• Published 21st Dec 2020
  • 1,091 Views, 28 Comments

The Call Of The Forest - The Sleepless Beholder



Sunset invites Wallflower to Equestria so they may find a way to confess each other’s feelings, but their little vacation takes an unexpected turn when Wallflower feels something calling her to the Everfree Forest.

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The Call Of The Forest

Sunset looked at the time on her cellphone, wondering what hour would be in Equestria before deciding that she couldn’t wait any longer and started writing on her diary.

“Hey Twilight, is it late over there? I wanted to talk about something.”

She waited impatiently, biting the tip of her pen as she looked expectantly at the page, until words started to appear.

“Hey Sunset, I was about to go to sleep but we can talk a bit. What’s going on?”

“Sorry for bothering you, but I need some advice. Do you remember Wallflower?”

“The girl that had the Memory Stone? Is she suffering from some magical residue? If you can bring her here, I could see how to extract it.”

“No, it’s not that, she’s fine. It’s just that I”

Sunset stopped for a moment, thinking about how to phrase her words properly before going for a simple;

“I like her.”

“Well, she didn’t sound like a bad human judging by what you told me about her. In fact, you always seem to Oh, that kind of like.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know what kind of advice I can give you. Rarity would be the one with dating experience, but I’m not sure Equestrian romance would work with how humans conduct themselves.”

“Didn’t you have a crush on Flash?”

“Yeah, but that was more of him reminding me of someone here in Equestria. And I’m 100% sure my body was making me act in weird ways.”

“Yeah, the first days here were really strange.”

“What do you find attractive in Wallflower?”

Sunset blushed a bit as she wrote her response.

“Her wild hair. Her beautiful eyes. Her cute smile. The adorable way she acts. And her body is so soft I’ve problems letting go when I hug her, which makes it awkward and then she gets nervous and”

“Okay, I think I see the problem. You’re scared.”

“A bit, I guess?”

“Sunset, you’ve defeated sirens, forest witches, and an evil superpowered version of me. It’s okay for you to be scared.”

“Okay, I’m terrified. I want to tell her how I feel and that I want a relationship, but I get the sense that she’ll run away from me if I phrase it wrong or look like I’m pushing her into it.”

“Sunset, I don’t think anyone is that fragile. Do you know if she likes you?”

Sunset sighed before responding.

“I’m sure she does. And I suspect she also knows I like her.”

“Then what’s stopping you from just telling her?”

“Her shyness and my insecurity?”

“Okay, how about you do something to show her how much she means to you?”

“That’s the advice I’m looking for in you.”

“Well, as a single girl that only had one crush in her entire life, I can’t really offer much.”

Sunset was starting to get a bit frustrated but didn’t give up.

“Okay, but if you did have someone you wanted to impress romantically, how would you do it?”

Sunset saw words being written on the book, but they were immediately scratched into an illegible mess by a nervous magical aura.

“Look, even if I knew, they would all be in Equestria.”

Sunset let out a low growl and was about to close the diary when an idea popped into her head.

“What if I take her to Equestria?”

“I don’t know if that would work.”

“You haven’t seen a pony like her there, right?”

“Knowing Wallflower’s history, she could be my gardener or even Stars Swirl’s apprentice and nopony would know about her anyway.”

“I meant that we won’t have the problem of her meeting herself, so she can go without problems.”

“Sunset, you’re taking a shy and insecure girl into another dimension, wouldn’t it be too much for her to handle?”

“Come on, Equestria is the friendliest place in the multiverse.”

“Except for the monster attacks that come from the Everfree and the annual villain trying to take over the world.”

“Since when do you have so much sass?”

“Since we spent an entire diary talking about our lives.”

“Fair point, but nevertheless, it doesn’t need to be something dramatic or have you and Celestia welcoming her with a big celebration, just a small vacation where she can see the magic of Equestria.”

“The one that nearly erased all the memories of your friends and she probably regrets abusing just as much as my magical counterpart?”

“The good kind of magic. Like, imagine if the mirror turns her into a pegasus and she has wings. That’s like a dream come true for most of humans. Or maybe she becomes a unicorn and I can teach her about magic spells.”

“Okay, it seems like you sold yourself into the idea. I can arrange that nopony is in the castle so you two can be alone and play around with being a pony.”

“Thank you! I owe you one. But there’s still one problem.”

“What is it?”

“How do I tell her?”

Somehow, Sunset could feel Twilight hitting her head against the book from the other dimension.


Wallflower was sitting on Trixie’s sofa inside her trailer, hugging her legs. “Why am I such a coward?”

“You’re planning on dating one of the most attractive girls in school, who also happens to be the girl you tried to delete from history,” the magician said as she munched on some peanut butter crackers.

Wallflower glared at her. “You’re not helping.”

“What Trixie tried to say was; it makes sense you’re scared, but Sunset not only forgave you, she’s interested in you despite being able to have anyone else in school. Even Trixie would date her if she was interested, but she chose you.” Her words didn’t seem to give Wallflower much comfort, so she put her food aside and went to sit at her side. “Look, knowing Sunset, she’s probably as scared as you.”

Wallflower scoffed at that. “How could she be scared after everything she’s gone through?”

“Uh, because she cares about you and your feelings?” Trixie answered sarcastically.

Wallflower groaned and put her hands on her face. “Why did I come to you for help?”

“Because we’re friends,” Trixie said with a smile.

“All I did was get you out of the room I locked you in.”

“And Trixie appreciates it since apparently Sunset forgot about it.” The magician looked at her friend and moved her arms away from her face. “If memory doesn’t fail Trixie, you had some attitude when it came to reminding people of your existence, so you have some bite to use to ask her on a date.”

Wallflower rolled her eyes. “That was just because of frustration. I can’t frustratedly confess my love to her.”

“What about a love letter?” Trixie offered.

“I don’t want to tell her like that. I want to do it in person.”

“Then what stops you?”

“I get nervous and I avoid the subject. Even when she hugs me, and I feel that warmness she gives, I lose track of time and make it awkward and then we both can’t look at each other in the eyes.”

“You’ll need to tell her eventually. Just rip the band-aid off and be done with it. There’s no way she will say no.”

Wallflower sighed, slumping a bit more into the couch. “I guess, but I don’t want to just blurt it out. It has to be something romantic, something that makes it special.” Suddenly, Wallflower’s phone ringed with a new message. The girl picked it up to read it, and immediately froze. “Oh no.”

“What is it?” Trixie asked, reaching for her forgotten crackers.

“She’s inviting me to Equestria,” Wallflower responded, nervousness clear in her voice.

“Oh, she’s serious now. Prepare yourself for a confession,” Trixie said with a smile before taking a bite out of her favorite snack.


The mirror in Twilight’s castle started to shine, and two figures were quickly thrown out of it, landing on a mattress prepared to cushion their fall. The two now mares slowly came back to their senses and noticed they had somehow landed so Wallflower as on top of Sunset, their snouts almost touching.
They stayed still for almost a full minute before moving away from each other, their faces red with embarrassment.

“She’s softer as a pony!” Sunset exclaimed internally.

“She looks adorable!” Wallflower screamed internally.

After the initial panic faded, Wallflower started to realize she was in a different body than her own. “How do you hold things with hooves?” she asked looking at her new legs.

“I use telekinesis, wait!” Sunset turned around and moved Wallflower’s hair, hoping to see a horn, but there was just a green forehead.

“I see, I don’t have one of those,” Wallflower said pointing at Sunset’s horn as if it wasn’t a surprise.

“Yeah, but you may have—” Sunset looked at Wallflower’s side, but she didn’t find any wings.

Wallflower sighed with a bit of sadness. “No wings either. It’s better this way, I prefer to stay on the ground.”

“Well, it makes sense since that’s what you’re; An Earth Pony!” Sunset said enthusiastically.

“You just made that up,” Wallflower said unenthusiastically. “Even in a land of magical horses I don’t have anything special.”

“No I’m not, it’s one of the three types of ponies you can find. Well, four if you count alicorns,” Sunset explained. “Earth ponies are deeply connected to the earth and are in charge of the crops and the flora of Equestria.”

“So, I’m a magical gardener?” Wallflower asked a bit confused. “It’s something, I guess.”

“Not necessarily, earth ponies can do a wide variety of jobs. Although I bet your cutie mark has something to do with gardening.”

“What’s a cutie mark?” Wallflower asked.

“It’s a symbol that represents your passion or what makes you special,” Sunset explained with a smile as she pointed to her flank, and Wallflower looked away embarrassed. The amber mare was confused at first, but then started to blush. “Oh, right, clothes are not an obligatory thing here. But our tails cover most of it.”
Sunset saw her friend tuck her tail between her legs as much as she could, impressive feat considering she had only a few minutes of experience in that body, but still seemed nervous. “So, what’s yours? Is it a plant, or a spade, maybe a flower?”

Wallflower looked back at her posterior. “It’s nothing,” she answered dejectedly.

“Come on, it can’t be a bad thing, it doesn’t even need to be litera–” Sunset froze when she saw her friend’s flank.

There was no cutie mark on it.

“I guess I’m just not special,” Wallflower said looking down at the floor. “I want to go home.”

She was suddenly shaken by Sunset. “Hey, don’t despair, as the Crusaders say, ‘it only means you’ve untapped potential.’”

“Who’re the crusaders?” Wallflower asked confused.

“Fillies that help other’s find their special talents. And that’s what we’re going to do now,” Sunset declared, hugging Wallflower to her side, an act that brought comfort to both.

Feeding off Sunset’s confidence, the green mare decided to give it a try. “Lead the way.”


The two mares walked out of the castle, standing now on the grass that surrounded the structure. Wallflower looked around them, hoping to not catch much attention, but luckily the townsfolk didn’t seem interested in what they were doing.

“Okay.” Sunset said with enthusiasm. “Cutie marks appear once you discover what you’re passionate about, so I say we start trying a few things. You know a lot about gardening so I’m sure it has something to do with it.”

“Or maybe it’s just invisible like me.” Wallflower thought, but immediately kicked herself for it. She wanted to stay positive for Sunset. “You said earth ponies are connected to the ground, how does that work exactly?”

“I’m not sure,” Sunset admitted. “Maybe we could ask this world’s Applejack. She has a farm and she’s an earth pony, so she surely knows about this.”

Wallflower wasn’t too convinced about the idea. She preferred to be alone with Sunset, and being around other ponies would just delay the eventual confession, being hers or Sunset’s. “We could try something else first, like…” She looked around to get some idea, but there weren’t many plants nearby since it was the middle of the town, just grass and dirt. “Wait, I wonder if…”

Wallflower placed her ear against the ground and moved her hooves in circles over it, trying to ‘connect’ with the earth, but she only managed to make Sunset chuckle. “I don’t think that will work, but Twilight mentioned that there’re some florists in town and a pony that grows carrots. We could ask where they get them and–”

“I can hear it!” Wallflower exclaimed suddenly.

Sunset looked at her with wide eyes. “Wait, really?”

Wallflower lifted her head, looking at her surroundings like a nervous cat. “Yeah, I can hear something. I can’t tell what it is, but–” she suddenly moved her head in a particular direction and started walking. “It’s coming from over there.”

“Hey, wait up!” Sunset exclaimed as Wallflower started galloping away, driven by the strange sensation she was hearing.

It didn’t take long for them to get out of the town, and when Sunset looked ahead, she used her magic to lift her friend off the ground.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Wallflower complained, trying to lower herself back to the ground.

“Wally, that’s the Everfree Forest.” Sunset pointed to the large, dark, ominous wild forest in front of them. Its old, sick-looking trees being the first warning of the dangers that resided in it. “It’s really dangerous and most ponies avoid entering it unless necessary.”

“But the sound is coming from it, I need to see what it is,” Wallflower complained. “You are a powerful sorceress, you can protect us in there, right?”

Sunset bit her lip, unsure about the idea. “I could, but still, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Wallflower felt a small warmness in her heart at her words and smiled. “I trust you Sunset. You’re very brave and capable of dealing with whatever lurks inside that forest.”

Sunset felt a similar warmness and lowered her friend back to the ground. “Are you sure you want to go in there just because of some feeling you just got?”

Wallflower nodded instantly. “I can’t tell what it is, but I can feel it’s important. Maybe that’s what will give me my cutie mark.”

Sunset looked at the forest, weighting her feelings, and finally looked at her friend with a smile. “Okay, but don’t blame me if you get scared.”

“I will hug you if it happens,” Wallflower said without thinking, making both of them blush a bit and smile.

“Let’s go then. To adventure!” Sunset declared, earning a chuckle from Wallflower before they marched towards the forest, unsure of what they would find inside.