh, sweetness, I understand your trepidation. Why, if I were in your position, I would feel quite out of sorts myself."

Seizing the opportunity granted by the lady of Generosity's surprising act of compassion, Wallflower returned her focus to her breath for a moment or two before Rarity gently gave her a simple request as she moved her body away from her chest a bit to give her some breathing room;

At this point, she was looking everywhere else she could but Rarity's eyes, her guilt not allowing her to even so much as glance at them easily. Why, even the grass at her feet was easier to gaze upon! Regardless, she was not going to deny one of Sunset's friends such a request. That, and she was sick of being a coward. Sick of living with her sorrows. With difficulty, Wallflower looked Rarity square in the eyes, much to the latter's visible appreciation. Just seeing the fashionista's purple eyes had a calming effect on her that she did not want to fight. Instead, she allowed that calm to wash over her like water raining down into a parched plant's roots. Any reprieve from her worries was fine with her, as long as it was harmless! With a soft smile, the purple-haired beauty offered the frightened girl simple instruction;

The gardener slowly nodded her head and awaited Rarity's go-ahead, which she softly gave within moments;

She did as she was told while her gaze was locked on Rarity. The intrusive thoughts started to become quieter;

As she held her breath, the world around her began to fade away along with her stress. She could not help but imagine her intrusive thoughts being pulled into those purple eyes that simply had her hooked by this point;

Wallflower exhaled slowly and deeply, feeling as if she was releasing some of the old pain inside her head and heart. The dark thoughts were gone, for the moment at least. For that alone, Rarity had her genuine gratitude. She expressed to her one of her tiny smiles, to which Rarity responded with a beaming grin before releasing her from from her grip. She then giggled politely before declaring with relief;

"I'm glad to have given you a much-needed distraction from your thoughts, darling."

Wallflower looked around the room to find that all of the girls were looking at her with supportive expressions. Pinkie, being Pinkie, was the only person who wasn't standing or sitting quietly in a traditional sense. In fact, she was quietly waving a small flag that she pulled out from her hair with her right hand while busting out one of her larger smiles and standing on her chair. The flag had Wallflower's smiling face drawn on it with crayons with the skill and earnest of a child having a wonderful day, so it was both simplistic and adorable in equal measure. The sight of this caused her to giggle a little out of slight embarrassment mixed with appreciation before settling herself. With a breath, Wallflower looked over at an expectant Rarity and explained calmly with solemness in her voice;

"When you suggested that I deserve mercy, I couldn't help but think of a question that has been bothering me ever since that stone was destroyed..."

She sighed, looked down at the grass at her feet, and raised her opened shaking hands up to her face to gaze upon them with sadness and regret pouring from her eyes. With a clear voice that was riddled with hurt, she asked herself and the group of girls that stood with her;

A few tears started to form in her eyes, but she opted to not wipe them. With a quick saddened sniff, she admitted;

Her guilt's roots were about to take another stab at crushing her hurt, only for courage, a feeling she was relieved to have and yet not entirely accustomed to, to override it. Although it was but a seedling compared to the guilt inside, Wallflower's courage was strong enough to keep it at bay long enough for her to gaze up at Rarity, conviction replacing the regret in her eyes, and tell her truly;

Right then and there, the girl's nerves shot up like a bottle rocket, thus prompting her to cover her mouth with both hands again. Up until that moment, Rarity was looking at Wallflower while expressing, and feeling, no small amount of concern for her well-being. The same could be said for the others. But, once she made her confident declaration, that concern faded to make way for understanding and joy, the kind that soothed her mind enough for her to allow her arms to fall to her sides. Rarity's eyes sparkled as she gave the gardener before her a smile that was bright enough to light up the dark side of the Human world's moon! Sunset and Twilight sent her looks filled with support and the kind of warmth that could soothe a crying child. Applejack tipped her hat to Wallflower as a polite show of respect. Rainbow belted out while expressing a toothy grin filled to bursting with confidence and a fist pound to the chest to match;

Fluttershy settled for silently sending onto Wallflower a constant barrage of gentle warmth from her kind smile, while Pinkie Pie decided, after leaping into the air out of sheer exuberance, to take a far more audible approach to showing approval of her future friend's heartfelt words. Before the friend to every plant on Mother Earth could say or do anything in response to the girls' outpouring of support, Pinkie pulled a megaphone out from her poofy hair, deftly aimed its speaking end at her mouth, and happily yelled into it before her fellow Rainbooms could stop her;

With that, every girl within a radius that covered most of the garden was given a bad case of temporary hearing loss. Although that didn't quite take away anyone's happiness, even as they grimaced and covered their ears out of shock, annoyance, and headache-induced pain. After about five seconds, Sunset, who was reeling a bit from the veritable explosion of auditory joy cranked up to eleven, declared while still holding her head with her right hand and sheepishly grinning;

"WHAT?!", yelled out Trixie, her hearing having not yet recovered. Everyone else agreed without saying a word, with the pink culprit behind the vocal shenanigans scratching the back of her head with her left hand while expressing a truly apologetic look on her face, her megaphone being held in her right hand. Poor Trixie tried to get a word in edgewise, in spite of her lack of hearing;

With the main purpose of their get-together having been put on hold for a future encounter, the girls (once their hearing had fully returned) decided to relax around the center of the garden. They were all quite glad to be given a reprieve from dealing with the touchy subject they had just tackled, not to mention said subject's heaviness. None were quite as glad as Sunset, Trixie, and Wallflower. Trixie was practicing her stage magic tricks to make ready for future shows with more confidence and bluster than usual, with Roseluck and Pinkie Pie serving as her entertained supportive audience. Wallflower had found a comfy spot on the grass that gave her a bit of distance from the group without leaving the garden's center and laid down on it flat on her back with her arms stretched out to the sides. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady, which gave off the impression that she was relaxed, even though she appeared to be as stiff as a board. Fluttershy was sitting to her left while chatting with a little bird that had flown onto her right hand. While Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were talking to each other at a spot closer to the center, Sunset and Twilight found themselves sitting to Wallflower's right while enjoying the scenery and peace that the garden provided. Wallflower recognized that these girls were with her, but she was more concerned with focusing on herself at that moment. Fluttershy's conversation with the bird did not disturb her. In fact, she found that it helped her keep calm as she let the world around her fade away while maintaining a simple mantra in her mind;

Let my stress and worries sink into the Earth... Let myself be as I am... Just be.

By the time her conversations with Rarity and Pinkie Pie had finished, he head had felt terribly heavy from the resulting stress. But, as she kept up this practice of hers, she could feel that heaviness slowly ease up, much to her relief. This encouraged her to tune more and more into her own little world as a tiny content smile began to creep up her face. She could imagine her guilt fighting gravity itself to avoid falling into the dirt below her when she heard Sunset's soft voice;

Wallflower felt no agitation upon hearing her question. She could tell from her friend's whispering that she was being thoughtful and far from rude. Frankly, Sunset's voice was quite soothing and it would take her doing something truly terrible to agitate her. Refusing to move an inch or even open her eyes, the green-haired introvert told her in a relaxed voice;

Just then, she heard Sunset chuckle to herself a little. Wait... was she laughing at her? Did she find her being like this funny? Is she being mean?

"No!", Wallflower thought to herself as she put a stop to her intrusive thoughts before they could get a firm grip on her. Sunset Shimmer stopped being a meanie long ago and she refused to let her own troubles drive her to be one herself again! Right when she had hit the brakes on a spiraling episode with a level of ease that she was surprised by, she heard Sunset note sweetly, probably with one of her recognizable smirks;

That got Wallflower's undivided attention! Her eyes shot wide open within a fraction of a second. Since her body refused to move an inch off of the ground, she elected to aim her eyes as close to Sunset's location as she comfortably could before responding in surprise;

Sci-Twi, who had been listening in on the two of them and Fluttershy's talk with one of her many, many bird-friends at the time, decided to chime in politely and with an excited grin while moving her head over to look at the resting gardener;

"Sunset has been performing the practice for quite some time, actually. Thanks to her, I have recently considered implementing it into my daily routine as well. So, I am glad to see that you have been putting it to good use."

Words could not begin to describe Wallflower's happiness over her personal mediation practice not being labeled as weird or stupid by Twilight or Sunset. Heck, they actually found it interesting! It was this feeling that kept her nerves in check as she saw the lavender nerd stand up, walk over to stand in front of Wallflower at her feet, and ask while giving her an intellectual's visual inspection;

"How does the feeling of the dirt and grass holding your body help ease you into a meditative state? Perhaps, it is that feeling of gravity weighing you down that produces such an effect? Do you use a mantra to keep your focus properly maintained, or-?"

Before she could continue giving an increasingly perplexed Wallflower a hundred questions per-minute, Sunset gently told her with an understanding wink while placing her right hand on her left shoulder;

With a sheepish grin, the lovable egghead nodded her head. This prompted the keeper of the garden to tilt her upper-body forward to sit in an upright position, her body deciding to cooperate. She then showed Sci-Twi quiet happiness in her eyes, her tiny grin from earlier back on her face, and explained calmly;

"I like to think of it this way: When I lay down on the ground, it feels as if gravity is pulling my stress down into the Earth while the dirt is holding me up. As if..."

"Nature itself is keeping me grounded. Helping me let go." Just then, she heard Fluttershy speak with her usual soft voice, which got her to look over to see that the kind girl was looking back at her with the sweetest smile on her face as she spoke happily;

"Oh, I know what you mean! I've found that just being out in nature is enough for me to let go of my troubles and rest my mind for a while."

She sighed contently before declaring with appreciation and contentment in every syllable;

Wallflower understood that concept on a deep personal level. So did Sunset, who added while keeping much of that understanding close to the chest;

Her gentle friend giggled a little, having understood the joke within an instant, with Sci-Twi joining in on the laughter. The acceptance and understanding shown by these three girls was not just relaxing to Wallflower's mind: it was also soothing to her heart. All of this inspired her to keep the conversation going instead of keeping silent like she did in the past. To do this, she decided to get to know the glasses-rocking lady of science with a question as she aimed her gaze back at her;

While showing a smile that revealed her joy over the thought of learning how to clear her head, Sci-Twi told an attentive Wallflower;

"I'd say in my laboratory whenever I'm alone or with Spike. Yes, it is indoors, but it is my favorite place to be in back home other than my bedroom. So, it is uniquely easy for me to be calm there. Then again, I do not mind giving the outdoors a shot."

With a raised eyebrow, Wallflower responded while actively trying to not be judgmental of the egghead's clearly different taste in meditation locales;

"As for me, if I'm gonna meditate indoors, I'll need a plant or several with me."

That got the other three girls to giggle some more in a harmless, well-meaning fashion. Hearing this got Wallflower herself to join in on the laughter. For once, she found genuine humor in at least one of her plant-related quirks and she was just fine with that. After the giggles died down, Sunset realized something that prompted her to ask;

With a knowing wink aimed squarely at her friend with fiery hair, Wallflower told her simply;

The other girls, in utter confusion over the vagueness of her answer, waited in silence for about three-to-four seconds before Derpy's joyful voice could be heard throughout the garden;

With that, the other girls that were closer to the center of the garden dropped what they were doing and ran over to the provider of baked treats herself, who stood straight while holding a zip-lock bag full of lovingly baked muffins that came in a variety of flavors while showing a smile that could melt a cold heart. Her crossed eyes only served to complete the positive effect the sight had on all who looked upon her. Sunset, Wallflower, Sci-Twi, and Fluttershy stood up and regrouped with the other girls to enjoy what was sure to be a tasty snack.

Spring Surprises

by TheGJ90

Chapter 6 - Rarity's Question