Blooming

by Bookish Delight

01: The Nicest Meanie

Wallflower walked the halls of Canterlot High School, following her usual physical and mental routine. The students passed by her, and she passed by the students. Neither acknowledged the other.

Because neither wanted to.

She was used to it. It was her routine, and it was... comfortable.

Not being some kind of social magnet allowed her to efficiently make her way between classes. The incoherent buzzing of the students around her always filtered into white noise. It allowed her to keep her mind clear, or fill it with things that were expressly herself, like flower arrangements in complementary colors, or reminiscing on the TV she'd watched last night.

The latest episode of Wyldmares was something she couldn't take her eyes off of until it was over. Which, in a way, made her even more of an anomaly than she was used to being already. The day after it'd shown up on Hoofflix out of nowhere, it'd blown up every ratings metric imaginable and become... well, infamous for several reasons at the design level.

Still, infamy counted as popularity. Everyone was watching it, everyone was talking about it, and fortunately for her, not being a social magnet meant she didn't have to talk about the same episode over and over with people until it got dull.

Not to mention, she'd already seen some pretty crazy opinions about it during her late night online trawls that made her skin crawl. Opinions and speculations that seemed hell-bent on turning what was clearly a nostalgic show about colorful transforming robotic horses into... no longer that, and picking it apart besides.

She felt a pang in her heart just thinking back to it, and felt herself gritting her teeth. She rolled her eyes and sighed. She was letting other people into her headspace again. People who weren't anything more than a nickname and a bunch of moronic thoughts.

Wallflower stopped in the hallway and closed her eyes. Flowers around her. Flowers and trees and meadows and grass.

Clear the mind. Plant its soil with positive things. Remove the weeds. Keep the flowers. Let them bloom... then let yourself bloom as well. Be one with the garden... then be a garden yourself.

It took a whole minute, but eventually she was back to her earlier peace. She made sure not to disturb that peace with the knowledge that she'd be late to class if she took too much longer. She took the last few steps to her locker and opened it, shuffling books between it and her backpack.

"Hi, Wallflower," a voice said from behind her locker door.

Wallflower stopped in the midst of her motions. Had she... heard a voice close by? Even stranger: had she actually heard a greeting in conjunction with her name?

She closed her locker door, then looked over to her right, where the voice had come from. Orange skin, bright red hair, a black dress and vest filled her vision, along with... a smile? One of these things clearly didn't belong with the others.

"How's it going?" Sunset Shimmer asked with the smile still on her seriously what was going on here—

Wait.

Waaaaait a minute.

Wallflower was, ironically, now beginning to remember. Yesterday had been... eventful.

She looked up at Sunset in earnest—the girl she'd been spiteful towards for years, and had tried to get revenge on for days, with the help of a magical memory-erasing artifact.

She looked up at Sunset—the girl who had, for reasons Wallflower still didn't quite understand, forgiven her, and offered to be her friend, even though she didn't deserve it in the slightest.

Suddenly Wallflower felt far more aware of her surroundings than usual. She looked around herself, suddenly cognizant of just how many people were around her. How had she even managed to even walk through the school doors today? Her heart churned with apprehension. The milling of the students grew quieter, even though their numbers had barely thinned.

She looked back in front of her. Sunset was still there, still smiling. Still waiting for an answer. They'd shared a close moment yesterday, true, but did it still hold? Could Sunset actually be... safe?

"Uh, hi," Wallflower replied, deciding to take a chance. "What brings you over to this neck of the lockers?"

"Being late," Sunset said, rolling her eyes with a chuckle. "Well, not late late—the bell hasn't rung yet. But I got to school today later than I normally do, and Twilight does not stand for not being able to make pre-first-period study hall. So I had to walk alone today."

"Twilight?" The name rang a bell, but she struggled to place it. Ugh, more irony. "She's the... super-nerdy one that transferred here not too long ago, right?"

"That's her," Sunset said, as Wallflower idly wondered why Sunset's blush was taking so long to disappear. "Trust me, she's, uh, hard to forget once she's scienced her way into your life." Sunset's cheeks finally turned to their original shade, and she leaned against the closed locker next to Wallflower. "But more than that, I just wanted to see if you were feeling okay. You know, after yesterday. I know from experience that coming in contact with magic can be... trying, on a person."

Wallflower allowed herself to flash back to every time she used the strange stone she'd found close to the school, not long after the Friendship Games. The tingly, bitter feeling that always happened whenever she asked it to perform its duty. The emptiness and relief she felt when she saw each awkward hello, each flubbed conversation, whisked away into nothingness as far as the other party was concerned.

The first time she had, through violent tears, commanded the Memory Stone to perform its greatest task. The first time she screamed as its power rang against her ears upon hearing such a large request... then granted it anyway.

Wallflower forced herself to come back to reality. Whenever the pain of remembering matched the pain of actually using the Stone, it was always her cue to stop. She looked away from Sunset.

"So... the Memory Stone really was magic?" she asked. "Not some kind of weird science device that its inventor buried out of embarrassment, maybe? I mean, the scroll that came with kept saying as much, but I still didn't entirely believe it."

"It was definitely magic," Sunset said with a nod. "From a whole other world. And I'm so glad we were able to save you from it."

Wallflower's mind spun, and she turned back to face Sunset. "Why are you so happy for me? I'm the one who used it on you. In the worst way."

"Jury's still out on whether or not it was the worst, but yeah, it was up there." Sunset closed her eyes and chuckled. "But as Applejack would say, that was hardly my first rodeo. I've had far more unbelievable things happen to me with magic."

"You mean the parts where you tried to enslave the student body by turning into a winged she-demon, and then where you helped saved it three times afterward?" Wallflower asked, not missing a beat.

Sunset's cheeks flushed deep red again. "Wait. You were at Camp Everfree? Of course. I bet you were. Just..." she trailed off.

"Yeah, totally my fault, too," Wallflower said. "Just in case you needed any more proof that I don't deserve this conversation we're having." Wallflower clasped the straps of her backpack and walked with fast steps, intent on following her usual path to her classroom.

She felt Sunset grab her arm. "Wallflower, wait."

Wallflower stopped. She wasn't sure why she did, nor why she bothered to turn around to face Sunset as well. She sighed.

Why was Sunset still being so nice? Especially since, for so many years, she'd reveled in being the opposite? It was the one time in her life she'd been thankful for being barely noticeable and skilled at keeping to herself—the more a student had been on Original Recipe Sunset's radar, the worse they'd had it.

"Both of us remember how mean I was," Sunset said. "What if I told you that it was because... I was scared of people, too? And lonely? At the same time?"

"I'd say that none of what you just said makes any sense." Wallflower turned back around. "I remember how you acted. Towards everyone. Way worse than the zero attention you gave me." Wallflower started walking again.

Sunset followed alongside. "Yeah. Way worse. I really was a different, way worse person. And you know what? Being that awful person was a total rush. I got to live the fantasy of having people jump when I called their name, whether it was to run away from me, or to do what I told them to, before they ran away from me. The whole 'power' thing was awesome, and I was totally happy with it."

She took a deep breath. "Or at least I thought it was. Until I went to any of the student hangouts. Or until I went home. And the deafening silence told me, in my heart of hearts, how much I wished I had someone, anyone, to talk about my day with."

A pang hit Wallflower's heart. She overrode it with forced annoyance, and gritted her teeth again. "Is this where I'm supposed to feel sorry for the Queen B of Canterlot High?"

Sunset shook her head. "Absolutely not. But where I'm going with this is, the worst part of all that wasn't the loneliness. It was the fact that after a while, I just accepted it. I was sure it was something I couldn't change. I certainly didn't know a way. Before I knew it, I'd locked myself in to the state of things. Instead of running away to avoid everyone, I just made sure to drive everyone away. Just figured it was less work. So yeah. I'm the last person who would be mad at you. I'd have to read myself the riot act first."

Wallflower stopped again, and sighed again. "Well. Thanks for admitting all of that, at least. Fine. You've forgiven me, and I forgive you. Now what?"

"Well, now's up to you. You've told me how invisible you've felt all your time in school. All your life." Sunset held out her hand. "Do you want some help breaking that pattern?"

"I..." Wallflower closed her eyes. "If only it were that easy at this school."

"You might be surprised. Back when I was a loner, I know I was really angry at the world. A world which included a lot of people who didn't deserve it. Like the students here."

Wallflower thought back to those students. Back to the confusion, the anger, the inability to understand. Back to the giggles and incredulous sounds as she was covered in mud and dirt.

No, Wallflower. Clear the mind, plant the soil, clear the mind, plant the soil what do you do when you are the soil no I can't do it!

Wallflower shook her head. Her hand balled into a fist.

"Sorry, Sunset. You may have changed, and maybe I was wrong not to see it for so long." She looked into Sunset's eyes with wide ones of her own. "But you're the exception to the rule. I'm sorry for what I did to you. But what if I told you that I didn't feel at all sorry for the rest of this school? What if the student body wasn't as innocent as you think?"

Sunset took a step back. "What do you mean?"

Wallflower leaned against the lockers. "I mean, CHS is still pretty rotten on the whole," she said in a grumbling voice. "And I'll be glad when I graduate."

Sunset fell silent for a long time before leaning next to Wallflower on the lockers. "Wallflower," she said in a tender voice, "where is this coming from? We can talk here, or someplace private, if you want."

"No, I..." Wallflower sighed, relaxing. "I'm sorry. It's no big deal. I really could just use some happiness right now, though."

Sunset reached out and took Wallflower's hand. Wallflower didn't stop her, and quickly learned just how good of a decision that was. "I know just the thing."

Wallflower looked over. Sunset seemed so sure of herself. "You do?"

"Uh-huh," Sunset replied. "The Wondercolts are playing the Fillydelphia Parasprites after school today." Sunset grinned. "We always kick their butts."

Wallflower blinked. "A... sports game?"

"It's a lot more fun than you might think. Especially with Rainbow Dash as our star forward. She always makes a show of things. The other girls and I always have a special section in the bleachers, near the front. You should join us. I promise, you'll have a good time. And Rainbow could always use another in the cheering seats." She fed Wallflower a sly smile. "You do know how to cheer, right?"

Wallflower thought about it. She'd be surrounded by people that... well, at least Sunset vouched for, in an area where she could shut out anyone else.

Sort of. Either way, what did she have to lose?

Wallflower nodded as they stood up from the lockers. "I might know a few plants who can vouch for my encouragement abilities."

The first period bell rang, and both students made their way to class.

Comments

[Ri2]

I'd kind of like to know more about this Wyldmares thing. I'm assuming Juniper is involved somehow?

Being invisible means Wallflower gets to see and learn more than most people think. What a burden that must be.

[Darkstarling]

9021089
Bookish mentioned it in Being Juniper Montage, I think. It's sort of a mashup of MLP and Transformers.

[Jordan179]

9021423

I very much wish it was a real show. I'd watch it.

[BenRG]

Sunset seems to be making a career from realising that she has stood in the place of the Villain of the Day and that it is difficult to not see her own face looking back at her.

Wallflower really has problems, hasn't she? She's become so isolated that she's come to hate having people around her. Not knowing how to deal with it, she's become almost phobic about it. It doesn't help that I strongly suspect that she became addicted to the dark magic of the Memory Stone. I genuinely wonder who was controlling whom in that particular case.

[Texus]

Not sure if I want to know it, but there seems to exist a new movie already, that is probably full off akward sudden transformations for no reason as the others. I mean like Twilight and her friends getting transformation powers trought music, trough running really fast or what their reason is in the sports movie and whatever else happened in that movie.
I was never sure if they should have really that level of magic still after Twilight was away already. I guess I imaged they should have needed to relearn it.

Sunset shook her head. "Absolutely not.

at this point I think it means "absolutely yes" and I fear you might even made Wallflowerbush give in there.

Wallflower stopped again, and sighed again. "Well. Thanks for admitting all of that, at least. Fine. You've forgiven me, and I forgive you. Now what?"

Sadly it was as easy as I feared it was.

The chapters was still nice, I just woke up and decited to focus on what might be a chliche too.

[CoyoteXray]

Even being miserable can become a habit if you give it enough time.

[redandready45]

9021089

Sometimes I also feel that way: an outside observer to society who can see nothing but the horrible truths that exist.